pear has a skull frk churnd other injuries. a marine returning from afghanistan said he was overwhelmed by the reception he got by a third grade class. he was adopted by the class and started to get packages and letters from the students. he was invited there thursday to meet the students and expected a small gathering, but the class had other idea, putting on an extravagant party. >> i thought i was just going to come home and see the kids and the class. i didn't think it was going to be a huge production, but it's very nice to see how much they think i meant to them. i hope i can convey how much they really mean to me. >> the children sang a song he's familiar with, "god bless the usa." while he was in afghanistan they recorded a video of them singing the song and he played it for his entire unit. very cool. >>> amidst all those going on in philadelphia, rain made things interesting last night. larry smith has more. >>> good morning to you. five sporting events and two concerts this week an hour of sleep taken back by mother

when pear told the man inside not to move or he'd shoot, the man took off. that's when neighbors stepped in. >> when i came out, i seen the gun. i told my kids, get me my bat. i went out there, we cracked him with the bat. >> he deserved whatever he got. he pointed a gun at all of us, saying give us your money. he meant business. >> three victims had minor injuries. pear has a skull fracture and other life threatening injuries. >>> southwest airlines is saying it's sorry for kicking a mother and her toddler off a flight. the crew booted them because the boy screams of go plane go and i want daddy drowned out the preflight safety announcement. the boy's mom said she was confident he would have behaved once the plane took off, but they never got that chance. southwest called her, offered her a refund, and a $300 travel voucher. >>> a marine who recently returned from afghanistan says he was a bit overwhelmed by the reception he got from a third grade class in arizona. sergeant andrew valora was stationed in afghanistan when he was adopted by the class and star

when pears to me later they were surprised when their children came out, i'm thinking no, not really did you always knew. maybe they did know that you knew, but then you. >> host: and could you relate a store about how you found out? >> guest: it's kind of funny. match in a person to be for halloween was dolly parton. and he was dolly for three years and wrote, and a beer at just got better and better. someone once said to me that i was stereotyping being gay, and i don't think so. i'm sure many young boys dressed as dolly parton for completely different reasons. but it sort of planted the seed that maybe i should be paying attention to my precious little boy. >> host: where were you when he told you? >> guest: i was in saudi arabia. matt was a freshman in college and northglenn and he called on the phone to tell me. and i said matt, what took you so long to tell me? and he said i don't get it. how did you know before i knew? daytona, it's a mom thing. it was very accepting, no one rejected matt, to my knowledge, than our friends when she came out to the. maybe we all already knew. i

she was right there pearing with the yankees and her boyfriend last night after the yanks won the world series. ever since kate started dating him and he divorced his wife and ditched madonna, it seemed a-rod and the yanks have been unstoppable. how much credit should kate get? >> absolutely. she should get all of it. it had nothing to do with matsui hitting it out of the park. she is a great girl. women are only lucky when you go fishing. baseball nothing to do with it. jessica didn't do anything for romo. >> speaking of jessica, what a difference from when she was called a jinx when she dated tony romo. thank goodness they won or she may have gotten the jessica simpson treatment. >> very lucky woman and they think it's the all american scenario and we have the great actress sitting in the stands next to jay z and her iconic parents, goldie hahn and kurt russell and i want to be there with her enjoying the game. when a-rod ran across the field and gave her a big hug, everybody loves a happy ending. >> it was like a soap opera in addition. do you think that some people may have tuned in

i have one in my guard producing apples, peaches, pears. my neighbors pickford.t down to the school --[ey neighbors pick fruit. we went down to the school to give it to them. guest: you can go to a food pantry or soup kitchen and do what you did. that is a great example. people are organizing to take advantage of a food that is available through the food bank system. if they have extra pieces, -- pizzas, they can be channeled back to soup kitchens, food pantries, and distributed to people. the basic idea is right. you can do it yourself. we have this remarkable system of private charitable feeding lead but the food banks that does a pretty good job of doing what you do on a large scale. it is a good idea. we thankqght that your fruit trees are bearing such good fruit, figs and all. host: thanks for spending partd. we appreciate it. we want to talk about giving to charities. would you give less or more this year? we will start with the christian science monitor magazine that ran articles about giving to charities this year. they are finding new ways to u)vive in h

that the lowest common denominators and both pears who say the most outrageous things are the people most likely to get covered. and while that might not imprint on the american people. it does force in the political de band in the commin country because it squeeds out the seerns people. and both parties who are able to go out there and articulate what the actual difference is on a wide range of issues. >> well, the purpose of campaigns is to show differences. on issues. differents in experience if there are legitimate difference in character. we can tell them based on facts. if we use analogies they need to fairly portray what the candidate's position or history or background is. far from blaming it on the press, the press plays an important role as fact checker and referees in this debate between the company's adds and speeches and who's hitting below the belt. i wish the press would be more aggressive about that in some cases. but in the end, we now have third parties behind just the campaigns and the press. you have independent expenditures, third party groups. now a lot of times