suess has eneliv mikeboetr ihere tonight withne gup ooler fighting to suive. epter:ombaoutpt lowell, a w mifrom the paan br.local afghans ha nicknamed it ll eant caleb fletcs been here one yea >>t very fitng namit aeautiful p, but it deadly. it i deadly. repor ll d its fenders ve surved almo 0 taliattas. oer base in afghanior even ira haseen t mo. >> the's notoo many ople who argog understanwhat we did outerovheast 12mo, exce forhe 60 n thatere out here. rte ache troop, out ft.ood, texas, won a baetful ofs for valor inonths. bu imost pud oone atisc --ll whoought re gog home ave mi considering crave high ground,utell sits at thbottomf a unin bowl. thtaliban pourit oom the high rge les apache troopiv back as good as it ge. >> aft experiencing th what i wi say, if i ev d a job interview agf the e say found yourselfn a rel situation? llryot to e. >> rorte ts theight ey go me. nobody'gog home in a by bag. >>eporte soon,heyre green blon t ght, all avg for homike boer for ws. > ck ithe u.s. ton the baler health carere is being fght the a waves. ads fornd ainst refo. two fictional cract efct

the iconic comian has achieved souch suess in a career tha includes best- selling books and plays and e distinction hosting show cald "surday night live." we will focus on his musi specifically the banjo. the new cd is "the crow"an he will be making his debut at the grand old opry honored to hav y. >> nice to be here. tas: before we started, [unintelligle] was on my radio show and he s a wonderful cumentary out. about the banjo. >> the banj oginated in africa as -- iearned this from e documentary. it is a feign looking thing. it is played similar, it has a short string like the ve- stringanjo. i w doing a show last-- week. they introduceme aand the introduction said the banjo is believed to be an american strument but it was invented over 40 years ago in ancient egypt. which explains w the jews left egypt. tavis: he is funny. when started telling me the backtory when i w the documenta, most of this thing bluegrass aucountry music. ouo not think arica but i was so fascinated to learn about this instrument. >>imakes a lot of sens that the banjo came over on slave ships, i suose. it was

it's a veryopular program, so, yes, i do thi it's been quite suessful. >> suzan: clearly, funding is one of the maj challenges facing the program. what are some the other challenges, though, that they're going to be dealing with >> wel actually benefits are a real pblem. medicare is actually less nerous than most large employer plans. so one of the issues i finding a way to improve benefit so that seniors get the benefits that they need and a great examplof that is the drug benefit that has coverageap or a doughnut hole. >> suzanne: so how do medicare fit into the wle debate healthare reform? how is it possibler possibly going to be addreed with health ce reform? >> well, medica fits in in a number of ways probably a mar way woulde that medicare is helping to fund some of the improvents in the heth reform package. there are significant medica savings, many of which are in eas that a sort ofight f cuts. a grea example ofhat is cuts in pments to medicare advantage plans for which there ha been overpaymentover the past several years. these savings are going toe us tohelp fund coverage e

properly resrced strategy especial one that builds capacity within the afghan government h a chance of suess. but this is the 11th hour. athis point,e can't do anything in afghanista that does not build capacity the afghan... in the afghan government andn its institutions. ment. >> rose: we continue this evening with the "new york times" youngest and newest columnist , he was ross douthat. >> the biggestong-term problem for the republican party right now is tha all of the demographics that 's strongest in are shrunking an it'sot just it's strongest amo white, the white pulation i this ringing. it'strongest amongwhite christians the white christian population is shrinking it's strgest among white christian married couples. the number of americans who are married habeen steadily shrinking foreveral decades the two-parent family isin decline. across all of tho categoryt republican party is in trouble and one ofhe big questionfacing the party is whe do you get the votes in ten years? >> rose: exum anddouthat next. captioning snsored by ro communications fr our studios in new york city, this is c

gecko vo: busisinessmen y "hard work e equals suess." wellyou' looking at, ararably, the world's mostuccessful busisinessgeck gecko : first rule of "hard wowork equalsuccess." gecko vo: that's why ico is consistently rated excellent better in terms of fanal strength. gecko vo: second rulule: "d't steal a coworker'ss g salad, 'specially if it's marked "the gecko." me on people. simple ingrededients ke soft white e winter wat gathered together f 22 grams of whwhe graigoodness. it's w what keketriscuit worth evy y . iscuit. weave some wder. relief can'n't come fast enough. inroducing bayer qui rease crystals. it's readyo ssolve faster thanaplets or tablets. it's ahole new way from babayer to dissolve pain fas. nnew beruick releaease crysts. what's really maki this happen is a lot of these lobbyists ud to work with the democts. we'll talk abo that coming up. p. rig now, 1.5.5illioneople a o on conference call. 750,000 wisish they weren't. - phones chirping ) construction workerss are making 244,000 nextel direcec conne calls. 1 million peopl

gecko vo: first rule of "hard work e equs s suess."kvovo: at's why geico is consisisttltl rated excellllenororetter in terms of f fincicialtrength. geckckvovo: at's why gecko vo: second r rul "d"d't steal a coworker'ss egegg lad, 'spepealallyf it's marked "the gececko come on people. >>> time n n for an a a mhael jackson editioionff the orr and under. first ,, memorial rvrve today, more than 17,000eople fied the staples centerr los gegeleto pay ibute to the king ofpop. tens of thousandsds sodod tside anand tctcononiant reres, millioio m mor watched arndnd e world on tetevivisi. i have t totell you, ithink this sty y is now officially ovoverayed. les see what everyone else thinks. ne welch, mimichl,l,olumnist fofo "vanity fair" and a columnist backckitith us a a monica, reporter fromthth "w"wasngton post" covering it for the per. tell us youourhohougs on it. >> i i haveo ask you. yoyou inink this storyry is ove dennnn?? we do n not know ththe exact ca of death, w w doot know how mumuchisisstate is rtrth andwe do n not knowowatat the m m

gecko vo: businenessmen sa"hard work equals suess." wellllyou'reooking at, arguably, the world's st scessful businessgeck geckvofirst rule of "hard work equalsuccess." gecko vo: that's why geo is consistently rated excellent orter in terms of fananci strength. gecko vo: second rulule: "d't steal a coworker's egg salad, 'specially if it's marke "the gecko." me on people. >>> still ahead, fighting ov o's lying to whom and whennd where, we will talk with the man who explicly and repeatedly rned the bush administration aboual qaeda. er chief counterterrorism adviser richard clark joining in our next segment. >>> plus, ash mob reaching the big time. fend kent jones, the english language, all comi up the rest of this hou first, time for a coup of ho mackerel stories in today' news. >>> nbc news confied that illinois senator rand burris will not seek re-election next year. not -ection exactly. he was never elected t first time he was appointed by disgraced and now imached vernor rod blagojevich under investign by t feds for allegedly trying t

and you heard from ndsey grah, for example, of suess, sayio the judge tt unless there's aomplete meltdown, talk about an easyay to describe it, you will be confirmed. then h followed up by saying that hedoes notxpect that. so on that first day when pele are paying a lot of attention, it's a chance to lay out somef the visi and even away from this hearing roo anrea, the leaders of the repubcans in the senate, mitchell mcconne, gave a floor speech about this nomination and jue sotomayor an laying out the differens as they see it. so when she is inoduced by her fell new rkers, the two senato, ere will be much more praise. her ownemarks will, in some ways, echo at she said at the time that present obama trod her to the nation a her selection. a lot about her personal experience, a bit about her judicial philosophy, whichill be really at t centerof so of the questioning at will come inhese following days. >> kelly o'donnell, up there in the senate gallery and we n tu to our fies and lleagues here, richard wolffe and bruce fine,onstitutional la expert, richard wolffe or of "renegad"renegade." t

some way although therhave been some acqutals, most of the trials f these homegrown ots have been suessfulbut,again, i thi that our friends abroad uslly like to try to let thgs play out a little bit more rely for the purpe of gathering greater intelligence. suarez:brahim ramey, how do youalance the needs of a country to protect itself th he civil rights of its own citizens? tre have been complaints fm muslim organizatns in the past about this. >> certainly. >>suarez: how do you strike that bance? >> i thin the bance has to struck by increasingly engaging with muslim in the process of civic involvement, the procss raising youngeople in a way that is fully respectful of the laws f the country but al committed t the rights of muslimand the rights of all citizens. re than that, i woulday the slim arican societyas boy scou troops and civic eagements with other faith communities and theey, really, is to recognize tt mslims are the bt allies in thepositive transfortion of the country bualso in the protection of the civil rigs and the protectioof all people from olence. >> suarez: u don't doe te n

increases in our foreign asstance, which is in africa's intest and america's interest but the true sign suesss not whether we e a service of rpual aid that helps pele scrape by. it's whether we are partners i building the capacity for change. thismual responsibilitymust be the foundaon for partnership, and today i will focus fr areas that are critical to future of africa and the entire developing area. democracy, opportunity, health, and theacefulesolution of conflict. rst, we must sport strong and sustaable democratic governments. as i said incairo,a nation gives life toemocracy in its own way and in li with its own traditions. but history oers a clr verdict. governments that respe the wi of their own eople, tat gove by consensus and not coercion, are more prosperous. they are me stable and mre successful than gernments that do not. this is more than just holding elections. it's also about what hppens between elections. represon can take mny forms and too many nations, even those thatav elections, a plagued by proems with peoplen poverty. no country is goin to create wealth if the leaders ex

gecko vo: rst rule of "hard work equals suess." gecko vo: that's why geico is consistently rated excellenoror betr in terms of fininancitrength. gecko vo: second rule: "d'tteal a coworker's egg lad, 'specially if it's marked "the gecko." cocon people. >>> welcome back to "harall." time for thesideshow." sarah pan's comedic gold once again. heshoc announcement that she's stepping down fromffice has given plenty ofodder to late-night comedians. if you thought dav letterman would go easy on palin after being forced to ologize after last month's bad joke about her well, you just don't kw ve. he is dave last night. here he is last night. >> the catory tonight, top ten messages on her answering machine -- we, there you go. she'll no doubt be giving these guys lots of material fomonths to come. >>> next, the political cture >> the category tonight, top ten messages on heanswering machine well, there you go she'll no doubt beiving these guys ls of material for months to come. >>> , the political picture of the day. see that guy? that's fsh

. > ifill: the renewed offensi relies more heavily afghan forces-- the key to suess, present obama said yesterday-- in a fight that he ehasized was important tall coalition mbers. >>the issue in afghanistan is not simply anmerican issue, it is a worldwide issu and the vulnerabilies to terrorist attacks in europe re at least as high as they are he in the united states. all of us wa to see an effective exit strategy whe increasinglthe afghan army, ghan police, afghan courts, afghan govement are taking more rponsibility for their own security. ifill: until now, afghan forcesave been minimally involved in the fight, and t training of afan security forces habecome a centerpiece u.s. strategy. and while the talan have largely fled the adncing marines,hey have left behind a deadly array of improvis explosive deves, the makeshift bombs th wreaked havoc on u.s. forces in iraq. > the most dangerous thing right now is the taliban pting roadsidbombs or improvised explosivdevices along with victimperated pressure plates which victimstep on and they go f. pretty much tht is our main concern now. >> i

she taught us that the key to suess in america is aood educati. sh set the exampl studyi alongside my bother and me at our kitchen table so thathe could become a registered nure. we worked hrd. i poured melf into my studies at cardal spellman highchool, earning scholarships to princeton university d then yale law school. while my brother went on to medical schoo our achievements ar due to the valueshat we learned as children. andhey have continued to guide my life's endears. try to pass on this legacy by serng as a mentor and friend to ma god children. and to students of al backgrounds. over the st three decades, i ve seenur jicial system from a numr of different perspeives. as a big cirosecutor, as a corporate litigator, as a trial judg, a as an appellate judge. my first job after law school was as an assistant district attorney in new rk. there i saw childr eploited and ased. i ft the pain andsuffering of famili torn apart by the ndless deaths of loved ones. i saw and leared the tough job law enforcement has in protecting the public. in my next

in counterinsurgency, y can only set the cditions for suess, butltimately true litical success depends upon thehost nation either reforming itself aiving at some st of reconciliationrocess. in counterinsurgencies. >> re: that's nation building. >> well, it m beation building or it may be striking ere could be a reconciliatio procs or there could be building up ititutions, but i think a safe assption assumption is thatf a golt finds itself fighting an insurgency you already hav problems of reg sy with the government and that' something we americans are ver reluctant to own up to. so infghanistan, we've got real problem wit interes alignment and tt's something that i think you're going to hear a lot more about in the next... in the coming year about whether or not the legitimacy the afghan gernment or the policies of the afghan government are helping or harmin our ierests in afghantan. >> rose: can we win th thing without...hat's the definitn of winning is creating a stae govement that can keep the taliban from coming to power and establishing a safe refuge for inrnational terrorist orga

it's certain what d to h suess for so long. hat's an inedible story. >> iwas n.ealooguy. >> cing up, bittking joer >> stay tuned, "mning papers" next. aouncer: "world ws now delivers yr "morning pe." >> mony mniaper i'ju ting to imagine 1 ll thaweng wh th fir story ah, 1, i he an gency.thers in mobile crashed outsidnt house. lookt that. >>h, wow. >> the oscar mayereir mobi crashein wisconsin. you n see some le llow chunere a nute. those aracly pieces ofhe n. >> i thoughtt s must like mustard ie trk. iacally broke the fodation of the e an caused sious lem. paly whoev w drivi thinobe was trying to tu aund the dveway d calcuted wransed l kis ma. e person w cled in at first ght the driver was drun rently ty coul't qui gauge how ituraround a gia we. >> apparentltheyldn' e cue mustard. t. >> sthe neimyou're o a run, bforewarned cially if you're nea cornwall th is disturbingis. 's a guy w w basically foan eryayun and a buzzard attacks when i say attk, te a lo. happenetowo gs. the second guy saiead tee huge, sich sla wounds to hes head. sd w at the end ofn ho-ljo hfelt s