massachusetts, even throwing a fund-raiser for his senate bid. that was a huge upset as we all know. he's officially being sworn in as we speak. within the hour. meanwhile, not just democrats feeling the tea party pain, if you will, moderate republican charlie crist considered a slam-dunk for the republican nod for u.s. senate in florida, until the tea partiers got behind ultra-conservative marco rubio who went from underdog to front-runner. and there are allegations that the tea partiers are merely a loosely organized group full of weeds. everything from birthers to truthers to just racists looking for a good time. today "the dylan ratigan show" went to the convention, and while we aren't saying this represents the majority, or even the plurality, at the very least, it's a couple of blades of grass for us all to chew on. take a listen.

>> i just couldn't sit down anymore and not do anything. because it reminded me of what happened during the reign of hitler. >> and then there are others that say that the partiers are nothing more than astroturf. laid out by republican operatives like dick army and his freedom works, they had the following to say about astroturf. >> most of the grass roots activists we work with across the country are not involved with it. we really don't know what their model is or their purpose is. >> so what do the actual tea partiers believe they'll accomplish with all this. they say they're plotting a strategy on health care, on the economy, and most importantly, plotting to take down those nasty democrats in 2010. if this movement succeeds, will they simply, this being the tea party, get their hammerlock on the american taxpayer and rig the game so they get a couple of

bucks, or will everybody in america finally find the grass greener. joining us now, chuck devor said he's already benefited from the tea party's help. and a conservative blogger said the whole movement is like a bunch of crab grass. chuck, i'll begin with you. my words, my words. it's a tv show, gentlemen, i have to have a little bit of fun. >> i didn't know we were going to be demon sheep here. >> if you wear the wooden stake and the garlic, you'll be all right. chuck, you say they're helping you. how? >> i've had about 240 events, so i declared for the u.s. senate in california against boxer about 14 months ago. a good number of those are with tea party groups. and i think the most important thing, and hi, dan, good to see you on tv, dan's one of the good guys. but we have a bit of a disagreement. >> don't be too friendly.

he's going to call your green grass crab grass. >> here's where we disagree. i commonly ask a question when you show up to speak at tea party rallies and groups, i asked, how many of you prior to 2008 were ever active in politics, ever wrote a letter to the editor, ever showed up to a rally, ever donated. what i find as i go to the tea party groups, only about 10% of the people have ever been active in anything at all. and then i asked them, you know, are you republican, are you a democrat, or libertarian? what i find is there are people that 20 years ago would have been considered reagan democrats. there's a few republicans out in california. a lot decline state voters. a few libertarians. in other words, this is not some right-wing movement. this is not orchestrated by anyone in particular. the number one thing they care about is the exploding federal deficit and this monstrous government that we're creating with money borrowed from china. that's what they care about the most.

>> when the economic structure is based on banks controlling the government, where they bet as big as possible, and they're at it again today, you have no choice but to take that deficit on. when politics are based on politicians sticking the bill with future taxpayers, you have no choice but to have those deficits, dan. it's clear what the tea partiers are against. and the deficit being the best example. banks, all the rest of it. it's unclear what the tea partiers are for. i think that's what makes a lot of folks nervous. do you have any insight as to the cohesion and what is the criticism of their rebellion, if you will? >> i was perfectly honest with your producer. we were talking about one particular event. as far as i'm concerned, the tea party movement the greatest thing since sliced bread. i think it's a rekindling of the spirit of american freedom that was rooted in the original tea party. and i hope it's going to have a lot to do with taking politics back to the people here. >> for purposes of clarity, the crab grass is nothing more than this event in nashville?

>> well, yeah, that was my -- i didn't even say it was totally that. i said i think there's a lot of reason for concern. i'm personally willing to be consistent there. this is the problem, if you're going to start using this event to demean the entire movement, then i'm sorry, i'm not the guy you want to hear. >> that's not what i'm looking to achieve either. i apologize for the miscommunication. it's not my intent in the slightest. chuck, the only person running a political campaign among the three of us, against a prominent opponent using this energy in this thought process, which is the establishment does not work for me and i want somebody who does work for me. now, i guess the concern is that energy can be used very constructive to update all these outdated systems, the monopolies in the health care, all the special interests, oil, union deals, you pick it. the internet exists, we know

what's going on. people feel like they don't know what to do so they vote for somebody like you. then you have an out-of-power community, i won, you won, i get to steal, no, you get to steal. they're worried the tea party is exploited by the team, the red sox, or the republicans, to get their hands on the coffers again. how do you know the difference? >> i'd have to disagree. you can't control this grass roots movement. one of their strengths is precisely their decentralization, their passion for the constitution, their passion for basic limited government. and believe me, they are making the republican party as uncomfortable as they're making the democratic party. you're seeing that in california, where i'm running against two establishment republicans, former congressman tom campbell and former hewlett-packard chief executive officer carly fiorina.

>> it's establishment and the establishment more than it's left-right. dan, i did not mean to put words in your mouth -- but you see how pretty the crab grass was in the graphics today? you could have at least worked with me for a second just for purposes of the cartoon. but when the truth is at stake, i guess we have to make certain sacrific sacrifices. thank you. straight ahead on "the dylan ratigan show," mixing it up. beginning with toyota, where there are whistle blowers, did they try to burr it under the rug? trouble with not just with the gas pedals, but also with the brakes. the prius is now in the line of fire. just be glad you're not toyota today. china sucking up another american resource. it's bad enough they've got the oil, got the money, now they want their pandas back. you will not believe the angst and agony in our nation's capital over the bears.

forget the bailouts and energy. and you heard it earlier. yes, demon sheep live, whatever they may be, in our latest installment of crazy political ads. and you wonder why there's a tea party when you're supposed to pick a candidate based on who's accused of being a demon sheep. another story we found while we were supposed to be working. wait until you hear about a particular super bowl fan, a saints fan, actually had this happen. that is not photo shop, that is an x-ray of a human being. we'll explain. [ male announcer ] crunch, wheat thins.

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welcome back. time to mix it up on the day's other headlines, including a gathering storm in afghanistan. warning the taliban of an escalating offensive coming their way. saying good-bye to pandas in washington, d.c., and a political ad featuring demon sheep. scary. up first, new reports this hour that ten americans were arrested while trying to take 33 haitian children across the border. they have been officially charged. the focus may shift from prosecuting all of them, to focusing on one of them. laura sillsby, the attorney saying sillsby was the only one who knew the missionary group did not have the proper paperwork. each kidnapping count, which is for each child, would carry a possible sentence of 5 to 15 years time. as upsetting as it is to see this, it's not as surprising as

it should be, although it's nice to see they were caught. breaking news of an earthquake 35 miles off northern california's coast, magnitude 6.0. we'll keep track of any aftershocks and/or impact as it comes in. moving forward. we begin here with plans for the u.s. military, they're announcing this, along with nato and on-the-ground afghan forces, launching a force against the taliban in those valleys. they've distributed leaflets saying this is going to happen, warning civilians this is going to happen. the taliban saying, get out of that province, poppy in those ar turl areas, or else. the expected target is the taliban-held town of marja, although not officially confirmed. >> there will be at least 1,000

afghan national police, thousands of afghan national army, and many thousands isaf troops. >> we know the war is about to get warmer, shall we say. hotter. to mix it up on the subject, christina, senior reporter, and politics daily.com. is there anything, christina, that you're seeing in your reporting that suggests this is meaninglifestive as other offensives, and if so, how and why? >> i don't know how meaningfully different it is. i think you're really seeing the obama administration implementing the new afghan strategies. they want to root out terrorists. i think you're going to see a lot more. >> hold on. we all know rooting out terrorists is a crock. there's no al qaeda there. we know that the problem is taliban-controlled valleys. we send resources over there. the taliban may harbor

terrorists from time to time, but the vast majority of the terrorists are, if you believe the reporting, is actually in pakistan. the terror thing is nonsense. stability in afghanistan may be necessary long term. do we have any sense, christina, that this even goes toward stability? >> i agree with you, dylan, about stability. the good news is this could increase stability. very happy to see that afghanis are involved not only in the execution of this, but in the planning as well. that's important. >> so how does adding to the -- how does escalating the war with the incumbent power structure make it more stable? >> the theory here is what they're going to be able to do is take into consideration the actual government of afghanistan. so the goal isn't just to kill terrorists, to kill the taliban, but to create a safe haven for the government to function. but i will tell you, dylan, here's what i'm concerned about. i read the reuters story about this, and number one, why are you telegraphing this that

you're coming in. number two, the timing. according to reuters, part of the reason for this surge right now is because they've planned to withdraw american troops next year. i hope -- >> i've got to move on. but after nine years, and considering that our military capability slightly greater than that of afghanistan, just by a little, my sense is, that bullets don't seem to be solving the problem that we have underlying issues in that country and those relationships that we may not be addressing and we're kind of like fools to shoot more bullets. i don't know. democrats shifting the focus to jobs as senate majority leader harry reid today announced they're moving quickly on a jobs bill and there could be a procedural vote on it as early as monday. sounds pretty good, right? but no one saying what's in the bill. no one saying how much it would cost. no one saying how it will be paid for. nor is anyone acknowledging the actual reason nobody has a job, which is depriving resources of education, science, engineering,

you pick it. forget all that. right now, reid and hout majority leader nancy pelosi meeting with the president at the white house to talk about their jobs bill. christina, do we have any insight as to how it is that the jobs bill, it's hard to say without a snicker, will work? >> well, no, we don't know if it's going to work. there's a couple things here, though. it's funny that the senate can move very quickly if it wants to move quickly. a procedural vote as soon as monday that no one's read yet. this demonstrates leadership can do what it wants to when it wants to. i think leadership is maybe wise not to put a number on this, as how many jobs will be saved or created. this is something the administration has faced the challenge since the stimulus bill passed last february. >> matt, did i tell you i got t. boone pickens on the show today? >> you did not. >> i'm excited about that.

you get to say t. boone. he's the man. it's enjoyable. china in its hunger for america's most precious commodity has bought up our debt, they are buying up as we discussed yesterday the world's resources from brazil to canada. now apparently they want our pandas, too. technically the pandas are theirs. since tai-shan and mai de lan was on loan from china. matt, should we be giving these pandas back or holding them for a ransom for a debt reduction of some kind? are we being too easy here? >> i think we should say the pandas wandered off and we can't find them. look, this story, even washington, d.c.'s become ridiculous. the only saving grace, dylan, is we're going to get two feet of snow in washington, d.c. and people are going to be obsessed and freak out about that. nobody's going to remember the pandas. >> i've got to defend the

pandamonium. this has been a big story for years. we first wondered if the pandas were pregnant, and you got to see the pandas have their first birthday. this is something the washingtonians have been excited about. >> he's going to be a diplomat for washington. >> one thing -- it's one thing for china to control our financial destiny by being our chief creditor, it's another thing for them to control our global oil reserves. yet another to take the pandas. >> to a communist country. who doesn't love a good old-fashioned scary attack ad? it's a lot easier than solving the actual problems of the country. check out the web video from the republican governor's race in california. carly fiorina attacking tom campbell for not being a real fiscal conservative, a wolf in

sheep's clothing, a demon sheep, if you will. >> the wolf in sheep's clothing. the man who lit alli helped put the state of california on the path to bankruptcy and higher taxes. fiscal conservative. or just another same old tale of tax and spend. authored by a career politician, who helped guide us into this fiscal mess in the first place. >> i don't even like scary movies. i can't handle that stuff, honestly. it freaks me out. nightmares, and red eyes. christina, do you feel the politicians in this country understand that most of the voters know that the government is rigging the game for special interests? they don't know who and how and where necessarily, but it's obvious there's a structural problem. and yet they still get fed basically the most base level fearmongering when it comes to politics in this country. why is that? >> from a political advertising

content, now everybody knows who's running in this race. they're talking about carly today. chuck devore not getting talked about at all. he's a guest earlier, but this is a war between -- >> hold on. he was a guest on my show ten minutes ago. i was just talking to him. >> i find it hard to believe that anybody could argue that fiorina was brilliant to put out this ad. this is the most bizarre political ad i've ever seen in my life. when you need publicity you might do something like this? this is not something that -- >> this political campaign for me is the reason the tea party exists. no more of this. i'll take anything other than demon sheep. go ahead, christina. >> who is dressed up as the sheep? we know who the narrator is. but who's in the sheep's costume. >> we'll look for it on talking points in the morning, with your byline.

you would have thought the lawmakers heard the-mile-an-hour people saying enough is enough. apparently not. politicians are now playing politics over the underwear bomber, over our national security, republicans going after the dems, the dems are fighting back. is anybody actually doing anything to improve the quality of our national security on a fundamental level? also, the real reason why the markets here and around the world have one of their biggest nose dives in months. by the numbers, the banksters were at it again. a huge swoon in the european markets. a big sell-off here that followed. upside for the banksters and downside for the rest of us. plus, the winds of change with renegade billionaire t. boone pickens. imagine if you could reduce carbon, improve national security, create millions of

jobs, and declare your independence forever as a nation when it comes to energy. t. boone's vision for solving america's energy crisis in our "town square." my doctor said most calcium supplements... aren't absorbed properly unless taken with food. he recommended citracal. it's different -- it's calcium citrate, so it can be absorbed with or without food. also available in small, easy-to-swallow petites. citracal. ♪ [ laughter ] ♪ ♪ too much talking 'bout the next time, the next time ♪

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to help you stay well. so if you're on medicare part d, schedule a free one-on-one plan review session... with your walgreens pharmacist. they'll review all your medications... no matter where they're from... and help you get the most from your plan. so you can relax and enjoy all your benefits. walgreens. there's a way to stay well. welcome back. a little by the numbers for you today. it doesn't get any easier than this. the biggest drop in months. you have to go back to october to see the markets behave as badly as they did today. the dow dropping below 10,000 for the first time, before finishing just above that mark. instability in europe. one of the major factors. as some european markets were down, at least some european banks down as much as 8% and some markets down to as much as

6% in one day's time. why the precipitous swoon in europe, and the subsequent swoon right here. well, you may never guess what may be behind that drop. remember the credit default swaps? our old friend, that secret gambling market that tanked our economy, required billions of your tax dollars to be delivered to the banksters no strings attached so they can continue with the party? well, this swoon, a continuation of the party. banks stand to win by actively pushing foreign governments, at least the perception that foreign governments, in this case portugal and greece, are going towards bankruptcy. they make a lot of money. how do you do this? first, you spread rumors, and use the fact that you control the market for debt for these countries, and the optics, so that it at least looks like they're going to lose. think of it like this. imagine you're going into the weekend, you're betting on the colts to lose the super bowl.

except in addition to that bet, you also happen to run one of the biggest sports betting casinos in the world. you start a rumor that the colts' star quarterback, peyton manning, not going to be able to play. all of a sudden the odds dive, or in this case the odds of default go up. you collect the money from the suckers on the rumor. you're rich. everybody else is a sucker. best part, not only do you not get to know which of the banksters are making these multitrillion dollar bets driving up the cost of insurance for these countries, you also don't know how big the bets are. and the beautiful thing is, you don't need any money to place the bet. but you keep all the upside. you can literally make $1 trillion bet on the bankruptcy of a country of portugal or the country of greece, pay yourself billions of dollars, start the rumor, get the swoon, take the

money, and leave portugal in ruins. joblessness, homelessness, what do you care, they're suckers. think of it like a man-made iceburg and we're heading right towards it. we just see fairly calm seas, all the money printing. but beneath the surface, all these secret bets and no money by the trillions, hidden below. and don't think that just you or i can get in on the scam, if we could, we could start a bank right now, we would have a good time. you actually have to have a huge asset base like our bank deposits or a huge insurance base, which only aig and citigroup have, which comes in very handy, by the way, when you want to blackmail the government into leaving the bill with the taxpayer, when you can't pay the losses. because you're like, well, either i wipe out all the life insurance, all the bank deposits and everything else stop lending, or you just give me all the money. don't worry, we're sure congress

is going to get around to cleaning this mess up, as soon as they actually start working for the taxpayer and not the banksters who currently line their coffers on both sides of the aisle. the banksters have another opportunity to do a big pickoff they did. they did so well in '08 with our government. up next, new troubles with toyota. the automaker's looming legal problems. we'll break that one down. plus, the left and right in this country, attacking each other over terror. fun for them. red sox/yankees enjoy yourselves. al qaeda continues to plot new ways to attack us. why is national security a political talking point? oh, i forgot, human beings. apparently doing all their own work for one of the most popular songs. you tell me this wasn't their song?

i don't know. we'll be right back. for all the moments that make every day special. fancy feast created a way to celebrate any moment. fancy feast appetizers. [dinner bell chimes] simple high quality ingredients like wild alaskan salmon, white meat chicken, or sea bass and shrimp in a delicate broth, prepared without by-products or fillers. fancy feast appetizers.

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it's good for gm and ford. any thoughts on that? >> what's bad for toyota is bad for anybody driving a toyota. >> also pretty good for ford, i'll be honest with you. it's very good for ford. in today's breaking it down, going from bad to worse for toyota. today, u.s. regulators launch an official investigation into possible braking problems now with toyota's flagship car, their hybrid prius. the japanese news agency reporting that the problem is going to force a recall. so far, mum's the word on whether that's actually going to happen out of toyota. u.s. regulators receiving 124 complaints about drivers with braking problems? what's worse, gas pedals sticking or brake problems. that's a tough one.

all of this on top of the earlier recall, the 4.5 million vehicles worldwide for the faulty gas pedals, and the company's bottom line, since the news broke, one-fifth of the value of that company. 30 some odd billion dollars wiped out. even before the prius troubles, toyota said the recall was going to cost it more than $2 billion. that includes more than $1 billion in repairs and up to $880 million in forfeited sales. where we see recalls, of course, lawsuits can't be far behind. reuters reporting at least ten lawsuits have been filed against toyota in the sufficient and canada. and you can bet more in the works. it's shaping up to be the biggest auto safety issue since firestone and ford had to go through their issues back in the year 2000. joining us, lewis, a trial attorney specializing in business litigation, lewis, the best parallel that i can see here as a layman is the firestone tires on the ford trucks that were popping ten

years ago. that obviously was very bad, particularly for firestone. does toyota stand a chance here for a way forward as this continues to pile up on them? >> the key here in comparison to the firestone case is the extent of damages. the problem with the firestone cases is that when those tires were losing control, they were coming off the wheel, people were losing car, their cars were rolling over and people were having serious injuries or death. so far, with this acceleration problem, whether it's the accelerator, the floor mat or even the potential braking system on the 2010 priuses, the damages or injuries are not there, because the recalls or the notices go out early enough that people can take measures, then the exposure for toyota, other than the expense for repairs, and updating the vehicles, may not be as much as if it involves injuries, which is what can happen in other cases, if not recalled or treated quickly.

>> so the issue for toyota, even as big as the numbers may be, millions of cars, all these years, the camry, all these -- huge selling cars, is not necessarily -- doesn't equate necessarily with legal liability, just a massive brand liability that may not necessarily result in anything like what firestone had to deal with because quite simply because of the fatalities? >> that's on the issue of the potential lawsuits. if you look at the lawsuits, i think that's how you would compare toyota versus what happened to firestone. as far as the expense to toyota, they're definitely going to take a hit as to their reputation. they're going to take a hit as to the expense of recalling, of repairing all these vehicles, whether the issue on the braking, if in fact there's a braking problem with the prius, and i think it's only the 2010 prius so far. but the accelerator goes back years and covers a lot of vehicles. not just the toyota line, but also i believe the lexus brands. so that expense will be significant. plus you're going to have a big percentage of the population that may not want to buy a

toyota based on these problems. as you probably know, toyota is the biggest auto manufacturer in the world. this is going to be a big hit. it's ironic, because earlier today they reported i believe it was a $2.2 billion profit for this past quarter. and they believe this recall, just the accelerator part of the recall, will cost them about $1.8 billion. plus the hit they took, i think today in the market alone they took a $2 billion hit from those profits. >> it's good to be ford today. no bailouts and recalls. pleasure, lewis, to see you. national security continues to get hot in washington. the administration's handling of the christmas day terror suspect and charging him as a civilian. and criticisms of the handling of the underwear bomber and the way he was cooperating with intelligence officials. >> when we were briefed on the fact that abdulmutallab was

cooperating on monday, we were told this is highly secret, highly classified information that should not be leaked. director muller told me, please do not bring this up in an open hearing. at the same time we were being briefed in an open session. the administration apparently was developing a whole media strategy to show how great they were by what abdulmutallab was doing. >> now, the white house press isn't, robert gibbs, fired back. >> i would suggest that somebody that alleges that, when they know it doesn't happen, owe people an apology. any briefing that's done here in order to ensure that the information that's in the public is correct, is done in conjunction with many agencies, and done so so that information that is classified and shouldn't be released, isn't released.

>> all this, of course, as attorney general eric holder now says that he made the decision to try the man as a civilian rather than in a military system, in consultation with the intelligence community. he also called it consistent with strategy used during the bush administration. an example of the attempted shoe bomber richard reid was read his miranda rights and convicted inside of the federal court system. joining us now from washington, republican congressman, tom rooney. pleasure to see you, mr. rooney. welcome back. walk me through the -- how american people can tell the difference between one party, republicans and democrats, whichever one it is, trying to get the other one for being a bunch of weasels that don't know what they're doing, and politicians who are actually using american resources to ensure the development of our country. and protection. >> i hope it's because we're listening to our constituents. and i think that you're seeing

that divide get a little bit closer, and these days go on. specifically with this issue. i've been talking to a lot of democrats who i think are coming onboard with the idea that, you know, the trials in new york were a mistake, and we just issued a bill today to have all the detainees tried down at the state of the art courtroom we have at gitmo. i've been working the halls trying to get some democrats to come onboard. i haven't had success yet, but i do feel like we're getting closer. i think when it comes to safety, it's our biggest job as a federal government for the common defense. and it should not be political. and hopefully as the days go on, you'll see less and less so. >> the opportunity to politicize anything in this country with the mainstream media being what it is, with the web being what it is, with the willingness to put demon sheep and hatchet men on tv, whatever you want to do, it's an easy thing to do. and a great way to get a job. but it doesn't necessarily help the country. how will we know whether our

government is being real with us about national security? in other words, what is the benchmark for you as to whether we're actually lyaddressing the issue at hand? >> we've not seen it in the years i've been a member of congress, but i think i saw some democratic senators starting to come back a little bit from being as polarized as we've both been, and i think that as the year goes on, when we keep asking eric holder the questions, as i did on judiciary, you know, why can't we have due process at gitmo, why can't we leave gitmo open as a prison, because once you bring them into our federal courts and a federal judge is going to have to for the first time decide whether or not to allow evidence because miranda was or was not read, that's going to be a very difficult position for a federal judge to be put in. and the biggest problem that i have, and the message i send to the global community, which is

horrible, is when the administration says that these trials are going to be a slam dunk and they're going to be put to death, does that mean if they're actually acquitted and they're going to be a slam dunk anyway, does that mean we're sending people back to jail who were found not guilty in our federal court system because of an evidentiary problem with the trial. these are the problems a military commission would address. and i still think fairly give these guys due process. >> i totally get it. i think the underlying issue is to create a third class of prisoner and not consult with the american people. seems undemocratic. we'll get to that one another day. thanks for the commentary today, representative rooney. a story that we found while we were working. a life-long fan got her saints earring lodged in her throat. when she accidently grabbed the saints earring along with her

vitamins, tossed it in her gullet, took a swig of whatever it was, glass of water, eight hours, two teams of specialists later, they were able to extract her team spirit. you can't make up an x-ray like that -- well, you can, but we wouldn't, and we didn't. we'll be right back. so many arthritis pain relievers --

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welcome back. quick "busted" spotlight.

folks misbehaving. men at work, the ones we're busting today. the group who brought us the lovely song "down under." just lost a lawsuit for copyright infringement on the one song that they're actually famous for, according to a federal court ruling the flute rift they used in the same tune from the almost famous australian folk song, apparently the original. take a listen to this. ♪ kind of have a point, right? one of the song's co-writers wrote a statement about the stolen tune saying it was inadvertent, nay eve, unconscious. and by the time men at work recorded the song it had become unrecognizable. apparently somebody recognized it, because the band may have to pay up to 60% of their earnings from that song for steal the

flute. anyway, t. boone pickens here. reduced carbon, reduce terror, add jobs. that's good. we're back with a plan after this. (announcer) the #1 prescribed acid reducer brand over the last decade... ...is now over the counter at walmart as prevacid 24hr - to treat frequent heartburn. over the counter. unbeatable prices. talk about a relief. save money. live better. walmart. of maxwell house's flavor lock lid.

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at the end of this decade, in the year 1980, the united states will not be dependent on any other country for the energy we need. >> the only way to free ourselves from the monopoly pricing power of opec is to be less dependent on outside sources of fuel. >> in ten years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the middle east.

>> apparently that's like being in favor of sunshine and puppies. decades of rhetoric from presidents on both sides of the aisle about ending our nation's dependence on foreign oil. and yet the numbers tell the true story. based on the latest figures from the u.s. department of energy, the united states currently imports 63% of its oil. sending approximately 226 billion u.s. dollars, $468,000 per minute, to foreign governments. america, meanwhile, runs on oil. look at the pie chart. petroleum and coal, the majority of that pie. as we all know by now, reliance on foreign oil, not just an energy issue, it's a matter of our national security, our environment, and our independence as a nation. one reason, take a look at the map, these are the countries that are the major suppliers of crude oil to the united states.

particularly the middle east, which is always fun. now i'm going to show you another map. this will be the country's designated by our state department as dangerous and unstable. with the exception of venezuela, which is not officially on the list, but the state department notes that the government's distinctly american stance is in place. as you look at these two maps, you'll see there's a lot of overlap. second reason as we continue to borrow and buy from china, we give them our currency, and they take our currency and gobble up global energy for themselves to protect themselves from potential crash in our own currency. the question our government has struggled with for decades, do they have the ability to actually reduce our nation's dependence on foreign oil, and what is america's energy future? quite a question.

well, there's quite a man, quite an american in my view in our "town square" today who has quite an answer. t. boone pickens, he is with us today from dallas. mr. pickens, in addition to the pleasure of saying your name, it just makes you feel excited, you also have this plan. how does it work? >> the only way you can do what the president said, and he made that statement, you know, when he got the nomination, back in july of '08, and at that time he said in ten years we will not be importing any oil from the middle east. the only way you can cause that to happen is you have to have a resource that will replace the foreign oil. now, we get 5 million barrels a day from opec. and we have plenty of natural gas to replace a big part of that 5 million barrels a day.

the way we'd start off is to do it on the heavy-duty 18-wheelers. 8 million of them. if we did the 8 million 18-wheelers, that's it, when we accomplish that, we would cut opec in half. that's 2.5 million barrels a day. opec sells us 5. so we could cut them in half by putting our 18-wheelers on natural gas. >> what's the barrier to doing that? >> well, we've got the legislation in place. and it's led by the right leadership. in senate, it's led by the majority leader, harry reid, who understands the situation very well. on the republican side, it's orren hatch, and another lead democrat in it is senator menendez from new jersey. over in the house you've got john larson is your leader, and you've got two other very good

co-sponsors of that bill, which is hr-1835, which is dan bourne from oklahoma and john sullivan from oklahoma. so everything's set. the house bill has 137 co-sponsors. so this could, if we could get it in place, this could go as a stand-alone bill and pass quickly. >> what of those who say, listen, dylan ratigan might lake saying t. boone pickens and think he's smart and makes a good case, but t. boone pickens is no more than a rich guy trying to pick everybody else off by using the government. >> is that the question? >> that's the question. how do we know that's not what you are? >> well, i spent $62 million telling the story. first, the problem, second, the solution. and if i wanted to make money, i wouldn't have spent the $62

million. i would have just kept my money. and if it was today i was going to do this, i would not do it. because when i did it, and when i kicked this off in july of '08, i had the money. and today i would not put $62 million in. even though i consider myself to be a patriotic american, that has a mission, and the mission is, get us off of the opec oil. because we're paying for both sides of the war. >> i get it. mr. pickens, thank you. i'm out of time. i look at this like the beginning of a conversation, i hope not the end. i cannot tell you how grateful i am to you for the information, analysis, and i hope for a continuation sooner than later. t. boone pickens, check it out at pickensplans.com. a plague on both your houses. let's play "hardball."

good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. leading off tonight, double jeopardy, as goes the house, so goes the senate. could the democrats lose ten senate seats this fall as well as the u.s. house of representatives? in seven years no party has lost control of the house without also losing control of the senate in the same election. does this say the democrats better make a comeback this spring and summer or they'll be in worse trouble than even they imagined? plus, ending "don't ask, don't tell." a quote from a gi serving in iraq. yeah, i think my former commander was gay. kicked ass. would have followed him back to fallujah. shame he was shot. what life in the military is really like from men in uniform. would ronald reagan have been reagan enough for republicans these days? the gop miff makers don't like to talk about it, but reagan raised ta