Transcripts For MSNBC MSNBC Live 20110422 : vimarsana.com

karen, how bad is this news for the president? it is not great news, but i have to tell you that i think to some degree it is not unexpected because, look, gas prices, we have talked about it before, that is one of the most immediate ways that people sort of feel the pinch because it not only affects the money in terms of putting gas in your tank, but also our food prices, there is that ripple effect. and i think you can t underestimate, things were getting a little better, and then all of a sudden we have gas prices going back up, japan has actually brought the fears around nuclear energy back into the fore. and here we are engaged in another country in the middle east. people are feeling like when is this going to end. doug, in terms of the optimism, in terms of the approval rating from the american people, the republicans aren t doing really any better than the president is. and, in fact, in some cases they re doing worse. look when people were asked about the gop s handling of the deficit here. let s pop that one up. the percentage of the people who said, look, the republicans are not doing a good job was very high. in this case, here we go, disapproval rating, 63%. approval rating, 27%. is that bad news for the gop? do they need to rethink their strategy? i think we re constantly evaluating what our strategy is. and how we best move forward. but we re talking, we have been talking about an election that is a year and a half away. that election is going to be for president by and large, obviously congress will have raises t races too, but the presidential election sets the tone. what was most interesting in this poll is 53% said the president doesn t share their priorities when on inauguration day two years ago, it was at 65%. and if people don t think that you share their priorities, they don t think you can help solve those problems either. and, you know, you ve got a lot of people who, while they re dealing with the big issues, they re watching washington duke it out over 2012 budget and over the debt ceiling, you know, a lot of americans are pessimistic because their salaries are stagnant, if they have a sag la. food prices are going up. the gas average now is $3.85, up 30 cents from a month ago, more than a dollar than we paid last year. i want to bring into the conversation nbc s mike taibbi in chicago where they re paying the average price here, mike, what, $4.26? well, $4.26 may be an average. we re standing in a place where it is $4.599 for gasoline. this is the blues town, if there wasn t bad news, there wouldn t be no news at all. this is one of the six states where the average price is north of $4 a gallon. they also are aware that they re also aware that there are some analysts saying that if all the elements in place driving gasoline prices stay in place over the summer, leading to the hurricane season, we could be looking at gas prices north of $6 a gallon. that s getting almost the united kingdom and germany and france prices where it is $8 a gallon now. a lot of people depressed of what they re seeing at the pump. one guy had a heavy duty truck and $170 and he was just driving to the work site. he said what s next. the president is appointing a team to make sure there is no manipulation or fraud in the oil markets, that traders and speculators aren t part of the problem driving up the oil prices. but when you re talking to people, how much blame do they put on our government, and how much responsibility do they think their elected leaders have to fix the problem? that s kind of a discursive line of thought that most people don t think of. i think they re doing the simple math. think of this, if you have to drive 100 miles to grandma s house and back this weekend, it will cost you at these prices $4.50, $22.50. $7 more than last year. if that s your daily commute, that s $110 a week, $440 a month, plus tolls and parking, you re talking real money and that s the reasons for real concern from one end of the country to the other, let alone the question of who to blame at this point? you got to find the money to pay for that. mike, thank you. karen, do you think that kind of conversation is going to refocus the political spotlight in washington, d.c. when these you ve got these politicians who may be planning campaign re-elections? re-election campaigns that they re going to have to think, wait a minute, what is really important to the people who go to the polls? contessa, you look at these numbers and these numbers are bad for everyone in washington because one of the most interesting numbers was 29% of people feel like congress and the gop agenda is not sort of what they really care about. point being, people are looking at what is going on in washington and they don t see their agenda getting taken care of. i think that s bad for both parties. i also think that raises the stakes on this debt ceiling discussion we re going to have, that people are going to not want to turn on their television and see people fighting, they want to see things getting done. the second point i make is that i think it also supports the president s ideas about what we have to do not just in the short-term, but the long-term agenda. we are being out innovated, china has the corner on the new energy market, we re going to be left behind if we don t make those investments. right. okay, so here s another thing. when people are paying high gas prices, high food prices when their salaries are stagnant, it makes people who otherwise might feel middle class and comfortable feel poor. and you ve got this disconnect where you ve got republicans right now really pushing through, doug, more tax cuts for the rich. susan brooks thistlewait, a professor at the chicago theological seminary was quoted as saying, christian evangelicals who support the ryan budget, meaning the paul ryan budget, that hurts the poor and rewards the rich as gospel according to ann rant have some sole searching to do and holy week is a good time to do that. any chance, doug, on good friday you ll have republicans doing some soul searching about rewarding the rich and hurting the poor? i think as a catholic, you know, we want to help the poor, we want to help everyone. it is not a question of hurting anybody. that s not the republicans priority, not anybody s priority. we re talking about gas prices and for the past year, we have had a moratorium in the gulf that has hurt gas prices. it also hurt about 320,000 louisianaens alone in their job in their job. it is not the moratorium that hurt them, it is the oil spill that hurt. that s right. remember that domestic oil production in this country is up. well, it has been up, but what we know is that we can explore in the gulf, we can explore in anwar and this is what democrats opposed for decades, saying it will take a decade. there are 320,000 jobs in louisiana alone. if we want to help people, let s start with that. on this good friday, can we all come together and hope for better things for our country s future? no question. karen, doug, thank you. thank you. congratulations, contessa. doug, thank you very much. appreciate that. so my big question today, does washington realize that americans are in such a bad mood? do they realize why? i d like to hear your thoughts. reach me on twitter, facebook, my e-mail is contessa@msnbc.com. nevada senator john ensign says an ongoing ethics investigation causes too much wear and tear on his family so he s stepping down. the senate ethics probe follows ensign s 2009 admission to an extramarital affair and then helping his former lover s husband get a lobbying job. the senator insists he did not break any laws. nbc s kelly o donnell in washington, d.c. this is pretty surprising because until recently we thought, okay, you re not running for re-election, but you re going to stay until that term ends. reporter: that was the thinking, contessa, that by announcing his retirement, that would cool things off with the ethics committee, but, in fact, they were ramping up their work and in light of his resignation, the two chair men of the committee, barbara boxer isakso statement saying they worked for two months and they would put out some kind of report coming forward and they think his decision to resign was appropriate. he gives himself a way to step out of what could have been public hearings and a disclosure of all sorts of details relating to the affair that he had with a former staffer who was also married to a staffer. the payment from his family of close to $100,000 to that couple. and questions about whether he helped doug hampton, the man involved, get a job and do lobbying and perhaps using some influence with the senate to try to deal with this because it was such a painful experience for both families. they had been close friends before this affair happened. so ensign is hanging it up. one of the reasons that retirement would have been easier for him is all of his staffers now are out of a job. kelly, is there any does this mean he escapes any kind of consequences from the senate ethics committee? reporter: there are two ways to look at this. they can refer to the department of justice if they want to follow up with any potential criminal penalties if that course of action is appropriate. but for the senate, it only has jurisdiction over its own members. so the kinds of punishments about the code of conduct on capitol hill, that would all end because of his resignation. kelly o donnell, thank you. where is senator john mccain spending his spring break? libya. meeting with rebels to see how things are going. we re meeting with council, meeting with the military, meeting with lots of people. i m looking forward to it. the senator arrived in the rebel held city of benghazi this morning. he s one of the strongest supporters of american military intervention in libya. nbc s chief foreign correspondent richard engel is in benghazi now. what can the senator accomplish with his visit there? reporter: he certainly raised the spirits of the rebels here in benghazi. he s received an incredibly warm welcome. senator mccain spoke in this hotel not long ago and he called for the rebel governments to be recognized by the united states. he wants the united states to release some of the $30 billion or so of frozen assets that have been frozen by belonging to gadhafi s regime. outside, people were waving american flags. something you don t see often in this region. they were holding signs that said thank you, president obama, thank you to the home of the free and the brave. people here hope that this will be the start of more military involvement from the united states and they re very encouraged that president obama has made this decision to start using predator drones for close air support. that is something that until now we hadn t seen as nato was taking the lead and frankly not having the same kind of success that the mission was having when it was a u.s.-led mission up until about two weeks ago. richard engel in benghazi, thank you. things are getting pretty intei intense again in syria where tear gas was fired as tens of thousands of protesters. now at least 15 people have been killed. it happened on the outskirts of damascus as noon prayers ended. it will be a test for president bashar al assad. he talked about reform, but the protests have continued. columbine copycat? the search for a suspect in a crime with erie coincidences to the high school massacre. plus, preg-not. why would a student pretend to be expecting a baby? hi, dad. we need to talk. 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[ male announcer ] ask your doctor about adding niaspan. fight back. fight plaque. love you, daddy. colorado police are being inundated with tips after showing video of a man they re looking for in connection with that attempted bombing at a mall in littleton. at the same time, the fbi is investigating whether the incident was connected in any way to the 12th anniversary of the columbine high school killing spree. pipe bombs were also found following the columbine massacre on campus. investigators are still trying to figure out how a 16-year-old girl from north carolina ended up dead in baltimore, maryland. after a four-month search, police found the body of felicia barnes. they pulled it out of a maryland river wednesday and made the positive identification yesterday. investigators say the case will move to a new phase now. another unidentified body was pulled out of the susquehanna river along with barnes. governor rick perry is asking texans to pray for rain this weekend to help contain the wildfires still burning across the state. flames destroyed 400 homes and killed two firefighters. since january 1st, wildfires have consumed more than 1.4 million acres. things are getting better, though, with light drizzle which helped firefighters contain about 25% of one fire. a 17-year-old girl faked being pregnant for six months as a social experiment. she didn t tell her brother, her sisters, her friends, her classmates, and the reaction she got was shock. here s karma dickerson. reporter: gabby rodriguez got her life back today. it was first time since october she didn t have to pretend to be something she wasn t, pregnant. teens now live in the shadows of stereotypes and rumors. and i just wanted to break that and kind of just set them free. reporter: the teen shocked the students, staff and faculty at school yesterday when she announced her pregnancy had actually been a social experiment for a senior project. she s walked the halls of this high school looking something like this. but the experiment didn t end there. her brothers and sisters, close friends, even her boyfriend s parents didn t know the truth. and when she came clean, there were some hurt feelings and anger. the closest people to me were mad at first. they felt lied to and betrayed. reporter: but she says overall, the response from students and staff has been positive. her mother, boyfriend and principal were all in on the secret. they felt the potential reward was worth the possible damage of the deceit. i think it starts the conversation. i don t know if one presentation will change the way that people think long-term, but it certainly gets the ball rolling. reporter: since the beginning of the experiment, gabby s kept a record of how other students treated her differently and the rumors they said about her. she read some to her classmates during the announcement. it was bound to happen, that i was irresponsible, that i was wasn t going to continue in school. confronting it and just putting it out there for teens to realize that, you know, what you say about other teens, it gets to them. reporter: this was just as easily a test of dedication. she sacrificed six and a half months to this project. i feel i made my senior year better by doing this because i get to, you know, say i made an impact in some of the students lives here and the best things are yet to come. reporter: including prom and graduation, which she can now enjoy in her real body. high school romance turns deadly. a teenager tricked by his former girlfriend and brutally murdered. a not so good friday for lindsay lohan. she may get to do some first person research for her new gotti movie. i m a hot babe out jogging. i m out makin sure this stays a 10, when you drive by. you re checking out my awesome headband, when. oops. that s when you find out your cut-rate insurance it ain t payin for this. so get allstate. save cash and be better protected from mayhem like me. 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[ male announcer ] get zyrtec® s proven allergy relief and love the air®. welcome back to msnbc. i m contessa brewer. a u.s. drone attack killed at least 25 people in pakistan today. according to military officials, and it is a clear sign washington s use of drones against militants will continue. japan has expanded the evacuation zone again around the tuck se fukushima nuclear plant basedst. they plan to move cattle outside the danger zone. christians are marking good friday. we know the story of christ s birth, death and resurrection as it is told in the bible. that story particularly the part about the woman who gave birth to him seems to be changing. the classical bible version is christ was born to a virgin. the new american bible now uses an old testament prophecy to say that the that christ would be born to a young woman. the new american version has not yet been approved bit vatican. officials in florida say a teenage love triangle is at the heart of a 15-year-old boy s savage murder. six people have been arrested. they re accused of luring the teen to a house where he was tortured and shot and his remains hidden. kerry sanders joins us now from ocala, florida. kerry, what can you tell us about the story? reporter: this is a particularly vicious crime. 15-year-old seth tyler jackson thought he was being invited by his old girlfriend to visit with her make nice. now she s among those charged with his murder. 15-year-old amber wright, seth s one time girlfriend, in custody, charged with murder. she with 18-year-old charlie ely could face the death penalty. investigators say seth jackson received repeated text messages and phone calls on sunday, inviting him to this home in rural central florida. once there, deputies say he was confronted by the girls, two other teenage boys, and a 20-year-old. later detectives say amber s 37-year-old stepfather helped sanitize the crime scene with bleach and then allegedly disposed of seth s body. police say that when seth arrived, they bum rushed him and began to beat him. detectives say he was then tortured, bones were broken, he was repeatedly shot and then his body was set on fire. the burned remains swept into paint cans and dumped into a quarry. dive teams later recovered the remains. carrie williams was one of the last people to see seth alive. it is not like they just murdered him, they tortured him. they tortured him and torched his body. it just it is very upsetting. you re charged with first degree murder. reporter: 18-year-old michael barringo allegedly pulled the trigger. potentially you are facing the death penalty. reporter: why was seth killed? detectives who have looked at this facebook page where seth professed his love for amber believed this may be a case of jealousy gone very wrong. sometimes you think you ve seen it all and they surprise you every time. in a case like this, i think it goes to mother s outrage, to your senses, to your heart. reporter: residents here in marion county, florida, are horrified and angry. it is crazy. i don t understand how no one could hear it, hear the gunshots. reporter: hundreds gathered where seth was murdered to remember him and to demand justice. what happened to him was wrong and, you know, i hope they get life in prison. reporter: others want more. i hope they get the electric chair. and they burn, burn and we can all sit and watch them, like they did with him. do you have any questions? no. reporter: michael bargo now has a defense attorney. did he do it? can they prove it? i don t even reach the question of did he do it? that s a moral question. i deal in proof is what i deal in. reporter: the judge has ordered all of those arrested now here at the jail to be isolated from one another so they can t get together, compare stories of what they allegedly were involved in here. and the marks on the defendant s face, did this all come from the incident? reporter: good question. we believe it happened when seth was fighting for his life and fighting back. but the authorities here have not really defined to us what happened to him, whether that happened inside the jail. but i suspect since they are being isolated in the jail here that that is more a result of what happened as young seth was putting up a fight for literally his life. kerry, thank you for bringing th us this difficult story. violence in the home can be a major contributing factor in bullying behavior. the cdc says middle school and high school students who were bullied or are bullied themselves are four times more likely to be physically abused by a family member. and one celebrity who reportedly was the recent target of bullies, harry potter star emma watson. the 20-year-old recently announced she was taking a break from her studies at brown university in rhode island. the new york daily news said she was subjected to regular jives by fellow students. one source says students would shout out potter related quotes whenever she tried to answer a lecture question in class. we re waiting for lindsay lohan to arrive at a los angeles court any moment now. the actress is charged with one count of felony grand theft after an upscale jewelry store accused her of taking a $2500 necklace. the judge could throw the star back in jail if the judge decides that lindsay lohan violated her probation from a 2007 drunk driving case. nbc s jinah kim is in l.a. now. so the media are out there waiting for her arrival. what are legal experts telling you that might happen today when she goes into court? reporter: well, you know what, contessa, lindsay lohan hearings are always full of twists and turns. and today is no exception. let me lay some ground work first. before telling you about a little bit of breaking news that we re hearing right now. so this is a preliminary hearing. this isn t your usual lindsay lohan court hearing. this is supposed to be a mini trial beginning today, where the prosecution is going to put on some witnesses, put on some evidence to try to make the case for a full blown trial in that necklace theft felony. and we re here because last month lindsay lohan completely rejected the idea of a plea deal, which could have gotten her a lenient sentence in exchange for a guilty plea. instead, she decided to take her chances with this possible trial at the end of which she could have gotten up to three years in jail. well, now we re hearing this morning that radar online and tmz are both reporting that all of this could go away this morning because right now she s charged with a felony, they re saying this could be knocked down to a misdemeanor. this morning, by the judge in the case. and how that happens is this necklace was a $2500 necklace, well, apparently lindsay s defense attorney last night worked hard to try to get experts to testify that this necklace is only worth $850, under $950 in theft, that becomes petty theft, it becomes a misdemeanor. so right now, everything just has been tossed up in the air and we don t know what to expect. with a misdemeanor it not violating the terms of her probation? reporter: apparently it is violating the terms of her probation, but it would be such a minor thing compared to the felony she was charged with that i just got off the phone with a legal expert who said, she ll probably go home straight from court today if it is knocked down to a misdemeaner. jinah kim, thank you very much for keeping an eye on it. we will back here in new york as well. we re exactly a week away from what some are calling the social event of the century. the royal wedding of prince william and kate middleton. and nbc s michelle kosinski is at london s buckingham palace. the excitement must be palpable. reporter: it actually is, contessa. it sounds funny to say that, but you are starting to feel this excitement among brits too, not just americans. and if only you could sort of feel this scene right now. i think that the explosion of flowers says it all, but the warmth of the sunshine, the gentle breeze, the british flags flying so brightly and the smell of flowers is heavy in the air. it just doesn t get any better than this, really. and nothing has been left to chance in terms of preparations. at least if anything has been left to chance, nobody at this point is going to admit to that. we have seen the participants rehearsing day to day. security getting ready. the thing is, though, with all this gorgeous weather we have been having, that everyone is hoping will last one more week, it caused the flowers to bloom early and so now there is the risk of having some droopy blooms on the day of the wedding. we just can t be having that here. so the gardeners are going to have to go flower by flower and cut off any that aren t looking up to the up to par on the day of the wedding. and when we say no stone has been left unturned, there is kind of a literal element to that because all of the statues here have been cleaned off, we saw workers meticulously scrubbing with little brushes all of the sculptures inside westminster abbey. so as meticulous as you can imagine the preparations, that is how it has been. and will continue to be, contessa, for a mere seven more days. are you ready? that s the question. i am very eager to see what develops. it did occur to me the other day that you re going to have so many tourists there, so many visitors to london taking advantage of the celebration, that the potential for criminal/terror activity must be a concern to security officers. reporter: oh, of course. that s maybe the most important issue surrounding all of this. everybody focuses on the pageantry. but security is a huge deal. london has been the target of terror attacks for years. not only coming from outside this country, but from within. and so there have been all kinds of reports in the press, some of them just quoting unnamed sources, but also security officers have commented specifically on certain things they re doing. among those, both confirmed and unconfirmed are that helicopters have been looking above all of the routes to see any potential signs of trouble. that they have even been tracking certain people that they have targeted already as being potential sources of trouble. so hopefully when we say no stone has been left unturned, in terms of preparations, that also, you know, no doubt includes security, contessa. that s one other thing that everybody has to keep their fingers crossed on for sure. thank you very much for the report. appreciate that. beautiful shot out there, flowers look gorgeous. our special coverage continues all next week leading up to the royal wedding. morning joe, chris jansing and martin bashir will join us from london. for all things royal, don t forget our free nbc news royal wedding app for an detrodroid, and ipad. what do you get when you mix fashion and foliage? i have no idea. but matthew morrison will be here to tell us. is he going to wear a tie made of twigs? i m wondering if i ll get a serenade. a church in kentucky where no one gets married legally until gay couples can legally be wed. a whole community taking a stand for marriage equality. 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[ bat cracks ] that s a hit. one a day men s. well, today is earth day and the cia is pointing out its own contribution to helping the environment. all that shredding and burning classified documents feeds the agency s on-site incinerator and generates steam to heat water at cia headquarters. in fact, a thousand tons of it. the process not only saves fuel, but it reduces the amount of waste that would otherwise go into land fills. nearly a thousand tons per year. as i said, and unbelievable, it is not just the shredding documents, they also have leaves, buildingses a and switc out light fixtures. we have never gone green like this before. a special earth day fashion show in los angeles featuring models putting on dresses made entirely of plants. matthew morrison is the star of the hit show glee and is hosting the show full of fashion foliage. plants into dresses, huh? fashion foliage. i like that term. it is alliterative. does it look like you re wearing your house plant? there is a model right behind me. she s got a some fashion foliage. that s some serious stuff there. oh, it is. look at that. you might have to tell your cameraman to pull out so we can see her a little bit more. there we go. there we go. she looks like the garden of eden. there you go. i like that. yes, so they re practicing for the big show we re having here. beautiful day in los angeles. and, yeah, so we re working with dasani. they have new plant bottles coming out. happy earth day, by the way. thank you. the new plant bottles, up to 30% plant base and 100% recyclab recyclable. it is a cool product. i drink out of water bottles all the time. it is cool to have something to make me feel a little better when i throw it away in the recycling bin. you know who would make you feel better? 23 y if you were wearing one of those leaves? i don t think that would make me feel better at all. it might make you feel, shall i say, gleeful? no, i don t think i think i ll want to run and hide. i got to ask you, since the earth day discussion is out of the way and we re promoting, you know, plants being used in water bottles, that s great, can we talk about glee. i heard and i ve been reading all the rumors that you re leaving the show. is that true? no, not at all. i think it came from something about someone asked me if i missed broadway and i said absolutely. i said that s my first love and my passion. i love being up on stage. and i miss that interaction with a live audience. but, i mean, glee has been amazing. there is no validity to the rumors at all. i don t plan on going anywhere. given how much you re singing and inviting other people on to sing too, it is not just gwyneth paltrow, but you had other television journalists making an appearance, i don t know if my producers told you this, matthew, but i m a bit of a karaoke queen. i really love to sing. really? yeah. i m putting the pitch on there. but wanted to give you the opportunity, if you want to sing on this show, i might join in and do a little harmony. go ahead. well, what about you if you want to sing on glee . i do. would you want to come on glee ? yes, yes, i would do that. if i got the formal invitation, i would do that. i would even let, say, your people pick the songs. which could be funnier. oh, no. this is the moment when the satellite is going to that s the moment when the satellite is going to die? did the satellite die? it is back now. i just missed it. matth matthew, thank you for sharing your plans with earth day. that thing is going in and out. that s crazy. earth day plant fashion and singing on glee all in one. let s move to politics. today who s in and who s out? we begin with senator john ensign s announcement that he s out. the nevada republican is resigning amid an ethics investigation of his affair with a former campaign aide. the latest poll finds an unknown in the lead. that s not a typo. no one comes in first among a whopping 56% of republican voters who were asked which potential candidate they re most enthusiastic about. presumptive front-runner mitt romney is a very distant second with 9% and even the birther guy is in fourth place. a pep pow poll finds most americans don t know who the candidates are. most of them are sitting it out. this guy is officially in. this is the first time i get to say this, but i am running for president of the united states. whoo! yesterday, former new mexico governor gary johnson became the first republican to throw his hat in the ring for real, no exploratory this or testing the waters that. johnson told msnbc s dillon radigan, name recognition may not be the best way to pick a president. if i m not one of those names, may they end up checking out a spokesperson that doesn t really represent what it is that they re thinking. tea party caucus founder michele bachmann is another republican waiting it out. but she s in this week s time magazine making the cut for the 100 most influential people in the world. here is what rush limbaugh wrote. this isn t pretty. bless his heart. that s rushsia s dmitry medvede busting a move to american boy . he wrote, we re rocking out last year at a reunion with my university. that s rocking out? what are you looking at? logistics. ben? the ups guy? no, you see ben, i see logistics. logistics? think ben is new markets. ben is global access china and beyond. ben is a smarter supply chain. ben is higher margins. happier customers. everybody wins. logistics. exactly. see you guys tomorrow. looks like we re in for a bumpy ride. go ahead, ignore me. but in this turbulent market, you re going to need help. protecting some of your assets for retirement. an axa equitable annuity could give you. guaranteed income for life. i d call them, but what do i know? i m just the 800-pound gorilla in the room. don t worry. i m here. want guaranteed income for life? axa equitable is redefining what you expect from annuities. ooh, peanuts. ???????????????????????????? somewhere in america, a city comes to life. it moves effortlessly, breathes easily. it flows with clean water. it makes its skyline greener and its population healthier. all to become the kind of city people want to live and work in. somewhere in america, we ve already answered some of the nation s toughest questions. and the over sixty thousand people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers. a christian church in louisville, kentucky, is taking a stand, refusing to legally marry straight couples since the pastor can t perform legal weddings for gay couples. reverend derrick penwell is the senior pastor at the douglas boulevard christian church. good to see you today. good to be here. thank you. why did you and other church leaders take such a dramatic stand? well, as a christian community, we feel like we have a commitment to see that justice is extended to all people regardless of their race or gender or nationality or sexual orientation. it is our position that we need to be treating everyone the same. your congregation, i understand, 60 members, voted unanimously to end the signing of marriage licenses. not that you don t do the weddings, it is that legally you won t sign the marriage certificate. is your congregation mostly gay? no. we have a fairly small percentage of our membership is gay. but we want to be able to treat everyone the same. and so what we re saying is not that we won t do marriages. we do weddings the same as we always have done them. but as i told people, when it comes to the point in the reception when i say can i have the marriage license, i won t say that anymore. kentucky, one of 11 states to change its constitution to outlaw same sex marriages. lots of gay rights opponents argue the bible forbids homosexuality. how do you respond to those critics? the bible has been used to do any number of different things. and to support a variety of positions over the course of time that we don t even anymore it is hardly believed that we once thought those kinds of things. our understandings of how the bible ought to be used have changed over the years and some of the things that it proscribes for cultures that are, you know, 2500 years old necessarily can t predict what we re going to it is good of you to join us today. i appreciate that you came on and shared your perspective. thank you. i m contessa brewer. thank you for watching. see you back here on monday noon eastern. hope you have a good weekend. up next on this good friday, andrea mitchell reports, today from new york. she ll be back right after this. 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