i'm dan floefler in for alex witd. more on key economic numbers this week. pretty good number, in fact, from the market. first to wall as president obama holds his fourth war council meetings with the situation in afghanistan. a discussion on troop levels takes center stage, but a presidential adviser, david axelrod, says the new strategy in afghanistan is about much more than the number of people fighting on the ground. i'm joined now live from washington by nbc's mike. will more troops be sent to afghanistan? >> reporter: good morning, dan. we don't have an answer. the past several weeks the white house said a new strategy would be in place in matter of weeks. slightly updating that formulation calling it several week. not much to ge on. when they make a change like that you sit up and take notice. yesterday another three-hour

meeting in the situation room. top cabinet secretaries, including general stanley mcchrystal, the commander of nato forces in afghanistan, reported to have asked for anywhere from 30,000 to 40,000 more troops to implement a counterinsurgency strategy he believes is what president obama set forth in march. ever since then the president has said after the afghan elections we are going to take another look at this. that's just what they are doing. a series of high-level meetings at the white house. no word on whether or not they have decided on that final count for troop levels, but this is the first time, yesterday, where they took up general mcchrystal's request specifically. prior to that wanted to have a strategy in place before talking about resources. >> another meeting next week? >> reporter: right. >> busy day port president yesterday, culminated with that meeting, with his war council. it started off with him receiving the nobel peace prize.

i'm curious if anyone thinks that will have an affect in the decision on the war in afghanistan? >> reporter: even president obama said in his very humble remarks about 11:00 yesterday morning after being surprised at 5:00 or 6:00 he was woken up by robert gibbs, the press secretary and told he was now a nobel peace prize laureate. many say this throws into stark contrast. he begins winning the nobel peace prize and ends the day having a three-hour meeting about the war in afghanistan. many have criticized the president, but the president did say, i began to say, said this was a largely aspirational prize. things he'd been talking about in terms of nuclear non-proliferation, ridding the world of nuclear weapons which he said would probably not occur in his lifetime. climate change he mentioned specifically. that initiative mired in the senate. it lacks the support and votes to pass the senate. that's very much in doubt and a

big climate change summit coming up in copenhagen and we're learning it's quite possible the president will attend that conference on climate change in copenhagen, at the same time, because the oslo, norway, on december 10th to accept the nobel peace prize. >> no small challenges right there. from the white house, mike, thank you for that this morning. for the latest now on the ground in afghanistan i am joined by nbc's jim miklaszewski in kabul. what can you tell us about the situation there? >> reporter: well, dan, it's been a relatively quiet 24-hour period, except in the south in the hellman province where marines are locked in intensive fighting, with the taliban, trying to root out of their stronghold there. over the past 24 hours only one service member killed. american service member. in all of that, afghanistan, and it is the marine believed to have been killed in the fighting down there, and the objective there is twofold. first of all, to drive the

taliban out of their stronghold and bring some kind of stability to that region. but also to interrupt the drug trafficking coming out of this province, which quite frankly, is the single -- the single lone spot in the entire world that produces the most poppy and, therefore, opium that is used in the making of heroin, so this is a key area for the u.s. military there in the south. and they're making slow, painful progress there in trying to root the taliban out of what has been traditionally one of their strongholds. dan? >> jim, it's been about a week, i believe, since that awful attack on that remote outpost that killed eight americans there. is there any update on that situation? >> reporter: well, you know, the americans were due to withdraw from that remote combat outpost called keating. in just a couple of days after that attack occurred that has

been successfully achieved. some 50 americans who were at that base including those eight killed, they have all been withdrawn now from that base. and if there was any question why the taliban attacked the americans only days before they left, i think it was answered today when the taliban announced that they are flying their flag over that base claiming credit for driving the americans out of the nuristan province, when, in fact, they were already due to leave. so it's clear to some americans we talk to this morning that the reason for the attack and quite frankly, it was quite deadly on both sides. there are estimates as many as 100 insurgents and taliban fighters were killed. 150, actually, were killed in that assault that killed the eight americans, but it's clear that with the kind of rhetoric we're hearing out of the taliban today that it was intended as a propaganda victory more than anything else, dan. >> nbc's jik miklaszewski live

in kahl. jim, thanks to you. and a topic on tomorrow's "meet the press" with davide gregory, check your local listing times. more evidence this morning that the h1n1 virus is unusually dangerous for the young. health officials say 76 children, 76, in the u.s., have died from swine flu this year. that includes 19 kids who died just this past week. officials at the centers for disease control and prevention say a total of 37 states now have widespread swine flu activity. keep it right here, because we'll have much more on the swine flu vaccine in a few minutes with dr. anthony fauci, director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases. the father of the man accused of plotting a terror attack in new york city has entered a plea of not guilty. mohammed zazi centered that plea in denver yesterday through his

attorney. charged with lying to investigators and facing eight years in prison if convicted. his son, najibullah zazi held without bond after charged with plotting to explode bombs in the united states. two people die in a sauna-like sweat lodge. more than a dozen people were overcome during the so-called spiritual warrior retreat hosted by california-based guru. some paid up to $9,000 to attend this retreat. sweat lodges often used by american indian tribes to cleanse the body, but elders of these tripes say typically a person stays in 10 to 15 minutes at most, at time. >> we drink water, and juice. they take a breather and then come in and the creator sanctions people to do this, and when some people take it and run rampant with it, things are

going to happen. >> four people do remain hospitalized today. one in critical condition. more extreme weather is expected across the country today in central kentucky. a tornado left behind some widespread damage there. several structures and a mobile home park destroyed. the families living in them, unfortunately now homeless. the good news. no injuries have been reported. a couple managed to escape their cars thinking fast on this flooded roadway in braeden county, texas. the couple told authorities they just didn't think the water was that deep. emergency workers waited until the water went down to pull the car out. significant flooding in that area. forget about fall. it feels like winter. yeah, the w word in montana. snow is on the ground in missoula. temperatures there could drop to minus two in butte later today. now for your national forecast, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins.

good saturday morning to you. we've got a couple big weather stories today. ed biggest is the cold air. this isn't just cold. this is really cold. look at the temperatures from denver up into the northern plains. we're in the teens and 20s. the coldest morning by far we've seen this fall. now, look at the windchill. in denver, it's 8. we're supposed to play a baseball game tonight in denver. i don't know if they'll be able to do that with windchills into the teens late afternoon into evening. to chicago, minneapolis, st. louis, it is going to be a bitterly cool mid-october day. even have snow in nebraska to talk about. just light stuff out in. the first snowflakes we've seen in many areas. also watching rain through the southeast. the severe weather from yesterday, that's not going to happen today but we're still going to watch a lot of rain around baton rouge eventually moving into new orleans. saturday's forecast looks like new orleans storms for you and showers around atlanta, but the school stuff up there in the northern plains, temperatures

only in the 30s and 40s. good news it will warm up for your sunday. that's a look at your weather forecast. >> all right, thank you, bill. the good news, all is relative. take a look what an fbi security camera caught. a massive wave from last month's tsunami taking over the fbi's parking lot in american samoa. the office in pago pago. tossing cars like toys. that tsunami killed near think 200 people in the samoa. lots of positive economic developments this week including retail sales and consumer confidence on the rise. we'll look at what it means for the economy's comeback in a few minutes. and a critical vote coming in a few days on a proposed health care bill. how much -- close will it get to health kecare reform? ve with a flu shot from walgreens.

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after 31 days, 30 cities and logging 50,000 miles, the journey for two frequent fliers is finished. joe dinardo and clark dever took advantage of an all you can fly offer from jet blue, take advantage being the operative word. the deal, fly anywhere for $99. skydiving in las vegas. florida, alligator wrestling. >> i almost died. it was very close. i'm not that big of a guy. the alligators are very strong. there were several very hungry ones waiting foe moor. it was a tense moment there. >> a tense moment, when you almost die. i think that's an understatement. another memorable moment for joe, he got a new job during the

trip. his buddy popped the question to his longtime girlfriend. the promo, it did end this week. just check the postcard. to washington now, and although congress is moving closer to casting votes on health reform, republicans an democrats appear as divided as ever. with the senate finance committee poised to vote on tuesday, a new report in today's "washington post" says it may not receive a single vote. president obama argues against widening that divide. >> there's some in washington today who seem determined to play the same old partisan politics working to score political points even if it means burdening this country with an unsustainable status quo. now's the time to rise above the politics of the moment. >> i'm joined now live from washington by jonathan allen, congressional reporter for politico. john tlin, good morning to you. how important is it to you congress pass a bill with a

bipartisan consensus behind it? >> there's absolutely a belief among some democrats and even at the white house level and senate it will be a lot easier to sell the american public if there are republicans onboard, even a small area of support whether senator olympia snowe from the senate or mot rids in the house holding out the possibility they might vote for a final product when it comes back from house senate negotiations. >> that's a strong divide when no one ins house. no republicans in the house want to do anything with this. do they have anything to gain, republicans, that is, politically if they do support this health reform? >> some do on an individual basis. i think there are districts where this health care bill and the president of the united states and even sort of the democrating agenda are a little more popular than in other republican districts. i've talked to members who say that they're really not likely to vote for this when the house

votes on it the first time around's they don't like the house bill. it's too far to the left for them that it doesn't do enough in some cases to hit the pharmaceutical industry. in other cases, they're not real thrilled with the taxes that would be raised to pay for it, but they are saying that they might end up voting for the final product later on down the road. >> might. might, that is the -- >> right, exactly. >> the other house in the senate, the finance committee expected to pass the baucus bill on tuesday. give us a timeline. what milestones should we look for after that? >> you have senator harry reid trying to put a bill together in his office and ready to put it on the floor in the near future. the target date was actually this tuesday. obviously the finance committee took a little longer to get a congressional budget off and the like, and taking a little longer to get it out. the senate could use up a lot of the rest of october talking about this. you know, i think -- i think we will be well into the winter

before anything's done. >> so with both the house and the senate, what are the biggest points of contention, for getting a bipartisan agreement? >> it's such a big, such a big bill, there are so many points of contention. obviously, the house democrats, the liberals in that party, want public option, something that the senate is not prepared to do at this point. there is a lot of battle over how you pay for this measure in the house. you have liberals who really want in the house, to do this with a tax on the wealthiest americans and the senate, that's less popular. you've seen in terms of trying to cover people, the senate is having issues now in terms of reducing subsidies that the house was expecting would be in there. >> is the house speaker saying she's not particularly excited about that. >> still a lot to go. mimes to go? >> miles to go before they decide. >> appreciate it. take tear. >> you, too. new concerns today about the safety of your pets.

many doctors, of course, advising patients to get flu shots. what about a flu shot for your dog? for fido? that's the w3na. highly contagious among dogs. >> only a small percentage of dogs develop severe signs or pneumonia and the mortality rate is pretty low. 5%. >> no known side effects of the shot. dogs six weeks and older can be vaccinated, it is not, though, required. there are scare, scary new numbers about how many kids are dying from swine flu. many parents are worried about the safety of this new vaccine. the lowdown of a doctor who wroever saw the trials in humans coming up a little later. plus, could president obama, surprise winner of the nobel peace prize, complicate matters when it comes to afghanistan?

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now that the economy, major stock indices soared this week, u.s. dollars starting to show more signs of recovering. retailers hoping gains from the mod of the sales last month will keep the cash rolling into the registers through the holidays, and as nbc financial analyst joins me, good morning. >> good morning. >> dan. >> let's start with the markets. >> good week. actually the best we've seen in a couple of months here. that's because earnings reports were good. alcoa, chevron, also other revitalizing hopes for the recovery. improvement in the service industry, you pointed out, retail sales up above expectations. a positive sign. >> investors going to take the money and run? >> some are taking the gains off the table. next week a flow of earnings reports out, so all eyes will be on that. you mentioned the dollar. is it at low, recovered over the last couple of days, but that's

a focal point as well. trading choppy over the next week or two. >> switch to consumers and retailers. a lot of the retailers are getting holiday merchandise in the stores, even though we haven't picked out what we'll wear for halloween. >> i have. >> okay. compare notes afterwards, but are retailers prepared for this holiday season? >> more prepared than in previous seasons. they know the consumer is strapped, know where we stand. know know the unemployment rate is approaching double digits. they are concerned, but sales will be down 1%. last year down 3. 4%. this is the first time we'll have seen back-to-back declines in decades. retailers know. challenging for consumers, but there are dealing to be had out in. >> a lot of people wait until black friday, everyone laces up sneakers at 4:00 to get a jumbo plasma for $20, whatever. if you see a deal now, should you judge on mp on it or wait? >> retailers know what the

environment is, have less inventory and are more prepared. if you find something you like, there are deals in every category, from apparel to electronics to toys, you may consider getting it. not to say they're going away, inventory is smaller. they might not have it later. a bunch of earnings out. all eyes on that. goldman's, citigroup, bank of america and johnson & johnson. definitely a focal point for next week for sure. >> appreciate the lowdown. >> thank you. quite a week for jon and kate plus eight. jon accused kate of wringing his bank account and then the two square off at the kids' birthday party. will it ever end? do we want it to ever end? we'll have the latest. plus the world, even president obama, shocked at his winning nobel peace prize. many are questioning why he won it in the first place.

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msnbc is the place for politics, and just hours after winning the nobel peace prize, president obama convened his war council for a three-hour huddle on troop levels in afghanistan. i'm joined now live from joe scar borough, host of msnbc's "morning joe" and i want to ask you, the president winning the nobel peace prize, will that have any affect on his decision in afghanistan? >> no. not at palm obviously the president will make decisions based on what his generals on the ground tell him and obviously worrying about political considerations, just like every president has to worry about political considerations, his has to do with the democratic base that does not want him to follow his top general's suggestions. the nobel peace prize, it may look good framed in the oval office, after that, that's about it. it's not going to have much of an impact at all.

>> of the three options reportedly it is either keeping status quo, keeping the troops, the 6,000 there right now, adding an additional 40 how or 60,000, what is the president considering? both strategically and politically as he's trying to make this decision? >> i don't think it has to do as much as numbers as it does with time. we keep hearing general mcchrystal and others talking about the u.s. having a significant footprint in afghanistan for a long time. people have turned around the, ten years, possibly another decade there. what the presidential going to tell the general and i'm sure what the white house will say is we're going to give you more troops, but we're not going to give you ten more years. you are not going to have a lease on afghanistan for the next decade. what can you do in two to three years to draw this down and turn it over to the afghan people? so, again, the one thing we're not going to see, dan, and everybody in the media will see it, the headline, "mcchrystal to

general, drop dead" or "president to his general, drop dead." it's not going to happen that way. generals and presidents have disagreement. bill clinton and his general had disagreements, but they quietly get together, figure how to work it. the president makes the final decision but usually it's middle ground. i'm sure they're going to do that again here. >> on that, have you been surprised the way general mcchrystal has been outspoken, or has made his recommendations so public? >> i have. i've been surprised, but mike barnacle said something on the morn show which made a lot of sense to me. perhaps mcchrystal is looking at everybody that got burned in 2003 and 2002, believed we needed more troops in iraq. if we were going into iraq we needed to follow the powell doctrine, you win with overwhelming, sig kept force. maybe they just don't want to get set up for failure again.

most of the generals that are still running the pentagon are generals that came up with colin powell. grunts in vietnam. learned the lessons of vietnam or worked in the reagan administration. they learned the lessons from beirut. so after the tragedy of vietnam, the pentagon and the generals calm away with this, well, if we're going to go to war we better have a clear exit strategy and better go in with overwhelming force. right now, i think, you've got mcchrystal learning from the mistakes the generals made during iraq and also during vietnam. so he's speaking up. >> i'm going to switch gear, and go to the nobel peace prize. the president himself saying he was surprised. your reaction when you heard? >> i've got to be honest. i was, you know, i did a show early in the morning. so the news breaks overnight. i get an e-mail from my executive producer who said, hey, the president won the nobel peace prize and i e-mailed back, for what? i laughed when i first heard the

news. my legitimate response. i'm sorry. just like the olympics the week before. i wanted america to get the olympics. i was gladded president was in copenhagen. it wasn't ideological, my gut reaction. now, that said, i think most people realize this award was premature. even people in the white house would have preferred the president won it a couple of years from now instead of right now. that being said, let's hope as americans the president can leverage a nobel peace prize in some part of the world to help himself politically and to help this country strategically. i don't think it's going -- the north koreans, the taliban, the iranians. they really don't care whether he won the nobel peace prize or not. who knows. maybe it gives him more leverage in europe, where we're trying to get a few more troops to afghanistan. maybe a little more average among other key allies. we'll see. >> one last question. closer to home. other republicans, they've spoken out and said, for what?

two weeks into the job, why should re get this? others, though, sarah palin, bobby jindal, mitt romney haven't said anything about this. >> and general mccain was positive. i think that the republican party learned from the mistakes of a week ago. it's always good when the republican party does learn something from their past mistakes. doesn't always happen. but a week ago you had these videos that went viral of republicans cheering america losing, an olympics bid. which is stupid. it's outrageous. i think they learned from those mistakes and so yesterday they sat back, bit their tongue. unlike me they don't have a three-hour live show, if they think something's funny, they weren't caught laughing on camera. again, no disrespect to the president. if he can use it to our benefit, that's great, but i think it's premature, but it looks like the republican party, who knows, maybe the republican party may

have learned from its mistakes from last week. >> joe scar br owe, appreciate you stopping by. >> good seeing you. >> good seeing you as well, you can catch joe along with mika brzezinski and willie geist on "morning joe." and turning to a presidential historian with american university. thanks for joining us this morning. give us perspective. how significant is this win for the president? >> it's extremely significant. he's only in the third sitting american president to have win a nobel peace prize, and the last one was woodrow wilson 90 years ago before that theodor roosevelt, that is pretty robust company for this president to be walking in right now, particularly a president who hasn't even complete add year. those previous presidents were

in the sixth or seventh year of two-term presidencies. >> given that, then, how much of this award is based on expectation? on aspiration of what the president might achieve versus the accomplishments of what he's already done? >> i think it's a little bit of both. you know, previous awards have been kind of to ratify accomplishments. like with theodore roosevelt who mediated the war between russia and japan, but some awards have been kind of to encourage a process. such as the 1994 award to yasser arafat. yitzhak rabin and shimon peres, engaged in a process when ultimately failed. henry kissinger in the '70s, engaged in a process which didn't succeed for another ten years and then collapsed. citing two things going on. one, barack obama changed the

direction of american diplomacy and american policy to a multilateral diplomatic approach which the committee aplods. i think french president sarkozy said it well when he said this sets the seal on america's return to the heart of the world's peoples. also, i think they are trying, obviously, to nudge and encourage the president to continue pursuing that kind of approach to the world and hoping that over the next three years there will be more solid and tangible accomplishments in promoting world peace and perhaps dealing with the challenge of climate change. >> and really quickly that is my question. how much pressure does this now add to president obama? >> hey, you know, how much pressure can you add to, you know, 1,000-degree fire already? he's already president of the united states. this does add a little bit more pressure, but as joe scarborough said, it's not going to affect his decision-making, but may give him a little more status, a little more luster and a little

more leverage in the world to promote american values and american interests, and the common good of the world. >> all right, appreciate your time with us this morning. thank you, sir. severe weather in southern arkansas. we'll get to that in a minute. for all the latest political headlines, though, msnbc has it covered at firstread.msnbc.com. as we said in southern arkansas there in the town of hampton, heavy winds reached up to 75 miles an hour. trees and power lines just knocked down. winds, driving rain, also sent students and the teachers running for cover at a local high school there. several buildings were damaged in that storm. the school district has said the high school gym may be a total loss after the roof just rolled off. flooding that damageded area. new this morning, health facials say 76 kids in the united states have died this year from the h1n1 virus. that includes just 19 children

in the past week alone. but a new cbs news poll finds that more than one-third of parents are likely to get their kids vaccinated. het and hume's services secretary kathleen sebelius is stressing the safety offy the h1n1 vaccine. >> we know the vaccine is right on target to hit h1n1. we've got a great match. we also know that it's very safe. although the virus is new, the vaccine is not new. it's made exactly the way seasonal flu has been made year in and year out. >> joining me live this morning now from washington, d.c. is dr. anthony fauci, director of the allergy and infectious diseases. good morning to you. a national campaign, of course, to inoculate tense of thousands of americans began this past monday. the first round, the nasal spray, the arm injections start next week. how's the vaccine process going so far? >> so far so good. we'll get vaccine rolling in. you mentioned the first doses

came in this past week and we'll get tens of millions of doses as we enter into the end of october, the beginning of november. things look like they're on target. we have to get people vaccinated who can benefit from it and who need it. that's really the challenge. to get as many people vulnerable particularly to the complications of influenza, like the children you mentioned a few moments ago, that we're seeing a disturbing number of children who are developing serious disease already. 76, and 19 just this past week. we really need to prevent that and vaccine is the way to prevent that as we just heard from the health secretary, kathleen sebelius, she says that about, they've been stressing parents to go out and get this vaccine, but one-third of these parents surveyed in the poll says they're not going to do it. they're uncertain about the safety of it, don't believe the h1n1 is a threat. why is there hesitation to get the vaccine? >> i just think that they're not perceiving the reality of the situation. what we need to do better, get

the mchg across. in is a risk of this. we are in the middle of a pandemic of a new virus. the safety as the sent just emphasized of this vaccine is really quite clear. we've been giving these types of vaccines to tens if not hundreds of millions of people for decades. so although the virus is a little different, each year the virus changes a bit from one season to another. we give the same types of vaccines and the safety record is really quite good. >> as you can see, it is spreading, 37 states now reporting activity for the swine flu spreading throughout there. anyone that's out in that wants to be vaccinated but can't find a vaccine location because it's not available in their area yet what can they do? >> well, local health officials will be the ones to direct them. if you look at the cdc website you get a lot of information. flu.gov gives you a lot of information, but each of the locality, the city, states, those areas, there are about 90,000 distribution sites that are monitored by the cdc for the distribution of this h1n1.

so hopefully there won't be much of a problem with people connecting to a facility where they can get vaccinated. >> the numbers are staggering to see there. another population that is hit hard and always raises a lot of questions about health, pregnant women. why are they so susceptible or at increased risk, i should say, for h1n1? >> not only for the virus but for the complications of the virus. with the disproportionate number of pregnant women compared to other people who are getting serious illness, it's due fundamentally, when you're pregnant, your body, in order to not reject the fetus suppresses itself from an immunological standpoint, meaning it suppresses the mechanisms that the body useses to reject things that shouldn't be there. so in order to protect the fetus in the womb, the body's immune mechanisms are suppressed. that makes them more vulnerable to things like viral diseases, including influenza. >> all right, we've just seen in the past week we've had the most

kids victims of the h1n1 virus. how bad do you think it's going to get for kids? >> very unpredictable. we don't like the numbers now, because already with 76 children having died from this flu, we're just about what we see in an entire flu season on a regular average year. so we we hope we don't see a lot more. there's a possibility we may see the number go up. that's the reason we're continuing to emphasize children should be vaccinated. >> dr. anthony fauci, appreciate your time. could be life-saving advice and suggestions. thank you. for the latest on the wn weren't virus logon to msnbc.com where you can check out our interactive map showing just how widespread this virus is in your state. it remains the hottest story in the tabloids. you fwlee it is. up next, the latest in the battle between jon and kate. you're watching "msnbc saturday." we roll out the blue carpet for drivers of these great gm brands.

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brand new jon and kate gosselin drama as the couple continues to squabble over million, jon's turn with the kids friday. outside the pennsylvania home he used to share with his wife. alexander is staff writer for "us weekly" magazine. thanks for being here. >> nice to be here. >> what's going on? the latest? >> well, the twins celebrated a birthday friday, you said. jon and kate, on the front for the children but aside from that, behind the scenes, so much trauma going on with the two of them. >> the show has a new name. is that one of the dramatic developments? >> yep. "kate plus eight" renaming it, since jon's off the show and now they are fighting over money. kate filed for alimony because jon had taken money from the bank. supposed to go to court monday but the judge had a family emergency and wasn't able to see

them. >> we have to hedge this. it it is a he said she said t. is completely that. >> asking like $1,000 in the bank account. 's he says, not true. she has multiple accounts. >> they're at each other. jon wants to see kate suffer. kate, sources tell us, that jon's a deadbeat dad. basically the nannies are taking full control 95% of the tile. they're the ones taking care of the children. taking them to school. >> that's the biggest question everybody wants to know. are the kids, if these two adults are going to do what they're going to do and we're going to watch because it's a bad habit, the kids are taken care of? >> the nannies are taking care ever them. the kids are confused. they don't understand. they're seeing each parent talk poorly about the other parent and don't know which way to go. >> who is winning the publicity fight on this? i hate to go there. jon? >> the other team, team kate. kate just did a jay leno spoof with paparazzi which was fight

funny. >> i saw this on fake paparazzi. not legitimate? >> no, no. jay leno had his staff go in and did this situation. >> >> in pennsylvania. >> to say the least. thank you for your time this morning. appreciate it. >> could be the salvation for people who want to buy a home but will it last? r the ones we h a flu shot from walgreens. ( blows nose ) ♪ ( coughs ) ♪ ( sneezes ) we're making it easy for everyone to get their flu shot, no matter how small their motivation may be. ♪ come get yours for just $24.99. walgreens. there's a way to stay well. a day on the days that you have arthritis pain, you could end up taking 4 times the number... of pills compared to aleve. choose aleve and you could start taking fewer pills.

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home buyers and sellers, listen up. there are plans in the work to take that $8,000 home buyers credit, extend the deadline and apply it to everyone looking to buy a home. i'm joined by the reporter from politico. victoria, good morning, this is coming by a proposed amendment from senator johnny isaacson. tell us about this plan. >> that's the latest development on congress's attempt to extend the home buyer tax credit.

wants to attach this legislation to extend jobless benefits that's expected to come up next week in the senate. it would not only extend the existing tax credit for six months, it would also expand it so all home buyers could qualify. not just people who have never bought a home before. it would list the income from double the income cap so more people would be eligible. >> some of the specifics on that, because we're talking about a lot of money here, you get a little tongue-tied, senator isaacson want to extend the $8,000 to home buyers beyond the september 1st. he wants to extend it to all, double for an individual. how does this get paid for? >> there's been discussion on the tax credit. there's money in the original stimulus that could be

reallocated for it. the thing he's proposing is it would be more expensive than just a straight extension. just a straight extension congressional aides say would cost about a billion dollars a month. you're probably going to see some lawmakers balk at the price tag of any substantialson, particularly what johnny isakson is proposing here. >> what about anyone else trying to keep the housing market going, how concerned are they that it might slow down? >> the housing groups out there, the people pushing for this say this could be the death knell for the fragile recovery we've seen so far in the housing market. and that, you know, they say would be a further blow to a weak economy. you know, all this concern about unemployment. there is a lot of bipartisan support for extending the tax

credit and doing other things. frankly obama administration, democrats, even republicans, nobody wins politically when unemployment is close to 10%. >> i wanted to ask you, what are some of the arguments for and against that obviously the argument against it is that unemployment is high and we don't want it to go any higher. the housing market is fragile. what are some of the arguments thrown up that could hold water? >> well, against that tax credit people are saying, this is krael expensive for what you get out of it. the math some experts have done, taxpayers are spending $43,000 for every home that wouldn't have been bought otherwise. that 85% of the houses that have been sold since the tax credit went into effect would have been sold anyway. this not the best use of taxpayer money if we're trying to get down unemployment. >> we appreciate your time with us this morning. >> thanks. >> it is a political battle that appears to be getting down right

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watching this saturday morning. the white house says the president has more to worry about in afghanistan than just sending in more troops. this as we track new violence in the country overnight. we're live in kabul. the war in afghanistan just part of the chris sichl over president obama's nobel peace prize win. we'll look at the reaction coming in from around the world. new numbers are showing just how deadly the swine flu can be in children but parents are nervous about that new vaccine. we'll talk to one of the nation's leading doctors about its safety. good morning, everyone. i'm dan. alex is off this morning. our stop story at this hour. more violence in afghanistan as president obama considers whether to send more troops to that