the toxins in the anbar mitch lowe remain for decades to come. water is pumped -- the toxins in the environment will remain for decades to come. keenest take samples to test. the liquid contains chemicals that can cause cancer, a substance at the plant can remove the toxins by binding with them chemically, leaving the water clean. the toxic residues can be converted into harmless substances. >> there is an odor, otherwise, it has the typical small. the final products are water, carbon dioxide, and hydrochloric acid. >> it means they can be reused, like almost all the residues from the plant. the process results in a small amount of sulfur is residue that must be removed as it can damage the equipment. scientists have come up with a new process to achieve that, it is in the testing stage right now. researchers hope will be ready to be used in the treatment plant in a few months' time. the goal is to develop a substance that can decontaminate the ground directly. this black substance is able to absorb contentment and -- contaminants and break them

welcome, and really have the pleasure first to introduce to you, managing director of greenstart, mitch lowe, to say a few words. mitch? [applause] >> all right. hello, thank you. welcome. it's an exciting day for greenstart. it's an exciting day for the companies that are in our program, and it's an exciting day for san francisco. we're super pumped to finally formally introduce greenstart to the world. so thank you for being here. thank you, mayor lee, for being here. we have mentors here. we have our interior designer, one of our interior designers, kimberly ryder, who put this space together in less than seven weeks, which is really astounding. thank you all. there's a lot of people here who have been super supportive and are here to help. we started greenstart because we believe that reducing the use of fossil fuels is the defining problem of our generation. and the answer is innovation. we need to innovate around expanding the use of clean energy. we need to innovate around energy efficiency and where does that innovation come from? over the last hundred years, especially in san franci

obama versus mitch mcconnell over whether the wealthy should pay a little more to keep teachers, fire fighters and police on the job. guess who thinks it's more important to keep taxes lown the rich? >>> and let me finish tonight with what's going on in the republican party. it's weird. >>> we start with the rebooting of rick perry. howard fineman's an msnbc political analyst and "the huffington post" media group editorial director. and dana milbank is a columnist for "the washington post," who appears quite regularly and wondrously on page two. this afternoon, perry called the birther issue a distraction, but just last night in an interview with cnbc's john harwood, perry said it was a good issue to keep alive. let's watch this performance. >> it's a good issue to keep alive. just, you know, donald's got to have some fun, so -- and the issue is this. >> it sounds like you really do have some doubt about it? >> look, i haven't seen his -- i haven't seen his grades. my grades ended up on the front page of the newspaper, so let's, you know, if we're going to show stuff, let's show stuff. but look, that's all a distraction. i mean, i get it. i'm really not worried about th

low approval ratings for this president. i think it's time for people to start getting serious in this administration rather than silly. martha: but, you know, he cites mitchonnell who, you know, right after that quote came out i think almost a year ago he said this, it will never be forgotten, you know, his goal was to make sure this was a one-term president. clearly, many members of the gop do not want to see the president reelected, so the question becomes are they being obstructionist in order to insure that the economy doesn't improve and he will not be able to get another four years? >> i think the republicans then, the republican leadership certainly should question the motives of this president. god forbid, does he not want to see a republican candidate elected president in 2012? what does that mean, is president obama intentionally building this economy so that a republican can be defeated? i mean, this is the kind of childish logic that's at play from the president's chief political adviser. and this president scratches his head and asks himself why is he in so much political trouble with the american people? martha: you heard the points that wer