the image of the baby jesus and the virgin mary on a piece of candy. but not everyone can see it. mary is on the left, and jesus is there, too. if you see beauty in something, he says, enjoy it. if you can't, you should move on. that's what we are prepared to do. thank you for watching. "studio b" starts right now. >>shepard: thank you, the news begins anew. in "studio b" with new arrests today in a kidnapping case in texas. ahead, how police were able to catch the suspect. box two, a new and eye opening study on kids and caffeine. how much is too much? news you need to know. and box three, brand new developments or revelations from wikileaks as the founder of the site speaks out today. that's all ahead unless breaking news changes everything.

but, first, at last, it's friday. the president minutes away from signing the tax cut economize into law. and house of representatives approved the package admit -- at around midnight and democrats hemmed and hawed that was hammered out but there are a couple of things the democrats in the house of representatives do not like. the extension for all americans, not good for wealthiest. and the rein statement of the estate tax at a lower rate, not good. despite that the final vote was 277-148. the house majority leader said there is probably nobody in the house would likes the overall bill but it is better than doing now. and now, carl, what is the fallout? >>carl: you talk about the democratic himming and haws and the republicans thing they have new found momentum but look at the vote.

it was almost, almost, almost, 2-1 majority in favor of passage but with the breakout of how the votes played out, among democrats, 139 voted so among house democrats who had complaints about this, more democrats voted for it tan voted against it. and if that were not ironic, it is worth noting that more democrats voted for it than republicans, 138 republicans voted for it so the democratic majority that supposedly opposed this put more votes toward it than the minority. >>shepard: the senate bill was shelved yesterday. how will congress avoid shutting down the government. >>carl: they are working on a stopgap measure until february. today the house democrats are working on a variation of that giving them a measure to get things through until next week if something going wrong if the

next day. we have a lost the debates so they are covering all bases and the government will not shut down but they have to write legislation and get them to pass it. >>shepard: thank you from the hill, carl. and now, deeper into the spending bill and other issues for lawmakers later with chris wallace and we are waiting for president obama to sign the tax cut bill into law. there it is at the white house. a little snow outside today. live coverage ahead. and the senate minority leader mcconnell on special report this evening, at 6:00 eastern and 5:00 in oxford, special report. and police investigating possible serial killer in new york. they are expanding the seven for more victims after they found the bodies of four women on long island over the weekend. cops scoffed the body as short distance from the highway at oak beach, random spot in the

county. someone killed the women and dumped them from a vehicle. a search team has been looking for a missing prostitute and the witnesses reported seeing them early in the year but among the four bodies is not the prostitute and they have not found her yet. and now, from new york, our reporter is there. what did you find out at news conference? >>reporter: the authorities say they have more questions than answers during the news conference. in fact, they say they are not sure that they are dealing here with a serial killer. as for the identity of the four bodies they have found? authorities say they still have no idea about their identity. they say they may never know. they are checking d.n.a. and will match the d.n.a. with existing databases of missing women and that will take weeks or months. the authorities emphasized there is a great deal of speculation that it is simply run amok about would the victims could be. >>shepard: any suspects at all? >>reporter: at this hour?

no suspects. authorities say they not looking at any "person of interest" and you may recall in the last couple of days the authorities did question and did search the home and car of someone would lived nearby who had interaction with the prostitute who disappeared but that individual is not a suspect. she cooperating. that individual says he is innocent and adding that his life is ruined "i'll be judged forever." >>shepard: thank you from new york. in california, releasing new clues in another investigation involving another suspected serial killer. detectives in los angeles found hundreds of photographs of women in the home of a man called "the grim sleeper." they say the women may hold clues to other killings and cops are hoping someone who recognized any or all of these women will come forward. the suspect if this case is a accused of killing ten people

and dumping their bodies in streets and he says he is not guilty and he is still behind bars. police in texas have arrested three men who kidnap add woman after staging a car crash to get her to pull over. it happened on thursday morning outside dallas. a 54-year-old victim thought it was a fender bender and called her husband to let him know. >> called home to make contact with her husband about the motor vehicle accident and it was cleared you could hear the male shouting instructions as they were approaching her vehicle and it became quite clear to law enforcement and the victim's husband that she was in trouble. and had been taken against her will. hundreds of miles away she was let go in new mexico. and trace is following this. how did they get the suspects? >>trace: the case of the bungling criminals. after the staged accident the kidnappers forked the victim, 54 years old, to go to two different a.t.m.'s and pull out

$900. well, after that, one of the kidnappers stayed behind and the others took her to new mexico and the kidnapper who stayed behind is 23-year-old man pulled over by police minutes after this kidnapping for a traffic violation. they got his information, and they let him go but lo and behold the next day when they are investigating this and they look at surveillance video, who do they spot? they spot matthew and they go to his house and he confesses the entire thing. here are the cops. listen. >> i certainly think the traffic stop may have played a part in, certainly, in identifying the suspects involved, or the suspect at this time involved in the kidnapping. >>reporter: he gave police the names of the other suspects. they, in turn, have now turned themselves in to albuquerque police. the f.b.i. is handling it. >>shepard: the husband did not

get a message until the next morning; that right? >>trace: they made the phone call after the accident at 1:30 in the morning but the husband slept right through it so he did not get the message until 6:30 the next morning which is when he called police so police were able to take that phone call and use the cell phone towers to track it back to the actual place of the accident. which in turn tracked them to the official suspect, matthew, and at one point, the affidavit says that the kidnappers asked the victim if she called police and she said no, i called my husband. and they felt relieved but it turned out that was just as bad as calling the cops because the call was traced back. >>shepard: thank you from los angeles, trace. thank you. a live shot now from the international space station, a telling shot, just beautiful. what the heck is going on there? a russian soyuz space capsule is linking up at the international space station and it is a slow process but both ships are

traveling at 17,000 miles an hour. sounds like the long island expressway. mission control lost contact for a couple of hours yesterday and we are told all communications are up and running and the incident could be a concern for nasa because they will be dependent on the russian spacecraft when it retires the shuttle program next year. and the cost per astronaut on the space taxi is $51 million! per person. north korea's leader say the attack on south korea was a taste of what is coming if they are provoked. next, the american trying to turn down the heat between the two countries. stay tuned.

>>shepard: this is live, the white house, and the president minutes away from signing the tax cut cop mice into law. we will bring you that live. stay tuned. new mexico's governor now in north korea for a series of talks to ease tensions on the korean peninsula. the governor arrived yesterday and the state department cleared the trip but we are told he is not there as a represent i of the u.s. government. and south korea is promising to go ahead with live drills, rather, live fire drills on a

small island near the border despite new threats of retaliation from north korea. afternoon. officials have warned of stronger response after a strike last month that killed four south koreans. and our chief correspondent is live in the newsroom. does anyone expect this to achieve anyone? >>jonathan: not in terms of concrete steps getting north korea not to attack if the exercise take place but the experts believe the governor richardson's trip is valuable because it may help officials back here in the u.s. read the tea leaves, get a real insight into what the north korean leadership is thinking right now, and what they are hoping to try to achieve through this. listen to this. >> we know nothing about what is going on in north korea. that that is a danger. and we do not know what their understanding is.

we want everyone to be on the same page with respect to the facts. we do not want anyone to make a mistake or misjudge our intentions. just as we do not want to misjudge theirs. >>jonathan: he says it is unlikely the governor will get a meeting with kip kill but -- meeting with kim chong-il but it would be really useful if he could. >>shepard: now we hear that russia is getting involved, right? >>jonathan: absolutely. this is interesting. the russian foreign ministry summoned not just the south korean ambassador in moscow today, but the u.s. ambassador, as well, saying that everybody needs to get south korea, in their view, to back off the live fire exercises. they say quite simply that the situation on the korean peninsula is too precarious and south korea is playing with fire by threatening to conduct the exercises. some experts agree and they say

why do the live fire exercises, they do not need to be live fire, this is the wrong time to carry them out. >>shepard: now precarious, and how precarious is the situation, and what do the experts think? tan than very precarious. if the live fire exercises go ahead and north korea responds, it does not mean we are headed to all out war but we may very well be. and when you hear the north korean rhetoric calling the south korean leadership "a puppet warmonger of the united states," clearly, tensions are being ramped up and everybody needs to calm down. that is what bill richardson hopes to achieve over there but it is, we will have to wait-and-see. it is a dangerous time on the peninsula. >>shepard: thank you, jonathan where he will chat away on the top stories and you can go to foxnews.com/ship. the manned with the sunglasses

is jonathan, and you can click on that and talk to him. >> and new warnings on the threat of cyber attacks which are used to move money and finance operations but some could start launching attacks in coordination with the traditional attack like a bombing. boom. the cyber part. boom, the finance part, would cripple the emergency response systems. catherine, the attacks would be used to prep the battlefield, right? >>reporter: that is a way of saying the cyber attack maximizes the attack of a traditional attack. and animation lays this out for you, and you see a major urban center, new york city here, and a car bomb, and that would obviously have an impact but at the same time that is going off even in advance of that a few minutes before, there is a crippling cyber attack on the 9-1-1 emergency response system so it is hard for first

responders to get to the scene creating panic and hysteria and maximizes the impact of the car bomb in terms of deaths and other casualties. >>shepard: and the second scenario? >>reporter: that is a reverse. a traditional attack in this animation, washington, dc, and you will see traditional attack on the subway, with backpacks and that is a distraction because the primary target or the real attack is a denying of service attack on a major banking institution, the fell reserve, or a transportation network, like the f.a.a. so it is a little bit of a bait and swift -- switch. you get the eyes off the ball when you go for the real target and some of the leading experts think this double punch scenario is likely in the future. >>shepard: thank you,

katherine. now, the rise of freedom, stub is committed to documenting the rebuilding of the world trade center for years to come. and word today of a major milestone at ground zero. those are new buildings, down there, officials say the steal frame for world trade i has reached the halfway point standing at 52 stories, 600' above lower manhattan, will open 9/11, next year. more of our our series is online at foxnews.com/freedom. children as young as five drinking enough caffeine to get the shakes. a new warning for caffeine for the children. stay tuned.

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>>shepard: a couple of big recalls to tell you about. first is 100,000 g.m. cross overs, vehicles. affects 2011 models for the cadillac, the chevrolet and the terrain. officials say a defect in the front driver and passenger seatbelts could cause them to fail in a crash. dealers will fict it for free. and honda is recalling 5,000 passport s.u.v.'s over a suspension problem that could lead to a crash according to the company. this involved passports from the 1998 to 2002 models in a state, and all states are shown in yellow. trips to the grocery store are more expensive with the cost of food growing, 1.5 times the rate of inflation, and that is because of higher costs of

wheat, sugar, corn, soybeans and energy. the prices are expected to keep going up next year. and starting in november last your the price of meat poultry and fish and eggs went up 5.8 percent, and dairy up 3.8 percent, and fats and oils? up 3 percent, and sugars and sweets, yes, up 1.2 percent. so if you want fats or oils it is more expensive than sugars which are better. overall inflation 1.1 percent on commodities. the state of arizona is suing the largest bank for mortgage fraud, the attorney general says bank of america, the red bank, committed fraud by misleading people who were trying to get loan modifications. he claims that hundreds of homeowners made mortgage payments thinking they were getting a ploiftion but many lost their homes anyway. and we told in nevada they will file a similar lawsuit later today. and we have her promises from yogurt commercials, especially companies that have a beneficial

bacteria, you have seen this. i just discovered activia, which helps with -- which actions as a body regulator. >>shepard: they have agreed to pay $21 million in settlement to state and federal regulations. and former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney. thank you both for joining us. what do we make of this? >> this is a classic example of flimflam. this is a large multinational company with a lot of money going out there putting out all sorts of statements as to what this can do and they have nothing to back it up. and part of what makes our system great, part of what makes this a great company to do business is there are consequences for these actions and our government ensures we have a level playing field and

companies compete against each other fairly. $21 million seems stiff for yogurt product but there is a profitable company and unless you have steep fines nothing will deter this in the future. >>shepard: they make great commercials and it tastes great. so it doesn't mean anything? >>guest: that is what our other guest is saying but i don't think that is what the ftc is saying, they are not saying that they are, the product is not working in this product, but activia is promoting it and the ftc is not saying they should not make the claims but they are saying they should market it differently in order to not mislead the public. here is what it is based on, a study, and there are several studies they tested the yogurt out three times, three times in europe, they eat a lot of europe , and it is very tasty

over there, and they did that. when the company advertises it they advertise and say it will benefit you if you take it one time a day for 14 days and the ftc is saying that is true but alert the public to know that the studies that you are basing these claims on are from taking it three time as day so you will notice that their marketing has not changed because the f testimony c is not saying the claims are wrong but the type of marketing. >>guest: the type of marketing they engage in which is considered unfair and deceptive, making exaggerated statements about a product, selling it to the membership and making the average american person think this will do something it will not do. the exaggeration is that the claims they are making about the probiotics are not backed up by studies. >>guest: they are backed up. >>shepard: don't talk about

backed up and yogurt at the same time! >>guest: the studies are peer reviewed so they are objective and supervised by ph.d.'s, doctorates and they are supervised by doctors. >>guest: who are on the payroll of the company. >>guest: half true. half were not in any way connected to dannon. >>guest: this is about half truths. that is what they were doing. >>guest: give me the truth. >>guest: this is not the f.d.a. coming after the company but the federal trade commission. they are not saying this is dangerous for you or this could hurt you. it is good for you. it is the fair trade commission saying this is not a fair trade practice, you are basically getting a leg up on all the other yogurt makers by exaggerating. >>shepard: did you guys see the last larry king?

>>guest: i did, i was in makeup, actually. >>shepard: the truth is, did you watch larry king? his nine-year-old son, the greatest thing, he is better than his father. he was --. >>guest: his father is still alive. >>shepard: i don't care what your loyalties are he has been doing this for 25 years, i wish larry king great luck and godspeed and the kid is hilarious. hilarious. okay, good luck. happy holidays, guys. >> eat your yogurt.

>> brand new development in cables. more cables from wikileaks today. that makes my day. the man behind the site speaks out over what he calls the high-tech house arrest. nice house, i tell you that. stay tuned. naturally colorful vegetables are often a good source of vitamins, fiber, or minerals. and who brings you more natural colors than campbell's condensed soups? campbell's.® it's amazing what soup can do.™

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>>shepard: time for the top of the news. brand new diplomatic cables released on wikileaks suggesting the united states is very worried about security in biolaboratories in india. according to the cables, the labs work with agents that can be lethal getting inside some of the facilities involving nothing more than bribing a guard with cigarettes. and pakistan is "obsessed with india's military." and pakistani officials have done nothing to prosecute the suspects in the 2008 attacks in mumbai. and now our reporter with details on this great news from london. we understand julian assange spoke today from his mansion. what is he saying? >>reporter: exactly. he what a lot of conditions on bail, julian assange, including checking with the police each day where home is staying out of

london which he did this afternoon. but there is not much of a gag order on him or an enforcement of a gag order because he was talking and talking and talking including to our sister network sky news. he was talking a lot about the united states and his fears they have a "secret grand jury ready for him," and they want to "get him," for espionage for the leaked cables over wikileaks. some of that has been confirmed by washington but the grand jury has not. here is a little bit of what julian assange said today. >> the big risk we have always been concerned about is extradition to the united states. and that seems to be increasingly serious and incrsingly likely. >> despite the u.s. intentions to shut him up or hopes that it happen, it does not look like it will happen today. he also said he would be releasing more cables and maybe increasing the flow of cables through his website and that

would come from the mansion in england where the charges of sexual misconduct, which is what they are going for to get him extradicted, he called them today and i quote, "tabloid crap," regardless of the stories, the u.k. is telling me that, in fact, the extradition is likely to happen, and julian assange thinks that is another way for the u.s. to get to him easier through sweden. that is not clear. what is clear we will be hearing a lot more from julian assange probably all through the christmas season. ho-ho. >>shepard: ho-ho, indeed. a month after someone set fire to a north florida business, officials have released surveillance video showing exactly how it went down. cops say they hope someone will recognize the suspect and help put him behind bars. you can see the man pouring a

liquid over the front of the desk in a jacksonville salon and it was gasoline. he lit it. and it went up if flames as the guy ran out the door. the fire destroyed the place and the owner says she does not know why anyone would target her or her business. word today that warehouse workers in texas have found a baby's body in a box. happened near the mexico border. police say the box arrived with used clothing from arizona. right now cops say it is unclear where exactly the box came from. all they know is the baby's cord was still attached. the baby died. they are purchasing an autopsy. a brand new study finding kids in grade school drink the same amount of caffeine you find in three cans soda. each day. three cans. that is a low number for me. doctors say it is not just a problem for pains trying to get their kids to sleep but could cause problems in class.

we will talk about this. caffeine in the kids ahead.

>>shepard: the president minutes away from signing the tax cut economize into law. and there is a whole list of people who will be there, the republican leader mcconnell, and durbin, the majority whip, and kent conrad, and lincoln, democrat great arkansas, but not listed, harry reid or nancy pelosi. i would assume ... i don't know. that gives us a reason to stay tuned to find out who shows up minutes away. do your kids drink too much? soda? a study published finds that 75 percent of american kids consume caffeine each day and in some cases it has an effect on sleep. or lack of.

between the age of five and seven years old drink the same amount of caffeine as found in a can of soda, those numbers are off. and 8 to 12, they take in triple that amount, so three cans' worth. the more soda they drink the more trouble they have sleeping. and that will hurt performance in the class. and now, the pediatrician and head of the child health policy institute at southeast university in florida. nice to see you. >>guest: great to see you. >>shepard: when i was a kid we had one glass bottle of coke and tab on the porch behind the kitchen and i drink about, three liters a day and i thought the sugar was worse so we switched to tab. >>guest: you are a southern boy if you drinking it and leaving it on the back porch.

here is the thing, when you are drinking those, that much soda, as the study suggests children are, those are hidden calories that are adding to our problem for children with obesity and the overweight issue that we have right now facing the country, the consequences of being overweight as a young child such as hypertension, diabetes, and that is why this study is so important because it confirms for us what we know but in a way to identify better, what are we giving our kids in food and beverage that might be providing additionaly calories and we do not realize it? and the numbers are this, the math is there. >>shepard: they are worried the kids will not sleep. >>guest: the study was to look at sleep disruption, and including bed wetting at night. that is the original intention.

but what were whats in the process, they discovered interesting data in terms of the amount of beverage that are sweetened that young people are consuming each day. and caffeine is the most popular stimulant in the world. every adult knows it gives you a burst of energy, you get focused a little bit, and for adults that is okay if we use it sensibly. but there is no sense in a little child drinking caffeine. no need. >>shepard: how does she wake up in the morning without a good shop of coffee? >>guest: i love you make that point that your daughter may not be able to get up and be fresh and invigorated. >>shepard: they is ready. she goes like this all day long until the moment it is time to fall asleep at night and she sleeps solid like a rock. >>guest: well, that is a good little sadie but those that drink the caffeine each day are

not getting good slope. and so it does become a problem with being unable to concentrate and before you know it, you are developing a habit and over the course of time, where is the next boost? the next lift? when you are a teen, what do you drink then? >>shepard: by the afternoon it is french fries and chicken nuggets but probably and cereal in the morning. >>guest: i recover -- love you are joking but these benefit radges are replacing good nutrition and vitamins and minerals. we are an evening in. the fuel you put in the engine drives the machine. if you are seeing willard scott, talking to 100-year-olds ... i would like to see them eat healthy food. >>shepard: just give her an

ambien. >>guest: i am not going there. the marketing commercials are as compelling and intriguing as you are with your questions with me so they are bright and shiny and they encourage you to drink tab on the back porch because that is fun, that is what kids do. and they have fund settings, so it is up to the parents and the grandparents and the teachers to pay closer attention to see how much is the child getting each day, it is not a bad thing, it is just when you use it too much, like anything, in excess, it is a problem. if it is a treat which is what it was meant to be, it's fine. >>shepard: great to see you and you are right on every count, we ought to pay attention, kids do not make decisions about what they put in their body, adults do. make go ones -- make good decisions. good to see you. to keep the government running

democrats and republicans on capitol hill have to figure a way to pay for it. they scrapped the plan they had. next, chris wallace will explain the loan he is giving to america next.

stella: hmmm. we're getting new medicare benefits from the new healthcare law. jane: yea. most people will get free cancer screenings. and 50 percent off of brand name prescription drugs if you're in the donut hole. stella: you read my paper. jane: i went to medicare.gov. it's open enrollment, you know. so i checked out all the options and found a

better plan to fit my budget. stella: well, you know what they say...knowledge... jane: knowledge is power.

>>shepard: there it is, the white house, not in h.d. ... why is the feed of the white house not in h.d.? it is almost 2011. we can see the moon in h.d. we can go to singapore in high definition. we can go to oxford in high definition. we can even go to chris wallace if high definition. but not the white house. why not? >>chris: beats me. i am here in the washington bureau. >>shepard: i will find out. chris, nancy pelosi and harry reid are not on the list to attend the big sign into law. what is congress on? >>chris: i am sure nancy pelosi particularly had no

interest because of the fact that she was the one who was saying how outrageous they were extending the bush tax cuts for the so-called wealthy, and the estate tax so i am sure she wants nothing to do with this. >>shepard: you would think she would be are to support budget and the leader of her party? >>chris: really? >>shepard: that is usually how it works. for george bush they all lined up. chris you will see distance between the house democrats and this president especially as he starts to move more and more to the center and make doles. the new best friend could be the senate republican leader, mcconnell. >>shepard: is that what happened to pick when he went to the middle and we chased him around about monica? >>guest: well, it started before that. when he passed, rather, signed the we we -- the welfare reform bill there were democratic

liberals, people quit his administration, they were outraged. very, very upset. and thought he sold them out on an issue of tremendous importance and obviously a lot of them are upset about this, but what choice did the president have? >>shepard: he didn't have any choice. >>chris: that is the point and he got a better deal than he deserved. >>shepard: what do you mean? >>chris: i don't think he had as much leverage as the republicans gave him credit for having. they could have let the tax cuts lapse and the house republicans when they took control in the first week of january could have reinstated the tax cuts and they would get the credit and the democrats the blame but they gave the president hundreds of billions of stimulus for the economy, a lot of it not paid for, and they extended the unemployment benefits and they did a lot. he got a lot out of the bill and people like charles congratulate ham are think he got too much in terms of what the republicans gave up.

>>shepard: and krauthammer said he sneaked in another stimulus and no one realizeed it. >>guest: that is right with real political impact for this president as he seeks re-election in 2011 and 2012 he added another $1 trillion of stimulus. some of it is fake because it is keeping unemployment, rather, keeping tax rates where they already were. it is not like it is a tax cut but descending the status quo. but there is stimulus in this and if that does give a boost to the economy as some, like the economyives are saying, that will help president obama seeking re-election in 2012. >>shepard: all the mainstream economists think this is going to help the economy at least in the short-term and suddenly the people who were hemming and hawing about paying for it, billion dollars, a trillion, we put another $1 trillion on the pile of all the other money, how

in the world will we get out from under this? we will not, unless we hand over our social security. what are we going to do? >>chris: one thing we hear is the distinction between short-term deficit and long term deficit and the idea is, well, you are broke, so you can spend a lot of money and get broker in the short term but you will have to start making some cuts. >>shepard: well, we have to >>shepard: well, we have to cut away to a commercial. protect your home with allstate, too, and you can save an extra ten percent. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate.

>>shepard: live look at the white house and what is h.d. no clue. and the other one is the signing ceremony. signing ceremony for the president is coming up there. they will sign the tax stuff. chris wall slas fear from fox news sunday and wendell, will

the president take a vacation? what is the word? >>reporter: last year at this time it was the health care debate if the senate that delayed the trip home to hawaii and this year it is the hopes to ratify the new start treaty, repealing of "don't ask, don't tell" and pass something called the dream act which provides a paths to citizenship for children of illegals in this country and the first lady, the first daughters, headed for hawaii tomorrow, but aides say it could be the middle of next week before the president gets to go and it is not out of the ordinary, the schedule has been tossed out the window this year, a trip to stale i can't, and postponed, and a trip was rescheduled to asia, twice, first because of the house vote on the health care and second because of the oil spill in the gulf of mexico. >>shepard: he does not have as much trouble rebooking his flight when it is canceled. >>guest: they are waiting for him at andrews. >>shepard: chris wallace will this get done quickly.

chris -- >>chris: what stuff? >>shepard: to keep the government open. they need to do it. >>chris: that will get done and the house is talking about a five-day continuing resolution to take it into next week so they can wrap it up and the senate is talking about having it go into february so they need to figure identity because if one passes one and the other passes the other they have not kept the government going and that will happen, they will vote on "don't ask, don't tell" and there is a chance they will repeal it and the dream act as mentioned, unlikely that will pass the senate and then this is the start nuclear arms treaty with russia which is hanging out there. can they ratify that? my guess is they will have a serious vote on it so we have several days but with the logjam on spending and the logjam on taxes having been broken, they will get to most of this other stuff. >>shepard: how do they sheep

at -- sleep at night after the vote on ground zero first responders from 9/11? are they going to get that done? are we going to leave the american heroes out there to deficit in the wind? >>guest: that is a good question and a national shame the idea that the people who were there, were the first responders after 9/11 and have had health problems as a result, and the congress, you would think if you are going to take care of the or things and pass the earmarks and name buildings and post offices after people they would take care of authentic american heroes but i don't know what the deal is and whether they will get to that. >>shepard: we have covered this here and we have done our best to cover it and let people know they did not pass it and it is all political. last night it was the last jon stewart of the work and he absolutely is right, it is worth saying, who is going to hold the people's feet to the fire when we can put a 52 story down there so far at ground zero and we can

pay for tax cuts for billionaire whose do not need them and it will not stimulate the economy but we cannot give health care to ground zero first responders who ran into the fire and went down there to save people? do people know what the city was like? people were walking over bridges covered in ash and running for their lives and their family members were dead and these people ran to glownd zero and we are not giving them medicine for illnesses? it is disgusting and everyone who voted against it should have to account for himself or herself. is anyone going to hold them accountable? >>chris: i think you just did. >>shepard: i went out there and said what the truth is, and i feel like at some point we have to do something for these people. this was no warning label on ground zero on 9/11, these substances will kill you. and if there were, they would have gone anyway, they need a little bit of help. it was not a lot of money in the grand scheme. we spend more money giving

warren buffet his income tax refund than we to, doing anything for those people, don't we? >>chris: you are right. and the fact is, politicians never miss an opportunity to wrap themselves in the flag of 9/11 and talk about the lessons listened and the politics of it, but when it comes to putting up, and i think most americans who may have concerns about federal spending, have no problems with the idea of spending money to help those folks. >>shepard: i have not seen any suggesting that the people who went in to die for us on 9/11 should not be helped out. they think we ought to give them a little something to try to ease their pain as many of them are terminal as a couple were on jon stewart last night with terminal cancer and no help so we are look at whatever this is, we will go sign something here, and nancy pelosi is not coming, are the democrats going to be able to get themselves back together