Transcripts For WRC Today 20101106 : vimarsana.com

good morning, everyone. welcome to today on a saturday morning. i m lester holt. and i m amy robach. and that photo has a lot of people talking this morning. hihing out atther parents in a blog. that blogas now gone viral. and we re going to talk to her live coming up. some folks mig thinkther kids would have teased him. in thi case it was other mothers who were questioning her as t why he did that. it opens up a big discussion and we re going to have it a bit later in the broadcast. also that new jobs report, it s a reality check for washington. and all of us. while the numbers show thousands of new jobs were added to the payroll in october, another report on unemployment is sure to add more concern about our struggling economy. we ll take a closer look at the important figures coming up in just a moment. also this morning, it has happened again. a mysteriousgunman is targeting military facities in the d.c. area. and authorities are now trying to track down the unknown suspect beforenotherattack. this morning we re going to talk to a fmer fbi profiler about a possible suspect of who the shooter may actually be. but we want to beg with president obama s trip to asia. it comes on the heels of his partiaries crushing defeat in the midterm elections. white house correspondent savannah guthrie is traveling with the president. she joins us now from mumbai. savannah, good morning. lester, good morning. the president starts here in india. will be overseas for more than a week. a trip long planned, that aides say, is all about the economy at home. in mumbai, in ina, for three days, the longest single foreign visit of his presidency. first stop, the taj palace hotel. one site of the coordinated attacks that terrorized this city two years ago this month. today, the president and first lady, who are staying at the hotel, paid their respects. to those who have asked whether this is intended to send a message, my answer is simply, absolutely. the taj has been the symbol of the strength and the resilience of the indian people. reporter: the president will visit four countries on this nine-day trip. two stops in india. indonesia, where he lived briefly as a boy. then economics in south korea and japan. after a battering in the midterm elections, where unemployment was a key issue, the white house is working to emphasize this foreign trip is about jobs at home. u.s. officials see india as a major economic opportunity, as efforts increase u.s. exports. the president arguing in today s new york times, every $1 million we export supports more than 5,000 jobs at home. but the president won t be stopping here. bangalore, india s outsourcing capital. the preside has railed against u.s. companies that ship jobs overseas, and congress recently hiked visa fees for companies with a majority of foreign employees. an area of potential tension with indian leaders and workers. jobs should go wherever there is talent. anamerica will have to find new ways to to invest. reporter: the is meeting with ceos from the u.s. and india today. he ll hold a town hall with young people tomorrow, and monday in new delhi speak to dia s parliament. and now here s amy. thank you. now to that new jobs report. 151,000 jobs were added in october. that s the biggest gain in months. but the unemployment remained unchanged at 9.6%. what does this all mean for the economy and for you? well cnbc s trish regan is here to explain. good morning. good morning, amy. so unchanged unemployment number, 9.6%. that seems like it s bad news. and yet experts are saying there are signs of life. how do we make sense of these numbers? you ve got t take heart in the fact that 151,000 jobs were created. that was twice as much as any economist had anticipated. so people were surprised and encouraged by that number. on the other hand, yeah, 9.6% unemployment not good. and it s likely to remain at very high levels for the foreseeable future. you need to be adding more than 100,000 jobs every single month to bring the unemployment rate down. on top of that, you need another 100,000 just to keep up with population groh. so what this all means is that even though we re adding 151,000 jobs in the latest month, we need to be doing that consistently, and even more so over the next several months if we really want to make any kind of dent in that unemployment rate. also this week, the federal reserve announcing, specifically on wednesday, that it was going to buy $600 billion more in government bonds by the middle of next year. yeah. obviously this is not without controversy. there s a potential upside and downside. what are those? okay. on the one hand, it s nice that there s more money coming into the syst. but the downside here is you have a government that is effectively printing money. printing money is not necessarily a good thing because that could lead to inflation down the road. it also leads to a weaker u.s. dollar. and that means higher commodity cos. so you re going to pay more for energy. you re going to pay more for food. you re going to pay more for energy, because don t forget, oil is surprised in dollars. so if your dollar is weaker it s going to take more dollars to buy that barrel of oil or fill up your gas tank. so it does have an effect on the american consumer. the hope is, at least this is what the fed is really keeping its fingers crossed for, you get the economy chugging along enough that the dollar issue won t really matter until it needs to matter. another big bit of news for u.s. taxpayers, potentially this week we hear president obama now saying he s going to work with gop leaders in extending those bush tax cuts, potentially for everyone. what could this mean? well, investors like the sound of that. because you want a lot of money in the economy. whether it s from the federal reserve, effectively printing money, or from consumers out there spending. and so the more money consumers have in their pockets, then the more money they re likely to spend. so wall street cheered tt news, and we ll see what happens. all right, trish regan as always. thanks so much. you bet. and now here s lester. amy, thanks. for more on the jobs report, the president, and the election fallout we re joined by mark halperin, senior political analyst for msnbc, also time magazine. mark, good morning. good morning, lester. so t economy picked up a few more jobs, 9.6% still the unemployment rate. does this give, at least a softer cushion for the president after tuesday? well, it gives h the ability to argue that things are getting a little bit better. but the number is still so high, politically, it doesn t really chan the equation. he still needs to prove to ople his policies can work. let s talk about the trip overseas. he s emphasizing that a lot of this is job creation. will the american public make that connection? it s a tough thing to make, a tough argument to make. he s overseas. the time zone is different. makes it hard for him to reach people. but he s goto make the case that he s got a theory about how jobs can be created. exports is a big part of that. and it s also an area where he ask work with republicans. they want free trade agreements, as well. so this is a twofer for him. shows him working on the economy in a place where he can make common ground with republicans. he s trying to make deals overseas. domestically the election a big deal. does it weaken him at all overseas? will leaders over there look at him and go, okay, he doesn t have the full backing congress like he used to? it probably shouldn t matter to foreign leaders but it does to a lot of them. they follow american poll politics closely. they look at a guy who two years ago was on top of the rld and is now having a rough patch. they re going to be saying what happened to that obama of 2008 who was so powerful. what s happened to you at home? nancy pelosi, huge negate ratings, as she says she s going to run for democratic leader. does that make sense to you? it makes no sense to me. i can t find anybody to thinks republicans think that it s great news. but they re stunned. so are most democrats. personally it does make sense. ncy pelosi was targeted by republicans. she s a very proud person. she sees barack obama staying in his job, harry reid the democratic senate leader staying in his job. she says, implicitly why should i be the one who takes the fall for all this? but democrats, most of them i talked to, are not happy with the decision. o democrat who lost his job, too, was quoted as saying about pelosi, all i know was i was at 55%, she was at 20%, you do the th. a lot of folks upset with r. are her allies essentially still in congress? she ll probably almost certainly become majority leader. most of the democrats who lost were more conservative ones who don t support her and probably wouldn t have supported her. it s good for her personally. i think it s admirable that the first female speaker s doesn t want to cut and run. on the other hand it s extraordinary how much she became a symbol of the democratic party in a negative way. and a lot of democrats are saying, this is not good for us. this is not give us the fresh start we need to try to recover from what happened on tuesday. and for those of you politics is a spectator sport, this could get interesting. you ve got james clyburn saying he s going to run for the number two job, steny hoyer saying he s thinking of running for the same b. another thing the democrats don t need, which is a big fight, one of the most prominent african-americans in politics running against a slightlyore conservative democrat. that s the kind of leadership battle most of the time real people wouldn t pay attention to. but it does show the democratic party having to, after the tsunami comes through, reorganize, readjust, try to figure out who their leaders are going to be. again democrats i talk to, not happy with nancy pelosi s decision and not happy about having to sit through a leadership fight right now. thanks very much for being here. here s amy. lester, thank you. hurrice tomas landed in haiti friday and the powerful storm brought more suffering to the already earthquake ravaged country. mark potter is live from port-au-prince. mark, good morning. good morning to you, amy. here in port-au-prince, the capital, the storm came and went without doing much damage. although it is raining now and there is someflooding. but other areas were harder hit, including leogane, which is about an hour and a half drive southwest from here. for the second time thi year, leogane, haiti, has been hit hard by disaster. last january, it was at the epicenter of the earthquake, which destroyed 90% of the town. now, floodwaters from hurricane tomas have filled the streets. as residents struggle to move about, and worried about how high the water would go. some 3,000 people were evacuated to higher ground. in addition to being the epicenter of the earthquake, this town was bui on a flood plain, and is vulnerable to rain. that s why all this water is now racing through the center of town. rushing water surrounded a makeshift camp for victims, made homeless by the earthquake. adults and children now threatenedinside their tents. suffering once again. it just underlies how vulnerable this country is. it was vulnerable infrastructure before the earthquake, we ve had this devastating earthquake, we ve had a cholera crisis, and now we have the storm. it s clearly it s clearly this is hard, to be quite honest. reporter: in a local hospital the medical staff had only 20 minutes to move patients to safety on the second floor before floodwaters came rolling in. in light of the current cholera epidemic, doctors are also worried about the rainwater spreadindisease. my level of concern about cholera, malaria, is incredibly high. i mean, the things that spread in this kind of environment, with this kind of water, it s it s a lot more than cholera. reporter: on the edge of leogane on dry land a group of haitians held an impromptu protest rally, accusing the government of failing to improve safety and living conditions, ten monthsfter the earthquake. and at a local church, residents stood in long lines for fresh drinking water, as medical teams promis to distribute relief supplies as soon as the floods recede. now, those medical teams and hers will be out today assessing the damage, trying to find remote areas, particularly in northern haiti, to see if they were hard-hit. but overall, aid workers say, hurricane tomas was a lot less punishing to haiti than they feared it would be. amy? all right, mark potter thanks for the latest. weant to head over to trish regan at the news desk. good morning, everyone. we begin with al qaeda in yemen. the militant islamic group is taking credit for two recent cargo bombs that were intercepted in britain and dub on their way to chicago. the group is also claiming it had a role in the september crash of the u.p.s. plane after takeoff from dubai. american invtigators say the evidence indicates that the crash was an accident. the death toll now up to 138 after runs friday at indonesia s mount merapi. the volcano spewing lava, rocks and searing hot gas sent many to the hospital with burns over 95% of their bodies. at least 94 people killed in the latest blast. more than 150 people were arrested lastight in oakland, california, after an ang crowd protested the two-year sentence given to a former white transit officer for fatally shooting an unharmed black man. he could have received a maximum of 14 years. and a florida judge denied bail for the young woman known as the hiccup girl, 19-year-old jennifer mee is charged with first degree murder, accused of luring a 22-year-old man to a vacant homehere he was robbed and shot by others. oscar nominated actress jill clayburgh has died after a long battle with leukemia, her career spand five decadesn film, television and broadway. she was 66 years old. and finally a little bit of good news for all you partiers tonight. you re going to getn extra hour of sleep. don t forget toet your clocks back one hour. back to you guys. that s the news. that s one i never forget. the one where i get mor sleep. woo-hoo! but the sun sets at like good saturday morning. i m news 4 meteorologist chuck bell. still waiting on the sunrise. sun up at 7:41 this morning. temperatures in the mid-30s in the western subus, below freezing across upper montgomery county, frederick county, maryland, upper panhandle of west virginia. milder. low 40s alongside thebay. few lonely sprinkles by the northern neck and richmond. mostly cloudy and chilly highs today only near 50 grees. warmer tomorrow. that s your weekend forecast. lester? all right, bill, thanks. on the health front encouraging news on the early detection of lung cancer. as nbc s chris jansing reports, the govnment says ct scans could save lives. take a couple of deep breaths. reporter: for 55 ars, arnold lord was a two pack a day smoker. his doctor says an x-ray of his lungs came up clean. with no evidence of canr at all. reporter: but a spiral ct scan caught lord s cancer early. finding this now what does it mean for the patient? it means everything. it means this patient, with good treatmen has about a 95% chance of having the cancer cured in this area. reporter: since thursday s news, showing that low-dose spiral ct scans can help reduce the death rate from lung cancer by 20%, hospitals have been getting lots of calls about the scanners. many of them me by ge, pent company of universal. but experts advise caution. i m very frightened that we rgoing to have a lot of people at low risk, or at moderate risk for lung cancer, go out and demand this test, and end up being harmed because of it. reporter: one risk, 25% of scans produce false alarms. which can send patients on an emotional roller coaster. and can also mean invasive and expensive tests to then rule out cancer. the high risk group, who would benefit most, are people over 50, who have smoked what oncologists call 30-pack years. say someone who smoked one pack a day f 30 years, or two packs a day for 15 years. there are other concerns, too. most heah plans don t cover the $300 to $400 cost. and the chance for early deduction shouldn t be taken as a license to light up. people should not smoke. you know, this does not ge people a card to go out and smoke. reporter: but for those who have been heavy smokers for years, the preliminary results areextremely promising. well, if it s not for the c.a.t. scans i d probably be dead. reporter: he hopes to be living proof for years to come. chris jansing, nbc news, new york. and now to an update on a story about the peace corps s return to war-tornierra leone. hundds of you responded to our report and today we talked to those who served in the corps to celebrate a mileone. nbc s ron allen has more. reporter: they ve come together to celebrate. back to rutgers university in nejersey, where they trained for what was a new volunteer program almost 50 years ago. a group of 62 young men, without a real good ia of what they were getting themselves into. decision time, and you re invited to go to colombia. well, yeah! you know, yeah, let s go! when s the plane leaving? reporter: they all say they signed up after hearing a young president s call to action. we re sending americans abroad who are qualified to do a job. reporter: what do you think those two years meant to your life? for me, there s no question. it was life changing. at 19, 20, 21, i mean, i had i had no direction. i didn t think abouthat i wanted to be when i grew up. i got t live in different places and meet different people and i loved every minute of it. reporter: they served in colombia, south america, where nbc news first met mike wilson in 1962. riding a horse. back and forth to work. we go from basketball courts, fromwells, to water supplies. reporter: the group, known as colombia one, also accredited with helping pave the way for over 200,000 amerins who would follow the more than 100 countries. often leaving a lasting impression. that s something we saw firsthand while reporting on the peace corps return to war-torn sier leone. reporter: we met a local man who remembered a peace corps teacher from 40 years ago. we tried to pass that message along. miss watson is marilyn scott. a retired social worker who still volunteers, teaching english. isn t that nice? i got as much from them as they got from me. reporter: many from colombia one stayed with the peace corps. training new recruits, directing programs around the world. at do you guys share? it was an adventure that also maybe helped some other people and i was part of something bigger, for my country. reporter: would you do it again? oh, in a heartbeat. well, if i were younger. reporter: a brotherhood then, and now. that cameogether to try to lend a hand. for today, ron allen, nbc news, new brunswick, new jersey. looks like they re about ready to jump back in the airplanend get back to it. what a great story. all right, still to come, when will prince william marry his longtime girlfriend? repor this morning from london that the nuptials are imminent that story coming up. first this is today on nbc. still to come here on today, in search of the d.c. gunman. shootings at military facilities bring back frs to the d.c. area that another sniper is on the prowl. > plus, leave my son alone. a mother takes on parents who were enraged because he dressed as a girl for halloween. good morning, i m kimberly suiters. topping your news for today the u.s.attorney s office has dismissed all the charges against five men accused of beating a man to death after he threw a bick through a nightclubwindow. police said they chased and beat the man to death last month after the 27-year-old through a brick through the window of dc9. the medical examiner could not determine if mohammed died from the beating. friends and supporters of mohammed plan to protest on monday. repairs on the orange, blue and yellow lines should add at least 30 minutes to your travel time. five stations will be closed on the eastern end. orange line. on the blue line, no connection between the stadium armory and benning road station. crews will work on the braj at the ronald reagan washington national airport station. metro will offer free shuttle buses. thingsill be back to normal come monday morning. your weather foreca is coming up next. we re coming up on 7:30. time to check in wi chuck. thanks. off to a chillytart this morning. not all that cold by november standards but still on the cool side if you re planning to geing out early this morning. temperatures in the mid-30 in the western suburbs. upper 30s in prince george s county. near 40 trees in annapolis towards chesapee beach. 28 in frederick, maryland. couple of lone some little showers in southern maryland. few more sprinkles in rimond. most of us will be dry but i can t rule out a quick passing shower from time to time. highs today upper 40s with low 50s with low clouds around. more sunshine tomorrow. a touch warmer back into the 60s by early next week. we ll have more news and weather in 25 minutes. until then it s back to the today show and new york. we lsee you here for another update in 25 minutes. we re back on this saturday morning, november 6th, 2010. it is the first full weekend of november. and our thanks to everyone who decided to spend part of their morning with us. we re going to head out and say hi to just a few minutes. but first, back inside studio 1a i m amy robach along with lester holt. coming up a story that has shocked the country. will it be life or death for a home invasion killer? a connecticut jury is going to resume deliberations this morning. they must decide if steven hes should be given the death penalty for murdering a mother and her two daughters after a home invasion. we ll be live from the courthouse with more. then defending her son. a year-old boy wanted to dress up as daphne from scooby-doo for halloween and she said other parents bullied her about his decision and she wrote about it in a blog that has ignited a firestm. we re going to talk live to that mom in just a moment. and it s one of the most talked about movies the holiday seon. it s called 127 hours. it she true story of aaron wallsteen and what he had to do to free himself after his hand was trapped under bolder for five days. we ll hear from him. looking forward to that. first we begin this half hour with the hunt for a mystery sniper. this unknown gunman has been targeting military fast facilities in and around the d.c. area. nbc s justice correspondent pete williams reports. reporter: the latest target, a coast guard recruiting office in virginia, outside washington. the fbi says it was hit by shots fid from the same weapon used in a recent string of shootings. though no one s bee hurt, the shootings for many echo the attacks by two snipers who stalked a washington, d.c. area eight years ago, killing ten people. it s scary. very scary. somebody is upset about what s happening. but it needs to come to an end. reporter: this latest series began last month, as many as ten shots fired at the u.s. karen corps national museum outside washington. two days later at the pentagon security officers heard gunshots about 5:00 a.m. bullet fragments were wound in two windows on upper floors undergoing renovation. a week after that the target was a marine corps recruiting office in virginia. also being renovated. then the marine museum was hit by gunfire a second time. the fbi is urging whoever is responsible, presumed to be a military veteran, to turn himself in. we do not believe it is the inteion to harm innocent citizens or marines. acting out in this way, however, can eventually lead to disastrous and tragic consequences that we all wish to avoid. reporter: the four buildings are on or near busy highways. but investigators have found no witnesses or useful surveillance video. it s because the shots are fired at night that the fbi believes there s no desire to hurt anyone. profilers believe someone with a grievance against the military is firing the shots. i bet the most probable right now appears toe a current or former service man, a person who s trying to send a message. i think the challenge right now is to be able to understand that message. reporter: for now, t f is asking for tips, looking for information about anyone who s suffered a recent crisis, and who s been out late at night, at the times when these shootings took place. we believe the subject is engaged in recognizable behaviors and activities dung and around the times of the commission of these crimes. reporter: no suspect so far in a case the fbi hopes it can crack before the string of shootings takes a deadly turn. for today, pete williams, nbc news, washington. and for more we re joined by clint van zandt, former fbi profiler and nbc news anyst. clint, good morning. hi, amy. we jussaw you in the piece there talking about who this alleged shooter may be. but speaking directly to how he or she may be working. at is the sense? are these drive-by shootings? is he shooting from afar? do investigators have any sense of how he s doing what he s doing? well, it appears to be a rifle so that would give this shooter a standoff capability. and i think, you know, pete s analogy is something the fbi has to consider, too. could it be like the 2002 sniper shootings in the d.c. area? could we have one driver, and one shooter? realizing at in some of the buildings, the marine corps museum, the pentagon, mtiple shots were fired. could someone pull their car off the road, fire that many rounds, and drive off again? or do they have someone helping them? if so, you know, he s probably got, again like the d.c. sniper, a youer person, maybe an older person. one of thewo may get tired of this and want to talk. and, clint, thankfully so far a distinction between this shooter and the d.c. snipers, is that this shoot is actually firing at buildings, not at people. but what s the concern that that may change? well, there may be an evolution. you know, initially the shooter probably started because some grievance with the military, the fbi suggests maybe a divorce or a loss of a job. but now there s been a lot of international media coverage on this. the shooter may start to get fed psychologically by this and want to continue but, amy, if whoever did this wanted to really hurt people, last week we had the marine corps marathon rig here in the d.c. area. 35,000 people. even though surity was increased, the shooter didn t take a shot. so the question is, it s been about a week, will we see another shooting again? or is this particular shooter or sniper smart enough, unlike others in the past, to simply fade away right. and you talk about how the shooter obviously has, or it seems he or she would have a grievance with the military, with the marine rps. but what would be the motivation to just shoot at a building? well, i think it s trying to get attention. you know, whether it s trying to bring attention to the war in the middle east. or whether it s just, you know, shaking or frustrated fist in the air and this is the way it s going to be done. but what was interesting, too, amy, the last shooting was at a coast guard recruiting station, not a marine corps, obviously. so is this the shooter sending a message, hey, i m angry at all e military? or is it someone, again, as the fbi suggests, a current or former marine. but by shooting at the coast guard, trying to put attention somewhere else so all investigative efforts can t be centered and that one service organization. all right. clint van zandt, thanks so much. thank you, amy. and now let s do a check of your forecast with bill karins. good morning, bill. well, good morning, everyone. a lot of cute faces out here this morning. good saturday morning. i m news 4 meteorologist chuck bell. we re off to a choid start. some mid and high lel clouds drifting overhead. a littleit of a dark view. temperatures in the upper 30s to near 40 right around town. mi30s in the western suburbs. 34 in wchester right now. 30 in frederick, maryland. 37 in clinton, maryland. radar shows a few lonely showers but most of our wkend will be dry. warmer tomorrow. and if you happen to turn 40 and you want to know your hour by hr forecast you can always get that at weather.com. all right, bill, thank you. coming up next, my son s choice. how one mom defended her son for dresng up as daphne from scooby-doo for halloween. we re going to talk to that mom live. and bargain buys. barbara corcoran shows us the best housing deals arod. but first these messages. and love such a silly game we play oh-oh, oh-oh [ stir it up playing] stir up a smile with hershey s syrup. we helped keep your skin clear. now we have a solution for wrinkles. netrogena anti wrinkle with retinol sa smoothes even deep wrinkles. it works.beautifully. neutrogena. because they have 20% more calcium per chew than viactiv or for the delicious flavors like chocolate truffle and vanilla creme? 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[ female announcer ] hard to say really. new caltrate soft chews, we put the yum in calcium. when a 5-year-old boy wanted to dress as daphne from scooby-doo for halloween, his mother had no problem with it. but iteems other parents at the child s preschool today. and when he showed up wearing the costume, they confronted her about her decision to allow him to dress up as a girl. in response, the mom lashed out on a blog that has since gone viral. joining us now by phone from missouri is the mother of the young boy, sarah, whose last name we re not using. and joining us here in the studio, psychiatrist dr. janet. good morning to both of you. sarah, if i could start with you. i understand your son wanted to be this character for a very long time. when he asked, were you at a concerned that he would be teasedr that you would get some teasing from other parents? i really did not. i thought, when he first asked, that he would change his mind, ase is a 5-year-old. so i didn t really think all that much about it. but then he was quite persistent that that is what he wante to be. and i ordered it. and you walked in to school with him that day, and i understand the other kids had no issues with it. tell me what some of the other moms said to you. what their reaction was. there were a few looks of disdain. there were a few comments of, did he ask to be that? as if, i don t know, perhaps i had just chosen it for him. i m not sure. but if you have a 5-year-old, you know that they re pretty strong-minded and strong-willed. so these moms question and you chose to blog about it and in blogging about it, you write, my son is gay, or he s not. did you take that leap, or did some of the mothers suggest that, by him wearing a girl s outfit, he was somehow making a statemt of being gay? well, i m assuming, i ess, by the fact that they had a problem with it, the only problem i could see was that they thoht somehow i was doing something wrong, or trying to make him into something that he is not. and truly, it was just him wearing a costume. and what you put in your blog is essentially, you want your child to be able to express himself any way he d like. exactly. i mean, obviously coition reasonnd appropriateness, as far as i m not going to let him run around with knives. but dressing like daphne, his favorite character, is completely appropriate. well, i think that s a good point to bring in dr. janet taylor. where is the line between encouraging a child to express themselves and become whoever they re going to become and also protecting them from ridicule? well, i mean at 5 it s all about play and fantasy. and also that magical question why. he likes daphne why can t he dress as daphne? as parents i think our yob is to encourage creativity and individualism, which she did. but on the other hand we have to look at the label in terms of, is my son gay just because he dresses like girl? he has a right to dress like a girl and dressing like a girl or anything else doesn t mean that your sexual preference is that you re gay. but let me ask both of you, is is it not a parent s responsibility at some point to protect their kids from ridicule? we all remember teasing in school. we remember the trigger points of teasing. and whether it s fair or not, and in many cases it s not, do we have to recognize it and protect them? well, i think as parents we dos we try to teach ourids self-confidence. they can speak up about choices. when we notice kids are teasing or bullying other kids we teach them empathy and tolerance. sarah made the point that if a girl has dressed up as batman, no one would have cared. she s absolutely right. double standard because of the society. we re so used to stereotyping and putting people in boxes that when they step out of the boxes, either we label them as something or we have to say something negative about them and that s the issue with homophobia and the fact that at 5 years old because he has on a girl s costume, we re saying, is he gay? we need to back up and look at the choices and lanes that are so destructive in this society. let me ask sarah, he is a 5-year-old, and i understand the teacher said the were no other children that teased him. if he was 9 or 10 years old, would you have allowed him to wear the daphne costume? well, interestingly enough, i have heard from several people, via twitter and facebook and online, ruts about in my community, that he specifically said at the child s halloween parade, there were multiple boys dressed in various girl costumes, and nobody said a word. nd you ve done the blog. tell me just quickly the reaction. more positive or negative comments? i would say, obviously, i mean we re at about 33,000 comments right now. and i cannot possibly keep up, because i am primarily a mom. so i would say of what i have said, 95% to 98% is overwhelmingly positive. well, 33,000 comments, i think it s clear you have struck a nerve and certainly started a conversation. sarah, thank you for coming on. dr. janet taylor, always good to have you here, as well. we appreciate it. and sarah, we ll see you here, by the way, monday on today. and we re back after these messages. and i feel like. 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[ female announcer ] olay. challengwhat s possible. we re on our way home on today s real estate, the housing market and you. even with low ierest rates new numbers show home sales dipd in september. but if you are looking to buy, we have some of the lowest prices around. joining us is today s real estate contributor barbara corcoran. good morng. good morning. let s talk about the interest rates. 4.24%. it s slightly up from last month but still incredibly low. it s obviously still a good time to buy. a fabulous time to buy. if you have a $250,000 mortgage, for example, you ll find that you will save $200 a month just on the difference ofne point between 5% and 4%. that s a big savings. that s real savings over 30 years, too. we should mention you found some great homes. you mentioned$250,000. on the market for $250,000 and under to share with us. the first one is an 1880s farm house on five acres in rutgersville, virginia, about 20 minutes from charlottesville. one of my favorite cities. this has a vintage home, with interesting detail. it s alue house that you don t see very often anymore. it was originally painted blue. it was built by the first african-american land owner in greene county, the first althy land owner. it s an old-fashioned swing on the front porch, as you see. i think that speaks to the south. everybods image of it. it s original pine-oak floors inside. they preserved them throughout the entire house. you can get a peek at those. the old wood flooring still intact here in the kitchen. the cheerful ling room has a wood burning fireplace that works. the library has a wood burning fireplace and two out of three of the bedrooms also have fireplaces. that kitchen is old-fashioned. a little bit funky but charmg and that s my favorite part of the house. the big screened in porch out back. that s beautiful. all right ne up, houston, texas, where you found a four bedroom, 3 1/2 bath home for just under $250,000. that s remarkable. it s over 3,000 square feet. it s a big home. and i think whenou look at it. it looks like a million dollar home. but remember it s $249,000. outside it s totally brick. real brick. you ve got that big sloped roof. there s the entrance foyer with extra high windows, tile floors. the living room,ig enough for a piano. the dining room look at the triple windows out back. a brand-new kitchen they just renovated and that is the dining area. plenty of light from both sides. this is a hugeouse for a cheap price. all right. let s move on to spokane, washington, four hours eas of seattle. pred at $189,900 in a gated community, and do you end up paying more for that future? you do. because it comes with a lot of extraamenties. this one is surrounded by a golf course, a lake and it s right next to the most famous national forest. there s the back side of the house. we went through that quickly. all the bedrooms are large. the bathrooms are new, the kitchen is charming. it has lots of spacious details. all right. and finally in coastal, pennsylvania, we have another great home for $235,000. what s special about this one? this house is special because it s on a 60 acre lake wh fishing, jogging and hiking. it s a contemporary home. it s in perfect condition. seems li a good house to raise a family. there s a great view o the lake out back. remember this price is $235,000. it has a two story foyer, plenty of mature trees all around. the dining room has wood floors. the master bedroom is gorgeous. that s a perfect kitchen. i think again it looks like a million dollar home no matter which room you look at. remember it s only $235,000. incredible prices. barbara corcoran, thanks so much, as always. and just ahead, when do prince william and kate middleton walk down the aisle? we ll have the latest. but first, this is today on nbc. [ dad ] yeah! [ cheers and applause ] [ male announcer ] achievement getpoints for living life. earn pnc points for your credit and debit card purchases. finout me at pnc.com/getpots. pnc. for the achiever in us all. breakfast? in? in the morning i can use all the help i can get. that s why i love nutella, a delicious hazelnut spread that s perfect on multigrain toast and even whole-wheat waffles. it s a quick and easy way to give my family a breakfast they ll want to eat. and nutella is made with simple, quality ingredients, like hazelts, skim milk and a hint of cocoa. they love the taste and i feel good that they re ready to tackle the day. nutella. breakfast never tastedhis good. still to come on day, life or death. a jury decides the fatef a home invasion killer. plus, family fight club. another video showing parents cohing kids to battle each other and it surfaces on the internet. but first, these messages. 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[ sneezes ] .and walk-ins welcome everyday, we re making it easy for everyone to get their flu shot, no matter how small their motivation may be. so stop by and get your flu shot today at walgreens. there s a way totay well. until two years ago, when my dad transferred to istanbul. they settled in quickly. found their local deli. a few shortcuts. and a neighborhood hangout. but there s one thing they miss. their beloved hometown team. so i asked citi w many thankyou points it would take to give them something special. their old seats, 5 and 6, row c. [ male announcer ] citi thankyou points can be used for almost anything you choose. what s yo story? citi can help you write it. a chilly start to your saturday morning. it will feel more like decemr than october. good morning, it is 7:56 on this saturday, november 6, 2010. i m kimberly suiters. we re following breaking news on the beltway. maryla state troopers are on the scene of an accident on the inner loop at the 295 interchange. investigators say it involves a tractor-trailer and two cars. state police have not yet said if anyone is hurt. this accident is blocking three lanes in the area. traffic is getting by in one lane. over the next metro said wilt inspect all 588 escalators at each one of their stations. this after l enfant plaza station mall functioned and injuri riders. this happened last weekend. the weight of all those passengers caused an automatic braking system to give way. repairs on the orange, blue and yellow lines should add 30 minutes to travel time this weekend. five station will be closed on the eastern end of the orange line. on the blue line there will be no connection between station armory and benning road station. crews will work on the rail bridge at ronald reagan washington national airport. metro will offer fee shuttle buses around the station. all routes should return to their normal operations by monday morning. good saturday morning. mid-level clouds out there gerating light rain towards richmond and petersburg. can t rule out a stray passing shower. partly to mostly cloudy day. highnear 50. warmer and more sunshine coming our way for tomorrow sfwleerp heading back to new york to join the today show we ll see you back here in about 25 minutes. good morning. passage to india. embattled at home, president obama embarks on a ten-day trip to asia, with a promise to create jobs in the u.s. but will new unemployment numbers make it mission impossible? awaiting his fate. will it be life or death for the home invasion killer who slaughtered a connecticut family? we re live from the courthouse asury deliberations resume. and royal wedding? new buzz that prince william and his longtime girlfriend are about to make a big announcement. we ll tell you what s got london bookmakers banking on a christmas day proposal. today, saturday, november 6th, christmas day proposal. today, saturday, november 6th, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television nice to have you re, everyone. welcome back. i m lter holt. and i m amy robach. and speculation continues. prince william has been with kate middleton for quite some time. but the big question is the future king ready to tie the knot? why some insiders believe an announcement could be imminent. although we ve been hearing imminent poor guy, the pressure. have you popped the question yet? oh, good grief. also president obama in india this morning on what he calls a mission to create jobs at home. he is encouraged by some new numberthat are out. but does it mean the economy is on the rebound? and exactly who is hiring these days? we ll tell youhe facts you need to know coming up. all right, plus to the extreme. remember this? aaron ralston was traed under a bolder for 125 hours. he was alone. he was helpless. and he had to do the unthinkable to save himself. he had to sever his own arm. his incredibleale o survival is now the subject of a new film directed by danny boyle and starring james franco. what all of them told us about this real-life story. and then we re going to talk to willie geist. he is back to discuss his hilarious new book american freak show. just imagine what some of the famous stars will be up to in the years ahead. we re looking forward to that. first let s talk about the economy. with millions of families stggling, new job numbers are released friday. they are bringing some relief to president obama as he arrives in india for his ten-day trip to asia. chief white house correspondent chuck todd repor. reporter: minutes before leaving the country for a ten-day trip to asia, the president called the new jobs report in october encouraging ws. we ve now seen private sector job growth for ten straight months. that means that since january, the private sector has added 1.1 million jobs. reporter: the october jobs report was the third bt month of the year, and best report since may when 432,000 jobs were added. the unemployment rate stayed the same, 9.6%. something the president cled unacceptably high. but the fact is, an encouraging jobs report doesn t make a difference if you re still one of the millions of people who areooking for work. reporter: while some experts are skeptical about the number, others think there s reason to believe things are really improving. temporary employment continueto rise. that s usually the first harbinger of permanent employment going up. hours worked is going up. hourly wages are going up. reporter: the president, mindful of a ssage voters delivered tuesday about focusing on the economy, reframed his trip to asia as being about jobs. i m going to be talking about openinup additional markets, in places like india, so that american businesses can sell more products abroad, in order to create more jobs here at home. reporter: hours after the president left, outgoing house speaker nancy pelosi stunned the political world by announcing via fwiter she wants to stay on as minority leader. many democrats are grumbling privately that pelosi, the taet of 141 different tv ads run by national republicans do you want government to be the nanny state? reporter: isn t accepting blame for what happened on tuesday. for t speaker to stay on another couple ars, after a life of accomplishments, kind of reminds me of willie mays going over to the metsor aouple of years. hanging on just a little too long. reporter: for today, chuck todd, nbc news, washington. well, the jobs report comes as president obama starts his ten-day trip to asia. white house correspondent savannah guthrie is traveling with the president, and joins us from mumbai, india. savannah, the president will be gone, as you mentioned, for ten days. some wonder whether this trip might actually be bad timing politically right after the midterm elections. reporter: well, look, t whithouse knew it was going to get that criticism, that at the moment of this defeat for democrats, the president s off overseas. but they re really trying to frame this trip as all about the economy. all about the very number one concern of americans, which is, of course, jobs. already, this morng, u.s. companies here meeting with indian companies in conjunction with the president s trip have announced $10 billion of potential new business which the white house claims will lead to 53,000 jobs at home. and they re really trying to frame this trip, to india in particular, as an opportunity for the president to try to get this mket expanded. they look at india, its billions of people, as a potential huge resource, a place for u.s. companies to do business, which would an jobs back at home. and savannah, while job numbers might be the actual story there, there are rumors out there abou the numbers, the cost of his trip. what canou tell us about that? right. well, actually, it started here, quoting an unnamed government official, indian government offial in the indian trip. an allegation that the president s security cost would be $200 million a day. now the white house and the u. secret service won t comment. theyon t give specifics on how much the trip is actually costing but they do say that number is wildly inflated. grosy overesmated. not close to the truth. just by comparison, the war in afghanistan, to execute the war in afghanistan every day costs $190 million. so the $200 milon fige is way out of line. there was also a report that the pentagon was sending 34 warships off the coast here torotect the president. the pentagon spokesman called that comical, that the pentagon would send 10% of the navy to protect the president on this trip. all right. savannah guthrie reporting from mumbai. thank you. and now here s lester. amy, thanks. this morning a connecticut jury will resume deliberating the fate of a home invasion killer who murdered aother and her two daughters in the crime that shocked the country. nbc s michelle franzen joins us now from the courthouse in new haven. michelle, good morning. reporter: well, good morning, lester. the jury rurns on a weekend day, no less, to resume deliberations. seven women and five men who must decide if the man convicted of killing a connecticut mother and her two daughters should die by lethal injection or face life in prison. he is the lone survivor in the gruesome triple murder case in connecticut. dr. william petit shown walking in new haven yesterday on the first day of jury deliberations to decide if convicted killer steven hayes should receive the deh penalty. his wife jennif, and two daughters, 17-year-old hayley and 11-year-old mikayla were murdered inside their home in 2007. the girls, tied to their beds before the house was set ablaze. their mom, sexually assaulted, and strangled. the deliberations feel like they re going very slow to us, but i m sure that in a process like this, a day is nothing. reporter: a diffilt wait for family and difficult task r the jury, who convicted hayes on 16 of 17 counts in october. of those, the jury is deliberating on s capital felonies that make shays eligible for the death penalty, or life in prison. murder of two or more persons. murder of a person under 16 murder of a kidnapped person. one count each for jennifer, mikayla and haley. and murde of a sexuly assaulted person. on each count, members must unanimously decide if the defendant has proven mitigating factors, such as hayes mental capacity at the time of the crime, that would spare him the death penalty. for if prosecutors have proven aggravating factors beyond a reasonable doubt. on frida the jury sent two notes to the judgesking for clarification on the definition of unanimous. a possible split or sign defense attorney says the jury is taking its ti. these are not killers in the jury room. these are average citizens who we ve pulled out of the population to make a very,ery serious, and tough decision. reporter: hayes testified he and suspect accomplice joshua komisarjevsky who is yet to stand trial followed the family home from a store parking lot and returned later at night to rob them. jennifer was sent to the bank to withdraw money. it was there she slipped the teller a note that her family was being held hostage and would be let go if she returned with the money. petit escapedhe home after being beaten and tied up in the basement. now, three years later, after losing his family, he is still waiting for justice. and inside the courtroom on the first day of deliberations, families of thevictims, and even the defendant s brother, were talking and offering comfort and words to each other while they wait. michelle franzen this morning. thank you. let sead over t the news desk now where trish regan is following some other headlines this morning. good morning, trish. good morning, amy. good morning, lester. good morning, eryone. we begin here in haiti where hurricane tomas t parts of haiti s northern coast, sparing most of the earthquake-ravaged capital. mbs s mark potters live in port-au-prince with more. mark? good morng to you, trish. aid workers say that hurricane tomas is a lot less punishing to haiti than they feared it would . although several deaths have been reported. for example here in port-au-prince, the storm came and went, but very little damage. ere was some rain and flooding overnight. but that was about it. to the southwest, though, in the town of leogane, which was at the epicenter of the january earthquake, a widespread flooding did hit tha town, and some 3,000 people were forced to evacuate to higher ground. damage and flooding was als reported in the towns of jacmel and laquai, and meanwhile aid workers are out looking for other damage i northern haiti as the weather here now starts to improve. trish? nbc s mark potter, thank you very much. the elizabeth smart kidnapping trial resumes on monday after federal appeals court on friday rejected the defense s effort to move the trial of brian david mitchell out of utah. smart was 14 when she was abducted from her bedroom eht years ago. msnbc s keith olbermann has been suspended indefinitely and without pay after it was revealed he made campaign donations to three democratic candidates in the r-upo the election. he was suspended for violating nbc news policy. finally, quite a dust-up at thewinner circle of the breeder s cup. jockeys calvin borel and javier castellano threwunches at each other after the race ended. borel was incensed after castellano ran into the path of other horses which impeded borel. castellano was disqualifiednd borel ended in third place. that s the news, now back to lester. even stranger. a hockey match broke out right after that. justhe most bizarrething. trish, thanks. all right. nbc meteorologist bill karins is out on the plaza with a check of your forecast. bill, good moing. well, happy saturday mo a good saturday morning. i m news 4 meteorologist chuck bell. some mid-level clouds drift ago rod and a few areas of light rain primarily down to our south towards richmond. for today we re off to a cold start. temperatures in the are mid-topper 30s across most of the metropolitan area. upper 20s for upper montgomery county towards the blue ridge. couple of sprinklestowards richmond most of our day dry. highs today only in the upper 40s to near 50 degrees. and looks like we have a happy birthday. big soccer fun, huh? yeah. you play soccer? yes, i do. you look like you r pretty good. let s head back inside to amy. all right, bill, thank you. in london, royal watchers are all abuzz this morning after reports surfaced that prince william is on the verge of announng his engagement to girliend kate middleton. we have more details from london. good morning, amy. there may wel be an announcement, some are even predicting within the next few weeks, because just last week, kateiddleton s mother was pictured on a shootin weekend at the queen s balmoral estate in scotland. that s being seen as a sign that kate s parents are being truly welcomed into the royal family. andremember, william once said he would marry when he was 30. well, both he and kate are now 29. and em to have settled in to a routine. heerves in the royal air force. she joins him weekends. but amy, a word of caution. she, a we, have waited for a long time for this. some supers even unkindly call her waite katie. so no one will be surprised i we were left waiting a little longer. right, but any time there s a royal prediction, i m betting that london bookies are betting on when the royal nuptials will actually takplace. there s money at stake? yeah, and the talk here of a wedding next summer. it can t happen a year later because in 2012 that will be the year of the olympics here and the royal family won t want this event to clash with any other big event. there s even a suggestion, amy, that they might already be secretly engaged. certainly, i mean all the publicity and the planning they will be trying to keep some things personal. because, you know, after all, they are, in the end, two young people in love. all right, keir simmo we appreciate it. thanks so much. it s a pleasure. still to come, a facebook fight between 9-year-old kids. and police say their parents provoked the fight. and then posted it online. also, into the wild. the hiker who amputated his arm to survive. his story is now on the big screen. why people with sensitivityee would want to deprive themselves of white teeth when you do have products out there like the sensodyne iso-active whitening. this is something exciting. basically it s a product that comes in a canister. it s a gel, but as soon as it comes in contact with the temperature of your mouth it bursts into a foam. because it s a foam it s able to seek out those nooks and crannies nd really provide patients with all around protection and relf from the sensitivity. when it comes to the sensodyne iso-active whitening you also have a whitening ingredient which goingo help bring your teeth back to their natural whiteness. and i wondered what it was. i found out that connected to oumuscles are nerves that se messages through the body. my doctor diagnosed it as fibromyalgia, thought to be the result of overactive nerves that use chronic, widespread pain. lyrica is believed calm these nerves. i learned lyrica can provide significant relief from fibromyalgia pain. an less pain means i can do more with the ones i love. [ female announcer ] lyrica is not for everyone. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have thes new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior or any swelling or affected breathing, or skin, or chang in eyesight, including blurry vision or muscle pain with fever or tired feeling. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don t drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don t drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. i found answers about fibromyalgia. then found lyrica. ask your doctor about lyrica today. [ male announcer ] a big day deserves a better breakfast. choose from a dee-licious lineup of r newest $5 footlong breakfast melts, like the sunrise subway melt. [ strahan ] subway. build your better breakfast. 127 hours is the title of one of the most anticipated films of the holiday season. it tells the incredible real-life story of a grueling decision a young climber made to survive. it s a sry of survival my name is aron ralston. aron was convinced he was going to die, trapped forrive days, light his arm pinned by an 800 pound boulder in a remote canyon. he videotaped what he thought would be his final message for his family. if someone finds this, please make an attempt to get it to them. reporter: the film 127 hours directed by danny boyle, who also directed slum dog millionaire and starring james franco, was filmed at the same canyon. it tells the true-life tale of the young mountain climber desperate to live. help! reporter: in april 2003, adventurist aron ralston hiked into the wild. day like this, totally clear skies. reporter: canyon lands national park in southeasttah is huge, over 500 square miles. aron had gone there to camp and explore. he had told no one where he was going. so, here we are. reporter: six months later he returned to the place where he had almost died, with tom brokaw and described his ordeal. aron had only hiked minutes into the canyon when he found a boulder blocking his path. i was hanging from the boulder, from the top of it where the hand holds were, and that was when it shifted. so i dropped down here and the boulder came and it smashed my left hand here, and it smashed my right hand up here. i was trying to get out of t way. and just my instincts were to clear my head. get my head out of the way. it didn t even occur to me that my hands could get trapped. and it happened fast. reporter: aron could n free himself. and he knew he was too hidden and would not be found. for five days he agonized about his limited choices. tried to stay hydrated, and struggled to kp up his body temperature and his spirits. i thought i was going to die. reporter: but his will to live gave him the strength to do the impossible. aron had to break his a and then cut it off to escape. boom. and i wasn t even attached anymore and i fell down like is, and i i was free. reporter: the movie focuses on ralstons live, the prism of his predicament. for the filmmakers it s more than a survival story. the journey in his heart when he moves back and realizes these people his mum, his girl, friends and family generally, they are the people that will somehow pull him out of there. reporte and for aron ralston, a rebirth. it s been such a blessing for me and my life, for my family, for the people around the world that still come up to me on a daily basis toay thank you for the story that has inspired their lives. after we first heard that story i think we all asked ourselves, what would i do? cld you do that? i don t think you know until you re in a situation like that. i mean, he probably couldn t have thought he could have done. right. you rise to the occasion to live if you want the will to live. i was always amazed that he took that trip and went back in there. i know. i feel like that would be such a frightening thing. but in a way he s facing his fears like he did all over again. good for him. we ll be back with more of today after this. but first this is today on nbc. [ female announcer ] why is travel these days about what you give up, and not what you get? like electricity for gadget power at your seat. room to stretch your legs, and your wingspan. food when you re hgry, and taking off your shoes nly if you feel like it. these aren t luxuries, they re basics. get them back, on acela [ male announcer ] acela s turng 10. celebrate with up to 10,000 amtrak guest rewards points. details at amtrak.com. still to dom come on today, why did these parents put a video of their 9-year-olds fighng on facebook? meet you at. thanks. please remove all metal objects out of your pockets. with chase freedom you can get a total of 5% cash back. fun money from freedom. that s 5% cash back in quarterly categories and an unlimited 1% cash back everywhere else. and this too. does your rd do is? i m going to need a supervisor over here at gate 4 sign up for this quarter s bonus today. chase what mters. go to chase.com/freedom. [ maletangy, sweet mchickory barbecue sauce. s. made with 100%, tender, juicy, boneless pork, on our classiccrib bun. did we mention e barbecue sauce? the simple joy of saucy goodness. and 2 minutes to christmas? wow! 19 days, 8 hours. 20 days, 8 hours, 9 minute.. 18 days, 17 hours. [ mom ] let s go, young lady. 12 days, 18 hours. 10 hours, 12 minutes, 7 seconds. come on. it s no days! 5 hours and 59 minutes and 42, 41. [ female announcer ] the hallmark countdown to christmas ornament. this cistmas, make it joyful at your hallmark gold crown store. ybe it s because their department store makeup is so expensive. simply ageless with olay regenerist serum costs less and it won t glob up in lines and wrinkles. you ll look aming and happy too. simply ageless, from olay and easy breezy beautiful covergirl. good morning. i m kimberly suiters. it date. we have break being news right now going on the beltway. maryland state troopers are on the scene of an accidents on the inner loop at the 295 interchange. investigators say this accide involves a tractor-trailer as wells two cars. state police have not yet said if anyone is hurt. the accident is blocking three lanes in that area. traffic is getting by in just one lane. aides to representative of gerry connolly say he should be released from the hospital sometime this week. he was admitted earlier this week after going in for a checkup. connolly s campaign ha not released while he was admitted. meanwhile election results in the 11th district isn t finalized. right now connolly holds a slight lead over keith peoplian. today people will remember mega virginia tech student. she got separated from friends after a concert. people will be handing out a composite sketch of the person they believe is connected to morgan s disappearance and murder. your weather forecast is up next. stay with us. 8:29. chuck, are they still freezing in frederick. yes. sunshine out there for now but this is self-destructive sunshine. sunshine will help destabilize the atmosphere and will lead to plenty of clouds by later on this afternoon. used for now, temperatures are in the mid-to-upper 30s around town. even some upper 20s as you head out towardsew market, maryla. radar shows a couple of light showers towards richmond, virginia. can t completely rule out a five minute passing shower latern this afternoon but most of the day and tomorrow will be dry. highs low 50s today. cold weather for north western penn state happy valley. send me a note if you want your game forecast. coming up at 9:00 how you can help students at one local high school get music we are back on this saturday morning, november 6th, 2010. here in new york city, thanks to everyone for joining us. have a safe trip out here on the plaza and a good reminder to everyone at home to turn you clocks back one hour tonight. marking the e of daylight savings time. i m amy robach along with lester holt. and coming up in this half hour, when parents encourage their kids to fight. and not just any fight. you hate to see these kind of pictures. we saw this a couple months ago from florida. of a mom egging on her daughter to fight. now police in oregon say the parents much 9-year-old children made them attack each other, then posted the brawl on facebook. and then wait until you hear what happened next. we re going to have more on that. and then what do lindsay lohan, sarahpalin, oprah and tiger woods all have in common? well, they re all part of american freak show. the new satire written by our own willie geist. willie is here to talk about his new book, and, of course, the inspiration for the book. then we re going to discuss the truth about fiber. we ve seen many foods with the word whole grain and multigrain fortified with fiber. what does it mean? how much fiber do we really actually need in our diets? we ll tell you coming up. all right. but first let s get another check of the weather fm good saturday morning. i m news 4 meteorologist chuck bell. sunshine is breaking throughfor now here in the washington area but mo clouds by later on this afternoon. off to a cold start as well. little bit of a bundle up factor first thing this morng. 35 in falls church. 37 in manassas. 36 in winchester. over into maryland temperatures in thor 20s now from damascus towards frederick, maryland. partly to mostly cloudy today. highs in the upper 40s. information sunshine and a touch and talk about the world cup. let s talk about the other football. football we like here on sunday night. wee talking the dallas cowboys, green bay packers, b the way who beat my jets last week. dallas trying to get their season back to the. going to be cool, lbeau eld, frosty tune dry. 43 to 47 degrees. nice for football. amy, back to you. all right, bill, thank you. in oregon this morning we are arning new details about a fight betweewo 9-year-old children that was posted on facebook, and police say it was all encouraged by their parents. we showed you thisack in september. video of a florida mother egging her daughter on to fight another teen in a brawl tt was posted on youtube. a group, including the mom, surround and cheer the girls as they punch and pummel each other. the mother was arrested and charged withhild abuse. the incident is shocking. but as we learned just days ago in oregon, it is not an isolated one. police say these four pple are the parents of two children who they ordered to attack one another. the parents allegedly then put the video on facebook and authorities say the kids forced to fight are 9 years old. one of the kids had a bloody nose before it was over,nd they were continuing the fight. apparently it stopd when somebody got bit. and in t background the adults are telling them to choke out the other, or do this or do that to increase the intensity of the attacks. reporter: the parents were arrested after someone from pennsylvania saw the clip on facebook and contacted the police the four adults are charged with criminal mistreatment, assault, reckless endangering and strangulation. their 9-year-old children were removed from their homes, and placed in the care of relatives. it going to be veryough for the prosecution to prove these charges. because, as bad as the parenting was, they didn t actually get in the fight. eporter: whatappened in oregon is disturbing. but, it is not new. last may this cell phone video was posted on the internet. on it two high school students in washington punch each other. you can hear adults on the tape, including allegedly one of the parents, telling her to get up and hit her hard. five adults were arrested. and now these parents are accused of doing the same. for more insight we are joined by stacy kaiser, a licensed family therapistance author of how to be a grown-up. good morning. good morning. we all know kids get into fights. it happened when i was a kid. it happened when you were a kid. is there ever an instance where it s okay for a parent to let his or her kid fight it out, so to speak? there s absolutely never an instance of that. first of all, parents job is to provide safety. and th s encouraging the complete opposite of safety. i mean, here s the other thing, and i think this is probably the most disturbing thing of it all, it s one thing to even be there, a part of the fight, encoaging your kid, and it s kind of a whole other thing to put it on facebook as if you re proud of it. right. what does this say about the parents? i mean you actually hit the nailn the head. i think these parents are proud of it. people who post on facebook are posting things that they feel good about. their kids good ades, a trophy. what we re seeing here is parents who actually are condoning and encouraging this behavior. they feel so good they want the world to see it it reminds me of a bumper sticker i see o cars that says my kid beat up your honor student. and there is this message that they re sending to their kids. what is that message? you know, i always say that children learn what they live. and our best role models are parents. what these parents are telling this kids is not only is it okay to fight as kids, but you know what? we re actually raising adults. not children. and these kids are going to grow up to think that fighting is okay, even when they re grown up. i hate when we all bla the media for everything, but in a sense, we re all now watching this, these reality television shows wre you see grown-ups fighting and bad behavior is rewarded. do you think that that is contributing to part of what we re seeing here? you know, i m going to tell you something, paren are our greatest role models. so if parents are on target and doing the right thing, the kids are going to turn out okay. if your parents are not on target then kids are going to look to other role models like television sta and reality tv shows. what do you think about the age of these kids? 9. you said that s a really important part of this story y know, what s really important is wn children are 9 years old they re just startin to develop who they are and the way they re going to live their lives. so they re really impressionable. it s really gng to make an impact on the kind of adults these kids become. do you think parents so changed over the years from generation to generation? and why, unfortunately, are we seeing these types of parents and these aret just isolated incidents, as we pointed out? i do think that our generation of parents are different. the generation before us, they were much more stric than us. you know, disciplinarians. and i think we went the other way. we ve become hands-off parents. and we need to find our center. we need to take control ofur children and teach them right from wrong. all right stacy kaiser, thanks so much. we appreciate it. coming up next, some comic relief and singing satire from willie geist. eve i used to swing over those rocks. took some foolish risks as a teenager. but i wastill taking a foolish risk with my cholesterol. anyone with high cholesterol may be at increased risk of heart attack. diet and exercise weren t enough for me. i stopped kidding myself. i ve been eating healthier, exercising more. and now i m also taking lipitor. if you ve been kidding yourself about high cholesterol.stop. along with diet, lipitor has been shown to lower bad cholesterol 39% to 60%. lipitor is fda approved to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients who have heart disease orrisk ftors for heart disease [ female announcer ] lipitor is not for everyone, including people with liver problems and women who are nursing, pregnant or may become pregnant. you nd simple blood tests to check for liver problems. tell your doctor if you are taking other medications or if you have any muscle pain or weakness. this may be a sign of a rare but serious side effect. let s go, boy, go! whoo-whee! if you have high cholesterol, you may be at increased risk of heart attack and stroke. don tid yourself. talk to your doctor about your risk and about litor. we helped keep your skin clear. now we have a solution for wrinkles. neutrogena ai wrinkle with retinol sa smoothes even deep wrinkles. it works.beautifully. neutrogena. with the $2.50 breakfast combo. get a 16oz. cup of piping-hot seattle s best coffee and a savory new sunrise subway melt built fresh to your order for just $2.50. subway. build your better breakfast. [ female announcer ] this is not a prescription. this is diane. who worked with her walgreens pharmacist to help control her diabetes. with some exercise and a few changes to her diet. diane, whose new routine comes with a view. to find out if you re at risk for diabetes, gea free health test november 12th and 13th at your nearest participating 24-hour walgreens or take care clinic location. expertise find it everywhere there s a walgreens. - will you marry me? - before saying those words, there s one word every man should know. - leo. - the leo diamond, certified to be visibly brighter, at kay, the number one jewelry store in america. - yes. celebrities, athletes, politicians, they all crave the spotlight and every step of the way willie geist iswatching he makes punch lines out of these public figures with his sharp satire. and now the host of msnbc s way too early has written a book called american freak show: the completely fabricated stories of our new national treasures. willie geist, good morning. good morning. i was telling, i can t wait to finish the book. i was laughing out loud. your inspiration for the book was something near and dear to my heart, because this interview with rod blagojevich you said kind of sparked the idea, hey, there might be something to this. you had something to do with this book. whether you re proud of that or not. you were interviewing blago ght after we heard all these tapes and all these accusations that he was trying to sell the senate seat. and he went on an interview with amy robach and declare that he was a lot like mandela, gandhi and dr. king. and i just thought, whoa, this is a different cat. we need to dig into this guy a little bit. eventually we had him on morning joe and he came on and it was clear to me that he didn t care that he was infamous, he was a celebrity. whether you re famous or infamous, it s immaterial. as long as people know who you are, you ve got a brand and he was soaking it up and drinking it in. to me he was a great example of our sort of media culture turning a guy who d done wrong into celebrity. not really aware we were soaking in exactly. self-awareness is not his strength. the disclaimer to this book is on the cover. thes are fabrications. you ve got some hypothetical scenarios involving sarah palin giving an inauguration speech, lindsay lohan tweeting a fan festo from jail. some would say these aren t far from reality. are you mocking the characters or really mocking the way we tend to cover them? both, both. because it s not just the freaks. the freaks have always existed. but now they have a platform. they have what do you mean freaks? you mean interesting people. interesting pple. it s such a negative comment. wouldn t make a very good title, would it? no, interesting people. but they ve got 24 hour cable news, they ve got the internet, they ve got reality shows. 10, 20 years ago we wouldn t know who the kardashian sisters were. we wouldn t have known who balloon y was without cable news. so i don t lay the blame purely at the feet of the freaks. it s also the media. we covered balloon boy. don t make fun of us. all due respect. another interesting person. some might say your book came t a little too early because you missed some of the amazing political figures that have emerged in this midterm election. we can perhaps poi to christine o donnell. did you ever think we d be at the point in our world where some candidate would come out and say, i m not a witch. that was a remarkable moment. a real campaign where someone running for the seat held by the vice president of the united states had to come out publicly and declare that she was not a witch. that was a remarkable moment. the book came out and you had linda mcmahon, whohen i was growing up watching wrestling, the mcmahons weren t associated with politics as much as flying drop kicks. and we moved into the new york gubernatorial race where we had two stars. sure andrew como won but carl paladino. and jimmy, rent is too damn high mcmillan. he shows up on a mond. by saturday he s on snl. the truth is his message was more clear than everybody else s. yes, the rent is too damn high. have you heard from any of these people? i haven t yet. either they hen t read the book or they re so furious they re avoiding me. i hope it s the latter. this is a funbook. as we mentioned you re getting material for more even as we speak. yeah, i think so. the problem is you want people who are going to have long shelf lis. so unfortunately, the christine o donnls andhe carl paladinos and the jimmy mcmillans and alvin greens, they re kind of going to evaporate, i m afraid. but the good news is there s one important every minute. there is. now i have to ask you, where did you find the time to write this book? your way way too early. you re getting up at what point in the day? klee clock. you ve got two little ones at home. yeah. and also contributing to morning joe. when did you wrote this book? well, it was a long process, amy. luckily i had a dark room in which to lock myself. as you know a 3-year-old and 1-year-old don t really lend themselves to great creative thking. so i had to lock myself in a room. you write in the last chapter, you describe this year s induction ceremony into the 15 minute hall of fame, snooki received the honor. my goodfriend, the situation, did not. this is a personal story for you, lester. here you are i didn t rate? lester, you are jacked right there. you got the situation biceps and the ole thing. i m telling you. you know, i went with snooki. i regret having left theide of your head. i met red, the group from the jersey shore, i thought they might go away. boy was i wrong. they re a good example of how these things come out. a year ago right now, we didn t know who snooki and the situation were. this is true. now the president knows their names. exactly. exactly. well, willie geist, a pleasure to have y here. thank you, guys. up next, you re going to love this, fiber facts. oh, my. important tips for your diet ahead. but first, this is day on nbc. the truth about fiber. from adding it to your diet to getting too much of it, we re giving you the health facts and fallacies on all things fiber. joining me now is women s health contributor and nuttionist carrie blacksmith. good morning. i think the big question is how much fiber do we actually need? and then how d we get it? well, the average person gets 8 to 11 grams. but the average man needs 38 grams a day and the average woman needs 25 grams a day. that s a huge difference. but that doesn t mean we have to go and take a fiber supplement. there are easy ways to add it into our diet. having a high fiber cereal. having an ale and some peanuts at a snack. both of those foods have fiber. having a legume soup for lunch. an at dinner just doubling up your vegetables. if you normally have a vegetable, adding a salad, as well. and there are two types of fiber. insoluble and luble. what s the difference? you got it. you got it. okay. what is the difference between these two? fiber is only found in plant foods, nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetaes. it s the indigestible part of the plant, meaning it goes through our body without adding any calories. just adds bulk. insoluble fiber i the thick structure. that s what s really made fiber famous with most people. that s what helps brush t stool through our system. the bulk through our gi tract. you re going to find insoluble fiber in things like high fiber cereals. whole wheat bread. and vegetables. soluble fiber, dissols in water. so it dissolves in water and that creates some bulk. that s also going to help control our blood sugar levels and also help lower our ldl cholesterol. you re going to find that in foods like oats and legumes and fruits. and fiber makes youeel fuller so you eat less. it s good trick when you re trying to lose weight. exactly. because it s adding all of that fiber and bulk to foods. you mention there are some foods, we have them displayed on our table, that have a good amount of fiber. raspberries. i wouldn t have thought that. love raspberries. obviously they taste delicious. eight grams of fiber there so an easy way to up your fiber. throw that into your cereal in the morning. that is double than this baked potato but still a good portion of fiber in the baked potato. a small baked potato is a way to add in some fiber and of course a high fiber cereal. is one actually has 13 grams of fiber. so tt s a great way to start your morning. okay. and then popcorn. one of my favorite whole grains, a great way to get in five grams of fiber i three cups of popcorn. low calorie, a whole grain. as long as you don t add the butter. exactly, exactly. you want to keep it air popped. apples. an apple i love, i want to point out all these foods have soluble and insoluble fiber together. the apple has insoluble fiber in the skin and soluble fiber in the esh. another reason you really want to make sure to get your fiber from whole foods. you also have half a cup of oatmeal. exactly. like we already mentioned. those oats have the soluble fiber which helps create that bulk, and then spinach, of course, has fiber as well. seven grams ther beans are a great way to get a t of fiber in one cup of these black beans is going to have 15 grams of fiber. and then of course another example of a high fiber cereal. all right. and then we have foods y mentioned like the cereal and the breads, a lot of them say fortified with fiber. what does that mean when they re fortified withfiber? there s a lot of foods out there that are, just what you said, fortified. the companies are adding in fiber to up the fiber grams in the product. however, it s always better to obviously get fiber from whole foods. the foods that have fiber are also naturally lower in calories. and they also have all the different vitamins and minerals. and you ll get the combination of the soluble and the insoluble. that s not to say that some of these foods like a whole wheat bread that s also fortified is going to be bad. it could be even more beneficial. carrie glassman, a lot of great tips. we ll be right back. set your pace to island time. rich chocolate over creamy coconut. almond joy and mnds. enjoy more. 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[thunder crashes] - i m right here. and i always will be. - now you can surround her with the strength of love s embrace, at kay jewelers, one more reason kay is the number one jewelry store in ameca. to cover up flaws and make skin look pretty but there s on that s so clever, it makes your skin look better even after you take it off. neutrogena healthy skin liquid makeup. 98% of women saw improvemt in their skin s natural texture, tone, or clarity. does your makeup do that? neutgena® cosmetics recommended most by dermatologists. that does it for us on this saturday morning. our thanks to trish regan and bill karins as always. coming up tomorrow on today, we continue to follow the connecticut penalty phase trial. and i ll see you tonight for nbc nightly news. good morning i kimberly suiters. straight ahead on news4 today, all charges dropped against five men accused in the death of a man who threw a brick through a nightclub window. and metro reacts to concerns over its escalators. what transit agency is doing make sure you re safe. t in custody, two still at large after a would be robbery victim turns the tables on his assailants. i m news 4 meteorologist chuck bell. we have some sunshine out there first thing on your saturday morning. how long will it last and how cold will it be. all that and more when you join news4 today in less than two minutes. a surprise announcement from the u.s. attorney s office, all charges dropped against five men in a case d.c. s police chief called vigilante justin. good morning i m kimberly suiters. you ll see aaron gilchrist tonight. it saturday, november 6, 2010. chuck bell joins us in the studio. we saw a sneak peek of derrick ward s breath. some chilly stuff this morning. a lot of spots down near the freezing mark. there s a view from our camera look at the jefferson memorial. nice day outside. 54 right now at ronald reagan washington national airport. 38 degrees in fairfax. 39 in manassas. 38 degrees in