good morning, everyone. welcome to a brand-new hour of msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. torture on trial with justice department signals it could reopen nearly a dozen cases. potentially exposing cia agents and their contractors to prosecution for the alleged torture of terror tee dane tee dane danees. mike mullen issues a sobering assessment of the situation for the u.s. forces on the ground in afghanistan. president obama on his first vacation. will he be able to leave the health care debate behind? i'm carlos watson. a lot coming your way today. rhode island senator jack reed and new york congresswoman from brooklynee yvette clark and documentary filmmaker from hbo and who is out that run house

reverend run joins us live in the studio. let's fast forward through the top headlines. stunning home video capture inside maine as a killer wave from hurricane bill pulled a family out to sea. this home video as the coast guard tried to desperate rescue three people and a 7-year-old, unfortunately, died. her father and a 12-year-old were hospitalized there. you see it there. fire crews knee athens, greece to snuff out wildfires. wildfires rage for a fourth day near athens. help from other european nations arrive. crews are taking advantage of low winds today. reality show contestant turned murder suspect was found dead in a secluded canadian motel. ryan jenkins was wanted in the crew gruesome death of his former wife. police say jenkins apparently committed suicide and his ex-wife and mother reacted to the news this way this morning on the "today" show. >> it brings some closure to

what has been going on. i mean, we don't have to worry about looking for him him anymore or worried is a let threat to other women. . >> good morning. as we always do, we have a guest co-host this morning. i'm pleased to have back karen finney. she is smiling already. i'm smiling already. democratic strategist and former press secretary to hillary clinton. a ton to talk about. >> yeah. a lot going on this august. >> not a quiet vacation. only august some. >> no. the truth is when presidents go on vacation, it really is always a working vacation because it's not like you can just kind of, you know, check all of that stuff at the door and forget about it for a week. >> you've done this before. you've gone with the clintons when president clinton was in office to martha's vineyard. what is it like? what are some of the roles and assignments from the staffers? i understand you had unusual roles as a staffer? >> we did. one of my jobs one year was to hang out with chelsea clinton a little bit. you got literally hundreds of reporters on a small island with

not a lot to cover. so when she would kind of break off from her parents they wanted to make sure there was somebody there to run interference. >> from the evil press people? >> she was a teenager, but it is interesting. a challenge and martha's vineyard, the presidents and a lot of vips have gone there and know the drill. a lot of single lane roads and motorcades and working that out can be a challenge. >> a real challenge indeed. we will talk about it with another new englander in a moment. the justice department is about to release a long-awaited report on the cia's harsh interrogation tactics and among the abuses specked to be revealed or the cia interrogators threaten an al qaeda prisoner with a gun and electric drill. at the same time the government is opening the door for prosecuting for those abuses.

with me now live to discuss it all is democratic senator jack reed of rhode island. senator reed, good to see you again, sir. >> good to see you, too, carlos. >> senator, what do you make of this recommendation to eric holder and the likelihood that he may reopen some prosecutions that the bush administration had declined to pursue? >> well, he has an obligation, obviously, if he feels there's a criminal violation to pursue it. but he also has discretion in terms of ultimately bringing a case. i think they are going through a very difficult process of judgment right now. there's some argument, some strong arguments about the fact that these officers were at least arguably operating under the directions of president bush. so this is -- i think they are serious about the issue. i think in the long run, they want to maintain a policy which

respects not only international law, but we can claim to protect our soldiers who are in the hands of a hostile force. so it's a very difficult set of challenges and i think i would only urge that whatever they do, they do it clearly and do it quickly. >> senator reed, interesting as a former military man yourself, west point graduate as well as a lawyer, i feel like i almost hear you saying between the lines there that maybe the justice department should be cautious. i don't hear you saying what a number progressive has suggested that there should be clearly an investigation here. i hear you suggesting that maybe attorney general holder use his discretion perhaps put this aside. do i hear you right? >> well, i think there should be an investigation. i mean, if we just simply ignore these incidents, they will inevitably reoccur. i think there has to be an investigation. the question comes down to, this is the question at the heart of every prosecutor is that given the whole context of events, given many other factors, is an

individual charge or criminality appropriate to be brought against a person? i think that's the judgment that the attorney general has to make. i commend him, frankly, for this effort of trying to go unearth what happened and to expose what happened because without it, even with the new policies which president obama has brought forth, we would northbound danger of slipping back in the future, not right away, but in the future. >> senator reed, i want to bring in karen finney joining me today. we have talking off camera the situation in afghanistan and including what admiral mullen had to say. your thoughts. >> i wanted to ask you. the administration is presenting sort of an assessment factors on the ground in and in afghanistan, that is the first one, actually, that we've seen. we're hearing the need for more troops on the ground. i'm wondering your thoughts own what you're looking to see, frankly, in that report. what is it you want to see from the administration? >> well, i was there last april

when we he were beginning our buildup and particularly in the south of afghanistan, it's a very heavy combat. is there a significant rebounding of the taliban. much of it the result of seven years of lack of attention. this is also complicated by the current election. so what i would, frankly, like to see in the report is, first, you know, what is the strategy. that strategy has to embrace both afghanistan and pakistan because they are inextricably linked. then a careful sort of plan with forced numbers and resources of how they're going to meet that strategy. i think that is the essence of what general mcpsychiatrist tall is doing right now. >> do you think we could end up in a situation where iraq is still unstable enough that we can't really draw down troops in the numbers that many people would hope and that afghanistan needs not a few more troops, not

the 17,000 that we've already seen, maybe not even the 75,000 that some talked about recently but even more that. are we in a world in which we actually, the military may be short on troops in the very near future and may have to do something fairly significant to change that? >> well, huge stress on the force. that stress has been present since the invasion of iraq and, indeed, for the last several years. that unfortunately is not going to change. i think we've made organizational changes in terms of more deplorable forces in the army in particular, but this stress will continue. we are on a clear path out of iraq and not only because in our best interests it's necessary, but also because the iraqis, the people and the political leaders are moving forward to, you know, help us reduce our presence significantly. so i don't think there's a danger going forward that we're going to sort of have to reinforce iraq. in fact, we're going to come out of there.

the real question now which general mccrystal is debating with admiral mulen and secretary gates and ultimately the president what further resource do we need? in many respects, in afghanistan, the resources are not strictly just military. i mean, one of the deficits over the last seven years has been a lack of civilian counter compliment if you will in terms of a.i.d. people and in terms of civilian advisers that can go in. that, i think, also has to be included in the proposal that the general mchrystal and secretary of state makes. >> obviously, afghanistan is a critical part of the discussion in september and health care we will will com back top. if it's been a tough summer and tough august for the president in the health care debate and now decisions that need to be made in terms of how the senate will proceed. what do you see happening in the next couple of weeks and in early september? >> i've been up in rhode island.

hi a town meeting with my colleagues in the white house and we actually had a reasonable discussion for the great part of it. with one issue that everyone agrees with, the current system is really not functioning well for the average person and it will get worse if we don't do something. even the most ardent critics are saying do something but the question is what do we do differently? when we get back here, i think and i believe it's appropriate that senator baucus is trying to pursue some bipartisan approach on the senate finance committee. if that fails, we will not stop but bring our best plan forward. we've already passed one from the health committee which i serve on and then we're going to the floor and have a debate and move forward. >> senator, you soined like you are optimistic that there still could be a bipartisan compromise. a lot of people are starting to think that is not going to be possible and democrats have to go it alone. are you still optimistic? >> well, i think we have to get back here and it will be quickly

apparent when we return whether or not it is possible to do that. but i don't think we just -- i think we have to get a little more evidence and i think that will be quickly apparent in the next few weeks when we return. but the real key is we can't give up. we have to keep moving forward. we've got to deal with the issue right now. it's not only a social imperative but if we do get a handle on health care, of course, the economy in the future and the lifestyle of american families will be dramatically impacted. the estimate is today american families are spending $12,000 a year health care and by 2016 it will be 24,000 and most people that is half of their income. we have to fix it. >> senator jack reed of rhode island, thank you and always enjoy having you on the show. >> thank you. >> should cia employees face prosecution for harsh interrogation tactics? logon to our website.

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, let me know what you think. allegations of voter fraud intensify in afghanistan. back here at home, the joint chiefs chairman raises worries over eroding public support for the war. later, words of wisdom from reverend run, he talks about raising kids in today's unpredictable and unexpectable world. we want to you walk this way. i'm carlos watson. ♪ walk this way talk this way ♪ ♪ walk this way talk this way ♪ take 2 extra strength tylenol every 4 to 6 hours?!? taking 8 pills a day... and if i take it for 10 days -- that's 80 pills. just 2 aleve can last all day. perfect. choose aleve and you can be taking four times... fewer pills than extra strength tylenol.

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secretary due to just briefed from martha's vineyard where the president is vacationing. ron what is the headline from that briefing in a little news was made, huh? >> mr. burton was reacting to the reports about the interrogation techniques and the release by the justice department today of more information about the bush administration's activities. basically, this is something the white house does not want to touch. essentially, they are saying this is something that the attorney general is going to handle, that he is an independent official and that that is what the obama administration wants -- how the administration wants that to be handled. he has said again that the administration wants to look forward to this and for the look backwards. that essentially is the approach that bill burton outlined on those matters today in the news. >> ron allen at martha's vineyard, thank you. talk to you soon. is the economy bouncing back? the dow opened this morning above 9500 off gains of more than 1.5% last week and oil prices climbed above $74 a barrel amid new expectations

that demand for energy will grow. john joins us from washington now from the "the wall street journal." good to see you. >> how are you? >> good. what do you make of all of this as well as central bankers gathering in jackson hole, wyoming, all seeming to feel like the corner has turned? is that solidly felt on wall street and elsewhere? >> a i just got back last night from these jackson hole meetings where you are had the major fed officials and central bankers from elsewhere in the world gathering for their annual retreat. the mood was upbeat more than a year ago. the consensus is that things have stopped getting worse. we might be turning around but there was a real error of caution, an error of don't get ahead of ourselves. we might have bottomed and looks like we're in position for recovery but, you know, the economy has been through a major shock and we shouldn't expect it to be off to the races any time soon. >> john, there is supposedly new

job numbers that are supposed to come out this thursday. any sense, any early word on what those job numbers will say? i will preface by saying my barber over the weekend on his own unsolicited said he felt like things were starting to get a little bit better, that he started to see some of his other customers who had lost jobs starting get jobs. that kind of evidence piqued my curiosity. >> i love seeing barbers. they have a new case study in their chair iver five minutes so i'm always asking barbers about the economy, inflation, stuff like that, so i would pay attention to that. the numbers come out every week the labor department puts out numbers on unemployment filings and the story there has been that new unemployment filings have been slowing down but there's still a huge number of unemployed people out there that number isn't shrinking very fast and that is really the big problem in the months ahead.

having lost all of the jobs, how are all of these people going to go out and find new jobs? and we're not seeing a big decrease in the number of unemployed. >> it strikes me it's that disconnect between main street and wall street that i think seems to me that wall street has sort of lost. clearly they must think things are getting better because they went to jackson hole but i think it's the anecdotal evidence from main street that is so critical. how aware on rare the executives are how tough things are for people. for a lot of people, it's not getting better yet. >> for the central bankers one of their major concerns is the unemployment situation. as far as wall street goes, i think you need to think of wall street as a raw nerve, right? when it looks like things are getting bad uns, you know, wall street will react as if the world is coming to end and that was getting priced into the market in march we were heading for a depression 2.0 and things

were not as bad as things were priced in, they bounced back again. we have to remember the stock market is way off where it was in 2007. you know, we're still 30% to 40% down from there. it's a very excitable place up there. >> 401(k)s are maybe soon going to be 201, or 301, right? >> or .401! >> from bad to worse is how the joint chief of staff is categorizing the situation in afghanistan right now. >> well, i think it is serious and it is deteriorating and i've said that over the last couple of years taliban insurgency has gotten better and their tactics in my recent visit out there and talking to our troops certainly indicate that. >> that was admiral mike mulen. he stopped short of call cowling for me troops but they may call for as many as an additional 20,000 troops in afghanistan.

nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel is live in kabul, afghanistan. good to see you, richard. what is the update now several days past last week's election? >> well, i think you're seeing increasing indications of how really unstable the situation remains in this country. the fact that afghan officials, each with all of the u.s. troops and nato troops, have not been able to organize an election that was universally seen as credibility and certainly not as credibility as the last election that was held in this country five years ago speaks volumes about the situation on the ground. we're hearing more and more credible reports coming from not just opposition candidates, but from groups of observers who say that there was fraud on a fairly large scale, perhaps hundreds of thousands of votes that were stuffed into ballot boxes last thursday. carlos? >> so, richard, where do things go from here if, indeed, that

kind of fraud is widely believed to have happened? we saw what happened in iran. a bloody standoff where ultimately protesters seem to have crushed by silence. what do we expect will happen here if there continue to be credible allegations of fraud? >> that is a major concern and u.s. officials have been telling all of the opposition candidates, in particular abdullah abdullah. he is the main contender. he has a large political organization and also has something of a guerrilla background coming from mostly in areas outside of kabul to the north, part of the northern alliance. the real concern he would reject the results and that his followers would turn violent. i spoke to abdullah abdullah this morning. he says he is not calling for any kind of street demonstrations. he is calling for restraint, but that if president karzai comes out and has an outlandish victory, a win by a great margin

which opinion polls here said predicted would have been an impossibility, then he would not accept the vote and he refused to speculate has what that could mean for the stability of this country. >> richard engel, in kabul, be safe and look forward to speaking to you soon. nancy pelosi big sell. how the health care debate is putting her leadership to the test. journey home. we talked with a filmmaker behind hbo's newest documentary detailing dangerous journey my migrants hope in crossing the border. you weren't always my favorite day. with all the pet hair in the air, border. but now i have new zyrtec® itchy eye drops. it works fast, with just one drop, to relieve my itchy eyes from allergies for up to 12 hours. no other allergy itchy eye drop rks faster or longer. which is good, 'cause there's a lotta paws to shake.

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♪ then bring 'em right back to where your laptop's at... ♪ ♪ log on to free credit report dot com - stat! ♪ vo: free credit score and report wi enrollment in triple advantage. welcome back to msnbc live. house members continue to push health care reform across the country drtinged august recess. nancy pelosi says there is no way that she will pass a bill in the house without a public option but other democrats remain open about a package that

won't include the provision. democratic congresswoman yvette clark joins us now from new york. good to have you on the show. >> thank you for having me. >> what do you think will happen? it's becoming intense. you see some of your fellow house colleagues say there is no way we're going to lower the cost and potentially improve care without something called a public option. you see those in the senate, including joe lieberman and kent conrad and others saying you guys are dreaming, that's not going to happen. what do you expect happens when you return in a few weeks? >> i expect we're going to get down to the brass tacks of passing health care reform and i think there are going to be proposals on all sides of the aisle. we are every focus, i am, on a public option, recognizing that without competition in health care reform, there is no way we lower costs to the american public. >> if the president comes to you and says no one wants this to happen more than i do but i think it has to happen in stages, that's just a reality. a tough battle and i don't have everything i need right now. i need your vote and your

support, will you support a bill that doesn't include a public option? >> no, i can't support a bill that doesn't include a public option. >> even if the president comes to you personally? >> i would certainly have to take a look at all of the perspectives, you know, in the house of representatives we're an independent body and while we want to make sure that, yes, we can do it for our president, we want to make sure that, yes, we can do it for our constituents. and my constituents want to make sure they have apgs access to a public option. >> it seems there has been a real disconnect from the conversation in washington. we talk about the public health insurance option and these terms like socialized medicine and government-run health care. in your district, what are your hearing from people? i mean, are you able to bridge that divide between the washington conversation and what is going on? >> certainly. it's all about bringing the facts to the people and where we are in the process. it's still a bill information. we have the fundamentals of that bill and my constituents recognize that for too long now the insurance carriers have had

basically the run. and nothing really stops that and nothing prohibits that in our current structure. it's off the rail. so the people in our district really want to see a competitive element put into the mix. there really were initially for single payers and when we realized that that was a nonstarter, we looked at the next best provision that we could provide. >> if things break down, should you put that back on the table? if, in fact, for whatever reason we end up restarting this conversation in a meaningful way should single payer be reintroduced in the conversation? >> i think single payer is really part of the conversation right now. i'm on a committee and in the educational labor committee, we actually voted for and amendment that is will be part of the bill that speaks to states having the right to choose a single payer process. >> that's interesting. having the states lead is actually very interesting. >> each state has a right, under the constitution, to make those types of determination.

we're setting up a framework for a health care delivery form. >> we have to go but promise me you'll come back more often. >> i will certainly come back, carlos. >> we enjoy you. loretta sanchez is in trouble because i have a new competitor. >> we're good colleagues so i don't think she'll mind, carlos. >> i enjoy her. >> have them both. >> that would be a great mix! >> real pleasure, real pleasure. for more on today's hot button issues check out our website. aid. ahead stark close look into eyes of children. some as young as 9. we talk to the filmmaker who took a dangerous journey with them next on msnbc. (announcer) we will not be quiet when we're in a sandwich you'll know it we are our own mixed up blend

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welcome back to msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. let's fast forward through the top news headlines. race is on to ka advantage of the cash for clunkers. today is the final day of the program which provides up to $4,500 to consumers who trade in their vehicles for more fuel-efficient one. was there a secret deal? scottish government says no way but u.s. officials are pressing for more answers as to why the man who killed 270 people was sent home on the so-called compassionate grounds. cuba released new pictures of former leader fidel castro. a healthy looking 83-year-old castro seen on state television chatting with students from venezuela. risk injury and death to get in the united states illegally and they are only children. new hbo documentary "which way home" follows the journey of some of the jurnys of tens of thousands of latin american kids who try to cross the u.s. border each year.

joining me is the director of the film and good to see you both. i want to start with you. what made you, what familiarized you with the story? i was reading 9-year-old up to 13-year-olds. fairly young children making their way hundreds of miles across the borders and crossing multiple borders. what brought you to the story? >> a friend urged me to read an article and we researched the idea. i said what? child migration? what is going on? he said you have to read this article. i did and i researched it and i

thought this would make an incredibly powerful film and also i didn't know about it. i imagined many other americans didn't know about it either. >> you always think fundamentally about either men, right? single men looking for work or sometimes you think about families crossing but we don't normally think about children. latsky children. >> they were just trying to find their parents who he they hadn't seen in years but as we medicine the film we met children had many reasons for coming. united states fulfills dreams. that's what they believe it will fulfill their dreams. they come to save their parents and save their families and they get jobs and some live on the streets and want to get away from their lives and think they will be reborn in the u.s. and find a family that will adopt them and take care of them so many reasons why they want to electric. >> trisha, what happens? i know you work with a lot of these kids. what happens to -- how many kids are we talking about? and what happens to most of kids

as they try to make their way here some. >> they estimate there is between 30,000 to 50,000 children's unaccompanied coming across the border and the government detains about 7,000 of those children each year. at that time -- >> when you say detained, put them in orphanages or put them in prison facilities? what do you mean? >> no, facilities are run by the office of refugee resettlement which is an hhs and they very humane child-friendly facilities and that is where the children are held for just a few months and then released into u.s. society at which point, we step in and we help them by providing probono lawyers, free health care, free therapists and basically the services they need in order to live productive lives while they're here. >> what surprises people most about this documentary "which way home" when they view it? >> i think what is going to surprise people most is to see the dangerous situations children put themselves in when

they journey north. it's a very dangerous road. people are raped, they are ro robbed and they are beaten and held for ransom for extortion and used as drug mules and may eventually get through the desert if not they die and come back dead. so i think when people watch this film they are going to see how dire the circumstances are and how not only adult migrants are at such risk but children are sucked into the same situation. i think that's what is most shocking. >> thank you both for joining us "which way home" terrific hbo documentary on the children who make their way across the border. when can people view it? >> it's on tonight at 9:00 p.m. on hbo and 8:00 p.m. central. >> don't miss it. "which way home. >> for more, logon to our website. go to twitter.msnbc.com and or send a tweet about your thoughts on this. anger and outrage growing over health care and excessive government spending in the minds of some, are democrats now in

jeopardy of losing control of capitol hill? plus, reverend run and his wife join us live in the studio to talk about the tricky task of raising a family in a dysfunctional world. you're watching msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. your body needs sleep to feel healthy... to feel better. tylenol pm quiets the pain that keeps you awake. and helps you sleep, in a non-habit forming way.

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30 days to try lifelock absolutely free. call now and mention id. call now or go to lifelock.com. ♪ welcome back to msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. as president obama approval rating slipped and health care reform hangs in the balance some predicting a midterm election disaster for democrats and how bad could 2010 be for the democratic party? yoing us is charlie cook and also joining us is republican strategist doug hyde. charlie, i start with you. you predicted earlier while some of your numbers suggested democrats could lose 6 to 12 seats in the midterm elections your gut was telling you it could be much worse. say more about that. >> well, carlos, after picking

up 54 seats in the last two elections it's almost impossible for democrats not to lose some seats and 6 to 12 we do it race-by-race that is what we come up with. when you start stepping back and looking at the broader dynamics, you look at how this majority got put together with independent swinging enormously toward democrats in the '06 election where they took the house and know voters and new voters not likely to show up in the midterm election, you look at the democratic party's favorable ratings dropping down, not quite as low as republicans, but really dropping, we're looking at a lot of dynamics that are starting to resemble the kind of dynamics we saw in the early in the 1994 cycle. i think we're just starting to get the feel of it, the intensity of opposition and animosity that is out there, it's starting to, you know, deja vu feeling all over again.

>> that is a lot different than the conversation we had at the dnc after the elections in 2006. i was very saddened to read your assessment of things. but it seems like -- i want to ask you, you know, the contours of 2010 are already sort of being formed. we hear republicans starting on the mantra that democrats control everything and they can't get anything done and democrats are trying to make the case that republicans are being obstructionists. what is the challenge here for republicans? do they risk maybe overreaching? >> well, i don't think you can overreach when you're in the minority and have a filibuster proof senate. speaking to the contours, i look at my home state of north carolina. what barack obama did in 2008 was tremendous. he really turned the old north carolina on its head. democrats are traditionally ran against the party that was run -- the democrat candidate for president whether it was jon kerry and john edwards, al gore. i remember being 12 on my school

bus in 1984 asking people if they were reagan conservatives and mondale liberals. it speaks to how potent republican candidates were in north carolina. obama turned that on its head but his numbers are slipping. richard burr has a real advantage that have in his stapt senate race. >> isn't there a danger? the republicans are coming out strongly against the president's agenda and at a point don't they need to put forward ideas of their own? when i say overreaching, i guess, it seems like all of the negativism and all of the no could backfire. >> absolutely they need to put forth ideas. my old boss, richard burr, i'll mention him again. reintroduced health care legislation with tom coburn and others have introduced it as well. it's important to put forth ideas and they certainly have. but the numbers that are slipping with independents are critical. >> what are those ideas? >> democrats are in a free-fall and i think that's true.

>> charlie cook, only a minute here. where are we liking to see surprises? give me three or four canaries in the coal mine to watch if these races go one way or another they will signal whether a democrats are in good shape or, you know, face ago real tsunami. >> give us some hope, charlie. >> i would gre with both of you midterm elections aren't about the party not in power but the party in power. so republicans have to come up with ideas by 2012 but not for 2010. i would say look this fall. i mean, in virginia, democrats had an excellent chance of holding on to the virginia governor's race. now, not so much. democrats want to roll in special elections. now we've got one coming up in the 23rd district of new york that is going to be this fall that looks fairly doubtful that democrats will be able to pick that up. the new jersey governor's race, while signs of life the last few days, there is a pretty still pretty good chance the democrats

lose that. democrats come up 0 for 3 this fall, there are your canaries in the coal mine. >> harry reid had a poll released yesterday by the las vegas review journal that had him at 38 points down 11 points to his opponent. that is significant. >> we will keep our eye on it. charlie and doug, thank you both for joining us. >> thank you. >> now it's time for my daily big thought. we usually do it later in the show but i bring it up early. three things that caught my attention this week and that ultimately wove together for me the first was a tremendous 60 minutes episode on sunday where they look back at their creator don hewlett. i thought it was powerful when he shared that the best tv, maybe the best in life is about four little words -- tell them a story. that so often he said he didn't book the guests, if you will, he didn't always book an issue and didn't want to talk policy. he wanted to talk about a story and threw incredible character and stories so much was shared and learned and told. the second one is paul krugman's

op-ed today in "the new york times." the nobel prize winning economist i thought was thoughtful in pointing out sometimes even after people have lost trillions of dollars, they still hold on to zombie ideas. the notion that unfettered free market that someone called reaganism makes sense and it seems to dominate many debates. i thought krugman was thaulvet on that. the idea of a story and the idea we have to be careful about the free market i thought came together so well in "the new york times" front page today in the story of a neighborhood 60 miles east of los angeles. about half of the homes are in foreclosure and the personal story there that ultimately ended up with a couple being able frankly not to look a reporter in the eye and really talk about what has happened to their marriage over the year in my mind said so much about what we still need to do in terms of the economy helping people find jobs and rescue homes in or close to foreclosure as anything else. leave it at that.

that is our big "c" note of the day. coming up reverend run and his wife justine share thoughts of their own. we have them straight ahead. you're watching msnbc live. i'm carlos watson. >> did you a good job. thank you. no, no, no. i've come to the conclusion you've give me a whole new perspective in my life. thanks. >> that's great! to get myself a new cell phone ♪ ♪ so i could hear myself as a ringtone ♪ ♪ who knew the store would go and check my credit score ♪ ♪ now all they let me have is this dinosaur ♪ ♪ hello hello hello can anybody hear me? ♪ ♪ i know i know i know i shoulda gone to ♪ ♪ free credit report dot com! ♪ that's where i shoulda gone! coulda got my knowledge on! ♪ ♪ vofree credit score and report with enrollment in triple advantage. finally, good news for people with type 2 diabetes or at risk for diabetes. introducinnew nutrisystem d, the clinically tested program for losing weight and

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welcome back to "msnbc live." i'm already smiling. i'm hard-pressed to think of a better set of guests. back in the day, joseph simmons was better known as run from run dmc. the ground-breaking hip hop group most often credited for bringing the genera into the mainstream. they were inducted into the rock 'n' roll of hall of fame this year. now he's rev run, he stars alongside his wife, justine, and his six children in the sixth season of "run's house on" on mtv.

>> is he a little lonely? >> he needs a friend. >> this dog doesn't need a friend. >> he needs a friend. >> he's sad because you won't be his friend. he doesn't need another friend. >> a friend of his own species. >> reverend run and his wife, justine simmons are the author of the new book "take back your family," how to raise respectful and loving kids in a dysfunctional world. that's a lot of work. >> you've got to take them back. i believe something is taking your family from you. look at the divorce rate, no one's eating together anymore. i said, let me make a bold statement. i said, take back your family. you've got to be proactive instead of reactive. >> justine, what do you think is the most important thing for doing that. you haven't done that with one or two kids, you've done it with

six kids. >> communication, that helps. we're constantly in their life, trying to find out what they're doing, what they want to do, and helping them along. and rusty said to me, oh, before i leave and go on my own, well, i know what i want to do. and i was like, don't worry, because we look so like -- >> like 12. >> right. will i be okay? i said, don't worry, you'll know what you want to do in life and you'll be fine. >> we'll pay for the french fries for now. >> i want to ask you about boys in particular and about the pressure on boys to follow their fathers and do well. i think about it, whether you think about a football player like john elway. you see michael jordan and his kids back in the day. joe dimaggio and his kids. how much pressure is it on your -- your girls are doing well. your oldest girls have their own show, "daddy's girls." what about your boys? >> jo jo, everything was like a big family. i was out with russell in the hampton and i'm kind of following in the -- >> your older brother, russell

simmons. >> we do sneakers together. jo jo's a global grind. diggy has a blog. we kind of all gather around each other and teach one, help each other. so we're a family that plays together and prays together, stays together, and get paid together. >> i like that. i like that. >> lean with it. rock with it. >> it's true. but i do want to say about -- that is very hard, and my husband doesn't want to feel any stress about doing -- >> do what run dmc did. >> right. >> it's just weird that our kids just want to, rather, jo jo and diggy, rap or perform like him. but he doesn't put any pressure on them to do it and we try to -- >> if they feel it, we give them the tools to get through it. whether it is to lead jo jo to

the -- he's like, i'm into the internet. we give them the tools to live up to our expectations. >> tell me a little bit about your marriage. there's so many people i know who love your show, love both of you. in fact, a number of people said, since the cosby show, since roseanne, there hasn't been a family sitcom. part of that is because feel like you're very real. >> we put our marriage before we put everything. >> our kids. >> even before the kids? zpl >> you have to. >> that's what heidi and seal say, by the way. very interesting. >> first, it's you and your husband and you love him so much but then you have children and you feel like, they need all my attention and you forget about your husband. you don't mean to, but you think -- >> and little people become big people and next thing you know, we don't know each other. so we know the foundation has to be us and these are the offspring -- we can reach out our arms after we're one. >> and we let them know we're a team.

>> because they try to play us and be like, can i go here. and i'm like, ask your father, and he's like, oh, you can't make a decision? i'm like, no, ask my husband. >> he challenges her, oh, you can't make a decision, ma? >> you know what i'm going to do, i am going to make a decision, which is that we need you guys to come back. promise me you're going to come back on our show. >> take back your family! >> fantastic new book. that does it for me this hour. i'm carlos watson. i think to thank today's cohost, carrie finny for being with us. dr. nancy snyderman picks up the coverage from here. you have to love dr. run and justine, right? >> absolutely agree with that, it starts with sit-down family dinners, no excuses. absolutely agree. well, republicans speaking out for seniors as they mount a new defensive on health care debate. and a new face appears in the michael jackson saga. how did a mystery man get so involved in the pop star's life? we'll talk about that. and, should baby boys be r

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