meetings in new york and then thursday, the g-20 meeting in pittsburgh, contessa. >> let me ask you, the president yesterday on the talk shows talked a little bit about afghanistan and then saw later in the day, general mcchrystal's report on that leaked to the "washington post." what does the white house say about what should happen in afghanistan, especially concerning adding more troops? >> reporter: well, we have a soundbite actually from president obama yesterday. he was asked about that he pronounced himself yesterday on a couple of those shows as skeptical with regard to more troops in afghanistan, but we do have that bombshell of a report by bob woodward today on the "washington post" front page. let's hear what the president, however, had to say yesterday. >> i'm not interested in just being in afghanistan for the sake of being in afghanistan or saving face or in some way, you know, sending a message that america is here for the duration. until i'm satisfied that we've got the right strategy, i'm not going to be sending some young

man or woman over there beyond what we already have. >> reporter: and the president reminded interviewers yesterday, he sent 21,000 troop there is during the election, the recently held presidential election, now mired in controversy over the eye merge jones of hamid karzai as the winner. a lot made of that the man rat white house the past weeks on afghanistan has been that nothing is imminent, but they want to get the strategy in place before they decide whether they are going to put more resources in that country, contessa. >> okay, so, mike, i have colonel jack jacobs, who is a retired u.s. army colonel. jack, when we are talking about strategy, isn't that something that commander in chief should know, until i know for sure what our strategy s aren't you supposed to know that? >> start at the end and work backwar backwards. the mission and object ittive is the important thing, you decide on that and then decide what resources you are going to use. sort of got it back to front. if he has already committed

resource there is, there are going to be 68,000 american troops there pretty soon. before you decide how you're going to use them, that's probably got it back to front. >> okay, here is general stanley mcchrystal said in this, supposed to be a confidential report, but as i said before it has been leaked now to the "washington post," when we are looking at some of his dire warnings, he says, look, without these additional troops, we could be risking failure but here it is. "the weakness of state institutions, malign actions of power-brokers, widespread corruption and abuse of power by various officials and isaf's own errors have given afghans little reason to support their government." how would having more u.s. troops on the ground there fix that? >> well, it's not. and part of our problem is that we, intellectually and all other ways, has have been focusing on what is taking place in kabul. but if you go out to the hinterlands, you go out to where our troops are located, the afghans there, they don't care -- they don't know where kabul is and they don't care

about it. afghanistan has never been centrally ruled and our focus to on hamid karzai and anything else out of kabul, if we focus on that we will fail. our focus to be out in the hinter lands, where the tribes are located to assist them in defending themselves. >> we were just talking the other day about the young sergeant who was killed in afghanistan and was awarded, posthumously, the medal of honor. one of the things that he did is he went out and he would negotiate with these tribal elders through interpreters. it looked like he was really trying to integrate with the afghan people. mccristal was saying that is exactly what needs to happen, they need to be seen as guests, not as occupying troops. from what you have seen is that the approach? >> yes, that has been the approach for some time, but not in the size force that's needed to get it accomplished and only sporadically. it has not been the strategy until now. if you go down to places where the tribes are located in the mountains and in the south, you

will see that american units are getting out there to coordinate with the local tribesmen in order to make sure that they are able to defend themselves. but unless that turns out to be what the strategy is all across the country, we will fail. >> and it looks like there are so many opportunities for i w l illog illogic, for instance, according to this assessment, you have hardened, committed islamists in the prison system, indiscriminately mixed with petty criminals and sex offenders and they are using the opportunities, thesis lambistists, to rat callize and indoctrinate the petty criminals. i mean, i'm no prison expert but seems like a basic no-brainer when you are locking people up. >> but what it is going to take to redress all that is eliminating corruption from the central government, which is tough to do at the best of times and get the u.s. congress to write a very, very substantial check in order to build new prisons to make sure that these guys aren't thrown together and that afghans are not

radicalized. that is going to take a lot of money and i don't think -- i'm not sure congress is ready to write that check. >> again, a conversation i had with some afghan insiders, they were talking about the people on the ground, the military leaders say they would give up whole battalions if only to getting a chur experts and -- >> you are absolutely right. economic development, roads there are no roads to speak of in afghanistan. local economic development, local empowerment of tribes, and an increase in economic activity, in addition to the security that is provided, will go a long way to make willing the place safe from the taliban. >> comele nell jacobs shall as always. my big questions here on afghanistan, what happens if the president says no to general mcchrystal's request? and are our troops currently being used in the most efficient way possible already there? are there needs that could be fulfilled by civilians? for instance, we were just talking about that agriculture, business or urban planning experts that would go farther in stabilizing the situation there. the heavy rain and

widespread flooding in georgia has turned deadly. at least two people were killed when flood waters swept their vehicles off the road. most of metro atlanta has been under a flash flood warning today. more than a foot of rain flooded homes and businesses. major highways in atlanta are submerged and several roads washed out all together. in several cases, rescuers saved lives when they plucked drivers from their cars as water closed in. a new york city imam and a father and son from colorado are due in court today in a still-unfolding terror plat. najibullah zazi and his father were arrested over the weekend in colorado a thirdment is was arrested in new york. jay larson is from nbc affiliate kusa in denver. what are you learning about the alleged plot? >> reporter: well, here's what the government alleges in some of the court paperwork that it has released publicly. it says that the plot involved using explosive devices that were going to be detonated some place in the united states. now, i did have the opportunity to speak to najibullah zazi, the

chief suspect in this possible terror probe that is ongoing. what he told me is he has no ties to terrorist activity. in fact, he told me that nobody in the united states should be at all worried about him. he believes it was just some type of misunderstanding. as you mentioned, he will be in court here 1:30 mountain time, where he will learn the formal charges against him. right now, federal prosecutors have just charged both he and his father with lying to federal investigators. that is not a serious of a terror charge as many people thought might be brought, but here's what's important to note. charges can be added on at any time. we fully expect that more serious terror charges could come in the next few days or the next few weeks, but just this one charge now allowed investigators to pick up both mohammed zazi and najibullah zazi and keep them in jail. they will go before this judge. we know the government will ask to detain najibullah zazi. in terms of his father, mow ham

mad, the government says it will not try to detain him, so it is possible he could walk out of the courtroom some time today. >> are you learning whether zazi is cooperating with authorities? are they learning -- investigators able to learn more information about who he was working with, who else might be involved here? >> reporter: well, it's really tough to tell the government is being very tight-lipped this about this case and our source really aren't able to give up much information, just saying this is very much an ongoing investigation. zazi's attorney, arthur fullson, tells me he is cooperating with the fbi. keep in mind, he answered questions both wednesday, thursday and friday last week, for several hours. he was set to come back yesterday and continue, his attorney says, cooperating with the fbi, but they abruptly called off those talks before they were set to begin saturday morning. >> jace, thank you, we appreciate that a. the husband of a woman found dead along with her five children in a florida apartment got on a plane bound for haiti. the bodies were found saturday.

the woman was 32. her children ranged in age from 11 months to nine years old. police did not reveal how they died. reportedly, though, there were several domestic violence calls to the home over the past decade. they want to question a 33-year-old man, not calling him a suspect. by the way, he does have family in haiti. in california this afternoon, investigators will begin digging up property belonging to the couple accused of kidnapping and holding jaycee dugard captive for 18 years. officials are hoping to find clues to other unsolved child abduction cases. cadaver dogs alerted investigators to an area on the property and that will be the focus of this afternoon's search. the body of annie le, the yale student found dead on what should have been her wedding day, her body has been returned now to northern california for her funeral. le's family reportedly has requested all detail about the funeral be kept private. a memorial service for le is planned at her fiance's temple here in new york later this

month. still ahead, we get real on health care reform when we link up with the father of a disabled child. he is pushing for public option, linking him up with his congressman who will vote on any health care legislation. plus, new york's governor reportedly ignoring president obama's request to drop out of the 2010 gubernatorial race. the inside story on what the white house is now saying. and a former staffer for john edwards out with exclusive allegations about the former senator's affair with rielle hunter and whether he fathered a child from that indiscretion. you could buy 750 bottles of water.

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possible changes come to be the so-called baucus bill. the senate finance version of the house reform bill. senate finance committee

chairman max baucus tells "the wall street journal" in an interview just out he intends to ease the burden the bill would pose on middle income families. the montana democrats says some $28 billion of the funds now dedicated to deficit reduction could actually be diverted into proposals that would make the bill more affordable for working americans. one change under consideration, scale back a proposed 35% tax on high-valued health insurance plans. another would strengthen the taxpayer-backed subsidies to help lower and middle-income families purchase insurance. best of frenemies, president obama has nothing but love for new york's governor david paterson, even though the president told the governor to drop his bid to retain the top spot. >> wonderful man, the governor of the great state of new york, david paterson is in the house. >> well, there was the warm

welcome that the president gave to the new york governor, obama and paterson face-to-face at an event in upstate new york today a day after the "new york times" revealed what, until now, was a behind-the-scenes request. nbc's chuck todd says the president actually apologized today to paterson for how things played out. the white house says paterson can do whatever he wants when it comes to politics and paterson is telling almost everyone that will list than he has no intention of quitting. he intends to be governor again for four more years. from albany, i'm joined by "new york daily news" reporter, elizabeth benjamin, at this morning's event. that was awkward? did you see any awkwardness between the governor and the president? >> it looked a little awkward. i mean, when he gave that wonderful man shoutout to the governor, he didn't look in the governor's direction. the governor was seated to president's left, in the vip section. by contrast, when the president welcomed attorney general andrew cuomo, he said, you know, he

made a joke about him and said, oh, he is shy and retiring, then shot him a big smile. clearly, the body language was awkward. it was not -- you know, it was not comfortable. >> the political watchers looking at this say the reason the president might want paterson to step aside and allow another democrat to run for governor next year has to do with the fact that the -- the elections are in chaos right now. they are in -- there are seats for the democrats that are in jeopardy. what would be accomplished by david paterson stepping aside, elizabeth? >> well, i mean, it would definitely reduce the possibility of being a knockdown, dragout battle between governor paterson and andrew cuomo, a redo of the battle between 2002 with carl mccall and then dropped his bid that angered a lot of people back in 2002. and you have got -- >> all right. go ahead. >> well, subsequently, have

somebody strong at the top of the ticket, ostensibly, all these ballot races would be asisd if the democrats can't control the state senate, then they can't control redistricting, which makes the congressional delegation very nervous. >> elizabeth, thank you so much for your time. i appreciate you lending your perspective in. >> my pleasure. thanks a lot. okay, so we have some video coming in about this school bus that went right into a pond. look at this all 18 students did get off safely after it plunged in near dallas. the driver may have suffered some sort of medical issue, taken to a nearby hospital along with five students. ironically, the kids just left an aquatic center and heading back to rockwall health high school when that accident happened. when we return, new accusations of infidelity and a love child for north carolina senator john edwards, a former aide spilling some rather scandalous details. and actor david hasselhoff rushed to the hospital, reportedly for alcohol poisoning. we will give you details on his condition, straight ahead. ♪ well i was shopping for a new car, ♪

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no room at the inn for libyan leader moammar gadhafi. his aides tried to rent as 28,000 a month new york townhouse for gadhafi's united nations visit this week but the realtor turned him down flat. the realtor told the "post" that maybe they would have been able to work out something if libya had agreed to return lockerbie bomber, abdel el megrahi to a scottish prison. when the realtor told the aides that they slammed down the phone. john edwards, his alleged love child and how far edwards was willing to keep it a secret, here is nbc's political correspondent, norah o'donnell. >> reporter: two years since john edwards denied an extra

marital affair with rielle hunter, a woman hired to produce campaign videos for the then-presidential candidate. >> the story is false, completely untrue, ridiculous. >> reporter: fast forward one year to this admission. >> in 2006, two years ago, i made a very serious mistake. i would welcome participating in a paternity test, be happy to participate in one. i know that it's not possible that this child could be mine. >> reporter: and now, new details from a former aide to mr. edwards, andrew young, whose book proposal was reviewed by the "new york times" n it, young says he helped set up private meetings between mr. edwards and rielle hunter dur, the presidential campaign and that edwards asked young to claim responsibility for fathering her child. >> good to see you. >> reporter: life off the campaign trail has been no less turbulent for john edwards. in makers he acknowledged being part of a federal investigation into whether campaign funds were paid illegally to rielle hunter, something edwards has denied.

last month, rielle hunter testified before the grand jury, even bringing her child with her. elizabeth edwards, meanwhile, appeared live on "today" in may and address idea she chose not to leave her husband after he admitted having an extra marital affair. >> i have all sorts of reasons but the big reason is that, you know, i promised i was with him for better to or for worse. this was a a lot worse than i had ever expected. but i thought, you know, that meant something when i said it. >> reporter: john and elizabeth edwards were last seen together publicly at a memorial for senator it ted kennedy in august. coming together to pay their respects, even as so much attention continues to be focused on their personal lives, and whether john edwards is, in fact, the father of rielle hunter's child. >> i wish for to never be an issue, but if it becomes an issue, if that is just another thing to deal with, but that is not like a further betrayal that i need to deal with.

>> norah talked to an edwards' spokesperson who said they could be issuing a statement on child paternity at some time, but right now, nothing is planned. it is the say day so many tom delay fans have been waiting for and probably his critics, too. the former republican majority leader is polishing his steps, and his shoes, for his debut on dancing with the stars. he joins 15 celebrity test from entertainment and sports for a new season. delay's website is devoted to his appearance on the show, allows people to sign up for updates and tells you can follow his progress on twitter. remember this video of david hasselhoff from 2007? his daughter captured him on camera drunk in a las vegas hotel room. well, tmz is reporting that he is at it again, that apparently, he had to go to the hospital for alcohol poisoning. his 17-year-old daughter, hayley reportedly called her mom yesterday afternoon, saying her dad was extremely drunk. the america's got talent judge

reportedly was treated and released last night and tmz is now reporting that hasselhoff insists he was not drunk, but was being treated for an ear infection. beyonce says her show will go on in malaysia. two years ago, her show was cancered in the predominantly muslim country because of major protests over her sexy image and clothing. the r & b superstar's upcoming show is already drawing anger from conservatives in malaysia where female performers are required to be completely covered from their shoulders to their knees, no cleavage, no thighs, and certainly, no butt-slapping. in georgia, massive flooding causing real problems. in fact, we are now seeing reports that a child has been swept away in a rain flow. we will get the latest coming up. and we get real on health care. we hook up the father of a disabled child looking for answers on health insurance with the congressman who will represent him on the vote on

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atlanta under water and widespread flooding happening across parts of georgia today. more than foot of rain has already fallen. and at this hour, we are learning the flooding has take an deadly turn two people confirmed dead, killed when flood waters swept their cars off the road. now, new reports that authorities searching for a toddler believed to have been swept away in a rain-swollen creek near the georgia/alabama border. and all day, we have been watching dramatic pictures of water rescues. emergency responders wrestling people from the fast-moving flood waters and then onto drier ground. we will stay on top of that. take a look at these pictures sent by our innocence affiliate in atlanta. viewers took them. if you have your own pictures of the flooding we would like you to share them with us. you can send them to firstperson@msnbc.com or post them at firstperson.msnbc.com.

virginia investigators looking into whether a myspace love affair led to a kwaup rupple murder them say a teenaged preacher's daughter had posted love messages to a rapper from california's castro valley. he called had himself psychosam, rapped about the thrill of slowly killing people. but emer neederback in virginia found him attractive and wrote is she was eager for richard mccross ski to visit her. police say mccross ski, aka psychosam, took the girl to a horror core concert and then killed emmarks her father, a pastor, her mom and one other person. mccross ski is being arraigned today. this week could be crucial for the health care overhaul. markup sessions begin tomorrow for the baucus bill. the senate finance committee faces 564 amendments and hearing baucus himself may change some of the language. then, as senate majority leader harry reid works to reconcile the finance committee bill with the health committee bill, it comes down to a battle over co-ops or public option. the president weighed in on five different tv networks.

>> what i've said is the public option, i think should be part of this, but shouldn't think somehow that is the silver bull that's solves health care. >> lawmakers are battling over this public option, but in many cases, families see it as the only way they can survive. let's get real. 11-year-old woody simmons of north carolina has been disabled since birth. his family has insurance and woody qualifies for medicaid in north carolina, but this child has extensive medical needs. and it has left his family fearing their sky-high out-of-pocket costs. his dad, david, now reaching out to president obama and members of congress with his story and a push for a public option. david simmons joins me now from north carolina of. david, tell me what you would wrote to president obama and to the lawmakers. >> basically, i just laid out the situation as it is now, the extreme cost of health care for caring for woody and the fact that i'm one of the lucky ones

in that i have health insurance and woody has medicaid, but it wouldn't take much, especially in this economy, for me to lose one or both of those, at which point, i would not be able to afford the kind of care that woody needs. his medical costs are extremely high. in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. >> what -- what do you worry about -- i mean, your son is 11 years old and we have talked a little bit about how extensive his knees are, but moving forward, as it stands now, i assume your insurance has a lifetime maximum benefit. what is that? >> the lifetime maximum benefit is about $5 million. and woody is getting very close to that which means once he passes that lifetime maximum, the insurance company would no longer cover any expenses for woody and then it would be all left to medicaid or to me personally if medicaid coverage goes away. >> and david, the fact that you get your health insurance

through your job, as you said, i'm sure that's blessing. what happens if you lose a job? do you think that his condition would preclude you from buying insurance on the private market? >> well, i know that if i were to go out onto the -- what people refer to as the free market and try to buy health insurance myself, i'm ininsurable, nobody would ever insure my family just because of woody's pre-existing condition there is no way anybody would lack at woody and say, i will write you a policy. i would be qualified under things like cobra for a short amount of time, and as long as i maintain some amount of coverage, then i can get by with getting another policy, but once a pre-existing condition is there it is very hard to get around it and to get coverage after that. >> and medicaid, the fact that woody is already qualified for medicaid, doesn't that give you some reassurance or a safety net, even if you lose your insurance there is medical

coverage for you and for woody? >> well it does for now, but you know, north carolina has been, over the last year, has been looking at revamping its medicaid system and their qualifications. and basing their qualifications on income for a family and doing up to a 30% co-pay 30% co-pay would have left me a bill last christmas of about $170,000. so, even with medicaid and a co-pays i would most likely have lost my house. >> let me bring in your congressman, democrat david price, he is a member of the house appropriations committee. is this the kind of story, congressman, that you hear on a regular basis. >> absolutely there are many, many stories, although mr. simmons and woody's story is one of the most compelling i have

heard. i was just thinking about the different aspects of reform touched by this story. one is the question of medicaid eligibility irk the importance of making medicaid stronger, not weaker. the second, and mr. simmons hasn't told much about this but he has had hassles, endless hassles, with the private insurance companies about what they covered it is terrible to be fighting an illness and worried about your child and at the same time, having to fight your insurance company. the third thing is these lifetime limits. the legislation that we're debating in the congress would eliminate those and that's absolutely critical. and the fourth thing then is insurance discrimination. if -- if mr. simmons was to change jobs or lose jobs, he is absolutely right, he would be priced out of the market totally and so, eliminating discrimination on the basis of pre-existing conditions is also a key aspect of reform. his story brings into focus very sharply the importance of reform on all four of these fronts.

>> it's interesting, when you look at the numbers, david and congressman price, that 75% of the money that gets spent on health care goes to people who need a long-term medical care. is this a long-term conversation about what happened when all of a sudden, the people who are taking 75% of the benefits need that long-term care about how you ration that out? i know there is a lot of fear about the word "rationing" but if you look at other systems in canada, great britain, david york know if you have studied a lot about that, but there are lines, long waits for people to get medical care in those countries when they become more managed. david, what do you think? congressman, would you do want to weigh in? i think i have lost them.

yeah, think that we are having a feck nickal difficulty there. congressman price has come out very strongly in terms of health care reform, he says that the money that has been spent is inefficient and he says that it is unsustainable, this sort of skyrocketing costs and where it is going to go in the future. did we lose their audio? yeah, can we get them back? no, we don't have t unfortunately that is going to wrap up that conversation with congressman david price of north carolina and david simmons. certainly wish them the best moving forward. listen, i would like to hear from you, you can get me on twitter under contessa brewer there is my twitter page or on facebook under contessa msnbc. either place, you can get ahold of me and i would love to hear from you. quick break here and we will be right back.

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supplies all the nutrients of a complete breakfast. so kids get the protein and calcium they need to help build strong muscles and healthy bones. carnation instant breakfast essentials. good nutrition from the start. some breaking news coming in right now. haitian police apparently have detained a guy wanted for questioning in the florida murders of his wife and five

children. their bodies found on saturday. the woman, her name is gear lane dimas, 32. her children as young as 11 months, as old as 9 years. police did not reveal how they died but apparently, there were some domestic violence calls to the property over the past decade. the man they were talking to, mr. dimas, had family in haiti it looks like haitian police have gone in and detained him for the questioning. today, three men will be in federal court to face charges of lying to fbi agents investigating a possible terrorist plot. all three defendant does face eight years in prison if convicted. authorities say they don't have specific information on what they were planning but one of the men, najibullah zazi admitted to being trained by al qaeda. evidence shows he was in pakistan from august, 2008 to this past january. and the rental car he drove to new york city earlier this month had a laptop in it with notes on

how to make a homemade bomb. nbc terrorism analyst evan coleman joins me now. when you find out the allegation that there were hand-written notes on how to make a bomb is that in and of itself enough of a tipoff that yes, there was a plot? >> that is not all we have learn sod far from the fbi, allegedly. we have also heard reports now that the fbi also seized a scale and some other equipment from mr. zazi, his apparent co-conspirators that would lead us to believe that it wasn't just a matter of looking up recipes on the internet that these guys had equipment in their possession that could have been usualed to measure out the ingredients and potentially put together an explosive, but we really don't know right now. what we snow mr. zazi engaged in behavior that was cheerily very suspicious. add mitted to attending a terrorist training camp in pakistan, as of last year. we do know that there are others at these camps that are training to try to strike at the united states and the uk and other countries. given those kind of confluence of events it is very difficult

to say he is innocent. also can't say 100% he is getty, but there is a lot of smoke there now. >> the fact of the matter is he has been communicating with the authorities in colorado. we heard from a reporter from kusa, he actually could be released as early as this afternoon from detens in colorado. do you think at this point the investigators going to be more interested in what they can glean from him than in actually sending him to jail and charging him with right now laying to federal prosecutors? >> yeah, i mean, number one, look, we all know that the cia, the fbi and other government agencies would love to have better and more informed sources about what's going on at terrorist training camps in pakistan. we have a lot of difficulty trying to insert people of our own avail into these camps. the only way we can really get that information is by turning people when they come back. there is a guy from out in long island, we did that a few week ago. there is no doubt we would love to have that information. not to mention the fact, the second part if want to prosecute a terrorism case what is the

best way to prosecute a terrorism case? it is to have someone on the inside who can come out afterwards and say, yes, with we did this we did this, then we did this and this is the goal of what we were trying to do then it is not a question of circumstantial evidence it is not a question of reading things into people's intentions, it is plif simply a question of here is a person part of it and he admit it is. case closed. >> what do you make of the fact that you have a father and son and imam in new york city. police were able not to go to one location but two and off to home depots or lowes and home stores and match up receipts what were they buying? the chemicals needed for bombs? what does it tell us about our ability to catch people who might have plots brewing? >> it is heartening, especially if it is true these individuals were not picked up solely by an informant it wasn't an informant-driven case, it was by

wire taps, evidence and intercepted communication. that is heartening. authorities here in new york in a coordinated way are making sense of intelligence coming in in such a way that they can intercept these guys, but we have to be careful. we don't know exactly what these folks were up to i think it's fair to say that these folks made very serious mistakes, including talking about this stuff on the telephone that they probably shouldn't have done and i don't know if we can count on al qaeda cells in the future, if this was an al qaeda cell, and we don't know that, but i don't think we can count on al qaeda cells in the future making those same mistakes. it is says, the first rule in the al qaeda playbook, do not talk about stuff on the telephone. people do it. not because they weren't taught it, because they are foolish. >> right. >> but not everyone is a fool and not everyone is going to make that mistake. >> everyone, thank you. >> thank you very much. official says 20 million doses of h1n1 vaccine will be available by the end of mention month. they will be distributed among 90,000 immunization providers

such as hospitals, clinics and pharmacist, but according to investigators, many state and local governments haven't made preparations for deal wag flu pandemic, these include recruiting health care workers and creating systems to track hospital beds and medical equipment. more bad health news, more than 35 million people around the world are suffering from alzheimer's disease or other types of dementia. the world alzheimer report figure is 10% higher than what scientists predicted just a few years ago. the report projects dementia will nearly double every 20 years and that by the year 2050, it will affect more than 115 million people. here's a story of a grandfather versus an alleged bank robber. a 54-year-old bank customer tackled a 21-year-old would-be bank robber and all caught on camera. take a look. limber 54-year-old jumps the robbery suspect, wearing the hooded sweatshirt. the suspect was in the middle of collecting money from three tellers after handing them a

note to saying to empty their drawers with cash. here it s look at the guy just going right after him, the suspect is in police custody. the man who jumped into action apparently got quite the talking to from his wife, who was standing next to the alleged robber during the incident. appare apparently, she didn't think that was all that bright. and check out this video from colorado. comes from kusa. it was shot in the castle rock area. do we have it? okay, we will have it after a break. quick break right here. we will be back. for arthritis pain... in your hands... knees... and back. for little bodies with fevers.. and big bodies on high blood pressure medicine. tylenol works with your body... in a way other pain relievers don't... so you feel better... knowing doctors recommend tylenol... more than any other brand of pain reliever.

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okay, we getting this video in from colorado, where it's a already snowing. this comes from kusa, shot in castlerock area of colorado. here it is. summer not officially over, ends with the autumnal equinox at 5:38 tomorrow. colorado beating us to the punch. no longer in political office but former governor sarah

palin is getting plenty of face time on facebook. her public appearances are very few and far between but she has been using the social networking site to get out her message. politico points out it was her facebook post about so-called death panels that reportedly shaped the folk cuss of the health care debate in august. and the website, common sense 2020, reports palin has gained nearly 61,000 facebook followers over the past four weeks. well, so sarah palin might be winning face back friends but is she influencing voters? not according to a straw poll conducted at this weekend's values voters summit. former arkansas governor, mike huckabee was the preferred candidate by a rather large margin, he took 28.5% of the vote, beating out palin and former governor mitt romney of massachusetts who both tied for second with minnesota governor tim pawlenty and indiana congressman, mike pence. andy barr is a reporter with politico. andy, what do you read into those rules from that particular straw poll? >> a really interesting result.

if you remember back to the c pack conference they had back in february, the one the year before, too, mitt romney was running and winning among these folks. mike huckabee is someone who even though, you know, hasn't really been out in front of a lot of this stuff, doesn't have an organization, continues to be really popular in the social conservative movement, certainly surprising palin is so far down the list even though she wasn't one that came to speak to the group. >> that because, do you think, because of huckabee's it v time? >> i think that has something to do with it, too, just kind of got unquestioned credentials in this area. you have to remember the group that he is speaking to, some of the other people, you know, romney's taken some hits recently, someone like tim pawlenty, finished high up for him but also has very low name i.d., just nationwide. mike pence, you know, congressman in the movement, not really a leader on these issues, huckabee is someone that stands out to people. >> these people are values voters they the people who typically, and i'm speaking in

generalities here have very strong religious views, typically they would be conservative christians. so maybe huckabee, the former preacher, brings something to the table for them. >> i think he certainly does. and you know, a lot of these other guys, known for different things, mitt romney certainly known for his economy. he really took the opportunity in his speech to hit the president on tore rine policy, something pawlenty did as well. but for huckabee this is very much his bread and butter. he can go to them, he can go back to what he did as a preacher, go back to the issues he still hits on almost lake a weekly basis in terms of talking about life issues, abortion this is really his go-to. >> was it okay that sarah palin skipped it? >> i don't think anyone was particularly surprised that she didn't show up. they tried to get her to come in. she, of course, heading out for her first public appearance, not totally public, closed to the press, but her first speech since leaving office. >> an dirk good to see you. thank you for your time today. >> good to see you, too. in our next hour, i will be joined by nbc's savannah

guthrie, three alleged terrorists in court today but have authorities arrested everyone involved in this latest terror plot? that after a quick break. this is msnbc. wonders growing together under the same sun. and now for the first time, in new sun crystals ® . the only 100% natural sweetener made with pure cane sugar and stevia. finally, all the sweetness of nature and just 5 calories a packet. nature gave us the recipe; we just gave it a name. new sun crystals ® all natural sweetener. two natural wonders. one sweet taste™. it's not always easy living with copd, but i try not to let it hold me back... whether i'm at the batting cages... down by the lake or... fishing at the shore. i'm breathing better... with spiriva. announcer: spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled maintenance treatment for both forms of copd, which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. i take it every day.

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what was the target? investigators say they have evidence to suggest that three men under arrest were planning an attack, but against what? send help or we lose a blunt message from the tomorrow commander in afghanistan. all right commander in chief agree? >> i'm not interested in just being in afghanistan for the sake of being in afghanistan. from sunday morning to monday night, will a late night meeting with letterman put the american people on the president's side? from presidential race to paternity case, has john edwards' former aide just revealed secret marriage plans he made with a former mistress? and congratulations, you've won a date with sarah palin. now just send a $60,000 check and dinner is served.

the woman paying for a dinner with the former governor joins us live. "the big picture" starts now. i'm contessa brewer. >> i'm savannah guthrie, david and tam ron have the day off today. three men arrest may have considered an attack using backpack bombs. >> the word from the ap, quoting sources inside the investigation. in just a half hour, 24-year-old najibullah zazi and his father, mohammed, are both expected in federal court in denver. >> authorities say the younger zazi admitted receiving weapons training from al qaeda and fbi officials say they found notes on his laptop about how to make a bomb. just an hour ago, an imam was scheduled to appear in court, accused of trying fbi agents about phone conversations we had zazi. an affiliate, kusa in denver, has more. what are you learning about the father and son there in

colorado? >> reporter: so far, we know this is, of course, their initial appearance, savannah and contessa, expected to be in court in 30 minutes, as you mentioned, probably in court several hours. we understand that the government may not ask to hold mohammad zblaz zpli, he may go home tonight that is according to our source, although the government will seek to detain najibullah zblaz zpli for several days. a detention hearing is expected to be held on thursday when the government will -- when he actually will be able to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty and at that point, the government will be able to present its case and say najibullah zazi is or isn't a flight risk and is or isn't a danger to society. >> and how cooperative is najibullah zazi being with authorities? >> last week, you may recall, he interviewed with fbi agents over a