catastrophe. americans want to most qualified to do the task. i am willing to risk and even lay down my life for fellow citizens, but not tlog go along with those who placed those above the consideration. i have quickly learned about the law as it applies to this case. i expected lady justice with the blindfold on and a reason opinion telling me, my fellow plaintiff and the public what the court's view on the law was and in an open way. instead, we are devastated to see a one-paragraph order dismissing our case and even the notion that we had presented important legal issues to that

court of appeals. i expected the judges to make the right decisions. the ones required by the rule of law. of all that has been written about our case, it was justice alito who best captured our feelings. we asked only for evenness of the law. >> we'll now here from peter who serves on the u.s. commission for civil rights where he received a recess appointment from president george w. bush. he was a partner in a law firm. he received his law degree from cleveland state university. >> thank you, mr. chairman, senator sessions. i am currently back at

freelander group. the commission on civil rights -- >> we just heard compelling testimonies from two firefighters from new haven, connecticut. the firefighters who judge sotomayor ruled against in their quest to have their exam count and she said that she backed up new haven in this case and said it was okay new haven threw it out because it discriminated against other minority firefighters. you just heard from frank ricci and ben vargas. i want to bring in my colleagues to take over this coverage and the impact this might have on o judge sotomayor. >> contessa, thank you so much. what an interesting day, tamron. good afternoon. i'm david schuster live in washington. >> i'm tamron hall. live for you in new york. the big picture today, what we were just watching. more of judge sotomayor's confirmation hearing.

she got positive feedback today from republican senators on the judiciary committee. they were granted a third, yes, third round of questioning earlier today. even with that, it looks like they will not delay a vote for her in committee next week or the is that the floor before recess. senator sessions said even he has no intention of holding up the process. >> i will not support and i don't think any member of this side will support a filibuster or any attempt to block a vote on your nomination. >> just how many votes could she get from the gop? norah o'donnell keeping track of it. before we talk about whether she's winning over any republicans, let's talk about the compelling testimony from those firefighters. now we're not looking at professional politicians. these are men who put their lives on the line and they in their own words, are describing how they e felt when the judge

and panel made the decision against them. >> no doubt. these are the star witnesses today for the republican side on this panel. these firefighters for new haven, testifying backed up by another dozen or so firefighters here as well, trying to make the case that judge sotomayor in her ruling to reverse is charges. frank ricci describing how he studied for hours on end, real personal sacrifice. these are the two men who are trying to make that case, that real person case that people can relate to. i don't think in the end, however, while it's interesting to listen to, that it's going to make much of a difference on whether judge sotomayor gets to the supreme court or what the vote count will be on the committee or senate floor. today, we saw that a number of

republicans expressed they were increasingly comfortable with judge sotomayor. in fact, republican senator lindsey graham saying today that her judicial record is generally in the mainstream. senator graham also said that judge sotomayor had said some things that just bugged the hell out of me, those are his words. but overall, she had been very reassuring today. john cornyn also saying her judicial record is pretty much in the mainstream. also interestingly, i spoke with chuck grassley and asked, are you going to vote for judge sotomayor. he told me he was still undecided, but has voted for every supreme court justice, that's eight of the nine currently serving. in his words, he said it would be a change if in fact he ended

up voting against her. i just spoke with republican senator hatch. he acknowledged, too, that he's not voted against any supreme court nominees. the one really interesting thing that's just playing out is that the nra has just come out against judge sotomayor, so that has a lot of republicans up here in the senate very nervous or on edge about openly voicing support for judge sotomayor. >> thank you very much. now the bigger picture. are republicans beginning to realize they're better off waiting to fight another day. in a striking break from the course of gop colleagues, south carolina republican senator lindsey graham today appeared to come to sotomayor's defense. watch. >> to those who may be bothered

by that, what do you say? >> i regret that i have offended some people. i believe that my life demonstrates that this was not my intent to leave the impression that some have taken from my words. >> you know what, judge? i agree with you. good luck. >> bruce fine is a constitutional law expert. testified at two supreme court confirmation hearings for justice scalia. bruce, what did you make of that exchange? >> i think it showed that this is a candidate that falls generally within the philosophical mainstream of legal thinking today. a statement by lindsey graham he'll probably vote for her. for republicans, it doesn't make sense to vote again.

there's nothing she said that's going to leap out as being something unjudicial and if the republicans hope to dpan the white house again, they don't want to enable the democrats to oppose one of the republican candidates that would fit the mainstream or be another scalia here. i think they also see that some of the problems that confronted judge sotomayor were created by barack obama himself by voting against john roberts and samuel ali alito. and i think that every president is entitled to and the republicans don't want to imitate i would suggest, the president of the united states and create a problem for themselves when they regain the white house and send up a nominee who the democrats mayo pose.

>> as far as the news, the nra, when it comes to second amendment testimony, the most striking testimony i saw was when judge sotomayor got into a case over none chucks and whether those can be moderated or there can be some control of them in a way you might want to control weapons. but was there anything that jumped out as far as second amendment issues? >> i don't think so. let's look at the actual case. the issue raised was does the second amendment protection of the right to keep and bare arms, applies to restrictions by the federal government and district of columbia. does that same protection apply at the state and local level. the decision, written by the conservative's favorite, dropped

a footnote and said, we are not deciding the question of whether or not the states and localities are restricted in regulating guns to the extent the federal government is. that was the view judge sotomayor took in saying she's not going to extend the decision by justice scalia and it may be an issue that rised again to the u.s. supreme court, which she hasn't foreclosed voting in favor of extending that particular ruling, but as a court of appeals judge, has no authority to do something. there's a seven-circuit decision in which two of the most conservative judges came to the same conclusion of judge sotomayor. so there's nothing that would suggest that when the issue presents it as to whether state and localities ought to be restricted in regulating guns to the same extent that she might

say yes, she might say no. she might be confining the decision. certainly, we don't want to have lit nus tests on the constitution. >> good point. bruce, thanks so much. on that point, it does suggest that the nra position i guess is not a big surprise. the position perhaps a little more grounded in politics than case law. >> that's why it was interesting when norah said some republicans might factor that in because the nra's coming out against her is not a surprise. >> absolutely. there's some new details about how close the central intelligence agency came to deploying hit squads to kill

al-qaeda leaders. >> "the washington post" reports that cia officials planned to move the program to a quote somewhat more operational phase. the proposal including training teams of asa sins. that's when panetta learned of the program. plus, the obama administration's top official says the cia did not break the law by keeping the program secret. with us now, security reporter for "the washington post." now you've got d obama administration top official saying the cia did not break the law. does this end the discussion? >> not necessarily. there's, he's just saying there's some wiggle room and people can draw different conclusions. i don't think he wants to make it hard and fast, but there's a little solidarity going on,

saying they did not necessarily act properly. >> how can you come to that, or they, come to that determination without learning more? i know you reported that it was somewhat more operational phase. >> this solves a little piece of this puzzle. we see how this came from being unknown outside of small circles to this sudden washington july thunderstorm. it had to do with this program being slowly pushed along until it got to the point where they thought they could step it up and start training operatives. that's when panetta learned of it and said, i'm concerned about this and moved to shut it down and went to the hill and said this is what's been going on. >> when it comes to the top official, i want to put up the

national security act of 1947. to a lot of the people, it seems pretty clear the cia did break the law. the president shall ensure that the congressional committees are kept fully and currently informed, including any significant intelligence activity. should not be construed to with hold -- so there you have it. they're required to tell congress and that is specifically dealt with by saying, no, that's not a reason. >> it's not the vice president's job to decide what can and can't be briefed. the argument from the intelligence committee is there's this thing like a blanket authorization.

that again is an area of contention and people argue different sides of it. they're saying we didn't move forward, we told them we were going to try, but there's wiggle room in terms of whether legally they had to do it. blair, even though he's taking middle ground in this, thinks they should have done it. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. we've got breaking news. the fbi, agents are on board a carnival cruise line investigating a murder. a man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering his wife on a cruise to mexico. a spokesperson says a man killed his wife in their cabin during a dommestic dispute. the ship returned this morning after a five-day krus.

no word on what the dispute was about. some 2,000 passengers were on board this cruise at the time according to reports. next, new developments in the florida couple found shot to death while their special needs children slept. >> eight people, how are these people connected and what are the latest details. plus, why alaska lawmakers are trying to override some of her decisions. and new video of michael jackson when he suffered a terrible burn in an accident caught on tape while filming a commercial. many are asking was it this incident that started his addiction to painkillers. introducing the all new chevy equinox. with an epa estimated 32 miles per gallon.

and up to 600 miles between fill ups. it's the most fuel efficient crossover on the highway. better than honda cr-v, toyota rav4 and even the ford escape hybrid. the all new chevy equinox.

to stand behind all who serve. ♪ to deliver the technologies... vital to freedom. ♪ to help carry hope to those in need. ♪ around the globe, the people of boeing... are working together -- for what matters most. that's why we're here.

developing now. new details about the murders of a florida couple. >> authorities now say they've recovered several guns. byrd and melanie billings were killed last week in a robbery at the family's home near pensacola. authorities say a safe stolen during the robbery has been recovered. mark potter is covering the story for us. give us more details on the motive. they're looking at a lot of things now. >> reporter: the point is that they say the motive is robbery. there's a lot of rumors, a lot of talk, but they say the bottom line is based on their investigation, the bulk of which is now concluded a week to the day after the killings occurred, is that this was a home invasion robbery with the intent of taking the safe, which indeed

was taken from the home. it has been recovered. they brought it here to the sheriff's office last night. the one thing they would not say. what's in the safe and whether the robbers themselves got into the safe. indeed, they have found some weapons. one they think that ballistics testing will show is the murder weapon. they also got a second car along with the red van we saw being picked up earlier in the week. that's the bottom line. they think this was the robbery and they say they have most of the people that they think were involved in this. certainly, the major, the seven, who were on the property involved in the murder. >> i know you said there were rumors, but the sheriff today saying additional motives. what did he mean by that? >> reporter: don't know and i'm not sure he knows.

he says that all the time. there are some rumors, but they're just that. nothing else credible has come out. we've talked to officials from other agencies. nothing else credible has come up at this time except robbery. nothing has come out of it at all except what the officials here, the state attorney's said, the current motive believed to be robbery with the intent of taking the safe. unfortunately, these two people had to die, these two people who over the course of their lives had 17 children. >> it's a very sad story. thank you very much. while mark talks about that case, there's a lot of talk about another murder case. fbi agents are now on board a carnival cruise line investigating a murder. carnival cruise line says the man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering his wife.

spencer buzz by was there with his wife. i understand that you may be a potential witness? >> i was not a witness, but i noticed personally, going by the room, that there was, it was secured by 24-hour guard from the, when it happened on tuesday night. the ship itself just announced operation star bright and had ship personnel converge on the room. >> did they tell passengers what was going on? >> no, it just kind of spread by rumor on the ship and as you would expect, people were very shocked this happened on the fun cruise, right? so much fun for them. >> did anybody talk about possibly knowing this couple or seeing them aboard or interacting with them at any

point? >> no, but as you may know on cruises, photographs are taken of people all the time and i'm sure they have lots of photographs of them. >> all right, spencer, obviously saw the room had been sealed off. >> this man and his 55-year-old wife, got into some kind of dispute that results in murder. that she was killed. but one other thing, crew members found her body when they entered the cabin and the husband would not say how the wife died. so those are some new details coming in that have been reported. >> and that would explain why they want passengers -- probably didn't hear anything. >> with 2,000 people on board, the odds of meeting someone very slim and seeing what happened, even slimmer than that.

up next, something new. we're calling it the palin chronicles. in this edition, why is sarah palin twitters about mama grizzly bears? it's something we figured wed tell you about today, you need to know. plus, bruno is making millions at the box office, except in the ukraine, where it won't make in. the reason might leave you scratching your head saying, no way. come on in.

you're invited to the chevy open house. where getting a new vehicle is easy. because the price on the tag is the price you pay on remaining '08 and '09 models. you'll find low, straightforward pricing. it's simple. now get an '09 malibu 1lt with an epa estimated 33 mpg highway. get it now for around 21 thousand after all offers. go to chevy.com/openhouse for more details. simple ingredients like soft white winter wheat gathered together for 22 grams of whole grain goodness. it's what makes triscuit worth every bite. triscuit. weave some wonder. ♪ is to get as far away from it all as possible. don't let erectile dysfunction get in the way. ♪ viva viagra!

viagra, america's most prescribed ed treatment, can help you enjoy... a more satisfying sexual experience. ready to talk to your doctor? find out how at viagra.com ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. don't take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain... as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects may include headache, flushing, upset stomach, and abnormal vision. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting... more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away... if you experience a sudden decrease in vision or hearing. 20 million men have had the "viagra conversation." ask your doctor if viagra is right for you. ♪ viagra! to a deep micro-clean. olay deep cleansers reach the micro-particles of dirt some basic cleansers can leave behind for a clean so deep its micro-clean. olay deep cleansers.

we are back with a special edition of need to know. it's called the palin chronicals. in may, palin vetoed stimulus funds dedicated to making alaska's homes more energy efficient. >> today, the legislature is saying, we want to money. they will interrupt their

vacation to convene for a special session to override palin's veto. by then, palin will be governor no more and lieutenant governor sean parnell says he will accept the vote and funds. no response from the governor, but she did reflect on female bears via twitter. quote, she sees danger, she raises up, growls don't touch my cubs and the species survives. and mama bear doesn't look to anyone else to hand her anything. she works harder than males, is provider, protecter for the future. meanwhile, a new gallup poll shows that palin is running second to mitt romney. the iowa republican party has invited palin to attend their annual reagan fund raising

dinner. will sarah palin appeal to social conservatives in iowa and how will her twits do? her tweet? we will follow it all in the palin chronicles. >> we're going to get a little journal. it's going to say -- keep following us. watch every day and watch this develop. she's not going anywhere. there's still much more to come. >> including the republican response to the democrats health care plan. a confusing looking flowchart to say the least. the gop says this chart is the reason the president's health care won't work. democrats say the chart is all wrong. conservative media outlets go with the gop. they claim without bothering to examine the truth. we'll take a closer look at the strategy and this map. plus, "us weekly" obtains

video of the shoot where michael jackson's hair caught on fire. is this what got him addicted to painkillers? you're watching msnbc. 

right now, the dow is trading up about 86 points. the s&p 500 is up about eight points. oil prices rose with a late day rebound on wall street. the gain was bolstered by a report showing strong economic growth in china. new numbers from the labor department show a lower than expected drop in the week ending july 11th. those figures may be clouded by difficulties adjusting claims for auto sthutdowns. the number of foreclosures continues to rise.

more than 1.5 million households which received one foreclosure related notice. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. back to msnbc. welcome back. i'm tamron hall. live in new york. >> i'm david schuster, live in washington. the big picture this hour, a new sign that criminal charges could be filed in the death of michael jackson. it was confirmed that prosecutors are talking with investigator investigators, if charges are filed, it will not happen until after the report is released. meanwhile, the investigation continues in the role prips drugs played in the death. the california attorney general says his office is running the names of doctors through its system, trying to help police track down jackson's drug supplier.

>> and today, never before seen video of a moment that changed michael jackson's life. the footage was obtained by "us weekly." it shows jackson's hair catching on fire during the filming of a pepsi commercial. the pyrotechnics exploded too early. he continued to dance almost ten seconds before he knew he was on fire. with cameras rolling. you see all those people rush to help michael jackson. you can see his scalp, severely burned. he suffered second and third degree burns. jeff rossen is live in burbank. learning much more about michael jackson in dept. obviously, people now releasing

video like that and that plays a big role because michael jackson, that's when he did get addicted to painkillers. he mentioned that in a trial. >> reporter: he was given demerol to deal with the pain, as you would be if you had these burns. but even the jackson family still points to that shoot as sort of being the source, the root of many of michael's problems, even in his final years. there was a lot of speculation that this was when his addiction to painkillers began, also, his sort of obsession with the way he looked because he was very insecure about that spot on his head, that bald spot where the hair was singed off. even in matt lauer's interview with jermaine, he called it the pepsi burn and that's when you started hearing the rumors about

michael jackson using prescription drugs. so not only is this fascinating to watch and knowing how it ended. >> it just, i mean -- so many things you could say about it. it's amazing it's been hidden for 25 years and i remember people talking about this pepsi accident and at the time, jokes made because people didn't realize the severity of the injuries michael jackson suffered. but when you see that still shot of his scalp, burned, that is stunning. his face, the pain in his face. these doctors have turned over some of his medical records. there have been reports that one doctor, the dermatologist was resistant to the question about his medical history. >> reporter: the coroner's office has said he has been fully cooperative with the

investigation. dr. klein continues to say that he has never prescribed michael jackson anything that would have killed him. the subpoena was given just this week. his lawyer, along with the coroner's office, now confirming that he has been cooperative. the other doctor to watch is dr. conrad murray. he was with michael jackson at the time of his death. he had a three-hour interview with police. he's met with investigators twice. once in the hospital. the last time on june 27th, just two days after michael jackson died, they talked for three hours. he's fully cooperating as well. but no charges yet. >> thank you very much. lot of details there. thank you very much. and now, david, the fight to block health care reform. >> as the conservative media deliberately trying to avoid

fact-checking when it comes to republican talking points? yesterday, republicans released this chart. one quote -- the conservative media picked up the chart and ran with it and the talking points and of course -- the chart were everywhere in 24 hour. democrats say the chart has nothing to do with the health care bill. so what has responsibility to get at the truth? carl, thanks for coming in. is this another example of the media, their benefit not to bother checking things out? >> i think so. it's a textbook example of the right wing noise machine. they push something out to the

press, then fox news starts running with it show after show after show. then a few more outlets pick it up and before you know it, something confined to a press release is in front of millions of americans at home. >> it's a responsible fi on us if we're not going to say, okay, this is not the plan. there are clear examples of why the chart was not accurate. i wonder what happens to a political debate when you have some organizations doing their due diligence then others don't want to. >> that's the big problem here. for 70 years, conservative interest groups have been attacking health care reform plans as something socialist that we should all be afraid of. this chart is no different. they did something very, very similar in 1994, so it's nothing unique.

it's recycled garbage. you look at polls, 72% want a public option. they want the solution. they don't want a fourth grade ability to use microsoft publisher. >> if we were to try to chart the flowchart now as it currently stands, would it be simple or complicated? >> very complicated. when i first saw this chart, i thought, what are they trying say? health care is complicated? no kidding. i actually did some digging and found the republican plan chart all drawn up in great detail and i'd like to show it to you right there. that's how easy it is to put something out there like this when we could be having a serious discussion about the ups and downs of any discussion. >> thanks for coming in.

it just underscores the challenge that a lot of us have. you and i, who want to do diligence, it's sort of an unfair playing field. >> and it is unfair to many americans who want to see which way the country will go with health care, when this is the case, an organization deliberately tries to confuse. nasa is looking closely at video of yesterday's launch. it's trying to determine if insulation damaged during launch. "endeavour" is due to dock tomorrow at the international space station. and a terrifying scene as a gasoline tanker exploded, sending flames hundreds of feet into the air. it happened as two trucks tried to avoid another car. the intense heat caused part of an overpass to collapse.

amaze dpingly amazingly, the truck deliver and two other people only suffered minor injuries. >> wow. >> when we come back, making their case. former presidential adviser, karl rove, talks on president obama's handling of the economy and rove accuses the president of moving the economic goal post. plus, a homeowner's association tells a woman to take down a cross from outside her home because it's bigger than the rule allow. >> is that crossing the line? you're watching msnbc. so many arthritis pain relievers --

i just want fewer pills and relief that lasts all day. take 2 extra strength tylenol every 4 to 6 hours?!? taking 8 pills a day... and if i take it for 10 days -- that's 80 pills. just 2 aleve can last all day.

perfect. choose aleve and you can be taking four times... fewer pills than extra strength tylenol. just 2 aleve have the strength to relieve arthritis pain all day.

welcome back. small businesses are closing. unemployment is rising and there's no end in sight when it comes to what some are calling the great recession. >> and tamron, in today's "wall

street journal," none other than karl rove made the case that president obama overpromised. rove says the president ignored good advice and is hope tg voters will forget. he writes he has answered his critics by creating strong man arguments. many of his critics didn't feel that way. they offered and he almost ignored. matt, karl rove is never one to create these arguments, is he? never mind. let's get to the heart of what he is doing. is rove suggesting that the stimulus should have been much bigger as paul krugman was

arguing? >> i think most of us would say that the stimulus is actually wouldn't work no matter what because it's a kenzian theory. it's deficit spending and that's never worked. what worked is what john f. kennedy and reagan did, which was cutting the rate. if you buy into the kenzian theory that stimulus spending works, president obama hasn't done that. there's been little money spent on things to improve infrastructure and create jobs. we've spent millions on things that have no correlation on creating jobs. >> your response? >> there are some serious arguments you can make about stimulus spending, like it might lead to inflation down the road, but it's not serious to say that stimulus spending doesn't work. that's not a serious critique. you inject money into the economy. it's going to create jobs.

the question is, how much money and how fast. the irony is that it wasn't big enough. krugman and the huffington post were arguing that it needed to be bigger, but it was the gop who forced cuts from the stimulus cht they cut $40 billion out of aid to states. anybody that thinks that a state laying somebody off in the middle of an economic crisis is a good idea doesn't need to be spouting their opinion. >> saying the unemployment rate is up and he points out what he feels are the number crunching that you can do with the substitut stimulus, but he implies that the president is misleading the public. that he's trying to change his words, even though he's on record. do you see the same thing happening with the white house

and coming from the white house? >> i think he hit the nail on the head. there are 2.6 million fewer jobs today than they were when president obama took office. the fact is, larry summers, his top economic adviser said the stimulus would kick in immediately. so the notion that unemployment's gone up, we knew that all along. that's just plain not true. we were told that this would immediately begin to make a difference and it has, except in the wrong drix. >> again, you say one thing and are trying to make us think another. >> one of the most frustrating thing about this is that obama, over the last six, seven months, been saying this is going to be hard. this is going to take some time. if they say it's going to kick in immediately, what does that

mean? >> that you'll see an effect almost there have been some jobs saved immediately, but it's ludicrous to think that the entire $787 billion is going to all kick in immediately. that's never what he said. it was always a two-year plan, and if you want to say it should have been bigger, then i would agree with it. >> look at his polling numbers. this isn't just me. his polling is down and it's because of the economy and -- >> right, and it was very smart politics from the gop to vote no across the board and hope that this thing didn't go well. now, we'll see over the next year if it continues -- if the stimulus money continues to come out and the economy turns around, it might not be so smart, but they were losing 700,000 jobs a month when obama took over. the idea you're going to go from losing 700,000 jobs a month, that's a major american city every month, to going the other way is crazy. >> i think the point is, matt, it's not going to turn around overnight. ryan grim and matt lewis, thank

you very much. it is a valid argument that matt is making about obama programs overpromising and it's a good argument for karl rove. i think when it's karl rove making the argument versus somebody who is not damaged goods, that serves the republican better than karl rove being the spokesperson of this argument. >> to add to that, if you go in saying it might work, this $787 billion might work, i don't know, maybe, who is going to sign off on it? you better oversell it. i mean, within reason obviously. convince me why we should do this. don't undersell it, to me, because i don't think he would have gotten any support from the blue dogs. >> we'll see what happens a year from now when we're in campaign mode. anyway, when we -- >> aren't we in campaign mode now? >> coming up, a woman is told to take a religious symbol off of her house. is that crossing the line? >> cross being the keyword in that whole thing. plus a new restaurant employee is bringing in a lot of business. can she count as an employee?

is she being paid? she's not real. well, anyway, she could be breaking the law. yeah, her. it's something that we thought would make you say no way. i was in the grocery store when i had a heart attack. my daughter was with me. i took a bayer aspirin out of my purse and chewed it. my doctor said the bayer aspirin saved my life. please talk to your doctor about aspirin and your heart. i'm going to be grandma for a long time. supports your health in 4 ways. it helps your natural cleansing process. helps lower cholesterol. promotes overall well-being. and provides a good source of natural fiber. try metamucil today, in capsules and powders. ♪ she does. obviously they do. ♪ oh, and her.

an eleven sixteenths wrench over here? here you go. eleven sixteenths... (announcer) from designing some of the world's cleanest and most fuel-efficient jet engines... to building more wind turbines than anyone in the country... the people of ge are working together... creating innovation today for america's tomorrow. thanks!

welcome back. our crossing the line today, another homeowner's association accused of going way too far, but is it discrimination based on religious beliefs? here is the story. kaylar bushing's mom believes this cross saved her life three years ago. when taylor was fighting ear bone cancer, the cross went up, and the family says the cancer stopped spreading. >> it seems like god is watching over us. >> but watching over them is a homeowner's association in their florida community. the association says, listen closely, that the cross is 2 1/2

inches larger than allowed in the statues, figurines, and ornaments clause according to the nbc affiliate in miami. >> it's our religious right. >> wtvj reporter jeff burnside reports the rules do not ban religious icons, but in keeping with the size counts rule, he found other items banned according to that rule around the neighborhood. for example, there were statues, large turtles, snowmen, and there was even an eagle above one person's garage door. well, the pembroke pines homeowner's association had no comment on this. the cross, just to are a reminder, is 2 1/2 inches bigger than the rules state and those are the rules. they want immediate action. the homeowner's association wants that family to take that thing down right away. is that warranted? rules are rules, i'm not saying be a rebel all the time and break them, but is in one crossing the line? you tell me. twitter.msnbc.com, and i'm

building a facebook page and so people can reach us through all ways all night. >> oh, great. good. that's going to be a fun one. it is almost 4:00 on the east coast, tamron hall. 1:00 in california where there is breaking news. a murder on a cruise ship. the fbi says agents are questioning a cruise ship passenger suspected of killing his wife. the cruise ship just docked in san diego. we'll have a live update. supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor is done testifying before the senate judiciary committee. right now the witnesses are testifying. will they have an impact on the confirmation process? new details in the investigation of the couple with 17 children, the couple that was murdered in florida. police believe robbery was the motive, but why were the suspects so quick to kill the couple? so police are looking for possible reasons. we'll talk live with the county sheriff. looking at bones just because they're inside you doesn't mean they're protected. oh, ladies. let's say you have osteoporosis. i do. you could be losing bone strength. can i get it back?