tv MSNBC News Live MSNBC August 5, 2009 11:00am-12:00pm EDT
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i'm carlos watson. welcome to a brand-new hour of msnbc live. a power-packed coming your way the next hour. "time" magazine assistant editor is bus and sharon waxman is also with us and joining me is my co-host karen finney. former deputy press secretary for hillary clinton. the big story today. two u.s. journalists held prisoner in north korea are safely home now in california. shortly after the plane touched down, president obama spoke from the white house saying he is extraordinarily relieved that they are home safe. >> i want to thank president bill clinton. i had a chance to talk to him for the extraordinary humanitarian effort. i think that not only is this white house, obviously, extraordinarily happy, but all americans should be grateful to both former president clinton and vice president gore for their extraordinary work. >> let's get right to nbc's jay gray who is in burbank,
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california. jay, i can only imagine what that homecoming was like, given that the two women, the two journalists had been held captured here for several months going back to march. >> yeah. just an amazing day and good morning to you, carlos. it was one of those goosebump moments that you see, just rarely. and it's going to linger. the emotions were just so powerful of these two women who had been in captivity for five months walked down the steps from that private jet and into the waiting arms of their family members, hugging them for a long time there. there were smiles, there were tears. they talked about their time in captivity and also talked about, as you did, the moment when they knew they would be free when they walked into a meeting and saw that former president bill clinton was there. we heard from laura ling today. we did not hear from euna lee, though we thought we might have. laura ling spoke briefly and only briefly as they wanted to get reacquainted to their
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families. they have moved to a private los angeles home here in the area where they are continuing that right now. >> jay gray, any surprises in this homecoming here? i mean, one thing we see on the screen, we see not only former president bill clinton but al gore, his former vice president. any other surprises that you noted as this glorious moment came together? >> this we also heard from former vice president al gore. it was interesting to see the interaction between those two men working hard behind the scenes. these two women worked for al gore. he is the cofounder of current tv and they were reporters there along the china/north korea border. he was, obviously, overwhelmed as well. >> finally, any sense what is next for the two women for euna lee and laura ling? >> yeah. only in the sense that they say they're going to have some quiet time with their family, that they are going to retreat, spend some time getting reacquainted
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and really just basking in the emotions of their return. >> jay gray in burbank, thank you so much for joining me. >> you bet. i have a guest co-host every morning and this morning karen finney is joining me. former press secretary for hillary clinton. good to see you. >> good to be with you. >> a lot of big news including this north korea story. i want to play for you andrea mitchell who is in africa with secretary of state hillary clinton. listen to a conversation they had and then i want to get your thoughts on it right after this sound bite. >> sure. >> i want to be sure people don't confuse what bill did, which was a private humanitarian mission to bring these young women home with our policy, which continues be one that gives choices to north korea. they can continue on the path they are on, or perhaps they will now be willing to start talking to us within the context of the six-party talks. >> very interesting. feels like a look good cop/bad
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cop there. >> an interesting dynamic between the two of them. look. i think a win for everybody. we know this morning from some of the reports that the secretary's was involved in some of these talks in the last few weeks. obviously, former vice president al gore and former president clinton. >> you had a lot of heavy-hitters together. >> the band was back together trying to work on this. >> in any way does this hurt secretary of state hillary clinton in the sense -- because there always was a concern that former president bill clinton would overshadow her. you heard it in the campaign and when she joined -- >> there was during the campaign what kind of role he would play if she had won the presidency. i think it was appropriate. at the time they determined a president visit from bill clinton would be the thing to break this log jam, how could you say no to that? i don't think that's bad for anybody. frankly, i give president obama a lot of credit for, you know, not having any sort of ego about that and saying, let's move forward and make this happen.
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and it was interesting to see bill clinton and al gore. >> you bring up that we recall in the early '90s when president carter went over to north korean and president clinton was hesitant to have him jump in the middle of that. another piece of sound here. i want you to hear what al gore had to say. >> it speaks well of our country that when two american citizens are in harm's way, that so many people would just put things aside and just go to work to make sure that this has had a happy ending. >> interesting. does it take a couple of journalists and international crisis? >> to bring al and bill back together again? >> i mean, were as taken as i was and i think a number of people were to see them together? >> i have to imagine i was in the green room and got teared when i saw the two of them together. there is history there. re rer in '92 two young mem
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running for president and vice president and then they had a split in the 2000 election so nice to see them back together again. the thing i noticed actually was we are showing it on the footage there, the embrace that al gore gave bill clinton when he came down. they shook hands and then they really hugged and it seemed like a pretty warm embrace. probably very emotional for both of them. but nice to see this hopefully, bringing them back together. >> could be interesting. we're talking about whether this is bill clinton's reemergence or whether this is a beginning in the moment for al gore as well. >> sure. >> i want to bring in right now democratic senator amy klobuchar from minnesota. good to see you this morning. >> good to be on, carlos. hello, karen. >> hello, senator. >> what a terrific day in terms of the safe return of those two journalists. your thoughts as you watched them return and you see former president clinton and former vice president al gore welcome them? >> well, i was thinking the same
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thing that karen was, back to '92. actually it was my first national elected position. i was a delegate to that convention and remembering those moments and then seeing them together again. the most important thing here is that they got the work done. they coordinated, they got it done. obviously, al gore cared so much about this because these were people that worked for him. one is a mother of a 4-year-old child. it was a heartbreaking situation that they were in prison for really, as far as we can see, not doing anything wrong, but they're back now and the fact that it was done in such a coordinated way, that secretary clinton, i think, with her words were very good. it was a humanitarian trip and important to bring them home and now go to important negotiations and despite the release of these two journalists, we know that they have been doing some really crazy things over there. rockets pointed toward our country, rockets going, you
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know, very perilusually close to japan and other countries. there may signify some thawing and the ability to move forward with the six-party talks and we hope that they do. >> it will be very interesting, senator klobuchar, whether they try to insist on bilateral talks which north korea has wanted instead of china and russia in the mix. i want to shift the conversation to the sotomayor vote. the vote on judge sonia sotomayor and whether or not she will be confirmed to the supreme court. do you expect, a, any surprises when the vote takes place later this week and, b, is there any larger meaning for president obama as he thinks about future judicial appointments based on what has happened in this confirmation process? >> well, first of all, i was thinking, as you were analyzing the hug between al gore and bill clinton, not a lot of hugs going on right now on the sotomayor nomination! but i will say this. we needed a segue.
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lindsey graham speech, i'm on the judicialary committee. despite the discussions on this. we know she has picked up a number of republican supporters but not as many as we pish. i think senator graham said it best. this may not be the person i picked, his words, somebody president obama picked but president obama won the election so our job is to look and see if she qualifies for the job. he went through all of the concerns he had and actually said he was proud to support her for this nomination. we'd like to see more of that. sort of a bigger view of our role as confirming judges. sadly, we didn't hear that from some of our colleagues. as i said today on the floor, you know, as senator moynahan once said you are spitleed to your opinions but not the facts. the facts point to a very good judge and moderate and not an activists and deserves to go on the supreme court. >> as we head out, i'm hearing a lot of rumblings from very
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progressives who, to put it simply, are frustrated and who feel like democrats have 60 votes in the senate, they've got almost 80-vote majority in the house and the sense is they are letting things get off the rails a little bit, particularly with health care. one of the most intriguing things i've heard people say is we need a few more ned lamonts and we need primary challenges to stiffen the spine of some of the democrats. is there a sense of discomfort among senate democrats with where things tanned stand on health care and the larger obama agenda? >> i think there's a sense of commitment from senate democrats. there might be some differences. opinion and we've seen them all aired on your channel, among other things but there is going to be some difference of opinions. but as we talked yesterday with the president at lunch, there's a sense that we have to move forward and we will do it together. remember, this is what i always tell people, it's 17% of our economy. it's no surprise that this has taken a while and will continue to take a while to work these things out. we want to get this right. we want to keep what works in america in health care and fix what is broken.
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we've got a lot of great things about health care in minnesota and the president has repeatedly used it as an example. the mayo clinic. i'm focused on the issue how he can deliver health care more efficiently and make it more affordable for the people of this country and that is what we are working to do. i'm hopeful we will pick up some republican support and i know it's difficult for so many people who have worked on this issue for so long. we're just asking them to hang in there, to advocate for change. americans can't wait. the costs are going up and up and up and it's getting harder for regular families to afford health care. that's what i believe in the end we will triumph through the rhetoric and all of the name-calling and all of the misuse of terms and description of what is going on here. in the end, big businesses want change because they can't compete internationally. small businesses want change because they are having trouble keeping employees on health care and families want change because they are hardly afford the premium. that is what is going to drive change but it has to be done in the right way. >> senator, great to have you. thanks again for joining us.
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>> good to be on. thank you, carlos. >> be well. developing news out of pennsylvania. disturbing diary entries from the alleged gunman who opened fire during an exercise class in a pittsburgh health club killing three pem women and then himself. nbc's alison kartevold joins us now. a horrific story, it seems like the newspaper is i.d.'ing the 48-year-old man as george sodini, is that right? >> that is correct. the ap and other sources have identified him. authorities have not. we have had heard word from the authorities they are releasing the identities of the women who are killed. i want to give those to you now. those women were were heidi or shortstop mier. elizabeth gan none from pittsburgh. they both died here on the scene while the third woman was named jody billingsly. she was 38 and she lived in nearby mt. lebanon. the coroner confirmed those
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identities after they took them and did the reviews there and, now, we're waiting to get that official word on the suspected shooter himself. in the meantime, we are getting information from his blog site that does seem to support the notion that george sodini is the actual shooter in this case. he talked about wanting to do this for months and months, back from november 5th of 2008. we also just got new information about where he worked. it was at a company called k&l -- >> alison? i got to interrupt you. if he was talking about doing this for months and months, why in the world did no one stop him? why wasn't this reported to the authorities? do we know anything about this? >> we don't at this point. i don't know how much activity his blog site might have had. he did veil it a little bit. i talked about back in november 5th, he said, you might wonder why i would think about doing something so horrific to women like this but he didn't actually say when or when or what or he
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was going to do. he just expressed a need and want to do something to them that he was a loner, that no one liked him that he couldn't get a date and he went on and on in these things. he actually described a dry run, at least one point where he said he had the guns loaded and then he came here and chickened out. >> absolutely horrific. alison kartevold, thank you so much and we will stay in touch with you on this story. thank you. >> could last night's shooting spree have been prevented by tougher gun laws? senator jim webb of virginia, a pro gun democrat proposing some of the most sweeping changes in the u.s. crime policy in the elect several decades joins us. should public schools offer tests for sexually transmitted diseases? the program uncovers alarming statistics. plus paula abdul says so long to simon and the rest of the "idol" gang. was it all about the money or the benjamins? we will talk about that coming
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up. i was always going having to go in the middle of traffic and just starting and stopping. having to go in the middle of a ballgame and then not being able to go once i got there. and going at night. i thought i had a going problem. my doctor said i had a growing problem. it wasn't my bladder. my prostate was growing. i had an enlarging prostate that was causing my urinary symptoms. my doctor prescribed avodart.
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i'm carlos watson. america' problem with crime and gun violence back in the headline today after last night's deading shooting at a suburban pittsburgh health club. it's been largely forgotten issue in recent years. that may change. my next guest is virginia senator and retired marine jim webb. good to see you, sir. >> good to see you. >> senator webb, you recently passed a major revision, sweeping revision to our g.i. bill, the most sweeping set of new benefits for veterans. now, you're taking on another
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major issue, crime. but doesn't it seem like the kind of issue a democrat would take on. what exactly are you proposing that we change in our crime policy? >> well, i think it's time we have a complete look at our criminal justice system, all aspects of it. i've held hearings for more than two years on the difficulties we have in this country right now with mass incarceration, with what happens inside prisons, with the notion of increased danger in the neighborhoods from gang activity. at the same time, we're locking up so many people who probably don't belong in jail. it's an extremely complex issue so i decided at the end of last year, the best way to do this would be to have a national commission to examine all of these interrelated issues and come to the congress with a set of policy recommendations. we've had hearings on the senate judiciary subcommittee on crime and we're looking forward to
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getting this bill. >> i want to bring in karen finney who is joining me this morning as my guest co-host. >> how are you, senator? >> good to see. >> i note you are taking a bipartisan approach which you did on your other legislation. we were just talking about the frustration that some of the democrats are having or progressives outside that the democrats are too worried about bipartisan. i'm wondering how is that effective in this approach on crime and how important is that? >> well, i don't think that the problem up here is worrying about bipartisanship. have you to have coalitions to get things done. i did watch the segment that you just had with my colleague senator klobuchar. you know, this is the kind of an issue like the g.i. bill that people from across the philosophical spectrum can agree on when it comes to agreeing that there's a problem, but the solution is one that you want everybody on the table participating in.
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we've had meetings with a hundred different constituent groups from across the philosophical spectrum on this crime issue and that is, quite frankly, the way we have to get this done. we've got 5% of the world's population and 25% of the world's criminal population and people don't feel any safer in their neighborhoods because of so much energy that has gone into enforcement of nonviolent criminal activity so that's not a question in this. the question is how you can get legislation through that will have a meaningful impact on people's lives, whether it's health care or criminal justice or veterans. >> you know, senator, i want to switch gears here for a moment. we have quite a bit of news coming out of iran. we know we have three americans who are being held in iran. there was some back and forth this morning with press secretary gibbs talking about ahmadinejad. i think now he is correcting that statement. let's talk about our relationship with iran. i know the election there has been under question. obviously, it's probably not a good idea to be criticizing the
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leadership at this point while we're trying to get the three americans freed. but what do you see in terms of our relationship with iran? >> well, it's not simply the fact that there are three americans who have been apprehended. we tend to personalize our foreign policy, i think, a little too much. i think the president was right in being cautious in terms of how we expressed our views as a nation with respect to the recent elections in iran. the one thing that we should not do, whether it is iran or, quite frankly, china asking you the last time china had an election i don't think you can come up with an answer. we do not want to give repressive regimes the opportunity to use the american president or the american government as something of a straw man in order to say there is an outside force threatening us. that's happened too often in iran. we have a legitimate desire, whether it's iran or any of these other countries, to see representative governments that
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will deal responsibly in the world community, but, at the same time, the more it seems like we are directly attempting to interfere, the harder it is for the people who want those sorts of things to have an impact. so i think the president has taken a right approach with iran and i, quite frankly, believe we have the opportunity to have a different type of relationship with iran in the future. >> senator webb, only about 30 seconds but i have to ask you about virginia politics. democrats won virginia in the presidential election for the first time in almost 45 years, 44 years. you and senator mark warner both are democrats. you guys also have the statehouse right now. the resen poll show the democratic nominee for governor there is way behind and there's some concerns that virginia, once again, is becoming the place where republicans are regathering their strength. your sense of that and what, in particular, democrats can do to make sure they presail in this year's virginia gubernatorial race. >> obviously, it will receive
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enormous national attention this year. the republicans are using it as an attempt to put federal issues, national issues on the table as we are transitioning from a bush administration into an effective new approach to things. and i think that, over time, he will able to make his case. he has an incredible personal story to tell and he has 18 years in state government and i think he's going to come back. >> senator webb, we're going to talk to you about that as the contest continues. good to see you. >> good to see you. >> got to plug your book. author of nine books. senator jim webb of virginia. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> do you agree with senator webb's new approach to crime policy? we want to hear from you. send us your treats. go to twitter.msnbc.com and you'll see my picture there. click on it and shoot me a tweet. or you can go to twitter.com/carloswatson, another way to find me. next, president obama heads to the heartlant, elkhart,
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indiana. later, say it ain't so, joe! why are critics being banned from getting a sneak peek at the new g.i. joe movie? we got that straight ahead. . you're watching msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. during times like these it seems like the world will never be the same. but there is a light beginning to shine again. the spark began where it always begins. at a restaurant downtown. in a shop on main street. a factory around the corner. entrepreneurs like these are the most powerful force in the economy. they drive change and they'll relentless push their businesses to innovate and connect. as we look to the future, they'll be there ahead of us, lights on, showing us the way forward. this is just the beginning of the reinvention of business. and while we're sure we don't know all the answers,
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welcome back to msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. in about 30 minutes president obama will speak in elkhart county, indiana. he will tout the benefits of his stimulus plan in a area hit harder by most in the recession. when he first visited elkhart in february the unemployment rate over 15% and now it's almost 17%. msnbc.com we are joined by bill in elkhart county. good to see you. >> how are you?
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>> good. do we expect any particular warm reception at all when the president returns there? are the folks of indiana there pleased the president is paying such attention, or is the frustration still on the 1 out of 6 adults out of work? >> well, the president is coming to make an announcement about 2.4 billion dollars in funding for batteries and electric vehicles. imagine an electric rv you could drive back and forth across the country. funny. the town we're in is mccain/palin territory. the rv plant here closed down last october and throwing 1,400 people out of work in a town of 1,700 people. only about a hundred are back at work now and they are hoping this announcement and this funding will help put more people back to work. everybody here realizes that the country has been in a recession for almost two years, 20 months.
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this part of indiana has been in recession 30 months and may be very slow to come out of it. they know it will be a long haul. >> bill, thank you so much. if you want to read more about elkhart's stugle struggle to climb out of the economic cri s crisis, go to carloswatson.msnbc.com. is the u.s. ready for renewed relations with the nuclear powered north korea. should your teen be subjected to testing for sexually transmitted diseases at school? that's right. should your teen be tested for stds at their school? a controversial program widens in the nation's capital. we got that straight ahead. plus president obama will speak live on msnbc in a few moments. you're watching msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. 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.
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but we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end. >> that's journalist laura ling speaking this morning about her surprise to discover that former president bill clinton had arrived in north korea to help her and euna lee. let's bring in romash, assistant managing editor for "time." you were world affairs editor for "time" magazine and spent different time in parts of the globe. how in your mind was this independent diplomacy by president bill clinton and will it alter the negotiation stance of the u.s. when it comes to working with north korea? >> well, i mean, that is great relief, obviously, to the families and a wonderful moment for the american people. i do think, as you said, it's significant diplomatic moment as well but probably more
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significant for the north koreans in some ways. the historical context of this is important here, carlos. as you know, president clinton nearly reached a deal on the nuclear issue with the north koreans before he left office in 2000 and was lk going to go to north korea himself and essentially send secretary albright. for the north koreans have bill clinton go to pyongyang and meet with kim jong-il is enormously important for them and release the two journalists and saving face to do so. i think also for kim jong-il himself there has been so many rumors about his health and his grip on power. i think just those images of him smiling next to bill clinton, i think, have put some of those stories to rest. so the question now, as you said, is where we go from here. what the north koreans are trying to do here and what they want from the obama administration, how prepared the obama administration is to reopen diplomacy with them. >> karen finney is looking to
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get in here. >> one question. there was a lot of talk about how having bill clinton go actually help north korea save face and how prn that was, particularly in the back discussions about how do we get out of this situation with north korea saving face. i'm just wondering if you feel like did this help north korea save face? does this mean the other thing we've heard is kim jong-il wants to be treated with respect so having bill clinton, that's certainly a sign of respect. does that maybe put us on better footing to get back to six-party talks or bilaterally talks special? >> the north koreans want a relationship of bilateral agreement with the united states. they want normalization and security guarantees directly from washington and that is why they continue to play these games with the six-party talks. sometimes they're in, sometimes they're out. i think for them, the clinton visit, to some extent, is a step toward establishing the
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groundwork for what they hope will be a bilateral relationship. i do think the big thing here is for the obama administration, the multilateral framework, the six-party talks is what we've been using and what the priority is get them back to the six-party talks. clearly, north korea has something else in mind. they are hoping they can open this bilateral discussion with the united states. >> we will keep watching it. thank you so much for your joining us. >> thank you. >> more than a hundred,000 kids are waiting to be adopted and studies show that older african-american boys wait the longest to be adopted. adam period of timeman is here. he also a former award-winning boston globe reporter. you are launching a major campaign in the nation's
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capital, and encouraging more black families to ahelicopter adopt more black kids? >> what we have done is done a research study that shows sort of how you can do this, what is effective and so forth. that's what evan b. donaldson adoption institute does, it does studies. the answer is this is what is needed. this is what we have been waiting for for a long time. something called the multiethnic placement act which was passed by congress about a decade ago, mandates that there be diligent recruitment, that is the operative word, in the communities from which these kids come. well, disproportionate number come from african-american communities so it's long past time for us to do our work here. >> karen, jump in here. >> we see celebrities and others, we see people going to china to adopt, malawi, africa. why are people doing that? the excuse they give so hard to
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adopt in america and so many children needing homes what is going on some. >> what frustrates me and surprises me i see so many liberals and progressives who will spend $40,000, upper east side of new york and fly past all of the kids here who are waiting and go to these other countries and adopt. there's a part of me that frankly looks at that with a great deal of skepticism. >> i think with all due respect, it's the wrong question. >> okay. >> why do we not say to people who have their vet vitro treatment. why are you doing that when there are kids out here who need homes. if you want to go abroad and adopt a kid, that kid needs a home, too. he's in an orphanage. not a good life and his prospects really stink and that is true for the kids in foster care. two, this should not be a contest pitting one kid against
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another kid. we should put up the resources and like this campaign does to get people to do the right things by our kids but that should not be the exclusion and against other kids. >> we've got to go, adam. promise me you'll come back. >> we have more questions! >> i feel so strongly about this so promise me you'll come back. >> i promise. >> very good to see you. up next, the government okays a triple shot defense against the swine flu but will the vaccines actually be ready for the start of flu season? we've got that. dr. nancy in fact, is going to join me to talk about that. surprising statistics the government thinks how many people will be infected in the sex six to eight weeks. you're watching msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. 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.
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immunizations ready by october. dr. nancy snyderman joins us. i understand they are worried while summer is quiet once school starts again, could be serious swine flu problems? >> everyone is concerned the flu hasn't gone away over the summer and now kids going back to school and we expect uptick. a lag. kids go back to cool in two weeks and vaccines won't start in earnest until october. we expect increased cases. the likelihood you'll get one shot and three weeks later get another shot and two weeks after that you have full immunity but that means the earliest you're looking at december 1. >> any priorization of who gets shots? >> very clear. pregnant women and health care workers and people who take care of elderly or kids. probably about 160 million people in all. >> wow! >> you may be at the bottom. you may not get on that list! >> once again. >> any potential side effects? >> we don't know yet. we will get the safety and efficient cassy stuff as we go
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along. this is one time the american public has to say i believe my government and i want to stay healthy. this is a terribly infectious virus but so far not a killer but we don't know what is going to happen in the fall. >> even your own daughter? >> my daughter is studying in buenos aires. three weeks after she got there she got swine flu and fortunately she got it early because there was a run on hospitals and emergency rooms and now she has lifelong immunity is the good thing. >> a few moments left. the d.c. public schools are wanting to test every high school student for stds, is that right? >> it's a program for high school students. mandatory lecture on stds and voluntarying peeing into a cup and find 15% of high school students have gonorrhea or this is not about parents not knowing stuff. it is a public health concern. >> that is going to be a controversy, right? >> hot topic. >> they invite them to tell their parents what teen is going to tell their parent? >> if you're a 15-year-old sexually active girl the reality
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is you have to treat that child as a patient and you don't necessarily go to the parent and say this is what is going on because some cases, quite frankly, it happens. >> should this be happening in more places. is d.c. the front -- >> boston has twice the number of stds in their hool high school students. i think you'll see this is a model program. >> we will ask the mayor who is joining us in a few weeks about this as well. up next, paula abdul's exit from "idol." is this real? or could this be an elaborate contract negotiation ploy? you got to love that! >> i don't know about that. >> dr. nancy will be back and karen finney is having fun. this is msnbc live! don't leave us! medication to lor
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bad cholesterol but your good cholesterol and triglycerides are still out of line? then you may not be seeing the whole picture. ask your doctor about trilipix. statin to lower bad cholesterol, along with diet, adding trilipix can lower fatty triglycerides and raise good cholesterol to help improve all three cholesterol numbers. trilipix has not been shown to prevent heart attacks or stroke more than a statin alone. trilipix is not for everyone, including people with liver, gallbladder, or severe kidney disease, or nursing women. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if you are pregnant or may become pregnant. blood tests are needed before and during treatment to check for liver problems. contact your doctor if you develop unexplained muscle pain or weakness, as this can be a sign of a rare but serious side effect.
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happen to these kids and i love t and i think that it's going to be around for a while. >> that's paula abdul. she was once straight up and now she is heading straight out the door. paula abdul touting "american idol" but now she is changing her tune and says she is not going to return to the show. sharon waxman is founder of the rap.com. good to see you. >> good morning. how are you? >> we were ready to talk about the newspaper industry when we were e-mailing last night. >> serious issues. >> forget -- >> i'm sorry, paula is leaving the show. she has 1 million followers. paula abdul tweets it out there and i'm looking on the tweets, how i found it 'cause our tv correspondent tweeted it back to his audience and now everything is in an uproar.
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network is meeting with the television critics and press corps this week, so now the big story dominating television, 'cause, come on, the biggest realite show out there and she wanted more moolah. >> now, isn't this a marketing strategy on paula's part? oh, i'm quitting and then you tweet about it. >> the tv shows do that. >> paula abdul and strategy, i don't know if those go in the same sentence, generally speaking. >> good point. >> but obviously, here is the issue. what else is paula abdul going to do? now there is talk of she might go to dancing with the stars or something like that but let's face it -- >> ego issue. >> she did have a role in "bruno," very odd scene. >> this is true. this has become -- these are big figures. ryan seacrest is making like $15 million a year. paula abdul wanted apparently a
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30% raise, fox was offering her 30% and she said, no, that's not enough. >> wow. hey, i want to turn to another money fight this time surrounding a movie instead of the tv arena, "g.i. joe" and paramount. as i understand it, sharon, some of the folks backing "g.i. joe" this friday said critics don't get it they knocked "terminator" a lot of movies like. this we are not going to show to them, we are going to show to online bloggers. is that right? >> paramount is not showing the movie to critics. this is generally not a good sign. there has been bad buzz around this movie for weeks and weeks, a couple of months already, but this is kind of the big sign, the big acknowledgment by the studio that they don't want to get killed by the critics, 'cause this is not even the kind of movie where criticism -- movie reviews make a big difference so they must really be nervous about how the movie plays. >> sharon, quickly, we only have 30 seconds here.
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you are saying the newspaper industry may get a shot in the arm? want to give me a couple of seconds on that? >> i mean, what's happening is -- shot in the arm, i think it is already on life support. basically, we -- we had -- sorry, we have an interview this week on the wrap with the new -- with federal trade commissioner, john leibovitz. he is talking about the government looking into how to help the newspaper industry. this is not some kind of a -- this is not a small matter. we have already had hearings on the hill about this, but the great newspapers that really are a big part of our democratic debate and informing people about the issues that affect our lives are dying and their business model doesn't work anybody more. nobody wants the government, i can tell from you the newspaper side, nobody wants the government to come in and prop up a free press. doesn't really seem like a good thing to do for a democracy but at the same time, we now have the is s.e.c. saying they are going to look at newspapers, see what they are doing to try to create new revenue streams and
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do a decent -- >> sharon, we got to interrupt you and leave it there because we have got live coverage right now. president obama speaking. we are going to go to that right now, speaking in elkhart county, indiana. let's listen to the president. >> thank you very much. thank you. thank you so much. thank you. please, everybody have a seat. thank you so much. well, it is wonderful to be here. thank you so much for the wonderful welcome. herman, thanks for the great introduction. it is great to be back in indiana. [ cheers and applause ] this is as close as i've gotten to home in a while. [ laughter ] and i flew out here with somebody who i think the people of indiana have known for a long
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time, have trusted for a long time, because he is fighting for working families in indiana each and every day, and that is our great senator, evan bayh. please given tore bayh a big rou -- please give senator bayh a big applause. great to spend time in washington and spend some time with people who sent me to washington. too on the those in washington focus on the ups and downs of politics but my concern is the ups and downs in the lives of the american people, the families feeling the pain of this recession, the folks i have met across this country who have lost jobs and savings and health insurance, but haven't lost hope. the men and women who still believe in the capacity, the ability of this nation to meet
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the challenges of our times. now, these are challenges you know all too well here in waparusa and elkhart county. this area has been hit with a perfect storm of economic troubles. over the last few decades, you have borne the brunt of a steadily weakening of american manufacturing in the face of global competition. you felt the impact of the struggles of the american auto industry and the repercussions that have hit the midwest especially hard. and you're living every day with the consequences of this recession and the financial meltdown and you've felt it in the form of lost jobs and lost savings. so, as a result, the elkhart area has experienced the second greatest increase in the rate of unemployment in the country, up 10 points in a year.
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astonishing statistic. and there have been times where nearly one in five people in this area have been looking for work. you have seen factories close and your sons and daughters move away in is searches of jobs and opportunity. and so this is more of an economic crisis. this goes to the heart and soul of a community. it tests the strength of families and the spirit of good people, hard-working folks who have given their all to a company and now don't know where to turn. there's some who see what's taking place here and suggest that it's all somehow inevitable and that the only way for america to get away is for places like elkhart to be left behind. you hear that argument some time in washington. but i know and you know that the truth is exactly the opposite. i'm here because i believe our ability to recover and to prosper as a nation depends on what happens in communities just like this one. [ applause ]
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the battle for america's future will be fought and won in places like elkhart and detroit, goshen and pittsburgh, south bend, youngstown, in cities and towns across indiana and across the midwest and across the country that have been the backbone of america. it will be won by making places like elkhart they once were and can be again, and that is centers of innovation and entrepreneurship and ingenuity and opportunity, the bustling, whirring, humming engines of american prosperity. for the world grows more competitive, we can't afford to run the race at half-strength or half-speed. if we hope to leave this century like we did the the last century we have to create the conditions and opportunities for places like elkhart to succeed. we have to harness the
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potential, the innovative and creative spirit that's waiting to be awakened all across america. that's how we will rebuild this economy stronger than before, strong enough to compete in the global economy, strong enough to avoid the cycles of boom and bust that have wreaked so much havoc on our economy, strong enough to support the jobs of the 21st century, and strong enough to unleash prosperity for everybody, not just some. but before we can rebuild our economy for tomorrow, we have to rescue it today. now, that's why we passed a recovery act less than one month before i took office. and we did so without any of the earmarks or pork barrel spending that is so common in washington, d.c. and let me just talk about the so-called stimulus package or the recovery act, because there's been a lot of misinformation out there about the recovery act. let me tell you what it is and what it's not. the plan was divided into three
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