the republicans have been the ones who have been trying to get in your bed, control your every lifestyle or choice. host: we will get a response from andrew mccarthy. guest: i do not think we have tried to control your trans fat content. there was violence in christianity. other religions as well. the problem with christianity, and the problem with islam -- whether i'm right or wrong, there was a reformation in christinanity. what those people are saying today in what they are encouraging today, which is a civilization were on the united states and the annihilation of israel -- i do not see how you can deny that.

host: andrew mccarthy is our guest. we're waiting for the spokesman of the white house, robert gibbs. andrew mccarthy will stay with us longer to talk about his book, "the grand jihad: how islam and the left sabotage america." los angeles, good morning. caller: good morning, everyone. after 30 years of calling talk shows -- some of what you're saying is correct. [inaudible] one thing i see is no one brings up the cause of these problems. it comes up naturally.

the iranian are great people, as bush and obama have said. [inaudible] this is a big issue. nobody brings it up. what do you think about this? guest: what do i think about the situation in iran with the respect to the people rising up against the government? host: i believe that was the tail end of his comments, yes. guest: as far as iran is concerned, the policy of the united states should have been regime change for a very long time, since before 9/11. it was the iranian regime that killed 19 members of the united states air force. they have been the principal

state sponsor of terrorism for years. they have been working with al- qaeda since the early 1990's. when we have a policy of resisting change, that does not mean we have to attack every place -- regime change, that does not mean we have to attack every place. it's not a regime that you want to engage until it either change its behavior or better. president obama had a historic opportunity to give encouragement and help to the iranian people when they tried to rise up against that reprehensible regime, much like president reagan had, and took the opportunity, to support the people who tried to rise up against the soviet union in the 1980's. host: a couple more calls for andrew mccarthy. travis is on the republican line. caller: thank you for c-span. i want to bring up a point.

here in the enlightenment, -- during the enlightenment, people realize that religion was not everything and other things needed to have been in the world. maybe the middle eastern countries need to have an enlightenment. what do you think about that? guest: it is something that has to happen. it is something that's a more difficult sell in islamic ideology. i do not pretend to be a scholar of comparative religions. i do know that scriptures in the west and the religions we are familiar with in the west are deemed to be inspired. there's a human intermediary in the equation. muslims takes a koran to be the verbatim word of allah. on the principles they subscribe

to, most of the great questions were believed to be have settled around the ninth century or 10th century. it's a much harder sell to use reason in order to evolve a doctor in when your core belief -- have been given directions by allah himself. it's not easy to say that he must have gotten it wrong or he paid too much attention to the traditions of the seventh century. it is not an easy sell in the place where it has to be done. host: you talked about the term jihad and sharia law. also in chapter 5, what is dawa? guest: the missionary work through which islam is spread. it has developed into what

robert spencer has called self,j jihad. a way in which people try to spread sharia law in every way except terrorist acts and extortionist threats. host: get a few more calls. we are waiting for the white house briefing. arlington, va. caller: thank you for picking up my call. i would like to ask a question about european affairs. we are familiar with the situation in switzerland when they recently -- i would like to ask a question to andrew mccarthy. do you think that the problem is the import of radicalized clerics that do preach to

islamic youth in europe? the real problem is in these people to preach branches of islam? guest: you are right that is the basic problem. part of what they are preaching is that the way the sharia agenda is advanced is not only by acts of terrorism, but by a broad based propaganda campaign that seems to infiltrate the media and the academy and all aspects of our society. propaganda victories are deemed to be very important. that's part of the reason we're having this big debate in new york now.

it would be a great propaganda coup for people who are still at war with the united states and to identify themselves as involved in a civilization will struggle to islamicize the. . .

you would not even see any non- muslim because they are closed cities, they are not allowed. i think we need to keep an eye on, number one, the fact that a big part of this is a propaganda war where the islamists won to build their icons on top of the icons of the people they came to conquer and we need to, if we are going to talk about tolerance, we need to do a comparative tolerance study. host: one more call for you. louisiana. ruston, louisiana. caller: yes, i totally agree with you in your ridings. and i would like to say, i would love to see these muslims put a duty on hollywood running around half naked all the time. i did not think they should be able to build at ground zero. if we had, what the scriptures say, -- let are slaves a loose

after seven years of slavery and given them all that they need to go and be free, we would not be having this conflict today. we did not do it, so we are paying for it -- whether, martin luther king, who, by the way, was a republican. i hate that slavery happened and i hated that it still goes on today. and that women have no rights in the muslim community. host: thanks for the call. we will get a final thought from andrew mccarthy. guest: i do think that on the theory that something always beats nothing, we do have a moral drift in the united states and islamists, we may not like what they believe -- i don't like what they believe -- but the book -- but they do believe it, they believe it with a fervor and that allowed them to make a lot of the inroads that they've made because we

seem to lot less attentive and a lot less respectful to our prior traditions, including our traditions of morality. host: we appreciate you joining us -- your new book is "the grand jihad." andrew mccarthy, thanks for being with us. that will do it for this once program. it back tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern. we will take you live to the white house. admiral thad allen briefing reporters, along with robert gibbs. >> produced 11,000 barrels of oil. they continue to increase over theefirst three days of operation. we have gone from 6000 to 11,000, tried to increase the production rate and ultimately closed the valves and move to greater capacity. bp anticipates moving another crafted that can actually handle additional production. the combination of the two, the so-called q4000, capability of

20,000 barrels a day. looking to increase production, as i said, so we can slowly close those drips and see have a containment cap is dripping. in a long run, also looking at bringing larger production vessels and to create a more permanent connection that can be disconnected easily in case we have a hurricane or bad weather later on in the hurricane season. and we will continue to optimize the production out of the well and contain it. as i said several occasions though, the longtime solution will be drilling the relief wells, targeted early august. there are two relief wells in progress right now. down between 7000, 8000 below the sea floor. another is down around 3000. the second one is a risk mitigate their, which will move toward what will be the final solution, which will be the

relief wells. following the intersection with the well -- with the relief wells, we will put heavy mud to suppress the pressure of the oil coming up from the reservoir, to effectively what i call the bottom kill, as opposed to the top kill which was not successful. what i would like to kind of talk to you about is the area of operations out there. we will try something on you today, and if you would like, take this as a work in progress. there are copies available on the web and we will get it to you. basically we are going to try to give you a three-dimensional work -- look at what the world is out there. three areas of operations. one is the subsea area, containment on the well. the second is trying to deal with the oil on the service, above the well, coming up in large quantities that can be dealt with effectively with mechanical skimming and burning. we know about the recovery on shore. with the emphasis over the last

couple of weeks shifting to the area between the shoreline and out about 50 miles. what has happened over the last several weeks, this spill has just aggregated itself. we are no longer dealing with a enlarge monolithic spill that abrogation of hundreds of thousands of patches of oil going in lots of directions. we have to adapt to meet that threat. when this operation started, we were controlling the skimming and burning operations out of the incident command post in louisiana which has responsibility for the area where the well is at. in the last week, control of skimming assets to the commander to the command post and alabama, responsible for mississippi, alabama, and florida. attached a task force to work with him, 50 miles offshore to find the smaller patches attractive deal with them before they get to shore. this is an adaptation to the changing for redress of this bill, which is no longer a single spill but massive collection of smaller spills

moving forward. in regards to that, what is becoming critical in the near future, to be able to get spinning capability of short and to work the small patches. we made significant price is bringing more folks into the fight in terms of vessels of opportunities. these are local fishing vessels and work boats that were certified to help us and also certified the individuals. between louisiana, mississippi, alabama and florida we have about 1500 bessel opportunities where we certified the crews and put them out there. what we now have is an opportunity to match in vessels of opportunities with skimmers. the next critical component or resource is increasing the amount of skimmers, now that we of the vessels that can deploy them. over 100 large vessels are skimming off shore in and around the surface area above the well. we want to take this down to a slightly lower level, smaller skills and vest -- summer's and vessels that can work in smaller bays. we are moving this in place,

looking nationally to get the match that of the vessels of opportunity. we continue to move coast guard units in as well. we have coast guard cutters that of skimming capabilities of of mississippi, alabama, and florida. coast guard during command-and- control. helicopters for surveillance. smaller coast guard patrol boats working with vessels of opportunity to identify the small patches of oil and deal with it there. i will tell you this, though, the boom is not a silver bullet. we have a situation over the weekend we had a boom in place back behind off an island, and we had some oil coming ashore and we had to deal with that. we will continue to press forward. i think we have to deal with the reality no matter how much a boom, this aggregation of the slick will cause oil to come to short time to time. the challenge for us to get quicker and agile with smaller

units and work offshore to find smaller patches of oil and deal with them as quickly as we can moving forward. with that, i will be glad to take any questions. >> what percentage of oil you think is being captured at this point? >> two answers. i think we will have to get more when we get the actual flow rate established. we have two models for follow that were done by our flow rate technical group at the u.s. geological survey. 12,000, tonight 2008, the other was 12,000, to 25,000 barrels. we are now approaching production that will get up to 50,000 barrels a day. i think what -- once we know the production flow and are able -- able to seal off the event and the leak is we will have a hard and fast number to tell us where the flow rate lies and narrow the range. once we do that we can add to the back that into the number of days this bill has been on going

and get a better overall estimate. kind of like an oil budget, how much is coming out, how much do we skim and burned so we can account were all the hydrocarbons went. that is work in progress right now. we will be able to give a fighter estimate once we establish a flow rate. >> yes today we talk of -- you talked about the cleanup lasted well into the fall. can you elaborate? kind of action that expected to be cleaned up by the fall. >> we need to be transparent. when a relief well is finished and cap sometime in august, all live will have flowed to the surface in some manner because we will not have 100% contained -- oil will have flowed to the surface. the question is, that will have to be dealt with and there a long-term environmental issues. we have to conduct natural resource damage assessment so we can understand the long-term issues associated with that and what bp should be held accountable for. if we look at all of that, we

will be dealing with oil and the effects long after it is capped. >> how long? >> it depends on how much oil is up there and the direction and the currents. but i think there needs to be an expectation which will be working at least four to six weeks after the well is capped. it does not account for what oil might come ashore, into the us. the impact on the marshes. >> how would you characterize the containment process so far? and on the same thing, can he say how many total miles of coastline have been spoiled by allied? >> on the containment process, i think it is going fairly well. this is condition based. increased production -- they are always concerned about hydrates. they are putting methanol down there and warming the oil.

it is being balance. i think it is going fairly well. we want to establish a rate so we know exactly what the containment cap can't tolerate in terms of flow and what will be lost. i think it is very important to watch it closely. as far as the coastline, we have about 120 miles total linear that have been impacted. it is kind of deceiving because i was talking to a parish president and governor bobby jindal, you can have 1 mile in packet liro -- linaria, but to go deep as far as the marshlands. in the marshland there is a depth composite and the effect could be far greater than that. >> you say you are in contact with the white house, that you are getting everything you need. some people in the gulf coast saying there are not enough skimmers or people on the beaches. i've been misinformed? you mentioned optimizing production. i understand you want to get as much out of it. do they have to forfeit that oil

and the profit? >> the reason why they have to keep the production going is not what they want to recoup for production, but it alleviates pressure on the well bore. we did the top kill, were able to force mud down the well board to the point we suppress the oil. but the reason -- and the minute they stopped pumping the mud is the oil came back up. they don't know the condition of the wallboard. if you exert pressure on that, you would not want to force the oil out and haven't come up to the sea floor so you want to produce the oil for safety and containment. it should they have to forfeit that oil? >> that is above my big rig. >> they are the responsible party. they will bear the cost for exactly what the admiral is describing. it is likely to greatly -- but

it is sold for on the market. they are in for, on a response the recovery, many billions of dollars. >> we are doing a national inventory. we may have to make a decision to move skimmer's from some part of the united states and basically accept the risk of there is an event there and we are having the discussion right now. we did not have the vessels of opportunity several weeks ago and we have the now. >> in south florida they have the bill in water samples to see -- what do we know about that in terms of the existence of these big oil plume's?

>> they found densities below the surface and the question is, of those dense masses they found, how much hydrocarbons or will that is there. we had a couple of crews that came out with the data. she has dispatched a fleet of ships. one of them is actually right from the platform themselves. i was out there last week and there was an oil basque -- will bessel taking samples. they were taking samples at different depths and trying to establish how many hydrocarbons were in denver. she wants to make and model of the entire gulf. if you go down, -- she wants to create a model of the entire gulf. like filling pixels on the screen of data samples, trying to measure but the hydrocarbons are. that is happening right now. it will have to be put into a computer and come up with a data model. >> big, large oil plumas? >> we understand there are

densities' down there, and she would say, have not been characterized yet and that is why she is doing this sampling. >> a lot as far as texas, is it true? >> personally have not received a report on texas. >> following up on the issue this weekend, the cleanup could take months. i talked to environmentalist saying it is a pipe dream. they believe based on the exxon valdez, it will be a minimum of three, four, five years, maybe much more than that, that the cleanup operation will be going on in a major way. the you disagree? >> no, it is maybe how i characterize it. dealing with the oil spill on the surface, it will go on a couple months and after that it will taken care. long-term in restoring the environment will be years. i separated two different functions. i have no arguments.

>> there will work crews on the beaches, but they could only worr 20 minutes every hour -- passing six different tens of people, we did not get a shot of anybody working on the hours we were on the beach. people on grand isle are irate because they say, look, let us go out and do what. why have all the rules and bureaucracy? you oppose people or is there a mechanism for people who are fired up, because they live there? >> we have a program called qualified community responders where we bring them in and teach them -- driving the vehicles, basic training on raking and removing debris. in number of states to train these books and put them out there. i don't know about the reticular of your situation but it certainly is available. >> is there a 20-minute limit -- >> not me personally, but i will

get follow-up. >> anybody comes into contact with the substance, as the admiral says, there is a training program that is involved. we are taking worker health extremely seriously. we don't want to find, as you said, weeks, months, years later that you did not put enough safeguards in on the front and to ensure the health of those that have either been contract it or who want to volunteer to help at the beaches. >> we got an agreement with the department of labor and osha on how we use their protocols and they are fully integrated. >> the containment cap as understand is putting out more oil than the ship above it is able to capture. bringing a ship in -- why is the company just doing this now. why doesn't seem like we are always one step behind? >> they are not a -- at a production rate -- as they are pulling up there would be a second vessel. >> they didn't want to get --

>> also, as i understand it, there are, as you said, concerned about hydrates, concerned about pressure. this is a delicate kappa. this is a solution we can work that for weeks and months, don't do something to rapidly to cause something tragic to happen. >> i can tell you several weeks ago they started converting and larger production platform in anticipation they would replace this with higher capacity. it is being done right now but it is a very large ship and some are coming from as far as the north sea, to bring in the production platforms that are floating back and do this at a much larger rate and that was already in progress. >> consistently underestimated the amount of the low rate. the u.s. government does not seem to know. why is it so difficult?

, frankly, bp is not doing estimates on flow rate. those estimates i gave you our estimates we are doing. they can do it if they want, but i think we need to have the american people understand that any flow rates of being developed are governmental, third parties involved, not bp. i think there is a lot of talk about transparency. you need to be assured that we are doing this. >> we talked about here, the amount of oil that leaks will help determine the find at bp incurs. while our interests are on capping as well, we would never ask bp to tell us how much oil they think has leaked in order for us to determine the compensation and penalties that is to be derived from it. understanding that, buffalo late technical group was stood up and as the admiral -- the flow rate technical group was put up and our response is not dictated on

a float mechanism. the technical group was set up, because we had a better idea and could use better equipment from all over the government to get as best estimate we could for any event that is happening 5,000 feet below the surface of the water. the analogy somebody used was, we are trying to measure 5,000 feet below the surface, the amount of material that is coming up if you were to shake a coke can. that is not a perfect analogy because most -- most coke cans are 12 ounces and you know the amount. the flow rate technical group is looking at the information we have now, the information, and whether not come as the admiral said, we could get a closer range as to what happened. >> but was a time you guys were

saying and lott, that the flow of rape was not essential because you are planning for the worst case -- flow rate was not essential. but it is essential into how much you can capture -- >> a ultimately would have to know the entire amount of oil discharge, only for the purposes in terms of accountability of bp and to assess the environmental impact. so you are absolutely right. in the beginning it was not quite as required in terms of timeliness. but it has to be done and that is the reason why we are doing this. >> de know whether bp has the resources available but they said they had when they file their application for the drilling permit? >> the drilling permit for the original well? we far exceeded that assets brought to the problem -- because of the breadth of this

thing. the actual resources out there are far beyond what they identified in their plan. >> does bp have -- so, bp brought all they said they would? >> the resources identified in their plan were brought to bear. >> is there anything now bp is not doing that you would like to see them doing? >> we would like to be better at claims -- timeliness. if you show up and have a w-2 for more evidence of unemployment, they are starting to make partial claim payments. we need to get that every month so they can look forward to the check coming in. we have somebody on my staff actually meeting with the bp today. there is a second larger issue that the local leaders identified to the present at the last couple of weeks. businesses putting claims in for their inability to operate -- seafood manufacturing, so forth.

those claims are processed in a different way and require different documentation and information about the business themselves. that appears that it may be cumbersome right now, so we are actually having a meeting at british petroleum this week when claims for businesses. in that regard, they don't have a history of doing that type of work. they brought in contractors and claims adjusters. but we think they need to do it better and quicker. >> the admiral said on friday, both with elected officials and when we met with fishermen, we met with seafood processors who are going through this process. we have, we set up, as we talked about on friday, if you go to disaster assistance.gov, a pretty large i come -- icon for people to go to if they are having difficulty getting their claims adjudicated by bp.

there is an official said up through fema that works directly with the national incident commander to ensure that this process is moving along as expeditiously as it needs to. we've got problems with, as the admiral said, major claims being paid and different things along the route. a seafood processor said, when we catch our schrempp, we freeze this trend and then process. so, while their processor may not be seeing a lessening in the output based on what they called previous to this, obviously because of a huge portion of the gulf is close to commercial fishing, more shrimp is not coming in, right? that and of the process is ending, but if you look at the business this year output would not necessarily look different. those are things we are asking

bp to work through. >> i think the best example, the president and i met with local leaders and have lunch with them. there was a marine operated, maybe 10% tied up than normal. of the associative support for that -- food and local businesses being used for meals and stuff like that. that is very, very complex, but we have to get to the bottom of this to make sure the folks have access to claims process. >> anyone in the economic chain -- if you operate a bed-and- breakfast, supply food to the bnd, is it all the way down? >> you are asking us questions whenever had to answer in the context of an oil spill and those of the kinds of things we are working through this week. tracy waring from fema, we brought her over in and she is coordinating that force. we are delving into this week.

>> you said when the second arrives, it will be able to contain about 20,000 barrels. >> produce about 20,000 barrels. >> when you look at the model, it will be expected to the 25,000. >> we still have not established what the flow rate is. >> it could end up being higher than 25,000? >> if that is the case, we will be dealing with the residual oil until we get a larger platform. >> increase the number -- >> the flow rate -- going through the larger flow rate and honing in of what we might have seen in terms of increased capacity after the ship comes. >> we are not trying to lowball or highball it. it is what it is. correct, it isn't as stated to

be replaced by larger production in several weeks -- it is anticipated to be replaced by a large platform. either tony hayward or bob utley -- sometimes they are in different places. but i would say daily or multiplied during the day. >> have you brought up the claims issue? >> yes. >> what has been their response? >> looking for any input because they obviously want to do it right. it is not a core competency of bp it so we need to give them help and guidance. >> the meeting you are having this week -- >> it will be the person who runs their claims processing. >> when you speak to it tony have worked for -- the trust their information? >> i get the question all the time. it is not a matter of trust -- we are working together. we are trying to create unity of effort. when i ask for information, i get it.

if i need more, i go back. if there is ambiguity, i go back and do that. i will say, we will not go forward until you give me this. ongoing dialogue. cooperation, trust, that is how woodworks. >> we are asking for and will be asking for greater transparency on the claims process. trying to shorten the window for what bp is legally required to do in filling those claims. but in having a broader understanding 3 transparency, what is left to be fulfilled. >> we are dealing with personally identifiable information, so there are filing issues -- just when to make sure we get it right. >> can you catch the nation up on what we used so far. are you still using them? on the sand berms in louisiana,

where are they? halfway constructed? two up? are they being concentrated anywhere else along the possible spilt target area? lastly, you said on one of the shows that you will look in the issue of whether and not bp withheld video early on from public release. >> let me issue a statement. i did not think there is any indication we did do that. our press person could make it available. the first question -- dispersants. when recently reached 01 million gallon threshold. not a threshold of any particular importance, other than the sheer magnitude. never before. i have had frequent contact with lee said jackson on this. the overall approach is to minimize dispersants on the surface because they are not as effective -- effective as of seed. they go on top of the oil and

you get less effect because the oil is several inches deep and dispersants acting on the top, you need to mix it up and emulsify for them to have the greatest effect. applying at the point of discharge, there is a better mix it already. but more effective at a lower rate. the general strategy is to use subsea dispersants wherever possible and minimize the amount on the surface that is needed for safety or existent circumstances. we did a video on the oil rigs last week when i was out there. in the background one of the offshore supply vessels was spring water around the discover enterprise. organic compounds that are coming up out of the oil sitting around the ship. actually a threat to personal safety and help with the vapors. dispersants' put them down. you would rather use water. there may be times because of the situations you may want to uue dispersants to reduce the

vapors. those are the types of things we would talk about. they give us a dispersant plan an epa is aware of that. the federal coordinator is try to minimize it. for there may be times we use it but we need to use it injudicious quantities. we will be lying on burning and mechanical skimming in and around the well head. sand berms, at this point, the president made the decision last week, authorized six segments created by the corps of engineers. the state of louisiana is working with british petroleum. i'd think the real issue right now is availability of barges. there are a couple of barges starting to work right away. i can verify this for you, but i believe the first place is somewhere around chandelier islands. the sands source is close enough where they can get to work right away. when you go to the west of the mississippi river you have to take sand from offshore, actually deposit it on the seabed and retransmited to make

the sand berms on the island and it is a much longer process. i spoke to the head of the corps of engineers about their ability to free up dredges from other projects to help them. the state of louisiana is also looking nationally and dredged capabilities. right now it is a matter of finding dredged capacity to be able to start doing some work. they will ultimately have to take san moving close to shore and move it again. if they come up against the capacity problem in dredges, they can do a waiver of the jones act which allows to bring foreign flag to the ledgers in the but i would consider that only as the last that might be needed. i don't think we are there yet. louisiana has not come and told me that. >> if i am not mistaken, each night joint information center fact sheet contains an updated number in the amount of service and some see dispersant's use,

so people should be able to track each day. >> what role with the government play in managing it for bp? is bp committed to pay the royalties on oil collected? >> not sure on the royalty issue. on the claims, we are trying to create independent government teams for every state. facilitating the state getting together with bp to identify problems. a fairly novel approach in alabama, training national guardsmen to go out and assist folks and find in claims. kind of have a multiplier effect. that is being discussed actually today. we will have teams in every state better able to do that. the question -- some folks are sitting back, think it is not going to work, too much trouble. those folks have to know they

are going to get paid. >> over the weekend, tony they were said bp clearly was not prepared for his bill of this magnitude. the coast guard is the front line agency responded. what about the coast guard? did you discount the possibility of a major blow out? >> no, we always anticipated that could happen. in april of 2002 we actually ran an exercise on louisiana offshore -- only about 90 miles to the west. we envisioned a total loss of the well head for a number of days. it almost was similar event, except most -- much shallower water. i was the national and said the commander. we ran out of the superdome. we have known about this and plan for this. what made this one anomalous is the amount of area this oil is covering and the breadth from central louisiana, potentially florida. i did not think any plan envisions it would go out this

far and have the requirement to have some in the resources over such a wide area. the kind of think of an oil slick in a mass, like the exxon valdez. that is tax and resources. the breadth and complexity, which i did not think was accounted for. >> any reason why that was not anticipated? has it ever happened before? no engineers? >> in a response plan, you come up with worst-case discharge and identify the resources that could be brought in the scene in terms of skimming, booming areas, burning, and so forth. those were all identified. but if you have to replicate it across the entire gulf, multiplying resource requirements. that is something we probably need to look at as the commission takes a look at the response. i don't think it was a lack of duty or anything like that, i think it was a peculiar set of circumstances that, frankly, were not anticipated and have to be in the future.

>> i think the last time you saw a spell of this magnitude in the gulf was off the coast of mexico in 1979. the president has asked the commission and department of interior as it looks through regulatory framework to make sure that we are taking all precautions and all potential scenarios into account, as i think it is probably safe to say, is something has not happened since 1979 you tend to take your eye off of it. >> i think we need to be totally transparent and learn as much as we can from this thing. i think everybody is on board. if there is something we can do better in the future to change response planning, we certainly need to do that. >> you really have become the face of this spill in the past week and a half. i can't imagine it is how you expected to endure -- [laughter] >> i told somebody i am failing to get fired. i did not anticipate this

happening at the end of my career but honored to have to do this. it is one of the hardest thing i have had to deal with personally. but clearly, we need unity of effort and it has to happen some way. what makes the spill different in some way -- i hear talk about bringing the 0 d in the. when you have a military operation, you operating title 10 of the u.s. code and a monolithic chain of command from lowest soldier to the president. in this one we have a lot of different cabinet departments which roles and responsibilities and missions they are required to conduct and the real goal in this environment, in any incident outside of dod, is unity of effort, not command. there are a lot of stakeholders and people with responsibilities. an example is fish and wildlife service and noaa. fish and wildlife has marine mammals and the danger species and noaa is thh sponsor for commercial fisheries. they both have entities in the gulf and the challenge is

creating the unity of effort. >> your public responsibilities, doing briefings, did they take away from incident command part? >> this is always a very valuable practice. [laughter] >> on the skimming and the shoreline, you say the boom is not aimed silver bullet. how many skimmers are actually out there now close enough to shore to be doing some good, and are there really no other higher tax techniques -- higher tech techniques? are there new technologies that have not been tried? >> we have a separate team looking at alternative technologies. we are actually evaluating some of those. there are various types of skimming capabilities. some of them are effected in different parts of the water. the question is getting the right skimmer for the oil you want to recover in the debt.

a big ocean, scanning systems are much different than what you do 5 feet or 6 feet in the back bay. some systems that actually are drums and the oil sticks to it, wall, and scrapes off and they captured it in a containment device. some systems where you have a boom with a pocket at the end and you can carry the oil in it and evacuated out. some systems that will take a circle and drop it just below the surface and have the oil flow in it like a dream. there is a lot of stuff out there. we have to match those with the new vessels we have. that is why the character rent decanters asian has changed. >> it has been hard to get in close enough? >> the best thing is to get the vessels of opportunity. they have boats that operate to match the right skimmer to them. that is the process we are going through right now. >> you mentioned the vessels of opportunity were not on hand

until recently. the additional platform is still on its way. systems for compensation are still being finalized. can you address the perception that the response has consistently been a couple of steps behind a problem? >> i think we are adapting to an enemy that changes. the nature of the oil spill has changed continues to be. we had a loss of oil in one spot to begin with. based on the current, it has been disaggregate it. our response has to change. for instance, oil, hurricanes, agnostic between boundaries between states. all of the response organization and structure is by states. so the difference between the g- 8 division of labor, pearl river that divides louisiana and mississippi. it is an artificial boundary. we have to learn how to adapt. as of this thing goes abroad and goes across different jurisdictions will have to

change command-and-control to adapt to it. there is a period -- were was slow to react? you can say that. but we are trying to learn from a spill that has never happened before in this country. >> two oil questions and one non-allied question. -- non-oil question. he said the issued and order where a journalist would have unfettered access -- what are you going to do to bp for preventing journalists access? >> we have to issue an administrative order, if they violate it there are -- i put out general guidance but only time the reasons media should be prohibited -- security or safety reasons, because of personal protective equipment. other than that we are putting no restrictions on access. we can't tell somebody to talk to somebody who they don't want to.

a policy is, unless it is superior safety reason, there is no restriction on access. >> if bp calculates that keeping journalists away is more violent -- valuable for them down the road -- >> i guess somebody would have to give me a specific incident. >> they told me to go away -- like >> it is hypothetical. if you give me the facts. >> -- >> i will have a call to tell me a word. -- i will have a call to tell the hayward. >> director james cameron said he would help, and you told in no. currently the video stream we have, the only video we have, images, are controlled by what he characterized as the criminal. doesn't he have a point, maybe have someone other than by

showing images? -- other than bp showing images? >> i would just make observations. i have not talked to him myself but all of the video coming out of operation from the remotely operated difficult is available. we made that -- actually there were concerns when we started the top kill process that it might put too much pressure on the operators and bp actually wanted a delayed broadcast to remove the risk in the control room and it was decided after the conversation between myself and codey heyward, the need for transparent to overwhelm the additional risk. additionally you have to understand the are conducting simultaneous operations. within a one square mile area around the wellhead and the riser pipe from any particular time the gap between 14, to 20 rob's. the need to de-conflict for

safety reasons is valid. we have to stop and read insert it. the reason is the rob's doing the subsea aspersion, they bumped into one another and it caused the two to be dislodged. there is an issue about density in the amount of rob's you can put down there. i appreciate mr. karen's, is, but putting another down there might increase the risk to the operation -- i appreciate mr. cameron's comments. >> and a reaction to the controversy over helen's remarks publicized friday? >> i have not spoken with him directly. i would say this, tommy. i think those remarks were offensive and reprehensible. i think she should and has apologized, because obviously those remarks do not reflect certainly the opinion of, i assume, most of the people in

here, and certainly not of the administration. >> on the question of desegregation, which i think means breaking up. >> yes. simple sailor top. -- talk. [laughter] >> does it make it more difficult? >> it makes it more difficult. but when it comes to shore, it is not at a mass where it has a huge impact on one place but i would not say it is a silver lining because of their is oil in the water nothing but bad happens, but it does lessen the impact because it is not coming to shore in mass but a lot of different places. >> is a naturally occurring but -- or dispersants add to that? >> all of the above. when it came to the surface, the might have been burning,

mechanical skimming, dispersants. the next day, the wind may have shifted. you have currants moving around, tidal currents. when the oil it came to the surface, environmental conditions may secreted a small back to that move in one direction and another and another. it is not a monolithic spill. >> the use of dispersants worthwhile, because it makes it harder to it scam -- >> i believe they are worthwhile but it is enough concern as we approach 1 million gallons. specifically from lee said jackson and the general regarding the unknown implications of that amount of dispersant, that out of caution, although we may need it from time to time to suppress the volatile compounds, use it only when most appropriate to achieve a particular effect and focus all of our dispersant application at the site of a leak. we have suppressed them on the

surface. >> the directive that went for a much greater reduction in volume, i think is now several weeks old. >> given the delicacy of this, are you confident it will remain effective during the months it will pay to dig the relief well, and what kind of maintenance needs to be done down there? what a scenario ever arise where -- would a scenario ever arise where you have to stop producing the oil? >> we should never be comfortable with the containment operation. we will be watching it very closely. we ought to be ruthless and oversight of bp and understanding what will is leaking around the rubber seal. once we know what the flow rate is. we need to understand completely that if we have severe weather in the form of a hurricane, there may be times we have to disconnect the operation and reestablished.

during that time we may have will come to the surface again. then -- that is the reason why i said this is a long campaign and we will be dealing with this oil for the foreseeable future. >> has bp with this government consulted with the british government to help, and so, what was said? >> i would say i have had no contact with the british government per se, but have looked at foreign offers for assistance. bp has made purchases overseas, especially the middle east. i am working with my military to see how they can add value. we have had canadian forces who have been flying missions with their aircraft. there has been a lot of international outrage but nothing direct with the british forces. >> especially since bp is based over there -- why not?

>> we can certainly reach out and contact them. anybody who has anything to bring to the fight we are considering, if it takes ask them, we will do that. >> talking about optimizing production. lessening waste. is it cost-effective to recycle some of the wasted oil that has been spilled? >> almost all of the recovered oil has been recycled, with the exception if it is contaminated sand and debris, in some case can become hazards -- hazardous waste and has to be treated according to epa guidelines. we of gone out to a couple of facilities to see the -- how they have handled the waist. >> marshland oil, containing maybe reads -- >> anything with oil on it has to be disposed of as in

accordance with federal law. of done through incineration. but in general, if it can be recycled or reused or reclaimed, it happens. but it gets to the point where it is just plain oily debris. the epa is consulting with us to make sure those are met with. when lisa and i go out to various sites, we look at waste disposal and how they are doing decontamination. almost every forward operation base has a decamp -- decontamination station. it is all washed off, put into the tank. the oil is decanted and recycled. >> can you discuss the benefits and shortcomings going forward actually requiring oil companies to drill relief wells simultaneously in the production of oil? would it have helped if bp had

had the relief well even before the spill took place? >> i have not had the discussion. i think that would be a legitimate point to raise and be put before the commission. it would fall over, i think, sam, the regulatory framework the commission will evaluate in order to determine the best way to operate this in a fail-safe atmosphere going forward. thanks, guys. .

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> tonight on c-span 2. >> progress in its army in today in washington to look at the political climate and midterm elections. live coverage starts shortly. we were supposed to get underway at 11:00 and we will have that live when it starts. president obama makes his first high-school graduation speech in southwest michigan designee. he will speak to kalamazoo central high school students. hundreds of people have tickets but it is not public. we will have live coverage here on cspan starting at 7:00 eastern.

the campaign for america's future and discussion is set to get under way in a few minutes. we will look at this morning's headlines. hington journal" in the last 30 days, give others a chance to have their voices heard. here is the story -- "mo thomas balad." lanny davis, former special counsel to present and -- these comments were made to a blog there and have been available online. we will give you a look at those posted on line over the weekd. something -- some of what helen cupp -- helen thomas had to say. >> any comments of israel?

>> tell them to get the out of palestine. [laughter] remember, these people are occupi. and it is their land. not german, not: -- but where should theyo? >> go home. >> where is home? >> poland, germany. >> jews should go back to poland and germany. >> and america and everywhere else. host: that video posted on a ,.com. lled rabbiliv here is "the new york post" this morning. this is concerning the ari fleisher comment.

that is the former white house press secretary under president bush. your thoughts. pensacola is first on the democrats' line. curtis, go ahead. caller: i would like to make a request that next time you have a republican or democratic person that is in the house or the senate, ask tm when they are going to put a bill up for term limits and also put the social security money in the social security account and not the general account. i would appreciate that. host: we will be talking about congressional issues wh david drucker later this morning. what about the helen thomas stored? caller: what happened to freedom of speech? just because the majority may be does not agree, she was just saying what she thought for felts i may not particularly agree

with our but why is it whenever somebody says something you don't like or agree with, you want to get them -- what is the word -- terminated or fired. if we did that, i don't think anybody would be working. host: a republican view from west river, maryland. joe, go ahead. caller: i appreciate the opportunity to let everyone know th helen thos has always been a racist biggest homophobe in her actions, and a lot of opportunities for senile dementia correctly and the white house press corps has always been an apologist for her and it is just unfortunate. she should go, no questions asked. host: columbia, south carolina, independent line. jimmy, should helen thomas sp down? caller: what i find appalling is there has been absolutely 0 discussion about israel selling

nuclear weapons to apartheid south africa. you all would not discuss issues of substance when it comes to israel. why is that? it has over 200 nuclear weapons and we are concerned about iran with zero nuclear weapons. anytime anything comes up about israel you all shutdown the conversation -- c-span, all of the network news, none of you would discuss anything negative about israel. why is that, sir? host: the views of jimmy from south carolina. more about helen thomas. she agreed to about out of the commencement speech at walt whitman, high-school, in bethesda, maryland. president obama today will be speaking at a high school in kalamazoo, michigan. take a look at the front page

of "the new york times" on the oil spill. the headline in many papers -- host: damage will continue after the oil well is capped. like a raging undersea beast, the well has stymied bp officials and the government. one technician was amazed at the power of big oil gushing from the deaths. jefferson, n.y., and our board -- democrat line. , on the democrats' line. caller: thank you for taking my call. all right, she might have spoke a little bit out of turn, but why is it any time anyone of voic concern about israel -- israel has done things, and we just sit back and we say nothing about it and we are always

supportive of israel. sometimes israel is not always right. so, i don't think it is fair and i think that is a lot of the reasons why a lot o >> you can see "washington journal" every morning at 7:00 here on c-span. we switch now to the progressive meeting in washington. >> i direct the campaign for america's future. i welcome you to washington this has been a city of great heat and big storms recently.

i am not talking about the weather. we need you to turn up the sheet a little bit more. [applause] -- weedy you to turn of the heat a little bit more. [applause] we will be 1000 strong in meetings this week. come from many states and progress of tribes of the progressive movement. we come together at a critical time. this is little more than one year into the obama administration, a little less than six months from the elections and in the midst of a pitched battle about the direction of this country. 24 million people are still unemployed, but action on jobs is stalled in the congress. bipartisan majority in the senate just approve billions of dollars in emergency spending for the war in afghanistan and derail the measure that would stop the layoffs of 300,000 teachers across the country.

the haunting calamity in the gulf of mexico exposes the work we have yet to do on climate change. wall street reform is headed to a conference committee this week. today, the campaign for america's future will join with moveon and others to present a petition of 50,000 americans calling on chairman barney frank to fulfill his promise on televising the proceedings currently want to bring the wall street lobbyists out of the cloakrooms and into the light of day. [applause] pollsters' talk about an enthusiasm gap. the tea party right is said to be on the march. independent dents increasingly skeptical. the rising electric, the young, single women, minorities, the core obama base has been hit hardest by the recession and is said to be disengaged.

if conservatives make traumatic gains this fall as is predicted, all progress will be harder in a country that cannot afford to make progress. john maynard, the man who would be speaker, made clear the threat at the end of the health care debate, roll that tape if you will. >> ♪ [unintelligible] yes, we can. ♪

>> yes, we can. [applause] but it will be up to us. let's remember who we are. when conservatives controlled everything of this city, we started these conferences. we planted a flag against karl rove who claimed the conservatives would have a permanent majority for a generation. we helped forge the majority that brought change to this country. we built the anti-war movement that gave democrats the boys on iraq. we mobilized by members in large numbers to challenge economics that only work for a few progressives virtually invented the rod blagojevich sphere that challenged the right and the mainstream -- invented the bloggers fear that challahs the right and the mainstream media. our success inspired the young senator from illinois to run for

the presidency. he in turn inspired us to help turn out voters in record numbers. we are the change. [applause] this president was elected with a mandate in a press kidding -- in a casket and crisis that requires fundamental change. much of the progressive community has thrown itself into the efforts of the reform agenda. we have had and considerable success. we had the first comprehensive health care reform since medicare. we have the largest increase in student aid since the g.i. bill at the end of world war two. the most extensive welfare reform since the great depression. this has been the greatest flurry of reform in over 50 years. yet, through it, we have grown more dissatisfied. for good reason.

the catastrophe that was inherited was far greater than any fear. reforms were insufficient to the cause. the rich -- the recovery plan stopped the the economic freefall but was too slow to put people to work for the health care reform but the insurance and drug companies kept their grip on their privileges. wall street reform will leave the big banks more concentrated than ever before. student aid was overwhelmed by the soaring tuition increases and severe cuts from colleges across the country wall street was rescued, main street is still struggling. what happened? how did this take place? a new generation has been introduced to the legislative process in its fall and the botched burglary. with remark -- and debauched glory.

this is a time of national crisis. entrenched corporate interest mobilized big time. insurance companies spent over $1 million per day lobbying on health care are the banks deployed over 70 former legislators and 1400 former staffers to influence wall street reform. they are equal opportunity employers. the white house has been an uncertain trumpet. administration reform was too often too timid from the start and too readily compromised along the way. [applause] too often the challenge to entrenched interest was muted in the search for the deal.

the obama presidency, like any reform presidency, has sparked a rapid reaction on the extreme right. with progressives enmeshed in the legislative battles and a president reluctant to draw a clear ideological differences, the poll populism of boat right gain greater traction than it might have otherwise got in. folks were anchored on the administration's efforts. the loan attacks are taking over the republican asylum. -- the lunatics are taking over the republican asylum. newt gingrich rushed a book out to indict the obama machine. even the button down president of the american enterprise institute, the think tank of the

fortune 500 warns that if obama succeeds, america will cease to be a free enterprise nation. this nonsense and hysteria is needed by the right to distract from the bankruptcy of their own ideas. we have seen the terrible toll of conservatives. they've had cronyism, scorn for government, the corruption of regulatory agencies in the case of the mineral management services who is in bed with the companies they were supposed to police. conservatives had their way and they got it wrong and americans are paying the price. the drill, baby drill crowd has the same ideas and policies that drove us off the cliff. there is no chance of that, but we will have to fight.

they can succeed only if we step aside. the question is not what they do but what we do. we have to revive an independent movements, the energy and activism that forged the reforms in the first place. that means we have to stop waiting for obama. we have to stop taking the president's top interpret we have to stop being critics and analysts and start being activists once more. we need to take the battle of ideas to the right and take on conservatives in both parties and remind them of the temper of this activist base. those standing in the way must understand there are no pre passes. tomorrow in arkansas, we will seek a primary challenge to blanche lincoln. whatever happens [applause] this is a challenge that progressives have launched. what ever happened is a clear message has already been sent

and received. we must expand the capacity to hold legislators accountable and to recruit and support progress of champions. history does not repeat itself, mark twain once wrote, but sometimes it rhymes. one lesson can be drawn from history and that is the progressive movement must organize independently of democrats in the administration to affect change. [applause] martin luther king supported this. president johnson went to him in 1964 and told him to shut down the civil rights demonstrations. with an independent movement, more low-tech king could no longer do that if he had wanted to. instead, he went to cellmark and the confrontation in selma electrified the nation and six months later, the voting rights act was passed into under

president obama, wall street reform today is stronger than the bank's expected because demonstrators showed up. the public was to big banks, investigators expos their crimes and polish, and progressives inside and outside the congress push for reforms that the of ministration did not dare and vision. immigration reform got put back on the agenda not because that latinos have allies in the white house but because the right to movement brought tens of thousands of people to washington and reminded politicians of the benefits of action and the caucus -- and the causes of inaction. we are headed into a fierce battle in the next years, a battle over priorities. we face a budget deficit and a yawning domestic investment deficit in everything from education to 21st century

infrastructure, to new energy, and simple clean water. a country that continues to squander cullions of dollars in wars abroad while failing to provide every child the nutrition, education, and health care will have the country approaching spiritual death. the first year of reform and reaction has made our task clear spirit we have to clean up the elections, challenge mobilized monday with mobilized people, and change the course here in washington. power concedes nothing without a demand. it never has and never will. we must issue the demand. we must build the demand. we must drive the demand we are the change and we have the power. [applause]

let me introduce to you a natural phenomenon. arianna huffington is the offer of two books and the number -- and the mother of two daughters. she runs the huffington post. it is now the second-largest political website on the internet, trailing only ""the new york times." in 2009 [applause] the financial times named her one of the 50 people who shaped that decade. that was when she was just warming up. [laughter] she has a new book coming out this year warning america about its course toward becoming a third world nation. arianna huffington.

[applause] >> thank you so much, bob. thank you for this wonderful speech and all your doing and thank you for being a regular huffington post blogger. it seems like yesterday, doesn't it? barack obama was going to take office. he was going to change the world and we would just go home and sit on the couch% [laughter] he was going to be in charge of changing our financial system, the feeding special interests in washington, ending on necessary wars, congratulations, it has worked out great. [laughter] i am just kidding because we realize that surprising as it is

to hear about, electing barack obama which many of you thought worked -- was hard to do, amazing though it was and continues to become a was the easy part. the hard work remains to be done. if we have learned one thing of the last year-and-a-half, we have learned that democracy is not a spectator sport. the other think we have learned is that bipartisanship is not the way to fundamental change. [applause] so far, bipartisanship has brought us a long string of catastrophe. it has brought us the freedom from the burden of an affordable public option which is fantastic, isn't it? it has also brought us an ongoing war in afghanistan which

is depleting our treasury and bring death to many of our sons and daughters. that is what bipartisanship has brought us so far. [applause] we are also seeing by partisanship in relation to offshore drilling washing up on the shores of louisiana. every day, we see more pictures of pelicans and dolphins covered in bipartisanship. [laughter] i have always loved in my adopted country the spirit of optimism. the american spirit of optimism and the optimism of greece blends well together. the reason why i am warning about america becoming a third world country is because

optimism is not enough. we also need to move at the warning light on our national- board. it is flashing red. one in five americans is unemployed, underemployed, or just plain out of work. one in nine families cannot make the minimum payment on their credit cards. one in eight mortgages is in default or foreclosure. one in eight americans is on food stamps. more than 120,000 families per month are filing for bankruptcy. at the same time, you have 45 states that have had families reduce.

[unintelligible] we bailed out a i g 4100 -- 4 $780 billion. -- for $180 billion. why is in the greater urgency coming out of washington? os0qtwhen walt it was in troubl, they all came together over the weekend. -- when wall street was in trouble, they all came together over the weekend and a stable street. why cannot we do the same thing now to save main street? [applause] contrary to what the republicans are saying, there is no question that the stimulus bill did it take the edge off. the british prime minister said you cannot jump across a chasm in two jobs. you have to do it in one.

the stimulus bill was one job. it was not enough and we are seeing the result of that everywhere. again and again, we are being told that jobs is next. we have heard that many times. after we do finance reform, after we do health care, jobs is next. i have this nightmare in which i am stuck in a forest and i cannot find my way out. that is how i see this illusion about jobs is next. it is not. another warning sign that we're becoming a poor world nation is that trials of dollars we continue to spend fighting a necessary wars. we are building ever more powerful weapons while people here are doing without. [applause] civilizations' dies from suicide not for murder.

our future is dependent on the choices we make and that things we value. we hear talk in washington about downsizing and deficit- reduction, but very little about the $160 billion we're spending in 2010 to fight wars of choice in afghanistan and iraq. this is not about ignoring the threat for national security guard this is not about pacifism. this is precisely about what one illinois state senator said in 2002 when he said," i do not oppose all wars, i just oppose some wars." [applause] recently, the joint chiefs of staff told an afghan leader that the upsurge in kandahar will reduce corruption and make local

government work and provide jobs. it is like a bad joke. the good news is the obama administration is wrapping up a multi billion dollar program, but we create a host of new jobs for the bad news is we have to move to kandahar to apply. [laughter] this is not about right versus left. you have the cato institute agreeing that escalating in afghanistan was not the right move. this is the right kind of partisanship -- the right kind of bipartisanship. throughout history, every major historical achievement whether it was the emancipation proclamation, the 19th amendment, so security, medicare, was not achieved by stating the difference. abraham lincoln did not bring a return to get -- did not bring

everybody together and suggest we free the slaves half the time. that would not have worked very well. right now, we are seeing the unfortunate reality. if you have driven a school bus into a ditch, you should not be given another boss. we are seeing many corporations being given more buses including halliburton. [applause] after evidence that it had defrauded the american taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars in iran, they were there

cementing the well in the gulf. this is what normally happens in third world banana republics. incompetents and corruption are rewarded. it is clear that hope is not enough. what we need is hope 2.0 which means taking matters into our own hands. if the government is not going to shrink the big banks and a taxpayer will remain on call, we can't change that and take our money out of the big banks and put them into community banks and credit unions. it has been happening. [applause] 2 million people have moved

their money. $5 billion has been moved from the big banks. if you are running a union or you know people who run unions, have them move their money. if you run a state or a city or county, have them move their money. they will understand that. that is how we will change the world, one action at a time. let me wrap things up. i am getting all might signs here. [laughter] let me wrap up by saying that at the moment, president obama says that we find ourselves at a rare point where the size and scope of the challenges before as require that we make a renewed promise. the question and this is and we have to make is will we see a place where economic opportunity will be real for everyone?

willoughby just for the economic elite? will it be a place where transparency rains and back room deals are banished from balsa power? will it be a place where a main street replaces wall street as the center of the economic universe? that is where hope 2.0 needs to date. hopefully, america can be trusted to do the right thing after has exhausted all other possibilities. [laughter] we have exhausted all our possibilities trying to do the right bank. thank you. [applause] >> and the stern is in --andy stir in is an organizer and strategist and thinker. he is the president americas,

that means he is retired, of the 2.2 million person service employees international union, seiu, the fastest-growing union in the country. he joined as a social service worker in 1973. he rose to become an organizing director and was elected president first 1996. he led them to play a significant role in building the progress of infrastructure that helped to transform our debate over the last years. in the 2008 elections, seiu motor rapidly and in big fashion to a like the young senator barack obama. she has recently been named to the president's national commission on fiscal responsibility p. he will lead the debate that will dominate our politics over the next few years over the

priorities we take and the choices we make if we get a recovery and we began to get our fiscal balance back in order. andy stern. [applause] >> thank you. good morning. good morning. that's better. first of all, before i begin, i think we owe a round of applause and more than that, a heartfelt thanks to bob and roger and the campaign for america's future. when the lights were very dark in washington, d.c. and someone had to stand up, they did, they have, and they continue to do it. thank you bob, thank you campaign. thank you roger. [applause] i want to make five simple points this morning. first of all, i love this country and i am a true over- the-top believer in the american dream. secondly, this is not our

fathers or grandfathers economy. in fact, this is the third economic revolution in world history. 3, in global economies countries are teams. team usa lacks a growth-oriented long-term fiscal irresponsible economic plan. four is when we spent too much time writing and worrying and wining and not winning people. ., \e, students workers pay the price. we have to remember how we achieve change in our country. sometimes in the midst of these conferences and analyses and debate and criticism, progressives forget to say what i know underlines the most fundamental reason for our activism. that is that we love this

country. i happen to think america is a gift. the greatest gift is that people come here from all over the world like my grandfather. all he ever expected from america was that he would work really hard. all he ever hoped for was that his work would be rewarded. what my grandfather dreamed about and so many other people, immigrants and native-born that we all know, was that his children would lead a better life than he did. that is the unique and special and once in during american dream. today, 79% of all parents say their children and grandchildren will not lead a better life than their parents. that is not the america we want. that is not the america we need. that is why we need a new 21st century economic plan. [applause]

this is not our fathers or grandfathers economy. we are as far to date from the new deal as the new deal was from the civil war. we cannot drive into the future looking in the rearview mirror. progressives need to learn and built in the past, but have the wisdom and strategy and the courage that bob talked about to build a new future. our country today is living through the most significant economic revolution in the history of the world. there has only been for economic revolutions, the agricultural took 3000 years. the industrial took 300 years. this revolution, this profound moment of change that makes the hobbling to imposed -- the huffington post the second most red website in the country, as

we go to a different comic, this revolution will only take 30 years. no single generation of people have ever witnessed this must change in a single lifetime. american people sense the change. they know something is different. they are in search of a new pathway forward. as we witness in the absence of a sensible and realistic way forward, people, even like us, resist the future or try to turn back the clock to days that are long gone. america needs a 21st century economic plan because we now know the american financial plan has failed and should never be revived worshiping the market again. it has failed. america needs help. [applause]

team usa, our red white and blue team, now faces, and you can choose your favorite adjective, a challenging, ruinous, irresponsible, unsustainable, disastrous, greed or japan-like future. it is fair to say that team usa has no this bill is responsible forward-looking economic plan. progressive cannot shy away from this or pierre or think it is politically incorrect to want a fiscally responsible future for our country. the disaster we now face and the deficits we now confront are all a result of a broader economic crisis. it would be insane to imagine not stimulating the economy and fight for wage and job growth. in the long run, analysis of the

problem is no substitution for action. things were pretty bad for workers before the economic crisis during the jobless decade at a time when the gap between the rich and the rest of the population grew so wide and fast. regardless of how we got here, the challenge of this decade, i believe for progressives, is to craft a 21st century a fiscally responsible economic plan that produces wage growth and job growth, particularly in the private sector, that makes long- term investment in education infrastructure, clean energy research and jobs and produces for america a budget that has spending for discretionary and entitlements aligned with revenues to reduce deficits to a level that is prudent and progressive. that will be the debate in the next several years. i just want to say that when we

sit on the sidelines and do not have a plan and the crisis hits, poor people and students and working people pay the price. look at california, look at greece, look at the million state workers have lost their jobs and the people in the 99th week of unemployment and beyond. when we do not act, when we do not have a plan and the crisis hurts, it is not the elite or the corporations or the rich and powerful or politician that pay the price. it is us and the people whom we serve. change is not a spectator sport. americans seemed to believe, and i want to use a sailboat metaphor. we believe that sometimes we just select the right leader and put his hand on the tiller as we did with president obama.

but we thought he would steer the country in the right direction. we all know that if you have a sailboat and you have to hand on the tiller, and there is no wind, you can push the tiller back and forth as much and as hard as you want. you will only go in circles. it is the wins that fills the sales and allows the capt. to steer. i happened to grow up when the winds of change were blowing rapidly. john lewis and people on now to this day had courage to create the winds of change that lyndon johnson in to replace he never thought he would go. it was the writings of betty friedan and gloria steinem and the marches for equal rights that motivated women to stand up for themselves and their homes and their families and again in. it was anti-war students, stonewall riots, ralph nader of

van and elizabeth warrenton now, environmental activists of dan, muckraking journalists and blotters now. ordinary people with -- are the wind of change. not all lobbyists on k street, not the politicians up on the hill, it is people, it is us that are the winds of change. that is what we learned in the battle for health care reform. when will it lead and stand up to whomever it may be, we can win. our futures is not a matter of chance. it is a matter of choice. let's have the courage to stand up and hold accountable the big insurance companies, the big banks, senators from arkansas, ttat congressman from new york and north carolina. let's have higher expectations for our leaders whether they are in the state house or the white house. margaret mead once said, "never

in doubt -- never doubt that small group of committed people contains the world." that is the only thing that ever happens. on my desk is a plaque that says," the best way to predict the world is to help create a." let's lift our boys and use our leadership and let us be the winds of change that lead america in a different direction. if not us, then who? if not now in america, then went? thank you very much. [applause] >> i saved the dynamo for last. he is the chief executive officer for green for all. it is an extraordinary organization.

they ensure that we capture a leading role in the green industrial revolution that will transform the world, but the people in this country who got locked out of the last industrial revolution will have a seat at the table in this one. he is the perfect leader for this effort. she knows how to inspire and enough to -- how to do the hard work -- comes out of the afl- cio labor counsel in the silicon valley. she has moved green for all into a central position in the debate to run energy reform. [applause] >> i have to tell you that wenwn i got a request to be somewhere on my birthday, i was like,

"tell them no." when i heard was, i said without question i want to be there. thank you and happy birthday. [applause] the reason i wanted to be here is because i consider this room the church of change. i thought what better place to be on my birthday then in a room full activists who have a vision for our lives can be better. on like others, i have a very selfish reason for joining this movement. i did not join this motion because i woke up and realized other people deserve a better life. i grew up in a small town. it was voted the worst place to live in the bay area. it has the privilege of being between a shell refinery and anheuser-busch.

when i was growing up, the doctor said to my mom that we need to mow. i had as an allergies. my mom was plotting how we would take toilet paper from the doctors rest room so we would have told the paper at the idea that we would get up and know so we could have an environment that i will not have asthma and allergies was beyond our own beliefs. i am here because i want kids like me to think they have better options. i have three nieces or seven, nine, and the 11 and i am here on their behalf. i have a sister who is an added. they have a father just get out of jail. it is important they play an important part of my life. my mom and i have submitted responsibilities for them as we watched my sister grow. my mom was on public assistance, their mom is on public assistance, and they

brought in a community that did not have many choices and statistics tell us they too will be on public assistance the reason i am here is to talk about our rights as movement. our rights as movement is a movement that says the girl these are better. [applause] we say they believe a future as bright as someone who grow up in a community that have better opportunities. the reason i am at the church of change today is because i want you all, as you gulfport, to know the story of shall maimar, jasmine, and leila. we have a moment that is ready for change and a movement that is not. we have a movement that has not

realize that what this movement is. i thought about what we are. we believe a coalition of working-class white men and people of culture and environment are capable of change? we recognize his honor in being a call minor in west virginia. we recognize the need of a coal miner and a black woman witching -- working at chevron's richmond have the same agenda and we need to focus their needs. that is who we are. i come out of the labor a moment so i am used to people yelling at me. [laughter] members, politicians, it does not hurt my feelings. glenn that started talking about me and i was asked if i was angry. i told him we have a plot to take over this country. absolutely, we do. [applause] it is not a hidden agenda.

it is and ed agenda that says all people deserve high quality and white call miners in west virginia and black women in richmond, calif. want the same thing. what they want is for us to divide ourselves. they want us to say that one is better than another. we say it is immigration vs column writing. we say no because our vision of america has all of us, not some of us, when we think about what green is, it is green for all and not for some. that is the difference. i thought about how we make this happen. we have made some mistakes. we thought an election was a victory. we forgot that candidates do not deliver change. they become part of the system. we are the people that hold them accountable for us to not recognize that while i voted for barack obama and i would again, he is not enough. if we do not push him to say that the handling of bp has been

atrocious at best and we don't say it does not mean we don't support him, it means we recognize that people like my nieces are not getting their needs met. we don't mean to discredit leadership, we want to raise our expectations. what is important is that we all people at the center of our agenda and the quality of life of our families must get better. we have to be vigilant. when people hear us, i want people to know that there is no person or institution more important than the people of louisiana at this moment. the vietnamese fishermen who have not had their claims met, where were about them. when bp is processing one- reclines per hour and the fishermen wait all day to have their claims heard, it is not appropriate that we will not rest and this movement will raise their voices.

that is our polk desperate our church of change said it is not [applause] i believe in the president but i believe and the needs that people of the gulf coast fought for. i believe that if we do not hold them accountable, no one else will. when i look at things like what is happening with bp, i think what we have not said is that if a foreign country came in and did that, it would be seen as an act of war. because there are private contractors, is a mistake and deplorable and on american. if we do not say they are not right and we are wrong. this room is wrong. i want us to be able to learn a lesson and keep our focus and i want to think about holding people accountable, even people we love. then, i want to play team sports. we sometimes think we are playing individual sports.

we discussed on the climate bell and we felt like rock stars. what i forgot is that we need our futures and our success to be intertwined. the more people whose success depends on us, the more likely people will root for us. what we have to be able to say is that when one of those wins, all of us wince. the people at the core of our mission and the core of our agenda, we are vigilant on their behalf. the only people we serve are those people. the reason i believe in green jobs -- when i first heard about them in the labor movement, it sounds like a puzzle. -- it sounds like hustle. the beauty of green jobs is it allows us to bring people together and meet everyone's needs. it allows us to honor those who

work in the labor movement to bring environmentalist in and a whole group of people together. that is what glam beck is afraid of. -- that is what glen beck is afraid of. bp as an example of what is wrong. i came back from the gulf and i have been angry ever since. it represents the past economy. it was an economy that had a cozy relationship between industry and government agencies that were responsible for regulating. we did not create this problem. the bush administration said the interest of the oil companies is in our best interest. that is not what is good for america. bp said they are be on petroleum. what they did it shut down production of a u.s. factory in march of this year. 400 workers lost their jobs at bp.

they said that they are the new company for petroleum because they want solar wind and power but they shut down the only factory in the country that did that. bp is not right for taking jobs from american workers. it is the american worker that will become the future endangered species. the american worker who can support themselves, who can take care of themselves. what we have to do as a movement is we have to be ready for our moment. 11 people died in west virginia because they wanted to support their families. it is un-american. no people should have to put their lives at risk if they want to support their families. those folks have to know that this progress of the open is on their side. we need to be clear that we do not need an expansion of offshore drilling. we need a bill that punishes polluters and create incentives

for clean energy. we cannot afford to be distracted. we will not be distracted. we will halt any person regardless of where they are accountable. we believe in the president of recognize our success is measured by the quality of life improvement and that is our only measure back. we will do it collectively and with a team. the difference between us and bobby jim doyle is that he says he is outraged but he still says -- bobby jindal, but he still says drill, baby drill. i was in a meeting where someone said we have to think about how to talk about this-friendly. we have to think about how to do it differently. we cannot be the movement that says drill, baby drug. we are outraged. we have to be the moment that says comprehensive clean energy legislation looks different because it keeps the most of

vulnerable americans safe. the reason i am here and i think my grandmother is because i believe that my niece's have a moment and i need you to be ready. i need our open to be strong and i want us to be bold and i want us to say that this is our country and we are true patriots and we kicked at the foundation for the american worker an american child and no movement or person is more important than the american worker and the future of this country. thank you. [applause] >> are you all warmed up? [laughter] we will do something very different.