reopened. they say they will kill the drivers if indeed those convoys try to get through. molly henneberg is live on the story for us in washington. molly, is the u.s. admitting that our military messed up with that airstrike? >> reporter: no, martha, to the contrary. it was a very carefully worded apology that did not take the blame for the airstrike. look at more what secretary of state hillary clinton said to her counterpart in pakistan. she said, quote, i offered our sincere condolences to the families of the pakistani soldiers who lost their lives. foreign minister carr and i talked about the mistakes that resulted in loss 6 pakistani military lives. we are sorry for the losses suffered by the pakistani military. the obama administration declined to apologize for the past seven months. u.s. military leaders did a investigation and found that pakistani forces fired at u.s. troops and helicopters first prompting the u.s. response that killed 24

pakistani troops. although pakistan did not get the quote, unconnal apology it had asked for today the land routes between pakistan and afghanistan will reopen. martha. martha: in the end of it what the united states got out of it, molly? >> reporter: the key land routes will be reopened to make it cheaper to get the supplies to afghanistan. it will be much cheaper. over the last seven months when the border crossings were closed it cost taxpayers $2.1 billion to fly the supplies to afghanistan from bases outside of the pakistan. pakistan said if it would reopen the supply lines it would charge the u.s. $5,000 a truck. after all the negotiations were completed pakistan reduced that amount to the $250 a truck price tag that was in price before the disputed airstrike. martha. martha: no doubt that will make it much easier to get supplies in there. that is why the taliban is

not too happy about it. thanks very much, molly henneberg in washingtoners we did a little research and found out the supply route through central asia alone costs twice as much as through pakistan. the government estimates this could cost around $1 million a day for the 600 trucks making the crossing dailily. the united states suspended $800 million in military aid by the way to pakistan. forecasters issuing a word of caution this 4th of july. a brutal heat wave gripping much of the central united states. excessive heat warnings in places as temperatures soar into the triple digits. meteorologist maria molina following it live in the fox severe weather center. it is a hot one, maria. >> gregg, we're seeing a hot one across parts of the midwest and southeast and parts of atlantic. with temperatures well into

90s and also into the triple digits. look at the high pressure system that will still be in place across parts of mississippi valley producing hot temperatures and also humid conditions. today in new york city you will make it into 90s. 92 is high anticipated temperature. as you head back to work on thursday morning you will feet some the heat and humidity in place and temperatures rising through the afternoon hours back into the triple digits into chicago and kansas city for today your holiday and as we head through tomorrow. 100 will be the high temperature over north florida, nebraska. 101 in des moines. little rock even hotter with 102 degrees the anticipated high temperature. in chicago we could see a high at 101 degrees. factor in the humidity it will feel even hotter. that is reason why we have a number of heat advisories and excessive heat warnings across the midwest. we've seen showers and storms. we've seen some of that along the i-95 corridor in

the northeast. we're expecting a another round as we head into the afternoon and evening hours as we get day time heating and humidity in place. southeast that will be the case for you as well. across the central planes. high pressure will continue in place. that will produce high pressure over kansas and missouri. we're getting moisture across the state of colorado. we're seeing a rise in humidity out there. gregg: you have to be careful out there. stay out of the sun. be hydrated. we'll talk to dr. kathleen london. she has tips for our viewers as well. thanks very much. martha: they will need those tips because this very hot 4th of july could feel like 1776 for those who still have no electricity following last friday's severe storms from the midwest to the mid-atlantic. this is truly a desperate situation at this point because you've got hundreds of thousands of people who

for all these days have had no lights, no air-conditioning, which is much-needed in this heat. utility crews are out there working. they're trying to get the power back on to some of those areas. relief can not come soon enough for these understandably frustrated victims. >> we heard this big noise. it was this tree coming down on the roof. and we came down into the dining room and the french doors had blown open. >> they don't come in here. you call. they deny that they have even heard of the outables. she called in eight times. i call twice a day. half the time they say oh, we don't know about it. it's ridiculous. >> i keep hoping that they're going to show up any minute and we'll be back in business but, you know, right now no sign. martha: first few days people have a lot of patience for these things. but you can tell their patience is starting to run

out. friday's storm came with very little warning. at 1.3 million homes and businesses were literally with no power. tough situation. gregg: remember the jetblue captain whose midair meltdown forced a an emergency landing? guess what? he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. remember this? gregg: how frightening was that for the passengers. the captain raising back and forth inside the cabin yelling about imminent terrorist attack. passengers forcibly restrained him. the flight was going from new york to las vegas last march. it was diverted to amarillo, texas. a judge will decide if the captain will be released or should be committed to a mental health facility. martha: how about this one? the former commerce secretary who was involved in not one but two hit-and-run crashes last

month will not face any charges in those cases. the l.a.p.d. said that john bryson who you see here, suffered a seizure which may have resulted in that bizarre behavior. he also had no traces of illegal drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of those crashes. bryson was forced to resign from his post after he was found unconscious in his car last month following those back-to-back accidents. gregg: all right. want to show you an implosion at the university of alabama's rose towers, built in 1969, now being replaced. take a look. can't beat a good implosion. isn't it amazing?

they set up viewing areas for the public to come and watch this thing happen. and it was counted down to the exact moment. it is going to make way for a brand new residence hall at the university of alabama. martha: excellent example of gravity which brings me to our next story. it is the last missing piece in the puzzle how the universe was formed. and now a group of physicists in europe say may have finally discovered so-called god particle, harkening back to the beginning how we got here and how it happened. greg palkot is live in london. this is fascinating story for people who never liked physics class like me. explain what they found here that might unlock all of this. >> reporter: martha, you stole my thunder. about to tell you this is a reporter who got through a 11th grade physics class. i'm told it is a very big deal. scientists at nuclear center

for research in lucerne, switzerland were excited after the discovery. it is calls the higs boston. he came up with this in 18964. a boson is a sub atomic particle. it helps explain how the universe was formed. starting with the big bang many, many years ago. how mass combines with gravity to give stuff weight and form and give the whole universe shape. that is how the god's particle phrase comes about. 11 of 12 particles that compose the theory have been found. this is the last particle. martha: it is truly fascinating. is there more to come? when you watch the faces of scientists they were so moved and so excited about this discovery you know it has to mean it is something big. >> reporter: it is a big deal. a lot of scientists in the united states have been very active with this as well. like everything however

they're covering themselves a little bit. they're saying probably the higs boson could be a variation. could be another kind of particle. they will continue to work on it and use the atom smasher in switzerland which basically recreates the big bang, smashing up particles all over and examine these particles. basically how they came up with this discovery. they will continue to work on it. we'll continue to try to figure it out. back to you, martha. martha: greg, thank you very much. you've been looking for the higs boson. gregg: all my life. my lowest grade in college, physics. martha: fascinating. gravity and mass and weight and how, sort of all began. pretty fascinating. gregg: they made a couple mistakes before with the accelerator, high speed accelerator. don't want to jump to too many false conclusions. martha: i will work on it over the weekend. gregg: please. those are a few of the stories we've been following this morning on "america's

newsroom." all eyes on a key swing state, president obama and governor romney are turning focus to former campaign manager ed rollins is here. he will weigh in. martha: another tour bus crash sending several people to the hospital. boy, these are scary stories and something to think about before you get on one of those buses. we'll show you what happened at the scene. gregg: plus, remembering our brave men and women in uniform as we celebrate our freedom this 4th of july. happy independence day, everyone. ♪ . [ female announcer ] women have made it the number one selling

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gregg: welcome back. major warningings for drivers traveling this holiday. today is the reportedly the deadliest day for commuters with an average of 140 fatalities. police remind folks to stay focused on the road. many reportedly caused by drunk drivers. aaa predicts 42.3 million americans will be out there traveling today. martha: gosh. stay safe, folks. all right. so the presidential candidates are fighting for support in the swing state of florida. huge focus right now on florida because a victory in the sunshine state is so key for anybody who wants to win this election, whether it be president obama or governor mitt romney.

29 electoral votes at stake in the sunshine state. according to "real clear politics" average of recent polls, very tight race there right now. president obama now leading the presumptive nominee mitt romney by nearly 2% in florida. so let's bring in ed rollins, former deputy chief of staff to president reagan. managed the campaign for mr. reagan's re-election in 1984 and had major roles in nine other presidential campaigns. you've been there and done that, ed, when it comes to florida. for a while i think the romney folks were feeling pretty good about florida. they're down by just a couple of percentage points right now. what is going on there in ur mind? >> florida is a mini nation. 10 media markets. it is too big. it goes on what is goes on television. has all the problems everybody else. housing problem. immigration problem. job shortage problem. higher unemployment other than nevada and key states. the president won the state by 240,000 votes last time.

it is a very close, close race. martha: the i-4 corridor from tampa bay to daytona where most of the swing voters seem to reside. that is where all the ad dollars. >> there will be ad dollars everywhere. if you live in florida you will not turn your tv on not have a presidential visit or romney visit or commercial. that corridor is the key. that is where the republican basis. we have the convention in tampa at end of the august. if you don't do well there, you have to talk about a lot of different issues because there are a lot of different segments of the population there. martha: let's hammer down on this. there has been disgruntled conservative supporters speaking out about the romney campaign. talk to me a little bit what, if you could sit in a room with the romney campaign right now, what would you say to them, here is what you have to do? >> you have to solidify the base. make sure seniors are confident that you will protect social security, health care and protect them long term. take the young people in the state to give them encouragement. martha: how do you do that?

give them more clarity what you do in health care? what would you do? i think there is crying out for some really specific, hard plans that people can grasp on to. >> we know what obama has done and wants to do. what we don't know is what romney is going to do. martha: do you feel like he hasn't articulated his own vision? >> i think he hasn't articulated what he needs to do. at end of the day. he is a smart guy. has smart people arnd him. i hope they do it quickly. this is defining point. you have to define yourself when people are paying attention. they're paying attention right today. martha: do you think the team in place is good and would you tell them to stick with it or -- >> it's a good team. the key thing here what does he want to talk about? what does he want to do with the presidency. has to be more than repeal obamacare. here is what i want to do. here is how i get the economy moving again. here is how i create jobs. make it not all about obama. got to be about him. you need these people to go out and vote pro-romney vote and that has been missing so

far. martha: obviously the latino vote is a big issue in many states in the country. out west and also of course in florida. some, you know, have said that marco rubio needs to be the pick for vice president and that he could help him because he is, his numbers are not good with the latino voters and perhaps he can't win without them. >> rubio is extraordinary young senator and i think would be an excellent choice. if ground zero is florida i would put him on the ticket in a heartbeat. martha: do you sense there is concern about choosing him? how are you reading the tea leaves in terms of vice-presidential pick? as mitt romney said only people that talk about it are he and beth meyers, the person who is in charge of that pick. what is your sense? >> my sense is romney is safe. has to have a comfort zone. anybody around him is someone he knows for a long period of time. if you really want to basically win this thing the best choice at this point would be rubio. there are other good choices

portman and others. rubio is the key to florida victory. i would put him on the ticket. martha: very interesting. ed we'll see you, if anybody is listening to that advice, happy independence day to you. >> 30 years ago ronald reagan refurbished the statue of liberty. we were here on the that day. martha: it is a special day in america. enjoy it. >> take care. you too. martha: thanks, ed. good to see you as us always. gregg: when ed speaks people listen. martha: yes. he is like e.f. hutton. gregg: showing your age there martha. e.f. hutton is like a 30-year old commercial. >> she is just a kid. gregg: all right. the united states stepping up its presence in the persian gulf deploying even more forces to the strait of hormuz off the coast of iran. could we soon be heading toward an all-out military conflict? martha: new developments as a serious tour bus accident this morning has happened on one of the busiest highways in this country. we have a live report coming

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the is. martha: hometown fireworks display went terribly wrong. at least nine people got hurt when a deck blew off of a new hampshire house. look at this. >> when the fireworks exploded, it took off the porch and a portion of the house. >> fireworks blew up, like the whole thing. >> huge neighborhood event. family friends, basically open invitation to everyone. people come every year. he spends a lot of money on fireworks. >> everyone says he is really safe and conscientious. >> he makes sure everyone is far enough away and puts on a good show. martha: they're legal, by the way, fireworks in new hampshire. a large amount of fireworks

were found around the home. seven victims taken to the hospital including two children. as they were saying he is always safe and careful with them. even in that case you can have an accident which is what these people did. gregg: anything can happen. one of the 90,000 troops serving in afghanistan this 4th of july. the drawdown deadline is nearing. 23,000 combat soldiers, all of their equipment set to leave by september 30th. dominic di-natale streaming live from kandahar, afghanistan, the center of the drawdown effort. >> reporter: gregg, you join me right in the middle of 4th of july celebration. there is a cookout going on. bigger things on the menu here in afghanistan at kandahar airfield which is the center of drawdown support effort. every bit of hardware comes through this best as it heads now through pakistan up through the country. finally decided it would open up the crucial nato supply routes. all those in the coalition,

especially the united states can actually finally with draw. we spoke to the commander in charge of the effort. she explained how much of a big deal it really was. take a listen, gregg. announcement of the pakistan ground line communications opening up yesterday is a big, big story for us here in afghanistan as we look at different opportunities to move equipment back to the united states and other places directed by the pentagon, we are very thrilled that we're able to look at those two bigelowcations, border crossings, which is the torkum border crossing here in the north and the shaman in the south we can move equipment down to karachi and ship it back down to the united states. >> reporter: we've had the concession from pakistan. it will mean a much quicker drawdown for the united states. it will be a lot cheaper t was costing us $104 million

extra a month. that we think will be about 60 to 90 days before we actually see flatbed trucks with the likes of mrap and other heavy hardware actually rolling across the afghan border into pakistan and heading to karachi. it will all go back to the united states. from afghanistan, happy 4th of july. back to you, gregg. gregg: dominic di-natale streaming live from kandahar. thanks very much. happy fourth. >> first came the supreme court's green light. and now why implementing the health care law could mean that the government gets quite a bit bigger. we're just starting to learn what is in the 2700 page document. lawmakers are concerned that could mean fattening up the bottom line. a fair and balanced debate on that straight ahead. gregg: today we're celebrating america's independence. unveiling the secrets of the official presidential flag. ♪ . ♪

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reach a person, not a prompt whenever you call chase sapphire. martha: this is a fox news alert. we have a horrific accident to tell you about this morning that involves yet another tour bus. this crash happened on i-95 just north of new york city and it injured dozens of people on board. look at the scene of all of those ambulances in new rochelle, new york, this morning. two people are reportedly in critical condition. dan bowens, with our fox affiliate, wnyw is live with the latest. what is the latest on this accident? >> reporter: within the last hour the a tow truck hauled tour bus away. all the lanes on i-95 until new rochelle have been reopened. investigation focusing on how and why this tour bus crashed. neighbors tell me it happened 6:30 this morning. when this tour bus slammed

into a concrete barrier it sounded like thunder. we have confirmed this tour bus was returning from a connecticut casino when the driver apparently lost control. when he crashed into that concrete barrier, a huge chunk was actually dislodged and landed in the street below. glass slasheds and even the vehicle registration would be seen in the street below. this bus was filled with the passengers at the time. we're told at least 22 people were hurt including as you mentioned two people were critically injured. we believe one of those two people who were critically injured was the bus's driver. the tos telling us it looks like he lost control, possibly slammed into the center barrier and went across all three lanes, hit that side barrier. they tell us it is a bit lucky that the bus did not go over onto the street below. the bus's driver was in critical condition. neighbors telling us when emergency crews arrived, he was actually laying in the

street. so it is unclear if he was ejected from the bus or if he jumped out of the bus. that investigation just beginning now. we should note that this accident happened just two exits from another deadly tour bus wreck last year. the wreck last year took the lives of 15 people. this one this morning left 22 people hurt and two people who are critically injured. back to you. martha: awful story. we wish them well, dan. thank you very much for the update on that situation that is is still unfolding this morning. there is a new bill that requires new safety ratings for low-cost bus companies and that us passed congress ironically just a few days ago. it is now headed to the president's desk for his signature. here is new york senator charles schumer talking about that bill just a few weeks ago. >> this is the largest safety crackdown in the history of the federal motor carrier safety administration. it serves as a warning to unscrupulous discount bus carriers, if you flout the

rules, if you cut corners, if you put profit ahead of passengers safety you're going to get caught and you're going to be shut down. martha: tour bus safety of course came into the spotlight after a string of horrific crashes like this one. who can forget this horrible situation. 15 people lost their lives in new york city last year. really on the same stretch of road that dan bowens was just reporting from. there have been dozens of other fatal bus crashes in recent years. the latest numbers we have from 2010 though. there were 28 deadly accidents that killed 41 people. gregg: overseas now, the united states quietly beefing up its military presence in the persian gulf hoping to keep the strategic strait of hormuz open. that is the very narrow waterway through 1/5 of the world's oil travels. iran is reportedly threatening to shut the

strait down over new sanctions over its refusal to give up its nuclear am ish about shuns. in the meantime iran is also doing some say per rattling. a new round of war games and firing off missiles that could strike u.s. bases or israel. chuck nash, former u.s. navy campaign and fox military analyst. nice to see you, captain. >> good to see you, gregg. gregg: hours ago the iranian legislature voted to close the strait of hormuz. 1/5 of the world's oil travels through it. two decades ago they mined that stretch of water. they could have as many as 5,000 mines. what would be our response? >> well the fifth fleet, who the fifth fleet and naval forces central command, that command has been working this problem since 1979. they constantly refresh the war plan if you will and they keep it up-to-date. we've been beefing up our

forces over there. so it is not just a plan on paper. there are actually forces over there that should need be, could step in and actually execute the plan and reopen the straits but they could close i temporarily, no doubt about that. gregg: could last for several weeks, in fact. which would wreak havoc on global oil markets and really cause a catastrophe economically. but look, things are different from the last time, decades ago when they mined the strait of hormuz. now they have these sophisticated, hard to detect chinese rocket mines. they're triggered by distinctive magnetic of material of u.s. ships like the aircraft carrier and propel the 600 pound warheads at the target. they have the russian version that tackles multiple targets. they fire tore pea dose when they sense a -- torpedoes, when they sense a vehicle. can we clear those high-tech mines? >> i'm sure we can. they're called captor mines. we've been dealing with

those. the united states has had them for decades. that technology we say up to speed for all of these developments. there is always counter measure against measure. so all of this technology, we spend a lot of money on research and development in the military. you don't get to see it line item by line item but there is a tremendous amount of work that goes in to countering any technology. gregg: i figured we had the capability of that. the iranians might plan to employ at the same time, asymmetrical warfare. not just sophisticated mines. hundreds of antiship missiles. are our forces prepared for that as well? >> see now there comes a problem when you get into the asymmetric thing. they have also a fleet, when i say a fleet, i mean 1,000 small, high speed patrol boats where you are may have three people in it, two of them, one is driving and two of them are shouldering rocket-propelled grenades. goes from that to very

sophisticated mines to chinese-built surface-to-surface missiles that could fire into the gulf. it would not be a pretty situation. gregg: right. >> if we were to go all full out war with irrains we'll take some hits and they will lose their military but we'll take some hits. that is what war is. it is dangerous. gregg: last question, revolutionary guard test-fired as you know several ballistic missiles a couple days ago including a long range variety capable of hitting u.s. bases in the region not to mention israel. here is what we have right now in terms of u.s. forces in the middle east. we have more than 120,000 u.s. troops and civilians within range of the iran shahab-3 missile. u.s. fleet in bahrain responsible for military operations. 4500 u.s. military staff working that base and port alone. is other aegis defense system, captain, in the region is it take capable of taking out a shahab missile?

>> yes. not only that but tac-3s which are land based missiles. we have everything in place to defend against those kinds of things. again, gregg, nothing is perfect. if they tire everything they have and we fire everything we have, it at some point the greater numbers are going to win. gregg: yeah. captain chuck nash, as always, thank you so much for being with us. happy independence day to you and your family. >> same to [ male announcer ] don't miss red lobster's four course seafood feast,

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gregg: developing right now in "america's newsroom", a former egyptian terror suspect captured by the cia has now been granted permanent residency in sweden. he has been held in egypt since his capture in 2001. thousands of unemployed

veterans are heading back to school. they're signing up for a new federal first-come-first-serve program that pays up to a year in classes. more than 13,000 have already been accepted. congrats. if you need help paying off your student loans, listen up. maybe you should think about moving up to niagra falls, new york. the city already lured 200 young people in exchange for paying off student loans. the offer is good for up to 3500 bucks. that is a chunk of change. i wonder how long you have to live in niagra falls, new york. martha: found a job up there. gregg: maybe you stay forever because you love it. martha: good for tightrope walking apparently. gregg: yeah, i heard that. martha: don't slip. back to health care this morning. there are new concerns about massive government expansion as the feds begin implementing now president obama's health care law. agencies like the irs and the health and human services department are teaming up because they have to get this process underway. they have to figure out who is insured, who isn't

insured and who needs to be taxed and fined, however you want to look at it. however one republican lawmaker says they're already off to a costly and cumbersome start. >> they were given a billion dollars implementation money. that money is gone already on additional bureaucrats and i-t programs, computerization for the implementation. there is already 13,000 pages of regulations and they're not even done yet. martha: sounds promisg, right? joined by doug schoen, former pollster to president bill correspondent ton and fox news contributor. and we have former spokesperson for jeb bush. happy fourth, good to see you both. doug, does that make you glad hillary clinton's health care didn't pass and you had to work with the implement nation. >> this is fraught with peril. we don't know how the insurance exchanges would be organized. there was uncertainty back in the early '90s when i was working with hillary clinton --

bill clinton. the uncertainty is greater now. penalties are rather onerous. both can states dates in their own way want to stay away from the issue until after the election. martha: justin, this is something mitt romney will focus on. it is difficult to demonstrate to people to what it will add in terms of federal bureaucracy and money and oversight and all because it won't kick in until after the election. >> that is true but the implementation process has to start now. the federal government will have to start putting out the regulations. the bill it over was over 2000 pages. which expect to have thousands of pages of new federal regulations. they're going to have to start hiring up up new federal bureaucrats. they will obviously have to talk about who will get taxed additionally in small businesses and others if they don't fulfill the mandate. there is so much attention on the mandate i don't think people really appreciated how much of a government

expansion this will be in terms of spending, in terms of bureaucrats and in terms of thousands of pages of regulations that will make health care lawyers eyes glaze over. martha: doug, conservatives lost the battle obviously in the supreme court. there is no doubt in my mind what they will try to do over the coming months ahead of the election will try to seize all what it will mean. you see backlash from republican governors rings scott and scott walker, we're not going to have that medicare buck passed to us to deal with in our state. how do you see this playing out politically in terms of demonstration what it means in terms of government and increased costs? >> i think there are two things. i think justin's right, the republican right is obviously very upset. polls show the american people relatively evenly divided, slightly against the law, but the real question, martha, is the one that justin didn't answer which is what is mitt romney's replacement? what will he do differently other than just repeal? because you can't say to the

american people, we don't like the bill. so repeal it. there has got to be a substitute. martha: i think you're right about that, justin. you want to address that? >> well, sure, i think that is a legitimate issue in terms of what mitt romney's plan is going to be but i think that most people, at least on the republican party, i think the first step to putting in a market-based or a more patient-based health care system is to repeal the monstrosity of the 2000 page bill with all of the big government regulations and taxes that it requires. so i agree that president, excuse me, candidate romney, governor romney, will have to explain that a little bit better but at the same time, i think the republicans are energized to undo what they see as massive intrusion of government unnecessarily to fix the health care problem. martha: how they want to undo it will be a big question in the coming months. thanks so much, gentlemen. good to see you, justin. good to see you doug. >> happy 4th.

martha: take care. gregg: a brand new memo on "operation fast and furious" raising questions whether department of justice officials knowingly lied to congress. we're going to tell you what the memo says that has got lawmakers up in arms. martha: and trouble out west. new wildfires. we're going to go live to the front lines where this situation continues to become more intense. there's a fierce fight on at this moment to save homes, to save businesses, from burning to the ground. >> almost like being in a war zone. i mean you're hearing explosions of propane tanks from people's barbecue grills and whatever else they have in their garage. cans of gasoline. you're hearing those types of explosions.

martha: an incredible display of mother nature's

force. several tractor-trailers on this georgia lot, look at this, tossed around like toys in the hurricane force wind there. apparently brought on by a violent thunderstorm. >> preliminary evaluation is suggesting we had straight line winds with severe thunderstorms and, in the thunderstorms we had seven or eight trailers that were impacted. he was in the cab. when it overturned he was trapped for a short time and, our fire department extricated him. >> it was storming along and i was really thinking we might need to go down into the basement if it got too bad. martha: well the driver they spoke of was eventually hospitalized and is expected to be okay. thankfully there were no other injuries. gregg: well, you often see it flying near the american flag during presidential speeches and other public appearance.

the official flag of the president of the united states consisting of the presidential coats of arms emblazened on the iconic dark blue background. what exactly does it take to turn ordinary pieces of fabric and thread into part of modern american history? jamie colby knows. she is live in our new york city newsroom with all the details. happy 4th, jamie. >> reporter: same to you, gregg. i have to tell you this is my favorite story of the day. i have an animation to get into it. all the presidential flags are hand-sown in fill definitely, only in philadelphia. it happens in the flag room of the defense logistics agency. >> this room employs 13 embroiderers and hand sew and embroider brigade flags for the military services. our primary function is the presidential and vice-presidential flag which we make by hand for the white house. >> reporter: it takes two people 45 days to complete a

presidential flag. they're referred to as flag ladies and many have been add at it for decades. >> many of the ladies in the room are from outside the united states who have come here and they just enjoy serving the president, serving the military in this very unique way. >> reporter: she sketches the pattern onto the fabric before the embroidery begins. she came to this country from vietnam in 1983 and has been a flag lady for 20 years. >> i'm proud because i am supporting the war fighter and i'm proud because i do something, you know, for the country. >> reporter: christine brian has been stitching for presidents for 35 years. >> it is a great honor to actually see him get up and speak and you see the work that you actually do standing behind him on the podium. it really makes us feel good to see that. >> reporter: the ladies behind the flag have a message for the commander-in-chief. >> president obama, come and see us.

>> yes. [laughter] >> reporter: i love them. the ladies made 96 flags for president obama's administration. it took two years to complete that order, gregg. gregg: 45 days. that doesn't even include the sketching. just the sewing, 45 days. >> reporter: perfect stitching, gregg. gregg: i can't even sew on a button. >> reporter: no worries. you have got people. martha: i love those flag ladies. so glad we got to see that. today obviously is the 4th of july and it was 236 years ago today that the church bells rang out over the city of philadelphia. very hot as the story goes in those days. as the second continental congress officially adopted the declaration of independence written by thomas jefferson of course. now the original declaration which was i will point out, you will know why in a moment, handwritten in cursive in pen and ink is now on display in washington. the original, original version. the ink of course faded over

the 26 years because originally they had very poor conservation techniques for these kind of documents. they're better at it now, thankfully but back in the 19th century it was a difficult thing to do. it is an incredible document to see. as i mentioned it was handwritten in pen and ink. a couple of weeks ago i engaged in a very heated debate on "america's newsroom" whether or not children this country should learn to write in cursive hand writing in school. we talked about the importance of it. even though everything is e-mail and twitter these days it is still important for children to learn how to write. i asked people, you know what, send me a handwritten letter, if you agree with me. boy, did you. look at all these beautiful handwritten letters that i got. gregg: wow. martha: i want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. i will take them with me and read rest of them. i was out last week. i didn't get to read them. this is from mrs. phillip gilley. she is a big fan of handwriting.

big fan of "america's newsroom." and sent me a picture of bill hemmer and her at the super bowl. gregg: that's great. martha: thank you, thank you. with its built in beats audio, every note sounds amazingly clear. ...making it easy to get lost in the music... and, well... rio vista?!! [ male announcer ] ...lost. introducing the musically enhanced htc one x from at&t. rethink possible.

martha: we want to start with this alert. there you new wildfires that are sparking in the west overnight, as five badly needed tanker planes returns to the sky once againafter a deadly weekend crash in colorado. brand-new hour starting of "america's newsroom" on this fourth of july. good morning, everybody, i'm

martha maccallum. gregg: i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer. 45 wildfires the most recent breaking out just last night in a rural area north of los angeles. authorities say the flames quickly burned through more than 250 acres. martha: in utah a brush fire started up late yesterday afternoon, right in the middle of an industrial area. cars at an autobody shop there destroyed. several businesses had to be evacuated. >> conditions are extreme. it's as dry as it can be. there hasn't been any water or moisture in more than a month and the winds are high. you put all three of those together and it's really an explosive situation. martha: he sums it up. conditions are extreme right now. let's get to alicia acuna canning live in denver. give us an update of what is happening now in colorado. >> reporter: yes, the waldo canyon fire which is something we've been reporting on for the past week or so is at 80%

containment. we are finding out exactly how destructive it was. the den for post has done and a tphol louisiana suand analysis of how much destruction was done in the homes. 346 homes were destroyed. it tpurpb tpurpbs out it was at least $110 million to one neighborhood. it doesn't take into account poe testing and the price of replacing the home. the cause of the fire under investigation. dry and drought-like conditions across most of the western u.s. is creating red flag fire conditions right now. it is extremely dry and in many areas hot. >> it's always important. this year is exceptional. you can tell by the wildfires we've had throughout the state. we are as dry as the mountains are, we just don't have as much to burn as far as the wild land. we have a lot of buildings that interface with subject reand things. that is usually where we find our problems. >> reporter: you saw that map, in all of those areas they are

finding a lot of dry brush and dry grass, which, martha, as you know translates into fuel when you're talking about wildfires. martha: it sure does. so it's the fourth of july, obviously. did they have any special concerns with regard to that? >> reporter: actually a lot of concern, and this is happening all over the country. a lot of municipalities making the decision to cancel their firework shows. they are saying they have to. in colorado it's a particularly delicate situation, this is why. >> some of our volunteer firefighters from golden have been working the wildfires in kold, so win colorado, we tpwho they arknow they are stressed and tired. there is no reason to stress the restoressess for a fireworks display. >> reporter: there have been complaints about the cancellations. all though the authorities say it's matter of safety. martha. martha: thank you very much. gregg: the weather is not the

only thing canceling firework shows all over the country. dozens of cities are canceling their fireworks displays not because of fire concerns, they are just flat out broke. here are a number of them, in jacksonville beach, florida the show cut off because of austerity measures. jersey city new jersey they say they hope to bring back the celebration when the economy improves, whenever that is. lynwood, california. they are trying to plug a million dollar hole in their budget, so none of the fireworks tonight. new bloodshed in syria, opposition activists say at least 17 people have been killed this morning alone, including six children. leland vittert live from jerusalem. what is the latest? >> reporter: it seems like it continues to get worse, gregg. we are now learning that an al-qaida-inspired group has a lot more involvement in this than previously thought and it

complicates the u.s. and its allies narrative that bashar al-assad is bad and that the rebels are good. right now we are hearing from the front that has been responsible for a number of car bombings that they are looking to avenge the latest attacks by syrian troops on syrian civilians this is amateur video coming from damascus. the violence is getting so close to the capitol the noose is really tightening on bashar al-assad. his only allies remain russia and iran, russia protecting him at the united nations. the question is how much money russia wants to spend when there is pressure to have bashar al-assad step down and there is pressure on russia to abandon bashar al-assad in the international community. gregg: what is the significance of finding the turkish pilots? >> reporter: they were shot down by syrian air defenses about two weeks ago. they have now found their bodies

on the seabed floor. this has started a standoff between the turks and the syrians on what could be a very volatile border. the turks have scrambled a number of f-16 fighter jets. this could easily turn into a shooting war. gregg: thanks very much. martha: we have learned that senator john mccain is spending his july 4th in afghanistan with our troops. he tweeted this photo a short time ago. he is -- you're going to see it in a second here, you'll see him cutting a patriotic cake when it comes up. it is always good of course to spend independence day with our troops. there he is, send john mccain. gregg: a big cake skwraoeut is a bi. martha: it is a bic case. the senator presided over a promotion ceremony for an army major. congratulations to him, by the way and all the best to our troops who are serving overseas as we celebrate the fourth of

july and our freedom and independence here at home. gregg: and thank them for their service at all time. growing tension between iran and western powers driving down the price of crude oil. the prices slipping this morning to nearly $87 a barrel down 60-cents from yesterday, just in time for drivers hitting the road this holiday. the national average $3.34 a gallon, that is down 20-cents from a yearing a. we'll take it. martha: nice move, exactly. a big relief for the big three u.s. car companies too. sales for gm, ford and chrysler all up in the month of june, that is the biggest increase that we've seen in automatic though sales since 2007. economists saying that falling gas prices, cheaper loans, and new models all came together to draw the consumers out. that is good news for everybody. a lot of that could be due to the massive auto bailout in which gm received some 49.5 billion in loans, some people called it government

motors, remember, and while chrysler pwor load some 11.42 billion from the feds. ford received no bail out funds at well and they've been doing quite well as well. gregg: mart that, one of your favorite cases is the cape. you'll want to listen up to this. a serious warning now about dangerous predators lurking in the waters close to shore of one beach at least. nothing is being shut down at this point. the sighting of two great whites has folks on edge to say the least on cape cod. crystal hanes of our fox affiliate has more. >> reporter: gearing up, getting ready for a shar shark hunt. it never gets hold for this shark hunter and fisherman. >> it was rare once upon a time but the previous four years we've seen more and more of them and we expect the numbers to continue to increase as the years go on. >> reporter: with the hef their pilot the shark hunter spotted

two great whites 30 miles off the coach near south beach in chatham. >> it was in very close proximity to the shore. >> reporter: they were about 12 to 15 feet chasing their main food force, seals. beachgoers, they say 300 feet back, and if the seal seals scatter, you scatter. >> i was in the sea and i saw a seal boppin around. so i felt if he felt safe i was safe. >> reporter: the hunters spotted a 16-foot great white swimming toward the chatham inlet just last week. it didn't reach the harbor. they are currently preparing for their next taken expedition. gregg: crystal haynes of our fox affiliate. thanks. you know those waters. martha: sure do. we see them out there, we see the shark hunters out there

every summer. as they come in, i mean that is the biggest concern how close they get to the beach. the only advice they are really giving people at this point, which is what crystal said is not swim near the seals. and when you see a large gathering of seals you leave them for the great white shark to have for lunch and leave them alone. the woman is very smart, don't swim near the seals. a new memo has surfaced on operation fast and furious and it's raised some questions about what justice department officials really knew and what they told congress. what the memo says that has now got lawmakers up in arms once again. gregg: new concerns about what the healthcare law could really end up costing americans, that explosive report ahead. martha: and a controversy about what some firefighters were doing in the devastating aftermath of a nasty storm in washington d.c. what happened here to spark an

investigation. >> i thought it was mighty strange, but i ain't never saw that gun before, you know. ♪ ♪ proud to and on our own ♪ proud to be homegrown ♪ a familiar face and a name you know ♪ ♪ can you hear it? ♪ fueling the american spirit ♪ no matter when, no matter where ♪ ♪ marathon will take you there ♪ fueling the american spirit

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martha: there are new questions today about the action of some d.c. firefighters in the wake of last friday's deadly storms there. fire officials are trying to financed out who ordered an engine to fill a private swimming pool.

it happened when the department was dealing with a lot of emergency calls that were related to friday's deadly storm. >> we as firefighters believe in being out in the community and participating as much as possible. we cannot lose sight of our core mission. our core mission is to respond to emergencies, whether it's medical, fire, terrorism, what have you. we need to be in service for our core mission as much as possible. martha: he made that pretty clear. the department issued this statement. we feel that the real storm-related story is the fact that fire and ems responded to more than 1550 cars during and after friday's storm. the department was staffed at 100%. our firefighters worked tirelessly through adverse weather and heat conditions. they want the focus to be on all the successes, understandably and not that one egregious error. [music playing] gregg: a potentially damaging

memo coming to light in the fast and furious investigation, and it's raising new questions about whether justice department officials, including the attorney general, knowingly lied to congress. now, the memo from an atf special agent cited concerns that he had about the sting april ratio operation dated one day before the doj denied any knowledge at all of the sting. senator chuck grassley denying answers as to why that might be in a letter to the attorney general yesterday grassley said this. quote, the possibility that doj was aware of this memorandum on february 3rd 2011 and still sent the erroneous letter to congress the next day february 4th raises more questions about doj's claim that faulty information from the department's components inadvertently led to the false letter. joining me now to talk about it

arizona congressman david schweikert. do you buy the inadvertent faulty information, or do you believe the doj deliberately lied to congress. >> i moved into the deliberately lied category. this can only go on for so many months. if they are going to continue to trickle out memos, we are pulling back the layers of the onions and starting to understand, a, how much sort of chaos and information was actually circulating around in the justice department, and also starting to under how much they truly didn't understand. gregg: to be fair here to holder and doj, the atf agent who raised the red flag apparently criticized the wiretap surveillance system but did not complain about the gun running or gun walking itself. if that is true, congressman won't that send to support holder's claim that he and other top officials didn't really know about the gun walking which is of course the basis of his

february 4th letter to congress? >> and i actually wouldn't agree with that. what i think the memo starts to demonstrate, and i think this is what senator grassley is hunting for is the number of layers of both disagreement that seem to be going through staff, even some of the references that they separated parts of the staff that were talking about, hey, the discomfort and the concern, and when you actually start to see references to, we should tell the truth, we should come clean, particularly come clean to congress, you start to realize, if the memo is written on this date how many weeks or months of other information and conversation took place. gregg: it took like ten months before they retracted it, one of three retractions associated with this. but look, in his first interview since he was held in contempt of congress, eric holder the attorney general, gave an interview to the "washington post" an said that republicans in congress, you're a republican, are using this investigation as a way to secret

throw pwaougs against the administration for all kinds of things including he said immigration, voting rights, gay marriage, then he said this, i want to quote it we'll put it up on the screen. i am also a proximat a proxy for the president in an election year. you have to be exceedingly naive to think that vote is about documents. your reaction? >> i saw that and i was outraged by it. think of the timeline. they've had 18 months of this investigation going on. we've had almost a year of requesting the documents. it was the administration, it was eric holder himself that made the decision to turn this into an election issue by stalling, waiting, diverting, running away from the truth. if they didn't want this to be an election issue, come clean last january. gregg: but eric holder in his defense says the following, he says, look, when i found out about the operation i

immediately stopped it, i made then personnel changes associated witness, and i ordered an internal investigation. why isn't that enough? >> of course it isn't enough. come clean, bring the documents forward. look, if this was going to be the most open administration in history, you remember the quotes from the president, he was going to drain the swamp. what has he done? he's drained the swamp and turned it into a cesspool. gregg: the bush administration invoked executive privileges a bunch of times and president obama has only done it once. you remember the josh fuel ton-harriette myers, how is this different than their withholding documents. >> in many ways you're making the point. we have a president, an administration. it ran on the fact they would be open, let the sunshine in. when they get up against the wall where okay this may not be

great news for them, it looks like they screwed up, but they haven't been willing to come clean. so -- gregg: i got ya. >> if the president was flip and this was a republican president the left would be going berserk right now. gregg: congressman david schweikert thank you for taking the time this holiday. happy 4th to you and your family skwrao family. martha: an suv took flight. what caused that to happen. gregg: the hot dog eating contest. why it's got the mayor of new york city all fired up. >> no question, it's going to be a dogfight. just think of how many we got into one sentence. that was really empress i have. impressive. who wrote this.

[bleep]

. gregg: 23 minutes past the hour. some stories we are following. the former chief executive of barkley's bank getting tpwreuld in london. they claim his bank hiked up the lending rates at the height of the crisis. they have been find $453 million by u.s. and british regulators. just in time for your holiday cook out, new warnings of a potentially deadly hazard, metal bristles from grill cleaning brushes have been swallowed by dozens of people this year. experts suggest use other cleaning tools and wipe down your grill afterwards. strange sightings are nothing unusual on college campuses. a 250 black bear at a florida university? that is one that takes the cake. experts say the same bear has been caught before and may have

been roam -pbg th roaming the area for about a year. i had no idea there were bears in florida. maybe they are retired bears. martha: maybe he wants to go to college. gregg: no birds from canada. martha: hsnow birds from canada. maybe they live in one of these senior communities. no cubs allowed. martha: there are questions that are surfacing about how much of president obama's life story as written by him is accurate. there is a lengthy new biography that tells a story that we've heard before but it offers some serious challenges to the way that the president has written his narrative. while the president doesn't deny that his first memoirs he says contained some compressed characters, people that he met along the way that he compressed into a character, and also compressed chronology, one of the country's premiere

historians is raising significant new questions about the inconsistencies and about the back story of the president. chief washington correspondent james rosen is looking into this and joins me live from our d.c. bureau. good morning, happy 4th james. >> reporter: to you, mart that. this is a simplest terms a tale of two books. it's a window into the kind of security knee you face when you become president of the united states. the blog is abuzz in three dozen discrepancieses in the live of barack obama as he related it in "dreams from my father" and the research findings of. prize winning editor david martinez. case in point he relates how the president's paternal grandfather was detained and tortured by british colonialists outside of

nairobi. maninetz deems this unlikely. they called regina a fellow student at occidental college who helped the young barack obama embrace his african roots, the author says it's about pheurb i will obama that he didn't meet for eight years. they pointed out that mr. obama in the introduction to dreams openly admitted using composites and other forms of literary license but they also offered other reasons for the discrepancies that others have found. >> i think that there is a difference between memoirs and serious, rigorous factual history of a by o biography, and some of this he did is a result of mythology passed down from his family. >> i understand now that because mr. obama is president of the

united states people are interested in scrutinizing every single thing in this is book. i think there is very good possibility, because i've seen this done many times, that that was what he intended to do, is to protect the privacy of these people he writes about in his book. >> in 2004 mr. obama reread passages from dreams from my father for the first time in many years. follow me on twitter that is at jame james rosen f nc. as soon as i leave this studio i'll tweet out to you the things the future president said made him wince when he read this memoir. martha: that is a tees. we are all going to follow you and see what comes out there, thank you, james. gregg: walk don't run to your computer. no injuries here. it may be the next big shoe to drop in the healthcare battle. why the supreme court's ruling could send healthcare costs soaring for americans. the architect o will be joining

us. martha: a city decides to limit displays of the stars and stripes on the graves of u.s. veterans. does that make sense? and is that even legal? when we come back. >> i think they were not trying to be insensitive at all. we have quite a heritage of military involvement in our community. [ horn honks ] ♪ ♪ [ man ] excuse me miss. [ gasps ] this fiber one 90 calorie brownie has all the moist, chewy, deliciousness you desire. mmmm. thanks. at 90 calories, the brownie of your dreams is now deliciously real.

martha: it is hot, hot, hot, trip ol digit heat across parts of the east coast. maryland's governor is warning to this situation continues to be very dangerous for folks there. listen. >> we are now heading into probably the most dangerous part

of this event, and why do i say that? because the more prolonged the heat exposure, the more prolonged the time that especially a lot offed elderly citizens have been forced to spend in isolated ways, in the heat, without air-conditioning, the more worn out, the more vulnerable they become. martha: that is problem below true, as it drags on. steve centanni joins me now. he's on the national mall in d.c. hi, steve. >> reporter: hi, mart that. thingmartha. it is quiet here now but temperatures will be 100, with the heat and humidity it will be 100 or more, 105 degrees. people will be down here for fireworks and the show at the end of the mall later on, everyone will have to go through metal detectors. they are being warned to be prepared. this comes in the wake of that big storm. let's take a look at pictures from roanoke, virginia where

power lines are down. a lot of people are without electricity throughout the area. about a million people waiting until possibly the end of the week until they get their power back. they will be coming down here, the fireworks will go on as planned. martha: -frbg is lookin everybody is looking forward to that. we are expecting another day of triple digit temperatures there. what are people doing to try and stay cool in all of this. >> they are being warned to bring a lot of water, wear light clothes, stay in the shade if possible. take common-sense precautions. there could be thunderstorms that come through that could cool people off. that could be a danger too. if it gets bad enough they will move people into nearby buildings until the storms blow through. back to you. martha: it is summer. tough conditions where you are, steve. thank you. gregg: the soaring temps and the heat can be really dangerous, even life threatening. joining us to talk about it family practice physician dr. kathleen london.

great to see you, happy fourth. we have several tips. we want to run through each of them with you. tip number one, stay hydrated, keep your body cool. >> absolutely in this prolonged heat you want to keep your body temp down. danger signs is if you get hot and you're not sweating that is a dangerous sign or start feeling neaseaus. get inside and put wet towels on you. it will cooldown your body. gregg: don't consume too much alcohol. >> it dehigh tkraeuts you. dehigh tkraeuts you. i tell people get water between each drink. gregg: limit sun exposure and reapply su sunscreen. >> between the hours of 10 and 2 is the highest uv index. stayed under an pwrel r-r, wear a hat. reapply your sunscreen every two hours. gregg: utilize sunburn recommend does if necessary. >> if you do get a burn, keep it

hydrated, keep it moist. cool towels will help. aloe will help. if you get blisters do not break them, go see your doctor you may need to put special dressings on them. gregg: barbecue your meat thoroughly. >> even if it's charred on the outside, the internal. might not be hot enough to kill bacteria. a study has just come out with a study on wire brushess. people have ended up in the hospital from wire bristles. check your grill, throw out your brush if it's old, wipe it down with a wet towel. gregg: do not pour lighter fluid on a burning barbecue, even if all you see are red-hot coals, not flames. >> you will get a flash flame and end up in the emergency room with all kinds of inhalation injuries, please don't do it. gregg: people end up at notice time getting too close to the fir works. >> we see all sorts of hand

injuries at this time of year, please be careful. they think it's okay to hold things. gregg: thanks for being with us. happy fourth. martha: good points, thanks you guys. now there are new concerns that the supreme court's ruling will make the healthcare law even more expensive than first anticipated. opponents of president obama's signature law says that immediat medicaid's change could spike the law's 900 billion-dollar price tag and we are sorting all this out. joined now by art laffer the author of eureka how to fix california. the former aid to ronald reagan and former architect of reaganomics. happy fourth of july. >> you and bill are working hard today. martha: i have gregg jarrett with me, bill hemmer is a total

slouch. no, we are so glad he's out with his family. thank you for being here today. some of the things people are sorting through on this is this issue that the medicaid coverage that is going to be kicked back to the states is now optional to the states. cbo will now have to rerun all these numbers and figure out what the true cost is going to be. what do you anticipate? >> i anticipate the cost will go up as time goes by this will become a more and more expensive proposition, piece of legislation, and when you think about it, martha, government spending is taxation. and when really, the obamacare really separates the people who get the benefits from those who bear the costs. it will have a very large negative impact on the over call economy and cbo is playing catch up to figure out how large this is. it's going to slow the economy down in 2013 and beyond if it's allowed to take full effect, which is about a 50-50 proposition in my find.

>> explain for us if you could, one of the impacts of this law is that it raises those who are eligible for medicaid to 133% of the poverty level. in other words it opens up that category of people who say, you know what, i'm in there, i can actually get medicaid under this law. but if the states, some of which have already expressed that they are not able, given their state finances to cover those extra people in the state coffers, they are going to kick it back to the federal government, so some of the people will likely remain uninsured or what will happen? >> that's what they say, they are going to remain uninsured. i don't know the specifics of all of this. they are going to remain uninsured which of course is against what the president has proposed as his ideal goal, but the states really can't afford it. if you look at states in my book on california, california is in a very tight spot. it's hard for me to imagine how they can afford additional expenditures, and that's not just california, it's almost

every state in the nation. some states are doing okay but not a lot. martha: griffin that, it kind of makes you wonder how they thought in the original construction of the healthcare law that the states would be able to afford it because that was mandated that the states pay that, and notice is not, right? >> yeah it's true. they didn't think a lot in the original law to be honest with you, martha. good economics knows whenever you give products away below cost the subsidies and the costs will incree. to get those sourcs from the workess and produces or in tax spending deficits. if you look at this world, if i pay a lump sum i get to eat all i want for free, as much as i can eat. i'm going to way over eat and i'm going to go right to the caviar until i completely eliminate the caviar. this type of program was not thought through properly on what

the incentive affects will be on the over call economy. they will be very serious come 2013 and beyond especially with the bush tax cuts expiring, you're going to have a real problem in 2013. this is just one more representation of that type of problem coming along from cbo. martha: it prolongs the uncertainty for a lot of businesses. >> oh, boy does it. martha: they don't know what is going to happen in terms of their own expenses. always good to see you, thank you so much. >> you have a great july fourth martha. apologize to gregg for me. have him have a good july 4th too. martha: we are glad to have gregg with us, he's working hard on the fourth of july unlike hemmer, whom we love and miss and will see next week. gregg: pakistan wants to reopen a supply route to afghanistan. is it really worth it? a look at the real cost next. martha: look at this video, an suv catching some air.

look at that. this is no stunt, the story behind that incredible video. and it is a hot and humid fourth of july here in new york city. there is a live shot outside of 12116th afternoon near rockefeller center where we are. happy independence day to everybody. a big thank you to our troops and to the veterans who have helped protect our freedom for the last 236 years. we salute you on this fourth of july. last season was the gulf's best tourism season in years. in florida we had more suntans... in alabama we had more beautiful blooms... in mississippi we had more good times... in louisiana we had more fun on the water. last season we broke all kinds of records on the gulf. this year we are out to do even better... and now is a great time to start. our beatches are even more relaxing... the fishing's great. so pick your favorite spotn the gulf...

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martha: as promised, check this out, an suv goes airborne. >> oh, man. martha: along a wisconsin highway. the pavement apparently buckled from the scorching heat and it created a ramp in the middle of a busy road, like a ripple that went right through the highway, and they shot right off of it. thankfully the people in that suv, it was a safe car and they only suffered minor injuries. gregg: it could have been a lot worse. a rare and unusual apology to pakistan for a u.s. air strike last november that killed 24 pakistani soldiers. the statement of secretary of state hillary clinton said in part, quote, we are sorry for the losses suffered by the pakistani military. we are committed to working closely with pakistan and afghanistan to procee prevent

this from ever happening again. the apology reopened a in it tow supply root to afghanistan which had been closed in retaliation to the strike. joining me is mike barrett and ceo of delu gend inch no kwraeugss. happy fourth to you. for seven months the obama administration refused to apologize. now all of a sudden it has. why the reversal? it is a lack of conviction, changed circumstances? simple pragmatism, what? >> at the end ever the day it is pragmatism. we need the supply routes. ult natalee it's a loultimately it's a lot cheaper to go directly as opposed to routes that are more arduous. in a tactical sense they got this one right. it was not appropriate for the president to apologize.

we didn't even have the secretary of defense apologize, we had the secretary of state. it falls under the diplomatic realm and that is for the good. at that time particularly we did the right thing but our strategy is very much flawed in this region. gregg: it is certainly less than the apology president obama made to the president of afghanistan, this is the secretary of state apologizing essentially to pakistan. but look, the alternate reply routes cost the united states $100 million each and every month, that is roughly 700,000 over the last seven months, it's a huge hit the taxpayers had to take over this thing. what about president obama has ordered a withdrawal from afghanistan, and, you know, that is going to begin in a couple of months. we are going to need those land routes through pakistan, right? >> that is exactly right. well of course we care about the taxpayer money and we don't want to be wasting money, but we've got troops on the ground and in harm's way.

we need to get supplies to them, if we are going to pull out we node to get our weapons and materials out so it doesn't fall into the wrong hands. we've made these decisions about when the troop withdrawals are going to happen based on political concerns and not on progressmatic concerns or the facts on the ground. we are leaving in about 12 months and we've got to get the stuff out of there. they did the right thing tactically but the strategy is wrong. gregg: this is going to wrangle a lot of people. you know why, pakistan may well have been come police it in harboring osama bin laden. we know elements of pakistan's intel service, the isi are known to support the taliban if not al-qaida. pakistan has done very little to crackdown on militants who routinely attack u.s. troops in afghanistan. and yet the united states is now apologizing to these folks. isn't this going to allow critics to continue to cast president obama as apologist in

chief? and maybe they've got a point. >> i think it is going to allow the critics to do that. in this case again you have to put the interests of the troops and nation first. as much as i agree with the obama administration on any number of tactics and things that they are doing you have to be realistic about it. pakistan has nuclear weapons. that matters. the generals as much as they are against us at some point they are more on our side than the militants in the mountains and the pakistani people. our relations with the military, the military, military relations are the only thing that keep us having any kind of hand in there. gregg: we give them all kinds of financial aid. i mean you're talking about tens of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars yet they were trying to extorte enormous amounts of money to allow us and nato to use those routes. i mean it was ridiculous the amount of money per truck. >> it is. i mean at the end of the day. again if you're pragmatic about

it they've got us between a rock and a hard place. we have ourselves in a bad situation in afghanistan. gregg: we could say no more money to you. >> we could. then they close all the routes. we have troops currently in harm's way. the part that concerns me is what are we going to do in a year once we've mostly pulled out of the region if these people that are there are bad enough to justify going after today, in 12 months are they less bad? are they less worth going after? i don't know how we are going to do that. we haven't seen to have thought through it. gregg: mike barrett, happy fourth, thanks for taking the time g to see you. >> happy fourth as well. martha: fox news alert now we want to take you to the white house to the east room where president obama is about to deliver some remarks at a naturalization ceremony for active duty service members. we've been keeping a close eye on this on this fourth of july. we see judge andrew napolitan janet napolitano in the room as well. he and the first lady will host

a big event on the south lawn, a salute to the military, uso concert. it will feature brad pace lee tonight. it's a big day as they moneyer the naturalization service of our armed forces. we'll continue to keep an eye on that, that is also streaming on foxnews.com and it is part of a very special day in america and a special day at the white house. we'll continue to keep a close eye on it. most coming up in "america's newsroom" as we continue to celebrate the fourth of july. there is your live shot at the white house. we will be right back with more. ♪ lord, you got no reason ♪ you got no right ♪ ♪ i find myself at the wrong place ♪ [ male announcer ] the ram 1500 express. ♪ it says a lot about you. ♪

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there is growing outrage in texas after a city has limited the display of flags on

veterans' graves. mineral well city, that is the name of the town, the council has passed an ordinance that only allows flags on graves in one cemetery for one week before and after memorial day and veteran's day. watch. >> i want the cemetery to look nice. the only thing that i won't remove is that flag, i won't. he earned it. martha: you get a sense of what is going on there. a former prosecutor and a criminal defense here is here as well. ladies welcome, good to have you here. >> thank you. martha: let me start with you kelly. what is going on here? >> well, it seems like it's not a well-thought out ordinance. they are suggesting that this is clutter and that the american flag is include the eastern people aris clutter. and people are outraged. they are saying it's problematic in the town because of the idea that the flags could interfere

with mowing yards. they could set up restrictions as to how to display the flags. the out right ban doesn't take into effect independence day today. doesn't take into effect june 14th, flag day, national flag week. it's just not well thought out. martha: sharon what do you think? >> i think that the naysayers need to sit down and listen, what the cemetery and city is saying is don't litter on our graves, and that includes laying flags. >> don't call the flag litter. >> let me finish, let me finish, i didn't interrupt you. momentos, teddy bears, they are saying if you want to be patriotic, there's do, but do it in a patriotic way, follow the law. they can -- >> that's not what they are saying. they are saying two weeks out of the year? it's ridiculous. martha: hold on, hold on you're talking over each other. hold on please. ladies, you're talking over each other, no one can hear what you're saying. >> okay. martha: kelly make your point. >> i'm sorry, just to say this

it's litter is offensive. to say that that ordinance says put it in a vase that is not true. it says only two weeks out of the year. it's offensive to our vets, it may not be illegal but it seems insulting. to call it litter, to call it refuse is a problem. martha: it seems like it's one of those many situations we cover it cries out for common-sense and people should be able to put the flags on the gravestones, do it in a responsible manner so that the flags are standing up right and not falling over and we could make all of this work for everything. >> that's all we are asking for. follow the law, be patriotic. martha: thank you very much, kelly. gregg: american troops on the move in the persian gulf. nuclear talks with iran deteriorate further. what iran's most recent missile test means for u.s. troops stationed in the region. man: there's a cattle guard, take a right.

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martha: we wish you and your family as wonderful 4th of july. have a great day and celebrate the declaration of independence. >> same to you and your family. martha: same to yours as wellings gregg. see you tomorrow. "happening now" starts right now. >> more talking and once again no results no progress when it comes to iran's nuclear program. jenna:. >> they are courting independent voters really hard. who makes up the that elusive voting bloc?

the answer may lie where they shop. rick: another scorcher for some people. how hot will be for your 4th of july activities. maria molina is it in the fox weather center. those stories and breaking news, all "happening now." rick: hello, everybody, happy 4th of july. thanks for spending part of it with us. a brand new effort to salvage diplomacy and salvage a nuclear stand you have a. i'm rick folbaum in for jon scott. >> i'm arthel neville in for jenna lee talks this week are intended to clarify aspects of tehran's nuclear energy work and set the stage for political negotiations. tensions are high since high level talks stalled in june with iran now saying it