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lash out over a health care amendment to restrict abortion. >> this amendment does not main tape t -- maintain the status quo. in fact, with all respect to my friends, i would find it offensive. >> i would be the last person on earth that would want to offend you or any woman. both sides try to hash out their differences on health care reform, the gop is up in arms over this comment made by alan grayson. >> the republicans want to you die quickly if you get sick. >> now, a few republicans are demanding an apology. is this really another joe "you lie" wilson moment? war strategy, president obama meets with top military advisers to review the request for more troops in afghanistan but are we already headed toward another vietnam? death and destruction. new video just coming in after the tsunami in america samoa, homes demolished and debris everywhere. a live report from the region. making their case you can the supreme court takes another look at second amendment gun

rights and closeup, why is the empire state building, a new york city landmark, honoring communist china? good afternoon, i'm david shuster, tamron, great to be here with you in new york. >> good afternoon, i'm tamron hall. i wanted to jump in breaking news david and i have been talking about in the break. john couey, the man who rained and murdered 9-year-old jessica lunsford in 2005 died in prison. the case changed the way sex offenders were dealt with, not only in florida where it happened but throughout the country. he was a convicted sex offender, believed at the time that he held her captive over the weekend before murdering that 9-year-old little girl who was taken from her family's home and taken to his trailer home, about 100 years from where the family lived. but right now, working to get more details on how john couey died in prize bun the official word is that that man who murdered 9-year-old jessica lunsford has died in a florida prison. on to the big picture right now, a big defeat for republicans on health care

legislation today. the senate finance committee voted 13-10 against two anti-abortion amendments this morning, one that would restrict federal funding for abortions, the other that would have strengthened legal protection for health care officials who refuse to perform abortion. there was an emotional and at times personal debate between republican senator orrin hatch, who filed the amendment and two of the women on the panel, including democratic senator debbie stevena. >> um, with all respect to my friend, as a woman, i find it offensive. i find it personally just extreme amendment and i would oppose it i would hope that we would vote -- >> mr. chairman, let me answer that i would be the last person -- >> senator hatch. >> i would be the last person on earth who would want to offend you or any other woman. all i'm trying to do is make sure that -- and i don't think this makes it an abortion bill,

it just says we are going to codify what we believe to be the case. millions of people, even pro-choice people, do not believe that the taxpayers should have to pay for abortions. >> kelly o'donnell is nbc's capitol hill correspondent. kelly, we have been talking about this today. there was not any yelling but certainly, the tone and the demeanor of that exchange highlight what is we have been talking about with this part of the debate. >> reporter: senators really try to restrain themselves as part of the tradition of decorum so what we saw today is about as hot as it usually gets and it did have a personal touch to it because there are two democrats who are women who spoke to this issue. and basically what it comes down to, we know there a few hot-button issues, social issues this overlap in the health care situation, paying for abortion is one, illegal immigrants is another. those kinds of things certainly can raise people's temperatures. now, what senator orrin hatch, republican of utah wanted to do was to make certain that

taxpayer money would not be used in any of the new kinds of services or insurance plans that might be provided if this all goes through to pay for abortion services. now, president obama and the democrats in charge of this also say they don't want any federal money going to pay for abortion services, nothing beyond what already exists in federal law. so senator hatch wanted to make things a bit more clear and also wanted to make sure that insurance companies that now do not provide those kinds of services would not be compelled to do so. but here's what upset senator stab now. she said really what this would amount to is women who now have this kind of coverage might lose it, they wouldn't have the same benefits and might be asked to get what is known a rider in insurance, an add-on that would cover extra things energy this case, abortion services. she says it was just i will tlol think that women would foresee a crisis pregnancy or an unplanned pregnancy at this kind of a personal crisis and tragedy, as she called it and to anticipate that enough to buy extra

insurance for t and that's where she said it was fundamentally unfair to women. and as you heard senator hatch wanted to try to cool that off, he said he didn't intend to discriminate but also didn't want people to interpret at discriminatory what he says are just real disagreements some, there were two amendments both dealing with this sort of issue and both failed. >> kelly, how many more amendment does they have before the markup of this particular committee is done? >> reporter: it seems like a zil yin, david, gone more than 230 of the original 564 and the goal at this point is to finish up the markup, that's the term for this process, by friday and then next week, the committee would be able to vote on all of the previsi revisions we have been talking about this week. they won't get to 564. the process reaches its conclusion, members who have been negotiating all week begin to sort of put to the side those issues this they think have been dealt with, so we can see a light at the end of the tunnel but work until 11:00 tonight.

>> nbc's kelly o'donnell. thank you very much. the bigger picture, the health care amendment and debate continue like the public option and abortion, the rhetoric on the house floor is again fueling controversy. republicans demanded an apology today from democratic congressman from alan grayson for what he said on the house floor last night. watch. >> the republican health care plan is this, die quickly. that's right. the republicans want you to die quickly if you get sick. you want the democratic plan or do you want the republican plan? remember, the republican plan, don't get sick. and if you do get sick, die quickly. >> according to republican congressman jimmy duncan of tennessee, "that is about the most mean-spirited partisan statement i have ever heard made on this floor and i, for one, don't appreciate t" democrats today were quick to remind the gop lawmakers about statements made by fellow republicans, that was, of course, "joe wilson's outburst of you lie on the house

floor during president obama's address to congress a few weeks ago n july, republican congressman brown said democrats released a health care bill which essentially said to america's seniors, drop dead. the public option is "gonna kill people" another said. and now filmmaker, michael moore, a liberal is aiming his harsh rhetoric to other democrats in the already charged environment in washington. >> to the democrats in congress who don't quite get it, i want to offer a personal pledge. i and a lot of other people have every intention of removing you from congress in the next election if you stand in the way of health care legislation that the people want. >> jonathan kapart is an msnb

contributor, but as far as grayson, if the democrats said it was wrong for joe wilson to say you lie on the house floor, shouldn't they also be condemning congressman grayson for suggesting a republican plan is to die quickly? >> no. these are two different things. joe wilson shouted at the president of the united states during a joint session of congress, which is a clear violation of house rules. representative grayson was speaking on the house floor to his colleagues sure, used hyperbolic language about policies but not a personal insult to anyone in the room. hey, if he has to apologize for die quickly who ever came one death panels and drop dead and pull the plug on grandma has to apologize too, this is ridiculous. >> what are the republicans doing? think that videotape doesn't exist? people wouldn't pull up some of the hyperbolic statements? >> i think they are trying to take attention of the short attention spans of people, the day and age of twitter, news cycle every 140 characters,

people trying to forget. >> people, jonathan, folks getting exhausted, may it be the democrats or republicans, this over-the-top language related to health care, almost as if they are disconnected from what is really happening, which is people are dying every day, without health insurance, going broke and got this language that, like fantasy island? it. >> is a disvast, let's keep this in perspective this happens all the time in times of war, times of peace, good times, bad times. no not often you hear someone wants to kill grandma or die slowly. by hype per bolly in the extreme, you just showed a tape of the finance committee and all these people voting on these amendments, that's where the real debate is going on so we shouldn't be distracted. representative grayson did we know who he was before today? >> we all know who michael moore is. how real is his threat to democrats in terms of the progressives, going to come after you if you stand in the way? >> i think that is a very real threat. i got an e-mail from someone yesterday who didn't like what i had to say about president obama

and whether he is or isn't back tracking on public option saying we in the progressive move respect really upset with president obama and you better pay attention because we are going to exact revenge or whatever the words they use and that is something very real he tapped into, but also let's remember, he has a movie that's out. >> he was on "real time with bill maher" and waffled when he said there are things that the president is doing that you, yourself, normally would criticize, here you are being ginger with this administration, things upsetting to progressives? >> yeah, yeah. so you know, take it with a grain of salt. part promotion but let's not discount totally what he said, 'cause there's a real strain out there. president's getting it from the left and the right. >> jonathan capehart, thanks as always. tamron, i understand breaking news? >> update on the john couey story, the man who raped and murdered 9-year-old jessica lunsford in 2005 died in prison today. we are now learning, according to jessica lunsford's family members that couey died in

prison of cancer. jessica's grandfather, archie lunsford, says a family got "the call" from the ward than morning saying that couey died in prison of cancer. so, that is the latest in that story and we will continue if there is any reaction from the family, other than that, bring it to you. meantime, the latest on the story we were covering this time yesterday, when the news broke out of the south pacific after a powerful tsunami wave hit american samoa, villages were wiped out, a people were swept out to sea according to report, at least 119 people are dead. dozens are still missing and the death toll is expected sadly to rise. officials say four tsunami waves, 15 to 20 feet high crashed ashore on american samoa. the surging water reached up to a mile inland. look at that video, the waves were triggered by a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 8.3. the waves struck as thousands were trying to three to higher ground. a witness with a video camera

described some of the witness he saw. >> you can see over here, the bridge is totally wiped out by the wave. absolutely no way for any vehicle to go to that part of the island. the truck smashed right into the house there pushed right it, in the back over there. >> nbc's lee cowan is on the ground and hope to talk with lee live shortly about what he has been able to see from his vantage point. on top of that story, david to the west, another powerful earthquake rocked western indonesia today, magnitude 7.6 quake. it caused hundreds of building tosco license and the quake triggered land slides and fires. 75 people were killed on the island of sum mat tra. and that death toll is expected to climb a tsunami warning was issued for countries along the indian ocean and panicked people ran to higher ground.

the warning was cancelled about an hour later. the quake hit along the very same fault line as the 2004 earthquake that triggered that massive tsunami that killed more than 250,000 people. >> almost got to wonder, for people, those of us not scientists, some linkage, a particular part of the world had that sort of earthquake, another short after that, something maybe going on with the tectonic plates i and makes it a more frightening situation for people there. david, right now, president obama is in a critical meeting with his entire national security team rethinking strat zi afghanistan. this could be a pivotal moment in the war, the white house live. >> a big, big meeting today. plus, new recommendations about swine flu vaccines and as the virus spreads and the death count gets higher, what do you need to know? and the gun debate heads to the nation's highest court. it does heat up. it is a crucial decision that could be on the way. you are watching "the big picture" on msnbc. or 100 pringles. both cost the same, but only the pringles superstack can makes everything pop!

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developing right now, president obama's afghan strategy session. >> tamron, the president has convened senior officials along with the top commander in afghanistan for an important review of the war there. minutes ago, the big meeting got under way inside the white house situation room. at the heart of the discussion is a dire assessment of the situation in afghanistan by general stanley mcchrystal. the officials taking part in this meeting include vice president biden, secretary of state hillary clinton, secretary of defense robert gates gates, national security adviser jones, the chairman of the choint chiefs, mullin and others piped into the meeting via video conference. it comes after a series of setbacks in the war, including a surge in violence, the number of u.s. troops deaths hit an all-time high and allegations of fraud after last month's elections a few days ago, general mcchrystal submitted an official request to the white house for an additional 40,000

troops. white house press secretary robert gibbs says the goal in afghanistan is to root out al qaeda. >> i think the president believes that -- believes strongly that the goals that he outline ready still very key to our national security that we have to disrupt this mantle and destroy al qaeda and its extremist allies. >> savannah guthrie join us live from white house on a rainy day in washington, any readout as far as how long the meeting is expected to take place and how soon after this meeting will the president start to make decisions or will there be a series of these meetings in the weeks ahead? >> reporter: it is going to be a series of meetings, this is the second of five meetings to try to figure out a strat jie in afghanistan, expected to be a three-hour meeting. you mention it had is really every national security player on the stage that will be

present in person or via the security video tell conferencing system. and really, this is a president at a crossroads, trying to figure out what the best way forward is in afghanistan. and facing significant division within his own administration what to do as we know, mcchrystal has come forward with his assessment, paints a very dire picture of the president in afghanistan, he does not say the war not winnable but there has to be major change in strategy the way u.s. forces approach their job there. it is expected to be accompanied by, as you mentioned, the troop request has come to secretary gates, not the president officially. expecting to ask for as many as 40,000 additional troops, the president made no secret he is very skeptical of that that is the issue before the president, whether or not to really kind of double-down on this counterinsurgency campaign or try to do something that is a little bit more limited. as i said this division within this administration about the best way forward here, a very critical time in the war in

afghanistan and i'm told by numerous officials here this is not for show, nothing fake about this, this is a wholesale review, look investigate hard at the strategy here. >> are any of the domestic political advisers part of this? criticism that president bush included karl rove about meetings in iraq. any indication that the political angles will seep into meeting like this today? >> chief of staff rahm emanuel will be there in his capacity as chief of staff, certainly not apolitical. they would say, number one this is san issue that will be determined by the president base old national security grounds alone but the other thing to remember is that there is a political aspect here that is legitimate. i mean, whether or not there is public support for the war in afghanistan is critical, very much weighs on the the mind of this president and, of course, there's division within his own party. there have been prominent democrats coming out recently who have made no secret of their skepticism about sending more troops so it is not a political meeting per se in terms of who

we saw inside the situation room but certainly is a political element to this, no question about it. >> all right, nbc's savannah guthrie at the white house, fascinating, another dramatic day at the white house. thanks as always, we appreciate it. at the top of the hour, former secretary of state madeleine albright will join tamron and i here in the studio, we will hear her views on afghanistan as well as the u.s. strategy toward iran and whether sanctions would contain iriran's nuclear ambitions as administration officials are meeting face-to-face with iranians tomorrow to start the process. >> the president focusing on vibbiously right now on afghanistan what we will hear tomorrow regarding iran, i think it is fascinating that secretary of defense robert gates said he has this report, not present it had to the president. how this dynamic of this meeting will work, the second of five three, hours, incredible list of people. we know previous reports that this president likes for people to debate. he has literally in meetings set up a debate file format and interesting to know if that would happen now with the

strategy. >> a long night for a lot of white house supporters trying to get a readout on everything. >> important news there. up next, john travolta's heartbreaking testimony about the death of his son, the second time he has taken the stand, just one of the things that we feel you need to know in the headlines. later in the show, we will switch gears and take a look at an amusing and revealing new survey about lovers. which country's men are the best and where do american men rank in the survey? you are watching "the big picture." access to favorite courses chef's meal with pommes frites perhaps a night at the theater with extra special seats additional hotel night, our treat your world in perfect harmony: priceless

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again, they are feeling it in bolivia's capital of la paz, the quake fairly deep, 160 miles, 100 miles northwest of la paz, no immediate reports of damage or casualties. we will keep everybody posted but interesting stuff. third earthquake in 24 hours. here's what you need to know today. >> actor john travolta testified today a bahamian paramedic threatened to sell stories to the news media that the movie star was somehow involved in the death of his son, 16-year-old jett, and if he didn't pay $25 million, he told the jury that the paramedic would have used a document showing that travolta wanted to fly jett to florida, not take him to the hospital. he suffered a seizure in the family's home in january and died. travolta testified twice in this trial and it is expected to last several more weeks. reaction from the white house about the cell video showing the brutal beating death of a chicago area honor student.

press secretary robert gibbs was asked today about the president's thoughts on the recent violence in his hometown of chicago. >> this is something that the administration has been working on. this is not just a chicago-specific problem, obviously. youth crime and gang violence are something that thissed a minute takes seriously. >> four teens charged with first degree murder in the beating death. ten ten, nashville police issued a statewide amber alert for 4-day-old baby reportedly kidnapped by a white female posing as an immigration worker. when the mother refused to give up her baby, the woman stabbed her eight times. the mother is expected to survive. >> wow. just ahead, again, we will talk about the third earthquake, get an expert to talk about if there is any link. and also, our big picture on the swine flu outbreak as

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you know, just to be safe i used fedex office print online. oh you did? yeah -- they printed and bound 20 copies of the presentation, shipped it to portland, they're gonna be there waiting for us. that's a good idea. yeah. you have a nice flight. thank you. (announcer) print online...you upload your document -- we'll take care of the rest. i'm scott cone with your cnbc market wrap. stocks slid back into negative territory. dow jones industrials down 65 points, to be exact. s & p 3500 down 8, nasdaq down 8 as well. oil prices rose today after government reports of the nation's gasoline supply dropped unexpectedly and demand increased, settling above $70 a barrel. a new sign the economy is in recovery, gross domestic sank below 37% in the quarter.

the economy is shrinking less than the 1.2% than analysts expected. walmart has sights set on the holiday rush. the world's largest retailer plans to offer $100 toy forced 10 apiece during the holidays it says it will match any local competitor's office whose price falls under $10 for the same toy. that is it for cnbc first in business worldwide. now back to msnbc. welcome back, i'm david schuster. >> i'm tamron hall. the big picture right now, new important information out today about the swine flu and what we can all do, quite honestly to contain t today, the centers for disease control said many of the people who have died from h1n1 also suffered from pneumonia, so the centers for disease control or cdc is now recommending children under 5 years old, seniors and people about high-risk conditions get vaccinated against pneumonia along with the swine flu vaccine. meanwhile, swine flu claimed the lives of two more children, one in south carolina and one in

texas much the texas teenager delied despite having no underlying health problems. her mother says she still cannot believe this happened. >> just like she had had the flu and then she was gone. i can't fathom this could happen to me. >> workers at a plant in salt lake city are working 'round-the-clock to produce surgical masks with hopes of stopping the spread of swine flu. comp plic kakt the problem is the latest report from the brookings institution. it says closing schools and day care centers due swine flu could end up costing as much as $47 billion. >> now in the bigger picture, the centers for disease control says overall, 600 deaths caused by swine flu and 9,000 people hospitalized. roughly 195 million doses of the vaccines will become available next week with nasal spray distributed first and shots arriving by the end of the week. it will be offered who high-ries

groups, pregnant women and those with chronic conditions. the president of the national foundation of infectious diseases is here. and when we look at a map of when the swine flu spread, is it much worse or as bad as people feared? >> there is a lot of it out there, david. we have been impacted in the southeast and now it is moving throughout the rest of the country can. everybody is ready for this. we are ready for that vaccine. we would like to use it. we need not to forget to get seasonal vaccine around in january and february. >> 26 states, up from 21 states a week ago, following on the report today though that this link with pneumonia in terms of the deaths what does tell you as a doctor when suggesting somebody had pneumonia and people should be vaccinated against pneumonia? >> david this is very much like seasonal flu. it is pneumonia that is the great complication of influenza, whether h1n1 or seasonal and we

have long had a new known ya vaccine, giving it to our children but the adult variety, people with underlying illnesses and everyone aged a 65 and older ought to get that vac seep. >> talk about the surgical masks, this one company in salt lake city, utah, sell them as fast as they can make them, does that protect them? i have heard conflicting information on that? >> we need them, tamron in our health care facilities but there is no really good data to show that they are help out in the community. i know some people like that kind of as a comfort but there's no data to show that they work out in the world. >> interesting, doctor, thanks so much for coming in, we appreciate it we will keep our viewers posted, 26 states that have it weeks ago, people were talking about the fears on college campuses, a lot realized, everyone is waiting for the vaccines to come out. people are equating the cough of

protection and that always is concerning, you know, if you have got to close the school, you got to then a price tag on it, which may make some districts not want to close when they perhaps should, precaution. tamron, a fascinating story developing at the united states' supreme court. the supreme court is setting the same for an historic ruling on gun rights and the second amendment. >> the nation's top court agreed today to hear a challenge to chicago's ban on handguns and the focus of today's making their case. at issue, whether state and local gun control laws violate the rights to keep and bear arms provision in the second a amendment. a ruling is expected by next summer and could open the door for legal challenges to gun laws across the country can. adam sorer is a writing fellow forth american prospect and liz mayor blogs at liz mayor.com and former online communications director at rnc. thank you for joining us. adam, let me start with you, since hurt in studio. why is this significant?

this could be a ground breaking decision? >> this is more significant than may first appear, a number of liberal groups have joined gun rights activists in filing amicus briefs in this case because the legal argument being used by gun rights advocates could be used to apply to all the rights granted in the bill of rights. what could end up happening as a result of this gun rights case is everything else in the bill of rights could be strengthened from privacy rights to gay rights, even free speech rights. >> liz, for the people who are really want to fight for their rights, a gun in their homes this could be seen as their worst nightmare? >> their worst nightmare in what regard? >> in regards to the idea that someone is trying to take away their rights to own a gun? >> yeah. no i absolutely agree with that and i think that that's something that we have increasingly been hearing out of gun owners across the country in recent years. this is a right that a number of americans, a large number of them treat with a great degree of seriousness do have a lot of

gun owners in the country and gun bans are something that they find very objectionable and do find to be an infringement on their rights this is a case i think people will be watching very, very closely and i think, you know, as adam says it is a very interesting case because you do have people who wouldn't necessarily be on the same side side of things lining up together in respect of this particular issue. >> liz, without going into the particular of what chicago has done or what the district of columbia tried to do, don't cities have a right to a certain extent to try to restrict guns and make sure guns are kept out or very difficult for people to get the sort of guns inflicting so much of the violence in inner cities? >> that is something that the court is going to have to look at very carefully. i think one of the real questions here this is an issue of incorporation, one of the things that the court is going to be looking at. the question is how fundamental is this as a right? how fundamental is the second amendment in terms of the rights that it accords? and i certainly think nobody is

going to say that cities and municipalities don't have an interest in restricting crime but there is a real question as to whether gun control laws actually facilitate that or that they do really nothing other than contravening people's rights i and violating people's rights with a very limited effect on crime. >> adam is there a point which some of the cities go too far and may cause themselves more harm than good when the supreme court steps in and take away what they need to do? >> i think sometimes they do go too far, the heller ruling, someone to have a gun in their home for protection in reasonable. even in that you will ruling, scalia said the second amendment doesn't allow you to bring a gun into a schoolhouse or courtroom. this isn't a wild west type of thing no restrictions on gun right what is is sofr. even the most right-leaning justices on the supreme court acknowledge that there is a public interest and some common sense restriction. >> ask you, in chicago, for example, the heart of this, 13 school children have been killed

since the start of school just in september, how might thatten factored into the conversation? they have strict gun laws and still 13 lost lives in a matter of two months? >> well, i mean, i can't stick to chicago, i'm from washington, d.c. washington, d.c. is next to the largest illegal gun market and the bigges virginia. no one is going to keep people from getting the guns. more restrictive gun laws don't always mean last time. >> adam, liz, thank you both so much. interesting conversation, interesting to see if the court does use this to really expand the court's precedent on the second amendment and i think of fear that drives them. >> we know that people are willing to in their words, fight for the right to have a gun, curious how the public will react, protest as this ramps up and reaction from the far right who, as we know have shown up and said what they need to.

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and find out about... an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan. a personal health insurance advisor is waiting for your call a developing situation at boston's logan airport where bomb-sniffing dogs and assorted other personnel are now looking at american airlines flight 1034. this was an aircraft that flew from washington dulles to boston and then while it was on the ground, and it was supposed to go from boston miami, apparently, somebody on the aircraft found a note in the lapp lavatory that was described as a threatening note that said there was a bomb on board. so obviously, the plane did not go any where they have removed all the luggage, as you can see, lining it up and letting the doggen in sniffing -- the bomb-sniffing dogs take a closer look. we imagine, of course, interviewing the passengers as well. so again, american flight 1034,

it is not going to miami any time soon, they are trying to determine whether or not this was a hoax or anything real to it, but again, we will keep you posted as the investigation continues in boston. and david, in closeup today, a plan to light up the empire state building in honor of china's 60th anniversary is causing controversy you can not the first time the new york landmark has changed, colorful lights commemorate or honor a particular holiday or day. earlier this month, the building was red, white and blue in memory of september 11th. tonight, the colors will be red and yellow. critics of china's communist government are not amused by that. they point out that the u.s. state department has said that china's human rights record remains poor and even gotten worse on some issues. joining us from capitol hill is new york congressman anthony wiener, thank you, congressman, for joining us. my pleasure, thank you. >> i understand you are against this idea. why? >> well with, you know, it is an iconic marker in new york life. the empire state building lights up for september 11th or the st. patrick's day parade, it is kind

of a hat tip from the people of new york to a cause or to a people. i'm not sure it was meant to be used for a country that has the values and record that the chinese do and i frankly think it wasn't carefully thought through. and i think it is not the kind of thing that we should be doing. you know it is a special occasion when with the empire state building lights up in a certain way and i think that while we don't ignore history and we have many chinese-americans in new york, i think paying tribute to this for the anniversary of the -- of that regime probably suspect something we want to do. >> interesting, do have some right now, talking about iran and the talks that will take police tomorrow and a part of perhaps the solution how to deal with iran is china and them supporting the united states, sanctions are there. they are allies and in some cases, but some might say but they are not worthy of being honored, i guess, on the empire state building? >> yeah, i guess that is more or less the way like at t irvan a perfect example. one of the reasons iran is a

nuclear power right now is the support they have gotten from china. more people in china trails being held for being political dissidents than any other country on on earth. the difference is i'm fine having debate, discussion, diplomatic relations, i just think that this is such an important kind of iconic thing that we do that it has never got ton this level of controversy you some of the things they have had recently, honoring the "wizard of oz" with colors of the ruby red shoes, i don't think paying tribute to the chinese government is something should be used for. >> a building spokesperson has given up the statement saying "the etch pyre state building celebrates many cultures and causes in the world community with iconic lighting, the full listings of all lightings is available on our website." you have any intention of talk to ms. picker or looking at the wiebe site? >> the website doesn't list every one, just the last couple

of months. i did speak to the head of the company that essentially runs the building and own it is and i have made that i position clear. they say we take all comers and we make some decisions, they did point out that they changed the lighting to not be all red, which is what the chinese government wanted. i think we have to decide a little bit about what this symbol means. look, we are not doing international diplomacy that is true. one thing we are trying to do is say this now the tallest building in new york, going to be lit up in honor of certain things, i'm not sure we want to honor the chinese. i think we want to ask them to change, we want to ask them to be better allies and respect the rights of their people. >> our republican strategist of the an guest on our show, he blogged about this, wrote in part, you almost have to hand it to the chinese government, the country can opened up economically, learned enough about western capitalism to know that anything has a price. apparently that includes honoring a regime responsible for murdering millions millions of peoplesome this about money?

>> i don't know. what know what kind of financial transaction there was for this thing. i do know that one of the -- one of the coltage games people play in new york is one of the things that why is the empire state building a certain color on a certain day, i think when people look up, they don't say it is because the chinese did anything good. what they managed to dork as that commentator said, figured out a way to get attention in perhaps the icon of free speech, they were able to get attention for being anything but that. >> all right. thank you very much, congressman anthony wiener, always a pleasure to speak with you. thank you. >> my pleasure. an update on a storytelling you about boston logan airport, the update, not much more except to say the plane is on a part of a tarmac, isolated area runway 14, american airlines flight 1034, took off from washington dulles, landed in boston. some time while it was on the

ground, somebody discovered in the lavatory a threatening note that subject there had was a bomb on board. so for the bester part of the last hour or so officials have been investigating, you can see they have lined up the luggage on the ground and had had the canine units going through it also an investigation under way. and again, state police are involved as well as the airport officials. and one of the thing these do tamron, i suppose is sort of go through the passenger list and make sure that there are no matches of the terror list and make sure there were no matches. a developing situation in boston. we hope this is a hoax. this is a crossing the line we were going to bring you yesterday because of breaking news we could not. an american girl homeless doll that's being sold for $100. later in the show, our first look at gnut the polar bear and his new girlfriend together. arr!

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welcome back to today's "crossing the line." what happens when the all american girl is homeless? here is the debate today. the popular and mesmerizing of the american girl doll line is in a fight about how to teach children about the hard turn real life can take. the company is under fire after introducing this doll, her name is gwen. she is homeless. each american girl doll comes with a story and a lot of stuff. gwen comes with a hard knocks life story and one dress. her price tag is what is stunning. the homeless doll retails for nearly a hundred bucks. although american girl says none of the money goes to help the homeless, the company does want to point out it has given almost $500,000 since 2006 for a

non-property group that tries to find the homeless find housing. they have addressed a wide range of important social issues that have had a significant impact on girls and women. the company goes on to say gwen is part of the story of how to stand up to bullies and help those in need. some are wondering when the line is crossed when you create an expensive "homeless doll" but none of the proceeds goes to those in need which is a part of the lesson you are selling. "crossing the line ?" you tell me. it is almost 4:00 on the east coast. 9:00 in the morning in america samoa. the u.s. military is rushing aid supplies to the tsunami disaster zone. more than 100 people dead and some still missing. president obama is holding a

pivotal meeting on afghanistan at the white house and we'll talk about iran with former secretary of state madeleine albright. tom delay has done it again. he bucked the odds and survived on "dancing with the stars." how to get rich, by america's health insurance companies.

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