they arrested 885 people in operation cross country five and rescued 69 child sexvictims. they will be sheltered, some returned to their families, they will get nurses, counselors and victim advocates. their accused pimps, 99 of them, are facing major jail time. according to a federal indictment, somali immigrant gangs were operating some of the child sex rings in minnesota, shuttling their young victims from place to place. >> fear, intimidation, threats of violence, acts of violence. >> it is estimated that as many as 23 to 0,000 american kids are at risk of child sex ploitation that is enough children to fill 400 middle schools and business is booming, raking up to $232 billion a year worldwide for traffickers. >> until we hold the demand side responsible and accountable, this is not going to stop. >> executive director of wired

safety.org, that is exactly what you are working to do holding a demand side accountable. how do you do that, perry? >> a lot is awareness, making sure people know to report what they find a lot is law enforcement, and the rest is to let people know when they are doing it we are going to find them and root them out wherever they are. >> there are a couple of sex rings they are looking at here. king county, washington, has the most in terms of arrests and rescued juvenile victims. in fact, they estimate they have 300 to 500 juvenile prostitutes at any given time in that county, according to a 2008 report commissioned by the city of seattle. how much does -- do runaway teenagers factor into how kids get drafted into these sex rings? >> when you are a runaway, you are an easy target, vulnerable, we are seeing a lot of that 70%

of sex trafficking involves the internet it makes it easier to find a book and shuffle kids around these days. >> seattle says even though they had the most kids rescued here, 23 of these teen prostitutes rescued, nine pimps arrested in the seattle area they stay is not the worst, but they are better at identifying the problem, finding the victims and getting them out of there then there is the other example we are looking at here, society mally immigrant gangs that take the children from their homes. it started being reported by other somalis to the authorities. how problematic do you think that case is? >> is a big issue. these aren't u.s. kids for the most part but brought in here to be trafficked. as you indicated, a quarter million kids born and raised in the united states are trafficked it is a problem coming in through our border, kids victimized, brought here and those born here. we need to recognize both ends have to be watched in a very careful way.

>> and do you think it adds to the -- to the quiet nature of this in the fact you have immigrants, whether legal or illegal immigrants who are worried about reporting crimes to police? >> absolutely. you are looking at vulnerabilities and if you are afraid that you might be reported and lose your immigration status or deported you are not going to come forward. we need everyone to understand this. actually, is there a foundation doing a lot of work on this very quiet lakers lot of big hurt working to on this together which is why you are seeing the busts this time. >> becomes an annual event now, partnered with innocence lost national initiative formed in 2003 to address child prostitution it looks like they are making some headway, as i mentioned, a lot of work to do perry, thank you so much for joining me. >> always a pleasure. thank you for caring about these issues. developing now, nearly 4500 cruise ship passengers and cruise members stranded off the west coast of mexico a fire cut

power to the engine of the carnival "splendor" the first day into that seven-day trip. nbc's miguel almaguer in burbank, california, now. what is happening with the passengers? >> reporter: contessa that massive carnival ship "splendor" is dead in the water, roughly 200 miles off of the san diego coast, a 952-foot-long ship that left long beach over the weekend and was on its first leg of its trip out to the mexican riviera went fire broke out in the engine room yesterday morning. there was 3300 passengers on board, all ushered to the upper decks immediately following this fire, around 6:00 in the morning, where they were told to wait on those upper decks for some time. we should point out that carnival says nobody was injured, including its crew of more than 1100 people, but the blaze did cut off, after it was controlled, it did cut off vital supplies to the ship. those on board didn't have hot food, they didn't have hot water, they don't have toilets and they didn't have access to every part of the ship, obviously. now, we have been told that

those restrooms are back online but this morning, we know the coast guard is on scene with some of its cutter ships as well as the "uss ronald reagan," which is planning to drop supplies out to the carnival ship if those are needed. two commercial tug boats are headed out to the "splendor" now, told they should be in position to tow this ship back to the coast in a few hours. we are told it can take 24 to 48 hours because those tugs would be traveling at about four to five miles an hour and they would have some distance to go before they made it back to ensign nada, contessa. >> miguel, thank you very much. let me bring in coast guard lieutenant commander rick foster with me on the phone with with the coast guard's public affairs office. commander, can you tell me what the biggest obstacle is now in moving all those passengers, i think miguel said 3300 passengers plus then about almost 1200 crew members there, how do you get them off the ship and where they need to go?

>> this does present a challenge. as reported, they have two ocean-going tugs, should be on the scene here within the hour and try to hook up to -- they will hook up to the cruise ship and begin towing it back to ensenada, mexico. that is an undertaking and hope to make 4 miles an hour, which as you report, take 24 to 48 hours. >> then is there an issue in terms of the tug, getting it to the dock there in ensenada? >> right, well, they typically would help -- would usually be tug assists on a cruise ship of this size anyway. so that's not unusual. >> that's not a problem. >> however, the ocean tow is somewhat unusual. >> lastly, i have to ask you, i know that there have been military members in san diego who have been ordered not to cross the border into mexico because of safety concerns. we have heard of the kidnappings and the murders, even in

tijuana, very popular tourist destination. now you are taking all of these cruise ship passengers into ensenada is there any concern at all about their safety getting back into the united states by bus? >> right. well, the -- getting all the people to the ship or getting them all to the shore is the coast guard's main concern at this time. ensenada is luckily somewhat more of a tourist-type town, therefore, we will analyze those issues when we get there, but again, the coast guard has the morgenthal on scene to ensure that this -- all the people on board this cruise ship can make it safely to shore. >> rick foster, thank you very much, commander, appreciate your time today, we will stay on top of this developing story. people who want don't ask, don't tell to be repeal ready afraid time is running out. the pressure is now on the senate to end the ban during its lame duck session. if lawmakers would pass the annual defense spending bill, the way it's written right now the ban would be over.

but senator john mccain is trying to change the bill. he wants to take out language that would repeal don't ask, don't tell. john so thez is the chairman of vote bets.org and an iraq war veteran. this issue is back on the front burner again, you have the new commandant of the marine corps, general john amos saying to reporters over the weekend there is risk involved, i'm trying to determine how to measure that risk in repealing don't ask, don't tell, not a social thing this is combat effectiveness, talking about our young men laying out, sleeping alongside one another and sharing death, fear and loss of brothers. does don't ask, don't tell, john, affect those issues of unit cohesion? >> no look, i served in iraq and found out years later that someone i had actually served with was gay. nobody knew, nobody cared it is not an issue. i think luckily for the new commandant of the marine corps, december 1st he will get the pentagon's assessment, he can read the entire ten months of work the pentagon has done that explain how they want to implement the policy. senator mccain's excuse he has

been hiding behind for months on this issue too difficult for the military, x, y and z, what is their opinion, it doesn't matter, december 1st it will only address implementation, nothing else. >> we have learned that the pentagon survey they did found that the majority of active duty troops and their families don't care whether -- >> don't care. i went over and spoke with general hamm. they did a big meeting with all of the veterans groups, leaders, i presented with him an assessment where we polled iraq and afghanistan veterans, 75% don't care. it is important to understand, the assessment the pentagon is doing is how they want to implement it. the decision to repeal comes from congress and the president. >> okay. so at this point, since senator mccain is pushing for the language to be rewritten. >> stall tactic, no straight talk here, senator mccain's stall tactics, period. >> do you think they will address that in the lame duck session? a lot of things to deal with

here, tax cuts. >> i think they have to right now the bill is attached to defense appropriations bill. the military has no money for things outside iraq and afghanistan. the fiscal jeer 1 october. you are the president, you know the majority of americans support repeeshlg the majority of veterans in iraq and afghanistan don't care if someone is gay and know you had 56 votes in the filibuster session and the seats you needed to hold in the election where you had special -- where for instance delaware, christine o'donnell, she had been seated immediately because it was a special seat, democrats held a lot of the special election seats, colorado, west virginia, you still have 56, 57 votes, force john mccain -- >> doesn't happen in the lame duck session -- >> in big trouble. >> we may be talking about this after -- >> in big trouble if they don't get it done in this congress. >> john, we will be watching for that. that is my big question today, right? we are talking about whether the senate is going to tackle it. what do you think? don't ask, don't tell in the lame duck session? share your thoughts with me,

twitter, facebook, e-mail, already having a lively conversation about this online. president obama is back in his had hotel after wrapping a dinner with government officials in indonesia. to obamas arrived in jakarta overnight but they may not be there long. the white house now says that visit likely will be cut short because of volcanic ash from mount mer rap pitch the president's packed schedule includes a tour of the country's largest mosque. in our next half hour, we are talking with msnbc analyst richard wolf about the president's efforts to reach out to muslims. elizabeth smart opens up about being kidnapped eight years ago and her story is chilling. plus, let's play family feud. top democrats are batting over who leads their party in the house and whether nancy pelosi gets a new right hand man. everybody has somebody to go heart healthy for. who's your somebody? eating campbell's healthy request can help. 25 delicious soups with low cholesterol, zero grams trans fat, and a healthy level of sodium.

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he knew exactly what was doing, what elizabeth smart says about the man accused of kidnapping her, holding her captive for nine months and raping her repeatedly. yesterday, the 23-year-old described on the witness stand the first five weeks of her ordeal. she recounted how she woke up feeling a knife at her neck and hearing brian david mitchell threatening to kill her and her family. she testified "i was shocked. i thought i was having a nightmare. it was just indescribable fear." nbc's janet shamlyian just out from the courtroom now in salt lake city. how is it going in there? >> reporter: hi there contessa. well, she picked up her testimony today, as you said, she described the first five weeks yesterday. and to watch her sitting there in front of her mother and her father and her sister and this courtroom, detailing the rapes over and over again that happened during these nine months, that she was forced to consume alcohol and smoke

marijuana and the abuse she was subject to, just amazing to see the poise this young woman has in her recall for the details. eight years, some eight years after this incident happened, it was just a horrifying incident and to parents, to anyone really, kidnapped by a stranger in the middle of the night from her bedroom, disappeared seemingly then found eight months later. brian david mitchell entered the courtroom yesterday and started chanting songs. the judge said, look, off constitutional right to be here but not going to sing through the session. are you gonna stop? when he didn't they sent him to another room where he can watch the proceedings on television. >> she describes being tethered

between two trees like and a mall no matter what it took, i would live, i would survive and doving he it told me to do to keep my life and my family's life intact. what an amazing courage it must take to get on the stand, as you said, janet, and recount all that. thank you so much for got proceedings for us. a minnesota man who spent more than two years in jail for a fatal car crash is a step closer to suing toyota. tops our stories far and wide. the man got out of jail in august, convicted of killing three people in 2006 while driving a toyota camry. he was seine it tensed to eight years but was released after all the toyota recalls on cars with acceleration issues. lee maintains he tried to brake but the car took off on its own. his attorney says he will file a civil lawsuit against toyota, claiming lee's camry was defective.

the swine flu bandit hit four banks in five days, suspected in ten robberies, the man earned his nickname for wearing surgical masks, telling employees he is recovering from swine flu. now for the dogs. in pennsylvania, an anonymous tip led to 80 of the rarest wild dogs, called new guinea singing dogs and experts are looking to find them suitable homes now. officials have cited the man who had the dogs for operating an unlicensed kennel. those singing dogs are named for the unique way they howl. sex, drugs and texting? what they have in common and why the combination is a concern. first, a look at what is hot on the web a "new york times" article on msnbc.com getting buzz. gay couples begin an attack on the marriage law. two lawsuits filed against the government today in an effort to strike down the 96 defense sive marriage act, the federal law that prohibits the government from recognizing same-sex

marriages. talk about buzz. smoke pot? schwarzenegger says who care? its governor is defending a law he signed five weeks ago making possession of an ounce of marijuana the equivalent of a traffic ticket. schwarzenegger says it is a good idea but nobody care fuss smoke a joint or not. a 23-year-old is the first canadian to win with the world series of poker. jonathan due hamill won that title and, are you ready for this, nearly $9 million last night. man, i picked the wrong career r he was at the no-limit texas hold them event in las vegas. obviously -- ♪ know when to fold them ah, this is just what the eight layers needed.

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georgia, a young man in the wrong place at the wrong time beaten to death. bobby tillman was just 18 years old. his mom called him her best friend. he was studying to be a sports agent. but his dreams ended saturday when police say a group of four teens picked him, at random, and attacked him. now those four teenagers face felony murder charges a judge ordered them held without bond. nbc's correspondent is in our atlanta bureau. what happened here? >> reporter: the district attorney handling this case is labelling this a senseless crime, mainly because he says tillman was -- had nothing to do with this and there was an unpro-joked attack. let's set the scene, it was saturday, a massive house party about 80 teenagers douglasville, georgia, which is a suburb of atlanta. and what happened, according to investigators, a couple of girls got into a fight over a facebook posting and apparently hit a young teenaged boy that was walking by. apparently that teenaged boy said that he was -- he didn't want to hit any of the girls and

said he was going to hit next boy that he saw. unfortunately that next boy was bobby tillman, he was across the street leaving that party and so when that boy, that teenaged boy went over and hit him, three other teenagers jumped in, stomped him and beat him to death. by the time authorities got to the scene, tillman was still breathing, performed cpr on him. as he was delivered to the hospital, he died. this is a very tragic story, because his mom says he moved -- or they both moved from los angeles to the atlanta area to escape violence, but now he is a victim of it. contessa? >> she said that bobby gave her flowers to on his 18th birthday and thank herd for giving him a good life. has got to be an extremely devastating time for her. thinking of her. thanks. two women arrested in seoul, south korea, wearing just their underwear and body paint. they are peta activists, they painted themselves blue and green to resemble the earth. they were arrested near the

venue of the g-20 summit which will begin november 2 12th. look at a plane pulled from the bottom of lake michigan, a world war ii era fighter plane that went down in '43 during a training mission. the pie loft was rescued, suffered only minor injuries at the time. the instruments are intact and still glass in the cox pill. the plane will be restored and displayed at the national navy aviation museum in florida. a south florida man celebrated his 107th birth day on the dance floor. hey, watch him move. dr. lewis stein marked the milestone at his nursing home with his family and his much younger girlfriend, she is 92 years old. stein was a major in the army for 27 years, took care of wounded soldiers during world war ii. he says the secret for long life is wine, women with and song. recite adverse he had at the party, my hearing stinks, i have no sense of smell and i feel like hell but the golden years have come at last and the golden years can kiss my -- i don't know if they wash out the mouths

of 107-year-olds. really, he should be allowed to say whatever he wants. fans are lining up at a book store in texas right now to get an autographed copy of former president george w. bush's new book. what he has to say about his legacy, hurricane katrina and waterboarding. plus, why actor alec baldwin is keeping a close eye on a still-undecided congressional race in new york. [ female announcer ] olay professional pro-x. sold out online in 17 minutes. beauty editors are raving. the clinical results are astounding. olay professional pro-x. read all about it at olayprofessional.com. 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.

you don't love me anymore do you billy? what? i didn't buy this cereal to sweet talk your taste buds it's for my heart health. so i can't have any? if you can deprive me of what can help lower my cholesterol... and live with yourself. right. mmm, i worry about your mother. cry herself to sleep every night over my arteries, but have yourself a bowl. good speech dad. [ whimper ] [ male announcer ] honey nut cheerios tastes great and its whole grain oats can help lower cholesterol. bee happy. bee healthy. welcome back to msnbc, i'm contessa brewer. headed out to the mexican coastline to rescue 4500 passengers and crew members stranded on the carnival "splendor." . a fire in the engine room cut power to the ship and they have to get the passengers on dry land. iran says it will meet with

the u.s., russia, china, britain, france and germany next week but will not talk about its nuclear program. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is in the u.s. to talk about reviving the peace process. the obama administration expressed disappointment over jerusalem's new plans to build settlements. san francisco's board of supervisors is expected to formally approve a ban on happy meals today. the board took a preliminary vote last week. took three tries, now president obama has finally returned to indonesia, the country he briefly called home as a child. it is the second leg of the president's ten-day asia trip and today, he reflected on what it feels like to be back. >> when you visit a place that you spent time in as a child, as president it is a little disorienting. i feel great affection for the people here, the sights, its sounds, the memories all feel

very familiar. >> indonesia is the world's largest muslim country and in a joint news conference with indonesia's president, president obama focused on breaking down barriers between the united states and the muslim world. >> our efforts have been ernest, sustained we don't expect we are going to completely eliminate some of the misunderstandings and mistrust that have developed over a long period of time but we do think that we are on the right path. >> msnbc political analyst richard wolf joins me now. how much of a tight rope wire is the president on trying to establish better relationships with the muslim world given this continuing cacophony of criticism over his religious background or doubts about it? >> to be clear, of course this is his family history that people have raised all these

suspicions and rumors about, but there is this sort of split personality here that the president has to take with domestic vulnerability, if you will, that there is over this debate that has become so distorted and caricatured. overseas what it amounts to a is a strength. his international background in terms of his childhood and his cultural awareness, especially having grown up and spent a couple years there as an infant and understanding muslim culture n indonesia, not just the world's largest muslim nation but a country that has had an active al qaeda presence, he can speak directly to those things in a way that president bush couldn't. >> there are many, many terrorist elements in that country, what can he do? going to a mosque tomorrow, gave big speech. what can he try to do as i say, win hearts and minds? >> the indonesians have made big advances against their al qaeda affiliate spinoff responsible for the bali bombings, atmosphere is slightly

different. one thing president bush kept getting criticized for, one only thing woe talk about is terrorism. tough connect on something other than national security. here you have a president talking about economic development, indonesia still a very impoverished country. you would expect a broader speech that he is going to deliver tomorrow at the university of jakarta, indonesia and jakarta. >> richard, thank you very much. we are watching to see what happens with the volcanic ash from mount merapi. they are threatened -- the white house says it may cut the president's visit to the indonesia short because of the danger of the volcano. joe miller hopes to make a comeback when officials start counting absentee ballots today. he is facing incumbent senator lisa murkowski who launched a writen in in campaign after losing the primary to miller. he trails by 13,439 write-in votes and counting on absentees

to narrow the map. and there is a concern over murkowski's people thats. counting begins tomorrow. she get a lot of the blame for the democrat's failure to hold the house but nancy pelosi says she will fight to state leader of democrats in congress, that means steny hoyer and james clyburn have to duke it out for the number two slot in the democratic leadership. luke russert is on capitol hill. i mean, how are these house democrats positioning themselves to retake the majority if they have the same party leaders as before? >> a good question, contessa a rank and file member i spoke to yesterday, actually an alley of nancy pelosi said, luke, i don't know how the country will respond when we have the same exact leadership team in place as the team that lost over 80 seats -- or 60-something seats in the house of representatives. it certainly is a question a lot of democrats have to consider moving forward there won't be a lot of change of the makeup of the leadership team. the only change you could really see could be at the head of the dccc, but what we are seeing now, contessa, is a real divide

in the democratic party between steny hoyer and jim clyburn right now, in terms of both are trying to line up endorsements for their candidacy to become whip. nobody expected this to occur. everyone thought that nancy pelosi would retire and steny hoyer would go forward and become minority leader. because of that there is now this division. now, both men have gone and staffs have gone out of the way to say they have the votes needed to become whip, however, an internal vote we have taken at nbc news just from public endorsements and speaking off the record for folks seems to indicate that steny hoyer is in a better position. he had the endorsements of henry waxman, barney frank, ed markey, powerful committee chairmen, powerful allies of nancy pelosi f steny hoyer is racking up the old members of the democratic party progressives, blue dogs, as well as he has been up here 30 years, looks good for him so far. >> james clyburn would be coming to the position with the backing of the congressional black caucus.

that is not insignificant? >> no means at all that is over around 40 folks, who knows they all break for him. that being said it illustrates a clear division in the democratic party a lot of party leaders do not want in the front and center. what does it illustrate? essentially have an african-american going against a modern conservative, democratic conservative leaning democrat, a division that they don't want front and center because it shows disunity within the caucus. look, democrats routinely are often blasted by the gop for not being organized, for sort of winging it on a lot of things and certainly don't want that out there in front of everybody. i will say that the interesting thing going forward though, contessa, really is who becomes the effective pace face of the party when it comes to message in the new york time also an editorial yesterday that a lot of democrats were circulating saying nancy pelosi is talented at legislative maneuvering it comes to issuing an effective message, she falls short, interesting to see moving forward, who becomes the face of the party saying republicans are on the side of wall street, saying republicans are not here

economically, keep an eye out for that. >> in other words, who gives the news conferences? >> she will still give them but who becomes the face that is using cable tv bites? >> luke russert, thank you, buddy. >> be well. allicic baldwin could add a new line to his resume, congressional candidate. the still undecided race in long island new york between democrat tim bishop and republican challenger randy altschuler could give the "30 rock" actor an opening to run. if the republican wins, baldwin has said woe consider running to unseat him in two years once his contract with the hit nbc show expires. a reliable source columnist for the "washington post" is here. amy we waiting at this point to find out if the republican actually wins. >> that is right. this is alec baldwin's district on long island. tim bishop, long-time democratic congressman there is in a fight with randy altschuler it is going to recount, so, kind of open there. what happens next is kind of

unclear. stla lot of interest in alec baldwin, of course, he has expressed interest in politics over the years. it all seems kind of vapor rouse, the idea he would jump into this. you are saying he is reportedly interested. i'm seeing a bunch of blog postings here and there citing msnbc saying sources close to baldwin saying he is interested in doing. this y'all may know better than i do but not seeing a whole lot of credible evidence this is going to happen necessarily. >> let's say hype threatically the republican wins and hypothetically, baldwin throws his hat in the ring. hypothetically what would be the pros and cons of his run? >> you have to think what would be the pros and cons for him? he is a very successful actor on a hot streak right now i think it is one thing to say you are interested in politics, would you like to be more involved in politics, wish you could run for congress, frankly, running for congress that is a big pay cut, smaller salary, a loss of opportunity of all of his very

lucrative acting gigs. think also, he is a very beloved figure but a very polarizing figure, very liberal, could make an uphill battle trying to wrest the seat back from the theoretical republican member of congress. negatives in his personal life over the years and don't think that wouldn't come up again if he were in a competitive race. >> voicemail. >> kim basinger, the voicemails to his daughter. as an actor show, biz personal, those come back to bite if you you are running for office. >> so we wait and see whether he follows in the footsteps of say al franken and fred thompson and their ilk. again, i don't personally, let me go on the record, i don't necessarily like dealing in hypotheticals. >> me neither. >> amy, good to see you, thank you. >> thank you. passengers on a delta flight from minneapolis to new york got a special treat, a surprise performance by -- kanye west.

the rapper took over the p.a. system and a passenger captured the sound on his camera. ♪ >> okay, that's t thank you. >> did you hear there the kid-friendly version of that song? i'm sure the parents were happy that he didn't do the more explicit version of "gold digger," i was surprised not to heart passengers rapping along. that's my version. a lot of folks are scratching their heads at the pentagon today because they are trying to figure out what kind of missile was launched in california last night and by whom. first, shocking new research that links texting teens to sex and drugs, teens who text are at least this is what they say, 120 times a day, they are more likely to have sex or use alcohol or drugs than kids who

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the cholera outbreak in haiti spread into the crowded capital city a 3-year-old in port-au-prince has the disease. health officials are testing another 100 people who they suspect also have cholera. 3 million people live in haiti's capital and almost half crammed into the tent cities for the homeless. cholera outbreak so far has killed at least 544 people. two men in chile have been killed in a mine accident in the same region with where those 33 miners were rescued last month. police say it was both victims' first day on the job. the country's mining service says this mine was illegal. a train filled with nuclear

waste from france reached its destination in germany. it took police all night to clear 3,000 protesters who were blocking the train's route. the pentagon says a mystery missile launched off the california coast was not sent up by the department of defense. the missile appeared to have been launched from the waters just north of catalina island. nbc chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski joins us from d.c. what are you learning, jim? >> reporter: quite frankly, contessa this is unbelievable that this could have happened, the u.s. military, for nearly -- more than a half day now claim it is doesn't know exactly what happened. now, pentagon and military officials here confirmed that it appears there was a missile launched into the skies to the west of los angeles, the missile appeared to head off in a northwesterly direction. still, they claim they don't note source of that missile. now, interestingly enough, a short time ago in a statement from nor rad and north com, that is the front line of defense

against any kind of external threat to the united states, issued a statement in which they said that they are trying to provide the specifics of what happened here and determine the exact act or intent or whatever happened. that indicates they may have an idea of what happened but aren't ready to tell us yet and they did say in the same statement at no time did this present any kind of threat to the homeland it does appear that north com and nor rad have a good idea what happened but just trying to piece it together or make it more saleable to the public, perhaps, but in any event, the u.s. military denies that this was any kind of planned exercise or they were involved in this missile launch and the conjection was that this could have been a commercial launch but that would appear unlikely because even commercial endeavors need the kind of clearance and permits to do that

and this wouldn't have been conducted in the crowded airspace around los angeles what ever that is that would have happened. >> here it is my note says the pentagon is not alarmed, leaves you wondering, why they are not alarmed. the potential is it could have been a screwup by some military service or operation and they are just trying to piece it together and present it to the publ, like i said, an acceptable fashion. >> wait and see, as paul harvey would have said, bless his heart, the rest of the story. thanks, jim. senators joe lieberman, kirsten gillibrand and mark udall are urging the senate to pass the national authorization act that repeal don't ask, don't tell they ready for it pushing the note, i got it in my e-mail inbox. we are talking about the obstacles facing the repeal, namely the short period of time with democrats controlling the

house. i think if the dems don't tack this will issue in the lame duck session, the odds of don't ask, don't tell passing with new house republicans is close to zero. someone writes in under the name of papa pig, the senate should quickly and very quickly get many of the house the passed to them and get them into law. ending don't ask, don't tell should be the top of the stack it. and david responds it will not happen. the overwhelming majority of servicemen are vehemently opposed to repeal and their opinions are most important to lawmakers. the soon-to-be released pentagon survey will reportedly show the majority of active duty forces and their families don't care if gays and lesbians serve openly in the military f would you like to reach out to me, let me know twitter, facebook, my e-mail is contessa at msnbc.com. here is what we are watching later today in less than a half an hour the interior secretary signs the national mall plan and will announce what is in the project to revitalize and

restart mall. "30 rock" actress tina fey receiving the 12th annual mark twain prize in seven hours. steve carroll, jimmy fal and steve martin are expected to attend that ceremony at the kennedy center in washington. and as long as the volcano doesn't interrupt plans, president obama will deliver a speech at the university of indonesia tonight. back in the 80's, it was really tough for me and my family. i was living on welfare and supporting a family of four. after i got the job at walmart, things started changing immediately. then i wrote a letter to the food stamp office. "thank you very much, i don't need your help any more." you know now, i can actually say i bought my home. i knew that the more i dedicated... the harder i worked, the more it was going to benefit my family. this my son, mario and he now works at walmart. i believe mario is following in my footsteps. my name is noemi, and i work at walmart. ♪

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i just didn't want to get out there anymore, i didn't want to get back into what i call the swamp. i'm trying to regain a sense of anonymi anonymity. >> that is former president bush explaining why he has avoided the media spotlight since leaving the office, at least avoiding it until now the former president opened up to matt lauer, saw some of that last night about some of the most personal and difficult decisions he made in office. his new memoir, "decision

points" is out today and here is the former president at a box signing in dallas today, where more than 1,000 people showed up. and there he is, just like the authors always are sitting behind a table, signing books. a professor at the university of texas and a bush biographer, what did you make of interview he had with matt lauer talking about these memoirs? >> i think that bush is out on a campaign, frankly to burnish his legacy. that doesn't make him very distinct from other presidents into the pejorative. i think a lot of folks sometimes view george w. bush as a guy who is so in the moment doesn't think in a panoramic way or landscape way about future generations and how they might view him. i think he is clearly out in a campaign now to begin maybe doing his version of a little revisionist history, trying to protect his legacy and burnish it. >> interesting the way he

tackles some of the most controversial issues of his administration. for instance, on interrogation. let me play what he said. >> let's talk about waterboarding. >> okay. >> one of the high-valued al qaeda operatives was khalid shaikh mohammed, chief operating officer that ordered the attack on 9/11. they say he has got information. i said find out what he knows. so i said to our team, are the techniques legal and legal team says yes they are and i said, use them. >> why is waterboarding legal in your opinion? >> because the lawyer said it was legal. >> is that likely to explain to future generations who may have a different perspective on water boarding why he made the decision he made? is that enough of an explanation? >> i don't think so i think this is where george w. bush might be realizing some of the consequences of something that he thought was quite an attribute that he would delegate. he often described himself as the chief executive officer who hired the best in the business

and woe delegate and drift away from a more micromanagerial approach. so i think maybe what he is contemplating now and weighing in the history will ultimately weigh this as to whether or not he had demanded too much of a managerial cap facility and delegated too much to folks that might have given him bad advice. >> is interesting, bill, i remember hearing the former president during his administration being asked about whether he sought the advice or counsel of his father and him seeming to bristle at that question. let me play what he said. >> there is a lot of psychobabble out there that he and i compete and w's trying to overshadow his father and i said, look, i think people will be surprised to learn that this relationship is based upon love. >> why would people be surprised by that? he is your father? >> it is not as complex as some would like it to be. >> learned, bill, about his relationship with the senior

bush? >> he was extraordinarily influenced by his dad no two ways about it his dad is the one who told him dick cheney should be his vice president. dick cheney was perhaps the most imperial vice president in u.s. history. his whole administration is defined, i think, by his relationshiped with hist dad. >> thanks for joining us, lending perspective on what we have been hearing from him had the last few days. thanks. >> i appreciate it. i'm contessa brewer, that wraps this up hour for me. thank you for watching. see you back here at noon eastern. a company accused of illegally firing an employee after criticizing her supervisor on facebook and we are going to hear from both sides. up next, andrea mitchell reports with more on the president's book. she is talking with james classman, the executive director of the george w. bush institute.

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