>> the president using his voices again. this time, he is singing the blues. >> ♪ come on ♪ baby don't you wanna go >> he can sing. "fox & friends" starts right now. >> whoa! >> welcome aboard, folks. today, it's wednesday, it's ash wednesday and brian came back and brian, because you are irreplaceable for the last five days. >> no show. >> no show. we put up color bars every morning between 6:00 and 9:00 eastern. >> i feel so much more rested if that were the case. something is wrong with that. i still showed up even though there was no show. >> right, it didn't air. they didn't tell you that. it was just for the crew because they love to -- >> they love to come in that early, too, right?

>> ok, by the way, while you were gone, jill became vice president. >> vice president of what? >> we nominated him as a write-in candidate. >> really? fantastic. you're going to run with anybody? >> that's the new vice president right there. real nice guy. all right! >> i have to find out about his platform. and what country is he going to be taking over? >> his platform mainly revolves around lunch. >> guy has got to eat! >> the candidates will be talking about energy and tax reform. that's why we're so busy this mornings. we'll get to that in a minute. first the headlines and breaking story overnight, u.s. embassy in kabul, afghanistan on lockdown right now and all travel suspended as anti-american riots turned deadly. >> shots fired, cars and buildings torched. at least five protesters are now dead. violence sparked by the burning of several qurans at a u.s. air base in afghanistan.

u.s.'s top nato commander apolized saying the book burning was unintentional. it was taken from a jail library because taliban prisoners were running extreme messages between them. writing inside the quran is unacceptable and burning them is the way to get rid of them. the f.b.i. arrested this man after a year long investigation. he thought he was carrying a loaded gun and wearing a vest loaded with explosives loading to the capitol. instead, he was carrying decoy weapons sold to him by an undercover agent. investigators say he talked about targeting military offices in northern virginia, a restaurant in d.c. where military members went often and also a synagogue. chilling new footage of the challenger disaster just released 25 years later. it's still hard to watch. >> boy, what a ride.

>> yeah. >> there it is. >> wow! >> there. >> the rare home video was shot by a family from long island waiting for their plane at an airport in orlando. they had no idea the shuttle exploded 70 seconds into flight killing all seven astronauts on board. a familiar face stopping by "the tonight show" to talk politics. >> what are the biggest things to get him re-elected? >> gas prices and it's all economic for president obama. americans like him on a personal level. they think he's a good guy. i can concur with that. i know him. he's a good guy but can he manage the economy? and can he get the country under control? now, the debt is really the most important thing but people don't really engage on that level.

but $16 trillion, that's a lot of bucks to owe. >> bill o'reilly on "the tonight show" to promote his new book "killing kennedy." those are your headlines. lots of books on presidents right now. >> first one on lincoln did so well and mr. o'reilly, very busy guy, he was on "saturday night live" not being lampooned by an actor but actually him and then last night to leno. meanwhile, let's talk about the president of the united states. on friday, he'll go down to the university of miami and make a big energy speech and he's really got to do it because he's getting hammered by the republicans who want to be president. yesterday, rick santorum blamed the president for high gas prices. he says he's trying to keep americans to drive less so that less carbon dioxide is created and the best way to do that is jack up the price of gas. and when you look at the national average, it's headed to the sky. >> it's $3.58 they say right now is the average. it's a little bit more in florida depending on what state you're in but i think the president is going to be making a major speech in response to the news.

we find out from ed henry, the white house has led us to believe if you want to know what the speech will be about, look at last year's speech. >> that's right! >> fantastic. >> the reason they have to do that is because they have to dodge the criticism that this is a reaction right away to the high gas prices that americans are getting really upset about in the last five days. of course they have to point back to last year because they don't want to make it look like this is suddenly oh, my gosh, this is going to be a big deal with the election. we've been talking about this for a long time. >> i think you're right in one respect but the other thing is don't you risk the fact that you're rerunning the same tape and have new ideas if you roll out the same ideas again? can't jump to conclusions knowing exactly what's in it. don't you have to roll out something different? >> here the thing, if the republicans are going to roll out something different, roll out the president's own words. in 2008 when he was a senator running for president, keep in mind, that's when gas was between $2 to $3 a gallon. >> your hair was down to your shoulders and you dressed

totally different. >> it was a phase. i went through it. >> the then senator in august of 2008 said gas prices are wiping out paychecks and straining businesses. well, the republicans could say the same thing about that today. meanwhile, yesterday, the president's spokesperson was asked by jake tapper, wait a minute, how can you say you guys are doing everything when you turn down the keystone xl pipeline? it was quite an exchange. we got it on tape. >> with keystone, as you know the history here, is pretty clear. and the fact is that because republicans decided to play politics with keystone, their action essentially forced the administration to deny the permit process because they insisted on a time frame within which it was impossible to appropriately approve the pipeline. >> have an all the above approach if the president turned down the keystone pipeline and you keep blaming the republicans

for making the political -- >> but the president didn't turn down the keystone pipeline. you can't review and approve a pipeline, the route for which doesn't even exist. >> that's some spin. that is some spin. come on! let's put the president up at a podium and let's ask one question. do you want to pass the keystone pipeline? yes or no? because come on, you can -- >> he had a chance and he said no. >> you can blame republicans and democrats for lots of junk, this is one thing that i don't think works with this argument because it's pretty clear the president in an election year did not want to upset the environmentalists and did not pass the keystone pipeline. >> upset a lot of democrats in the process that want the keystone pipeline passed and there were a few governors that say in nebraska, i want to see it rerouted and we showed you the reroute so it could be done. and the fact of the matter is the republicans tried to force his hand. that's true. because why? we have to wait -- examine this for two years. he wants to wait another year. and the canadians are saying if you do that, we're going to go

give it to somebody else. we're going to sell it to somebody else. mainly china. >> i don't know if the president ever envisioned gas prices going up to the level at which they're at right now when he decided to, what many people deem to playing politics and saying he wasn't going to that make that decision until after the election. now he's in a bit of a crunch. gas prices are only going up and by the way, with iran doing what it's doing right now by cutting off supply to the european countries we won't see that effect on gas prices here for the next couple of months. when will we see $5 gas? maybe not tomorrow but we might see it by june, july, august, that's pretty close to the election in november. >> although rick santorum said yesterday this is all part of his plan. he wants us driving less so that there's less carbon dioxide. >> i don't know. i don't know. >> it's coming back to -- when you listen to the president's own energy secretary, the fella who won that nobel peace prize, he's even talked about how he would like in this country for gas prices to be at european levels, $8, $9, $10 a gallon.

>> not the first week in november. >> sports cars and drive electric cars. that would be fantastic. >> it is all political on both sides. it pinches people because people have got to go to work. and there are some desperate times right now where people are stealing gas. for instance, down in hillsborough county, florida, apparently some deputies saw this chevy van parked at an odd angle and realized something sfishs was -- suspicious was going on there. inside that van was a giant vat -- a great big plastic container they were siphoning gas. >> probably college kids trying to pledge a fraternity. >> she had to call in the haz-mat team to clean things up. could have blown up. >> turns out natural gas is dangerous. tell that to 43-year-old donald

thomason. he's in trouble today. >> because he was trying to do the same thing, right? it was from one house to the next. >> he went into a home and he decided so siphon their natural gas because they shut his gas off! >> they did. >> because they shut his gas off, this weird things happen when you don't pay your bills, they start turning it off so he did this and then the police call the local oil company, gas company and they go we have to clear up this whole block but this is dangerous. there's leaking natural gas here. send everybody out and this guy is in jail. >> are we going to see more of this now as gas prices continue to go up? it doesn't look like there's going to be any time in the near future where they'll go back down. let us know what you think about that and do gas prices have a lot to do with who you might vote for come november? >> by the way, i went for an electric gill. that's how intimidated i am of natural gas up until two years -- calm down. until two years ago because when you hit that button, you see the flames go out and you realize you have hair and eyebrows that

you hope to have at the end of the day as well as at the beginning of the day and you realize maybe i should just go electric. took too long to make a hot dog and i have no friends. >> that's why i have a george foreman grill. >> no, i've gone to a regular gas grill, i'm living on the edge. >> we see once again that the president has a good voice. he was belting out the blues this time with mick jagger at the white house last night and then b.b. king added a different tune. let's listen to this and talk about the politics of it after. >> ♪ baby don't you wanna go ♪ come on ♪ baby don't you wanna go ♪ same old place ♪ we don't >> ♪ the thrill has gone away

♪ thrill has gone baby ♪ the thrill is gone away ♪ you done me wrong baby >> there you go. the president yesterday, it's blues week or blues night. >> actually it was a concert series that his wife, michelle obama has been hosting and last night was apparently blues night and apparently mick jagger -- we should show a little of mick jagger a little later on. apparently, he gave a performance akorpgd -- according to "the washington post" by which all future performances in the white house will be judged. it was fantastic. and apparently, go ahead, gretch. >> yeah, well anyway, b.b. king was there as you can see and mick jagger and the politics of all this is this is probably the most brilliant strategy that any reporter has told the president. keep singing every day. keep singing. this is good for the president.

>> speech and a song. >> this is what happened to bill clinton when he broke out the saxophone on the arsenio hall show. >> he never broke it out again. >> yeah, but this is smart. this is really smart. because the likeability of the president has always been relatively high. this will only increase his likealik likeability. >> we'll see how it goes. mitt romney, your serve. >> will they be singing the blues come november? >> coming up straight ahead, a woman pushing a baby stroller hit by a stray bullet from across the border. >> and you haven't heard much about navy seals until recently because you're not supposed to know all the details. is the president's new push to make him their secret weapons putting them in danger? up next, a member of our elite forces reacts. [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition? ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie.

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to learn about a free trial offer. 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. >> all right, this week's "newsweek" cover story highlights the success of u.s. navy seals under president obama

calling them his secret army and the president himself has not been shy about publicly praising the seals. >> everybody who has met with seals and deltas, you know, these are some of the toughest troops in our military. >> i was in absolute awe of the capacity and dedication of the entire team both the intelligence community, c.i.a., the seals. >> one of my proudest possessions is the flag that the seal team took with them on the mission to get bin laden. >> we have special operations forces and i'm not going to go into more detail than that who are by the way, the most incredible warriors this world has ever seen. >> navy seals have been quietly completing missions around the world for decades, not just in the last couple of years. it's really a good idea to put the spotlight on them. does it go against everything they stand for? joining us now, country singer kenny thomas who happens to be a staff sarj -- sergeant in the u.s. army who was involved in

the mission of "blackhawk down" the movie and he's part of a new mission called get it on. thanks for your service, number one. number two, are you disturbed or heartened by the attention special operators like yourselves are getting now? >> well, first of all, it's always good to see the special operations community getting the attention they deserve because they're not going to be the ones that stand up and say, hey, look at me, because basically, they're called quiet professionals. so it's good to see them getting that kind of recognition as long as you keep it in check. >> do you believe it's in check now? >> yeah, i think so. i'd like to think the folks, the team members to the chain of command inside the white house, i think they're pretty smart people. they know their lives are on the line. i hope they don't say things that could put them in jeopardy. >> former secretary of defense came out during -- right after the bin laden operation and says when they left the situation room, they all agreed no details would be revealed and then the

president went ahead and the vice president went ahead and went ahead and told details about the operation. then we heard about the rescue over in africa. details about the operation. that's what seems to be disturbing many in the special ops community? >> well and for good reason. from the day you walk into any kind of team on the special operations unit, you're taught operational security and the easiest way to do is not to talk about it. but there again, if the president and his staff are going to praise them, they need to be real careful about what it is they're putting out there, the information, it's probably best just to say thank you and then that would be enough. >> here's the other thing, kenny, there's very few people who have the capacity emotionally, mentally and physically to be special operations officers or anybody that's going to function in this unit. are you worried we're getting this too big and we get quantity in terms of special ops but not quality. are you worried about the quality going down? >> that's a good question,

brian, but no, i'm not worried about the quality at all. you know why? because there's a very long process of making it into that unit and they're going to make sure that they weed out the people that don't belong there. the folks that make it into those units and spend their years in the special operations community certainly deserve to be there and are well worth it so you're definitely not -- i'm not worried about the quality at all. we're in good hands. >> singer, ranger, i'm not talking about new york ranger, kenny thomas, thanks so much for joining us. >> see you guys. thanks. >> straight ahead, we move ahead. "the amazing race" takes a horrifying turn. one of the producers of the show poisoned to death? the stunning and bizarre details ahead. and then should illegal aliens get food stamps? our next guest says absolutely not! and now he's being hammered for doing something about it. [ male announcer ] we know you don't wait

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>> some quick headlines now. deliberations begin in the case of george hugley, the former lacrosse player accused of beating and killing his ex-girlfriend back in 2010. he faces up to life in prison, if convicted. and whitney houston reportedly had a deadly mix of valium, xanax and alcohol in her system when she died in a hotel bathtub. the source tells radar on-line that houston's heart stopped beating because her respiratory system was depressed. the official toxicology report not released just yet. steve? >> thank you very much, brian. kansas governor sam brownback under fire for his new agenda that includes caps on state spending, lowering the state income tax and reforming medicaid as well. >> but perhaps the most controversial item in his

decision is to cut food stamps to all legal -- illegal immigrants in the state including children of those born here in the united states. is that correct? is that what your plan is, governor? >> it's not, gretchen. it's not a fair representation at all. what we're saying is everybody's income should be counted whether we're here legally or illegally. previously, you wouldn't count the person that's illegal here their income but when you get both counted in some cases, some people would drop off the welfare rolls but it's a matter of equity. if you're two people that are here legally in the united states, your income counts. why shouldn't it count if you're somebody who is here illegally for qualifications for food stam stamps? >> it seems fair to many people. there are many who say it is not. long standing, it's law. if you're in this country illegally, you are not entitled to food stamps. so what is your proposal right now on the table? >> well, our proposal is how

you count the adults in the -- in the home for children's food stamps. and i just think that you ought to be able to count and you should count everybody's income in that household whether you're here legally or illegally and that's on the qualifications for children for food stamps that are here in the united states legally. this is about children legally here in the united states and qualifications for food stamps. >> ok, so who has been -- who has been pushing back against this? >> well, you know, some people are just saying, you know, you're pulling back on food stamps, period. and some folks looking at it this way and i certainly have concerns in that field. i just think you got to have an equity argument here about what you consider qualified income. and that's why i think it's something we ought to continue to do. we're going to review and we're going to continue to look at it. i'm meeting with case workers in the field asking them is this having a major adverse impact? they're not saying that it is. but we're going to continue to

review and make sure it's being as helpful as we can to people in difficult circumstances. >> governor, this is just part of your total package, you're trying to make kansas more competitive to get outside expects to relocate to the sunflower state as well. people have grabbed a hold of this food stamp thing and to the exclusion of all the other good ideas you've put forward. >> well, that's what's been really disconcerting to me is that we lost a decade last decade. we lost private sector jobs last decade and we've got to get in a more competitive position. we've got to attract more people. we are growing at a slower rate than the other states in the region. we hope to not lose a congressional seat next time around, we've got to grow at a faster rate. we're doing more things to get our tax levels down, get into a more competitive position. get our costs at the state level under control. move to a defined contribution system for state employees. so it's a lot of changes but the current trajectory that we're on

is a slow decline and we've got to start changing that trajectory and move up. >> yeah, change is sometimes really difficult for lots of people. you're facing it right now. governor sam brownback, great to see you. thanks so much for getting up early with us. >> good to join you. >> thank you, sir. >> straight ahead, it's a story we've been following closely. iran threatening to execute a christian pastor. this morning, there are frightening new details in the case and we've got them for you. >> and the obama administration set to unveil major corporate tax reform today as well? but stuart varney says there's a catch and the mainstream media is missing it. >> but first, happy birthday to drew barrymore, the actress and little girl from "e.t." was just seen leaving a doctor's office with a sonogram in her hand. she turns 37 today.

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americans under the age of 24 don't have a job. yeah. there's even a name for that group, art history majors. >> uh-oh. >> yeah. >> all right -- >> 28 minutes now before the top of the hour. we have a lot to go over today. i mean, i cannot believe we're falling back on the debate horse again. >> tonight. >> for the first time in about a month, i think. >> this could be the last one for a while. >> you know what would be great and i don't even check yet, is it going to start before 9:00 eastern? >> 8:00. >> thank goodness. >> we have a shot of being somewhat -- >> but it's seven hours long. >> oh! >> i hope not. >> fantastic. >> meanwhile -- >> let's hope so. >> looking for a second source. >> if he's going to follow the president. he's a singer these days. now to your headlines on this wednesday morning. we begin with a major update to a story we've been paying close attention to. iran once again ordering the execution of a jailed christian pastor. pastor yousef sentenced to death for refusing to recant his

christian faith and he just rejected an offer to be freed from prison if he converted back to islam. so now, sources say, his execution could happen in the next two days. the 34-year-old has been held behind bars since 2009, he is married with two children. >> violence in mexico crosses the border now into texas. a woman pushing a baby stroller was shopping in downtown el paso when she was hit with a bullet in the calf. that bullet believed to be from an assault rifle. it came flying from ciudad juarez during a shootout. the 48-year-old woman was treated and released from the hospital. she's the first victim of a cross border shooting. >> reality tv producer poisoned to death. jeff rice worked on the show called "the amazing race" and "whale watchers" he was found dead and his production assistant fighting for her life, too. the source tells fox news they were poisoned after some local

thugs tried to shake them down for money. it's not known what show rice was working on at the time of his death. he leaves behind a wife and two kids. >> wow! >> and a landmark gone in just seconds. >> a series of blasts brought down the 83-year-old ford stubin bridge in ohio. a primary link between ohio and west virginia. more than 150 pounds of explosives were used in the implosion. officials say the bridge was deteriorating and needed to come down. >> and it did. pronto. >> cleaning up that mess. who's got a net? >> there you go. >> all right. meanwhile, let's take a look at the weather and check this out. you are looking at a rocket blasting into the night sky above the northern lights in alaska. the nasa mission to find out more about how the lights are formed, interesting, in that picture from nasa. thanks, nasa. meanwhile, let's take a look at

where it's raining and we have some rain, as you can see in portions of the pacific northwest, the northern plains and throughout the northeast. balance of the country is dry for the most time here at 6:35 eastern time on this ash wednesday. current readings, as you can see, 50's across much of dixie land. we have 42 in raleigh. a little warmer than that in new york city. northern plains, below freezing. up in minneapolis, only 22 and along the gulf coast, temperatures in the 60's. as you can see, today's daytime highs later, almost 70 in raleigh. it's going to be beautiful there. down in dallas where my daughter is, 76 beautiful degrees there. meanwhile, in denver, where we've got some problems to report today, the high will be 57. all right. off to denver news, mr. kilmeade. >> right. thanks for not saying speaking of high. hey, broncos quarterback brady quinn asking for forgiveness today after taking blindside hits on tim tebow, his fellow quarterback in a magazine interview. quinn speaking to "g.q." for an

article about tebow mania criticized the quarterback for talking about his christian faith and said the team's record was to pure luck. quinn rushed to twitter after the article was released to apologize. consider him gone. and the academy winning the northeast championships. who are the best northeast girls footsal team, that's my daughter's team. it's my daughter so we spent the whole weekend in beautiful wildwood, new jersey. >> beautiful. >> at the -- >> that's where you were on vacation? >> that was my vacation watching these great soccer players. >> family vacation. >> when you're tired of lunch, let me recommend the hotel. we said -- they said it's the starlucks hotel, it's a 60's theme. that's interesting. beads. i'm thinking like that type. it turns out they decided not to update it from the 1960's or

clean it. i did not know that was a theme they were going for. >> but the kids at starlust. >> probably affordable, though. >> probably. if you can take it. >> all right. more on brian's hotel hijinx later on in the show. meanti meantime, the obama administration is expected to make a major proposal to reform the corporate tax structure. >> according to -- >> interesting timing. >> according to reports, the white house is planning to suggest dramatically lowering the corporate tax rate. >> i don't know if i'd say dramatic. but stuart varney says there's a catch to the mainstream media that -- mainstream media is overlooking. let's not overlook it anymore. the rate drops down but there's more to it. >> the headline is not the rate drops down, no. the headline is president obama wants a big and i mean a big, new tax on american companies that make money overseas. now, never before -- >> global tax? >> it's basically a global tax. you've extended a global tax net to catch any american company

that makes a dime overseas. regardless of whether they bring that money back to america or not. this is a huge, new tax that goes after america's pot of gold. >> it was so interesting. when i was reading the article on this to begin with, the first headline is wow, president obama wants to decrease the corporate tax. so many people have been asking for that. so i thought, he's acquiescing and you get more down into the article and it's like wait a minute, it's going to increase revenue by $250 billion. >> how are they going to do that? that's exactly to your point. that's how they're going to do it. >> at the moment, the 500 largest companies in america make more than half their money overseas. more than half their profits are made overseas. ok? and a lot of them leave that money overseas. they don't bring it back to america because it would be taxed at a very high rate. they leave it overseas. now the president says you can leave it overseas but we're going to take a minimum tax out of your overseas profit. >> what you were hoping to do, stuart, is see the corporate tax rate go to a rate in which these

companies want to bring the money back. that's what you hoped for. >> at the moment, the tax rate is 35%. among the highest in the world if not the highest in the world. why not just drop it all the way down. newt gingrich, for example, i think he wants 12 1/2%. just drop it all the way down and that money would come back and america and you'd make a lot more money by taxing it at a lower rate. >> go ahead. >> you look to the future for a second. just look to the future. so when you get a second term from president obama, what do you think that minimum tax would be on that pot of gold that's overseas? you think it would just be a small minimum tax? no! that is a pot of gold, go after it. take that money. >> and the other interesting political aspect is the timing of all this because mitt romney is supposedly going to be talking about tax reform on friday. so many people are saying that suddenly, the president decided to have his own speech about it as well. >> and i think, steve, you said that it was not president obama that is announcing this. >> that's right. it's tim geithner. this is being hanchoed by him at

treasury and not at the white house. it's only corporate, not talking about personal income taxes. mitt romney is apparently going to make a plan that impacts all taxpayers, not just big companies. i wonder if he's going to wind up paying taxes. >> what about apple? they have $100 billion in cash. is the president going after apple? is he? >> let's see. >> we'll be watching your show at 9:20 eastern time. >> that's my lead story. >> thank you. >> outrage! >> new tax. >> thanks for the preview. >> let's go to texas. texas governor rick perry not riding into the sunset just yet. wait until you hear what he says about running for president now. >> from president kennedy to president clinton. their sex scandals rocked the white house. next guest says they put our national security at risk.

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[ male announcer ] 1, 2, 3 percent cash back for the things you buy most. the bankamericard cash rewards card. apply online or at a bank of america near you. >> quick headlines now. for a second time since dropping out of the presidential race, rick perry says he may run again because he believes he has the right ideas to fix the country. perry also admits to losing was indeed humbling. and federal agents putting the brakes on a creative attempt to smuggle drugs into the u.s. they busted a mexican man on a scooter with $120,000 worth of cocaine hidden inside. don't do that. gretch? >> thanks, brian. well, their presidencies were plagued by sex scandals that no doubt embarrassed their administrations but our next guest says the indiscretions of president john f. kennedy and bill clinton did more than damage the commander in chief's reputations, they actually put our national security at risk.

john fund is senior editor at "american spectator" and he's our guest now. you write an interesting article about this. in what way do the sexual escapades of kennedy and clinton, in what way could they have affected national security? >> we live in a nonjudgmental age now. there are limits. john f. kennedy had affairs while he was in the white house with the girlfriend of the head of the chicago mafia. he had an affair with an east german spy or someone who was strongly suspected to be that. he also had an affair with a 19-year-old intern. bill clinton, his monica lewinsky affair, he told monica lewinsky i'm concerned that our conversations have been intercepted by foreign powers, potentially could use that against me. all of this is such risky behavior, it goes beyond what we should ignore in someone's private life. we have to recognize that this kind of behavior would get anyone in the united states military to lose their security clearance or even be fired. >> it's so interesting because

it seems that since president clinton and the revelations, the american public has been more willing to accept flaws in candidates' personal lives. and yet, you're pointing out now that we should still be concerned about that? >> the only person who doesn't get a security clearance in our government is the president. he's elected by all of us. the standards we have for trusting people in our government with security secrets is very high. if you engage in high risk behavior, it allows you to be potentially candidate for blackmail and you lose your security clearance and you might lose your job so yes, we're much more open minded about what people's private lives are. but when it comes to national security, both bill clinton and jack kennedy lost the nuclear codes they were supposed to carry with them because they were shuffling back and forth between shall we say, relationships. >> it's fascinating. >> we lost the nuclear codes. >> it's fascinating to think something worsz did not happen with some of these relationships you're talking about. >> with kennedy, it was at the

height of the cold war. >> you're saying bill clinton was inspired, we have a photo of him shaking the hand of john f. kennedy when he was a younger man. you say bill clinton was inspired by kennedy's behavior, in what way? >> no, no, i would think if you look at john f. kennedy, look what he got away with. east german spy, mafia girlfriend, bill clinton must have entered the oval office thinking, hey, i can get away with just about anything. >> what does it say, though, about these two former presidents? and the behaviors that we now know. what does it say that they're some of the most beloved former presidents by the american public? >> they were incredibly charismatic and did many good things in office. this is not a critique of their time in office but just reminding us that it is not private behavior when it affects national security or when it's so reckless that it exposes a high official like the president of the united states to potential blackmail. >> fascinating discussion. the senior editor at "american spectator" thanks so much. >> thank you. >> the president says it is a top priority.

>> we need to make sure that as our troops return from battle, they can find a job when they get home. >> but veterans say their biggest obstacle when they come home from war is actually the federal government. our next guest says the feds fired him and he's not alone. plus bombs hidden in radios. the new terror threat coming from iran.

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>> welcome back. just imagine that you're one of the thousands of brave servicemen or servicewomen laying your life on the line for the good of your country. but when you get home after serving your time overseas, instead of getting a parade, you get a pink slip. well, it's happening more than you'd think. employers illegally discriminating against members of the military but what you may not know it's being done by the nation's largest employer. the federal government. retired army brigadier general michael silva is a reservist who commanded a brigade in iraq. he was fired from his job as a u.s. customs and border patrol contractor on duty from iraq. good morning to you, sir. >> good morning, steve. >> so you served a year in iraq. you're about to come back. you sent out a letter to the employers of all your men and women saying hey, don't forget, it's against the law for you not to take them back to their jobs and that's when you found out what? >> well, i found out that my

employer did not rehire me. >> why? >> it was a rather complex situation. they decided that they wanted to keep the person that they had back filled me with during my one year absence. and although there were promises to bring me on in another capacity which would have met the tenets of the 1994 law, they didn't do it. >> but that is against the law! the federal government who you worked for and served for, you come home and you say i want my job back. federal government says nope, you can't have it. >> yeah, it is against the law. but it's more frustrating that federal government does not have an organized way of enforcing those rights. it's a very complex and convoluted system that you go through to get your rights protected. >> and i understand you're upset because the department of

justice which should be looking out for you, didn't even bother picking up the case. >> yeah. that was most disappointing to me. they won't give a reason either. now, last year, the department of justice had 44 cases referred to them by the department of labor as having merited a violation of the law. and department of justice only prosecuted three of those cases. so 41 of them, they just ignored. >> oh, man! >> well, i understand things have been settled to a point you in customs have reached a confidential settlement on that. you're still in the process of litigating with the contractor that you would work for. but going forward for the men and women who had served their country overseas and are coming back, and if they get back and they find out that their employer does not have a job for them, what should they do? >> well, there's a couple of things. the system doesn't work real

well. but they -- they go through the employer support, the guard reserve who tries to work with the company. but those folks really have no power so they then turn it over to the department of labor who does the investigation and if it merits going further, they refer it to the department of justice. but that's where the breakdown seems to occur. now, the -- i'm a member of the reserve officer association. and we have servicemen's law center. we get calls all the time and we provide that legal advice and guidance to soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. >> that's really nice that you would do that. in the meantime, i know that you are looking for work right now so good luck to you. joining us from d.c., brigadier general michael silva. thank you. >> thank, steve. >> if you know of a similar case where somebody came back and didn't get their job, let us know. friends at foxnews.com. meanwhile, the g.o.p. republicans go head to head in a final face-off tonight before another key primary or two.

so what does each candidate need to do? karl rove weighs in on that. you're looking at the new terror threat from iran. a $27 radio but it's what's inside the radio that can kill you. your finances can't manage themselves. but that doesn't mean they won't try. bring all your finances together with the help of the one person who can. a certified financial planner professional. cfp. let's make plan.

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>> top of the morning to you. it's wednesday, february 22nd. i'm gretchen carlson. hope you're going to have a great day. it's been a while. have you missed it? the g.o.p. candidates have not hit the debate stage in almost a month. that ends tonight. what does each candidate need to do when the fists start flying? if they decide to go after one another? karl rove with some free advice. >> all right, it's been 25 years since the american tragedy and now a never before seen look at the challenger disaster from a home video. steve? >> and brian, are you ready for the end of the world? they are! >> we got to get this stuff loaded up. anybody that doesn't take their own self-preparation to heart is

doomed for failure. >> ok, great, why are they getting ready for a doomsday scenario? we will tell you. "fox & friends" hour two for an ash wednesday starts right now. >> that's got to be tough when you think every day could be your last. >> right. >> tomorrow could be it. >> 50 minutes, we'll talk to people who were talking about doomsday and hearken me back to "happy days" in the 1970's. >> built the bomb shelter. >> built the bomb shelter, remember? and they finally realized in the end, we might as well -- why live in a world where you're all alone. >> uh-huh. so let everyone die together. and it turns out "happy days" ended up 15 years later going out as fonzy tried to jump over a -- >> at that time, people were all talking about building bomb shelters. my mom said to my dad, do you think we ought to do one? you know what? we got a basement. should we get some bottled

water? if there's trouble, let's fill up the tub. that's our bomb shelter. >> you mentioned ash wednesday. just a note if you're in television and you're celebrating ash wednesday or taking note of it, don't do a pretape. i interviewed digger phelps is ash wednesday and two weeks later, everybody was writing in saying why does digger phelps have a mark on his head? >> ashes. >> that was one of your better moments and there are many. >> yeah. >> sometime we'll roll for three hours brian's moments. it will probably get the highest ratings ever. let's go to the headlines right now. the u.s. embassy in kabul, afghanistan on lockdown right now and all travel suspended. why? because an anti-american riot has turned deadly now. >> shots fired. cars and buildings torched. at least five protesters have died. the violence sparked by the

incineration of several qurans in afghanistan. the top commander has apologized saying the book burning was unintentional. it was taken from a jail library because taliban prisoners were reportedly writing extremist messages in them. under islamic law, writing inside the quran is forbidden and burning them is an acceptable means of disposal. new footage of the challenger disaster just released. this rare home video shot by a family returning from disney waiting for their plane at the airport in orlando. they had no idea they were videotaping a historic tragedy. >> 25 years later, it's still hard to watch. the shuttle explodes 70 seconds into flight killing all seven

astronauts on board. a moroccan man will face a judge today. the government will argue that he should be denied bail. the f.b.i. arrested him after a year-long investigation. he thought he was carrying a loaded gun and wearing a vest loaded with explosives on his way to the capitol. instead, he was carrying decoy weapons sold to him by an undercover agent. investigators say he also talked about targeting military offices in northern virginia, a restaurant in d.c. where military members often went and also a synagogue. talk about a boom box, iranian terrorists reportedly used $27 portable radios to hide bombs meant to attack israeli targets in thailand. exclusive photos you're looking at right here obtained by abc news show the inside of a radio packed with ball bearings and magnets. bomb experts say the magnets show the bomb was designed to be stuck to the side of a car or a truck.

a surveillance photo of one of the bombers shows him carrying two of the radios moments before he blew off his legs in an attack that wounded four people. and those are your headlines. >> could have been a lot worse. all right. 4 minutes after the top of the hour. you heard us talking about it before. finally going to be a debate tonight because there's a primary coming up in arizona as well as michigan. and a lot is on the line for all four. for example, for rick santorum, it's the first time he's been a frontrunner. for mitt romney, a chance to get the momentum back. for newt gingrich, a chance to re-establish himself and ron paul, a chance to say i am still here. >> sure. it's been 26 days since the last time we saw these four men on a stage. it is also apparently the 19th debate but it will probably be the first debate we will have heard things like -- questions about satan. so anyway, karl rove was on the bill o'reilly last night and had some advice for all four of the men who will take the stage tonight in mesa. >> santorum needs to come out as an economic conservative who

deals with these questions that cnn is going to ask him about his social views, you know, does he really think every presbyterian, every methodist, every lutheran is really, you know, is as a mainstream protestant no longer a christian, you know, does he believe that, you know, birth control is harmful to women and to society? even when used inside a marriage. i mean, he's going to have to address these things in a way that says you're right. i think it helps them in the primary that he's so strong on the social issues but his language is hurtful in a general election. he's got to carefully dust off, you know, grind away some of those edges of hardness while at the same time showing that he's an economic conservative and not the one dimensional guy the media will try to portray him. gingrich needs to get back into the game by being the big visionary. it's to his advantage if santorum and romney go at each other because he can be the guy that has the big vision, that's gotten things done, can excite the crowd and sit there and say in a way, you know, i'm the adult. these two guys are going after each other. finally romney has to get out there and be the guy who

demonstrates that he's got passion and conviction about these big issues of the economy, jobs, not just that he's a businessman but that he's got something inside his soul that causes him to be an ardent defender of the free enterprise system. >> he's kind of the underdog. >> it will be a fascinating debate now. will they attack each other? will that be the best way to do it or will they all just want to stick to talking about policy? i continue to argue one of the reasons that rick santorum has come to the top of the heap is because during the last debate, gingrich and romney eviscerated each other and santorum was the only one that could talk about policy and people suddenly heard what he was all about. so will they attack each other? what do you think they should do? >> mitt romney will make a major speech on friday about tax reform as well as any other economy. it will be hard to hold back his bullet points tonight, i'm sure this is tragedy to that. he's not waiting for the debate to get involved in michigan. he's trailing in a lot of polls. so he has spent a million

dollars in ads this week alone. >> oh, my goodness. meanwhile, there's a poll out right now in michigan where, as you can see, mitt romney is leading 32% to 30%. i believe this is -- >> that's the mitchell rosetta stone poll. >> thank you very much. >> in any language, it's -- >> the margin of error, however, is close to 5% so it's a dead heat there. >> same thing with the rasmussen poll that has them flip-flopped but within the margin of error. this time santorum is on top 38%. margin of error 4%. it's anybody's game there but who has the most to lose? of course, mitt romney. this is his home state. that's why he spent a million dollars in ads and that's why his super pac has spent $3.2 million in michigan alone. >> although when you look at the momentum right now, keep in mind rick santorum was ahead by 15 points about a week ago and now things are going down. part of it was, you know, the flavor of the month. or the flavor of the week or the flavor of the day approach where people suddenly very interested

in rick santorum, rush limbaugh said yesterday on his radio show, it was a big headline on drudge yesterday about rick santorum and some comments he made down at ava maria a couple of years ago, a university in florida where he said satan has his sights on the united states and rush said, you know, it's not the kind of stuff you hear a presidential candidate talk about. it's not ordinary in that sense. rick santorum needs to explain that. plus some of the things he's said about contraception and abortion. >> ok, no doubt those questions will come up tonight. one of the reasons -- >> that could be one of the reasons, gretch, why he's had some erosion, particularly with women in the polls. >> yep. and a lot of those issues will come up but tonight at the debate. one of the other things is the negative advertisements, they work, they work short term. >> they do. >> but are they a good -- i'm going to go back to what i -- like the saying which i don't agree with them. are they good long term? let us know what you think about that. >> all right. also, i'd like to add, too, i saw some bioads that mitt romney is running in michigan. i thought that was noteworthy but i saw a poll that shows only

26% of the michigan people think he's truly from their state. because he spent so little time in the big picture. look at him still as a governor from massachusetts. see if he's able to get people beside the seniors that remember his dad quite well. >> in addition to all the money that mitt romney is spending and his super pac as well, newt gingrich has his super pac. they're spending a lot of dough on the radio. i heard a couple of spots attacking rick santorum and on television as well. newt himself is taking a lot of his money and he has recorded a half-hour presentation where he talks about energy. here he is talking about -- he says the other candidates are afraid to debate him, this is last night. listen to this. >> look, we're going to find ways to communicate with the american people. i like debating. i think debating is good for the country. it gives us a chance to communicate without editing by the news media. it happens to be particularly good for me. but if the other guys are afraid to debate which makes you wonder how they would ever stand up to

barack obama, that's fine. i'm going to find other ways to communicate with the american people with or without their debating. >> he was giving us a precursor as to what he was actually doing in that interview last night finding out other ways to communicate with the american people. is this a smart move by newt gingrich with this ad you can see right here. apparently this was all scripted to talk about gas prices and the economy but newt being newt decided to go off script and just spoke to the camera for 30 minutes. now, where are you going to be able to see this? you can see it on the internet right now but what they're going to do is target local tv stations in key states. the first of which will be washington state. because now, part of the gingrich campaign or strategy is thinking that they might be able to win that state which would award them those delegates so you might see this if you live in washington state actually on the air first. it's an interesting approach because one of the advantages of newt gingrich has been to talk about big solutions. and is that what will be most effective against president obama? it will be interesting to see

him in the debate tonight, too. will they go negative or -- >> the word from the camp is let newt be newt and don't let him be above the fray and let him be involved. if he's going to be himself, the first thing he's going to do is insult the moderator. >> if you want to see the half-hour thing, go to you tube and do a search on $2.50 gas and gingrich and you'll find it. i predict tonight, one of the biggest topics will be at the debate the price of gas. >> let's hope. >> the president is not doing anything. >> let's hope it's not all contraception. i've had my fill. weapons of mass destruction crossing the mexican border into the united states? our next guest, a member of the homeland security committee says it's possible and washington ignoring it. >> and then it used to be a million dollar home and now it's all rubble. over a zoning ordinance? we'll explain! >> save the hot tub. [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition?

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through nets on america's southwest border. for years we've been worried about the flow of illegal guns to the u.s. and ties to american drug cartels. what about the flow of weapons of mass destruction across the border? >> that's different. according to our next guest, it's a serious threat and it comes from iran's growing connections in latin america. >> congressman mike mccall is the chairman of the homeland security subcommittee and oversight management. why haven't we heard more about this? >> i don't know. it's a real threat. we don't have operational control over the border. and we know that iran has a heavy influence in the western hemisphere, particularly through hezbollah, the revolutionary guard and the forces. they have an alliance with hugo

chavez in venezuela and fidel castro in cuba. just recently, the operation titan exposed the link between the drug cartels and these middle eastern terrorist groups in terms of selling drugs and money laundering and the question is at what point will this finance world become more operational? we have them say that we believe iran has changed its calculus and prepared to attack in the united states and we know that hezbollah operatives are in the united states. as the tensions rise in the straits of hermuth and the middle east between israel and iran and as they approach nuclear capability, this becomes a real concern. >> absolutely. and congressman, the worry is, you know, those mexican drug cartels, they don't value life. they'll do anything for money so if somebody comes over from iran and they've got a -- you know, they've got a suitcase that's glowing, they're not going to ask any questions. they'll just show them the way! >> it's all about money.

no respect for life and i think, you know, the iranian operatives that approach what he thought were drug cartels to assassinate the saudi ambassador in washington, d.c. is a real wake-up call there. that's an operational role on the part of iran in our hemisphere. >> let's keep it on the border and switch topics to fast & furious, you wrote a letter to secretary napolitano. we can't read the whole thing. give us an idea of what's in it. >> you know, the secretary testified before the committee. i asked her questions specific as the fast & furious. the answers were not acceptable. we know that an ice agent participated on the task force that ran operation fast & furious and yet, she couldn't tell me what his role was. i asked if they had done -- i asked if they had done some sort of internal investigation. and they basically couldn't answer that question. so i met with the inspector general. i've is not a letter to him and to napolitano requesting a formal investigation into the role of dhs, what they knew and

when they knew it. >> congressman, briefly, final question. do you feel there's been a government cover-up, perhaps at the administration level into what happened? >> i think there are a lot of people running for cover. i think there are memos that went to washington, they want to either plead incompetence or, you know, they're either incompetent or complicit. she denied having conversations. i can't imagine being secretary of homeland security knowing your agency had a role in this and doing nothing with an internal review of what happened. that's what we're going to do in the congress. >> thank you very much. congressman mike mccaul, talk to you soon. >> thanks so much. >> coming up straight ahead, we move along. two police officers in serious trouble at this hour for tossing a football to a 7-year-old kid. the cops say they were just trying to connect with the community. so what gives here? >> i got to hear the rest of that story. >> the kid didn't catch it. >> and then they're best

friends, business partners and both conservatives but these women are worlds apart in their picks for president. one was even afraid to tell the other! good morning, ladies. their story is coming up next. [ jane ] how did i get here? with determination. courage. and all the points i earned with my citi thankyou card. [ male announcer ] the citi thankyou card. redeem points for travel on any airline with no blackout dates. you should know that just one dose of children's advil gives up to eight hours of fever relief. allowing your little one to get back to building a better afternoon. children's advil. relief you can trust.

>> hey, time for news by the numbers. zero overdraft fees. the president's consumer protection bureau wants them outlawed. but remember, last time they tried to regulate bank fees, they just added them elsewhere. next, $5 million. that's how much phone scammers from india stole from americans over the past few years. callers would tell people pay up or you'll lose your job. finally this year, they got busted. and 30.

that's how many states are now raking in the cash by selling off items confiscated by airports by the tsa. stuff they took from an airport at security, for example, like swiss army knives and pocket tools. never took that from gretchen. she still has hers. >> how did you know, brian? well, new evidence, female voters are playing a key role in rick santorum's rise to the top of g.o.p. polls. take a look at this! santorum's support is up to 36% among women. that's a 12-point jump from last week and 10 points ahead of mitt romney. so what makes one woman support one candidate over another? well, let's ask our next guest. betsy gaul and sheila keeny are two conservative moms from minnesota and also business partners. yet, they're supporting separate candidates in this year's g.o.p. race. are you still friends with each other, betsy? >> of course we are. yes. >> so i can see from your shirts that you are the romney supporter and sheila is the rick santorum supporter. why did you decide to go with

romney? >> i think that romney is our best bet for beating barack obama in the fall. he will be able to get the independent voters and i think that's what we need to win this election. >> sheila, your defense of rick santorum, you would say to betsy, what? >> you know, i think, we need a fighter, you know, i think -- i want a movement conservative. i want someone with big ideas who is going to take strong positions and who is going to be able to defend those positions well and, you know, rick santorum for me, he speaks my language. he speaks conservative fluently. so that's what i want in a candidate. >> now, we just saw that poll where it shows that more women are flocking to rick santorum which some people would find a little fascinating based on the fact that some of his more conservative policies, maybe women wouldn't be in favor of. is that one of the reasons you went with romney, betsy? >> yeah, you know, i think that the liberal media is going to

have a heyday with santorum and try to pull him in and talk about contraception when we really need to be focusing on the economy. >> uh-huh. what do you make of the fact, though, sheila that women are flocking to rick santorum? >> well, i think for conservative women, i mean, we look at a variety of issues. i know -- i agree with rick santorum on social issues. i'm conservative but i think i came to him on the fiscal issues as well. three areas that i think are going to be important this fall, taxes, energy, health care and i think he can make a stronger case on those issues for the republican party. >> speaking of fiscal issues, betsy, you know, one of the strong points for mitt romney has been the fact that he had all this business experience. is that why you feel more secure with him? >> definitely. that's one of the big reasons. you know, what keeps me awake at night is the $16 trillion debt that our country has. and i think that mitt romney will be able to get the big

problem under control. >> uh-huh. wesh -- we should mention you're on the steering committee for mitt romney in minnesota. the two of you together, if you can stay together, i know you will even though you're supporting somebody different. you came up with this company called coolconservative.com, what is it? >> well, we sell t-shirts for conservative women and men and dogs now. and we came up with the idea when we went to the tea party a couple of years ago and it's really taken off. >> uh-huh. so sheila, who are you selling more of? rick shirts or romney shirts? >> you know what? we just put these shirts along with newt and ron paul 2012 shirts on our web site last night so we think it's going to be a great informal straw poll among women around the country because we sell all over the country to see who they like. we'll see. >> very smart business tactic and you'll be watching the debate tonight which is so important. betsy and sheila, great to talk to you again. good luck.

>> thanks, gretchen. >> thank you. >> coming up on our show, police so busy dealing with occupy protesters, they couldn't respond to another 911 call and now someone died. wait until you hear this one. and this used to be a million dollar home. a family's dream home, in fact, but now it's just rubble over a zoning ordinance? plus could this be president obama's new re-election strategy? he's good. but why is he singing the blues? i'm a marathon runner, in absolute perfect physical condition and i had a heart attack right out of the clear blue... i'm on an aspirin regimen... and i take bayer chewables. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. he's my success story. [ laughs ]

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>> time for your shot of the morning and it's president obama trying a new tune. he's singing the blues. the commander in chief jamming with b.b. king last night at the white house after taking the mike from, that's right, mick jagger. >> ♪ baby don't you wanna go ♪ ♪ come on ♪ baby don't you wanna go >> yeah, later in the program,

b.b. king performed "the thrill is gone". >> ♪ the thrill is gone ♪ the thrill is gone away ♪ the thrill is gone baby ♪ the thrill is gone away >> white house blues concert in celebration of black history month, picked up last night by pbs. it will be coming up shortly as they ask you to purchase a tote bag. >> is that a song for chris matthews "the thrill is gone"? >> i'm not sure. i think the president is saying can we try another tune? that's not what he wants to hear in an election year. >> smart strategy to keep the president singing because as long as he does well with that, people like him and i think that adds to his popularity. >> uh-huh. >> although you might think the republicans and they say look, if you want a singer, he's your guy. if you want somebody to fix the economy and bring down gas

prices, rick, newt, ron, mitt. >> possibly. there's a way to spin it. now your headlines. >> new details on a major story we've been following closely. iran once again ordering the execution of a jailed christian pastor. the pastor sentenced to death for refusing to recant his christian faith. and he just rejected an offer to be freed from prison if he converted back to islam so now, sources say, his execution could happen within 48 hours. the 34-year-old has been behind bars since 2009. he's married with two children. >> police so busy dealing with occupy protesters, they couldn't respond to another call. now, someone's dead. a brooklyn couple reported a trespasser outside of their garage. police said they were coming but never showed up because they were busy preparing for an occupy oakland march. when the home owner went out to get help himself, he was killed allegedly by the trespasser. police released a statement saying because officers were working the protest, only

emergency calls were to be handled. they did not consider the initial trespassing call an emergency, obviously. now a city council woman is calling for an investigation into the police's response. what about the occupy people? shouldn't they be implicated? auto you'lled think so. tossing the football around on the fourth of july seems like no big deal, right? not if you're two new york city police officers on duty. the officers say they were just trying to connect with the community by tossing around a football with the 7-year-old kid in the bronx. the top brass said not so fast. the cops were on overtime and the department docked them two vacation days. are you kidding? the cops appealed the ruling and now the case is going to court in april. no fun on the job. >> all right. they say there's no place like home so imagine how one man felt when his town took a wrecking ball to his million dollar mansion. we're talking about 74-year-old wayne johnson. yeah, that guy.

he says officials in marble head, massachusetts, demolished his home because it was eight feet wider than allowed by the town's zoning ordinances. >> over this period of time that i had lived there, the town can't possibly come out of that feeling that they've achieved everything positive. >> the whole town would be wrecked. it turns out johnson has been fighting the town for 15 years but he finally lost, obviously lost this week. >> i couldn't build something on my house because it was going to be two inches too close to the other house. >> there has to be a certain distance. >> 20 feet! >> take a look at where it's raining, snowing and where it's blowing on this ash wednesday and as you can see, we got a little precipitation moving through portions of the northeast today. a little bit of snow in the northern plains and a little bit of rain down in the brownsville and hangy down part of texas. the current readings as you head out the door on this wednesday, we have 44 here in the big town in new york city.

it's 34 in chicago. out west, we got 40's and 50's. about the same as the balance of the country with the exception of the gulf coast where temperatures are currently in the 60's and later today, we'll climb into the seven70's. it should be 76 in new orleans where they had a busy night last night celebrating fat tuesday. 68 the daytime high and 70's across much of the raleigh/durham area. here in new york city, the double nickel, kansas city 64. the northern plains, temperatures in the 40's. and that's your travel cast. >> all right, so the candidates are talking about religion again. i think it was sparked by the fact that santorum used the words theology the other day when speaking about president obama and then had to clarify that he didn't actually mean that he wasn't a christian, etc. so now romney and santorum are hitting president obama over his mandates on religion with regard to health care. >> fortunately, perhaps because

of the people the president hangs around with, and their agenda, a secular agenda, they have fought against religion. >> when the government gives you rights, they can take those rights away. when the government gives you rights, they can tell you how to exercise those rights. and so if you're a person of faith and the government says you will do things, you will provide in your insurance policies what the government tells you you must provide whether it's against the tenets and teachings of your faith -->> i got a prediction. the birth control mandate will come up tonight. at the debate. >> right. >> a lot. >> well, the newly elected and elevated cardinal, timothy dolan just returned home to new york from rome yesterday and he's already getting back to work. moments ago, he distributed breakfast at a bread line run by

a local church. >> joining us right now is fox news religion correspondent father jonathan morris. father jonathan, today is ash wednesday. >> you know what? i just got back from rome and before we start, i brought you -- i was with archbishop dolan, now cardinal timothy dolan. i brought you guys back a little gift for the "fox & friends" team. don't tell anyone where i got it. i'm not going to tell you. that way when you see dolan next time, cardinal dolan, you can say listen, we already know that stuff. we've got one. >> what is the name -->> it's the cardinal hat. >> that's right. it starts with a b. >> they call it a baretta or a zucheto but it's a sign that cardinals make a promise that they're willing to defend their faith and to be a pastor even to the point of death. i think it would look good on brian, actually. >> if my confession went better last time, i would take it. it didn't -- >> it was two hours long. >> what's the protocol with regard to this? >> you're not supposed to steal these from cardinals.

>> that's what i thought. that's the main thing. >> nobody else is supposed to wear that, right? >> yeah, but i don't think cardinal dolan would be upset if brian wore it, no. not at all. >> i saw the cardinal put his baretta on some of the other kids over there. >> brian is like a kid. >> let's talk about ash wednesday, one of the holiest days of the religious year. >> that's right. >> for catholics, this is one of those days when you're supposed to fast, aren't you? >> that's right. not only catholics celebrate ash wednesday, many methodists, many lutherans, some southern baptists even that the idea of ash wednesday is very simple. it's a reminder that from dust we came, in other words god created us, and that we're temporal and to dust we will return. in other words, life is short and so when the minister or the priest places the ashes over on our foreheads or in europe often here, it's a reminder of repentance, of asking

forgiveness, starting over, right, and the prophets jeremiah, daniel used to say go and repent. put on sackcloth and ashes. right? and it's also, as you mentioned, steve, a time for fasting. some traditions on ash wednesday, good friday, no meat. no meat on fridays during lent. >> one meal. >> one major meal. exactly. >> so today, will you be at your church here in new york city? >> i will, you know, and we have two extra services. down at the old cathedral down in lower manhattan. and it's -- it's a wonderful thing that people who are, perhaps, even away from their faith, they still want to get their ashes. and we welcome them! >> what does that say to you? >> it means sometimes even though it's tough to live according to your faith, people recognize symbols and signs are very good for us! they help us to say, you know, i can start over. one of the men said to me a few minutes ago, it's never too late to find jesus and i think we can all come back and make

sacrifices and -- >> that's such a good message. they don't check i.d. to see if you're catholic at the line. >> absolutely not! >> that's right. >> all right, father jonathan morris, thank you very much for the beautiful gift. >> maybe i should give it to -- allow like lauren peterson or jennifer cunningham, more responsible people. >> it might be in better hands. >> it might be in better hands. i'm a little worried about what brian is going to do with it. >> brian may try to cut in line at the vatican with one of these. >> right. don't have any tickets but i got a great hat! >> that's a guy from the starluck? >> yeah. >> father, thanks so much. >> thank you. >> welcome back. >> thank you very much. >> coming up -- >> meanwhile, the president modeling his obamacare after the united kingdom's socialized health system. guess what? the u.k. now wants to ditch it! is this more proof that president obama's big plan won't work? >> and are you ready for the end of the world? the people there are. they're the stars of "doomsday prepers" and they're going to join us live. they have their priorities in order. look at the liquor.

>> first your trivia question of the day.

like many chefs today, i feel the best approach to food is to keep it whole for better nutrition. and that's what they do with great grains cereal. see the seam on the wheat grain? same as on the flake. because great grains steams and bakes the actual whole grain. now check out the other guy's flake. hello, no seam. because it's more processed. now, which do you suppose has better nutrition for you? mmm. great grains. the whole whole grain cereal. oh there's tons. french presses, espresso tampers, filters. it can get really complicated. not nearly as complicated as shipping it though. i mean shipping is a hassle.

not with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits it ships, anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. that is easy. best news i've heard all day! i'm soooo amped! i mean not amped. excited. well, sort of amped. really kind of in between. have you ever thought about decaf? do you think that would help? yeah. priority mail flat rate shipping starts at just $5.15, only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship.

>> is the writing on the wall for president obama's health care plan? fearing a financial meltdown, great britain's prime minister, david cameron, the guy right there introducing a bill this week to partially privatize their own nationalized health care system. so is that proof of the president's new health care law not working either? fox news legal analyst peter johnson jr. who just returned from italy as well where they have socialized medicine, where he doesn't work there and apparently it doesn't work -- >> doesn't work in italy and it is kind of emblematic of the

failure of socialized medicine in the world of single payer system. what they're saying in great britain is let's privatize this somewhat because people should not have to wait 5 1/2 months sometimes for treatment. great britain shouldn't have the lowest breast cancer survival rate in europe. it shouldn't have one of the lower breast cancer survival rates on lung cancer throughout europe. and so they're saying, we are paying a tremendous amount of money but people are waiting too long and they're fleeing sometimes to private health care anyway. there's an axiom in great britain that says listen, if they wait long enough, either they'll go to private care or they'll die so they'll reduce costs that way. it sounds cynical but effectively, that's what's happening so the prime minister is saying, david cameron, let's do something to privatize this, bring some efficiency to it. some speed, some regularity and at the same time, let's see what we can do to reduce costs. >> sure.

peter, this is -- you're worried about this because could this be a preview of coming attractions here? because if great britain has tried to socialize things and, you know, we have apparently based parts of our system on their system and it's not working over there! >> the other system that includes rationing. there's no doubt that it includes rationing. >> absolutely. >> and we've talked about this at the very beginning and we were all over this at the very beginning. my greatest fear is we move towards that system and we move towards a single payer system and we move towards more and more government involvement, we have it already now under obamacare. several boards have been created to regulate the type of medical care that we will be getting to cut back on the most innovative types of medicine. and i predict that a lot of doctors across the united states predict that as we have fewer and fewer physicians going to the profession, as we value their services less, as the government decides more and more about care, that we wind up in

that same quagmire and that quagmire is two things, poor care and expensive care. >> who wants that? >> that's a diabolical duo that does us in in this country so they're trying to come to terms with it. the british people were saying listen, don't do it. we have this entitlement. we're afraid we don't have much now but we're afraid of what's going to happen with our future. a lot of stuff up in the air and it's a really robust debate. it's the kind of debate we should be having. we will have it at the u.s. supreme court on the legal level. >> so stand by for that. >> absolutely. >> peter johnson jr., welcome back. >> thank you so much. >> thanks for the update. >> happy to see you. >> all right. are you ready for the end of the world? well, this guy is. >> we got to get this stuff loaded up. anybody that doesn't take their own self-preservation to heart is doomed for failure. >> coming up, people featured on the new show highlighting the beginning of the end. but first, on this date back in 1980, queen, number one song in

america "crazy little thing called love." [ 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.

>> answer to the trivia question, dr. j, julius irving and the winner is ben from utah. is it time to prepare for the end of the world? a new show on national geographic channel shows americans doing just that. >> it's a passion. >> work together, come on. >> good job. good job. >> we've probably spent anywhere from $20,000 to $30,000 on all that we have. we have to get this stuff loaded up. anybody that doesn't take their own self-preservation to heart is doomed for failure. i refuse to be a victim.

>> just in this closet alone, we have enough for about eight people for three years. there's meat stored all over the place. just like oops, excuse me, don't step on the meat! >> that is where i store all the comforts such as chocolate, brownie mixes and toilet paper. >> all of our preparedness supplies that we have in the home presently probably have a retail value of over $100,000. >> why are they doing this? we're joined now by those prepers themselves. you saw tim ralston and here's his son trey in the middle from arizona and colleen bishop is from utah. you're unrelated but the same focus. be prepared for the end. >> always. >> what makes you think, tim, that the end could be coming? >> you know, it's -- i think when the whole world is looking at prepping now, it has kind of been put under the spotlight with the doomsday prepper show. everybody bases their preps on the threat levels they look at through the media like yours, there was five or six different threat levels from iran to

hyperinflation to, you know, north korea. you just don't know. so prepping really is just preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. >> right, but we're spending a lot of money in doing so. it's taking it to another level. trey, what's your role in this with your dad? >> well, just helping him out. >> you're learning to shoot, right? >> possibly the supermarkets will be closed and you'll have to shoot a bear. >> i don't know about a bear but, you know, if every disaster, you have about three days supply in most grocery stores so, you know, when i look at prepping as i have health insurance and life insurance, i don't spend that much money. i spend over $40,000 for car insurance and never used it. >> you bring up the fact that our grid would be targeted and that would hurt us big time. colleen bishop, you have a different focus. you're worried about the financial system. you took the action you've taken. >> what i do is i did nothing different than warren buffet. i have a different currency. nobody looks at warren buffet

and says you're crazy for having all that money. i'm planning on essentials. that's where i invest my time and money. >> when they came up, were you surprised that there were other people that they're doing what they're doing? >> i'm not surprise. i've been reaching out to them for years. >> do you ever say to yourself you're too focused on the end and not living your life the way it should be. >> it's kind of a switch. the more prepared you are, the more at ease you are. you have a really self-awareness, a real calmness because i know that no matter what happens, i can take care of him and my other kids. >> all right. tim ralston, trey, colleen bishop, thanks so much for coming down and talking about your story. your series airs on tuesday nights and you're a few episodes in. 9:00 on the national geographic channel. thanks, guys. still ahead, president obama says he believes a marriage is between a man and a woman. that's fine. rick santorum says the same thing and he's criticized for being extreme. what's behind the double standard? our political panel will tackle that and colonel oliver north is

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>> gretchen: good morning, everyone. it's wednesday, february 22. i'm gretchen carlson. thanks for sharing part of your day with us. the gop candidates go head to head in the final faceoff tonight before another key primary. primaries. mitt romney has the most to lose and he's not taking any chances. we'll explain. >> steve: meanwhile, the white house says they're doing everything possible to deal with rising oil prices. but what about that pesky keystone excel pipeline? wouldn't that help? >> the history here is pretty clear and the fact is that because republicans decided to play politics with keystone. >> the president didn't turn it down. >> steve: so the republicans

were playing politics and not the white house. is jay carney suffering from short-term memory loss? we'll talk about that. >> brian: and sorry, mom. the lunch you just packed not making the grade. a school confiscate ago kid's lunch. the mom joins us this hour. >> steve: that looks delicious. >> brian: "fox & friends" starts right now. somebody's hungry. >> steve: it's ash wednesday. it is a day of fasting for millions of people around the world. so when we saw that school lunch t looked delicious. what are the odds that ash wednesday would be national margarita day? >> gretchen: fantastic. >> brian: we are going to spend about five minutes trying to make the perfect margarita and maybe revolutionize the drink that's been around since washington. >> gretchen: i'm not sure if it's been around since that time, but there is interesting history. there is some debate about how it actually got its name. let us know if you know how the margarita became the margarita.

>> brian: they found one guy buried with salt around the rim of his glass. they are trying to see if -- >> steve: was his name marg? >> gretchen: that's not one of the stories i read. >> brian: okay, fine. >> gretchen: let's do some headlines. u.s. embassy in kabul, afghanistan on lockdown now. all travel suspended as anti-american riots turned dead ly. as you can hear, lots of shots fired, cars and buildings torched. at least five protesters have died. the violence sparked by the burning of several korans at a u.s. air base in afghanistan. nato's top u.s. commander apologized, saying the book burning was unintentional. the koran, taken from a jail library because taliban prisoners were writing extremist messages to each other in them and under islamic law, writing in them is forbidden and burning them is an accepted means of disposal. another fox news alert. american journalist among the

dead after the bombing of a press building by the syrian army. marie colzan and her french photographer were killed. a reporter for the sunday times was born on long island. the sunday times owned by news corporation. rupert murdoch released a statement moments ago reading, marie put her life in danger on many occasions because she was driven by a determination that the misdeeds of tyrants and the suffering of the victims did not go unreported. that was at great personal cost. our immediate thoughts are with her family. chilling footage of the challenger disaster that has just been released now. this is rare home video shot by a family returning from disney world waiting for the plane at the airport in orlando. they had no idea they were videotaping a tragedy. >> what a ride. there it is. there it goes.

>> gretchen: more than 25 years later, it's still hard to watch. the shuttle exploded 70 second noose its flight, killing all the astronauts on board. familiar face stopping by the "tonight show" to talk politics with jay leno. >> what are obama's biggest obstacles to getting elected. >> gas prices, number one. they're going through the roof. if the unemployment rate goes up. it's all economic for barak obama. americans like him on a personal level. they think he's a good guy. i can concur with that. i know him. he's a good guy. but can he manage the economy and can he get the country under control? now, the debt is really the most important thing, but people don't really engage on that level. $16 trillion, that's a lot of bucks to owe. >> gretchen: that was bill o'reilly on the "tonight show" to promote his brand-new book about another president now. he had "killing lincoln."

now "killing kennedy." probably be another best seller. >> steve: they generally are. tonight 8:00 o'clock eastern time, the candidates will face off the final four literally, in mesa, arizona. so far they've had 19 debates thus far. it has been 26 days since the last debate. some things are new because because in this one, mitt romney is the underdog and rick santorum is going to have one of the podiums on the inside indicating the fact that he is a front runner and has been over the last week. although the polls, according to them, are tightening considerably. >> brian: you got arizona -- he's got arizona where he's got a slight lead where the debate will be tonight. in michigan, mitt romney breaking back on one poll, tightening it up. now he's coming back. according to one poll, mitchell and row set at that stone, it was done quickly in any language, it was romney, 32-30 leads. in other polls, it's going more santorum's way. >> gretchen: the rasmussen poll

shows in michigan, santorum leading by 4. 38% to 34% to mitt romney. they're all within the margin of error. so you can basically say it's a dead heat right now. but who is it more important to? no doubt mitt romney. this is home state where he was born, where his father was governor. this would be, as many said, crippling or a blow to his campaign if he does not win michigan. what will happen tonight? what will be the strategy in this debate? will the candidates go after each other? will the two front runners go after each other or will they mainly talk about policy? i think we're getting a hint from newt gingrich about what he might do because he's now taking a different approach in this campaign. he has put together a 30-minute tv pitch on the economy and gas prices. you can see a snippet of it on youtube. this will be released in local markets in key states. >> steve: i don't know, gretch, if the candidates need to attack each other because generally, since it's on cnn, the moderators will do just that. but you've got to figure, and

because this is the first time that rick santorum has been toward the top of the polls, there is going to be a lot of scrutiny. governor sarah palin said let this thing go for a while 'cause we need to scrutinize. doubtless the moderator will ask him about his satan comments, about the phony theology thing, and also huffington post quoted a 1995 philadelphia magazine article where he said, i was basically pro-choice all my life until i ran for congress. somebody from his campaign said he has never held a pro-choice position. >> brian: let's just look at what's going to happen. every front runner that tries to be above the fray and pays the price. will rick santorum go back and go after people? will he fight back? will he be on the defensive? i look for mitt romney to go after him. but getting help from ron paul, an indication of which has ron paul ran an attack work in michigan. is there a collusion? >> gretchen: that was debated on "special report" last night

amongst the an mists. is there -- analysts. is there some agreement? if it comes down to the convention, will ron paul give his delegates ultimately to mitt romney? there could be back door politicking going on right now before we got to the back door politicking. >> brian: president obama trying to get voters' attention this week, revealing two new reforms. one starting today with treasury secretary timothy geithner, he's unveiling a plan for a new corporate tax code. >> gretchen: for that we go live to steve centanni at the white house. this will be a big deal. right? >> right. mixing politics with policy in this election year, as the president has done in the past. he's proposing his plan to reduce the corporate tax rate and likely setting up a show it is down with congress. here is the plan we expect to hear from the treasury department later on today. it calls for reducing the corporate tax rate from 35% to 28%. it would also eliminate dozens of popular tax deductions and tax loopholes and it would impose a new minimum tax on

foreign earnings to encourage investment and job creation here at home. here is the president on that just yesterday. >> it's time we stop rewarding businesses that send jobs overseas. start rewarding companies right here who want to create jobs in the united states and sell to other countries as opposed to exporting jobs to other countries. that's what we need to do. congress can act on that. >> by eliminating loopholes and deductions and subsidy, the new plan would increase overall tax revenues by $250 billion over ten years. some republicans in congress and on the campaign trail likely to oppose the president on this, saying it doesn't go far enough. they point out the u.s. has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world. mitt romney has proposed a 25% cap. rick santorum wants 17.5%. ron paul, 15%. newt gingrich, the lowest of all at 12.5%. the battle lines are drawn. back to you.

>> steve: they are indeed. steve live at the white house. so tim geithner will lay out the white house plan at noon today. why today? could it possibly be the fact that perhaps as early as tonight during the debate out in arizona, mitt romney will reveal some of the broad strokes of his tax reform plan? on this program we've been talk being how he needed something bolder. apparently he's got a bold plan. could hear about it tonight. tomorrow at the latest. >> gretchen: okay. that may be a smart move for him to energize his campaign. in the meantime, the president not only going to be given this speech about taxes, but now because of high gas prices, could it be that now tomorrow he's going to give an energy speech at the university of miami? well, let's take a look at the national average. would you be giving a speech if suddenly the national average for gas a gallon was now 3.58? what is the president going to say? yesterday his own spokesperson said a lot of what he's going to say is what he said in his speech last year. well, that's with gas prices were not quite as high as they

are right now. >> brian: he's going to say it's at an all-time high. it has to do with those released under the bush administration. a lot of people in the pluck says, wait a minute. i'm still waiting on my lease to get ok'd to get back to work, as well as on the east coast. i think if the oil industry is upset by the administration, it's time for them to speak up because this is the time to expose what's actually happening out this. in terms of green technology, i can't see him politically putting a lot of emphasis on that because it will bring up a lot of negative stories. for example, the volt is not doing too well. tesla is not doing too well. we're not hearing too many good things about solyndra or some of the other solar companies. meanwhile, the president's press secretary got into it yesterday with jake tapper of another network on the keystone pipeline because when he was saying while he found it strange, so might you. >> in terms of keystone, as you all know, the history here is pretty clear and the fact is that because republicans decided

to play politics with keystone, their action essentially forced the administration to deny the permit process because they insisted on a time frame within which it was impossible to appropriately approve the pipeline. >> all the above approach that the president turned down the keystone pipeline and you blamed the republicans for making a political -- >> the president didn't turn down the pipeline. you can't review and approve a pipeline, the route for which doesn't even exist. >> gretchen: that is just sin. there is -- spin. the president did turn down the keystone pipeline! come on. the republicans did put it into that payroll tax extension because they were trying to get an answer out of them. are you going to make a decision before the election or not? and then now it's a convenient way to say that he actually never turned it down? he turned it down! he said he was going to wait until after the election. that's turning it down for right now. >> brian: more analysis. it's already been the most researched pipeline in the history of the country.

>> steve: a country covered with pipelines. >> brian: yes. >> steve: never had a problem until now. allall right. guess what? you're looking at the brand-new terror threat from iran. that thing right there. it's a $27 radio. what's inside can kill you. we'll tell you what's inside. >> gretchen: president obama says he believes marriages between a man and woman and that's okay, but when rick santorum says the same thing, he's called extreme? our political panel is here to tackle the double standard. here they come, fresh with their coffee [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition? ♪ [ 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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but when i look at it, i see seth, mark, tom, and people like that who work on engines every day. [ tom ] i would love to see this thing fly. [ kareem ] it's a dream, honestly. there it is. oh, wow. that's so cool! yeah, that was awesome! [ cheering ] [ tom ] i wanna see that again. ♪ >> brian: opposite sides of the political spectrum. but rick santorum and president obama agree on one thing, marriage should be defined as a

union between a man and woman. so why is the gop candidate the only one getting backlash for his beliefs? here is what he had to say about that. >> all of a sudden now because your moral values don't com port with what theirs are, all of a sudden, he must be trying to impose his values. it's very clear that if you hold those types of beliefs, that you're going to be held up for ridicule. >> brian: so is there a media double standard when it comes to social issues? we're joined with our political panel who knows the answer. rich lowery is here, editor of the national review. alexis mcgill is executive director of the values institute. and rick newman is the chief business correspond entases news --ent, u.s. news and world report. do you understand this issue in particular? >> it's a complete double standard. rick santorum believes exactly the same thing the president of the united states professes to believe. no one accuses the president of being bigoted for opposing gay marriage. it's clearly because everyone

assumes that president obama is being utterly insincere and doesn't really believe what he says when he opposes gay marriage where people -- the press in particular fears that rick santorum really means it. >> brian: alexis, do you think the whole association thing might be a trap for republicans? >> no, actually i think this has been their strong suit and actually changing some of the debate for why they might come into office in november. i think the challenge for santorum is this particular view looking in the context of a large set of his other views which people are concerned about. everything from women in the military to concerns about prenatal testing. it raises a lot of eyebrows 'cause it feels extremist. >> brian: you know the premise of the question, they both believe the same thing, but i don't see president obama getting much heat on that. >> santorum has made social values the center piece of his entire campaign, which i think is why he's getting all the attention. for obama, it's a wink, nod, kind of a side issue. he has things in his issue where he can say i'm moderate. he repealed don't ask, don't

tell. that was a huge gift to the people who were more in the middle on this. >> brian: seems strange that democrats aren't getting the same backlash. rich, do you think it might be somewhat of a trap to get us off gas prices and 8.3 unemployment or do you think republicans go there happily? >> i think rick santorum goes there happily and he should. i mean, big part of the appeal is that he's a conviction politician and these are core issues for him. he should talk about them. he has to be careful about overemphasizing them or coming across as a priest. last year he said in this interview, if he's president, elect a president, he's going to warn the nation about the dangers of contraception, which would be the most exotic use of the bully pulpit ever. look, he's a little bit ahead in michigan. he's closing in arizona. if he has a really good debate tonight, it's not inconceivable he could win both states and bring mitt romney's campaign to the brink of collapse. but he means to make himself main stream.

he needs to drift away from social issues and do more on the economy, which he has been doing. >> brian: eventually. if he gets the nomination, he would have to. you three, i'd like to you stick around for a different topic. they stick around because we want to get their sense on the new budget in new jersey and a certain governor that put it out. >> we can make the right ones now. in this budget. >> brian: what can congress learn from governor christie in one of our panelists says not a whole lot. then sorry, mom. the lunch you packed, not making the grade. a school confiscateing a kid's lunch again. the mom here live ok, guys-- what's next ? chocolate lemonade ? susie's lemonade... the movie. or... we make it pink ! with these 4g lte tablets,

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>> gretchen: 24 minutes after the top of the hour. quick headlines. what is more important? freedom of speech or respecting the military? the supreme court hears arguments today in a landmark case that will decide if lying about your military record and impersonating an officer is protected under free speech. it's one of the first cases prosecuted on the stolen valor act. the defendant lied about winning the medal of honor. happy 280th birthday, george washington. the first president is often referred to as the father of our nation. he also presided over the writing of the constitution. >> brian: thank you very much. didn't know that. governor chris christie took center stage yesterday touting his new jersey recovery and unveiling the state's 2013 budget. listen. >> we have been down the road of high taxation. it didn't work.

the result was high unemployment, higher taxes, low growth. the result was families leaving new jersey. the old way was a dead end for new jersey. be clear on this point, we will not return to the path of higher taxes under any circumstances, not on my watch [ applause ] >> brian: what can washington learn from the governor's economic success? we're rejoin bid our political panel to examine. he'll have spending up and the taxes continue to get cut and he says growth will be at 7%. what's he doing right or wrong? >> well, he assumes there is going to be a big boost in tax revenue because of the economy is recovering and i hope that's true. if it is true, then he's done exactly what you want someone to do, really clamp down during the hard times, get through them, and then when the clouds lift a little bit, try to give the state a competitive advantage when you have a lot of states around you raising taxes. 'cause you actually want rich people to move to your state and live in your state.

>> brian: right. >> it's a great economic boon. >> brian: i've heard that. alexis, what's he doing right? >> first of all, i'm a jersey girl, so i totally get chris christie. i think his explain spokenness -- >> brian: we need that in washington? >> we need that, but that's where the lesson ends. the rest is a cautionary tale. what he's doing is shifting the bush of the middle class and work class americans in new jersey. he's increasing property taxes and the income tax, 10% across the board, will probably net maybe $80 for middle class families. that's really not a heck of a lot. >> brian: the income will pay $80 less in taxes. rick, i think the white house is taking note of governor kristy's success and approach. what do you think? >> he's got one thing going for him, which is new jersey is recovering faster than a lot of other places. it didn't have a huge housing bust like california. florida, other places like that. that's one thing in his favor. new jersey, however, also has

very high property taxes among the highest -- >> brian: that's going to be the key. >> he wants to push taxes down a little over here, but they'll stay high here. the real thing is push taxes town everywhere, really get the economy going, and use revenue to make life better for everyone. >> brian: if you look at daniels, cuomo and christy, they care less about politics and more about what works. don't you find that? >> no. i think chris christie clearly is focusing on the presidential race in 2016. he wants to be able to run and say i cut taxes. >> brian: i don't agree. here we are in -- >> he's got four years to say look at the great prosperity i brought and i lowered taxes across the board for everybody. i'd love to see him do that. >> brian: all right. rich, alexis and rick, great job. that's what's happening in new jersey and hopefully it's happening in your town. is thank is budget where is the taxes get cut and revenues go up. the amazing race takes a horrifying turn. one of the producers poisoned to

death. the bizarre details ahead. see that guy in the boat? that's colonel oliver north. he's in somalia where he's teaching the locals how to fight pirates. we'll talk to him. and we asked you the question at the top of the hour, how is the margarita created? here is a hint, it was something to do with the ice cream. stick around 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.

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>> i got robbed last night. i got robbed. unbelievable. i pulled over to a gas station, guy points the gas hose at me and goes 4.50 a gallon. >> steve: highway robbery. >> gretchen: gas prices the topic of conversation this week. >> steve: bill o'reilly last night on leno. >> brian: that was a late night punch line, but it's hag. some prices so high, some stealing fuel from their neighbors. that's what this guy is accused of doing in scottsdale, arizona. another guy in florida sucked dozens of gallons of gas from underground tanks. this guy says he understands. >> it's not right, but that's what happened, you know. people get pushed to the limit.

that's what happened. >> brian: next thing you know, you have a drill and you're underneath your car on the floor board. national average for a gallon of regular gas, 3.50, the highest ever for this time of year. >> gretchen: talk about a boom box, iranian terrorists reportedly used $27 portable radios to hide bombs meant to attack israeli targets in thailand. these are exclusive photos obtained by abc news. they show the inside of a radio packed with ball bearings and magnets. bomb experts say the magnets show that the bomb was designed to be sucked to the side of a car or a truck. surveillance photo of one of the bombers shows him carrying two of those moments before he blew off his own legs in an attack that wounded four people. >> steve: a reality tv producer poisoned to death? perhaps. jeff rice worked on "the amazing race" and "whale watchers." he was found dead in his hotel in uganda. his production assistant is currently struggling for her life. a source tells fox news they

apparently were poisoned after some of the local thugs tried to shake him down for money. not known what show rice was working on at the time of his death. he leaves behind a wife and two kids. >> brian: they go to crazy places. landmark gone in seconds. series of blasts brought down the 83-year-old fort suen bridge in ohio. yes, that was the right bridge. it was a primary link between ohio and west virginia. more than 150 pounds of explosives were used in the implosion. officials say the bridge was falling apart and needed to come down. we'll never know. >> steve: they stopped traffic first. right? >> brian: get your canoe and i'll meet you on the other side. >> steve: thank you. our colonel oliver north, combat decorate mad rein and best selling author now in somalia training the locals how to fight pirates. he joins us now from mogadishu with an update on the mission. good morning to you, sir.

>> good morning, steve. just so i don't get fired, i'm not training them. but others are and that's the good news because we've been out there with those youngsters as they've become an effective counter piracy force north of here. today we're in mogadishu, scene of "blackhawk down," we spent time out with a police force doing reconnaissance, the ground operations and sea born operations. we put a clip together. watch this. >> here there are very few success stories. one of them untold is the maritime police force conducting operations in the air, on the ground, and at sea. small air base on the coast of somalia, the gulf of aiden behind us. we're accompanying the marine police force, set up with the help of the united arab emirates, to counter piracy. this aircraft, the work horse of africa, is conducting a photo

reconnaissance of pirates dens captured ships and locations for hostages are being held. we're going to accompany them on this mission. let's go. we flew over their land masses, but avoided hostage ships. the maritime police also conduct operations ashore. in training new police officers like these, this isn't just how to fire a weapon. it's team work, integrity of the unit, looking after one another. that's what these new police officers are being trained to do. countering piracy requires that the marine police force here be qualified not only on land, but on sea. so part of their training is to become familiar with water born operations like these in which they can conduct surveillance of vessels up and down the coast and be able to take them if

they're pirates instead of fishermen. the wonderful thing about all of this is that this is being done without a great big american presence, unlike what we've reported back on afghanistan or iraq, this is being done by other nations, helping this nation become a nation once again. something it's not been for nearly 40 years. there is a glimmer of hope now that they can once stand on their own, stop the piracy, and become a very, very effective power in this part of the world. >> steve: all right. great work you're doing there. ollie north, thank you very much. all right, 22 minutes before the top of the hour. check this out. you're looking at a rocket blasting off into the night above the northern lights in alaska. the nasa mission to find out more about how the lights are formed. >> brian: should have asked us. ♪

>> gretchen: party week on "fox & friends." yesterday was mardi gras. today we're grabbing some tequila and limes and celebrating national margarita day. >> steve: here to shake things up with his best margarita recipes is the president of the new york chapter of the u.s. bartenders guild, jason latrell. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> steve: not only is it margarita day, it's ash wednesday. some people would probably take note of the recipe and make it tomorrow. >> it falls on an interesting day. >> gretchen: we'll start with the classic margarita. >> absolutely. it's a very simple expression of tequila and you can not make it without fresh lime juice. >> gretchen: that's a nifty contraption. >> yeah, i know. old school. some tequila. >> gretchen: you just going to do one shot in that? brian has to do a radio show and steve will go for a swim later. >> i heard about your producer, soy figured i should make him one. >> brian: that's a good idea. >> steve: down in the control room. >> it would be impossible to make the right one without the oldest french triple sec in the world. >> steve: this is always better than the kind you get in the big

jug? >> absolutely. it's kind of interesting how the margarita morphed since 1948 when we had what we consider the best story. i'm interesting to hear what your viewers say about this. but like the story i'm sticking to is as a margarita -- from 1948, she was a wealthy aristocrat and would go down to acapulco all the time. >> gretchen: look at him shaking that thing! wow. >> you want to shake them awake. not asleep. >> gretchen: what does the shaking do? >> it aerates, multiplies it, mixes up the lime juice. >> brian: it's multiplied. >> absolutely. >> gretchen: this is for one of you. >> steve: i'm fasting. >> brian: are we allowed to drink? >> steve: no. you would have to take it over there off camera. >> gretchen: give it to ian.

>> brian: this will be his third. >> gretchen: what's the next one? >> it's a very simple variation of the same thing. it's important for people to know that you can make a lot of it with just a few ingredients. again, we'll use the cuantro, tequila and fresh lime juice. >> gretchen: you were muddling? >> muddling with the muddleer. again, down here. >> steve: you're the regional president of the margarita guild or something like that? >> the margarita guild. it's the united states bartenders guild. we're dedicated to education. >> steve: i bet you got great conventions. >> brian: i'd love to work the door at one of your events. >> you would not, actually. >> gretchen: shake that puppy and then later on in our after the show show, you're going to do the one that i might try, which is the apple cinnamon margarita? >> i don't know. i'm pretty sure you're going to

try them all. >> gretchen: all right. look at that shake. >> steve: you like them on the rocks better than out of the machine where it's like a slurpe,. >> brian: it's ladies' night on the set of "fox & friends." come on, gretchen. >> gretchen: in the commercial break, i may have that. >> it's healthy. >> gretchen: more recipes later in the after the show show. the lunch police out in full force telling a four-year-old her lunch wasn't good enough and made her eat one from the school! that girl's mom joins us in just a few minutes. >> steve: with no clear front runner in the republican race, are we headed for a brokered convention? some say yes. so we're going to find out how exactly that would work with larry.

>> gretchen: you can't help but hear the whispers in the race for the gop nomination, there continues to be no clear front runner. now speculation growing that there could be a brokered or contested convention when the party finally meets in tampa in august. so what does that actually mean and how likely is it? joining me now to look into his crystal ball, larry sabato. good morning to you. >> good morning, gretchen. >> gretchen: so what is the difference between a brokered convention and a contested convention? >> well, it's become a fetish to define the two. there is not that many differences. but look, a brokered convention obviously involves brokers. independent individuals who are trying to resolve the differences among the candidates

and arrive at a ticket that can win in november. a contested convention simply means that no candidate has a majority of the delegates going into the convention and so they have to fight it out ballot after ballot until just like in the old days, something breaks and somebody gets a majority of 1144. >> gretchen: right. so in contested, you would not have these political insiders going into back rooms and making the decisions. am i right on that? >> well, i would never bet against that, gretchen. these are politicians. they're always going to be smoke filled rooms, even if you don't have the smoke. they may not smoke anymore, but they'll be in the back rooms trying to work out deals. it could also be the candidates. the candidates may be their own brokers. after all, their face are on the line. i'm not sure they'll delegate that to anybody. >> gretchen: so you actually think that the insiders, if it came to this, could be the speaker of the house, john boehner, and the senate minority

leader, mitch mcconnell? >> among others. look, who has a greater stake in this election, besides the candidates who have the greatest steak of all? obviously it's bainer and mcconnell because they have all their candidates for the house and senate on the ballot. they're either going to benefit from a strong republican ticket or their member also be drowned in a coat tail disaster. so obviously they would get involved at some level. they may keep it very private, but they would want to get a good ticket. >> gretchen: it's interesting to see how america feels about this right now. they're kind of confused. so according to republicans, 66% want a candidate with enough delegates to secure the nomination before the convention. but then you have 29% whoavor a brokered convention with a brand-new candidate. and 55% who wish someone else was running for gop nomination. what does that say to you? >> well, i'm going to stick to the 66%. i'm going to say they're very wise because the truth is, a convention that decides the ticket is probably going to be a

very divisive convention in this age of social media and instant communication. it would probably be a disaster. think back through history, gretchen. divided conventions, even in modern times, have always produced tickets that lost. 1976 republican. 1980 democratic. 1984 democratic. it's going to be a disaster if it happens. that's my bet. >> gretchen: the last time it happened for the gop, 1948. the nominee was thomas dewey. for the democrats, adlai stevenson and both lost. it's interesting because sarah palin actually says it might not be a bad idea. we'll have to wait and see what happens. right? if you look in your crystal ball, let me know what you see. >> there are loads of possibilities. this is still not a probability. >> gretchen: all right. good to see you. thanks so much. >> thanks. >> gretchen: sorry, mom, the lunch you packed, not making the grade. a school confiscating a kid's lunch again. we'll talk to that mom coming up next.

first, let's check in with martha for what's on at the top of the hour. >> good morning. good to see you. we've got a big night as the candidates square off. we'll show you the very latest polls this morning. ed roll loins will be here and weigh in with his advice for the front runners as they get ready for tonight. and the uva murder trial heads to a jury. we await the dramatic outcome in that. a new study says there is something that women must know about their risk for heart attack. doctors in the house and bill and i will see you at the top of the hour [ male announcer ] got a cold? [ sniffles ] not sure what to take? click on the robitussin® relief finder. click on your symptoms. get your right relief. makes the cold aisle easy. robitussin®. relief made simple.

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>> brian: quick headlines. violence in mexico spilling over the border. a woman push ago baby stroller, hit by a stray bullet. she was in downtown el paso and police believe the bullet came

from juarez. thousands of catholics head to church today in observance of ash wednesday. it marks the beginning of lent season. vice president biden just arrived to receive his ashes. >> steve: thank you very much. last week we told where you a north carolina preschooler was forced to eat chicken nuggets from the cafeteria because the school confiscated the lunch she brought from home made by a parent. the school's excuse, the home made lunch did not meet nutritional requirements. now a second mom stepping forward saying the same thing happened to her child at the same school. joining us now from raleigh, north carolina, we've got diane. >> good morning. >> steve: you pick your daughter up after school and you say, how was school and she tells you that the food police stopped at her school!

>> correct. >> steve: what happened? >> i packed my daughter's lunch like i do every day. and that one particular day i asked the teacher had she been good in school? had she eaten her lunch? she told me actually, she remember to do give your mom the flyer. when we stepped in the car, i told her why didn't you eat lunch? she explained to me that they didn't let her eat her lunch and made her go on-line to get the school lunch. >> steve: okay. you mentioned the flyer. here is the statement that talks about school lunches. students who do not bring a healthy lunch will be offered the missing portions which may result in a fee from the cafeteria. that's what you got socked with. you had your daughter -- you packed for her a cheese and salami sandwich on a wheat bun and apple juice. okay. you got some dairy there, some fruit, you got some bread, you got meat as well. what did she wind up getting from the cafeteria line? >> chicken nuggets, sweet

potato, a bun and milk. >> steve: how much of that did she eat? >> she actually only ate the sweet potato and took a bite of the chicken nugget. >> steve: here is the thing. we've got the usda lunch guidelines. they say for kids between one and 12, they need to have a serving of milk, you had that with the cheese. a serving of fruits and vegetables, two of those. you had that as well. the bread, the meat, or meat alternative. you had that with the salami. it seems like they -- you packed a lunch pretty close. what is the thing that bothers you the most about having the food police tell your daughter, we're going to confiscate that? you got to get in line? >> the fact that they took upon themselves to make the decision for me as a parent. we believe that we're in a country that we're allowed to do decisions for ourselves and the fact that they take it away from us, what are they going to take away next? that's my main concern. >> steve: here is a statement from the school apologizing.

the school has taken appropriate action to safeguard against any repetition of these situations in the future. they offer their sincere apologies to any child or parents who were involved. i know next year, you're going to have your daughter in a private school. do you accept the apology? >> i haven't heard firsthand actually and i've dropped and picked up my daughter every single day. this is the first apology i've ever heard. >> steve: it's funny when you go on tv and a producer calls the school and suddenly they've got an apology to be read on tv, but they hadn't read it to you. diane, we thank you very much for joining us and telling us the story. >> thanks for having me. >> steve: thank you. all right. coming up on the top of the hour, we'll take a quick time out. more "fox & friends" comes your way in two minutes [ horn honks ]

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