good to see you. >> thanks, good to be here prfr senior justice department official, lots of pieces on the resume there. al, what are you thinking right now as you see the obama administration struggle with health care. they were worried about this august recess and now it seems, indeed, their deepest concerns have come to fruit. >> i'm surprised obama hasn't been telling the big story rooted in value. he was so good at that. candidate obama could tie details to a big value-based story we could relate to. he's failed to do that. >> it's a good thing you mentioned the public option. the fact that the public knows public option and knows it better than any other piece of this health care story has much to do with why he's struggling. it's too wonky, no moral imperative in knowing the phrase public option as opposed to knowing the same of someone who represents the need for health

care reform. >> that's right. he's trying to bring it back to the moral base. he talked to faith groups yesterday. he's got to tell a bigger story than he's been telling. >> it's interesting. there's certainly someone who wanted to help him with that. senator ted kennedy wants to make sure massachusetts has two votes on any potential health care bill in the event he loses his battle with brain cancer. in a letter to duval patrick and other legislative leaders senator kennedy asked a temporary replacement be appointed immediately of the current massachusetts law would leave the senate seat open until after a special election. joining us now on the phone to talk about this is nbc's ann thompson in hyannis port, massachusetts. kennedy says he's been thinking about this for a while. tell us more about that. >> he has. the letter sent to governor patrick and delivered yesterday was dated july 2nd of this year. it says it lays out a request by senator kennedy that essentially

says, look, i think we should amend the state law. he's not asking for anything special but amend the state law through the legislative process to give the governor the power to appoint an interim senator between the time of the vacancy and the special election and he -- and kennedy said that person should promise not to run in the special election, so that person does not have an advantage going into that election. but what is unspoken in this letter is the issue of health care reform. health care for everyone and health care that is affordable for everyone has been the issue of senator kennedy's life. he has fought for four decades now in the u.s. senate for that issue and it is clearly something that is very much on his mind. also in the letter, he does reference his time in the senate saying it has been the great joy of his public life. but he isn't relinquishing that

seat. he says it has been and still is. so no indication there that there are any plans for him to step down. his aides say that this letter does not -- is in no way an indication that his health is deteriorating or there is any imminent change. it is just an issue that very obviously he has been thinking about for the last couple of months. >> ann thompson in hyannis port, massachusetts, thank you for that update. a new emerging debate in california over budget reform. the state faces a mounting budget crisis. there is new talk among lawmakers who want to adopt a new budget, one that raises taxes or both. democratic mayor villaraigosa joins us again. mayor, good to see you. >> good to talk to you. carlos, how are you? >> good. doing well. >> mayor, wanted to even before we get to the budget, i wanted to ask you about health care. we hear so much about health care from those who spend most of their time in washington, be they members of the media or

members of congress. as someone who lives and operates outside of d.c. there in the nation's largest city, how are you seeing this health care fight and what do you expect to ultimately emerge? >> well, i can tell you in a city where we have more uninsured people than any other city in america, where there are so many families that go without health care, i think congress has missed the mark. the fact of the matter is health care is a right not a privilege. the only issue should be how we get there. the idea that so many members of congress whether we should provide health care for 47 million uninsured at a time when we spend more on health care in absolute numbers and per capita than any other nation in the world boggles the mind. we need to get away from this debate, pass this legislation

and move forward. >> mayor villaraigosa, i want to talk to you about the economy, a number of cities, including yours, are still struggling with high unemployment numbers. there's been talk on and off in the president's administration and cabinet about whether a second stimulus is needed. there's a major piece out intime magazine calling on the possibility of a second stimulus. do you believe the obama needs to aggressively pursue a second stimulus when congress returns in september or, indeed, are there tweaks to the first stimulus package that could make a difference in hiring in your city? >> i think we need to do both. when lou at los angeles as an example and other big cities around the country, our unemployment rate is 12.5%. some 24,000 families have been forced out of their homes due to foreclosure. there are a lot of people that can't make ends meet or put food on the table and are struggling to find shelter. we need to put them back to work, make it easier. some of the guidelines that

require accountability are important. but we also need to get rid of some of the beaurocracy that interfere with our ability to put this money on the ground. i do believe a second stimulus is critical. we didn't get here overnight. it took eight years of a mismanagement of economy, eight years of lack of investment in american workers and middle class families. we're not going to get out in eight months either. >> i'm joined by ceo of opportunity agenda who wanted to jump in here. >> thanks, carlos. good morning, mayor. the "l. a. times" is giving somewhat mixed reviews to the troubled l.a. schools you've been controlling. i wondered your assessment of that. at a time when the obama administration is pushing charter schools. how do you weigh in on that. >> i support president obama and arne duncan in their effort to transform our public schools. that's what we've been trying to

do for four years with resistance from that school district. i can tell you that the ten schools that i currently operate are the lowest performing schools in los angeles, some of the most violent middle schools, lowest performing elementary and high schools in one year. our progress in nine out of ten schools, english proficiency is up, eight out of ten math is up. we've done roughly slightly better than the school district. remember, we're comparing our lowest performing schools to schools overall. we need to move beyond that i support charter schools. in fact, supporting resolution of the school board that will adopt all new schools and failing schools, program improvement schools should go to either charter operators, my partnership schools, or a collaborative of teachers and parents who agree to metrics-driven reform. the fact of the matter is we

cannot accept the status quo where 50% of our kids are dropping out and 80% of them are scoring at the bottom 20 percentile. currently this district would not be able to qualify for the money that the president has, some $4 million in money for reform if we don't make these changes. >> mr. mayor, i want to turn you to one final issue as we conclude here. interesting political moves in california on the part of the gop. whitman running as republican as your next governor, former ceo. now news another ceo may carry a republican banner, carrying the republican banner. are we on the scene of seeing the national republican renaissance begin in california? >> no, i don't think so. i think that, in fact, this

state is very democratic. but i believe we're going to have to be a party of change. we can't continue to defend the status quo of broken budget, a system, an initiative system that completely thwarts the ability of legislators and governor to make the tough decision, term limits, redistricting, open primaries. the system is fundamentally flawed. whoever becomes the next governor is going to have to lead an effort to change that. >> mr. mayor, always appreciate having you on. thank you for joining us this morning. >> carlos, it's great to be with you. >> good to be with you. is the obama administration doing enough to help struggling schools. we want to hear from you. log into the twitter msnbc.com. follow the i think, see my picture there, click on it. alan and i will be reading some of your tweets later in the show. election day in afghanistan. taliban attacks try to intimidate the voters. already reports of widespread election fraud.

nbc's richard engel joins us live from cab up next. you're watching "msnbc live." i'm carlos watson. when i was seventeen

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welcome back to "msnbc live." officials say 26 people killed in election day violence. scattered threats from taliban and to dampen turnout in the southern part of the country. foreign correspondent richard engel live in kabul. richard, good to see you. richard, what is the mood. >> reporter: voter turnout was fairly low. >> richard, go ahead. >> reporter: go ahead. we're having a bit of a delay. you speak. >> richard, what is the mood in the city today and is the sense that voting was, indeed,

dampened to some extent by the violence. >> reporter: the mood right now is considerably calmer than it was earlier. there is a general sense of relief that this election, although marred by violence, marred by intimidation more than anything, that people here are relieved it's over. the ballots are now being counted. i returned a short while ago from one of the polling stations. the election workers there in front of tribal elders and volunteers were very publicly clipping open these trans lucent plastic boxes, turn over them, the boxes, onto the floor and publicly starting to count by hand all the paper ballots. there certainly was the sense today that violence and the threat of violence did keep many people away from the polls, particularly in southern afghanistan, eastern afghanistan and here in kabul, carlos. >> richard, this is alan

jenkins, co-hosting with carlos. i wanted to ask about the news blackout. make afghan journalists say they believe it violates the new afghan institution that has the right of free expression. is that something you're hearing on the ground? >> yes. it was rule imposed on all the local afghan media today. if you watch state television while there were several attacks in kabul this morning, other attacks, rocket attacks, there was video in kandahar, they didn't broadcast any of it. instead they showed happy people going to polling stations, advertisement running for the last several weeks encouraging people to come out and vote. that was part of the government's strategy to encourage people to vote and not focus on the violence that was intimidating a lot of people.

but people still new and you're saying that nationwide. >> a quick final question. some people expected a runoff, not only the current president karzai but the foreign minister could be in the runoff. is there any more sense of whether or not that will happen? and if so, what kind of provisions will be made during the runoff to limit violence? >> reporter: we really have no idea at this point what the results are. the ballot boxes have just been opened a few hours ago. the process will work like this we're told by election officials. in each polling station they will cut open the boxes, dump them on the floor, count them and post the results on the wall outside the polling station so everybody in the community can see exactly what that polling station said the results were. then it should take about two days for that process to happen.

there will be preliminary results in two days. then it will take two weeks for all those results to be verified and examined on a national level and another two weeks to be certified. >> richard engel in kabul, be safe. thank you for joining us. up next the whois toys with a new prescription for health care reform. will it cure all that ails the democrats? you're watching "msnbc live." reading about washington these days... i gotta ask,

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but i've still got room for the internet. with my new netbook from at&t. with its built-in 3g network, it's fast and small, so it goes places other laptops can't. i'm bill kurtis, and wherever i go, i've got plenty of room for the internet. and the nation's fastest 3g network. gun it, mick. (announcer) sign up today and get a netbook for $199.99 after mail-in rebate. with built-in access to the nation's fastest 3g network. only from at&t. welcome back to "msnbc live." in today's tech watch, soldier in afghanistan are getting wired in hopes of saving lives. to date, 5,000 soldiers trying out a new camera called the dragon's egg. the size of a softball, thrown into areas where soldiers can't

see. the camera lands like a toy, provides troops with a full 360 degree view. if innocent civilians are in the area they can block it off with a laptop backpack. interesting. health care, reaching a bipartisan deal, white house reportedly taking a closer look at moving ahead with health care legislation without any republican support and republicans aren't that happy about it. >> none of the things that all of us can say, that's common sense, let's try it. we can do that without costing the taxpayer a lot of money, without a government takeover. the very fact they won't even consider it demands only one conclusion. this is not about health care, it's not about getting people insured, it's about the holy grail of the democrat party and a lot of liberals in this country for 20 years has been the government would run health care. >> congressman from maryland, is

assistant to speaker of the house nancy pelosi and chairman of the democratic congressional campaign committee. congressman, good to see you again. >> good to be with you. >> congressman, what do you make of this new strategic shift or potential strategic shift in terps of separating health care into two separate bills? is that likely to happen, a? and b, do you expect success if they proceed along that route? >> the president has made it absolutely clear that had preference is to have a bipartisan bill. he's been working for months with republicans in the senate and house to try to get it done. in the house republican leadership early on made it clear they were not interested. in the senate, it's become increasingly clear by comments by senator demint as well as senator kyle that they may have no interest in proceeding either. the white house is going to have to face the choice whether they continue to work on a bipartisan track or proceed with a

bipartisan bill they can get agreement on one piece, and another piece of the bill would go down through what are known as expedited procedures in the senate. it's not clear yet where they are in terms of proceeding down that course. the president has emphasized once again today, the white house has, that it is interested in a bipartisan bill. so we'll have to see where they go. >> congressman, i'm joined by alan jenkins, former official of the ford foundation and ceo agenda. alan, your thoughts. >> thank you. good morning, congressman. seems to suggest so far the senate finance committee bill is his bill. people are increasingly asking, do you really want to anger your base, abandon the public option just to get a few republican votes? is this really about the blue dog or does the president think he can get a bipartisan bill. >> first i don't think any of us know what is in the senate finance committee it b they have

been saying for weeks they will reach some kind of consensus, conclusion to that process. we still haven't seen anything, bits and pieces leak out. until a finished product we don't know what we're dealing with, which is why the president continues to have hope there may be some bipartisan solution. but he's also said there's a limit to everyone's patience. you can't let the clock tick forever on the senate finance committee. that's why i'm sure they are exploring different possibilities. again, the president has been very clear bipartisan bill would like to be what he has. he's not going to allow the republicans to detail health care reform through intransigence. >> this is alan. just a follow-up, do you think it's consensus within the democratic party for a public option or is that going to be a whole new debate just waged along different lines? >> i think there's overwhelming support within the democratic support for a public option. it certainly would be my preference to include a public option.

all three of the house committees that have now reported bills out have a public option to create more competition in the insurance market and more choice. the reason i think the president has said, look, he just has to reserve judgment on a final bill is because he doesn't know what's going to happen in the senate. none of us know what is going to happen in the senate. he has right italy said it would be premature to say he would detail or sign a bill without seeing everything in it. that's where we are. we're really waiting in many ways on the senate. the house will proceed as long as the august/september break is over in voting on its bill, bringing those three pieces together and forging one bill. senate finance committee, the clock continues to tick. people are running out of patience. the question people have, are republicans interested in finding a compromise or do the remarks made by senator demint and kyle indicate they have

chosen for political reasons just to say no to the whole enterprise. >> congressman, thank you for joining us. we look forward to having you back soon. >> thank you. >> today msnbc contributor michael smerconish will talk with president obama live from the white house and he wants to know what you want to hear from the president. go to questions@msnbc.com. up next the convicted mass murderer behind the 1988 lockerbie bombing walks free after only spending eight years in prison. was this really about compassion for a dying man. plus military kmaners prepare for a public fight in afghanistan, the public weighs in on whether the war is worth fighting. in our provocative topic, has president obama ignored the lessons learned from katrina. this is "msnbc live." i'm carlos watson. we'll be right back. reduces pus immediately -- and also helps with lines and wrinkles. not surgery. this is our way to do your eyes. new regenerist anti-aging eye roller.

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welcome back to "msnbc live." i'm carlos watson. as we always do fast forward

through the top three headlines we're following at the mom. hurricane bill weakened to category three storm. hurricane watchers say bill still has the potential to regain category four strength as it heads towards bermuda. police say a man considered a person of interest in the murder of an ex-model has fled to canada. it's believed ryan alexander jenkins, the man you see there, crossed the border by foot. the body of his ex-wife jasmine fiore was found stuffed into a suitcase last week in california. more information about the tragic midair collision over the hudson river. a transcript reveals two minutes after a controller kpleerd the private plane for takeoff he was on the phone with an airport employee joking about barbecuing a dead cat. nine people killed in a crash between a private plane and helicopter. anger from victims' families, the only man convicted of the bombing over lockerbie scotland is a free man. this morning scottish secretary gave the reason for abdelbeset

al megrahi's early release as cancer. >> a terrible, final, irrevocable. he is going to die. >> nbc joins us from lockerbie, scotland. the white house is reacting. we're not hearing from president obama himself. what do you expect who hear over there. is there an expectation to hear from the u.s. president, mainly president obama? >> i'm not sure there's really any expectation here. i think there's an understanding of the anger that exists among the families of the victims in the united states and certainly members of the administration. senators had written to u.s., scottish governments trying to keep megrahi in clinton. secretary of state hillary clinton spoke out forcefully saying she believed that was the right movement. the white house issued the

statement moments after the statement was made that megrahi would be released from the prison behind me saying they deeply regretted the decision. as expressed, we continue to believe megrahi should serve out his sentence. we express our sympathies to the families that live every day with the loss of their loved ones. we recognize the affects of such a loss weigh upon a family forever. interesting the scottish justice minister said the same thing. he said he knows the bereaved will never forget, certainly never forgive in certain cases. he knows there's deeply held views about this and many people will disagree with his decision to release megrahi on cam potion ate grounds but he stands by that decision. >> dawna friesen, thanks for joining us. hamid karzai calls his

country's election a success. many don't believe it's likely to produce an effective government. you see the numbers there 64 not confident, 34%, about a third say they are confident. joining me to discuss the future of afghanistan, america's involvement, columbia professor castillo. also msnbc military analyst and retired general mccaffrey. general mccaffrey, let me go to you first. as you see the violence going on there, any surprises? nfc, is there potentially a positive side that the number of people turned out as high as it is given the violence we both expected and has, in fact, shown up. >> it will be interesting to see the final tabulation on voting results special in the south. the initial news to me looks pretty good. 28 people killed. the taliban and to have backed off in some cases their tactics of intimidation. certainly they didn't directly

target civilian population. my guess is karzai wins in the first round of that's probably a good thing. the other 34 candidates, at least the front-runner appears to be accepting the process as legitimate. >> what do you make as you watch this? you've been much less optimistic. you've worked for u.n. secretary-general, around the world in a variety of war-torn countries. what do you make -- i know you're less optimistic about the long-term involvement possible. >> i think elections are part of the story. as the general said, it's too early to know what impact these elections are going to have, who is going to win. that's one step in the process, a complicated process. >> what more would you like to see? >> i see a segmented approach. we focus earlier on the neutral

center of afghanistan, now we're looking at the elections. we have to look at the integrated tragedy. what are we doing to stop gunning afghans from either going to the insurgency or leaving the country to look for jobs abroad? we have to make sure that jobs are created in afghanistan so that the young people have an option. >> what might be the other nation building cater you would want to see especially with respect to women in the political economic process. >> of course that's a targets. i want an integrated strategy and that's what's lacking. i think in afghanistan the main issue is to create a viable economy. you can't create capitalism and you can't create democracy when people don't have top -- i don't see that happening. >> what do you what of make she's saying, even if we add

more military, as some are suggesting, frankly aren't going to be enough to change afghanistan's stability. >> i think the professor's analysis is entirely on target. at the end of the day, building a coherent state in afghanistan is a function of first of all getting security without which nothing can happen followed by a viable economy. that means jump-starting the agriculture sector. it means building roads, having a school system that works, all these indicators together form the strategy. i think she's dead on target. more u.s. troops personally make me extremely uneasy. the key to security in afghanistan is to build the afghan army and police. not for u.s. ornate forces to fight a long-term consider insurgency campaign. >> general mccaffrey, i want to take you to a different part of the world briefly. there's an announcement this

morning by attorney general eric holder, he's going to announce a number of key indictments. you see them there now on the screen, against more than 40 individuals in both the u.s. and mexico, including mexico's most wanted, guzman, known as shorty, received notoriety on forbes. is this because of the recent flairups in drug wars in mexico. >> obviously the situation is desperate. 12,000 murdered. president calderon in mexico is a man of intense courage he deserves our support. i think they are doing just that. i'm very optimistic that given long-term u.s. engagement with resources, we should stand by the mexicans. they are trying to reestablish the rule of law inside mexico.

>> it just seems like an in credibility difficult situation we keep coming back to again and again and reminds what professor castillo was saying about the need for funnel mental economic reform and stability in the countries. >> it has to be an integrated strategy. they neglected the security. all these things has to be worked together. >> interesting situation there. general mccaffrey, thank you. president castillo, look forward to seeing you soon. >> good to have you. >> coming up next, holocaust revenge fantasy coming to a theater near you? is it over the top. we'll talk about that. you're watching "msnbc live." we'll be talking to brad pitt in just a moment. carol, when you replaced casual friday with nordic tuesday, was it really for fun, or to save money on heat? why? don't you think nordic tuesday is fun? oh no, it's fun... you know, if you are trying to cut costs, fedex can help.

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welcome back to "msnbc live." note the historical do-over

manuals a group of jewish american soldiers killing nazis during world war ii. quentin tarantino "in glorious bastards" starring brad pitt starts once upon a time -- following orders to scalp 100 nazis each. sharon, rap.com. an unusual film premise here. do we think people are interested in this kind of holocaust story? >> they are not selling this as a holocaust story, they are selling it as a rock and roll quentin tarantino pulp fiction to the nazis kind of thing. that's what you're seeing. it really is a revenge fantasy. it's interesting to see quentin tarantino apply that really intense, brutally violent think he's brought to all his movies and bring it to, you know, "saving private ryan" type of

thing or "schindler's list." i think the movie is tracking pretty well. guys really want to see this movie. there's a dirty little secret with this. i saw the movie at cannes. it's not about brad pitt scalping people across france. there's women characters, an actor that won best actor for his portrayal of best evil nazi guy i've seen in years. there's really a lot of very sophisticated storytelling in this movie. what they need, quentin tarantino and the release of this movie needs are for guys to go out and watch brat pit rock the nazis world. >> this is alan jenkins, i'm co-hosting today. i'm hold enough to hear "hogan's heroes." seems like this is a pretty fine

line here. do you feel like they are pulling it off in this film? >> well, you know, i'm not going to judge the film as a critic. i really can only judge it as a consumer. i enjoyed it, because it's revenge fantasy. it's like what would you like to go back and do, if you could go back in time and do what you thought you wanted to do in your secret superman gear, do to hitler kind of thing. there's really great -- as i said, the villains are so great. the heroes are interesting. there's a sort of marlenea detrick working underground. all kinds of different characters in addition to brad pitt being comic relief. i remember hogan's heroes, too. >> i want to ask about don hewitt, legendary creator of "60 minutes." your thoughts in the final seconds as we wrap up. >> don hewitt was absolutely

one-of-a-kind. i know that for me growing up as a young journalist, i always dreamed of being part of an operation like "60 minutes." in some ways the real question, is he the end of era. he created "60 minutes" and made it successful, economically, journalistically and serious and important television news show that was almost one-of-a-kind and we'd have to wonder if with his passing if that legacy will be able to live on. he really was a great newsman and a great man understanding how to make those -- make the news interesting and relevant to a mass audience. that's a fantastic legacy that don hewitt has left us. >> we at msnbc certainly hope we're continuing that legacy. sarah waxman, thank you for joining us. look forward to seeing you next week. >> thanks, carlos. after a wakeup call to the

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welcome back to "msnbc live." in just a few days, four years will have passed since the devastation and heartbreak of hurricane katrina. the deadly storm severely impacted hundreds of thousands of lives. the federal government's treatment in the aftermath was frankly notorious, but are victims of hurricane katrina any better off under president obama? maya wiley, the director for the center of social inclusion joins me and alan jenkins. maya, pretty provocative premise that some have forwarded, that as we approach that four-year mark, all the hope and expectation that life in new orleans, particularly for those in the ninth ward, would be turned around under the obama administration, maybe it hasn't been. maybe it's just as bad off under obama as it was as bush. your thoughs? >> i think it's complicates. some people are better off and some parts of new orleans have come back.

and unfortunately, for the poor and largely nonwhite population in the city, life has not come back and many have not been able to physically come back. >> what do you mean when you say that life is not better off? >> the homeless rate in new orleans is now twice as high as it was before the hurricane, up to 12,000 people by current estimates. unemployment rates are tremendously high. people working, not earning enough to support their families, but also just health care. we're talking about health care reform in this country. there are no hospitals currently providing mental health services in new orleans -- >> which is difficult in a place in which there's clearly been trauma. >> right. clearly trauma, increase in suicide rates, and remember, there was only one hospital in new orleans before the hurricane serving uninsured and poor people. that was charity hospital. it has not been reopened since the hurricane. that's a significant health barrier. >> with the hundreds of billions of stimulus funds hitting the streets, what can be done? how can they turn this around in

new orleans so we don't see the same thing happening in the next five years. >> that's a good question. and this is the key difference between a bush administration and an obama administration. there are huge amounts of federal dollars pouring in that can be accused for infrastructure development, job training, which could be a huge boon to local officials. >> but it hasn't happened yet? >> it's still unclear. maya wiley, we'll have you back. appreciate your first visit to us. now for my "c" note, i was taken this week by the notion of unintended consequences or at least unexpected consequences. jeff sachs joined me after a recent trip to china and india and pointed out clearly that not only are those countries do okay, but in some ways they're thriving, growing at 5, 6, 7%, even as the u.s. economy

retracts. and ultimately, this global meltdown could be a tipping point from both of those countries to truly standing on par in some real ways with the u.s. and europe. other interesting unintended consequences, as we heard the president of iran, ahmadinejad, say he was going to make fairly significant appointments of women to his cabinet, that was certainly not the expectation three to six months ago as the election in iran neared, certainly not as the chaos that ensued. but what's so interesting about the world, you never know exactly what's going to happen and some of the pushback that's happened in iran has led to that. and it led me to wonder, what will be the consequences or unintended consequences of this august recess? the obama administration feared the recess, thinking it would put a stop on health care reform. but what if this new strategy brings president obama out, ultimately liberates democrats in some way to go it alone. could we end up with a better

bill? a worse bill? i'm not sure, but something to think about. i want to thank today's cohost, alan jenkins, joining me for the first, but certainly not the last time. here, dr. nancy picks it up. >> big news today. the man behind the lockerbie bombing has been set free by scottish authorities. we'll take a look at that. should prostate cancer be your get out of jail free card? and a poignant story of a man who really represents what i think has some of the things that are wrong with health care today. a fascinating profile. we have a lot today, including an update on senator kennedy's health. it's almost noon on the east coast, the doctor is in. spectacular. women who drink crystal light drink 20% more water. crystal light.

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a "get out of jail free" card for the terrorist responsible for the bombing of flight pan am 103. i'll be talking to some parents that lost their son at the hands of this suspect and thinks his release may be more about oil than compassion. speaking of compassion, is health care reform a moral issue and does it make you immoral if you oppose it? we'll take a look at the president's new message on reform. plus this -- >> a social worker suggested that my wife and i should get divorced. so they could go on medicaid. we contemplated it, but only for a second, because we knew it was something we could never do. >> he introduced the president at a town hall event and this hour he joins me live. one man's extraordinary journey -- a story through a journey of health insurance hell. good afternoon, everyone. i'm dr. nancy snyderman.

this man is responsible for the deaths of 270 people, but the lockerbie bomber is now going home. the scottish government freed abdel basset al megrahi this morning on compassionate grounds. the justice secretary says al megrahi has terminal prostate cancer and is expected to die soon. >> mr. al megrahi, a sentence imposed by higher power. it is one that no court in any jurisdiction in any land could revoke or overrule. >> nbc's dawnna friesen joins me now from glasgow, scotland. dawnna, can you tell us what went into the minister's decision to free al megrahi? >> reporter: yeah. well, he said a couple of things about that, nancy. first of all, he made it clear that he knows many people will not agree with his decision, because people feel so deeply about this. but he said that he followed scottish law. he followed due process.

and under that law, it gives power to the justice secretary to release prisoners on compassionate grounds. he said, it doesn't specify exactly what those grounds are, but guidance from the past has suggested that when a prisoner is suffering a terminal illness and is believed to have only three months left to live, then, you know, it may be considered to release that person on compassionate grounds. now, he went to great lengths, he says, to have mr. megrahi examined. the last prisoner/doctor examination took place on august the 3rd, he said. the doctor reported that megrahi's condition was deteriorating significantly, that he was no longer responding to treatment and that the prognosis, a reasonable estimate was less than three months. now, mr. mccaskill knew this would have a huge effect on those many bereaved families who don't believe that megrahi should be shown any as