lieutenant kor corn nell robert mcginnis, u.s. army, retired. he thinks it's too soon to repeal.s discharge because of don't ask, doebt r don't tell. he's a west point graduate and an iraqi veteran. and tony perkins for he remember sergeant in the united states marine corps president of the family research council. he's against the repeal of don't ask, don't tell. let me show you back-to-back tapes now. first the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff andrew mullen and then senator john mccain. one goes one way, one the other. watch. >> speaking for myself and myself only, it is my personal belief that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would be the right thing to do. no matter how i look at this issue, i cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens. >> our men and women in uniform are fighting two wars, guarding the front lines against the global terrorist enemy, serving and sacrificing on battlefields far from home, and working to rebuild and ref

. >> lieutenant colonel mcginnis, why encourage lying? >> i agree, we shouldn't encourage lying.n't ask, don't tell isn't really the law. unfortunately, it's a clinton administration aberration of the law, but that's what we're dealing with. the fact is, larry, back in '93 bh i was working with this 50-man group, we looked at all the data that was available. they didn't do the extensive research that apparently secretary gates and admiral mullen are significauggesting. i think that's a great idea and i endorse what they're about to do. however, we went with the best information we had, we convinced the congress, and the congress was a democratic congress at that time, larry. they wrote 15 very specific findings. if those findings are no longer valid, throw it out. but if they're still valid, we need to keep the law because it supports military readiness. >> larry: lieutenant choi, why, in your opinion, are they no longer valid? >> i think when we're in a time of war, and for those who are currently serving in the counter-in surgerycys in iraq and afghanistan, we learn an importan

mcginnis, welcome, it is wonderful to have you here.oceed with your testimony. >> thank you so much, senator conrad. it is a privilege to be here again and this is an important topic, moving towards helping people understand the specifics of what it will take to put the budget back on a sustainable path. what i want to talk about today is how to think about the right goals and how to develop policies to achieve the goals and policies that will be needed and what will need to be asked. first, the need for fiscal goals. clearly the federal budget is on an unsustainable path and while no one can predict at what point will be led to a fiscal crisis, we would all agree that we would rather not find out and we need to get ahead of this first. there are compelling reasons to have specific goals. reassuring credit markets is the first. while history and international experience has shown us that when coming out of the session early we can destabilize, we often seen that announcing committing to a credible plan can have a positive economic impac

in the future, we will host first minister mcginnis here in northern ireland and discuss ways to build congratulated them,ed them for their efforts. i spoke with peter martin and did the same, and pledged our continuing support for their efforts. today we salute this achievement. we recognize that a new chapter, a partnership among northern ireland's political leadership and people can now begin. i am confident that the people of northern ireland will make the most of this moment. i want to reaffirm the commitment of the united states and my personal commitment to support them in every way we can as they continue on this positive path into the future. i'd be glad to take your questions. good morning. here comes a microphone. >> also, if i may add, is the united states studying the idea of withholding recognition of the iraqi electrics in march if the 500 suni candidates are excluded? the reason i ask is the vice president told a few state department reporters last night that that was the case. he raised it with you, and he heard that you are -- >> well, first, on the 10 american citize

let's go to meteorologist karen mcginnis in the weather center. i remember hearing that there were over 700 aftershocks at some point. has it grown from even that number? >> we have had about 90 aftershocks. just since the initial 8.8 magnitude earthquake. but over the next few weeks we will see hundreds and hundreds of aftershocks. this is old earth. let's zoom in. it is one of these dots represents an aftershock. so from santiago to conception, we -- we can see even some of these aftershocks extending southward. some of them you can see out over the local waters over the pacific. and some edging towards the and andes. this is very old ground. georgia tech seismologist was describing this earth as very old earth. feel it shaking that moves through this earth easily. so much so that the initial quake, 8.8 magnitude could be felt all the way over to buenos aires. just to give you an idea with these aftershocks, back in the 1800s when charleston, south carolina, had their great quake, the quake actually rang church bells up the eastern seaboard. tha

we check in with meteorologist karen mcginnis to see how it is where you are. >> hey, susan, you are absolutely right. in some cases, places like pittsburgh and new york city have seen record snowfalls since the beginning of february. by the end of february, i think we'll see record snowfalls for the season. area of low pressure is going to be slow to move in, and still on the back side, plenty of cold air will introduce the snowfall all the way from cleveland extending up towards bangor, maine. little bit of a break for the nation's midsection, not quite as cold as it has been. here comes a storm system for the west coast and the sierra nevada and into southern california. we're looking at mountain snowfall and into those lower elevations there's going to be rain, like in los angeles. high temperatures for los angeles, 58 degrees. denver, 48. for miami, a little on the cold side about 69. new york city should only make it to 38. for hln, i'm meteorologist karen maginnes. >>> another major sponsor walks away from tiger woods. why the company says it's made that move, but it's not cut

with that i'd like to introduce the president of our little effort here, maya mcginnis who will introducet? i was panicked last night. do our panelists want to come up and join us? our three panelists -- our fourth panelist is still stuck in traffic. so i'm maya. i'm the president for the committee of responsible federal budget. and i'm one of the members of the peterson-pew commission on budget reform. for those of you who don't know the committee for responsible federal budget -- it's a bipartisan organization. our cochairs -- you just met charlie stenholm. and the board of directors is made up of really the leading budget experts. the folks who run the congressional budget office, the office of management and budget, federal reserve board, the budget committees in congress. so it's a wonderful group of people who lend their voice to reasonable budgeting. unfortunately, sometimes when i mention the name it's treated as a laugh line these days. but we're doing our best. and that's one of the purposes of this conference today. the peterson-pew commission has really been a wonderful projec

with that i'd like to introduce the president of our little effort here, maya mcginnis who will introduce the first panel and get us off in the discussion. thank you all for being here. [applause] >> good morning, everybody. it's so nice to start a day with no snow, isn't it? i was panicked last night. do our panelists want to come up and join us? our three panelists -- our fourth panelist is still stuck in traffic. so i'm maya. i'm the president for the committee of responsible federal budget. and i'm one of the members of the peterson-pew commission on budget reform. for those of you who don't know the committee for responsible federal budget -- it's a bipartisan organization. our cochairs -- you just met charlie stenholm. and the board of directors is made up of really the leading budget experts. the folks who run the congressional budget office, the office of management and budget, federal reserve board, the budget committees in congress. so it's a wonderful group of people who lend their voice to reasonable budgeting. unfortunately, sometimes when i mention the name it's treated as a