move forward. republicans were able to stop it right here today. essentially what we saw before the vote occurred. there was a lot of debate as to how the amendments procedure would have to deal with the vote. harry reid wanted three amendments on this bill. one that would allow don't ask, don't tell to be repealed. essentially giving republicans, here's your chance for repeal because it's part of the defense bill. another about the dream act. the immigration reform act and then one about a secret hold on nominee votes. mitch mcconnell said we want 20 votes on this bill before we'll have any type of immigration proceed your. harry reid said absolutely not. we're not going to agree to that. let's go forward. democrats do not have the votes necessary to overcome the filibuster. this punts the defense reauthorization bill that contained don't ask don't tell to most likely after the november midterms, chris. >> thanks, luke. keep us posted and let us know. >> will do. >> when we get a final tally on

the vote. i want to bring in rachel maddox. as you know, a couple of the waivering republicans said you've got to give us a little more room for amendments here. harry reid said no. this is the result. >> well, there's a couple of things. first of all, it's a historic decision to filibuster the defense reauthorization bill. this is something that has passed 48 times in 48 years. it just passes. this is one of the things that just passes. and that's why actually you've seen over the years lots of amendments, lots of things passed that are attached to this. originally when don't ask, don't tell was instituted, it was passed as an amendment to this bill. in 2007, we saw republican senator orrin hatch attach the dream act to this bill. some of john mccain's campaign finance provisions have been attached to this bill. so republican objections that they are very upset about democratic amendments to this are a little strange, given how many amendments republicans have attached to it. also harry reid's office today, my office back and forth with

his today. he insisting from the floor saying he was willing to let republicans offer amendments. he was willing to let that happen. democrats had three. then he said they would open it to republicans. republicans said, we don't accept your assurances. we're going to filibuster the whole thing. >> let me ask you if this is, something this important, something that's been waiting for 17 years. something that really speaks to a lot of concerns of the american people right now. where are we going with the military? should this th have been attached to any bill? we know it's an election season? should congress people have to go back to the district and say this is my vote and here's how i defend it. >> they wanted an up or down vote o on don't ask, don't tell. the breaking news we just had is the republicans saying the entire defense authorization bill should not come to the floor and should not be voted on at all because we don't want a vote on the don't ask, don't

tell amendment. they've hidden behind other procedural things. that's them saying we would rather not fund the pentagon than allow them to repeal the don't ask, don't tell republicans don't want any vote. the pentagon gets nothing u because we don't want this gay rights provision anywhere near passing. >> they have failed to the advance the measure for don't ask, don't tell. it comes on the same day that president obama's choice to lead the marine corps says he does not favor repealing the law. general james amos talked to the senate panel today. he says it would hurt morale and become a distraction to the troops. you've heard the arguments before. there are a lot of people against this who want to continue this. who have said, you can't do this. this is not good for u.s. troops particularly at a time of war.

>> interesting. general amos is contradicted by the defense secretary and by the chairman of the joint chief of staffs. admiral mullen wants to get rid of it. the commander in chief wants to get rid of it. his argument was in part based on his perception. he says he thinks most marines want to keep don't ask, don't tell. as far as he knows, he thinks it's a possible policy. him thinking that is not actual information. it's his perception. that's why it's important that the military is studying the policy right now. all the people who want to defer to military judgment, the military study is due in december. the thing that they filibustered to stop is letting the military repeal it if they decide they want to. >> i want to play what senator mccain said on hardball two year ago. this is senator john mccain. >> the president of the united states, we all know him. he made a commitment to the gay and lesbian community that he

would have his one of his priorities repealed of the don't ask, don't tell. and so now looking at oblique electoral situation -- >> the day the leadership says we ought to change the policy, then i think we taught to consider seriously changing it. the leaders in the military are the ones we give the responsibility to. >> it is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do. >> during the state of this union address, the president announced he will work with congress to repeal don't ask, don't tell. he subsequently directed the department of defense to begin the preparations necessary for a repeal of the current law and policy. i fully support the president's decision. >> it's a little hard to follow the bouncing ball here. >> john mccain had said in 199 #

i really listened colin powell. keeping people openly gay out of the military and witch hunting people out who aren't openly gay. he said i defer to colin powell's judgment. john mccain said after that if the military leadership eventually changes their mind and says don't ask, don't tell say it ought to go. now that the leaders of the military have done that, mccain says i would like the military to defer to congress on this. essentially, he's changed his rational not only for whether or not the policy is worthwhile, but how it should be changed. it's hard to stomach if you care about the merits of the policy. if you only care about politicians flip-flopping, it's yesterday's news. >> the lady gaga helping this debate. >> she's sharping up an important part of it. it's generational.

you go see her rally in portland, maine. she's 24 years old. you look out at the sea of 24-year-old face who is are her fans. you look at the polling numbers and how younger people feel about gay rights. john mccain, susan collins, scott brown and the people making these votes. >> what does that say for the prospects of this? >> it says ultimately -- sfl. >> 20 years? >> it says ultimately the people who want to fight for it will earn young people's votes for doing this. people who want to stop it will see in the past. doesn't mean there's not short-term gain in it. >> rachel maddow. see you tonight. you'll have something to say about. for much more of all the the day's big stories. only here on msnbc. arrest in a municipal salary scandal. the los angeles district

attorney calls it corruption on steroids. the d.a., the state attorney general and others are conducting interviews of officials in this small city. the investigations involve allegations of corruption, misuse of public funds and fraud. in the city where one in six of the 40,000 residents lives in poverty. today has been a deadly one in afghanistan. nine american troops were killed during a helicopter crash in the southeastern part of the country. the taliban claims it shot down the helicopter. u.s. officials say there were no reports of hostile fire. an afghan national army soldier and u.s. civilian were also injured in the incident. 2010 is now officially the deadliest year in this nine-year war in afghanistan. and as casualties mount, what does it mean for the president's stated july 2011 date to start bringing u.s. troops home? jamie reuben is former assistant secretary of state for public affairs and former state

department spokesman. good to see you. how you doing? >> very well, thanks. >> 30,000 extra troops were deplayed to afghanistan. most in the song strongholds. westerns were warned. how does the escalating violence make this equation more difficult for president obama, for david petraeus? >> well, i think the loss of american life is more difficult, especially given how many years we've been in afghanistan. it's sometimes hard to remember. we've been there for nine years. it's an incredibly long period of time. but the generals have put in place what they believe is a strategy that can finally after all these years put the resources, the efforts, political, military, diplomatic all together with extreme effort at the top to try to change the reality on the ground. that's never happened before.

ever since the taliban have been overthrown. afghanistan has been the war where resources were not provided. so now resources are being provided vm. >> but the clock is ticking. >> absolutely. but unsettling the taliban's comfort zone is what these troops are doing. so there was expected to be a war that was painful for us. >> so positive militarily but negative politically? >> yeah. any time soldiers are killed, whether by accident as this looks o be or in combat, it is difficult for the president given everything else going on. he made the right decision to give the generals and give the administration and afghanistan a chance to see whether things could be turned around. doing that will not be easy. it's going to take time. there will be a transition next

year. we'll have to see if it's because things are going better or a transition because they're not. >> let's talk about another sticky situation. that is iran. president ahmadinejad back at the u.n. i don't know if he was caught in the traffic. everybody else in new york is. most people expect him to criticize the u.s., as he always does. in reality, what can the u.n. accomplish with ahmadinejad in town? >> well, these annual u.n. essentially summit meetings where leaders come together are a chance for usually the leaders of the strange states, whether it's last year we had castro give this extensive speech. not castro. khadafi. this is his opportunity to speak to the world, to try to win points with the countries around the world. >> who is he talking to on thursday? >> not the american people. not the government of the united states. he's talking to countries in

africa. to countries in asia. to countries in the middle east. trying to set himself up as the anti-united states. the leader of the anti-american forces around the world. that's what he's interested in. that's why he gives so many interviews. that's why he gives these speeche speeches. >> so does it work when he says look what a great humanitarian i am. i let out this american who was clearly a spy. i have these two people. and i would be willing to let them go, too, her fiance and her friend, but you are holding my people there. so you let the iranians go, and maybe we can make a deal. is that something that plays? >> i don't think so. i think it makes it look like he's trading human life. i think most people really believe these people were hikers. and the iranians in prison he's talking about were convicted of general crimes.

he's trying to bargain. they're essentially causing the situation to be more and more painful for the families that than it would be. i don't think that wins him points. >> will he let them go? >> i believe the hikers, after they see they can't extract anymore propaganda value or anymore potential trading value, they'll see there's more downside than upside to keeping them and one hopes they can see that handwriting and act on it. >> it's always good to see you. thank you for coming in. next on msnbc, an 8-year-old student kicked out of school over a toy gun. and he's told not to come back for two years. does the punishment fit the offense? bedbugs beware. pest experts convene for the first ever bedbug summit to find a way to wipe out the tiny blood suckers. ♪ soda pop >> boston wants to ban the sale of sodas to trim the city's

waistline. all that and breaking news when it happens next on msnbc. ust ou. sure, i can download directions for you now. we got it. thank you very much! check it out. i can like, see everything that's going on with the car. here's the gas level. i can check on the oil. i can unlock it from anywhere. i've received a signal there was a crash. some guy just cut me off. i'll get an ambulance to you right away. safely connecting you in ways you never thought possible. onstar. live on. ♪ can't help it, can't help it ♪ ♪ can't help it, no no no... ♪ come on. ♪ can't help it, can't help it, no no no ♪ ♪ you drive me crazy ♪ and i just can't stop myself, uh! ♪ ♪ can't help it, can't help it, can't help it. ♪

the house majority leader st says they will be in session next week. keeping lawmakers five and a half weeks to campaign before the november midterms. the house hasn't adjourned before september 30th this an election year since way back in 1960. however, he did not rule out an early departure before the target adjournment day of october 8th. today one woman has become the face of millions of angry americans in this battered economy. and democratic leaders need only visit a newsstand to witness this symbol of government disenchantment. this is today's front page of

the new york post. and velma hart is featured under the headline "betrayed." >> i'm a mids class american. i'm exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that i voted for, and deeply disappointed with where we are right now. >> california congressman loretta sanchez joins me now. thanks for being here on the other coast. >> thank you. >> good to see you. as you know, she, velma finished her statement by asking the president if she's returned to the day that she and her husband thought they passed, hot dogs and beans. she wanted to know if this was her new reality. if the president has lost the velma harts of the world, can the democrats like you win them back? democrats like me have been working at home. you always say that politics is

local. so your local people know you best. and i think we have been doing well. we passed 13 or 16 different bills for small business. we have extended unemployment benefits for the people who can't find jobs. we have kept the schools open in california where they weren't getting things done in sacramento. >> he said the health care bill, financial regulatory overhaul. those things i've delivered. the problem for people like her, and she's a professional woman, they're not feeling it. >> i completely agree. people think that somehow congress people don't feel this. you know, i have a brother who lost his home. i have two brothers who owned a business who didn't take home a paycheck for 18 months. >> what do you say to them? >> you don't think every week i fought for them? they were living next door to me.

this problem has been that everybody is holding on. those people who have money. the $1.43 trillion that the publicly traded companies that we see on the balance sheet, they're holding. they're afraid to go. t the banks have money but they're holding it because they're afraid to go. we're trying to pass a small bills project, this week or next week in the congress that will hopefully put $30 billion more into the system to help small businesses borrow little, make some product, hire some people, move some people, and try to get them hired. everybody is afraid to go. and everybody criticized us when we went as a nation, when we said, we're going to stimulate the economy. but, you know what, we did it. 3.6 million jobs were created or save saved. >> i see in you a lot of passion that some leading democrats, a lot of analysts say is missing

in barack obama. and they saw him yesterday. and maybe felt he was not emotional enough or em pathetic enough to that woman and to a guy who came after her. who went to law school, graduated an can't even pay the interest on his loans. says, i can't think about getting a house. i can't think about getting married. i don't have any money. do you think there's a disconnect between what the president is telling or showing americans pane what he feels or you feel? >> certainly i think people back home now how i feel. could he be doing better? >> i think he needs to go out there and let people know that he knows but i think if people look at their representative. at their democratic representative. we're the ones that stood up and said, look, there are no jobs to be had right now. we need to extend unemployment insurance.

the republicans said no. i had a 45-year-old anglo male standing in front of me saying i want like to be on the the government dole. i'm a republican and i don't appreciate that. i've been looking for a job for a year. i said, yeah, i know that. he makes guitars. guitars are a luxury item right now. we have three great manufacturers of guitars in orange county. they're not hiring. they've laid off craftsmen. we get this. we are the ones who have been working to keep families afloat. it would be worse with the republicans. they want to do away with all of it. they don't want a safety net. they don't want to have food stamps. they don't want to have unemployment benefits. they think if we don't do taxes on rich people, everybody will have jobs. that's not true. >> congressman, loretta sanchez,

making the case very passionately for her side. thank you for coming in. >> thank you, chris. >> good to see you. coming up, we'll follow the breaking news out of the senate. republicans defeating an effort to extend the don't ask, don't tell policy. plus, combatting the creepy crawlers. a bedbug summit is under way in chicago. it's the hottest ticket in town. [ male announcer ] if you've had a heart attack caused by a completely blocked artery, another heart attack could be lurking, waiting to strike. a heart attack that's caused by a clot, one that could be fatal. but plavix helps save lives. plavix, taken with other heart medicines, goes beyond what other heart medicines do alone, to provide greater protection against heart attack or stroke and even death by helping to keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming dangerous clots. ask your doctor if plavix is right for you. protection that helps save lives. [ female announcer ] certain genetic factors and some medicines, such as prilosec, reduce the effect of plavix leaving you at greater risk for heart attack and stroke.

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i had a bum knee that needed surgery. but it got complicated, because i had an old injury. so i wanted a doctor who had done this before. and unitedhealthcare's database helped me find a surgeon. you know you can't have great legs, if you don't have good knees. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. cashing in on america's bedbug phobia. just looking at a picture of these parasites often makes people's skin crawl. oh, and as infestations spread across all 50 states, there is money to be made in the business of eradication. that's where the national bedbug summit comes in. it's going on today. kevin tibbles is there. kevin? >> chris, i'm actually coming to you from an undisclosed location somewhere near chicago.

because obviously no one wants to know where the big bedbug summit is taking place. it used to be when you went overseas on vacation you worried about getting bedbugs in the hotel room and bringing them home. as we've seen in recent weeks, bedbugs are here in america. the folks in this room want to make sure they don't stay here. how do you get rid of them? well, at the bedbug summit you can freeze them. you can fry them. these guys have a mattress encasement device to go around your mattress to make sure it's impenetratable to bedbugs. nobody wants ted bugs. they suck your blood and everything else. it's not a matter of personal cleanliness or hygiene or anything. these things like to suck your blood in the same way a mosquito does. you have to -- you've got to get rid of them when they get in.

some of the companies come in and sort of heat up your room or your mattress or what have you to kill them off and get rid of them that way. the average cost runs between $2,000 to $4,000 for an average single-family home. the bottom line is, once you have them, you want to get rid of them. chris, back to you. >> kevin tibbles, thank you. did you know bedbugs suck your blood? did he say that enough times? ew. still ahead. new information on how michelle obama plans to help democrats fighting for re-election. christine o'donnell's upset was seen as a tea party victory. there are tea partyers who say she doesn't represent them. one leader calls her a loser. msnbc back after this. ight... ♪ ♪ with tasty grilled flavor and goodness to savor ♪ ♪ friskies grillers blend.

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i'm hampton pearson with your cnbc market wrap. here's a look at how stocks are doing so far today. right now we have the dow in positive territory. the dow, as we see at this hour, up about barely 15 points. the s&p 500 down three points. the nasdaq down a little more than seven points. we did get a good sign from the housing market today. the congress department saying construction on new homes jumped to a four-month high in august. up 10.5%. applications for building permits were also up. mark cuban is facing renewed legal action. a federal appeals court has reinstated the sec insider trading lawsuit against the owner of the dallas mavericks lawsuit today. they accused him of selling his shares in an internet search engine company back in 2004 after receiving confidential information t information. the case was dismissed last year. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. chris, back to you. here's a look at headlines this tuesday. senate republicans blocking an

effort to repeal don't ask, don't tell, the law that bans gay people from openly serving in the military. the repeal of the law was a provision in a defense spending bill. democrats fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance the legislation. and first lady michelle obama is jumping into midterm politics. the white house says mrs. obama will make at least nine political appearances in six states next month. she'll be appearing at fund-raisers for democratic candidates. in recent years we've heard case after case of kids getting suspended for bringing toy guns to class. schools say zero tolerance leaves no room for debate. how long should a suspension last? weeks? months? a year? in the case of one florida student, try two years. and today his parents are appealing for help. here's willard shepherd from our nbc affiliate in miami. >> this was in his backpack. this is what he took to school. >> plastic. >> and this is a toy. >> it's a toy.

>> he says this is the toy gun that has caused so much trouble for his son and family. just after thanksgiving last year, then 7-year-old samuel was playing with friends and put the gun in his backpack. several days later, he came here, to the pembrook pines charter school, accidentally leaving the toy gun in his backpack, something they didn't catch with all the the commotion getting several kids ready for school that morning. >> he made a mistake. again. why the severe punishment? i don't understand it. >> you harvest stuff. >> samuel hasn't been in school since. spending his days home schooling. his school photo bringing back memories of classmates he hasn't seen in months. we obtained the school board's report as to what happened behind me. in it, the board says that samuel showed the toy gun to another student.

that the toy gun was capable of firing projectiles, and therefore it is a weapon. >> he says his child is set back emotionally and will probably have to repeat the second grade. he thinks there should be some room to determine that his child didn't bring a real gun to school and says this can happen to you. >> what i want to tell parents is that, we have to be careful. you know what i mean. we have to work with the school system. they have to work with us. >> we've been in touch with the family. in fact, they were going to come on live this afternoon, but right now, as we speak, they're meeting with the school board. we'll let you know what happens. a city council member from washington is in stable condition today after a vicious bear attack near his vacation home. he has been in the hospital since he was air lifted there on friday. he's undergone several reconstructive surgeries. his wife made a frantic 911 call after he was attacked by a

150-pound black bear in the driveway friday night. his wife says there is no timetable for a full recovery. coming up next, obesity not only hurts your health, but it hurts your wallet, too. especially women. in details on the price we pay for being overweight. plus donl rumsfeld writes his his memoir. will he throw george w. bush turnd the bus?

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just a short time ago sarah palin released a new online ad through her political action committee. it touts the tea party as the future of politics in america.

>> the tea party movement is not a top-down operation. it's a ground up call to a, that is forcing both parties to change the way that they're doing business. and that's beautiful. this party that we call the tea party is the future of politics. and i am proud to get to be here today. >> but what do actual members of the tea party have to say about this and some other issues surrounding the party? andrew dodge, coordinator for the tea party patriots in maine joins me now. thanks very much for being with us. i'm wondering what you make of this ad and of sarah palin in general. >> sarah palin has made an effort quite often to try to paint herself as the leader of the tea party movement. she's good at riling up the grass roots, but as we like to say in the tea party patriots, we are all tea party leaders. anybody who goes out there and puts our line across to people who aren't members is a leader. we don't need anybody self-appointing themselves on high. obviously, she was vice

presidential candidate. telling us what we believe or how to go about things. it's nice that she supports us, but i don't see a point to the ad. >> you could certainly make the target that her endorsement has certainly helped your party. a lot of people out there running as tea party candidates are still in the running after the primaries. they believe because of her endorsement. >> it's actually more about the people on the ground working so hard. i mean, i don't think you can say that about the gentlemen, karl paladino in new york who local groups worked very hard to defeat lazio. obviously any candidate likes to have an endorsement from whomever. well, most of the time. but i don't think she's the driving force that got the tea party supported candidates into the winner's kark circle. >> you can make the argument with paladino that he has deep pockets and was able to write a

lot of checks. i want to talk about now the most talked about member of the tea party, and that is christine o'donnell. what do you think about her and these allegations that she's misused campaign funds, including using money to pay for her rent? >> i think it's unfortunate that she wasn't properly vetted before she was adopted by the tea party people in delaware. i mean, anybody is obviously -- we know what politics is like. yur always going to find a few things. e she has some outstanding things that exist. it befuddles me that they weren't more careful at sorting these things out. she doesn't seem to be able to come out and counter them and put them to rest. and it's no wonder she's so far behind in the polls. one of the biggest problems is a lot of people, and media being the main cause of this is trying to paint all the tea party fortunes on one candidate in one place. we're all over the country. there are thousands of

candidates all all kinds of levels. our future is no more dependent on christine o'donnell than any other candidate in the country. she happens to be one of the more, i would say, colorful ones. >> colorful she is. thank you for be with us. mention donald rumsfeld and you're sure to get a reaction. as secretary of defense under president george w. bush, he was either the brains behind changing the way military fights or the man responsible for many of america's problems in iraq and afghanistan. now he's written his memoirs. they're titled known and unknown. mr. rumsfeld plans to set the record straight. that includes explaining what happened during this infamous 1983 meeting with saddam hussein. the man he would later help to overthrow, fine, and ultimately see executed. ben smith is senior political reporter for politico. good to see you. i want to start with the title of the book, known and unknown

and play the press conference in 2002 when rumsfeld first got into the knowns and unknowns. >> there are known knowns. there are things we know we know. we also know there are known unknowns. that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. but there are also unknown unknowns. the ones we don't know we don't know. >> okay. well, what are we going to know as we read this book? >> well, i think we're going to know, you know, what donald rumsfeld's side of this story is after have been this incredible washington power player for decades. he's really become the face of american failures in iraq and afghanistan. and really a totally unrehabilitated figure from the bush years. he was -- even by the late -- by the end of the bush administration people were blaming everything on him already. and trying to save iraq from what they saw as his mismanagement. he's going to try to redeem himself. he's launching not just a book, but a website and blog. >> there's going to be thousands

of pages of documents to back up his version of events. >> this is part of his campaign to rehabilitate himself. it sounds like he'll become a blogger. >> is he also going to throw george w. bush under the bus? >> i think that's a good question. >> what's the buzz on this book? >> you know, i mean, i think everybody is eager to see what's in it. i think his relationship with book. bush fired him ultimately. though bush stood by him much longer than people would have preferred. but a lot thof will be about the the attempts to rehabilitate the iraq war. despite the tens of thousands of iraqis lives, the thousands of americans lives, it was worth it. that's the a case rumsfeld will make. >> people like us will want to read the book to hear what he has to say. do you think he can be rehabilitated to the extent that either you're with him or not with him? is this something likely to change minds? >> there's certainly an audience

on the right of people looking back fondly at the bush years. despite the fact that he was fired, you know, towards the end of the bush years, i do think there are certainly people who will see him as somebody they want to embrace. >> we're waiting to see. thanks so much, ben, for coming in. ben smith from politico. appreciate it. boston's newest plan to fight fat means you may have trouble buying a soda. those details are next. mascot versus mascot hon the football field. unbelievable video. a mascot goes on the attack. get ready for the fast test three minutes in news. all the nutrition of total, plus 10% daily value omega-3 ala, and a delicious honey almond crunch. new total plus omega-3.

does america's battle of the bulge begin with a perception problem? consider this, the cdc says 34% of americans are clinically obese. but only 5% actually think they're obese. pretty huge disconnect. well, now another u.s. city is tackling the obesity epidemic.

a stop the sale of sugary drinks in city-owned buildings. thanks very much for being with us. good afternoon. >> my pleasure. >> we talked to the american beverage association and they represent big soda makers like coke and pepsi. here's a statement they gave us -- do they have a point? >> no. i mean, my perspective on this is that sugary beverages are the lowest hanging food available to us. we know people can have as many as, especially teenagers, up to 20% of the daily calorie intake by these beverages. seems like if you can provide an

alternative to these, that may solve a big part of the problem. changing people's cultures, what they want to eat, to me is much more difficult proposition. >> so, if you just don't make it available, you figure they'll do something healthier, like buy bottled water? >> yeah, but some won't. at the health center which i represent on this committee, we banned sugary beverages on april 1st. we also banned junk food. you can see me. i have a button on that says, no junk food. thanks to charter school, the organization that came to us and asked us to stop allowing their students to buy junk food in our vending machines. but for us, you know, the issue is like how do we get to people so that they change. on april 1st, we changed our policy to take out sugary beverages. some of our staff went to the corner store, but others looked

at the other alternatives that were there and started buying vitamin water and other waters. other nonsugary beverages, that just weren't there. >> so, are you actually quantifying this and looking seriously at what kind of difference it might make? >> well, we know that the city of boston has a problem with obesity and boston is a thinner city than most american cities. so 54% of bostonians are overweight. if we don't do something about that, we are going to have a hugely obese population of the united states. we're trying to tackle this by going after the easiest target. can we switch from drinking the two and a half serving drinks to something less caloric and cut down on the number of calories,

which is the reason why people get overweight. >> without a doubt, more cities will be taking this up. to the fastest three minutes in news. down to the wire with the cost of obesity, a mascot brawl and homage to mom. we start with a story from the don't try this at home file. it's a homemade flying machine contest in china. most of the contraptions took a dive pretty quickly, but the winner glided 203 feet before landing in the water. not bad. >> and lift off. >> a top secret mission to space. this rocket took off last night. details about what it's carrying are strictly classified. meantime, the shuttle "discovery" is on the launch pad for the last time. it is set to lift off november 1st. "endeavour" will follow in

february and that will wrap up 30 years of shuttle flight. holiday inn is testing a system that would turn your phone into a room key. you would check in by e-mail. if your scale goes up, your bank account goes down and it's worse for women. all the factors that contribute to a person's lifestyle add up to money loss for women. the study also finds that obesity costs for men are high, although lower than for women. ♪ remember that guy? his interview on a local news station because a song and hit video. now, it's payday. the musicians behind the wrap put it on itunes. he's now buying a new house for his family. who said the american dream is

dead? it's alive on the web. after avoiding jail time, paris hilton has been detained again. she hoped a plane to japan yesterday, but right now, immigration officials there won't let her enter is country. they reportedly grilled her about her guilty plea. she's now in an airport hotel waiting for their decision. sarah palin wasn't there in l.a., but she watched her daughter's "dancing with the stars" debut from her home in wasilla. she says bristol's spot in the cast shows a -- and keeping her head up. last night, bristol had a different take on her cha cha. >> it's like, levi and my's relationship. mama told me not to do it, but did it any ways.

>> at the ohio state-ohio u. game, new video of this weekend's rumble. turns out the student behind the bobcat isn't even a student at the school. wow. and that brings us down to the wire. that is our show for this tuesday. the dylan rat began show is up next. his special series continues. he'll also be talking to a wealthy business man who is actually asking the government to tax him more. campbell's has made changes. adding lower sodium sea salt to more soups. making it easier to find your favorites and discover new ones. even giving you five dollars in coupons to get you started. campbell's condensed soup. pass it on. campbell's.® it's amazing what soup can do.™

 words alone aren't enough. our job is to listen and find ways to help workers who lost their jobs to the spill. i'm iris cross. we'll keep restoring the jobs, tourist beaches, and businesses impacted by the spill. we've paid over $400 million in claims and set up a $20 billion independently-run claims fund. i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. i'm gonna be here until we make this right.

i've been looking at the numbers, and i think our campus is spending too much money on printing. i'd like to put you in charge of cutting costs. calm down. i know that it is not your job. what i'm saying... excuse me? alright, fine. no, you don't have to do it. ok? [ male announcer ] notre dame knows it's better for xerox to control its printing costs. so they can focus on winning on and off the field. [ manager ] are you sure i can't talk -- ok, no, i get it. [ male announcer ] with xerox, you're ready for real business. today, part two of our week long series, the focus, midlife americans forced to find new careers. what they can do about it and what our politicians should be doing to help, but instead of helping the special interests who profit by destroying their jobs. we'll talk to a wealthy, successful business man, who is as