seriously, it would have been way better if the man had left that a mystery. so much more fun to imagine vice president cheney in a field, in a secret lair, maybe something with a laser. oh, well. that does it for us tonight. i'm melissa perry sitting next tomy daughter for rachel m maddow. we'll see you later tonight. now it's time for "the ed show." >> good evening, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to "the ed show" from new york. while hurricane irene is still kicking the east coast, towns in new jersey are cut off and fema is almost broke. ruthless republicans? well, they're back at it again. it's our lead story. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. as a government, we're going to make sure that states and communities have the support they need so their folks can recover. >> they're still picking people out of the water in the east, and republicans are still

playing chicken with disaster money. tonight, senator bernie sanders from rain-soaked vermont on the republicans' refusal to do the right thing. >> i think it was sound policy. >> dick cheney is peddling more about iraq. it doesn't end there. rush limbaugh hits another racist low talking about the president. you won't believe the take. with this school facing major budget cuts, one california man did what local government wouldn't. we'll tell you the story about larry powell. >> i'll still be here doing the same thing, just with a few dollars less. >> thank you for joining us tonight, ladies and gentlemen. welcome to "the ed show." i think the best way to put this into context is to talk about money. we spend $900 million a week in afghanistan. whether you think that's right or wrong, whether you're for or against the war, well, put that aside for a moment.

just think about priorities. priorities. our priority list for america. $900 million a week in afghanistan week after week after week how long, ten years now? well, let's come home. fema has less than $800 million on hand, and the victims of

hurricane irene have billions of dollars in damage to deal with. irene is the perfect example of the idealogical war that's taken place in this country, and i don't really think we can call it the perfect storm for the republicans and their argument. both political parties have used the full force of government to

battle the devastating effects of the storm. quick action by elected officials flat out has saved lives throughout all of this, and at the same time, heartless republicans are demanding spending cuts to pay for the cleanup and called for the elimination of fema. now, hold it there. no republicans are standing up and saying, let's get the hell out of afghanistan because we're spending $900 million a week. but you know what? fema has too much money. they're down to 800 mil for dis relief money. that money has been offset by savings elsewhere. again, just like any family would operate when it's struck with disaster. unfortunately, the government continues to borrow money and to spend money it doesn't have. as you know, over the last seven months, we've been trying to address that situation so we can going to need to make sure that there are savings elsewhere to continue to do so.

>> have you ever heard cantor talk like that when it comes to war? we'll just have to find the cuts to make this war keep going. i find it repulseive that we have americans out of a home and we have people like that saying, hey, suck it up. it's easy to spout theories about the deficit. it's harder to see the starving americans and ask them to cough it up for the last 2%, which is what they're all about. today food and water was air-dropped to people who were cut off by floodwaters in 13 different small communities in the state of vermont. let's go back six years ago where fema and the national guard took days to deliver food and water to people in the new orleans convention center. remember those days? disgraced fema director mike brown didn't have a clue how to help people after katrina. today brian just thinks eric cantor is doing a heck of a job.

>> we don't have any money. let's say fema needs $1 billion just for round numbers. 42 cents of every dollar they give to fema will have to be borrowed, bill. so we have to start making these choices. >> we don't have any money, but we got money for wars. in fact, we got $900 billion a week for what the hell is going on over in afghanistan. of course, who is brownie, anyway? i don't think most americans know what he's doing right now. 3 million americans are still without power. there's millions in damage and floodwaters are rising all along the eastern seaboard. they're worried about deficits, they're worried about budgets, they're not worried about people. with the republicans in the time of disaster, it's all about the money, isn't it? there were 700 boat rescues in the state of new jersey today. at this hour, about 1,000 families in wallington, new jersey have been evacuated

because the river is scheduled to reach its crest. those folks, you know what they need? they need some help, and they're worried about what their home will be like because, you see, i guess the storm is their fault. they don't need cuts. this is not a game, but to the republicans it's always a game about money. to the victims of irene, this is about life and death. i think the death toll now is at 40. are any of the republicans going to go to any of those funerals and talk about budget cuts? now you know why i call them heartless. they don't give a damn. fema needs to be there when hurricanes and earthquakes hit. at the same time hurricane irene hit the north banks of south carolina, here he comes. he was in texas and he said this. >> i promise you this. i'll work every day to make washington, d.c. as inconsequential in your life as i can.

>> what does that mean? is afghanistan $900 million a week, is that inconsequential, or is that something we'll let slide off our budget? in washington, d.c., it is very consequential when a hurricane destroys your life, and there is no free market solution to a massive natural disaster. fema and the national guard will always be better than haliburton when american lives are at stake. can we agree on that? can we agree that maybe a natural disaster won't take us to the free market and we might find it within ourselves to find the money to make life right again for americans who are being destroyed by this natural disaster? but remember, you just heard the sound bites. we only have $800 million in fema, and there's some republicans that want to get rid of it. and, oh, we'll find the money somewhere. you know what cantor is talking about? he's talking about taking the money out of your wallet, taking

the money out of your hide unless you're wealthy. get your cell phones out, i want to know what you think. tonight's question: do republicans care about victims of natural disasters? think about that. this is 2011. this is the most advanced society this country has ever had, and we're asking a question if a political party cares about natural disasters. text a for yes, text b for no. you can always go to our blog at msnbc.com. we'll bring the results later on in the show. a warrior, a fight for the people, a man who stands up. what do you think bernie sanders has to say tonight brett leaf efforts requesting on in vermont? senator, glad to have you with us tonight. i'm sorry your constituents are going through this. i have covered floods in the upper midwest. when they show up, they're like the locusts, they absolutely take everything, and it's really hard to recover from a flood. what happened today, senator? what do you see? what's going on in vermont?

>> well, ed, i was in a helicopter running all over the state today, and i want to say first, vermont has suffered the worst natural disaster in history of the state. second of all, i am extraordinarily proud of the police officers, the firemen, the emergency medical people who have been out there, the national guard, they've done an extraordinary job saving lives, getting food to people. people are really coming together in the face of this disaster. the fact of the matter is is, and you made this point very clearly, i've always believed that this is the united states of america, u-n-i-t-e-d, that we are one of a nation. that when there is a problem on the east coast, people in the midwest who have suffered through tornadoes, they're there for us. this is what makes us a nation. and the idea that anybody in the united states congress could say, i don't care.

we're going to allow communities to be devastated and we've had to close hundreds of roads. dozens of bridges in the state of vermont have been destroyed or severely damaged. our rail system in some parts of the state is is now under water. our major office complex in waterbury, vermont, 1700 workers shut down. they're not going to work right now. so we need, along with other states, help from the rest of the country that our part of the country has provided in the past. that's what makes us a nation. on top of all of that, ed, we have -- forget disasters. we have an infrastructure which is crumbling. in china, they're spending huge sums of money building high-speed rails. they are building airports. they are building huge amounts of new roads. in our country, we're seeing infrastructure deteriorating all over this country. what do you think the rest of the world thinks when they look at america, and you're having politicians say, we don't care

if a community is is devastated, if their bridges go down and people can't get to work. over in china, they're building like crazy. i sometimes think, ed, that some of these right wing republicans want this nation to be a second-rate country. maybe they'll look into trying for the future, but some of us are not. we believe that america is is great. we believe that we can grow, and we have got to invest to do that. at the very least -- at the very least -- we have to make sure that everyone in this country knows when disaster comes, help will be there. >> senator, you're so spot on and so perfect on this, no question about it. budget cuts versus disaster relief. are we losing our moral compass in this country, in your opinion? >> we're losing -- well, i don't think most americans believe that. i think you got a tiny fringe that eric cantor represents. >> what would you say to cantor tonight? >> i would say it's not just vermont that you're hurting.

you are destroying the fabric of a nation. we are a nation that comes together in disaster. and you don't ignore people in vermont or in missouri who have been hit by an earthquake or a tornado or california that has its problems. we are a nation. don't sell us out, mr. cantor. don't make us a second-rate nation. we have got to significantly rebuild our infrastructure. we will be the laughing stocks of the world. if people think that when a community is devastated, this great nation doesn't have the resources to help that community rebuild. >> and next week the senate will be talking about funding for fema which is down to $800 million, the damage is into the billions. i know where you're going to be on that fight, senator. great to have you with us tonight. thanks for what you're doing and i appreciate your time visit ingwith our viewers tonight. now let's turn to jim moore, co-author of "bush's brains." why rick perry will make america

miss george w. bush. he's also a contribute tore to the huffington post. good to have you on tonight. what's rick perry's perception of the natural disasters? >> let me draw a distinction there, ed. i think we need to compare him to the previous text in george w. bush. under george w., fema was ba basically gutted of its resources, so when it came time for katrina to actually need fema, what you ended up with was people trapped on rooftops, trapped at the superdome, out on interstate 10, thousands of people without food and water. fema existed, it was just dysfunctional because it had been filled with political cronies. >> is that what they would do? would he fill it with people who don't have the expertise to make the right decisions in crisis

situations? >> i think it's worse than that. i think if fema continues to exist under rick perry, it will only be because he sold the naming rights to k. b. b. haliburton. when you have a guy who thinks social security is a ponzi scheme, if he thinks that shouldn't exist, you're going to see a number of federal institutions disappear. there is very libertarian. there is not a big difference between rick perry and ron paul on this matter of federal agencies and their roles in our lives. you're on your own when rick perry becomes president just as you are in texas if you're poor or you're ill or you're elderly, you're on your own. that's going to be the way it is when he becomes president. >> mr. moore, good to have you with us tonight. >> sure. >> remember to answer the question at the bottom of the screen. i want to know what you think. president obama said the country had a heart attack and barely survived.

now eric cantor says he wants to get the country healthy again by allowing corporations to pollute more. and rick perry is out selling his book again. john nichols will provide the analysis. he'll tell you the truth. you're watching "the ed show" on msnbc. [ male announcer ] in here, everyone speaks the same language. ♪ in here, forklifts drive themselves. no, he doesn't have it. yeah, we'll look on that. [ male announcer ] in here, friends leave you messages written in the air. that's it right there. [ male announcer ] it's the at&t network. and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil now and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪ way to go, coach.

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it's tough. but life goes on. you know. my dad built this house. he grew up in this house. and now i'll fix it. >> well, don't worry, the republicans are working on all those budget cuts on maybe you can get help, sir. you see, americans are still trying to pick up the pieces after irene and despite destroyed communities and wrecked lives, republicans are still hell bent on taking disaster relief funds away.

this woman sorted through the rubble of her daughter's home today. >> she lost everything. she has a two-year-old baby, and she's having a baby any time now. that's all i can get for her. >> if republicans get their way, not only will recovering from the storm be more difficult, but so will forecasting future hurricanes. get a load of this. the house appropriations committee plans on slashing the budget of the country's hurricane hunters program. what is that? well, hurricane hunters are military flights that measure and track hurricanes from inside the storm. this program makes forecasting disasters, like irene, a hell of a lot more accurate, which in turn saves lives. do you think? since i'm talking about house republicans here, let me put it in terms that they can understand. this program saves money.

by monitoring these storms, the country saves up to $150 million per storm. that far exceeds the 12 million in savings from cutting the hurricane hunters' budget, don't you think? once again, the republican math just doesn't add up. coming up, one man working through eric cantor thinks the best way to create jobs is to let the country pollute more. be right back.

thanks for staying with us tonight. the debate continues in the white house over how big president obama's jobs plan will be when it's unveiled next week in a speech. the president spoke to radio

host tom joyner this morning saying the economy had a heart attack and needs a vigorous jobs program to get back to good health. >> george bush left us a trillion dollars deficit, and on is it's a lot harder to climb out of this hole when we don't have a lot of money in the federal coffers. but there is no doubt that we can take steps that would mean the economy was growing a percent or a percentage and a half faster. that could mean half a million to a million additional jobs. that gets the economy moving, it makes businesses more confident that they're going to have customers, and it starts putting people back to work. >> the president doing radio again. very good. because 98% of americans listen to audio every day. let's get to the idea. some of the ideas president obama discussed was to extend payroll tax holidays for working class people, creating an

infrastructure bank, and giving a $5,000 business credit for new hires. if they don't get under way, there will be no jobs plan ever. cantore wants to eliminate ten major government regulations, including limits on industrial pollution. joining me tonight democratic congressman from minnesota and co-chair of the progress i have black caucus, keith he wiellis . why is cantor focusing on pollution? >> because he wants the people

who pay corporate that he bows to demand that eric cantor do their bidding and allow them to cut costs by not complying with environmental regulations. basically what they're doing, ed, telling every mom across this nation that they're going to have to nurse their kid through asthma attacks, through mercury or even lead poisoning and through dangerous chemical exposure. here's the other problem. every business going to have to deal with i can workers who have to take time off because these environmental problems that these reduction in regulation is going to cause people to be sick and have to take off time. so it's really a loser for everybody except for the select few. >> congressman, it's about jobs. every american knows it's about yo jobs, and everybody has a different attitude when they're getting a paycheck every couple weeks. the bottom line is is the republicans have stated in a memo that it's not about jobs. what are your expectations for any republican coming on board

saying yaureah, i'm going to go along with president obama's job plan after he unveils it after labor day. what are the expectations? >> i'm optimistic, so i have high expectations. i'll say there are a number of republicans who are in districts, there are a number of independents, maybe even some democrats and maybe some republicans who make it dangerous to walk the plank with eric cantor. there are a number of them in my district who better listen to what the president is talking about or om other candidate is going to offer their services to take their place. i'm hoping republicans do not walk the plank with cantor and put the american people and their jobs first. >> well, i think they are going to walk the plank. i don't think there is going to be one republican in the house, i don't think there is going to be one republican in the senate that's going to come along and say anything good about what the president is going to offer no matter what he offers. >> you're probably right.

>> i spoke with your fellow colleague, cedric richmond in new orleans yesterday, and he summed it up like this. here it is. >> if a hurricane came and president obama walked across the water to save some kid, the tea party wouldn't say, hey, he saved that kid, they would say, the president can't swim. they will look for the negative part of any movement just to take away from the president. >> do you agree with that? >> yeah. >> and where are we going to go on jobs if that's the way it is? >> cedric said it, and i think he's right on the mark. they don't mean to cooperate at all. they have put their party and political considerations above that of the nation. but you know, ed, i think the political party is what you articulated, and cedric, i believe there are still some republicans who care enough to put the american people first rather than trying to score

points in the next election. >> they only care about the guys in the white house is what it appears to be. would you vote in favor of another stimulus package if the president wanted it? >> yes. yes, i would. i have a few more things to add. i mean, i think we need a wpa style jobs program in america. we need the works progress authority, we need something like that, a direct job creation from the government. and i think, you know, building trails, working on our nation's parks, doing things like this would be very, very good. we also need a multi-year surface transportation bill. that would go a long way. and i also think we've got to create -- i'm okay with creating some incentives to retrofit some of these old, windy buildings so we can bet our carpenters and construction workers back in there helping to build a green economy. i think there are a number of things.

in addition to the infrastructure bank and the payroll thing that we really must do. the problem is is businesses won't hire because the people don't have any money, on is they' -- so they're not going to be able to be customers, and businesses won't be able to add staff if they're not in line to buy from them. >> and we have outsourced so much in this country, and the bottom line is disposable income is not there. i hope the president goes bold and goes as international as he has to to create the jobs here. got to run. i appreciate your time. thanks so much. >> he was a republic congressman. now he's on the board of a bank. guess who he wants to help out if he becomes the united states senator next year? and rush limbaugh's racism rears its ugly head again. this time his target is colin powell.

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well, the list is growing. you can add two more to the backwards thinking republican politicians. after he left the congress, he went and got a job on a board member of a michigan bank. now that he's running for the senate seat, he told reporters he wants to repeal dodd-frank.

>> the regulatory cost that's being imposed on the banking community by dodd-frank, i think this is one area where you've got to hold the federal government back. either repeal or significant reform of that legislation to allow banking and the financial system to function. let it function one more time. >> some parts of the legislation have not been implemented because of the holdup while people like harry lindstrom and his banking buddies reap the benefits. they want to undo the progress made by a democratic president and return us to the conditions that gave us a market meltdown, wiped out millions of jobs, released billions of retirement savings and let financial institutions abuse their investors. i guess you could say that's the republican platform for 2012. breaking news from the hill tonight.

the president will make a speech in the rose garden tomorrow to announce his push for a new transportation bill. hopefully this is a sign that the president realizes that the federal government must get more involved in job creation immediately. we'll have more on this coming up. stay with us. whether it can be done safely and responsibly. at exxonmobil we know the answer is yes. when we design any well, the groundwater's protected by multiple layers of steel and cement. most wells are over a mile and a half deep so there's a tremendous amount of protective rock between the fracking operation and the groundwater. natural gas is critical to our future. at exxonmobil we recognize the challenges and how important it is to do this right. [ male announcer ] every day, thousands of people are choosing advil. here's one story. my name is lacey calvert and i train professional athletes with yoga. i know how my body should feel. if i have any soreness, i'm not going to be able to do my job.

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565 pages and a simple apology would have been in order, and some of them, which is to say, the great fact of those eight years was we went to war, a big war, a costly war, under false pretenses. and to write a memoir in which you say essentially nothing seriously went wrong, if i wrote a memoir of my last week, i would have things to apologize for. >> george wilk talks about president bush and dick cheney in his fiction "in my time."

cheney sat down for a live interview on the "today" show and once again defended his views on torture. >> first of all, remember these were not american citizens. we weren't dealing with american citizens in the enhanced interrogation program. there were a handful, two or three, for example, that actually got waterboarded. third, we had good reason to believe they had information we could only get from them and they knew more than anybody else -- >> but if the governor in iran were to capture someone and say, we have reason to believe you're a spy and you're going to carry out an operation that's going to be damaging to my country, would you object, or would you say they did what they had to do to get the information they needed at the time? >> we would object because we wouldn't expect an american citizen to be operating that way. >> well, thousands of american lives, tens of thousands of iraqi lives, war of choice that cost $1 trillion, cheney tried

to downplay to leading this country to war. >> given there were no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, do you still think it's worth it? >> oh, sure. >> cheney sold a country on a war under false pretense and profited off it. he proves time and again that he lives in some kind of alternate reality. >> i don't think that it damaged our reputation around the world, i just don't believe that. i think critics at home would argue that, but, in fact, i think it was sound policy that dealt with a very serious problem, and that eliminated saddam hussein from the kind of problem he presented before. >> so earlier tonight, cheney, the former vice president, went to sell a few books in a far more friendlier place. >> dick cheney "in my time" with

liz cheney, by the way, a personal and political memoir. >> joining me now is washington correspondent of "the nation" magazine, john nichols. he knows the story. great to have you with us tonight, john. cheney praises the bush administration's role during katrina. i mean, is this just about selling books, or is this about a legacy? what do you make of it? >> it's about a lot more than selling books, ed. remember, dick cheney left haliburton with a huge number of stock options. back in 2001, haliburton stock was worth around $10 million a share at one point. in 2009, after eight years of favoring the military industrial complex and big oil, haliburton stock was up as high as $30 a share. when he got rid of his stock

options, he made a lot of money. he doesn't need to sell books to become a rich man. what he's out doing right now is selling a story line that he thinks will keep him as an elder statesman of the republican party. >> you think it's about future political moves? >> absolutely. if you know anything about dick cheney's life story, it is that he never sees himself as being finished politically. that doesn't mean he's running for president or vice president, but there is simply no question if you watched him at scpac, th conservative political action conference, in hannity, he very much wants to be the elder statesman of the conservative movement, and if by chance chenchain a republican is elected president in 2012, he wants to

be the go-to. >> now he fears being tried as a war criminal so he uses such terminology as exploding heads all over washington because that's the way someone who's decided he's not going to be prosecuted acts. boldly, let's get out in front of everybody when in fact they are covering up their own fear that somebody will pinochet him. >> he should be worried. his book as well as his own statements over the years have violated legacy of u.s. law and international law repeatedly. he almost seems to challenge the lawyers to go after him. the reality is it's not all that likely that he will. he doesn't travel much beyond the u.s. border anymore, so he doesn't face a lot of international prosecution, and the obama administration has been very, very cautious about any sort of accountability. yet cheney continues to play

games with his own statements and with the facts. what's fascinating about this book is that it tells different stories than george bush's book "decision point." not merely on iraq and on september 11, but also on katrina and a host of other issues. it's as if cheney wants to write his own story, and to confuse the facts, to confuse the debate enough so you can't really pin anything on him, but the odd thing is is he always comes out looking like the hero in his own writing. >> john, what do you think is the meaost egregious piece of t book? >> i've been toying with that on a lot of different fronts and it's actually an omission, not something that's in the book. the fact is dick cheney has sent hundreds of thousands of men and women into wars all over the world, and yet he did not spend any reasonable amount of time reflecting in his book on the fact that he meticulously

avoided serving in vietnam, getting five defermentes to getting out of having to fight in that war. >> i'll take my queue from you because i'm not going to read the book. coming up, details on the president's speech in the rose garden tomorrow to announce a new transportation bill. for rush limbaugh, the 2012 race is only skin deep. this guy gets more offensive every election cycle. psycho talk is next. time for blame. now is the time for action. ♪call 1-800-steemer. so i take one a day men's 50+ advantage. as a manager, my team counts on me to stay focused. it's the only complete multivitamin with ginkgo to support memory and concentration. plus vitamin d to help maintain healthy blood pressure. [ bat cracks ] that's a hit. one a day men's. possibilities are everywhere.

multiply them with the premier rewards gold card from american express. with triple membership rewards points on airfare, double on gas, double on groceries, and a single point on everthing else, it's a fast way to earn more every day. plus, you can earn 10,000 bonus points. and the annual fee the first year is on us. call 800.axp.gold to apply. breaking news out of washington tonight, the white house has announced that the president will make a speech in the rose garden tomorrow to declare a push for a new highway bill. the hill newspaper reporting that the current federal highway bill which collects tax on gasoline is set to expire on the 30th. the president will argue that a new bill needs to be voted on

quickly. the president will discuss the importance of moving forward with this extension to protect nearly 1 million american jobs and highlight the opportunity we have to work in a bipartisan way to further invest in building our nation's infrastructure, strengthen our economy and is create new jobs across the country. it is about jobs, isn't it? the president is is now on the o offense in his push for jobs in america. we'll see if the republicans will play ball. that story tomorrow on "the ed show." coming up, rush limbaugh's racial comments land him in the zone again. he's the veteran. [ female announcer ] vets agree, a healthy check up starts inside. our breakthrough iams premium protection formula is developed with vets... ...with cutting edge ingredients for the lifelong health of your pet. [ cat ] what a surprise... straight as again! [ female announcer ] iams premium protection. our most advanced iams nutrition. ever. [ cat ] oh, i'm not in your way, am i doc? i...[yawns] am an iams cat.

and in psycho talk tonight, flying his racial flag once again. three years ago rush limbaugh accused colin powell of endorsing president obama just because he's black. now with the 2012 election coming up, limbaugh has another brand

colin powell says he desn't know if he's voting for president obama in 2012. >> i don't know who i'm voting for. just as the case was in 2008, i'm going to watch the campaign unfold. i always felt it my responsibility as a citizen to take a look at the issues, examine the candidates and pick the person that i think is is best qualified for the office of the president. >> seems like a reasonable answer for a guy who has voted for and worked with both democrats and republicans in the past. well, limbaugh, he's not buying it. he's convinced powell will endorse the president again, and here's why. >> in the end, powell will rovo for obama. there is no doubt about it. the titular head of the republican party, the ideal vote. melon head is thicker than

water. lick b limbaugh reducing a four-star general to the color of his skin. he even seems proud of his bigotry. once again, rush limbaugh is guilty of ugly, racial psycho talk. to this fresno school superintendent gave up hundreds of thousands of dollars in salary so he could use the money for his students. this is what america is supposed to be about.

welcome back to "the ed show noo ". let's go to the heart land for a couple stories tonight. local labor leaders in warsaw, wisconsin, they don't want republican leaders in their upcoming parade. the labor council explained it this way, quote, it should come as no prize that organizers choose not to invite elected officials who openly attackwoer.

they reacted this way. >> they had the right to do it. i always respect their wishes that we won't show up. hopefully they'll reconsider next year and i'll be able to come to their parade. make no mistake, we're going to continue to work with them. we think it's important we represent everybody. i know the labor is a little mad right now, especially in leadership. we're going to continue to build that relationship with them. >> now the owners of warsaw say they're going to have to pay for the parade if they allow republicans. the anti-worker legislation is now being felt in the cool districts. in the new berlin, wisconsin school district, teachers tried to make their voices heard. 200 cool teacheschoolteachers s with a handbook. it teaches hours with no extra pay and it limits their

post-retirement health benefits. hell of a handbook, isn't it? the milwaukee he nl wauwaukee s could be considered collective bargaining and they don't want the fight. so no collective bargaining and the chilling effect of scott walk walker's budget repair bill. coming up, the schoolteacher in california who gave up most of his salary rather than see his city devastated by budget cuts. here's an american, next. [ male announcer ] this is coach parker...

whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil now and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪

now, how often have we heard the term shared sacrifice? how about this story tonight. the cool teacher in fresno, california voluntarily gave up more than $800,000 in salary over the next three years to help soften severe budget cuts affecting his city's schools. the money can now be used for 325 schools with 195,000 students. this this superintendent, larry powell, actual rely retired fro his yjob and asked to be rehire for three times less. his salary used to be $288,000 a

year. this american joins me tonight. fresno county superintendent larry powell. mr. powell, honored to meet you tonight. you are showing the country what america is all about. explain to us, if you can, how it came about and why you did it. >> well, my wife examine isand we had this question. how much money do you need to survive and can you stockpile it? we're very blessed, we've got reserve, we have a lot of money, we're going to receive retirement pay that's fantastic, so what can we do to put money back in the till? that's where the discussion started. it's been about a three-month discussion with my wife and i. the board made a courageous decision. they typically don't do this type of thing where you resign an office, retire, and then appoint me back to fill my term. so it's an opportunity for us to do something special, and ed, i wanted to share with you, the

$30,020, we'll be donating to charity because i want people to understand there are a lot of hurting people out there. it's time to step up and do something. america has always given. it's time to do something right now. >> you are leading by example. it's a fabulous story and you're putting skin in the game for the kids of this country. where would you like the money to go? do you have control of it? what would you like to do with it? >> we're going to do something in the arts because a lot of kids have to have something to draw them and keep them in school. academics are important but the arts are essential. i also want to make sure kids are safe at school. so rachel's challenge, which is a fantastic program out of colu columbine, helps bring kids back to compassion, treating kids with respect. i want to get kids reading. i want them to be taxpayers, not skr just tax users. we want them to be respectful and be able to experience the

american dream. if they're reading, if they're doing the right thing, they're going to be successful, and i want them to pay my retirement. i want them to be successful for a variety of reasons. >> you seem to have great joy in doing this. >> well, you know, i'm a baptist minister, so, you know, i've got a heart for what we need to be doing. my wife and i have always felt that giving when you have something is is a good thing to do. we've been extraordinarily blessed. we live in a great home, we have cars, we have everything we need. i don't need to work another day in my life and i'm going to have plenty of resources. if i take the next three years and four months and work for nothing, that's just getting back to a community i love. i hope people look at this and say, maybe we can do it. but i also want to let people know we're blessed in a situation that makes this work. there's some people that would be very hard for them to do this, so i'm not saying everybody should do it, but if you've got the resources, you've go