the congressional black caucus understands that we have 42 members, democrats and one republican. half the cbc is racially mixed, as am i.. we have a unique vantage point, which is we understand that this whole issue of race is ridiculous, stupid, ignorant. we of to get past this, and one of the ways, i think, is that when african-americans get positions of influence, to bring the city along with him or her. bring the state along with him or her. bring, indeed, the nation, along

with him or her. i do not think it can be done in a haphazard way. i think it has to be strategic, and i believe that president obama can do it. they're probably trying to the drought how to do it, but there are probably people in -- they're probably trying to figure out how to do it, but there are probably people inside who are encouraging him to shy away from it. economic teamnt's is pretty white. do you think he would benefit from having more african- americans among his senior advisers, particularly experienced with this particular unemployment issue? what is your sense when you talk to his economic advisers of their understanding of the black community issues with unemployment right now? >> this is some african-american

presence, but what i am hoping for is that the congressional black caucus can present to the president what we have seen and our suggestions for the healing of the u.s. economy and how we create jobs. i would think that using as -- i mean, after all, of the 43 members of the cbc, 40 two of us are committed to the president's reelection. anything we suggest would be to help his reelection, converting stumbling blocks to stepping stones. we believe that we can be part of the president's team, whether it is a knowledge officially or not. that is the kind of

relationship we would like to have with the white house. >> are you would like to be advisers to the president on this issue? >> absolutely. we would like to provide the president with information that he may not be receiving elsewhere. we pick up a lot of affirmation going to these job -- information going to these job sites and having town hall meetings with the people. we went to detroit, for example, and the town hall meeting became very, very contentious. the people were angry with the president. they were angry with congress. they were angry with the host of the town hall meeting who was doing nothing except running the town hall meeting. i think that is an example of how angry they are. but if you look at the fact that unemployment in detroit may become a real unemployment may

be almost 40%, we should have anticipated the crowd becoming boisterous. there is criticism on the right of maxine waters who said to the crowd, look, we understand. we feel your pain. but we are very hesitant to criticize the president because we all are proud of him, you are proud, but you need to release us to criticize him so that we can make him better. that released as not mean the you'll find the congressional black caucus out attacking the president. i'm not going to do it under the chair. there is no official season of attack on the president of the

united states. i'm going to support the president of the united states. we are different -- if we are different in how we see a particular policy, i think it would be ridiculous for me to not say, i do not like this policy and i think it will be harmful to a part of the population because i think it would be wrong to criticize a black president. that would not be helpful. we have to have a level of maturity in this country. >> we are out of time. thank you congressman emanuel cleaver, a democrat from missouri. he is chairman of the congressional black caucus. we appreciate your time. >> good to be with you. >> same to our studio guests, thank you to both of you for your questions this morning. thank you for watching. enjoy your day.

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> you can see "newsmakers" again today at 6:00 p.m. eastern, here on c-span. >> c-span pose a series of interviews with presidential candidates continues tonight with jon huntsman, a former utah governor and u.s. ambassador to china. we will assess his strategy to win the republican nomination, why he decided to become ambassador to china, and the impact of running for president on his family. "wrote to the white house -- road to the white house," 29 it

10:00, on c-span. >> c-span.org helps you navigate the political landscape with twitter feet, facebook updates from the campaign, candidate biographies, and polling data. all i at c-span.org/ca mpaign2012. >> american university professor reveals obscure people with real stories to be left their imprint on the white house. >> and began to discover these fascinating individuals whose mark on the presidencies and his mark on the white house were virtually unknown except for a few scattered stories here and there. everyone kind of knew the george washington and thomas jefferson had slaves, but most people

probably did not know that eight of the first 12 presidents had slaves. >> on wednesday, the m.l. king memorial foundation hosted a tribute to those who share martin luther king's dedication to equality and peace. the dedication of the martin luther king memorial was postponed due to the hurricane. andrea mitchell hosts this event. today marks the 40th anniversary of the march on washington and dr. king's "i have a dream" speech. this is just over an hour.

>> good evening and welcome to this very special occasion. to all of you who have created this beautiful space here with less than 24 hours' notice, congratulations for all your hard work and flexibility. a funny thing happened while i was entering the news and other people were just gathered in doing their business in washington, an earthquake. as harry johnson said, when dr. king comes to down, and things shake rattle and roll. it comes to town, things shake, rattle and roll. welcome to the first event of the dedication of the martin luther king jr. memorial. i cannot tell you how truly humbled and honored i am to be

with you this evening. as our city, our nation, and people around the world come together to remember a profit, a preacher, a man of peace, and to dedicate this during a memorial that will remind us forever more of his lasting legacy. for many people of my generation, dr. martin luther king jr. was the defining leader of an era. for my high school class, his dream was our awakening to the moral questions of our time. he taught us the civilizations of violence -- civilizations and violence are antithetical concepts, and non-violence is a force for social transformation. in my town, one of my teachers

was and turner. our school grieved as a community when her son and his friends were murdered by the ku klux klan. and this beautiful august 9th, so many decades later, it might be easy -- beautiful august night, so many decades later, it might be easy for those of us who were not dr. king's brothers and sisters in the march to forget just how radical he was. after all, by the end of the 20th-century, dr. king was one of the most admired people in america. he ranked just behind mother teresa and ahead of john f. kennedy, albert einstein and helen keller. but that was not the case years earlier when he delivered the speech at riverside church entitled, "beyond vietnam, a time to break silence, a declaration of independence from the war in vietnam."

i do not have to tell all of you in the audience how controversial it was both within the movement and without. in the riverside church speech, dr. king told an overflow crowd of more than 3000 people that many persons had asked him, why are you speaking about the war, dr. king? why are you joining the voices of dissent? peace and civil rights do not mix. dr. king said that those questions greatly saddened him because they meant that the inquires had not really known him, his commitment or his calling. that is why this memorial, that will be dedicated this weekend, that is why this memorial matters so much. not only for our generations, but for future generations. through his words and a powerful

case of his eyes carved into stone of hope, we can all try to understand him, to better understand why he -- where he was trying to lead us, to a revolution still unfinished nearly a half century later. and now it is my special honor to welcome some of the distinguished guests who have joined us tonight from all over the world to pay tribute to dr. king and to other global leaders for peace. first, i would like to recognize her excellency, the premier of bermuda, paula a. cox and members of her cabinet. [applause] the prime minister of trinidad and to buy dope, the mayor of washington, d.c. -- trinidad and

tobago, the mayor of washington, d.c., the ambassador to bermuda, and ambassador cook, who secretary clinton described as a tireless advocate for people everywhere. >> members of the clergy and all who gathered here, i bring you greetings from president obama and secretary clinton. yolanda king was the oldest daughter of dr. king, and she was like a sister to me. we travelled across the world. she would be so happy that

you're all here today. in that spirit, i asked you hold the hand of the person next to you in a symbol of peace and love. let us pray. god, we thank you for this day that your hands have made. we ask your blessings upon those who celebrate this season and those around the world who have come to join together to celebrate a man and a mission and a mandate for peace. we ask blessings upon the time we share together. we ask your blessings upon every event, every day of this weekend. bless the food we're going to have, the fellowship, the french ship. bless the time we share to -- iendship. bless the time we share together. amen.

>> i still have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live at the true meaning of its creed, we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. i have a dream that one day on the red hills of georgia, from the sons of slaves and the sons of former slave owners, they will be able to sit down at the table of brotherhood. i have a dream that one day in alabama, little black boys and little black girls will be able to join hands with little black -- little white boys and girls as sisters and brothers. i have a dream. >> take your seat at the table on august 28th with the unveiling of the martin luther king jr. memorial.

>> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome eric peterson, u.s. vice-president of diversity, general motors. >> thank you. i am honored and humbled to be up here this evening to represent the men and women of chevrolet, the gm foundation and general motors. when i did my research to decide what i wanted to say, i keep coming back to detroit. i do not know of many of you follow -- who follow dr. king know that he spent a lot of time in detroit. it was very humbling when he made his "i have a dream" speech in washington, but he did one in detroit with a message that resonated with the people of

detroit. when i compare both speeches, and i also looked at a letter from birmingham, the one thing that i did find out is that i understood better what our leadership, our general motors leadership, the issues they had to address and how they addressed them. in detroit, the fact is important, especially for general motors, is that our chairman at the time stood on the top of the general motors building and in fact watched the city burning, which was detroit , during the 1968 riots. at that time, he made a decision. he said, this has got to stop. we cannot let this happen to our beloved city. my him taking that step, general motors decided the we had to bring leaders and that would help us, either from the private

sector or from the government to help us. that meant bringing rev. leon sullivan on to our board. the significance of that was the rev. sullivan was the very first african-american, the very first black to be on our board, but more importantly, on any major corporation in the nation. he was the very first one. that was important. that feeling that we had by our leadership at that time has permeated our organization as we have moved forward. it is not a chance that general motors started the first minority supplier organization within the automotive industry. it is not by chance the general motors started the first minority dealer program within the automotive industry. and it was not by chance that our then chairman ron murphy

stood with rev. solomon and gave the support and commitment the general motors would stand with him in regard to the solomon principles. i think any of you who follow him understood that his principles dealt with the abolishment of apartheid in south africa. that was important to us as far as not only being a good corporate citizen, but also a good community citizen. [applause] the one thing i continue to remember as i think of dr. king is him locked arm in arm with people that he was representing. he did not know a lot of them, but he represented for a car this -- for a cause. i have to tell you, on behalf of general motors, we, general motors, are committed to lock arms with you as we move forward, because if the celebration stops this weekend,

then the dream fails. from our perspective the general motors, this has to go forward. from our perspective a chevrolet, this has to go forward. we have to educate our children as to the significance of this event, to the shoulders we stand on. on behalf of general motors, we're willing to do that. we're willing to commit ourselves because that is what we do. i can tell you on behalf of general motors and the chevrolet association, we're so pleased to be here this weekend. have a good weekend. thank you theory much. >> please welcome 5 vicars, president of the tommy hilfiger corporate foundation -- guy president of the tommy

hilfiger corporate foundation. >> i am going to wear two hats 29, 1 as vice chair of the m l king memorial board. to wear two hats to night, one as vice chair of the m l k memorial board. the other, as president of the tommy hilfiger corporate foundation, i want to tell you how honored i am to be part of this occasion. tommy hilfiger and i have known each other since we were 10 years old. it is kind of cool to be able to run the corporate foundation. when i began as president of the foundation back in december 1999, i will never forget, in march of 2000, tommy hilfiger called me and said, we have got to get involved.

i want you to research how to get involved in being part of building this memorial to dr. king. one of the things they said that we have been true to, that i have been very proud of my company, the thing they emphasized was, it is about dr. king, not tommy hilfiger. it is about dr. king. i'm very proud to say that our company has been involved a little over 11 years. it has been a labor of love, and to be here today, but you cannot express how wonderful it is. the want to say to harry johnson and a very small staff -- i want to say to harry johnson and the very small staff of the memorial, your wonderful, your tenacious, you bring it every day. on behalf of the foundation and our company, thank you and god bless. >> now, please welcome, myrtle

potter, board member of this evening's sponsor, medco health solutions. >> good evening. first of all, we are very honored to be here with you tonight. we are certainly thrilled to be gathering to commence five days of celebration of the life, dream and legacy of dr. martin luther king, jr.. i am a board member of medco health solutions, which is the world's leading pharmacy management company. thee thrilled to have medco foundation service this evening's sponsor. on behalf of the foundation, our chairman and ceo, our executive team and over 20,000 associates, we welcome you to this historic night and to this week's

landmark commemoration of one of history's greatest leaders. reverend, dr. martin luther king. [applause] dr. king challenged us to become a better nation and a better world by honoring and respecting each other's humanity, and by eliminating injustice wherever it exists, whether that is in education, health care, housing, employment. in mecca strives to honor the vision of dr. king by providing -- medco strives to honor the vision of dr. king by providing the highest quality of drug management services for over 60 million members. we do this by addressing health care disparities but also by helping people manage their

health care conditions. we also addressed the health care needs of the most vulnerable populations and support a high performing, low- income students in reaching their goal to become nurses, doctors and pharmacists. proud, very, very proud to be tonight's platinum sponsor and to be a part of celebrating the life, dream and legacy of an extraordinary, extraordinary man. thank you so much for joining us in this onerous celebration of dr. martin luther king. i hope you truly enjoy this momentous, momentous evening. thank you. [applause]

>> bishop desmond tutu is at the forefront of leaders to be followed in dr. king's footsteps. like dr. king, he is a man of faith, unbounded courage, and a nobel peace prize recipient. desmond tutu receive the presidential medal of freedom from president obama in 2009. while he could not be with us in person, he sent a very special message for this important occasion. >> welcome to the event celebrating the dedication of the martin luther king jr. memorial. a regret not being able to attend, but i am honored to

bring you greetings to share on this historic occasion. i am one of the millions who 03 them -- who 0 freedom to dr. king's advocacy, of hope and love. he established a new era of civil rights in america. his spirit has encouraged new democracies around the world, including here in south africa. the power of his legacy continues to inspire and guide people searching for freedom and equality. this wonderful memorial will stand in the heart of america's capital city, but the values it represents will reach and resound around the world.

for those who stood with dr. king and heard him speak his prophetic words, it must be hard to believe that 48 years have passed since he shared his dream on the steps of the memorial to america's great emancipated. we avoided a very long time for this moment. -- we have waited a very long time for this moment. if there is one lesson of dr. king, it is to always remember that what is good and what is right will always 1 day prevail. this lesson has kept hope alive in many of the world's darkest corners, and it has encouraged those following in dr. king's footsteps to continue his

commitment to resolving conflict without violence. thanks to dr. king's wisdom and sacrifice, our world is a freer and more peaceful one. every day we see the legacy of his hope and vision as people around the world seek freedom, equality, and opportunitythis m. king is well deserved, and the world needs the messages it enshrines today as much as ever. god bless you. [applause] he inspires us with his gentle

strength and courage. our next speaker is a man who follows in the footsteps of dr. king. and he is known prisons and house arrest and his political and social involvements have consistently been faced driven. recognized for his humanitarian leadership and achievement, he writes -- founded the world for all creations at a global level. it is my great honor to introduce hon. abraham ruffle, ambassador to the united states from south africa. [applause] thank you very much, andrea. -- >> thank you very much, andrea. almost five decades later, we all gather in washington to

memorialize in stone the values stood anddr. king died. this is a long time in the memory of some, but couldn't be more time list that we do it in this era to memorialize those values, because we live in a world where the values of truth, peace, for goodness, compassion, rick consolation and so forth are seen as weaknesses. where they are denigrated and seen as untreatable values and valuables of exigency and harshness and militarism seemed to be on the out. these values of a great consolation peace, forgiveness, and compassion are the values

for which martin luther king lived and are the foundations from which [inaudible] was defeated. many others will produce against the fight. the violence was a non-violence and practiced by martin luther king. they confronted the vision, supplication -- separation, at that martin luther king did not see the proponent of, but south africa today tried to hold them in a world that is polarized and so many other ways. we confronted the conflict of a thought martin

luther king dreamed up. and so on and on top but that archbishop tutu, nelson mandela, and others would start voting. add to this the values of truth, gondi, nelson the dan mandela, and tutu. something that they could trade for reconciliation against the reconciliation that if he told the truth you would not be revenge against, but reconciled with the truth to say you free. south africa is regarded as a miracle. in our transformation was

divinely inspired, but not a miracle out of reach of ordinary human beings. south africa and the life of dr. martin luther king has confirmed to us that human beings are capable of being good. but human beings are capable of opting for things that are operable and did not have to slide into areas that are harshness and violent perio. [applause] the example from asia through gondi through north america through martin luther king, to africa and a number of leaders culminating in nelson mandela tells us that face is not only the rituals of were shut, nor the polarizing claims of

explosively, but the update is the constant reiteration of our translation -- relationship with god must translate to benefit goodness -- must translate to the goodness of human beings. [applause] place and religion in the works of gandhi, martin luther king, and nelson mandela was not to understand yourself us chosen and others as frozen, but to understand that under got canopy, the canopy of compassion and mercy is a place for everyone, and respected of color, in respect of language, creed, in respect of of hair type -- irrespective of hair type.

it is the reason to engage, not the reason to polarize and isolate. in [applause] as the south african ambassador, as i seek almost every day the statute on massachusetts avenue, and in adding to the memorial of washington, we are challenged that the golden triangle of peace, confession, non-violence, and struggle against anniversary, that the third point in the trying go must be completed. we pledge in the year 2012 the build the golden

triangle by completing the memorial of nelson mandela and washington. in washington is the place. [applause] it is the place that determine so much where we stand between peace and war. where we stand between the reconciliation and vengeance. where we stand between humanitarian and arsonists. thank you very much. and let the celebrations began. i[applause] [applause] thank you for setting the tone for inspiring us. enjoy your dinner, and we will be back later. thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national

cable satellite corp. 2011] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome again, ms. andrea mitchell. it is my pleasure to introduce the man in the voice behind this memorial. the president of the national

martin luther king foundation who successfully led the campaign to build the memorial, mr. harry johnson. [applause] >> how are you all doing? think you so much. -- thank you so much. thank you so much for all but you do for us. in thank you. thank you. your excellency, a member of the king's family, other special guest better with us tonight, hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us tonight on this

most auspicious occasion. to our leader of ceremonies, andrea mitchell. honored guest, we thank you. all of you who are assembled your tonight, i say how is everyone doing this evening? during his short term here on earth, dr. martin luther king jr. once said our lives begin to end the day we become solid about things that matter. tonight, as we celebrate the world vision and commitment to peace and justice as they guided dr. king and inspired the leaders coming here with us this evening we are mindful of the fact that we stand on the shoulders of those who refuse to be silent about things that

matter most. truth, justice, equality, and opportunity for all. and to that end, as we begin making our plans for dedication week, we wanted to be sure that our celebration included time to remember dr. bloom -- dr. king as a leader of the world vision. his concerns were for the rights of all people, not just here in our own country, but those who live across the globe. for that we own -- we owe him a continued debt of gratitude. [applause] finally, as i take my seat, it is truly an honor, and no doubt of privilege, for me to introduce our next guest, who like our other distinguished speakers is a trailblazer in his own right. the former mayor of dallas, texas. current united states representative, hon. ron kurtz

served as a president's principal trade adviser and spokesperson on trade issues. to me, he is just a great friend. ron told me once when we run at the democratic national convention a few years ago, i am tired of you sending me those letters asking me for money. i have given you all the money i'm going to give you. would you please welcome dr. ron kurtz. [applause] >> join me again -- i cannot tell you how proud i am of harry johnson for his love and commitment and stewardship of this wonderful project. even though that was the cheeky as a way for him to yet again ask me for more money, i have given it and so glad that have. i am so honored to be a part of

this kickoff. as i sat at the table, you will be pleased to know as i listen to the remarks from our brothers from general motors and tommy hilfiger i just started ripping pages out of my speech because so much of what i wanted to say they said. it calls me about what i could add that you have not heard before. like so many of you here, i grew up very much our first generation beneficiary of the civil-rights movement. before i go further, for me to comment on what an honor it is for me to be here as a son of the civil-rights movement, it is my privilege to honor the children of dr. king who are here with us tonight. [applause]

you have heard from previous speakers and were certainly here -- will certainly hear from all of us how each of us use his work and how it is either expired our life's work or informed us, and i cannot help but think how his galvanizing work demonstrated a powerful combinations of theology and ideas to inspire individuals to take action, both collectively and individually to transform our societies. i was reminded as i had a conversation with one of our good friends who was saying i hope the weather does start run this weekend. i told him if any group of people knows about prayer, is to be those of us gathered in the room today. whenever storms come, got will take care of it. i grew up in a little church in

the south, and all we had was our faith and hope. i grew up in a church that my family built by hand. and it was like every little shotgun church you have seen in the south. and we have the wooden block letters with scripture up on the wall. 3:16 every john a week. one of the times we were reciting scripture, and one of my cousins nudged me and said you know what this means don't you? he said god so loved the world he did not send the committee. well, when i think about dr. king, it breeds like to that, because god does not send committees. aths life to that,

because god does not sent committees. as i am privileged to travel all around the world, as the face of the united states and our commercial relations, i am inspired and humbled to see the same spirit of self determination and faith in the work and lives of people. as you are heard from our wonderful ambassador from south africa, we're witnessing now the brett of dr. king's words coming to life in places like libya, egypt, and the middle east and north africa as mothers and fathers all embraced a global principal of self faith, self- determination, and self empowerment. to me, that is the power of dr. king's work. people intuitively understand the democratic rights give people the power to shape our

own destinies and own futures. they also understand that increasing individual freedom helps unleashed liberty and give entrepreneurs the freedom to empower themselves to create a better life, not only for themselves but for their families and friends and for their neighbors. so it seems fair to me to say that dr. king's life and work helped to shape a strong foundation for global development. his efforts inspired a universal call for social justice that helped move hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in just a few generations. i know and we all know there is so much more to do, but tonight is an opportunity to celebrate the genius of dr. king's mission. i am honored to also have the privilege to introduce our evening's final speaker, the

64th secretary of state of the united states of america, the fabulous and wonderful and brilliant and intelligent, gorgeous madeleine albright. [applause] throughout her extraordinary life and career in public service, she has been committed to the idea that america should leave the world, even as we strive to protect our own union and live up to the highest principles here at home. dr. albright continues to pursue these goals today, in both her public and private careers. as chair of the albright stone bridge group and albright capital management, she provides strategic perspective to dynamic leaders were driving the global economy and creating jobs around the world. as chair of both the national democratic institute for

international affairs and the pew global added two projects, she helps guide institutions dedicated to giving individuals a greater voice in shaping their futures. friends, please join me in welcoming madame secretary, a doctor -- dr. madeleine albright. [applause] >> also short. thank you very much. thank you. thank you. my good friend. thank you very much for your kind words. i really am delighted to be here. it is a pleasure to be with you and excellencies and friends. in case you are wondering what hit and i have on tonight, i have a link in pen. on tonight,n i have

it is a lincoln pin. thank you for your amazing effort to make this all work. we have already heard a lot about dr. king, and much more will be set between now and sunday when the long-awaited memorial is officially dedicated. and as we share our thoughts, we should never lose sight of his core mission as a leader of the african american community and the quest for racial equality and social progress here in the united states. it is appropriate as well that we highlight his inspirational .ole in south africa's struggle tonight we placed special emphasis on the universal

relevance of dr. king's message. he was of man who spoke to all races, nations, genders, and crete, and to every generation. the world's -- words that once filled the baptist church and proclaimed from the steps of the lincoln memorial have not lost any of their power. the message that ultimately prevailed over enormous odds in birmingham montgomery is vital wherever people your and to live together in dignity, freedom, and peace. dr. king was, as we all know, a dreamer. this does not mean that he was nighties. in his career he was beaten, thrown into jail, spied on and threatened. while still in seminary, he wrote about the viciousness of racism, and it made him out the essential goodness of man.

a month before his untimely death, he preached in atlanta that life is a continual story of a shattered dream. he spoke often from the pulpit about the war, the rages within each of us between our nobler inclinations and the temptations of people. dr. king has seen too much of like to believe in the finality of any victory or in the moral purity of any nation or people. his knowledge of human character and realism about obstacles to progress make even more compelling the prescription that he offered, hope, faith, commitment, and compassion toward one another. he knew the world of peace and justice could not be achieved by small steps or by minor adjustments to our thinking and policies. he told us that such a world could not be invented, even by

the most startling advances of modern technology. he warned us that we could not break through as a society if we were always looking around to see what everyone else was doing, and so that we would be shielded from the criticism that true leaders face. dr. king did not ask us to become a flock of good sheet. he asked us to join in creating a revolution, on non-violent revolution based on the principles of true democracy. a revolution grounded in the need for one another and in recognition that we are equal, not because we're all the same, but because we are equal in our intrinsic this need -- dignity and worth. he asked us to insist that morality be at the core of international relationships among every nation and everyone on the face of the globe. now we may wonder today whether

that is a reasonable standard to set. after all, nations have economic, political, and security interest that often come into conflict. we have enemies that have attacked as an ultimate we proclaim their hate. it is far easier to talk about the redemptive power of love and it is to apply the concept in a complex and challenging world. we cannot always live up to the standards that dr. king established, and we should admit that, but if we ever fail to acknowledge morality as a guiding light, then we are truly lost, and we should never forget that. dr. king did not expect to see a universal brotherhood and sisterhood descend from the cloud to cleanse the earth of suffering and strife, but he asked each of us to put aside our arrogance and to except the fundamental proposition that

every individual count, or as he put it, that we are tied together in a single garment of destiny. this is the principle that every individual counts that must be at the heart of everything that we do. if we truly believe on that and act on it, we will have the firmest possible platform for building world peace. we will have the unity we need to attack global problems, such as underdevelopment, religious conflict, environmental degradation and bigotry. we will have the capacity to reach across social and political boundaries so that we might benefit from the contributions of all people. we will live up to our nation's highest ideals, and we will honor her, in the best possible way, the life and legacy of dr. martin luther king jr.. thank you so much for letting me

participate. thank you. driv[applause] >> the queue for those wonderful world and -- words and inspiration. would you please give her another round of applause. -- think you for those wonderful words can't inspiration. i would ask that martin king the third and bernice king joining us on the stage for very special presentation. [applause] >> could you please welcome to

the stage mr. christine barris king and marking the third. -- martin king iii. [applause] i would like to present to the secretary of state, one of our gracious awards that emasculates the presentation, secretary of state's office, sit on the basis of actual stone that came from the famed cory

where the memorial came. we would like to present this. you cannot hold this, because i can barely, but we would like to present this on behalf of the memorial foundation, the king's family and guests here tonight. i would also call to the stage [inaudible] [applause] mr. ron kurtz, ambassador of south africa.

[applause] thank you. now, as we take our seats, -- we

are honored to have a very special guest. would you please welcome to the stage, mr. stevie wonder. [applause] [applause] thank you for coming tonight. >> it is truly an honor to be here at the beginning of the celebration.

a celebration of the memorial of dr. martin luther king jr.. i want to personally and you garylly thinhank johnson for making it possible for me to see the monument. and he made it possible for me to go up and touch the face of dr. king. >> we will be the last few moments of this program to look in on a fema briefing. it is beginning right now. homeland secretary janet napolitano speaking. >> let me begin by expressing condolences to those families who have lost loved ones in the course of this storm.

even though the storm has now been downgraded, it poses no less of a threat to communities in its path. we encourage individuals to listen to the state and local authorities as we move to the response to irene. we just concluded briefing president obama on ongoing efforts to support the states being affected by the storms. he has instructed us to continue leaning forward on our response. on the call with the president or other members of his cabinet, including the secretary of transportation, stephen chiu, and timothy geithner, as well as other white house officials. our number one message for families up and down the eastern seaboard this morning is we're not out -- not out of the woods yet.

remains a large and potentially dangerous storm. hazard still persist in communities that have already seen the storm passed. and it is leaving the new york area. it will continue of new england throughout the day. if you are in those communities, please stay awhile -- inside and away from the shore line. our local and state partners remained focused on that search and rescue, debris removal from critical roadways in critical missions this morning. power outages remain an issue all up and down the coast. we're working with private sector partners in the electricity sector to make sure they are getting the power up and running as soon as it can be. no matter where you are this morning, from north carolina to maine, we encourage you to stay off the rose as much as possible

so we can keep them clear for first responders and four vehicles that are working on power restoration. we also encourage everyone to keep listening to the instructions of state and local officials and visit ready.gov for tips on how to stay safe after the storm. downed power lines in generator issues are just some of the dangers that exist after a storm, and by taking a few simple steps you can improve your level of safety and the level of safety for your family. we still have a ways to go with our region, but i wanted to take a moment and think everyone who followed the instructions of local officials yesterday and last night. as i said, unfortunately we have seen some loss of life. by and large, with the evacuations and other precautions taken, we have

dramatically retraced -- decrease the risk to life over the course of the storm. we want to thank the public for helping us achieve that goal. as i have been saying all week, this storm is the three phases, preparation, response, and recovery. we are now into the second phase for the most part, the initial response. damage assessments are already under way. i spoken to the governor of north carolina to determine the area impacts and the next steps that need to be done in the response and recovery process. we have a ways to go, but i think it is safe to say that the worst of the storm, at least up to and including new york managers the has passed. the storm will proceed up to new england this evening, and out of

the united states by late tonight, early tomorrow morning. with that, i would like to turn this platform over to bill read, from the national hurricane center, to get the estimate of the storm. >> thank you, madam secretary. you did a great job of capturing the forecast for the storm. we were very fortunate to be able to get a unique opportunity. we actually have the hurricane aircraft from the air force reserves fixed at the center of the storm as it was coming into new york city earlier this morning. now it has come passengers here on the connecticut/new york state line, but we still have the onshore flow with a high sir, tropical storm force winds, and some threat for title flooding, especially when the winds come more out of the west and southwest this afternoon paria./

as you said, everywhere south of there, conditions will be improving. we still have tropical storm force wind gusts and warning continue to the south of the storm. it will pass through new england today and into the eastern canada and the maritime provinces overnight tonight. then and in fact and follow-up after that. -- and the impact and follow-up after that. the heaviest rain has accident in new jersey and pennsylvania area, but still continues for eastern new york state, and all of northern new england. it should be xing most of connecticut, except for the extreme western massachusetts this afternoon. next slide, please.

and this is the forecast for the rainfall, continuing rainfall from now on. we are still looking at two to 6 inches of rain across this area. it is very highly prone to flash flooding. with this in mind, these are the impacts we are looking at. we're already getting record reports in the river systems in the philadelphia area of responsibility. widespread moderate to major flooding in southeast new york and western connecticut. our anticipation is with the rainfall going up into the river systems of new hampshire and vermont that we could see record flooding on those rivers. the details for that is best cut through the local forecast offices.

. you will find out the details for each one of the river systems up there. that is what i have for now. >> thank you. >> we are really moving into response. a lot of this is being done by state and local officials. we have been with these governors teams well before the storm hit. we're starting to look at damage assessments are ready and north carolina. and teams are going out and during the preliminary assessments. we will work with governors to discover what additional systems may be needed. hour focuses not on the next 72 hours. we may not yet have all of the impact from the storms as rivers continue to come up and we look at additional flooding, but we do have substantial power outages, and fortunately --

unfortunately loss of life. conditions are in proving behind the storm, so we will continue to work to determine what impacts and assistance they need to be required. >> what kind of preliminary damage assessments are you seeing? >> north carolina has been pretty much flooding. a lot of trees down. the coastal areas there are several highways that have had damages from the flooding, and also a lot of trees down. no dollar figures, not at this point. generally it takes as several days to begin preliminary damage assessments. when you were looking at total cost, we're not counting insured losses. we're looking at damages that would be the responsibility of government that is uninsured. when you start hearing numbers about storm damages in your numbers from us, we're looking

at what is the cost to the government, and what is the uninsured losses to individuals? that will not tell you what the insurance losses were. that is a separate never -- number. agricultural impacts will not be in our total spirit of that will be in usda. we do know there has been substantial agricultural impact and south carolina as well we do not have official numbers. and what we see is what you are seeing. there has been one additional fatalities. >> 6 and north carolina. >> we do know there have been fatalities in states and they're working to get from their local offices what the numbers will be. new jersey had someone swept away earlier today. that may also become a fatality.

>> how concerned are you that people return to their homes to inspect damage? we ask people to keep local officials for when they can come in. we know ocean city has already announced that people can start coming back and will be opening up this afternoon. he'd local officials, particularly with power outages. >> are you aware of any community issues. in north carolina they are working to get teams out. they have been during swift water rescue, but they also have a very robust plan. we do not have reports yet. it does not mean that is not the case, but people have resources to go in and do that kind of work right now. and >> we have had a lot of people go out into the sunny afternoon and say why did we have to evacuate? i am curious what you have to say to that. additionally, i know you have

announced you are diverting money from previous disasters, most notably the southern tornadoes, joplin, missouri and other disasters to help pay for this immediate situation. i am curious how soon you hope congress will work with you to get the money you need. a lot of community start evacuations when the probability of impacts are in the 20 percentile. that means 75 percent of the time you can go home and there is no damage. that is good. they think people need to understand, we hope people can go back, and there is no damages. there is a lot of times people say why did i have to evacuate? there is a 25% times when it does happen. so all of these alleged of officials from local to state that are making these decisions, this is not an easy thing to do. the consequences are too great

not to go. you have to do this based upon forecast days in a chance that you hope does not get that bad, but you do not get a second chance. with regards to the disaster relief fund and the implementing of the fund, i would change how you characterize that. we are not taking any money away from survivors. it continues to provide funds for all of the open disasters. it also continues to provide funding for the emergency protective measures and debris removal. we stop funding new or old disasters that have not are deepened in the system to maintain funds to continue to support the survivors, as well as response to the disaster. we're working closely with the white house on what funded may be needed. part of that may be based on damage assessments we see in this storm. >> i know you said irene is

still ongoing, but at this stage, is the damage worse than you fear? are you breathing a sigh of relief? >> i do not think we look at it this way. this was the biggest -- big storm. it is covering a huge and geographical area. lots of impacts. and if the surges, damage to coast line summer river flooding, trees toppled and flooding and the like. are we glad it was not a category 3 hurricane that hit dead on? of course we are. does that mean we can lean back in the chairs and not put the full force of the government on full force? no. >> we are going to take questions from reporters during

as on the phone. a reminder, please state your name of publication when asking a question. foi have a couple of questions n the phone. are you ready for those questions? >> we are ready for those questions. >> thank you. our first question is from eric clapton from new york times. >> - -- erik lipton.

>> in terms of emergency response, has been the and the federal government received requests for specific action so far and the storm in terms of actually sending in the federal manpower to respond to the disaster? >> we have already had people doing the coordination role. we do have request for some power assessment team for the u.s. army corps of engineers that are going in. in north carolina had requests for generators that they had request for. we are now starting to get those kind of request, but fortunately we have not had to deploy a lot of the search and rescue teams. this goes back to the team effort. of a lot of this is being done by local and state responders. we brought in teams in case we were needed, but we're still standing by until the state's release us. >> to you have any more

specifics on actual damage details so far? in particular, cities where it seems to be the worst. >> we're just beginning that assessment. as far as numbers in dollar figures, it is still very early. we're still concerned about rescue operations. as we get better conditions we're starting damage assessments. >> thank you. >> the next question is from the new york daily news. your line is open. >> think you. this question is for bill read. -- bill reid. could you go through some of the stats that you have in terms of when it passed over in those details. >> earlier in the week we were

anticipating when the storm came out of the bahamas as a category 3, no indication of anything that could disrupt the storm, we expected it to maintain and intensify their. that did not happen. it weakened some before it reached no. carolina. the other factor is it was never brought off land, the rest of the track off the eastern seaboard. that kept it from getting any stronger. as far as data on that, we're still gathering the data on that. there is a lag in the actual impact data from when it occurred, and i do not have that information yet. >> thank you. if you have a question you make press star 1. >> i cannot fault the work you or any of you have done. i think you are covering up on

the sinking of your emergency fund, but you have to look at their role of this president. this president has taken down satellite services, which we use for estimating the impact of hurricanes. this president has essentially plunged our cities and states into bankruptcy. that will be a problem and the recovery phase. they just do not have the money. this is the worst president we have had. >> is this a question or opinion? take of thank you, but one of the things i want to talk about the folks here is as people are saying they have dodged a bullet in lost lives i do not think you consider that as a dog chocolate. a lot of our volunteer agencies have put up tremendous resources and money to prepare and respond. there may not be nationally the sense that this was a bad disaster, but we would remind

people to give generously to the salvation across and other groups because responding to disasters is not cheap and they've repaired -- were prepared for what was happening. those costs come from you. the people who give it can ruthlessly during these needs. who give generously during these times. they have to spend and get people in place, and it takes money. give it so they are ready for this and the next disaster. thank you. >> now, law professors and journalists debate first amendment freedom of the press

versus national security interest in the age of wikileaks. this is part of aspin's institute seventh year of ideas institute. >> good morning, and welcome to the aspen ideas festival, on this glorious morning. the wikileaks release of government files has been described as one of the largest weeks in american history. but in truth, it is much more than that. the wikileaks disclosure represent that trend bollix -- a huge leak. the u.s. has struggled with determining the appropriate trade-offs among security, privacy, transparency, and access. but the disclosure of critical

government information is not really new or unique. for example, how is this any different from the disclosure of the pentagon papers many, many years ago? what is new, however, is the use of technologies to immediately disseminate massive amounts of data. we need to ask ourselves what is different now and how will the actions of wikileaks affect the interactions between government and traditional media and the future, and how will such impact -- such releases impact our enhance understanding as to the sins and as voters of the events on which they report? -- understanding as citizens and as voters of the events on which the report? to be picked apart out of context by the sound bite culture of the 24 hour news cycle.

and a complicated and ongoing dance between the first amendment and national-security, this event has raised fundamental questions, questions which defies simple answers. at one extreme the disclosure can be seen as a natural consequence of a society using web technologies to do business and represents nothing wrong. that is, you cannot take the benefit of instantaneous access without assuming some related risks. at the other extreme the disclosure is seen by some as nothing more than a violation of the wall. it matters little the means of which the law is broken. both points may be reasonable based on their perspective, but neither really satisfied. discuss whatl follows in the way of wikileaks. we have a diverse panel to help us explore those issues today.

all have written on the technologies that afford grit -- much greater access to information and how they inform society. we have 13 time journalists and one law professor. i do not know whether this comment was meant to improve or diminish the social standing of lawyers or vice versa. jim fallows is a national correspondent for the "atlantic." he most recently lived in china. in addition to working for "the atlantic" he was a speechwriter for jimmy carter. he has been a finalist for the national magazine award five times and has won once. he is also one an american book

award for non-fiction. he is author of blind into baghdad and postcards from tomorrow square reports from china. but larry lessee is a professor of law at harvard and author of several books. he founded stanford law school center for internet and society and was a professor of law at the university of chicago. he once clerked for judge richard poster on the second court of appeals and for justice antonin scalia on the u.s. supreme court. jeff rosen is a professor of law but george washington university and the legal affairs editor of "the new republic." he is a senior fellow at the brookings institute where he writes about technology and the future of democracy. he writes frequently about privacy in liberty, including articles about fourth amendment

implications. finally, jonathan's in trend is a professor of law at the harvard law school. -- jonathon cintrin. he is co-founder of the park and center for internet and society. he performed the first large- scale tests of internet filtering in china and saudi arabia, and as part of the open net initiative he has coedited a series of internet filtering by national governments. his book, "the future of the internet" was published in 2008. let me begin with letting the panelists talked about this question. i would like to ask each of you the following question. wikileaks, good or bad? is it legitimate journalism, and if not, what is it? >> like my colleagues, and in

aspen spirit, i will say wikileaks good and bad. second, wikileaks should not be prosecuted. third, there is an alternative. it is called openleaks. it is good and bad. my views are shaped by a remarkable memoir recently published by daniel burke, who no. 2 man. assange's he basically supports the transparency, message of wikileaks. he praises the early successes like publishing the records of this was banking house. there were other successes like the release of the video of the helicopter strike that killed unarmed people. he became convinced that the troubling aspect soon came to overwhelm the benefits because

assange had a paranoid resistance to transparency and have a lack of political neutrality and was addicted to concentrated power in his own hands. these for example, there was the mistaken identification of a german citizen and last summer, and they published of the police fire of a belgium politician who had been associated with a pedophile and the allegations were completely false but his career was barely harmed as a result. the most atrocious example was

the release of the afghan more records were wikileaks it released the names of dozens of afghans that had helped with little regard of their safety. he worried that he did not engage in basic karma minimization, namely blacking out names. he called this an ebay for wikileaks and refused to make their finances public. he was addicted to is publicity and embarassing the united states. he kicked him out giving the

concepts of the espionage act, the very act the u.s. is considering to use in taking him to trial. >> the question is answered. >> assange should not be prosecuted. there is no principled way if you start punishing publishers. you can only ban speech if it poses a serious threat. gates wrote the effect on cables was modest. they concluded they didn't break the law and efforts to move the

gone far.act haven't he has emerged as the lawyer on this. what are the alternatives? openleaks. their goal is to create a neutral platform to avoid becoming pop stars. publishingis not a platform. you can decided whether you want the leak to go to "the new york times" or the guardian.

by offering dgital mail boxes, they do not have to choose. they allow the sources to pick. problem ofsolves the centralization. >> i want to put some pressure on these men because i know they will have an interesting contrarian point of of you. you have to say it is either all good or all bad. i will argue that there is good and bad extreme versions of

both and talk more about the journalistic aspects. there's the natural tendency of any organization to think details within the purview are better kept quiet because people are better off not knowing. we saw that spectacle with julian essonnes warning to the -- julian assange keeping things private. the chinese use the same rationale for their suppression as serious members of the u.s. would do. if these details were out, public order would be threateneed. there should be a check on institutions that want to preserve information. we see a benefit in somethings

that wikileaks provides. unless you're to make an argument that confirmation of any sort should be secret in any circumstances, then you can see the danger. we can think of a few instances .imagine if there had been tracking information in the af- pak documents. i would argue it would be bad if those were publicized. the u.s. embassy is dealing with dissidents in china, and at intermission is not in the pipeline.

disaster preparedness from other things, ways in which it that the entire list of you could prevail. -- annihilist view could prevail. the mainstream media has been under assault in a circus-like way and all forces that have made news jeopardized, nothing has reenforced the centrality of "the new york times" or "the guardian." they are the reasonable balance. oddly, so far, we have seen journalistic responsibility. jeff mentioned a positive

alternative to allow people to express dissents without the annihilist point of view. i do not know what the manner would be if there would not be any intermediation. that is another filtering challenge. >> we should distinguish the general problem from the speficcifics of wikileaks. we have moved from the age of "leaks" to the age of the tsunami. what is confronting policy

makers is a time when they are taking huge amounts of data and dumping out there. the challenge is to find out how responsibly to serve this is essential public function of facilitating leaks and criticizing the government. that is a genuinely heart problem. at one extreme, you can imagine, turning this over to the government and saying, "you tell us what you want released." and their answer would be "nothing." this to be terrible for olli privacy reasons, so the question is what is the mechanism to find the right balance between these two extremes it deals with this fundamental problem in a major is not 10 pages or even the pentagon papers source material, but gigabytes of data that no one has the time to investigate.

my understanding is it is a little more charitable than just. the early version of wikileaks was an oblivious entity and they thought their job was just to put the data out there and let the world figure it out. there was an evolution within wikileaks toward trying to figure brought what is the way to filter this effectively to protect the right kind of entities. part of that was what you were saying, turning over the archives to six or seven journalistic entities and say to them, "you tell us what should be out there." in this sense, wikileaks is almost like the cache server making the material available. some of the journalists were more interested in getting out

the salacious newspaper-selling facts than they were in bring me up the stuff that was really important policy maker. >> that is a real shocker. >> the criticism should be directed against the guardians of the first amendment and not the service. the person i really want to criticize or the policy makers in the government in response to this. the government in response should be asking about dumping data and we should be encouraging good behavior. that means trying to encourage entities to behave well more create relationships that be held -- that behave well. our government did nothing like that. they tried to blow this entity up, taking every single step from threats or prosecution, the death penalty, threatening the

suppliers, amazon and visa. what if nixon had called up the paper suppliers to "the new york times" and said, "if you do not shut down the supply of papers, we will punish you and 20 other papers people there would be in our courageous response. -- punish iran 20 other papers." there would be an outrageous response. three threaten them in a way that forced them to response. my criticism is that it is just stupidity. the stupidity is that it breaks the opportunity for creating the right kind of relationship that could encourage entities like wikileaks for facilitating what will be a central part in the way information flows. in the early days, there was a

moment when napster said, "we'll give yuo $1 billion if tyoyou let us survive." they said, "no, we're going to blow you up." 30 napster-like entities popped up and they were much less profitable than them. they did not get any money and it was out of spite, anger. it feels like that's how the government reacted. there is the mature response. and then a fit of spite. how do we assassinate the

leaders? the second response is self defeating. there will be openleaks and 30 other entities trying to do as much harm as they cna because they can get away with it. >> to the worthy american government, you have a reason for the current situation to feel pretty good about things. i did not know how many people in the government are feeling good about things, so for my focus is to put some government- type cities.

i imagine many people are pretty amazed at the sheer volume about what they are getting and what it translates to in just how much intelligence the u.s. has about the plans and strategies of all the various people come institution, and governments about what is going on out there. in order for the information to be useful has to be shared. that is the post-9/11 mandate. there is a security apparatus that have been developed at great cost to try and share this as much as possible without trying to escape the boundaries while making use of it. if you look at that, there is

the rough categorization, secret, top secret, confidential. to the order of the magnitude of 1 million people that are trusted with access to that. in retrospect, maybe it was too much that an army private could go and read state department cables. maybe there is some good cross fertilization. it was just cost-effective than the state department was using the network to use their secret cables back and forth. for one thing, of how rarely this happens should be one reason to take part. it just a handful more wanted to walkout and send this info to people, you would have a larger tsunami. and has not happen just because

of fear of prosecution, because people identify with the mission and they do not want to put this up pell mel and they want no abuse of this extremely powerful mechanism to gather data and learn about what is going on in the world. one hopes there are internal chaplains -- channels to complain. you see, so far, one person making the choice, whether it was reasonable or not commissioned examined should be on trial, making the choice to go externally instead of internally to deal with his beef. talk about a glass, and he took that see the to a guy who is

eccentric, to say the least. he needs a hairless cat to be a perfect james bond villain. [laughter] it turns out this guy does not spew this out. that was wikipleasks 1.0. he gets into it with "der spiegel." classifiedem documents, do you mind if i leak them? after 18 months, we decided to tell you that government sometimes as high as on people. that is all. and we wonder where journalism is in trouble? it is not all that like napster

than assange, eccentric as he is/was. it will become extremely inconvenient to use anything to process secret stuff and there will be no cd-rom's involved at which point you bring your iphone and do your work outside. the government has ways. they're trying to keep the bubble protected to take the really big secrets and categorize them in a way that does not get shared with 1 million people. nothing to see here. the thing people hold the government is learning is coming just as we are asking members of

the government to identify a project that they could it keep secrets, there ought to be a way to importune are entities around the world to be in identity with the world so they have no interest in spewing bin laden's location somewhere. i think we can get there. how do you create establishment where you see enough trust of the people in releasing habitually secret information. i identify someone to say, "i am the government and i think there's not enough classification." but its figure of a way to get the stuff process stand out there. if there is a leak, we should sit down and figure out how to make as on damaging as possible. that is the way for were

prompted by this sort of event. that leaves behind the private companies that do not have the money to invest. they have contractors coming in and out and they need to figure and how to protect sensitive health information. that remains a big challenge. >> thank you very much. let me ask you a couple of questions here. i'm a little embarrassed to admit that i read a whole bunch of articles that were written by all of you on the plane on the way our and i do not know who to to beat this too. i will ask whoever wrote this to elaborate. there was this concept of targeted transparency bursa's naked transparency that either

one of the referenced or rode about. >> and one on the panel is a murder were. >> whoever the murderer is, please speak up an elaborate, because i felt was fairly interesting in terms of sorting at the kind of an affirmation that is put out there and others need to enter into what i think was called complex change of comprehension. >> so, i -- [laughter] >> that sounds like you. >> i take responsibility for the naked transparency movement. it is unrelated to wikileaks. a way to think about the activists trying to reduce transparency about government and a lot of it, i think, is essentially and good, but some of it is inherently ambiguous.

for example, we need information about what campaign contributions every member congress takes, but it gets used to produce cynicism about the way that congress works but is everyone thinks that everyone is been bought. the naked transparency movement helps feed the cynicism that exists around government entities. some people like the cynicism and i would like to produce a government where we are not cynical about it. transparency alone will not do it. why take responsibility for that part of it. just throwing this all out there does not necessarily produce more understanding. and often produces more scandal,

more misunderstanding, more opportunities. this should lead us to think more sensibly about what the right way to respond would be. >> the debate about wikileaks clearly centered on first amendment issues. when is inappropriate for the government to publish classified bove classified- related national-security and one is it not? where is the balance? >> the standards are drawn with precision as a result of a heart warmed battle. there were serious prosecution's during the post- world war i ear were advocates were prosecuted and for their speech and a series of her road defending opinions by louis

brandeis, who is the greatest predictor of privacy, who said union speech that poses an imminent threat of serious lawless action. in this context, that usually means the publication of truth movement for the death of soldiers. the espionage act is controversial. it's a limited requirements require that you know you are doing that and intent to harm the government of. package to revoke the act have been in consequence for. you will remember the scooter libya leak-- libby leak. it would have been nearly impossible to prove that he knew it was classified. more recently, the obama

administration try to prosecute an official and recently dropped it because they could not have met the a spinoff are requirements. that is where the law draws the line. the question now is to expand that definition and allow for the expansion of leaking under this limited definition but also of publications themselves which represent a tremendous threat to the first amendment. i agree with the people who concluded that such a law would violate the first amendment. for all these reasons, i do not think that the prosecution as productive. >> at our political and governmental cultures make it difficult for people precisely because they are in authority and maybe have a chance to exercise some discretion or make

an exception. there's a lot of pressure on them once they are in authority not to do it. there were something going on where someone had survived -- surmised that if you were a law school student and you're going to move through to the handful of tables and had been published of the 200,000 pages, carstens recalled to ever want a job that you are not to read those cables because they are still classified. a child could click on the lanky and read the document, if i knew how to read. if you do, that will have mean you have downloaded it to your computer, not a classified handling machine, which exposes it to further compromise by the enemy. that is manifestly in absurd.

the people in the government to give anonymous quotes saying, "if you are a student, do not click through." "the new york times" may not be good for your health, but do not read it yourself or downloaded to your machine. the government people who said that realized how of circuit was but did not feel they had the authority to delay the fact it remained classified. released in the classified the pentagon papers officially. been able to match the needs of security with the situation so you do not end up with those types of absurdities would help a lot in handling this stuff. >> it is worse than that because it government contractors were under the cycle which made my job unduly difficult. the would have to cover your

ears and say, "la, la, la, not listening." this strikes me in using my non- lawyer privilege. there was an article about the absurdity of these notices that various government departments. it says, "these things are in the near times, so do not read them on your computer." if, all within the government, a government machine had what was officially classified material and all sorts of a classification routines would have to be applied to the machines in the department. does not make sense that it seemed like a prophylactic point. here's my political argument. usually my role in journalism and is the merest. things will get better for america and journalism.

i will offer a more tragic view then my colleagues and it may come from the fact that in my job by a more exposed to the random wild opinions of the reading public that come flowing in to "the atlantic." larry pointed out the peak of irrationality that came to the government's apparent response to dealing with the obama administration or the president is famous for his colman manor. it strikes me that in this realm, when it comes to security, president obama has been just as prone to a sense of a "how dare you challenge my authority" than in any predecessors. it is bad politics for him, a bad bet for the country, so this is suggesting a tragic likelihood that any president

will just take on the mantle when he is in office. the trail of the good news, so the glasses all -- is all .0001 full. even with that .0001 left, you coudl do damage. if you have any exposure, even if there is cynicism, there will be a large number of people who are outraged, angry, want to kill people in authority, so there will always be enough people. >> there will be more than 0.

therefore the leak of possibly damaging information is the same as saying the wowrld is full of nuclear weapons. we need perfect attention. >> can i chime in with a further notice of a gloomy? i am on the gloomy side of things. surely they have detected progress of optimism in the hope that citizens could be trained and to submit the information responsibly, and larry's hope that people could be retained and the leaking organizations might act responsibly. there is a nuclear arms race and as long as the technology of young children exists, then they

will go out there. these and detainee files prove this. they have tried to act in conjunction with other papers, but they were so curious when they had linked the police files and assange retaliated by publishing all of the raw files on the web immediately. arguably, the was not great. some will find it harder to be affected by other countries for repatriation. given the possibility and especially the likelihood people will be able to pose upon themselves, the hope that the obama administration could be coming. larry talked about the cost of the world, where everything is out there. i think of the great novel where

they describe the hero who was totally discredited when the government reported its conversation with friends and broadcast them as a radio serial. you hear him saying outrageous things, telling dirty jokes, all the things that we do and he is totally discredited. i wonder if this sort of world is irresistible, and if it is one that makes me gloomy in the. >> i share your concerns, particularly in a policy that may be made public. appear because everything can be recorded and played out. that is a tsunami problem we have with or without assiduously and forced the espionage act. the one piece of technical optimism that i am clinging to is the prospect of four of our most precious secrets, and they

will not lump them together, but you announce a zero tolerance policy, and i get that, which is why the procedure for handling them, there is a manual. even not say, "i think they should be more brown." would guarantees they are always good. >> you are missing out, larry. >> thery're never good for you. anywyas. -- anyways. for nuclear weapons, this is the rule. they're supposed to be in the handle of people. we still know how dangerous it is, talking about nuclear

proliferation. when we generate the information, or kryptonite, and it is dangerous wherever it is, including in the hands of the government and is doing its best not to remove what it has. suddenly, what you would need to respect would be -- >> i am the furthest away from the information which is in the same category as nuclear weapons in that some quantum of light could be helpful and it is very difficult to protect. >> let me just respond to the suggestion that i am being optimistic. [laughter] >> aspin can do that the people. -- aspen can do that. >> it is not whether you're

talking about the balance but how to respond. the sensible strategy is not to stick your finger in the eye of the enemy. there will be all sorts of people up there, but the economy succeeding is more complicated, subtle, and sophisticated than joe biden tried to justify us a new clean -- us nuking. i hvaave read you and i understand, but given that there is a good way to react. >> could we get everythigng set up before taking questions from the audience? jim, what are the implications

of information breeches? >> it is one more reminder of the time must balance that has been struck that, in general, the press and the public should have a strong bias in favor publication in transparency while recognizing that there are exceptions. i think it is impressive that the news organizations or all the comic medication that went through, i think this is the new instance of someone that has been a longstanding challenge. >> joe from harvard. i agree with the thrust of

the panel. i wrote an oped about not prosecuting assange. it treats him as a cause and not a symptom. we really should be talking about how manage government intimation systems. if you treat toothpaste and you will the same winay, lose your toothbrushes, but you will lose a lot more diamonds. that is where we should respond and to the wikileaks. and we are not. i have a response of one a tarascan jeff about-- i wanted to ask jeff about. it said, "you cannot distinguish assange from "the new york

times" in having stolen property." at laweyer said if we look the intent in the espionage act, then you can prosecute. he moves grardually to becoming journlalist. the lawyer said my argument failed because i based it on the 1st amendment. his own writings are groudns for prosectuion. >> d.s.p. not act, as written, does not allow for the prosecution of a publisher.

you could amend the espionage act and then the question of intent to would not matter. 12 r vulnerable the prosecution, then in every case they can be held before court. it senator lieberman is not concerned about maintaining that distinction. he thinks wikileaks is a part of the espionage act, but what about the news organizations that except and distributes information? -- that accept and distributes the information? it makes publishers tremendously from marble which is why it is such a bad idea. -- tremendously vulnerable. >> over here? please state your name. >> my question goes to the

traditional media, as you pointed out, was the thing that disseminated the information. when you put on top of that the traditional model for media for "the new york times" and others, are not in a world where traditional media cannot no longer afford to be independent investigators abuse and a crisis in this country? the same gang for international news -- the same thing. is this relevant to a point where they are really just disseminated is much like "huffington post if we need this for the state to check on abuse is, do we need to rely more on these institutions? >> let me reinstate my dark doom reputation by saying that this is a problem. we went from an area where

journalism could afford to have journalists because newspapers were relatively profitable and could afford funding investigative journalism the real benefited from. we are past that age. we do not have that anymore. this model of journalism is increasingly skewing to the polar extreme act because it pays. it is better to be fox or msnbc than cnn because it translates into better revenues and not the kind of journalism that we hope to be the future. what is the alternative to that? we do not have a business model yet. if it was just a commercial business model, i am not sure. that is why people are thinking about the condition models, non- profit models, and this is an

alternative to fund this kind of journalism, but it is strangely a product of the increasing media. 50% of all american families watched eight evening news program. they and write down the middle and they spoke to the middle. that is not the incentive in this economy of news today, and it will not be for a long time, because there are potential sources. you need to find your niche. we need to encourage the market that would support the golden age of investigative journalism, which was only 40-50 years, but that is how we think of journalism today. >> this is a huge topic which have gone into over a lot. i should say this differently than larry. the business model of journalism is in tremendous flocs.

when it comes to -- is in tremendous flux. i would argue there is more investigating done. this is where we will have a lot of the other models that we need to come up with. there is all of this influx going on. one other sense about the comparison of toothpaste and diamonds. we should have a panel on tsa and their treatment. that's for later on though. >> steve adler, editor-in-chief of reuters. we do invest heavily in investigative journalism. >> how do you spell that? >> r-e-u-t-e-r-s.

if we had four people active in social media, would this sound different? some of what is going on involves a major change in the way that information is being shared, disseminated, and thought about in the world today. some of the established viewpoints about how we did this response police probably not what is in the air now. i wonder if you could just comment on how our should be thinking about this. >> you are closer to that. it links up nicely with jeff's point about even president obama, who has been an avatar of transparency, once he has the

mantle of commander in chief, you have to play his role and tighten up in ways that you can understand. he has a big burden on his shoulders to protect us. that is why he resolves things in a different way. congress does not have the responsibility as much as a singular person and then down the spectrum, you have 25-year- old people that are the least responsible in the world. god bless them for it. if they were up here, they would generally be talking about how great it is that stuff can go free. it is probably worth it for the establishment to really digest that message a bit before rejecting it. it is really a new world in which we are being forced to

confront the fact that it is harder to present one face to the world that differs from that which faces inward. that is a corporate issue, a government issue, and a personal issue. that hypocrisy can be very good. by analogy in trying to aspire to something better than what we are, that is a nice personal kind of growth a thing to buy back and work with. you may just have to reconcile the faces and hope that the world is more forgiving than it would be you when appearances everything. >> i do not buy for one moment the time that young the people do not care about privacy. look at the polls. when it comes to control the

informational and social networks korean people want to share in the protected way and they are shocked and incest -- shocked and upset over losing jobs about these drunken pictures. things are rough out there. they do not care until their own privacy is affect. the disclosure of sarah palin's emails effected her children. younger people will be just as sensitive. young people may be more optimistic than the rest of us, but they harm people of all ages. the basic point, on filters,

should be embraced. >> of one difference is it news consumption in the 1970's an 1980's was very passive. you may talk about one or two subjects, but it was not about spreading news. your job was not to take a story out of the "the new york times" and give it to 20 friends. the current generation is very read/write. i want to share with twitter and facebook and tell you my view. part of that is engaging in the public speaking activity. the critical more supportive. i think it is fantastic and and i extraordinarily important transformation. the news media increasingly says, how do we say things that other people will want to spread for us?

how do we get people to take our message and shared with others? they play into this, too, but that creates a generation that feels much more connected in being critical about stuff than i think i was. >> a representative of father time, this is constant human nature and in this leverage for it. [laughter] >> stefan. back to basics. the big question. the governments lie and is exposed by a leak. it is truly shown to be flawed, should that be suppressed or not?

>> if all that was being exposed was a governmental why? -- governmental lie? in the process, they are exposing 1 billion other facts which are all sorts of people in ways they should not be harmed. how do you filter that out from the governmental life? >> there is a new book out by james stewart about how false statements are undermining america, "a tangled web." he paints the story about bush's claim that british intelligence discovered uranium in the middle east led to this astonishing ily series of prosecutions of who said what to whom and by the time you got to the prosecution staff aboutchief of

lying about when he learned about the husband of a classified operative that was that even relevant. there was one journalist in jail, one that had lost millions in legal fees. of the cost is underwhelming and the new government the preference for prosecuting false statements not connecting is so pervasive and i am troubled by the cost of bringing this in. another way of putting that question brings to mind the dialogue that could joe had. what should the constitutional standard before when you to prosecute a leaking government official, particularly in cooperation or "the new york times" getting it from someone when the documents are clearly marked classified, but they are not harming national security to

be known or they are lies and the world is made better. can you still go to jail even as a leaker it to take a classified document and projected on a screen but it turns out to be declassified lunch menu? i think the answer is you cannot be under the constitution, because we do not know for sure because the pentagon papers case never went to trial. it ended up in a mistrial. we never quite resolved that, but the supreme court was not willing to say the mere fact that it was qualified was enough to go jail, enough to never worked for the government again, but we do not want to protect lives or ineffective flow of information in a negative way. >> it is probably obvious to all of you, but the difference

between the pentagon papers and the tsunami now, the pentagon papers was a digested narrative that had its own coherence selectivity, not just this dump of data. >> and the thought not all that was in the public interest. >> lary, nyu stern. thanks for the ad for pro publica. if i could shift the conversation slightly, and you talk about wikileaks as the blogosphere. if you move this into the corporate realm, there are so many damages, hundreds of millions of dollars lost on a false posting, who will do the filter? steve would say his organization, but who will be

filtered when that news hits your terminal? >> of someone published a rumor, the ceo of a company was sick or there would be damaging -- >> or sleeping with the dogs. why do not care. >> as someone that is a huge fan of all of the new technologies, these are instances of old problems. if these seem to be legally damaging an actionable event than you can take legal action later on in there will be something in the whole ego sphere which will stress a new balance, that there will be "responsible bloggers." >> jeff, has the law caught up? >> larry will know better than

i. my sense it will make things worse for corporate leaks. once the corporate sector feels threatened, there will be new laws passed to make more punitive to the bleak trade secrets. architecture will be enlisted to make it much harder. the dangers of over- criminalizing and limiting the prosecution of worthwhile information may be just as great as what you just described. >> just to push back a little on the characterization, and all problem with new technology. this is an old problem with new technology and the consequence of the new technology is the problem can be much greater.

in the old days comice pretty room about some chairman who sleeps with the dogs -- in the old days, you'd come up with something about a german sleeping with dogs. it would not even be on the front door by page of "the new york times," because there as layers of responsibility built in. it can be everywhere, but the character of that person has been effected by this unjustly, i am assuming. that is a significant difference. it is a very different technology. >> one way to deal with wikileaks it is to start salting the documents with fake ones, but you cannot distinguish of them. i met with the ambassador and it

went ok. at that point, you get an epistemic paralysis. and is very different from the marketplace of ideas to where it gets out there magically and it is shifted. it is funny to link your problem with what will be a solution to corporate and of the secret to going out. for personal privacy, there will be, mark my words, software that you can put on your machines. lots of the fake credit cards and a bunch of fake transactions so that when your machine gets hacked by anonymous or whoever, they will not know the real credit card from the wrong one. >> but this is not an answer to mary's question. there is an optimistic hope that they will float the world. it does not harm the ceo who has the false rumor permanently attached to the name or does not

help senator santorum. when you google him, the first plank that comes up is an unspeakable sexual practice that gay rights opponents decided to defined with the word "santorum . -- regardless of what you think about it, he is associated with this. >> can you help me with the legal questions. it is obviously international and a different situation, but certainly in your sphere. what kind of prosecution is possible here?

>> if they are careful, they can be immune from any effective prosecution. some feel like they will make their hit and then retreat for fear something. it may be counter to what i just said, the there is no effective way to do it, but there will be an arms race inevitably so. it is not clear that the good guys will win that arms race. >> the process we're just talking about, they affirmation generated for misleading or hiding deals in a haystack, it mission not know what to believe anymore. there is a parallel process

that almost any computer now can be easily packed with any website, so easily be taken down, and this is no way to live. i agree. this is not a great equilibrium. the only saving thought is that it is not an equilibrium. >> we have had an interesting segue through the course of our discussion. a place where we would come to a harmonic mean is that we recognize that there are internal issues in information and privacy and transparency and all the rest. we now will fight these out on a new technological battlefield. there will be as difficult as ever to come to a solution. >> i do not think that we can summon up any better than that. it is neither either/or. it is somewhere in the middle. i am not sure where it is. but the discussion on wikileaks

this morning has elaborated for us the understanding on what the set of issues are. some of them are new. some of them are old. but it will evolve over time. let's give these panelists a big round of applause. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] ♪ ♪ cool, cool ground ♪ truth never found ♪ >> c-span's series and

interviews continues tomorrow with jon huntsman. we will discuss his strategy for winning the republican nomination. the u.s. economy and trade relations with china, why he decided to become president obama's ambassador to china, and the impact running for president on his family. road to the white house with jon huntsman tomorrow night at 10:00 p.m. on c-span. what's more video of the candidates and see what political reporters are saying and track the latest campaign contributions with c-span's web site for campaign 2012. it helps you navigate the political landscape would twitter feeds and facebook updates from the campaign, candidate bias, and the list -- handed it bios -- candidate bios. >> earlier this morning, the

national hurricane center downgraded hurricane firing to a tropical storm as it continues to travel through the northeast of the united states. now from the headquarters from the federal emergency management agency in washington. homeland security secretary janet napolitano, craig if you get, and bill read. this is about 20 minutes. >> hello, everyone. thank you for joining us today. i would like to introduce the secretarysecurity janet napolitano. >> thank you for joining us on a damp morning in washington, d.c. i am joined by bill read, the director of the management center. let me begin by expressing condolences to those families who have lost loved ones in the

course of the storm. the storm has now been downgraded. but it poses no less of a threat to communities. we encourage individuals to listen to their state and local authorities as we move into the response to irene. we just concluded briefing president obama on our ongoing efforts to support the states affected by the storm. he has instructed us to continue leading folk -- leading ford on our response. forward oning for worfo our response. our number one message for individuals and families up and down the eastern seaboard this morning is that we're not out of the woods yet.

irene remains a large and potentially dangerous storm. hazards still persist in communities that have already seen the storm passed. right now, hurricane irene is leading the new york-new jersey area. it will continue to move up the coast into new england throughout the day. if you are in any of those communities, please stay inside and away from the shoreline. by local state and federal partners in north carolina, virginia, and other mid-to let the states remain focused on search and rescue, debris removal from critical roadways, and other critical missions this morning. power outages remained an issue all up and down the coast. we are working with our private sector partners in the electricity sector to make sure that they are getting the power up and running as soon as it can be. no matter where you are this morning from north carolina to

maine, we did encourage you to stay off -- we encourage you to stay off the roads. we also encourage everyone to continue listening to the instructions of their state and local officials and to visit ready.gov for tips on how to stare ready after the storm. fallen trees are just some of the dangers that exist after restore impaired by taking a few simple steps, you can improve your level of safety and the level of safety for your family. we still have a ways to go with irene. i did want to take a minute and thank everyone who followed the instructions of their local officials yesterday and last night. as i said, unfortunately, we have had some loss of life. but by and large, with the evacuations and the precautions taken, we have dramatically

decreased the risk to life over the course of the storm. i want to thank the public for helping us achieve that goal. as i have been saying all week, this storm was in three phases -- preparation, response, and recovery. we are now into the second phase for the most part. that is the initial part of the response. damage assessments are already under way. i spoke with gov. perdue of north carolina this morning. as the storm clears the east coast, we will be conducting a damage assessments with our state partners in all of the affected states to determine the area of the storm's impact and the next steps that need to be done in a response and recovery process. we have a ways to go. but i think that it is safe to say that the worst of the storm, at least up to and including new york and new jersey, has passed

and the storm will proceed up through new england this evening and out of the united states by late tonight and early tomorrow morning. with that, i would like to turn this plot for over two bill reed from the national hurricane center to give us an estimate of the storm. parks thank you. you did a great job -- >> thank you. you did a great job in forecasting the path of the storm. we have a unique opportunity. we have the hurricane hunter aircraft from me air force reserves. we saw the storm as it came into new york city earlier this morning. we have come back the centers here on the connecticut-new york state line. but we still have the onshore floor with the high surf and tropical storm force wind. there is still some threat for tidal flooding, especially when the waves come out of the

southwest this afternoon, the west-facing buzzard bay and along roads coast, which will be the next issue for the coast of the fact. everywhere south of there, conditions will be improving. we still have a tropical storm force wind gusts and we still have a tropical storm warning continuing down to take a peek to the south of the center of the storm. it will -- down to chink peachio the south of the center of the storm. heavy rain will be the ongoing issue. the heaviest rain has exited the new jersey and pennsylvania area, but still continues for eastern new york state, up to the odder ron? -- up to the adirondacks, and should be most of connecticut, except for extremist and a

extreme western massachusetts this afternoon. this is the forecast for the rainfall from now on. we are still looking at 2 inches to 6 inches of rain across this area. it is very highly prone to flash flooding. there are valleys and hilly terrain. there is already saturated ground. with that in mind, -- next slide, plays -- these are the impacts that we are looking at. we're already getting some record reports in the philadelphia area. widespread, moderate to major flooding. our anticipation is that, with the rainfall going into the reservoir systems of new hampshire and vermont, we could see record flooding and flood stages in those rivers.

id is best to go to the local forecast offices or go to eatherchannel.com n go to the river for the stage's. >> we have been with these gov. teams before the storm hit. they began their response operations. we are looking at damage assessments already in north carolina. teams are going to do preliminary assessments. we will begin work when governors determine whatever additional assistance is needed. our focus for the next 72 hours -- we may not have all of the impacts from this storm as rivers continue to come up. but we do have substantial power outages. we know that we have flooding and coastal impacts.

unfortunate, there has been a loss of life. but conditions are improving behind the storm and we can get in quickly and began those assessments. we will continue to work with the governors to determine what impact what assistance may be required. >> what are the preliminary damage assessments you have seen in north carolina? >> in north carolina, it has been pretty much of the flooding. there are a lot of trees down. the coastal areas are still getting back out -- several of the highways have had damages from flooding, but they're also several trees down. >> what about the cost? >> we do not have that at this time. it takes several days to begin preliminary assessments. when you look at total costs, we're not counting insured losses. we're looking at damage that would be the responsibility of government that is uninsured. when you start hearing about storm damages, we are really

looking at what is the cost to the government and what is the uninsured losses to individuals. that will not tell you what the insurance losses are. that is an additional number. the secretary was getting information from gov. perdue. we know there have been agricultural impacts in north carolina as well. >> what about the total loss of life? >> we do not have official numbers. what we see is what you're seeing. we have reports from states. i believe that the secretary had a report from gov. perdue that they had an additional tragedy. >> that brings the total up to six in north carolina. >> weare working to get from their local office what the official number will be. i'm fortunate, new jersey had someone who was swept away

earlier today. that may also become a fatality. >> when can people return to their homes to inspect the damage? >> the last thing -- we want people to heed to their local officials. we know that ocean city, maryland has announced that people can come back and they will be opening back up this afternoon. i think that some people will be able to get home faster than others. but he'd local officials. they want to make sure things are safe before people return. >> is there anyone who hasn't been able to reach because of storm damage? >> they have been doing a lot of swift water rescue and getting service back appeared to have a very robust program to get there. -- and getting service backed up. they have a very robust program to get there. >> some people get home and say why the heck did we have to evacuate?

i know you have announced that you're diverting money from previous disasters, most notably southern tornadoes and joplin and those dating back a few years to help pay for this immediate situation. how soon do you hope congress will work with the white house to get you the money you need? >> evacuation's did a lot of communities began their evacuation's when the probability of impact is in the 20% to the 25%. that means that 25% of the time you can go home and there is no damage. people need to understand that we hope people can go back home and there is no damages. yes, lots of times people say why did i have to evacuate? it is that 25% times when it does happen and people have not evacuated but there is a tremendous loss of life and the potential for loss of life. all of these elected officials, from local tested, who have to make these decisions, this is

not easy thing to do and is not done lightly. you have to do it based on forecast days in advance. you do-second chance. the disaster -- you do not get a second chance. we are not taking any money from survivors. when we go to funding, it is for all of the individual assistance programs for all the open disasters. it continues to provide funding for the emergency protective measures and debris removal. we stop funding new work in older disasters that have not already been in the system to maintain funds to continue to support the survivors as well as the response to this disaster. where'll working very closely with the white house on what funding may be needed. that would be based on what damage assistance we see in this

storm. >> you said that irene is still ongoing. at this stage, is the damage < you feared? are you breathing a sigh of relief? >> we do not look at it this way. this was a big storm. it is covering a huge geographic area. lots of impacts and the aftereffects of the storm, the rich rivers flooding, trees toppling, lines down -- are we glad it was not a category three that hit that on? of course we are. but does that mean that we can lean back and archers and not put the full force of the federal government in support of the state's that were affected by irene? know. we have to continue leaning forward. -- no.

we have to continue leaning forward. >> we have time now for questions. -- questions from reporters on the phone. >> i have a couple of questions on the phone. are you ready for those questions? >> we are ready for those questions. >> operator, if you could not here, we are ready for questions. >> thank you. the first question is from. clinton from "the new york

times." >> in terms of emergency response, have fema and federal government received requests for specific actions so far in terms of actually sending in federal manpower to respond to the disaster? >> we already had people in the state teams do any coordination role. we have requests for some power assessment teams from the u.s. army corps of engineers who are going in. we're working with north carolina. the requested some generators. -- dave requested some generators. fortunately, we have -- they requested some generators. a lot of this is being done by state and local responders. we brought in teams just in case we were needed. but we're standing by until the state's releases.

-- the states really says. >> you have damage details so far in cities where it seems to be the worst? >> as far as numbers and dollar figures, it is very early. in fact, we are still concerned about the river rises and rescue operations. once we have the emergency part of this taking care of, we will start damage assessments. >> thank you. the next question is from allison been barred from "the new york daily news." >> what changed in the course of the storm? if you can go through some of the stats.

>> one of the factors we anticipated earlier in the week when it was in the bahamas was a category three when it was still over the warmest waters. we expected it to maintain or even intensify a little bit there. it did not happen print it weakened before it reached north carolina. that factored alway downstream. the other factor is that it was never far off land. that kept it from getting any stronger. as far as actual data on that, kind of like craig and the damage assessments, we're still gathering the data on that. there is a lag on the actual impact data from it actually occurred. i do not know that information yet. >> thank you. >> if you have a question, you may press star one. >> i cannot fault the work that any of you have done.

i think you're covering up on the sinking of your emergency fund. but you have to look at the role of this president. this president has taken down the satellite service that we use, as no one has said, which reviews for -- as noaa has said, which reviews these. this president has sunk us into bankruptcy. this is the propeworst presidene have had. >> is this question or an opinion? >> is this the worst present we have had? >> people say they have dodged a bullet and we have lost lives. a lot of our volunteer agencies have put out tremendous amount of resources and money to prepare for this and respond. there may not be necessarily

nationally a sense that this was a bad disaster, but we will remind people to give generously to the american red cross and salvation army and other volunteer groups. responding to disasters is not cheap. they were prepared from north carolina to maine for what happened and what is happening. they operated shelters and prepared to feed people. those costs come from you, the people who give generously during these needs. the reminder is not that, even though you may not sense that this was as bad as it could have been, they had to spend and get people in place and it takes money. so give generously so they are ready for this as well as the next disaster. thank you. >> thank you all.

>> on tuesday, "washington drawn" begins a series on the weather. we will look at disaster relief and prepared this, climatology and whether dynamics, the role of the national oceanic and atmospheric association, and the work of the national weather service. that is live on "washington journal," each day on c-span. >> paul jennings, obscure people with little known stories. american university professor clarence lewis st. reveals who they were as well as many other black men and women who left their imprint for on the white house. >> and began to discover just fascinating individuals whose mark on the presidency and whose

marks on the white house were virtually unknown. except for a few scattered stories here and there. everyone kind of knew that george washington and thomas jefferson had slaves. but most people probably did not know that eight out of the first 12 presidents had slaves. >> tonight on q&a. >> now a congressional black caucus town hall meeting in atlanta of focusing on job creation efforts and improving the economy. this event is part of the congressional black caucus for the people jobs initiative that includes a nationwide job fairs, workshops, and town hall meetings. this portion is one hour and 30 minutes. >> opening remarks. [applause] >> thank you very much. jeff, thank you very much.

thank you to to you for being here. let's give our moderator's a hand. [applause] i want to thank the president for this wonderful institution, dr. thomas, for making the facilities available. we really appreciate it and we're more than grateful to you and your staff. thank you so much. [applause] we know, we realize that we occupy your space today and you did not kick us out. [laughter] and we want to say thank you. i want to thank each of you for being here, for being so patient. i have to tell you that use good and moved the line. you send the strongest possible

message that people want to work. people want to work. that we want jobs, full employment for all of our citizens. tizens. and i tell you, the members that you will see sitting here, members of the congressional black caucus, we will not be happy, we will not be satisfied, we will not be at peace until we have jobs for all of our citizens. it does not matter whether they are black or white, latino or asian american or native american, we all deserve to have a job. [applause] and i want to speak for my fellow -- i do not want to speak for my fellow caucus members, but i do want to say this, i am convinced when we go back to washington next month, the

people meeting in cleveland, detroit, here in atlanta, and in miami and los angeles, we will have a message for the congress and for the president of the united states of america, that people want to work, to create jobs. we will get it done. [applause] i want to recognize one of these wonderful city elected officials, and a dear friend of mine, the president of the event the city council, the hon. cesar mitchell. caesar, will you come up here for a moment, sir? [applause] >> good evening.

it is a pleasure to see all of you here today. it is also very heartening to have the members of the congressional black caucus, congressional leaders here spending time with us, dialoguing about what it means to put americans back to work. i want to give a special thanks to congressman lewis. it is a little known fact that i got my start in public service in his office in college at more house. it was as a volunteer in turn. in his office, i've learned about the importance of the political process. your presence here today _ your understanding of how important is to get involved and engaged in the political process. congressmen and congresswomen, i do appreciate you being here

today. you could be at home in your district, talking with your voters, where you actually get the most bang for your buck. but you come on the road and you dialogue here in georgia to help give us answers, to help us develop a partnership and help develop the ways in which we will engage in putting americans back to work, and it certainly those in atlanta, and georgians back to work. on behalf of myself and the city council and behalf of the citizens to call this tom, we thank you for being here. know that you have a friend in the city of atlanta. thank you, again. [applause] >> again, i want to thank all those colleagues for being here. and i want to take a moment to

recognize just one more of the local officials for a moment, stage representative -- state representative ralph long iv. [applause] >> thank you, congressman lewis and cbc members. for all of you out there, welcome to state house district 61. and most important, i have to thank the president of the college, dr. thomas, because he is always a generous to me and what ever ambitious a town hall i want to throw here. ony're doing great things his campus, atlanta technical college. we have some great offices in district 61.

we have good schools and institutions that we can get our act together in. i want to tell you, thank you for getting out and getting involved in politics. we are here to serve you, not the other way around. i give out my cellphone number all the time. be my friend on facebook. coming to the for al district. i appreciate you guys. thank you, congressman lewis. i appreciate you. [applause] >> thank you very much. and now without further ado, we want to introduce the vice chair of the congressional black caucus, the hon. donna christensen, who represents the united states virgin islands. give her a round of applause, please. [applause] >> thank you, joanne. good evening, everyone.

i bring greetings on behalf of our chair, emmanuel cleaver and, who could not be here this evening. we have called this the jobs initiative for the people. we thank everyone of you that came out today. not only do we thank you from the cbc, but we thank you from all of the people across this country because today, you have sent a powerful message to washington, to wall street, and to corporations across this country. far more effectively than we ever could come on a matter how hard we try. if we stay on the floor of the house every day, all day. and you have sent it on behalf of not only yourselves here in atlanta, but on behalf of all those across this country who are unemployed and are hurting and want and need decent jobs.

yourself a round of applause. [applause] 90% and higher and african american chronic unemployment have always been cnbc's highest priorities. we have introduced over 40 pieces of legislation talking about the need for jobs and calling on republican leadership to bring legislation to the floor and get it passed. with no legislation in sight, aristide chair, emanuel cleaver , and the -- our esteemed chair, emanuel cleaver, and he is deemed to chair that you will hear from later, made a decision to get out to atlanta and other parts of the country to reach out with jobs and come to some of the places that are the hardest hit. i want to say a little bit about health care before i leave. we wish we could go into every

community, but we hope this will be an example and other people will take it up and it will catch on. and we need everybody in our country to be working. health care is the eighth largest employer. if we combine health care overall, i'm sure it is close to #one. we are particularly pleased to be here at atlanta technical college, where they are training people for that expanded workforce. this is one area where there has continued to be hiring throughout the recession. but we can only continue to create jobs if we protect medicaid and medicare. that is in your hand, my friends. as you can see come elections matter -- as you can see, elections matter.

medicare and medicaid are job creators and we need to help protect them. thank you for staying. we know it has been a long day for many of you. i want to thank dr. thomas, the president of this institution, all of her administration and staff that have made this such a good productive day. let's give them a round of applause as well. [applause] i want to thank our esteemed host, the great civil rights leader who continues to be a drum major for justice and peace, the great john lewis. you have one of the hardest working members who represent his district tirelessly and effectively. we're glad to be here with you and we look forward to your questions and comments. i would like to turn this back over to our moderator's. [applause]

bytes this is in the way of the cameras. so we want to move this as we go to our first question. poses to congressman lewis, congressman lewis, i was taught very early in my career to always acknowledge my elders -- [laughter] but no, i would like to go to you first because i think this is about atlanta in particular. we have seen numbers in the last day where the unemployment rate for the city of a plant has gone up, and while it is slightly, it still has gone up. we begin to look at the sectors of the economy that have the best potential for job growth in the city of atlanta.

what are those areas? and what are ways that those of the federal level as well as the local level can begin to push for a better environment for those industries? >> donna christensen mention the area of health care. in atlanta, you have grady, you have emery. you have more house med school. you have a whole range of health facilities in the metropolitan area. i think it is one of the fastest growing industries. the atlanta airport is the largest commercial airport in the world. delta airlines is based here. coca-cola is based here. georgia-pacific, cnn, just to mention a few.

and i know i left out some very visible ones. and we should be doing better. we have a long history of financial institutions. the banks should be doing more, much more. if we we bailed them out -- we bailed them out, we saved them. now is time for them to help out the people of metro atlanta and those who live in the state of georgia. we have all of the education institutions. georgia state, one of the fastest-growing urban universities -- but i leave at any? did i get them all? i know this school here, atlanta

tech, metropolitan college -- there are a lot of educational institutions here. part of the problem, jeff -- i will not say is a problem, but people think atlanta is a mecca. when i travel around america and around the world, everybody wants to come to atlanta. they say, atlanta, you may be living in europe or from washington or from california. there are moving from new york, from philadelphia, from detroit. they are all moving back to the south. years ago we have a chicken bone special, where people were leaving the south going north. now we have people coming home

back to georgia and other parts of the south. we must create jobs. >> thank you very much, congressman lewis. i want to direct my first question -- because i think i have lived in florida too long and we like to go right to the controversy and stuff where i live -- controversial stuff where i live. congressman maxine waters, you may just a little bit of news in detroit and saying you would like to ask african-americans who loved the president and voted for the president to unleash the congressional black caucus to have a conversation with barack obama about jobs. i would like to know, what would that conversation entailed? >> first of all, let me just say that we are here in atlanta to

support our colleagues john lewis and congressman johnson for the efforts that they have put forth to bring this job fair to the city. when we first talked about and decided in the congressional black caucus that we were going to get out of washington d.c., that we reported to hit the ground, that we were going to go in our districts and not only share with the people that we can feel their pain, but we were going to do some the about it. we are policy makers and we introduced bills. but we decided to -- but we want to ask those companies that are asking us for the tax breaks, if you bring new jobs. that is why we are here.

i have been to cleveland and detroit. i am here in atlanta appeared and i am going to miami and, of course, i will host a jobs fair. we feel good about in we feel in spite of the economy that is not performing the we have to do everything to bring opportunities were there are people hurting. not only is the unemployment rate unconscionably high, but we have been impacted by the foreclosures on homes and cannot get loan modifications and we have lost wealth. now there is a 20% gap between white wealth and black wealth. white wealth is around 13,000 and black wealth --

i have come to some conclusions, and it is a difficult one. we have reached a point that may be a defining political moment for all of us. this moment in history may be a challenge to our political maturity. i believe the time has arrived when we must eliminate any fear and discomfort we may have about raising difficult questions and creating challenge, even when we feel an obligation to protect the first african-american president of the united states of america. [applause] make no mistake about it, i support president barack obama. i would like to see the president reelected. [applause]

however, my need to support the president does not trump might need to be a responsible united states representative. i must not, and the caucus must not, supplant the needs of our community in the interest of satisfying our emotional needs to support anybody. [applause] our responsibility must always be the exercise of our influence and our power for the benefit of the people. the facts are indisputable. unemployment in the african- american community is a beneficial 16%, the highest in the nation, the highest since the great depression. and that does not rely calculate those who have been out of the employment market for over a year or more. in many communities is 35 to 40% -- 35% to 40%.

let me just share with you that this discussion about whether or not you raise the question and you crave a challenge that you are being disloyal, it is not. the time has come for us to be politically mature enough to have great comfort in the fact that we can do this challenge if we have to. we cannot do this work in silence. we cannot represent you in silence. as a matter of fact, the reason the tea party is so strong is because they stepped up, they talked of, and they worked it. they are not nearly in the numbers that we are. but look at the influence that they have been able to yield in this country. they have been forced the decision of the bill -- they

have been forced the decision of the bill that literally decided whether or not we increase the debt ceiling. and we have had to suffer of these budget cuts. if we are silent, we cannot protect the people. if we are silent, we cannot protect the president. if we do not speak up, if we do not show up, and do everything that we can possibly do, our communities will be worse off. our children will graduate from college and not have any jobs. we will not be able to get the mortgages. we will not be able to create the wealth. we will not be able to force these banks who took our bailout, who are not giving money to our businesses to create businesses and expand businesses and opportunity -- we will not be able to do any of that. ladies and gentlemen, i want you to feel comfortable. i do not want you to be embarrassed. i do not want you to sit back in your seat and say, whoa, if we

are questioning the president that we are doing something bad. no, it is honorable to step up to the plate. it is honorable to do what needs to be done. [applause] and understand this, we can do both and do not let anybody tell you that you cannot. did that answer your question? [applause] >> yes, but i think there is more there. i think that was a brilliant introduction. but i think the president's announcement the morning prior to the detroit information breaking news was the fact that he was going to be making an announcement about jobs in september. what opportunity does that give the congressional black caucus to not just silently and say, what are you talking about, all you are doing is complain about the president. what does that look like? and how does the caucus take advantage of it?

>> there has been a lot of talk about reading and infrastructure bank. and when we when wewpa we are talking -- when we talk about wpa we are talking about public works, bridges and streets and water systems. i believe the president will have that in his package. we support that. we have been saying for a long time, and included in legislation one of the many pieces introduced by this black caucus that we want infrastructure jobs because jobs, of course, will help to strengthen this economy. people spend money when they have jobs. too much talk about green jobs. where are they? we have not put the money into the training. we have not helped to support the investment in the factories that will produce the solar panels and other alternatives to the energy system that we have. i and others are focused on

bringing the jobs offshore that have been set off shore to third world markets for cheap labor -- you call bank of america, the loan litigation department, you are talking to somebody in india. we want those jobs in those call centers and all of those jobs that have been exported back home. [applause] we want to make it too expensive for american businesses to keep exporting these jobs. there has to be a consequence. and the president has to have a tax holiday. he has got to do something to incentivize the businesses to say, if you get jobs, you get tax breaks. that is all right with me. but i will never, ever again -- and i do not think the black caucus will -- make the mistake as we did in the bailout where we bailed out america's major institutions with no strings

attached. we did not get anything for it. now they are courting the money. again, we want them to -- now they are hoarding the money. again, when to put it into small business. let's tie the incentives to real jobs. we want jobs to be a part of the package. we intend to put the face of everything that we have seen on that legislation. there were 7000, 8000 people out here today. the same thing in detroit and cleveland. no one can say that they do not know, they do not understand. we have put a face on this as we traveled around this country. now that we have done that, we have to be part of the solution. we have to be consulted, and if we are not, we will give it to him anyway. we have to. [applause] >> i want to direct the next question to congressman laura --

congresswoman laura richardson. you serve on the transportation and infrastructure committee. i have a question from the audience about how congress can of jobs comethose types into the community. to what steps can be made in the house of representatives to crated bill that will actually pass to make what congress but -- congresswoman waters was talking about to make that next that? >> and glad to ask that because i just wrote down about five recommendations for the president regarding transportation and infrastructure. now that we are past the debt ceiling vote, the next big funding bill that you will see on the floor is the reauthorization of the transportation bill. that bill, typically, we would rather it had been closer to $500 billion. it is going to be approximately half of that.

it what are some things that the president can do and we can do to be included in transportation and legislation? number one, when you look at the $68 billion that was spent in the stimulus, we were told that a lot of jobs were created. where is the transparency to say, how many of those were new jobs? how many of those were jobs companies already had and they just kept working and no one else got any help? number one, we need to make sure there is transparency. if we're going to have money for contracts, we need to know what your people you are bringing in off the streets that are new people and are now employed. we have to have transparency. number two, we have to make sure that the legislation includes money for training and apprentice ships. number three, we need to on bond of those contracts. to many of the developers are keeping the money for

themselves. you have jobs being done in atlanta where you are bringing people from nevada to do the jobs, and that is wrong. we have to unbundle those contracts. fourth, many of our small businesses do not -- sure, they may be able to do a contract, but they may not be able to do an insurance bond of $10 million, $100 million. we have to include bonds. finally, we do not want contractors coming into our community and not giving local people an opportunity to do a job. those are five solid things i would like to see in a bill and for the president to insist upon. [applause] >> there is a question i have here that speaks to national high-speed rail coming on-line and what the possibility of that is, but i think it speaks to a broader question.

as we begin to think about transportation in this country, when will there be a substantive line between infrastructure for our current mode of transportation and real vision for the cries of transportation will be able to have in 20 years, and will also create jobs in places like atlanta? >> that is the exact problem. the president considers high- speed rail to be a part of his legacy, and he has dedicated a sufficient -- not a sufficient, but an initial start, $8 billion. unfortunately, one of the areas that they are expecting that to occur is the northeast corridor, which is the only corridor that has trains moving over 95 miles per hour. what we have to ensure is that as high-speed rail is being considered, they are considering all corridors, not just the northeast corridor. what about the southeast corridor?

if we're going to put those dollars there, we are allowing other people to come and work. and people should know about jobs for the high-speed rail and there should be training and a princess -- apprenticeships assisted with it. the problem is they came out and said, we need to spend $20 billion a year just to maintain our existing low. that is all we are collecting right now in our gas tax. if we do not increase the tax revenue, which is one of the biggest discussions of the house, you will see no new projects or very few. that is why tax revenue must be on the table. >> i have a show of hands, questions from marvin on facebook. how many on the panel are small- business owners, or for more small-business owners?

obviously, you have a different job now. the of a question from facebook -- the other question from facebook, when the tea party held the country hostage on the debt ceiling, why didn't the congressional black caucus hold out to for some action on jobs and minorities? and that is for anyone who would like to take it. [laughter] >> i will take an initial stab at it. actually, many of us did. i voted no for that bill, and i voted no for two key reasons, one, the potential defense cut excluding the wars in afghanistan. we have got to stop funding those wars. if we cannot fund our own schools in the united states -- [applause] we certainly cannot find