>> i knew he was out there and so i got my gun out of the drawer. i let him have it. >> that's not jesse ventura either. "fox & friends" starts right now. >> good, spooky morning, everyone oochlt it's not halloween, what are you talking about? >> it's friday, the 13th and a very special friday the 13th. it's not your every day friday the 13th. usually, there are two friday the 13ths in one year. now there are three of them this year. >> there it goes again. >> hey, did it go that way or that what -- way? >> it went that way. >> what kind of cat walks backwards with its tail up? >> it's the third -- the first of three. >> can you just do that again?

rob, make it go that way and do it backwards. ok, there goes the normal way. i love the way it goes backwards. if you've ever seen a cat walk like that, let us know. >> we're lucky you would join us and we're lucky that eric and ali would fill up for brian and gretchen. >> happy to be here. good to see you. we have a lot of news to tell you about because many of you are dealing with a rude awakening this morning courtesy of mother nature. from the midwest to the northeast, those areas are getting hammered right now with the first major snow storm of the season. this is what it looks like in wisconsin. people already outside armed with shovels and you can bet all the snow will add up to hundreds of flights being canceled today. of course, the hardest hit chicago o'hare and midway international airport. and you know the drill, stay off the roads if you can today. the storm is already being blamed for at least three deadly accidents in missouri and iowa.

well, defense secretary leon panetta not mincing words. here's what he had to say when a soldier asked him about a military strike on iran. >> we are ready for any situation that may develop there. and that means we have to keep all options on the table. >> specifically, panetta said the u.s. will not tolerate iran building nuclear weapons or blocking the strait of hermuth. the waterway especially crucial because it serves as a passageway for 1/5th world's oil. iran has been threatening to close it down u.s. -- should the u.s. and other nations impose more sanctions. joran van der sloot is coming a plea in the 2010 murder of stephanie flores in peru. he faces 30 years behind bars but is expected to get much less for that guilty plea. van der sloot is the prim suspect, of course, in the disappearance of natalee holloway. the alabama teenager was officially declared dead yesterday. she was last seen leaving a bar

with van der sloot on may 30, 2005. exactly five years after she disappeared, flores was murdered. a florida man shooting and killing a would-be robber trying to break into his home. >> i didn't want him to get me and i did a good thing. guy is trying to break into your house, what do you think you ought to do? wait for him to break in or shoot him? >> i would shoot him. >> the 82-year-old's choice was clear. he shot the intruder straight through his back door hitting him in the stomach. his neighbors also grateful. burglaries have been on the rise in the area and they're glad someone finally took a stand, they say. those are your headlines. >> all right. meanwhile, let's talk a little bit about the world of politics. we know a lot of you are interested in them. over the last week or so, we have seen the constant drum beat from rick perry and also newt gingrich on can you believe this mitt romney guy? he worked at bain capital. he was a looter. vulture capitalist, all of that

stuff. could those attacks on capitalism actually be helping mitt romney? because there's a brand new gallup poll out today, you know how they said that mitt romney only had a 25% ceiling? in the very latest gallup poll, look at that, mitt romney, this is nationwide with republicans. 34%, rick and newt are tied with ron paul at about 15% considering the margin of error. >> i mean, of course that's not as significant if you look at state-by-state polls. if you look at south carolina, that's more significant right now this week because of what's going to happen there next. >> romney is leading there as well. >> romney is leading there. it looks as though some polls that newt gingrich has picked up slightly in south carolina. >> he's taking florida by storm. the next closest competitor is newt gingrich at 19% or so. let's talk about maybe the reason why it looks like mitt romney is gaining some momentum here. a lot of conservatives said who is not mitt romney, it's going

to be gingrich, santorum and perry, etc., etc. then they started attacking mitt romney on this private equity thing. it's good to understand exactly what this is. private equity and most important part of private equity is private. that means people take risks. that means that bain capital, for example, looks for companies that are vulnerable but still have a decent business model and they say we can make it better so they go in and they inject -- >> something that's not working, we're going to fix it with the intent of making money. >> or maybe failing if they didn't help out. so they go in and they sit on the board. they buy a portion of the company. they sit on the board and they do things like restructure. they said we have a lot of employees here. we may have to let a few go but for the sake of the whole company, we can make it better. >> like pruning a tree. >> they inject money. sometimes they change the pricing in case of domino's pizza, they change the way they price the pizza. here's the success stories of bain capital, though. domino's pizza, you have to look

at that as one of the biggest success stories. they got involved in 1998. they had 16,000 employees at the time. now, 145,000 employees. you talk about sealy, a bedding company that was going bankrupt. they were done. a couple of stores were left open and now they have 5,000 employees because they went in and they injected some capital. >> but mitt romney's opponents like newt gingrich would say you have to look at the failure stories, not just the success stories of bain but the failure stories. there's a failure story on that end, too. that is what they say is overleverage some otherwise healthy companies, companies that would actually have survived had they not taken out too much debt and what happened is in the biggest -- the ones that bain capital got the juiceiest returns, sometimes 300% for their investors. >> it happens. >> those companies, some of them went bankrupt because they were overleveraged and bain took out too much debt.

that's the argument where they're vulture capitalists but the deal is that romney has to explain what happened. the ones that went bankrupt, he has to come out and explain why they went bankrupt. >> i've never been involved with a private equity firm but i was on the board of directors of a company that was constantly being targeted by private equity firms. the bottom line is that as healthy we were as a company, the more defensive we are as a company. the bottom line -- so ali, for bain to be able to go into these companies and leverage them, they had to be weak to start with. >> not really. sometimes, eric -- >> they had to be attractive. because they're so degraded -- >> they wanted more cash. >> how did they do? >> how did they get more cash? >> let me show you something, private equity wants -- i'm private equity. i want to go after you, alisyn, you look fantastic. maybe i can change the way -- the dress you wear or -- >> maybe buy me a better dress by going into debt. >> you don't want me to. >> you're right.

if a company is truly healthy and completely satisfied, they don't need bain. but if they want another franchise, if they want to grow the industry, that could have been healthy. they could have been healthy. >> grow. grow. grow. >> grow more. >> no companies get into business to lose money. nobody and i have actually been at places where you've had a takeover and people got fired. ultimately, the -- i've been through those twice. ultimately, the companies, though, got bigger and better and in the case of when i was at nbc and rca sold to g.e., there was some big cuts and it was painful in the beginning but then g.e. and nbc became bigger and bigger. we can debate that all day. >> back to newt very quickly. what happened when newt did that and rick perry did it, it opened the door for conservatives to say why are you attacking capitalism and maybe i need to take a second look at mitt romney. like it or not, it opened up the possibilities -- i don't know, maybe the floodgates. >> to alisyn's point, though,

mitt romney needs to have a good explanation of what went on. >> sure. >> we have heard some so far but apparently not to your liking so he needs to do more. >> why it hasn't opened. an opening. more information that can be provided. >> because right now, the people who are really paying attention to what's going on with this are republicans as they watch what's going on in the republican primaries but come general time, the general election, then, everybody is going to be hearing it and in some case for the first time. here's an interesting defense -- >> i'll get that. >> that was very smooth. >> here's an interesting defense that, perhaps, mitt romney could actually use. hey, white house, why are you beating me up on bain when you, the white house, hired bain from boston and there's a live picture so maybe the white house isn't listening, that one guy up on the right. why are you bashing bain? you hired bain to advise the

administration on the car bailout. and what bain suggested was you got too many dealerships. you're going to have to cut some of them and the obama administration went along with bain! >> facinating, right? they hired bain because they wanted to restructure the auto industry which, as you know, was in trouble and the biggest ones were possibly going to go bankrupt so bain said what you're suggesting, this is a troubled industry. and you need to streamline them. >> too many dealerships. >> so that's what the white house ended up doing. closing dealershipses. you'll remember the dealers and their families were very upset about this but at the end of the day, they saved the day. >> i'm not going to go that far. >> but again, you take a business that may be pricing this product wrong or too many employees, you cut what you need to cut and you save what's left. you save the thousands and thousands of -- and sometimes hundreds of thousands of jobs. you know, mitt romney says he saved 100,000 jobs or created 100,000 jobs. i suggest to you, mr. romney, to get your campaign director to go

next time the white house has a problem with your number and they have -- they've questioned him on 100,000, debbie wasserman-schultz has. axelrod has. here's what you do, you go you know what? make it a million jobs and i saved or created. now, you got a problem with my number? you do the same. let's talk saved or created. >> that's a made-up matrix that the white house is using, it's a squishy number that the department of labor has never, ever tracked. >> i think he does say saved or created. that those are companies that would have gone bankrupt. >> i think he said just created. >> 100,000 because that number is all over the place, as you know, he originally said 10,000. >> oh, man, oh, man. and the dialogue we're having today reflects exactly what people all across the country are talking about. meanwhile, coming up 11 minutes after the top of the hour. don't mess with this mayor. >> you want to act like an idiot? if you want to be a low life in this town, we will track you down like the dog that you are. >> is that an astronaut? no, but close, maybe of the same

letters and wait until you hear what got the mayor so fired up. >> and then president obama kicking off the new year with a request to congress, raise the debt ceiling by another $1.2 trillion. >> why not? [ sniffling ] [ male announcer ] all stuffed up? simple relief is here. introducing robitussin® nasal relief pills. the right relief for nasal congestion...in a pill. ♪ ne from robitussin®. relief made simple. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

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[ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, every innovation, every solution, comes together for a single purpose -- to make the world a safer place. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. >> quarter after the top of the hour. president obama kicking off the first month of the new year with a special request to his pals in congress. raise the debt ceiling another $1.2 trillion or else. >> stuart varney is here to talk about how much he loves this idea.

it's -- it's -- now it's $15 trillion and we need it to be $16 trillion. we don't need it to be. it's gonna be. >> it's gonna be. let's back track for a second and this was built into the debate over the summer in congress, agreed to this, correct? >> ok, look, this is almost automatic. the debt ceiling is going to be raised. we are going to get authority to raise, borrow an extra $1.2 trillion. now, just go forward a little bit. by election day, our outstanding debt in america is going to be well over $16 trillion. you know what it was when president obama was sworn in? $10.6 trillion. in other words, you've gone up close to $6 trillion, 60% in four years. how much money do you think we pay in interest on that? look at that, now it's going $16 trillion on election day. how much interest on that debt? $454 billion a year. that's $9 billion a week. and by election day, it goes to

$10 billion a week. ok? those are staggering numbers. i suspect that this -- there's going to be a fight over raising the debt ceiling this week. this is going to happen -- or next week. but there's going to be a fight that will refocus the nation's attention on this awful debt problem. maybe take it away from bain capital, you know, your pals and actually move it back and put debt center stage all over again. >> you know, the problem is on capitol hill the republicans have advanced an agenda and a budget, in fact, that addresses the issues with the entitlements. and they have figured, you know, with paul ryan playing, they've tried to figure a way to fix the entitlements so they can go forward, social security, medicare, medicaid and stuff like that. the president refuses to address those things and that's why that number keeps getting bigger. >> i don't think that -- i believe that the president has suggested some trimming of entitlement programs that -- >> he does not talk about them in public. >> whatever he has suggested does not take effect until the year 2017.

that will be after any second term that he might get, ok? so there will be no change at all to the gorilla that's eating up our spending and creating this massive debt. no change, $16 trillion by election day. i think that puts debt right back on the front burner for the politicians. >> and you're going to be hitting that on your show today, stuart. >> we are, of course, 9:20. >> on the business network. there it is. stuart varney. varney & company. thank you, stuart. >> wearing the same necktie in that shot, by the way. >> no, that's darker blue in that shot. >> all right, fine. good to know. >> i see that subtlety. >> the other one had a gravy stain on it. >> did it really? i thought it was ketchup. >> no, it's not. >> moving on, president obama announcing drastic cuts to our military. will this be a huge liability for his re-election bid? liz cheney, daughter of former vice president dick cheney is up next. >> then north koreans being punished for not crying over their dead dear leader.

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>> 22 minutes past the hour. time for some quick headlines. north koreans who did not cry over the death of fallen dictator kim jong-il like these onlookers did are reportedly being punished for it. sources say sentences of six months in labor camps are being handed out by the country's hard

line regime which explains all the crying. and caught on camera, election officials reportedly handing ballots to people using the names of dead people to vote in the new hampshire primary. the video produced by a conservative group, the ballots not used but the attorney general is now reviewing voting procedures. let's go to eric. >> thank you, ali. president obama has announced drastic cuts to our nation's military. the president plans to roll back about a trillion dollars in spending over the next decade. >> as we look beyond the wars in iraq and afghanistan and the end of long termination building with large military footprints, we'll be able to ensure our security with smaller conventional ground forces. we'll continue to get rid of outdated cold war era systems so that we can invest in the capabilities we need for the future. >> the critics say the president is gutting the military and leaving the u.s. vulnerable so does this spell

trouble for his re-election bid. joining us now is liz cheney, a fox news contributor and the daughter of dick cheney. welcome to the fox family. >> thank you. good to be with you. >> let's talk about these drastic cuts in the military. weigh in on that. do we become a much more vulnerable nation? >> there's no question. i think in fact what president obama is doing is something that america's enemies, the taliban, al-qaida, have been unable to do which is decimate the fighting capability of this nation. when you look at his rhetoric, he talks about the need now that hostilities are over to cut our spending as though we're no longer at war, you know, he's acting as though this is a time for a peace dividend when we're not truly at peace. and i think it's irresponsible and i think it will be very, very difficult for him to convince the american people they ought to re-elect a president who in fact is so decimating our military capacity. >> liz, any surprise that the first cuts that were made to spending were in the military

instead of entitlements like maybe he had promised? au >> no, it's a very important point. if you're look at what's driving our massive debt, it's entitlement. this is a president who rather than deal with the tough entitlement program, rather than taking what simpson and bowles were able to do, he's cutting defense spending. i think it's irresponsible and i think that he's hoping that frankly while people's attentions are focused on what's going on in the primaries, what's going on in the republican side, they won't pay as much attention to the defense cuts, to the fact, for example, that he's pulling the troops out of afghanistan so quickly that our military commanders on the ground there believe the mission is at risk, particularly in eastern afghanistan. that he's pulled all the troops out of iraq. and we're now seeing very quickly disintegration there as well. >> take a listen to mitt romney on what he feels the risks -- some of the risks are to gutting the military.

>> if we re-elect president obama, they will have a nuclear weapon. if you elect me, they will not have a nuclear weapon. >> is this going to be a big 2012 campaign issue? >> i think so. you've seen estimates that iran is months, not years away from having the highly enriched uranium to 90% that they need to produce a sophisticated weapon and you've seen statements recently out of the chairman. joint chiefs of staff, for example, instead of saying absolute, the united states will defend the straits of hermuth and preven the iranians from shutting it down. he said it's important for the iranians to think we'll do that. it's hard to tell exactly what's going on but i worry very much the kind of weak rhetoric we're seeing will in fact encourage the iranians to do something that's very mistaken, that it could make us, in fact, more vulnerable and lead to more dangerous situations. >> that's the new member to the fox family. welcome, liz cheney, thanks for

joining us this morning. >> thank you. good to be with you. >> critics from both sides attacking romney over working for a company like bain capital. what was it really like? up next, a former employee who worked with mitt romney. and it's like something out of a movie, a dozen girls from the same town hall all come down with a mysterious case of turettes. is it something in the air? we report, you decide. first happy birthday to trace adkins who turns the big 5-0 today. happy birthday. [ male announcer ] what can you do with plain white rice? when you pour chunky beef with country vegetables soup over it... you can do dinner. four minutes, around four bucks. campbels chunky. it's amazing what soup can do. the calcium they take

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have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. if you've had enough, ask your dermatologist about enbrel. >> the state department issued a new travel warning yesterday telling americans to avoid syria. it's under things you should be doing already. >> we should have that after the show. unnecessary warnings. what is it? orbitz.com. >> i'm thinking of the place we buy the dog pillows. can you book a flight to syria? >> yeah, why not? >> i don't know. with a travel warning like that? >> you can probably buy a dog bed, though. >> i'm busy this weekend.

>> all right, we need to get right to your news because there's a very bizarre case in a new york high school happening after a dozen girls come down with the same mysterious illness that has them showing symptoms and signs of tourettes. school officials are telling parents not to worry and the school is safe. they can't release details on exactly what is causing this. one parent says a neurologist treating the teenager has told some parents that they have convulsive disorder. that's an illness that includes symptoms and seizures and paralysis of body functions. in our 8:00 hour, we'll be speaking with a psychiatrist and a neurologist about how this is even possible. well, apparently, it pays to fail. >> take it. if you want, you can go ahead. >> this is a favorite of yours. >> it pays to fail. solyndra, the solar company that went belly up after getting a half a billion dollar loan from the u.s. taxpayer now wants to hand out half a million dollars in bonuses to its remaining

workers. there are about 24 workers left there and the company says the money would keep them motivated while it goes through the bankruptcy process which could be stressful. >> yeah. >> they would be sad. >> meanwhile, it looked a lot like this familiar scene out of the hitchcock thriller in new jersey. that, of course, "the birds". a massive flock of blackbirds and grackles crowded the skies above franklin township. the noise drawing out crowds of people to check out the strange scene whipping out their sma smartphones to catch it all on video. this reminds us that the birds aren't attacking, they're just passing through before the snow starts to fall. >> at the moment. >> yeah. the city of philadelphia has already had 14 murders this year and the mayor is fuming. >> you want to act like an idiot? if you want to be an [beep], you want to be a low life in this town, we will track you down like the dog that you are. >> the mayor's harsh words

aimed at the suspect accused of gunning down three teenagers in a car this week. he's also criticizing the parents of the young victims. >> they should have been in bed, getting ready for bed or doing some homework. not out in a car. the least you can do is to know where the hell your kids are. >> the mayor says, unfortunately, the city cannot make laws to make parents more accountable for their children. all right. those are your -- that's your news. talk about sports. >> big, big football weekend, alisyn. sure to be an epic matchup, second round of the nfl playoffs kicks off in san francisco with the 49ers taking on the saints. this saturday, it will be a battle between unstoppable offense against impenetrable defense. the 49ers have five, five all pros in linebackers. patrick willis and bowman, defensive tackle justin smith and kicker david acres and punter andy lee have only had 10 giveaways but the saints are nothing to scoff at.

as they set nfl marks for total yards on offense and yards passing withdrew brees shattering dan marino's record. that's not the only playoff game. tim tebow will be leading the denver broncos include battle against the other guy and the new england patriots. it's tebow's body of work off the field that's getting him a new kind of attention this morning. take a look at this new ad jockey posted on its web site. it's a very bare tebow modeling nothing but a pair of briefs. not surprisingly, alisyn, jockey says its sales have gone through the roof since tebow signed on as their spokesperson back in july. they hope the new ad will further the trend. >> you know how much i like it? >> how much? >> i'm tebowing right now. >> are you? >> ok. by the way, tebow is just -- was just voted number one in espn's list of the most popular athletes. i guess popular athletes playing right now. one grandma in minnesota showing you're never too old to win.

87-year-old pat hanslick beat out the all boys -- all the boys to win a fantasy football league. she even beat out her own son. an avid sports fan, she earned some major bragging rights for the -- for this league especially from her grandkids. listen. >> some of them got injured and i had to pick up new ones. and some of the players just didn't do well at all so i dropped them. >> you could hear her. she's yelling at the refs and everything -- she's got some spunk in her. >> all right. she says she has no strategy whatsoever. steven? >> thank you very much, eric. look, she is tebowing. >> that made me fearful. that shot of tebow with no shirt. >> t. bare. republican frontrunner mitt romney has been taking major heat for what his critics have called vulture capitalism.

that's what rick perry calls it at bain capital but our next guest says romney's business experience should be seen as a major asset. he worked at bain for three years and is familiar how the firm worked. he's now a senior fellow at the manhattan institute and he joins us from san francisco. good morning to you. >> good morning. it's colder out here in san francisco than it is in new york. >> oh, boy. you'll be back in new york soon enough. let me ask you about this, when you were at bain, led by mitt romney, according to what i've heard, you guys were just looters. just out to make a buck. >> well, you know, i think that it's really funny because the whole culture of bain capital was about trying to turn around businesses and build businesses. you know, that was totally -- it was in the vains of every single person who was there. we were always trying to think about how to make businesses better and so it's -- it's -- it's been funny to watch -- watch this happen. you see a guy like steve ratner and the obama administration defending mitt romney against

newt gingrich. it's not something you see every day. >> that's right and the story this morning is that apparently, you know, come general election time, it may be hard for the president of the united states to criticize bain because apparently the white house hired bain to advise them on the car bailout and they suggested, you know what? administration suggested more dealerships are closed so bain and the white house were on the same page. >> yeah, it's not surprising at all. >> yeah. i guess not. >> ok. what about the suggestion that bain was just out to make a buck, they took over a bunch of struggling companies and in some cases took way too much money out and eventually they would go bankrupt? >> yeah, so i mean, one thing that's important to keep in mind here is if bain -- you know, bain, the investors in bain and the managers at bain have every incentive for the companies to succeed, right? because they're going to make a lot more money if those companies succeed and they successfully turn them around as

opposed to blowing them up by taking out too much debt. there's a question of just, you know, did they take out too much debt and sadly, -- saddling these companies with too much debt in the beginning. there's some cases they probably did too much of pulling out debt in the beginning and that's a debate that you can have but to say that bain capital is a corrupt company because of that, that's -- it doesn't make any sense, right? because if bain had been smarter and done things more prudently, it's a mistake they suffered from as well. they have no incentive to watch them destroy these companies but have much more incentive to actually have these companies drive because they'll make more money because of it. >> that makes perfect sense. that's capitalism. avik, before you go, some republicans have suggested that mitt romney needs a better defense of his years at bain. if you were -- i know you're a writer at national review in addition to the manhattan institute, what would you tell mitt romney to say about bain? >> i'd say a couple of things. i think it will be good -- the human stories are so important.

when ted kennedy ran against him in 1994, you know, that's what really killed him is the human stories of these people who were suffering, who got laid off from these companies. and really had some trouble as a result of it. i think what he needs to do is he needs to tell the personal, human stories or the people who had great jobs and who expanded, who saved money on their office supplies or whatever it was to tell the stories of how people really benefited and gained and grew from -- and how the economy was more dynamic because of the things that bain capital did. he's got to tell the human stories. can't just be an intellectual argument about capitalism. >> there you go. all right. you should know, you used to work at bain once upon a time. joining us from a chilly san francisco, sir, thank you very much. have a nice weekend. >> my pleasure. >> you bet. >> thanks a lot. >> still ahead, she's been prim, proper and very private for 60 years but now, queen elizabeth is opening up about things like her son's divorce. we go behind the palace doors coming up next. oh, goodie. then first the president used,

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i want power that dominates the road. and fuel efficiency that respects the earth. gimme 43 miles per gallon. and the rush of 200 horsepower. what i want is the best of both worlds. [ male announcer ] introducing the reinvented 2012 camry hybrid. from toyota. ♪ >> welcome back. it may have been a little late but there's no doubt the season's first snow storm is here now across the country and causing some big problems from the midwest all the way to the northeast. chris ranier is live in st. louis, one of the places hard hit by the storm. good morning to you. >> hey, steve. it is bitter cold the morning after the snow yesterday. we got a little flurry going on right now but black ice and refreezing are the big problems out here in st. louis this morning. let me give you a small taste of

this on an off ramp here. take a look. this is a solid sheet of ice and this is what drivers are going to be dealing with this morning in this area. we are just off interstate 64, also known as highway 40 in these parts in the western part of st. louis county. yesterday morning, this was an absolute mess. cars could not get up that little hill on highway 40 here. they had to shut the road down for about an hour yesterday morning. people were out literally pushing their cars off the free way. it was quite a sight. the missouri department of transportation has had 250 trucks out all night long cleaning off the roads, focusing on the bridges, the ramps, the overpasses, trying to get them as clean as possible. here's the thing about the storm. it wasn't a huge deal. we've soon a lot worse here in st. louis. it was just a couple of inches of snow but the timing was the big deal. it came in during the morning rush, crews got out and got that first set of treatment down, first plow, first salt, all of

that but then they got stuck in the traffic so they couldn't get back out there and hit it again before the refreeze happened and then it was a stand still all day long. cars not moving and people in traffic for hours. the hope is that overnight, it's given modot a chance to clean up so we won't see a repeat today. >> especially with that black ice out there. thank you very much. ali? >> thank, steve. what did queen elizabeth really think of camilla and charles' relationship? well, as england prepares to celebrate the 60-year reign of queen elizabeth, a new book is providing an intimate look at her life. sally bedel-smith is the author of elizabeth the queen, the life of a modern monarch. she joins us live now. >> hi, great to be here. >> you have all sorts of private and juicy details in this book. how did you get them? >> i was fortunate to have the cooperation of buckingham palace and i had access to her inner

circle of family and friends who were wonderful in giving me insights and information. i also had some access to private documents. i got journals and letters. nancy reagan, very kindly let me see all of the private correspondence that the reagans had with the royal family which was fascinating. >> i bet. what did you learn about particularly that very tragic and tumultuous time following diana's death? >> it was one of the most difficult periods of the queen's reign, and she was -- she was -- she didn't know a lot about what was going on until andrew morton wrote that book in 1992 that diana cooperated with and then lied to the family about. but the queen was very upset and i had an interview with the archbishop of canterberry at the time that she was worried that charles would throw his life away the way her uncle, king edward viii did when he married the duchess of windsor and had

to abdicate the thrown. she was concerned that would happen. >> throwing his life away would mean marrying camilla? >> well, yes. at that point. at that point. later on, obviously, after diana died and she became, you know, she got to know camilla better and she could see that camilla made her son very happy. and so camilla has been brought into the family. she's become a very hard worker in the royal family. and the queen likes her. she's a sporty down to earth. i've met her a few times. she's funny. and i think, look, for a mother, the most important thing is to have a woman make your son happy. >> let's talk about the queen's relationship with her grandsons. with william and harry because it seems to be very close. though i must say i heard some people say during the wedding with kate and will that the queen didn't look that happy. >> well, she once said she didn't have a naturally smiley face the way her mother did.

and other people who knew her said that when she's -- when she's very -- when she's feeling very emotional about things, that she tends to have a look like a sort of thundercloud. that it's her way of suppressing emotions. she was taught from childhood not to show her emotions in public. not to cry when she fell down, for example. and so that's what we were seeing. but really, she's been smiling a lot more these days because the monarchy is in such good shape. here she is, 60 years on the throne, second monarch in the history of 1,000 year history of the monarchy to reach that. it's going to be a glorious year celebrating that jubilee. >> well, sadly, we have to wrap it up now but people can obviously read more in "elizabeth, the queen, your new book." thanks so much for coming in and telling us all the juicy details. >> thank you. >> well, the department of justice says it has a good defense to president obama's controversial recess appointments but will it hold up?

judge andrew napolitano weighs in next. and she's emerged as a major player in the g.o.p. race after picking up his second spot in new hampshire. what has ron paul done to the republican presidential race? we'll ask our political panel at the top of the hour. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. can you enjoy vegetables with sauce and still reach your weight loss goals? you can with green giant frozen vegetables. over twenty delicious varieties ha sixty calories oless per serving and are now weight watchers-endorsed. try green giant frozen vegetables with sauce. a farewell long awaited. goodnight, stuffy. goodnight, outdated. goodnight old luxury and all of your wares. goodnight bygones everywhere. [ engine turns over ]

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>> a memo from the justice department finds that president obama's recent recess appointments are -- wait for it, legal. even though critics argue congress was not technically in recess, the ranking republican on the judiciary committee, senator chuck grassley says "the justice department opinion is unconvincing. its conclusion is at odds with the text of the constitution and the administration's own previous statements." >> our own judge napolitano, the host of "freedom watch" joins us live to analyze this.

the department of justice came out to say our boss did exactly the -- the right thing and the legal thing in making those recess appointments. >> without demeaning my profession, you can get legal arguments to support almost any position you want and when the president -- >> people try to invite -- >> exactly. when the president goes to the justice department and says i got to get this guy in office because the senate won't confirm him, give me some legal authority for it. that's what they do. this is a well written, well reasoned 28 page legal argument but there are a lot of flaws in it. and lawyers for, say, senator mitch mcconnell, the republican leader in the senate could have written an argument more convincing on the other side had this been a battle of lawyers. here's the problem. this document says the determination of whether the senate is in session or in recess is not made by the senate, it's made by the president. now, the constitution -- >> that doesn't make any sense. >> not only does it not make any sense, the constitution says the

senate shall be the judge and determiner and author of its own rules. the senate decides when it's in session and not. let's see, there are senators going to the floor of the senate every three days. it would seem to me the senate has decided it's in session and the president is not in a position to reject that. >> did the president, judge, ask a legal counsel their opinion prior to making the decision to reassess -- >> that's a great question, eric and we don't know the answer. >> why don't we know that answer? >> because the document was released yesterday and we don't know when the document was drafted. mr. cordray was appointed about a week and a half ago. >> right, and the thing that's stuck in the craw of a number of republicans is cordray was brought up on the -- by the senate and they simply didn't get enough votes to advance it. so essentially, it was killed off in the senate because they didn't get enough, a super majority so when everybody is on vacation, they go he's our guy. >> this will raise your blood pressure, i'm sure you know this. the senate can't touch his

salary. who pays the salary? the federal reserve under dodd-frank. every single president from george washington to president obama has from time to time waited until the senate was on recess and appointed someone that they thought couldn't get through the senate. that's the exception, not the norm. to these people in this document, it's the norm. >> didn't george bush want to recess appoint someone and decide not to when the senate did this exact same thing, every third day they'd hold somebody up there. >> both deferred to the senate and defied the senate with john bolton who was a recess appointment and guess who ripped into george bush for doing that? senator obama. >> what are the odds of that? so if the white house can set the hours for the senate, can the senate tell him what his hours are? >> very interesting if they tried. sometimes the congress is like a potted plant and it lets presidents get away with too much. just my editorial. >> all right. we'll be watching you tonight on the fox business network. >> thank you, guys. >> straight ahead on this friday morning -- >> is the president faking his

jobs record? the latest campaign plan to inflate the numbers counting unpaid internships, is that fair? we'll report, you decide. >> and it looks like a five star hotel room but it's actually beyonce's birth suite. we'll take you inside top of the hour. not going to want to miss it! bl? ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8.

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ah, well played sir. download the free hotels.com app and get exclusive mobile deals. hotels.com. be smart. book smart. >> good morning, everyone. it's friday the 13th. i'm alisyn camerota in for gretchen carlson. there's a new request to kick off the new year. president obama wants to raise the debt ceiling, remember this argument? by another $1.2 trillion. we're live in washington with a full report for you. >> and the president has a new strategy to make his jobs record look bigger counting on paid internships. that's great. >> ok. was that the kid getting me coffee? and meanwhile, parents paying to add their own curriculums to school if they don't like what's being taught. are schools so out of touch that parents are now in charge?

we'll tell you about that and so much more. "fox & friends" for this friday, the second hour starts right now. >> good morning, everybody. it's going to be a very lucky day. it's just going to be a very lucky day. fridays are great. ignore the screaming. fridays are great days. >> ahhh! >> 13 can be a great number. i'm fond of it but this is a strange year with three friday the 13ths instead of just two. don't anybody get alarmed. >> fine. look at that, january, april and july. usually a calendar year, too, but this year, three! something ominous? just the music. >> spooky. very sp!oo >> >>and the fake cat running across the set. >> you're unflappable and not superstitious, i bet. >> you know, steve is saying the backward cat. >> cat is backing up on me and it's been so to speak, and it's

been unlucky for me. i've already -- when stuart varney came in, i got a paper cut. auto you've a paper cut. >> you're next. >> i'm not believing this friday the 13th stuff. >> what's going to happen to eric? we'll find out. >> what's coming up? >> me? see, there it is. it happened already. the federal debt clock well over $15 trillion. still rolling. and as expected, the president asked to raise the debt ceiling again but republicans are fighting it. peter doocy live in washington with the latest. we knew it was going to happen. but it's still nonetheless something we need to talk about. >> that's right, let's talk about it. the president formally notified congress he wants to raise the debt limit $1.2 trillion. right now it's at $15.2 trillion. he says it needs to be at $16.4 trillion and here's how he laid it out. very straight forward in a letter, one sentence long that says in part, dear mr. speaker, i hereby certify that the debt subject to limit is within $100

billion of the limit and that further borrowing is required to meet existing commitments. sincerely, barack obama. the house and senate have 15 days from the time that letter was sent to vote on resolutions of disapproval. the budget control says they can vote no on the increase but if they do, the president still has the power to veto it and raise the debt limit anyway. so anything the house and senate do is basically just to be on the record expressing their dislike for a raised debt ceiling. speaker boehner's spokesman went on the record already yesterday and said that washington's mounting debt is a drag on our economic recovery and this request is another reminder that the president has consistently punted on the tough choices needed to reign in the deficit and protect important programs for american seniors from going bankrupt. the house majority leader, republican eric cantor said there's a spokeswoman yesterday we should expect the house to vote on their resolution of this approval on wednesday the 18th. it's going to be a while before

the senate does anything, though, they're in recess until the 23rd. back to you. >> all right, peter, thanks for the live report. all politics in washington. let's talk to presidential politics, they say look, if we were running the show we wouldn't be in the situation to borrow so much money. in the race to get the g.o.p. nomination, rick perry has been beating the anti-bain drum and he's now lost a donor. big one down in south carolina. fella by the name of barry wind says that perry's attacks on bain crossed the line. newt gingrich according to abc has gotten some pressure to lay off the attacks because apparently the donors are worried that it would brand him as anti-capitalist. >> right and barry wind himself is in that field so he doesn't like that rick perry has used the term vulture capitalists in speaking about mitt romney and this is the thing, too, this is significant for rick perry because obviously, we know that south carolina cost a lot of money to launch the air war that

you need with commercials there on television so him losing this support is significant. >> losing the support, losing the money, also opening the door to conservatives who are looking for anyone but romney. they might have to say maybe romney because look at what the other guys are doing. look at what gingrich is doing, look what rick perry is doing, attacking capitalism. let's talk about what private equity really is. private equity, again, emphasizes -- >> that's what bain capital did. >> right, bain capital. emphasis on private. no public money involved at all. they have a pool of money and they go in and look for companies that are vulnerable and yet have a good viable business. struggling for whatever reason. maybe they're pricing their product wrong. maybe they have too many employees. they use their own money, their own risk and they go in and make the company healthier. on the backside, they're usually left with a company that can survive recessions, survive economic environments. the three examples we used, two of the three examples we used earlier, domino's pizza went from 1998 bain initially jumped in bed with them.

1,000 stores, 16,000 employees to now they have 145,000 employees. >> right. >> let me get through it. sealy bedding company was going bankrupt. i remember this. they were going belly up and going out of business. there's a lot of competition. bain went in, helped them out, repriced their product and now they have 5,000 employees and staples, we know their story, 90,000, sports authority another example. so any way you slice it, any way you slice it, the remaining company, the remaining structure is a healthier company and literally hundreds of thousands of employees that may have -- that may have gone away didn't go away. >> i'm only laughing and all i did is inhale. he knows i'm gearing up. yes, there are success stories. but that's not what people are talking about. people are talking about the failures. there were also failures because obviously with capitalism there are successes and failures. that's how it works. sometimes there are winners and losers. that's how it works. >> that's the way it works. >> right, so what newt gingrich has said is that -- and i think it was he that talked about

georgetown, south carolina, and gaffney, south carolina where there were companies that bain took over that some could argue the people that worked there, worked there do argue would have still survived had bain not taken out so much debt and overleveraged them. >> right. every time a company is taken over and people, you know, earlier we described it as equity firm comes in and they say, you know what? this particular product, you ought to spin off. or you got bad management so let's change that or you got too many people or you've got a gigantic labor contract that you just simply can't make money with, we're going to have to make some changes. but at the end of the day, though, when you look at these companies, the private equity companies, it would be in their best interest and we just had somebody on who used to work for bain. he said they were -- the corporate culture was to grow business. it wasn't to go in, make a quick buck because the longer that business runs and those three examples you just gave are great. the longer the business runs,

the more money bain makes so if they went -- >> and the more employees. and the more jobs they create. >> if they went in and looted the till, and then ran back to boston, that would be one thing but if you can have the company run for another 20 years, it can make -- >> very quickly, it's capitalism. it's legal. it's market driven free marketism and for newt and perry and who ever wants to jump on that, the white house jump on that bandwagon saying it's anything but that is misguided and it opens the doors for conservatives who are looking for a reason to jump on the romney bandwagon because it's growing and growing, here it is. and you're hearing a lot of talk radio hosts who have been anti-romney now saying, you know, maybe it's time because this is -- it really honestly is bad. attack on capitalism and job creation. >> a lot of the hosts i've heard on the radio are not necessarily supporting romney. they're supporting capitalism. >> do you want to hear more from romney? nobody is saying that private

equity should go away. do you want to hear what happened at bain and why some of those companies failed. do you want an explanation or do you accept that sometimes people win and lose? e-mail us. you already do that. you know how to do that. friends at foxnews.com. >> obama administration trying to create jobs. during the last election, they promised those young people when you graduate from college, we're going to make sure that you have jobs. hope and change and it's all going to be waiting for you. >> they were faking it? >> fast forward to today. there aren't that many jobs out right now. and in fact, apparently the way the administration is going to entice the young people to vote for them again is they are going to have a summer jobs program. they are saying that private business is going to ante up something like 180,000 jobs which when you look at the economy is not that many but apparently only about 30 some percent of those jobs you can actually get a paycheck. the rest of them are unpaid internships. >> right. that's not really a job. if you're -- an internship is

different if you're noting being paid than what people generally consider a job but, of course, you can still get experience but it's different than what they had said previously. >> experience don't put beans on the table! >> yeah, baby needs a new pair of shoes. yes. >> remember when the stimulus was going to -- they were trying to pitch us stimulus, sell us on stimulus, was going to keep unemployment. and going to create four million jobs. when they realized that number was going to be unattainable, they said you know what? make that create or save four million jobs. this is just another attempt by the administration to kind of hide what's going on behind the scenes. reality is we've lost 1.7 million jobs under obama. >> here's what the labor department says about this. >> this is what they said previously about unpaid internships when they didn't like them a year ago. >> that's right. thank you, ali. >> you're welcome. >> she's reading the fine print. if you're a for profit employer or you want to pursue an internship with a for profit employer, there aren't going to be many circumstances where you

can have an internship and not be paid and still be in compliance with the law. >> right. that's what the department of labor felt a year ago in -- well, even more in 2010 and now, they're offering the majority of 70%, i guess of these jobs are going to be unpaid. ok. let's get to your headlines. lot more news to tell you about because many of you are waking up, well, with bad weather this morning. >> get out the shovel! >> courtesy of mother nature. look at this. from the midwest to the northeast, those areas are getting hammered right now with the first major snow storm of the season. this video is just coming in from holland, michigan, and you can see the morning commute will not be easy. it is slow going. speaking of the roads, the storm also being blamed for at least three deadly car accidents in missouri and iowa already. you know the drill. stay off the roads today if you can. and of course, you can bet that all the snow will add up to hundreds of flights being canceled today as well. the hardest hit airports, chicago o'hare and midway international. well, today is sentencing day

for joran van der sloot. he's the 24-year-old and he's coming a plea to the 2010 murder of stephanie flores in peru. he faces 30 years behind bars but he is expected to get much less because he pled. van der sloot also is the prime suspect in the disappearance of natalee holloway. the alabama teenager officially declared dead yesterday. she was last seen leaving a bar with van der sloot on may 30th, 2005. that's exactly five years after the day that holloway disappeared. that was when flores was murdered. it's got your flat screen tvs, a stainless steel kitchen and designer furniture. and oh, yeah, it's just beyonce's hospital room. tmz releasing these -- >> where's the bed pan? >> these pictures. yikes! of the posh hospital room where blue ivy was born. check out the mahogany walls, the hardwood floors and the hotel quality linens on the bed. the rooms run at about $700 to $800 a night. the couple spent $1.3 million to

rent out the entire floor. they live large. all right? >> they do. and there's some stories in the paper over the last couple of days where some families who also had babies simultaneously couldn't see their babies for a while and they're a little steamed. >> that's not good. >> no. >> 13 minutes, now, after the top of the hour. >> yes, it is. still ahead, is ron paul the new ross perot and is he doing damage to the g.o.p.? our political panel is about to duke it out on that one. >> plus, stop the arguing! we've gotten to the bottom of who is a better driver, men or women? >> men! >> what? >> stop it, you two. stop arguing. we have the definitive answer in a moment. >> you get into more accidents. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition.

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multigrain cheerios. >> after strong showings in iowa and new hampshire, ron paul becoming a force to be reckoned with in the g.o.p. race.

and it's making his rivals sit up and take notice. >> congressman paul's got some, you know, he's got some good ideas when it comes to the economy with the federal reserve and what have you, you know, where most people kind of go off the track with congressman paul is on his foreign policy and economically there's some things that congressman paul is talking about that are spot on. >> so what impact is ron paul having on the 2012 race? let's ask our political panel. editor in chief and big government blogger larry o'connor contributing editor at loop21.com and political consultant roger stone. so welcome to all of you. thanks for coming in. charles krauthammer has an interesting column today where he says the biggest story coming out of new hampshire was the 23% that ron paul got. is it time, roger, for everyone to start seeing ron paul as a real force in this election? >> he's very definitely a force. the point is it's never been

about him but about his libertarian agenda. the long term question is where do the ron paul's votes go? the libertarian national convention and it will be in all 50 states is in may and the republican convention is in august. so presumably, ron paul is precluded from a third party candidacy if he goes all the way to the convention with his delegates and then where will the paul votes go? will they go to romney? will they go to governor gary johnson as the libertarian nominee, will a few go to president obama? that's the question. >> i agree with this column, let me tell you why, the people that are supporting mitt romney are supporting him because think think he's electable, the people who are supporting everybody else is supporting him because he's not mitt romney and the people that are supporting ron paul are true believers. they believe in his candidacy. they believe in the fact that they think he stands for what he says. and so that's why it's really tricky for the g.o.p. because even people who are just like ok, if he doesn't win, we'll see what happens and go with someone else. >> larry, he puts libertarianism

on the map and what does that mean for this race sfl? >> it is interesting. i agree with roger, he's going to take this message to the convention. i was in iowa and new hampshire and my favorite thing to do is talk to his followers and talk to the people who show up at these events and there's a huge anti-war strain there. a really big part of the message is will he bring all of our troops home? it doesn't resonate with the republican party and doesn't resonate with republican voters so i think he's really going to the convention to try to make a difference in the g.o.p. platform long term frankly to hand this entire infrastructure over to his son. rand paul who is a senator right now and probably will be a more viable candidate in the future. we'll have a paul running for president for the rest of our lives. let's just say that. >> guys, stick around. we want to ask you many more questions. coming up, more on the race for the white house. candidates focus on south carolina, of course, but what are the voters focused on? we'll ask the panel about that next. plus rick santorum and some flattery, but they seem to be a

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>> you want your friday the 13th news by the numbers, here they are. first, $130 million. that's how much president obama reportedly raised in 2011 for his re-election campaign. raising speculation that he will not hit the billion buck mark. next 70,000. that's how many workers home depot plans to hire this spring. this comes as jobless numbers climbed after holiday workers were let go in the last week or

so. and finally 100,000 bucks, that's how much presidential candidate rick santorum has made selling those sweater vests on line. 100,000 dollars. that's smart marketing. >> because sleeves slow him down. all eyes are on south carolina as the g.o.p. candidates prepare for the next primary. who is up and who's down today and who is out soon? we're back with our political panel. roger, i want to start with you because you say this is the last hurrah for newt gingrich. what if he does well in south carolina? >> then what will he do in the mega state of florida? florida is the first large state with multiple markets. 30% of the voters in florida will vote in advance. they'll early vote or absentee vote. mitt romney is already concentrating on that early voting. there's little evidence that newt gingrich is. it's a state where dollars rule and i don't think newt gingrich will have the dollars. >> actually, the latest polls show he's within two points of

romney which the margin of error means it's essentially tied. that's a pretty big store. they say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. i'd say it's worse when there's a candidate scorned. i think that newt gingrich is going to stalk mitt romney on the campaign trail like glenn close going after michael douglas in "fatal attraction" he's not going to let it go. >> that's one of the problems that's making him look very small. his persona has been very large in terms of how he affects conservatives and republicans. >> you think that's making david axelrod who is the, you know, brains behind the obama campaign have arrived. >> are you kidding? he's like an evil scientist going yes, newt, do more, newt. this is money he doesn't have to spend. >> you're handing obama ammunition for the fall. >> then it's the answer that newt gingrich isn't supposed to point out any questions with bain capital or any of the rest? >> there are so many ways to go after romney. >> attacking free enterprise. attacking entrepreneurship.

attacking business. this is the republican party. if you want to talk about romney's flip-flop on abortion or flip-flop on gay marriage or raising taxes on businesses as the governor of massachusetts, those are all fair game but the one thing that newt could not afford to do is hear pet lent negative nasty and this is exactly what he's doing. >> i think he can't afford it. for him, it's the last hurrah. i think newt gingrich sort of knows if he's going to go out, he's going to draw that car off the cliff like thelma and louise and maybe he feels he can't attack mitt romney on the other issues. >> it's not his last hurrah. he's a champion to so many people and this is tarnishing his legacy. >> fine after he left the speakership. i think he thinks he can go back to tiffany. >> the dig. >> he'll be ok. >> that's a good example. this is the kind of attack that axelrod and the whole obama team will use against romney and gingrich is really spending all that money on their behalf right

now. it's horrible. >> that willie horton ad that was so devastating to michael dukakis, a lot of people forget that hurt the democrats. >> you weren't even born back then! for god's sakes. >> thanks for the spirited debate this morning. great to see you guys. >> let's go over to steve and eric. >> thank you very much, ali. >> still ahead, they went bankrupt after getting more than $500 million from us, the taxpayers. well, now, solyndra demanding bonuses for the people left here. >> plus it had oscar buzz did hollywood give former british prime minister margaret thatcher's character a fair shot? >> goed question. -- good question. [ male announcer ] in bli, even ragu users chose prego. prego?! but i've been buying ragu for years.

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before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. tell your doctor if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. if you've had enough, ask your dermatologist about enbrel. >> 2010 homeland security has been monitoring you tube. yeah. which explains why number four on the f.b.i. most wanted list is panda on a trampoline. >> why are they monitoring twitter and stuff like that? >> because there might be some terrorists on there. >> aren't you on twitter all the time? >> i see what you're implying.

>> i'm actually -- i think it's a good idea. i'm all right with that. >> if they're going to monitor the mosque down the street, i'm more than willing to monitor my facebook account. >> i'll be following you immediately. >> back off! >> let's get to your headlines and talk about this very bizarre case in a new york high school. after a dozen girls have come down with the same mysterious illness that has some them showing symptoms of tourettes. school officials are telling parents not to worry and the school is safe saying the cases have similarities but they won't release details on what's causing this. one parent says a neurologist treating the teenagers has told some parents that they have something called convulsive disorder. that's an illness that includes symptoms of seizures and paralysis of body functions. in our 8:00 east coast time, we are going to be speaking with a psychiatrist and neurologist about whether this is all even possible and how they explain it. go ahead. >> meanwhile, it pays to fail. solyndra, remember them? the solar panel company that went belly up after getting half

a million dollars worth of loan guarantees from us, the u.s. taxpayers? now, solyndra wants to hand out half a million dollars in bonuses to the people who remain in the work force. there are only two dozen left and the company says the money would keep them motivated while it goes through bankruptcy proceedings. they've done such a good job with the money so far. >> oh, boy. oh, here's some great news. some of the country's biggest airlines once again socking it to us with higher prices. this time they're charging an extra 20 bucks for most round trip domestic flights. at first it was just delta imposing the fare hike. seven other airlines are following suit including frontier, southwest, airtran, united, continental and u.s. airways. this just one of the many fare hikes you can expect to see this year. they're already too high. >> eric, listen up to this story. you're really going to enjoy it. remember that classic brady bunch episode where marsha beats her big brother greg in a driving competition?

>> i got to do it. i got to! >> the results of that battle of the bradys are now confirmed by a new study that says women are in fact better drivers than men. they're safer. the study says 80% of all fatal and serious crashes, eric, are by men and that women are 27% less likely to cause accidents. it's a proud moment for my gender. thank you, study. >> can you believe that? > >> my wife needs gps to go around the corner to the store. >> you better hope she's not watching! >> we're not as reckless. >> i'll give you that. and she was known as the iron lady and now a film about former british prime minister margaret thatcher's life in politics is being released on the big screen. >> with all due respect, when one has been to war. >> with all due respect, sir, i

have done battle every single day of my life. and many men have underestimated me before! this lot seems bound to do the same but they will rue the day. now, should i have another? tea. how do you take your tea, black or white? >> that's good. >> and apparently she's a better driver, according to the last story. >> that's right. critics say hollywood did not fairly depict one of britain's most iconic leaders. joining is john campbell the author of the biography that "iron lady" was based on and for the movie. what do you think of the movie's depiction? >> i think it's very good and i think it's a remarkably true and accurate portrayal of her personality and achievement. >> we're going to this movie tonight. meryl streep looks just like her and sounds just like her. >> she does. it's an uncanny impersonation and more than that, it's a

remarkable portrayal, piece of acting as well as it's not -- she's got the tics, she's got the voice and everything. she's got the whole spirit of the woman. >> right. in that clip we just showed, not only was she talking policy to that guy right there but then she turned around and said ok, how are you going to have your tea? how are you going to have your coffee? >> that's what she was so skillful at playing the -- she could be feminine when she wanted but she was very tough at the same time. >> she was tough. i remember seeing a lot of clips of her addressing parliament and she went right at those guys. they gave her a hard time and she turned around -- somehow, they got all of the crowd to like her whether they believe in her idealology or not. >> in the early days, they patted her on the head and said she was very charming and she didn't take that. she went and she demolished them very powerfully. >> it's interesting, one former british cabinet member doesn't like the depiction. and says she was never, in my experience, the half hysterical overemotional, overacting woman portrayed by meryl streep.

was she more subdued than meryl streep plays her? >> i think she was different things at different times. i think that was what norman pivet said but other colleagues that worked with her said she was exactly like that or indeed that one said, you know, meryl streep wasn't frightening enough. >> and does the movie go into the relationship with ronald reagan? because they were great allies. >> hardly at all. that's the only american that they feature in the film. it doesn't go into the reagan relationship at all. there's one shot of her dancing with reagan. but i think he's played by an extra. he's a nonspeaking part. >> is that right? >> so it's not -- reagan does not feature. >> it will be interesting and it opens today wide, as they say. "the iron lady" thank you very much for joining us live. >> thank you. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> all right, coming up, he's a former republican presidential candidate so what did he learn from his own run in 2008 that he would share with the candidates now? former senator fred thompson here next.

>> and parents are taking charge. now paying to add their own curriculum in schools because they don't like what's being taught. what's this say about our schools? >> but first, let's see how many kids with answer our trivia question of the day. how can you get back pain relief that lasts up to 16 hours? with thermacare heatwraps. thermacare works differently. it's the only wrap with patented heat cells that penetrate deep to relax, soothe, and unlock tight muscles for up to 16 hours of relief. that's 8 hours while you wear it, plus an additional 8 hours of relief after you take it off.

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slammed at this hour. that's where anita joins us live. what's it like there, anita? >> well, i'll tell you what, this is our first real blast of winter that we've seen here in chicago because we've had some really unseasonably warm weather and now, check it out. we've got snow all over the place. about 6 inches give or take here in chicago so the challenge for a lot of folks today will be that commute into work and even walking into work. right here, this sidewalk is looking pretty cleared off but there are other sidewalks on the side streets, people haven't been able to get to that yet. right here on the dan ryan, we have a lot of people hitting the brakes. that's because the roads are clear but wv a lot of icy patches. people will be driving along and they think they'll be fine. all of a sudden, they'll hit that icy patch. we recommend that people take it easy. we have cancellations at the airports. 400 cancellations at o'hare. 140 at midway. if you're planning on flying out today, you want to call ahead. back to you. >> anita, thanks so much for the

update. beware of those slick roads. thank you. let's go over to steve. >> good day for a hat. all right, ali. anita, thank you very much. listen to this. parents being now paying to add their own curriculums in the schools in new hampshire if they don't like what's being taught there. are the schools so out of touch parents are now in charge? joining us right now is kyle olson, the founder of education action group and the author of a book called "indoctrination" and joins us today from chicago as well where it's snowing. good morning to you. >> good morning. actually i'm in michigan where it's snowing more. >> ok. even better yet. kyle, so in new hampshire, what the state legislature has said now, if parents don't like the curriculum in the kids' school, they can change it. you know, the parents are going to have to pay for any curriculum changes. but what does that say about what's being taught in our schools today if the parents are saying, look, we don't like this, we got to mess with it. >> right, well, i think generally speaking, what we've got in public schools is a one

size fits all program. one size fits all curriculum. and so what the legislature has done in new hampshire is they have said we're going to return power back to the parents and so if parents object, if they don't like what's going on in the classroom, then they can say that they object and then the school district is then required to create an alternative curriculum that meets the needs of parents. >> ok. and if they do create that alternative curriculum, then the parents are going to have to pony up the cash to pay for it. is this in response to -- over the last couple of years, we've heard a number of parents and parents' group rise up and say the agenda is too liberal. we want some balance in the schools. is that what this is? >> i think it is. because it's interesting, there was huge majorities past this in the legislature. the democratic governor vetoed it saying he was going to create a burden on the schools. and they actually overwrote his veto by huge majorities and i think this opens up a broader

question and that is who is in control of the schools? and who are the schools designed to -- whose needs are the schools designed to meet? and obviously, i think the answer is parents. and so the legislature there said look at, we're going to put the parents in control. allow the parents to decide what is best for their children. and so that is what is going to be happening in new hampshire. >> yeah. it's kind of a sad commentary, though, because, you know, i love all my kids' teachers and i think teachers do a great job. and i think that the education should be left up to the educators. but in some cases, there's just some stuff that, you know, has run amok, unfortunately, but isn't this just a band-aid ultimately? over a bigger problem? >> sure. i mean, i think ultimately what needs to happen is you need to create a more fundamental school choice by creating voucher programs, tuition tax credit programs, those sorts of things. and so in two weeks, national school choice week is going to

be coming up where there are going to be events all over the country and people will be talking about these issues so what -- i think this is a step in the right direction in new hampshire. but fundamentally, they need to create more substantive, more broad school choice programs so parents can really do whatever they would like. >> ok. let's talk a little bit about a story we told folks about last week where in a school district in virginia, this outfit called kid pan alley came in and they were supposed to just help the kids write a song. it turns out the song they wrote was all about the occupy wall street thing and, you know, the kids were on the side of the 99. here's a portion of the lyrics. i used to be one of the 1%. i worked all the time. never saw my family. couldn't make life rhyme. then the bubble burst. it really, really hurt. i lost my money, lost my pride, lost my home. now i'm part of the 99. when we told the story last week, the school board was saying by the fact that that was

actually written by third graders. and we said no, that couldn't possibly be true. and as it turns out, kid pan alley has apologized. they did write the lyrics. >> that's right. what a shock! and so you connect that to new hampshire and you wonder why parents are objecting to what is going on in the schools? i mean, it just -- it's incredible that finally this organization would come out and say look at, we wrote the lyrics. it won't happen again. but we'll have to wait and see because school districts will continue to bring this organization into their classrooms and so parents need to be vigilant and again, going back to new hampshire, if they don't like what's going on, they need to stand up, object and do something about it. >> all right. and as you have said, and i know it's the title of your book, "indoctrinati "indoctrination" and even as seemingly as simple as a little song is with third graders, you feel it is planting that seed in those young minds. >> absolutely. it's planting that seed, it's

getting them comfortable with those terms like the 99% and the 1% and so parents have to be vigilant. >> all right. kyle olson, joining us today from snowy michigan. thank you, sir. >> thank you very much. >> all right. we're going to step aside. straight ahead, former republican presidential candidate fred thompson talks to us about his run in 2008 and offers up some advice for the g.o.p. candidates as they prepare to win over south carolina. meanwhile, on this date back in 1980, michael jackson has the number one song in america. "rock with you." [ male announcer ] where's your road to happiness? what ithe first step on that road is a bowl of soup? delicious campbell's soups fill you with vegetable nutrition, farm-grown ingredients, and can help you keep a healthy weight. campbell's -- it's amazing what soup can do.

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>> well, the answer to the

question of the day is julia louise-dreyfuss and the winner is from west virginia. >> congratulations. >> as the race for south carolina heats up, many believe it may come down to a split vote because of the large number of candidates in the race and that's what governor huckabee said happened to him in 2008 with fred thompson. listen. >> john certainly encouraged fred to stay in, i think everyone understood fred knew he was not going to get the nomination. i don't blame john, i don't blame fred. they were good friends. many people in the mccain camp have since confirmed, you know, he said please stay in. i need you in south carolina. primarily in the upstate where i had my strength. but, you know what? that's politics. that's what happens. it was an honest, a good, a straight forward political move on his part. i had to congratulate him for it. it was very painful at the time. >> and it split the voice and joining us right now with his response is former republican presidential candidate fred thompson. fred, good morning to you, senator. >> good morning. >> so you were watching

yesterday when mike huckabee was on this program and he said that you stayed in the race because john mccain asked you to stay in the race to split the vote so that huckabee wouldn't win. that's what he said yesterday. and your response is? >> minding my own business, having my second cup of coffee, contemplating the election in general terms and the future, and mike wanted to revisit the campaign last time. i -- you know, what mike just said is fine except for one thing. there's not one shred of truth to it. >> so senator mccain never asked you to stay in the race. >> senator -- correct. senator mccain and i never had a conversation about staying in the race, staying out of the race. i think he called me the day after iowa, i had beat him by like, you know, 15 votes or something in iowa and he called and told me he was going to demand a recount or something. we had a good laugh and i didn't

talk to him until after south carolina was over with. i didn't endorse john until after super tuesday. if i had wanted to hurt huckabee, i would have stayed in and as we went down to tennessee and places -- or i would have endorsed john before then so we didn't have a conversation about it. we didn't have a conversation with the intermediaries, you know, person -- representative to representative, there was nothing said about that. i mean, if you know me and if you know john, that's not us. and it's probably not a big deal. i've heard speculation, you know, for a while. and there's always speculation. there is speculation about west virginia last year. when romney was supposed to win and they were saying that , you know, the reason huckabee won at the last moment is because huckabee's people and mccain's people got together and threw it to huckabee and all that. it's all baloney, you know. mike has been around long enough to know not to inhale all that stuff too deeply and when he

says several mccain people have come to him and verified it, i must say, you know, i have nothing at all against mike huckabee, but i doubt that. i doubt that. and if they did, he should name the names. >> apparently -- >> just a little rewriting of history. >> thank you for clarifying that. >> let's move on to what do you see? what would you tell the candidates before next saturday's big primary in south carolina? >> well, you know, if i knew very much about running for office in south carolina, i probably would have done better than i did. but -- >> you did pretty well. >> i'm going down there next friday and going to be speaking to the party. and not as anyone's advocate but talking about the party and talking about the future of the party, what we're going to need to do, fact that we are at a turning point in this country and the importance of what they're doing, the importance of

this -- this next election and of the future of our country. things of that nature. i see at a distance the fact that, you know, they're in a battle royale down there and that's nothing -- that's nothing unusual. i think that , you know, the question down there now has to do with mitt's business experience, and i say, you know, let them have it. i mean, it's very difficult to start taking things off the table and say you can't discuss this. can't discuss that. i have a lot of respect for mitt. he's done a lot of good things. i like very much his wife and all of that. but you can't unload the unbelievable amount of money and negativity that he did in iowa on his colleagues and then complain that they're not fighting by the rules. >> that's a good point. >> in south carolina.

and when he says that -- >> senator, we got to leave it there. i'm afraid we'll get a hard out in a couple of seconds here. >> good to know you watch "fox & friends" in the morning. >> ok. >> thank you very much, senator. >> the pentagon scrambling to contain outrage over video showing marines urinating on corpses. dad, why are you getting that? is there a prize in there? oh, there's a prize, all right. [ male announcer ] inside every box of cheerios are those great-tting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholester. is it a superhero? kinda. ♪ i'm forty-nine years-old, i love gardening, and i love volleyball. i've been taking osteo bi-flex for several years now. i really can't see myself not taking it. osteo bi-flex is a great product. i can go back and do gardening with comfort. [ male announcer ] osteo bi-flex, the glucosamine chondroitin supplement

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>> alisyn: good morning, everyone. it's friday, january 13. i'm alisyn camerota. a new request to kick off the new year. president obama wants to raise the debt ceiling by another $1.2 trillion. we've live in washington with a full report. >> steve: the pentagon scrambling to contain outrage over video showing marines relieving themselves on taliban corpses. geraldo rivera is also outraged, but the reason why may surprise you. >> eric: and what if for better or for worse gets worse? should one spouse have to pay a lifetime of alimony? no. we report, you decide. "fox & friends" starts right

now. >> steve: i was just answering the geraldo alimony question foo rivera. >> alisyn: we'll get to that shortly. >> steve: good morning, ali and eric. thank you for joining us. >> eric: thanks. >> alisyn: great to be with you. let's he get o your headlines. many of you are dealing with a rude awakening this morning courtesy of mother nature. from the midwest to the northeast, to those areas are getting hammered at this hour with the first major snow storm of the season. this is what it looked like in st. louis right now. at this hour, people are definitely putting the four wheel drive into good use for their commutes. the storm already is being blamed for at least three deadly car accidents in missouri and iowa. people are being urged to stay off the roads if you can. if you plan to fly today, call

ahead. la guardia airport seeing major delays, which could turn into cancellations. you can expect the same at chicago -- owe o'hair and midway anders behring breivik found to be legally insane a court is ordering a new evaluation because of widespread criticism of the initial findings which recommended he receive psychiatric treatment instead of prison time. he confessed to the bombing and shooting spree that killed 77 people over the summer. today is sentencing day for joran van der sloot. the 24-year-old coming a plea in the 2010 murder of stephanie flores in peru. he faces 30 years behind bars, but is expected to get much less. he also is the prime suspect in the disappearance of natalee holloway. the alabama teen-ager was officially declared dead

yesterday. she was last seen leaving a bar with joran van der sloot on may 30, 2005. exactly five years after the day she disappeared, flores was murdered. heather locklear rushed to a hospital in los angeles after her sister called 911. she's said to be in in danger and doing fine today. tmz reports she was hospitalized after mixing alcohol and prescription meds. in november, she and jack wagner broke off their engagement. she's been hospitalized several times in recent years. that's too bad. we'll keep you posted on that. those are your headlines. >> eric: the federal debt well over $15 trillion and counting. as expected, the president is asking to raise the debt ceiling again but republicans are fighting it. peter doocy live with the latest. what's the spin like now? >> yesterday was a one sentence letter to congress. the president said the debt ceiling needs to go up $1.2 trillion. it's a $15.2 trillion today. this would raise it to

$16.4 trillion. we've got a copy of the president's letter. it is all business. it says in part, dear mr. speaker, i hearby certify the debt subject limit is within $100 billion of the limit and that further borrowing is required to meet existing commitments, sincerely, barak obama. from the time they opened that letter, congress has 15 days to vote on resolution of disapproval, which would belong this request. the president has his veto, allowing him to override the house and senate. any disapproval from either chamber would mostly serve as a way for lawmakers to go on the record and express how much they don't want this limit raised. speaker boehner's office has gone on the record yesterday saying washington's mounting debt is a drag on our economic recovery and its request is another reminder that the president has consistently punted on the tough choices needed to rein in the deficit and protect important programs

from going bankrupt. next wednesday is the day that the house is going to vote on their resolution of disapproval. that's according to a spokeswoman for the house majority leader, eric cantor. it will take longer for the senate to do anything because their recess goes until the 23rd. back to you. >> steve: thank you. let's dial in now, geraldo rivera, who joins us live. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> steve: nice to have you. shocking youtube video, four marines relieving themselves -- >> shocking, dead people. >> alisyn: deplorable. >> outrageous, but war is ugly, ago san. that's the thing about it. it's not charging up a hill with fixed bayonets and drums beating. it's watching your buddy's legs getting blown off. it's watching your dearest friend get killed by a sniper. it's watching videos of terrorists chopping american's heads off. >> alisyn: agreed. but does that justify what's

happening in this photo? >> you just have to put it in context. i remember once, a quick story, early in the war, november in 2001 in northern afghanistan. filled as i was with all the bitterness of losing so many friends and family -- not my family, but neighbors down in the world trade center. so we go to afghanistan. they have a real intense battle. they round up all these al-qaeda and taliban prisoners. they were in an airless van. the trailer. i went in there and i swear i wanted to strangle them with my own hands. i was so filled with rage. there they were, the embody i want of the enemy. so here they have these dead guys who had been fighting them, have been killing their friends and remember, our marines are young people and they're stressed. i don't forgive anything. i just urge people to put it into context. >> steve: you understand. >> these are warriors whose fellow warriors have been maimed and killed and assassinated and

blown up and now they have the instrument of all that misery right in front of them, you know. it's unfortunate. i urge everybody, you want to put a juxtaposition of those, you know, desecration with the beheading of our living, breathing people, i think you can see a context here. i just urge mercy for these marines. let them, if that's what is the intent, retire quietly and go off into the wild blue yonder. i don't think criminal prosecution is at all necessary or called for. i think it's unfortunate and an apology is necessary. >> eric: how do you think karzai will spin it? lately his rhetoric hasn't been too friendly to the u.s.? >> he's deeply flawed leader. no doubt about it. but he's the one that we're stuck with. he's the president of

afghanistan. he's saying harsh things, as he has to for his domestic consumption. panetta is matching him, hit for hit in terms of saying how awful it is. we all admit that it's awful and it's very distressing to watch. there is nothing funny about it. but having said that, again, i go back to the fact that these guys are so stressed there. i was with the marines, with the six marines. this is the second reserve. i saw walking those dusty roads, you never know when it's going to blow up in your face, you know. you see a 21-year-old kid with his legs cut off above the knee because he stepped on an i.e. d. you see a guy getting his head shot from a snipe prosecutor afar, from some far off palm grove. these are very, very difficult situations. >> alisyn: but does the u.s. need to punish them more than just letting them go off quietly

into the sunset to send a message that we don't tolerate this sort of thing and that it won't happen again? >> we clearly don't tolerate it, but here is the distinct i make between be a grab and a -- abu u ghraib. these are combat soldiers who live in the most stressful environment possible and if you can plead in a criminal court for mercy because someone is so stressed out for justifiable and understandable reason, then certainly these marines deserve -- yes, we are disappointed deeply in what you've done. yes, we want you to apologize to the families of these people. but please, let's not go overboard and make victims of young men who have just been serving their nation. >> steve: i just don't get how and why so many people have to chronicle everything. i'm going to take pictures with

my iphone and put it on youtube. and i'm going to destroy lives as people have done with their own facebook photographs. >> there will be no privacy. any picture you take will be a public picture. everyone has to know that. there are no inside information anymore. everything that is secret will be public. >> steve: what's on your show this weekend? >> a lot of politics. we're tracking down what in the world is happening. ron paul is so fascinating to me. i think mitt romney has got it wrapped up, but i think ron paul is the most fascinating political phenomenon in recent years. >> steve: he's not a candidate. he's a cause. >> he's a cause, but very interesting and says so much about the 21st century. a lot of g.i.s are digging what he's saying about no more foreign ventures. let's rest the troops. >> steve: when you see gis, you mean what? >> eric: i'm guessing not the ones i'm thinking. we can go into that another time.

>> alisyn: let's talk about alimony. just kidding. >> steve: have a great weekend. >> thank you very much. >> alisyn: coming up, don't mess with this mayor. >> you want to act like an idiot, you want to be a (bleep), a low life in this town, we will track you down like the dog that you are. >> alisyn: wait until we explain what has him so fired up. >> eric: then another example of regulations gone wild. american oil companies with being fined for not using mandated biofuels. but guess what? those biofuels haven't even been invented yet. >> steve: makes it harder to buy them wake up!

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>> eric: has the federal government gotten slick with oil companies that supply motor fuel, they'll pay millions of dollars to the treasurely for 2011 and the penalty also go up in 2012. why? because the oil companies are not mixing a certain biofuel into their diesel and gasoline as the law requires. here is the thing, that biofuel doesn't exist. joining us now, environmental consultant and author, rich. tell us about the fuel that they're specifically fining companies for. >> hey, eric. thanks for having me. as opposed to traditional ethanol, made from corn, the sugars in corn, this would be made from cellulose, found in all kind of plant life, twigs, peanut shell, whatever. but the technology to maketh knoll out of cellulose is not

commercially viable yet. >> eric: very familiar, 23 years in the oil industry, even ethanol, let's talk about ethanol for a second, is that a true substitute for gasoline? even when they blend it, we run into a lot of problem, do we not? >> we do, because ethanol, as you know, absorbs water. as you raise the percentage of ethanol and gasoline, it affects the gaskets, seals, rubber, all those things in your engine tremendously. and there is also -- it's a trade-off. you get certain types of pollution when you use ethanol that you don't when you use gasoline. >> eric: sure. so now the government wants us to use ethanol. they want us to use the other blend. but when we don't blend our fuels with it, they're allowed to fine the oil companies. do the oil companies have to pay? >> well, you know, they targeted this fine at a level that consciously the oil companies will make the decision, it's probably cheaper to pay then

take them to court. but interestingly, the law specifically that directs the epa administrator to examine whether cellulose ethanol is available and if not, lower the amount. the administrator, jackson, did not follow the law and did not do that, chose to fine the evil oil companyies. >> eric: i can reduce the price of gasoline by one dollar immediately. you eliminate all the blending requirements that the epa requires for winter grades, summer grades, ethanol, et cetera. let refiners blend the way they want. >> let the free market actually work. what a novel idea. i am voting for you. >> eric: i'm not looking for the vote. i'm saying, would that drop the price of gasoline? >> absolutely it would, eric. if you let the free market do its job rather than having these mandates that force the blends, absolutely it would lower the cost of fuel. no doubt about it. >> eric: we'll leave it there. rich, thank you very much, sir.

>> thanks for having me. >> eric: still ahead, north koreans being punished for not crying over their dead leader enough. can i do quickly become oh, oh? should one spouse have to pay the other if the marriage ends. judge jeanine answering this one are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. but think about your heart. 2% has over half the saturated fat of whole milk. want to cut back on fat and not compromisen taste? try smart balance fat free milk. it's what you'd expect from the folks at smart balance.

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>> eric: quick headlines. north koreans who didn't cry over the death of fallen leader kim jung-il, like these onlookers did, are reportedly being punished for it. sources say sentences of six months in labor camps are being

handed out by the country's hard line regime. we've all seen this scene out of alfred hitchcock's movie "the birds." it became very real in one part of the country. check this video out from a cell phone. massive flock of birds, black birds above franklin township, new jersey. these birds were just passing through. alisyn. >> alisyn: thanks so much. should a broken marriage break your bank account for life? there is a new push to end lifetime alimony in one state, new jersey. other states are also considering it or have already passed it as massachusetts has. is this a good idea? >> steve: let's talk to the host of "justice," judge jeanine on the curvy couch. this has gone on for decade where is if you've been married for a while or haven't and the woman or the man doesn't have means to support themselves, they should get alimony for life. >> alimony is based on the notion that generally women gave up their careers, they gave up the chance to work, to get into

the work force and when they get divorced, they don't have that chance to get back into the work force. >> alisyn: at one time that was true. >> it was true, therefore, they got alimony or spousal support. now there is a movement saying, wait a minute. everything can work. >> steve: nothing is stopping you. >> yeah. massachusetts has already eliminated lifetime alimony. and other states are rethinking the concept saying, should it be 'til death do us part? should we have to pay this person that we were married to? a lot of people are saying absolutely not, especially in this economy. >> alisyn: because as you point out, things changed since the 50s and so if somebody has to pay lifetime alimony, that could bankrupt them now adays. >> there is also the thinking that with this lifetime alimony, that generally stops if you remarry or you move in with someone and have a romantic relationship. what it does is keeps them together in some kind of a bitter relationship where for a modification, you then have to go back to court, pay your lawyers, get the whole negative

thing going, and maybe it ought to be, look, if you change the law, maybe you put 25 years in, you should have to pay 25 years. or you were married seven years, you have to pay seven years. but the whole idea of lifetime, you can do a lot more things and get out of jail sooner. >> steve: what about for the people who currently are paying or receiving lifetime alimony, if they live in one of those states that's considering a change, would it impact them? >> no, it's not retroactive. a contract is a contract and you can't change it. one of the things that really is unfair, think about it, a woman is a higher paying earner. her husband decides that he's going to have an affair and marry her best friend. she then has to pay alimony to her husband who didn't make as much and he married her best friend. so we have to take into account -- >> steve: doesn't it end with he marries her? >> alisyn: doesn't it end with remarriage? >> no, because what he can do, depending upon the state, is say look, i'm now in a relationship. say he doesn't marry her. i'm in a relationship with her best friend and she should have

to pay me. or the wrong tooer says, wait a minute, i can't get a job unless i get a medical degree, law degree and ph.d., therefore, let me stay in school. the whole concept is rooted in the notion that a woman has been a slave or involuntary servitude and therefore should be paid for the years she pud -- put in doing her wifely duties. >> alisyn: the hall phony matching the -- alimony matching the length of the marriage. i think it's a great idea. >> you put in five, you pay five. >> alisyn: is there a mathematical calculation in states to figure out? >> no. but judges -- i'm a judge. they can frame any kind of thing that they want to. the length of the marriage, who is working, who isn't, who can get a job, who can't. i like you, you're prettier. it's very subjective. >> steve: it is. what are you doing this weekend on your show? >> we've got a lot going on, especially with the woman who a is missing, whose sneaker was

found. we've got sarah palin on, we'll be talking politics with the governor huckabee, lot going on this weekend. we're on at 0:00 o'clock this weekend -- 10:00 o'clock this weekend. >> alisyn: thanks. one mar forced to defend his own home against an intruder. >> he was out there and so i got my gun out of a drawer, went around there and let him have it. >> alisyn: we have more of his bold move coming up. >> steve: then, attacks on venture capitalism coming at mitt romney from both sides. but is it benefitting him? chris wallace talks about the governor's new number when is we roll on live from new york city. >> alisyn: judge, you know what? it's friday the 13th. are you aware of that? look at that. [ male announcer ] in bli, even ragu users chose prego. prego?! but i've been buying ragu for years.

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>> election update. political experts are saying mitt romney's lack of support in the latino community could cost him the presidency. but today romney said, i will never pander to any one group or (speaking spanish). >> steve: very good. mitt romney has family in mexico. >> alisyn: that, we know. >> steve: he's part of our fox family. we're talk being chris wallace,

down in our capitol. good morning to you, sir. >> hola. >> (speaking spanish). >> steve: what do you make of what's going on in washington, d.c. where historically, the republican party has been the pro-capitalism party and yet over the last week or so, newt gingrich has taken to beating up mitt romney on being a capitalist at bain? >> it's really interesting. we're going to get into this in some depth on sunday because you're exactly right. the republican party has traditionally prided itself on being the party that supports the free enterprise system, markets, capitalism. but newt gingrich, he's the one, and rick perry as well, who are really going after mitt romney are saying that the difference between normal capitalism and this private equity, they say it's corporate rating, looting of companies. i know eric bolling, 'cause i

saw his exchange with newt gingrich yesterday, doesn't necessarily feel that way. but we're going to talk about it on sunday with rick tyler, a long-time advisor to gingrich and one of the people running the super pac and one of the people putting out the ads on when mr. romney came to town, and the head of the club for growth, a conservative group that is really going after romney -- rather gingrich and saying that these attacks on romney's business record and practicing the free enterprise system are, quote, disgusting. should be a very interesting debate. >> eric: i'm available. just tell me where to be and what time. i'll be there. but you may want to dig a little deeper and maybe distinguish between corporate raiding and a private, private, emphasis on private, equity. corporating doesn't involve risk. >> i understand the difference. i'm simply saying that's what the gingrich and perry are saying when they talk about --

in perry's cakes not venture capitalism, but vulture capitalism. >> alisyn: that's the distinction rick perry has train and in fact, he lost a big donor and a big supporter in south carolina. it was just announced as a result, somebody who is in private equity and doesn't like the term vulture capitalism. but i wonder if people in washington are talking that it is fair to look at mitt romney's background and to look at exactly what happened at bain. does he owe voters more of an explanation? >> well, look, it absolutely is fair, anything is fair game in a campaign and the other point that needs to be made, alisyn, is the fact that if romney does become the nominee, it's going to come. if not from gingrich and the republican, it's going to come from obama and the democrats. it may be in its own way a service to romney that he has to deal with it now, that he has to formulate his arguments and maybe to a degree if he's able to make convincing arguments to inoculate the public on this so

it doesn't have as much power when obama and the democrats bring it up next fall. >> steve: there is an interesting development, i'm sure it has crossed your desk, 'cause you've got a large desk with a loft news. that is maybe the white house can't really beat up mr. romney on bain so much because they're going to make the argument they did a lot of bad stuff that bain -- at bain, but it turns out it looks like bain consulted this administration on the car bailout. and their advice was, you know what? there are too many dealership, so you're going to have to close a bunch of them. so the argument then would be, attack them, so many people are attacking bain, then why did you hire them? >> and there are arguments about the fact that when the government got involved in supporting solyndra, you know, solyndra ended up losing jobs and going bankrupt when the government got involved in general motors and you're talk being that with bain capital. in addition to this subject, we're also going to have somebody who may benefit from this fire fight going on between

gingrich and romney and that is rick santorum who finished in a dead heat with romney in iowa, should do better in south carolina, which has more social conservatives. and he interestingly enough, although he certainly is going after romney, not on this subject. he says, he think it's hypocritical and really against republican principles to attack a guy who was involved in the free market system. he says that's the basis of what our party stands for. so he is not following gingrich's lead on that subject and he might benefit from both of them taking some hits in south carolina. >> steve: he's going to try to sell you one of those sweater vests. >> alisyn: i'm sure you have one. >> if you have a certain physique and i really think about this in terms of brian, not an attractive look. >> alisyn: it can actually enhance a muffin top. it accentuate has muffin top. >> eric: i'll take tebow at 14. you want any of that lunch, wallace? >> oh, i would absolutely pick the patriots. >> eric: lunch, loser buys lunch

for the other one. i'll send you something. >> alisyn: all right, chris. >> we'll do it in new york. i'll come to new york and you can buy me lunch at the restaurant of my choice. >> eric: and if i win, you have to tebow at lunch. >> steve: on the table. >> alisyn: that's better. check your local listings for fox news sunday. let's get to your headlines. a lot more to tell you about. the brave actions of an elderly woman forced to strap a bomb to her ankle in an attempted bank robbery helped police make an arrest. police say 60-year-old paul bradley was a friend of the elderly couple. they say he wore a mask, tying up the husband in their home and strapping a fake bomb to the wife's ankle. when 73-year-old betty davis -- really her name -- walked inside the bank, instead of going along with the masked man's man, she told a teller what was going on and she ran outside. >> he said he was going to do, that he would blow it up and it would blow the bank and hurt all

them people. and i just couldn't see that. i mean, i am old. i've led a long life. good life, and i certainly didn't want nobody injured because of me. >> alisyn: she is a brave lady. >> steve: way to go. >> alisyn: she later gave police a description of the car. she was taken to the bank in, helping lead them to bradley. >> eric: defense secretary panetta not mincing words. here is what he had to say when a soldier asked him about a military strike on iran. >> we are ready for any situation that may develop there and that means we have to keep all options on the table. >> eric: specifically panetta said the u.s. will not tolerate iran building nuclear weapons or blocking the strait of hormuz. that's crucial because it serve has passageway for one fifth of the world's oil. iran has been threatening to close it down should the u.s. and other western nations impose

even more sanctions. steve? >> steve: meanwhile, the city of philadelphia has already had 14 murders this year and the mayor is fuming. >> you want to act like an idiot, if you want to be an (bleep), a low life in this up to, we will track you down like the dog that you are. >> steve: wow. did he know he was on camera? the mayor's harsh words aimed at the suspect accused of gunning down three teen-agers in a car this week. but he's also criticizing the parents of the young victims. >> they should have either been in bed, getting ready for bed, or doing homework. not out in a car. the least you can do is to know where the hell your kids are. >> steve: taking responsibility. the mayor says, unfortunately, the city cannot make laws to make parents more accountable for their kids. he's right. >> alisyn: he did what he had to do, a fellow in a man shooting and killing a would-be robber who was trying to break into his home. >> i didn't want him to get me.

i did a good thing. he's trying to break in your house what, do you think you ought to do? >> alisyn: he said the choice was clear. he shot him through the back door action hitting him in the stomach. police say robins acted within his right. burglaries have been on the rise in the area and they're glad that someone finally took a stand. >> eric: get er con. >> steve: it may have been a little late, but the season's first major snow storm is here in portions of the midwest and it's causing big problems from there to the northeast. chris is live in st. louis, missouri, where the sun is up and people are slip sliding behind you, chris. look out. >> oh, yes. no doubt. winter is here. black ice and refreeze, the biggest news here with the bitter cold temperatures in st. louis, wind chills in the single digits. look at this. this is a sheet of solid ice on

this offramp from the freeway here. this is what drivers are dealing with this morning. we are just off interstate 64 behind me right there. also known as highway 40. in these parts. part of the highway here was shut down during the height of yesterday's snow storm because of icy conditions. the missouri department of transportation or modod has been out here with 340 trucks, trying make the roads as clean as possible. they told me this morning that the overnight focus was on bridges and overpasses like you see there, also ramp, out issue roads and many of the rural routes in our area. yesterday's storm was not huge, only two to three inches, but it was the timing that caused such chaos. it hit right before the morning rush hour. the crews were able to get out, salt, plow that first round off, but by the time they got back to treat it again, the traffic was so bad with the morning rush that it froze before they could get there and the trucks were

stuck in traffic. the head of modot for the state says that's no excuse, we should have done a better job and let me tell you, the folks here in st. louis, many drivers were outraged yesterday sitting in traffic for hours on end, just not moving. quite a scene. back to you. >> steve: thank you. >> alisyn: all right. coming up, battling ballot fraud. republican party officials in indiana are now taking action and eric sean has that story next. >> eric: is it something in the air or a weird pact? first, let's check in with "fox & friends" weekend. what's up? >> i'm going to help dave. >> join me this weekend. football and faith, is it a match made in heaven? with tebow main i wouldn't sweeping the nation, fran tarkenton tells us why he thinks it's just what the sport and america needs right now. and the story of the airman

soars on the big screen. one of the film stars, actor terrence howard, will join us, that's all this weekend starting at 6:00 a.m. eastern time. will you join me. >> alisyn: you're not alone. >> thank you. i appreciate it. >> alisyn: we'll see you then. see you tomorrow. i couldn't concei this as a heart attack. the doctor leaned over and said to me, "you just beat the widow-maker." i was put on an aspirin, and it's part of my regimen now. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. go see your doctor now.

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can you enjoy vegetables with sauce and still reach your weight loss goals? you can with green giant frozen vegetables. over twenty delicious varieties ha sixty calories oless per serving and are now weight watchers-endorsed. try green giant frozen vegetables with sauce. >> steve: welcome back. we've been telling you about this. republican party officials in indiana trying to prevent the type of alleged fraud that may have knocked newt gingrich off the primary ballot in virginia. fox news senior correspondent eric shaun joins us now. >> eric: what's indiana doing to prevent this? >> these are petition, presidential petitions. you have to sign to get on a ballot here in this country. we have the case in virginia

where newt gingrich says 1500 forged signatures on his petitions were fake. that knocked him off the ballot. indiana got the same thing, an allegation going on from 2008 that president obama may not have actually legally qualified for the ballot back then in that primary. so the indiana republican party you see here have a seminar in laporte where they were teaching and giving tips how to prevent election fraud and the gathering of petitions that are going on right now. simple things. double-check the people who sign, make sure that actually real people sign the petitions, check the signatures, see if the handwriting, for example, is all the same. these are tips and advice that can work across the country. shear what some of the officials told us they learned in the seminar. >> it's a travisty. it's sad to think that this stuff goes on. but it does. >> one of the things that makes us special in the whole world is

our electoral process in the whole united states. when people don't take it seriously and feel it's not a big deal or take it for granted like that, it just belittles the election process. >> it's the basic bottom issue, that election fraud and voter fraud really can undermine the integrity and honesty in the election. >> rick: it should be a level playing field. where do things stand with that investigation? >> it's going on. the prosecutor there -- this is how it works. in order to get on the ballot in indiana, you need 500 signatures per congressional district. the obama campaign qualified with 534. hillary clinton's campaign with 704 back in 2008 for the primary there. they say maybe 150 of the signatures on the petitions were faked. so potentially, president obama fell below the 500 needed to get on the ballot and may not have qualified for the ballot. right now that investigation is ongoing. we talked to one of the voters who told us that their signature

was fake last night. she told me that they haven't been contacted yet by investigators. like 1500 people there potentially have these allegedly forged signatures. that investigation is going on. >> steve: they're not going to change the election. he's still president. >> yeah. of course. but the basic bottom is, you can't have election fraud or potential fraud in any election. >> steve: that's right. >> eric: screams out stronger voter i.d up next a dozen teenage girls develop a mysterious case of turrets. is a medical mystery or a weird pact. two doctors are op the case. >> steve: bill hemmer, what's happening at the top of the hour? >> first big storm of the season, i mean, it's moving across the country. millions will feel this one. and new head winds for the white house on health care. we'll explain all that. and it is back, the official request to raise the debt

ceiling by more than a trillion dollars. do you like that? we'll see new ten minutes on "america's newsroom" wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. and, just like toddlers, puppies need food made for them. that's why there's purina puppy chow. with all the essential nutrients ur growing puppy needs. purina puppy chow.

>> alisyn: a mystery ailment striking about a dozen high school girls in new york state. the students started showing symptoms similar to turrets syndrome last september. school officials don't have many answers and parents are scared. >> i'm talking about something that just comes on within a couple of weeks. these kids are just totally normal and then next thing you know, they're going -- and their arms are swinging and they can't control themselves. >> alisyn: so what could be behind this medical mystery? we're joined by psychiatrist and fox news contributor, dr. keith ablow and by dr. keith stiller, a neurologist at the nyu medical center. so we've called in the experts

to try to figure this out. gentlemen, thank you for being here. dr. stiller, i want to start with you. you don't think this is turrets what do you think this is? >> it's not turret's syndrome in the classical sense. in the old days, we would really refer to this as something like mass hysteria where we're implying, if you look at the comments from the associate commissioner, greg young, that these are probably stress related and we use the term, conversion disorder in today's terms where these are probably stress and anxiety induced, physical symptoms. these patients are really showing something physically. but the cause of it is not a real medical condition. >> alisyn: dr. ablow, the parents say they're having something similar to seizures. is that stress? >> well, despite your guest's presumptions here and i certainly respect him, however, the new york state department of public health has come forward and said that these girls aren't faking and they have said this is a convulsesive disorder. the definition of that has to

include changes on an eeg, literally seizure activity in the brain. so if that's correct, and by the way, it's not clear what's going on here. so if that's correct, though, that means you start to elevate things on the list that are unexpected. perhaps not a drug of abuse, a traditional one. but what if all of these girls have in common that they used -- and i'm not implying it -- that they used something you can buy in a convenience store, for instance, that has unexpected side effects? the question here is why wouldn't the parents themselves come forward and say, we now know exactly what is going on. it's incumbent upon them to do so. >> alisyn: dr. stiller, you heard what he said. convulsesive disorder. is there anything possibly environmental, can there be a toxin in the environment that is changing their brain waves somehow? >> sure. let me just first say that i'm referring to the comments from the commissioner, the associate commissioner, who clearly felt that the investigation had included all treatable causes

that we would know about from a medical perspective. so i want to clarify that, even in a world of epilepsy. we have an entire comprehensive epilepsy center at nyu are where we treat pseudo seizure, or people who have fake seizures. the point here that's important is that these girls are not necessarily intentionally doing this. the whole definition of a conversion disorder is that the person themselves really feel they have a medical ailment and they can manifest as such. the question here is what is the cause of these things? it does not have to be true medical condition. i think that point, dr. ablow, you have to agree with me on that. >> no, no. i agree with that. but listen, that's the court of last resort. i always used to get the patient sent to me in the psychiatric clinic who had conversion disorder and 0% of the time i'd -- 20% of the time sealed send them back and say, sorry, buddy. we got more work to do, excluding physical causes. if i were these parents and someone said, you know what it is, it's in her head. i would say, that's possible, but that's the one in 1,000 shot. i want to know where these girls

have been, what they've done in common and the commissioner also said that these girls have something in common. what is this? >> right. i agree with you. he was very vague about that and he's in a tough spot because of what we refer to as hippa compliance where everyone is entitled to privacy. i agree with you. my first impression was are they all drinking red bull or rock star drinks, the things that people take -- >> or snorting aderol. >> they claim these things were eliminated. >> they he had no illegal drugs. >> alisyn: that's interesting. we should also mention that the parents say that this is happening in their sleep. which makes it seem as though they're not doing it intentionally and they're not all part of the same social circle. fascinating stuff. doctors, we'll keep our viewers updated when we get more answers. thank you. >> thank you. >> alisyn: more "fox & friends" in two minutes fiber makes me sad.

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