discusses the gulf oil spill. host: good morning. a live view of the capital on this last day of 2010. it is friday, december 31. on this new year's eve, newspapers and editorials are looking to the new year. the 112th congress will continue next wednesday with the new speaker of the house, john vader of ohio. if we want to focus on what some of -- john boehner of ohio. if we want to focus on what some of this means. the economic forecast is a

little brighter for 2011. and from the pittsburgh post- gazette, the economy seems to be stabilizing. our focus for the next 45 minutes is on the new congress. a piece by former representative harold giving advice to a freshman rep. but we want to find out if things will really change in washington d.c. the numbers are on the screen. let's begin with democratic representative harold ford. he offers the following advice from the "washington post."

meanwhile this morning, from the wrapup look at cq weekly, they're looking at parties at wrapping up committee rosters.

let's hear from you as the new congress begins in washington next week. will things really changed in our nation's capital? the soviet joins us from broken arrow, a coloma -- sofia joins us from broken arrow, okla..

go ahead with your comment. caller: i am so happy that the house, the senate, and everyone there and the white house is working on together in unity. it is long overdue. the military, which my son has done at 18 calendar years, i was so happy to see him come home. i am so related best they are working together -- so elated that they are working together as one. i am so happy that now, the whole united states and abroad

can see that we can work together as one. host: will we see this with a divided congress in 2011? caller: i did n think so. i think the trend started from the beginning. to keep the bush tax cuts, i think that was a great move by the president of the united states. some let's move on to other calls. john is joining us from mesa, arizona. independent line. good morning. caller: a good morning. i personally do not believe there will be a major amount of cooperation. obama has shown a desire to run things through and if it does

not go his way, he cuts. again, he was willing to spend it into the red to get a tax cut for everybody. social security was already a mess, but he got a tax cut. it makes everyone happy for something for nothing. host: thanks for the call. a new sense a skindell earlier this month and in case you missed it, -- a new census came out earlier this month and in case you missed it, here are the winners and losers. the population of the country,

increasing about 9.7% over the last 10 years. one is joining us in 20 -- one that is joining us in trenton, new jersey. will the state of things to change in the next few years? caller: i am a pessimist. i do not think we have made enough changes for them to change. we did not take the senate. they do not really have to go along and obama has the veto pen. i'm not sure where we are going. host: thanks for your call. some of the headlines on this friday morning --

you can read those stories online at thehill.com. curtis is joining us from pensacola, florida. caller: i have a request that c- span have a new year resolution and could getting off the right wing protocol on stuff. and you are overdoing it with the right wing. i do not feel like there are going to be any changes. the only way there will be changes is term limits in the house and senate. until that happens, there will never be changed. at least, looking to my request. host: what specifically is of setting you. caller: first of all, how many times this past year did you say democrats only. host: not that often, i do not think. caller: exactly, every time i

watch you say, republicans and only. you are usually 99% of the time objective, but you have lost the desire to be objective. it seems like you are just for the republican party. host: we have been democrats only and republicans only in certain segments, but never for an entire show. curtis, i appreciate the comment. keep watching. and we want to do a good job for you and all of you. the "washington journal" has this --

back to your calls. brian joining us from north carolina.

buildings changed in washington d.c.? -- will things change in washington d.c.? caller: i certainly hope so. it seems to be business as usual, whether it is the 110th, 111th. we need to stop looking left or right and move forward. they need to get off of their tookases. nothing will change unless they move forward. everybody is screaming the same thing. the congress men and women need to hear it and act upon a. host: paul krugman this morning in the "new york times" -- his

point of view. who can read more this morning from paul krugman and the

quality -- you can read more this morning from paul krugman and the "new york times." next call, good morning. caller: i have been around long enough and seen enough broken windows to know darn well when you accuse me, you did it. the broken windows been the economy. -- been the economy. i am a melanoma survivor. if i do not have the money to afford insurance, why should i be denied medical coverage? i am a little bit nervous. i will hang up and listen to your comments. thanks host: for the call. one of our twitter comments -- next is russell joining us from joshua, texas.

caller: as far as whether things will really change in d.c., republicans need to hold what they were elected for. -- hold onto what they were elected for. i think it was yesterday that they did the no labels pin. -- the scene. and that drove me crazy. the only compromise i would like to see is the compromise with the new republicans. the old republicans are just as bad as the democrats. what is put forth by the president is not what i am for and that is what those republicans were elected for is to change that.

host: our address is twitter.com/wj. other headlines from this friday morning is an in-depth peace by jody warwick.

more this morning from the "washington post" a front-page story. back to your calls, and will things really changed in the nation's capital? our next caller is from maryland. good morning. caller: good morning. i think the change already occurred when president obama got elected. when he came into office, he really took control prior to this 2008 election. if you remember, the wars were going terribly. obama came in and he was almost running the military. here is a guy who came in and

ran an audit to the united states maryland -- military. the economy was in shambles. at that time, the whole world was going to fall over. on friday afternoon they said they have got to bring a check monday morning or the whole economy is going to die. here is a guy who came in and put on our back into the u.s. military and into the fight to, saved the economy. and he is rewarded by the american people by bringing in at 60 characters. so i do not get called by my wife over the edge, you know, trying to be nice. he brought in the 60 people and then he took the best leader of the house that accomplished more -- the first female leader of the house, and accomplished more than any other congress. she did things for the american

people. and anybody making less than $250,000 and still voting for republicans, pack your babies up and grab your ladies and go back to where you came from. host: next call from maryland, susan -- lawrence is joining us on the republican line. caller: i'm just kind of tired of the different money streams throat -- flowing through d.c. there. it does not seem like the president is in charge. it seems like he is no. 5. tom daschle is the one who got him elected. he is one of the biggest obstructionists' the arbor was in the senate. thereggest obstructionists

ever was in the senate. and if you want to get reelected and tossed out of office, i do not believe you should have more power than the incoming senate the replace you. i think there should be term limits. that is more or less my comment. host: a new report shows that north korea has update -- and upgraded its military. orda

the story this morning inside the "new york times" today. another comment from monte, saying -- will things really changed in the new congress? phoenix, arizona is the next caller, derica on the independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. i think things will change if mitch mcconnell has his way.

i think he will continue to stand in the way of the president and complete his mission and see that the president fails at all cost. that is the bay, in my opinion, elephant in the room. -- that is the bay, and my opinion, elephant in the room. i am in arizona and relatively new here since mr. obama has been in office. i am a black man and i am experiencing the racism here. i'm sure you know about 1070 and the whole bit. unless the attitude of people like mitch mcconnell changes, this country's had in the wrong direction. host: some stories at the end of any year or any decade, looking back and looking ahead. this is from the "houston chronicle."

tim is joining us from cecil county, maryland. will things really changed in the new year, tim? caller: i do not know. i do not foresee a significant change in this new year. but i would like to touch on a couple of points of some previous callers. i disagree that nancy locy is the greatest speaker that we have ever had -- nancy pelosi is the greatest speaker that we have had in the house of representatives. i think she is a snake in the grass. she is just like the route -- the rest of them that welcome the tax break in january. republicans are spending money like it is a window front. the democrats are doing the same thing behind the scenes, but not being ridiculed about it. we're all americans, regardless of whether we've become an

elephant or a jackass. let's all stop acting like jackasses and become american citizens. stop looking for -- to start looking for osama bin laden, which we have not found in 10 years, but we got saddam hussein, in a matter of months. after you draw unemployment for 99 weeks, your broker. -- you are broken. host: thanks for the comment. here's a comment from our twitter page. asking if things will really on this editorial.

danielle is joining us from belleview. -- daniel is joining us from belleview. caller: hopefully the new congress will ascribe to the rule of law making as indicated by rush limbaugh, though i doubt it was his own original thought. the less the congress does, the better it is. i watched c-span routinely. i try to watch at least an hour a day. i have noticed that in the house of representatives, i have yet to see more than 10 people in the chamber at a time.

allegedly, the redistricting is going to be done by computer, and as such, all of this gerrymandering, hopefully, will be a thing of the past. i am originally from colorado and there is a fellow there, a representative. i cannot think of his name, but he has a bike path that connects his sister from one side of the river to the other. -- that connects his district from one side of the river to the other. i hope that gerrymandering is done away with as much as humanly possible. host: thanks for this -- the comment. john has this comment. onlier this week we focused the issue of medicare. it is available online on the

cbs website. bill clinton, george ehud bush, among those who will reach 65 this month. what does this mean? first, the number of people eligible will double from 46 million to 80 million by the time the boomers all to reach the age of 65. -- all reached the age of 65. it is estimated the costs will grow from $500 billion today, to $900 billion by 2020. and the number of workers supporting each senior will fall. the headline, medicare bound to be bused as the first boomers hit 65. caller: i think things are just about the same as they have been. the democrats are fortunate enough to have some of the blue

dog republicans removed from the congress. but the comment this morning, the guy who said the station -- that your station is to right wing. -- too right wing. the read article from the washington post and then from the wall street journal and then the new york times. how can anyone say that is right wing? you have the cato institute to counteract the american enterprise institute. you have another to counteract both of those. you have had three black people on this month.

i cannot remember someone mentioned it was an all white thing. how can anyone say it is right wing? host: as they say in the campaign commercials, we approve of your message. you do have to watch this network in totality because you can watch one program or event and come away with one conclusion. but keep in mind, we have many events and are in over 100 million homes. and of course, our main site at c-span.org. caller: your acting like i have not heard the station before? host: no, and we get people who call and complain about the coverage. i wanted to endorse what you're saying.

next call from maryland. caller: good morning. i do appreciate what you do. i am a tea party member and if there is a change, these people are going to -- these people, i mean republicans. they are going to receive phone calls, e-mails, twitter and it is going to be so loud there will have to be changed. mr. obama's program will have to be repealed. if they're not willing to do these things, we will not get the job they have to have in this country. ross perot, i know you kno he said, when they pass the nafta program, you can hear that sucking sound. he was right.

host: thanks for the call. moving on to another viewer. more headlines this week including "the daily news." and this morning, the new york -- the "new york times" takes a look at voter discontent. whether this dorschel view bush in new orleans in april of 2006 or mader -- or mayor of new york when the earthquake hit l.a..

next is martha joining us from alexandria, virginia. the question we're asking on this friday morning, the last day of 2010, will things really changed in the new congress as the new year begins? what you think? caller: i am not sure, but i am worried. i worried about what i have heard from speaker vader and tea party candidates. -- speaker boehner and tea party candidates. i am worried about all of these spending cuts that will continue to hurt the ordinary americans that should have a voice in this country, but may not be exercising their right to have a voice in this country.

i am hoping it is not just the tea partyers that are calling in and making their voices heard. weld has flown aboard to in this country for the last 10 years -- the wealth has flown up word in this country for the laws 10 years. i urge the representatives to make sure that ordinary americans have a decent life in this country. host: bill bennett will be joining us later this morning as we look ahead. we will be looking up the chairmanship of the rnc. there is a debate taking place next monday at the press club. we will be covering that. the coverage will get underway at 1:00 p.m. eastern time. michael steele is the chairman

and he has confirmed that he will participate. there are six candidates for chairman for the republican national -- republican national committee. another regular twitter follower on c-span on our website saying -- the president is on vacation this week. he returns from why on sunday and is back at work monday morning. this is from frank in dayton, ohio.

next is mike joining us from baltimore. good morning. caller: good morning. i just want to say thank you for having c-span. basically, what i want to say -- and i hope you do not cut me off. i want to minutes to say what i want to say. i will try to save as quickly as i can. the tea party, a lot of people already know about the tea party. if you look inside the tea party, it was people who got riled up and they were angry white people. that was it. and we're not talking about the indians, the natives. we are not talking about how the african-american field, how the chinese people feel, how the muslim americans feel. america, i thought it was the melting pot. literally, republicans, though, you have the eighth party.

-- of the hate party. if you voted for george bush the first time and then you voted for george bush again and then you voted for mccain and sarah palin, and then there is this movement the cause gridlock and gave the president less power, then you are part of the problem. you are the cancer of america and you make us young people, the latinos and blacks and the whites and the jews, we cannot sit down at the table because you are worse than the bloods and crips. the republicans are masters of hate. fox news is the drug dealer of the hate world. it is hate news. we are all suffering because of this. and president obama is trying

his best to stop all of this war. it is crazy. host: you got it all in, mike. thanks for the call. here is a story in the newspapers this morning. you may have seen it yesterday.

in this final paragraph of this article from the "washington post" -- he will still be able to lobby in washington and wall street. ion kaing is joining us on the republican line. good morning, ken. caller: i have been in this country 35 years. i am and englishmen. i have been watching what is happening with health care, and

i do not know whether you guys know it, you do not want to be like england. the unions run the country. everything is just upside-down. why not just put a coalition government to gather for two to four years to sort of problems out? -- together for two to four years toward the problems are? that is just a suggestion. that is all i have to say. host: thank you and we appreciate the call and your perspective. steve rights in -- will things really changed in washington d.c.? tim is joining us from michigan

on the line for democrats. caller: i have one comment to make about medicare and the health care system in general that no one has to ever brought up. the atrocious record of doctors in this country. they killed thousands of people every year with mistakes. no one ever brings that up. why do they get paid, even if they accomplish their job? i think someone should look into this and see if they are worth the big bucks that they think they are. host: thank you. andy is joining us from new mexico. caller: happy new year. i am an independent voter. i am not part of the tea party, but i do often side with them. this country is going downhill quickly. inflation is going to make $5,

gas. -- $5 per gallon gas. the future is not right. host: thanks for the call. charles krauthammer, who is also a regular commentator on fox news. you can read more this morning from trawls crowd hammer, who is also in the open court washington post."

next call is from mississippi. caller: good morning. i was calling about the question of whether things will really change in d.c. i do not think that they really will. republicans had eight years of the majority and they are back to the majority. we do need a balance. i will not blame it all on the republicans. i will say that i do not blame it on the tea party because they are out pushing their agenda and they are getting people out to vote. there are elections they need to worry about in your own district. that is where it starts. we need to take the time to educate ourselves to learn about

the politics. you get out and you vote in order to voice your opinion. that is what the tea party does. they get out and they go. if you do not vote, you do not have a voice. host: thanks for the call. kathleen wright saying -- savidge this morning in the "new york times" -- the headline --

the story this morning in the "a" section of the "new york times" and is also available online. charles as 20 us from north carolina. will things really changed in the new year? caller: well, i hope so. and good morning, c-span. good morning to you. what people did in 2006 and 2008 elections, what they did, they voted for deception. and what they got was really -- what they find their cells in now -- themselves in out is

mixed up with the looters and mergers and parasites. that is where you get when you vote for a bunch of jackasses are run the country. i hope people will wake up and get their head out of the sand and start thinking a little bit more about who they vote for. host: charles, thank you for the call. a store that has been talked about over the last couple of days in venezuela -- this is in the open court wall street journal." -- this is in "the wall street journal."

that, by the way, is the second consecutive year of declining output in this situation. linda is joining us from evansville, indiana, independent line. good morning. caller: i think we have a lot of problems going on. i would like to see the fact that we have changes coming, but i do not believe that is going to happen. in so many cases the president has -- the president has a limit of two terms. most governors have a limit on their terms. but we have professional politicians in both the representatives and in congress.

i think we need to cut back and put some term limits on those professional politicians. if the president of the united states, the highest government, has a limit put on him, white -- why can't we put that on the someone who has their entire life? host: here is another comment from e-mail. meanwhile, this from chris, who says the gop ran on reducing the deficit.

next is justin joining us from the republican line from sykesville, ky. good morning. caller: my first comment is about the public education system in our nation. right now, the teachers union is picking the banks of all americans. you cannot fire bad teachers. i had terrible teachers and school, but i had some great ones as well. my second comment, if obama will move -- if obama does not move to the center, like bill clinton did, he will be a one-term

president. host: one other comment from our twitter page -- you can join the conversation on line at twitter.com/c-spanwj. we are going to be talking to bob dean, the co-author of "in deep water." he will be joining us later in the program. this is friday, the last day of december. new year's eve. and we are back in just a moment.

>> starting this morning at 8:00 p.m. -- 8:00 a.m. eastern, the latest titles and authors. and on afterwards, william hart ung. >> c-span's original documentary on the supreme court has been newly updated. sunday, you will see the grand public places and those only available to the justices and their staff.

and you will hear about how the six -- how the supreme court works, including from all of the supreme court justice including the newest justice, elena kagan. it is aaron for the first time in high definition sunday at 6:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> the c-span networks provide coverage of politics, nonfiction books, and american history. it is all available on -- on- line and through our networks. and we take c-span on the road with our digital bus and local content vehicles. is washington your way. the c-span networks from an hour available in more than 100 million homes. rated by cable and provided as a public service. -- created by cable. host: welcome back.

we are joined by bill bennett. like to talk about on this new year's eve. -- a lot to talk about on this new year's eve. let's look at the spending budget, which is the next big battle that this congress will be facing. what is going to happen? guest: i do not know, but i understand that wednesday, the session will start with a reading of the constitution. i think john vader is going to read the constitution to set 8 -- john boehner is going to read the constitution to set a standard, if you will. but then the challenge will be to look at spending. we had a young staffer at empower america who came to work with jack kemp and me in the 1990's. we thought he was very talented and capable. he will be -- he will become

the budget committee chairman in january. that is where the action will be. attacking the deficit has got to be done. starting tomorrow, a 10,000 baby boomers today will hit age 65. we go the demands on medicare. if we do not get things under control it will be 20 cents on the dollar. do we want to be increased or one of these basket case countries? no. that will be a focus. the other will be to focus on obama care. this is one of the reasons republicans did so well in november. it is something that motivates a

lot of people. it brought a lot of people here. public opinion is hardening against it. i do not think you will see it repealed because as i keep reminding people, though i was pleased with the november results, there are three branches of government and republicans have control of one branch out. host: you pointed out the bill clinton and george w. bush are among those hitting age 65. you are talking about the third or fourth real of american politics. social security, medicare, medicaid. how you tackle that? guest: let me say, because he touched it early on. he came up with something called the road map. it is on line. paul ryan's roadmap. a lot of people ran away from

him as fast as they could. but he did not get electrocuted. in fact, a lot of americans said it was an honest approach. he even got approach by some on the left saying, this is not the way we want to go, but it is a candid and honest approach. the bipartisan deficit commission, which had serious recommendations -- i remember reading the economists on both its recommendations and on ryan's recommendations, saying, these are serious proposals. you may not like them, but they are serious proposals. when alice rivlin, a well-known democrat, from a think tank, when she said that action needs to be taken on medicare, then you will have bipartisan action.

host: political posted a story by someone who was traveling with the president. are we seeing an effort toward transparency with his religious -- with the president's religious beliefs? guest: i think it is good to see the president professing faith. i think it reassures of americans. -- a lot of americans. i do not know the soul of the man, but i think it reassures people if they can believe it is sincere. host: you indicated this

earlier, but the constitutionality ruled that the house is going to implement, making sure that each bill is presented in the house, is somewhere included in a constitution. how do you deal with that ... guest: it is not easy. -- how do you deal with that? guest: it is not easy. we are not a pure democracy. we are a constitutional republic. they wanted two houses of representation. they wanted one that would immediately reflect the citizens, which was the house. and then there was the senate that could slow things down if they were doing to could evade -- too good of a job. host: 2 good of a job? guest: sometimes.

i think the question you are getting out is, will the congress, where the new members -- or the new members -- i do not think we have never seen a better team on the field than this group coming in. energetic, smart, a lot of conviction. but as they look at these -- this legislation, they are going to ask, based on constitutional legislation. will they go to the supreme court? obviously, these are debatable positions. quote ben franklin in your book. what would you think?

-- what would he think? guest: i have an old friend that says any time you ask a founder of what they think of things now, they would just be flabbergasted. adams was make -- was very skeptical. he thought that maybe we could last 150 years. we pulled it off a lot longer than a lot of people thought we would. host: this book is now in paperback, but what motivated you to put it together? guest: the motivation came from a colleague of mine who worked with on a book back in the 1990's. john had this idea and came to me and asked me if i would join the effort. the idea is to have a day for each date on the calendar. what happened on that day? we highlight one event that

happened on that day and then we have the history parade, other things like sports and other things. the most controversial thing in the book is the 50 great american movies. there is a lot of disagreement. everybody has been to the movies and has this agreement. host: and your opinion? guest: i start with the western because they are so very american. one of the ones i put in there that a lot of people did not like was "independence day." it is a new movie and i like the fact that, as we would say now -- and modern jargon is very inclusive in terms of its heroes, but it is also about the american spirit. you get pushed, and you fall down, and you get back up and you win. host: i have heard the comment

about the new "true grit" that you cannot duplicate what was done with john wayne. guest: i have not heard -- seeing it. bridges is a fabulous actor. host: the next big battle for the republican party is the chairmanship of the rnc. michael steele is being challenged by at least five contenders. are you watching the race? guest: i am watching it, not all that intently. i recommended michael steele. i was one of the people supporting michael steele because i thought it was a good idea. he is a marylander. my wife is a marylander. i heard him speak in prince george's county and thought he was very impressive.

i think he has done a good job. i think we probably need new leadership. i think a number of the criticisms are fair. michael and i are very close. host: will he be reelected? guest: i do not think so. it is possible. he has a fair amount of criticism of him. . .

host: who do you like? guest: i'm not sure that the top candidates will be the nominee. i think they are all impressive. romney, beginning rich. huckabee, palin. plus, there are tons of governors. i moderated a panel of the republican governor association.

mitch daniels, bobby jindal. chris christie. rick perry. they are very impressive. i also looked at people like ryan. the rules have changed and barack obama had something to do with that in terms of how long someone has to serve to throw your hat in the ring. here is the point about ryan -- and i'm not predicted. it is just that he is in some ways the man of the moment given the issues and as chairman of the budget committee. will -- whether he runs or not it is worth talking about him some because i think candidates will cite him either critically if they are opposed because of the serious proposals he has recommended, or they will cite him in support of what he is doing because he's leading the charge. he is the architect or will be the architect of the republican budget. and this is issue number one,

two and three. host: we are talking politics and policy. looking at 2010 and ahead to 2011 with bill bennett radio talk show host and former reagan education secretary and author of 20 books? >> yes. could we mention director of drug control because it has fallen off the map and the numbers are all, terrible. use of drugs by kids is climbing again and attention needs to be paid. host: we will draw more attention of that in the next 40 minutes. scott joins us from sun prairie, wisconsin. democrat line. caller: good morning. how are you doing? you are awesome. have you ever been to paul ryan's district here? guest: several times. caller: yes. if you have been there you know it is a pretty depressed area. the general motors plant is gone. all the small businesses totally

gone. all the jobs have been shipped to china. you know that the communities that depended on union jobs in this district are gone. guest: people pretty upset with it? host: you love breaking up and destroy unions. you want people working for minimum wage. if you want to tie that in and talk about the founders of the country, they were more worried about all of you having all of the money and giving nothing back to the working person. that is all i have to say. guest: wait, let me ask you something. are people pretty upset about the circumstances and conditions? caller: yes. absolutely they are upset. guest: why do they keep putting paul ryan in office with 70% of the vote? host: because they watch fox news and are uninformed.

guest: see this is one of the problems that people say well they are all brainwashed. i don't see that about democrats. i'm not a liberal democrat. i used to be. i don't think you should accuse people of being brain washed. i take barack obama seriously. i think he is mistaken on a lot of things. i think nancy pelosi and harry reid are but i take them seriously. i don't think they are brainwashed. i think they are mistaken. this community has been hit as all of america has been hit. but it is interesting because it is a swing district. when paul ryan ran for this seat, or considered running he called me up and said should i do it, it is a tough district. i said you should, you are talented and you have good ideas and i think he wins with about 70%. that tells youing. host: bob is next in conway, arkansas, republican line. caller: good morning and happy

new year to you both. the man mentioned a couple of things. in the 1980's and 1990's i was a prosecutor in arkansas and saw how much good the drug task forces did and saw people who were politicians come out and discuss the drug issue. i'm a republican. i don't hear any of our people coming out and discussing the drug issue. i'm not talking about whether this or that but the drug issue and educating people. i see it here in arkansas. in about a week there will be an organization going to the capitol build and instead of a display of how great medical marijuana is when the experts say you don't need it. another issue i would like for you to discuss that and secondly on the issue of other issues that republicans care about. we used to talk about liberal judges. my gosh, the two that obama put on the supreme court are just as liberal as possible. we need to discuss that.

we need to discuss certain things involving affirmative action and set-aside. i think we forgot what they used to call some of the reagan issues. i wonder if you can discuss the marijuana thing, which would be a horrible mistake. then also the other issues that i think our party seems to have forgotten about. guest: fair enough. there is not a lot of talk and both parties have pretty much ignored this issue. there are a couple of people who are interested in it. more attention needs to be paid. i used that line from "death"def a salesman"" attention must be paid. host: back to the movies. guest: well, that is a stage play but it was made into a movie. i took heart from the fact that the initiative to legalize marijuana in california was defeated in california and noting that california got almost everything else wrong by

my view. i was surprised by that but heartened. that tells you even in california you have something like 32% or 33% of high school seniors saying they have used marijuana easily. that is powerful marijuana. two or three times more powerful than the late 1960's or 1970's. people don't realize there are more kids in treatment for marijuana. it impairs judgment and memory. it impairs concentration. we don't need more of that. i remember what the gentleman was talking about. i remember working with u.s. attorneys when i was the drug czar, like jeff sessions now the senator from alabama. and others. and lots of of democrats. i worked with charlie rangel. he was chairman of my subcommittee when i was drug czar. we worked effectively. by the way, the years that we had bipartisan support and cooperation on this, 1989, 1990,

up to 1992, drug use went down about 350%, which is a big deal. you will never get it to zero. but the country was attuned to it. you couldn't put on tv without seeing somebody diving into an empty swimming pool or two fried eggs in a pan and this is your brain on. this will light up the lines and people will say why not make it handier. before you jump into the breach talk to parents of kids who have had drug issues. it is an education everybody needs. host: during the first bush administration a viewer saying the war on drugs is a failure. how would you fix it? guest: it is not a failure. you had very high drug use in the late 1970's and early 1980's. you have drug use down -- i'll trying to remember -- something

like 22 million users if my numbers are correct. by the time you got to 1992 it was down to 10 or 11. that is a big deal. the number of users were down, number of regular users was down. the price was up and the purity was down. we went after the cocaine and the big guys. the united states did with the brave people of colombia and it made a difference. you don't want another crack epidemic. you do not want to see this map to our cities. and here were some very important common grounds i had with people like charles wright who represented a district with serious drug problems. host: back to phone calls. carlton from west virginia, our conversation with bill bennett. good morning. caller: good morning. boy, am i happy to talk to you guys! i'm going to load your plate for you, mr. bennett. with some -- i have cancer and i

will never see any of these things done. but it is obvious that congress and the senate are not going to do anything until they feel some of the pain not just by election but if we could cut their wages by 40% until they balance the budget that would be all government agencies. then when they biological the budget they get it back. pay off china with the gold we have in fort knox because right now at $1,400 an ounce that would cult our money drain tremendously. we stop this social security payments for anybody making over $40,000 a year. close our borders by declaring marshal law. and bringing in 50,000 marines from okinawa to man the border. close the u.n. it is nothing but a springboard for these people, sounding board for these people to attack the united states.

host: a lot of issues. guest: his plate was loaded for sure. i'm interested in the immigration question whether the president will try to make a move there. all indications are that he will. i'm also interested to see what he does and what kind of movement he is prepared to make -- i don't want to use the word pivot but i did -- will we see the movement toward congress and the shellacking as he called it. i don't think with this crowd that is coming in, the new republicans and i have met a lot of them, very impressed with them. i don't think you need to cut their salaries to moat rate them. they are highly vote mated -- motivated people. therm motivated by the people that sent them here. i think you will see a new spring in the step of congress. there will be some fights and some bloody awful fights. but i do not think this congress, these new members and now 63 members will disappoint. they will not get everything people who sent them there want because the expectations of in

new group of republicans, i think, are greater than the power they actually have. but they will sure, i think, make a big difference. particularly on the issues i talked about. i think they will try to make major moves on deficit reduction and obama care. host: we will go back to the issue of medicare, baby boomers coming writes one viewer. are you ready, wall street? cbs news and we focused on it earlier and gave some statistics on how significant an impact in will have on the federal debt. frblgts consider the proposals. not call them republican or democrat. consider proposals to say it is going to cut, it is going to hurt everybody, whether they be republican or not. the rain will fall on the just and unjust alike. if you are 55, this is one proposal, ryan has it and others, if you are 55 you are

fine. but starting in seven years, eight years, we are going to start raising that reporter age of social security and we are going to start means testing benefits. for medicare some of the proposals are you have refundable tax credits that everybody has so these are high risk or other plans, different from the obama proposals. but of course the major issue that republicans face is obama care. it is an issue that democrats face, too. i was interested to see the other day a couple of democrat commentators, columnists, opinion writers, saying they thought this was a big political mistake for the president, that he should have focused on the deficit and budget. if you look at the public opinion polls it is not strong for him. it is about 55-43 against obama care right now. i think that if the republicans have hearings on it sunlight is the disdisinfectant and you show

the problems, i think it will be in more trouble. there is something like 230 waivers that have been granted out of obama care to big companies that can't handle it. when you have that kind of number of waivers from that level and size of industry something is wrong. host: a couple of weeks ago the president had a private meeting with former president bill clinton late on a friday a then went to the briefing room the two speaking to reporters. former president clinton holding a 30-minute news krbs. some view that as the pivot point, the moment of triangulation for president obama. what do you read into that? guest: at least he got the microphone back which some wondered whether it would happen. jimmy johnson, do you want to drive my car. former president clinton took the microphone like he never left it. pro bowl -- i thought it was a

very funny moment. very human but keep the first lady waiting. he says no, i will take over. al haig. i remember al haig said i'm in control. i think president obama is a man of the left. i lived in universities for a long time and taught and know this way of thinking. when he saeid i thought it was very revealing comment the time of the came bridge police incident we know the police act the stupidly. we didn't all know that. a thumb of us give the benefit of the doubt to the police. then the comment about healthcare. he said just be great if you could sit around with the experts and fashion the policy that way and put it in place. unfortunately you have to persuade other people. that is the great unwashed us. the rest of us need to be persuaded. that is called a democracy or a

constitutional republic. so i don't know whether he will pivot or move to the right. look, this -- i'm noticing a lot of liberal columnists are saying this was a tremendously successful congress the look at what they got done. healthcare, stimulus, don"don't ask, don't tell," et cetera. very productive congress singing its praises. maybe but not a popular congress. 13% popularity. and i think this last election was, if it had one word bumper sticker it was "stop." p.j. owe rourke had the funniest line, he said it was not an election, it was a restraining order. host: the american patriot almanac among your books and "america the last best hope" and best seller "the book of virtues" and children's book of virtues. on c tphfrpblgt tphfrpblgt and his radio talk show.

we featured him on our book tv. that three hours available on our website. darway is from charlotte, north carolina. democrats line. caller: thank you. steve, i'm going to get back to the issue. i'm from liberia but i'm an american citizen. this is a guy that went to the university of miami of ohio with a bachelor degree in economics. you take a guy that came from mr. bennett's went to congress and started making $100,000 right away. you think that is how much the average american makes? and you talk about healthcare

for senior selgts like medicare. if you give them forms them he is not an average american. he is a millionaire. he's been on c-span more than six times. he is not an average american. the average american makes $50,000 to $70,000. host: so turn this into a question that he can respond to. caller: question. if the healthcare is not going to succeed, president obama is going to get it. that is not what if is all about. it is about us. he is making $100,000. host: we will respond. guest: you don't pay lucrative speaking fees.

the argument shouldn't be republicans are mean spirited and democrats are generous. the question is what is effective and what works. i have arced for a long time since studying welfare and education policy, which i guess is my one area of expertise, that republicans, conservatives should never yield the high ground of compassion to liberals and democrats. it is not compassion to bust budgets like this whether we do it or democrats. it is not compassionate to have education in a zhanglehold by the teachers unions and not compassionate to impose a health care system on a country that will cost more, limit options, create discouragement for a lot of people in the medical profession. that is not compassionate at all. when we had that three-hour discussion on c-span it was interesting to me that about 70% of the calls were about educati education. and this is an issue, i hope, at some point the new republicans will take up. because there is a different

feeling in the air. this movie "waiting for superman" has had something of an impact on the culture and debate about education. host: i go back to the political note because as a contributor to cn thfrpblgts you weighed in on the 2012 race. guest: i have. host: marco rubio as vice presidential running mate? guest: well that was a bit of a flip comment saying we already have the vice president marco rubio. certainly that is not a certainty. but what an attractive guy, what an experienced guy with experience in the house, terrific speaker. i will be going to his swearing in on wednesday. florida is an important state. one takes those things into account. but we are loaded with talent. we were running through the list earlier and i forgot him. how do you forget rubio? i think he's going to be a very important player. note, too, this is not your grandfather's republican party. this election, suzanne martinez

from new mexico, new governor. nicky hailey from south carolina. tim scott from south carolina. first black republican since reconstruction. alan west. it is a very different group and different looking group and that is all good for republicans. stkpwr let me ask you about the hispanic vote because the president has vowed to push that. there is a political component when it comes to where the hispanic vote goes in 2012. you have people like marco rubio who will excite the hispanic base. guest: you will. and i think republicans would be wise to talk to him and the new representative canseco from texas, a number of hispanics and republicans who have been elected, for guidance. host: was it a mistake not to pass the act? frpblgt no, it was not. the act was misconceived. there are elements in the dream act that could be resuscitated

in a better forum. but first things first. other things have to happen first. but people shouldn't forget this. the last time i looked at the results of november, i think of all people voting if you count all hispanics something like 39% of hispanics voted republican. that is not great but that is not terrible. those numbers can be improved. i think that they will be improved. there are a lot of latino citizens who do not identify with the illegal immigrant because they are not illegal and have resentment about it. the point is to talk about immigration policy in a sensible and rational way. to make it clear, this is not about xenophobia or hating people from other places. this is about the law. host: president bush tried that and his effort failed. frpblgt people didn't like the legislation. i didn't like it. my listeners on my radio show

didn't like the legislation. they thought it was something of a white wash and something of an amnesty program. since then, sponsors, people who were supporting it like john mccain, who knows of the problem being in arizona, have clarified their view in a way that i wish had been represented in that proposed legislation by the president. important for republicans to come up in this debate with an alternative that is sensible and will attract hispanic americans. i think they can do that. host: bill ben net's morning show heard on how many stations? guest: 260. host: karen from richmond, virginia. republican line. caller: it is a pleasure to speak, mr. bennett. steve says that you have included a copy of in the book. don't you think in the past two years you have heard the word

patriot more than i can remember having lived here and [inaudible] fantastic. what i want to know is how do you see the influence of tea party people and what do you think of them, the influx in the congress? have you met any of them and what do you think of them? host: where are you from, karen, great britain? caller: i was born here but lived abroad. guest: i tphknow a lot of tea py people and representatives who were lifted by the tea party. there was the most important political movement of the year if you are doing the 2010 in review on the last day of the

year. you would have to say that. the range of people in the tea party from conservative republican, very conservative republic, conservative republican, moderate republican, center, independent, and send tryst -- centrist democrats. it was a remarkable thing. "the economist" is a magazine that i read as much as i can. it is a center-left magazine but well written and well done. they talked about the tea parties and say we don't agree with everything. but unlike france where people took to the street the minute the government announced a cut in benefits they said what other country would people go to the parks and public places, demonstrate and yell at the government we want less, we want less. that is not what they do in greece or france. it is what they do in america. the question is will the momentum stay. it is like a good second quarter

or third quarter. will you keep the momentum through the rest of the game. host: next is sumter, south carolina, line for independents with bill bennett. good morning. caller: good morning. mr. bennett, i just have three quick questions and, really, hoping that you can answer these questions for me. the first thing is i always hear everybody talking about the economy. i don't know how much each president gets, i don't know. maybe they hand them a bag of money and it worth $90 billion. but what happened to barack obama, as soon as they handed him the $90 billion other people say we have to fix the economy. give us $80 billion. then they took his money and everybody is yelling now hey, you are spending too much of that money. well, if the house is broken and is on fire and a drunk burnt the

house down and i have to do repairs and spend my money why is everybody hollering at him and we come to find out he didn't spend enough money? can you explain that? that is the first one. host: let me stop you there. we will give him a chance to respond. guest: i'm not sure i understand it but the numbers are much more. $850 billion, $900 billion for the stimulus. that was not his money. but he acted as if it were and that is the stimulus bill. we were told it would bring unemployme unemployment way down and it didn't. there was an article this morning how so many economists could have been wrong about predicting that. look, there is no question that he inherited very serious problems. host: but for the stimulus money the democrats have been pushing for the republicans pushing for the bush era tax cuts across the board that some say will increase the debt. guest: that is a matter of of

debate. i think if you look at the whole history of tax cuts, tax increases overall, not all the time but overall, 85% of the time the tax cuts will stimulate the economy. some say but not in a period like this. we will see. the deal is the deal and they both agreed. but suffice it to say the big stimulus didn't produce the results intended. will this? i don't know. i think the appetite for the big spend something gone but there are still those arguing for a second large stimulus. i don't think that will happen. host: back to the caller in sumter, follow-up. you are on the air. caller: i wanted to make it 100% clear that the facts are that obama looked at the bill and the bill said give me your money because even though he gave it to you we want the money to fix the economy and either way he

was still screwed. guest: no, this was his plan. i don't agree. this was his machine. he and the democrats and they got their way and you can evaluate the consequences. host: we have to move on. we have a twitter comment saying --? when the c.r. comes up again in february or march to keep the government running beyond that date the debt limit is one issue that congress will debate. guest: this is where it will get tricky because i have heard some folks say, some folks on my side of the philosophical divide say no compromise. that is a mistake. you can't do that. i like to cite the biography of tal tall and and it was said he understood the difference between a willingness on principle to compromise and a willingness to comprise on

willing. be willing to compromise when you are not giving up a principle as i think the republicans did in the budget deal. i think the republicans did. you don't have enough power to be able to command the high seat on every issue when you don't control the senate or white house. but there are some real interesting possibilities in what you said, steve, about february and march, because it goes only that far and are opportunities here to do in terms of the purse what a lot of people want to do in terms of policy. for example, not funding some of the work at h.h.s. and other places, which will be involved in the implementation of obama care. you could see some real skirmishes. host: we have tweurts that say you call it obama care as opposed to healthcare. guest: it is his plan.

it is healthcare but the reason i call it obama care i can't think of another piece of legislation this significant that went through without the imprint or agreement of the other side. call it demo-care or democrat care or obama-pelosi care. because arlen spector -- specter switched parties and the al franken vote, being put into the seat in minnesota, you are talking about hairs of difference. very small differences. this went through without a single republican supporting it. that is an extraordinary thank in american history. they wanted it, any got it. they own it. they should be identified with it. they have to live with it. host: john says obama didn't write it. it is not obama care. guest: but he sign it. host: we go todale in canton -- we go to dale in canton,

illinois. caller: i have a solution to the immigration problem that with solve it and budget which is easy but it is common sense and that is why it won't be utilized. if the united states government would create an organization to start finding these corporations that hire illegal aliens and take the money to pay for the system of checking and balancing that would solve the immigration problem because people wouldn't come in if they knew they couldn't get a job because they would be fired because the companies would hire them. the second thing is with the biological of -- balance of the budget. just freeze it six months except of cases of national disaster. then ban all earmarks for six months. the third -- guest: i don't think that could get you enough. but the spirit is right. i think you are right, pretty much right on everything. i don't think the numbers add up. the first one, corporations should be fined for hiring

illegals. and by the way, there was an earlier suggestion get the troops onned border to stop the flow of illegals. two things in recent history have stopped the flow of illegal immigrants. one, our economy which was weak. so there were not the jobs. the other thing is we did stop the flow almost dead in its tracks right after 9/11 because right after 9/11 the country panicked, reacted and said we have to make sure nobody gets in who shouldn't and people didn't get in. drugs didn't get in either. this there will be a reckoning on that at the border with mexico because of the current problems. that is one the president will have to face. so, i see the point of what the call caller is saying. back to the freeze thing, i think this is you talk about what is going to happen. i believe that the republican congress will propose freezing the budget at 2008 levels.

the 2011 obama budget is $3.8 trillion. the 2008 bush budget was $2.9 trillion. if you can go from 3.8 to 2.9, that is $900 billion and that is not a hardship budget. that will be one of the first serious proposals. and because everybody's ox gets go gored it has a chance. host: translate that to a republican primary in 2012. frpblgt romney will have to live with romney care as obama will have to live with obama care. i'm consistent. when you own it and sign it, then you take responsibility for it. i think it could be a problem for mitt romney though he is a very able and talented guy and has a response, as does barack obama. host: the new year will mark the send 10 yell of ronald reagan's birth. a lot of celebrations.

you worked with him and you have your own relationship. how will history view his presidency as we reflect in 2011 on his centennial? guest: i think it will view him favorably. the people who had been regarded with contempt who thought he was not up to it are seeing how he changed the world and he did. i love the revisionism that is coming up on both sides. i remember people in the cabinet who were very critical of ronald reagan, senior people in the cabinet who didn't like what was happening when he walked out on gorbachev, didn't like his speech at berlin when he said to tack down the wall and said i was there with ron and we did this together. they didn't. but that is ok. everybody wants to be associated with reagan now, which tells you what his status is. i like george will's line, there are a million things written and he said he took command of the ship on a stormy sea, he calmed the passengers and the sea.

host: bill bennett. thanks for being with us. . thank you. host: come back any time. we are going to take a short break and when we come back we will be joined by bob deans the co-author of "in deep water, the anatomy of disaster, fate of the gulf and ending our oil addiction." >> one thing we have learned the last 30 years is economists and other sages of the economy are not very good at predicting what hams. >> in his columns for "newsweek" and "washington post" robert samuelsson has written about politics, economy and social issues for over three decades.

he will join us sunday night. bringing you phreutsz and public affairs. every morning it is "washington journal" about the news of the day connecting you with elected

officials. during the week watch the u.s. house and our continuing coverage of the transition to the new congress. every week night congressional hearings and policy forums. and supreme court oral argument. on the weekends you can see the interview programs on saturday the communicators and sunday news makers and q&a and prime minister's questions from the british house of commons. you can watch the programming any time at c-span.org and you can search it on our library. c-span, washington your way. a public service create bid america's cable companies. >> "washington journal" continues. host: bob deans is the co-author of in deep warrant and with the natural resources defense council. i want to begin with comments that ken feinberg made saying the oil spill output in the gulf of mexico is going to be far less than originally predicted. your response.

guest: it is a question of what do we know and what do we not know. first off 11 workers were killed. those families will never be the same. second, nearly 200 million gallons of crude were spilled into some of the riches waters anywhere in the world. we know that thousands of birds were killed, whales, everything from shrimp to sperm whales and pelica pelicans. there were plumes of oil the size of man-to-man at 3,000 feet of water. we know that there is a carpet of oil up to two inches thick up to 80 miles away from the spill site. what we don't know is what is happening in that deep water to the coral. what is happening to deep water fish. we know that 650 miles of coastline was oiled from beaumont to pensacola bay. it killed oysters, crabs, trout on the coast. we know in grand isle and other

areas they were devastated by this. so it is a question of what we know and don't know. it will particular years before we know -- it will take years before we know how many of the baby shrimp, crabs, oysters and fish. how much of this toxic oil remains in the chain, the chemicals in the food chain. when will the fishermen be able to see the lifestyle and way of life and lively hoods they endescribed before this. with all due respect, mr. feinberg is an attorney. his job is to assess the damage claims, not to assess the environmental damage. so, he was speaking out of turn and the comments were off the mark. host: i will read what is written but this is the photograph from "new york times" this past sunday as they look at 2010. you may think it is a scene from pearl harbor but it is april 20 the 11 men who died, 110 escaped. how did this happen?

guest: it was a combination of a long train of miscalculations, miscommunications, misjudgments. i think one thing that really came through in that article was the extent to which there was very much a damn the torpedos full speed ahead attitude on the rig. we are going to get this well drilled. we are going to get it sealed and move on to the next job. one thing that came through in the article as i read it is time and time again there was an opportunity to put an end to this before it became a disaster and time and time again the person who was saying let's push the button and push the kill switch and turn off the generators and break away from the well and kill this thing, time and time again a superior was telling that person take it easy, relax, we will get this under control. until, of course, the worst happened. host: back to ken feinberg heading up the effort in dealing with all of the potential

lawsuits and compensation for those impacted by the gulf of mexico oil spill saying it will be five to 10 years before the full extent of damage is known. but "u.s.a. today" says the long-term impact of the disaster could be relatively minor and gulf is likely to fully recover from the april oil spill. long-term can it fully recover? guest: we hope the gulf will recover from this. but when we talk about long-term you need to remember after hurricane katrina five years ago about 40% of the watermen in the region went out of business. the rest of them survived by taking out loans. they have been working for five years to finally pay off those loans. this was the year they were going to break even and begin to show a profit. for those watermen, oystermen, fishermen they are happening on. many of them it was a lean christmas because their claims haven't been processed or they have not received the money.

times are tough and when you talk about long-term damage, long-term for a family on the gulf could mean six months and they are in trouble. host: in your book you answered two questions of the first three that you posed. what happened and how did we arrive at this point. then you say where do we go from her. guest: that is what we will hear from the oil commission that will report on january 11. where we need to go from here is basically three areas. the industry has a responsibility. one thing the commission found was that the oil and gas industry had a culture of complacency when it came to the safety of workers with, health of the ocean and security of habitat and wildlife. that needs to change and the industry recognizes that. there is talk about a safety institute. after three mile island the nuclear power industry put together the institute for nuclear power operations. that serves to set standards and

audit operations at nuclear power plants to keep them safe. this was a three mile island of the deep water drilling industry and they need to establish a safety institute. second, congress needs to strengthen the safeguards we all rely on to reduce the risk to oceans and coastal communities. to the 14 million americans that live there. congress needs to take action. thirdly, the administration needs to make sure the people we put out there to enforce these safeguards have the authority to support the training and resources they need to do the job. host: ending our oil addiction is the subtitle to the book. you point out the b.p. oil disaster didn't cause the problem but it made it worse. you say the toxic oil is killing the grass that holds marsh mud in place leaving the front lines of the miles of fragile wetlands exposed to the currents and tides. guest: this is a big part of the story. 0% of our tidal wetlands are in

louisiana alone and it is losing a football field worth of them every 30 minutes. this oil coming in and we have seen it, we were down there in the water and we saw oil blacken ing 10, 20, 30 yards of the front lines of the wetlands and those grasses dying what looked like a scorched earth situation because of that oil. and this is the foundation of life in the gulf. 97% of the species that live in the gulf depend on these wetlands, estuaries and marshes. so this is the nursery of the golf, the cradle of love in the gulf of mexico and the wetlands needs to be preserve and they have been hurt badly. host: we are talking with bob deans co-author of "in deep water" and you say 34 miles of wetlands are lost each year. frpblgt it is stunning.

there are a lot of reasons. there is geological sedimentation that means that the land is sinking, the sea level is rising due to climate change. there is an enormous amount of erosion because the oil companies have cut through the wetlands to make way for pipelines and equipment to be transferred to the gulf. and there is also the hardwood mulch industry that has killed a lot of cypress trees to must have our lawns and golf courses. all of that needs to be turned around. the final thing is the mississippi river levees are keeping the natural sed theation that comes down from the -- sedimentation that wonderful minute rely wealth from the broad 40% of the country from the rocky mountains and appalachian is drained by the mississippi they go straight in the ocean where before the levees were built they would have settled there and helped replenish and rebuild the

mauree marshes. host: you mentioned the national commission looking at the gulf oil spill. as part of the coverage the chief deputy council raising issues that you have put up today. we will listen to an exchange from earlier year. >> i should point out this is still the subject of controversy. the government believes that the flow rate varied from about 60,000 barrels a day to 53,400 a day. our expert will correct me if i'm wrong. but b. pfpp. has not offered itn numbers yet but b.p. has told us that it thinks the government a's numbers are too high and the flow rate could be 20% to 50% lower. it is complicated because it involves a lot of issues with the flow path at different times. before the riser was cut, after it was cut. so, it is going to be litigated. >> 20% to 50% less, does that affect the total assumption of 200 million tpwls released?

>> yes. >> they are going to argue it was 50% less than that? >> they have not committed to a position yet. i think they will argue it was less. >> 20% to 50%? >> that is what they have told us. host: counsel to the oil commission spill and comments of bill riley. guest: the actual volume will be the subject of a lot of court battles because that will be the predicate on which the fines are assessed. under the clean water act fines are assessed proceed force nate to the amount of oil released so that will be a legal issue. host: how do they determine that? guest: they will look at the flow rates from the films that we saw of the oil from the bottom. they will look at the kinds of pressure that was coming out, size, volume of that. they will look at how much of the flow was gas, how much was oil. there are a lot of technical considerations and at the end it

will be an arbitrary and somewhat best estimate we can come up with. but what we do know for sure is an enormous amount of oil, whether two million gallons a day or if you accept the low ball of a million gallons a day that is an enormous amount of poisonous crude oil coming out and it is extremely durable. there talk about evaporation. oil doesn't evaporate. i don't know if you have ever made the mistake i did of khoeupging the oil in the car and wife says you spilled oil in the garage and you say it will evaporate. it doesn't work. some things evaporate but a lot of the components of that toxic crude settle right to the bottom and form that carpet of oil that has crushed shrimp and fish underneath it. it is devastating to the coral and foundation of the ocean. host: in the 1970's jimmy carter called our addiction to oil the moral equivalent of war yet 35 years later we are still

importing more oil than ever before to run our factories and drive automobiles. guest: that is a fundamental point. we use every day in this country 800 million gallons of oil. we get about 60% of that from overse overseas often from countries that don't share our values or goals. it is a national security problem and identified by president nixon before carter. so we have had eight presidents calling for us to break our addiction to oil and begin to move to cleaner, safer, more sustainable sources of power. that is a fundamental lesson of this disaster because at the end of the day b.p. was responding to market demands. it is the fourth largest corporation in the korld. all of these corporations are responding to our demand. we can't scapegoat tell. we need to say to ourselves let's reduce our reliance on oil. that is why the final chapter of the book is where we lay a plan

to cut oil consumption in half not today, not tomorrow but by 2050. we believe that the country that won the cold war and world war ii and put a man on the moon and built the bet can do that. host: the book is "in deep water, the anatomy of disaster and fate of the gulf." bob deans is with the natural resources defense council. brice joins us on the republican line from indiana. caller: hi, how are you? host: good morning. caller: i wanted to make a comment. i want to put out a hypothetical comme comment. if every state in the united states were to drill for oil and build refineries within the

paramet parameters are the oil fields, not only would that affect a huge part of buying oil from other nations but would also lower the price on top of the fact that it probably could cut if not half maybe two-thirds of our national deficit within the next five years. i want to see what your comment is about that. guest: thanks. i appreciate the call. indiana is leading the way with wind turbine technology. a lot of steel workers there are finding new markets for that by building towers for wind turbines that is increasing our electricity supply. i think the question is how are we going to reduce our reliance on foreign oil and manage that trade deficit that you mentioned. because two-thirds of our deficit is oil and automobiles. if we are able in this country

to invest in a new generation of energy efficient automobiles, electric cars, hybrid cars, cars that can get 60 miles to the gallon by 2025, this is doable. we believe that is the route to the kinds of security and economic prosperity that you are talking about. host: on our twitter page one of our viewers says what happens when people eat fish that have ingested chemicals in the gulf waters affected by the spill. guest: a huge question and big question for the people of the gulf because not only is this their livelihood but their way of life. this is part of the culture on the gulf of mexico and rightly so. we don't know, really, how much oil has been ingest bid people and -- inskwrelgested by people. we know the food is tested and when they certify it is safe i'm happy to take my family out and buy it. but it is a question of what

areas it is coming from. we know at one point almost 40% of the american wertz of the gulf of mexico were closed to fisherman. that is something like 90,000 miles of water and thousands of fishermen were thrown out of work temporarily. we hope they are able to rebound and that gulf seafood will be safe. host: we have a call from new jersey on the democrat line. caller: thank you. my question is, even though the oil was spilled and destroyed and did so much damage like a horror movie, how come all of the companies that were put the there, haliburton was there before the spill and how they got information that this was going to happen. it is almost as if they knew it was going to happen. the point is, they were offered so many organic ways of cleaning this up yet they put all of these chemicals out there what

is more horrible poison than the oil. how come that was left to happen? guest: thanks for the call. i know that your proximity of the jersey shore gives you an appreciation of the value of oceans. haliburton, b.p. and transocean are not minor players. they are among the largest, most successful companies in this industry. that is why, when they made the miscalculations and misjudgments and miscommunications that led to this debacle we have to look at industrywide problems. one of them you put your finger on. since the 1989 exxon valdiz disaster in alaska, deep water technology has become increasingly sophisticated and increasingly complex. yet, the technology for preserving blowouts and containing a spill and cleaning up damage afterwards has not advanced at all in those 20

years. the dispersant technology hasn't advanced at all in 20 years. the industry didn't vin he is in that. that is part of this culture of complacency that needs to shift to a culture of concern. that is a very important point. host: we will look at the "times-picayune." there are 55 miles awaiting approval for clean up and 72 miles where teams have finished cleaning up. this is a map of the region. the headline is that the oil continues to reach the louisiana coast. guest: it does. we have maintained a center down there low on the delta in burris, louisiana, in the heart of the bay. we have been in touch daily with the watermen going every day. as of a couple of weeks ago we were getting massive tar balls rolling in. so the oil is still coming in.

people who think it is over are not down there and are not paying attention. when you have 113 miles of louisiana coastline still being cleaned up, this spill happened -- the blow out was april and it is now january. we are still cleaning up oil. it will be there a long time. that is not even to mention all of the oil that is settled to the bottom of the ocean. host: james has two questions and i will wrap it in one twitter question. guest: the natural resource defense council is supported by 1.3 million members around the country. so, the valuation majority of funding comes from these people and of course like any organization we have donors at different levels. nuclear power is something we believe should be safe and should be cost effective. the industry has compiled a credible safety record.

the industry is still getting huge subsidies. we don't believe that this technology, after 60 years, is any more a developing technology. we believe it ought to stand on its own financially and when it can. host: your first book the river where america again, what was that about? guest: it was a biography of the james river as the most historic waterway in america where three ancient simplizations, europeans, africans and native americans came together for the first time to build the beginning of a new civil legislation that would change the world and traces 13,000 years of of native american life on the james river up to lincoln coming up the river in the final days of civil war richmond to talk about a new birth of freedom. .

caller: in the gulf crisis, they did not care. guest: thank you for your service and thank you for your call. absolutely, when you talk about

world war two, another reason we won that war was our manufacturing ability, our ability to spool up in places like detroit and the heart of american manufacturing. we are seeing a rebirth in that. we have seen billions of dollars invested in michigan of love right now and developing the next generation of battery technology and electric cars. we need to stay focused on this. we still burn gasoline pretty much the way we did 100 years ago in an internal combustion engine. when i put 10 gallons of gasoline in my car last night, a gallons will be wasted because the internal combustion engine is inefficient and will waste seven of those callous and i will waste another gallon idling at stop signs and traffic lights. electric cars are 70% efficient. 70% of that energy is moving back car forward.

we need to build those cars in this country and we can't do it. host: honor twitter page -- how can we trust people with what nuclear energy? guest: the disposal of nuclear waste is a big issue and it is part of the cost of nuclear power and part of the problem that has made nuclear power part to compete against alternative power sources. we have not yet found a solution long-term. where are you going to put that waste? nuclear power has a lot of promise and potential but it comes with a lot of problems and we need to get to the business of solving them. host: blacksburg, va., independent line, good morning. caller: i have a statement to make. my name is charles joseph adams. this statement is about the vlave that was used to shut off a macondo well.

that material was sent to a company in richmond, texas. these people were hired to build this cabal and engineered so it would work with rov's. that was the last time that i was in that loop. i am telling you that the valve that was used according to the u.s. patent office belongs to me, not and bp, not marine welcome statement, not helix and not edm, the company that stole it in the first place. that is all i have to say at this time. you will hear more about it later, thank you. guest: thank you, mr. adams. a lot of our great engineers come out of virginia tech where you are. the question goes to the blowout preventer. it was the last line of defense.

this is the huge five-story high piece of equipment that sits on top of an underwater oral well. it is designed to be a last line of defense. if all goes badly, blowout banter is supposed to prevent what happened in the deep water horizon. a number of things failed. the blowout preventer did not do its job. that is one thing that will be looked at through the court cases. we know that blowout preventer had not been maintained properly. there was hydraulic fluid leakage from parts of it. there was a dead battery and the control pot. there were other problems and it filed a number of tests. this is part of the culture of complacency that the commission has decided. when you have a vital piece of equip and like that that is not being maintained properly and has failed to multiple points and it cannot be relied upon to do his job in a pinch, you have a problem that needs to be addressed industry-wide. host: the stupid electric car is

powered by coal. guest: you are right. 50% of energy in this company comes from coal. electric cars are more efficient than the internal combustion engine. we are not saying it is the answer to every transportation needs. for commuters and many uses that burned a lot of oil that we buy from countries that are not helpful to us, we by this oil from russia and saudi arabia and venezuela. we need to do better. we had called men ago from someone who served in the military. i talked to a former navy seal yesterday. he spent 20 years in the military. he knows what it is like to sit in the straits of malaca protecting our sea lines, protecting our flow of oil that is vital to our national

security. he knows what it is like to send navy ships around the horn of africa to protect navy lines there. he also knows what it is like when a bomb cuts apart a military person. he is on a new campaign having left the military to try and reduce the military's use of oil. that is why maybe secretary ray mavis says he wants to reduce the fleet consumption of oil by 50% between now and 2025. he wants to be using renewable fuels, biofuels, and other sources of the navy is less reliant on fossil fuels and possibly less reliant on oil that we get from countries that are not friendly to us. host: dick cheney, you spent a couple of pages looking at his role with halliburton, his role

with the fat -- defense department. some documents he tried to conceal and the natural resources defense council was able to contain what concerns are you raising? guest: who was he meeting with when he ran the secret energy task force out of the white house? what conversations, what decisions were made? how did these meetings with oil lobbyists shape policy that came out of the white house? it was specifically reducing the kind of environmental review that was required for deepwater drilling and encouraging oil production in this country at all costs. that is not the way we need to go in this country. when you look at the oil company lobbyists, there are 700 lobbyists in washington alone registered to lobby for the oil and gas industry. this is big business. it is hundreds of millions of dollars every year being spent to make sure that the small

number of oil companies' profits are protected. remember the exxon corporation made $45 billion in profits in 2008 when the rest of the country was in the jaws of the worst recession since world war two. as a nation, as a democratic people, we have to speak for ourselves as effectively as the oil companies are speaking for stockholders.eir host: battle creek, mich.. good morning. caller: good morning. we had an oil spill here in calvin county which started in marshall. it was 800,000 - 2 1 million gallons.

does the oil reacted differently to fresh water as opposed to the salt water? guest: that is a great question. salt water -- i don't know the answer to that question we know that oil is very durable in salt water or fresh water. it is toxic and poisons that habitat and wildlife and both of those waters. we know that in the gulf of mexico there are bacteria that will help to break down the oil over time. in doing so, they deplete the water of oxygen which makes it -- which can create a dead zone for wildlife. presumably, the same thing happens in fresh water. when you have 800,000 to 1 million gallons, you have devastation that will endure for years. it will get into the fine silt and sand and it will stay there

for years if not decades. host: fort lauderdale, fla., independent line, good morning. caller: happy new year. who is actually taking the cleanup people and observing their bloodline as far as the toxins? i was reading about the alaskan oil spill for just about everyone of those people who cleaned up the oil spill are dead from the chemicals in their bodies. who is observing these people and checking their bloodlines for toxins? sort of don't know what comprehensive approach has been taken. the risks are quite real. some of these cleanup workers were inhaling vapors that contain carcinogens, heavy metals and other toxins. some of them were not wearing

respirators pretty national resource defense council had a doctor on our staff who went down to the region and was providing respirators to the workers. we were trying to help in that way. it is not only the air that they are breathing, is the air that other people are breathing along the coast. it is in the water and the food chain. it is a problem that needs to be monitored by medical professionals. host: we consume 800 million gallons of oil per day. if we could tap every barrel of known oil supply between the u.s. and the gulf of mexico, 1.7 trillion gallons of it, we would use every drop under current consumption by the middle of this decade. guest: that's right. in other words, when people say the gulf of mexico is the answer, if we tapped every drop of oil in the gulf of mexico is in deep water and shallow, it would provide us with six year'' worth of oil in this country. that is not the way it works.

it provides us with about 1/3 of the domestic oil we produce in this country. the point is that we cannot drill our way out of desperate to be drilled baby drill crowd was tragically silenced by this catastrophe. we cannot drill our way out of this. we need to be about the business of breaking our addiction to oil as eight presidents going back to richard nixon has said the country needs to do for our own security and we need to be about the business of coming up with more renewable and safer sources of oil and fuel. host: piedmont, north carolina, republican line, go caller: i am a first-time caller. i am delighted to have access to cspan. i want to personally attest to the durability of the oil to

linger. i grew up in miami. we would go to the beach almost every weekend. i am talking about the late 1940's to the early 1950's. many times i would come out of the water, the atlantic, and avatar of the bottom of my feet. -- at have qatar on the bottom of my feet. no one had -- and have tar on the bottom of my feet. no one knew where the tar came from, the maritime sailors said it came from oil from torpedoed ships off the coast of florida. that oil had later there at least five or six years or more

since the last u.s. ship was torpedoed in florida at around 1945. we're talking 1952. it was still there. i appreciate the opportunity to comment on the durability of oil. it is not going away anytime soon. guest: absolutely true. we would go along the marshes and you could pick it up. i picked up with my bare hand once and it took about two days to get it off. the oil has traveled through the ocean and the sunshine for 50 miles. it has taken weeks to get there. it was an effect like taffy. taffy does not evaporate and neither does oil. it does linger and it does continue to damaged habitat and wildlife for years if not decades. host: exxon is bad but the nrdc

and others are in the industry of selling fear and uncertainty and doubt. guest: the fear and uncertainty and doubt is consequential to understand exactly what is going on. we are trying to sell hope very we talk about solutions because we know this country as that. we have been prevented from doing so by oil companies that have huge amounts of profits at stake. i would say to bob -- this country spent about $850 billion this year on oil and gas, petroleum. $850 billion. do you think for one minute that the companies that have that kind of money at stake are going to stand by idly and watch their markets to be eroded by people coming up with solutions that will help make this country stronger and create jobs for millions of americans and create healthier future for our

children? those of a company selling fear and getting out there and spending hundreds of millions of dollars every year to confuse, d.c., and frighten you and me and our children. we have to change and we have to find a better way for the strength of this country and for our future host: this is the front page of the new orleans newspaper. hundreds of people still toil along the coast. clean-up workers continue to operate. over the past five decades, louisiana has lost, on average, 34 square miles of wetlands each year, the equivalent of 60 football fields every day. newton, mass., democrats line, good morning. caller: i am glad to be able to speak to you today. i appreciate the work you have done and the book that you co-

authored. i want to point out -- it is a great thing to look into updated technology like electric cars. i really think the problem that the u.s. has will not go away, as we make a fundamental cultural change in our dependence on the automobile. suburban sprawl, the amount of paving that we do, for every five automobiles that is added to the u.s. fleet, we paid about the size of a football field with asphalt. it is not sustainable. that kind of thing is really going to come back to bite us even if we move to new technologies like the electric vehicles. it really will not change. it adds to the greenhouse effect.

it destroys ecosystems when you pave a road through a wilderness. it divides the ecosystem. clyde think we really need to rethink our dependence on the automobile. we need to look at other cultures like in europe, germany, the netherlands. cities in europe have surpassed us and our public transportation and their use of bicycles, walkable streets and things like that. guest: you are right to point that out. or we see a three legged stool. it is about new technologies but it is about improving efficiencies of what we have now, our buildings, our homes, our cars, our work places. it is about fighting renewable sources of the fuel. it is also about sustainable communities. it is about using high-speed rail and building communities

that reflect the way people choose to live. people like to be within walking distance of shops and restaurants and libraries and workplaces. sustainable communities are about giving people those options. that is what we are talking about and so much of what we talk about here is giving people the option to live the way they want to live. we have not always had those options. host: judith from nevada had this twitter question -- is there a future for vegetable-oil cars. i have seen stories on this. it is safe and as good mileage. guest: vegetable oil gets into the area of biofuels. there is some distinctions to be drawn. we generally have moved away from supporting feels that compete with food sources because of obvious problems. there are many non-food sources that can replace oil and natural gas and other fossil fuels. for example, there is a

technology with a huge plant being built not far from nevada that will use corncobs to make fertilizers. that will be sold back to corn growers. fertilizer is made from natural gas. that is the kind of thing we are talking about and there is a huge potential for it. host: the book is called "in deep water," thank you for being with us. this week we have been focusing on policies affecting america's food supply in coming up in a couple of minutes, we will turn our attention to the issue of organic food. is it worth the price? we will continue on this friday morning. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ >> activist phyllis benes is on this sunday. former journalist for the united nations, she is the author of eight books including "calling the shots." join our three-hour conversation with your phone calls, e-mails,

and tweets sunday at noon eastern on c-span 2. what previous in the programs at book-tv.org where you confine the entire weekend schedule. >> majority in a time of petty ness, calm and a time of anger, and leadership at a time of uncertainty is what the nation asks of the united states senate and that is what this all this demands of each to serve here than a search for farewell speeches and hear from retiring senators on the cspan video library with every cspan program since 1987, more than 160,000 hours all on line, all free. it is washington your way. "washington journal" continues. host: we have been looking at organic food and the prices we pay. we began with food safety legislation and we focus on

small farmers and a stable food movement and we looked at childhood nutrition legislation yesterday. today we want to focus on organic food. we welcome christine bushway, thank you for being with us. what is organic food and what are we paying for? guest: it is very much in the news these days. it is a very big and growing area. people refer to it as a trend but in actuality, organic food is produced the way our great- grandparents' produced food. we are going back to the old ways of producing food. it is produced without pesticides and in the case of livestock, no antibiotics, no sludge, no synthetic fertilizers. those things are not used in organic production. host: the numbers of organic

food sales have grown. about 4% of total u.s. food sales. sales of organic fruits and vegetables are projected to grow 13% yearly by 7%. guest: it is very much growing. we tend to think of organic as just a food system. there is also organic fer organe products, as well. one of the other big areas that is growing dramatically is organic pet food. we all have pets today in this country, dogs and cats, that is a big area. in terms of individual areas, we cover everything. we cover all the food sectors. we covered dairy, we cover meat, we covered vegetables, fruits. there are certain areas that

people tend to go to. fruits and vegetables are the leaders into the organic sector for consumers. host: when you go to the grocery store and use the regular bananas, organic bananas, regular strawberries, organic strawberries, do they taste different? the price is different, organic foods are higher. guest: yes, there is a consumer perception that they are significantly higher we have started what is called the savvy shopper log. we do a cost and comparison of prices to look at what the price differential between conventional and organic is. sometimes you can actually find, a particularly in season fruits and vegetables, you can find a similarly priced conventional and organic products. in terms of taste, they taste

very similar if not identical. obviously, people who produce organic think there is a better taste without anything added to the production of those fruits and vegetables. it is interesting to note that many times you hear the statistic tossed around that it costs 50% more to buy organic food and that is not the case. that is due to the increased demand and the industry is growing tremendously. there is more production and more efficiency in terms of the production. host: how do you ensure the food you are buying is organic? guest: the organic industry is unique. it is a partnership between industry and the federal government. everyone is familiar with the usda organic seal and that ensures to the consumer that that product has been through the most rigorous regulatory

process for food that is available. it is housed at the usda. it is the national or get a program. there are adhere to standards for those products. once that seal is on that package, that supplier has to adhere to those standards. host: is organic food always right for you? what is the best choice? guest: it is about consumer choice. we are a country that believes in personal freedom. it is about consumer choice. you talked earlier about the consumption of around 4% now. about 4% of the products that are produced are chosen by the consumer. they sell because of what organic delivers. what they are looking for. if you are looking for food without hormones or synthetic

hormones or antibiotics or pesticides, those things are important to you. then that is the right choice for you. host: pesticides can about as a result to help farmers and make sure the crop to grow strongly and that you are not infected by insects and other materials. is that a good thing and a bad thing? guest: i guess that depends on who you ask. in april of this year, the president's cancer panel came out with some recommendations. they produce a study that is very, very expensive. they advised people as much as possible to avoid eating foods with pesticides. they are looking at the research where they are connecting the increase of pesticides in our food production system in this

country with the increased levels of cancer. our population. we have a high risk. we have about 40% risk of getting cancer in our lifetime in this country it is a high risk. those independent medical researchers strongly advised that people as much as possible avoid consuming pesticides. host: bouar bormann's and why are they used? -- what are hormones and why are they used? guest: they are usually used in livestock to increase production, to increase growth. you have probably heard about in dairy cattle, hormones were used to increase milk production in cows. they are also used to increase the growth rate. of rate of livestock.

host: pennsylvania, democrats line, good morning. caller: good morning. i want to make a comment that it seems to me that it would be good if congress could maybe get some kind of tax credit to people who grew their own food at home, it would do a few things. you'd eat better food but also it would decrease global warming insofar as people don't have to go buy food that is shipped from other states across state lines with the big trucks which adds to global warming. also, it would probably be good if in our schools we started teaching kids more about how to plant vegetables and sustainable things they can do themselves. many kids graduate high school

and don't really know how to plant a garden. it might be good if we took a look at that, too. guest: you bring up some excellent points. for the most part, people in this country don't really know much about how their food is produced. as secretary of also points out, agriculture is a complicated system that people don't know much about. it is important for us to know. the first lady has done a great job to highlight the importance of children knowing about the food they eat and the relationship between their health and the food they eat. host: the usda has a set of standards to ensure that the food you eat is organic. among those standards is a wonder% animal feed and mandatory access outside. no antibiotics, growth hormones, or animal byproducts and the indoor must be managed to prevent water or crop

contamination. guest: correct. eureka, california, good morning. caller: good morning. a lot of our future and vegetables come from south of the border, latin america and south america. who is there watching and maintaining the fact that pesticides are applied to those products? guest: interesting question in terms of organic. we talk all little bit about the national organic program. in terms of organic products that come in from outside the united states, they must meet the national organic program standards that are set for our producers in this country. if there is someone going to export products into this country, in order for them to be

labeled with the usda seal nbd an organic, they have to meet those organic standards that are set for our producers. that is how you will know there are not pesticides in terms of organic products. host: our guest is the executive director of the organic trade association. one of our viewers says the majority of food poisoning is caused by consumption of spoiled processed foods, dead food, animal human transmissions and pathogens. guest: the food safety build just recently passed. we did a lot of work on that. our trade association felt very strongly that if you're going to be in the food business, you should do

noted that in this country we are blessed with the safest food supply in the world but there's always room for improvement. pathogens are an ever-present concern. it is not as simple as avoiding certain foods. the consumer has a responsibility to make sure that they handle the products appropriately. hot food should be hot and cold food should be called and do not cross contaminate. there are many steps to food safety. as an industry, we take food safety very seriously. we have many steps in place that apply to food safety. host: how many food inspectors does the u.s. have? guest: i don't know. i don't know the exact number. part of what the food safety bill will do is increase the number of food inspectors that

are out there for our overall system. most of that comes under the food and drug host: administration but we have been looking at food policy this week. today our focus is organic food. pennsylvania, an airline for democrats, good morning. caller: good morning. in terms of food labeling, is there a difference between those that are labeled organic and foods that are labeled all natural? a large regional food chain which has their own brand of catch up. on the front label it says all natural and under the back label, the second ingredient is high fructose corn syrup. that is neither natural organic. can you comment on the difference between organic and all natural? guest: that is a great question.

i think it is one of those questions that is a huge consumer confusion area in fact, as we have been talking, organic is a federally regulated program. natural is not. that means that you are an organic farmer and you have to meet the standards that the usda puts in class. i have decided to produce a natural product. i do certain things that i determine on my own are what the definition of natural is and i put natural on my label. there's nothing mandating or regulating what natural is. host: another viewer says to support your local pro by buying at farmers' markets. that lead to the question of oversight. guest: that is always important.

65% of our membership our small farmers. we absolutely agree with her that it is important to buy locally and look for locally produced products. host: key port, new jersey, independent line, good morning. we will go to lindsey, next from vermont. caller: thank you for cspan addressing this very important topic to our health and safety in this country. i wanted to mention that i am friends with many small independent farmers in the mountains of vermont. there's a big organic movement here. they criticized the trade organization, the cost of carrying the organic label. it is really hard. if you buy locally at your

farmer's market, it is a one-on- one situation where you are talking to your former. i actually trust those people many times more than i trust the government that would recommend in hypocrisy that we should be eating foods without pesticides and yet the government does not regulate that all food producers should grow without danger is harmful chemical. i try to feed my family organic as much as possible. on a limited budget, you can't always do it 100% very we grow a lot of our own food and hunt for wild food. i still don't feel protected by my government as far as keeping our food supply safer. guest: thank you. thank you for calling from my

home state of vermont. our headquarters office is actually located in vermont. i am in vermont frequently. we appreciate your comments. in terms of the cost, one of the things that the government has done is put cost shared programs together to help small farmers with going through the certification process to get that usda seal on their product. there is a way for them to recoup that costs. . that is important to keep those small farmers of viable and profitable. that is there in case you did not know about that. the fact that people are growing so much of their own food is a

throwback to organic. people that do that, frequently avoid using pesticides and they do crop rotation and understand the process to avoid the pesticide usage. host: alabama, the republican line, good morning. caller: good morning. i actually worked at a place located in alabama and we actually make natural foods. i would recommend to anyone since i have been working there that i learned a lot more about organic and all natural. i believe a more healthy for you, you will feel more better once you start eating, if you

have the hormones in your food and when you eat it -- over time, you get sick. everybody has heard of food poisoning. the organic and all natural is more better for you and more healthy for you. that is what the best things that someone could come up guest: with. thank you for that. we agree with you. host: cincinnati, democrats line, good morning. caller: someone said to me yesterday that organic food is being ground on ground that is already depleted. so we are not getting the nutrients that our grandparents got. we are not eating the same good. what is your idea of that? guest: in the first place, you

cannot grow well on ground that is already depleted we are getting really good growth deficiencies in production. one of the things that the organic methods of producing food does is to actually put nutrients back into the soil and to build up the soil. that is one of the inherent properties of organic production. our earlier caller that spoke about how much he has learned, it is very complicated. there is a lot of misinformation out there. you have to have good soil to produce good crops. host: is organic food healthier for you? guest: there is growing evidence why there are lots of reasons why it is healthier and that is in terms of the things that you avoid. when you say no to hormones and

pesticides. we have a major issue in this country with growing antibiotic resistance. all the livestock that is produced organically is grown without antibiotics. that is another really important health issue for all of us. host: when did organic food first, on the radar? -- first, on the radar. c erstome on the radar --first ar?e on the radar-guest: guest: if we take whole foods out of the picture which is a major organic retailer and we talk about chains such as safeway which has its own brand , a target as organic -- we see

that probably in the last five years in particular, as you walk the supermarket aisles, you will find organic food every war whether you are in the suit fileds --oup aisle or the cereals. it is throughout all of the products in the supermarket today host: montana, independent line, good morning. caller: good morning. i am kind of old school. i am an old man. back in the 1960's, i grew my own garden every year. i got to thinking about it. the ground is polluted. the soil that you grow the food in, the rain that comes down is polluted.

how can you possibly grow something? i am all for no hormones and antibiotics. i don't like that stuff. how can you possibly say something is organic -- do you see what i am saying-guest: i absolutely do. we are all expos to pollution every day. from the way our country runs. there is exposure to pollution. that is not something that we are likely to change as we continue to grow and evolve. i think it is a matter of the death of exposure. organic food is produced by greatly minimize this exposure. to pollutants and things that

are held concerning. host: we have a follow-up on our twitter page. are there natural contentments in nature that get passed on in organic foods that could cause problems. is there anything in the ground that could still be passed on potentially that could be harmful? guest: when i decide that i will become an organic farmer and i will start to produce organic products, i have to leave the ground fallow. i cannot plant and use the ground for three years. that lets the soil clear out of anything that might have been in place prior to planting. host: san diego, republican line, good morning. caller: i was reading f inein f

which makes it illegal for americans to sell, produce, food. guest: it makes it illegal for americans? obviously, we produce a lot of food in this country host: woodbridge, new jersey, good morning. caller: good morning. yesterday, i went out shopping and i bought myself some peppers. lately i find that the packers, arevegetables on bohothe whole bigger. when a person decides that he or she does not want to eat meat

and they go on to eat vegetables and they realize that they are not losing weight, obviously they become a vegetarian because they don't want to eat meat. then it takes a long time to lose that weight because of all the stuff and the vegetables. all these things have all these pesticides and mormons in it. that is the reason people are not losing weight. it is just like chicken. it is full of warm months. -- it is full of hormones. host: is there a correlation? guest: there is a lot of research on that. we could probably find science on both sides about how it impacts to wait. unfortunately for all of us, waite is an issue of how much we take in and how much we expand.

when you talk about large portion sizes, portion control is a big issue for people trying to lose weight. host: michigan, independent line, good morning. caller: i have a quick question. me and my friends have been discussing organic food and we notice that almost everything has high fructose corn syrup in it. we are wondering if there is any addictive property too high fructose corn syrup? guest: that's another one of those questions that many people are looking at. you do find there has been big concerns about the amount of high fructose corn syrup in children's food that are directed toward children. that is one of the things you

can find research that says yes and of course you can find research that says it is not addictive. they say it is a flavor enhancer. it is a two-sided coin at this point. host: lancaster, ohio, good morning. caller: good morning. to be organic, do you have to be certified by an organization to be organic? with that certification, do you have to display that when you go to farmers markets or have a roadside stand? if you are not certified but advertise you are raising organic, is there a problem? guest: yes, you do have to be certified. there are well over 100 certification agents and companies out there that you can turn to.

part of the certification process is that day o don-farm inspections to make sure that you are adhering to the standards. they can do them announced as well as unannounced. they might come today and check your records to day and you can think you are all set but because they can also do unannounced inspections, they can show off one week later. yes, it is part of the process. you then would be eligible to use the usda organic seal and you would want to do that because it is essentially a brand. it is branding. it is a value added brand. you would want to do that. no, you cannot really call yourself organic and promote yourself that way for large sales of organic food unless you have gone through the

certification process. host: any sugar in your food is addictive and makes you crave more of guest: food. that is interesting. some people do find it addictive and cannot stop. others can't eat a piece of candy and stop. interesting. host: our focus is food policy and this week we have been dealing with various aspects of food you eat and legislation impacting crops grown in america and sold in grocery stores. we are focusing on organic foods today. florida, good morning. caller: what is the policy for the association for the big farm producers preventing them from hijacking of the organic food industry? guest: the policy of the trade association for big farms?

are you still there? caller: on turning big farm producers like anything else in this country, sometimes they get a ga into theme like they game.he do you have any power to prevent them from hijab -- hijacking the definition of organic-guest: oh, sure. how much does it cost for a former to belong to your organization? guest: basically, i would say that the national organic program is the great equalizer. as a trade association, we don't determine what the policies are. it does not matter if i'm a small producer that has a small plot of land that i am producing

from in rural north dakota or if i may big, well-known, major companies such said kraft or big names we have heard of. they all have to adhere to the exact same standards. it is a great equalizer. it does not make any difference what your size is. host: what about the cost to join the organization? guest: for small farmers, it is $300 per year for membership. host: amherst, mass., good morning. caller: many people have brought up high fructose corn syrup and someone talked about corncobs. all of the corn sold in the united states is a patented a life form, patent by monsanto. that goes into biofuels being

made from corn which profits monsanto. we have the president of the united states contract in monsanto's private army. monsanto also used to be black water. chemicals made by monsanto that are put on non-organic crops are killing these around the world. -- a be killinges around the world. -- a b killingees around the world. guest: one of the major themes of organic production is not using genetically-organized organisms. that is a big concern of ours. that is a big issue. one of the things that we work very hard to do is to protect our growers from inadvertent contamination by crops that are out there.

the most interesting thing about bringing the g up themo issue is that most people don't know that about 80% of all the food that we eat contains genetically modified organisms. host: does organic include genetically modified engineered -- genetically engineered foods and why are they labeled as such? guest: organic does not include those. that is a great question. as i just said, about 80% of our food contained gmo's and that means labeling 80% of what you have in your supermarket. host: why is it not lead guest:? abeled. guest: probably because there is a lot and it has been used in our food system for a long time now. host: you are on the air.

go ahead caller: good morning para host: we have about one minute left. caller: in regards to organic food being held here for you -- host: is that your question? is it held here guest:? it is what you are avoiding which makes it healthier. there is some research that shows there may be enhanced nutritional levels as well. host: no synthetic fertilizers, no synthetic pesticides or insecticides, no genetically engineered plants or animals, and environmentally sound and sustainable growing policies. a final question asks love organically grown but can we expect to see the price come down near the level of non- organic produce? guest: with the increase in

consumer demand and it is growing now, 3/4 of all households are buying some organic products. as we get more efficient in production and demand continues, i think the prices will continue to come down a host. host: thank you for being here. tomorrow morning, new year's day, a round table of two international reporters. we will also checked re in withed wilson to look ahead at the 2011 political year ahead. also the 2012 presidential race as some of the gop candidates make their announcements in march and april. "washington journal" is every day at 7:00 a.m. on the east