it is the top of the hour on msnbc and here are the stories we are following. many residents in rhode island are calling for noah's ark or some help from rescue teams. the state is really flooding and blowing away all water records. president obama is having to fend off charges today of being a flip flopper. he announced he is clearing the way along parts of the u.s. coast line for new offshore oil drilling. plus a religious group interrupted a military funeral. the dead soldier's father sued but now that dad has been ordered to pay the group's court costs. we'll talk with the dad live. and tiger woods is now associated with subway sandwiches but neither he nor the restaurant chain want to talk about it. hello everyone. i'm david shuster live in washington. we will get to the massive flooding and talk to rhode island senator sheldon whitehouse in just a few minutes. but we're going to start with a dramatic decision today from president obama to reverse decades of american energy policy. this morning the president said

he will open huge areas off the u.s. coast to offshore drilling for oil and natural gas. >> this is not a decision that i've made lightly but the bottom line is this. given our energy needs, in order to sustain economic growth and produce jobs and keep our businesses competitive, we are going to need to harness traditional sources of fuel even as we ramp up production of new sources of renewable, home grown energy. >> the move is already enraging several environmental organizations. they note that president obama was against offshore drilling when he was a candidate during the presidential campaign. >> this is a proposal that would only worsen our addiction to oil and put off needed investments in clean, renewable energy. when i'm president i intend to keep in place the moratorium here in florida and around the country and that prevents all companies from drilling off florida's coasts. >> the announcement this morning from president obama will open up millions of additional acres

of u.s. waters to drilling. on the east coast it stretches from the northern tip of delaware to the central coast of florida to the south the eastern track of the gulf of mexico will be open for drilling and the northern coast of alaska will now be open as well. the new plan does include a new ban on drilling in the environmentally sensitive bristol bay area of alaska. nbc news white house correspondent savannah guthrie is live at the white house. take us through the policy and the politics. >> reporter: well, look. we'll see something we haven't seen in decades but not for years and that is some drilling on some areas that had been off limits for more than 20 years as you just showed in your map. some parts of the eastern seaboard, the eastern gulf of mexico, although in a political compromise there won't be drilling anywhere closer than 125 miles off the coast of florida so that was something very important to florida senators, no question about that. parts of alaska will now be open to offshore drilling but the

president decided not to -- to reverse a bush decision actually to do some drilling on the southern coast of alaska in bristol bay which ironically bristol bay -- bristol palin is named after that bristol bay in alaska. the president has decided to do this extending yet another olive branch to some of the centrist democrats and republicans who of course support offshore drilling. he needs those. he's trying to build a coalition for a broader energy climate bill. it's gotten an interesting reaction from various sides of the aisle. environmentalists are furious about this. it goes a lot further than even i think they were expecting not with standing what the president said in the state of the union. many republicans have given i would call it kind of lukewarm support saying it's a good first step but does it go far enough? will we actually see the drilling? the real key here is lindsay graham, the senator from south carolina, who is working with the administration on a variety of issues. he has indicated support for this. so the question is, did president obama make these

concessions? he going to get something for it? so he's already kind of met republicans and centrist democrats halfway. will they meet him in the middle and support a deal? >> savannah, i want to play for you something that sarah palin said during the presidential campaign. watch. >> we will drill, baby, drill and mine, baby, mine, because this is for the sake of our nation's security and our economic prosperity. we will drill, baby, drill and mine, baby, mine because this is for the sake of our nation's security and our economic prosperity. >> savannah, how is the white house responding to the claims that this is vindication to sarah palin? >> reporter: oh, they say they haven't exactly adopted the drill, baby, drill mantra. they're saying that what they have said since at least august on the campaign, because, you know, the president's view on this has evolved a little bit from early in the campaign to later in the campaign. they're saying, look.

we think drilling has to be a part of a comprehensive energy plan. it's not the whole shooting match. you're not going to get everything you want in terms of energy independence by just doing offshore drilling and environmentalists say, look, there isn't enough oil and gas out there off the u.s. waters to make a difference. it's not the thing that will make the difference between being dependent on foreign oil or not. it's also years and years away. so they are saying, look. we've been saying this all along. they say we haven't done any flip-flopping and as the deputy press secretary who briefed reporters this afternoon said, it doesn't exactly fit on a t-shirt but it's kind of drill, baby, drill as part of a comprehensive energy plan. >> nbc white house correspondent savannah guthrie, thanks as always. >> sure. a devastating 100-year flood has put huge areas of rhode island under water today prompting state and federal officials to declare a state of emergency. this afternoon amtrak stopped service from new york to boston and highway officials closed several stretches of interstate

95. throughout the day rescue teams have been working in neighborhoods flooded from the pawtuxet river. it feels familiar to many residents because this is the second major rainstorm of the month in the northeast. let's bring in rhode island senator sheldon whitehouse, a democrat. senator, how bad is it in your state? >> it's pretty serious, david. we have, as you said, 95, our major artery out. we have three of our waste water treatment systems inundated. i went through a factory in cumberland this morning going through the loading dock in an inflatable boat, families that have been in their homes for 35, 50 years and never seen flooding in cranston are now flooded out. down in south kings town where i was yesterday you've got the major part of downtown flooded out. it is a real challenge. it's been described here as a 500-year flood. >> what would you like the federal government to do? >> send the cavalry.

we have a lot of people who have, you know, rhode island is in tough shape economically. we've been the second or third highest unemployment now through the entire obama administration. we've been in recession for probably 24 straight months. rhode island is a resilient place. rhode islanders are tough, but they've had a lot of economic pressure and particularly after the last flooding just about ten days ago a lot of people cleaned up from that, put businesses back together, and now they're flooded out again. so we've taken a very hard punch and we're hoping the federal government will come in and be very helpful. senator whitehouse, it's sometimes difficult to tell from the pictures but are we talking about hundreds of people or say up to tens of thousands of people who need help? >> as of this morning i was on the phone with national grid and they said that there are 5,000 households who have lost power as a result of the flooding. so that's at least one measure

of the number of households flooded out. >> senator sheldon whitehouse from rhode island. good luck to you up there. we appreciate you coming on this afternoon. >> good luck. well, at least it stopped raining. that's a good sign. >> at least indeed. senator sheldon whitehouse, democrat, rhode island. seven of nine members of a christian militia group entered pleas of not guilty today on charges they plotted to kill police officers. all nine are members of the hutaree militia who were arrested in a series of weekend raids in michigan, indiana, and ohio. authorities say the goal of the alleged plot was to spark a war against the government. we're joined by "newsweek" senior investigative reporter and msnbc contributor michael is kopp. i understand the way they're being charged jumps out to you. >> activity to wage war against the united states, an extremely rare charge, it has been used

occasionally in a few, select terrorism cases involving islamic terrorism in recent years but this may be the first in quite a long time to be used against a domestic organization with no links to global jihad. these people were openly declaring that they wanted to kill police officers and spark an uprising against the united states government, thereby giving the justice department grounds to use this very rare charge. >> and given that it's rare what does that signal? is it a certain level of seriousness we haven't seen before? >> absolutely. i think it does indicate an intention on the part of the justice department to use all of the available tools, all of the available statutes against what many people see as a rather increased activity, increased threat from these far right extremists hate groups of which this certainly typifies. >> it's striking because this particular hate group, they've wanted to kill police officers. they thought that the government was somehow perhaps part of the

anti-christ. they hate the government so much yet i noticed when they went to court they asked for government-appointed defense attorneys. >> right. well, of course. willing to take advantage of what our government has to offer when it's -- >> in other words their god is limited at the doors of the courthouse. >> that's one good way to look at it. you know, so have a lot of islamic terrorists as well who declare their war against the united states but then take advantage of government-appointed attorneys. >> "newsweek" and msnbc's michael isikoff, great to see you, mike. thank you. >> good to see you. what a day this has been. we'll talk about albert schneider ahead. he wanted to bury his marine son who was killed in iraq but now a judge says he owes money after protesters disrupted his son's funeral. we'll hear from him, next. plus, could legalizing marijuana be the trick to filling california's big budget hole? i'll talk to someone who is already making money off the business of growing pot. to makes don't always have to keep you cooped up inside. that's why we're making it easier for everyone to find allergy solutions.

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the door remains open if the iranians choose to walk through it but they understand very clearly what the terms of a diplomatic solution would be. in the interim we are going to move forcefully on a u.n. sanctions regime. >> that was president obama yesterday taking aim at iran during a press conference with french president sarkozy. the united states government confirms today that an iranian nuclear scientist missing since last summer has defected to the united states. there are reports that shahram amiri is sharing important secrets about iran's nuclear weapons program with the central intelligence agency. here in the united states there has ban een a remarkable and extremely controversial court decision in a lawsuit over military funerals. the essence of the case pits

free speech against the right of a family member to mourn. in 2006 the father of a soldier killed in iraq sued an antigay church group known as the westboro baptists. the group had disrupted a funeral for the man's son. the group's protest signs included one that said "thank god for dead soldiers." albert schneider the father of the soldier won his lawsuit. then he lost an appeal. now he has been ordered to pay the protesters' legal fees. he calls the ruling a slap in the face and he says he will take this case to the supreme court if necessary. albert schneider joins us from baltimore along with his attorney shawn summers. mr. schneider, first of all we apologize for your loss. i wonder if you can describe what you were feeling the moment you first saw the westboro baptist church protesters at your son's funeral. >> it actually started a couple days before the funeral when they sent an announcement to the press and to law enforcement and the announcement had his picture

on it, a military coffin and underneath it said burial of an ass. under that it said that they would be protesting at st. john's catholic dog kennel the day of the funeral seven of them showed up. because of this announcement that they were coming we had to have a s.w.a.t. team in the church. there were policemen. there were state policemen. there were sheriffs. there was media coming out of the woodwork. they placed themselves about 30 feet from one of the main vehicle entrances of the church. and they held signs saying you're going to hell. god hates you. semper fi fags and even went so far as to hold a sign depicting two men having anal intercourse. >> what was going through your mind? i know you were trying to focus on your grief. >> basically, david, what

happened was in an effort to avoid us seeing them directly they had to take us in through a service entrance of the church. i didn't see what the signs said at that time. i saw the tops of the signs. but at that point i didn't see what the signs said. i wasn't about to leave my son's coffin to go see what they said. it was pretty devastating. >> i can totally imagine and appreciate that. as far as the lawsuit, the lawsuit is filed. mr. snyder, you guys win in the first round and then what happened that causes the appellate court to say, no, now mr. snyder loses and he must pay the legal fees of the other side? >> well, the phelps appeal to the fourth circuit court of appeals, the fourth circuit reversed the decision. after that decision phelps requested that mr. snyder be required to pay for the court costs associated with the appeal. and that petition was filed in i

believe october of 2009. the fourth circuit didn't do anything with it until late last friday the fourth circuit granted phelps' petition that requires mr. snyder to pay phelps' costs associated with the appeal. >> mr. snyder, what was your reaction when you heard about that ruling? >> you know what, david? i think this ruling probably affected me more than any of them. it was bad enough that the fourth circuit reversed the decision not even considering my rights, only considering their rights of free speech. and then turn around and say, i'm sorry about that, but you give them $16,000 so they can go do this to more military families. and that's exactly what they intend to do with that money. >> is there a -- again, we're looking at these horrifying pictures. this is the same group that has shown up outside the school where the obama girls go to school. they use kids.

i wonder if there is a way to describe sort of the outrage. i mean, for people unfamiliar with this, the outrage you feel associated with these people who show up at military funerals and schools. >> david, i don't think there is a way to describe it. during the court session in baltimore the first case these people for some unknown reason entered into evidence a dvd and this dvd started out as a cartoon with bin laden flying the airplanes through the world trade tower. after that, it went to actual footage of people jumping to their deaths while they stood there and said every one of these people deserved this. and at the end there's the woman from the church standing there with this big smile on her face saying, thank god for 9/11. they also made one that was thank god for dead soldiers. and thank god for ieds which was just as disgusting. >> sean summers, where does the legal case go from here and how much would it cost? >> well, we're going to file our

brief with the u.s. supreme court on may 24th. of course you just heard al is required to pay $16,500 for the appellate court costs. the brief to file with the supreme court costs we anticipate that's going to cost another $20,000 and on top of the $16,000 phelps has also requested that mr. snyder be required to pay $98,000 at the trial court level. we're still waiting on a decision concerning that matter. >> and if anybody wants to, myself included, wants to contribute to your fund in order to help pay your costs, mr. snyder, i know that you've got -- you're facing some financial difficulties. if anybody wants to contribute, how can they do that? >> there's a website, www.matth www.matthewsnyder.org. and any donations, david, would be greatly appreciated. >> finally, mr. snyder, tell us about your son, matthew, and what sort of young man he was.

>> he was a good kid. he was 20 years old when he died. i always tell people that if he wouldn't have been a marine he probably would have been a standup comic. he was a really funny guy. it's really funny that he went through this, because matt was one of those people that truly lived by the motto that if you don't have something nice to say about somebody, don't say anything at all. and to have somebody do this to him is just not right and it's just not right to the other 200 family members that they've done it to. >> mr. snyder, we really appreciate you coming on today. we thank you for your son's service and sean summers to you we thank you for your legal efforts on behalf of the snyder family. the website for anybody who wants to contribute, www.matthewsnyder.org. again, this is to try and deal with these crazy people, the westboro baptist church who show up at military funerals in

protest and do all kinds of things that are just offensive to so many americans. mr. snyder, again, good luck to you and thanks for coming on. >> thanks, david. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. when it comes to sex scandals, who is involved more, republicans or democrats? we've got the numbers and a fascinating breakdown by category, like prostitution, harassment, and sex with minors. plus mother nature put on quite the show overseas. more of this amazing video is next. new jersey based imperial billiards made custom pool tables. a bad economy slowed demand. a customer looking at saw dust on the floor suggested they use it to make wood pellets which can be used as heating fuel. those pellets now account for 40% of their business. i never as a woman thought i'd get a heart attack. just, out of the blue at 43.

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what is going on with the republicans? i mean you got the head guy spending thousands of dollars to watch topless dancers imitating lesbian sex. david vitter, remember him? the other senator paying for hookers? mark sanford has a mistress down in argentina. you know, conservatives, let's not look at senator larry craig's affair in the men's room as the good old days. that was a simpler time. you went in the men's room. you came back out.

what happened to those days? >> jay leno having some fun at the expense of republicans who have had troubles recently with sex scandals. democrats are not immune from these problems. let's take a trip down memory lane on both sides of the aisle. >> indeed, i did have a relationship with ms. lewinsky that was not appropriate. in fact, it was wrong. >> so my truth is that i am a gay american. >> let me be clear. i am not gay. i never have been gay. >> i want to again offer my deep, sincere apologies to all of those i have let down and disappointed with these actions from my past. >> the past few days i have begun to atone for my private failings. >> in 2006, two years ago, i made a very serious mistake. >> i violated the vows of my marriage. >> i've been unfaithful to my wife. >> and we could have kept this tape going for a long time. so which party has more sex

scandals? the website the daily beast did some research and they identified the top 58 political sex scandals from the past 20 years and found that the gop had 32 of them. democrats had 26 but their scandals were bigger. bill clinton made the list three different times. with democrats owning 13 of the top 20 scandals based on the daily beast's study. nbc's luke russert joins us now. luke, how does this break down by category? >> reporter: it's a really interesting breakdown, david, that the daily beast did. if we look at three main categories which is prostitution problems, just straight infidelity problems, and then sexual harrassment problems, it's an interesting breakdown. number one, under the prostitution problems republicans have an advantage over democrats. they beat them 6-1 of the top 58 political sex xanscandals. infidelities, they break even. 18 to 18. it's really the true bipartisanship that we see there. and then under sexual harrassment, democrats actually have a much bigger problem with

that having eight sexual harrassment charges compared to the gop's two. so if you want to avoid sexual harrassment go work in a republican office. if you want to avoid prostitution go work in a democratic office. if you want to avoid infidelity don't work in politics. they both are evenly matched in that sin. >> you've come up with your own, your favorite top five. >> i have. >> give us the top five and explain why. >> we just had this huge three weeks of health care and we have a little lull before wall street reform starts out so i said, there's got to be the top five political sex scandals in my opinion. i think you need three things. number one shock value. number two the hilarity of the situation. number three the response. this is my list. number five, eliot spitzer, governor of new york, in the media capital of the world getting in trouble with a hooker. blatant about it. so that has a lot of shock value. kind of a hilarious situation that he put himself through that. number four, larry craig, the hilarity there could have been number one but the response was a little tame. >> you like the knock-knock.

>> number three? the tickle jokes amazing. and the glenn beck interview he had was absolutely there on the shock value on the hilarity and response. number two mark sanford because of the response talking about his letters that he wrote to his mistress while clearing brush at 6:00 in the morning in the middle of south carolina. i don't know about you but that says romance, clearing brush in south carolina. and number one, governor mcgreevey, just because it was so absolutely absurd. and allegations later on that he had another male staffer involved with relations with he and his wife. >> the shock value there. >> it was huge. >> he didn't know he was gay. >> no one had any idea. son of irish catholic parents and a big democrat, catholic democrat and that just came out of nowhere. now he is training to become an episcopalian train and teaches an ethics class. >> always be the number one sex scandal for our own luke russert. thank you very much. appreciate it as always.

the newest issue of "vanity fair" has fascinating nuggets about tiger woods' alleged approach towards his mistresses. the golf champ reportedly was cheap. mindy lawton says tiger bought her dinner -- once. he was at subway and she asked for a chicken sandwich. "vanity fair's" mark seal writes, they ate their subs before making love that night and tiger washed his down with baileys irish cream straight out of the bottle. subway sandwiches and baileys? a rocket fuel for sex? i asked both companies today for reaction. they refused to comment. imagine traveling to the world's most beautiful places and getting paid for it. we'll tell you how to score this job and while some dogs have a habit of chasing cars this dog puts an entirely new spin on the game. [ crowd cheering ] [ male announcer ] competition... it pushes us to work harder. to be better.

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i'm julia boorstin with your cnbc market wrap. here is a look at how the major indices are trading with just half an hour left in the trading day. the dow is down over 53 points. s&p 500 down 3.5. the nasdaq down over 8 points. imagine traveling to the world's most beautiful beaches, mountains, and other romantic locations and getting paid for it. it would be your full-time job. run away bride and groom.com is looking for the right person to research honeymoon sites across the globe for six months and you can even bring a partner along with you. but better act fast. applications are due april 7th. the maker of the swiss army knife has taken a cue from "mission impossible." its latest swiss army knife comes equipped with a u sb flash drive that self-destructs if it falls into the wrong hands. that's right. a self-destruct mechanism will burn the cpu and memory chip if tampered with. prices for the spy-like device range from $75 to $270.

that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. david, back to you. >> fascinating stuff, julia. thank you very much. it is time now for the fastest three minutes in news. we are going down to the wire today with volcanos, breast implants, and a dizzy dog. ready? hit the clock. first up, republican senator kay bailey hutchison is not leaving washington, d.c. just yet. >> i wouldn't have anticipated the direction and the swiftness of the direction of our country under any circumstances, but it has caused me to look at my resignation in a different way. >> hutchison says the obama administration has taken the country so far in the wrong direction that she felt obligated to keep fighting here in d.c. hutchison lost the texas gubernatorial primary earlier this month. earlier she said she would resign her senate seat. new eruptions are blasting into the sky today in iceland.

the volcano was dormant for 200 years before erupting ten days ago. scientists say while the ongoing eruption isn't a threat to nearby residents it could set off a much larger and more dangerous eruption. one manufactured breast implant is now off the market following a recall order in france. french health investigators discovered the company polyimplant was using nonauthorized silicon gel and the implants reportedly have a high rupture rate. look out the window of this portugese air force chopper and you can see a massive freighter sinking earlier today off the coast of spain. after shooting this video spanish and portugese rescue teams rescued 17 members of the crew. right now they are searching for two more men who remain missing. what would you do if the bank accidently gave you $90,000 when you only deposited $900? that happened to a man in southwest florida. police say he spent nearly all of the money before bank of america caught up with him.

he's now facing theft charges. investigators say the 48-year-old used the money to pay off his debts including back rent and child support. in tennessee a lowes home store worker is suing because he says he was forced to work on sunday. according to the man's baptist beliefs sunday is a day of rest and the store didn't accommodate him so he is suing for religious discrimination. cheating celebrity biker jesse james is hitting the road to rehab. james has checked into an undisclosed facility for what a spokesman calls personal issues. the spokesman insists the treatment was 100% james' idea not an ultimatum from his wife actress sandra bullock. lindsay lohan's father is trying to reach his troubled daughter through the media. yesterday he held a press conference urging his daughter to seek treatment for substance abuse. in tokyo a former office worker traded in an office for pom poms and is a cheerleader.

she quit her white collar job months ago because she was stressed out. she has been cheering ever since. in canada a dog is getting fame for putting a new spin on chasing cars. the border collie has become a local celebrity on prince edward island for unusual behavior. tucker's owner says he has no idea why the dog does it. but it does make for a good road side show. sorry. that brings us "down to the wire." in today's shuster showdown, now that he's gotten health care passed, has a freshly emboldened president obama decided to basically steal a big issue from republicans and move to the center while angering his own party? from offshore oil drilling to the surge in afghanistan to not closing gitmo is the president effectively disarming the other party? today the president said it's time to move on from political battles of the past. >> ultimately we need to move beyond the tired debates of the left and the right, between business leaders and

environmentalists, between those who claim drilling as a cure-all and those who claim it has no place. this issue is too important to allow our progress to languish while we fight the same old battles over and over again. >> is this smart policy or just shrewd politics on the part of a president who may be realizing bipartisanship is now as quaint as the geneva conventions were to the bush administration? joining us for today's "shuster showdown our liberal talk show host nancy skinner and conservative radio host dennis prager who writes a column for town hall.com. dennis, are you pleased by the obama administration essentially what a lot of people would argue is a flip flop on oil drilling? >> see, i don't care about flip flops as long as the decision comes in what i want. i'm very honest. i really care about the president's policies. i don't care about the politics. i think that this country needs to drill. we have enough oil to become no longer dependent upon

totalitarian theocracys. it is a moral good to drill for oil in the united states of america. if the president does it for political reasons i don't care. intentions don't matter to me. what people do matters. i welcome it. >> nancy, a lot of democrats have some severe policy differences on that particular point just as they have on guantanamo bay. they think it should have been closed and think perhaps we shouldn't have added trips to afghanistan. what is the president doing? >> i don't think he is coopting gop policy, david. otherwise he'd just be saying "hell no" all the time to everything. this is good policy and convenient politics. okay? he really is, despite the outcries from the other side, he is a pragmatist. drilling is half of it, i would say because we only have 2% to 3% of oil reserves in the country it's part of it but this is the preview to the big solution which is innovation and that's going to be cap and trade. david, what's very important about this cap and trade debate,

so it doesn't get framed the same way health care is, this idea is a republican idea. it was in george bush one, in his clean air act is where cap and trade first got started was with sulfur dioxide utilities. the guy in chicago richard sander the former chicago board of trade president doing it for carbon emissions, it is a very free market, republican idea. it should not be demonized the way health care does as some far left thing. that's exactly i think the way they're rolling it out and it's brilliant. >> dennis, is it brilliant? >> well, let me just say the fact that george bush i endorsed something hardly makes it conservative or particularly wonderful. this is the man who dave us david suter. we don't look to him those of us not on the left do not look to him as a hero. secondly, cap and trade is a terrible idea. it is a left wing idea because it supports the notion that carbon monoxide is a toxin. one of the silliest notions. you have to be on the left to

believe that or you have to have had a graduate degree. one of the two. because it's so silly the food of earth is carbon monoxide. living beings cannot live without it. and now it's declared toxic. >> no it's not, dennis. that is not true. >> the epa declared it that way. >> you know what? the idea -- >> that's what the epa says. >> the idea of cap and trade is this that the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere changes all our weather. look at massachusetts. look at the historic flooding going on today in massachusetts. this is -- it changes the whole climate. and this, you know what else, david, that the president did very well? he's framing this as energy, national security and economic security. and i am so glad. that's what this is about. it's not about green peace. it's not about you guys trying to do the climate skeptics and all of this stuff and it's a toxin. no. this is about securing our energy future and our economy. >> it's also about changing his

policy from what he articulated during the campaign and now, dennis, i appreciate you want the right policy and you're getting the one you want in this case today. dennis prager and nancy skinner, thank you so much. always a pleasure having you on. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. check out this amazing video of the world's largest machine. details on how the multibillion dollar science experiment can tell us how the universe began. plus how pot smokers can help california's crippling budget crisis. i'll talk to someone who teaches students how to run a legal pot business. was failure became the norm. the schools were lousy... the healthcare was lousy... gangs were prevalent. violence was all over. families were falling apart. you can't raise children in a community like that. people had been talking about things, but not doing anything. hi, mr. canada... how are you? i'm doing great, how 'bout you? right here on 119th street. if we could fix this block, then we could fix the next block, then we could fix the next block... we promised parents, if your child stays with us, i guarantee you that child is going to graduate from college.

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nervous about all this? >> of course you should. it's the drug business. it's dangerous. >> i can't feel my left anything. >> that was a cliff from the show times drama "weeds" about a single soccer mom who sells pot to make ends meet. but in real life california has now put legalizing marijuana on the ballot. so growing and selling the drug could soon be legitimate

business. the new measure would regulate and tax all cannabis sales. anyone 21 or older would be able to possess up to an ounce of marijuana. they could cultivate plants in an area up to 25 square feet. it would be illegal to smoke it in public or have the marijuana on school grounds. joining us is dale claire from a trade school which teaches students how to cultivate and plant and operate medical marijuana dispensaries and, dale, first of all, is there really money to be made for selling legal marijuana? >> hi there, david. as a matter of fact, what this is really about is jobs. we're offering tens of thousands of jobs in california that are sustainable not just in retail but also security, transportation, and importantly agriculture. this is about our central valley farmers producing hemp which is more food and paper not necessarily the type that gets you high. >> i want to run something that we heard from the drug czar, the

obama administration drug czar, who said the profits from taxes on hemp and cannabis are not worth legalization. >> for instance alcohol. we get about a dollar in taxes and we spend about $8 in social and health care and criminal justice costs. to think we would make money or somebody would make money off marijuana is ludicrous. >> your reaction? >> well, it's important to understand that cannabis is already the largest cash crop in california. and it's simply time that california gets its fair share. one thing that i do agree with gil on is it's time to base this on scientific studies. the fact of the matter is that current policy has failed and we have an opportunity to have safer communities if we tax and regulate cannabis. >> let's separate out -- i mean, people who want to smoke marijuana because for medicinal purposes or because in their own mind they have medicinal purposes they want to get high

for, how much are we talking about? isn't there a danger there of promoting this sort of drug culture? >> well, it's important to understand that the gateway is really pushing a soft drug into a hard drug market. if we regulate this through sellers that will lose their license if they offer it to children, we can also begin to educate more honestly about the true dangers of keeping cannabis away from kids until they're old enough to be able to understand dependence and when not to use it. you know, there's a time and a place for everything and it's called college. we should control it away from children. right now it's easier for them to obtain. the truth is that cannabis is safer. >> dale clare from oaksterdam university. they teach students how to cultivate the plant and operate medical marijuana dispensaries and, dale, thanks for joining us today. we appreciate it. >> thank you, david. >> you're welcome. our team has been talking a lot on the show about the number of celebrities who keep getting in trouble with the law whether it's drugs or alcohol, whatever. so we decided to use that as a

basis for today's top three. here are the three most bizarre celebrity mugshots from the past ten years. in at number three the late great godfather of soul james brown. the singer was arrested in 2004 on domestic violence charges accused of pushing his wife to the floor during an argument at their south carolina home. brown didn't serve any jail time but who can forget his classic bath robe? nick nolte's arresting image comes in at number two. police arrested him in 2002 on misdemeanor dui charges. he later tested positive for the illegal club drug ghb. he pleaded no contest and served a three-year probation that included drug counseling and perhaps the counseling also included mugshot advice. good grief. but our pick for the strangest mugshot, amy winehouse, the british singer arrested in norway in 2007 for marijuana possession. based on this photo one might conclude she had been smoking some. winehouse claims she was tricked

into signing a confession and thought it was actually a release. in her state maybe she thought the police wanted her autograph. in any case, she was held over night, paid a fine, and was released. amy winehouse, the most bizarre celebrity mugshot from the past ten years. we have an update on former first lady barbara bush who has been in the hospital all week. all your top stories are next. plus, something interesting we noticed while president obama was giving a speech today on offshore drilling. ♪

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the large clider is up and working and however it prefers to be called the big-boned hedron collider. >> stephen colbert having fun with some of the world's largest animal smasher. yesterday this $10 billion machine simulated the conditions present just after the big bang. it smashed minuscule particles together at unheard of speeds and produced three times more energy than researchers had ever

created. scientists hope the megabillion dollar experiment could explain one day how the universe began. a look at some the top stories this tuesday. former first lady barbara bush's now been released from a houston hospital. doctors believe bush who is 84 may have had a mild relapse condition called graves' disease. the severe flooding is not. for resident in the northeast, rivers from maine to new york are not expected to crest until today or tomorrow. rhode island officials are bracing for the worst flooding to hit that state in more than a hundred years. and a chechen rebel leader have now claimed responsibility for the twin suicide bombings in the moscow subway this week. at least 39 people died and a video posted online, the chechen leader said he personally ordered the attacks and he promised that moring coming. finally, president obama announced the administration's oil-drilling policy today at andrews air force base. why andrews? well, the administration wanted

to take attention away from oil rigs like this that will now get the green light to drill off of large areas along u.s. coastlines and the administration wanted to put the public's attention, instead obiofuels. so the president stood in front of an f/a-18 jet fighter. >> if test guess as planned it will be the first plane to fly ever faster than the speed of sound on a fuel mix that is half biomass. >> sounds cool, right? well the framing was cool, at least for pilot beau duarte whose name was in the the shot the entire time. abu is the call signal. what did you arte look like. now here's the cost, nbc pentagon correspondent jim mikell chesski points out.

half biomass if the air force buys did in bulk will cost about $18 a gallon. right now the half-and-half mix is about $35 a gallon. my point is that as cool as biomass sounds, it isn't cheap, at least not yet. and while money has been allocated for the pentagon and other parts of the u.s. government to research and test biomass fuels, believe me, the policy debate and the financial one are just beginning and that debate will be intense. that's our show for this wednesday. i'm david shuster live in washington. up next on "dylan ratigan show" boone pickens talks about the president's plans to expand offshore drilling and on monday i'll be broadcasting live from the masters. as tiger woods makes his big return to golf. he's got a big news conference in augusta on monday. we will be there. take 2 extra strength tylenol every 4 to 6 hours?!? taking 8 pills a day... and if i take it for 10 days --

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