groups across the country unite on the national mall. we're live at the one nation working together rally. european terror threat. a new report today on the role that osama bin laden may have played in a plot against several countries. rush to judgment? one of the biggest home loan lenders admits to foreclosing on homes without reading critical documents. good morning. i'm alex witt. 10:00 a.m. on the east coast, 7:00 a.m. out west. it is one of the toughest debates in washington. it is playing out in a new way this morning. both president obama and a top republican hit the internet to tackle the issue of economic recovery and spending. while the president highlighted a new solar plant in california, senator mitch mcconnell raised questions about taxpayer money. >> with projects like this one and others across this country, we are staking our claim to continue leadership in the new global economy. >> after maxing out the national

credit card on a failed stimulus bill and a government-run health care bill, they want even more. >> so let's bring in mike vick arrow. it comes to jobs, spending? >> mitch mcconnell a leader in the senate. they're looking for disstingss to draw. we're one month out. october 2nd today. bright and early in washington. november 2nd, the day of the midterm elections. many things at stake with people predicting the republicans will take majority in the house and perhaps in the senate. what the president was talking about is part of the stimulus package. he's been defending it. republicans have been taejing it. it is not as effective as it could have been. the president had a lot of things in there for his signature issue, a green economy, weatherizing houses, wind farms, advanced technological batteries to power what he calls the economy of the future. he does not want those kinds of capabilities going to india and

china. he looks at the republicans' pledge to america. he said they would slash the budget and it would cost a lot of these programs and we'd lose our competitive edge, not to mention a thousand jobs, for example, at that solar plant out in california. republicans, for their part, hammering away at the president. the latest issue, of course, whether to extend those bush era tax cuts. mitch mcconnell really did take after the president this morning because democrats left town for the elections. they're going to be gone more than a month, six weeks or so without extending those bush tax cuts. you know that there was a great disagreement about how to go forward with that. the president favoring tax cuts for everyone except those making more than $250,000. some democrats joining republicaning saying that everybody should get the tax cuts extended at least for the short term. the president off to camp david for the weekend here. but when he gets back, the policies, the fights, the politics are going to continue. he's going to be hitting the road. more of those moving america forward rallies. he's got three more including

next weekend in philadelphia. trying to rally the base, close that enthusiasm gap. but independents are another matter. polls show that they're trending republican and that spells trouble for the president. >> not like the president's resting up there at camp david. isn't the vice president joining him? this is a working weekend, right? >> absolutely. and they always are. the president doesn't have camp david as much as his predecessors. he has his children here. the president stays in town. but it sure looks like a nice day shaping up for the catakin mountains where camp david is located. >> wow. that's impressive. showoff. more than 400 groups including major labor and civil rights organizations will be attending. brian moore is live there on the mall in the nation's capital for us. good morning, brian. i'm curious who we'll be hearing from today in terms of the

speakers. >> a wide range of groups that are going to be here today. at 1:00 p.m. today you'll see reverend sharpton followed shortly after by ben jealous of the naacp, who we'll be talking to in a couple of minutes. randi weingarten, and also jesse jackson. today's event, the one nation working together rally is about watering the roots, watering the roots of the democratic party and the progressive movement. they're going to be talking about jobs. one nation working together. getting americans back to work. but also about education and equality. this is a rally that's going to bring together a large wide eclectic series of groups that range from civil rights and gay rights groups to church groups. all people with one common goal here trying to get democrats elected in the midterm elections coming up in just about a month.

alex? >> brian mooar, we'll be checking in with you again as the crowds start to gather. let's get to a bit more politics. in a poll just out, voters may appear to be angry, but that may not be enough to alter the midterm elections. voters who consider themselves angry are no more likely to vote in the upcoming elections. 84% they'll go to the ballot box compared to 81% of calmer voters. when the president factors in, his approval rating stands at 48% better than where george bush or bill clinton stood. and both parties are split over who they want to control the congress. so getting voters to the polls is one part of the one nation rally in d.c. that brian mooar was just telling you about. here now one of the major organizing forces of the rally. that being the president and ceo of the naacp, ben jealous.

i notice that the sun is shining down on you, smiling on all you gathering there. >> i know. this is a great day. this is going to be the most diverse march on washington we've ever seen. you'll see mine workers and people from across this country, firefighters, doctors, small business people, black people, brown people, jews, muslims all standing here to say let's get past the old lines and focus on getting this country back to work so we can pull it back together. >> ben, why did you and the naacp get involved in this rally specifically? because i want to know what you plan to say when you take to the podium. what's topic "a" for you? >> we've go to spend less and less on war and tax cuts for the richest 1%, and we have to spend more and more on jobs and schools for the other 99%. we know that in hard times in this country, the way that we move forward is we put our shoulders to the wheel and we push. just like we did for health care

reform, just like we did to save 150,000 teachers jobs, just like we did to create 3 million more jobs in one of the toughest economies ever. we've come too far to be turned back now. >> ben, i want to ask you about the front page of the website there that says if this march is demanding the changes that we voted for. and i'm curious if that means you're disappointed with what the current administration has done. weigh in on that in terms of expectations, what you had hoped to happen and what has happened. >> just like the president, we're very upset with the obstructionists in the u.s. senate. it was great, as he said, two weeks ago, that we got small business new jobs tax cut bill, but it took too long. we've got folks acting like we're back in the 1960s massively resisting every positive change. they have to realize that their constituents sent them to washington to solve tough problem, not to be a problem. >> your website says that one of the major focuses today is equality for all.

which groups are you speaking about here in terms of meeting the equality. what are the changes you want to see effected tomorrow morning after this rally. >> we want people who are older, people who are black, women, to be able to walk into the workplace and know that they can apply for a job and be considered on their merits. right now we've seen civil rights complaints skyrocket for black people, brown people, older white men saying enough is enough. if i can do the job, let me do it. >> how about the numbers of people you expect to get there today? >> we have 2,000 buses confirmed. >> wow. >> we have people flying in from across the country. and we have george clinton closing it out. so there will be a lot of parliament funkadelic fans here today. >> what time do you take to the podium? >> i'll be talking about 1:30. >> we're going to be on you. we'll be counting on you, too. good luck. >> thank you, bye now.

>> msnbc saturday will have live coverage of the one nation working together rally for you. keep right here. new this morning, new aud yes tapes of reportedly recordings of osama bin laden. the recordings call the muslim nation to do more for relief efforts in flood-hit pakistan. it accuses the media of not reporting on the tragedy effectively. the president of rutgers university says he plans to meet with members of the school's gay community following the death of freshman tyler clementi. tyler killed himself by jumping off the george washington bridge in new york city last week. clementi's roommate and another student are charged with invasion of privacy. they're accused of secretly streaming online video of clementi's sexual encounter with a man in his form room. they could also face hate crime charges. students at rutgers called yesterday black friday as they handed out roses in memory of clementi. and the rutgers football team is

planning a moment of silence at their game today against tulane. clementi's family issued a statement. saying, our hope is that our family's personal tragedy will serve as a call for compassion, empathy and human dignity. this morning, crews are assessing the damage from those deadly storms that slam the northeast. the remnants of tropical storm nicole drenched pennsylvania with more than ten inches of rain there. it also delivered winds of up to 40 miles an hour. officials are blaming flooding from the storm for the death of one man in pennsylvania and five others in north carolina. one resident in connecticut said the deluge there was unprecedented. >> the creek overflowed, but it didn't never overflow like this, you know what i'm saying? but this is terrible. this is the worst i've ever, ever seen it. >> 50,000 people lost power during that storm. the electricity was mostly restored by last night. let's get a look at things from bill karins. good morning. >> well, good saturday morning

to you, alex. our big tropical soaker is finally exiting. everyone will be left with a nice weekend. some of us, though, will be cleaning up. the storm did bring heavier rains to new england last night. but the storm is now on the move. the problem with thursday and friday, this storm stalled out. it was just a tropical feed of moisture, some of it associated with nicole. and our 48-hour rainfall totals were high around albany, new york. a lot of the big cities ended up with three to six inches total. they had as much as 20 inches of rain. now, there's no flash flood warnings any more. that the heavy rain is gone. we're left with some rivers that are going to be cresting during the day today. so we still have river flood warning and a few just north of washington, d.c. a lot of the rivers north and west of philly are going to have some flooding problems during the weekend and also albany new york outside of burlington and vermont and new hampshire picked up heavy rain. if forecast today looks beautiful. very fallish out there. unfortunately, a lot of leaves came down with the heavy wind and rain this weekend.

but a lot of the leaves will still be peaking there in central and southern new england. the week ahead doesn't show any big huge rain storms. this weekend sunday to monday, a little bit of light rain there in the mid-atlantic. but cool weather will be the rule. we're finally done with our summer weather pattern. there's nothing brewing in the tropics. our extreme weather pattern, we get a break from it. back to you. >> that's good news, bill karins. another blast from christine o'donnell's past. a newly released video exposing the candidates one-time thoughts on faith. switching to geico reay save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance? was abe lincoln honest? mary: does this dress make my backside look big? abe: perhaps... save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance?really host: is having a snowball fight with pitching great randy johnson a bad idea? man: yeah, i'm thinking maybe this was a bad idea.

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a marine killed in iraq in 2007 has a new resting place this morning. first lieutenant travis manion was originally buried near his home but he was reburied in

arlington cemetery. he said he wanted to be buried next to his best friend brandon loony. loony was killed in a helicopter crash in acceseptember. for christine o'donnell, the hit just keep on coming. the u.s. senate candidate is going viral once again over something she said more than a decade ago. it is the latest in a string of recent incidents to raise questions about whether the gop is going to extremes. so check out this clip from "real time with bill maher." >> i was dabbling into every other kind of religion before i became a christian. >> you were a witch. >> i was. i was. >> you were. >> i was dabbling in witchcraft. >> right. >> i dabbled in bud him. and i would have become a harry krishna, but i didn't want to become a vegetarian. that is honestly the reason why. >> boy, are you spiritual. >> so let's bring in pat

buchanan. and msnbc contributor karen finney. good to see you. >> good morning. >> so pat, here's the deal. this is the new clip of christine o'donnell, but you also have new york gubernatorial candidate paladino's confrontation with fred dicker earlier this week. is the gop damaging itself with potentially independent voters because they have these sort of tea party extreme candidates out there that are getting all the focus but the gop perspective. >> you just heard yourself from mike vickero. he said that the gop is gaining with independents. as for paladino, he's a very tough guy and a very tough rough tough race on both sides in new york. no one expected the republicans to even be competitive for the governor's race in the great state of of new york and yet they are. christine o'donnell is competition niv the state of delaware. folks are accusing the republicans of being too extreme, alex. but the republican party was

dead in 2008. it was moribund. all of a sudden now they're talking about whether the republicans will get 30, 35, 40, 45, or 50 seats, whether they'll take over the senate. so they seem to be doing something right. now if you focus on an individual incident in some gal's background, maybe it looks a little kookie. but overall they're doing just fine. >> let's go with the case of christine o'donnell. any danger for the democrats that people will look at these clips from ages ago and that's going to generate sympathy for her after all these remarks? >> you know, it might, although some of these remarks are a little out there. i think what people are more concerned about are the kinds of remarks that are being made on substantive issues. christine o'donnell's past and witchcraft and those kind of comments are a little bit more of a side show. for her, the danger is if she's talking about that, she's actually not able to talk about substantive issues. that's what voters want to hear

as these races are tightening up. i do think there is for the gop and we've talked about this before, these tea party candidates, they show a lot of extremism in the primaries. they got through the primaries now in the general election and general election voters are saying do i really want to vote for a republican party that says let's do away with the department of education, let's privatize social security. i'm not sure that's what i want to vote for. you're seeing a country, as pat was saying, some of these races are tightening up as people get to know the candidates. >> primaries are one thing and general elections are different. do you get worried that tea party candidates will hurt mainstream republicans in those elections or the one that's a month from today? >> i'm really not. there's no doubt that christine o'donnell is slightly behind now. a lot of things she said on bill maher's show are probably the problem. but her opponent said i was a bearded marxist in college. i don't think people are going to pay much attention to that. i agree with karen to this extent. some races the republicans have

a real problem in california for other reasons and some of the races like rand paul's race is tightening our our governor's race in maryland, the democrats are doing well, but republicans are surging in west virginia and may pick up that senate seat. feingold may be falling behind in wisconsin. overall the republicans are doing fine. they're not doing as hot as they did in august when i think they would have swept both houses. these tea party folks in six out of the eight races are probably going to win and the other two are problematic. >> barring that foregone conclusion at this point that six of the eight win, is it better for democrats to let these candidates self-destruct or do they need to pounce with ads? >> you know, i'll tell you, they've been doing such a good job on self-destructing, i think we could save some of the money and put it into other races. there's always a balance in a campaign. certainly in the case of christine o'donnell, because there seems to be week after week, gap after gap, i don't think there's much you have to

do there, frankly. in other instances, look at what's happening in california with meg whitman, there are serious questions being raised about whether or not she's being honest about what she knew about this woman she called a family member who worked for her. in that instance, i think it is important to bring those facts to light. >> alex, let's take the majority leader of the united states senate. i mean, he has done what the democrats say, he has led the senate to one of the great legislative histories of all time and he's out there at about 41% running these savage attack ads on his opponent. and why is he doing that? why is not arguing the tremendous things we've done with obama, the tremendous things nancy pelosi and i have done and the reason to re-elect us? they're in panic because they've lost the country. >> now, pat. >> they've lost the country. >> wait a second. the truth is he's doing both. but sharron angle has been running savage attacks against harry reid, all of a sudden

she's afraid to talk to the media. again, that's a prime example of a woman who in the primary was very extreme. you and i both know for a fact that the national republican senatorial campaign committee sent somebody out there to sit on her with the goal of keeping her away from the media. now their goal is just to attack harry reid. he can't just sit there and take it. >> assume what you're saying is true. assume that it's true. >> let's do that, pat. >> why is a leader in trouble in his own state of navy da if he's had this splendid record? he is desperate. he's at 41%. why in his home state? because sharron angle's been mean to him? >> no. >> for heaven's sakes, why can't he win an election on his own? >> he's working on winning an election, pat. that's what a campaign is for. >> i'm entirely frustrated. i had the best question and nick is like, alex, you really got to wrap. >> oh! >> one of those things that i keep to myself unless i bring it up later. talk to you guys in a bit. next here on msnbc saturday,

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police in florida are hunting for two men who they say were involved in an armored truck heist on friday. one security guard working for the brink's's company was shot and killed yesterday. police arrested one suspect but they say two other men are on the loose after they crashed their getaway car and fled on foot. police warn the robbers are believed to be armed. the brink's company is offering $70,000 to anyone who provides information that leads to further arrests. just outside boston, a suspected bank robber could run, but he could not hide for long. officers say they found the getaway car minutes after the bank job. they had it towed to a city garage, and that is when they realized the suspect was hiding

in the trunk. yeah, he was quickly arrested. europe on alert, we're learning more about the new wave of terror threats and exactly who may be behind them. is anybody out there? new evidence there really could be live on another planet beyond earth. how cool is that? (vet) i love working with animals,

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i'm alex witt. here are the top stories at the bochl the hour. this morning 36 are dead and dozens severely hurt in indonesia after one train slammed into another that was stopped at a station. officials are pointing to human error. hope is fading in the search for two american balloonists missing off the coast of italy. richard abruzzo and carol davis disappeared in a balloon race wednesday.

the balloon's tracking device shows the craft plunged to the sea at nearly 50 miles an hour. california lawmakers have reached an agreement for the budget. it brings to an end a 93-day fiscal impasse that is the longest in the golden state's history. u.s. terrorism officials say they believe senior al qaeda leaders including osama bin laden were involved in a plan to strike several european cities in a coordinated assault. officials say bin laden may be trying to show al qaeda is still strong and able to launch attacks on western targets. joining me live now, terrorism expert steve emerson. hello. good to see you. >> good to see you, alex. >> how are u.s. counterterrorism officials making this link between the european threats and osama bin laden? >> first, there are several things that they've picked up. one is they arrested a man in -- i think amsterdam or germany two days ago who revealed elements of this plot. number two, there were electronic intelligence intercepts picked up from

pakistan, afghanistan to europe. and number three, they had somebody who was part -- would have been part of the plot in pakistan actually tell u.s. authorities some elements of it. he wasn't read into the whole thing. but altogether, they concluded that a plot was imminent. as you recall, the eiffel tower was evacuated. thousands of extra police were put around paris, brussels, parts of germany. so they took this very seriously. it would have been a moonlight style attack, like when they killed 187 people in mumbai, right in this would have been an internal attack by muslim -- radical muslims inside of europe because they have no real borders. >> i remember that attack happened on thanksgiving day two years ago because i was on that one. let's talk about the next question that follows because do you think that officials have evidence that this type of attack on these soft targets and tourist areas could also be

planned for the u.s.? >> i think they're very worried. i spoke to a senior intelligence official yesterday. and said how real is it? one, is there a connection to the u.s.? and two, how real is it? he said, one, it's very real because al qaeda wants to reassure itself it's been boasting of being able to carry out an attack for the last nine years like this. and with the except of spain and maybe the attacks in britain in july of '05, they really haven't been able to do much damage or maybe bali included. but in the u.s., there have been about 139 plots or efforts but no major attack like 9/11. this is really an taelt to re-establish their legitimacy in their own eyes. >> so does it also then say that al qaeda is understanding it's not capable any more of orchestrating some kind of massive 9/11 style attack? have they resigned themselves just to be smaller scale attacks? >> i think, you know, alex, i

think there's sort of like dual strategies. on you one level they're trying to do single attacks like the one in times square which was organized by the taliban last may. number two, they're thinking of other types of attacks like mumbai that would kill hundreds. and three, they have long-term plans not necessarily are they going to be able to implement them, but to carry out 9/11 style attacks. they're always thinking ahead. we're finding the last war. that's their advantage. >> you always listen to the chatter. what are you hearing out there right now? >> there's a real concern that something could happen here. there's always concern when you have an imminent plot in europe and it's being carried out definitively by al qaeda or an al qaeda offshoot like the hakani network like this one. but here i heard there are actual people in the u.s. who were heard on -- let's just say intercepts that were involved with this plot. i don't know if they'll be arrested, they'll just be

watched, but definitely there was a u.s. connection. >> steve emerson, always sobering talking to you, but we do presh rate it, nonetheless. >> you bet. bank of america now says it is joining gmac and jpmorgan in stopping evictions and sales for foreclosures. right now they're reviewing whether they rushed through foreclosures without even reading the documents. peter alexander is in downtown los angeles with more. >> reporter: new evidence the nation's foreclosure crisis is far from finished. >> come on in. >> reporter: thousands of people, some from as far away as arkansas and florida, looking for free help in a last-ditch effort to hold on to their homes. among them, prentiss hill. what's your situation? >> the situation is i'm in an interest-only loan that's killing me. >> i cannot rent a house for less than what i'm paying. so i don't want to end up on the street. >> reporter: nationwide, nearly one in seven borrowers is behind on their mortgage or in

foreclosure. and a record 95,000 homes were repossessed in august alone. the nation's largest bank, bank of america, joined jpmorgan chase and gmac in suspending foreclosure evikdzs across 23 states about tp move is offering new questioning about whether banks cut corners to expedite home repossessions. an employee with b of a, revealed she approved up to 400 a month and didn't read them. a gmac employee admitted signing off on 10,000 cases a month. critics refer to that process as robo-signing where it would be seemingly impossible for any one person to review so many documents. this attorney says his client is among those who lost his home as bankers looked for shortcuts. >> i feel the time is now to stop this. >> reporter: all three lenders say they're reviewing their procedures, both gmac and chase insist none of the processing errors resulted in inappropriate foreclosures.

still, experts say this new confusion will only make things more difficult in an already stressed real estate market. >> we have a glut of foreclosures right now that need to be processed and gotten out on to the market and resold to borrowers who can afford them. if you delay it, you just put the pain further down the road. >> that was peter alexander reporting. next week we're going to get another picture on the home front with a report on the pending home sales. so some amazing news for anyone who's ever wondered if we're not alone in this universe. come on, all of you have, right? a new planet discovered in the constellation libra means it is all set to sustain life. we'll have a new conversation with dave brody, correspondent for space.com. this is planet goldilocks. why? >> yeah. you remember the story, right, alex, not too hot, not too cold, everything is just right. in this case, the everything is it's just right for water to form in the liquid stage in the

gaseous stage and the salt stage just like we have on earth. an old fashioned red dwarf star. and it could remain liquid. do we know there's life there, no, we don't, but the conditions are such that it could form. >> we have one astronomer affiliated with uc santa cruz who said he's pretty close to 100% certain there will be life on this planet. that's pretty amazing. >> it is pretty amazing. to say that right now definitely would be a case of premature congrat u lags. we need to long longer. but this is a very good first step. >> it's a very exciting discovery why? i have to tell all the -- we were in the makeup room earlier and we were just all giddy about this. i'm sort of a space geek and you are, too. what about it makes it important? it's exciting to think about. but why is it important? >> i think we all want to know where we came from, where we're going. right now we have an example of

exactly one. this planet earth. there are 5200 other billion galaxies. we found 400 planets looking at just the closest stars to our own. this means there could be trillions of planets in the milky way galaxy. what are the chances that there would be other folks approximately on our level of intelligence and communication that would want to talk with us? it's been very lonely being the only intelligent communicative species. >> this goldilocks planet has a temperature reading potentially of negative 24 degrees fahrenheit up to 10 degrees fahrenhe fahrenheit. that's not exactly sustainable for human life. >> here's the deal. that's the case for the entire planet -- i'm a science reporter so i walk around with planets in my pocket. this is in lock with its star. it goes around this way with the same face facing that star. >> i see, there's no axis upon which it's turning. >> yeah, it doesn't turn. that means that there is a zone right here where it's very

temperate climate. because it's in lock, that zone will stay that way for a long time and the star can be very old. lots of chance for evolution to take place. the polar bears and the penguins of that planet could migrate to the cold side and the tropical fish to the hot side. you could have an ecosystem in this other goldilocks zone right here on the planet. glees 581-g is its name. >> so cool. come talk to us more about it. >> thanks, alex. we hear the recession is over, but with so many still out of work, when will we feel it?

this morning, new tensions between the u.s. and pakistan. a critical ally in the war in afghanistan. at least 14 people are dead after two suspected u.s. drone attacks in northwest pakistan. meantime, the taliban in pakistan is claiming responsibility for attacking a convoy of nato oil tankers, saying it was retaliating over the death of three pakistani

soldiers. nbc's john yang is live in kabul, afghanistan. good saturday to you. what do we know about these drone attacks? >> reporter: well, what we know is coming from pakistani sources. the nato officials in the -- here in kabul aren't commenting. they say it wasn't their operation, which is usually a nod to say that it was a cia operation, a cia drone. this was two attacks on suspected insurgents in the northwestern part of pakistan, an area where the united states and the coalition forces believe insurgents -- they sort of use it as a staging ground for attacks into afghanistan. there has been increasing military activity, increasing air strikes in this area because the united states has concluded that pakistan either can't or won't -- can't or won't do what it takes to control the militants in that area. this has, of course, inflamed

anti-western, anti-american sentiment in pakistan leading to the shutdown of a key nato supply route through pakistan into afghanistan for coalition bases. now, yesterday in the states, admiral mike mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs, talked about that. and he said some of the history of the united states' relationship with pakistan is actually responsible for these tengs. he said that we left them -- we the united states -- left them in a dark hole from about 1990 until 2002 and they don't trust us. and we're trying to rebuild that trust. and talks are under way between the united states and the nato forces, and pakistani officials trying to get that supply line open again. but fr o the time being nato says they are not feeling any effects of that closure of the shutdown of that supply route in operations so far. they say it won't have an effect for some time to come. alex?

>> okay. let's hope it never happens to feel an effect. but anyway, thank you so much, john yang in kabul. consumer confidence is down to its lowest level since february. in spite of data indicating the recession ended in june of 2009, it feels like a recession out there. how will you know when the recession is really over? vera gibbons is here to take us through some of the top signs to look for. they can't come soon enough. >> the first would be when your boss starts replacing some of the people they left go. right now you have people doing work of two, three, four people. they're not complaining about it because they're happy to have work. but these companies are working loan and mean. fewer people making them do more. and until they actually replace those people, like i said, who have been let go or retired, it won't feel like a recovery. >> you talk about your friends' employment status? >> the unemployment statistics lie. all they do is measure how many are collecting unemployment benefits. there's this whole underground work force, part-timers, those

doing gigs, contract workers. until there's real hiring going on with real benefits, the 401(k), the health benefits, it's not going to feel like a recovery. >> here is another one, you say, if folks are moving out of their parents' place. >> see, here's the thing. 14 million kids, adult kids, are now living with their parents. >> they don't want to be. >> they don't want to be. you would know about that. they don't want to be living with their parents. and parents are spending 10% of their annual income on their adult children, just to keep them around, keep them happy. it is costing them out of pocket. the kids are putting off getting married, all sorts of problems. >> you just bring up marriage. because divorce rates can be an indicator. how so? >> right. you have these married couples these days living as roommates. they're staying together not because they're madly in love. the husband can be a complete jerk, but it's not financially feasible to run two households, go through the whole local procedure. the peak years 2005, 2006 when

the stock market was on a tear and housing market was ridiculously out of control, the divorce rate was high. now it's taken a big hit. people are just waiting. >> franco just looked over to me and said, hey, the wife been be the complete jerk, too. >> fyi. >> we have to be equal in our bashing. what about vacations? >> vacations these days can be hopping in your car and driving a few miles and staying at your grandmother, staycations. when you're actually hopping on a plane and doing research and finding the great hotels and trying out the local restaurants. >> taking a cruise. >> there you go. spending some money. until you do that, it is not going to feel like a recovery. so that's why we feel like we're still stuck in a recession. >> you know what nick just said in my ear? bon voyage, it's time to go. nick, you're funny. nick in the booth. we'll get to nick later. if he's lucky. point, click and communicate instantly. children and teens are getting caught up in the fast current.

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the suicide of rutgers university freshman tyler clementi has gay rights groups outraged. but it is also focusing attention on the kind of information teens are sharing on social networking sites. clementi killed himself last week after authorities say his roommate used a web cam to stream on the internet his sexual encounter with another man in his dorm room. that man along with another student are charged with invasion of privacy. they could face hate crime charges. joining me live now ginger lieberman, the author of "bully frog." her website is cyberbullies beware.com. we're glad you're here. this story has brought the light the internet and social networking and the kind of devastating attacks that kids

don't realize may be the ramifications of their words on the internet. >> i thing the worst part is that, you know, there is naivete, but some is done -- absolutely the level of meanness keeps increasing and increasing. when we talk about the brain development of children, a lot of times they don't see the forest for the trees until they're close to 20. you say, why did you do that? i don't know. but when you target a person, you people will laugh, humiliate and debase another person, it moves to another level. it's one thing to say, i don't like your outfit. >> forlorn frog's fan tast cannic valentine's day. we're talking about people who dress different than you do, maybe not with the fanciest clothes out there. but with regard to powing material online, is there any sense that teens are aware that this is a problem? and if not, how do you combat that? >> through education. kids have to be spoken to. because a lot of things kids

write on such website, what happens is they go to apply to a college, somebody will google their name and somebody will read about them or what they wrote. it could take a college admissions officer to say, i don't want this person. you go to look for a job. you want to talk to children about consequences of what they do. why are you doing it? what is the purpose of it? and if you feel that it's positive, it's one thing. but when it's done intentionally to harm, that's a whole other level. >> but is that the kind of thing we had to do years ago prior to this internet? wasn't it that bullies duked it out on the playground or whatever and it was done and over with. what is it that technology has introduced that make us have to deal with it this way? >> a whole new forum, not only bullying but a way of life. you have 24/7 communication. i would be sitting here with a cell phone filming you and you wouldn't know it. i can video anything i want about you to people.

i can have a netbook with a camera on it and filming someone. it is to catch something, do something that's embarrassing. we don't want somebody to know about. >> you talk with students, staff, parents and the like on how to prevent and recognize bullying. what are some of the top couple of things that you put out there and say look out for this or do this? >> we talk about red flags. if your child comes home and they're depressed, they're angry, they're withdrawn, they're very, very secretive. you walk into a rom and they close off the computer so you can't see what they're doing. they don't want to talk to their friends. nose are red flags. parents have to communicate with their kids. schools have to communicate. they have to do educational programs. >> if you've got a child who's on the internet, you know, doing their thing and you walk into a room and they shut the computer. there is a fine line to walk between respecting their privacy and saying, i need to see what's going on because i'm worried. >> i think that when you see a child's behavior, if they're

always running the computer, they're nervous, tense, you can hear when they talk to -- once in a while now when they talk to somebody on a cell phone, something is going on. you know your kids. you know them very well. when your kid's in trouble. you can start to watch body language, if they won't look at you. if they're not eating. if they're just saying to you, it's none of your business. and if you think your kid's doing drugs and alcohol, you sort of look a little bit. this is a judgment call that a parent has to make, that you look for the warning signs. is this my kid or is this a different child? >> keep your eyes on your kids. that's what i try to do. thank you so much. >> my pleasure. >> we have breaking news to share about scary moments over london. a flight from heathrow to new york takes off and turns back because a door was not closed. we'll have a live report ahead on that. also right now the one nation working together rally is taking shape in washington, d.c. we'rgoing to take you out there live next here on msnbc. 'n bad at this in the past, so i've come up with some mnemonic devices to help me learn your names. hello, a "penny" saved is a "penny" earned.

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