the hard road takes her through the front door. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. ""countdown with keith olbermann" starts right now. which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? the pelosi plan. tie the republicans to big money and big oil, add jujitsu. we're going to tattoo you with that so it's like doggy doo stuck on you shoe wherever you go people will know. light at the end of the polls. democratic upswing and in a month obama from 52-46 disapproval to 50-47 approval. bureaucratic fire. the international association of firefighters condemns the refusal of the tennessee firemen to fight it even though the cranicks did not pay. >> i understood some of the firefighters went home and sick and some of them cried over it.

i appreciate it. >> the latest from obion county. i'm sharron angle. >> they're taking your tax breaks, social security, jobs. it is the race card and sharron angle is now officially playing it. worse, texas republicans not a penny for social security but $5 million for donuts. and rick sanchez apologizes. except he doesn't. and the weekly world news. home of bat boy, reports l.a. spent $1 billion on jet packs for policemen. and guess who believed it? >> city of los angeles already ordering 10,000 jet packs for its police, paramedics and fire departments. >> are you kidding? >> can we afford that? >> there are no jet packs. where are our jet packs? we were promised jet packs. my guests, the mythbusters. all the news and commentary now

on "countdown." >> i need a jet pack. if i only had a jet pack. good evening from new york. to boil it down, she is advocating tattoo you with dogdy doo jujitsu. nancy pelosi's plan to turn republican funding advantages against the republican party. despite evidence that the democrats are still underselling their own accomplishments. the speaker beginning by frankly acknowledging the gop's enormous advantage in money from outside groups unleashed by citizens united in an interview, the speaker said, quote, somebody said to me you can survive being outspent eight to one? i said, as long as the one is there, okay. pelosi tied together what many is obvious. the gop's love of the big guys, specifically the big corporate guy quoting whenever you get hit be an overwhelming weight, you have to jujitsu it. so we want to turn it against them.

i want to tattoo them right on to the republican candidate, big boil, big banks, big health insurance. we're going to tattoo you with that so it's like dogdy-doo stuck on your shoe. whenever you go people will know. in san francisco today, the speaker characterized the motivation of big -- fill in the blank. >> we have made some people unhappy. big banks, big oil. a big health insurance industry and so you will see them out there now with the euphemistic names. they call themselves 60 plus. means health insurance. they call themselves americans for prosperity. god knows. they want to buy the country. wants to buy america. >> to a thematic footnote, house minority whip eric cantor all but conceded the democrats are, indeed, for the little guy and asked about being the only jewish republican in both houses of congress and explains to "the

wall street journal" is jews are prone to want to help the underdog. democrats favor the underdog. republicans do not and therefore jewish people align themselves with democrats and on the other means of underdog, the narrative the democrats puller have vised in the midterm elections is lighter. over the past month alone, democrats cut in half the republican advantage in the generic congressional ballot, 13-point gop advantage is now down to six. the president's approval rating in positive territory, that represents a nine-month swing. another poll showing that democratic candidates still need to engage democratic voters. only one third of democrats polled think this congress accomplished more than other recent congresses. 60% say it achieved the same or less and even though the 111th has, in fact, been one of the productive since the great society passed in 1965 and even though president obama has had more legislative success than any modern president.

that according to norm orenstein. student loan reform, wall street reform among the more obvious achievements. the congress and ezra klein, first about pelosi. mother jones magazine, washington bureau chief, columnist, david corn. good evening. >> good evening, keith. >> in some ways, what speaker pelosi is saying seems obvious and effectively articulated before? have democrats come close to drawing that straight a line for the electorate gop equals big oil, big insurance, big et cetera? >> i don't think it's a matter of drawing a line. even inking a tattoo. i think it really is a matter of picking up a baseball bat and swinging. you know, big oil, gop. bam. big banks and gop. bam. you have to do this again and again. people are busy. they don't always pay attention and they want to see it as a fight, not as a debating point. and there's really only one

person to town to swing a hammer that way, that is the president. >> so let's talk doo-doo for a moment. >> yes. we must. >> with less money, how do democrats get the message out that, you know, big oil, big banks, big health want to as she put it and this we have been using the phrase for months buy the country? >> right. well, the white house bully pulpit i think is a more effective way of a message across than a 60-second spot on a rerun of "friends" at 11:00 at night. i mean, you can buy 20 of those, 50 of those, 100 of those. and yet, you know, a clear message from the president which is echoed by the democrats and in congress would i think trump that but the problem of the democratic side long been consistency. it is hard to sort of be an anti-corporate populist cutting

a deal with big pharma. so, that's where the democrats get kind of stuck here. they, you know, they feed at the same trough. just not as much and they don't do i think all the same heavy lifting but they can still be tarred. >> but if the percentages were backwards here and the associations were backwards between the parties, that wouldn't stop the republicans. they counter that they have money from the special interests and they would stick their fingers in the ears and turn up the volume on the rerun of "friends." shouldn't dratds do a better job of portraying the gop and the ancillary groups as flat-out against the basis and the basic economic interests of anybody not overwhelmingly wealthy? >> listen. that's what i'm saying for years, that's where my politics come from. i think when obama came in, he didn't want to be that confrontational. we talked about this before on the show. whether he thought he could work with republicans or thought part

of his appeal as a candidate was the promise to transkend, you know, partisan bickering but i think there's a difference between partisan bickering and fighting damn hard for your side and your set of views. and this is really -- this works, i think, if you do it consistently, steadily and confrontational. you can do wit a smile. you don't have to be angry about it but going back and forth it allows the other side sort of say, you're not serious about this. you took $5 once from a company doing business with exxon and then, oh no. and then -- and the way the media covers the stuff, everybody looks tainted and one corner far more in the tar than anybody else. >> thanks, david corn. >> thanks, keith. let's turn to staff writer of "washington post," ezra klein. good evening. >> good evening, keith. >> polls have to be considered

with skepticism and one showing that republicans are ahead taken as if man that from heaven and is there not a case things are tightening and going in that direction as the midterms draw closer? >> well, i'm a guy that roots for the underdog but even i -- i'm always careful about the polls and i would say that the real thing people need to be watching is not the basic generic poll of how many people in the country like dems and who likes republicans. gallup had a poll i think yesterday or two days ago showed if you look at all voters, 46-43 for republicans. manageable for democrats. if you look at likely voters in a high turnout election, it's a 13-point advantage for republicans and looking at likely voters in a low turnout election, it is 18-point. the country is not just what the country thinks of the election but who turns out to vote. you can really have democrats losing tons of seats even as they're at rough parody in the country as a whole. >> obviously, the question of

likely voter in a poll to poll basis we could talk about for probably four hours without a break but accepted as fact do the democrats do themselves a disservice to try to go back and sell, look what this congress has done? does that sound like an empty offer of the proverbial bill of goods or just say gop equals big interests against you at home? >> i don't know. i wish i did. if i did i could move into political consulting and make a money of money but i think that people work backwards from the conditions in their own lives to views of public officials and i think the problem for democrats is they have an enormous number of accomplishments. the idea that the people think the congress didn't accomplish much is absurd and it is understandable. the health care bill doesn't begin until 2014. the stimulus bill may have kept unemployment from being at 12% and doesn't mean it's not 9% and people don't feel 3% of unemployment that isn't there.

so they do have a real problem. they have a lot of accomplishments but not a lot that people are feeling. and in that, you can really go out the other side for what they want to do an and the tea parties are helping with the strategy and frankly a pale strategy of a selling yourself. >> if you marry that to the facts of democrats more adept and comfortable on defense than on offense and i don't mean pentagon defense but playing defense is that the -- are those the two twin stars of the problem, the democrats face right now? >> i believe so. you know, that is -- their problem -- even beyond that is conditions. they do have a problem with conditions. it's just hard to tell people that things are going ll when they're not going well for them and sort of the unfair reality of politics, right? people being judged based on not what they have dub but done before them. we have a deficit largely created by george w. bush. we have a large financial crisis created in the '90s and 2000s.

somewhat bipartisan and happened on bush's watch and people feel unfairly tarred here come november. >> a lot of us recognize the implications of citizens united, the supreme court decision, quickly. the president seemed to get it immediately and brought it up in january. why are the democrats just now and still some what lung headedly and clumsily trying to hint that maybe this was a bad idea? did they perhaps think they were going to be able to negotiate in this new system and get some of this extra money coming in, too, or at least proportionately? >> they made a mistake. what they should have done and i do believe this is one of the big missed opportunities is gone to the fair elections now act and taken it as an opportunity to rebuild the corrupted system we have. they should have really swung for the fences and, yeah, they couldn't have passed it but they have run on it and had a message we're here and they're over there and you have to decide

which side you're on. but they went with something smaller. they couldn't pass that and now there's not that much difference when you got one guy saying i want things as they are. the other guy's saying i want things as they are and corporations tell $85 million in a campaign, that's really not that much difference for voters. >> ezra klein, msnbc contributor, thanks as always. >> thank you. more developments in the case of the tennessee homeowner who had to watch the fire department watch as his house burned to the ground because he didn't pay a surcharge for the fire department's services. his ins shurn status, the condemnation of an international association of firefighters and the legal implications i mean, what could be next? ala cart police coverage? homeland security? jonathan turley next on "countdown." you never take an upgrade for granted. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price.

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the cranick fire and public safety ala cart. the head of the international association of firefighters samsame said the flames should have been douses anyway. she puts the race card into a campaign commercial. when is an apology not an

apology? when you say, quote, anyone else whom i may have offended. she thought l.a. spent a billion dollars for jet packs. where the jet packs anyway? we'll ask the mythbusters.

as the astounding story of the burned down home echoed across the country and back again, gene cranick said he hasn't decided whether he'll need outside help. his son todd saying that the family received some insurance money already and that their

agency says it intends to cover all damage and property losses. our fourth story, it is unclear if $75 of the money goes to the firefighters. and the legal implications, how far can you take this optional security stuff began to resonate, too. outside the courthouse in obion county, he defended them. he said he sympathizes and said the fault lies with them and said that the rural residents of the county do not pay taxes to benefit the municipalities and they're received death threats in the wake of the fire. attending chief's news conference, todd, gene cranick's son. >> every chief took an oath to serve and -- i don't know what the words they could. but to do the best. are you aware that my neighbor

was standing there with an open checkbook and told them to put it out no matter what it cost? my dad, 0 open checkbook. >> yes, sir. >> it's not like the money wasn't there. $75 very sus $5,000 or $10,000. >> i understand this. >> the head of the international association of firefighters releasing a statement. according to the decision by the south fulton fire department to allow a family's home to burn to the ground was incredibly irresponsible. because of the pay to play policy, firefighters were ordered to stand and watch a family lose its home. everyone deserves protection because providing public safety is among the highest priorities. there's the latest crux right there. what if south fulton or the county decided public safety is entirely optional and a subscription police force and extrapolate the government, should americans short their irs bill if they didn't think it was a need for an army or a national guard or an kurgs somewhere? why not raise your own militia?

ala cart homeland security and doesn't compensate for honest mistakes. >> i had forgot this thing. i know people don't think you forget things like that but you do. and just so happened i forgot it. i have to suffer the consequences for it. >> this time, the mistake was mr. cranick's. what happens next time with a clerical error? joining us is jonathan turley. >> hi, keith. >> how legal for any government anywhere to make fighting fires optional? >> well, unfortunately, it is legal. it appears in tennessee. the tennessee law allows for fire departments to contract outside of their jurisdiction for the services. when's strange about the tennessee system is that they don't contract for all areas but they can become a sort of home security system where you get individual owners to pay.

and then you can use as symbols or examples those who do not. but i've never seen anything like this. in the common law there's a principle called the duty of rescue. it's misnomer. it is a duty not to rescue saying that you don't have to rescue someone when f you didn't put them into peril. this is the first time i have seen a police officer or firefighter say that they can use that same principle. because if you take this to its natural conclusion, it wouldn't be just the pets that necessarily could have died. under this same logic, they could have watched people die in the house and say that's not our problem. you didn't give us $75. >> as we contemplate a tea party america and the idea that you could just back off what we consider the standard responsibilities of government, local or national towards its people, what can't you make optional? >> well, that's the real question. i mean, we seem to particularly

in the last few years be returning to a state of nature. you see states and cities that are throwing over the side critical programs, selling park selling buildings. and the question is, when does government itself become discretionary? and i think that we are in a dangerous place right now where you can believe in less government but no advocate that i know of believes that police and fire support are part of that bargain. that is, there's the assumption is that when you form a civilized nation, particularly in an advanced nation like our own, that there's certain things that you should be able to take for granted. but the thing that i find most worrisome there is the corros e corrosivenecorrosive effect on the behavior of the firefighters. some following orders and very upset about this. but to turn firefighters into this type of menace, because

they're there not as part of the solution but part of the problem and you're really basing a whole moral judgment on the failure to pay a contract. and for those conservatives that are saying, well, you should let the house burn, the question is where's the moral dimension here? you know, whether this was legal or not, it was facially immoral. any citizen, not just a firefighter, who sees a house burning has a moral obligation to try to do something about it other than use them as an example for contract negotiations. >> amen. on the subject of contract negotiations, i recall from my, you know, one little tiny law course in college that mu mutuality -- if the county opts out of elemental -- can i call up the white house, president obama, i don't think we need to be in the afghanistan. i'm taking 15% off the taxes? >> i'm going to give you some legal advice, probably hold off

on that for a moment. >> something of a rhetorical question there. >> you know, the fact is the -- it's a one-way street with the government. as we see more services contracted out, however, the government does insist to pay the taxes. we need to look very carefully at who we are and where we're going when we start to make fire protection something akin to a dimsum menu for neighbors and we are entering a very dangerous place, and i think this case as you have really brought it to light shows how dangerous that really can be. >> professor, john, thanks as always for your time tonight. >> thank you, keith jirkts there are two things going on tonight. the proposal of the chief tea party puppet tier. it will turn your stomach.

no-hitter by a guy in the playoffs waiting 13 years to appear in them. ahead on "countdown."

sharron angle cuts to the chase. the brown people taking away the jobs of the white people. next. first the sanity break. the playoffs, halladay, the first post season start of the 13-year major league career threw a no-hitter against the cincinnati reds in the opening league of the division series at philadelphia. that's the last out. only the second time in the history of baseball it's been

thrown in the playoffs or a world series and dating back to 1882. the only other one, don larson's perfect game for the yankees against the dodgers in the world series 54 years ago. this friday. one other pitcher lost a no-hitter in the ninth inning of a world series game. rod sox lost one in a 196 series game. no other pitcher has ever gotten even that close in the post season. halladay threw a perfect game versus florida in may and thus also becomes the first pitcher in baseball history to throw a perfect game and a full no-hitter in the same year. tweet of the day with a tough act to follow there. it recalls my pledge yesterday, give $2 to the first right-wing nut job to say that the presidential seal falling off the lectern was a sign. you owe gretchen carlson $2.

sucker bet. i'll take it off the tab for the damage of the culture. that's now $47 billion. it's payable. with the usual caveat, we begin in brazil with incredible video. that's rosalinda. she was tossed into the air, landed more than 60 feet down the road and suffered only minor injuries. the driver immediately stopped and called for help and witnesses say the driver appeared to have been drinking. the zoo in south africa is the final destination. my sad duty to report that charlie the smoking chimp passed on. he huffed and puffed to the days of fame. speculating that charlie picked up the habit working for an american circus and pester visitors until they tossed him

lit cigarettes. he enjoyed climbing trees and eating banana ps. he' he's survived by his children and mr. teeny nine. time marches on. the red coats are coming, cried paul revere. the brown people are coming cries sharron angle. we can play the tea party crapola, too, you know. ♪ where'd you learn to do that so well. ♪ the new cadillac srx. the cadillac of crossovers. cadillac. the new standard of the world.

exactly how bad is illegal immigration in the state of nevada? so bad that illegal immigrants are apparently crossing state lines to take jobs away from tv actors in political ads. third story tonight, republican tea party candidate sharron angle has a new ad out juxtaposing guys uniformly white with portrait of children brought here illegally by parents and appear to be uniformly more likely to take your wallet than the job.

the ad is likened to the race baiting willie horton ad used against michael due cass kiss. does new angle ad resort to fearmongering? that's where that came from. here's the context you should have when you see the ad for yourself. last monday ellis who served as a spokeswoman for angle and chair of the nevada hispanic caucus condemned the previous attack ad. i condemn it whether they blame mexicans at the only problem. never mind that the ads' claims of supposed votes for tax breaks and other perks at the expense of taxpayers widely debunked. not by john mccain and others that cast the same votes reid did. the new ad claims that reid wants to give money to illegal immigrants

hates and those making a commitment to this nation attending college or by joining the military. harry reid isn't the only one supporting this. so's the u.s. pentagon. when you watch this ad, keep in mind, tax breaks and social security claims already debunked, keep an eye on which faces represent nevadans and which of college-bound illegal immigrants. >> harry reid voted to give special tax breaks to illegal aliens. harry reid voted to give social security benefits to illegals. even for the time they were here illegally. and now harry reid is fighting for a program that would give

preferred college tuition rates to none other than illegal aliens. using your money to pay for it. le leading to a simple question. what does harry reid have against you? >> did you spot these college kids? we don't know who they are but they're not from nevada. they came from louisiana. how do we know that? because they already showed up in republican senator david vitters' ad there from think progress and scaring the voters of louisiana so apparently the problem is terrorizing the two states. the president of the latino advocacy group which is active in nevada and other states. thank you for your time tonight, sir. >> great to be here, keith. >> setting aside the factuality or total lack there of, your reaction is what? >> well, i they're ri nature, the gritty nature of the sort of characters walking across the

border, i guess it's an homage to halloween just around the corner and more interest any enough, i don't really know what border they're crossing. last time i checked nevada didn't border mexico but all kidding aside, this is happening all over the country, and you know, it is a sign instead of fixing a broken immigration system to get on to other things, like employment and to make a reference to jobs, well, skapgoating latinos is not going to get any american a job in this country. all it's going to do is put smoke and mirrors and allow candidates to not talk about the issues that americans care about, and go elsewhere, places that don't make a difference. >> what about getting sharron angle a job? would she gain more with the base than lose among hispanics and moderates and, you know, sane people? >> well, you know, it a's tight race and it's hard to say. you know, i'm one of those --

i'm an optimist. i believe that americans are smarter than this. i believe that in the end nevadans know. they live by -- they live next to latinos. you know, most of the population in nevada is one or two counties. it is not like they're spread out everywhere and i choose to believe that americans are smarter than that and know in the end what they should be doing is asking sharron angle how she's going to get the jobs back and what they should be doing is asking her, what's going to happen to public education and how will i ensure that my kid has a public education? and those are the questions that -- of course, this is not a new issue. this is not a new strategy. throughout time and during the election periods when candidates like miss angle don't have answers they go to fearmongering. it is boring, old. been done. move on, sharron. >> not long ago we had considerable and bipartisan

support of the dream act and other reforms. how did we get from there to these ads seemingly so quickly? >> you know, that's a really good question. i think the dream act is a tragedy it didn't pass. you are talking about providing a pathway to citizenship for high, often high producing students who want to go to higher -- want to go to a higher -- to acquire higher education or be part of the military. i mean, the dream act addresses those two things very centrally. and i don't really think that that's an issue that one can tar and feather reid or anyone else. i think those are real admirable efforts. i don't know that we're in a position in the united states to turn away talent. and all of the dream act said was, look, if you don't xhat crime, if you pass security checks, you get good grades, you should be able to go to a college and be able to afford it like every other american and be able to pay back to the country

which is what we all do when we go to college. i mean, you know, i heard a story of dr. quinonos that came over the border illegally at 19 and now a neuro surgeon and saving american lives every single day. and by the way, those same hands that picked the produce 15 years ago are now the one that is are performing the surgery, so that i think is what americans are about. they want to know that this country's going to be as good as it was ten years ago, even better an the answer isn't whether the individuals will come or go. the answer is whether they're going to know the rule of law, have access to accurate information, participate in this democracy and be good neighbors. i think that's really what it's all about. >> george, great. thanks for your time tonight. >> thank you for having me tonight. the weekly world news is not necessarily a good source for the l.a.p.d. buying a billion dollars worth of jet packs and

mythbusters on the reality of jet packs. old pal dick has a new idea about pell grants and federal college loans. you won't believe it. christine o'donnell would not let rachel into the campaign headquarters but uses her in a fund raising letter. you know what that's called? that's called cowardice. was i supposed to go without my wife? [ elevator bell dings ] [ grunting ] haha, that was awkward. so we upgraded to the venture card from capital one. we've had it with the games. [ male announcer ] don't pay miles upcharges. don't play games. get the flight you want with the venture card at capitalone.com. what's in your wallet? until the combination of three good probiotics in phillips' colon health defended against the bad gas, diarrhea and constipation. ...and? it helped balance her colon.

oh, now that's the best part. i love your work. [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health. ben and his family live on this block. ben's a re/max agent, and he's a big part of this community. re/max agents know their markets, and they care enough to get to know you, too. nobody sells more real estate than re/max. visit remax.com today. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] every day thousands of people are switching from tylenol to advil. to learn more go to takeadvil.com. the first 500,000 people get a free bottle of advil. take action. take advil. i've never had an accident. is there anything you can do for me ? yeah, i'm here with liz. i need a brilliant idea right now.

guys ! i just gagged. here it is. deductible. take $50 off. wait. take $100 off for every year she doesn't have an accident... ... and call it vanishing deductible. hook, line, sinker. done. the nation's problems are solved by one gop county chairman who reports that last month the group spent $5 million on doughnuts. just one trip, too. and these gentlemen and the undying allure of the jet pack. fox was dumb enough to believe a report that the city spent a billion dollars on jet packs. we'll ask them, where are our jet packs anywho? [ j. weissman ] it was 1975.

my professor at berkeley asked me if i wanted to change the world. i said "sure." "well, let's grow some algae." and that's what started it. exxonmobil and synthetic genomics have built a new facility to identify the most productive strains of algae.

algae are amazing little critters. they secrete oil, which we could turn into biofuels. they also absorb co2. we're hoping to supplement the fuels that we use in our vehicles, and to do this at a large enough scale to someday help meet the world's energy demands. billion dollars spent on jet packs, you say? and you reported it? where are they? we'll ask the mythbusters. i finally did it. that's next. it's time for tonight's "world's worst person in the world." republican chairman of williamson county. a couple of whoops. they had a big meal at applebee's. $9 million. i just can't stop eating the million dollar burger platters. by the 20th, they were hungry

again and $5 million at round rock doughnuts. 813,000 dozen. and the small coffee. the first tie to to understand. it's 9/10 dlsh 2010. the other typo, they're not sure. they might have doubt the dozens of doughnuts. rick sanchez, six days later there is a statement beginning on october 4th i had a very good conversation with jon stewart and i had the opportunity to apologize for my inartful comments from last week. i sincere sli exthe end this apology to anyone else whom i may have offended. saying jon stewart was a bigot and most of the people running the networks wasn't inartful, it was anti-semitic. just say i apologize to anyone else i may have offended. the statement closes with "i

look forward to my next step with great anticipation." your next step is an apology. but our winner, dick armey of freedom works asked on cnn to eliminate all federal funding for higher education. listen to this. i don't think the federal gft's involvement in education is benefited the students of america. the education of the young people ought to be under the jurisdiction and awe spiss of the state governments. the state of texas has a great university system not made any better by federal money involvement. let the states manage the education of their young people. eliminate the $18 billion in pell grants, $75 billion in student loans, leave the 19 million college students that applied for aid this year out in the cold. by the way, the great university system in texas? there was a billion dollars of pell grants and a fifth of all students at the university of texas at austin. why does he want to eliminate

all federal aid for college students? obviously so they'll all drop out and be as stupid as he is. dick armey of freedom works, today's worst person in the world.

their outrage over the story almost admirable. the city's police force spending $1 billion on futuristic rocket thingies. but the folks on "fox and friends" we'll ask the mythbusters how long must the nation wait for its jet packs? it was a story that just couldn't ignore. the l.a. police department

spending big bucks on the latest technology. the report even got a quote out of the mayor. we'll all be flying l.a. soon. the gum shoes over at fox and friends sleuthing the way to the bottom of this. >> the city of los angeles already ordering 10,000 jet packs for its police, paramedics and fire departments. >> are you kidding? >> can we afford that? it can fly up to 63 miles per hour. and get as high as 8,000 feet in the air. looking better. >> you don't want to run out of gas. >> the cost, $100,000. states -- i mean, i'm all for helping the capitalism but the states, do they have -- >> already ordered 10,000 of them. >> i think montana could order it. they have a surplus. i don't think california should. here's my thing, you have to make up some rules because you could have jet packs flying into choppers. >> three guys total iq 12. in addition to the obvious safety concerns, one had to

wonder why a city that can't pay overtime would spend a billion dollars on unproven space-age technology. shortly thereafter -- >> earlier we were talking about jet packs to fly around and looked like the l.a.p.d. buying a bunch of them. turns out they're not going to and, brian, more for you. >> turns out they're not going to which is fox speak for we crapped on the story. the city's police chief we haven't bought any jet packs. we haven't bought squad cars for two years. turns out the source for the story business the weekly world news, thee yeah or the of past head leans as bat child found in cave. and dick cheney is a robot. well, technically, that might be true. all right. we have all been done this road. the source didn't turn out to be bat boy! but could something out of the imagination be true? is daily jet pack travel with or

without woody allen in the near future? wendell moore's vision for it to be so in the '60s and it could stay in the air for 30 seconds prompting nasa and military interests to fade but now a company is developing jet packs for military and emergency services groups and also jet packs fit for personal use. we have been hearing this since '65 and set you back 100 grand each and negotiating a lease for a jet pack theme park. ten-minute flight, $250. brian watching brian trying to avoid choppers five feet in the air, priceless. joining me from l.a. and fresh from their triumphant came owes in the melt with you live video last night, our friends the mythbusters. new episodes start tonight on the discovery channel. thank you for your time tonight. >> thanks for having us on. >> did you encounter any flying

police officers on the way to the studio in l.a.? >> not so much. >> no. >> i didn't think so. where, adam, are the jet packs? we were promised jet packs. when do i get my jetpack? >> i don't think it happens any time soon, keith. think about the people that you pass driving every single day. do you want those people flying around you every single day? i don't think so. >> i don't like them driving as it is. >> exactly. >> jamie, some of these personal jet packs currently in development supposedly going 60 miles per hour on a 5-gallon tank of gas. can you give us a cliff notes version of how that's supposed to work? >> well, these are basically an alternative to a helicopter. except that they're using smaller fans that they make work just as efficiently putting them in a duct. they're possible. they do fly like the footage shows and several problems with that. in particular, you'll notice

that in that footage that they show they're doing it inside and the devices have a particular problem with cross winds. they buck uncontrolably currently as far as i'm aware. >> ouch. >> yeah. >> yeah. they're a couple of other things to keep in mind about them. if they stop working and one of them will, they're going to drop like a stone. unlike a helicopter, which actually can auto rotate and coast to the ground with certain caveats, these things just drop so you have to have a ballistic parachute that shoots up and also that explodes to spread it and a dead zone of about 75 feet i believe it is where you can't recover and going down and you're probably going to die. >> so, adam, when you guys made your own on a past episode of the show, were there other obstacles to overcome say the whole likely to be killed by one of them thing? >> yeah. well, yeah.

we were constrained by a 20-day build schedule when the previous two people to work on it spent ten years and tens of millions of dollars trying to achieve the same thing that we were. so, the hubris particular a thing in the way. control is a really, really devilish issue. seems like it's intuitive. the two rotors ought to allow you to be stable. it is not the truth and not the case. it is really, really difficult to control those things. >> so jamie -- >> i'm, in fact -- >> yes? >> knowing what i know, i'm glad we didn't get off the ground. >> give your assessment. is there any revision of this technology even theoretically to have a chance to work some day or just forever part of science fiction? >> maybe some day, you know, in a couple hundred years. i don't know. it's certainly not going to happen now and i would point

out, also, currently the faa as far as i'm aware won't license them as ultra light aircraft. they have to be able to have their engines shut off and actually land safely. >> and these if the engines shut off you're basically strapped to a 300-pound brick flying through the air. >> which is also a built of a problem if you happen to be on the ground watching. right? >> exactly. and if -- yeah. oh, totally. if it happens you can rest assured we'll strap buster to a 300-pound brick and throw him through the air. >> that would be six weeks' worth of shows and love every second of it and myself included. adam and jamie from "mistbusters," new series starts tonight and then, of course, the new music video career in the craig ferguson orchestra will be coming up real soon. gentlemen, always a pleasure. thanks for doing this with us tonight. >> thanks. >> thanks. >> that's october 6th.