right now on msnbc saturday, running on empty. will cash for clunkers survive after the weekend? we'll tell you about the strings being pulled to keep it in place. the president's health care plan. clearly a -- rather clearing a key hurdle on capitol hill. we are live with those details. and octomom, looking back and having regrets. today she is shedding light on her life as a single mom of 14. a very good saturday morning to all of you, i'm alex witt. we've all that, plus another attempt to smooth things over in the flap over the arrest of a harvard professor. this time it is flowers instead of beer. we're going to explain all that. but first the health reform bill finally made it through the

health -- committee last night much later than the house -- white house had expected. we're getting a statement from the president about the vote. let's go right to the white house. nbc's mike vaccer ra, who is at his post there. let's get the white house reaction. what is it, mike? >> well, they're very pleased. of course, it falls short of their original goal that was announced some weeks ago. they wanted a vote in the full house. they went on recess, that didn't happen. stayed up late last night, had that vote in committee, and then they hit it to the airport, alex. they're gone. they're not coming back until after labor day in the house. the senate is here for another week. the white house wanted votes in both the house and the senate. that didn't happen. there have been a number of hurdles here. there's been a lot of intraparty fighting among democrats, between those conservive blue dogs between liberals over the public option, how it's paid for, how doctors are reimbursed under medicare. all kinds of in the weeds details. meanwhile the president has continued his sales job, he went to north carolina, then to bristol, virginia, way down on

the tennessee border, and talked about his health care reform program. he doesn't call that anymore. they're calling it a health insurance reform program. because they're trying to emphasize the benefits of his legislation to people who already have insurance, who might be happy with their insurance, who are feeling a lot of trepidation, a lot of ambiguity, a lot of anxiety about what's going to happen to their relationship with their doctor. what's going to happen to their insurance program, how they get reimbursed. president said it's all going to work out. their costs will likely go down. they'll probably have more efficient care. have to undergo fewer tests as a result of this. the fight continues and will continue now into september, when congress returns. alex? >> mike, want to get to cash for clunkers, because the house of representatives wants $2 billion for that program that just ran out of money a mere week after it started. what's the white house saying to car dealers, who you can bet have customers on their doorsteps right now? >> that's a high-class problem, isn't it, alex? this thing has been wildly popular. it is a success.

what has happened a week into the program, they're moving the iron, as they say in the auto dealer industry. people are in the dealerships. they're taking advantage of this. you can get up to $4500 cash on the barrelhead if you go in there and you trade in a car that you've owned for at least a year, for a car that gets 28 miles per gallon combined highway and city, and people are taking advantage of it. congress originally allocated a billion dollars for this. they thought that billion dollars would last until november 1st. it lasted exactly one week. the program started a week ago, and now all of a sudden thursday night, everybody's raising red flags, including the dealerships who are on the hook for all these thousands of dollars that's supposed to be reimbursed by the government. they're wondering, is it going to run out of money? lo and behold the congress leaps into action, alex, yesterday passing $2 billion more for the program. they're taking it out of the stimulus. the senate has yet to act, as i said, they're here for another week. in the meantime, you can expect dealerships to be flooded with potential customers this weekend. everybody saying that is good news. almost everybody. a lot of conservative republicans voted against this

yesterday. but it did pass overwhelmingly in the houptds, with more than 300 votes. alex? >> okay, mike viqueira at the white house. as always, many thanks. developing right now here in new york, police say a bomb scare at laguardia's airport's main terminal, terminal "c" is now over. a man described as emotionally disturbed apparently entered the terminal with a fake bomb this morning. that man is now in custody. the terminal was evacuated. it stayed shut down for a couple of hours. most of that terminal is now open again. a stretch of one concourse serving three airlines will remain cordoned off as a crime scene. today a new twist in the murder of a florida couple killed 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. >> part of this process is for me to assure you that we are, in fact, looking at this, that we want to assure the citizens of escambia county that we are not in any way, shape, form or any stretch of the imagination taking that possibility or

probability off the table. >> byrd and melanie billings had 17 children, many of them with special needs. so far police have arrested eight people in that case. today, a lawyer for one of michael jackson's former doctors is speaking out, saying his client warned the pop star about the dangers of propofol. that drug now at the center of jackson's death investigation. msnbc.com entertainment correspondent courtney hazlett is joining me live from los angeles with the very latest. so with a good morning to you again, courtney. >> good morning. >> what can you tell us about this doctor? >> well, this doctor, dr. allen met garr, he now becomes the fourth doctor that we know of who has been subpoenaed in some connection with michael jackson's death. i'm told the total number could be somewhere near five or six doctors altogether. this is the fourth now that we definitely know of. his attorney said this, jackson was looking for propofol, and dr. metzger turned him down and advised him how dangerous it was. apparently jackson was shopping around for the drug and looking

for someone to administer it to him. definitely dovetailed with everything we've been hearing all along, which was jackson was asking people for the drug. he had been told repeatedly that it was dangerous. and he shouldn't have it. and -- but he finally did find someone who was administer to it -- administer that drug to him, and that's dr. conrad murray. >> okay. so what more details are we learning about him today? >> well, we found out, i don't know last night on "dateline" we found out dr. murray was giving jackson propofol almost nightly for more than a month. we're finding out also that he didn't have the traditional precautionary measures in jackson's home that you would typically have in a hospital setting if you were to administer this drug. for example, there was no resuscitation equipment. none of the drugs that are used in o.r.s that bring your heart back in case there's some sort of cardiac event. he didn't have those on hand, either. so it's looking worse and worse for dr. murray. i think that's definitely a fair thing that we can say right now.

but, until there are charges, you know, he's just a doctor who was doing, truthfully, what's within the letter of the law. that propofol is not a substance that's regulated in a way other substances are, and it's just an unusual way to administer it. it's not that it's technically illegal. so until there are charges, it's difficult to know how to categorize dr. murray exactly. >> okay. let's move from there to the custody battle which, is it over, courtney? i mean the fact that they came to an out-of-court settlement between debbie rowe and katherine jackson, is it a done deal? >> it's pretty much a done deal. unless there's some sort of unforeseen circumstance that comes up. yes, it's over. as our sources have been telling us all along, this wasn't about any additional money for debbie rowe. this was about making sure that the spousal agreement that was in place prior to jackson's death was upheld after his death. but most importantly, what we got now are visitation rights for debbie rowe. she's going to be able to visit with her two kids. that will be prince and paris, for those who don't know, and

she's going to do it in the company of a child psychologist, or child psychiatrist. so it's going to be the type of visits that are really controlled. that are respectful. that are in the best interest, especially, of the kids. so, a lot of people are saying, why does she want to be part of their lives now? you know what, that's irrelevant as far as i'm concerned. the bottom line is, the court, the family, debbie rowe, they're all trying to do what's best for paris and prince. >> okay. why did katherine jackson want to be part of the controlling of the estate? there are two people in place to do that already. >> two people in place to do it according to a will signed in 2002, alex. remember, michael jackson told people near him that he had new wills, and some of those wills didn't include the two people who are now in control of his estate. john branca and john maclean. so katherine jackson put herself forward saying she wanted to be part of this. we can go into more detail about this later. but there is a huge financial benefit to being one of those administers that would be in

addition to being someone who's just a beneficiary of the will. so it's something that i think is definitely fair for katherine jackson to ask for and her attorneys, up until this point, haven't made an argument convincing for the judge. on august 3rd they'll be revisiting that. >> courtney hazlett, thank you so much. let's go to the weather. in at least five northeast states, big cleanup number way. strong storms knocked down trees and limbs in beverly, massachusetts and knocked out power for nearly 30,000 residents there. the top u.s. commander in afghanistan is looking to change the strategy there. according to "the washington post," general stanley mcchrystal, who recently has taken charge of the u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan, is likely to ask for more combat troops there. that is in addition to the 68,000 troops already approved by president obama. joining us here in studio, retired army colonel and military analyst jack jacobs. and colonel, another good morning to you. he's already said i'll give you 68,000. how likely is it he'll approve even more? >> right away, probably not.

because it's going to be something of a public relations disaster. to admit publicly that 68,000 is not enough. but eventually he's going to have to get the troops he's asking for, because i don't think that they can accomplish -- he can accomplish the mission, and i think general petraeus, his boss, also doesn't think that the mission can be accomplished in afghanistan without additional troops. and probably a lot of additional troops. >> okay. a lot of additional troops. where do they come from? is it iraq? or is it home? or where? >> i think it's going to be iraq. a lot of them are probably going to come from iraq. we rotate units around. i think some of the units in iraq that have been there only a relatively short period of time, and therefore have maybe a year or so or nine months left on their deployment, those from probably going to be the units that wind up going to afghanistan. undoubtedly going to get some marine units, which is originally with general petraeus wanted to come from iraq, marine units from iraq to go to afghanistan, so it will be units

probably from iraq. there may be some rotations from the states. units that have been in the states for quite some time. but we've got more, probably more troops now in iraq than are required by the combat mission, and not enough troops in afghanistan that are required by the combat mission. >> all right. colonel jack jacobs thanks for telling us from your perspective. coming up on msnbc saturday, a peachy moment or a missed opportunity? we will take a critical look at the president's beer summit. also more on the push to get cash for clunkers to survive after this weekend. we're going to tell you about the strings being pulled to keep it in place here on msnbc saturday. having the right tools is crucial to being able to manage your diabetes properly. it's very important for me to uh check my blood sugar before i go ontage. being on when i'm feeling low can be like a rollercoaster. it does at times feel like my body is telling me to do one thing... and, my mind, my heart is telling me to do something else. managing my highs and lows is super important.

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msnbc is the place for politics, and the white house

says don't worry, that cash for clunkers may be running out of money. if you have an old gas guzzler lying around and you trade it in this weekend, you will be eligible for up to $4500 off your new car, courtesy of the government. another $2 billion for the program is in the works but some senators say enough with all this spending. i'm joined from nbc's chicago bureau by nbc contributor jim warren who has turned back up, wearing a soccer shirt. representing what team? >> cash for clunkers program was inspired by the germans earlier this year. so that's where germany's most famous soccer team bay enmunchen a couple years ago. they were sponsored by opel. presumably a whole lot of opels have been sold. the germans put aside $7 billion since germany. we put aside one and that $7 billion is running out by now. >> all right. well i see there's a method to your madness. let's get to this. jim, the cash for clunkers program seemingly burned right through a billion dollars. took less than a week to do it.

what do you think in terms of how the administration and everybody went towards this program? i mean, a billion dollars, obviously in hindsight you could say that wasn't enough. could you maybe have foreseen that was just a tiny drop in the bucket of what it might have taken to get this thing through? >> not quite. in late june i was actually a beneficiary of the program. a couple of days after obama signed the legislation. i was looking to trade in our '97 jeep cherokee which supposedly gets 18 miles to the gallon. i thought it got about 300 yards to the gallon. we traded it in for a honda suv which got 22, and the dealer, though the program wasn't actually in force yet, was willing to give us $2500. i scouted a whole bunch of chicago dealers, alex, and this is the heart of car country in the midwest, nobody had a clue that this was going to be as big as it was. they were all frustrated that people weren't coming to the showrooms in late june, because they were holding off because they had heard about this program. but no, i think this is beyond

anybody's expectations. and you really can't fault them. and to give the transportation department its due, by the time we're speaking right now they had double the number of folks who are, and they are in a deal with oracle, the double the number of folks dealing with the website and processing all those vouchers from the dealers. and you can be the first to know, according to high-ranking transportation department person with whom i spoke just an hour ago, that their estimate at this moment is that 80% of the cars which have been traded in this week were trucks. so it looks like they were bona fide guzzlers which are being taken off the road. >> wow. that's going to make those concerned about the environment very happy for sure. bottom line real quick. program is a success. is there any room for failure here? >> huge success. a lot of pressure on folks in the senate next week, particularly republicans who might be a little bit wary of spending all this money. but they've got dealers in their backyard. they're going to be pressured to vote for this.

big tactical question is whether senators feinstein of california, and snowe of maine will be able to get some changes in the rules of the road, as far as the mileage restrictions. they think that 22 miles or so is way to low and you've got to heighten that number so we get real, much better fuel efficient cars out there. >> okay. >> they may get some changes. but i don't think they're going to be able to hold this up for too much. there are going to be huge lines at dealerships around the country today. >> there sure will. okay, jim, that's it for this segment. next time i'm going to ask you about sarah palin from whom we have not heard a peep or tweet this week. talk to you next hour. watch "meet the press" tomorrow, everyone. david gregory's guest will be larry summers, director of the national economic council this sunday on "meet the press." check your local listings for that time. today the woman whose 911 call set off the controversy involving the harvard protester and the cambridge police sergeant is calling the flowers

sent to her by professor henry louis gates jr. a quote, gesture of gratitude. gates sent along those flowers with a note to lucia whalen's home. there's no word on what the note said. earlier this week the case of the 911 call revealed whalen never described gates or his driver as being black. and today, thursday's so-called beer summit is getting new attention on the op-ed pages of both "the new york times" and "the washington post." "the new york times'" bob herbert writes the president of the united states has suggested that we use these flare-up as a teachable moment but so far exactly the wrong lessons are being drawn from it, especially for black people. the message that's gone out to the public is that the powerful and african-american leaders like mr. gates and president obama will be slapped down for speaking up and speaking out about police misbehavior. then in "the washington post," colbert king writes unfortunately obama the politician trumped obama the law professor and he punted on the opportunity to teach an important lesson to the american people about the first amendment, police powers and citizens' rights.

let's bring in carl jeffers right now. good morning, carl, good to see you. >> hi, alex. great to join you again this weekend. >> i'm glad you're here. can i get your reaction to all this? do you think the opportunity of the so-called teachable moment has been missed? >> well, first of all, let's say very clearly that the note that professor gates sent to the lady who called in on 911 was the best thing that he's done in this entire incident. she deserves accolades for how she handled herself, and she should not be receiving any criticism any more that's directed to the so-called neighbor. it turns out, she acted flawlessly and that was exactly the proper conduct and she demonstrated no signs of racism in how she called in that report. >> i've got to agree that was a real class act on behalf of him for him to put that out there. that was a good move. so keep going. >> okay, don't worry about that. no problem. the next thing is, in terms of

the teachable moment aspect of this, listen, the problem now is that professor gates and sergeant crowley have moved so far beyond the reality of what we're dealing with in terms of the original problem, which is racial profiling, that they have really only become symbolic. i mean, frankly, alex, within the year, sergeant crowley may very well resign, and frankly join sean hannity and sarah palin on the lecter circuit making speeches and making millions of dollars. professor gates probably as a result of this will never be racially profiled again in his life whereas i can walk out of the studio and it might happen. that's why it's so unrealistic anymore what the experience is that they're having. alex, when is the last time you know of any african-american or white american who was originally the suspect in a potential burglary or break-in, and then ultimately winds up celebrating the event at a beer festival at the white house, with the president and the vice president of the united states, in good company with the

arresting officer? that doesn't happen. >> it doesn't happen. >> and it takes us off of the issue. >> the thing is, there is a unique situation, because the president did insert himself. it's all unique because the president of the united states is black. i mean this whole teachable moment concept, do you think the whole country is looking at this situation a bit differently because the president is involved? are people giving this a harder look or not? >> well, actually, alex, that's the part of this that i applaud. in other words, the beer fest was actually almost incidental. it was a peripheral action later on that only added celebrity status. when the president stepped in, at the end of this press conference, and made the comment, whether you agree with it or not, that the police actions in cambridge, that the police department acted stupidly, it was that comment, alex, that brought this issue back to the national foregrant. it was dying as an issue, really, and that made it an issue for a national

conversation. and it was fascinating to me that much of the media looked at the beer meeting at the white house and saying, this hopefully will defuse the issue. i don't want the issue defused. i want to light a fuse on the national conversation that we need to have, and the president, by just stepping in, and only an african-american president would have likelien able to do it in that way, has at least created the opportunity for us to have the kind of conversation that we need not from skipping from one racial incident to the next, and then in the between letting things return to normal, but we need this conversation on an ongoing basis, alex, so that reasonable people, you and i, can sit and we can talk about it, share grievances, and concerns, and misconceptions, and try to get a better understanding and bring all of us to better. >> carl, how best is it to get that out there? do you do it on a federal level, a national level? or if you believe the saying that all politics is local and all situations being local, you have those locals okay get the president there, as well, but

these two men talking to each other, what the cambridge police department is doing, they're having a seminar. they're going to put out a forum to have people talking. is that what you want to see more of, the local stuff or the national stuff? >> i want to see every stuff. >> all of it. >> i want to see everybody stepping, all of us walking hand in hand. because that's the only way, this problem is so difficult to grasp. and it is so hurtful and painful and has been essentially entrenched in the american culture of race relations for so long, and what's important, alex, is that we enlist the generations of white mainstream independents, moderates, and liberals, and well-meaning americans to understand that it's an important issue. the fact is, they were at one point, people were arguing who introduced first the race issue? sergeant crowley or professor gates? my argument is, we don't give points for who introduces race first or we don't take away points if we prove that you didn't. race was in the issue of that incident before either one of

them started talking to each other. and that's why we need to have a better understanding. i'll give you a specific example. >> real quick. >> the president in the press conference he made the issue a national concern by raising it in his comments. the next day the president flew to ohio, he had a town hall conference to talk about health care, and we need a lot more talk about health care because that's a very problematic issue for the president, at that town hall we had the perfect forum to now start and launch the national conversation about race. a mixed audience, predominantly white in a state that is very mainstream. we need that all over the country. you want to have beer fests, fine. let's open up the bars in america on saturdays. let's invite people in, and let whites and blacks, they want to have beer and whatever else that they will serve to the president and the vice president, serve that to everybody, and start talking about it and the best way to start sleting people start first with their grievances alex. >> i -- >> the things that bother them about imams and stereotypes.

that's how we can start moving forward. >> i want to thank you for bringing the conversation. moving it forward. i can't believe it's only 7:25. you are up and ready to go. carl jeffers, good to see you. >> my pleasure. >> coming up here on msnbc saturday, a lot happening next week in the jackson family saga. we're going to have a look at what's at stake when the family heads to court. (announcer) don't go unnoticed don't blend in don't be ordinary, boring or bland in other words don't be so mayo we are our unique one of a kind flavor we are miracle whip and we will not tone it down

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msnbc is the place for politics. and the white house says if you've got an old clunker of a car you can definitely trade it in this weekend. but then after sunday it's unclear, since the program has reportedly burned right through

a billion dollars in cash in less than a week. the house has approved $2 billion more for the program. no vote yet from the senate but that is expected this week. i'm joined live from d.c. by my boys, msnbc political analyst pat buchanan, and democratic strategist peter fenn. when's the last time i said that? where have you both been? >> who was on -- someone was on vacation last week, pat who was that? >> i can't remember. >> i was driving back, alex, toward the bay bridge when you were on the air. >> sorry. i was convinced you were up in anchorage or fairbanks. we'll get to that another time. pat, with so many people saving money with this program, and so many dealers moving products, isn't this program one of the most successful stimulus measures? >> not only will agree with that, i was arguing back there months and months ago that this idea of basically a tax credit for folks who bought new american cars to save the car industry would be a terrific idea. and it would work.

and it has, alex. and what makes it work is the people making the decisions here, they're not a big bureaucracy. it's a guy who says we got this old clunker here and maybe it's time to get a new car, and here's an opportunity. so he goes down to the show room. he picks out the car just like he does normally, private transaction, and it works. and what have you got in the end? i think something like 200,000, didn't you, car purchases in order to eat up that $1 billion. >> yeah. >> i would have gone with a $30 billion program. >> hmm. so peter, let's get to the program itself, which ate up its entire budget in less than a week. do you think it's legitimate for some americans to be worried at this point to think could something like this happen to government health care? >> well, i tell you, alex, as pat says, this is working. if something like this happened to health care and folks got into health care, more money was being spent, and folks are getting the health care, i'm all for it. i tell you, i think this has been a tremendous program. a lot better than people thought, pat and i were talking

coming in, we just wish a little more money was given to those who buy american cars, rather than those who buy foreign cars. but, the basic point here, alex, is that this is a win-win-win. it's a win for the local communities and the car dealers. it's a win for the auto industry, american auto industry, especially. it's a win on the environment. it takes off the table the pollution folks. it's a win for getting us off foreign oil. so, you know, i'll tell you, i think the house did the right thing. i'd put another $2 billion into this program, if you had to take it off, look there's a defense bill that everybody knows is bloated right now. there are other programs that are bloated. this thing is stimulating the economy now. >> pat, you got john mccain, though, saying he's going to filibuster this $2 billion addition for the cash for clunkers program because he's against more government spending. but isn't this more spending, stimulus money that's being shifted away from renewable energy programs?

so at least this program is proven popular, and it works. why not just put the money there? >> you know, i disagree with senator mccain on this. for this reason. look, there's no doubt that something like this would add to the deficit. but the stimulus package has really not worked. we know that. at least it hasn't worked as well as everybody predicted. but this has worked dramatically, and it's a very timely figure. it's probably about one tenth of one percent of the stimulus package. and if this is working, transfer some of that stimulus money into this. i disagree with john mccain here. again, if either peter or i, if i take my 12-year-old navigator out, i'm making the decision, i'm buying a new car, there's no bureaucrat telling me what i got to buy or don't buy, except if it's 18 miles to the gallon. so i think this empowers individuals, rather than government agencies. >> okay. before i let you guys go on this, can i just have a little chat with you about the ceos having lunch for the president and later getting billed for the

meal? peter, the white house -- is it a good idea, is this bad manners? and can you tell me how this happened? did someone come around with, here's your bill, sir? can i have your credit card? how did this happen? >> this is cost cutting, alex. cost cutting. >> does that matter? >> i tell you -- well for some of these ceos that just got $900,000 bonuses i think they can afford an $8 lunch. but you know, i think this is just kind of trying to send a message to folks that the white house was tightening their belts, and not getting out too much. giving out some free beers, but no free lunches. >> this is right out of charles dickens. i mean, little oliver twist, you're going to charge him for the bowl of soup. come on. give him a burger and a coke and then you hand him a bill? >> can i just say one thing, too, i hope that lunch cost more than eight bucks there, peter. really, seriously.

i hope it was a little more expensive than that. >> maybe they just wanted to get those credit card numbers, alex. >> contributions, donations. >> okay. >> pat buchanan, peter fenn, my boys. i'll see you next hour. thanks. for your daily dose of politics on the web, straight to nbc news political, logon to firstread.msnbc.com. police in idaho say new evidence indicate the missing 8-year-old boy may have been the victim of what they're calling a track ikt event. robert manwill was reported missing last friday. investigators carried out an overnight search of his mother's apartment in boise. they're not saying what that turned up and have not named any suspects. the stage is set for a courtroom battle over michael jackson's estate. on monday a los angeles judge will address katherine jackson's legal battle for some control over her son's estate. the other big issue on monday's docket, katherine jackson's guardianship of michael's three children. joining me live is karen desoto,

defense attorney and former prosecutor. you can read her articles on the legal battle at msnbc.com. let's talk about the estate battle, what is bringing katherine jackson to court? because these two guys controlling the estate, they've been around for quite awhile and been running things. >> absolutely. well she wants money and power. she is the mom of michael jackson, so she does want some control over his image. will she get it? probably not from a legal aspect. but she is the mom. so, i think that the two executors that have been appointed, i think it behooves them to at least have a conversation with her. i don't think anybody should go into court and talk about these type of things. these are type of situations that are best handled outside the courtroom. >> right. >> obviously this was michael jackson picked these two people, so they're friends of his. >> the fact that it is going into a court, you think that that speaks to there's friction? the whole nature of this thing, there's some trouble? >> yes. >> you think that's changed since michael's death?

might these two have been friendly with katherine jackson prior to? >> this was his friends, so i don't know how much contact they had with her. you're right, if you're going to court in the first place, obviously the conversation has broke down and they have to have a judge decide. she does have in the property. however they're allowed to do whatever they want. she could say i have an interest in that property, i'm running the trust fund, but you know, obviously, somebody's not getting along, because they obtained this money to have an attorney go into court and argue her face for her. or some people do it to actually force a conversation. so you may file paperwork saying, okay, let's bring everybody to the table and let's negotiate. that could be going on, as well. >> okay. we're going to cut this a little short because i'm not kidding when i tell you we have a segment coming up on astronauts. we want to get back to you next hour. before that one, a group of high school students is back in oregon today after being quarantined while on a trip to china. dozens of students were allowed to return to the u.s. after being cleared by chinese health officials. they were placed under

quarantine after they showed symptoms of the swine flu virus. most say they're happy to be home, but some have some mixed feelings about the trip. >> i've been to china before this trip, and i have seen all the things you're going to see. i feel bad for all my classmates that this was their first trip and they didn't get to see all the stuff they really wanted to see. >> 12 students who tested positive for swine flu are still in china. they will remain there until they test negative for that virus. the seven astronauts aboard the space shuttle "endeavour" are back home after a 16-day mission to the international space station. there's one astronaut making some headlines on his own. coach chi wakata wore the same pair of underwear during his entire month-long stay. the high-tech japanese undies are experimental, they're designed to be odor free. joining us via skype is nbc space consultant james ober, a former space shuttle engineer. good morning to you. >> can you hear me okay? >> i hear you okay. i'm glad we've got the hookup.

mission control. okay, i know we're talking underwear. a lot of people watching this are thinking, "a," this is a breakfast show so no thanks. but also they're thinking why are we talking about this? what is the significance of this experiment? >> alex, anything that affects quality of life in a long-term space station that bothers you or could bother you is important. medically, psychologically, and so forth. so this new japanese invention of a type of clothing, including underwear, odor absorbant, moisture resistant, anti-bacteria, and is seamless and can be worn comfortably for not the whole mission. he was there 130 days. he had one pair which he used for 30 days. he didn't keep it on for 30 days. he took baths, took sponge baths. but there are advantages in space. one of the big advantages, think about it, is with being weightless you don't spend your time sitting down a lot. so although you're many times sweating when you're exercising,

there is a lot of sweat. that always is a problem in zero gravity. >> before i get to another question about that, i guess anecdotally, he said that no one was complaining, so there was no odor. it wasn't a problem. so it was a relative success? >> well, you spend an hour or two in a locker room and you stop smelling it too. just means people get used to things. doesn't necessarily mean the air is clean. >> good point right there. james, what other kind of unique experiments have taken place in outer space? and did we learn much from them? >> the things we're learning, the things we're learning on the station involve having more people, and having more, not idle time, but more time for their minds to wander. because, in the past if you're working on special programs that are preplanned, you're just filling out a checklist. and if something unusual happens you may not have time to be diverted. now there's enough time and enough people and enough equipment for these diversions. and they turn out to be in, by experience and past exploration, the diversions, oh, what was that, kind of reaction, that's the most important thing you're

ever going to find. >> all right. james ober, glad to talk to you as always. thanks for joining us. >> sure, alex. coming up here on msnbc saturday, is the octomom, nadya suleman having second thoughts about trying to raise 14 kids on her own? we're going to find out after this break. at 155 miles per hour, andy roddick has the fastest serve in the history of professional tennis. so i've come to this court to challenge his speed. ...on the internet. i'll be using the 3g at&t laptopconnect card. he won't. so i can book travel plans faster, check my account balances faster. all on the go. i'm bill kurtis and i'm faster than andy roddick. (announcer) "switch to the nations fastest 3g network" "and get the at&t laptopconnect card for free".

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>> good morning. >> she's for the first time admitting it, that it was a bad idea. she's echoing the sentiments of pretty much everybody i know with a triple digit iq across the country. how are you possibly going to do this. any thoughts on this? >> it comes down to the economics here. she's suddenly having to pay for these kids. we're finding out her bill is $30,000 a month that she's got to come up. where is it going to come from? it's going to come from this reality show which started production the other day. but here's the problem, they don't have permits for the kids. so all they're doing is shooting her right now. they have to go before a court hearing on august 20th, and august 31st to decide whether or not there will be an advocate appointed for the children. there's a lot still hanging. this deal with the reality show isn't a done deal, and worst of all, there's no network attached to it yet. >> so they're just shooting nadya, not the kids at all. >> that's right. >> we don't know where it's going to be placed. >> right. >> what a mess? >> i know. and here's an example of something overheard the other

day during the shoot. we don't know if this will get on the show, but she was -- our reporters caught her saying, i don't know why people are intrigued with me. people should focus on their own lives. now here she is on this show telling us not to watch her, in effect. >> yeah. that's not good pr right there. what do you think happened here? this is a very different mom than we saw shortly after the birth of her kids when she was gushing about wanting to be a perfect mother. >> yeah. i think humility is setting in. i think she realizes what we knew, all of us watching this all along, that is this woman is in over her head. >> absolutely. has there been any talk about the future of what sleaze going to be able to do, what she can accomplish in terms of professionally caring for 14 kids, where this all goes, whether the state steps in? if she needs this reality show for monetary purposes just to keep things going. >> right. and if the reality show doesn't work out, we're just kind of overhead going to come from. initially she made a lot of money selling pictures. she made money selling interviews.

but now the news story is over with. it's the day-to-day survival. >> yeah. it's a sobering time for her, that is sure. she talked about depression, loneliness, bouts of crying and the like. i mean it's a tough go for her. >> it's interesting now for us watching this, there was a lot of negativity toward her initially. a lot of people were upset with her. i think now we're actually feeling for her a little bit now that she's saying what we all knew. >> and you feel for the kids, too, and what their future holds. tom o'neil, thank you very much. nope, you're not looking at a freakishly early snowfall. some pranksters thought it would be funny to drop an entire bottle of dish soap into a fountain. the owner of the strip mall not amused. sandrai went to pick up my prescription and i was told... sandra..."that's just gonna be four dollars." i said, "you're joking." amandai know sandra personally. and she was only able to afford a week's worth of medication at a time.

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michael vick's hometown is

standing by him. newport news, virginia, will hold an event next saturday to celebrate vick's home coming. vick will make his first public statement at this event. his first after serving 23 months in federal prison for dogfighting. he will not be taking questions from the press. he has been conditionally reinstated to play in the nfl if any team is interested. well, let's move to baseball because major league baseball commissioner bud selig is considering reinstating pete rose. if he does so, rose will be eligible to be inducted into the hall of fame. but what could this mean for baseball and the future of the hall of fame? i'm joined by journalist and commentator steven a. smith. good morning to you. >> good morning. how are you? >> i'm great, thanks. i hope you are, too. as we talk about conditions for reinstatement, what would those be for pete rose? >> obviously it's really at the control of the commission of bud selig. pete rose, the writers definitely would not vote him into the hall of fame. if he reinstates pete rose and makes him eligible, the veterans committee picks that up and

they'll decide. guys who are already in the hall of fame. they will decide whether or not he's going to be inducted into the hall of fame some day. but clearly that's what it comes down to. it's really all in the hands of commissioner bud selig and people like the great hank aaron along with joe morgan and guys like that, have been trying to influence the commissioner and lead him towards allowing pete rose to be reinstated so the committee could vote on it. >> okay, so that's those guys though. we know that bud selig is really tight with hank aaron, and so he's the one who really got this thing going. but steven, the other veterans that are out there, what's the general consensus, if you could take a temperature there, on how they feel? they're the ones that have to vote for him. you think they're going to vote him in? >> from everything you're hearing there are a lot of people who are strongly against pete rose. they felt like he lied and repeatedly. as a matter of fact, it's not a feeling. he did lie. he acknowledged that he lied. he lied when he wrote his book. he lied on numerous occasions. he lied to the media. he lied to everybody. and his mother.

ed man lied for a better part of two decades. they hold firm to that. getting into the hall of fame is a matter of integrity and dignity of which he feels he's completely bankrupt. i believe that this is the land of second chances, that everybody deserves to be foregiven and obviously he was lying in fear of receiving exactly the find of treatment that he's been receiving. so i mean that's the way i look at it. but again it's not my call, it's theirs. >> i'm curious about bud selig. if he lifts this ban against rose, what does it say about his legacy? this is a guy that's destroyed to establish himself as a no tolerance commissioner. >> at the same time you have to understand that paul giamatti and these guys, pete rose was banned for life. that's a stinging, stinging situation in terms of, you know what, we don't want you to have anything to do with the game of baseball. they didn't care about the fact that he had 4256 hits, the all-time hits leader, that 40-game hitting streak. everything that he's done he's been absolutely sensational throughout his career. one of the greatest players of all time and major league

baseball history. but if you're bud selig, what you're saying is you have some degree of compassion. how much is a human being supposed to take? you've got a lot of people out there that are against pete rose, and it will never change. but at the same time, these are the same people that may be asking for forgiveness themselves along the -- you know, in their lifetime or may have done so already. you have to consider the fact it's an issue of compassion as far as i'm concerned. we know he messed up. we know he's been a liar for too long. nobody's disputing that. when do you say enough enough and recognize his contribution as a player? >> exactly this is a guy not dealing with a steroid dan, a guy who had bad habits off the field. >> let me correct you, that's not necessarily off the field. he was a manager for the cincinnati reds when he was betting on those games. >> that's true. >> that's a cardinal rule in the clubhouse. don't bet. all i'm saying is, as a player, how do you erase his contributions to the game? >> and all i was saying you know, it wasn't actually what was going on on the field in terms of his