poverty, inquiring minds want to know will all this rhetoric get results? >> this talk will not help bring business money off the sidelines which is what the president desperately needs for a better economy. >> the question is, are we going to as a nation take the money you might get from the millionaires taxed and invest it in america? >> i want to bring in senator john barasa republican from wyoming. before we get to the class warfare discussion heard a short time ago senator he mar alexander giving up his leadership post as republican conference chair a short time ago. he explained why. take a listen. >> stepping down from the republican leadership will liberate me to spend more time trying to work for results on issues that i care the most about. >> what's your reaction to that, senator? >> well, if i could have talked him out of it i would have. he will be missed at the

republican leadership table. he's a remarkable individual. >> is he just tired of it? is he just sick of trying to herd a bunch of cats? >> he also said he's going to run again for re-election in 2014, so he has a lot to offer and he'll be working hard for his home state and i think that he's going to have a long career in the senate. >> i notice you dodged my question about him being tired of trying to wrangle you guys. let's get to the class warfare discussion here. we played that sound from house speaker john boehner talking to a group of small business owners where he said, again, giving the federal government would be -- would be like giving a cocaine addict more cocaine. how does the drug addict reference advance dialog in the country right now? >> i want to find ways to make it easier and cheaper for the private sector to create jobs and i'm very concerned that the president is making it harder and more expensive. >> no, no. >> for the private sector to create jobs. >> the rhetoric, senator.

what the speaker said yesterday, giving an addict cocaine like giving the federal government more money, how does that advance dialog? >> i practiced medicine 25 years. i know about drug addiction and the impact it can have on the lives and family and we as a nation are addicted to spending. we have to get the spending under control and until we stop this incredible amount of spending, we're going to continue owing more and more money to foreign countries, especially china and it's hard for us to stay a strong and independent nation with that kind of debt. we need to be focused on jobs, the economy, the debt and the spending and the addiction is to spending. >> let's talk really quickly about what you just alluded to. i want to call your attention, i'm sure you're familiar with these polls. a recent "washington post" poll 72% favored raising taxes on individuals who make more than $250,000 a year. nearly 60% of folks polled in a bloomberg survey don't believe that super committee can reduce the deficit without racing taxes

on high income earners, 63% asked in a cnn poll want the super committee to raise taxes on high income earners. are all of those polls wrong or is your position on raising taxis on the wealthiest americans out of step with american opinion now? >> what's important is that the president's plan can't pass this senate. there is going to be bipartisan opposition to what the president is proposing. you know, he said pass this bill now. i say bring it to the vote today and you're going to see lots of democrats who are running for election in 2012 vote against what the president is proposing. so the president understands that what he is proposing isn't going to work. he seems to be absolutely fixated in people who have made financial success of their lives in america and that's not getting more people back to work. we have 14 million americans looking for jobs. the president ought to be focused on getting those people jobs rather than trying to do

damage to people who have been financially successful in this great country. >> senator, you are fundamentally opposed is it safe to say, fundamentally opposed to increasing taxes and generating more revenue in this country some. >> i am for generating revenue in this country having more people working and more taxpayers not higher taxes on those working today. economic times like these, the last thing you want to do is raise taxes and the president said essentially that same thing as many democrats did when they had a chance to vote on that a year ago. >> wyoming senator, always a pleasure, thank you for your time. >> thank you for having me. eight republicans will participate in thursday's debate in florida but one has just announced that he is moving some of his resources from the sunshine state to new hampshire. jon huntsman has consistently polled at the bottom of the pack. now looks like he may be doubling down on the granite state. joining me to talk about huntsman strategy, tom ridge, former pennsylvania governor and

former homeland security as well, endorsed huntsman as well. thanks for joining me, sir. >> great pleasure to join you, thank you. >> mr. ridge, jon huntsman has not polled in double digits in any polls. how concerned are you that you endorsed a candidate that appeals to generate voters but has no chance of winning a primary. >> i disagree with your conclusion. he has as conservative a record as any of the republicans governors in the case. it's deeper, more accomplished more experienced. when you talk about job creation and governor of utah, he was number one. you talk about managing the enterprise of government, the pugh foundation said it was the best managed government in the entire country. energy policy, president obama who prefers renewables, jon huntsman wants an all in model. you talk about foreign policy experience, take a look at the range of republican candidates, only one that has the broadest

range of experience from an economic and diplomatic point of view. at the end of the day i believe in time, remember we've got several months before the primary in new hampshire, that once republicans take a look at this accomplishments, his conservative philosophy and the means by which he sells his point of view and he's often said i want to compete america to victory. i think that's a good vision that republicans can buy into and frankly appeals to a lot of democrats and independents as well. >> you just touted his conservative credentials there, but he is -- he believes in global warming, he believes in evolution, he believes in civil unions among gays and lesbians as well. those are not positions that are traditionally associated with large swaths of the republican party. you will concede that, no? >> i will concede that this is a very thoughtful, responsible man, who says that science does tell us some things we might want to listen to. i concede the fact that there may be some interest in people

in our party who disagree with -- with governor huntsman but i dare say all the party would be well advanced if you took his entire record -- look we need to win this. it's not about winning the primary. it's winning the general election. all of the conservative governors, there are three, if people look closely at his record, his record of service, experience, his achievements, his vision for america, it speaks and resonates volumes about a conservative approach to government. a lot of people call moderate because he's -- his tone is civil. not into conflict, he's into building solutions. >> before i let you get out of here, talk strategy, huntsman headquarters in orlando, the campaign has said repeatedly in the past that florida will decide the nominee. this weekend there's a straw poll, jon huntsman is going to be in new hampshire. has the strategy shifted? >> no, i think john has always felt you really lay the foundation, the predicate for a successful primary campaign in

new hampshire. i'm not surprising, you put resources where i think they'll do you the best good at the front of the end of the primary. he's got at retail politics. not afraid of these issues. you get a sense as i've traveled with him in new hampshire people like the message. a question of how hard. he will work hard. a matter of the party embracing someone that can win not only the primary. he's our best shot. >> last question, jon huntsman doesn't get the nomination can rick perry or mitt romney beat president obama? >> well, i think the three of them could, absolutely. i think the best chance, though, particularly in these battleground states -- we could take a map, blue, red crayons, it's down to eight or ten states. who is best situated to represent the conservative values of the party in these battle ground states jon huntsman is the answer. >> your state pennsylvania could make this interesting as well with what they're doing with the electoral votes. >> that's one of the battle ground states and as i assess that. i respect everybody in the primary but i'm looking for

somebody who's got reach, a broad range of experience as domestic and international. jon huntsman has it. i take a look at -- i know pennsylvania pretty well and the three candidates he has our best shot of winning it in the general election. >> former governor and homeland security secretary tom ridge, thank you. >> thanks, craig. breaking news right now out of georgia. the last-ditch effort to save an inmate from execution there has failed. georgia's board of pardon has denied clemency for death row inmate troy davis. davis set to die wednesday evening for the killing of an off-duty police officer 22 years ago. davis' lawyers have long argued that their client is the victim of mistaken identity. amnesty international wasted no time condemning the parole board decision. >> in georgia where over 40,000 have joined their voices in signing our petitions. this is an international human

rights case and we are facing an international human rights scandal on tomorrow. >> joining me to talk about this is diane mattwits of the action center opposed to the execution of davis and investigative crime reporter michele segown. this is the first time in four years troy davis has been scheduled for execution for folks who haven't been following this case as closely, how do we get to this point? >> well, 22 years ago, davis was accused of killing officer macphail. he was working off-duty and actually saw a homeless man who had been pistol whipped. when he got there that's when troy davis was, in fact, convicted of killing officer macphail at the scene and there were some casings there that also linked to a shooting that had happened just a little while prior to that. but the problem is, is that a lot of this was based off eyewitness accounts and a lot of those eyewitnesses recanted what they had testified to many years later. and so without the actual

physical evidence at the scene, without other dna and things like that, you know, and only to have those eyewitnesses there and to have them say you know what, this really isn't the case, that's how we got to this point. this was the fourth time the parole board has heard his case. >> diane, your organization has been one of the organizations leading protests against davis' execution. looks like at this point all possible options to stay his execution have been exhausted right now. what's next for your group? >> well, i believe that the struggle for justice never ends, and so, of course, the case of troy davis and troy has said it many times himself, that he wants all his supporters not to just be concerned about the facts of his case and the denial of justice in his case, but that we extend that activism to the many, many thousands of others that are incarcerated and facing death. so, i would say that we will continue the fight and as the

interview with laura white earlier said, we are still trying to stop this execution here in georgia. we are not giving up. >> michele, i understand you actually just got off the phone with officer macphail's family. what are they saying? what do they have to say about the execution, the decision at this point? >> at this point they're still -- they're not -- i spoke with his mom and we spoke for about 20 minutes recently and what she said is, you know what, this is great, yesterday we finally feel like our voices were heard. what made yesterday's meeting different than any other that they've had before, was the fact that she said that they really took their time listening to both sides. they took four hours. there was one board hearing that happened previously that only took about 30 minutes and normally when she's in the car heading back home she's back home now, that, you know, she gets that call to say you know what, we're not moving forward with this. she says although they received this call, they really aren't going to, you know, sort of hold

out their hope until they see this happen because there was another time where just an hour or two before the execution was set to take place that it did not happen. >> diane, davis has received lots of high-profile support from all over the world. the pope, former president jimmy carter as well. hundreds of thousands of folks signed petitions. why do you think that all of that in the end, why do you think all of that wasn't enough? >> let me say two things. first off, the millions of people that are watching this case are, in fact, not high-profile people. they are the people that are losing their jobs, losing their homes, you know, facing their own situations with the criminal justice system, regardless of whether it's banks who foreclose on them illegally, whether it's bosses that lay them off, et cetera. so the issue of why this decision came down from the board, when they previously had

said that no prisoner would be executed in georgia, that with -- where there remained any doubt and clearly there is not just a shadow of a doubt with troy's case, there is mountains of doubt, in my opinion, this is a political decision. >> diane, thank you. >> decision not based on law. >> we have to leave it there. thank you. michele thank you as well. appreciate your time, ladies. we have some breaking news that we are following in afghanistan this afternoon. u.s. military officials confirm that former president rabbani has been killed by a suicide bomber. it happened in kabul today. the bomber apparently concealed an explosives in a turban. four of rabbani's bodyguards died in that blast. a presidential adviser was injured. we should be hearing some remarks about this from afghan president hamid karzai and president obama from their meeting at the united nations shortly. again, former president of afghanistan there killed. s&p 500 s&p downgraded

italy's credit rating from a-plus to a. all over the country's prospects for growth because those prospects are weakening and fears that the nearby financial crisis in greece could also spread. want to check in with the markets here. the dow up almost 100 points. s&p and nasdaq also up. less than one hour ago, at the united nations, president obama announced that the united states is sending its ambassador to libya back to tripoli. ron allen is live at the u.n. what is the president's message on libya today? >> well, this was the easy part for president obama. this is a situation, libya, that's a success story for the most part. the u.n. passed a tough resolution, there was military action to drive gadhafi from power. he's all but gone, although unheard of. this is a chance for president obama to essentially take a victory lap, although there has been some criticism, of course, because the united states pulled back after initially leading the coalition. here's some of what the president had to say a little

while ago as the new libyan government took over. >> we've come here today to say to the people of libya, just as the world stood by you in your struggle to be free, we will now stand with you in your struggle to realize the peace and prosperity that freedom can bring. >> reporter: that, of course, now is the hard part. libya trying to lift itself up. as i said, gadhafi is still missing. there's still some scattered fighting around the country but essentially a victory lap for president obama to come here and talk about libya. craig? >> ron, the other big headline there, the u.n. this week, of course the potential showdown over palestinian statehood. any new developments there? >> well, i think it already is a showdown, regardless of what the palestinians do formally, they say they will give the secretary general a letter about statehood on friday. the lines are already drawn. it's already clear the positions that various sides are taking in this. the united states says it will veto this resolution. it does not want to see the

palestinians gain a state through the united nations. it wants to push them back to the table for negotiations. the israelis, of course, are angered about this unilateral palestinian move. the problem for the united states this puts it in the awkward position of siding with israel against the rest of the world and, perhaps, vetoing this demand for statehood by the palestinians against the backdrop of the arab spring. >> ron allen from the united nations this afternoon, ron, thank you. crews working around the clock to put out a massive blaze after an oil rig exploded. also, free falling, a 6.5 ton dead satellite is about to fall from space. could happen any time now. details on that straight ahead. ♪ i'm free free falling lac... aflac... and major medical? major medical, boyyyy! [ beatboxing ] ♪ i help pay the doctor ♪ ain't that enough for you? ♪

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scientists say a giant satellite is hurdling towards earth and expected to crash in pieces later this week. scientists still say they have no idea where it's headed. nbc's tom costello has more from washington. >> reporter: nasa's reputation is built on precision but pinpointing when and where a six ton satellite might crash to earth isn't a precise science. nasa is guessing friday or it could be thursday or saturday. >> it's difficult to be precise when the object is not behaving. it's tumbling in ways we can't control. >> reporter: climbing to space aboard the shuttle "discovery" in 1991 the ur satellite studied the atmosphere and climate change. engineers expect it will break into 100 pieces on re-entry, a quarter could make it to earth. nasa is sure that any surviving pieces of the satellite will fall somewhere between 57

degrees north and 57 degrees south. that's essentially between new finland and argentina. and that means that only the 1,000 people or so who live innant arcty ka are absolutely safe. the odds of getting hit by space debris since 75% of the earth is covered by water, nasa says the chances are 1 in 3200 some human somewhere will be hit. with 7 billion humans on the planet the chance you'll be hit is 1 in 21 trillion. the chance you'll get hit by lightning this year, 1 in 1 million. the biggest piece of space junk to fall to earth was sky lab in 1979. >> sky lab fell to earth today and as far as we know, no one was hit by any of the pieces. >> reporter: today, nasa estimates there are at least 22,000 pieces of orbiting space junk. >> what really causes the problem is that one piece of junk will smash into another piece of junk and that makes a lot more pieces of junk. >> reporter: so far, no one's ever been injured by fallen

space junk. nasa hopes to keep it that way come friday or saturday. tom costello, nbc news, washington. some inside information on the inner workings of president obama's white house and how it could impact his re-election campaign. plus -- sky high, some airline fees are so expensive now the fees themselves cost more than a cross-country flight. michele barten was an inmate at the coffee creek correctional facility in oregon. while incarcerated she participated in a course called lifelong information for entrepreneurs, learning how to start and run a company. now out of prison she started forget me not cards and prints. for more, watch your business sunday morning at 7:30 on msnbc. breathe robert, out of your mouth. [ male announcer ] that onion after taste after you again?

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responsible for their security and their prosperity. we received some tragic news today that president rabbani, who had been heading up the reconciliation process, was killed in a suicide attack. he was a man who cared deeply about afghanistan and had been a valued adviser to president karzai and made enormous contributions to rebuilding the country, so it is a tragic loss. we wanted to extend our heartfelt condolences to you, his family and the people of afghanistan. mr. president, i think we both believe that, despite this incident, we will not be deterred from creating a path whereby afghans can live in freedom and safety and security and prosperity, and that it is going to be important to continue the efforts to bring all elements of that society together to end what has been a

senseless cycle of violence. so we very much appreciate your presence today. i know you have to leave after our meeting, but we wanted to give you an opportunity to speak to as well. >> thank you very much, mr. president, for your message of condolences to myself and to the afghan people of the very tragic loss and martyrdom of president barhanuddin rabbani. the chairman of the afghan peace council, former afghan president, and afghan patriot who, as we see, has sacrificed his life for the sake of afghanistan and for the peace of our country. the mission that he had undertaken was vital for the afghan people and for the security of our country and for peace in our country. we will miss him very, very much. i don't think, mr. president,

that we can fully replace easily. he was among the few people in afghanistan with the distinction that we cannot easily find in societies. a terrible loss. but as you rightly say, this would not deter us from continuing the fact that we have and will succeed. thank you, mr. president, for condemning this act of brutality a of president rabbani. i will take your message to the afghan people. it's a sad day for us in afghanistan, but a day of unity and a day of continuing our efforts. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> president obama and afghan president hamid karzai there speaking before a meeting in new york today. the afghan president and

president obama talking about former afghan president rabbani who was killed earlier today at the hands of a suicide bomber there in afghanistan. welcome back to msnbc. here's a look at some of the other top stories making news today. another delay in the release of two american hikers in iran. josh fattal and shane bauer's attorney went to court again today to get a second judge's snur on a bail deal. the lawyer was told that judge was still on vacation. the widow of legendary comedian bob hope has died. dolores hope was 102 years old. it could cost you more than $400 to check a bag if you're flying internationally. continental, american and united are all charging high bag fee for bags that weigh more than 70 pounds. fees for a first checked domestic bag now as high as $43. and new york yankees relief pitcher mariano rivera set a major league record yesterday. it was his 602nd save of his career.

a tea party activist is challenging house speaker john boehner in the republican primary in ohio. the ohio congressman beat out two other candidates for his house seat last year. boehner won 85% of the vote there. he would not comment on the cincinnati inquirer to that paper about the challenge but we do have the challenger on air with us today. his name is david lewis. he joins us live from columbus. first of all, good afternoon to you. >> good afternoon, craig. it's a pleasure to be on your show. >> speaker boehner, wildly popular there in that district. as we mentioned he picked up 85% of the vote in the primary last year. what makes you think you can beat him? >> craig, let me tell you a little bit about my platform. it's life, liberty and justice under god. a big part of the voting base in the eighth district in ohio are people that believe that unborn babies should not be killed by abortion. john boehner's voted for three continuing resolutions this year alone that fund the abortion giant planned parenthood.

i believe in liberty from enslavement by socialism. >> mr. lewis, let me stop there you. because your position on planned parenthood is well documented. besides that position, besides john boehner's support of the federal budget, several federal budgets that include funding planned parenthood what else do you have? >> what i would do as a member of the u.s. house of representatives, is i would phase out social security. this is a system that people in their 20s, their 30s and their 40s will paying into what amounts to nothing less than a bankrupt ponzi scheme. >> would you reform it or do away with it? >> i would phase it out over time. i would completely do away with it. people that are receiving benefits right now would not lose their benefits. but what i would like to see is an optional private retirement plan. >> so you would privatize social security? >> i would.

and it would be optional because this is about freedom for u.s. citizens to do what they want with their hard earned dollars. it's not up to the government to be our nanny. >> you have said in the past that you have the backing of the tea party, is that accurate? >> that's right. i have taken part in tea party protests. i've been actually arrested in front of speaker boehner's office. i've been arrested in front of harry reid's office. >> how many times have you been arrested? just out of curiosity? >> twice. >> okay. >> twice. both of those instances. >> help me understand this year. my understanding is that the tea party, there really isn't, you know, sort of a central leadership structure. so how do you pick up their endorsement? how do you go about getting the endorsement of the tea party? >> well, it's not an endorsement, but what i'm getting is calls from all over the nation, from tea party leaders, calling in and telling me they support me because john

boehner supports socialism. >> have those calls translated to money? have you been able to raise a lot of money as a result of that grassroots support? >> well, craig, i just announced yesterday, so -- >> okay. >> it's going to start coming in. >> david lewis, thank you for your time, sir. appreciate you. >> okay. craig, thank you. we will be right back. just one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day

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conversations with dunn. >> what's on tape is the fact that she said, if it weren't for the president, this place would be in court for a hostile work place. that's not the same as saying it's a hostile work environment. did you take liberties with this quote? >> absolutely not. the fact of the matter is everything in this book is solid as a brick. >> msnbc contributor crystal bowl is a democratic strategist and former virginia congressional candidate as well, msnbc policeanalyst, joe watkins and aide to george hw bush. thanks for joining us. >> good to be with you. >> crystal, first of all, let me get your take on the book and suskind's defense of the so-called inaccuracies? >> this is not the only push back against this book. there have been a range of people coming out and questioning exactly how accurate it was. the other thing i would point out is, we have to keep in mind the backdrop of what was going on when this president took office.

we were in the midst of a financial collapse. the economy in freefall. so we have to keep that in mind when we're looking at these things. >> joe, what do we make? can we glean anything from this book about what goes on inside that white house? >> i think so. certainly i'm somebody who worked on a white house staff, so i know what white house environments can be like. and i think the people ought to give this author a chance to tell the story of what it's like inside the white house for him and the kind of atmosphere he found inside the white house. >> let's talk here about something else. i want to get to before we let you get out of here. the president, the deficit reduction plan unveiled yesterday, there are tax increases in there that republicans have said in the past that they are never going to support. the president didn't touch social security. he did not decide to raise the age on medicare as well. this was a plan for his base. and the populist speech he gave yesterday, sounded a lot less

like the compromiser we've been seeing and more like a candidate ready for a fight. is this obama 2.0? >> it is. this really is the beginning of the obama re-election campaign. the sad thing is it really pits americans against each other. the reason so many republicans are saying it's class warfare because any time you pit one sector of american society against another that's what you've created. the president ought to wish for wall street and main street to succeed. when wall street succeeds and main street succeeds americans are working. only 58% of americans are working. we need wall street to succeed as much as we need main street to succeed. >> you know what, i'm sorry, i just have to say, this class war fair thing is unbelievable. you want to talk about class warfare, let's talk about paul ryan's budget plan which literally used draconian cuts to medicare to finance another tax break for the wealthiest americans. class warfare is 60% of americans having lower incomes now than in the '80s.

that's class warfare, okay. this is an attempt to rebalance things to tilt them in a more fair direction for the middle class. that is class warfare. >> joe, the numbers here are undeniable. there have been literally a dozen polls over the past few weeks that have pointed to the fact that an overwhelming majority of americans in a lot of cases support the idea of higher taxes on folks in this country that make more money. you can't dispute those numbers. >> well, you have to think about what it actually means for lots of moms and dads struggling to make ends me, including moms and dads for the first time in their life are making $250,000 -- >> if you're making $250,000 -- it's pretty well. >> family of four making $250,000 and sending two kids to college means two tuitions at $50,000 apiece, that's $100,000 pre-tax dollars. >> all right. >> you know what, joe you might be able to make that argument, you might be able to make that argument if republicans would be open to anything but they're not

open to anything. >> as always your guys, you make me wish we had like another half hour. chris tall and joe, thank you for your time. >> thank you. officials in aruba trying to recreate what might have happened to robyn gardner. might being the operative word there. her travel companion not happy about that recreation. plus chinese government officials taking babies from their parents and telling them on the black market and those babies are being adopted right here. is best absorbed in small continuous amounts. only one calcium supplement does that in one daily dose. citracal slow release... continuously releases calcium plus d for the efficient absorption my body needs. citracal. for the efficient absorption my body needs. you could save a bundle with geico's multi-policy discount. geico, saving people money on more than just car insurance. ♪

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fast heartbeat or sweating. ask your healthcare provider about novolog flexpen today. learn more about the different insulins available in flexpen at myflexpen.com. flexpen, insulin delivery that goes with you. new developments in the case of robyn gardner, the maryland woman who vanished six weeks ago in aruba. police have staged a massive re-enactment before gardener went missing. rosen is in aruba with more. >> reporter: hi, craig. this was pretty interesting to watch. lasted a few hours. there really was a full-scale re-enactment. the actors were police officers playing the roles of robyn

gardner and the prime suspect, gary giordano. they wore the same clothes they wore. they used the same rental car they used. even went down to the beach at the exact time robyn gardner went missing on august 2nd. trying something new to solve this mystery. >> reporter: gary giordano and robyn gardner, look-alikes, arriving for lunch in a rented rav4, all part of a complex re-enactment staged monday by aruban police. guided by this restaurant surveillance video, licensed exclusively by nbc news, investigators acted out their final moments, minute by minute. the real robyn and gary left the restaurant in the late afternoon and drove straight to the beach around back. so did the actors, driving the actual suv gary rented toward the water, all the while, a team of investigators documenting every move. >> if you lack witness statements of what has happened, you know, we have precious little witnesses, so we do

disthe to get a clearer picturer. >> reporter: police believe robyn went missing between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. investigators wanted to keep this as authentic as possible. it's just after 4:00 right now and as you can see the re-enactment is under way. the action moved to the shoreline. this is where the real mystery begins. giordano claims the couple went snorkeling. he says robyn was pulled under and he ran out to save his own life. no crime committed. the actor playing giordano went through the motions, following gary's version of events, running out of the water and back toward the restaurant looking for help. in the surveillance video, the real gary giordano walks up shirtless in a bathing suit, knocking on doors, before leaving. police ask giordano himself to join the re-enactment. he declined. giordano's new defense attorney, jose baez, spoke with matt here on "today."

>> the solicitor general has come out publicly and said we're doing this to shoot holes in his story. well when all else fails and you reach the level of desperation that's exactly what they try to do. >> reporter: dozens of investigators careful choreography, and yet, robyn is still missing. what really happened on this beach, still unclear. we asked prosecutors today, okay, so what did you find from the reenacment? did gary giordano's story check out or not? we're told they're getting a briefing later today, but so far the results are not in. important to know, gary giordano remains in prison right now. still hasn't been charged with anything. craig, back to you. >> rosen n aruba, thank you. side bar, the party crasher, no not the salahis, rick perry, intended for yesterday's new york city fund-raiser with hispanic businessmen intended for it to be secret but got a surprise guess, representative

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news of babies stolen from parents in china and possibly put on the black market, and the missouri family in a legal battle after they discovered that their little girl had been stolen from her mother in guatemala. stories like this raise the clamor for greater transparency when it comes to international

adoption. joining me to talk about it is karen mollen, with the parents for ethical adoption reform. welcome to you. one reason that the china story got so much press because it's been the number one country for international adoptions for a number of years now. what can parents do? >> well, parents can demand transparency from their adoption agencies, first and foremost, instead of just swallowing what they're told because they want to believe it's good and it's true. it's very hard to believe that people in the adoption business can actually be corrupt and in it just for the money because you would think that someone who chooses that line of work would be in it for the children. we found time and time again in all different countries the money corrupts the process. >> what else can the process in terms of what governments can do, what can they do to make the process safer and more transparent? >> part of the problem, adoption agencies are state regulated and the adoption f you adopt

internationally, the visa you get is from the federal government so the state department and the local governments don't coordinate because they can't. state agencies are -- state accuracy is regulated by people who are -- have so many domestic cases they need to take care of. they don't have the funding to follow up on agencies causing wrongdoing. >> adoptions and i've heard this from folks who have adopted, international adoptions have become so wildly popular, because it is difficult in a lot of states to adopt here. it's just a lot easier. is that accurate? >> that's true. international adoptions are definitely on the decline. >> okay. >> in part because so many sending countries have been shut down due to corruption and trafficking. guatemala, vietnam are shut down, china has slowed down tremendously. russia is still difficult. it's very expensive. it can cost upwards of $50,000. people just don't have the money to do that. >> karen mow lean, thank you so much. appreciate your time today. >> thank you. and that does it for me.

i'm craig melvin. i will be back here tomorrow noon eastern, 9:00 a.m. out west. tomorrow director ron howard will join me. should be pretty interesting. up next, though, "andrea mitchell reports." andrea? >> hey, craig. thanks so very much. a showdown over palestinian statehood at the united nations. we'll talk to representatives from the israeli and palestinian sides now both perry and bachmann are weighing in also on the diplomatic dust up slamming president obama for, quote, appeasement. plus, after nearly 20 years, the military's don't ask, don't tell policy is history. we'll talk to senator joe lieberman, a key player in repealing that law. "andrea mitchell reports" up next right here. now?! [ female announcer ] crest whitestrips two hour express. in just two hours you can have a noticeably whiter smile that lasts for months. hi. hi. [ female announcer ] two hour whitestrips from crest. life opens up when you do. ♪ [ country ] [ man ] ♪ gone, like my last paycheck

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>> but just blocks away, governor rick perry accuses the president of abandoning israel. >> the obama administration has appeased the arab street at the expense of our national security interests. they've sewed instability that threatens of prospect of peace. >> the showdown over palestinian statehood at the u.n. we have both sides. long-time spokeswoman hanna shallry and mike or rin. >> remember this. >> it is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do. it comes down to integrity. theirs as individuals and ours as an institution. >> a year and a half later, historic change. the end of don't ask, don't tell at 12:01 today. joe lieberman who played a key role in