politico's executive director and jonathan alter, msnbc contributor and bloomberg view columnist and author of "the promise." jonathan, i want to start with you. speaker boehner said the president and himself were on two different planets a few months ago. we remember the speaker was playing golf with the president. they seemed like they were going to try to work things out. it seems that sides have never been farther apart. reminds me of a couple that's divorced and they still have to raise the kids but they can't figure out how to do it. >> i'm not sure they were a couple to begin with. >> they just can't get along. >> they came to this agreement just before the debt ceiling on august 2nd and both of their popularities plummeted. all of this talk while the american public wants to see them get along, they also want to see them doing something that is in the interest of creating jobs. and that's where the president

still has some ammo here. just because it's being viewed by pundits as dead on arrival on capitol hill which it very well may be, by being persistent and out there focused on this, he's hoping that between now and the end of the year he will essentially let the american public know that he wants to create construction jobs for instance to put people back to work and the other side doesn't. that's a pretty good position to be in politically. >> you don't like my divorced couple reference. jim, we'll bring you into this. a new poll from bloomberg i want to put up. a third of the people saying we would be better off with hillary clinton as president. how much would she have done differently? this is just a guessing game of hindsight being 20/20, what if. >> who knows how she would have governed differently. the big choice that he made that has had the most profound effect is choosing early on to focus on

health care opposed to tax reform and other job creation activity because at that point he started to lose independent voters and not focus on jobs just as the economy was still really gasping for breath. would hillary clinton still focused on health care? maybe. perhaps. or maybe she would have taken her husband's advice and followed his lead from his administration and focused more tightly on jobs and trade and creating economic growth throughout that first term in the presidency. >> she's been down the health care road once before. >> that's correct. maybe she would not have gone down it. the fact that hillary clinton is popular speaks just she's not in the game. she's not the president. she's not the speaker of the house. just because she's not involved with this helps her standing publicly. the president's problem right now is that he is losing support in all three areas. he's lost it with republicans. never really had it. independents he lost over the last 18 months. now he has a real problem with democrats. when you look at this jobs bill, it's struggling in congress for

two reasons. one, republicans are unified in opposition but democrats don't want to vote for it as is as presented to congress. a lot in the senate would rather take small pieces of it and get votes on those especially the ones that are tax breaks or things that are easy for them to sell back home and instead of doing what the president wants to do. this is what happens when your popularity is lower than it was before. he doesn't have the fear factor. he doesn't have the strength that he had before. and he doesn't have the numbers. he just doesn't have the numbers in the house. >> real quickly, can he get social appeal as a momentum and force behind him if he can sell this to the american people? >> he's not out of the game at all. i agree with everything jim just said but with democrats you have to draw distinction between beltway yakkers and people who come on programs like this and take shots at him from within the democratic party and what the polls show about democrats across the country who are still

quite solidly behind the president. people should be a little bit careful about being premature in writing his political obituary. he still has some time left. 14 months is a long time politically before the election. >> 24 hours is a long time. >> it's not just the obituary part. when you look at 2012 what's happening in the moment doesn't matter at all. when you look at that special election up in new york and you look at the beltway yakking that you see today, it does matter in the moment. it makes democrats feel much more liberated on capitol hill to say i'm going to go my own way and do what i have to do to protect myself. the short-term consequence. when jonathan says is true. 2012 is so far away we live in such a fickle society that you shouldn't predict even next weekend much less 2012. in the moment he's really struggling to be able to have some kind of grip on congress and part of that was he never had a lot of great relationships on capitol hill to begin with. it was the power of his

narrative that gave him authority in the political system. he didn't have those personal relationships and now that stuff really matters. >> it's coming back for him. all right. jim and jonathan, thank you for your time this morning. also programming note. keeping a close eye on the live pictures from thomas jefferson high school for science and technology in alexandria, virginia. president obama will sign america invents act which is the substantial change in patent law since 1952. the president argues it will create new jobs. we'll dip into the president's remarks when they happen coming up in roughly about five to ten minutes. republican front-runner rick perry is weighing in on foreign policy ahead of a planned united nations vote on palestinian statehood next week. the texas governor campaigning in iowa today saying the palestinian plan to win that one sided endorsement from the u.n. this month in new york threatens israel and insults the united

states. errors by the obama administration have encouraged the palestinians to take backwards steps away from peace. words that may help perry with jewish voters but his stance on social security may not help his bid amid a new u.s. gallop poll shows 37% of republicans believe those views will hurt his candidacy with less than 20% saying they will help the governor. perry is picking up more support from his fellow governors including louisiana republican bobby jindal. >> i think the issue in this election is going to be the economy. in texas they've created nearly half the jobs that have been created in america over the last two years. his executive experience and proven track record make rick perry the right leader for the entire american people. >> governor perry will continue meeting with iowa voters throughout the day. while governor rick perry was out of state last night, the u.s. supreme court issued a very dramatic 11th hour stay of

execution for a texas death row inmate. duane buck had already eaten what he thought would be his last meal. he was scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection for the 1995 murders of his former girlfriend and her male companion. buck's guilt is not in question but his lawyers argue his death sentence had been racially motivated when a psychologist told the jury buck was more likely to pose a danger to society because he was black. we want to say good morning to nbc news justice correspondent pete williams who is following this. explain to all of us how rare is this kind of decision that we saw from the high court? >> it's quite rare. the court gets dozens of these requests a year to stop executions while the court is considering whether to take up the appeal and that's what happened last night. so his lawyers have been for 15 years trying to overturn the sentence. they are saying that not that the sentence was racially motivated but the sentencing proceeding were racially tainted by testimony by a psychologist

who said african-americans are more likely to be violent and future violence is an issue. future dangerousness is an issue in the texas courts as the juries consider whether to issue the death penalty. so his lawyers now are asking the supreme court to take an appeal here and what they said is while you consider whether to hear his appeal, please put a hold on his execution. it's not going to do him any good if he gets executed and you grant his appeal and that's what the supreme court did last night. we'll put a stop to the execution. the request originally went to justice scalia. he referred it to the full court and the full court said we'll stop the execution while we consider whether to hear this appeal, thomas. >> nbc news justice correspondent pete williams. thank you. advocacy groups including the naacp and amnesty international are trying to halt another execution set for next wednesday. this time in georgia. those groups delivered petitions with over 650,000 names on them yesterday to the georgia pardons board in atlanta on behalf of

troy davis. among his supporters, former president jimmy carter who is of course from the state of georgia. davis is scheduled to be put to death for the 1989 murder of an off-duty police officer in savannah, georgia. he has always insisted he is innocent and there are a lot of disturbing questions about his case. joining me is senior vice president for policy and advocacy for the naacp. mr. shelton, we understand that more protests are planned this weekend in the georgia board of pardons and parole will hear davis' plea for clemency on monday. where does it stand? >> we hope they see with hundreds of thousands of signatures to the petition, with new spotlight pointed on the lack of evidence in this case that really there is too much doubt to allow this execution to go forward. we've always asked from the beginning is reconsideration of the evidence and in this case the lack therefore. it is our hope that the board of

pardon and parole will determine that they should stop this execution and grant clemency and allow the opportunity to look ahead on this case and other cases like it. >> as we look about the history of this case, troy davis execution itself has been delayed three times. what are the chances for getting this execution completely overturned? >> well, there's a possibility that the board of pardon and parole can very well stop the execution. those five men and women that serve in that capacity can decide that based on what is in front of them looking at the flimsiness of the evidence and in this case we have a case in which there was really no material evidence, no physical evidence at all they were going on the eyewitness accounts of nine eyewitnesses in which seven of the nine have recanted their testimony and one of the two that did not recant was the primary suspect in the case from the beginning. so at the very least there is doubt in this case and if we look at committing someone to be

executed, very well there is too much doubt to actually do something as final as take someone's life. >> just to reiterate what you were saying, there was no physical evidence linking davis to this crime as you were saying most of the essential eyewitnesses at the original trial have either recanted their testimony, some even accusing police of coercion. how heavily would that weight in the fact of getting something like this completely thrown out? >> in terms of a reasonable mind, it would cause someone to stop and say we at least need to take a second look and at least we should stop this execution this time from moving forward. there needs to be a more careful consideration of the evidence to determine whether he did it. many people believe he was absolutely innocent. the evidence before him very clearly establishes that he's not a proof of dilt so very well we're hoping that reasonable minds will prevail. >> thank you, sir. al sharpton, host of "politics

nation" has been all over this story and will have much moren the fight to free troy davis tonight broadcasting his show live from atlanta at 6:00 p.m. eastern time. tune in for that. the story is nothing short of a miracle and you've probably seen the video of it. brandon wright pinned under a 4,000 pound burning car. the 21-year-old says he will forever be in debt to the group of good samaritans who rushed and staged that dramatic rescue. wright is recovering from broken bones and burns but he says he feels lucky to be alive. >> just wanted to thank all of the heros that put their lives on the line to save mine. forever in debt. i can't thank them enough. i just hope they know how much they mean to me. i remember swerving to try to avoid the car and then the last

second i laid the bike down as a last ditch effort to take up as much speed as i could when i knew i was going to hit it. and then i blacked out and i came to for about five seconds while i was under the car and i just screamed a couple times and threw up some blood and that was lights out again and i woke up to a man in a green shirt just kneeling over me and trying to get me to talk and keeping me awake. without him i don't know if i would have hung in there. i like to live every day like it's my last because it very well could be. spend my time trying to make as big a difference in the world as i can. leave a little better than i came into it. i should have died several times really. i should have died when i hit the pavement. i should have died when i hit the car. i should have died when the car

burst into flames. i didn't for some reason and that just makes life that much more precious to me. >> really is a miraculous story. wright was not wearing a helmet says he holds no grudge against the driver who hit him saying accidents happen. tv evangelist pat robertson under fire for comments he made about alzheimer's disease on a recent episode of his 700 club program. he responded to a caller who was upset with a friend who had begun to date other women while his wife suffered with alzheimer's disease. >> this is the woman or man that you have loved for 20, 30, 40 years and suddenly that person is gone. they're gone. they are gone. if you respect that vow, you say until death do us part, this is a kind of death. >> robertson went on to say that he encourages the spouse to divorce before dating again. the alzheimer's foundation of america has responded saying

that robertson's comments feed into misconceptions about the disease. charlie sheen comes clean about his tumultuous past year and the media frenzy it created. >> i heard winning and tiger blood as i walk down the street. stuff like that. it's so silly and people took it so seriously. i figured, all right, i'll continue to give the people what they want. >> the revealing exclusive one-on-one interview with matt lauer that you got to see coming up next.

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he'll be signing the america invents act that will reform the patent approval process to streamline for entrepreneurs. let's listen in. >> i am thrilled to be here at thomas jefferson high school for science and technology. and thank you so much for the wonderful welcome. i want to thank rebecca for the unbelievable introduction. give rebecca a big hand. [ applause ] in addition to rebecca on stage we have some very important people. first of all, before we do, i want to thank your wonderful principal, dr. evan glazer. right here. stand up, evan. [ applause ] the people who are responsible for making some great progress on reforming our patent laws

today. senator patrick leahy of vermont. [ applause ] and lamar smith, republican from texas. [ applause ] we have representative bob goodlet, representative jim moran, representative melvin watt. they're all here. [ applause ] becky blank our acting secretary of commerce. david capos director of the trademark office and we've got some extraordinary business leaders here. ceo of eventis.

jessica matthews, ceo of unchartered play. ellen coleman, ceo of dupont. [ applause ] and another outstanding student. this is one of the best high schools in the country. and as you can see it's filled with some pretty impressive students. i have to say when i was a freshman in high school, none of my work was patent worthy. we had an exhibit of some of the

projects that you guys are doing. the first high school student satellite. a wheelchair controlled by brain waves. a robot. there's one thing -- i don't know exactly how to describe it. it is measuring the oceans and it's unbelievable stuff. to the students here, i could not be more impressed by what you guys are doing. i'm hoping that i will learn something just by being close to you. through osmosis i will soak in some knowledge. i already feel smarter. just standing here.

one president who would have loved this school is the person that it's named after, thomas jefferson. he was a pretty good inventor himself. he also happened to be the first american to oversee our country's patent process. that's why we're here today. when thomas edison filed his patent, it was approved in seven weeks. >> we're listening to the president's remarks about the america invents law joining the smart students at the thomas jefferson high school for science and technology. speaking of that, education nation kids saddled with hours of homework after a full day of school. is all of that extra work making our kids any smarter? look at that. a school bus brawl caught on tape. five sisters in florida in hot legal water now after getting involved in their 11-year-old

sister's fight. wait until you hear and see the rest of this story which is coming up. [ male announcer ] this...is the network. a living, breathing intelligence that is helping business rethink how to do business. in here, inventory can be taught to learn. ♪ in here, machines have a voice... ♪ [ male announcer ] in here, medical history follows you... even when you're away from home. it's the at&t network -- a network of possibilities, creating and integrating solutions, helping business, and the world...work. rethink possible. while i took refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec® i can love the air®. can make it from australia to a u.s. lab to a patient in time for surgery may seem like a trumped-up hollywood premise.

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welcome back. for american students, school work is just beginning. once those students get home, many feel the amount of homework their teachers give them is too much and many parents across the country agree. according to the national education association, the amount of homework for most students has very mained virtually unchanged for the last 50 years and any increase is in the youngest of the students andy murphy paul is a contributor to "time" magazine writing a book about the science of learning most recently an article in "the new york times" called "the trouble with homework." it's nice to have you here as we ramp up the new school year. a lot of parents and students are concerned with the amount of home work they're getting. explain to all of us how much

homework is too much? are we talking four hours, two hours, where does it fall? >> the general guideline is ten minutes her grade per night. if you're in second grade, 20 minutes. fifth grade, 50 minutes. the point of my article is that it's not so much quantity that we should look at but the quality of the homework assignments and we should be designing homework assignments with the way the brain works in mind. when we do that, homework is more effective in advancing learning. >> when we talk about homework that's being doled out now and over the last 50 years it hasn't increased too much, however some people would probably disagree with that. a lot of parents looking at the number and the amount of hours the kids are devoting to their homework nowadays. should teachers better organize with each other about how much homework they are doling out each day to their kids?

>> they could think about different strategies for designing homework. spacing out information instead of lumping it together. exposing kids over the course of a semester repeatedly to the same information helps them remember it better. >> you recently wrote in the article for "the new york times" and you mention the documentary race to nowhere. this has been a big hit among a lot of parents. take a look at this clip that i want to play and look at the kids' faces. these are ap students. >> ap students have way more to do than they have hours in the day. what are we doing to our kids when we put them through this system that doesn't allow them to get enough sleep and causes them to be ramped up and stressed out. >> obviously the kids there looking very drawn and very worn out. the young man in that sound bite saying that ap students have more homework than they do have time in the day. what does your research show about that?

the demand on the more intelligent or the perceived more intelligent students? >> well, i think we may need to assign less homework if we were smarter about how we design that homework. if we use for example retrieval practice which is testing yourself and not another test in the classroom but testing yourself as you learn, that's really an effective way to make homework advance learning without taking a lot of time. >> i think for a lot of kids going back to school right now and parents watching this, they will be interested to see how much homework the kids come home with tonight even though it is a friday. hopefully teachers will be nice today. thanks for coming in today. we appreciate your time. coming up today, a programming note for you at 1:00 p.m., andrea mitchell sits down with michelle rhee to talk about the report out this week on record low s.a.t. scores across america. in other news for you this morning, prosecutors in aruba say they will reenact the

alleged drowning of american tourist robyn gardner who went missing last month while vacationing with man she met online. gary giordano the man she was traveling with before she disappeared claimed she drown while snorkeling. i'm joined now by investigative crime reporter. tell me about this reenactment and how prosecutors are going to stage this fake drowning based strictly on giordano's statement. >> what we know to be true is officers within the next couple of days will play various roles in this alleged crime and basically try to nail down this time line to figure out if the drowning did in fact happen where it may have happened and that if giordano had enough time to get back to the hotel and to sort of anything that corresponds with the surveillance in the area. >> giordano has been in jail now nearly a month. he claims no wrongdoing.

there's no body that's been found which is a stark reminder to the natalee holloway case where no body has ever been recovered. give us an update on the search and where authorities are now. >> investigators are still taking in leads. they are still working with the fbi. they are still doing everything that they can to be able to go out and to figure out where robyn could be. you mentioned the natalee holloway case. there's a lot of similarities. both beautiful women. both vacationing in aruba. both women are still missing. we don't have crime scenes in either one of the cases and we still have suspects without enough evidence to move forward in this case. there are 60 days right now. august 31st, 60 days was set to be able to gather more evidence to gather more clues and so that's what authorities are doing. they are also working with the fbi and the fbi did go out and executed search warrants. they gathered information. passed off that information to aruban authorities and i think that the aruban authorities are

really trying to protect their reputation and to show the public that, look, this is what we're doing. we're being pro-active about this and open about this and come forward with as much information as we have because fact of the matter is that reenactments technically happen in cases all the time. we just don't know about them. this is something that's going to be public and something that may unfold before our eyes. >> hopefully it will lead to something more substantial as they search for robyn gardner. you might think it's a resume booster to have many jobs under your belt but it could hurt your chances of ralanding that new job. real leads, real advice to help with your search. also, hbo follows the strange history of don't ask, don't tell. from what led bill clinton to first sign that bill to the repeal earlier this year. we'll have a preview of this ground breaking documentary next.

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a series looking at job hopping by choice or necessity, if it occurs a little bit too frequently it could hurt your chances of getting that next job. a survey shows a majority of hiring managers, 57%, would have reservations about candidates with multiple jobs on their resume. vera gibbons is msnbc analyst and joins me in studio to talk about this. at times like this, i would think people would want as many jobs to bolster their resumes to show they are qualified and experienced and that they have been coveted by many people. >> it's very surprising. >> why would a company have a reservation about someone who shows a lot of different work experience? >> companies are concerned about loyalty, commitment and thinking is they bounce three months

here, six months there, why bring them in and give training and invest on them when there's no return on investment. are these guys high performers bouncing from one job to the next. that's the concern from many employers. >> you also look at it or consider by where you fall if you are just out of college and if it is entry level and if you are just trying to get your snow balling of experience going that some people might look at that as okay and learned as much as they could within that role and had to move on. >> the problem from the employer perspective is they're not getting the landscape that this is reality here. part time here. contract work here. freelance here. you have companies that have disappeared. sectors that have disappeared. entire industries that have disappeared. this is the wave of the future. i think that from the company's perspective again if this guy was a decent performer, why wouldn't another company actually want them to stick around longer and why just have him three months here or six months there, are they that good? it's a quality issue from the employers' perspective. >> from anyone watching right now that is nervous about what

their resume may look like, what's the best advice to someone who is worried about how their dates line up? >> the chronological thing is a problem now. what you need to do is emphasize your skill set and experience and not so much how much time you spend at a certain company if it was just a short period of time but you have to stand out from the other candidates. we have 14, 15 million people out of work right now. one job for five applicants. show the employer what you bring to the table that's different from the other candidates and what value do you bring to the table here and you really want to show results. performance orientated. very actionable resume opposed to i was here for six months and here for one year. show results. what you did and what you accomplished. did you save the company money? did you bring in the company money? you have to be results orientated. >> if there's a company or story on your radar that you would like to see us cover about hiring now, you can tweet me. we may use that suggestion in one of our upcoming segments right here.

next week will mark the end to 17 years of don't ask, don't tell. one current service member is voicing his excitement online but look at that. he has to keep his face covered until the repeal is official. >> i no longer am super scared of people finding out who i talk to or i don't get nervous if somebody picks up my cell phone or if i forget to lock my computer. i'm okay. >> hbo is commemorating the event with a documentary revealing just how difficult the policy made life for thousands of gay and lesbian americans dedicated to serving their country. >> to have to sit in front of these elder statesmen, their pontification about me and my sexual orientation. >> we have to give up some of our constitutional rights. we have to give up a degree of privacy. if you feel that intensely and

that patriotic that you want to serve, then give up a little something. >> joining me now is 20-year military vet lieutenant colonel featured in this film. nice to see you this morning. >> good to see you. thanks for having me. >> you served during the entirety of don't ask, don't tell. what does next week's official repeal mean to you and how important was it for you to be a part of this documentary? >> next tuesday marks the real end for me. my career spanned don't ask, don't tell. i entered in 1991 and recently just two weeks ago had my retirement ceremony. while that was great day for me and my family and marked the personal end of my battle for these last three years, it was a little bittersweet because i knew it wasn't over for everyone yet. next tuesday means the most to me because i know finally it's over for everyone. >> we also have one of the producers of the hbo documentary titled "the strange history of

don't ask, don't tell" with us. why is it important for america to hear and to see this story? >> the strange history of don't ask, don't tell, is such a strange and bizarre thing. it's a law that essentially made it illegal to be who you are. it was a bad law. it's amazing that it stayed on the books for almost 18 years. it's fantastic that it is finally being repealed and stories like victor's are crucial in america understanding that gay people are as capable of serving our country as anybody else. >> is the interesting part to this also the fact that there is so much documented about the history of this law and the fact that now that it's being repealed it can really show the a, b and c and beginning, middle and end. >> yes. we went back when we made the film and we're able to find archive of hearings in '93 that were shocking and amazing what

people were saying about what they thought gay people were like and i think it's that lack of understanding and lack of visibility that allows people to have such misinformed and weird ideas about gay people especially in the military. >> victor, have you viewed this? i shouldn't make assumptions. have you seen it already? >> yes, i've watched it actually three times now. >> and what is your take away and how do you think this is going to impact those that will tune into hbo to watch it? >> the biggest thing i got out of it as you mentioned it covers the first half of the history of gays in the military and the development of law in the second half of the movement really talks about the last three years and struggle that each of us have had. it features the hero of repeal, patrick murphy and his battle. the thing that struck me the most people like myself and others were able to show our

faces in part of the documentary and tell our stories but the most striking part was there are probably about ten service members that were really telling their stories in shadows through the documentary and that hit home. it shows that 65,000 members of currently serving right now and they continually have to live this lie and look over their shoulders and that's why it marks a great occasion because they will stand proud next tuesday knowing they can continue to serve with dignity, honor and integrity. >> in your heart, victor, did you think this day would come? >> you know, i said that at my retirement ceremony a couple weeks ago is i never imagined when this ordeal began for me personally three years ago that i would ever see this day. i couldn't be happier and i especially couldn't be happier for the service members that will continue to serve. >> we want to thank you. you showed up with a good looking tie today, i have to tell you. >> i think i got you beat.

>> you do today. take care. >> it's in schools and the mall. >> have you found any treatment at all? >> no. >> it's going to spread. >> it's on airplanes. it travels at 500 miles an hour. >> we're all guinea pigs. >> that may be a movie but experts believe it's a very real and very scary possibility. what's being done to make sure a real life contagion doesn't happen. ty comes to life. ty comes to life. it moves effortlessly, breathes easily. it flows with clean water. it makes its skyline greener and its population healthier. all to become the kind of city people want to live and work in. somewhere in america, we've already answered some of the nation's toughest questions. and the over sixty thousand people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers. whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice.

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take a look. this is what drove people to the theaters last weekend. >> don't talk to anyone. don't touch anyone. >> dad. >> we're working very hard to find out where this virus came from. >> it's in schools and it's in the mall. >> have you found any treatment at all? >> no. >> it's going to spread. >> it's on airplanes. it travels at 500 miles an hour. >> we're all guinea pigs. >> oh, my god. >> have we scared you yet?

that was from "contagion" and premise not far from reality. we have a senior fellow for global health at the council for foreign relations and a consultant on the film "contagion." the movie looks great. it's fiction. obviously the cdc says that something like this could potentially happen so what are the real life facts about a contagion like that sweeping the globe? >> everything in the picture, every moment you see is based on reality and based on real epidemics that epidemics have already happened. the only place where we venture into fantlylafantasyland is whe to the point of it actually playing to such a degree that a huge percentage of humanity is . we haven't had that happened since 1918 with the great influenza or hiv in slow motion which is catching up in terms of

the death toll with the great 1918 pandemic. >> explain to all of us the mutations of the viruses and how they do become a pandemic. >> what we're looking at in the movie which i don't want to be a spoiler because some of it you don't find out until the very end i'll tell you as much as i can without ruining it for you. >> okay. >> you're looking at a situation that does indeed occur commonly in nature that we know was part of what happened with the sars virus, and that is a virus that's ancient but that's been in a remote animal species for millions of years, passes through certain environmental conditions into a livestock species, alters itself genetically, adapting to that livestock species, whether it's cows, chickens, pigs, what have you and becomes dangerous to human beings. >> is this something that we are familiar with the bird flu, something like that, however the bird flu is only transferred from the actual animal to person and the person can't transfer it

on, correct in. >> exactly, at this point that is true, it has not attained a mutational capacity to rapidly spread between human beings, fortunately. >> when you talk about mutational capacity is that an northwestabili inevitability? >> in some situations you say that's too far-fetched, it couldn't happen. most of the time we can't predict. nature is always a few steps ahead of us. >> what are the teachable moments out of this movie we can implement into our daily lives? >> certain things that have to do with personal hygiene, how you behave in an epidemic. most think of behavior as defensive, i'm going to stay away from you because infe infected. do you wash your hands so you don't spread and now i shake your hand and i shake your hand and you get what i have.

do i cover my mouth when i cough or do i sneeze properly into a protective something or other. they should be basic, taught in stools. kids should know you have a duty to protect others. we instead as americans we blame the person who is sick as if it's, you know, some evil something or other. i think the other big teachable lesson is government. if government isn't there, doesn't have the resources, and the capacity to respond, whether it's your local city government, federal, international, then who do you imagine is going to take care of you in an epidemic? private sector will make vaccine and drugs but private sector doesn't run an epidemic response. >> we'll see if "contagion" is number one again this weekend. go to lauriegarrett.com and learn more aever this. sure, you did. you saved us a lot of money on auto insurance. i used that money to buy a falcon.

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that's going to do it for me today. thanks for your time. see you back here at 11:00 a.m.

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good day, everyone. i'm alex witt. we're covering the big news from coast to coast, the big story we're watching today, revving up for another round, obama and boehner facing off with duelling jobs plans while america's future hangs in the balance. the stakes couldn't be higher for america's families. a census report out this week shows 46.2 million americans lived below the poverty line last year. the american dream slipping away for many families who once considered themselves middle class. >> don't want to have to depend on people because i've