the global standing of america is in the words of the polling company's chairman, clearly on the rise. obviously it's the obama effect. people like our president. in fact, he's the most popular leader in the world. so what are we going to do with this renewed world leadership? one thing we should do is lead. tonight we had james cameron on the show. he gave us the most successful movie in history which tells what the people of this planet have exploited it so badly, abused its natural resources to the breaking point, then head to other worlds to find the means of sustaining life. it's what happens when mankind abuses the habitat in which he was born. a half century ago an american statesman addressed this very issue, quote, we travel together, passengers on a little space ship dependent on its reserves of air and soil, all committed for our safety to its security and peace, preserved from annihilation only by the care, the work, and i will say, the love we give our fragile

craft. that was adlai stevenson speaking in geneva a week before he died 45 years ago. is our country doing what it can to avoid the desperate future we see in "avatar?" are we dealing with resource exhaustion? are we people the other people of the world can look to for earthly salvation? second, immigration. how are we doing with the desperate people who want to come here and work here? are we dealing with them in a just and fair manner using honest rule of law or exploiting the recent most desperate arrivals to gain the cheapest possible source of labor? one, lead the world in dealing with the real prospect of climate change and get serious about renewable energy. two, show how a just and clean government deals with immigration, begin honest documentation, begin fair, open and transparent treatment of people who come here to work and stop the scandal of under the

table employment practices and let's call it what it is, the exploitation of the desperate. that's "hardball" for now. "countdown" with keith olbermann starts right now. which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? the deluge, kiss the 2012 democratic and republican conventions good-bye, maybe the all-star game. conventions, business trips, seminars, football games, boycotts, protests, john mccain saying he likes it but it's not clear whether it's all legal or not. tom tancredo saying he likes it but he's worried people might be pulled over because they look like they should be pulled over. arizona's new anti-hispanic, proracism act. the show me your papers law. >> may i see your papers? >> the protests with luis

gutierrez. lindsey graham bails out of an energy deal. a month after he called out the white house for not prioritizing immigration reform. while his fellow republicans try to filibuster wall street reform, with an unclear conscience. the democrats lose this evening's test vote. >> what's the point of having 100 seats here, coming from 50 states when a major issue affecting our country cannot even be the subject of a debate? perjury? palin testifies she never used her hacked e-mail account for business. but the e-mails from that account suggest quite the opposite. and does it matter at all in that giant money scam that is being the imaginary president of the right wing. smack at the white house. and stephen hawking says aliens from space could hurt us.

>> such perhaps aliens would become nomads conquering whatever they can find. >> hawkings says that? let's get out of here. all the news and commentary next on "countdown." good evening from new york. protests continuing at this hour at the state capitol of phoenix, arizona. while calls for and outlines of boycotts of the various and extremely vulnerable aspects of one of that state's primary exports, tourism takes place. what we gan last week with congress grijalva, people may want to think twice before going to arizona, this because of arizona's new immigration measure already disturbed the show us your papers act. a smaller number of protesters

on hand at the state capitol in phoenix to show their outrage overarizona's law signed by governor jan brewer friday. sunday thousands protested the law that makes it a state crime to be an illegal immigrant, a law that will allow police to stop and question anyone they wish, merely on the suspicion that they might be in the state illegally. opponents saying the law will lead to rampant racial profiling and turn arizona into a virtual police state. overnight vandals having smeared refried beans in the shapes of swastikas on to the windows of the state capitol. the nation's largest spanish language newspaper telling -- calling for a boycott of all goods and services from arizona and pledge to avoid tourism in the state as well. some truckers responsible for hauling mexican-grown produce to los angeles also agreeing to avoid arizona to protest the new law. as we mentioned, new york city city mayor bloomberg using the

immigration law to encourage travelers to come to the big apple instead. major league baseball scheduled to play next year's all-star game in phoenix, arizona's capitol city also on the short list to host the 2012 republican national convention, and/or its democratic counterpart. at the moment. meanwhile, i was never the maverick mccain with a hat trick of fuzzy logic on this one simultaneously questioning the constitutionality of the state's new law while defending the governor's signature on it and supporting it at least in theory. >> i agree with the thrust of it. i have not read the details of it, and i agree with her frustration and anger over the fact that there's not been any significant and meaningful effort to secure our border. >> even ultra right republican tom tancredo saying while he would welcome a similar law in colorado, he believes the arizona law goes too far.

tancredo worrying, tancredo worrying that people would be, quote, pulled over because they look like they should be pulled over. homeland security secretary napolitano calling the new immigration law misguided. she vetoed similar bills when she was governor of arizona. secretary adding we need a federal immigration system to address, quote, this patchwork of laws, which is also what was said at the white house. >> you have very much what could be 50 immigration laws. because without us acting, we've deferred to the states, i think the president has said and i think leaders in arizona certainly on both sides of this issue have said that this is a wake-up call for the federal government to act. >> and good luck getting the federal government to act. a house democratic aide today e-mailing talking points memo, quote, my boss was told in no uncertain terms her leadership that there is no way we're doing immigration reform this year, just no way. another adviser, quote, we just

want to see the senate move first. in the senate, lindsay graham is withdrawing support for a clamt change bill. last month senator graham having told president obama it was time for him to step up to get something done on immigration reform. warning, however, that if the health care reform bill went forward he would withdraw his support on immigration reform as a result. back to the senator in a moment. first, luis gutierrez joining the call for tourists to cancel trips to arizona. >> good to be with you this evening. >> is it a boycott by individual vacationers or big picture like the baseball all-star game next year or what do you do? >> i think that's a good question, because it seems as though in america, economics is the beginning and the end of most successful political endeavors.

let's remember that arizona was the last state to approve a national holiday for martin luther king. and one of the things they did, it cost them hundreds of millions of dollars, when the african-american community across this country called for boy koltcott boycotts. they did it. they did it because they risked economics in the state of arizona. because, as you have stated, look. when the police intervene with me or with you or with anyone, it should be on the basis of our conduct. our behavior. not the country they suspect we came from and whether or not we were born here or not. that -- i'll tell you something. the criminal element, those human smugglers, the drug dealers, the rapists, those causing so much damage in arizona and across this country, they've got to be happy with this law. because what is going to happen is the eyes, the ears, that the police need so much of the community in general, so that they can combat crime, they're going to cause a division

between the people in the population and the police department. because i'm going to tell you, i was there this saturday, and i was -- i was just having a bagel with a group of people. we were kind of talking, it was a latino group. we were -- we looked like we had some good suntans on and we were there. with you i've got to tell you, i just about it but at the same time i felt a real chilling effect when the police officer came in. i started saying, how does he see me? how dez oes he approach me? i want the police to do well. they defend us and they are our front line against crime. let's not put them to become agents of immigration and to go out and spew bigotry and hatred and prejudice. that's not the role of the police. the police should be those who cradle us, right? and protect us. and we should be there to protect them and to act on the front lines against crime with them, not against them. >> you just brought up a major point, congressman that i think has not been emphasized here.

ultimately what do you think the point is of this law? is it really just about immigration and a porous border or is there something about wearing out latinos who want to live there, particularly those who want to go vote there? >> you know, i think they understand that the latino community isn't going anywhere. those that have come under desperate straits are probably going to say, what you're going to do is push them further underground and allow them to be further exploited in the condition that they're in. but i think what it really is, it's the easy out, right? it's like, let's blame someone. you know, we have a failing foreclosure system with homes going in foreclosure. we have a high unemployment. the educational system really isn't serving our children well. you know what? why don't we just go after those immigran immigrants? and i've got to say this. this is not new. this is pretty old stuff. when the irish came here? oh, they talked about crime and how it was going to be terrible in america. and the italians, when they came at the turn of the century in

1910 and 1920s, they said only by the rule of law could we ever help to contain these people, referring to italian immigrants in new york city. so, look. they accused the italians of crime, they accused the irish of crime. they were wrong about them and they're wrong about us today. it's an old trick to divert attention from the real pressing issues the american public wants us to deal with. >> the germans, poles and russians, my ancestors, got it the same way. it's terrifying that some people don't understand that it is the same thing, as you point out. >> and it is. and i just want to say this. look. i know, because i've met them, and you've probably met them and we've read great stories about immigrant latinos. and immigrants from all who serve in our armed forces. but we know, whether it's in iraq or in afghanistan, there are people that are going to return to arizona because it's their home, it's where they were born after serving in the armed

forces of the united states. and think about it, they've got to prove their american citizenship? they have to prove they have a right to be in arizona? they've already met the greatest litmus test that anyone can, in terms of their citizenship. they've put their body and their limb at risk to defend this nation. so let's not humiliate them. let's not cheapen who they are and their service to this nation. because i'm going to tell you, they're going to get pulled over. the cop's going to say something, and you know what? it's going to be another sad tragedy case in american history. >> and a relevant one, and thank you for bringing it up. it couldn't have been better pointed out and it couldn't be better emphasized. congressman luis gutierrez democrat for illinois, thank you. >> thank you, sir. >> for more, let's turn to howard fineman. good evening, howard. >> good evening, keith. >> i think the congressman hit three or four point that's are bubbling up to the surface three days later t may be more

viscerally felt as an impact than the whole health care debate was. is it resonating to any degree like that in washington? >> well, to some extent. let me also say that the congressman beared the lead there, the fact that latinos sitting around eating bagels really says everything you need to know about what america's supposed to be. >> that's it. >> but the fact is while they're hearing the noise in washington, my sense from reporting this afternoon up on the hill, keith, is that the democratic leadership, even while robert gibbs is down at the white house pointing out the chaos that could happen around the country, i don't think the democrats want to -- i know, based on what they told me this afternoon, top democratic sources on the hill in both the house and the senate, told me they're not going to bring up an immigration bill any time soon. the senate would go first, the senate is not going to get to it until at least july, if then. maybe not until right before they adjourn and maybe not even until a lame duck session.

there's nobody at white house in charge of han choing this. there's no bill drafted. i think arizona caught them by surprise and democrats are very cautious about wanting to jump into this thing. >> and are republicans cautious too? because senator mccain and former congressman tancredo, tancredo remark, i want to give him the benefit of the doubt that he really does worry people will be pulled over because they look like they should be pulled over, so i'll give him the benefit of the doubt until i hear otherwise. but even when these guys are hedging their bets, it seechl there's is some perception on that side of the equation this is another proverbial third rail even for the republicans. >> i don't think there's any question about it. the question for republicans is, do they dare try to take advantage of this in the short term, in the 48 house districts that are occupied by democrats that voted for john mccain in 2008. okay? those are the vulnerable democrats.

a lot of them are in appalachia, midsouth, et cetera. do they use this to appeal to independents and republicans already worried about the role of government, et cetera, et cetera, or do they really acknowledge what all of their strategists tell them, which is that long-term it is a huge disaster for the republican party to be seen as anti-latino. when latinos are now one out of every six americans, 45 million latinos in america. the percentage of their vote is going up election by election, even in off-year elections and beyond that, keith. with all fair-minded americans, which, you know, let's give us the benefit of the doubt and say that's just about everybody, the idea that a person could be walking down the street and could be looked at with suspicion by authorities and have their papers demanded of them in the fashion of old medieval europe is something that is so foreign to americans understanding of themselves,

that that's the fire that the republicans are really playing with here. because it's a very short step for all those people who are of immigrant heritage, which is to say all americans, to realize that the idea, let's see your papers, you aren't free to be an american or somebody with documents walking down the street, you aren't free to be that person alone without the reach of government, that's a very foreign thing. and ironically, republicans who talk at great length about the overreach of government, about too much government, about intrusive government, the libertarian streak among conservative republicans is the one that i think could be most offended by what happened in what used to be libertarian arizona. >> 30 seconds. what happened with lindsey graham? he's bouncing around like a loose basketball. >> yes, he is. he used the fact they're going to bring up immigration as the excuse to get off the climate bill. now i think it's pretty clear from the people i've talked to that the democrats don't want any part of the immigration bill for months and months.

so what's lindsey graham's excuse now? i think he's being batted around between the moderate republicans and the far right republicans, that's been true of him from the beginning and it's true of him now. >> howard fineman, very eloquent tonight. thank you, howard. seriously. thank you. >> thank you. the republicans going from opposing financial reform to claiming bipartisan strides had been made to effect it. to today starting the process of filibustering it. senator sherrod brown next on "countdown." number go up... and help this one go down. number go up... v8. what's your number? so, at national, i go right past the counter... and you get to choose any car in the aisle. choose any car? you cannot be serious! okay. seriously, you choose. go national. go like a pro. i thought you said carl was our best presentation guy. [ worker ] well, he is. last week he told my team about fedex office print online

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the republicans careen back toward figure bustering big bank reform on behalf of wall street. this senator says they oppose a straight up or down vote because they prefer back room negotiations with money. did the imaginary president of the right wing perjur herself? the thai place that would not admit a customer because they thought they asked to bring a

gay dog into the restaurant. and if folks from other planets come here they will not be coming in peace. but the new illegal alien law in arizona will protect us. ahead on "countdown."

all that is at stake with the senate's current financial reform bill is the stability america's economy. the future of your job, your home and your child's education. in our fourth story, republicans tonight said the democratic bill is so bad that they're blocking the process that would be used to change it. the democratic bill needs so much debate that tonight they're blocking the start of debate. at 5:00 p.m. in washington, the senate held a cloture vote

specifically to launch 30 hours of public open debate during which senators, republican and democratic alike could offer amendments to the bill. as promised republicans blocked the beginning of the debate. the president saying he was disappointed. chris dodd whose banking committee produced the bill argued for debating it. >> how do we claim perfection to what we've written here? hardly. but we believe it's sound ideas that deal with these very issues that cause the problems in the first place. and what we need to do is to be able to debate those ideas. if my colleagues in this chamber as many do disagree, some think i've gone too far, some think i haven't gone far enough. those are two mainybe legitimat points. what's the point of having 100 seats here, coming from 50 states when a major issue affecting our country cannot even be the subject of a debate?

>> mcconnell earlier had argued that beginning public debate is wrong because it would end the debate. if you can follow this logic, see your doctor and thank your stars mcconnell didn't get his way about your doctor. >> we can solve this problem. but we won't solve the problem if we vote for cloet tour. a vote against ending this debate is a vote for bipartisanship for working out an ironclad solution to the problem of too big to fail. a vote against ending this debate tonight is a vote that says it's no longer enough to tell our constituents to simply trust us. it's a vote that says, this time we'll prove it. >> joining mr. mcconnell in blocking debate was democratic senator ben nelson from nebraska. where have we heard this before? also chuck grassley from iowa, despite the fact in committee he had been the single vote backing

tough regulation. so did olympia snowe of maine who wrote to majority leader reid to ask they be added to the bill before her vote tonight against moving forward with it. and what was the new bipartisan measure? democrat blanche lincoln that would move the derivative market into public exchanges and force banks to choose between trading in popular derivatives and still having access to fdic insurance. but signal government, anti-bailout republicans want the government to keep shoring up wall street derivative trading and states rights republicans oppose returning to the states the power to regulate the banks. republican opposition, however, potentially moot. politico reporting they committed only to filibuster tonight, but now all bets are off. to see what's actually happening in the senate, lets turn to the representative of ohio, mr. brown, also a member of the banking committee. senator sherrod brown. thank you for your time tonight, senator.

>> good to be back. thank you. >> can your party get a republican vote to begin this debate without gutting reform? >> yeah, i think they're embarrassed by it. when you just heard mitch mcconnell, the mental cal thennics he did, he's saying go back to the back room, cut a deal, something bipartisan, and then bring it out in the open and debate it. why don't we bring it out in the open and debate it now? this goes back to december, john boehner met with 100 bank lobbyists figuring out how to kill the bill. a couple weeks ago mcconnell and john cornyn went to new york to meet with hedge fund and other wall street executives to figure out how to kill the bill. the american banking association says the more you can delay the more chance we can write the bill to our favor or kill it. that's what they're doing. i think, though, that shows like this and your outspokenness and others', keith, will embarrass the republicans enough that they can't continue to say, no, we

don't even want to debate or discuss this. it's not bipartisan to bring it out on the floor, let the amendments flow once the bill's on the floor and everybody has an equal chance. >> thank you for that, all thousand i think they're expert at sticking hands in the ears so they don't hear any of it. but correct me on the other point. blocking a straight up or down vote so they can keep negotiating behind closed doors, does that sound at all like what the republicans say they want these days in this process? >> yeah, that's what they've done. that's since -- i mean, you add up the filibusters, add up the obstructionism, quantify it any way you want for what is it, from january of '09 to now, 16 months or so of trying to slow down, block, everything they can. and so far politically it's worked for them. it worked on health care, even though we passed it, it made democrats' numbers pretty bad. doesn't look like a great year for democrats. could be okay in the end, but i think this is one too far for

mcconnell, because overwhelmingly the public thinks, wait a second. you're not even going to debate on an issue? and it's so clear they're protecting wall street, that's their ben factor. the insurance companies, keith, were their benefactor on the health care bill, and wall street is their principal benefactor on wall street reform, the banks. this is going to blow up in their face unless they sort of decide, at least a few of them, to come over to our side and give us a chance to debate it. >> senator, isn't this the definition of the cutting off your nose to spite your face bit from the republican point of view? aren't a lot of the amendments on the floor designed to do things republicans say they want anyway? mccain wants glass-steagall back, and what about your own amendment is this. >> my own amendment with senator kaufman and others, saying too big to fail is too big, that these banks just can't be that big, these five or six huge banks. let me give you one statistic about that. 15 years ago the assets combined

of the six largest banks in america were 17% of the gross domestic product. today the six largest banks' combined assets make up 63% of gross domestic product. that's a serious problem when a small number of humongous entities have that kind of financial power over our country. that's why the amendment that we're working on is so important. but we want a chance to offer it. if it doesn't pass, i'll be sorely disappointed, but you still work on this. we've got opportunities to make this bill better, and on both sides, in the end, let's have at it. >> senator sherrod brown of ohio. i don't know how you do it every day in the senate, and still retain your sanity, but congratulations on both and best of luck with this. thanks for your time. >> thank you. oh, for the days when republicans would debate things with a democratic president the way a new york yankees executive debalted with the president today in the white house with the videotape rolling, briefly, though it was. and sarah palin and perjury,

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the restoration of steven baldwin and worst person as head. first the twitter report, day 19. followers, 50,400. apparently@dj blue, two, it is monday. so three tweets of the day, second runner up, from@sole dgs survivor sh, does it mean we

should stop buying gold? >> maybe all of loans many rhodes viewers sold their gold. but the winner, sue lowden, someone needs to ask sue lowden will she be willing to take chickens in lieu of a salary? we don't want her to turn into a pillar of salt. let's play "oddball." first to the white house. the ritual is now nearly 30 years old. the winning team visits the president and everyone gets an autograph. the yankees, though, ceremony over, the yankees schmooze. president obama was good enough to mention that there have been 29 years of republican presidents, but all nine yankees championships have been under democrats. but as he posed with yankees manager joe girardi and the

president, the president and assistant manager talked a little trash at the white sox fan in chief. >> and you wonder why the other teams don't road for them. >> so they tell you if you like sausage never watch how sausage is made. what are we showing you? you are looking live at sausage being made. it took 30 people three days to create the world's longest sausage. the links measuring over a half a mile in length and weighing literally a ton. they expect to be enters into the guinness book of world records. the crowd got to enjoy the record-breaking meat, to which it was met with the world's largest tub of anti-acid. sister sarah's latest

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funny how one thing often turns up something else. a former college student on trial for allegedly breaching the private e-mail of sarah palin. the trial was not about weather palin used the personal e-mail for business while governor, but testified she did not conduct gubernatorial business that way, she may have committed perjury. in the third story tonight, will it matter? given the enterprise that is sarah palin almost requires that truth be trampled? her testimony last week, a reporter wrote simply she denied using the personal e-mail account to conduct gubernatorial business, and quoting her testimony, we know there was an attorney general's opinion one week prior and a lot of other opinions in the state that of course it was proper for me to have a private account. by the way, if you never used

your personal e-mail for governmental business, why get defensive about whether it was a proper thing to have such an account? anyway, when palingates.com, the answer is this, what she said was the people at the governor's mansion sometimes sent her e-mails relative to issues regarding the mansion and her children. she denied specifically diverting gubernatorial issues to the account. but 3,000 pages worth of e-mails released months ago contradict that. palin's personal e-mail account, she actually had three, were repleat with examples of government business, like the state budget, or legislation awaiting action, or discussion of government positions. it may be a footnote, as detailed by "new york magazine." palin amassed a $12 million fortune and shows no sign of slowing down that. includes her book, plans for a second one, her three-year deal with fixed news reportedly worth

$1 million a year and her upcoming reality show with tlc. let's turn to "washington post" political reporter david weigel. good evening. >> good evening, keith. >> you've done your own reporting on the testimony in this case by pail and not the possible perjury issue. what have you found? >> you seem to be having a good night and i hate to wreck it for you, but we need to see the transcript, but it doesn't sound like she trapped herself in anything here. the defense attorney was prohibited from taking this much further than the questions about what -- the e-mails that were sent, that were asked about previously. she stuck to saying that it was political e-mails, e-mails about the governor's mansion. the e-mails that you were talking about didn't really come up. so the people i talked to inside the courtroom say maybe she could have fudged the words a little bit less, but this doesn't seem to be a problem for her. >> well, the correct answer is the one we're looking for, not one that might just as a matter

of theory please somebody who was involved in the show but as a practical matter, does it make any difference about this industry that she's created for herself? one way or the other, whether this thing just fades into obscurity when we stop talking about it, does it make any difference? >> i wouldn't be surprised if this doesn't show up on her facebook feed, if she -- accuses people of attacking her based on a blog post that attacks her. it was a popular blog post and got people like me checking into it. but it doesn't really matter, because she -- as you pointed out, she's doing very well for herself. she actually felt well enough at this trial to go back and do something that she has not done before, which is meet a media scrum and take questions. this was a pivotal moment. this is the kind of thing we've been waiting for for months and months, more than a year. she got friendly questions from the press, she batted them back. she didn't wish jail for the boy

who broke into her e-mails but she thought the punishment might be good if somebody did something bad. so she is comfortable with this story. that's why some people think she may have trapped herself, but it doesn't look like it. >> the new york magazine expose, others have reported on how lucrative this post gubernatorial time has been, and certainly anything questionable, honesty or truth wise doesn't necessarily end a business career nor political career. but is palin far more comfortable and far more profitable as this, you know, imaginary president of right wing america and how that guides her decision on to guide for the, you know, actual president? >> it's a much more fun job than being governor of alaska. the piece we're talking about points out that she actually had the book deal, the very lucrative $7 million book deal before she decided to resign the governor's office. it was just that she couldn't conduct this national tour and serve as governor effectively. that was the decision that put

her out of there. if you extrapolate that, there's a lot of things about running for president that tie you down when you might want to go take a jet with a couple of family members, give a speech for a lot of money and then have a nice expensive dinner in the city area, that becomes more difficult. have you to eat lots of rubber chicken and appear in front of committees at the drop of a hate. gabe sherman said she's winging it when it comes to 2012 and that is an accurate, very pejorative way of saying it. she's got a really good gig right now. >> dave weigel of the "washington post," thanks for checking into it tonight and for your time tonight. >> thank you. kind of a surprise out of stephen hawking. if e.t. shows up, he won't look like e.t., he'll look more like these guys from "mars attack." grassley is taking credit for health care reform. worst persons ahead. and when rachel joins you at the top of the hour, back to the racist immigration law of arizona, who wrote it and who was pushing for it? tdd# 1-800-345-2550 i thought investment firms were there

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worsts, and stephen hawkings' view on extra terrestrials, as in they might try to eat us! and the something for everything, once again, it's tea time. contrary to the original fonzzy in "happy days" the proverbial shark is not jumped in one 30-minute episode, it can happen inkre mentally. in the "des moines register," it was nut cases don't deiminish cause of tea party. anti-war movements, anti-abortion, prolabor, it never occurs to him this logic would take him to excuse weather underground and william ayers. he concludes i don't care if some tea party protesters are

racist with a pen chent for violence. who cares? say that if a guy shows up -- what? yesterday? but as i suggested the tea party shark is in slow motion. last month while i was out and not at all resident here, the first international tea party was held by protesters abroad in brighten. brighten. in england. yes, a tea party held in the country against whose policies the actual tea party protested. sometimes the tea party disconnect from reality is so profound you can actually hear it. quite frankly, i can respect that. we want to make this a company all americans can be proud of again. that's why i'm here to announce we have repaid our government loan, in full, with interest, five years ahead of the original schedule. but there's still more to do.

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[ crowd cheering ] ♪ extraterrestrials, they're not coming here to say hi, they're coming here to eat us and kill us, so says stephen hawking. run away! that's next. but first, tonight's worst persons in the world. the bronze, to thai spice restaurant in australia. staffers prevented someone from entering the restaurant because they believed his dog was gay. i'll just repeat that. staffers prevented him fromment everything the restaurant because they believed his dog was gay. even for australia this was a little too homophobic. thai spice was ordered to give him a written apology. apparently the woman with him as

they tried to enter thai spice told a waiter they wanted to bring a guide dog into the restaurant and they heard gay dog. the restaurant auz submission reads as follows. the staff generally believe that nudge was an ordinary pet dog which had been desexed to become a gay dog. okay, just ignore that bit of illeg illogic. maybe they heard this from 2002. >> after the break we'll meet the man who climbed the highest mountain in the world mt. everest. but he's gay. he's gay. i mean, excuse me, he's blind. stephen baldwin not affiliated with the actor, but it is there to help pay off his bankruptcy claiming he's a modern day job and should be

reteamed by token gifting. as the body of christ we are the greatest force on earth. what of 10% of the 159 million christians in america gave a token gift? send your tokens to stephen baldwin. there is this catechism, first question, i guess, why does stephen need personal wealth? stephen's influences in hollywood, hollywood worships money. without it you're seen as a loser and cannot be an effective influence to this group. he's seen as a loser right now. chuck grassley you will recall was the highest ranking republican to go all nutsy over health care reform. >> we should not have a government program that determines you're going to pull the plug on grandma. >> grassley is boasting in a press release, i worked successfully to improve medicare payments to doctors in rural states like iowa and in turn access for beneficiaries as part of the health care enacted this

year. chuck grassley taking partial credit for health care reform. i wonder for the tea party knows about that. senator chuck "i got pull the plug on grandma passed" grassley, today's worst person in the world. ♪

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on february 4th, 2008, nasa beamed the song across the universe by the beatles towards the north star. 431 billion light years into deep space in hopes that one day extraterrestrials would hear it and reply. stephen hawking says if we keep sending out the beatles, aliens may respond with mega death. first, dr. hawkings' series

"into the universe". last night he said the concept of alien existence is rational, then described his conception of what other life might look like from sea creators to fleoating aliens, sorry, i went -- i had a class with professor sayingen. then contact could doom our own existence. to quote, if aliens visit us the outcome would be much as when columbus landed in america which didn't turn out well for the native americans. it is because of that hypothetical threat to our existence he calls our contact with aliens a little too risky. >> it might sound unlikely, but if you think about it logically, alien technology should be as extraordinary to us as a rocket ship to a caveman.

i imagine they might exist in massive ships like these. having used up all the resources from the home planet below. such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads looking to conquer and colonize whatever they could reach. >> the program went on to suggest that our big blue marble over here could fall victim to the aliens. today hawking, as h.g. wells has been criticized, scientist at nasa telling "the christian science monitor," quoting, we're not going to get caught like the native americans, we've been actively listening and hopefully we get information for any eventual encounter ever happens. on that cheerful note, time for time with chief astronomer at the franklin institute in philadelphia. good evening, sir. >> hi, keith. >> that last observation from nasa is comforting. if any of the scanners, the

search for extraterrestrial intelligence dishes, if they picked up the death star moving towards us, we'd get how much warning time during which we could end all i did vision on earth and prepare for invasion? >> i really think we have several hundred million years before we really need to worry about that. but just in case, i think we need to get rid of all of the ketchup on the planet. >> they're going to have to eat us without the ketchup. has anybody to your knowledge scientifically or in some semi governmental way contemplated the defense plan, other than the old duck and cover thing, bend over, head between your knees and kiss your planet good-bye? >> as much as we know about aliens somewhere else in the galaxy, we are much more concerned with the immediate problems we have from some country across the border rather than worrying about some aliens coming here to eat us. we figure that at least we'll