with the president. >> how do they do that? somebody brings around individual receipts? do they get their credit cards? how that work? >> yeah, you no, i really -- i asked a lot of questions about this because it was sort of a head scratcher for me, too, when i found out that they were doing this. and what i was told by the white house was, they actually went and got the ceos credit card information separately from the lunch. it wasn't as they they were presented with a check while there. >> so do you know how much -- >> did they -- >> did they find out afterwards? they leave the white house and all of a sudden we they'd your credit card number because we're going to charge you for the lunch? >> right. it would be surprising. i would guess they did this beforehand and worked it out on a staff-to-staff level p i don't know whether they tipped or not. how much do you tip at white house? we do know, we checked with white house yesterday, the beers at the beer summit were not

charged, those were free beer as the white house. so those were on the house, on the white house, you might say. >> on the taxpayer, i think. it's all good. come back when you find how much the lunch was worth, i'm dying to know. >> we'll figure it out. thank you. coming up in our next hour -- the scary moment that led to a terminal shut down at one of the busiest airports in the nation, just ahead on "msnbc saturday". i've been growing algae for 35 years. most people try to get rid of algae, and we're trying to grow it. the algae are very beautiful. they come in blue or red, golden, green. algae could be converted into biofuels... that we could someday run our cars on. in using algae to form biofuels, we're not competing with the food supply. and they absorb co2, so they help solve the greenhouse problem, as well. we're making a big commitment to finding out... just how much algae can help to meet... the fuel demands of the world. all you need is pantene.

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stop taking actonel and tell your doctor if you experience difficult or painful swallowing, chest pain or severe or continuing heartburn. these may be signs of serious upper digestive problems. promptly tell your doctor if you develop severe bone, joint or muscle pain, or if you develop dental problems, as serious jawbone problems have been reported rarely. call now for a free trial offer of once-a-month actonel. and help reverse bone loss. at the top of hour here on "msnbc saturday", show you pictures of the scene outside laguardia's airport, terminal c, which was closed off about two hour ago this morning. the result of one person being brought into custody. there was some sort of suspicious bag look at the terminal.

created tremendous havoc in the area. people are not able to get on to the property at the airport. they've blocked things from the grand central parkway. a live look right now. things still have yet to be cleared out though we're told terminal c may be opening up right about now because ha they discovered was one person who is in custody now had a bag full of batteries and wires. this person's being described as emotionally disturbed but after looking at everything very carefully, again, shutting down terminal c, creating havoc for planes trying to land, as well as take off at laguardia airport, this is determined to be harmless. needless to saying they had to check this out thoroughly, which they have done, getting things back to normal, that looks like that's going to take a bit of time at laguardia airport. so pack your patience as well as everything else to take with you on the trip. a scramable in washington to save the cash for clunkers program. just run out of money less than a week after it started. the house of representatives

approved a $2 billion infusion into the cash for clunker program, just to keep it going. the senate take up the vote next week. hope for the health care reform bill. >> 31-28, the bill is approved. committees? >> the house energy and commerce committee the last of three committees passes legislation clearing a major hurdle for the bill to go forward. what does the white house think about all of this? mike viqueira live at the white house. that means he's got the answers. fess up. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, alex. start with the cash for clunkers program across america dealers are moving iron. they've got people coming in to showrooms, selling cars at a rate not seen in months, perhaps not a year, and that is good news for them and good news for the administration and everybody who is a proponent of the cash for clunkers perhaps. it only started a week ago and congressional located $1 billion. they thought that would last until november 1st.

but it turns out that was not enough. and of course one short week they've almost run out of moneying by some calculations, note by dealers' calculations who are concerned they're not able to get money back, on the hook for thousands of dollars. acted with uncharacteristic alack i alackity, they left town. it's up to the senate to okay that $2 billion and send it to the president for his signature. it's going to come out of the stimulus check but everybody's saying this is one wonderfully successful program. there are 100 pem in tpeople in house, republicans, more than 300 voted for it. >> interesting. i'm curious, talk about the how they passed that, it's amazing. $2 billion, which seems like nothing to the house, government official is in mor. i'm thinking $2 million, where did they get that money from? >> reporter: the critics say it's picking favorites, industrial policy, we shouldn't

be doing it, one congressman said, what's next cash for chuckers to rescue the poultry industry. you played the committee vote last night about the health reform bill. the health insurance reform bill democrats call it these days, emphasizing changes to insurance regulation that will be realized by average americans who already have insurance and that is the emphasis now. benefit it those who have insurance and maybe pleased with the way their insurance is run, whether it's employer-provided insurance or otherwise. still a lot of hurdles to get over before this reform effort becomes a reality. they're going away now for august. they're going get hammered by all sides, will the members of the congress. who knows ha will happen when they come back, when they hope the leadership in the administration to get the health care reform bill, the health insurance bill, whatever you like, on the floor of both the house and the senate, and it's by no means a sure thing that it's going to pass by the end of the year. >> and the pacing of it, anything but speedy. thank you, mike i haviqueira.

a closer look at weekend's mad rush for the clunker cash, back to that, i'm joined live by emily heil staff writer for "roll call." good morning. >> good morning. >> now that the cash for clunkers has burned through $1 billion, should the obama administration be worried the people will say, okay, let's look at this and how this happened. the government says this, they have to come back with more money, how effectively are they running this? what's that like for my health care? >> well, i think this is a program that was a victim of its own success but comparing it to health care is a little bit apples and oranges. obviously there are very different programs and the people are looking at cash for clunkers -- chucluckers -- thera big run on dealerships. the program has run out of money and the senate, only in for

another week before they leave for august recess. there are concerns in the senate, several prominent senators are say, wait, let's take a look at this, let's maybe narrow the definition of the cars eligible. if it was so successful, maybe we should tailor it down and make these cars a little bit more energy efficient and that would reduce the number of people who are taking advantage of it and also you know increase the energy efficiency of cars on the road. but i think the senate is in the end going to feel a lot of pressure to get this done. car dealerships are on the hook and that's the thing. they're going to say, if we don't get this money out, there's no guarantee we'll be able to make good on all of these promises. >> i want to move on to health care and a related angle here. chris dodd says he has early stage prostate cancer, head of the senate banking committee. a big role in overhauling health care this fall. so, does this news affect his influence or even re-election plans at all? >> he's saying it doesn't.

he's saying this is a mild form of cancer, very treatable and it's very common. he's going to have surgery over the august recess. he's saying he's going to be leaner and meaner. that remains to be seen. of course it's interesting the role he played in the health care debate. he stood in for ted kennedy, suffering severe health problems and he stood in for senator kennedy and did a lot of the heavy lifting in the senate. his committee passed the health bill, we're wait on the senate finance committee but of course the health committee under the leadership of senator dodd completed its work. we'll have to see how his treatment goes. we'll be paying close attention to this that. he's saying it's a main minor distraction and something he can deal with over the august recess. >> thanks for your time. watch "meet the press" tomorrow tomorrow, guest larry summers director of the national economic council sunday on "meet the press." check local listings for the

time. search is on -- iran confirming it has detained three american tourists after they allegedly strayed into iran while hiking in iraq coming from iran state tv a short time ago. the iist hiking in northern iraq when they mistakenly entered the territory and troops surround them quickly. u.s. state department is investigating this report. today filipinos are mourning the death of former president corazon aquino. rose to power after 1983 assassination of her husband. she led an uprising back in 1986 that ends the repressive 20-year regime of fer nand marcos. stepped down as president in 1992. aquino died saturday after a year-long battle of cancer. she was 76. an oregon man is going to jail for relying on the power of prayer to save his infant daughter's life. the 29-year-old father sentenced

to 60 days in jail and five years probation. 15-month-old daughter lie the last year from pneumonia and a blood infection after he refused to take her to a doctor. today a new twist in the murder of a florida couple killed in a home invasion earlier this month. the man heading up the investigation now says he's looking into the possibility the murders could have been a contract killing. >> mart part of the press ses i me to ashore you we are looking into the process, we are not in any way, shape, form, or in stretch of the imagination taking that possibility or probability off the table. >> byrd and melanie billings had 17 children, many with special needs. so far, police have arrested eight people in the case. monday a los angeles judge is set to finalize katharine jackson's guardianship of michael jackson's three children. no chance for a courtroom battle over the custody, stage is set for a battle for who will potentially get control of michael jackson's estate.

monday's hearing will be addressing both issues and giving a preview of aall, courtney hazlett who joins me live from los angeles. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> okay. the battle over the control of the estate, what is katharine jackson asking for? >> right now the two people running the estate, making decisions that pertain financially to the estate, pertain to the image of michael jackson, two former business partners of his, john branca and mclean. katharine jackson wanted to be an administrator and said these guys weren't in good favor with michael jackson at the very end. i obviously am especially since she's -- she gets 40% of the estate as written in michael jackson's will. the judge said, no, for now we're putting these two guys in control and then revisit the issue on august 3rd. that's what we're going to look at permanently how will it work

out moving forward. also last week, alex, i don't know if you recall, katharine jackson asked the court for an allowance so she could have spending money for herself and michael jackson's kids. judge said no to that, too which surprised a lot of people but i think that was more about setting a press den. he's not going to make decisions early at will, you know if you ask, he'll take it if there's a court date in place, he'll address those thing on the date set forward. we'll be hearing about that, too. remember, michael jackson, though he has a lot of assets he wasn't extremely liquid. katharine jackson was being supported financial ledee to day in real money, not this he owns a percentage of, you know, sony catal catalog, but real money notice checking account. katharine's getting that from michael. figure out how she's going to be financially moving forward day to day as time moves on as well. >> by all intents and purposes she's going to have custody of the kids because that deal's worked out behind the scenes, right? >> absolutely right about that. she is going to have custody of

the kids. debbie rowe, biological mother of the two older children, will be able to have visitation rights. she's not giving up her parental claim to the kids. so there will be moving forward visits between debbie and two biological kids supervised by child psychologists and make sure they're meaningful visits meaning that they're not contentious, frequency is appropriate and the right questions are being asked. >> okay. courtney hazlett, thanks as always. check with you again soon. it is part of the next chapter in the life of ex-conmichael vick. a hometown celebration. octomom having second thoughts but do they include regret for having so many children? before that the threat of homegrown terror, a greater threat of americans turning on americans?

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there's growing concern about homegrown terrorists here in the united states. in a recent interview, eric holdhol holder expressed concern of radicalization of americans. seven people arrested in north carolina accuse of plotting terror attacks overseas. prosecutors say the ring leader trained in terror camps in pakistan and afghanistan, with the intent of waging a violent jihad. now the arrest follows other recent case of homegrown terror in florida, michigan, new jersey, washington state, and south carolina. joining us to talk about it, msnbc terrorism analyst evan kohlmann. with a good morning to you. all of these arrests under the cloak of homegrown terrorists. what do you make of this? where are we going? where are we coming from here? >> it's important, first of all to understand number one al qaeda has attempted toen courage people to do this. not necessarily to do it with

their foreknowledge but follow down their path, even if it means independently. take the ideology and run with it. >> do they put out messages? come to our camps? >> it's through video recordings, books, audio recordings. i would not be at all surprised in this case if we find out these individuals had collections of terrorist propaganda, just if we look based alone at the locations they were trying to get to. going to the gaza trip to join a jihady faction in 2007, this is not something that everybody's going to be familiar with. sound like somebody's who plugged into the internet world of jihad, the kind of video propaganda coming out because there has been a lot of propaganda foe cutting on the idea of al qaeda cells in gaza strip and that's something only someone coming from that kind of background would have the idea to go do. we'll have to see. again, you know, it's interesting, you see people with unusual background, you see somebody who comes from a totally american background,

someone of kosovo background. that is the background we're seeing in homegrown cells. >> do you get a sense that al qaeda is targeting americans specifically or just -- yes. >> it is americans specifically? >> absolutely so. look at adam gadahn alone, the guy from southern california, the american guy, who now app r appears regularly in al qaeda video recordings. >> like a spokesperson for them. >> exactly, chief spokesperson, speaking in english. what al qaeda has said, amongst itself is, that this guy, he's not so effective when talking about palestine or talking about afghanistan but he's tremendously effective when he's speaking english, speaking to american audience, and it's no coincidence videos of ga dan have turned up in every single homegrown terrorist case in the u.s. and uk, ft. dix indicate.

the defendant had tons of videos of adam gadahn and similar propaganda. >> how dangerous do you qualify homegrown terrorists being? >> they're not al qaeda, they're not team a and they're not team b, they're team cp some of them are aspirational and ability to cause serious damage or catastrophic violence is in doubt. if you look at the folks in the uk, the glassgo cell, they set themselves on fire, they made a scene, didn't hurt anybody. but that was just luck. that was not by design. these guys by miracle didn't hurt anyone. they had intent to kill a large number of people, the idea is to kill a large number of people, for the most part, anyway. the problem is if they don't have expertise, the training, when you have that kind of intent and access to automatic

weapons it not difficult to see how this can lead down a road where you know there are serious security concerns. >> sure. and dumb luck, boy, you've got a bad situation. >> exactly. >> evan kohlmann, many thanks. on the rebound, why is president obama encouraged about where the economy may be headed. keeping quiet. sarah palin goes silent. welcome to the now network. right now five co-workers are working from the road using a mifi, a mobile hotspot that provides up to five shared wifi connections. two are downloading the final final revised final presentation. - one just got an e-mail. - what?! - huh? - it's being revised again. the co-pilot is on mapquest. - ( rock music playing ) - and tom is streaming meeting psych-up music from meltedmetal.com. that's happening now with the new mifi from sprint, the mobile hotspot that fits in your pocket. sprint. the now network. deaf, hard of hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com.

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let's goat to the lateest economic news. a nail biter on wall street, on friday the markets responded favorably to the news the economy's shrinking at a slower than expected pace. there was big drama during the final half hour when the dow dipped close to negative territory. the dow rallied big to cap the week up, 0.2 and finishing this month up more than 700 points.

v vera gibbons. >> good morning. >> the dow, the best in 20 years. >> '91-'71. 10,000 potentially. earnings have been good and economic data have been good, suggesting the recession is easing and happier times are ahead. we could stay on this path, looking ahead to next week, we have more data out, the consumer spending, auto sales month pnd . we have the jobs report, all eyes will be on that. will this rally has legs or a sucker's rally it looks sustainable. >> what is the one that you look at and this says everyone the recession is winding down. >> you nailed it when you said the gdp number, showing the economy contracted at a slower pace, 1% in the second quarter. first three months of the year, that was down 6.4%, the economy shrank at a pace of -- it's crazy numbers here. that was the steepest in 30 years. so this really the gdp number is the strongest signal that the recession, which has been around

since december 2007, is slowing down, winding down. >> you don't say it's good news because it's not positive. it's just saying, it's better than expected. >> it's less bad. >> how long have we been saying that? >> for a while. >> unemployment 9.5% and many say it's only a matter time before we reach 10%. what do you see for the end of the year? >> headed higheren the unemployment rate, headed to the double digits, toward the end of the year. fed saying over 10% dward ttowa end of the year. companies will not hire in gang buster until they see recovery has staying power. you'll see more job cuts and rising unemployment, and that's -- that can happen as the economy recovers. >> vera gibbons, you had to throw in that little bit. >> oh, now, now alex. >> better news next weekend, got it? cost of living one of the factor considered in forbes' magazine new list of the cities for

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let's run a free upgrade check. see if you're due for a new smartphone. don't i need to go to my carrier's store for that? no, you don't have to. we sell phones and plans on all the major networks. ok. well, is time travel possible? yes, i am from the future. announcer: phones, plans, and advice from thousands of people eager to help. msnbc the place for politics. new poll data showing president's job approval rating hitting all-time lows. surveys compiled by pollster.com the approval rating stand as the 52.1%. when the president took office he had an average rating of high of 60s. joined by ed o'keeffe, political reporter for thewashingtonpost.com and writes the iblog for the "the washington post." good morning. >> good morning.

>> is this the end of sort of a post-elections honeymoon phase or is there something larger the president should be concerned about here? >> no, the honeymoon's over and he's settling in to being president and most things are his responsibility and he's starting to get the blame and the idea that they can blame this on the bush administration as they have for the first six months is basically over. and people are starting to give him ownership of all of the successes and failures of the federal government. look, he's had some good successes early. looks as if some point later there will be health care reform that most americans, many americans will be pleased with. he remains the most popular politician on average in the united states and the one with the largest voice box. generally you look at all of the polling that's come out in the last few weeks that suggest people like him personally, have concerns and issues with the way he's handled specific issues but heiss only human and settling into a normal time in his presidency post-honeymoon.

>> people may not approve of the job he's doing, 58% have somewhat or positive feelings towards the commander in chief, 34% describe feeling as negative. asked how likable he is, scale of one to five, five being the best, 73% gave him a four or a five. it's not that people doesn't like him. >> it's the concern over things like health care, it's the concern over promises made about economic stimulus that have yet to come true. concern perhaps the administration and congress aren't going to be able to figure out the economic situation fast enough. you know, if things like unemployment top 10%, that will be something that people will be concerned about and probably give him a lot of the blame. and there are any number of things that could pop up. he's the president. he gets all the blame or the credit, and these days there's plenty of things to be concerned about and it rests with him. >> is there anything to be taken with a drop in popularity what it means for the president's big

initiatives like health care reform? does it play into it at all? >> i think he has to be very careful to continue working with democrats who are invulnerable reelections races congressional democrats, moderate democrats, blue dog democrats that have become much of the focus here in washington, because you're going to need those kinds of allies to stay with you and you're going to have to be able to remain popular in their districts and whatnot, in the coming year, as they go home and try to justify standing with this president in many different ways. august is going to be an interesting month. it will definitely end the mo h honeymoon because lawmakers have to explain themselves for what happened in the last seven months and many will say, mr. president, you've got to be careful on certain things or things are going well in my district, keep up what you're doing. keep an eye specially on moderate and conservative democrat as they near

re-election. are they still with him? are they raising more questions? can they afford to do that? >> it's a guarantee that there won't be a unified voice when people come back from vacation. for your daily political fix on the web, logon to firstread.msnbc.com. it has been a week since sarah palin stepped down from office and she hasn't posted a single facebook update or tweet since redesigning as alaska's governor. rumored she'd be making appearance august 8th but the spokeswoman says she never committed to that event and in fact she won't be going. right now, the trial of amanda knox is on i a long summer break. while court is not back in session until september, new questions being raised how that trial was conducted. joining me live is clint van zandt. a former fbi profiler, also an msnbc analyst. and also spent time over there in p

peruse shah, talking with players in the investigate. with that being said, welcome back to you, wit the prosecution and the defense having rested their cases now if you could counsel them, what would you have them focus on when they come back in september for respective closing arguments? >> well, they've got a couple of tough things. number one, they've got to deal with physical evidence, does for example the mixed blood in the bathroom that supposedly amanda knox's and mer dit kercher's, the victiming dug that amanda was at the crime scene at the time? the blood was there that morning the time of the murder. there are many inconsistencies that both sides have to deal with. you know, it's like the o.j. simpson glove or other things like this. things are going to have to be explained physically as far as blood, telephone, computer records. but the other big side of this is personality, is the jury going to buy in that what the

media calls the angel face american, amanda knox, does she come across as somebody who could never participate in this? is her only crime that she's young, she was smoking pot and got her story screwed up, or was she really trying to blame others? did she try to throw her boss under the bus? did she try to make it look like her boyfriend did the murder and put the knife in amanda's hand when she slept to get her dna on it? which story do we believe? this is going to be the challenge for the prosecution, the defense and the jury. who do you trust? >> when you have evidence, clint, and you have physical evidence and you know, dna and scientific evidence that is irrefutable, how much does that play into things and add that with circumstantial evidence, do you see this case as having a e definitive outcome or left in the air.

>> i think it's left up in the air. which expert dozen you trust on the dna, telephones, computers? we have nobody who says amanda knox and her boyfriend, raphael, were together the night of the murder away from the crime scene except the two of them. no outside witnesses. and raphael's statement that i was on the internet all night watching movies and the cell phone talking to my dad all of that's been disproved. so, alex, there's a lot of lies. why lie? no matter how bad the truth is, say you know what? we stayed up all night in each other's embrace smoking pot, that's how we spent the night, period. people have the right to learn, when you have the right to remain silent, sometimes you ought to shut up. as much as you want the truth, if somebody lies to me that gives me the chance to get in and find out what the truth might be based upon the lie. that's what's happened in this case. >> i can't tell you how many times i've had defense attorneys sitting on the set, karen de soto, one of them on with us,

saying can you say shut up? stop talking. >> zip a lip. >> everyone but you. love your words there. thank you for sharing. appreciate it. >> thanks. sobering new words from the woman known as octomom. nadya suleman tells us weekly magazine she made a mistake having so many kids. in the wide ranging interview, suleman describes an incredible existence including loneliness, crying spells and $30,000 in monthly expenses. nadia regrets not having a father around for the children and not being able to spend more time with all of her children. admitting raising so many kids is a struggle, suleman maintains she's happy to have all of her kids. from family man to man about town, the latest word on jon minus kate, that's coming up. before that, potential request for help in afghanistan. president obama might not want to hear. h whoa! honey honey honey honey honey!

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the top u.s. commander in afghanistan looking to change the strategy there, according to "the washington post," general stanley mcchrystal, who recently took charge of the u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan, is likely to ask for more combat troops there. and that's in addition to the 68,000 troops already approved by president obama. joining us here is retired army colonel and msnbc analyst jack jacobs. another good morning to you. >> good morning. >> how likely is it that the president will approve even more combat troops? >> he may eventually have to. when mcchrystal stays 68,000 troops are not enough to accomplish the mission in afghanistan, which is the mission the president said was the most important national security mission dpronting us i think the likelihood that is eventually he'll get what he needs. if he doesn't get what he needs, then i think we are not going to be able to accomplish the

mission and nobody wants that. >> but so those troops don't come out of thin air, where do they come from? >> one place they could come from is iraq. we've got 130,000 troops in iraq. a drawdown, the president's said so. a timetable for it. it's been arranged. boy 2011, almost all of -- certainly all of the combat troops will be out of there and there will be some troops left to assist the iraqis probably. but that's where they could come from. a lot not going on with american troops over in iraq but there's a lot going on in afghanistan and could come from iraq. >> do i take it from what you're saying you agree with colonel reese, the senior military adviser there from american baghdad, he says, it's time for the u.s. to declare victory and go home? >> well, it's kind of interesting that that statement he lifted from senator george aiken, republican of vermont, who said exactly the same thing in 1966, as i was coming into the army, and he was saying it

about vietnam. i didn't leave vietnam until 1973. i guess nobody was listening in then. they took a look, reese, what was go on in iraq, he's senior adviser in baghdad for the iraqi/baghdad command and said, look, weave done 0% of what we're able to accomplish with iraqis and we've got too many troops in iraq and not enough in other places. probably a report, colonel reese's observations, and he said, look, the iraqis are not going to get a lot better over time. and i think he's probably right. everybody i talked to in iraq and in washington who's taking a close look at situation in iraq are saying basically the same thing, this is about as good as the iraqis are going to get and we probably can get some of the resources for afghanistan from iraq. >> all right. colonel jack jacobs, we'll see if that happens. thank you very much. we'll get you to weigh in later.

in for the latest with what's happening in afghanistan, check out msnbc.com. soon, jon and indicate plus eight can get bigger. fans are waiting the new episode. a lot going on with gosselin gang, especially with jon he's been to europe and taken on as many as two girlfriends. could we see his girlfriends on the show? the latest on kate? "in touch's" senior editor, tom o'neal. >> not your favorite story. >> i cannot stand this story. although i will say this drama is making it just for than watching the demise of a bad marriage, which i could not stand watching on television. how do you think this new drama's going to show up on tv? >> all we know is that the iconic couch is done that we used to see the marriage disinvolsolve in, they're in see chairs not in the same place at same time, see them parentally

separately. the big question, the remain, how much of the shenanigans will get on the show. so far they're saying none but leaving the door openen. the show's popularity, by all accounts peep who have tried to convince me to become a fan or watch it they say it's the kids that are so darn cute. do they remain at center of the show? >> not at all. it's all about jon and kate and the frikds. the story's what's go on with jon outside as he begins a new life remaining a dad. that's the big mistake they're making with the show, not letting us see that. now, get this week's "in touch weekly" follow romances with kaly and kate. it's complicated but dishy. watching the show because of the melodrama, that's where it's happening. >> what is it about his new life? tell me what's go on there? two new loves or one? >> two, went off of haley to san troe pay, proposed him-to-her. >> what? >> then kind of backed out of

it, then with kate last week caught him in the hamptons juggling phone calls between the two. he's confused. she's lashed out at him and told entertainment weekly this is recklessing, irresponsible. there are sparks flying. >> all the reasons you love this. >> thank you very much, tom o'neal. can't wait to get more. anyway, a park place changing the parkway for people driving hybrid carrs. er it's easier being green on "msnbc saturday". good saturday morning. i'm meteorologist bill. all of the rain and thunderstorms in east yesterday is clearing out. should be a nice day today from new england down through the mid-atlantic even down to florida, not bad. just a stray shower or two.

thunderstorms, though, the problem area, oklahoma through texas, and that will move into louisiana later on this afternoon. have a great day. wow, is this... fiber one honey clusters? yes. it's delicious. delicious. i know. but it can't have... can't have about half a day's worth of fiber? i assure you it does. i was expecting... expecting sawdust and cardboard? i know. i can only taste... only taste the crunchy clusters, honey, and brown sugar. no madam, i don't have esp. ok. i'll take a box, but you probably already knew that. (announcer) fiber one. cardboard no. delicious yes. ♪ ♪ i got troubles, oh ♪ but not today ♪ 'cause they're gonna wash away ♪ ♪ this old heart ♪ gonna take them away [ quacks ]

in texas, another good reason to switch to fuel efficient hybrid vehicles. a couple of towns there are now offering special hybrid only parking privileges at the mall in downtown. it's a new idea, and some residents are finding it hard to get up to speed on these new regulations.

>> i don't mind people that drive the little priuss and stuff, but i have four kids, and i just can't see, you know, get around town in those. it's kind of discriminatory. >> the idea may be gaining traction as local governments, but some residents are really ticked off. they say they will happily park their suvs in those spots just to make a point. oh, look out for that. meantime, summer is now on sale. significant savings on airfare, hotels, fall packages. they are yours for the taking. it's not too late to get away from it all for a whole lot less. travel experiod valerie delia joins me now. a very good morning to you. >> good morning. >> i want to talk about a couple good places. deals in miami, florida. the whole city is on sale? >> the entire city is on sale in august. it is hot, it is humid, but it is sultry, it is sexy, and it is on sale, and they have buy three get one free deals at hotels. so for instance at the v. ocean hotel on south beach, $450. that's not just for a night. that's for four nights for the

room. >> really? >> that's a hotel promo. then it is also spa month where spa treatments across the city at participating spas are on sale half off. $99 treatments. >> whoo. >> and then it's restaurant month on top of that. so there's prefixed lunches and dinners across 80 restaurants in the city. $22 for lunch. $35 for dinner. >> wow. >> so it's fantastic. it is off-season there. it's the height of off-season. >> it's hot. >> it's hot. it's hurricane season. but you need to determine, is it worth the risk. >> yep. >> to travel there. >> you don't want to got to hot and sultry, you can do montreal which is a bit better weatherwise. >> that is the paris of north america. the sidewalk cafes. you know, most people speak french, so it has that voi deviv, and they have what's known as a sweet deal promo and it's half off your second or third night, or a full night free, your third night.

depending on which hotel that you're staying at. and there's a list of participating hotels. then they'll throw in little perks, do you want breakfast, valley parking, internet access or even a late checkout and they'll throw these little perks in there. remember this, you also off the bat, it's 10% to 15% cheaper because our dollar now is stronger in canada. but you do need a passport to fly there. it's a six-hour drive from new york city, so it's very accessible. >> yeah, absolutely. but again that passport could be minded for that. how about deals noveling norway, greenland? >> well there is a cruise line called hurta grueten, a kind of unfortunate name. they do great expeditions. it's the former norwegian coastal voyages. they have a repositioning cruise and it goes from greenland for 18 days down to new york. and it's only $236 a night per person, and that's all inclusive.

that's your airfare up to copenhagen. from copenhagen you fly charter down to greenland, and then you sail around these fjords and you visit inuit villages and make your way down to canada, and then from canada you make your way down to new york. all your meals k4ruded. these little excursions and polar sickle rubber boats, it's really fantastic. this is one of these dream vacations. you need to have a lot of time. this is 67% off what it normally is. >> london, as well, is offering deals? that's been pricey when i've been there recently. >> london now is the cheapest it's been since 1985. we're seeing a 25% cheaper as far as -- it's cheaper to see billy elliot there than it is here. pints in the pub are cheaper, and the marriott hotels have a 25% off deal throughout 14 of their marriotts for midweek stays. so it's a really good time to go to london right now.

>> okay, where are we going? thanks. >> we'll go right away. >> thanks so much. still ahead the lowdown on the download free loader. busted for big bucks. we'll explain right here. we're out here 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? (announcer) ask your doctor how to help treat oeoporosis with once-a-month actonel. actonel is clinically proven to help increase bone rength to help prevent fractures. so you can get back so of what you lost. do not take actonel if you have low blood calcium, severe kidney disease, or cannot sit or stand for 30 minutes. follow all dosing instructions. stop taking actonel and tell your doctor if you experience difficult or paiul swallowing, chest pain or severe or continuing heartburn. these may be signs of serious upper digestive problems. promptly tell your doctor if you develop severe bone, joint or muscle pain, or if you develop dental problems, as serious jawbone problems have been reported rarely.

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