good monday, everybody. i'm contessa brewer covering the big news coast to coast. and the big story is americans standing up saying enough is enough taking a stand against gay bashing weather verbal or physical. tonight a moment of silence for the recent spate of gay suicides. four teenagers have killed themselves in the past week bullied for being day. in new york the republican candidate for governor is defending his anti-gay remarks to a jewish group which his

campaign said wrote part of his insidiary speech. >> my approach is live and let live. i just think my children and your children will be much better off and much more successful getting married and raising a family. and i don't want them to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid successful option. it isn't. >> this morning on "today" paladino tried to explain his comments to matt lauer saying he was trying to differentiate himself from andrew cuomo. >> mr. cuomo took his daughters to a gay pride parade, is that normal? you would you take your children to a gay pride parade? >> i think you can expose your children to a lot of things to make their own decisions. >> i don't think it is proper to watch a couple grown men grind against each other. i don't think that's proper, i think it is disgusting. >> in new york nine members of a

gang are accused of torturing a recruit because the gang members suspected the victims of being gay. >> you don't attack somebody because of who they are unless you are an ignorant coward. >> new york police are looking for that ninth suspect in the hate crime case. 22-year-old rudy vargas perez was expected to turn himself in, never did. he and eight gang members are accused of beating and torturing a 17-year-old they believed was involved with a 30-year-old man. >> he wasç thrown into a wall made to strip naked, hit in the head with a beer can, cut with a box cutter and sod onlyized with the wooden handle of a plunger. >> michelle franzen is following the case for us. where do things stand with the investigation? >> reporter: certainly, over the weekend the eight suspects out of the nine were arraigned and all entered pleas of not guilty. the charges included robbery and assault, sexual abuse and unlawful imprisonment under the hate crimes act.

of course, they are still looking, as you mentioned, for the ninth suspect that was expected to turn himself in. we understand that the nypd is looking for him very actively with all of their resources. of course, you mentioned all of this coming to a head over the weekend. the latest in the series of hate crimes that has taken its toll not only on the city but has gained high-profile status nationwide as the country grapples with both the rhetoric of certainly anti-gay slurs as well as violent acts that have also taken present over the weekend. >> thank you for staying on top of the story. the bronx attack marks the 50th anti-hate gay crime this weekend. nationwide hate crimes based on sexual orientation are on the rise. kristen quinn, we heard you in the clip over the weekend speaking out against this. you are openly gay, do you take this personally when you see this kind of violation? >> you absolutely take it

personally because the thing about a hate crime, it isn't targeted necessarily at that individual personally, it is targeted at the community that the perpetrator believes or knows that person is a member of. so the crime is, in fact, designed to send out a ripple of hate to everybody in that community. that's why it is such a cancer in our society, hate crimes. and that's why it is really incumbent on people of good will. i have been seeing it all over the city, to stand up and say this is unacceptable, this is not new york. and we will not tolerate it. >> the details of this story are unbelievable. when you hear about the box cutters and the victim being asked to choose which weapon he preferred to have used against him, a pipe or a bat. the sodomizing with foreign ç objects, it is disgusting and incredible, yet the families of the accused were in court weeping saying, that's not my boy. my boy is a good buy boy.

how do you reconcile the two sides of the storms? >> the individuals who committed the crime are hateful ignorance, and they are filled with a level of violation that is beyond me to understand. something obviously went terribly wrong in these men's lives to end them up in a position where they think it is okay to almost kill somebody because they are gay. i don't understand that, but what i do know is all of us have to send out a message of unity to move forward. >> yet we are seeing politics politicians standing up and speaking against gay rights. they are against the repeal of don't ask don't tell. this morning's story about carl pal day paladino, the man who wants to run new york city and the speech he gave in new york city. let me play part of it. >> don't misquote me as wanting to hurt home sex wall people in any way. that would be an absolute lie.

>> his democratic opponent here andrew cuomo says his statement displays a homophobe ya and glaring disregard for basic equality. how would you characterize in a race of national importance, you have a candidate who is standing up and saying, on one hand, don't brainwash our children about homosexuality. and the other one that he's not against it? >> mr. paladino's statements are dangerous. they are outrageous, but worse, they are dangerous. think of it if you're a young boy or girl in new york and struggling with realizing you're day. and you live in a household where maybe your parents are going to vote for carl paladino. now the man who is running for governor on the republican ticket, something your parents support, says you are not worthy. says you areless than everybody else, says you have been brainwashed. what is that child going to take in? what type of pain is that going to cause that child? he can say he doesn't want to

hurt people, but he hurt people. he hurt people by saying that people like me are brainwashed or brainwashers. by saying thatç my family is ls good than anybody else's family. he can pretend it has no impact, but it has an impact even if you are an adult, and it certainly has an impact if you are a child. and think of those young men who thought there was no other option but to end their life, that dying was better than being gay. these are the type of hate speeches that cause that type of self-loathing to grow in people. and mr. paladino can back peddle all he wants, but he did something damaging and can't take it back. >> we'll continue to follow the cases, but we have laid out the problem. i want to focus on the solution. how can we encourage more understanding and more tolerance? i would like to hear your ideas and thoughts. reach me on twitter and facebook. i'll go through my e-mails,

contessa@msnbc.com. speaker quinn, thank you. live pictures from lexington, kentucky. former president bill clinton is there campaigning for jack conway. it looks like the live picture is frozen somewhat, but there are tough races nationwide. conway is trailing his republican opponent there. so former president bill clinton is out lending a little support to the democrat jack conway. less than an hour ago president obama said the crumbling infrastructure is one of the greatest challenges we falls. fixes bad roads and bridges will also help to fix the economy. >> nearly one in five construction workers are unemployed and needs a job. over the next six years we'll rebuild 150,000 miles of our roads. enough to circle the world six times. we will lay and maintain 4,000 miles of our railways. this plan will be fully paid for.

it will not add to the deficit overtime. >> the president will shift focus later to the upcoming elections. he'll travel to florida to headline a fund-raiser for a congressional democrat at the home of nba star alonzo mourning. republicans and the tea party have the edge when it comes to excitement about the midterm elections, and they are rallying voters around theç fit of big government. but look, there's a big disconnect here. a big logic gap between people saying they want smaller government and the programs they want. a vast majority told "the washington post" they want social security, medicare and federal school aid. they think it is important. so isn't that big government? john cohen is a director for "the washington post." you saw this disconnect between asking people about big government and then asking about specific programs that make up big government. >> absolutely right. when we asked americans if they want more or less government, just a basic question, they

split evenly. but even people who say they want less, fewer services and to pay less in taxes, they want a lot from government. they call, as you said, social security and medicare very important federal programs and want more government involvement in many areas. this is not hypocrisy, it is just that they want thing that is the federal government has provided over time. and just as a political question, they say they want more limited government, but as a governing question it's a far more complicated one and will be a challenge for whoever is in control of congress next year. >> you have this sort of battle between theory and between reality. when you went out and -- i should mention you partnered with the kaiser family foundation and harvard to do the survey, but you found seven in ten families have received at least one of the following in the past two years. medicare or medicaid coverage, 35% did, 31% received social security payments, 31% had received income tax deductions for home mortgage, and 18% had received unemployment benefits.

when you asked people, did they realize that some of those programs make up what government does, big government so to speak? >> well, that's an interesting question. we asked whether government is providing a good value for the money that people pay in taxes. and a majority said no, but when we split the question and actually mention some of the programs that are included, that the federal government provides, the number was saying the government was not providing good value and it fell significantly. when feel are reminding about what the federal government does, they do become somewhat more positive about it. >> when you asked whether government should do more, you had 64% saying, yeah, the government should do more to reduce poverty, or to protect thw environment, 57% said to more on educational standards or health care. health care, for instance, they did do more. they passed a huge health care overhaul, and it is a program that democrats don't want to go out and campaign on. what is the takeaway here for politicians trying to win

elections? >> that's interesting. we asked that question a decade ago. and about three quarters of americans wanted more government involvement in health care. that has fallen dramatically. however, you still have a majority of people today who say they want more government involvement in providing access to health care. it is a pretty striking number. of course, it is more of a challenge for governing than politicking, we are unlikely to see democrats or republicans, or certainly democrats going toward the health care reform bill which divides americans in polling consistently. >> jon, good to see you, thank you for joining us today. >> thank you for having me. well, battles over who is going to be the last to get out. angry wives and girlfriends waiting at the surface in the same spot. the miners' rescue in chile doesn't begin until wednesday and already high drama. we have a live report. too hot to handle? parents upset about the new miley cyrus video. plus, 12 states, 24 days, nearly 7,000 miles. i'm talking to "time" magazine

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breaking news into usç rig now. a sky diver is stuck in a tree. this happened a short time ago in a wooded area in dunstable, massachusetts. it is not the skydiver's first job, but he is relatively inexperienced. he's there talking to rescue workers saying he's fine. again, rescue workers right now are trying to figure out a way to get to the skydiver stuck in a tree in massachusetts and isn't really hurt. this is coming to us from whgh our affiliate in boston. nothing is being ruled out in the disappearance of a 10-year-old girl in hickory, north carolina. zara claire is hearing impaired with a prosthetic leg.

zara's stepmother is said to possibly be involved. >> police investigate ares investigators are out in teams trying to develop what happened or what zara's life looked like prior to her disappearance. >> lisa baker is in police custody charged in half a dozen unrelated crimes. in washington state police are trying to figure out what got dozens of central washington university students sick at an off campus party. as many as 50 underaged people were found sick or unconscious at the party friday night. in fact, 12 had to be treated at the hospital. authorities are waiting for toxicology results. police think someone spiked drinks with a date rape drug. the faa is investigating why a pilot landed a small aircraft in a portland, oregon, school field last night. the pilot wasn't hurt. fire officials say he ran out of gas and looked for a safe place to land. and the schoolyard was it.

he was the only person onboard. light at the end of the tunnel for the 33 chilean miners who may be just days away from freedom, fame and perhaps fortune. this morning engineers finished reinforcing an escape shaft more than 2,000 feet long. and now the difficult ascent stands in the way possibly as early as wednesday. the miner who is have been trapped more than two months will be hoisted to the surface during a heroing 20-minute ride in a tiny 28-inch wide capsule. kerry sanders is in chile. and drama unfolding, i understand, not only down below the surface, butç on the surfa as well, kerry. >> reporter: well, there's a lot of excitement. it looks like all the check boxes have been checked and that things are falling into place. and the teams here have a high degree of confidence that things are going to work because they have put the sleeve down there. they were going to initially do it deeper, but they only went

183 feet and then they ran a test and put the capsule in and sent it down just shy of where the men are. they brought it up, everything worked perfectly. they said there was even no dust on the escape capsule. so they are thrilled. so, of course, your question is if they can get it just shy of where the men are, we are talking about less than 20 feet from where the men are, why don't they start pulled them out? because there are complications in making sure the winch that has the cable over the arm that attaches the cable can withstand the stress of about a half a ton going up and down. and they are putting some deep seated anchors of concrete into the ground. it has already been poured. they are waiting for it to cure. so the guys who are miners are waiting for one of the simplest things at any construction site, waiting for concrete to harden before everything can begin. that may happen, when we say wednesday, that may happen wednesday, one minute into wednesday. they may start this late, late tuesday night, early, early

wednesday. >> kerry, i just needed to get the low down here. wives and girlfriends are showing up there eager for the arrival of the trapped miners. how is that going over? >> reporter: well, the wives and the girlfriends who are showing up for their loved ones who don't have wives and girlfriends, going great, but there's one miner who has a wife and a girlfriend. that's not so good because they have already had a cat fight out here once. and, in fact, they discovered he was sort of two-timing when each of them showed up holding his picture going, this is my loved one. they looked at each other and said,s the my loved one, not your loved one. not a pretty picture. we were joking about -- we were talking about how brave they are and how much of a brotherhood they have. that each one of them wants to be the last one, we were sort of joking maybe he wants to be the that's probably not something he wants to face. >> freedom, fame, fortune and

family feuds all awaiting their arrival at the surface. kerry sanders, thank you, sir. freezing foreclosures. it may be coming to your state in a group of attorney generals have their way. we'll explain why. we are watching what's hot on the web today. msnbc.com readers want to know the answer to this question. did the u.s. forces kill an aid worker in afghanistan? general petraeus reportedly says kidnapped aid worker linda norgrove may have been killed when americans tried to rescue her. special forces apparently detonated a grenade. norgrove and six kidnappers died in the rescue attempt. the americans and british have launched a joint investigation. an armless tee annist won talented tv show. he won for his rendition of "you are beautiful." he played the piece with his toes and sang. he lost his arms in an accident when he was 10 years old. he's been invited to go on tour, including a three-month stint in las vegas.

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a growing foreclosure fiasco could spread to 40 states this week. attorney generals could join in the joint investigation to look at many home foreclosures. many homeowners and people

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hello, everybody. i'm contessa brewer. here are the stories we are watching right now. new york candidate carl paladino says gay pride parades are disgusting, but he has no problems hiring home sex whiles. and mall stin ans palestinians rejected a request from benjamin netanyahu. and a new study in the journal of pediatrics suggests autism is more common in children who had jaundice at

birth. it is a liver ailment that temporarily yellows the skin. doctors say they don't know how the two conditions are linked and warning new parents not to be alarmed. the space rocket completed its first successful test flight yesterday. this could eventually be used for commercial space travel. 11 days and still no sign of the body of american tourist david hartley who was allegedly shot and killed by mexican borders on a lake between the u.s. and mexico. police were searching for two men in the killing of david hartley, but now police say there are no suspects. tiffany hartley was on the "today" show this morning. >> this is very frustrating. at one moment we do have suspects and another moment we don't. you know, either way i hope that they do find somebody who can lead us to where david is. ultimately, that's all we want. >> janet shamley is here in

texas. where do things stand right now? >> reporter: i guess it depends on who you talk to, but late last week a mexican official denied there were any suspects in this case. that after over the weekend mexico newspapers, texas newspapers reported that there were two suspects, brothers, linked to the cartel wanted in a number of crimes. in terms of the search we are here on falcon lake. the mexico side is three miles behind where i'm çstanding. the srnlg continues on that side. according to mexican authorities, that's how we are getting our information. the sheriff is highly doubtful that a body will turn up after this length of time. of course, tiffany harl, ey is holding out home that david's body will be returned to the united states. meanwhile, we have new video showing tiffany and david's last hour. this was actually a traffic stop on their way to falcon lake.

they were stopped by dps troopers for an expired registration plate. they were released without ticketing. at that time david said, yes, we are going to falcon lake just for the day. we are going water skiing. tiffany hartley was supposed to be returning with david to their home in colorado. they were in the process of moving back to colorado. tiffany says she's going to stay here seeking resolution of this matter. back to you. >> janet, thanks. rich iyot was slammed for participating in gnat zee reenactments for years. the atlantic posted this photo friday showing the ohio republican and tea party favorite in an ssu uniform. he told the atlantic his interest comes from a, here's what he said, purely historical interest in world war ii. and face-offs ahead in key races tonight. five different states holding senate debates. jack conway faces off against

republican rand paul in kentucky. in fact, we are seeing the live picture right now of president clinton out there campaigning for jack conway. that's happening in lexington, kentucky. wisconsin democrat russ feingold will take on republican p ron johnson. and there are showdowns in north carolina, indiana and colorado. just in time for holiday wishlists, windows is launching the latest entry into the smartphone market. three new windows 7 phones will run on microsoft's new gadget software. imagine this, a car that drives itself leaving you time in your morning commute to read the paper, touch up your makeup or sip that cup of coffee. all things i have seen drivers doing while driving, but this time the car has the wheel. i know it sounds like "night rider" but google is testing it on the streets of san francisco. mark geles, how exciting is

this, a real life kit. >> i think it is interesting because a lot of car manufacturers have been talking about this for a while, but google is actually testing it. and they have done 140,000 miles and only had one accident. and that was when one of their cars got rear-ended by someone else. so it seems pretty effective technology. >> google, the search engine google, what are they doing in the automated car industry? >> well, they've got a lot of money to spend. they have $28 billion to spend on research u and they have teamed up with stanford to do this. it has been done for a while. there's been a contest called darpur whereby teams have been building cars that go from point a to point b remotely. it is one thing that car manufacturers and also transportation exports would really like to see because it enables you to run a lot more cars in a given area of road

space. and the other theory is if you don't have humans who tend to do stupid things like get drunk or get tired while driving, if you don't have them driving cars you have fewer accidents. that's the here theory anyway. >> how far away are we from the actual time when somebody can go out and buy a car that -- in fact, they have tested these in san francisco, in the famous downhill road particularly curvy, how long will it be until we can buy these cars? >> i think it will be a while because i think the technology is actually quite expensive. the other thing that worries me slightly is that if you look at the majority of failures we see are software related. the idea of driving on the highway while texting at 70 miles an hour is all fine and dandy, but what happens if the software decides to crash at that point. that could be an issue. i think they have to make the software very reliable and fail-safe. the other thing is the government has to start

mandating it because otherwise there's no reason for you to do it. it's the same with electric cars. electric cars are expensive, but the government is giving people rebates through taxation to enable them to buy the çcars. so i think it has to be government mandated and the price has to come down because they are going to be expensive to start with. >> mark, i can imagine all the car enthusiasts, probably the readers of your magazine will be on the first waiting list to get their hands on them. thank you so much. appreciate that. >> thank you for having me. new york's gubernatorial candidate is not backing down from his weekend comments about gay people. he was speaking to an orthodox jewish group reading from prepared statements and said being gay is not the example we should show children. he adds, he doesn't want kids to be brainwashed into thinking homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option. now, mind you, carl paladino has a nephew who is gay. this morning he went on the "today" show to defend what he

said. >> my feelings on homosexuality are unequivocal. i have no problem with it whatsoever, my only redlation is marriage. that's the only reservation i have. i have a lot of home sex walls working in my organization. >> you didn't say you want children to be brainwashed into thinking that gay marriage issen equal thing, you said homosexuality is an equally or successful option. first of all, an option. if it is not equally valid or successful, is it a stupid option? what is it? >> it is a very difficult thing. the discrimination against home sex whiles is horrible, it is terrible. i have a nephew and many workers who suffer that. >> did you talk to your nephew about the comment before you made it and have you talked to him sense about it? >> what does he think? has he been brainwashed into thinking homosexuality is a

valid or successful option? >> i'm not talking about him being brainwashed, i'm talking about young children. young children shouldn't be exposed to that at a young age. it is a difficult thing in exposing them to homosexuality, especially at a gay pride parade. i don't know if you have been to one, but they wear the little speedos and grind against each other. it is a terrible thing. >> carl paladino on "today." in case you missed it from "saturday night live" this weekend -- so this novemberç 2nd, vot for christine o'donnell, a.k.a., the enchants re, because i'm not a witch, and if i am, do you really want to cross me? i didn't think so. >> snl is taking aim at delaware republican senate candidate christine o'donnell's campaign where she says "i'm not a

witch." o'donnell said via twitter she thought it was funny and admitted that the comedian's hair looked better than her own. today is columbus day. and the place to celebrate right here in new york city with one of the largest parades taking place as we speak. we'll show it to you. and this is what's happening outside 30 rock. not the oldest parade, but one of the largest celebrating the italian/american heritage. [ fo don't eat breakfast

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today is national coming out day. and in floridaç special prayer services are being held tonight to honor young people who have taken their own lives in recent weeks after being bullied either because they were gay or because they were suspected of being gay. tyler clementi in new jersey, asher brown, seth walsh and billy lucas. their stories were the focus of a sermon at sunshine cathedral earlier this month. >> they weren't miserable because of who they were, they were miserable because of how people treated them for being who and what they were. such abuses make me angry. and i don't know what to do with my anger. >> and the minister in the clip is a senior pastor at sunshine cathedral. i know that your church, your

congregation is holding a vigil tonight to recognize the lives lost and the danger to young people who may be gay. what can people do about it? what do you do to promote more understanding? >> well, that's part of what we are doing tonight is we are having the vigil to raise awareness, to get people involved, to get people to know that they have to speak up and speak out on behalf of these kinds of issues. we want to support anti-bullying initiatives. we want to create safe places in schools and families and churches for people to be who they are. and not have to live in fear of being found out or being or the meanted because they are perceived to be somewhat different than the majority. so what we are doing tonight is to raise awareness and to get people to know this is a very serious issue. and homophobe ya, homo hatred is literally costing us the lives of our children. we have to be aware and

passionally respond. >> here are the statistics, 90% of lgbt youth say they are harassed at school. 44% are physically harassed. and 60% think it is useless to report the abuse. add on top of that politicians and men a standing up and saying homosexuality is a perversion, you shouldn't brainwash people by saying homosexuality is okay. we heard it fror carl paladino running as the republican candidate of the state of new york. how do parents combat that sort of message that's out over the airwaves every day? >> well, first of all, parents need to be responsive to their kids. you know, any other minority group, if they are not accepted in church, school or society come home and their family looks a lot like them. gay and lesbian children are completely isolated even at home. so parents need to be able to

love their children, to accept their children, to embrace their children so there's at least one safe place where they can just be themselves and find out who they are and grow into their maturity like everyone else. we can't keep people from exploiting homosexuality, we can't keep people from saying unenlightening things, but i'm mindful of that wonderful 1949 musical where the song was you have to be carefully thought thought, and that was about racism. 60 years later it is true. the politicians, the preachers, the people who are anti-gay are actually encouraging people to seek gay and lesbian people in less human ways, and that causes them to act out accordingly. >> i know you are joining the national moment of silence happening coast to coast. thank you for your time. by the way, i have just been handed a note from oklahoma

about a 19-year-old gay man who committed suicide following a city council meeting. they were talking about how to designate the day of proclamation of gay and lesbian history month, and dozens spoke out against it. and a 19-year-old man committed suicide after that. he was at the city council meeting. we have been talking online how to end the gay bashing. jim jenkin writes, all we can do is expose these bigots as is our right. we already have all the laws we need to deal with the evil 9. we just need to enforce them to the fullest. and edna says, people do ugly power of their own lives. and eric watson writes, it will take political leaders to step up and not only denounce this kind of hatred but to teach the younger generation that it is normal to think and live

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well, coast to coast from north to south, americans are once again deciding on change. which path they want our nation to follow, who to elect to represent their interests in washington and the prevailing sediment, more anxious than angry. "time" magazine's editor ate in homes of hard-working americans, and along the way he talked about their hopes, their dreams and their daily lives. >> the american dream used to be achievable, and i think if the american dream is this

unachievable fantasy, whether it is jobs, homes, good future, good education, it is gone poof. >> look at government spending, nobody is watching. >> bush gave the big companies tax cuts, but they are sending all the manufacturing jobs overseas. we are losing our mid class. >> joe klein is joining me now. an incredible trip for you. what's your bigç takeaway? >> my big takeaway is that the politicians who are running for re-election and for election this year, and the president of the united states, are not listening to those folks. they are not talking about the things those people are most concerned about. there are debates in the new york/washington access make into big deals deficit reduction versus stimulus that aren't big questions out there. the biggest question out there is where have all our jobs gone?

where have all the manufacturing jobs gone? why aren't they addressing china? why isn't the president saying anything about that? >> the guy joe you talked to says, how is a guy that isn't a genius supposed to get jobs that he manufacturers? there's word that china is taking away the right to be number one. >> they rant about politicians for five or ten minutes and then go to deeper subjects. the same investment bankers who did the mergers and acquisitions that took their local companies into national conglorates and started creating the financial derivatives and doing casino gambling to cause the 2008 crash. they are not thrilled about the

wall street establishment, they are not thrilled about the washington establishment. >> let me ask you, finally, when you talk about big government which seems to be on everybody's hit list right now, you have not seen democrats out campaigning on, whoa, big government is a great thing. let's support it. but a "washington post" survey found that people actually like the programs and think the programs of big government are important. they like social security and medicare and those kinds of things. people you were talking to, did they get that? did they get the disconnect between not liking big government but the big government programs? >> there's a little incan i be thecy out there. when somebody describes themselves as conservative, they like the stimulus program or not. you can't go 30 miles in this country wiéhnut seeing a road crew. and people are beginning to understand the stimulus package. but i think that people want effective government. i don't know -- >> who is going to take a stand against that? >> they don't understand what's in the health care reform bill.

they don't understand what's in the financial regulation bill. and the opponents of the bills can take out individual provisions that sound ridiculous and run against them, which they are doing very effectively. >> joe klein -- >> woody guthrie was singing "this land is your land." >> it is our land and opinions vary, but we want to see effective government and a better and brighter future for sure. that wraps up this hour for me. i appreciate the time you spent with me. see you at noon eastern, 9:00 a.m. out west. we'll follow opening statements in the trial of the first guantanamo detainee tried in the civilian court. up next is andrea mitchell. be right back. [ female announcer ] last year, the u.s. alone used over 39 billion plastic bottles of water. ♪ that's enough to stretch around the earth over 190 times.

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