i want to thank the audience hear on the radio for those of you watching on television and over the internet. tonight's program has been part of the club's good lit series underwritten by the bernard gaucher foundation. and janet napolitano and this meeting of the commonwealth club of california is now adjourned. [applause] [inaudible conversations]

>> the second sunday acquired before samuel johnson got me was born in 17 men and women, barely survived the birth and was handed over in the milk infected in the tuberculosis, rendering him blind in one eye and in one ear. they perform surgery on his childless shall left scars on down his face. he opened his arms to bleed him and left the window open for six years. he soon developed tourette's syndrome and ocd. he was twisting and going about. so does the student, phil does the teacher. his life at age 30 was what he called radically wretched. suicide attempt. a very unsuccessful life.

he turned the suffering and do something. the first thing and there's nothing truly noble about stuff right but it drags you deeper into yourself bonita daily cares of life in her mind or you want to you thought you were. suffering cards into the basement of your soul through the floor revealing a cavity below. the suffering created and johnson was a radical self honesty. we think of humility is thinking only of yourself of my favorite definition of humility is radical self-awareness from a position of other centeredness. radical self-awareness from a distance and johnson achieved that. he walked to london and started writing. he wrote his way to goodness. he developed a firm understanding of the world by taking each of his weaknesses and writing about them.

he couldn't control his own body but he needed to control his own mind that in crude reality of truth so he wrote about and three, a radical curiosity. if someone told them there was a river, he jumped right in to see what it was like. if you set two in you set two in a mosque in and it will explode 767 in and shouted against the wall. subjects of his essays for things that played 10 or sloth, envy, kill, or to permit sorrow and a grab them by the hand and over the course of that, he became a disorganized person to a stable and giving one that created amazing work ethic. the french academy took 40 scholars and 50 years to read the first french dictionary. johnson digital of the six clerks in eight years.

a friend of his was given the black stone wall extra shirt. he settled with the lectures you. he wrote 1600 pages of text for free for his friends. he wrote in the lives containing 370,000 words and his hunger to express the great social club edmund burke, adam smith but also kept him straight from slaves from a doctor with no money and 13 people living on the time and there is a generosity of spirit all created out of intellectual he. so when he died, his colleagues worked his magic hat from which nothing can fill up and nothing has a tendency to fill it. johnson is dead.

no man can be said to picture in mind of johnston. so from johnson we learn how to turn suffering into self understanding and the importance of radical curiosity and the weight intellectual effort can lead to moral goodness. it's the night before the honorable supreme court of the united states who admonished and give their attention. [inaudible] >> the arguments number 18. >> marbury madison is the most famous case the court ever decided. >> it existed as the slave people here on land slavery was a legally recognized.

>> been a decision into effect to take presidential orders in the presence of federal troops and marshals and the courage of children. >> will want to pick cases that change the direction of the court and also society. ♪ >> so she told them they'd have to have a search warrant and mrs. macht demanded to see the tape her ensure reject, to see what it was, which they refuse to do so she grabbed it out of his hands to look at it and thereafter the police officer handcuffed her. >> i can imagine a better way to bring the constitution to life than by telling the story behind great supreme court cases. >> boldly opposed the forced internment of japanese-americans

during world war ii. after being convicted for failing to report for relocation , mr. camacho took his his case to the supreme court. >> quite often in the famous decisions are one the court to her were quite unpopular. >> if you had to pick one freedom that was most essential to the functioning of democracy it has to be freedom of speech. >> let's illustrate dramatically and visually what it means to live in a society of 310 million different people who help stick together because they believe in the role of law. >> landmark case has come an exploration of 12 historic supreme court decisions and the human stories behind them. a new series on c-span produced

in cooperation with the national constitutions under debuting monday october 5th at 9:00 p.m. >> next, but to the "after words" program. kathryn edin talks about poverty in the united states and reports a growing number of american families survive and virtually no income. she's interviewed by represented one more, -- representative gwen moore, democrat of wisconsin. >> well, hello professor eden. it is fantastic to be with you to discuss your book "$2.00 a day: living on almost nothing in america." let me start out by thanking you. >> guest: is a labor of love. >> host: the reason i thank

you as i think there are even are meant of assumptions that most americans would not believe and i would invite to read your book. first of all, i think are americans who don't believe people live off with the united nations described as extreme poverty in the world. they think people who were these little children on tv starving to death in malnourished and they run out and get their check book so they can send them money. they don't believe people of the united states live off of $2 per person per day. so that is one enlightening part of your book. 3 million children. another thing they won't leave