beautiful book. [laughter] [applause] if. >> now i wouldn't answer questions. >> speak briefly in into the microphone. >> ken you compliment -- commented is very complicated that provides in ambulances to hospitals. because of the giant problem? >> they were greeted with

such a shock by the public they had no idea that the coca-cola company acted in that way it decided it would go public with the organizations it is funding and if it published of what it funded and it is staggering. first of all, the list will go on for pages and pages you would scroll and scroll and your only on though better day. [laughter] and the various analysis of those organizations and a great number are hospitals with the american academy for nutrition and diet addicts this has been

severed as part of the fallout. the american academy of pediatrics, american academy of family practice an extraordinary number of organizations largely devoted to health or wrongness foodies minority reorganization's hispanics and asians, everyone can do the work that it does because it gets money from coca-cola but at what price? there are many examples of organizations that were about to do the anti-semitic campaign that were given a gift been dropped the idea. the mexican government passed a soda attacks and

those advocacy groups but they would use the money very wisely that evaluation the campaign has come out that the sales are down and what you don't know if it is circular trends or because of the tax. ben to lower the price of the soda is maybe that secular trend will spread to mexico and the government to pay for the obesity and diabetes and the health care system and was very good

researcher brilliantly done advocacy. >> i would like to know your own childhood history and this is been effective so what would you like to see the food product to be attacked this is a low hanging fruit for a reason. everything else is complicated if you go after mcdonald's is the best food in the world you can give sallets but it is a complicated targets but portion size is what i would go after. there was no soda when i was growing up.

we were a very poor family we did not have the money to buy them. they were six 1/2 ounces when i was the kid that was not a problem it was a rare treat for caribe a few times a year or at the birthday party. not and tell much later when the company started to promote much larger sizes. i missed that phenomenon. >> the book sounds so exciting but i am wondering about the flavored waters. that i will buy flavored water. is that it could substitute? is it another way to get

sugar? >> it depends on how much sugar. really is the sugar that is the issue. the amount is staggering as a rule of thumb is 1 teaspoon per ounce. if you have a 12 oz so it would have 12 teaspoons that is packets to the you sit there with your cup m port 10 of those in there is a glucose tolerance test. [laughter] people have no concept of the amount of sugar you cannot taste it in the metabolism is just not set up to deal with that amount of sugar coming in the form that is absorbed so rapidly. steady say they're absorbed from jelly beans more slowly

so you're better off eating candy. rinaldi with that their kid eats in the all day long. in the is the retreat but they're treated as the substitute for water kids should get used to drinking water. >> a restaurant industry magazine had a listed you were right after osama bin audit and. i hope things work out better for you so far. [laughter] and how they pour soda out that huge margins. >> nobody knows who was

behind bloomberg as a nanny advertisement it came from the center of consumer freedom a p.r. organization that is very secretive of who will fund about the beating deaths is the nra, the national restaurant association. one of the things that i talk about is the campaign that so that industry rand that may still be going on because there were websites and now they are gone. but this was a campaign to sell rather than water. so this is profitable if not coming out of bottles or cans and as a rule of thumb it cost about $0.2 an ounce

city by a 20-ounce soda the you pay a lot more than $0.40 it is staggering. so of course, they would be opposed to any discussion about drinking less so now. >> i've actually scholar in your department talking about these positive and responsible things coca-cola is doing, i cannot help but wonder if it is cheaper and easier than to change the business model that benefits us in the long run? >> sales are down.

let me say that again. it is more than 15 or 20 years ago. seriously. we live in a corporate environment where the buzzword is growth. coca-cola made money last year from selling the small cans because they can charge more. so to promote those with your name on it i have one. [laughter] i'll also have one that says love and that i got at a wedding that i thought was cute. they can charge for to put enormous amount of money into advertising and people will pay more for the smaller cans they've made money last year doing that they also are working as

hard as they can for the artificial sweetener that will taste good and not get people's chemicals intended going right now sales of diet soda is dealt although not as much as full sugar spirit they're not opposed to public health so the question is what you are willing to abide so it goes both ways and to expect them to be a social service agency doesn't make sense on the other hand, they cannot advertise themselves as it will this company and expect to get away with that.

>> so what is the ideal relationship of the industry with a positive change? specifically they say they will be more transparent to help be a part of the discussion should they have the seat at the table in what would that look like? >> it is a tough question to answer. i don't have to be at the table this is a dr. jekyll mr. hyde company. who were you at the table with? you will only get half the story. i and in favor of small portions.

to promote public health initiatives but then turn off and mr. hyde part. with the initiatives that is not attractive way to have a conversation so it is very hard to keep thinking about what is going on behind the scenes. >> the stand-up and tell us your name. >> i am wondering with respect to one them to go in a better direction if you would support the

perspective? we have used that approach where companies have divested themselves to be even a socially responsible way. >> you are speaking at a coca-cola campus. only coca-cola products are sold here. pepsi has a deal with the city of new york only pepsi products are sold. and their past to be a push for that grass-roots bottom-up it isn't top down obviously but those techniques sometimes work is what you want the companies to do and not do.

children's cartoon television i wanted to be a public health initiative to organize a boycott. that is difficult to do. to be involved with the initiatives they did get off the campus but it is back. a group called the killer'' and i talk about is based in brooklyn and rogers bought one share of coca-cola that gives him the option to go to meetings. [laughter] so that is a possibility to buy one share.

and use it. so students you can think about those things. i've done and allowed to push back a. [laughter] and. >> we can erase that thought >> with the university bookstore she will sign the university bookstore she will sign them. also in the gallery down the and i take it will be quite extraordinary. >> go out and advocate. networks. [inaudible conversations]>> goot

of the national press club. [applause] our guest today is republican presidential candidate in neurosurgeon dr. person who will discuss his newest book that he wrote with his wife called a more perfect union in what we can do to reclaim our

constitutional liberties but first i like to introduce our head table. from the audience right, joseph is a washington correspondent for the omaha world herald and the membership secretary of the national press club. a reporter jennifer, president of respectability with a. -- usa. benji political reporter with msnbc. candy carson the wife of our speaker. [applause] thomas, a washington correspondent for the salt lake tribune in the vice president of the national press club next a george

washington professor and former president of the national press club. kevin, the managing editor of the "washington post" gabriel, the national political correspondent for "politico". jasmine, the correspondent for the kuwaiti news agency agency, and the director for strategic communications for the data quality campaign. [applause] i also want to welcome our other guests in the room today and our c-span and public radio audiences. also those watching the live stream bed you can follow the action on twitter.

#npclive the purpose our speaker today has never served in congress or as the governor of a state or in any elected office of any kind. he did tell me -- [applause] he did tell me he was elected to the yale board but that is as close as it comes to any public office. this is one of the reasons his supporters say they want him to be the next president he is not part of though washington establishment so far he has separated himself from the political experience that he lacked it has him running second for

the g.o.p. nomination in behind donald trump and the head of carly fiorina. he has shown his sharp opposition to obamacare the concern about the federal debt and the goal to stop abortion. and all options must me on the table in his life story is familiar to many is europe in detroit with a single mother to excel in school and rose to be the director of pediatric neurosurgery for 29 years and became the first person to successfully separate siamese twins joined at the back of the head he won the presidential me and my dash medal of freedom and has published several books including his autobiography gifted hands.

during various media appearances he has made a lot of headlines on issues such as the mass shooting in oregon and dead death penalty and the best place is to make news at this podium. ladies and gentleman please give a warm welcome to dr. ben carson. [applause] >> thank you very much candy and i are delighted because we don't have a lot of time to answer questions. why did i write this book? america is such a great

place i am so glad i was born here. i have travelled to 57 different countries have gotten to know people but this remains the place of a land of dreams. to criticize our nation to be responsible for a lot of horrible things i see people getting in and not getting out so i am not sure it is all that legitimate to be honest but growing up in poverty with a lot of disadvantages, what was really great i was able to focus on my dream of becoming a doctor. to skip right by the policeman and the firemen going straight to the doctor. [laughter] i loved anything that had to

do with madison i even liked bowling to the doctor's office. i would sacrifice a shot to smell those swabs. [laughter] with there are a lot of hurdles of the way absolutely nevertheless it was still possible to realize that change and i want to make sure that continues to be the case one of the reasons it was possible is we have a system that does everything possible to create fairness even when there were people in the system who did not want to. virtually all americans know

but how many people know what is in it or what is behind it? it is the mechanism that guarantees our liberties and provides the guidelines for the restraint of government because the founders recognized it is a natural tendency of government to grow to control your life that is what people do. in 1831 when alexis day tocqueville came to america because the europeans were flabbergasted with the

nation nearly 50 years old were virtually competing on every level. one thing that really impressed them is how educated the people were. anybody finishing the second grade was completely literate. to find a mountain man appeals courts of society and he could read the newspaper ad to tell them how government works. and nowadays don't emphasize is civics so to see those ministry to interview situations. and people have no clue what you are talking about. who is the first president? ice said it rated? [laughter] they have no idea.

it is funny but it is so sad because our founders and the titular emphasize education and better system of government in freedom serve dependent on a well informed to recognize a they were not well informed it ribby easy to manipulate images take dishonest politicians and off he would go into another direction very quickly. i will tell you right off the debt -- but off the bat i am not politically correct and that is one of the reasons the press don't like me but that is okay.

what i've loved is this country at all care of the press likes the or not i will not conform to their requirements widely you just do this then they will say bad things about you. >> because this is america. i want to touch on some of the aspects lake bed check and balance system i believe this is so vitally important it a touch of genius by our founders because they realize each branch would want to maintain their power

and therefore would push back against in excess and networks extraordinarily well. in the government that we have and they're all exercising their power appropriately. unfortunately, we have a legislative branch that acts more like a peanut gallery. sometimes they complain about it but they really don't offer any resistance because they are afraid somebody might blame them news / you will be blamed anyways of so how do they get involved to be more active? so think about their recent decision of the supreme court on gay marriage first

of all, i have nothing against gay people whatsoever. i know a lot of people don't believe that because we live in a society now if you don't accept the entire gender - - attended that you are a homophobe. i believe 82 people regardless of sexual orientation have a right to associate together if they want to have a legal contract drawn up to do whatever they want. this is how it was designed to be. but not to impose your values on everybody else but with the supreme court ruling it doesn't take into

consideration in the implication of that if you change your for one not why not for the rest regally change it this one time we will never change it again? so why change in the first place? in his bin working very well for thousands of years and that is what happens when people start to tinker without thinking of the implications. the legislative branch however i would have thought was already prepared with legislation since the supreme court about to promote the religious rights of everybody with a new definition of marriage and

the convictions in to make sure they protect people's religious rights. the johnny-come-latelies for those who are losing their jobs and it is not fair not what america was supposed to be but unless all the branches of government are functioning the right way, these are the kinds of things that would happen because there would be overreaching by any of the branches because people are not perfect to counterbalance to rectify the situation of what they're doing as it

indicates the issue is should be dealt with at the local and state level. there is a reason for that. because the legislators and the judiciary are subject to though will of the people. they vote and in and they vote them out to find the people should be the ones to determine how things worked if you take those issues to bump them up to a level with no obligation whatsoever then you wind up with the oligarchy type of government. that is not the founders intended for america.

we will have to look into ways to rebalance that if we continue down that pathway you can see how virtually everything they intended would be upset. we don't want that to happen. with the role of the government in terms of promoting the general welfare that doesn't mean we want to put everybody on welfare in means when we do things that benefits it is very important we beecher it is not the sincerely mean that. sometimes inappropriate by the way that say carson drop

very pour he must have benefited from government programs and now he wants to withdraw all the safety nets. that is nothing but a blatant lie by people who need to characterize i love the he is insensitive and heartless because we need that narrative. that is the only way it can be acceptable because they don't fit into the general description. a black person who is a conservative? to talk about self-reliance and you're not dependent on them? so it is necessary to demonize and i understand that and i will continue to

fight with them but looking at something even greater is the people of the united states we have very, very smart and capable people who would be extremely good leaders but they say why would i get into that cesspool to have my family attacked to go through every aspect of life to demonize me and people don't want to do that? i am going to fight that fight for them. if unsuccessful the be all lot more people were not professional politicians will say he did it. i will do it to.

that this country is for every petty and not just pacific's. [applause] so as that argument is concerned my mother worked extraordinarily hard leaving the house before 5:00 in the morning because she did not want to be dependent she accepted a but for the most part was able to stay off of it. she refused to be a victim. it wasn't that she didn't recognize there were problems out there but she chose to focus on other

things it could save you walk into an auditorium full a bigoted and racist people you don't have a problem, they have a problem because when you walk in they will cringing and wonder if he will set next to them. >> bad is the way i've chosen to lead my life. have there been obstacles? of course, racist? of course, there have but they're very important things but everybody chooses to leave their life that way but that is the way i chose to lead mine.

it i very concerned about the downtrodden people in our society. but when i say we i talk about read the people, the private sector, not the government it has been taking this:it kept increasing by the time it got to lyndon johnson with the war alone poverty we're this a year we will take care of p.o. -- take care of you but the $18 trillion later we have 10 times more people on food stamps and more people on poverty or welfare.

everything that was supposed to be better is not only worse but much worse. is is it time to wake up for another way to do things? and driving ourselves into debt that is the responsibility of the government as well. we are "the guardian" of the people's beecher how can we enjoy the liberties and prosperity if they're overloaded with debt?

$18.5 trillion to pay that back to $10 billion a day would take you over 5,000 years let's raise the debt ceiling some more did it ever occur to was the there is another way? i would offer that is too many. there are 645 federal agencies all of those have budgets it is absurd. if you cut the budget by 1 penny it will be a disaster.

[laughter] it is absolutely absurd. with a whole professional career on the children and what we have to do to improve quality of life. out could be in good conscience continue this sure rate of responsibility knowing what we're doing to their future? if i had time i would really get into the fiscal gap and all of the implications how they are irresponsibly printing money with the fed and howell low interest

rates hurt the port and the middle-class because putting money into a savings account to buy bonds does not help them deal the people that could make many are those that have a risk tolerance that allows them to go into the stock market. i would talk about the regulations in terms of goods and services how it impacts the middle class and the poor people it doesn't matter if babar of soap goes up but it matters a lot to the middle class. think of the regulatory burden and who is hurting. when we promote the general welfare these are the things we have to the about four mechanisms to allow the downtrodden to escape to move into the fabric of

success. we only have 330 million people but chided has over 1 billion and india has over 1 billion. we need to get the bank of the but for all of our people. . .

>> if a farmer was up in an apple tree picking apples and broke his leg, everybody pitched in and took care of his crops. that's who we are. when there's disaster in the world, who's always on the front line? it's us. so let's utilize that and recognize that we are our brother's keeper or, and it is our duty to take care of the indigent, and it is not the duty of the government. and we learned that. [applause] and then, you know, another importants aspect of our government is to provide for the minnesota defense. -- minnesota

defense. simply to how our military to detier yeas the way -- deteriorate the way it has, to fail to take care of our veterans, it makes absolutely no sense. to leave our electric grid unprotected, it needs to be hardened, we immediate to have several layers -- we need to have several layers of alternative energy. you know, this is criminal, what we're doing, because we are so vulnerable. and, you know, we need to really beef up our cyber capabilities. and be i'll tell ya -- and i'll tell ya, under a carson administration, if another country attacks us with a cyber attack, they're going to get so hard, it's going to take them a long time to recover. we can't sit around and just say, you're bad, i don't like you, you know? [laughter] we can't do that. [applause] and, you know, we have to understand --

[applause] we also need to re invigorate our space program. i think it is a crime that we have moved away from that. think about all the inventions, the innovation that came out of that. your cell phone, so many things. and the important thing is in the future he who controls space controls the earth. we cannot be tardy to that when there are others who are working very hard in order to conquer that area. [applause] and then the last, the last area i just wanted to mention briefly, and i could really go on for quite a while on in this one. [laughter] but there is only one business in america that is protected by the constitution, and that is the press. and there was a reason for that. it was because the press was supposed to be an ally of the

people. and they were supposed to expose and inform the people in a nonpartisan way. when they become partisan -- which they are -- they distort system as it was supposed to work. and they allow the side that they pick to get away with all kinds of things. and i think there's still hope for the press. i think it is possible that some of them will recognize that it's almost a sacred obligation that he was to the people -- that they have to the people to be honest. [applause] now, you know,