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Lou Dobbs Tonight
Stopping WMD; Plan for Economy; Mortgage Crisis; Selective Enforcement; College Loan Crisis
Aired December 02, 2008 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Wolf. Tonight, startling evidence that one in five young American adults now suffers from serious psychological problems. Many are abusing alcohol and drugs. We're going to tell you what's causing this crisis and what can be done about it.
And tonight President-elect Obama challenges governors to help him end this recession. Three of my favorite radio talk show hosts join me to give us their assessment.
And tonight New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is demanding New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress be prosecuted to the full extent of the law after Burress shot himself by accident at a Manhattan night club. This, as Mayor Bloomberg refuses to enforce a number of laws himself. All of that, all the day's news and much more from an Independent perspective straight ahead here tonight.
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT: news, debate, and opinion for Tuesday, December 2nd. Live from New York, Lou Dobbs.
DOBBS: Good evening everybody. A blunt warning tonight to President-elect Obama about the risk of a terrorist attack with weapons of mass destruction. A bipartisan commission says terrorists could use a biological weapon or a nuclear weapon within five years against the United States. That commission says the United States must take aggressive action to stop the spread of biological weapons.
The warning comes one day after the president-elect announced his national security team. Jeanne Meserve has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The terrorists in Mumbai used guns and bombs, but a new report says in the near future, terrorists could be armed with nuclear or biological weapons.
FORMER SEN. BOB GRAHAM, WMD COMMISSION CHAIRMAN: We assess that it was more than likely than not that some weapon of mass destruction would be used some place in the world between now and the end of 2013.
MESERVE: The greatest threat a biological weapons like anthrax, small pox or Ebola (ph). In 1918, a virulent strain of influenza killed an estimated 20 to 40 million people worldwide. That virus has been recreated from scratch in a laboratory, so is the polio virus. The capability and technology to do this science is spreading across the globe to places like Indonesia, Pakistan and Iran increasing the odds that a deadly virus or bacteria could fall into the wrong hands and be used as a weapon. It's already happened here with anthrax.
BRIAN FINLAY, STIMPSON CENTER: We cannot -- we cannot in this world preclude a biological attack. It's simply impossible.
MESERVE: But the congressionally mandated commission on the prevention of weapons of mass destruction in a report this week says there are steps that could make a biological attack less likely. Tighter security at U.S. labs handling dangerous pathogens, a strengthening of international treaties, enhanced disease surveillance to detect an attack and better forensics to track where it came from.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The leadership of this country and the world will have to decide how much of a priority they place on avoiding the worst weapons in the world getting in the hands of the worst people in the world.
MESERVE (on camera): Without action, the commission says the risks are growing and America's margin of safety is shrinking.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DOBBS: The U.S. military is already making preparations to deal with a possible weapons of mass destruction attack. A brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division is already on standby to deal with any biological or nuclear weapons attack. Active duty troops in (INAUDIBLE) state and local governments to deal with disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, of course, but civil liberties group say that the military must not be used as first responders because of the (INAUDIBLE) Act, which restricts the military role in the United States.
President-elect Obama's new defense secretary, Robert Gates today talked about future national security issues and priorities as he continued to serve in the Bush administration. One day after being chosen by President-elect Obama to serve as secretary of defense, Gates said today he's willing to accelerate the withdrawal of our troops from Iraq and to make plans to shut down the military prison in Guantanamo Bay. He also praised the president-elect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GATES, U.S SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I think the president- elect has made it pretty clear that he wanted a team of people around him who would tell him what they thought and give him their best advice. I think he has assembled that team.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: Secretary Gates says his agreement to stay at the Pentagon is open ended, as he put it, and there is no timeline for his departure, but he says he is no caretaker. President-elect Obama tomorrow expected to nominate New Mexico's Governor Bill Richardson to be commerce secretary. Richardson of course ran for the presidential nomination himself before declaring his support for Obama.
President-elect Obama today focused on the economic crisis and ways to end this recession. President-elect Obama told a governor's meeting in Philadelphia that he wants their help to revive our economy and to create 2.5 million new jobs. The governors asked the president-elect to spend tens of billions of dollars to repair bridges, roads and tunnels. Candy Crowley has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Forty-one governors project red ink in their state budgets this year or next, so they were glad to see him.
BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: (INAUDIBLE)
CROWLEY: And they were happy to hear this.
OBAMA: We're going to need action and we're going to need action swiftly. That means passing an economic recovery plan that helps both Wall Street and Main Street, and this administration does not intend to delay in getting you the help that we need.
CROWLEY: The president-elect is talking about the stimulus package his economic team is putting together. Sources suggest it could run as high as $700 billion and is likely to include money for roads, bridges, mass transit and schools, ready to go projects under funded in states which could use the influx of jobs. Direct money to taxpayers would also boost state revenues. Still, so much money is needed in so many places, the stimulus package remains a work in progress.
GOV. ED RENDELL (D), PENNSYLVANIA: What the amount is and what the final product will look like, I don't think any of us have a clue.
CROWLEY: For many of these state leaders meeting at the National Governors Association, balanced budgets are mandated by law. The options are not pretty.
OBAMA: Jobs are being cut. Programs for the needy are at risk. Libraries are being closed and historic sites are being closed.
CROWLEY: Obama's trip to Philadelphia was a rare outing for his presidency in waiting, but another chance to promise solutions (INAUDIBLE) party. There are 22 Republican governors.
OBAMA: I offer you the same hand of friendship, the same commitment to partnership as I do my Democratic colleagues.
CROWLEY: Fresh off the Georgia campaign trail, the governor of Alaska says she's all about working together. GOV. SARAH PALIN (R), ALASKA: The campaign is over and I so appreciated this meeting that we had and you know I'm quite optimistic about moving forward in a bipartisan manner.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CROWLEY: Now for elected officials, there's probably no more bipartisan group than the nation's governors, many of whom face the exact same problem and all of whom in that room seemed to agree that about $140 billion into state infrastructure really could get some of those jobs up and running within a couple of months of the takeover of the Barack administration -- Lou.
DOBBS: Well I love the fact Governor Ed Rendell acknowledging not one of them had a clue what could be done or how. You know and I have to tell you, Candy, I applaud that kind of honesty because it's becoming very clear that the same caveat applies in Washington, D.C.
CROWLEY: Absolutely. We just don't know. I mean we hear all these numbers thrown around about the second stimulus package, 500 billion, 700 billion, so no one's quite sure about the overall shape of the package, much less how much goes directly to people who need help with their homes, how much of it goes directly to taxpayers as a kind of rebate, how much is going to the states -- as you know, a lot of people out there who need help, so at this point, I don't think the package is together, first of all, and I certainly believe that no one who knows what they're putting together is actually talking about it, so it's a lot of speculation.
DOBBS: Yes, I will say this. I just hope that the ratio between those private citizens who need help and the institutions and Hank Paulson's buddies who have gotten the bailout so far, I hope that ratio inverts itself under the new administration. Thank you very much, Candy. Candy Crowley reporting.
Leaders of the big three carmakers will be returning to Capitol Hill this week to renew their request and to amplify that request for more than $25 billion in government aide. This time, the carmakers are presenting financial plans to members of Congress, business plans, if you will. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today declared she wants to see clear signs of progress by the carmakers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: We want to see a commitment to the future. We want to see a restructuring of their approach. That they have a new business model, a new business plan. There has to be a compensation reform.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOBBS: Well the CEOs are going to Capitol Hill after another dismal month of car sales. Chrysler sales plummeting almost 50 percent over the past year. General Motors sales down over 40 percent. Sales of Ford vehicles down just over 30 percent. Car sales the worst in a quarter century. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson tonight is on his way to Beijing. He's considering new ways to bail out our banking system. The existing bailout will cost taxpayers by some estimates more than $8 trillion, more than half the size of our annual economy. Secretary Paulson says he's actively developing new programs to help hundreds of banks. But Paulson still hasn't come up with a plan to directly help home owners who have lost their homes who are in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure.
New evidence today of the financial strain on homeowners, a leading credit agency says nearly five percent of all mortgage payments will be at least two months over due by the end of this year. Trans Union says the number of delinquent mortgages could rise even more by the end of next year to more than seven percent, which would be the highest level in 16 years. Low introductory interest rates on many mortgages are beginning to expire leading to an increase and a dramatic increase in delinquencies.
A hedge fund tonight is trying to stop an agreement that would help nearly half a million struggling homeowners. The hedge fund, Greenwich Financial Services (ph), is suing Countrywide Financial now part of Bank of America. The hedge fund says Countrywide's program to modify 400,000 mortgages could hurt its investors. Kitty Pilgrim has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The mortgage crisis has come to the wealthy community of Greenwich, Connecticut, an area not normally associated with high foreclosure rates. Hedge fund Greenwich Financial Services is suing Countrywide Financial Corporation, the mortgage lender bough by Bank of America. Hedge fund partner William Frey and the fund's lawyer David Grais, accuse Countrywide of making predatory loans and then settling with 15 attorneys general to modify 400,000 mortgages. They say it's not legal to pass on those losses to hedge fund investors.
WILLIAM FREY, GREENWICH FINANCIAL SERVICES: I'm paying for the settlement claim of Countrywide for fraudulent lending. They're putting that bill to the bond holders.
DAVID GRAIS, GREENWICH FINANCIAL'S ATTORNEY: It's not fair for Countrywide, having been caught out by the attorneys general and having put these 400,000 homeowners at risk to be able to pass the bill for its wrongdoing on to its investors.
PILGRIM: Bank of America, which bought Countrywide, says it cannot comment on specifics of a lawsuit, but gave LOU DOBBS TONIGHT this statement. We are disappointed in this attack on a program intended to keep as many as 400,000 at-risk families in their homes." Some argue that loan modifications are the only way to keep people who still have earning power from defaulting on their mortgages.
JOHN TAYLOR, NAT'L COMM. REINVESTMENT COAL.: These investors are in denial. They don't want to recognize that you know they made an investment in a product that didn't pan out for them. That's what happens in investment.
PILGRIM: Members of the House Financial Services Committee are outraged.
REP. MAXINE WATERS (D), FINANCIAL SERVICES CMTE.: These greedy hedge fund operatives knew they were investing in risky products, but they were looking for fast money and quick profits.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Now the hedge fund partner we spoke to says that Countrywide's agreement would reduce mortgages by $8.4 billion and hurt them, the hedge funds, as investors. There's no estimate though on how many of those 400,000 families would be foreclosed on without those loan modifications -- Lou.
DOBBS: Well it sounds like this is a play by the hedge fund to wait until Countrywide gets some of the bailout so that they won't be losing. It's a straightforward matter. If these homes are foreclosed on, those investors are up the creek.
PILGRIM: Yes, they are and they argue it's not legal that they should get stuck with the bill, but in terms of what...
DOBBS: Who would they like to see get stuck with the bill?
PILGRIM: They think that Countrywide and Bank of America should absorb the losses on...
DOBBS: Oh, the -- who are the bond holders, the issuers of those bonds.
PILGRIM: Right.
DOBBS: Right. Well it will be interesting to see how that works out. A rather cute, little sharp pencil work there, the hedge fund and it will be interesting to see how Barney Frank and the House Financial Services Committee, Chris Dodd over at the Senate Banking Committee, how they deal with a hedge fund that's counting on mitigating its losses through the bailout rather than doing something that would be helpful to 400,000 homeowners. You know spread the wealth I believe is the case here. Thanks a lot, Kitty.
That brings us to our poll tonight. Do you feel sorry for hedge fund managers whose profits could be hurt by a homeowner bailout program? Yes or no. Let us know how you feel. Cast your vote at loudobbs.com. We'll have the results here later in the broadcast.
Up next, as many in one in every five young American adults is suffering from a serious personality disorder. No one is talking about this national crisis. We are we'll tell you how it got started, what's causing it, and what may be done about it.
And football star Plaxico Burress is facing gun charges. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is weighing in. Can he get a fair trial after the mayor says he wants him prosecuted to the maximum extent of the law? And by the way, it's the same mayor who doesn't insist on enforcing all laws. We'll tell you all about that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress may be trying out for title of the dumbest man in the NFL, but he is having a very difficult time of it with New York City's mayor. Burress, charged with illegal possession of a handgun after he shot himself in the thigh at a New York nightclub over the weekend. Mayor Michael Bloomberg says Burress should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, even though the mayor himself ignores some other serious violations of the law. Bill Tucker has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There is no question where New York's mayor stands on the issue of gun control. Two years ago, he sued out of state gun dealers charging they violated federal gun laws. He's a founder of Mayors Against Illegal Guns. He argues that the Second Amendment doesn't extend to criminals.
When NFL star wide receiver Plaxico Burress shot himself in the leg while in a Manhattan nightclub with his handgun that wasn't licensed, Bloomberg's reaction? To call for maximum prosecution.
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (I), NEW YORK: We got the state legislature to pass a law that if you carry a loaded handgun, you got an automatic three and a half years in the slammer and I don't think that anybody should be exempt from that.
TUCKER: Even the New York Giants team and the NFL were ripped into by Mayor Bloomberg for stonewalling on the incident. The Giants deny the charge and say they have been working cooperatively with city police. Bloomberg says to ignore the law is to make a mockery of the law, but apparently not every law. Federal immigration law is Bloomberg's exception. New York is proudly a sanctuary city for illegal aliens breaking federal immigration law.
TOM FITTON, JUDICIAL WATCH: He doesn't want to enforce the law and he's getting in the way of federal law enforcement here. There are federal gun laws, by the way. I'm sure he's not going to get in the way of those laws. There are federal drug laws. Federal laws related to money laundering and kidnapping and bank robbery.
TUCKER: Mayor Bloomberg is a defender of his city's policy to ignore federal immigration law.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCKER: Now as for Plaxico Burress, he is charged with two counts of criminal gun possession and his case now goes to the grand jury where indictments will be considered, Lou.
DOBBS: It's amazing a mayor, obviously not very interested in identity theft issues and violations which are felonies.
TUCKER: Exactly. DOBBS: You know the mayor should be commended for his concern about gun violence, but weighing in on this issue so vehemently, I wonder if he'll be -- I wonder if Plaxico Burress can get a fair trial in New York.
TUCKER: I don't know. His lawyer makes out like he was sort of hopeful, but he admits he's facing an uphill battle in this one.
DOBBS: And the only victim so far other than the fool who shot himself...
(CROSSTALK)
DOBBS: ... in the thigh, New York hospital suspended an employee...
TUCKER: Right, suspended an employee for failure to report gunshot wounds under New York City law. The employee said he didn't know, so...
DOBBS: And but was suspended, so we've got our first action from the tough talking mayor who's demanding investigation, a working stiff gets handled here...
TUCKER: Exactly.
DOBBS: ... and everything else goes on as usual with the grandstanding mayor and a New York celebrity ball player. I wonder how this will all end up. Bill Tucker, thank you very much.
Well the NFL has, by the way, a specific written policy on possessing guns. The policy bans all NFL employee including ball players from carrying a firearm in any facility used by the NFL and from carrying a gun while traveling on league business. Those rules address personal legal use of firearms, saying "in some instances, such as for sport or protection, you may legally possess a firearm or other weapon. However, we strongly recommend that you do not do so."
Players or others who violate the rules could be fined, suspended or thrown out of the league by the way. Second Amendment apparently not withstanding.
Coming up next, an alarming new report on the mental health of our nation's young adults. It is a sobering even chilling study. A co-author of that study and a leading expert on the issue joins us.
And parents saving to send their kids to college in for a shock. We'll have that special report. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: The turmoil in the stock market having a devastating impact on our middle class, working men and women and the college savings plans for their children. With tuition cost rising many families are reevaluating where their children will be applying for college and how they'll be paying for it. Lisa Sylvester has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): High school senior Tony D'Addeo was a straight a student with near perfect SAT scores and the captain of his high school football team. He has his sights set on the Ivy League colleges. But the current financial meltdown has derailed his plans. His mother and father plan to cash in Intel stock options to pay for college. The options were once valued at several hundred thousand dollars, but now they're worthless.
TONY D'ADDEO, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: It's unfortunate, I mean with the credit crisis and everything. I think all families, and that's not just you know, that's lower class and middle class, everyone's kind of having to readjust their -- their plans and goals.
SYLVESTER: The D'Addeos are not unlike many other families who are staring at rising college costs at a time when the financial markets are sinking, 529 college saving funds have seen a drop of nearly $9 billion in the three months from June to September according to the College Savings Foundation. It's especially rough for families with kids about to graduate from high school.
PETER MAZAREAS, COLLEGE SAVINGS FOUNDATION: It's very difficult to advise investors what to do. Simply because if you move, you lock in the current losses. It depends on your time horizon. If you have several years, you may want to consider keeping the money in.
SYLVESTER: The credit crunch has made it tougher for families to qualify for private student loans and families who were counting on their home's equity to cover college expenses are also hurting.
ANDREA FEIRSTEIN, AKF CONSULTING: Clearly home -- home equity values are down so that home equity line that you might have expected to be there may not be there another or may not be as plentiful as you anticipated.
SYLVESTER: Tony D'Addeo is now looking at a state school or possibly signing up for an ROTC program to help pay for college. But he is relatively optimistic, saying this is just another obstacle to overcome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SYLVESTER: An IRS rule prohibits parents with college 529 savings plans from making changes to their plans more than once in a calendar year. And that's had the unintended consequence of blocking some parents as the high stock and riskier portfolios as the stock market was sinking. The College Savings Foundation and other groups are now asking the Treasury Department to modify that rule to allow changes four times a year so that parents will have more flexibility -- Lou.
DOBBS: You know it's great, Lisa, to hear a young man instead of whining or bemoaning the situation, you know it's another obstacle to overcome. Let's go get it. I love that attitude. Don't you? SYLVESTER: Yes, Tony -- I did the interview with him and he's a great kid. I mean this is a kid who's a straight A student, you know he's got the whole world looking ahead and he doesn't see this as some kind of misfortune. He says, you know, I'm going to just roll with it and it's going to be another obstacle. So he's going to be a great applicant for really any college out there.
DOBBS: You bet. That's the kind of attitude the whole country needs. Lisa thank you very much. Appreciate it, Lisa Sylvester.
Let's take a look now at some of your thoughts. Thomas in Alabama said, "As a business man in the local area, I am held accountable for my actions. I cannot under any circumstances accept the idea that executives should not be held accountable for their actions." I couldn't agree with you more.
And Julie in Alabama said, "Lou, if you or I had done what many of these executives had done, we would be behind bars for fraud. Period." Well, hopefully that's where some of these folks will end up.
And as we look toward the -- your thoughts, Fred in Florida said, "Bail out education and maybe we will get a more intelligent group in Washington and on Wall Street. Now that is the future."
We'll have more of your thoughts here later in the broadcast. Each of you whose e-mail is read here receives a copy of my new book "Independents Day: Awakening the American Spirit" now available in paperback.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today showed what -- I have a lot of trouble with this fellow as I've made I guess fairly clear here and on radio and everywhere else. But he made it very clear what he thinks of the American people, again.
The majority leader speaking at a dedication ceremony for the new capital tourist center. It opened today after a three-year delay and $360 million over budget. It was a federal project as you might have guessed. Well the Senate majority leader pointed out that the new air conditioning system was there and he said that finally quote, unquote, "we won't smell the tourists anymore." That's your Senate leader.
Up next, new concerns that President-elect Obama will quickly try to ram his pro amnesty agenda through Congress. A leading opponent of that policy is Congressman Lamar Smith (ph). He joins us here.
And staggering new evidence that millions of young adults are suffering from serious personality disorders. We'll examine this crisis, what caused it, what can be done. I'll be talking with two experts next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Well as we've been saying, there is an alarming new study out tonight about the mental health of young adults in this country of ours and a connection to drug and alcohol abuse. More than half of the 5,000 college aged Americans in this survey tested positive for substance abuse or other personality disorders. The Columbia University study which is the largest of its kind ever finds that almost one in five young adults has a personality disorder so serious that it interferes with their daily lives. The disorders include obsessive or compulsive tendencies, anti-social behavior that can sometimes lead to violence and fewer than a fourth of the young people in this survey received treatment for the problems that were expressed.
I'm joined now by two of the country's leading authorities on this issue, Dr. Carlos Blanco, he is the co-author of this study. He is from Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute, great to have you with us. From Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Dr. Paul Ragan, he is program director for the faculty and physical wellness program at Vanderbilt, a professor of psychiatry. Good to have you with us.
I have to say, this is a stunning, stunning conclusion to a study. One in five and you're finding was not -- whether a young adult was in college or out in the workplace, where ever they may be.
DR. CARLOS BLANCO, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Actually, about half of the sample had a -- we found that individuals in college have higher rates of alcohol. Individuals who are not in college have higher rates of personality disorders.
DOBBS: Do you have a reason for that?
BLANCO: I think that one of the factors that people in college have probably more, use more alcohol and the more you drink, the more likely you have problems with alcohol.
DOBBS: Dr. Ragan, this is shocking to me. Chilling. What's your reaction to the study?
DR. PAUL RAGAN, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: Well, two main reactions. Number one, this was a national representative sample and I think it's a study that every university or college president should read. I am concerned that the personality disorders are overdiagnosed. Students are -- college age students or young adults are being pigeon holed prematurely in these personality disorder diagnosis.
DOBBS: Your response?
BLANCO: Certainly there may be some who are overdiagnosed, but I'm a little more optimistic in that it is true that people who are diagnosed at a young age improve. I think we have to be concerned about the results. I think we have to be optimistic that things can get better.
DOBBS: I assume the parent of any child is somewhat than a layman of this issue because we go through that experience, raising our own children. I can tell you that it seems to me that young people when they express a problem or whatever the psychological terminology is, it seems in time, they do grow out of it. Is it a rite of passage for some young people in terms of the overdiagnosis aspect of it?
BLANCO: I think some people improve without treatment but I think one of the most alarming aspects of the report as Dr. Ragan was pointing out. Only 25 percent of the people with disorders sought treatment. If you put it with diabetes jumping up and down.
DOBBS: Dr. Ragan, you brought this up. This is a critically important study you've done. This call by, what is it 100 university presidents lower the drinking age on university campuses. Where do you stand on that and how would it tie into what is revealed in the study?
RAGAN: When you diagnose a personality disorder, often, there are co-occurring disorders like the alcohol abuse. When that's treated, the personality disorders often go away, but I think that clearly, and in this study, the college students had a higher alcohol dependence.
DOBBS: So how smart is it to lower the drinking age for college students?
RAGAN: It's not. They're brains aren't even finished developing.
DOBBS: What would you say to those 100 university presidents? You're supposed to be smart in your job. All of the work that's being done, we are a nation of retro grades when it comes to the issue of dealing with addiction and abuse in this country. We're just not doing it. It's just criminal. You raise a great point in this. Many great points, but one is we would not tolerate that level, lack of treatment for asthma, any number of other issues. One other thing. Do we know what's causing this?
BLANCO: I think two reasons some people have a genetic disposition. I think that environmental influences. If you allow alcohol use, promote alcohol use, they'll use it.
DOBBS: Dr. Blanco, we're going to have to end it there. Thank you very much. Dr. Ragan, thank you very much, good to have you.
Up next, is New York Mayor Bloomberg selectively enforcing the law and why is he so excited about Plaxico Burress?
And new criticism of president-elect's choice to head homeland security. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: President-elect Obama's announces his national security team and his nominee for homeland security secretary is Janet Napolitano. Already under fire from some border security advocates, Congressman Lamar Smith a Texas Republican sits on the Homeland Security Committee and joins us now. Congressman, good to have you.
REP. LAMAR SMITH (R), TEXAS: Good to be with you and your viewers as well. DOBBS: What do you think of, first of all, over all the homeland security and the national security team?
SMITH: Well some good, some bad. It's a little of a recycling of the Clinton administration. Governor Napolitano is a few face, governor of Arizona of course, but even there, I think some of the media and some in the Democratic party, are trying to portray her as a centrist when her record does not support that. She sometimes talks tough, but has weak actions.
DOBBS: I want to share with our viewers what you said. You filed her as a sheep in Wolf's clothing, I believe.
SMITH: I think that's true. The reason is this. As governor of Arizona, she vetoed three bills passed by the Arizona legislature. Then there was a statewide initiative that passed. It said that only citizens and legal immigrants and could vote and get public benefits paid for by the taxpayer. She did everything she could to weaken that. On this last election --
DOBBS: You're referring to Proposition 2, correct?
SMITH: That's true. Then another proposition she didn't even take a stand on would have rolled back the requirement that employers check to make sure employees can work legally. So she's weakened laws that would have reduced illegal immigration. She's also for amnesty. It really is legalizing millions in the country and rewarding them citizenship. I might say all of these things that she has tried to weaken are not only supported by the people of Arizona, but the American people. Every ethnic group -- want to reduce illegal immigration.
DOBBS: We should point out something too. Arizona passing proposition 200 and others, one of the states that has a public referendum. It allows the people to bypass their state legislature or governors to move an issue to law and to represent the will of the people. It's denied in many states in the country as you well know. Do you think she'll be confirmed and secondly, you're willing to give her a chance or not?
SMITH: I think she'll be confirmed and I'm hoping she'll remember her words and be more of a pragmatic individual, secretary, than her actions, but again, it's not encouraging when she has vetoed, not supported state initiatives. She's for amnesty, so she's on the wrong side of issues. Let's hope that she will do what she says and reduce illegal immigration.
DOBBS: All right. Congressman Lamar Smith, thank you very much, Republican in Texas.
Up next, the nation's big three car makers back on Capitol Hill this week. Some are driving. They'll have their plans to save their companies and to get a federal bailout.
And New York Giants player, Plaxico Burress, under fire in New York City. Mayor Bloomberg among those firing the hardest. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Up at the top of the hour, Campbell Brown, "NO BIAS NO BULL," Campbell, tell us all about it.
CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey Lou. We are tracking breaking news tonight at the top of the hour. We're going to take you down to Georgia, where they are counting votes in a cliff hanger of U.S. senate runoffs. The national implications here are huge. We'll talk about that.
Also, doctors playing judges, refusing to provide women with the morning after pill on moral grounds. We'll tell you why the doctors may get some powerful support from the lame duck Bush administration.
Plus, the very latest on how much of our money the automakers want to drive away with.
We'll talk about that as well -- Lou?
DOBBS: I'm still trying to figure out how much those Wall Street buddies of Hank Paulson have driven away with.
BROWN: You're not the only one.
DOBBS: All right. Thanks.
Joining me now, three of the best radio talk show hosts in the country. Here in Washington, D.C. first, Joe Madison from Sirius XM Radio, good to see you Joe; Steve Malzberg, WOR Radio network right here in New York City. CNN Contributor Errol Louis WWRL, also columnist, New York Daily News, CNN contributor and good guy.
Let me start first if I may, Joe, what are you listeners saying about the auto bailout versus the Wall Street bailout?
JOE MADISON, SIRIUS XM RADIO: That Paulson never worked in an auto plant and that he doesn't know auto giants and that he took care of his buddies. I know that people are complaining about the money that union workers make. I worked in an auto plant. My father worked all his life in an auto plant and I was telling your producers, you know, these are the people who fill out w-2 formed and pay their taxes without the advice of a lot of high priced, silk stalking lawyers.
And they used to, they're the ones who sent their kids to college and so -- I saw yesterday where you said you know, if you'd have taken what this 8 trillion and given it to people on main street, each man, woman have solved the problem that way. People would have just been grateful, don't you think, Joe? People would have been grateful for the $60,000. I would have been grateful.
DOBBS: They're grateful! They're grateful.
MADISON: I would have been very grateful.
DOBBS: Themes idiots, I can't even believe what's happening in Washington. Steve, what do you think?
STEVE MALZBERG, WOR IN NEW YORK: Well, everybody agrees that the bailout, you know, we want to know where the money went and we know what a big mistake it was, but as far as the autoworkers not flying in their private jets back to Washington, now they want more than $25 billion, if you add up to what everybody wants --
DOBBS: You're talking about the CEOs.
MALZBERG: I'm talking about the CEOs. But what my listeners are saying, and it relates to what Joe was saying as far as the workers and the benefits and the health care. We don't want to pay for the health care of retired workers and their families when this is reorganized. That world doesn't exist anymore. So, it has to all go by the wayside. The unions are complaining, we've given, we've given, we've given. Well you know what, what is your alternative. Our listeners and I don't want to pay for their health care. I got to pay for my health care.
DOBBS: You got to do that. You got to do a lot of things. What do you think, Errol?
ERROL LOUIS, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: The problem is you will for the health care whether you want to or not. You can pay in a rational fashion or pay through the nose in the public hospitals where people are using the emergency rooms for basic health care.
DOBBS: That is a serious issue. Steve raises an interesting point here and I think it's one we have to come to terms with. The working men and women in this country can't afford health care, but it's paying through their taxes for everything from Barack Obama to George Bush to all of Congress for a pretty fancy health care for all the federal and state and local employees. All the folks working for the taxpayer have pretty doggone fancy health care. The taxpayer can't pay for it in most cases.
LOUIS: The crazy part in all of this with something approaching universal health care would cost on the order of $400 billion a year.
DOBBS: It won't approach $8.5 trillion.
LOUIS: That's the point. We can have paid for universal health care for many, many times over for the cost being funneled to the bailout folks, and we still don't have the root of the problem solved which is, you know, dealing with the for closures and universal health care.
DOBBS: We could have paid off all of the homes being foreclosed upon in the past year with $200 billion. We would at that point have $3.2 trillion left. We could have paid off all of Hank Paulson's buddies on Wall Street.
MADISON: And look what was in the papers today, where the -- what, the credit card companies are now going to cut, what, is it something like $2 trillion in consumer loans? So, how do you jump- start an economy if people simply can't get even credit to buy carpet? DOBBS: Yes. Well, one of the things, you know, the next thing you're going to hear is the credit card companies need a bailout.
LOUIS: Oh, Yes.
DOBBS: These are the -- these are the people who have been charging people 30 percent interest rates.
LOUIS: Absolutely.
DOBBS: And fees, predatory -- it's ridiculous.
MALZBERG: We'll be bailing out, though, the people, too. The people that don't pay their credit cards.
MADISON: And, Lou, I will make another prediction. I don't think there's a single legislator here in Washington, D.C., that will understand the business plan that the automotive captains will bring to the table this week.
DOBBS: I hope they ask two questions. Are you going to cut your outsourcing of middle-class jobs, and are you going to stop your offshoring of production of parts and automobiles for re-export into the world's richest consumer market? And if you're not going to answer -- you're getting rid of both, you don't get a nickel. But the problem is we didn't ask any Hank Paulson's buddies on Wall Street any questions. We'll be back with our panel in just a moment.
A reminder to please join me on the radio show Monday through Friday for the "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT," tomorrow's guests include former vice presidential candidate Pat Choate, Father John Paris, and the professor of biologist at Boston College and more, go to loudobbs.com to get your local listings for the "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" radio show. And you'll be able to hear me on New York City's historic WOR news talk radio 1700 AM. We'll be right back.
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DOBBS: We're back with Joe Madison and Steve Malzberg and Errol Louis. Let's turn to a man who could have been a presidential candidate, Mayor Michael Bloomberg going after Plaxico Burress, full extent of the law. The guy walks into a nightclub, blows a hole in his thigh. I mean, Joe, what is going on here?
MADISON: Well, first of all, he's a fool. I hate to say that, that way, but anybody who shoots themselves in a nightclub has got to have his head examined, too. You know, Bloomberg is grandstanding. You know that. I know it. And New York knows it. And if you think that Plaxico Burress is going to not be prosecuted in New York City because he's a New York Giant, come on. I mean -- and, you know, what was so sad, it was the day before, here in Washington, D.C., they were remembering the shooting death of Sean Taylor.
DOBBS: Yes.
MADISON: I mean, the whole thing is stupid. And this is pandering by the mayor in the worst way.
MALZBERG: Bloomberg's whole thing is guns, as you know all that he's done you pointed out in your previous story. And you pointed out the hypocrisy, we're a sanctuary city in Manhattan and Bloomberg doesn't care about enforcing certain laws.
DOBBS: Doesn't care about the felonies of identity theft and the illegal aliens and important security and port security, border security.
MALZBERG: Plaxico should go to jail if he's accused of doing what he's accused of doing. He's broken the law. The Bell shooting, he prejudged that case, too.
LOUIS: Listen, if the bullet that he had fired, Plaxico had fired, had ricocheted and killed someone, I suspect we would have a different conversation.
DOBBS: A totally different conversation.
LOUIS: But it's the same fact. He had an unlicensed handgun and he brings it to discharge an unlicensed loaded weapon in a crowded nightclub in New York is not a good idea.
DOBBS: I want to write that down. Not a good idea.
LOUIS: Not a good idea and illegal and all of the people who enabled it to happen, the people who walked him around security, the hospital that never reported it.
DOBBS: The NFL security, refused to cooperate with the New York police. We got the NFL refused to cooperate with -- OK? Guess what, we got one victim right now, New York hospital suspended an employee who didn't know it was a gunshot wound and no one's judged them but meanwhile they've been suspended.
MALZBERG: Plaxico said he read the constitution and he read the second amendment and he thinks he has a right to carry a gun. He'll plead on that.
MADISON: These guys should realize they're living a dream that most young people would never, ever have a chance, and they ought to act accordingly.
DOBBS: I couldn't agree with you more. But you know what, you think back, I mean, I got to tell you, a young man with that kind of money, and that kind of freedom, taught by society that he is so special that he doesn't have to pay, I mean, this didn't start with a handgun in the New York --
LOUIS: Give the man a three-year reality check, that's what I say, behind bars.
DOBBS: Absolutely. Well, gentlemen, thanks for giving me Madison, thank you very much, Steve, Errol Louis. And our poll results tonight, only 3 percent of you, oh, my goodness, feel sorry for the hedge fund managers whose profits could be hurt by a homeowner bailout program. Doggone, I thought you were a more sympathetic audience than that. Join us tomorrow night.
Campbell Brown, "NO BIAS, NO BULL" starts right now.
