of the president's economic policies either. >> you could tax me at 100% and you wouldn't balance the budget. >> bring the other guy in. >> so what should you do? the former president offering some alternative advice to the current president. >> wow. department of justice launching a new investigation into j.p. morgan. guess what? they don't think the whole fast & furious gunrunning scandal is worthy of an investigation. is it about the law or is this about politics? "fox & friends" starts right now. >> good morning, everyone. hope you're going to have a great middle of the weekday. today is wednesday! get over the hump and move on to the weekend. >> and starting off with fog and rain here in new york city. the sun will come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar. >> ♪ the sun will come out tomorrow ♪

>> my daughter did annie the play over the weekend. >> did she do a wig or not? >> she was not annie. they put that for the older kids. for the younger kids, they let her be a dog and an orphan. problem is she smiled the entire play like orphans don't do. >> even during the sad parts. >> she left her earrings in. what kind of orphan smiles all the time with earrings? >> when you're singing it's a hard knock life. >> did you watch the movie where carol burnett plays the drunk bad woman? >> oh, no, it's quite -- you got to -->> mean the actual "annie" movie? >> yeah. seen it a couple of times. mitt romney on his way to florida for two days of campaigning and fundraising and doing it with extra momentum. going 2-2 in the nebraska and oregon primaries. nebraska was just a beauty contest as the delegates won't be awarded until the state convention in july but the oregon win inching him closer to the magic number of 1144 delegates right now, he has 973.

and romney also picked up a major endorsement. former president george w. bush saying "i'm for mitt romney." it's the first time that bush has weighed in publicly on the 2012 race. explosive back-to-back testimony could be coming today in the corruption trial of john edwards. the former presidential candidate himself could take the stand. so could his mistress, rielle hunter and his 30-year-old daughter kate. of those three, kate edwards is most likely to testify and defend her father who is facing 30 years in prison if convicted. defense attorneys say if they don't call these witnesses, they will rest their case today. a terrifying warning now to drivers in mississippi. a suspected police impersonator believed to be pulling people over late at night and then killing them on the side of the highway. it's reportedly happened twice in the past week. both victims shot and then robbed. it's believed the suspect may be a middle aged man in his 40's driving a sedan with flashing lights. a fallen hero will receive the nation's highest military award

today more than 40 years later. president obama will present army specialist leslie savo jr. with the medal of honor posthumously. he saved the lives of several of his fellow soldiers after his platoon was ambushed by north vietnamese troops. his widow and brother are said to be at today's ceremony. those are your headlines. >> what a story. >> let's go over to the gallup "usa today" poll which i think is pretty significant. when they talk about the economy and who is better equipped to turn our economy around over the next four years, more good numbers for mitt romney. 55% say mitt romney is the better choice and gives odds on -- the odds on favorite to do a better job. president obama with 46%. but in the same poll, they also point out that a staggering number of people expect and this is extremely high, expect mitt romney to lose the election come

the fall. >> there's dissidence in this poll. i don't get it. how could people say that they think the economy would get better by a wide margin under mitt romney but when asked who is going to win the election, 56% say barack obama. 36% say mitt romney. i thought this whole election was about the economy. i mean, that's what we've been saying forever and ever but somehow these numbers don't add up together. >> i'll tell you what, the numbers do look good for mitt romney if people are thinking, ok, between the two of them, who would do a better job? mitt romney would. he gets a majority. 71% of the country right now says that their economic conditions are poor. 4 in 10 say they are worse off today than they were four years ago. what's interesting is now, the republicans in congress actually have an advantage. if you look back at last august, the democrats were up by 7 points. the democrats and republicans were tied in february. and now, they've got an advantage. 50% to 44% so things seem to be

going the republicans' way. >> if you look at the cbs poll that came out and you look at the "new york times" poll that came out and you look at the rasmussen poll that's been out for 10 straight days, it seems like mitt romney's policy is head to head against president obama consistently over the past two weeks. >> what else is interesting in that poll is mitt romney's likeability has gone up which i believe will be one of his biggest battles. believe it or not, we're going to probably voted on a president that we like more than maybe the economy? i know it sounds crazy but as long as those numbers continue to go up, it looks like they may be more on an even scale between president obama and mitt romney. here's the other interesting point -- yesterday on "the view", president obama gave himself what grade on the economy? remember before he said that if he didn't turn around the economy in the first four years, that he would not run again to be president of the united states. well, now he's not giving himself a grade. he's saying that he is incomplete. >> you got to remember, he gave himself a b plus. >> i don't know about you but my parents were really upset at me

at college for the money i was paying if i came home with any incompletes. that didn't past the muster too much when they were forking out that kind of dough. will be up to the american people to see if incomplete is a good grade. >> your incomplete is a tactic like i'm bombing out the semester. let's call off the dogs! >> sure, remember steven chu, the secretary of energy gave himself, what, an a minus and everybody goes are you kidding me? meanwhile, they should have asked bill clinton who appeared yesterday at the pete peterson foundation which is in, i think, third or fourth year right now, what kind of grade he would give the united states? it's interesting, he does not agree with some of the things the president is doing and in fact, bill clinton himself suggested that the president's tax hikes on the rich would not be enough and suggested that maybe everybody including the middle class should pay some more in taxes. here's bill clinton. >> you could tax me at 100% and you wouldn't balance the budget. the president, i think, should

talk more about the medicare savings he has proposed. and the defense cuts he has proposed. and the fact that he proposes and i disagree with this, by the way, he proposes to take discretionary nondefense spending to its lowest percentage of g.d.p. since president eisenhower was in office. >> uh-huh. >> here's the thing. these are not small issues that president clinton disagrees with president obama. these are the issues, biggest issues facing the united states of america right now. and president clinton while he's out campaigning with president obama does not agree with him on the central issues of this campaign. this should be splashed across the headline of every front page of every newspaper but i bet it's not. >> yeah, i just think that if the president of the united states started putting things in place to turn the economy around, he could save himself a billion dollars on re-election. i think with his personal popularity, he would coast to four more years. instead, people have to continue to evaluate to wonder if we're on the right track and what the

president is doing is going to fundraisers and going to different events. >> but president clinton is pointing out the main points like you should start talking about the budget instead of just allowing the senate to take a pass. yeah, entitlements, medicare, social security. i mean, all the biggest issues. you should have followed simpson-bowles and their deficit recommendation. these are the central issues that this country is facing right now. it's amazing to me that president clinton disagrees this much with the sitting president. >> well, the president of the united states sat down across from the speaker of the house and they were on the verge according to some of some sort of a grand bargain but at the end, the president changed the terms, moved the goal posts and mr. boehner could not go along with it. so when it comes to the really big problems facing the country including it sounds like we're going to have to jack up the debt ceiling before we thought we were going to have to, you know, these are the problems that face the president and mr. boehner very directly yesterday said the problem is this

president doesn't have the courage to pull the trigger. >> the difference between knowing what's right and doing what's right is courage. and the president, i'm sorry to say, lost his courage last summer. he was willing to talk about the tough choices that we needed to preserve and strengthen our entitlement program. but he wasn't ready to take action. >> well, he invited congressional leaders up to the white house today and he's going to talk about his 20 plus things to do list which i'm sure congress loves that. hey, go do these things for me which they haven't done yet and john boehner also brought up and made it clear that he's going to be -- he's poised for another debt ceiling debate -- >> before the election. >> handoff. >> the treasury secretary tim geithner yesterday basically gave him a warning, finger wagging saying don't you dare make this political again but besides courage from john bainor, why does the president not want to talk about these things? it's called re-election, folks. re-election. this is what bugs people about a president who comes into office and most of them do this and

they start trying to be re-elected right away and nothing gets done. >> i would love to see -- i mean, for example, it goes back to my original point, if he did work out a deal with john boehner even if it went more to the right and to the left and went up the middle, then he would put the pressure on republican leaders to come up with something if you put a sincere effort forward and things start to turn around and deals got in place, you could save so much money on two minute internet ads that talk about deals that didn't really happen and capitalism that's supposed to be taking place, instead of doing all that, you could be solving the country's problems. >> your stance and evolving the stance right now, he may not have time to do that. >> or time to do -- >> if he would have chosen a different track. >> the only ones right now talking about fixing entitlement programs so she will last for the rest of everybody's lives are the republicans in the house. meanwhile, there are a number of republicans in the house who want to know more about fast & furious but the department of justice said, you know, we've done enough which is interesting because now it does appear that the f.b.i. is going to launch a

probe into what happened with j.p. morgan. how did they lose those $2 million. rather $2 billion seemingly overnight. charles krauthammer had stern words regarding mr. holder last night on mr. o'reilly's show. >> i'll tell you what i think explains this guy. he's a political hack. and the reason that is so grating is because you can be a political hack in h.u.d., somewhere else, the justice department is a really important job. you are the supreme law enforcement official in the country. you are entrusted with upholding the rule of law and the constitution and the amount of stuff he has done as a pure political hack, as you mentioned, starting with a mark of rich pardon back in the clinton administration, this is a guy who will be at the beck and call of his political masters. >> i have a better idea. >> what? >> what about m.f. global?

what about investigating m.f. global? why is that of no interest? >> because jon corzine is a big bundler. he can't go to prison before the election. >> to investigate j.p. morgan, the f.b.i. would mean they believe something criminal happened. the justice department does not look into anything unless they believe something criminal happened. this could be a way in which the president can continue to move against the banks and blame the current economy and class warfare on the banks by issuing a criminal probe. >> and apparently, they don't believe anything criminal happened in fast & furious. >> all right. 13 minutes now after the hour. just two hours and 45 minutes left. straight ahead -- >> not that we're counting. >> the president's stance on same-sex marriage, will it alienate african-american religious voters? is he taking the black vote for granted, perhaps? a pastor speaking out against the president here next. >> that's right. a wounded veteran facing a new battle here at home. his guns were confiscated but

charges were dropped. so shouldn't he be able to get those legal guns back? that straight ahead on this wet wednesday, "fox & friends" live from new york city. the best part of angreat meal? delicious gourmet gravy. and she agrees. with fancy feast gravy lovers, your cat can enjoy the delicious, satisfying taste gourmet gravy every day. fancy fst. the best ingredient is love. to provida better benefits package... oahhh! [ male announcer ] it made a big splash with the employees. [ duck yelling ] [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. ♪ ha ha!

>> i've got friends. i've got pastors and people who have been great supporters, great friends who i've spoken to and they said look, we love you but we disagree with you on this thing. >> that was president obama yesterday on "the view" on abc. admitting that he's seen some backlash from the religious community since announcing his support for same sex marriage last week. >> and one of his critics on this issue is reverend emmitt burns, the pastor of rising sun baptist church and belongs to the maryland house of delegates. good morning to you, reverend. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> so were you caught off guard when the president decided to come out last week and changed

his stance completely with regard to gay marriage? >> yes, i very much was. i had not expected that when the vice president gave his views, i looked at it as possibly a trial balloon but then i was not certain of that. but when the president came out last wednesday, i was shocked and very much disturbed by his statement. >> right, and reverend, i understand you feel you wish that the president would have reached out to a number of pastors such as yourself before he made the announcement rather than after. but one thing i've heard a lot of from people talking on the radio and things i read on line is a lot of members of the african-american community now are planning simply not to show up on election day. >> well, i hope that will not happen. i made that statement and upon reflection, given what we've gone through as a race

especially in the deep south, we must vote, somebody is going to be president and we want to be sure and certain that we have a voice in determining who that person will be. >> so you're encouraging people and you say members of your parish encouraged you to still vote for barack obama coming up in november. i also look through the notes and you say that people in your parish and maybe yourself feel that mitt romney would be worse? how so? >> we don't trust mitt romney. we don't know what his record is beyond massachusetts and beyond what he did for the olympics. we do know that he came forward with a health plan in massachusetts and now he's back tracked from that. he's back tracked from detroit and the automobile industry that obama saved and we just don't

trust -- >> in your mind, a track record would be more important than this central issue as a reverend about gay marriage when you go to the poll? >> that is not true. i am just as, if not more concerned about gay marriage. that issue is so broad, so deep, so high and to strike at the very fabric of the political society. education, economics, politics. this will be taught in schools, our children who are young and maliable will be told that heterosexual and homosexual lifestyles are equal. the bible speaks against it. no, i don't juxtapose the two, no. >> herman cain made a suggestion on this channel last night that, perhaps, democrats have taken the black vote for granted and in particular cited this case.

>> that is true in a sense. we would have hoped that the president would have not come out for gay marriage. but as i indicated, somebody has to be president. and he simply is the best choice. >> i'll tell you what, mitt romney has made it very clear he is against same sex marriage so i guess people will have to decide in november. thank you very much for joining us today from baltimore. >> thank you. >> thank you, sir. >> coming up next on "fox & friends", a wounded veteran thrown in jail and his guns taken away. charges then were dropped and two years later, he's still fighting to get them back. can the cops just keep them? the judge rules on this next.

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>> 24 minutes after the top of the hour. if you're just waking up, couple of new headlines for you. new video out of pennsylvania

showing emergency crews rescuing this driver whose car got trapped in floodwaters. it happened late last night in east town, township where more than three inches of rain fell and president obama's campaign manager is now banning cell phones at all private fundraising events. they say they're trying to prevent people from taking potentially damaging videos. >> a wounded veteran pulled over by police and then handcuffed and thrown in jail. why? cops found and confiscated some unregistered guns but when prosecutors dropped the charges, the cops kept the guns? judge andrew napolitano, can they do that, judge? >> unfortunately they can, brian. this is an unusual quirk in the law. these guns were lawfully registered and lawfully owned. and being lawfully transported by this vet. but because he came to a complete stop other than a traffic stop in washington, d.c., actually stopped to go to walter reed hospital for a medical checkup, once he was

there and the car stopped, he had an obligation under the law, i don't agree with the law but this is what it is, to comply with the gun laws of the place where he stopped. and because they weren't registered in d.c., they could be confiscated and he could be charged. that's the law. they filed charges against him. he pleaded guilty and they eventually rescinded the guilty plea and dropped the charges. he said let me have my guns back. the police say no, we're going to keep them. this is a dirty little secret. when the police confiscate guns, they very, very rarely give them back even when you are the lawful owner. >> did the individual cops have these guns or go into a bin for general law enforcement? >> the cops use guns when they confiscate them and that itself is unlawful because the gun is not registered to the government entity that owned them. i know examples when i was personally involved when i was on the bench when these things happen. the guns are probably no longer in the possession of the police department. they are somewhere in law

enforcement being used and cannot be traced back to law enforcement. >> he's going state to state and gets stopped in walter reed, they thought he had a suspended license. he didn't. it was a mistake on north carolina's part and he goes and straightens that out. they check his car and find the guns and throw him in jail. they won't give him a blanket. he was sarcastic. he said we treated detainees in afghanistan better than he was treated in washington. >> another dirty little secret of law enforcement frequently when you are arrested for something like this and you're in a holding cell, you would be treated as you would not expect to be treated. you're innocent until proven guilty at that point. he should be respected whether as a veteran or not. >> here's what the metropolitan police told us. we've identified the station referenced in this case. we're working to resolve this case quick. my hunch is, perhaps, they're going to give the guns back. >> would be very nice. i had a similar case like this, i ordered the guns returned. the appellate court upheld me and the supreme court reversed us and said the police can keep

the guns. >> no, i'm not bitter even though it was 16 years ago. >> judge, thanks so much. >> and hopefully these people understand when you serve our country, you deserve a second look and would be treated a little bit better even if you have something that turns out to be incorrect and that was a suspended license. steve, gretch? >> thank you very much, brian and the judge. perhaps president obama doesn't think past presidents' buy -- biographies are good enough. he got caught inserting himself into their stories like nixon. we'll explain the story and the pictures straight ahead. >> you think $100,000 meets the definition now in this country of rich. what if that's the income for an entire family? one state redefining its tax structure and it's raising some eyebrows. >> first, happy birthday, janet jackson, 46.

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neil armstrong? or president obama at the bay of pigs? or president obama with nixon and elvis? or president obama with teddy roosevelt and the rough riders? well, because there's been a little bit of a changing to the biographies on the white house web site. the biographies of past presidents that were written by two historians, now they've been amended to include the president's -- president obama into these biographies and his contributions to things that these original presidents did. >> so you go to white house.gov and the heritage foundation discovered that the president inserted into today in things like when calvin coolidge was president and he established the guidelines when it comes to broadcast. he equivocates that, does the president, to becoming the first president to hold virtual gatherings in town halls like twitter, facebook and google. in 1946, the national urban league was formed. president truman talked about

equal rights. president obama talks about don't ask, don't tell. very similar and now the newest one. >> f.d.r., of course, added social security to the fabric of america. and the passage on august 14, 1935, president roosevelt signed the social security act and here's the new insert. today, the obama administration continues to protect seniors and ensure social security will be there for future generations. seems a little political rather than historical. but nonetheless, they did it for all the presidents since coolidge except for gerald ford. >> then this addition for jimmy carter in 1977, president jimmy carter created the department of energy. that's what it originally said and this was added. today, the d.o.e. works with the obama administration to drive towards innovation and energy and reducing reliance on foreign oil and so it goes on and on. does this really matter? i mean, is the president just relating himself to the accomplishments of past presidents in showing how time

moves things forward and now this is his latest addition to what they originally did or should they give credit to the fact that this is not how the biographies were originally written. >> yeah, we should talk to michael beshlaf, the two historians that put together the official biographies. it is interesting, a guy from the heritage foundation which brian quoted earlier said this is part of the culture of narcissism that purveyeds everything that this white house does. >> it's like a high school basketball player who hit a big jump shot to beat the cross town rival in saying this really is like lebron james. and being traded to the miami -- or signing with the miami heat. >> time for your headlines. nebraska voters putting the g.o.p. one step closer to reclaiming the majority in the senate. late last night, they nominated state senator deb fisher, tea party supporter to go up against former democratic senator bob kerrey. they're both competing for the retired democratic senator ben nelson's seat. both sarah palin and herman cain

backed fisher in the primary. she won the primary despite being outspent by her opponents. >> one of two guys convicted in a heinous home invasion now says he wants to be executed. only problem, the state judge says no. speaking out for the first time since he helped murder jennifer hawke-petit and their two daughters in the connecticut house. both he and his co-defendant steven hayes were sentenced to death. the problem is that because the state of connecticut recently outlawed capital punishment, it can't go through with any executions unless the inmate volunteers. so he says he might just do that. not because he feels any remorse but because he wants to put himself out of his own misery. >> new evidence emerging about george zimmerman's medical condition following the shooting of trayvon martin. we're learning his doctor treated him for two black eyes, a fractured nose, several cuts to the back of his head and minor back injuries the morning

after the deadly encounter. there's word now that an autopsy reports shows that martin had cuts on his knuckles. the injuries seem to support zimmerman's claims that the two got into a scuffle before he opened fire allegedly in self-defense. he's now in hiding as he awaits trial. >> well, are you looking to buy a one of a kind war? then the sea lion can be yours. the inventer spent six years building his dream sports car for the road and the water. the car goes up to 125 miles per hour on the roads and 60 miles per hour at sea. it's one of 25 cars in the hunt for the fastest amphibious vehicle title. its price, only $259,500. james bond should be driving that. >> for that price, you could be buy a boat and a car. >> you know what? you can fish out of the moon roof, perhaps, i'm not sure. >> let me tell you what's going on in the world of sports. prosecution's star witness in the roger clemens perjury trial likely to face some hard hits later today. the trainer will be back on the

stand for cross-examination. the defense got in a few questions late yesterday and expected to argue that he is a possible extortionist. they played a howard stern tape in the court yesterday and by the way, they went on to say he profited by outing clemens as an alleged steroid user. he admitted to saving medical waste after allegedly injecting clemens in the butt as an insurance policy. and the judge dismissed the juror for sleeping during the trial. judge, don't listen. president obama hosting david beckham and the galaxy at the white house to celebrate their third mls cup. but the big basketball fan making kind of a blunder. he said the team led by beckham, donovan and keane are "the miami heat of soccer." the only problem is the heat haven't won anything yet. they have yet to win a title. they just have really big salaries and big stars. and finally, a 14-year-old in new york allowed to return to a girls field hockey team he was playing on keeping -- he argued he should be allowed to play on his high school team since it

did not have a boys field hockey team. the original ban said that he couldn't be on the team because of his advanced skills. he loves the game. keeping score, fox and friends.com/keeping score for more sports and that's what's going on. >> uh-huh. the maryland senate votes to redefine what's rich. hiking taxes and closing loopholes on anyone making over $100,000 a year if they're single and $150,000 as a family. all of this to avoid $500 million in automatic cuts set to kick in. is this a vote to destroy the middle class, stuart varney is here to tackle that tough question. >> yes. >> what is rich? >> we've been sold the idea you tax the rich, and that way you can pay for entitlements and you close deficits so what's rich? in maryland, they've redefined rich all the way down to $100,000 for individuals and $150,000 for households. you made that amount of money and anything over that, they

have raised the tax on you. you are rich. >> stuart, this is why everyone in maryland is going to pennsylvania. >> that's exactly what happened. they had a millionaire's tax a few years ago. people moved, the tax brought in actually less than the tax rate before they imposed the higher tax rate. that's what happened. >> plus when you look at what bill clinton said yesterday, he suggested that barack obama's idea of just taxing the rich is not going to cut the mustard and suggested, perhaps, that he's going to have to, you know, if he wants to solve the problems, hike taxes on the middle class. >> that's what is going to happen if you really want to take money out of the economy, you tax the middle class. but maryland has been particularly sneaky about this, they've not raised the tax rate. no. you make $100,000 a year and they take away your deductions, so you end up paying more in tax without a higher tax rate. but what they've also done is to back date it, to make it retroactive to june 3rd so for the first five months of the year, you were strolling along with $100,000 thinking you were

a middle class guy. suddenly, you're redefined as rich and you'll pay those extra taxes back to january. >> instead of playing sneaky games like that, why don't people in america face the facts that we can't afford all the entitlements? >> that would be far too easy and politically unpopular. what is really needed is reform entitlements. that's what you've got to do. that is not politically popular. >> in the 90's, we would be rated mature enough to digest this. >> we sure do. at the moment, we want to tax the rich. it won't work. >> check out stuart's program on fox business. things kick off at 9:20 eastern time. he'll be there live and in color. >> yes. >> coming up on "fox & friends", the democratic party has claimed to be the party of equality but for whom some are asking? our next guest says just for their friends? >> and then when bear -- barracudas attacks, see what happens. >> what do i do now, dad?

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>> quick headlines now. it's just -- in just a few hours, the house homeland security panel will hold a hearing on airport security breaches. it comes after an inspector general's report revealed the t.s.a. is failing to properly report, track and fix breaches. and a fisherman goes berserk when an unexpected visitor surprises him. >> wow, that's big! you see that big flash of silver? >> you see that? >> yes, i did! >> oh! whoa! >> that 40 pound barracuda flew out of the water into their boat. the men were off the coast in florida and filming for their tv show. they were able to get it back in the water to eat other fish

instead of humans. >> that's so funny. the president talks a lot about investing in the future. you've heard him. >> now is the time to double down on smart investments. >> we can't stop investing in the things that are going to create real lasting growth in this country. >> record investments and clean energy. record investments in education. >> those investments that we've made in infrastructure and education, in science and technology and transportation, that's part of what has made us an economic super power. >> but our next guest says that words like investments are just code for payoffs. that the democratic party has become the party of special interest. jay cost is a contributing editor at "the weekly standard" and author of the brand new book "spoiled rotten, how the politics of patronage threatened the democratic party and now threatens the american republic." he teaches classes in robert morris college in pennsylvania. >> thanks for having me. >> let's start by talking a

little bit about president andrew jackson. >> old hickory. >> he founded the democratic party with high goals. he wanted to do what? >> well, jackson was elected for the first time in 1828 and in the 1820's, they were a period of great corruption where the government seemed to be working for the elites in the northeast and jackson wanted to clean that out, wanted government to represent all of the people, people he called the humble members of society. >> right. but over the last -- since jackson, this particular government has kind of more -- the politics of the government have morphed into on the democrat side what they seem to be interested in is -- what you call client group liberalism. what do you mean? >> right. well, what happens is, you know, about 100 years ago, the democrats embraced the notion of big government and with franklin roosevelt, they start using government not only to help, you know, improve the country in their mind but also to build the party. and what they do -- what they've done is take big government programs that affect millions of people and tailor them in ways

to secure voters into the democratic coalition and to hold them there and that's really how they create these client groups. >> so let's talk about where we are today. you see the obama administration and they put out that ad about the life of julia and that really talks to what you're speaking of and that is look at all the stuff, we're offering you and it's very specific. >> right. >> yeah, vote for the president and you'll get stuff which is not a republican with a small -- or not the republican party but, you know, the country has a republican form of government and the idea behind a republican form of government is that it's supposed to work on behalf of everybody in the republic. >> in the republic, exactly. that we're all citizens and we're all equal and the government is supposed to represent all of us instead of picking and choosing favoriteses. >> who are the clients of the democrat party these days? >> obviously you have organized labor and you have the government employees that have

become sort of a very powerful force in the party. and you also have, you know, i would say the environmentalists movement. you have the trial lawyers. you have the consumer rights groups, the feminists and more. i mean, and the thing with the democrats is they've added client groups over the last 80 years and what we've seen is that most of the time when you add a group, you don't get rid of it. so they just keep piling on. it's like almost too much weight. >> sure. of course, if the incumbent wants the votes from those client groups, he's got to deliver the stuff you say in your book and check it out. it's a good one called "spoiled rotten." jay, from the weekly standard, thank you very much for joining us live here. >> thank you for having me. appreciate it. >> interesting stuff. real history. 11 minutes before the top of the hour, up next, his grades are good enough to graduate. why is an autistic teenager being denied a diploma? the story is created a lot of anger on both side. the student's sister is here next. and teachers giving their students a lesson but it's not the kind of teachable moment that you would expect. stick around. wake up!

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>> welcome back, everyone. this young man has overcome his autism to excel in the classroom getting a's and b's and he's ready to graduate high school this week. but he's fighting for that diploma. 17-year-old sinclair coffer has not been able to pass one math test that the state of georgia requires, the school board won't let him waive the test like other students with disabilities and they haven't told the family why. joining me now is his sister capri. good morning. >> good morning. >> i know you're fighting for the rights of your younger brother who is 17 to be able to walk through graduation upcoming

and get a real diploma. what's stopping him? >> well, what's stopping him is the fact that he has been unable to pass the math requirement to graduate that's required in the state of georgia. however, he has completed every class that he's been asked to. his grades are very good. as you stated before, a's and b's. it's just this last component that he's unable to master. >> now, there is a process where you can go to the school board and you can ask for a waiver if you have a disability and in some cases, they grant that waiver so the kids get the real graduation diploma and in some cases, they don't. what did they tell you? >> they haven't told us anything. that's where the frustration comes in because the process seems entirely secretive. no one from the georgia department of education has reached out to us to explain the

process. and from my understanding is that there are other parents just like my mom who have students just like my brother who have no answers. and it's just been such a frustrating process. >> well, let me see if this helps clarify for you. this is the statement from the georgia school board. our state school superintendent ran on several platforms one being doing away with the georgia high school graduation test because of situations like this one. however, this student fell under the old rule. while this situation is very unfortunate, it's not unique. many students have waivers turned down. does that explain it to you? that it sounds like he's being grandfathered in in a negative way to the old way of doing business in georgia? >> yeah, that's exactly -- again, that's exactly why we're so dismaid at the decision. because next year, the test is not required and it just happens that sinclair, the year he was born, the year he entered high

school, he has to endure this. when there will be other students coming just a year after him that won't. >> so just to be clear for our viewers, he will be able to walk through the graduation process with cap and gown and go up on stage and receive a piece of paper. but it will not be the official piece of paper that says he's graduated from high school, correct? >> yeah, it will either be a certificate of attendance or a certificate of completion. and it's just -- it's not the same. but it is a testament to his accomplishments and what i would like for you to know and the state board of georgia to know is that sinclair is committed to taking the test as many times as he needs to and studying for it because he really does want to pass on his own merits. >> well, we wish him the best and hopefully you get some resolution in your fight. capri coffer who is sinclair's older sister, thanks so much for being my guest. >> thank you. >> i support you but not your

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>> good morning, everyone. it's wednesday, may 16th. i'm gretchen carlson. hope you're going to have a fantastic day. let me tell you what's happening right now. mitt romney snags two new victories overnight. oregon and nebraska. just as new polls reveal this election will be all about the economy. the results not what the white house may want to hear. >> all right. a stunning development, a university dumping its entire health care program for

students. the reason is simple -- obamacare. >> meanwhile, teachers schooling their students but not in the way you might think. >> ♪ oh, i wanna dance with somebody ♪ ♪ i wanna feel the heat with somebody ♪ >> is that a teacher back there? we're going to tell you all about this and so much more. "fox & friends" hour two for a wednesday starts right now. >> oy! looks like somebody is having fun in school. >> absolutely. >> i can hardly wait to find out the back story on that one. in the meantime, let's talk about the economy because there's a new poll that came out in "usa today," it's a little different depending on which points you look at but here's one of the headlines. which candidate would be better for the economy over the next four years? mitt romney feeling pretty good about these results. 55% shows mitt romney over barack obama at 46%.

but there are different things in this poll that seem a little bit more confusing. when asked who will actually be president by a wide margin, people believe that president obama will win the election in november. >> well, maybe that's because -- >> 56-36. >> maybe they're just believing what you see in mainstream media. meanwhi meanwhile, the bad news for the white house, 71% of those polled in this "usa today" gallup poll say that conditions are poor in this country and 4 out of 10 say that it looks to them that they are worse off today than they were a year ago. going back famously to that reagan ad. are you better off today than you were four years ago? of course, reagan wound up stomping jimmy carter. >> you know, maybe the country is putting a smile on its face because so far, they have president obama with a 56% -- excuse me, a 52% approval rating and mitt romney with a 50% approval rating. so people may be a little bit happier. one guy that did not seem happy yesterday at this fiscal summit he was asked to peek at was bill clinton. he had some advice for president obama. and i found it fascinating

because it was right to the point and it's a lot like a lot of our experts and a lot of the people that walk in our couch and sit on our couch have been saying. listen. >> you could tax me at 100% and you wouldn't balance the budget. the president, i think, should talk more about the medicare savings he has proposed, and the defense cuts he has proposed and the fact that he proposes -- and i disagree with this, by the way, he proposes to take discretionary nondefense spending to its lowest percentage of g.d.p. since president eisenhower was in office. >> what main points does president clinton agree with president obama on? keep in mind, he's campaigning for him and that's a big force. when you have president clinton out campaigning for you, it makes a difference. people still like president clinton. but when you break it down to what he's saying, he's basically saying that he does not agree with president obama on the main issues that this country is facing. deficit reduction. he says we should have gone with

the simpson-bowles plan. in fact, he says we should let anything take effect right now as far as reducing our deficit. you just heard him say that he could tax me 100% and it won't be fixing the budget. we should be talking about the budget, medicare cuts. defense cuts, i don't agree with those. so why is he supporting president obama? is the question today. >> and taxmageddon is coming up in november, the tax holiday disappears. we have sequester that's coming our way, it's going to take another $500 billion out of the defense department so we couldn't resist an invasion from aruba so all of these issues are going to be popping up. what is the president doing? gimmicks. the buffet tax is a gimmick. this 23-point checklist is a gimmick. >> meanwhile, you have mitt romney out on the stump in iowa and he said why isn't the current president listening to the past president bill clinton, could it possibly be something personal? here's mitt romney. >> a generation ago, bill

clinton announced that the era of big government was over. even a former mccain campaign worker like president clinton was signalling to his own party that democrats should no longer try to govern by proposing a new program for every problem. president obama tucked away the clinton doctrine in his large drawer of discarded ideas. along with transparency and bipartisanship. enough to make you wonder if maybe it was a personal beef with clintons. >> makes you wonder how hillary clinton would have been a different president. because if she is more aligned with her husband who was the president before and appears to be more of a centrist on a lot of these issues with regard to the economy, it does show a huge difference between who the democrats chose between hillary clinton and barack obama. >> i will say this -- i don't know if hillary and bill always saw eye to eye on issues. >> probably not. >> i bet she would have been more a centrist on these issues with regard to the economy and

defense. >> now we've got a fox news alert for you. a possible serial killer on the loose this morning and authorities say he may be posing as a police officer. >> scott mades is live for us in hernando, mississippi, with the latest. good to see you again, scott. what can you tell us? >> good to see you. lot of breaking news happening in north mississippi over the last week. now, this latest incident started last tuesday, this when a 74-year-old man was found shot to death inside of his vehicle off of interstate 55 in pinola county. fast forward three days, a 47-year-old casino worker was found shot to death right next to her car off of state highway 713 and i-69. just a short distance away from where that 74-year-old man was shot and killed. now, because of the way these folks were found and their vehicles found on the side of the road without any mechanical problems, police are adding 2 plus 2 and saying this must

equal 4. this might be the work of someone possibly trying to look like a police officer. now, we've been talking with law enforcement sources all across north mississippi and they say they've gotten hundreds and hundreds of tips just in the last 24 hours to be on the lookout for a light colored crown victoria or a gold colored four door sedan. folks on the edge and i will also mention this. mississippi state law dictates basically if you're afraid to pull over and you don't believe that the person that's pulling you over is a certified law enforcement officer, you don't have to. you can put on your flashing lights, pull to the closest police station or sheriff's office or just simply dial 911 but the bottom line, two people already dead. shot to death on the side of local highways here in north mississippi. cops think it might be the work of a cop impostor. for now, live in desoto county

north mississippi, scott mades, fox news. >> scary situation there. thanks very much. now the rest of the stories making headlines for your wednesday, explosive back-to-back testimony could be coming today in the corruption trial of john edwards. the former presidential candidate himself could take the stand. so could his mistress rielle hunter and his 30-year-old daughter also take the stand. of those three, kate edwards, the daughter, most likely to testify and defend her father who is facing 30 years in prison if convicted. but defense attorneys say if they don't call these witnesses, they may actually rest their case today. the critical swing state of florida on mitt romney's schedule for the next two days. they will be there meeting voters and raising money for their campaign. the trip comes after he swept primaries in nebraska and oregon yesterday. nebraska was just a beauty contest as the dell cats, they're not officially awarded until july. >> when makes up these rules? >> inching them closer -- the r.n.c. inching him closer to the magic number of 1144 delegates. right now, he has 973.

romney also picked up a huge endorsement former president george w. bush saying "i'm for mitt romney". his father, former president george h.w. bush already backed romney last month. new efforts to free o.j. simpson? right now, he's serving time in prison in nevada but a new lawyer is pushing for his release and a new trial. the lawyer claims simpson had bad legal representation during his 2008 trial. he was convicted of kidnapping and armed robbery after a sports memorabilia heist in las vegas. simpson claims he only wanted to recover personal photos and momentoes. a judge will hear the new trial request coming up in july. well, you thought students were mischievious. >> both. >> take a look. tomato, tomato. take a lack -- look at some teachers getting in on their own school prank. >> ♪ for a love that burns hot enough to last ♪ ♪ so when the night falls ♪ my lonely heart calls

>> the video is of a charter school in massachusetts. the students thought they were being interviewed for a documentary. they were totally unaware that their teachers were dancing behind them the whole time looking silly. >> whitney houston's "dance with somebody" was added later. i like the guy -- the guy really has the moves. the video now a big hit on you tube. >> look at that. >> hey! >> i like -- he gets an a for effort. >> you know what i get upset about? now, this one. the interviews is lasting longer than you have moves. you only have so many moves on your arsenal. three minute song but it goes on and on. >> at some point, the child, the student in the foreground had to hear the teacher panting in the background. >> look at this guy, what's that called? that's -- i'm not -- >> funky chicken, i don't know. the watoosie. >> it looks like brian doing the ymca. >> right. >> i think the celtics just beat the sixers, that's that dance. >> ok, let's talk a little bit -- speaking of schools, a

university in ohio yesterday extraordinarily dropped all student health care coverage, the insurance, because of obamacare. it -- they talked a little bit about how the fact that, you know, the department of health and human services requires now that they've got to provide contraceptives and things like that. >> we heard about -- >> so they say we can't go for that. plus apparently prices under obamacare would skyrocket so they're going to drop it. >> wow, considering the supreme court hasn't even ruled yet, i think there sending out a message. here's what the franciscan university statement sounds like. "we will not participate in a plan that requires us to violate the teachings of the catholic church on the sacredness of human life." >> my understanding that they're dropping coverage for students but for faculty, it's still in place. we'll get all those answers when we interview the vice president of advancement for franciscan university. he'll join us at 8:45 a.m. eastern time.

>> big part of it had to do with costs under obamacare because we'll have to increase the amount of coverage, it was going to double in the coming year and triple in two years so they said we can't pass that along to the kids. >> you know, if everybody keeps on dropping their coverage, we're going to need a national alternative. a national health care program. >> time to move to canada. >> a government alternative. >> no, they already provide that. i mean, many people argue that -- >> in the he cexchanges. >> many people argue that was the ultimate goal forcing people's hands. >> soon, there won't be an argument. there's only going to be a government option. >> maybe. >> coming up on our show, eric holder, the attorney general of this land going after j.p. morgan, the bank that lost $2 million. didn't president obama just praise that bank as one of the best managed banks that there is? maybe eric holder didn't get that memo. >> maybe he doesn't know that the president invested a million dollars in that bank. washington learned their lesson in solyndra, right? why are millions of your tax

dollars being used to keep another solar plant open? will two people work? >> lonely in there. does your phone share what you are seeing and hearing right now

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>> that's a cool graphic. haven't seen that one before. remember solyndra, the solar panel maker that got a government loan, went bankrupt and left taxpayers on the hook for half a billion bucks? well, stimulus waste is back. a nevada-based solar plant opened last week. and thanks to the white house, it could get up to $au50 millio in stimulus cash even though it only employs two people. how is that possible? president of the nevada policy research institute joins me very bright and early in las vegas, the city that never sleeps. one of them. good morning to you. >> good morning. good to be here. >> how could that be possible?

tell us about this company. >> well, it's outrageous really and by the way, your viewers can read that story at nevadajournal.com and basically, what we've got here is a canadian firm that is it poised to receive $50 million in tax credits through the stimulus for a solar plant based in southern nevada which as you've said currently employs two people on a full-time basis even at 4:00 in the morning, here on the west coast, i can do that math. that's $25 million per job. and the most outrageous part of this is we've been down this road before. we all remember solyndra which, of course, is a most infamous example of these green energy debacles. it's not the only one. we've only seen this before here in nevada. there's another solar plant based in boulder city that received $50 million in the stimulus and currently employ five individuals on a full-time basis. ironically president obama was to tout this as a success a few

weeks ago. if this is success, what does failure look like? >> what do these two people do? >> it's hard to say, you know accident we haven't had a chance to get into all the details on that. presumably, they are operating and maintaining the plant. but, you know, what this really underscores is exactly what happens when you start to substitute the judgment of government bureaucrats for the judgment of consumers acting in a free market. what happens when you have the government start picking the winners and losers in an economy. you basically have a far less efficient allocation of resources, the resources being allocated based on political considerations rather than consumer demands and when you have the government pick the winners and losers, sometimes the winners as in this case will be a firm based in canada, for example, but inevitably the losers are going to be the american taxpayers. >> i guess a lot of our viewers right now would be asking the question, why does a plant that employs two people need $50 million? >> it's a great question. and unfortunately -- and i can't answer that and i think it's up

to the government really to come in and justify this. but, you know, some of the more egregious cases of this have occurred certainly here in southern nevada. it's important to remember, though, this is very much a nationwide phenomenon. if you look at all the money that's been spent through the stimulus on these so-called green energy projects and you take all the money that's been spent and you look at how many jobs have been traded, it comes to more than $2 million per job traded. the private sector can do a lot better than that. the american people certainly deserve better than that. most troubling of all, i think, is that even in the face of these failures, all indications are that the obama administration is going to continue to move forward with this approach. this is not the way to meet our energy challenges and certainly not the way to meet our economic challenges. >> and we were just showing on our screen what the stimulus plan is under president obama. taxpayer money allocated in total $11.2 billion. amazing. thanks for bringing this story to our attention. andy matthews, we'll talk to you again soon. thank you so much.

>> all right, thank you. >> forget the law accident are politics taking over the department of justice? eric holder, the attorney general launching a new investigation now into j.p. morgan, the bank. but guess what? he doesn't think the whole fast & furious gunrunning is a big deal. peter johnson jr. weighs in next. and being forced to check your cell phone at the door, though, priceless. not allowed anymore. i love cash back. withhe bankamericard cash rewards credit card, we earn more cash back for the things we buy most. 1% ca back everywhere, every time. 2% on grocers. 3% on gas. automacally. no hoops to jump through. no annual e. that's 1% back on... wow! 2% on my homemade lasagn

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>> all right. time now for your news by the numbers. first $2.1 billion. that's how much california could make off facebook's i.p.o. on

friday. moments ago, facebook increased the size of that i.p.o. to $421.2 million shares. that's a lot of money. a lot of facebook friends. next $35,000. that's how much people pay to dine with president obama this week. there was another cost, too. they had to check their cell phones at the door. the obama campaign now banning cell phones at all private fundraising events in efforts to avoid potentially embarrassing photos or videos. finally $129,000. that's how much seminole county florida schools spent on ipads for top administrators. the school system reportedly facing a big budget crunch nonetheless. brian? >> all right. the department of justice and f.b.i. now launching their own criminal probe into the $2 billion trade loss that j.p. morgan suffered. the s.e.c. is already conducting their own investigation so why is eric holder's justice department getting involved? fox news legal analyst peter

johnson jr., i'm asking the same question, peter. why is it necessary for the attorney general to put himself into -- >> well, we don't know what happened. so i think in some ways, it's appropriate that there be an investigation. the same way there should be a proceed bust investigation into fast and furious that the attorney general's office doesn't seem to really have conducted. but is it going to go anywhere in the end? we know that j.p. morgan chase is america's bank, number one bank. but almost most importantly, we know that it's the president's bank. literally. >> he's got over a million dollars in that. >> financial disclosure, there may be a million dollars in a bank account there. we know that mr. diamond, the head of the bank has been to the white house more than a dozen times. in fact, a one-on-one meeting with the president. so he was kind of the democrat president, democrat banker pal. and so when the president gets on "the view" and defends the bank's conduct. >> where else would he defend it? >> on "the view." at the same time, we're going to have an investigation.

will the investigation really go anywhere in and should it be going anywhere? >> here's the question, we want to see if the bank loss was the result of a badly executed hedge or that the bank was betting purely for profit. either way it's a private bank and these aren't -- >> there's an interesting argument on that. it's a private bank until the bank goes down and this president decides to put billions and billions of dollars to bail out that bank and to ensure that, you know, the public's deposits don't go under. you also see at the bank, they say well, we may have to claw back and take back compensation from the employees at the bank. they really screwed up. the point is, the employees are doing what the bank asked them to do. this was apparently a policy at j.p. morgan to conduct this kind of activity. should that activity be conducted especially if these types of market? and finally it leads to the issue of is there equal justice? is there a double justice?

system, is there a double standard? what's going on with regard to m.f. global? and senator corzine? where is that investigation? >> they lost billions of dollars and depositors are out of money and he has absolutely no answers and no one is even curious about it. >> so time will tell. there was a "wall street journal" article last week in which the federal government, the justice department was asked to quantify how many people were actually prosecuted and went to jail as a result of the financial debacle back in 2008 and the justice department said well, we can't really tell you. we don't really keep those numbers. it's fine to announce an investigation and have a press release and give the appearance of being tough. on banks and being tough for the american people. but what really happened? >> is this going to lay the groundwork for what you really want in the end and that is very strict financial reforms that maybe choke off all profit at wall street. >> no, i think you give the appearance of strict financial

reforms. you create class warfare in order to propel an election year theme. but in the end, does anything really change based on personal relationships? america's bank. america's banker. let's see what happens. >> he was meeting with somebody who is actually a powerful wall street executive yesterday. in terms of a big fundraiser. thanks so much for joining us, peter. always good to see you. we reached out to the department of justice and we got no response. we're still waiting. straight ahead, you think you're safe from annoying telemarketers? if you're on the no call and do not call list, think again. details on the sneaky way they can still interrupt your dinner time. and here's a scary stat. 1 in 5 households have a negative worth. are you one of them? stick around. financial expert dave ramsey has a lot of money and a lot of advice.

>> well, jerry brown said today california -- he thought california was $9 billion in debt. no, we are $16 billion in debt. see, that's why i like arnold. when he gave us bad news, we

couldn't understand him. you didn't know what he was saying. i don't want to hear it. >> that new special on pbs on american masters about johnny carson gives you a great appreciation for what a master he really was and kind of shows you everything -- all the hoops that jay leno had to jump through to get that job. >> yeah, it was on the other night between 9:00 and 11:00 and the only thing i want to warn people, if you are hosting a morning show out there and there's a good show on, don't watch it because you won't be able to go to sleep. >> i'm glad i didn't know about it. >> it is fantastic. >> it is. we d.v.r.ed it. very nice. >> let's do your headlines, 7:30 on the east coast. from happy family to unthinkable tragedy. we're looking at the powell family like we've never seen before. >> this is the mad tea party with the mad mommy!

>> this video taken about a year before susan powell disappeared. you can see she's playing with her two young sons and the father-in-law steven powell, his daughter releasing the video now to show susan and the boys were not afraid of steven as many have claimed. susan's husband josh powell is in some of the videos. you'll remember he killed himself and those two little boys in a house fire earlier this year. >> meanwhile, elizabeth warren, the democratic candidate running for u.s. senate in massachusetts facing even more questions this morning about her credibility. we have just learned a 1997 article in the fordham law review refers to warren, that woman right there screen right as the "first woman of color" hired by harvard's law school. warren has faced a ba raunl of questions the last two weeks for claiming she had native american roots. warren's campaign says there's nothing new in the fordham article but republican scott

brown currently has the seat and her opponent calls the article disturbing. other republicans say it raises questions and concerns that warren may have used her claims of being a minority to get ahead professionally. >> don't call me. telemarketers using the election season as a way to reach out to people on the do not call list. a new phone campaign called political opinions of america is robocalling people asking them three questions about the race and offering folks a free cruise. >> nice. >> that free cruise actually requires a $60 per person port fee. critics say it's really a sales pitch for vacation time shares. a boston law firm is preparing a potential class action suit against the berkeley group that's behind the campaign. if you get a call and you're on the do not call list, hang up. >> i'm on the do not call list and i'm getting all kinds of telemarketing calls. >> so many people put me on their do not call list. >> really? >> i take it personally. >> you're blocked. >> a utah high school facing a $15,000 fine after students were caught buying soda during their lunch hour.

so what's wrong with that? well, federal law only allows schools to sell carbonated drinks before lunch in an attempt to cut down on childhood obesity. a school principal says the law is contradictory especially since they are allowed to sell ice cream. he says he'll have to pay the fine using funds from the school's art and music programs. of course, those are always the first two programs to get hit along with gym. >> $15,000, that's crazy. let's take a look at what's going on in the weather today on this wet wednesday here in the northeast. as you can see all the way from new england down through portions of florida, it's soaking. we have some particularly heavy storms right now moving through the northern portions of florida, as you can see on the radar and the doppler as depicted right there. meanwhile, the central plain states are for the most part nice and dry. portions of east texas and louisiana have some showers currently. speaking of currently, here are the temperatures. in kansas city right now, they have 60. about the same for san antonio and a little warmer than that in the dallas ft. worth metroplex.

the 70's pick up. northern plains, temperatures on the chillier side. we've got some 40's. 48 right now in minneapolis. later on today, 72. room temperature in minneapolis. it's going to be 87 in memphis and dallas and should top out at 79 degrees. >> tell us about the all star. >> first off, we should talk about the humidity in our studio. i don't know if it was even possible. gretchen wanted it humid. >> i wanted to feel like i was in the caribbean. i'm just going to say i had nothing to too with it. >> i reached my dew point. >> it's your fault, right? >> always is. >> john. >> it's always my fault. >> we know what your dew point is, brian. >> i'm due to do the sports. in just a few hours, the mets will officially announce they are a host of the 2013 all star game. reports say mlb will name citifield as the location for this summer expedition. exhibition. the metsz haven't host an all-star game since 1964, the

year they built chase stadium. we've wrecked that and the new owners have wrecked the team. how touching is this? a player rejected from a game on the field after his team loses, but his daughter walks over to console him. and see if daddy is ok. he then lies back as she stands over him and talks to the little girl, even wearing the team number. isn't that great? this goes to show you dad's got to grow up. >> dad, are you ok? it's just a game. dad. dad. >> do we not get to go to the park? >> dad is having a bad day. >> fantastic. >> meanwhile, feel like your family is swimming in credit card debt. you're not alone. you can't pay off your student loans and bills, you're not alone. new research shows that 1 in 5 u.s. households have not a positive net worth but a negative net worth. >> right. steve, you're not even alone on the coach. you know who is alone, dave ramsey, a personal finance expert and says you can control some of this and he joins us

right now from nashville to explain. all right, dave, you're alone. tell us how do we deal with all of this? >> alone in my very cool, nonhumidity studio. >> so chilly. >> rub it in. >> we need to remember what net worth is. net worth is what you own minus what you owe. so if you buy a house with nothing down, you got a big pile of student loan debt of $60,000 and you got $20,000 in credit card debt and you lease two cars, you immediately have a negative net worth because you owe more than you own. and so this study is nothing really new. the only thing that's new about it is the severity of the neglective net worth and a lot of that has to do with people's home values going down. and, of course, with the unemployment, they're not able to attack their debts. >> yeah, you know one of the problems, dave, is the fact that, you know, you figure all right, if i can't afford it, the credit card company isn't going to give me that next credit card but they will. and then you'll be even further in debt. >> they don't even check to see if you're breathing before you

get into credit card debt. they issue them to dead people. we have three or four that have been issued to dogs and a couple to cats. it means nothing that they will give you a credit card. you don't even -- it actually means nothing they will give you a mortgage. i mean, you can still qualify for a mortgage that you can't pay. and so you've got to use your own common sense and say i'm not going borrow myself into oblivion because i will owe more than i own meaning i have a negative net worth. >> leslie writes me from georgia and says i'm a single mom with $37,000 in retirement funds and i've been unemployed for 14 months with a mortgage to pay and backed up bills. should i take $10,000 from retirement to hold me over? >> leslie is exactly who we're talking about, the unemployment has driven her particular situation. and yes, you can cash out your 401k. you're going to have penalties and taxes associated with it. they're going to take almost half your money, they being the

government when you do that. i try to avoid doing that if at all possible. your problem is not going to go away because you pay off a couple of bills. the problem is unemployment. you have to work on the jobs side of this equation. >> let's go to california. jacqueline writes i'm 28 and have $16,000 in credit card debt. should i get a personal loan through a credit union or withdraw $13,000 i have in my 401k and use that to pay off my debt? that would leave me with less than $5,000 to pay off. what are your thoughts? >> once again, when you try to withdraw $13,000 from your 401k, you're only going to get home with about $7500 of that. the government is going to take the rest of it. and so don't do that. and if you borrow the money from the credit union, the debt didn't go away, you just moved it. what we have to do is crank the extra job up, throw some papers, throw some pizzas and deliver some papers and cut the budget down and we're going to go to

scorched earth and work our way through that and start attacking that debt. don't borrow your way out of debt. it doesn't work. >> lot of us have had many, many meals of noodles so that's probably good advice. dave ramsey joining us today from nashville. thank you very much. >> good to be with you guys. thanks. >> i used to have hamburger herder, used to call it helper until you had it three days in a row. it was funny in a movie. >> you live with your parents? >> is that a problem? >> in real life, is a grown man living with his parents normal or is it nuts? dr. keith ablow, his diagnosis coming up. >> that's right. meanwhile, the latest poll shows only 4% of voters for president are undecided so does this mean those coveted independent voters have made up their minds? >> trivia question of the day --

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it gives them the alert, energetic feeling they need to get stuff done. 5-hour energy...when you gotta get stuff done. >> hey, quick headlines now. one state hanging tight in its second amendment right. oklahoma now allowing people to openly carry their guns in public. they'll also be allowed to carry without a license on their own property. and america's toughest sheriff has some eerie company. that's because construction crews just discovered an old cemetery underneath his new office. officials now trying to figure out what to do with the remains. i say leave it. steve? >> that's where the bodies are buried. meanwhile, brian, the race for the white house is heating up, the latest rasmussen report poll shows mitt romney leading the president 47-45. but there are just a mere 4% who

say they still don't know who they're voting for. they're undecided. only 4%. what does that mean? let's talk to dr. larry sabato, professor of political science and the director of the university of virginia's very famous center for politics. hello, larry. >> good morning, steve. >> 4% undecided. that seems really small. >> it's actually very typical. we live in a polarized era. i think most people who haven't been living under a rock have pretty much made up their mind already. but this is typical when an incouple bent runs for re-election at least in modern times. this is almost unbelievable that at this time in 1996, the gallup poll came out almost on this day. you know what the undecided was in that clinton-dole-perot race? 1% undecided. 1% undecided. so usually it's 3% or 4% or 5% at this time when an incumbent

is running for re-election. >> we hear so much about, well, they have to do stuff for the independent vote. it sounds like the sliver of the pie of the undecided, the independent is so narrow and a according to you, they've already decided. >> it might make a difference in some swing states. even 1% can make a difference. look, this is much more of a battle of the two party bases. it's a battle for enthusiasm. and a battle for turnout. and really, that's what i'm looking at myself as we progress into the summer and fall. which party is able to whip up its troops, which party has the greater enthusiasm because that is really going to determine this election far more than the undecideds. >> ok, so who so far has done a good job? i know the president has been barn storming campuses already. there was a brief war on women for about a month or so. and then in the last week, he announced his support for same sex marriage. >> he spoke out.

>> exactly. >> yeah. right now, to tell you the truth, they both got a very high enthusiasm level from everything i've seen in the polls. what's been interesting is to follow the enthusiasm on the republican side. naturally, when there's a primary contest and you've got republica republicans beating each other over the head, you have enthusiasm declining. it has regenerated, i think, in record time so you really have romney approaching that 90% mark among republicans in may. >> that is early. that's why we call larry sabato up and drag him out of bed so early there at the university of virginia because he knows that kind of stuff. larry, thank you very much for dropping by today. >> thank you so much, steve. >> see you next time. >> all right, it's about 10 minutes before the top of the hour. can't put down your cell phone? check it up to 40 times a day, some people do. is that normal or is that nuts? hey, dr. keith, you're on tv. we'll tell you folks out there

whether or not that's normal or nuts. it's kind of nuts that he's not really talking to anybody. first on this date in 1983, david bowie had the number one song "let's dance." wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. fohalf the calories plus vgie nutrition. could've had a v8.

>> so the answer to the question of the day. of course, it was pierce brosnan, that handsome guy. the winner is michael griffiths in missouri. congratulations. >> ever asked yourself the question, am i normal or nuts? >> every day. >> it's a question we all ask

ourselves once and a while and a question we ask dr. keith ablow every week. >> like now. joining us right now to answer the e-mails for the questions and give us a verdict on our mental condition, contributing psychiatrist dr. keith ablow. welcome back. >> thanks for having me back. >> some people stop their treatment. you guys haven't. >> that's because it's not about us personally. instead, we take e-mails like this one. this one is from a woman who says i love my boyfriend but something is weird. he's 38 and refuses to move out of his mom's basement. brian gets a kick out of it. i'm embarrassed about it. i wonder if there's a realistic future with someone so immature. am i wrong? >> she says that there's something weird about it. well, it's more than that. there's something, well, nutty about it. it's nuts! and what this woman needs to do is not only think about her boyfriend but think about why would she be trying to coax

someone into a long-term relationship when he's got a long-term relationship with his mother! who owns him. so why enable that? really, either he moves out and starts his life or he doesn't and it's over. next! >> here we go. i check my cell phone at least 40 times a day says this e-mailler. >> me, too. >> yes, i'm sick without it. i never turn it off and sleep with it near me. i recently heard of namophobia as in no mobile phone phobia. does it affect me? is this a problem? what do you think? >> well, look, i'm not going to be like the american psychiatric association inventing new terms for, you know, disorders every minute, right? so we won't label this. but what i will say is that this is an addiction. if you need to have something and you don't feel well without it and if you were to stop it, you'd withdraw. that's also an addiction, not unlike alcohol and people even drive with these and they get in accidents like, well, alcohol.

so what i'm going to do here, this is rare but i'm going to invent a new category. >> uh-oh. >> this is normal nuts. because it afflicts tens of millions of us and normal, nuts is the new normal. in this case. that will be the case with some number of conditions that we talk about in the future. >> you know my diagnosis of your diagnosis is? >> what's that? >> this is what you do. you're checking it 40 times a day and it's by your night table at night and you don't want to call yourself nuts. that's what i think. >> wow! >> that's right. that's why i invented the new category normal nuts. >> i knew it! half way there. >> for me and you. >> ok. >> i enjoy work out and i've been doing it ever since i was 15 but now i feel like i have to do it and if i find myself really depressed if i miss a day. is this normal or dedication? which one is it, dr. keith? >> listen, i think it's normal to work out. it's a good habit. it's normal actually to feel badly when you break a good habit. so i'm going to call this

normal. what i would recommend here by way of advice is incorporate a little forgiveness for yourself into your routine because that will fuel your results. it won't detract from it. you get right back on that stationary bicycle the next day. >> let's wrap this up as we normally do by saying good-bye. thanks so much. >> we'll call him mr. nuts normal. >> take care. >> exactly. >> we will try to be well. coming up straight ahead, who's got more game? our own dana perino or kareem abdul-jabbar? >> highlights from their jeopardy showdown coming up. and we're $15 trillion in debt, why is our government giving hundreds of federal workers bonuses topping $60,000 a piece? >> that story at the top of the hour. dad, why are you getting that? is there a prize in there? oh, there's a prize, all right. [ male announcer ] inside every box of cheerios are those great-tting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholester. is it a superhero? kinda.

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is it normal or nuts based on our last segment. >> steve: eric holder and the department of justice going after jp morgan chase. but guess what? remember the fast and furious gun run thing? they say that's not worth looking at. are we talking politics or what? brian? >> brian: chris christie channeling his inner seinfeld? >> governor, come back! >> i got this, i got this. book her. [ laughter ] >> brian: the governor and the mayor of new jersey teaming up for an unusual spoof. "fox & friends" starts right now >> steve: that video is hilarious. they premiered it last night and we've got a snippet that shows you the rivalry between mayor

book and governor christie. they like each other. governor booker saved someone out of a fire. >> steve: his neighbor lady. there was a fire action he got her out. smoke inhalation a big problem. >> brian: he hurt his hand in the process. something else happened yesterday, i casually said, if you are tivoing us right now, write us. so what did we get on e-mail and twitter accounts? >> gretchen: lots of e-mails. >> brian: i don't watch it live. >> steve: people watch when they can. >> brian: for those who can't watch us live, we're horned. >> gretchen: we're unlike all the morning show options, we don't tape delay where the mountain time zone and mountain can watch us at the same time. >> brian: don't delay our words so if we say something ridiculous, it's stuck to the tape. >> steve: unfortunately, that's true. >> gretchen: the rest of the stories making headlines,

explosives back to back testimony could be coming in the trial of john edwards. he could take the stand. could his mistress and his 30-year-old daughter as well? of those three, cate the most likely to testify. she's most likely to defend her father. defense attorneys say if they don't call the witnesses, they could rest their case today. a terrifying warning, drivers in mississippi have suspected police impersonator believed to be pulling people over late at night and killing them on the side of the highway. it's reportedly happened twice in the past week. both victims shot and robbed. it's believed the suspect may be a middle aged man in his 40s driving a sedan with flashing lights. fallen hero will receive the highest military award today more than 40 years later. president obama will present army specialist with the medal of honor even though he died many years ago. he was killed in the 1970s during the vietnam war.

he's credited with saving the lives of several of his fellow soldiers after his platoon was ambushed by north vietnamese troops and charged an enemy bunker. his widow and brother are set to be at the ceremony. you know this face, "the five" co-host dana perino making her debut last night on jeopardy's special power players episode. she was up against the very tall basketball great kareem abdul-jabbar and david faber. >> let's go with "the five" the 400. >> including first in which the heels are together, there are five basic foot positions in the classical type of this. dana? >> what is ballet. >> yes. >> brian: she won? >> gretchen: last night on hannity, she talked about her experience. >> you have fun? >> absolutely. the jeopardy people are fantastic. alex trebek watches "the five."

i would do it again, but this time i know how it use the clicker. >> it's an interesting thing. >> don't make excuses. >> gretchen: i did, too. she's got a right. that clicker thing gets you. she didn't weapon, but who cares. she scored $10,000 for her charity, pets to vets. congratulationses to all of them. >> brian: you hear the music, weird al. by the way, is it true, gretchen, that if you ring in first, let's say you know the answer before the question is done, if you bang on the buzzer, you have to wait 'til he's finished? >> gretchen: the key, alex told me that men, at least in our generation, do better because they played more video games in our generation growing up and they had this quick reflex with their thumb to know exactly what weather to do it. you can't do it until he's done exactly speaking. it's the person who has the quickest trigger action. maybe that would change in new generations because boys and girls are playing more video

games. >> steve: i do believe chris wallace is tonight or tomorrow night? watch jeopardy and find out. let's talk a little bit this. if you go to the white house official web site, you will find biographies of all the presidents. past and present. there are a loft students who are writing papers and stuff like that. they go to the source to get the information. all of these biographies were written by michael and they have been just the biographies of each of these presidents until recently when this white house decided to inject some of president obama into the biographies of a whole bunch of presidents that he wasn't directly involved in. >> gretchen: what do you mean? let's go back to fdr and social security. so here is what the original biography says on august 14, 1935, president roosevelt signed the social security act. here is the addition. and today the obama administration continues to protect seniors and insure social security will be there for future generations.

>> brian: wow. ronald reagan. >> june 2, '85, the speech he gave talked about a fairer tax code. today president obama's coining for the same with the buffet rule. >> gretchen: except that's not totally accurate. >> brian: no, it isn't. >> gretchen: in that speech, ronald reagan did not call for additional taxes on people. >> brian: then it wouldn't have worked. >> steve: the heritage foundation spokesperson said this is part of the culture of narcissism that pervades everything this white house does. also because so many on the right say, come on, he can't do that, the rnc has come out with some photographs that show the president has been very busy throughout american history. as you can see, there he is with neil armstrong. >> brian: walking on the moon. >> steve: yes, indeed. >> gretchen: we have president obama at the bay of pigs with president kennedy. >> steve: you remember that. >> brian: and president obama with nixon and elvis. remember he was the third wheel. and president obama with teddy roosevelt and the rough riders. >> steve: i'll be darn.

>> brian: he injected himself through the magic of photo shop. >> gretchen: we got an e-mail, we'll never move forward until the current administration stops confusing activity with accomplishment. >> steve: robert here in new york says it's not only disturbing, but thinly veiled government sponsored campaigning. do you think? >> gretchen: i don't know. some people don't really care that much about it because they say he is the president of the united states and he is officially on record as the president of the united states now, so there always been this. >> brian: let's talk about jp morgan. they made the announcement friday that they lost $2 billion in a trade they hemorrhaged 100 billion. they put it up there, lost 2%. therefore they lost $2 billion. jamie diamond came forward and said i lost it, it's my fault. three people lost their jobs. but that is not enough for the justice department. >> steve: that's right. and remember, this whole fast and furious thing, they do not believe that any crimes were committed, this department of

justice. although there are a number of republican law makers who think that mr. holder, the attorney general, should be cited contempt of congress for not providing all the stuff. >> brian: they're doing an inquiry. >> steve: could lead to charges. mr. charles krauthammer was on o'reilley's program and he had unkind words about mr. holder. >> i tell what you i think explains this guy, he's a political hack and the reason that is so grating is because you can be a political hack in hud, somewhere else, the justice department is a really important job. you are the supreme law enforcement official in the country. you are entrusted with upholding the rule of law and the constitution and the amount of stuff he has done as a pure political hack, as you mentioned, starting with the mark rich pardon back in the clinton administration. this is a guy who will be at the beck and call his political

masters. >> gretchen: you have to ask if eric holder is doing this for politics. for example, did the president ask him to look into this or not? because keep in mind, it would be pretty easy to make this politicalal and demonize the banks. that's sort of been a theme for this administration. but it would mean jp morgue houston to have done something criminal. i actually heard on the radio yesterday going home that there were business reporters who started to report this was going to happen and they found it incredulous. they were like, wait a minute, why? these were just regular business reporters. maybe there is something there, but it's interesting that they've already decided that. >> brian: what time did you head home yesterday? >> none of your business. >> brian: if you were heading home and you chose to listen to another station, i was a little insulted. >> gretchen: i was on your radio station with you yesterday! >> brian: not all three hours. >> gretchen: it wasn't before that time. >> brian: when you find out she's cheating on, on national television, it really hurts. >> steve: let's talk about this. last night at the new jersey correspondents dinner, they ran

a little parody and it stars chris christie and cory booker, the governor of new jersey and he is the mayor of the biggest town, which is newark. and they did something modeled after -- it depends on your point of view, either "spy versus spy" or newman versus newman. >> that he any problems you have, people trapped? >> no, we're all set here. >> what do we got? >> mayor, thank you for coming. there is a two alarm fire on state street. >> g i got this. -- governor, i got this. >> governor! come back! >> i got this, i got this. >> book her! >> golf knee, yes, yes. that would be me running into the fire. yes, you're very persuasive, but i'm not a number two guy. i'm not background singer. >> excuse me, mayor. i got this.

christie. >> gretchen: the fact they like each other is a step? the right direction. democrat and republican. >> steve: working together for the state of new jersey. >> brian: in case you don't know, he ran no a fire to save his neighbor and burned his hand. >> steve: and gave him something funny to talk about last night at the big dinner. >> gretchen: coming up, $15 trillion in debt. remember that? why is our government giving hundreds of federal workers bonuses, topping $60,000 apiece? the jaw dropping salaries are exposed on a new web site. >> brian: and the obama campaign attacking mitt romney and bain capital. >> that stopped with the sale. they made as much money off of it as they could. >> like a vampire. they came in and sucked it. >> brian: wait. doesn't the president support capitalism? why is he now attacking it? our political panel here live to explain, even that steel deal we can unwind [ male announcer ] what's in your energy drink?

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>> gretchen: a new ad relesioned by the president's reelection campaign attacks mitt romney for his history are bain capital. hours after the ad was released, the president raked in $2 million from one of the largest private equity firms, blackstone. so where exactly does the president stand when it comes to capitalism? >> does the president believe in the basic concept of venture capitalism. >> i know you're asking a rhetorical question because he spoke to it as recently as yesterday and the answer is yes. >> why is it okay in general burks not okay in the case of mitt romney? >> free to the campaign to talk about campaign specific matters. >> gretchen: when it comes to his relationship with wall street s the president display ago double standard?

does he want it both ways? let's ask our political panel, alexis, executive director of the values institute, and a brand-new mom. daniel gross, the economics and finance editor at yahoo.com, and ed conner, a former partner at bain capital and the author of unintended consequences. good morning, panel. nice to have you here today. ed, you worked with mitt romney at bain for many, many years. was that ad disingenuous? >> i'll say. i think bain's record will stand up to scrutiny. i must say i don't speak for bain. i'm a form partner of bain capital. if you look at the steel investment, for example, that plant was slated for closure. bain because of the it. they put $100 million and six years of time in it. 50% of the industry's capacity was wiped out by import. we worked incredibly hard to make that successful, at the same time, we made an invest in another steel company where we built a mill from scratch, from the ground you up, specifically to compete under the changing conditions and that company today is the fifth largest steel

company and employs 6,000 people. >> gretchen: how does the company get away having it both ways? he had this human fund-raiser with a huge economic guy and at the same time, vilifying mitt romney for doing the same thing? >> of course he can raise money from so people. the question is whether or not he can win. >> this is par for the course. when you look back at the primary in 2008, remember mike huckabee's line is romney looks like the guy who fired you? they weren't attacking romney over foreign policy. they were running negative ad, like gingrich, about his record as a venture capitalist. i think this is what he did in his professional life. this is what he's known for and when you get into the political sphere, you're going to be attacked for it. i don't think it has anything to do with a double standard. it's simply -- >> gretchen: it is a double standard. >> since romney has been in public life. >> gretchen: it is a double standard. this is an attack on capitalism! private equity -- >> was mike huckabee attacking

it when he was going after romney? >> gretchen: you have to ask him, but on its face, it seems disengine with us to do what he did and then raise money from those people. >> i don't think it's double standard at all. i think what's happening is surprise, surprise, there are some patriotic millionaires and private equity guys on wall street who care about larger issues around the economy, not just what the president thinks about private equity or what happened at bain capital. i have no doubt in my mind that mitt romney and ed here did great by shareholders, but when you transfer that into running a global economy what, will that look like? it's like asking mitt romney frog being a strict mine tore environmentalist. we're not sure whether or not he can do that. >> i think people are kidding themselves is they think peoples work for investors. they can be successful by their customers. the idea that all you have to too is cut costs and strip out

assets, that's a cartoon version of business. i'm sure some people in america believe it, but i don't think many people believe it. >> gretchen: i got to wrap it up. the panel is sticking around for this. bill clinton says obama isn't doing the rye things for the economy. when needs enemies with friends like these? he's a real life war hero now playing one on the big screen. greg combatson from the movie "battleship" joins us live.

>> steve: news time. a brooklyn guy busted at jfk airport for claim to go have a bomb in his bag. 65-year-old allegedly told a

jetblue attendant he had explosives as he was about to board his flight to florida. cops were called. nothing in the bag. looking to buy a one of a kind car? the sea lion can be yours. the inventer spent six years building it for the road and the water. the car-boat hybrid goes up to 15 miles per hour on the road and 60 miles per hour on the water. its price? just $259,500. that will soak you. gretch? >> gretchen: they were just campaigning together last week, but now president clinton saying he doesn't really agree with how president obama's handling one small thing. maybe what the whole election is about. the economy. >> the president, i think, should talk more about the medicare savings he has proposed

and the defense cuts he has proposed and the fact that he proposes, i disagree with this, by the way, he proposes to take discretionary nondefense spend to go its lowest percentage of gdp since president eisenhower was in office. >> gretchen: how can he disagree and still support president obama? back to discuss this, our political panel, alexis, daniel, and ed. alexis, president clinton disagrees with president obama on the major tenets. how do we bring those two guys together and say they see things the same? >> i think they do on the larger ideas of how we need to invest in the economy, invest in the work class and the opportunities that they need to succeed and i think that president obama has actually a little bit closer than clinton than the clip showed. i think his work on health care, i hi his work on the jobs act

have been addressing some of the major issues in the economy. >> gretchen: closer? bill clinton says he should be talking more about the budget. senate democrats have not passed one in more than three years. bill clinton says that they should have listened to simpson-bowles and did the deficit reduction. that's major thing. bill clinton says he should be talk being medicare cuts. bill clinton says he disagrees with the president on the pentagon cuts. i mean, how many more do i have to get through before -- sounds like a republican up against a democrat? >> i think a lot of this has to do with tactics. clinton is the master of tactation, he won reelection in 1996. this is nothing new. he came out with a book last november how to get the economy back on track and a lot of the stuff was stuff that obama proposed. i think a lot of what clinton is saying has to do with style. is he going to be a candidate like fdr in 1936 and kind of embrace and own what did he, punch the bankers in the nose, be much more aggressive, or is he going to be a little more passive in the way he outsourced

a lot of the legislation to congress and kind of been more behind the scenes on these deficit talks that didn't work out. >> gretchen: that's one way to put it. behind the scenes or has done nothing. ed what, do you think? >> i think clinton can't help but speak the truth. he feels responsibility to america. taxes are running at 15% of gdp. spending at 25% of gdp. obvious leach getting the budget on balance is one of the critical issues facing the country. bill clinton recognizes that. >> gretchen: does it show bill clinton was more of a reach across the aisle kind of president and more of a centrist and what does it say about what kind of president hillary clinton would have been? >> i think hillary clinton would have been a wonderful president. >> gretchen: more centrist than president obama? >> i think she would have been more progressive i. think obama is quite centrist. i think he's staked his whole first term on compromise in stark contrast to what the right has done, which is essentially been trying to punish the president and to protect their interests.

i think that secretary of state clinton would have actually governed more from the left 'cause i think she would have -- that's the position -- >> gretchen: then she would have had a lot of disagreements at home because president clinton doesn't seem to agree with that. thanks so much. have a good rest of the week. stunning development, university dumping its entire health care program for students. the reason, they say, is simple. they claim it's because of obamacare. one of the school officials here live. then we're $15 trillion in debt. why is our government giving hundreds of federal workers bonuses topping $60,000 apiece? the jaw dropping salaries exposed on a web site for everyone to see, coming up next looking good! you lost some weight.

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♪ i ain't afraid to show it, show it ♪ ♪ i'm sexy and i know it [ laughter ] >> steve: he's sexy and he knows it! >> gretchen: you better ask ann. she probably agrees with that. >> steve: that was really cool. >> gretchen: it looked so real. >> brian: you know what? i think it's a takeoff of conan. didn't he do that first? >> steve: i think it goes back further. >> gretchen: remember the baby commercials for etrade? >> steve: even before that, clutch cargo did it many, many years ago. >> brian: this could date back before television? >> steve: not to radio. you couldn't really see the lips moving. >> brian: maybe i overcompensated. >> gretchen: police in arizona

confirming isabel celas was taken from her home. they're calling it an abduction. police for the second time searched a wash area in tucson, but found in evidence. she was reported missing by her father on april 21. her parents tell police they put her to bed and the next morning, she was gone. a window was later found open with a screen pushed aside. >> brian: new evidence emerging from the george zimmerman -- about his medical condition. learning his doctor treated him for two black eyes, a fractured nose, several cuts to the bask his head and a minor back injury the morning after the deadly shootings. there is no word about an autopsy report. there is now word that an autopsy report reveals martin had cuts on his knuckles. it seems to support zimmerman's claims they got into a fight before shots were fired. >> steve: the architect behind the memorial for president eisenhower changing his tune after taking heat from eisenhower's own family. they didn't like the statue

because it shows eisenhower as a child in abilene, kansas, and not as the president in military commander. the architect, famous frank erie, now agreeing to add statues of eisenhower as an adult, but refusing to get rid of the very young ike. he likes the young ike. >> brian: i guess so. this morning, a boy is happy. he's allowed to return to a girls field hockey team that he was playing on, he argued he should be allowed to play on his high school team since it did not have a boys field hockey team. he loves the sport. the original ban said he couldn't be on the team because of his advanced skills. i showed footage of him when he was younger. kind of cute. then he got really, really good and people said, it's not really fair. >> gretchen: he's from ireland originally, right? avenues really good player examine they don't have a boys team. >> brian: but they do play over there, field hockey, overseas. >> gretchen: yeah.

all right. he's going to get to play. >> brian: without the skirts. >> steve: in many cases. >> gretchen: other than if they're wearing kilts. >> steve: all right. you're kilting me here. all right. let's take a look to the weather on this wednesday. the wildfire in arizona worsening this morning. 2,000 aconsiders are on fire and are moving closer to a dozen houses. high winds fueling the fire. it remains at zero containment. that's not good. meanwhile, in colorado, it's believed the fire burning there started by humans. right now the fire is only 5% contained and evacuation order is in place. let's find out if mother nature will help in colorado. no. as you can see, we have a little bit of rain in portions of utah at this hour. but otherwise, the west is dry. in the eastern third of the united states, all the way from maine through miami, it is currently on the rainy side. that's your fox travelcast. >> gretchen: there is a new web site on-line where all the data

is being exposed for federal workers' salaries. what you will find out if you go there is not only will you see their salary, but able to see what has a lot of people angry today. the bonuses that these federal employees have been make. for example, it includes an agricultural employee who made $179,000 a year, but the bonus, get this, it wasn't 5, $10,000. $62,895. >> steve: apparently it was awarded to the department of agriculture's top government veterinarian. 439 million in federal employee bonuses in 2011. at least three employees each got at least $62,000 in bonuses and over 100 employees got bonuses over 40,000. this came to light from channel 9 in washington, d.c., got the information through a freedom of information act. apparently they hit the button and they were looking up the veteran affairs secretary, he

made in 2011, $199,700. don't know about any particular bonus. >> brian: that's a general. whatever he gets, it's not enough. >> steve: exactly right. >> brian: the other guy, how do you get $62,000 for deworming animals? >> gretchen: wait a minute. here is the response from the department of agriculture. he, meaning this veterinarian, is a federal government's top vet and recently was awarded a presidential distinguished rank award. the highest civil service career award given to federal career employees. >> steve: so money to give to people who do a good job. >> brian: give you half your sail flee a check? >> steve: some of these people are making more then, i believe, members of congress. >> gretchen: note us know what you think. president obama meeting with gop leaders on the economy just about three hours from now. it comes as a new poll shows more voters think mitt romney is a better pick to fix the economy. wendell goler live at the white house with more. what's going to happen at this meeting, wendell?

>> they're going to talk about some proposals the president has for stimulating the economy, which are not likely to get the support of the republicans here today. with the president's endorsement of gay marriage last week there, has been a lot of attention on social issues recently, but mr. obama told abc's "the view" that is not what will decide the winner of the november election. >> what's going to determine the election is the economy and whether everybody, gay, straight, black, white, hispanic, latino, native american, disabled, you name it, whether people feel -- asian. >> again. >> whether people feel as if america continues to be this extraordinary land of opportunity. >> but if that's the case, there is tough news in a usa today gallup poll that suggests most people feel the economy will be at least somewhat better four years from now if mitt romney is elected in november. and more people feel the economy

will be at least somewhat worse if mr. obama is reelected. the president's aides say voters will choose based on whose vision they like for the future of the economy and the country. romney says the decision should be based on achievement. >> we can't spend another four years talking about solving a problem that we know we're making worse every single day. when the men and women who settled the iowa prairie saw fire in the distance, they didn't look around for someone else to save them or go back to sleep and hope the wind might change direction. they knew survival was up to them. a prairie fire of debt is sweeping across iowa and across the nation and every day that we fail to act, that fire gets closer to the homes and the children we love. >> at his meeting with leaders of the house and senate, the president will push several pieces of legislation he says would help the economy, including tax breaks for businesses that hire new workers

or move overseas operations back to this country and refinancing help for homeowners. mitt romney got some welcome news yesterday, an endorsement from former president george w. bush. back to you. >> gretchen: wendell goler at the white house, thanks so much. >> steve: straight ahead, 20 minutes before the top of the hour. he's a real life war hero burks his latest battlefield is in hollywood and his enemies aren't human. >> i got this. >> steve: he's got this. this army colonel here to tell us how he landed a role in "battleship." good morning to you. >> brian: a big warning to the white house, one university dropping all students from their health care coverage because of obamacare. the vice president of that university here next. bacon?! gotta get that bacon!

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>> speaking of president obama, he just raised $1 million at a fund-raiser hosted by rickey martin. obama thanked martin for his contributions to the campaign while joe biden thanked him for his contributions to menudo. [ laughter ] >> brian: but that fundraising taking a hit. we're learning president obama's reelection campaign raised about $10 million less in april than they raised in march. and the new lawyer for o. j. simpson is pushing for the release -- his release from a nevada prison and a new trial, claiming he had bad representation in 2008. steve will be representing our show. >> steve: thank you very much. it is the latest fallout from president obama's controversial healthcare law. catholic university in ohio says it's being forced to end health care insurance for its students because the law is, quote, morally repugnant and way too expensive. joining us now is michael hearneen, the vice president of advancement for francisan university in steubenville, ohio. good morning to you.

>> good morning. great to be with you. >> steve: great to have you as well. so we're going to break this into two parts. first is, and we've been talk being how the department of health and human services mandates that everybody's got to provide, except the catholic church, has to provide contraceptives, sterilization and abortion causing drugs on their healthcare plans. your organization said what? >> well, we are passionately catholic university and so as soon as this announcement was made, we said we cannot comply with this sort of order. it goes against our deeply held moral and religious beliefs and we will fight it. we have been fighting it. so this is an attack on our first amendment freedoms. >> steve: that makes perfect sense. you had a fidelity pledge you took. how can you teach one thing in class and then turn around and do something completely different? >> exactly. steve, we were the first catholic university to take the oath of fidelity and so if we're in the classroom and our sciences and our theology programs are saying one thing

and telling our students we're doing something else with our money, this is unconscionable, i would have never imagined at this day and age in america that the federal government would compel to us do something against our religious belief. >> steve: when it comes to the cost, you looked down the road and realized that insurance policy that currently costs a student 600 bucks would double next year and triple the year after that because you've got to expand coverage. >> that's right. and so as we peeled back the onion, first we had religious and moral concerns with it. then we kept going and found out in march that it would double what we have to charge our students. then it would triple. that's something that's both moral and economic injustice, in my opinion, and the affordable health care act is unaffordable for our students. >> steve: that's unfortunate. so going forward, what are the students gog have to do? >> yeah. since we announced this decision, we've gotten actually positive feedback from the students. we were under no compunction to

require they have health insurance, but we thought it was a good thing for students to have, whether their parents or other coverage. now we're asking students to do their best to find other means to provide for their health care. this is a situation we as a university, as a catholic university never wanted to be in. but we feel now that the government is compelling us to do this. >> steve: all right. michael, vice president there at francisan university in steubenville, ohio. thank you for sharing your story. >> thane. have a great day. >> steve: you as well. a dozen minutes before the top of the hour. a real life war hero who lost both his legs while serving in iraq. now colonel agreeing gadson is returning to the battle on the big screen. >> i got this. >> steve: he does have it. this army colonel here to tell us how he landed the role in "battleship." he'll talk to brian. let's talk to bill hem who are preview what happens in ten minute.

>> they always inspire, don't they? >> steve: indeed. >> here we go again. back to some of the biggest issues facing america, taxes, the gigantic debt. what does washington have store this time? it's a critical day on that. president bush for the first time states his view on the middle east. how the health care law is affecting the poor, the people who need the coverage most. and for the first time, police say six-year-old isabel celas was abducted. what clues are they learning from that 911 call from the father, though? back in a moment, top of the hour with martha and me on that [ male announcer ] when this hotel added aflac

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>> brian: colonel gadson is a war hero and has been for some time. in 2007 while serving as commander in the u.s. army in iraq, he was hit by a road side

bomb. that blast forced him, well, he survived, but he had to lose both his legs. now he's star not guilty a film "battleship." watch. >> i got this. >> brian: wow! joining us now, he survived that, too. colonel greg gadson. welcome. >> thanks. >> brian: people know union one of the inspirational leaders of the giants. they are the super bowl camp ons. but first things first, how does

colonel greg gatson get in a film like this? >> peter berg is a new yorker and has been a new york giants fan all his life and so my relationship with the giants put me on the radar screen kind of in the back of his mind. then i was part of a small -- small part of an article that jal geographic did on advancements in prosthetics and pete saw a picture of me in that article and i think that's when he got the idea to cast me. >> brian: so he said, you got to come did you know and be in this movie. what was it like being on the cast of this huge production? >> i'm extremely blessed to have that opportunity. it was really special. the whole crew and cast and everything were absolutely wonderful and really receptive to this nonactor me here being a part of the movie. >> brian: did you get a chance to save brooklyn decker? according to our staff, she's hot. >> yes. >> brian: you can't give away the plot! >> i won't. we worked together to help

perhaps save the world, how about that? >> brian: don't give it away. bring us back to your service. you were in the first persian gulf war. it's surge time. you were coming back for a memorial service when your humvee was hit. in fact, you just showed us what was left of the humvee. what do you remember of that? >> i remember very vividly. i was again, headed back to my headquarters when there was a pop and a flash and before i knew it, i was ejected from my vehicle, rolled on the road watching in i vehicle kind of continue to sputter off. i just thank god that i'm here. he spared me and allowed me to continue to live my life. >> brian: he said your whole family had to adjust. you're inspiring the giants. what about your story inspires this football team? >> well, first of all, i'm actually still on active duty. i continue to serve. i'm currently serving as the

director of the united states army wounded warrior program. in terms of just sharing my story with the giants, it's really about perspective, i think. so having played football in college -- >> brian: at army. >> at army, i've been able to maybe draw on the parallels of playing football with those experiences in the army. >> brian: dare i say it's working? two super bowl rings, you're about to get another ring tonight. they consider you part of the team. what an extraordinary life you've lived and the best is yet to come. >> thank you. thank you very much. >> brian: we look forward to the movie. if i use your name, will i get a discount or will i have to pay full freight and $9 for a popcorn? >> we'll see what we can do. >> brian: stick around, we'll wrap things up in just a moment. fox friends friends returns. -- "fox & friends" returns wake up!

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>> steve: tomorrow, captain sully sullen berger, the guy who landed the plane safely in the hudson will be dropping by. >> brian: jets owner will be here live, as well as a very special real housewife. >> gretchen: theresa. >> brian: she's got a brand-new book out. colonel gatson in the after the show show. he's a movie star and army hero. >> gretchen: have a great day. bill: morning everybody. good show there. have another two good hours here. here we go again. another showdown on our nation's debt heatings up on capitol hill. speaker john boehner drawing a line in the sand hours before a showdown with the senate and democratic leadership in the house right there. good morning to "america's newsroom."