last thing anyone would expect him to do. >> mitt romney's got mail. the obama team ups the ante in the candidate's tax returns. will mitt deliver? >> mitt romney is a mormon as are millions of other americans but what do we know about it and what should we know? >> plus i'll introduce you to a 93-year-old woman fighting for her right to vote. it is friday, august 17, and you're "in the cycle." we've come to the end of a long, long week in presidential politics. what a week it's been. in case you need or want a refresher here is a look. >> the white house confirms that vice president joe biden will stay on the ticket and now we know why. hillary turned down an offer? >> the ryan plan and the president's affordable care act

both trim medicare by more than $700 billion a point of contention surely to be debated from now until november. >> the new face on the campaign trail the president's team calls her a secret weapon. michelle obama. >> aides set up a white board between two flags so he could talk about the fine points of health care. but somehow it all got off track. >> the president's team promised it would not criticize romney for not releasing more. >> did not take long. president obama's first medicare ad. it's here. >> sift through all that. we need a laugh. let's bring in a political comedian chris rock believes you should know like a hot rapper releasing his protegee, this new show called "totally biased" airs thursday nights at 11:00 on fx. take a look. >> mitt romney. that's going to be hard on a lot of americans. it's going to be a mormon versus a black guy. for most of america that's like

alien versus predator. you understand? >> how are you? congrats on the new show. >> thank you very much. glad to be here. >> paul ryan is the new guy in the race. finally there were four. what do you make of paul ryan? >> i mean, it seems like mitt romney has some self-esteem issues because he basically bought a younger, more republican version of himself. >> an interesting theory that you busted out in the show last night when you talked to rachel maddow about how the more handsome guy usually wins but it seems like kind of two handsome guys going this time so who is going to win this year based on your theory? >> you know, mitt romney may be handsome but barack obama is sexy. we all know that. that is not even -- not worried about that at all. >> speaking of number twos we had another slip of the tongue this week from my favorite gaffe master, vice president joe biden. let's watch that. >> we rescued the automobile industry, saving a million jobs.

and 200,000 new, good paying jobs. once again general motors the largest automobile maker in the world. folks, where is a bridge we can't lead the world in the 20th century in making the automobile? i haven't seen it written anywhere. the 20th century in making automobiles? i have not seen it written anywhere. >> let me be first to welcome vice president joe biden into the 21st century and remind him what state he was in, virginia not north carolina as he said. what do you make of this? >> we just had the olympics and joe biden is a classic example of a gymnast who does a great routine and can't do the dismount. he's always not sticking the landing. like yeah. that's great. good -- oh, no. >> oh, no. >> let's talk about a place where these gaffes might some day end up in political advertising, the nbc political unit reported this week that for

the first time advertising expenditures just on the presidential race are passing half a billion dollars. let's give you a peek of what that money is paying for. >> i know what it takes to create jobs. >> remember we've heard it all before. >> i know how jobs are created. >> romney economics. it didn't work then and it won't work now. under obama's plan you wouldn't have to work and wouldn't have to train for a job. they just send you your welfare check. >> as governor, mitt romney did cut taxes on millionaires like himself but he raised taxes and fees on everyone else. >> president obama used his health care plan to declare war on religion forcing religious institutions to go against their faith. >> so what do you think? is that the best that $500 million can buy? >> if you're going to spend all that money at least make good tv. >> seriously. >> how much do they spend on mad men and sopranos? those shows are way better. >> all right. so out of the whole week everything that happened, i had

a particular moment that i really enjoyed which was mitt romney at the white board explaining the very simple difference between his plan on medicare and the president's plan. let's take a look at that. >> on the president's plan this goes bankrupt. the medicare trustees have notified the president that the plan will go bankrupt medicare part a in approximately 12 years. under the plan that i proposed it is solvent. >> bankrupt versus solvent. what is not to like about that, right? >> he is just writing words on a thing. that's not proving anything. you know? i don't understand what he thinks is going on though it does make it easier for him to flip flop since he can just erase stuff. >> very true. i just like the way under the president's plan he's like oh, he is going to slash and burn. everything is getting cut. then it is going to go bankrupt. under my plan nothing changes. everybody gets exactly what they were getting before. it is magically solvent. magical. of course we should vote for him.

>> if he is going to write stuff on a white board write how i can pay only 13% in taxes. >> i like that. >> that's what i'm interested in. >> comedians have a lot of fodder to work with in any election year. do you like making fun of republicans or democrats more? who has the best stuff? >> you know, certainly from the left but i think being a politician is automatically a comical position. >> court sequesters. >> do you have a preference for who will provide more comic fodder between obama and romney? i've written way more about obama than i ever wrote about george w. bush. if the world becomes peaceful and harmony reigns and i'm out of a job i can always work at starbucks. >> an interesting observation. i think i hear the opposite from comedians which is that obama is a tough politician to work with because there aren't these identifiable sort of easy-to-mock characteristics and traits. the guy sort of plays it so cool all the time.

you're saying you haven't had that experience? >> yes. i agree there are a lot of bad comedians out there. >> not as good as you are. >> to steve's point i hear a lot of comedians saying romney will be easer to make fun of and mimic so they are rooting for him. >> well yeah. i think that is again not to indict my whole industry but here i go. >> i think that's just laziness. it is easy to make fun of someone who is clearly making fun of themselves. i think the better comedy like chris rock does if i can drop a name is if you are a comedian you can make fun of whatever is out there. >> you have to say you must have been cheering for like rick perry or newt gingrich or herman cain out of the republican primary. >> there was real gold but even herman cain became sad after a while. you know what? let's let this guy go. >> should just play them in their entirety. they were amazing. >> you don't need me if you got them. >> write themselves. >> michele bachmann is the gift

that keeps on giving. >> yes. thank you. >> joe biden is. >> i agree. >> do you think, i always wonder this. at the correspondents' dinner when they hire a great comedian to give the big roast/speech is this something that every comedian aspires to do one day just skewer politics and, you know, the current white house in front of the current president? >> oh, no. i hope i never get that job. i'd rather talk about them when they are not in the room. steve colbert did a great job, the best job of anybody ever. >> he was amazing. >> congrats on the show and good luck with it. >> thank you very much for having me. >> all right. on yesterday's show a discussion about the presidential race and i used a word to make a point. in retrospect i mud idiosyncrasy the discussion by using the "n" word. could have made my point without that word. shouldn't have used it and for that i'm sorry. we'll be right back. and everyone, but her... likes 50% more cash. but, i have an idea. do you want a princess dress? yes

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i never paid less than 13%. >> that is mitt romney revealing the most he has yet about his tax returns but that is not good enough for the obama campaign which today challenged romney to prove he has nothing to hide by releasing five years of tax returns. jim mussina promised that in return the campaign wouldn't ask for anything more than the five years but romney's folks swiftly reasserted their opposition to releasing more than the one year and the estimate romney put out.

the reason? romney's wife ann told nbc's natalie morales they know nothing they could ever do would be enough to silence their critics. >> we have been very transparent to what's legally required of us. but the more we release the more we get attacked. the more we get questioned. the more we get pushed. and so we have done what is legally required and there is going to be no more tax releases given. so the tax return fight is back and it's going to lead the spin cycle today. i have to say i was skeptical heading into the olympics. i had the thought that maybe this might be the kind of issue where romney is able to stonewall and the press moves on to something else. the vice presidential nomination, the debates in the fall, the conventions, whatever. they end up letting it go. what i've realized this week is there is no conspiracy here but the press really is in alignment with the obama campaign in terms of its goals on this. the obama campaign wants more stuff out there. >> right. >> the press is just -- and rightly not going to be satisfied when a guy gets up there yesterday and says look. i went back and looked and i

never paid more than 13%. it raises two questions. >> right. >> as a reporter the first one is okay. if you looked back and all is clear why are you afraid to put it out there? okay. if we want to parce what you are saying you're not telling us property taxes in massachusetts, sales tax, state income tax in massachusetts. you're saying 13% but where is that coming from? if it's all from the state and local level your federal effective income tax rate might be a lot lower. you're never going to be able to satisfy a reporter on this unless you put the information out and it will take next to nothing for the obama campaign. it could be harry reid saying his stuff a few weeks ago, jim mussina's crazy stunt yesterday. get the media on it and they'll ask the questions and get the dumb answer and this is what we're going to have. >> to your pointhe obama campaign isn't the first to raise this issue. this went all the way back to republicans in the primary also pushing mitt romney on his tax returns. we actually have a clip of mitt romney's response then. >> i pay all the taxes that are

legally required and not a dollar more. i don't think you want someone who pays more taxes than he owes. i'll point out that is the case and will there be discussion? sure. will there be an article? yeah. is it entirely legal and fair? absolutely. i am proud of the fact that i pay a lot of taxes and the fact is a lot of people in this country pay a lot of taxes. i'd like to see the tax rate come down and focus on growing the country getting people back to work. that is our problem right now. we have a lot of people out of work. let them start paying taxes because they got jobs again. >> first of all, small quibble there. i would say 13% for a man of his means is not a lot of taxes even if that is, you know, the most -- it is a lot of money but not a lot of taxes when there are people much lower on the income scale who are not paying 13% but much higher rates. and the other piece of this is he picked paul ryan and i thought also as you did that maybe the choice of paul ryan and all of the energy in the debate arou paul ryan as a vp

pick would move the debate. immediately you saw questions about paul ryan. how many income tax returns did you give to mitt romney? how many are you going to release? tim pawlenty, how many did you give in the vetting process? under paul ryan's budget plan what percentage income tax rate would mitt romney have paid? to your point, this is not going away. unless they feed the beast and answer all the questions which i don't think they're going to do, i think it will linger until election day. >> you would have thought the ryan pick, big idea guy, part of the point of that was to move aside from what he called the small minded issues and into the big ideas of the campaign. and yet he's answering these questions. he should have said we're not talking about that anymore. but he puts more meat on the bones with a more specific answer which of course makes people want to know more. the only thing i would push back against what you said was that you make it like it's a media issue. it is a media issue. but people are actually interested in this. we see the number of google searches on the bain issue is

trending way downward but the number of google searches on the tax return issue is trending way upward. so people still care about this issue and they're still wondering about it. >> the media still wants them to care and that's why. it's a double edged sword. it feeds each other. i'll just say a couple things. i think romney is right that this is small minded compared to the other big conversations we could be having. i also think he should have come out a year ago and just gotten this out of the way. he couldn't -- he had to have known that this was going to come up. and i can't imagine he wanted this to be an august conversation, august 2012. i actually thought when harry reid came out and said what he did was really scurrilous and irresponsible, that that might have ended this conversation. it didn't. we're still talking about it. >> i think you made the most important point there. this really is, take everything else away. this is strategic malpractice on the part of the romney campaign. >> he has to be doing a cost benefit analysis that this is better than what it would be if

i actually put it out. >> right. hey, we had three more months to hash it over but i want to move on to one other thing here because finally there is somebody else who is debunking the myth of the independent voter. the "new york times." this is a pet peeve of mine. the "new york times" talked with political experts who determined that about a third of americans identify as independents only half are actual swing voters and most live in the states where the outcome is a foregone conclusion. at the end of the day the meaningful swing vote more like 3 to 5%. i might quibble with the number is a little bit here based on other studies i've seen but the key point is this. it can be hard for people to get their heads around this but there have been two simultaneous trends in the last few decades in american politics. one is there is a dramatic rise in the number of independent voters. people who identify themselves as independent is through the roof. you hear this cited all the time. 30%, 40%, 50%. there has been a simultaneous rise in partisanship and polarization in this country. idiosyncrasy logically the two parties have really sorted themselves out. it used to be conservative

southern democrats, liberal northern democrats. liberal northern republicans. conservative midwestern republicans. all of that mish mash. it's all sorted out now. the republicans are a right centered party, democrats are left of center. people like to call themselves independents because they like that individual feel that comes with that. when you look at their actual voting behavior it is getting more and more predictable. an independent who votes for a democrat is basically a democrat. an independent votes republican, basically republican. >> some of that verbage using independent as part of the cocktail party innoculation saying i'm an independent is almost synonymous with saying i'm objective. if i tell you i am an independent i can bash either party and it looks a little bit more credible. >> right. how many of us have family members that say to you, well, i'm an independent but -- followed by a harsh critique of one of the parties in a very biased way. people like to say they're independent because we like to think of ourselves as impartial.

i mean, i -- >> i am not impartial. >> well, i am a partisan democrat but i still think of myself as impartial as weighing the evidence and the facts as i'm sure you have come to your positions thinking that you are weighing the evidence in an impartial way. we like to see ourselves that way. and also when you look at the fact that congress is rated 10% approve of congress and who are those 10%? >> who actually like congress. >> identifying with any political party is identifying with an institution that is fundamentally broken. i think that is -- >> it makes you seem above the fray. you're not bought. you're smarter than the system. it is very american to be like i make decisions for myself. i am free. i say what i want to say. nobody tells me what to think. you want to say you're independent but you are really not. >> we want our leaders to be independent but when they start breaking with our party that's not independent. >> you can ever imagine an independent becoming president? >> what would an independent be? functionally what is mike bloomberg? really an independent or functionally a new york democrat? he is a liberal from wall

street. a democrat. >> one day people will get through to america that there is no such thing as independence. >> until then? >> the show will go on. >> so up next the book of mormon. an award winning religious scholar debunks the stereotype and tells us what it is like to grow up mormon in 21st century america, next in the guest spot. they say td key to their success is not changing the way their product is made. they bake them and pack them the same way it has been done for nearly a century. for more watch your business sunday morning on msnbc. [ count the number of buttons

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a lot of people are curious about mormonism. who are mormons and what are they about? hbo may have shaped what many think about it. mitt romney may be. in the guest spot today a woman who grew up in the church of latter day saints and has been dubbed the mormon translator. joanna brooks the author of "the book of mormon girl" a memoir of an american faith. surely mormons speak english so we don't need a mormon

translat translator. >> yes we do. >> you can explain to us what it is that you want america to know about mormons and mormonism that perhaps we don't know. >> great. america needs to know that mitt romney is not the whole story of mormonism. there are mitt romney mormons for sure. there are jon huntsman mormons, harry reid mormons and even little girls who grow up idolizing marie osmond and end up having questions about their faith like me. that is the story i'm trying to tell, that human side to the faith that gets lost in the spin cycle. >> i think a lot of people get stuck on the idea of polygamy. right? i know that is not the entirety of the faith or the culture but a lot of people are like, what is that part about? >> in the book i talk about being a 14-year-old mormon girl sitting at girls camp in the summer in the high sierras and asking the grownups about mormon history of polygamy and whether or not we'd be expected to be

polygamists some day in heaven. mormons today do not practice polygamy. there are ultra orthodox splinter groups. you see photos from the desert in southern utah, northern arizona. but most mormons marry one spouse. >> i want to ask you about the cultural depiction of mormonism. it seems as though mormonism has come into its pop cultural own. you've got mormons in the pop culture and pop culture dealing with mormonism in some positive ways, in some negative ways. you know, there is a great quote by gk chesterton, old philosopher who said the test of a good religion is whether you can make fun of it or not. do you feel like the fact that mormonism can be spoofed, say, by the book of mormon on broadway, is that proof that mormonism has become a little bit more accepted by the american culture? >> absolutely. you know, when i was a little girl growing up there were no books on the shelf at the store

at the library that talked about lives like mine, lives of every day mormons. that depicted us in our sweetness, humor, and i think the book of mormon as cringe worthy as many mormons find it when they watch it does mark this moment when we are being sort of embraced in the main stream. i just wish mormons ourselves had written it first. >> we watched this spring in the republican presidential primaries. when it was clear mitt romney would be the nominee he locked it up. rick santorum had no chance. still in a lot of southern states and states where sort of evangelical christians held sway or had a big share of the electorate romney was still losing those voters and in some cases losing those states. >> right. >> it seemed logical to think mormonism played into it somehow because you look at the polls and i see an awful lot of mormons who say they considered themselves christians. when you ask christians do you consider mormons to be christians, christian brothers and sisters the answer comes back no more often than not. do you consider yourself a

christian and what do you make of the resistance you get from other christians? >> absolutely. i was raised believing in jesus and the same way most protestants think about jesus. mormonism is a faith rooted in american protestantism. those are our theological fundamentals. but when i was a kid growing up i talk about in the book being in seventh grade in the local church screening the film "mormons, christian or cult" and having classmates who were evangelical christians really come at me and criticize me. it is bad enough being a 13-year-old kid when your classmates are making fun of your parents' underwear in their church. it is mortifying. you know, it was fascinating seeing the resistance that romney continued to encounter especially in the south and in the midwest as well. there is just an old strain of american thought, an old antimormon strain that is based in the sense that mormons aren't really christians. it's been persistent but we've seen it fall away now that the primaries are over. >> joanna, i think it is fair to say the lds church like the catholic church has a

patriarchal structure. i was just wondering your perspective as a woman and outspoken woman how you view the role of women within the church. >> it's an important question that is one that is unfolding in mormon communities right now as we speak on the internet. there are important discussions about the role that women play in the church. when i was a little girl raised in a very observant mormon home as i talk about in the book i was raised not even to aspire to a career really. church leaders were telling us your job is to be a mom at home. i know women who forewent careers trying to be obedient, mormon women. but you know, women's lives are always more complicated than church teachings permit sometimes. there are all sorts of women who have contributions to make to the church. right now we wonder if the very gender conservative structure of th mormon church in which women are in the priesthood but moreover aren't involved in policy making decisions at many levels whether that needs to be retooled for the 21st century. as faithful people who love the tradition these are the questions i'm hearing others

ask. >> how have you been received as an outspoken woman, someone who has been critical in some sense of the church? how have you been received? >> well, i am a proud mormon. i'm a member of the church. i attend church. i do my part. i've been received in my own, you know, neighborhood and community with a lot of warmth, love from my family. but a lot of people aren't used to hearing out spoken mormon women. even though mormon women have always been out spoken in our own homes and own worlds mormon women having a national voice on things that matter to us is really new. that always makes people a little nervous especially when they think you're not supposed to be speaking for the church. i'm not. i'm speaking from experience as a mormon person because our story is so rich. there need to be multiple voices telling it. >> that word out spoken itself is sexist. you never hear a man be referred to as out spoken. men get to speak their mind. when a woman speaks her mind then she is out spoken. >> are you calling me sexist? >> not at all. joanna brooks, thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. next up a segment that will

have beach goers staying on the sand this weekend. s.e. cupp is scared but we're excited. shark week. a shark attack survivor now fighting to protect the powerful predators. this is new york state. we built the first railway and the first trade route to the west.

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scientists can now predick how much time you have to react to a shark attack. this reveals a subtle flaw in an otherwise devastating ambush. >> 50 million tune in every year to check it out. i can't wait. for the anniversary this week the discovery channel is

featuring a special shark fight show. now it's not what you think. this is about shark attack survivors who have seen hand-to-jaw combat with sharks. and now they devote their lives to fighting for the sharks. what? take a look. >> i tried to imagine where the shark was and i threw one punch. >> it's a lucky punch right to its sensitive nose area. debby tracks down other survivors and tells them about the plight of sharks. >> a very cruel way to kill them and absolutely terrible. >> you can't over fish. you have to think about the future. >> the more i realized what was going on, it's like maybe i'm in a position to help out. >> incredible. joining us now is one of the shark attack survivors. krishna thompson lost a leg back in 2001 after a near fatal run-in with a bull shark. you can see his episode of "shark fight" this saturday at 9:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. and sunday at 2:00 p.m. eastern on the discovery channel. set your dvr. krishna, welcome and thanks for joining us. >> thank you.

pleasure to be here. >> take me back to that day in 2001 and tell me what happened. >> well it was a milestone. it was my tenth year wedding anniversary. and we were both very excited. we wanted to go to an island where we've never gone before so we chose the bahamas. >> right. >> the water, i remember when the plane was flying over and we were about to land and i looked down into the ocean it was so clear. >> yeah. >> i just loved it. and once we landed, i just couldn't wait to get in the water. so we unpacked and we both went into the water. but, you know, my wife isn't really a beach water type of person. so we only spent like maybe a half an hour and then decided to go dancing and window shopping. >> and then so there was a storm as i recall, a storm while you were in the water? >> well actually the second day when i awakened in the morning i couldn't believe it. i looked out my window and it was raining. it was overcast. >> yes.

>> i said oh, my god i can't believe it. you know i thought to myself i'm from new york. that's not going to stop me. so i actually got dressed. i went down, you know, basically kissed my wife. i said i'll be right back. when i went into the water it was totally different. it was like dark and murky and choppy. >> then suddenly a fin. >> suddenly from the corner of my eye i saw a dark fin. the only thing i could think to do was get out of its path. but that shark came, approached, came up on me so quickly that it just caught my left leg between my knee and my ankle and when it crunched into my leg i heard its teeth just go crunch. >> okay. i'm sweating. i'm shaking. this is not -- this just sends terrible -- so i want to -- >> no, go on. when the shark bit into your leg did you know that your leg was gone? you said later you punched the shark in the face. >> no. at that point i was trying to

start swimming toward the beach and then it caught my left leg, crunch, and then it towed me the opposite direction. and it took me into the deep and then it pulled me under and it shook me like a rag doll. and all i could do was just brace myself and try not to let water get up my nose or in my mouth because i didn't want to drown. so i waited it out and then when it stopped it was time for me to take action. i had to imagine the shark's mouth on my leg. >> yeah. >> take one punch and then i took both of my hands and released my leg from its jaws. i couldn't believe it. i was so happy. my hands -- i had both of my hands but they were badly mangled and my fingers were dangling. i was happy. then i just pretended i was muhammed ali and just gave it combination punches left to right and the shark swam away. >> the obvious question is why now? i know you do work with the pew environmental -- >> pew environment group. >> for shark conservation. you are saving these creatures.

>> right. definitely. >> tell me why. what kind of threats are they facing? >> i got a call from pew environment group, her name is debby solomone and she explained the plight of sharks. she basically said up to 73 million sharks are killed annually because of shark finning. she explained that shark finning is when you take, when fishing boats go out into the high seas and take the sharks out of the water. they cut off their fins and throw them back into the water to drown. and i just thought that was terrible. that was just, i just couldn't believe that they were doing that. and she further explained to me that we need sharks in our oceans. basically if you love oceans and you love seafood, you should really care for the sharks, too. >> i don't understand just emotionally how you went from almost losing your life to one of these to becoming one of its protectors. a lot of people will go the opposite direction and want to have laws against them. >> well, you know, this has something to do with saving our

environment. it's about saving our oceans. i feel that i am saving the planet. i'm saving -- i'm actually helping people worldwide because having sharks are apex predators and they eat the weak and the sick. therefore allowing the healthier fish to reproduce and carry on. so when fishing, when people fish or we go to red lobster or wherever and we eat that seafood we're healthier. >> right. >> if you take away sharks from out of our oceans a lot of people will die. you'll have disease just rampant. it'll be terrible. i don't even want to go into that. i just want to now keep the sharks there for another 400 million years. >> we are almost out of time. i want to ask you, since this accident how close have you ever gotten to a shark? what is the closest you've come to a shark since then? >> luckily, i've been in the

water. i've went back to jamaica. my brother was married in jamaica. i went in the ocean back then but i luckily didn't see any sharks. i'm not looking for them. i'm just enjoying the water. >> i know we all -- at least i really look forward to shark week every year. i want to thank you for being part of it this year and for telling us your story. it's a really good one. thanks, krishna thompson. great to have you on. up next a guest who says it is time for government and business to put aside their differences and work together to save america's schools. but first here is one last taste of shark information. >> the shark estimated at 3,000 pounds hit the decoy at nearly 25 miles per hour. ♪ power surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy. could've had a v8. until i got a job in the big apple.

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i was skeptical at first.

but after awhile even my girlfriend noticed a difference. [ male announcer ] rogaine is proven to help stop hair loss. and for 85% of guys, it regrew hair. save up to 42% now at rogaine.com. a new study by georgetown university found that the current recession has widened the economic gap between educational haves and have nots. about 80% of the jobs lost during the recession were held by those with a high school diploma or less. and while college grads have seen job gains in the past two years the losses have just continued for educational have nots. it's becoming increasingly clear that a high school diploma alone is not enough to survive in today's economy. budget crunches plus a nationwide epidemic of failing schools make for some tough math when you're investing in public education. our next guest might just have a

solution. chet litton is the ceo and president of the school improvement network. his company is dedicated to improving student achievement through teacher training and chet says the public and private sectors have got to come together to help our students out. thanks so much for joining us, chad. >> it's an honor to be here, crystal. thank you. >> i wanted your take. obviously we have many educational challenges across the country. what do you see as some of the biggest challenges and where are the opportunities? what can we do here? >> well, i think you hit some of the big challenges. we see high drop out rates, teachers struggling to meet the needs of all their students. the reality is there are great things going on and the school improvement network is one thing we're focused on is what are the innovations really working with kids and helping teachers to be impactful and successful with them? there are a lot of things going on across the nation but few people ever hear about them. we usually hear the headlines that scare all of us. the reality is there are good things happening and our objective is to capture those

things that teachers can help every student be successful and be prepared for college and career. >> so, chet, the school improvement network is a for profit private company and actually you used to work in the educational technology space. one thing that concerned me is when you have a private company operating in the education space a lot of times they're putting profit first rather than the best education for our kids. how do we distinguish between companies that are really doing a good job helping make our education system better and those that are just out for a quick buck? >> i think there are a lot of us that are very dedicated to a cause. for us it's all about increasing student achievement and making sure every student is college and career ready. for us that's the cause. we found that being a for profit organization enabled us to reinvest in the innovations that states and school districts simply can't do. so for us, i think the way an organization usually looks at us is a strategic partner and we're very transparent with school

systems. they see what we're about and know what we're about and that helps. there are organizations that just want to make a big buck because they hear all the problems but they don't get the results either. we see reading scores double in schools that use our resources. we see math scores triple. these are against district averages. so i think that is probably one of the best determiners. >> i just love private sector solutions to problems. i am wondering though, was this philosophical or a financial consideration? put another way, you know, bringing private sector solutions to public education, was that because you think in part privatizing education will lead to better education or because in tough times you have to get creative with funding? >> you know, i think we hear a lot of the sound bites about both but the reality is that states are forced to get creative now. budgets have been cut so much because of the economy that

states don't have the people to 'vette resources or design resources and many states and districts that design their own ended up chucking those things that they did and are now saying we need strategic partners that can help us and are looking to the private sector to help out. because we're investing and we're very focused on looking at things nationally or even globally that have the greatest impact. it is very difficult for states to do that. >> what would you tell a school district that maybe, you know, is facing a tough budget and the idea of maybe bringing you guys in a lot of what you do seems attractive. what would you tell them? a tight budget and you know maybe they're looking at cutting programs that don't really relate to test scores like art programs, music programs, things of this nature and they can maybe spend the money there or spend the money on you guys. what would you tell them? >> we actually sit down with systems and look at what they're trying to accomplish. you know, art and music and some of the other -- those programs really impact learning positively and there may be other areas they need to look.

and at cutting. the reality is that many systems have got professional development programs they've typically done that haven't got results. we like to look in those buckets or find those places where they can look to a resource like ours that is scaleable, much more cost much more cost effective, maybe a few hundred dollars per teacher. >> one of my pet peeves with the educational system is that we don't talk to students about financial literacy. we teach them a lot of things. we don't teach them things like balancing a checkbook, just the things as adults we need to deal with the money we make. what do you think about introducing that to the education system? >> it's really critical. it's an important fact. i think one of the things that has come out of the recession in a tough economy is that systems are now focusing very much on financial literacy. that's something that needs to be included. i think over the next couple of

years, you'll be pleased to see what schools are actually teaching as it relates to financial literacy and many are now. >> well thank you so much for joining today. sorry about butchering your name. >> no problem. it's an honor to be here. up next, toure takes over and he's talking voter i.d. laws. you know, we're a little early for this thing... want to hop in the back and get weird? no. family vacation... vegas. ♪ no. no. give it a big yank! really? yeah! [ knock on window ] no! no.

♪ ugh, no! [ sighs ] we can have hotdogs for dinner?! yes. [ male announcer ] in a world filled with "no," it's nice to finally say "yes." new oscar mayer selects hotdogs. made with 100% beef and no artificial preservatives. it's yes food. made with 100% beef and no artificial preservatives. put me at 5 timesd out my greater risk of a stroke, my first thoughts were about my wife, and my family. i have the most common type of atrial fibrillation, or afib. it's not caused by a heart valve problem. i was taking warfarin, but my doctor put me on pradaxa instead to reduce my risk of stroke. in a clinical trial, pradaxa® (dabigatran etexilate mesylate) reduced stroke risk 35% better than warfarin. and unlike warfarin, with pradaxa, there's no need for regular blood tests. that's really important to me. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding and seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have a bleeding condition like stomach ulcers,

or take aspirin, nsaids, or blood thinners, or if you have kidney problems, especially if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all medicines you take, any planned medical or dental procedures, and don't stop taking pradaxa without your doctor's approval, as stopping may increase your stroke risk. other side effects include indigestion, stomach pain, upset, or burning. pradaxa is progress. having afib not caused by a heart valve problem increases your risk of stroke. ask your doctor if you can reduce your risk with pradaxa.

mr. kennedy goes down in

there. that's when i saw -- again, when he got in there and then from there on, i've always voted. i'm going to miss this one because i don't have nothing to, no -- i don't have any i.d. somebody stole my pocketbook and i have never been able to get them back. every time i've sent, they never told me why or nothing. i think it stinks. >> that's 93-year-old lydia applewhite telling her story to the enquierer. she voted in philadelphia and every election since 1950. years ago, her purse was stolen and since then, she's struggled to get state-issued i.d. because her social security card lists her married name and her -- and bills are in her daughter's name. she's stuck in a bureaucratic nightmare, saved only yesterday when pennsylvania gave her i.d., but what about the $750,000 other people who are not the

plaintiff, who have unable to vote? this, even though the pennsylvania officials who were arguing for the law admitted they had no evidence that in person voter fraud has occurred in pennsylvania and it's unlikely to occur even without the law. investigation revealed ten cases of alleged in person voter impersonation in america, where there's 146 million registered voters. this is a law going against a nonexistent problem. what's going on? why are people trying to protect the integrity of the process? because republican controlled state ledgislatures are trying to -- in november of 2010, they have attempted to make it more difficult to vote with onerous i.d. requirements.

you would think america might want to expand the franchise and makt easier to register to vote, but instead, many states are adding burdens intended to disenfranchise millions of voters who would probably vote democratic. we refer to this as voter i.d. its true name is voter suppression -- from casting a ballot. >> this reminds me of a segment we did earlier when talking about the fact, there are no swing voters the parties are trying to cultivate, so the goal is to just appeal to your base and try to keep down the turnout on the other side and that's what the republicans have done as you point out, in state after state, with these laws and i think you're right. calling them voter i.d. laws glosses over the fact that's not their true intent. >> you make a strong case, but what strikes me is sort of knee jerk public opinion. this is important on how laws

get upheld. if the public is behind something, chances are, something's going to happen. in the knee jerk reaction, most people when they hear about the laws, sure, i need a license to drive my car. get a gun. you know, we wouldn't want anybody casting a ballot who shouldn't be, so what's wrong with showing an i.d. at the polls? of course, you make the case, for most americans, it's easy to get a license. >> actually, the statistics back that up, steve, 74% of the country approves of these laws. >> that's right. and it's true on the democratic side an the republican side that most people support the laws. but they don't understand the difficulty for so many americans who are poor, older, to actually acquire the necessary i.d. >> and i'd be interested to see if public opinion is shift ed because it's been getting more attention than it was and that's why your commentary today is so important. >> before we bring this week to

a close, we have a special 100th birthday shoutout to margaret, grandmother so our booker, sasha. she's celebrating in style in west palm beach along with her 12 children, 31 grandchildren and 56 great grandchildren. that is a life well lived. happy birthday, margaret. now, it's time for karen finney. >> thanks so much, guys. good afternoon. i'm karen finney. it's friday, august 17th and when it comes to mitt romney's taxes, we're just going to have to have to trust him. >> i did go back and look at my taxes and over the past ten years, i never paid less than 13%. in the most recent years, 13.6. >> are we supposed to stand up and aploud 13%? >> he is a pension for secrecy. >> have a