up some cold, hard cash. good morning. welcome to msnbc saturday. i'm alex witt. it's just about 9:00 a.m. here on the east coast. 6:00 a.m. out west. let's get to what's happening and developing from los angeles. lindsay lohan is out of jail this morning after only serving 12 hours behind bars for failing a drug test. the 24-year-old athres was rlgsed overnight and driven away in a black suv right back to her home. and that's where we find nbc's kristen welker. with a good morning to you, kristen, when did lindsay get home last night? wee hours? >> wee hours. good morning. she arrived here at her west hollywood apartment at about 12:30 this morning. all thanks to her attorney. a superior court judge and a lot of money. lindsay lohan released from jail just hours after a judge had ordered her back inside without bail. the troubled actress first reported to court friday morning dressed to the nines for yet another probation violations.

this time she tested positive for drugs just weeks after she was released from rehab. before the hearing started, lohan was all smiles. but all that changed when ten minutes after the hearing started, judge eldon fox ordered her to be handcuffed and taken into custody for nearly a month without bail. lohan showed little emotion but dad michael didn't hold anything back. >> jail is not good for anyone. i've been there. it doesn't rehabilitate. >> but no sooner had lohan arrived at jail when her lawyer started working on getting her out. just a few hours later, a superior court judge complied, overturning judge fox's decision. according to court documents, the second judge ruled defendant's charged with misdemeanors are entitled as a matter of right to bail. there are also stipulations. lohan has to wear an alcohol monitoring bracelet like this one she showed off in a photo shoot and hassy to to y has to

any controlled substance. >> as far as what he was giving a message to lindsay lohan it was, you better stop doing this because otherwise you're going to keep going back and forth to jail and i'm going to be here waiting for you every single time you screw up. >> this was lohan's third and shortest stint in jail. this summer she served 14 days of a 90-day sentence and 23 days in rehab, all stemming from a prior dui violation. medical experts say she has a lot of work to do to rehabilitate herself. >> i think it should be a solid decision made by her treatment team to be able to know how this relapse happened. >> hollywood insiders say her star may not be tarnished by any of this. >> after being in jail again, lindsay probably will still have a career. hollywood is very forgiving. >> lindsay lohan's legal troubles are far from finished. she'll be back in court on october 22nd for that probation violation hearing. when a judge could send her back

to jail again or back to rehab. alex? >> we will wait and see what happens then. thank you. nbc's kristen welker. 25 minutes, in and out and on the run. a chilling reality for a florida bank teller. three suspects took him hostage before a high-profile robbery. let's look at the scene in miami friday morning when the suspects kidnapped that teller just after midnight and then strapped him to a device containing bomb-making materials and then made quick work in the bank of america branch there. wtvj's carolyn ryan is live in miami. she's following this investigation. another good morning to you. where does this investigation stand this morning in terms of who is heading it up? >> good morning. this is a collaborative effort between fbi and local authorities here. but it was the fbi who spent several hours yesterday talking to this bank teller who, by the way, is only 25 years old. we're told he's since been cleared and released from fbi

custody. presumably authorities believe he's innocent in all of this. the big question here this morning is where are these suspects. this was an extremely unusual and very gutsy heist they pulled off. and so far they have been able to elude authorities. these three suspects, as you mentioned, burst into this bank teller's apartment in the middle of the night and allegedly hold him and his father hostage at gun point. they wait until morning and then strap a suspected bomb to this teller's chest. now one of the suspects stays behind at the apartment with the father and the 24th take the teller to the bank of america where he worked. once they got there they sent him inside to get as much cash as he could all while threatening this guy that they had a remote trigger for this device strapped to his chest. now what's interesting here to note is that these bank robbers never stepped foot in the bank. they waited outside in the bank teller's car and told him to bring out the cash. once they got what they wanted, they took off in the stolen car.

already inside the bank when all of this went down was the branch manager. she called authorities and this turned into a massive response effort because authorities initially thought they were possibly going to be dealing with a hostage situation. well, that ended up not being the case, though, and authorities were able to send in bomb robots. they removed the suspected bomb from this gentleman and he was led out of the bank around noon yesterday. everybody was unharmed. at this point, the fbi, along with local authorities have a huge man hunt under way to find these robbers. they were masked at the time of this incident and they were even able to elude surveillance cameras in the parking lot of this bank of america. the sew so it seems like they had this whole heist planned out to a "t." a popular southern past sor fighting allegations of sexually coercing minors in his church. the pressure and the stories are

mounting. nbc's ron mott has the latest from atlanta. >> reporter: for years, he's been an outspoken opponent of homosexuality. but friday, a fourth lawsuit was filed against popular preacher eddie long for allegedly coaxing teenage boys into sex, charges he denied through surrogates this week. >> all i ask is for your patience as we continue to categorically deny each and every one of these ugly charges. the four now men are former members of long's new birth mega church. the main campus in georgia and a satellite church in north carolina. >> there is recognized a special duty of a pastor, a bishop, a rabbi, any spiritual leader that you cannot have a sexual relationship or an intimate relationship in any way with any of your parishioners. >> the attorney says long initiated sexual contact only after they reached the legal age of consent. he wood them with gifts.

long has not yet addressed the allegations publicly. church officials say he plans to do that on sunday in front of his congregation. ron mott, nbc news, atlanta. >> developing new in europe, swedish police say a canadian citizen is in custody after a bomb threat on a passenger jet. all 273 passengers were removed from that plane after it made an emergency landing in stockhm olm this morning. the flight was en route from canada to pakistan. the man in custody sufficient pakistani origin and has been detained for questioning. police are searching that plane right now. if nothing suspicious is found the passengers will be free to continue their journey on that plane bound for pakistan. let's go to washington. new this morning, president obama is ripping the gop over the newly unveiled pledge to america. house republicans first shared the details of his plan on thursday. this morning, the gop says its pledge to slash taxes and cut spending represents a new way

forward that hasn't been tried in washington. but the president isn't impressed with the proposals. >> many were the very same policies that tloed the economic crisis in the first place, which isn't surprising since many of the leaders were among the architects of that failed policy. >> nbc's mike viqueira is live at the white house. good morning to you. so the republicans aren't just defending their plan this morning. they are deciding to go out on the attack, too, right? >> oh, absolutely. stake the right word. and the battle lines are drawn. fewer than 40 days before this election and we can't expect much more to happen in terms of policy or bills passing congress. they passed that small business tax cut that the president wanted earlier this week. but any day now in the coming week, the congress is going to be in recess. they are going to be back for what's promising to be a bruising campaign and in dueling web addresses we're seeing a preview of it. it's all being fought about the economy, the debt. you know the story. republicans, especially in the house think that they are going to take back the majority there.

that would really throw a wrench into the second two years of president obama's first term. many experts agree that republicans are favored now to take the majority. they came out on thursday with their pledge to america. they want to cut spending to 2008 levels. they want to repeal and replace that controversial health care law that when it pass inside march, many democrats thought would be a public attribute. kevin mccarthy, a relatively new member, one of the young guns of house republicans. he's from bakersfield, california. he had a response today to what the president said in his web address. >> as a result of the economically disastrous policies of the current administration, millions of americans are out of work today. and our children will be saddled with the deficit and debt that is by every definition out of control. this pledge is a governing agenda. it koubld implemented right now if the powers that be in washington would allow it. >> and what's unspoken the

powers that be in washington happen to be democrats at the time and that's part of the pitch republicans are making. elect us and we'll make changes or at the very least put the brakes on presiden obama's agenda. >> mike viqueira, thanks. tomorrow on "meet the press," just weeks before the midterm elections, an exclusive debate between two key party leaders. representative mike pence of indiana will square off against maryland congressman chris van hollen. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." check your local nbc listings. another week of gains in the books for the stock market. that's the fourth in a row now. but will this slow trend upward continue into a holiday season that many analysts believe will not get a big financial push from consumers? vera gibbons, economic analyst for msnbc is joining us. >> i accidentally stuck my head into that last clip. sorry. >> we love to see you any way we

can. >> what about the gains here. >> i think it just has to do with the fact there's less pessimism about the future direction of the economy. durable goods came in better than expected. spending is up. it raises hopes this recovery actually is on firmer ground. we're on track for september for the best september we've seen in 71 years. >> september usually tanks. >> usually not much happens in september. we're already up over 8% for the month. we'll take it. >> we will. >> there's mixed data on the home front. >> existing home sales showing some signs of stabilization after a horrible, horrible july. but new home sales, the second slowest month on record. so it's the same issues. >> on record? >> on record. i night say that. credit is tight. no one wants to get off the sidelines and buy a home if they think values are going to go down even further. they are holding out. >> or they are worried about their jobs. >> worried about their jobs. can't get a mortgage because they don't have a job. they aren't in a position to buy a house. the housing market is not going to rebound until we see a real

rebound in job growth. that's been eluding us. >> what about this gold, running at $113 an ounce. is it going to go higher? >> some say it could go to 1500, 1600 toward the end of the year. people don't have confidence about the dollar. quantitative easing has sent the dollar into a tailspin. so they are loading up on other commodities. gold, silver at a 30-year high. consumers are taking action. they are taking their stuff to the pawn shops, jewelry stores and unloogd all that stuff they don't want. old class rings, earrings. get rid of it. >> everyone needs the money. >> and we need the money in part because are we going to be out there spending on halloween? i'm in the stores now. it's everywhere. what do you think? >> halloween is the one day when we can put our troubles aside and pretend to be somebody else. i cannot be a financial analyst and forget in b the economic troubles. yes, we're going to be spending about $6 billion on halloween spending. and that's up about $66 on

average up from $56 last year. i think it's just putting our worries aside, going out putting on a cost urmume, having some candy. >> what are you going to be for halloween? more changes in health care have arrived. we'll tell you what they are and how they'll affect you. also ahead, it just might be payback time. when a magazine said david beckham was seeing prostitutes, did you think he was going to take that one lying down? financing their fleet, sharing our expertise, and working with people who are changing the face of business in america. after 25 years in the aviation business, i kind of feel like if you're not having fun at what you do, then you've got the wrong job. my landing was better than yours. no, it wasn't. yes, it was. was not. yes, it was. what do you think? take one of the big ones out? nah.

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that is the place to be starting tomorrow. nbc news presents "education nation" a week-long look at what's wrong with our schools and what can be done to fix

them. it all begins tomorrow at noon eastern with a two-hour town hall with teachers hosted by nightly news anchor brian williams. and we'll be out there on the plaza as well. 11:30 a.m. eastern, 8:30 pacific. but we'll be followed by brian. can't wait for that. meantime, msnbc is the place for politics. nbc news and msnbc are crunching poll numbers to get inside the minds of voters ahead of next month's voters. it's called the voter confidence index. it shows the country's mood souring. for what more on what this vci means, i'm joined by mark murray. >> good morning. >> let's get right to these numbers. first of all, can you explain how you arrived at these numbers and what do they tell us? >> well, alex, the vci is essentially a snapshot leave to important data in most national polls. first it's a look at the right track, wrong track direction. people who think the -- how the country is doing. it also looks at the president's

approval rating and then the generic ballot. do you prefer a republican dng or democratic congress. when you look at all the numbers, the better the vci, the better the party in power fares in the midterm election. the worse the number, the worse is fares. in 1994, the vci was at minus 30. of course, republicans took back congress there. democrats lost 54 house seats. another number was back in 2006 when democrats picked up congress. the vci there was minus 65. and republicans lost 30 seats. but there have been times in 1998 and 2002 where there have been positive vci. lo and behold, the party in power gained seats in those midterm elections. it's not perfect but it's a correlational look at what the public mood is and what it might mean for the upcoming midterm elections. >> let's look at what the president's vci is at right now. it's a negative 38. that number is comp troobl president reagan during the 1982

election. at that point, president reagan's vci was 35. in this case, nor that case, do you see similarities to the president's situation today and what come to mind for me is unemployment which was terrible at that time. >> right. many people have had the parallel between 1982 and now. a lot of democratic strategists, however, say if they just lose 26 house seats they will take that in a second. in a way you, can draw the comparison between 1992 or see where president obama stands right now is kind of in between what we saw in 1994 or also in 2006. of course, we'll be tracking the whole vci throughout the midterm cycle and the better the number it is, the more positive, for example. the better the democrats might do. the worse if it gets worse. that there might be a danger zone problem for democrats. >> but the president's overall

vci trend, mark, he came into office with a vci of 34, a positive 34. he's not been in the positive territory for 11 months now. so what are the main factors dragging his numbers down? is it all about the economy? >> well, a lot of it has to do with the economy. when you look at the data and the timeline, his numbers really started to go down during the divisive health care debate in the fall and in the winter of 2009. but then dropped once again in the spring and summer of this year when there were a lot of economic problems in this country but also abroad like that greece debt crisis. along with the bp still and the bottom fell out for the democrats there on the vci score. but we're going to continue to track this number. there f there's a movement in the positive direction, that might tell you something. if it continues to go down, that might tell you something. we'll continue to monitor it. it's a nice fun scale to see what might happen come november. >> sound like it may be an appropriate indicator.

an accurate one. >> for more, including a link to this new voter confidence index, logon to firstread.msnbc.com. fighting terror. why it may be tougher to stop al qaeda in its terrorist tracks. was growing back... i was like, yes, this works... [ male announcer ] only rogaine is proven to regrow hair in 85% of guys. puhh puhh puhh putt and that's it. [ male announcer ] stop losing. start gaining.

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[ female announcer ] only roc® retinol correxion deep wrinkle night cream is clinically proven to give 10 years back to the look of skin. diminishing the look of even deep wrinkles. 10 years? i'll take that! [ female announcer ] roc® we keep our promises. the fbi says agents have searched eight homes in the midwest. they were looking for connections between local anti-war activists and terrorist groups in colombia and the middle east. the fbi searched those homes in minneapolis and chicago yesterday. an attorney for one of the homeowners says the fbi is after people who are active in social justice. lakers new report in "the washington post" says the risk of small-scale attacks by al qaeda and its allies is on the rise. the report cites senior obama administration officials who say the terror network is likely to

attempt less sophisticated attacks in the united states. and officials say it's extremely difficult to detect these kinds of threats in advance. joining me live from washington, d.c., clark kent urban with the aspen institute. also the former inspector general at the department of homeland security. good morning to you. goorchlth >> good morning alex. >> how worrisome is this to you? >> we're increasingly seeing the face of terrorism is changing and increasingly into an american face. there were 11 either attacks or plots last year that were connected to americans. the largest number since 9/11. and also last year some 43 americans were either charged with or convicted of terrorism. and partly because these terrorists, unlike al qaeda central terrorists are less sophisticated than the al qaeda ones, we are seeing this increased use of small-scale attacks like the attempt to blow up a car in times square, like the attempt to bomb subways in new york last fall. that as this report puts it are very, very difficult to stop. >> and it s it that which makes it such the challenge these are

unsophisticated. so it's not like there's a lot of chatter. and they are small. so they can pop up anywhere. is that what the challenge is? >> a cass strophic attack on the order of 9/11 or worse is in some ways easier to detect because the more complicated the plot the more potential for screw-ups, the more money it costs, the easier to intercept communication between them. it's very difficult to stop one person or two people who want to take a backpack into a subway station and blow it up or blow up a car bomb in a popular tourist destination. that's almost imfobl stop. >> the "washington post" report says, quote, the risk of a single target bombing or an attack by a lone gunman has increased officials say with the rise of al qaeda affiliated groups in the tribal areas of pakistan in yemen and in soyawlia and with the emergence of radicalized americans inspired by the ideology of

violent jihad. what do they do? how do they tackle this? >> just a handful of things that can be done. i'm a huge proponent as is secretary napolitano of this see something, say something campaign that began in new york and is spreading. the shahzad attempt to blow up the car in times square was stopped because there was a street vendor who was curious and who saw something anomalous and pointed it out to authorities. that's how you stop these things. secondly, it's critical that other major cities follow the example of new york and los angeles where police officers, or lots of police officers, and they are trained to look for anomalies in their communities to patrol. it is they who are on the front lines of terrorism and police officers have to be supported in this job. i guess the third thing i'd say is we in this country and our government need to do a better job of reaching out to the muslim community. the muslim community largely is peaceful. abhors terrorism like the rest of us do. they're most likely obviously to know who that minority is in

their community who are at risk of becoming so radicalized as to engage in violent terrorism. we've got a huge challenge here in the country. we have al qaeda central still attempting to attack the united states and we have these one-off lone wolves inspired by al qaeda. it's the worst of all possible worlds nib years after 9/11. >> sobering that you say it like that but speaking the truth. thanks. a white house shuffle may be in the works. which of president obama's aides are exiting, and where are they going? that is ahead. [ animals calling ] ♪ [ pop ] [ man ] ♪ well, we get along ♪ yeah, we really do - ♪ and there's nothing wrong - [ bird squawks ] ♪ with what i feel for you

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it's msnbc saturday. here are your fast five headlines. lindsay lohan is out of jail again. but she'll have to wear an ankle bracelet. she was sprung late last night from a los angeles jail after posting $300,000 bail. authorities in sweden are questioning a man who was suspected of carrying explosives on a flight from can do to

pakistan. but a search has turned up nothing so far. that plane was diverted to stockholm where he's being detained. a fourth lawsuit has been filed against a popular atlanta area pastor accused of having sex with young male churchgers. an attorney for bishop eddie long denies the allegations. a federal judge ordered the air force to reinstate a nurse under the don't ask, don't tell policy. they call margaret witt an exemplary officer. swollen rivers and streams are receding in southern minnesota and southwest wisconsin. that's good news for residents there. this week, rumors flying about some major shake-ups to president obama's inner circle in washington. white house chief of staff rahm emmanuel could resign in weeks to run for the mayor of chicago. and senior adviser david axelrod is expected to leave the white house soon to focus on the president's re-election campaign. christina belanton si from talking points memo. good morning. interpret all these changes.

what do you think they reflect, if anything other than a typical midterm reaction? >> there's a couple of things going on. you have the typical midterm reorganization. it's not shocking people would leave. it's a very intensive job. people sort of have one or two years in them and then they shift around. that happens often with chief of staff. there's also a little bit of signaling to the democratic base that's been frustrated with president obama for a while. he's make something changes to make sure that people are enthusiastic for the fall. you have obviously got the elizabeth warren appointment which isn't a west wing shuffle but certainly timed to put out a little olive branch to progressives. and a lot of people have been frustrated with rahm emmanuel and are happy to see him probably about to go. same thing goes for larry summers spoep there's a reason they are making these announcements now. >> but how does the staff shuffle affect the white house. as one of the advisers told us, the president doesn't, quote, like new people. >> that's one reason why it's not necessarily new people that are going to be brought in for

his closest team. i mean, the most likely successor for rahm emmanuel if he does go run for mayor of chicago is going to be pete rouse. this is somebody he was tom daschle's right-hand man in the senate and when daschle was not re-elected in 2004, obama picked him up when he became a senator. and he was even known as the 101st senator, somebody who had a very good relationship on capitol hill. somebody else that president obama could use certainly going into the next few years. >> let's switch gears just a bit here. bob woodward's new book "obama's wars" hits shelves soon. it looks at how to handle afghanistan. the white house says it is satisfied with the way this book portrays the president but from what you've read about this book so far, how do you think it might help or hurt the president and his image? >> that's the key word of what we've read because the book isn't actually out yet.

i have not read it. i've read the excerpts out there. certainly the white house believes that's paints a flattering portrait of a president that's very deliberative. that's something we sort of already knew. there had been a lot of stories out there about how he went about his decision to send more troops to afghanistan. i thing sort of deliberative process and perhaps some of the inner workings of, you know, general jim jones has been very close with the president but has also sparred with many people within the administration. sort of goes back to the shuffle. he potentially could be leaving in the next year. it's going to reveal a little bit of what's going on behind the scenes. more than likely it's not going to have a dramatic effect on how the american people view obama. the woodward book is about president bush certainly influenced debate. but didn't necessarily shift voters. >> okay. christina bellantoni, thank soechs. the texas school board approved a controversial resolution which claims some textbook publishers favor islam over christianity. the resolution states a, quote, pro-islamic anti-christian bias

has tainted past textbooks. in a 7-6 vote they voted the publishers should devote more time to christianity and asserts textbooks that favor one religion or another should be outright rejected. they only cite textbooks that nor longer in use. a convenience store look in hartford, connecticut, pulled a fast one to outwith a stick-up man. a customer pulled a gun on the cashier and demanded money. then the cashier yelled to a co-work cher gave him the opportunity to pull out his own gun. the stick-up man pretty much gave up because his gun was nothing but a bb gun. the co-worker then held the guy against a freezer while he called the cops. >> well, developing new, lindsay lohan say free woman this morning. the 24-year-old actress was released from jail just hours after a judge ordered her to return to prison for failing a drug test. let's get the latest from alisha corals, the entertainment editor for the associated press. >> 30 days behind bars.

failed two drug tests. we thought she was being locked up. she got released 12 hours after being in jail. posted bail. a judge revoked it and she's back on the streets. >> is that the right thing to do? is it what she needs or are they following the law? >> they are following the law. people are saying she's getting off easier because she's a celebrity. actually, no, she's not. she has to go back to court on october 22nd. from in she'll have to go direct three jail for 30 days. until then she's got very strict rules to abide by. >> let's talk about octomom nadya suleman. >> she's got this yard sale. >> it's kind of sad. her sale is going to go into foreclosure. she might have to go on welfare. she is throwing a yard sale today. she is selling everything from the bikinis she's been in magazine covers in to her nursing bras. >> would you buy that? >> no. >> but i'm sure there are those that will. if you, do call us.

tell us why, right? okay. >> exactly. >> what about soccer superstar david beckham. he's got some legal issues going on. >> he's got a libel lawsuit against bower publishing, the publisher of "in touch" magazine. they have a story this week from a call girl that said she had a roitantic trice with david beckham. he says these are not true. they are lies. >> how much does that taint him? >> there's been allegations in the past. i don't think it taints him at all. he's an athlete. he's got the wife and two kids. he's sending a message by putting this lawsuit out there saying it's not true. >> okay. alisha quarles, good to see you. >> well, you've heard the expression that everything is big in texas. there's a big exception, however in ft. worth. as you can see right there. look at those pint-sized ponies and the kids trotting them out there. they are hosting the miniature world horse show. they're little horses from around the globe. they'll be entered in a variety of contests to compete for

prizes worth about $250,000. nothing small about that. [ female announcer ] you use the healing power of touch every day. ♪ now the healing power of touch just got more powerful. introducing precise from the makers of tylenol. precise pain relieving cream works quickly to activate sensory receptors. it helps block pain signals fast for relief you can feel precisely where you need it most. precise. only from the makers of tylenol.

precise. words alone aren't enough. my job is to listen to the needs and frustrations of the shrimpers and fishermen, hotel or restaurant workers who lost their jobs to the spill. i'm iris cross. bp has taken full responsibility for the clean up in the gulf and that includes keeping you informed. our job is to listen and find ways to help. that means working with communities. 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 to cover lost income until people impacted can get back to work. and our efforts aren't coming at tax-payer expense. i know people are wondering--

now that the well is capped, is bp gonna meet its commitments? i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. i'm gonna be here until we make this right. but now, to get it really cooking, you need a little website development. some transparent reporting, so you know it's working. online ads and 1-on-1 marketing consultation.

yellowbook's got all that. yellowbook360 has a whole spectrum of tools. the perfect recipe for success. visit yellowbook360.com and go beyond yellow. google is alerting gmail users about e-mail perpetrators in china. they aren't sure if it's the work of spies or individual users. you have to take it from there. words like offensive, hateful and utterly outrageous are being used to describe iranian president ahmadinejad's u.n. speech. this backlash, it follows ahmadinejad's conspiracy-laden address friday where he suggested the september 11th terrorist attacks were orchestrated by the united states to help israel. the u.s. delegation and a few other countries walked out during that outburst.

former middle east director for the national security council, michael singh joins me from d.c. sorry. i had to run back into the studio. i'm a little out of breath but welcome to you. was this just a desperate cry for taejs? >> it was a bizarre speech. it was even by his standards and he's given some very bizarre speeches, it was certainly hateful and certainly offensive. not only to americans but to any country whose citizens lost their lives on 9/11. which, you know, and frankly it also will increase strains between the united states and iran at a time when ahmadinejad had been talking about the possibility of negotiations. so why does he do it? it's not just, i think, desperation. i think you have to look at the fact that first of all, unfortunately, many people in the middle east do believe these conspiracy theorys about 9/11. and so he's in a sense, playing to that opinion. and then second, he's locked in

really a pitched battle inside iran with other conservatives. and in a sense he's out flanking them to the right by doing this sort of thing. >> so he's trying to play politics, i guess, for internal political reasons within his own country but the damage that can be done when you have got delegates not only the united states delegates but others walking out thinking this guy is just nuts for saying this kind of thing. they found it so offensive. >> well, that's right. that's right. frankly it makes most iranians cringe that this is the image that they have on the world stage at a place like the united nations. and most iranians don't agree with this kind of sentiment. i think also very importantly, here and in israel and in other countries it does increase or reinforce the notion that ahmadinejad would be very dangerous with the nuclear weapon and unlike other countries that there may be a greater chance that this guy is nutty enough to use a nuclear

weapon. and that increases the rink military conflict. so there say real cost here. >> how much influence does he have in the middle east and beyond? >> well, i think that his influence was probably highest prior to the june 2009 disputed election in iran. i think that his sort of brazen stealing of that election, the oppression of the iranian people afterwards really kind of took the air out of any pretentions he'd have in the region of being a champion of the people. certainly this type of statement about 9/11 is part of an effort on his footer regain some of that luster. >> how about the religious leadership within iran. how much support does he have there? >> his support across the different conservative factions, including from clerical leaders is really decreasing right now. after the 2009 presidential election, he has been increasingly sort of grabbing

power from other centers and he's been locked not only in a battle with clerics, but also some say with the supreme leader of iran who is a cleric himself slarkss with, say, the parliament. there's been a big battle right now in iran over executive power versus legislative power. so his relations with all these different conservative factions is really increasingly strained. >> is he well liked in this country or not? >> wow you know, i think first of all, it's hard to know. it's very difficult to get a true sense of what people think in iran. but the sense that i get is that there is a segment of iranian society that sees him as sort of a return to the -- what they see as the glory days of the islamic revolution and of the iran/iraq war. and he certainly taps into that sort of emotion amongst some iranians. but i think his overall support in iran is low. and is probably decreasing as he essentially takes on these other

sort of power centers within the conservative movement. you see sort of fracturing not only between the green movement opposition and the conservatives but also within the conservative camp. >> okay. michael singh, good to see you. >> thanks, alex. some of the changes brought about by the health care reform just taking effect. we'll tell you all about them. sweat every day to make an honest buck...month. and if you're gonna try and do this in anything other than a chevy... well, good luck...month. great deals on the complete family of chevy trucks all backed for a hundred thousand miles. it's truck month. now, during truck month, get 0% apr financing on all trucks and full-size suvs like this 2011 silverado. see your local chevrolet dealer. with the most customized piece of furniture you will ever own.

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facebook ceo mark zuckerberg is hoping to make a status update for schools in new jersey. he's donating a whopping $100 million in facebook stock as part of his new start-up education foundation. nbc news education correspondent rehema ellis has more. >> reporter: newark, it's the largest city in new jersey, with the biggest school problems. now getting help if a big name. 26-year-old billionaire mark

zuckerberg, founder and ceo of facebook, is expected to give $100 million to newark schools. >> a lot of teachers come out of to school -- >> reporter: democratic mayor cory booker and republican governor chris christie will join forces on the oprah winfrey show for the announcement tomorrow. they welcome the bipartisan effort. >> i think it's a great opportunity. first, to launch a real dialogue for the city of newark but how to give everyone excellent education. we need money to drive thrresous to the program to get results. >> reporter: the schools desperately need help. under state control since 1995, they spend about $22,000 per pupil each year. above the state average. the results are dismal. 45% of students do not graduate from high school. only 20% of newark grads attend college. zuckerberg is part of a growing trend of venture philanthropists investing huge sums in education

reform. others are bill and melinda gates, t. boone pickens and the andrew mellon foundation. some skeptics wonder if the gift from zuckerberg to newark schools is just about generosity or if it's an effort to cast a more favorable light on a young billionaire who currently has an image problem. >> they're saying we stole the facebook. >> reporter: the movie opening next week raises questions about whether facebook with its half a billion users was, in fact, zuckerberg's idea. while new jersey officials await the specifics of the zuckerberg deal, most agree the devil will be in the details. >> we have existing statutes which govern the operation of school systems in this state. and it doesn't matter who donates what amount of money. those laws must be upheld. they must be followed and they must be complied with. >> that was nbc's rehema ellis

reporting. check that out. because starting tomorrow that is the place to be. nbc news presents education nation. what is wrong with our schools and how to begin to fix them. it begins tomorrow at noon. that's hosted by "nightly news" anchor brian williams right out there on that special plaza. several new health care changes have taken effect to help americans prevent abuses by health insurers. many of the key protections from the law were implemented thursday on the six-month anniversary of the law. joining me to break down these changes is social issues reporter for "the washington post." good morning. >> good morning. >> so there are a few new restrictions on health providers. insurers are no longer able to deny coverage to children with pre-existing conditions and put lifetime limits on benefits or canceling a policy retroactively without proving fraud. let's look through all these restrictions and how they can help everyday americans. >> before we start, i want to

introduce an important caveat, which is that none of these take effect until a particular plan renews. pretty much every plan has what's called a plan year or policy year and that's the renewal date. for a lot of people, their plan might not review juuntil januar 1st. some people's plan years don't renew until next june. in some cases this coming october. people need to keep that in mind. the other thing to keep in mind is some of these new restrictions apply to plans across the board. and other of them are limited to plans that aren't grandfathered, who plans that weren't in existence before the health care law was passed. >> all good points that you make right there, n.c. now the obama administration says that preventing insurers from denying kids with pre-existing conditions will allow 27,000 uninsured kids to

gain coverage. you wrote about companies dropping the policies? what's that about? >> this refers to a subset of policies. it's not entirely clear how many children have them. i've heard figures from 700,000 to a million. but these are child-only policies purchased on the individual market. these would be policies purchased by a parent but only for their child. let's say they work for a company that doesn't cover their child. some major insurers, cigna, wellpoint, have announced that they're just going to stop offering new policies of this kind rather than comply with the requirement. >> so i want to be clear, though, that on those particular issues, those people that are already covered under these child-only policies, they fall under the new health care provisions. they will remain covered. >> it's not because they fall under the new health provisions. it's the insurers have said, the people that we currently cover with child-only policies, we're going to let them keep those

policies. we're just not going to offer any future child-only policies because we decided that it's not going to be economically, you know, feasible for us to offer them. but that's -- if you have a child-only policy right now, it's not being canceled. >> how about things like preventive screenings, vaccinations, counseling? they're going to be fufrd free. are we talking about not even with a co-pay? >> correct. if you're going to a doctor and you have a co-pay for the doctor's visit and the visit involves things other than that preventive screening, then you might get charged the co-pay. but really the main purpose of the visit is that preventive visit. then you're not charged. with the proviso, this is one of the restrictions that only applies to new plans. so if you're in a plan that your employer has been offering all along, and had been offering before the health care law was passed, this is not going to

apply to your plan. that said, in 2014, a lot of this stuff, you know, starts to take effect in a more permanent way. a lot of these provisions that we're talking about are stop-gap measures until the real major changes of the law start to take effect in 2014. >> i'm telling you, i'm very glad you're writing about this in "the washington post" because it's not easy to decipher. thank you for talking about it. >> thank you for having me. political fisticuffs. d and wear hats. i was always the hat guy. i can't even tell you how much it's changed my life. [ male announcer ] only rogaine is proven to regrow hair in 85% of guys. no more hats. [ male announcer ] stop losing. start gaining.

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