vineyard. i was told he's gone to los angeles, but do we know what his response is over all to this beer invite to the white house? >> reporter: well, he accepted. he and the president are friends from a ways back and of course everybody would accept an invitation to go to the white house. gates also said that he had offered to meet with crowley some time ago and i believe he did, back on monday, but that was under much different circumstances, so now this meeting would probably go forward. at this point, it seem that is the ball is in professor gates' court. he has threatened a lawsuit. that was some time ago. he has not really responded a lot of sergeant crowley's description of the event. he's been rather quiet and i think there's some question now as to whether he's going to

pursue this further. >> yesterday, we heard from the african-american sergeant, the one in the photo of gates being arrested. what did he have to say and how is that playing into the situation today? >> reporter: he stood by sergeant crowley. >> i support what sergeant crowley did. i support what he did. that's as simple as i can say. i can what happened. speculation is a whole different thing. i know what he did. i support what he did, 100%. >> reporter: the officer also said that he did not hear professor gates making any, accusing anyone of being a racist. again, he said going back and forth. i guess it was significant to have an officer there who is african-american to give that perspecti perspective. again, the police department here and officials from across

the state are insisting this is not a case of racial profiling. it will be interesting to see if the police department releases the audio tapes of the radio traffic that was going on during that call. i believe much of that is recorded. there may be some background noise or some of the conversation that gates and crowley had, particularly if he kept his microphone open. that could be very revealing as well, particularly if you hear professor gates in the background, yelling and screaming. >> thanks for that. a bit late r, we'll take a broader look at the controversy. and california's plan calls for major cuts including teacher

layoffs, closed parks and higher tuition. governor schwarzenegger held a press conference aimed at the budget cuts helping california climb out of it financial hole. >> i'm not happy about the solutio solutions, no other way to go. it was necessary. but in change, we achieved major and lasting reforms that would save billions and benefit our state for years to come. >> lawmakers rejected two of the measures, one to take about a billion dollars from the transportation department and allowing oil drilling off the coast of california. new this morning, the white house has released a report that says small businesses pay 18% more for health insurance than larger firms. >> as a result, small businesses are less likely to offer health

insurance. those that two tend to have less generous plans. 1/3 of small businesses have reported -- many have shed jobs or shut their doors. >> mike viqueira joins us now from washington. how is the president using the economy today to gain support for his health care plan? >> what you're seeing is a small shift as he tries to push his plan in congress and when you talk about congress first of all, alex, maybe it's always darkest before the dawn, but prospects for that legislation in the short term anyway, very dark as negotiations have di solved. perhaps it could be resolved next week. the president now choosing to emphasize, what would happen to those with insurance or employers already providing

insurance. of course it is the cost of health care which represented almost 1/5 of the american economy, which is the aim here. to bend the curve of health care cost. if they're providing health care for their employees, they are paying more and more. and that is what the president and the white house now want to shift the focus to them as opposed to the 47 or 50 americans. that is still important, but this is what they're talking about. small business. >> can i get a timeline here? are we expecting a house vote this week? >> they're really going to have to pull a rabbit out of the hat to do it. yesterday, there was firing back and forth between the liberals and conservative blue dog democrats. no matter how you cut it and

notwithstanding the claims of the speaker, the votes are not there. there's so much that goes into it. so many complications when you throw in what's going on in the senate. leaders don't want to make their members take their vote, then you have this deadline. they want to demonstrate there's momentum here. the president desperately needs that. still a slim chance they would get a vote in the house before the august recess. >> thank you, mike. president obama and michelle spent last night taking an hour of military spectacle marine style. they play every summer friday in a tradition that dates back to 1957. the evening the designed to show up military precision. the president spoke to a group of military families before this week's event. a new report "the new york times" reveals president bush

considered sending u.s. troops to buffalo to arrest suspect terrorists. president bush sent fbi agents to sweep up five men who compromised the group. all six ultimately pled guilty to terror charges. today is sarah palin's last full day as governor of alaska. today, she is meeting with residents across the state. more than 1,000 people turned out for the annual picnic in wasilla yesterday. norah o'donnell is live in alaska. what is sarah palin saying ahead of stepping down? >> reporter: she is saying thank you to the people of alaska, but saying very little about her own political future, which is what everybody wants to know.

what's next for sarah palin? we know she's signed a book deal so she's got to get to work on that. we know she's got nearly a million dollars in a political account she can use to campaign. she wants to affect change outside the governor's office. this is very interesting as we watch sarah palin. thousands of people showed up in wasilla yesterday. she's in anchorage today at picnics there, talking to the people of alaska, saying good-bye. then she's headed north here to fairbanks, where she's going to hand over power. there are going to be thousands of people here for that as she steps down from governor with still a year and a half left. >> we've been able to see just a beautiful backdrop. can you tell us where you are

there reporting? >> reporter: fairbanks is pretty far north. we're actually standing on the river. we're just not far from our hotel, the princess, which is, if you've been touring in alaska before, a lot of people stay certainly at this hotel. pat buchanan is still sleeping up there. we didn't bring pat with us. even though he wishes he were here because he's a huge sarah palin fan. exactly. it is beautiful. we have seen a couple of beavers make their way back and forth the river. also a couple of people out late partying into the early morning hours. it is a very invigorating 51 degrees at this hour. i think it's now just 5:00 in the morning. one interesting other thing i learned about fairbanks.

it gets 40 below here in wintertime and they never cancel school and they even have recess if it goes to 20 below. very hardy folk here. >> kudos to you. this is your third shot already today. thank you very much. it's beautiful, too. see you again in an hour. well, today, new pictures of a powerful tornado. florida authorities are assessing the damage of tornadoes that tore through communities near tampa friday. more than 160 homes were damaged. one person is recovering from minor injuries. a strong storm also pounded parts of north dakota and northern minnesota. golf ball-sized hall and winds of up to 60 miles an hour left behind an estimated $250,000 worth of damage there. let's go to bill karins

there. let's ask you to talk about the damage. >> mobile homes and tornadoes never quite a good mix. thankfully that mess is over with from yesterday's collision over florida. today, the trouble spot is up there ohio, indiana, southern illinois, down through tsouther st. louis. this shows the lightening strikes heading into eastern ohio. also a couple of active storms southwest of indianapolis. st. louis, you look all right. south of you is the worst of the weather. cincinnati to detroit, chance of storms for you, also pittsburgh could get a strong storm. cleveland, those are areas where if you have outdoor plants, make sure they're safe. the southeast starting to heat up again. you had a great weather week.

from d.c. to new york, a little touch of summer. upper 80s. the rest of the country, texas is hot and dry. get ready for a heat wave in the northwest. look at portland. al alex. portland, oregon is not supposed to be mid-90s. it's been an ab normal summer. >> we're just getting humidity now. >> this is the last weekend in july. >> bad hair day. >> for you or me? >> me. there appears to be a slight reversal of fortune in the auto industry. also ahead, a series of new developments in the michael jackson investigation including word on when the tox kol ji tests may be released. and a motorist loses control and provides a homeowner a rude

awakening. you're watching "msnbc saturday." male announcer ] we we flattered when regenerist beat the $100 cream. flabbergasted when we creamed the $700 cream! for under $30 regenerist micro-sculpting cream hydrates better than 32 of the world's most expensive creams. fantastic. phenomenal. regenerist.

you could buy 300 bottles of water. or just one brita filter. ( drop plinks ) brita-- better for the environment and your wallet. with annuities from fidelity. turn your savings into income -- guaranteed, and get a retirement "paycheck" for life -- guaranteed. call... to get started, and learn how to secure retirement income that won't go down -- guaranteed. call fidelity at... for details about guaranteed income for life,

investigators are focussing more closely on the doctor with michael jackson the day he died.

they're trying to determine why two women who were employees of the doctor showed up at his storage unit and removed up to five boxes. here with more on what to expect this week is courtney hazlett. good morning. >> good morning. >> authorities covered more details in this investigation focussing on the doctor. he's michael jackson's personal doctor. is the evidence they're finding, is it leaving more questions than answers? or the other way around? >> totally. talk about a case here where every time we take ta step forward, we take a few backward. everything raises more questions than it answers. you saw that seizure take place the other day. out of that, lots of paperwork, but also two types of medicines. one of them basically makes up the first half of fen fen, that drug the fda removed from the shelves. it's a weight loss drug. has side affects of insomnia, cardiac arrest. and so if the doctor is somehow connected to that prescription, yes, you can draw all sorts of parallels, but until we have the cause of death, it's difficult to speculate. we can all sit here and pore through the documents available.

but we need that cause of death and that will probably happen next week. >> this is supposed to come this week, the autopsy report. is it going to indicate what is the cause of death? are we gets any sorts of leads? >> if there's one thing i've learned is that michael jackson shrouded so many part of his life in secrecy. you'll be able to make connections between possibly dr. murray, possible other doctors rk possibly the nurse who was giving him nutrition sup lementes. but you don't know what he was getting on the internet on his own. that's going to be a separate thing. you don't understand what other players might be in this circle that he didn't tell dr. murray about. it's so difficult to get the truth. >> let's talk about the kids. there's word that if katherine

jackson is awarded custody, that rebbie would be the one to carry out care. >> i spoke to someone yesterday about the kids. everybody wants to know how they are doing. all things considered, the kids are doing okay. part of the reason for that is prior to the death, the kids were spending day-to-day for the most part, at the grandmother's part. dad was working. dad couldn't sleep. he wasn't in great shape. she was there, too. it's a great situation, actually. they're cousins are there. they have a huge family structure. these kids, they go on play dates with other human children. people were surprised to find out. it's not they live this strange life of michael jackson.

the children lived a life of family and that's continuing. >> and they're being kept shielded. not watching the news or getting access on that level. >> they do have friends and go on play dates, you can't control everything. but for the most part, have been left out of o the circuit. we're going to take a break, but still ahead, a daredevil's leap lead to a brush with death. you're watching "msnbc saturday."

it's a driveway to home wrecking, a motorist slamming through this home. police say the driver had fallen asleep. the two people inside the home were in another room and not injured. let's go to politics now an the president trying to tamp

down the uproar of the arrest of the harvard professor. the president made a surprise appearance at the white house daily briefing offering to host the pair for beers at the white house. i'm joined now by brian debose. we should mention that henry louis gates jr. is the editor in chief of your website. did the president effectively walk back the issue with the phone calls and remarks? >> let's hope so. i think it's important to note that this incident, while unfortunate, is not really what you would call a typical case of racial profiling or police brutality or even police harassment against minorities. i think this is an unfortunate situation where two men allowed their egos to get the best of them and it resulted in the arrest of dr. gates.

of course that was dismissed and should have been. i think the president's comment, while you know, maybe he would have liked to have used better words, but the word stupid, what the office did was stupid, what gates did was also stupid. i think that was an honest answer. >> are you still going to have a job? just kidding. how much damage has this done to the message the president's really trying to send and that's on health care. >> i think a lot of damage. immediately after his press conference, the first thing mentioned was that it was a mistake for him to even respond to this. the way he responded, very quickly and abruptly to try and move past it, it really didn't work for him. his best bet it would be say it was an unfortunate situation, let's talk about health care. he called dr. gates a friend of his and wanted to make a

statement about it. for the last three days, what he thought was going to be a headlong race to get something down in the house has now turned into a real strong debate on racial profiling and police brutality in america. >> what do you hope have happen between this beer meeting? >> you know, it's hard to say, but i think what should happen is both should acknowledge that this has been a distraction for the president. it is a good debate for america to have. ten years ago, there was a march in washington against police brutality and we're still having this discussion and these sort of confrontations that are cultural, that are racial in nature, but this was not one of those incidents. this was just an enforcement incident where two men let their egos get the best of them. >> what happens if the president doesn't get this through before

the august recess and how much do you think that time delay helps opponents of the bill? >> i'm not sure i can answer that because opponents may be sort of hindered if they can come up with a better product. right now, the bill the house has is not a good bill. the insurances that care will get better are not good. the senate's version, they don't really want to have a government option health insurance plan. it may be that they actually need more time. i don't think it hurts them, but if they do let it slip into an election year, say not having something done until next january, i think it could possibly end and you don't get any at all. >> thanks so much. >> you, too. coming up, could a corruption probe in new jersey have consequences for that state's governor?

you're watching "msnbc saturday." ping ping ping fancy feast elegant medleys tuscany entrées restaurant inspired dishes with long grain rice and garden greens is it love? or is it fancy feast? you must be looking for motorcycle insurance. you're good. thanks. so is our bike insurance. all the coverage you need at a great price. hold on, cowboy. cool. i'm not done -- for less than a dollar a month, you also get 24/7 roadside assistance. ght on. yeah, vroom-vroom! sounds like you ran a 500. more like a 900 v-twin. excuse me. well, you're excused. the right insurance for your ride. w, that's progressive. call or click today.

[ engine powers down ] gentlemen, you booked your hotels on orbitz. well, the price went down, so you're all getting a check thanks. for the difference. except for you -- you didn't book with orbitz, so you're not getting a check. well, i think we've all learned a valuable lesson today. good day, gentlemen. thanks a lot. thank you. introducing hotel price assurance, where if another orbitz customer books the same hotel for less, we send you a check for the difference, automatically.

the corruption bust in new jersey is threatening the governor race. jon corzine is in no way implicated, but the opponent is wasting no time in his reputation as a corruption-busting prosecutor. >> as u.s. attorney, i put corrupt public officials in jail. republicans and democrats. as governor, i'll make the same, tough independent decisions without regard to party or politics. new jersey's problems are too big to be solved with one-party solutions. >> joining me now, the new york bureau chief for "the washington post." good morning. what kind of impact might this alleged corruption have on the upcoming gubernatorial race in

new jersey? >> this plays to the strength of christie. this plays directly to his strength as a law and order republican, prosecutor who locked them up and corzine, the governor there, is not specifically mentioned in this at all, one member of his cabinet had to resign and these officials are his allies. these are the people he would meet up with when campaigning in their cities. it taints the whole pool for corzine. >> so what does he do to keep the taint away from him. >> hoboken, where corzine lives, jersey city, where the deputy mayor lives. secaucus, when he goes to these places, who's going to get out the people for his rallies?

what he's done the picked a new lieutenant governor today and he's settled on a state senator. he was not going to pick her until this case started. now he decided he needed to shore up his reform credentials a bit. >> it's pretty much a blue state. were all the officials democrats? >> almost all. it's a blue state, but it's also got a strong independent streak. they have elected republican governors. republicans think that this is a place where they can really get a dent in a blue state and they really think this is the place. that here in new jersey are the only two races this year. >> what about the corruption case? what's new? >> it's an enormously wild case. this informant had been operating around for years and people were suspicion of him, but still took his money, which is odd. a lot of the money went to help

fund the election campaigns. the mayor in hoboken. in jersey city, who has not been named, some of the bribes went into his coffers. there could be more arrests, more named in this thing. it is huge. >> we saw the president stumping for jon corzine last week before this happened. >> absolutely. >> any chance we'll see the president coming back out again for jon corzine? >> he probably would like to stay away from it. one reason he came out so early was to energize the base. which was not terribly excited about john con corzine. that was to rally the troops, particularly in the large areas in northern new jersey, where

corzine must get out a lot of votes early. they're all being brought to the federal courthouse in newark. those are supposed to the democratic strength areas. obama's a pretty loyal guy. corzine stumped for him last year. he'll probably return the favor, but we might not see him back in person. maybe tape recorded messages. >> thanks so much. more to come. now to the fight against the swine flu. you haven't heard too much about it lately, but health authorities fear it could be a big problem this fall so that is why the centers for disease control now recommending children from six months to 18 years old be vaccinated against the flu. officials want to make sure children don't get hit with both types of flu. >> we expect when children get

back together at school, we'll see a rise in cases. >> since the outbreak began, health officials suspect more than a million people have come down with the illness. new details this morning following reports that one of osama bin laden's son may have been killed in an missile strike. officials report saad bin laden was killed in a missile strike this year. let me correct that. was this a the result of an incident in november of last year or this year? >> it happened this year. maybe four or six months ago. the cia won't say when or where this occurred. they think they got him, not sure, but good intelligence that says they got the guy. >> like what? >> mostly communications

intercepts. i think the cia would have not preferred this come out until they were sure. you don't have a body, dna, to prove this is the guy, but they have communication between al-qaeda and supporters suggesting they killed him. today, we're seeing taliban coming back saying, well, we don't think he's dead. one guy is quoted as saying he saw him a few days ago. >> osama bin laden is believed to have fathered at least 23 children. what do we know about this particular son, saad, his work in al-qaeda, his relationship with his father, osama bin laden? >> intelligence folks are calling him a guy with a big name, but not much of a big impact. he was with his dad in sudan during the '90s. but other than a couple of

bombings early in this decade, he hasn't done very much. he's been mostly in iran for the last three years. we think he was under house arrest. we heard in january he crossed into pakistan. about this strike, it looks like the cia didn't target him. they just happened to have hit a taliban hideout and he was there. >> in the wrong place at the wrong time. what is the latest intelligence on osama bin laden? >> still much believed that he's in pakistan in this tribal area. perhaps he crossed back and forth between afghanistan, pakistan, but there remains this conviction that's where al-qaeda is based and that's where the big guys are located and it's very hard to pinpoint his exact location. it's a difficult area, very remote. the only way to get at these

guys is from the air. >> how important is he to al-qaeda anymore? >> bin laden himself, he's an important figure head. somebody who we continue to see every few months who will come out and do video over the internet to say i'm still here. it's sort of an important symbol and rallying point, but operationally, the cia is convinced he's not that important anymore and the role of carrying out operations has fallen into other groups related to al-qaeda. >> good to talk to you. thank you. he jumped for joy and almost loses his life doing it. you think he's do it again? we'll answer that.

now i want to warn you about a bone disease you may not feel, can't see and could easily ignore -- post-menopausal osteoporosis. please, don't ignore it. because osteoporosis means that over time, your bones gradually become weaker and can break more easily. see the weakness here? there is something you can do about it. call 1-800-316-4952 now for your free information kit. you'll see the difference between strong bone and osteoporotic bone, weakened and prone to fracture. you'll find ways to help reverse bone loss and help prevent fractures. you'll learn how to help maintain strong bones, a way to treat post-menopausal osteoporosis and things to discuss with your doctor.

so call 1-800-316-4952 now. it's too important to ignore. osteoporosis. you can't see it, you may not feel it. but you can do something. call now. with annuities from fidelity. turn your savings into income -- guaranteed, and get a retirement "paycheck" for life -- guaranteed. call... to get started, and learn how to secure retirement income that won't go down -- guaranteed. call fidelity at... for details about guaranteed income for life, and change the way you think about your retirement savings. more reaction today on the controversy of the arrest of

henry louis jr. >> because this has been ratcheting up and i helped to contribute ratcheting it up, i want to make clear that in my choice of words, i think i unfortunately gave an impression that i was maligning the cambridge police department, or sergeant crowley specifically and i could have calibrated those words differently. >> joining me live, dr. watkins. i'm also joined by reverend eugene rivers. it's great to have you with us. thanks so much. >> good morning. >> all right, so after all the back and forth, where are we today? >> i think we're finally at a

point of common sense. i support professor gates and i fight against racial profiling, but from the beginning, i said maybe we're jumping the gun. we can want just assume that a, the officer abused his authority and violated procedure and that he did so because of race. charles ogletree is even saying that he never thought racial profiling was connected to this case and never mentioned it, but that was a conversation all along and that really bothered me. it's sort of like getting a speeding ticket when you're going 70 miles an hour in a 65 mile an hour zone. if you look at the procedure and law and definition of disorderly conduct and that stuff, the officer had a right to arrest professor gates, but probably shouldn't have. >> that's interesting. reverend, after the president spoke yesterday afternoon, you had both the mayor of cambridge

and police saying they are pleased with that wha the president had to say. do you think this is a positive sign that we are moving toward a resolution? >> i think so. i agree with the professor. the reality is that this was an incident where there was a misunderstanding. it was unfortunate and president obama, doing a favor for a friend, got sucked into a fire storm where he didn't know the details. i think that this has been exaggerated. this was not racial profiling as the professor said. it was something that got politicized and became recreational politics and we must move forward. thank god the president said, all right boys, let's stand down, let's have a beer and end this because the country was being polarized by an incident

which was not the basis for the discussion that the country needs to have. >> so this event that's going to happen at the white house at some point, having all the players accepting the professor, we're going to come together, have a beer and talk about that. what do you want to see come out of this? >> let's be clear and i say this as a supporter of the president, law enforcement and henry louis gates. the truth is this dialogue by racializing something that may or may not have been racial, we've really set race relations back swrjust a bit. my hope is that the president will leverage this and find an opportunity to intelligently discuss raise so we can all come together. the other thing, i know professor gates mentioned he wanted to situation to be a teachable moment for america.

i believe that to be a good professor, you have to know how to be a good student so i would like to see professor gates not just get outraged on racial profiling because it happened to him, but stand up to something similar to when oscar got shot. >> reverend, now that the president has called this a teachable moment, do you think the president himself bears a responsibility in trying to affect real change? >> see, the president of the united states is the president of the united states. he needs to be attending to the affairs of state. i think that the country needs to engage in things like gates, and others. we need to move the discussion forward. we need not to pull the president as was unfortunately the case in this instance, into something that can be exploited

this discussion as the professor said, in a more rational direction. it should not be about a celebrity who got arrested in a misunderstanding with a cop. which is not representative of the vast majority of black americans. >> reverend, you talk about something maybe the president didn't have to get drawn into. if all of politics is local, and what this does is bring back discussion to cambridge and other places around kitchen tables in community discussions, is it a good thing that the president did get involved on that level? because it just forces everyone to look. you don't think so. >> but see, we're not talking about race relations. we're talking about henry louis gates who is a celebrity intellectual who happens to be black. it's not clear that this was really a racial incident. we haven't established that. and as the president indicated, having been in inadequate possession of the facts, he is implied that it was a racial incident when, in point of fact, it may not have been racial at all.

>> okay, boyce i'm out of time, but go ahead. >> professor gates should not have been arrested. he should not have been arrested for being black in his own home. however with that said, this got exaggerated beyond all possible courses. so we want to pull back. >> that's right. >> from the racialization of the business, as the president has done, and begin a rational serious conversation, which is based on the data, and not an incident involving a black celebrity. >> okay, boyce last word to you. >> the last thing i'll say is that i certainly agree in the sense that we need to understand that racial profiling did not begin because it happened -- allegedly happened in the henry louis gates. we also have to understand that racial profiling goes both ways. we can't profile white officers as being racist just because they arrest an african-american. at the same time we have to really stand up and realize that racism does exist in this country, and that we must fight it, but compassionately,

intelligently, and with the strength and focus that dr. king would like for us to have. if we don't do that we're going to continue to make these same mistakes. >> amen. >> intelligent discussion for both of you. pleasure. thank you so much. >> thanks, alex. a recent survey underscores america's concerns about racism in our society. the cnn essence magazine opinion research poll done in may, 55% of african-americans said racial discrimination was a serious problem and 45% of blacks and 42% of whites said race relations will always be a problem in the united states. i'm meteorologist bill karins. good saturday morning to you. storms are rolling through the ohio valley, and even a few there near the ozarks. here's your forecast for today, you're selected cities. atlanta 91 and nice. boston a great day. up and down i-95 it's going to

be a gorgeous die. kelly saunder's nature valley, the place that inspires her to go faster... and slower, elk mountains, colorado. where's yours? 100% natural nature valley granola bars. the taste nature intended. body wash from olay. tone enriching ribbons. two separate ribbons. the white cleanses. the gold moisturizes and has a touch of mineral shimmer to enhance skin's tone. olay tone enriching body wash. for skin that shimmers. we're shopping for car insurance, and our friends said we should start here. good friends -- we compare our progressive direct rates, apples to apples, against other top companies, to help you get the best price. how do you do that? with a touch of this button.

can i try that? [ chuckles ] wow! good luck getting your remote back. it's all right -- i love this channel. shopping less and saving more. now, that's progressive. call or click today.

it's going to be awesome. >> i'm pretty sure it's animal cruelty but i love it. >> g force is the latest movie with box office extremes. many are wondering whether the latest harry potter movie has lost a bit of its magic. tom o'neil joins me.

i'm glad to see you good morning. >> good morning. >> g-force tracking to be number one? >> big surprise. major surprise. it was supposed to be harry potter number one at $37 million, g-force at 27. but it slipped. last year we saw a big drop-off after harry potter after the first weekend with "order of the phoenix," that's kind of standard. but this one is special. half-blood prince is supposed to be so good. it died. >> i thought it was the best of the series. the best-made film. the best story-telling. not so much, you know, dependent on the gizmos and gadgets. >> so why do you think it fell off? >> i don't know. >> everyone saw it and it didn't ignite with the other movie goers. >> i'm wondering if there's a little bit of harry potter fatigue overall? >> ooh. >> and this coming from someone who is imperson ating professor mcgoning ale. honestly you have to kind of wonder, it's an ambitious thing to have eight movies made out of seven books. i'm still going to go. but i'm wondering if those that

aren't quite the zealots will continue doing so in the droves that we've seen them. anyway, that's all to be seen. let's take another look at a new movie out this weekend, rated "r," "the ugly truth." >> i wish we could go on friday. >> friday? wow. >> what the hell are you doing? >> saving you. he was blowing you off. >> he wasn't blowing me off! >> all right. this romantic comedy stars katherine heigl and gerard butler. what are the expectations of this one? >> this is the alex witt movie of the year. if you have any sexual fantasies about coworkers, it's about a tv anchor who gets a flirtation going with a co-worker, reporter, and it's let's just say it -- it's a good bottle of the sexes movie. but guys don't like it because the bottom line message is men are pigs. >> okay. well darn, my cover is blown with you, tom o'neil. what can i do about this anyway?

okay. well, we're going to have to have you back to talk about more films. as always, love having you. there's a ray of hope in the housing market this morning. but does it signal rebound or is there a relapse still to come? crest whitestrips has created a strip so revolutionary... you can use it while you do just about anything. it molds better... it grips better... and seals better. you can even drink water with it on. introducing new crest whitestrips advanced seal. it's an all-new technology... that molds and adheres to your teeth better... ...giving you a dramatically whiter smile. whitening that fits any life and every smile. new crest whitestrips advanced seal.

right now on msnbc saturday, democrats divided. an open feud between members of the same party over the health care bill. and now it is getting ugly. a new day, a new wrinkle. the gates controversy. what's next now that the president has stepped in again. swan song for sarah palin. the alaska governor's last weekend in office. we're going to show you how she's staying good-bye. charged up and ready to go. the international space station is getting some new juice. and a very good morning, everyone. i'm alex witt. this is msnbc saturday. 10:00 a.m. here on the east coast, 7:00 a.m. out west. first up it is sarah palin's last weekend in office. today she is meeting with rent