using those techniques save lives. my job is to protect america. and i did. >> more of mat lauer incredible candid interview. elizabeth smart tells jurors about the horrifying night she was stolen from her bedroom at knife point. joining this discussion today former virginia governor jim gilmore, nbc legal analyst dan abrams. good tuesday morning. a busy one it is. i'm chris jansing. this is "jansing & company." a missile was launched off the california coast and this morning no one, not the pentagon or the military has idea who launched it. the missile appears to have some somewhere from catalina island. chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski has been looking

into this. what have you found out? >> u.s. officials and pentagon officials are still scrambling some 14 hours after this missile was fired off the coast of california near the coast of los angeles. this would not have been a planned military exercise conducted so close to a heavily populated area like los angeles. they say that so far the likely suspects would be the u.s. navy, air force or missile defense agency. all three of those agencies have denied any involvement. but military officials caution it is still possible it could have been an accidental launch and the services have yet to actually gather all the details and report it up the chain. what may be more likely, according to military officials, some kind of commercial launch, which also appears unlikely because they require all kind of clearances. or, even some sophisticated amateurs who put together a rocket that could produce this kind of display, the huge plume of smoke just to fire for effect to get everybody's attention. well, it's got everybody's

attention. but so far the u.s. military and pentagon don't have any answers, chris. >> do we know what kind of clues they have? how difficult will it be to track this down? >> it could be very difficult because any evidence connected to the launch would have been lost in the water somewhere. and i doubt they're going to devote the kind of assets that it would take to kind of recover a piece of the missile or any launch apparatus to look for it because the waters off of the coast of california get very deep very fast. a cruise ship stranded off the coast of san diego. an engine fire aboard the carnival "splendor" bound for mexico has left more than 4,000 passengers and crew members stuck without telephones to reach loved ones and no hot food and no working engines either. the fire broke out in the engine room and no passengers were hurt. the coast guard is towing that liner to the mexican report. tracy's parents terry and glenda

fisher are aboard the stranded ship and she joins me now on the phone. good morning, tracy. how are you doing? >> good morning. we're okay. >> have you been able to talk to your parents or anyone from carnival cruise lines? >> carnival has set up a family services line that we can get information on the ship and the latest updates. but the satellites are down because of the fire so, there is no cell contact or internet access for the passengers. so, no calls going in or coming out from the ship. >> havia heard anything from accessing that line about what is happening onboard? >> actually, they said the conditions right now, unfortunately, are difficult for the passengers. almost 5,000 people on the boarboart. but they were urging everyone to stay in their cabins and they're just kind of making the best of a bad situation. so, they said that the coast guard is working on getting it tugged in. it is going to be a ten-hour process. >> i can only imagine what this is like to be on that ship but what about for you back at home.

tell us about your parents. have they been on a cruise before and how much were they looking forward to this trip? >> their cruise pros. they often cruise. they actually just came back from alaska last year and every year they take a different cruise. this is actually their second magic cruise because this was the 2010 splendor magic cruise where there's a lot of magicians and things like that. my dad was greatly looking forward to the trip. it had been two years in the planning. it is a big let down for him and i'm just thinking it is unfortunate that they have to miss a vacation. >> well, the good news is they're heading for shore. so, good luck to you, tracy. i hope you hear from them soon. >> thank you so much. well, it wasn't quite the welcome president obalma was pexecting. rocks and ash raining down. volcanic eruptions that may force him to cut short his trip. but president obama did hold a

joint news conference with indonesia's president and talked about his homecoming. >> when you visit a place that you spent time in as a child, as president, it's a little disorienting. i feel great afrekz tfection fo people here. the sights and the sounds and the memories. >> the president will head to south korea and japan before returning to washington on sunday. admitting he took a shellacking in the midterms might actually be helping barack obama's image. a new gallop tracking poll shows his numbers are up. 47% approval rating. that is a four-point jump from before the election. overall gallup poll shows americans are feeling better about the election. 57% are more upbeat about the next two years. let's bring in our company. former governor jim gilmore and bernard whitman. it is somewhat unusual for poll

numbers to go up after an election when the other party gained so much ground. president bush's approval rating went from 38% to 33%. president clinton's approval rating from 46% to 43%. bernard, you're the pollster here, what do you make of the numbers for president obama? >> the numbers are flat. but we had a couple things working in our favor for the democrats. good job's report and the nation added 151,000 jobs in october that was reported last week. the president's ten-day trip to asia got a lot of positive buzz and i think the president did admit some mistakes. you know, a lot of people in this country accuse the president of being arrogant and he came out after the elections on wednesday and admitted that he had made a tough road of it. had made some mistakes with regard to health care and regard to his tone on getting bipartisanship on things like the economy. so, i think that olive branch, that tone combined with positive

news on the job's report and his moving on to a different stage, that is in india and indonesia have really helped his numbers. >> there are also some interesting numbers on what you just said, bipartisanship. republicans are twice as likely as democrats to say it's more important for political leaders to stick to their beliefs, even if nothing gets done. democrats are twice as likely as republicans to say it's more important for political leaders to compromise to get things done. governor, what do you make of that? >> well, you know, i think that people in the united states don't want to dislike their president. i like they like barack obama and that's okay. i think the election was really about something entirely different. i think it was about the policy of the country and where we're going from here. i think people in the united states understood we were on the wrong track and we were going in the wrong policy direction and they wanted to see a change and they now elected people, at least that will change direction and stop the direction we're going in. the real challenge, i think,

that we're facing, chris, are we going to be able to put together a positive program to get the country moving in the right direction. i think we will. >> that's what those two polls were really speaking to. republicans twice as likely to say it's more important for political leaders to stick to their beliefs. democrats say it's more important for them to compromise. christina, where does that leave us? >> well, probably to gridlock. that's something you'll see a lot of in january. as for the next month, president obama during the 2008 campaign he would gain with voters when it was with the race speech in pennsylvania early in the campaign or when he talked about some of the mistakes he made along the way and i think that's sort of what this is about. very different from the president that gave himself a b plus about a year ago when he did that interview with oprah winfrey. this is someone who is acknowledging, we did some things wrong and we want to correct it and work with republicans. of course, the american people

will respond to that. people always love a comeback. that's part of it. some people in the country may be rooting for him to come back and rebound his popularity. >> governor, do you see the two sides compromising? do you think they'll come together and work together? we know how far apart they are on some critical issues. >> i think so. i think the democrats, i think, have to come back much more towards the middle than where they were. i think they'll probably be prepared to do that. they can read the election results and the republicans have to come forward with a positive program. we in free congress propose a positive program and other programs out there that people can support but i think it's absolutely essential that we stop the spending and we create a genuine policy of growth in this country and if we do that, we'll been the right track and that's the direction the american people want us to go. this morning we're hearing from jurors who served on one of the most horrible and hea

heartbreaking trials in memory. after deliberating for 17 hours over four days those jurors ste brutally killing a connecticut mother and her two daughters in 2007. this was their husband and dad, dr. william petit, just minutes after the verdict. >> there is never closure. the way i imagined it straight through, it is a hole with jagged edges and over time the edges may smooth out a little bit, but the hole in your heart and the hole in your soul is still there. >> and earlier this morning i spoke with two of the jurors who served on that trial. >> i feel like family. i feel like i know these women, these girls. >> just think about my 10-year-old girl that i have at home and i can't believe that these two individuals can kill these women without any regard for life at all. >> you can see my full interview

with these two jurors coming up in my next hour. george w. bush opening up about some of the defining moments of his presidency. >> hurricane katrina. was it the event that damaged your presidency more than any other event? >> his answer to that and his take on waterboarding, coming up. plus, a shockingly huge child prostitution ring covering 40 american cities busted up by the fbi. richard lui has that story. >> chris, this sting is huge but the problem of children turn under to sex slaves in the u.s. is huge. the number in this case can only represent 300th of 1% of the bff becky texts and says she's kissed johnny. well, that's a problem 'cause i like johnny. now i'm emotionally compromised, and... woopsies! [ tires screech ] i'm all omg. becky's not even hot. and if you've got cut-rate insurance, you could be payin' for this yourself. so get allstate.

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it's hard to believe it's happening here in america, but

69 children were forced into prostitution and now saved during operation cross country five. the fbi and local law enforcement agencies have arrested more than 800 suspects in these sex slavery cases, including 99 pimps. the major bust took cooperation of hundreds of agencies across 40 cities. richard lui has a closer look at this devastating reality. it's absolutely unbelievable. >> you really said it best there, chris. we're talking about u.s. citizens and talking about kids in the united states. 69 were saved, which brings the number to 1,200 saved since 2003. but, unfortunately, this is a small dent. experts estimating some 230,000 u.s. kids are at risk of being exploited as sex slaves in this country. if you took every kid in 400 public middle schools, that's how many kids we're talking about. okay, this is also big money. $32 billion worldwide for traffickers selling and trading

humans into sex or labor slavery. that's the size of the market. on a microlevel to give you an idea. a pimp in d.c. with three girls could make over $500,000 a year in cash. the challenge for law enforcement is that some kids are moved every few weeks making it difficult for parents to try to track down their daughters or sons. when law enforcement shows up the house mother and the girls that are at the locations, not the ring leaders, the ones that do the trade and run the infrastructure. now, girls do come forward on their own, but they don't always get the support they need because they're seen as just as a prostitute. the girls psychologically start to see their capture who laz ha repeatedly raped them. local ngos in recent years have raised millions to stop this market by raising demands. what experts tell me now is that as more safe houses and shelters are needed to get these kid sex

slaves away and into nurturing environments. hopefully. >> thank you very much, richard. appreciate it. kristen anderson for the national center of missing and exploited children and michelle sigona. michelle, let me start with with you. how do they get their hands on these little kids? >> at the national center we have 80% of our missing children cases are run aways, what we call endangered run aways. these are the kids at greatest risk. they're out on the street and they don't have resources and they don't have anyone to turn to in terms of guardians for food, shelter, anything. and these pimps, these offenders will prey on these children's needs for love and support. and bring them in and start to care and nurture for them, nurture them or make them feel that that's what they're doing. >> in this case some of these kids were 13 and younger. when we tend to think of run aways, we don't think of them

that young. is that at all typical, kristen? >> yes, actually, the average age of entry into the life of prostitution is 12 to 13 years old and it's not unusual to find children young eer than that. >> michelle, let's talk about this case in particular. these stories are just so terrible. little kids forced to have sex everywhere from random apartment complexes to a men's room in a shopping mall. what else can you tell us about what the fbi and all these local agencies found? >> well, the fbi, they started this task force in 2003. it's the innocence lost initiative. they have 39 different task forces across the country, which really team up with a lot of the local agencies, chris. they go in and now although the task forces with the fbi, they're doing a great job and combatting this on a daily basis, they set up a lot of these operations. you know, a few times a year. in this particular case, this is what they did with these local agencies and they go in and figure out where the target

problems are whether it's a motel, truck stop, casino, maybe a seedy motel and maybe it's on the internet and they figure that out and they go in and they rescue these children and then they pick up the pimps. a lot of charges are local, state charges and they see if they can and that's where the information comes from, which leads to the bigger take downs of operations which then results in even more arrests and even more take downs but the problem here, chris, is that once these girls are rescued, there really isn't a lot of resources for them. a lot of these are throw-away children. children that, they're beyond run aways. they're children that their parent don't want them and they don't have anywhere to go. there are not a lot of non-profits out there to help them. >> talk about the reentry for these kids. if they ran away, some problems in the home to begin with. >> well, that's right.

they come from difficult circumstances in many cases, not in all cases. we do see some mid-income suburban kids that sometimes get lured into this maybe online. but, still, a lot of times these kids are staying in the prostitution life because it's better than at least, in their eyes, what they may have to return to. >> just to hear the phrase, throw away children is enough to make you sick. but it is good to see that they are putting some of these criminals where they belong and hopefully they'll be behind bars and not terrorize kids for a long time. kristen anderson, thank you for all the good work you do. michelle, always great to have you on. thank you so much. eight years ago, threatened with a knife to her neck. elizabeth smart says her alleged kidnapping vowed to kill her family if she didn't go with him. now 23 years old she reveals a survival story that is both horrifying and inspirational. a teenager beaten to death simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

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the mother of a teen who was beaten to death at a weekend house party in georgia is calling the savidge attack unprovoked and senseless. bobby tillman died after being stomped, kicked and punched by four teenagers at the party. the attack happened after a fight broke out and a girl hit one of the male suspects. that suspect told the girl he wouldn't hit her back but, instead, would attack the next man who happened to walk by. the victim turned out to be tillman. the four young men are being held for murder and being held without bond. utterly unspeakable horror. elizabeth smart taking the stand this week in salt lake city to tell jurors about her abduction and repeated rapes by the

defendant, brian david mitchell. then 14 years old having never even gone on a date, smart said she initially just wanted to escape, even if it meant her attacker would catch and kill her. he had succeeded in taking me up to his camp, she said. he had threatened me and tethered me between two trees like an animal and at that point i felt like it didn't matter. later she says she decided no matter what, she would live. however look it took to be reunite would her family. dan abrams joins me now. dan, when you hear a story like this and try to mount a defense, obviously, not an easy thing to do. brian david mitchell was not in the courtroom and he was removed almost every time he has been because he was singing religious songs and his lawyer is trying for not guilty by reason of insanity. what is the legal level of proof for tat. >> it's tough. remember, we're in the federal system now. initially the charges brought in state court and he was deemed

incompetent and in state court they brought these federal charges of kidnapping and taking a minor across state lines, et cetera. in the federal system it is tough. you had had to show that you literally didn't understand what you were doing was wrong. that's going to be tough because every action that he took to keep her there, to prevent her from leaving, et cetera, over a very long period of time is going to be used against him. remember, the defense now has the burden which is generally we talk about the fact that prosecutors have the burden of proof to prove things beyond a reasonable doubt. when the insanity defense is invoked in a case like this, now the defense has to prove by clear and convincing evidence that he is legally insane. >> let me read for you something that elizabeth smart testified yesterday. i'm quoting her testimony here. this is when he took her by knife point from her bed. i remember saying if he let me go right now that we wouldn't

press charges on him. he said he knew exactly what he was doing and that he understood the consequences of his actions. >> very important testimony. look, in most cases, her talking about who it was, what the person looked like and how she was confident that it was that person would be the crucial piece of testimony. in this case, it's not the issue. what is at issue is what you just read from which is, did he understand that what he was doing was wrong? did he understand the consequences of his actions, et cetera? that's why that particular sentence is really crucial in the context of the case. >> as someone who heard her give the same testimony during the competency hearing, there is nothing that comes out of elizabeth smart's mouth that you would not believe. she is an incredible, composed, smart, really focused witness. you know, the attorney said in his opening statement, the crazy person who comes in the middle of the night is horrifying, unpredictable and insane. he gave a whole litany, brian

david mitchell showed signs as a teenager, his grandfather was hospitalized for problems and his father wrote a rambling 900-page manuscript as for the infinite god. >> psychosis isn't enough. even if they're able to show that he was suffering from some mental illness. that's not enough legally to find him not guilty by reason of insanity. he has to show well beyond that. he has to show that he was effectively so incapable of understanding what he was doing that he couldn't have understood that everything he was doing was wrong. that's more than just showing him a family history of psychosis. that's the beginning of the defense, but that's not going to do it. >> dan abrams, always good to see you. president george w. bush talking about some of the most divisive moments of his administration. >> why is waterboarding legal, in your opinion? >> waterboarding, katrina and a moment with his mom that changed

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an unknown amount of cash. finally, a new study of high school students that links text messages to more risky behavior. the study found that teens who text at least 120 times a day are more likely to have had sex and used alcohol and drugs. the fury from indonesia's most dangerous volcano may cause president obama to shorten his trip. ian williams has more from jakarta. ian? >> good morning, chris. for a while it did look like the president might never make it to indonesia at all. after all, flights have been severely disrupted in and out of here from the ash from that volcanic eruption. today's eruption has not been quite as violent, but, still, seeing a lot of activity down there and also a little bit of rain which meant the threat of

mudslides, molten mudslides and rockslides have been decreases. so, this volcano, this volatile volcano certainly remains a potent threat. chris? >> ian, thank you very much. for the first time since he left office, we're hearing from president george w. bush about the most controversial and emotional moments of his presidency. in an hour-long special that aired last night, the president talked about everything from 9/11 and hurricane katrina to his relationship with his parents, iraq and his decision to authorize the waterboarding of an al qaeda operative. >> i said to our team, are the techniques legal? and a legal team said, yes, they are. i said, use them. >> why is waterboarding legal in your opinion? >> because the lawyer said it was legal. it did not fall within the anti-torture act. i am not a lawyer.

and you have to trust the judgment of people around you and i do. >> let's bring back our company. right after that matt asked, but you went to the legal team to get opinions you wanted. that's what some people said. and he basically responded that those techniques saved lives. bernard, do you think that's how people will remember it? >> no, i don't think so at all. the majority of the american people are against torture and against the geneva convention and it's outrageous, but not surprising that the president answered in that fashion. there is not a shred of evidence, chris, to suggest that torture which is morally wrong helped save any lives whatsoever. >> governor, do you think it saved lives? >> it probably got information that was helpful to our intelligence people. we haven't had further attacks, but there is, as was just discussed on the other side of that coin and that is america does lose its credibility. it loses its sense of moral superiority that we always try

to assert. there is a price to be paid for it. there is a judgment call. the president was in a position where he was trying to make a judgment call in a time to protect people in high emotion and high danger. that continues. we just saw it this past week. there is going to be an ongoing struggle ahead of us here and things can become more dangerous and i think reading the president's memoir is going to be instructive to us. >> matt also asked him about the impact of hurricane katrina. air force one is flying out and he is looking out the window but he doesn't land. take a listen. >> was it the event that damaged your presidency more than any other event? >> it reinforced damage that was taking place. i had failed to get congress to move on social security. iraq was still very difficult. and so katrina came along and it gave critics an opportunity to kind of undermine the presidency, i guess. >> a lot of people are jumping on that, christina.

his suggestion that it gave critics an opportunity. did katrina give them an opportunity? did george bush give them an opportunity? >> well, it was sort of all the above. that was certainly gave democrats a lot of fuel to campaign in 2006 and win back control of congress and it compounded some of the problems that you had seen with the president. this is a fascinating interview where he says the words, i failed. that was something we were talking about in the last segment. the president acknowledging shortcomings very fascinating. i'm very curious to see how much president george w. bush is able to rebuild his image in a way that maybe 2012 presidential contenders would see him on the trail, again. as we all remember, he was absent completely from the 2008 campaign trail. can this restore his image a little bit and help him raise money for republicans and campaign with the nominee. >> there are a lot of people who have read the book and i have not. they say in terms of policy, there is no shocking revelations, but it does give you sort of a view into this man

and one in particular that i think did raise a lot of eyebrows. he was a teenager. his mother, barbara bush, miscarried and he said she showed him the remains of the fetuses in a jar. there was a human life, a little brother or sister. let me play that. >> also the impossible not to draw parallels between that moment where you said this was a little brother or sister and your views on life. >> it is true. >> and when it begins. >> no question that affected me, my philosophy that we should respect life. >> bernard, as you watch this, do you think there is anything in here that will change people's views of george w. bush? >> i am somewhat asurprised that barbara bush allowed that to go into the memoir. i think ultimately the former first lady decided this is her son's chance to reclaim his reconnect with the american people emotionally and i think

he used that story to humanize himself and to sort of say, this is who i am as a person as opposed to a political figure or as a former president. i think that will reinforce good will that he has among the far right and the pro-life forces. i think most americans are going to sort of see that as a bit over the top and a bit of a stretch. frankly, people really found that, i think, a little too much. >> bernard, thank you for being with us. thanks. tomorrow morning on "today" show george w. bush will join matt for a live, exclusive interview. if you'd like to submit a question for the president, go to todayshow.com. you can also submit questions on twitter or facebook. we all know a pack rat if we're not one ourselves. if our stuff isn't in our closets or attics, it is in two feet of rentable storage units. but now people are starting to

take back their lives. what is it like to be the child of the world's most famous person or at least one of them? michael jackson's kids open up to oprah. wait until you see them. they are really growing up. [ woman ] you know, as a mom, i worry about my son playing football. which is why i'm really excited. because toyota developed this software

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analyst evan kohlmann. americans have been collecting and packing away more and more stuff for decades. that trend may be changing. in these tough economic times the growth industry is self-storage. 65% growth in 15 years to what is now a $22 billion a year industry. the question is, will the stuff stay there forever or a first step towards downsizing? >> 20 jobs yesterday. >> reporter: the early morning meeting of the new jersey northeast franchise of 1-800-got hp junk. the world's largest junk removal service. more and more, these men in blue are rolling out for another day of helping people down size. >> there is definitely a growing business and jobs that we've done for people that just simply want less stuff in their lives. >> reporter: after decades of bigger, better, more, now experts say the epidemic of accumulation is waning. for financial, but also

psychological reasons. >> part of the whole problem of an affluent society is that we are stressed. the simpler things get, the better off you are. >> reporter: kelly sutton can actually count all the things he owns. >> my name is kelly sutten and i'm getting rid of everything i own. >> reporter: he started an online worldwide minimalist movement called the cult of less. everything you own fits in two boxes and this? >> yes. >> reporter: mostly personal collections he's collecting these days. >> my apartment is more of a sanctuary and more of just a place. it encourages me to be more social and live more out in the world. >> reporter: he sold, donated and disposed his way to less than 100 possessions. of course, with the average new home, now more than 2,400 square feet, 1,000 feet bigger than in 1970, many of us have accumulated enough stuff to fill whatever space we have. even with all that space, one in

ten households still rents a self-storage unit for the overflow. rather than store, nancy is letting go. the clocks in the attics stopped in time, crystal pitchers and silver spoons. >> i really have more than i need or want. >> reporter: a bitter sweet process for her. >> i can do this alone. >> reporter: helped by an estate sale expert who sees a lot of letting go these days. >> emotionally ach taed to smings and my best advice is they're memories. hold on to the memories and they'll always be there. >> reporter: making room for memories and living more with less. here with me now to talk about it, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry. why is it so hard to part with stuff? even stuff that we haven't used or seen in years? >> you know, chris, there's a wide variety of reasons why people do that. on one end of the spectrum, people are collecting things because they say they're emotionally attached to them.

on the other end of the spectrum, people say they have such an anxiety when they deal with the uncertainty when they say, what if i didn't have this object. people who grew up in the great depression or lived through different recessions or finding they don't know what is going to happen. >> what about the majority of us who say, i hate those shoes, but they might come back in style one of these days. >> a part of all of us who have the capacity to be a pack rat. >> you, too. >> i was telling you about this coat collection that i have that i've been banned. >> i love my coats, too. can i show you some statistics. personal storage more than 2 billion square feet in this country. three times the size of manhattan. equal to seven square feet per person. enough to store every u.s. citizens. i mean, it's crazy. some things, like we saw with the last person, there is a true emotional attachment, even though you might not use something, it may have been from your mother or your grandmother

and it might remind you of something. how do you let go and do what gino the liquidator said, hold on to the memories. >> when you look at any commercial they're always telling us that there is a need for something. there is something defective in us that we need to fix. whether it's anti-aging cream or gut buster. one thing people have to realize is that the product will only do so much. what is the underlining need. is there some sense of completion in your life? where are the friends and family that are supposed to be boosting your self-esteem as opposed to some new diet medication or exercise medication. while i'm saying these products have a use, especially when we're talking about our health. one thing i found somebody taught me, when you want to go to the store and buy your 51st coat, do i love it? >> do you know how much i like you, dr. sue. if you feel you need to get rid of some of those coats. we're about some same size.

i'm just saying. i, as a friend, would be willing to take them off your hands. you'll stay with us, dr. sue. thank you very much. once, mysteriously shielded from the public. prince, paris and blanket are growing up and talking about their surprisingly normal lives. you could switch for great gas mileage or seats that flip and fold with one hand. you could switch for up to 600 highway miles on a single tank of gas. or the hundred-thousand mile powertrain warranty. over a thousand people a day are switching to chevy. they're not just trading in, they're trading up. qualified lessees can get low mileage lease on this 2011 malibu ls for around one ninety-nine a month, a consumers digest best buy. call for details. i graduated from west point, then i did a tour of duty in iraq. when i was transitioning from active duty, i went to a military officer hiring conference. it was kind of like speed dating.

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you won't believe how quickly michael jackson's three children are growing up. after years of living under a limelight filled microscope, they are living something of a normal life with their cousins at their grandmother's california estate. they are talking to oprah. jeff rossen has the details. >> prince michael, hi. >> reporter: the jackson kids as we've never seen them before. paris, prince -- >> hey, blanket. hi. >> reporter: and blanket relaxed and candid speaking with oprah.

>> i kind of felt like no one understands what a good father he was. he was like, i'd say he was the best cook ever. >> he was just a normal dad. >> we used to wake up early and walk the beach. >> reporter: more than a year after michael's sudden death they seem to be adjusting rather well, living with their grandmother katherine surrounded by their cousins. the kid shielded from the public with michael. remember the infamous masks? now prince and paris go to class out in the open with other kids at the buckley school in l.a. >> i guess i was just nervous. >> about? >> everything. they just said who's new, raise your hand and then a lot of kids raised their hands. >> you felt better and didn't you feel better? >> yeah. >> did kids react to who you are? >> my friend, she didn't know who i was until we went on outdoor ed. >> and then what happens? what happens when people

discover who you are? >> she didn't care. >> reporter: then there's 8-year-old blanket. >> are you still home schooled? >> yes. >> reporter: he's still shy but his older brother and sister were more than happy to talk about their hobbies and their futures. >> video games and sports. >> video games and sports. >> yeah. >> tell me what you want to do when you grow up? >> produce movies and direct. >> i want to be an actress when i'm older. >> are you going to study it and take it seriously? >> i sometimes do improves. >> where? >> i used to do them with my dad. >> reporter: away from the kids, the conversation also touched on the day michael died. >> the worst day of my life. >> reporter: and reached back into michael's troubled childhood, including accusations of physical abuse at the hands of his father, joe. >> you might as well admit it, yes, he did use a strap. >> you kept them out of trouble.

>> that was nbc jeff rossen reporting. i watched the whole thing, what struck you about it? they seem like pretty great kids to me. all that talk of living this weird life with michael jackson. they seem pretty well adjusted. >> we have been fascinate would the jacksons for five decades and that will continue, clearly, with their children. i think it does underscore the fact that michael jackson was right to keep them shielded from the public view and out of public sight during the formative years because they have come out of that and i think they are interacting incredibly well. >> they said that allowed them then to go out without their dad not be recognized. that was sort of the idea behind that. what is ahead for them do you think? >> i am happy with the way they're adjusting and they're in this great family environment where they are getting to interact with the extended family which most of us don't get to live in the day-to-day

life. being around other "normal" children and having the grandparents involved. >> it is hollywood, after all. >> as normal as you can get. >> something to be said for being in a place where a lot of folks have famous parent. that's something else, maybe they're not the only ones who have famous parents. thank you very much for coming in, bernard, good to see you. appreciate it. >> thank you. fired over a facebook posting. it happened to a medic who wrote something nasty about her supervisor. it is a precedent setting case and it could have a big impact on free speech. plus, itoddler. this video 2 1/2-year-old mastering an ipad for the first time has more than a million hits on youtube. will this be the hottest holiday gift for the under 4 set? i hope you have the money. (jennifer garner) there's a lot of beautiful makeup out there

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