martin frost is a former texas congressman. and connie rice is a civil rights attorney. nice to have you joining us this morning. lots to get to including conversations about whitney houston and i really want to talk about whether it is religious liberty or are we really talking about contraception. first, though, the headlines. christine romans has that for us. good morning. >> good morning, soledad. workplace dispute between two i'm immigration custom agents went into a shootout. left one dead and one wounded. authorities say one agent opened fire on the other. then a third agent then intervened and killed the shooter. investigators aren't saying what led to that confrontation. they call it an isolated incident. top u.s. intelligence officials say al qaeda is likely behind some of those recent bombings in syria. syrian security forces bombarding the city of homs now for a 14th straight day. activists say at least nine people have been killed in the latest assault. it comes after a non-binding united nations resolution called for president bashar al-assad to step down condemning the region's human rights violations of the regimes, rather, anti-government's demonstrations taking place right now. hearing getting heated. two female democrats walked out of the hearing in protest. they accuse the republican chairman darrell issa of manipulating committee rules to block female witness fres testifying. >> don't we owe it to the tens of millions of american women whose lives will be effected to let just one, just one woman speak on their behalf today on this panel? >> inquiry? >> the gentlelady, parliamentary. >> we just made an interpretation of the rules. and i stress the word interpretation because it is precisely that. >> the gentle lady will state her inquiry. >> i ask the staff to get me the rules. one thing, mr. chairman, we've been denied the right to have a witness. i want to have the right to make a parliamentary inquiry. >> and state your parm meantry inquiry. >> later this hour, soledad talks with democrat who stayed, virginia congressman gerry connolly. the nasdaq hit a decade high. highest since december 2000. stocks at more than 1% overall looking at today's futures, gains expected in the dow and the s&p, nasdaq though futures are a little bit lower here. mysteriously stops production. comedy central only saying it was for undisclosed reasons. though "wall street journal" reported thursday it was due to a colbert family emergency. the baseball world mourning the loss of hall of fame catcher gary carter. he died after a battle with brain canner. he started with the montreal expos before helping the new york mets win the 1986 world series. gary carter was only 57 years old, soledad. >> such a sad story. >> i know. >> accomplished so much. so sad. christine, thank you. >> you're welcome. fireworks on capitol hill. how often do we start our intros like that. always the treasury secretary tim geithner was testifying at a house budget hearing and was pressed by republicans on the need for tax reform and lack of proposal from the president. here's what he said. >> that you would be coming to us not today but prior to this with a simpler tax system today and not waiting until the end of your term. >> even in tax reform that raises the revenues for example simpson bowles suggests we need, in that context, the effect of tax rate on somebody is going to go up. that's why we spent so much time with your leadership discussing in the summer. >> i understand. so in other words --, - -- go a. i yield. >> was it really always like that, i yield, you yield. hey, listen, today is my day to really dig into the congress people. >> pretty tape. >> it was but you can tell he said, listen, the effective tax rates has got to go up on somebody. let's not play. >> that we're all really saying is that we're not really going to do this this year. nobody expects tax reform to be done right before an election. >> both sides of the aisle. >> we've been talking about tax reform for years and it keeps getting kicked down the road. but they're going to have to come up with revenues somewhere. just might be before the election. >> they are not going to go tax reform this year. >> neither is the democratic administration. >> they're not going to do this in an election year. let's agree to that and move on. >> a lot is not going to get done because it's an election year. interesting is this conversation over religious liberty or, wait, are we really talking about contraception? >> of course we're talking about contraception. look, religious liberty was never in this picture. churches never have to pay for anything that goes against their basic values or tenets. >> if their employers, if they run a hospital they do. >> religious affiliated is what we're talking about here. the president's compromise says, look, they have to do it. they say that employers tell women that whether contraception is better or not so your quloier now gets to determine that. this is ridiculous. >> has this become a big problem for republicans? >> this is nuts from the republican standpoint. >> says a democrat. >> no no, it's true. they won last week. they got the president to change his position. they were able to make the point that the catholic church was being abused a little bit by the administration. they should have stopped right there. when you're ahead, you stop. except they wanted to keep going. now they've made this into an issue of contraception and they look like they're crazy. they look like they're back in the dark ages. >> why would the gop bring the conversation of contraception kind of decided in 1965 decades ago. >> the narrative here is can government get into religious institutions and start making them do things against principles. even the president backed down on that. he was warned by joe biden and bill daley and others not to go there. the problem with their compromise is there is still a lot of gray area out there because a lot of these programs are self insured. >> the conversation though has really turned to contraception. you're on that slippery -- >> no. >> democrats. >> you lose -- you tlooz argument. >> it's an store rum and romney. >> i was going to say -- >> losing the argument on religious liberty. >> you had your leading republican candidates quoted about a decision that was decided in 1965, griswold, about a married couple's right to have access to contraception. it's a conversation about privacy. this is the new yorker, 2-17-2012. both of them are quoted about their feelings about griswold. i think that -- doesn't that have a slippery slope? is that a conversation that the gop wants to have? >> i wouldn't have it. i wouldn't have it there and people are pushing it in that direction. i don't think ultimately that's what the decision was about. the decision was about making religious institutions do things -- >> from last week. >> that's right. >> the point is -- it's still -- it's still unresolved. the hearing yesterday, by the way, only one catholic on the first panel. there were two women on the second panel. >> overwhelmingly men. >> there was a rabbi on there who said, look, i happen to agree with contraception but we look at that as an assault on religious liberty. i don't think that conversation is over yet. >> you can't really take the conversation about religious liberty and remove from it the conversation of contraception. aren't they intertwines? >> you can't when the leading -- for now leading presidential nominee, when mr. santorum says that contraception is bad for women i think we've got a problem here. that's why it's front page and it's turned to contraception. churches have never had to do p this hospitals that are self insured, they've had to do this under state law forever. and a number of states, they have. but the real thing is, how come vasectomies are covered but women's contraception is not? we've got real problems here. >> let me -- let me join in here for just a moment. i headed the democratic congressional campaign committee for four years. tom headed the republican congressional campaign. >> maybe we should have separated you. >> we didn't do it at the same time. look, i want to go back to the point, the the republicans won last week. they were successful last week. they ought to move on to other issues now. now they're giving the democrats to get back in the game to be on the side of women, on the side of basic principles about women's health. they have changed the subject. they have kept this thing going. it is a loser for them that the point. i don't know why someone in the republican party didn't put up a stop sign, we won, we won. >> we're going to continue this conversation. i find it fascinating in terms of the political implications as they try to figure who the candidate is going to be, interesting. i also want to talk about iran and just hours ago the president's -- did you see this picture with -- there you go. the presidents of iraq, afghanistan, and pakistan. holding a joint press conference in islamabad. it was part of a sum mid focusing on stability in the region. it comes after cnn obtained a letter from president ahmadinejad to the european union. in that letter he says iran is ready to resume talks about the nuclear program. former u.s. ambassador to nato is anything glanicholas burns. he's in boston this morning. is this a legitimate offer, do you think? it's a very conciliatory letter. >> well, you know, the iranians have been resisting negotiations for a very long time. and it is in the interest of the u.s. and the europeans to talk with them. we haven't talked to the iranians in 32 years on a stained basis. if they want to talk, if that's one way to resolve this problem, it's far fetched. it's worth offering this offer to negotiate. >> you said it's both far fetched but also we should sit down and talk which sounds contradictory to me. >> no, not at all. we're trying to prevent iran from becoming a nuclear weapons power. use of military force is highly problematic. sanctions, there are sanctions being introduced, central bank sanctions, oil sanctions by the eu to pressure the iranians. at some point before we consider the use of military force down the line if that's going to happen, you do want to get a sense of what this government believes in iran, whether there's a way to resolve this problem shorter for and we haven't had that opportunity since the jimmy carter administration. so diplomacy actually makes a lot of sense right here as part of a larger effort. >> ahmadinejad has claimed earlier in the week that iran has produced fuel that could power a nuclear reactor. do you think that's legitimate or not legitimate? >> you know, i hard to know about the credibility of ahmadinejad's statements. but i will say this. the irans are making progress in enriching uranium. the iese, international atomic agency has said that. there is cause of concern but there is time available for u.s. before iran has nuclear weapons capacity. here's a space for president obama to work in. maybe over the next year or so. what's the combination of threatening force, sanctions, but also looking for a opportunity to negotiate. the iranians are sending lots of conflicting signals, soledad, and lats ots of saber rattling. we do have a lot of the world with us so we're not without assets here. >> when you listen to all these sort of various statements and sometimes threats and sometimes conciliatory letters, how do you assess that? is that sort of overall a move to buy time? is that, no, actually it is a response to sanctions and the sanctions are working? what do you think the take-away is? >> there are a lot of indications that sanctions are beginning to work. they are feeling the pressure and crowded out of some of the oil markets if chinese are reducing their purchases. the government is not mono litic. it sends out lots of signals. you have to stay steady and focus on what we think is right to pressure them and hopefully maneuver them into a state of isolation from the rest of the world. i think that both president bush and president obama have tried to do that. >> let me ask you about syria for a moment. the resolution passed by the u.n.'s general assembly calls for al-assad to step down, but has absolutely no power of enforcement at all. what is the point of a resolution like that? >> the point is that a couple weeks ago russia and china vetoed a resolution that might have made a difference in the security council because that could have been enforced and that was a cynical move by the russians and chinese. this really reflects the will of both countries. like the syrian government has been zelling its own citizens, using brutal indiscriminate force. it's worst human rights force since the uprisings began a year ago. i think most countries are outraged and they want to see the syrian government pay a price and isolate it. it may not have endporsment but symbolically it was an important resolution. >> director of national intelligence james clapper told congress he believes al qaeda is behind the most recent attacks tons al-assad regime. play that out for me a little bit. if that's the case, then if assad eventually is forced out of power, some people predict will happen, what does that mean for al qaeda in the region? >> you know, there's no easy answers here. you're right, it's very complicated because lots of syrians are against -- sunni syrians, especially, the assad regime. some of the vial liens appears to have come from al qaeda affiliated organizations. one of the proposals that people have been talking about is whether we should arm the syrian rebels. that would be very risky considering the fact we don't know them very well. there's no coherent rebel army. some of this violence may be al qaeda perpetrated. they are trying to sanction and isolate the syrian regime. there's a proposal to create safe havens where inside syria, where innocent sevillians can go to take cover from this bombardment but arming the rebels is probably a bridge too far right now. >> thank you, sir. appreciate your insight. >> thank you, soledad. still ahead this morning on "starting point," the stars will be singing at whitney houston's funeral tomorrow. three generations of legendary voices. there are new details about the investigations this morning. chris christie under fire. this is so insane. for flying the flags at half -- is it half mass or half staff in half mass at whitney houston's funeral. peep are giving him flack about that. but he -- this is no surprise. he's not backing down. i'm not shocked about that. he is taking to twitter to fight back. we'll tell you what he's saying. plus, our get real this morning. a mother makes ore 10-year-old son walk almost five miles to school. and gets arrested. and now the kid is defending his mom. we'll explain that story on "starting point" straight ahead. you know when i grow up, i'm going to own my own restaurant. i want to be a volunteer firefighter. when i grow up, i want to write a novel. i want to go on a road trip. when i grow up, i'm going to go there. i want to fix up old houses. 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[ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday. so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates. cnn's going to be covering whitney houston's funeral, which is set for tomorrow in newark, new jersey. our coverage be l. begin at 11:00 a.m. the funeral itself starts at noon. there are dozens of stars to turn out to pay tribute as celebration of the hometown hero, new jersey governor chris christie will be flying flags at half-mast. he's getting flack for it. people on twitter are slamming him. she's not a fallen hero. i am not alone in taking offense to this. she's no role model. she's a dead junkie. totally inappropriate president another one said this. shame on you for ordering our flag to be flown at half-mass -- mast,ic th i-- for a singer who. what about our soldiers and real heroes? governor christi fired back. every new jersey soldier who has been killed in action during my administration had their flags lowered in their memory. learn your fags before accusing. a -- flags before accusing. >> i understand that some will disagree. every decision i make, someone disagrees with. i believe that drug addiction is a disease. and i think that she struggled mightily with that disease. and i don't believe that that diminishes the cultural contributions she made to this state. >> i thought you could not put it better than that. >> yeah. >> i heard him say that. i was like, go, governor chri i christie, well put. >> he got the upper ground. >> he should be so lucky to be attacked by people on the far right. this is good for his politics. this is good for him personally. i want to make one point. >> i'm not so sure they're on the far right. >> it's unclear. we know they're on twitter and that's it. >> talking point, exactly. >> they're on twiter. >> let's put this in context. i'm from texas. i don't wish him any ill, but whenever -- whenever willie nelson passes on, whenever that is around i hope it's a long time from now, you can be assured that whoever is governor of texas will do the same type thing for him me has had substance abuse problems, problems with the irs, but he's a state figure just like whitney houston is someone for people of new jersey to be proud of. >> i like christie's tone here about addiction and so forth. when elvis presley died he had serious problems as well with drugs. and the flags were lowereded a half-mast. they should have been. you've got stars who change the game. i mean, they change the country. and there aren't many of them, but, you know, there are few. >> chris christie had the right tone and elevated the conversation by even talking about addiction, you know, as a huge problem. >> maybe he should run for president. >> he might be thinking now he should have. >> yeah. >> all right. we've got to take a short break. still ahead on "starting point," an allegedly drunk pilot stopped just minutes before he was about to take off. passengers have a bus driver to thank for thancht. a mother makes her son walk almost five miles to school. the police say that's too far. the little boy said, no, my mom was right, i was wrong. have i got a surprise for you! 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"chariots of fire." >> i asked for that because i was at ann richards victory party the night she was elected for governor and that's what they played when she walked in the room. >> good song. does a lot of time and thought go into that? >> sure, of course. absolutely. >> i didn't know. >> yeah. >> i figured elected officials would have many more important things to dothan work on the play list. >> shot down from playing somebody's song and don't like us. >> don't play my song. >> we do country music in texas. >> all right. our "get real" this morning is a pretty good story, you think. you hear stories from old people, i walked to school five miles each way up hill. that's not going to fly anymore. one mother from arkansas is learning the hard way, charged with misdemeanor count of welfare of a