at a merger acquisition? >> under the statute, the fcc looks at mergers through the public interest standard. and that's really our only hook and again, that's a merge wrer there's a transfer of licenses. if there's no transfer of license, it doesn't come before us. we have a different standard from the department of justice or the federal trade commission might. so the public interest standard is broad, but it's also within our core mission, obviously, that congress set up in 1934. so going forward, i like to look at mergers and any conditions that are placed on them. and i ask the question, whether or not those conditions are merger specific. is there something that's coming out of there regarding maybe a competitive harm that's merger specific and we place conditions on that that are sort of narrowly tailored to those interests. so that is historically how i've done things. sometimes a majority of the commission might see it a different way and they work out a different deal with the merging entities.

and the merging parties will come to me and say please vote for this as is. so that's something to take into consideration as well. >> let me ask a practical scheduling question. if you can't answer that, it's okay. here you have in all likelihood a new commissioner coming in a new chairman coming in. at some point soon, i don't know exactly when, that nomination will come through the senate. but, you know, it's our hope that we would move your nomination and his fairly quickly. but in the meantime, you do have some mergers pending with the commission. i don't know what all they are, but i know that some of these entities would like to have some finality before the end of the business quarter. are you all going to try to wait until a new person comes on board or are you going to try to clear the decks now so the new

person doesn't have to deal with that or have you all made a decision on that? >> i don't know the answer to the question. that is the determination of the acting chairman at this point. there's one particular merger. i don't want to comment on the specifics of any mergers before us. one specific merger slightly past its 180-day deadline, and i've been a long proponent of shot clocks and would hope we could sick to our six-month shot clock going forward on all mergers. but the sooner the better would be my preference. >> you know, with that, i really don't have any other questions. and i understand you have a baseball game you have to go to, so -- >> i'll stay as long as i need to. >> senator warner wanted to be here but because of the -- some schedule changes today in the senate, he couldn't. but senator warner is a big proponent of yours. a big supporter of yours. he wanted to be here to introduce you. let me just remind all senators and staff that we are going to

try to have all questions -- written questions, follow-up questions end today by 6:00. we'd love for you to try to turn those around. as i understand it, between the two leaders on the senate floor, there is no agreement yet on your nomination. and the other fcc nomination. but i'm sure that chairman rockefeller and others, senator hutchison and others will try to get these packaged up and moved through as quickly as possible. let's see. i think that is it. is there anything else we need? with that, i just want to thank you for your service on the commission so far and what you've added to the commission, to the process. and if you get any questions, we'd appreciate a rapid turnaround and good luck on the c-span c-span c-span [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009]

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>> coming up, more top nonfiction authors and books on pap 2's book tv with books on the economy. john talbott exposes myths about the recession. jay richards on why he thinks capitalism is the best way to ease poverty and protect the environment. also the end of overeating. david kessler explains how americans, programmed by too

much sugar, salt and junk, can control their eating habits. then writers an authors from the garden of eden to today. the history of the world through a collection of 600 short stories. he talks with columbia university professor john dinges. our website has the entire schedule and great new features. >> this past wednesday secretary of state hillary clinton met with the israeli foreign minister to discuss how to advance the israeli-palestinian peace process. they also spoke with reporters at the state department. secretary clinton responded to a question on the iranian elections. this is just over 15 minutes.

>> good afternoon. it is my pleasure to welcome foreign minister leiberman to the state department for his first official visit to washington in his new role. it gave me the opportunity to reaffirm the united states' deep unshakable friendship and bond with israel. our commitment to israel's security is and will remain a cornerstone of our foreign policy. i was pleased to have this chance to express that personally to the foreign minister. the united states has no glare al al -- no greater ally in the middle east. because our countries are close friends we spoke honestly and openly about a range of issues, and we are looking forward to continuing that dialogue in the u. u.s.-israel strategic dialogue

which has provided a useful forum for a discussion of shared concerns and challenges over recent years. we exchanged views on the middle east including iran and reiterated the need for iran's leaders to comply with obligations to the united nations security council and the international atomic energy agency to suspend enrichment related and reprocessing activities. we look forward to iran's response to our offers of engagement. of course, we also focused on efforts to bring about a comprehensive peace between israel and her neighbors in the region. israel's right to exist in peace and security is undeniable and nonnegotiable. both israelis and palestinians deserve to live in peace an security in two states that will entail both parties fulfilling their obligations under the road map. building on the peace initiative

arab states must do their part to support the palestinian people thand musthey must recog israel's legitimacy and choose progress over a self-defeating focus on the past. the united states will never do anything to undermine i's security, and the united states also supports a viable palestinian state. we do not believe that these two objectives are incompatible. in fact, we believe that they are both critical elements of a comprehensive and secure peace. mr. lieberman, i hope that you enjoy your first visit to the united states as your country's foreign minister and i look forward to continuing our conversation and working with you on these issues more in the future. >> mad secretary, i would like to say to you the people as a

government of israel appreciate your consistent support of israel. very value your friendship greatly. we roecognize the many contributions you made personally even before you were a senator from new york. we thank you for your longstanding commitment to israel and strengthening the america american-israeli special relationship and friendship. i think that we have had a good discussion today covering a broad spectrum of regional and global issues. we also covered a wide range of important bilateral topics. mad secretary, i thank you for your very kind hospitality today and i look forward to our future friendly dialogue both in washington, d.c. and jerusalem. thank you. >> thank you.

>> more lieberman, first, ambassad ambassador, the new ambassador to washington is talking about interesting proposals on settlements. could you elaborate on what they might be? then for secretary clinton, does that mean will is some wiggle room to your statement that there should be no such settlement activity? finally, for both of you, did you discuss previous president george bush's private letters to the israeli government? is that issue over with? >> thank you. that is a long question. >> that is three questions. >> that's three questions, yes. first of all, we really don't have any intention to change the demographic balance there. but we think that it is every

place around the world maybe our people get married some way and we can accept this vision about absolutely, completely freezing settles. i think that we must keep the nature of this. the prime minister spoke about this in his peach. i think that this position, this view, this approach, is very cle clear. also, we had some understandings with the previous administration and we tried to keep this direction.

and we are, of course, ready for direct talks with the palestinians. >> as president obama, senator mitchell and i said, we want to see a stop to the settlements. we think that is an important and essential part of pursuing the efforts leading to a comprehensive peace agreement and the creation of a m palestinian state next to an israe israeli/jewish state that is secure in its borders and future. we believe that this process, which senator mitchell is quarterbacking for us, has just beg begun. there are a number of critical concerns, many of which overlap in their impact and significa e significance, that will be explored in the coming weeks as senator mitchell engages more

deeply into the specifics as to where the israelis and palestinians are willing to go together. i think that the whole issue that you have raised is one that we have expressed our opinion n on, and in looking at the history of the bush administration there were no informal or oral enforceable agreements. that has been verified by the official record of the administration and by the personnel in the positions of responsibility. our former ambassador has written an op-ed that appeared in the last few days that lays out our position on that. >> next question, israeli television, channel 2. >> thank you. madame secretary, i'm interested to know how do you envision any

progress, any chance for achievement of progress on the israeli-palestinian track when the israeli prime minister and the foreign minister put so many conditions on the existing of the palestinian state, conditions that are all-out refused by our neighbors, including the palestinians? and when you hear that the current israeli government refuses totally to talk about your demand of freezing the settlement activity, do you envision a progress on that track? >> well, i think if one looks at israeli history, there have been prime ministers, going back to the beginning of israel's statehood, that have staked out positions which have changed over time. i personally have known such%

from labor, likud awho started n one place but in the process of evaluating what was in the best interests of israel -- and that has to be the primary obligation of any leader of israel, what is in the best interests of my future and my state -- and these prime ministers have moved to position as it they never thought they could have advocated before they started looking hard and thinking hard in what the future should be. but that is what negotiations are for. >> [inaudible] >> well, i leave that to them to decide. i'm just reflecting on history and on people who have been in these positions over the last 30, 40 years. and there's been an evolution in thought. and i thaought prime minister

netanyahu, in recognizing the aspirations of the palestinians for a state of their own in his speech on sunday night, said something that many people were waiting to hear him say. >> madame secretary, on iran and also for the foreign minister, the iranians have protested u.s. actions through the swiss ambassador today. could you bring us up to date on them. and there have been reports of criticisms about u.s. interference in iranian affairs because of the call to twitter. if you could comment on that. and, for the fortune minister, does the outcome of the iranian election change israel's position in any way? and were your discussions today, did they touch on that and any actions you asked the administration to do? >> that is four questions. we have very creative reporters on both sides here.

the united states believes passionately and strongly in the basic principle of free expression. we believe that it is a fundamental human right for people to be able to communicate, to express their opinions, to take positions, and this is a view that goes back to the founding of our country and we stand firmly behind it. therefore, we promote the right of free expression. and it is the case that one of the means of expression, the use of twitter, is a very important one, not only to the iranian people but increasingly to people around the world and most particularly young people. i wouldn't know a twitter from a tweeter but apparently it is very important.

and i think that keeping that line of communications open and enabling people to share information, particularly at a time when there was not many other sources of information, is an important expression of the right to speak out and be able to organize that we value. >> thank you. as someone said before you, we support evolution, forth revolution. and we never interfered in any external affairs of the different countries. and what is important for us is not a personal question but a question of policy. and what we saw during these elections, it was only one point that every candidate was united, it is [inaudible].

what is important for us is not domestic problems of iran but their policy. and we hope that they will change their policy. >> madame secretary, given the latest unrest in iran and the way the regime is moving to quash the protests, does the administration still believe there is room to engage diplomatically with iran, and are you concerned that such engagement may involve ahmadinejad and his regime? >> first let me say that the people of iran deserve the right to have their voices heard and their votes counted. the outcome of any election should reflect the will of the people. and it is for the iranians to

determine how they resolve this internal protest concerning the outcome of the recent election. but it is a fundamental value that the united states holds with respect to free and fair and credible elections. with regard to engagement, obviously we intend to pursue engagement because we think it is in the interests of the united states and the world community to discuss with the iranian government important matters such as the one minister lieberman raised concerning their intentions for their nuclear program, their support of terrorism, their interference with the affairs of their neighbors and other states. so we think there is much to talk about.

and i would think it is a useful exercise to look back on history and to ewhere countries, most particularly my own, have engaged in ongoing diplomatic discussions with countries boss regimes we disapproved of, that we rejected. we never stopped negotiating with the former soviet union. they invaded countries. they promoted unrest. but we knew we had an opportunity to learn more, to discuss fully and perhaps to reach better understandings than we might have in the absence of such engagement, so we pursued it. we are doing this out of what we view as our interests and the interests of friends and allies such as israel. so, now we are obviously waiting to see the outcome of the internal iranian processes.

but our intent is to pursue whatever opportunities might exist in the future with iran to discuss these matters. thank you all. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> up next former president bill clinton and house majority leader steny hoyer had a dinner for al fromm who is retiring as the c.e.o. of the democratic leadership council.

>> this week, california congress pete stark chair of the house ways and means committee on health discusses legislation working its way through congress. he talks about a proposal that would establish a public health insurance plan to compete with private plans. >> at the end of the day, if you choose to have competition and you choose to have a plan that is dependable and affordable, you can't do it without having a public machine there. that creates the competition for the private plans. so, yes, there will be a public plan in the bill. will the people vote for it? i don't know who wants to go home at next year's primary and say i voted against plan that will provide, let's say, 30,000

people in my district, most of whom are nonwhite, poor, most working, most don't have a way now to get insurance, i voted against giving them a way to pay their doctor and hospital for medical care. i don't think that is a vote many people want to make. >> newsers with california congressman pete stark. >> people don't want to think of roosevelt's conservation as a policy as much as passion. he put aside 240 million akers almost of wild america. now as people are talking about environmentalism and green movements, roosevelt is becoming the key figure to understand because he was the only politician of his day who absorbed darwin and understood biology and birds, migratory patterns and mating habits of deer, elk and antelope and did

something. >> sunday on q&a the first of two hours with douglas brinkley on "wilderness warrior." on c-span or listen on x. satellite radio or download the c-span pod cost. >> tuesday the democratic leadership council held an event honoring their retiring c.e.o. speakers include bill clinton, steny hoyer and bruce reed. this lasts about an hour and a half. >> ladies and gentlemen, lab buy daniels. >> oh god, creature of universe upon universe, we are here this evening no honor, thank and recognize a friend, a patriot, a

lead leader, a lover of our country. in this moment, dear god, as we should in all moments, we recognize your presence in the work of our hands, your light and the clarity we attain, your spirit and the wisdom we achi e achieve, your inspiration and the good that we seek to do. we ask for your continued guidance and blessing even as we know that we often merit them n not. we thank you for our many gifts. this evening we thank you for al and engineer fro ginger ginger others that are not here this evening. our tradition teaches that at 5 years old the person should study scripture. at 13 the commandments, at 20

one is ready for one's life pursuit. at 40 within achieves discernment. at 50 one is ready to give counsel. at 60, one becomes an elder even with your grace, a sage. which is is the proper course that a man should choose for himself? he would then say that which is an honor to him and elicits honor from his fellow man. the rabbi would continue, be as scrupulous about a small deed as a weighty one because you do not know the reward allotted for each action. finally, he would teach, know what is above you. a seeing eye, a hearing ear, and all your deeds recorded in a bo

book. appe al, you have been a follower of rabbi judah. we might even say, to use a technical term, a total mench. with the patience and strength perhaps not quite of jobe but, devoted cubs fan, something almost biblical. you embody the words that say you follow three crowns. the torah, the priesthood and kingship. but the crown of a good name surpasses them all. al fromm, a good name. we ask god's continuing blessing on you. bless you, rural of the universe who has kept us alive, sustained us and brought us to this