tv Washington Journal CSPAN February 23, 2014 7:00am-10:01am EST
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they were present. then a look at the u.n. report on north korea, which accuses the country's leader of committing crimes against humanity. john part of the u.s. institute of peace will join us. "washington journal" is next. ♪ good morning. it is a back to work week for congress as lawmakers return following presidents' day recess. the nation's governors are in washington for their winter meeting. tonight they will be at the white house and tomorrow the president will address the governors. this is also a root -- a weekend of fast-moving developments in the ukraine as the president attempts to please the country. a political transition is now underway in that country. on the sunday morning, february 23, we will begin with an issue that many states are now debating.
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should marijuana be legalized? if you say yes, join in. 585 -- -- 585-3 881. if you say no, 585-388 zero. if you are undecided, 202-585-388 two. the piece here, with the dateline line in kiev, points out "abandoned by his guards, reviled across the capital, determined to reacquire his shredded political authority." this morning "the wall
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street journal" reports that the whereabouts of the president were unknown at this time. russia will in the meantime hold off on any further loans to aid the ukraine in what they are calling for sweeping change in the former republic of the soviet union. later in this program we will focus on a new study on north korea and just how bad the situation is there. we want to focus this morning on a front-page story from "the washington post." "marijuana's moment." "as the nation's governors meet to legalize marijuana, the push to legalize marijuana has flourished and floundered over five decades, but a shifting sentiment appears to be bringing it to fruition."
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the essence of the story makes a couple of points. "america has been on the edge of legalization several times, but never has except in spent as close as the drug is now across the nation." so, should your state legalize marijuana? that is the question. theave this -- divided phone lines into yes, no, or undecided. send us an e-mail, or join us online at facebook. first a look at the other programs on the sunday morning -- the sunday morning programs,
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i should say, which will be re-aired later today on c-span radio. nancy callow? weeke topics include the ahead in congress, politics, and the situation in the ukraine. you can hear rebroadcast of those programs beginning at noon eastern times, beginning with "meet the press," on c-span radio. mark wells, a member of the miracle on ice u.s. hockey team will be a guest. at one p.m., "abc's "this week." or murmuring corps veteran, team would, founder of rubicon. 2:00, fox news sunday. guests include the durbin of fromois and kelly ayotte new hampshire. also scott walker, republican from wisconsin, and peter shaman, democrat of vermont. rick perry and mike pence appear on "state of the union," at 3
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p.m.. at 4:00 eastern, face the nation with john mccain and bobby , as well as martin o'malley. the sunday network tv talk shows are on c-span radio and brought to you as a public service by the networks and c-span. the rebroadcast of the shows begins at noon eastern time with "meet the press." 2:00, "fox week," news sunday," 3:00, "stated the union," and at 4:00 "face the nation" from cbs. xmoss the country on satellite radio channel 120. download our free app for your smart phone, or listen online at c-span.org. host: we hope that you also check it out on our newly redesigned website, c-span.org. the question, should your state
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legalize marijuana? this weekend the nation's governors are talking about the issue of medical marijuana, including governor hickenlooper, the vice chair of the nga. we are also getting your comments in an unscientific facebook poll. the associated press story that we found on the fox news website begins by saying that republicans and democratic governors are gathering this week and taking a cautious approach to loosening their marijuana laws despite growing support for legalization, expressing broad concerns for their children and public safety should legalize the use spread .o their state they are watching closely what happens in washington and colorado as they become national pioneers. us fromis joining charleston, west virginia. you say yes. why? michael? good morning. go ahead, please. i have seen where
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mothers have gotten relief, where it has helped their kids. you know, i have seen a lot of uses for it. host: ok. we will go to shannon, joining us from tacoma, washington. the morning, shannon. first of all, how is it working in tacoma, washington? well, i can't use it, because i work for the government, but my mother uses it for medical reasons. i am not going to say something that is not true. people that i know do use it for recreation. it seems one of the lesser evils , per se. like with alcohol -- i feel like what is going on here is what i'll call went through during prohibition.
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it is just a matter of society realizing that maybe it is better for the government, per se. colorado talked about how much money -- sorry, not we, i am in washington, but what it really could do financially, to legalize it. tax it. thank you very much for the call. jim has this point -- host: next is arthur, joining us smirnov mills, maine. good morning. caller: i think we are just trying to make this illegal. just make it legal, get the tax money.
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the tax money will boost our economy. host: host: ok. lola saying no, do not legalize it. if you legalize marijuana, you will have so many wrecks on the road. the people who use it are already confused. properly,ought up marijuana is so potent these days. youou smoke it constantly, might be able to endure being high and drive. , you just can't think. as soon as you start smoking pot , you stay at that level of maturity until you get so far away from it that you start to mature again. the kids are already terribly confused.
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it is a dead-end road, just being inebriated. as far as comparing it alcohol, i'll call is bad, too. why have two cancers? why put that additional? money? just go back to the oldest principles we have ever had and we might be able to get a foundation of learning how to act and make things work properly. we used to be a land of laws. we are no longer a land of laws. we are just a hedonistic society . it just seems like everyone is trying to be high all the time. host: thank you for the call. you can also join in on facebook . the question is, should marijuana be legalized in your own state? mary is joining us from tennessee. you are undecided. why?
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let me preface this. i have been smoking pot for 44 years. i have worked at the same business for 38 years. in that time i have missed approximately 80 days of work. i weigh exactly what i am supposed away. marijuanaotypes about smokers. those it is made up of people who have had bad experiences. -- we are in a sitter society right now where we smoke cigarettes and have made it taboo in almost every situation. what are we going to do now that we have all of these new smokers ? are they going to be as polite? let's say, respectful? i am just afraid that this is a dynamic -- it bears watching. ok, thank you very much for the call. some of you weighing in on our facebook page.
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thing that would have saved my eyesight and the doctor said that it would take a lot of paperwork to get it approved. he did not much care as long as he got his pay. i went blind, blind for 10 years. host: thank you very much for the call. jan says -- from marion is joining us house berg, maryland. good morning. good morning. yes, i do not believe it should be legalized. i think that maybe your call list should change. host: how so? you need think maybe to have social workers call-in, police call in, rockers and emergency room call in, and have them mention how it affects the
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people that they see. i have seen it from the point of view of a social worker. host: what have you seen? have see little children with parents so slow in reaction as to what the danger is to their little children. sometimes it has caused the death of those children. just from the fact that the parents are not just quite there. very muchthank you for calling. william, santa rosa, california, the question is -- should your state legalize marijuana? that -- caller: i think that trying to prohibit people from doing things like that is a dead end. you know, if we make marijuana
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legal, we see things like these bath salts and other things that are sold not for human ingestion but everybody knows that that is what the intention is, these could be far more dangerous. i do support, perhaps, having the idea of clean or dried towns. let some small communities decide on a community by community basis if they don't want marijuana in there, but on a state or national level i think we should allow some communities to allow such things . maybe even other drugs. when we have a laboratory of ideas out there, we can sort of see what happens in places that allow it, what happens in places that don't, and make comparisons. much for theou so call, william. let me go back to the "washington post" story. one of the issues being debated around the country is whether or not marijuana should be
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legalized. from the top page of the article there are a couple of points. first of all, legalized marijuana outpolled the president and colorado in 2012. the votes for pot and obama in washington state were almost identical, 50% each. activists in six states in the district are working to put legalization initiatives on the ballot this year or in 2016. legislatures in 13 states are considering bills to legalize a plant that in 80 years has traveled from widely used patent medicine to a misdemeanor and is now on the cusp of acceptance as one more tax on a regulated mind altering substance becomes akin to alcohol or tobacco." and although that we covered for in our video library, he has his assessment on why he says marijuana should be legalized and what is happening in states around the country. [video clip]
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>> i was a marijuana grower back in the day, in the early 1970's, mostly in my basement -- basement under grow lights that were fluorescent lights. not the fancy ones that they have now. but i got pretty good at it. i bought a book for botany, which was my grow guide, what we eat is not particularly hard to grow. i came out here and found out new mexico was legalizing medical marijuana. i was curious about it, interested in it. it is a national movement that is happening. i knew a grower. if you can believe that. it was the first plan he had ever grown. do a pretty good job in his first year. i sort of helped him out a little bit and then we tracked his successes, failures, everything like that, but he did
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a pretty good job in his first year. we tracked those successes, those failures, the triumphs and disappointments. that is 20 states now. the district of columbia had some form of medical marijuana. two states had it legalized. states making money off of medical marijuana, they are making money off of recreational marijuana because they have legalized it. here is what happened in the state of washington. originally there were state that restores. the privatizing of the liquor industry happened from pressure through costco, some say, which is based in washington. all of these state liquor stores were sitting vacant and then they legalize marijuana. what do you suppose is going to go into those vacant stores? stores.marijuana or maybe just marijuana stores in general. but taxed and regulated.
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the state is expected to make tens of millions of dollars, to start, with this. i think that once other states see the kind of money that is being generated from marijuana, whether it is legal or legalized for medical use, it is going to legalizethe states to it in some form or another. that is from c-span's "booktv." another issue we are focusing on, should your state legalize marijuana? "the washington post," reporting on andrew cuomo making a political splash by introducing his medical marijuana plant -- plan in the state of the state speech, but his cautious plan has brought criticism from those who question how meaningful it really is. pressuregalized it for
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-- pleasure, governor cuomo is allowing many of the hospitals to dispense the drug to people with certain severe illnesses, part of an experiment across new york state. "u.s. news & world report," reporting on the tax revenue impact. the piece points out that they are far exceeding expectations as they prepare their state budget. for the first time marijuana has been legalized in colorado, now a source of revenue for the state of colorado. one viewer says -- no, do not legalize marijuana. this is pandora's box, it must .emained closed another know is from victor in ft. wayne, indiana. i disagree with that as
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well. my wife has copd, she cannot stand to smell any smoke at all anyway. you smoke that stuff, it gets in your lungs. common sense has got to tell you that that is a problem. like the last guy said, the government is just in it to make the money. it is a no-bid situation. host: thank you for the call, victor. this is from the jump page of "the new york times." -cigarettes."er e host: again, that over the use
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of e-cigarettes. good morning. caller: good morning, yes, i am undecided. i am forsitive side, legalization because i understand the medical benefits for certain patients who are stricken with certain diseases. i am also for legalization in terms of how it would just minimalize the superficial arrests that are made. particularly among african-americans, for possession of marijuana. that would just solve the prison population of a great sense. but i feel that what makes me undecided is also the argument the is not being had about allowance of these kinds of that is onsociety
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the decline. that is to say that to use these drugs to tranquilize people so not, do not not, do react in an outward way, like other parts of the world, where societies are crumbling and they rise in the streets, there is a balance to tranquilize the society, not only with drugs like marijuana and alcohol, but even electronics. to pacify the society so that they can tolerate the slow of the society. i do not think that conversation is happening. much fornk you very the call. bill from our twitter page says -- host: the question is -- should your state the allies marijuana?
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this is the headline from "the washington post." janice, good morning. caller: i suppose i should have called on the undecided line. i really, really do not think that it should be legalized just for anyone. i think that we should watch these states. i do not think that the black should be incarcerated for it either, but it seems there is a whole new justice problem from these stores, the safety of their moneys, and with the banking system -- i think you need to tread slowly through this. that 28 yearssay ago my husband was in the navy, got paralyzed, and after he was paralyzed for a time, you know, your organs stop working. they failed. was then testing
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marijuana pills and cigarettes. to help the guys through their death periods. pills, butwith the he could not keep the pills down , so they gave him the cigarettes. besides his pain pills. host: did they help? caller: he was at least able to eat a small bit, which comforted him until his death. , thenk that legalization medicinal part of it, that is a good thing. you can see how in other areas it has helped people with cancers and the cornea situation. that is where i stand on it. host: thank you for the call. a viewer from virginias says -- bringt to marijuana -- your marijuana to virginia and you will smoke it in your prison cell.
quote
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now underwaytion in the ukraine, the leader there has fled. according to "the wall street to pass intoing russia, he was denied entry. the transition is going on in that country. on the issue of "medical putsuana," forbes magazine taxes at the forefront. "it seems simple, make it legal, tax it, let's sum up -- supply and demand takeover. soon enough, state coffers would be filled -- filled." from gaithersburg, maryland. sherry is on the phone. good morning.
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morning.ood do not legalize marijuana. it destroys the youth. it turned out to be a gateway drug for me. i am in recovery right now. it turned out that once i stopped, my bipolar -- it had exacerbated my bipolar. bipolar all along. i self medicated and it turned out that that triggered bible but -- my bipolar. host: the marijuana did. caller: yes, it did. i am glad that it can help people if that is what they need to help people right now, fine, but doctors are brilliant, amazing geniuses. are there not other avenues that they can find to help the people with glaucoma and the cancer? are so brilliant, is there not something else that they can use to help these people instead of promoting illegal drugs?
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thank you for the call. today from the metro section, a familiar figure from the clinton days. nowok at mike murray, graduated with a seminary degree, teaching at a theological seminary on the campus of "american university." -- the campus of american university. also, in "the washington post," nearly half of residents in maryland backup the use of medical marijuana. from a viewer called derby mom -- celeste is joining us from gatesville, texas. colorado good morning -- caller: i am in support of
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decriminalizing it and growing hemp. not necessarily the one that has ,he hallucinogenic properties but the one that is made out of rope and everything. it is even legal to grow it here. farmersnking of all the who already have everything, the knowledge and everything, to grow it. we have to import it from canada out of theoducts fibers. that is what i am in favor of. decriminalizing it? i am in favor of the medical marijuana, but recreation? i don't know. i admit to smoking it back in the 1970's when i was a college student, but now at 64 and 65? i want to hang onto all the
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brain cells i can. thank you. host: thank you. one of the points in that story, the poll from voters, three of the candidates running for governor have admitted that they use medical marijuana in college. finally, this from a viewer who responded to an earlier color who said it turned out to be a gateway drug for me. the: one of the points from nation's governors gathering this weekend, chris christie is in town but leaving before the dinner at the white house tonight, one reporter trying to get questions answered by the new jersey governor, governor christie said -- what don't you get about me not talking to you? whileg "politico," that they waited for a walk signal standing outside one of the gatherings. later, mary kay henry, the
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president of the service employees international union, as we continue on the sunday morning. back in a moment. ♪ [video clip] there is a general sitting in the witness chair, they tend to fawn over him. that with general petraeus. i noticed it was gates in his hearings, when he was nominated as secretary of defense by george w. bush. they were so thrilled that he was not rumsfeld, they did not ask the really hard questions. a lot of those pertained to his past activities. the iranvolved in contra. he was a very prominent figure in the cia at the time. they required intelligence that
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.ran was somehow moderating that intelligence was, conveniently, forthcoming. >> former capitol hill staffer, mike lofgren, writes about washington in "the party is over ," tonight on "q&a." >> c-span, we bring public affairs events from washington directly to you, putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, briefings and conferences, offering complete gavel-to-gavel coverage of the u.s. house. by thec-span, created cable tv industry 30 five years ago, funded by your local cable or satellite provider. follow us on twitter. facebook. >> "washington journal" continues. host: all they hear we are covering the winter meeting of the nga.
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one of those participants is iowa governor, terry branstad. guest: thank you for having me this morning. host: earlier this year you announced seeking a sixth term. are you now the longest-serving governor ever in the history of this country? no, the, the --guest: first-ever governor of new york, george clinton, a revolutionary war general, was elected under the articles of confederation and served 21 years. he has the record in all of american history. host: why are you seeking a sixth term? i love the state of iowa. i think i am making a difference. we got our financial house in order. we passed major education reform with property tax relief. health and wellness plan designed to get people to take ownership, we have iowa going a good direction. we brought the unemployment rate
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down from 6.1 to four point two percent. i love what i am doing, we have a good team, i have more work to do, we have more than we want to accomplish. we have one phone line set aside for those of you living in iowa. act: the affordable care was a reversal on how you viewed impactlementation of the on residents. why the change? all, what we did was come up with our own plan. we want to be the healthiest state in the nation. at the des moines medical school we did health risk assessments on all faculty staff and students, we encouraged people to set their own goals. we found that this work effectively. now what we have done -- we had to get labor to do this, and i
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have a split legislature, so it was a delicate situation to work out, but we called the iowa health and wellness plan. people need to pay a modest premium if they are below the made youevel, but that health risk assessments and if they do that the state will refund them the cost of the premium and that way they can know what their risk factors are and what they can do to reduce them. are also working, obviously, to encourage people not to use tobacco products, exercise, good nutrition -- all of those things that can make us a healthier state. the affordable care act, or obamacare, is unaffordable and unsustainable in the long term. we know there are a lot of problems with it. we also want to make sure we are doing all that we can to help iowans and make sure that iowans are doing the kinds of things that can help them live a healthier, longer life.
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why not go ahead with the straight expansion of medicaid? not affordable or sustainable. i have watched medicaid expand and expand over the last several decades as the health of americans goes downhill. we are trying to do the opposite. we are trying to improve the health of our citizens and get people to take ownership of their own health. we did work on a compromise between the senate democrats and the house republicans on our health and wellness plan. we then had to get the labor from hhs. it took until almost christmas eve before they gave us the waiver. this is an opportunity for us to demonstrate how we as a state can do a better job of providing opportunities for our citizens to live longer and healthier lives. what are the priorities
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when the house republicans return this week? according to eric cantor it is to look for ways not to replace obamacare, because even republicans know that i will not happen, but to fix the current law? my question to you is -- what advice can you give lawmakers, democrats and republicans, that would be valuable in today's political context to change or fix the affordable care act? what needs to be done? give states the flexibility to adapt to their own needs and give them the opportunity to do innovative things that can help to actually improve the health rather than just have this federal isernment mandate that it too expensive, not workable. obviously it is more than hhs can handle. they have proven that with their disastrous rollout of the system. they could not even give us the information about the people that we wanted to enroll in the
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health and wellness plan. so, after their system failed, we gave people an opportunity to sign-up on our system and it has worked much more effectively. conversation with governor terry branstad, now in -- fifth term, seeking rina reelection in november. democratic line, good morning. good morning. the republican party is just living off the stimulus package programs that president obama put into office. but you do not want to seemed to want to give him any credit for helping out your states. first of all, i have two parts. you republicans are against the minimum wage that would help me as a people. you are also for farm subsidies and you are against [indiscernible] and it is hurting citizens.
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there are people who need the medicaid and your state. your state is going to receive federal dollars and you reject are thetly because you ideology of the republican party. obviously he is from georgia and does not understand what we have done in iowa. we have used a waiver program and a different approach. he made some statement about farm subsidies. the new farm bill actually eliminates direct payments and eliminates subsidies. the one thing that we are concerned about the the obama administration is advocating is reducing the renewable fuel standard, which is always been supported by the epa. i met with jim mccarthy yesterday to say -- we want a robust, renewable fuel standard. we want to be able to convert more of our corn and other
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anducts to renewable fuels be less dependent on foreign oil. that has been working well in this country and we think it would be a big mistake to cave in to big oil. that is something that iowans are united behind on a bipartisan basis. from our next call comes tom, vermont, independent line. good morning to you, sir. caller: how are you doing? host: great, thanks --guest: great, thanks. theer: alcohol belongs in glass, not the gas. we are taking our food and we are burning it, turning it into alcohol, burning it and cars. the alcohol is also causing tremendous damage to the motor vehicles, as well as -- you bought the line from big oil, hook, line, and sick -- sinker.
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pollutealso attended to the groundwater on the east and west coast. you ought to come to the midwest and see how this is working effectively, what it has done in creating jobs and reducing our dependency on foreign oil. you just have a lot of misinformation put out by the very -- the huge amount of money, you know, that big oil spends doing out misinformation on the east coast and the west coast, to me it is pretty disturbing, but those in the midwest, republicans and democrats, recognize that room -- renewable fuels, wind energy, ethanol, bio diesel, is part of the solution. it is something that makes a lot of sense and has been good for the environment, good for the economy. i have been involved in this fight since the 1970's. i know we are up against the ,uge, deep pockets of big oil
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but you need to study this further and get better information. set: we do have a line and aside for those of you who live in iowa. 3883.85- a story here from "the des moines register." what is happening here? bit.: this is easing up a not only in iowa, but across the upper midwest we had a wet spring, so we needed more propane for drying corn this fall. and then we had an extremely cold winter. the result is we have had shortages of propane and the costs of gone up dramatically. i have signed an emergency disaster designation, permitting truckers to go longer hours. we have also been in touch with governor perry. he did similar things in texas in terms of getting the propane
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up from texas. we worked in conjunction with other midwestern governors and were able to get the federal agencies to give more flexibility. have eased the problem somewhat. the price spike at five dollars per gallon is now down to i think three dollars per gallon, but it has been a very difficult winter. many of our rural residents rely on propane for their heating, farmers do for their livestock. host: a farming related question from one of our viewers -- "what percentage of your state is currently agricultural"? part of thebig state in terms of the land. a lot of it is used for agricultural purposes. i would say one in six jobs are dependent on agriculture. agriculture income has been good in recent years. because of things like renewable fuel standards and better commodity prices for corn and
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soybeans, we are the leading corn and soybean producer, and ourport reduce or, cattle numbers have been coming back. when you talk about feed versus fuel, there is a great byproduct when you make ethanol all distillers dried grains, a high-protein that is better than feeding your cattle corn. we have found that has been a really great thing. the byproduct of ethanol actually goes into the food chain and makes for delicious beef. host: in your state of the state address you listed a series of goals for this year, including the creation of 200,000 new jobs and a 15% reduction of the cost of government across iowa, 25% notease in family income, only the healthiest eight of the nation, but the best schools in the nation. how do you pay for all of that? those areest:
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ambitious goals that i said when i became governor. we have created 130,000 of those 200,000 jobs already. we have gone from six percent unemployment to 4.2% unemployment. the big challenge now is funding the people with the skills to fill the jobs. have an initiative this year and courage and the people coming out of the military to come to iowa. we are eliminating the tax and military retirement, making it possible for them to go to our schools on in-state tuition, making it easier for them to get professional licensing in our state. we want to be the most welcoming state for veterans. we know that they have a lot of leadership and specific job skills that we need in iowa. we also have a broadband initiative to get high-speed internet to other parts of the state, as well as an anti-bullying initiative for the schools and an effort to reduce student debt by freezing tuition
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for the second year in a row. the first time since 1975 that has been done in iowa. also encouraging students only to borrow as much as you need, not as much as you can get. our next caller is from iowa. doug, good morning. guest: i am from near max berg, i know where you are from. you have.bet i wanted to give you a vote of confidence. i heard the other calls. i remember in 1993 you helped us to get plants started. i went through what happened after you left office. i look forward to you having another four years. --guest: thank you very much. i am very hands-on, as you know. iowa is working and i am proud to hear from you. thank you for calling. next running assist our
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from scottsdale, arizona. welcome to the program. caller: good morning, welcome to the program -- good morning, thank you for c-span. they always say that we do not have a voice or a mission. people do not understand where the republican party is coming from. i think one of the things for would be if we had a leader as president say to the american people that i will ,ower the cost of living through energy, through natural gas we will bring it down below one dollar per gallon. if gas was below one dollar per gallon, why would you still do corn? you could never out produce that costs of below one dollar or $39 per barrel? ist: i do not think --guest: do not think we will see gas below one dollar again. in this day and age the cost of drilling for oil and then
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refining it really means that the cost is not -- i don't think the market is going to bring it down. initially, i say we want all of policies.in energy i support the keystone pipeline, but i also support renewable fuel. i want us to eliminate dependency on foreign oil and rely on domestic, natural gas, oil, renewable fuels. i think the combination of that could be great for the american economy and the iowa economy as well. you might have seen it, the headline, terry branstad and "the war on women." iowa and mississippi, the only two states that have never elected a female governor, member of congress, or u.s. senator. changeyou are trying to that, but why has it been so difficult for women to break the glass ceiling in iowa? a war it actually said
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for women, talking about how my attendant governor is a rising star in the republican party. i appointed the first woman cpa state auditor. i have another of female department heads. at the head of the department of revenue, the head of economic development, the director of the civil rights commission and workforce development. -- workforce development. one of my department heads is running for congress. she had been the head of the department of public health. i think that we have a lot of talented women. we have a woman who is in the race for united states senate who is a state senator from our state. she is in a contested primary with several others. i think it is just a matter of time that you will see women
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winning the governor's office, senate seat, and congressional seats in iowa. a number of lieutenant governors, republican and democratic women. talentalways recognized and am really proud of the fact that cream -- kim reynolds is my lieutenant governor. i want her to be the next governor after me. good morning. guest: how are you? caller: you -- caller: fine. guest: you have that nook siemens plant being built north of time. -- north of town. caller: i understand that. thank you so much. we needed those jobs. will there be enough funding in iowa for resurfacing the roads? guest: we will be addressing
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that this year. we will have $700 million in the primary road fund this year, and as we look to the future we will have to come up with additional funding. i believe that the funding should come from the users of the roads to help improve the roads and bridges of the state. that is an issue that we do need to address, but i want to give for reducing administrative costs and having more resources go for the road and bridge construction in our state. your governor, here is chamber of commerce pitch from a viewer. well, you will find the friendliest people in the world. people that will treat you really well and make you feel wanted and welcome. even the president of china came
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there in 1985 and he now calls as old friends and he tells me how much he loves iowa and how well he was treated when he was there. he came there in 1985 from our sister state. , tested out, iowa see what you think. i think you will find it is a great place to live, work, and raise a family. is there currently a battle going on between you and the republican party? an effort toere is expand and increase participation in the republican party. i am proud to say that our recent caucuses had really good turnout and i think we will have a revitalized party. we have a hotly contested u.s. senate seat. to lead the whole republican team to victory. this election,
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2014, could be a great year if we continue to work hard and work together. with an eye on 2016, we know that we will not be spending the new year's eve in iowa, it looks like you're caucuses are going to be in february of 2016? yes, and we are appreciative of that. last time it was on january 3. we will do what we have to do to be first in the nation, but we think that february is a better date and we are appreciative of has the national committee done in penalizing states that try to move up their primaries or caucuses. to maintain iowa as first in the nation and encourage all the candidates to counties.o to all 99 it is a great way to start the presidential selection process. well know, the winner of the iowa caucuses does
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not necessarily mean the winner of the nomination. does the process still worked away needs to? host: we do not always wind up choosing the one who winds up winning, but usually if you are not in the top three you probably will not be viable in terms of getting the nomination. it is important to come to iowa and compete. we have had many people, like the first president of the united states, obama, got his start by beating hillary clinton in iowa. george w. bush is another one. the last two presidents of the united states launched their campaign in iowa very effectively. in the first half-hour we focused on the issue of medical marijuana. one of our viewers, from vivian host: do you have a stand on this issue? guest: we do not have it. a bill was introduced in the legislature, but it was not met.
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it failed to meet the first final deadline. it will not be debated this year in iowa. host: mike is joining us from muscatine, iowa. guest: good morning. regarding -- caller: good morning, regarding medical marijuana, my son had a brain hemorrhage when he was 16. host: i am sucked --guest: i am sorry to hear that. the hospital did a great job of saving his life, basically. within six months after the surgery he developed epilepsy. we have just had a continuous of all different kinds of medications to try to resolve his epilepsy. we finally found something that worked, but it has a side effect of rage, anger, and depression. then you have to give him antidepressants.
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those don't work. those have terrible side effects. the only thing that really works for him is marijuana, and it works great. unfortunately he cannot get it in the state. we go right across the river and get it legally. do you have anybody in your family that has a medical epilepsy, that marijuana relieves? i do not, but the mayor of west des moines does have a family member there. there was an article about this in the register. i have heard this. obviously i was a president at des moines university, a medical school. but i do not know all the details of these kinds of conditions. i do feel for your son and for your family. like anybody, you want to try to do what is best for your family member when you have this kind of situation. back to the issue of
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health care and your interaction with kathleen sebelius and the president as well, do you find that the white house is flexible in the implementation of the affordable care act? giving you the flexibility you are looking for for implementation? to fight for had everything. it was very frustrating. we kept them informed, i met but hhselius early, dragged their feet. hadhought we should have the waiver before the first of october and of course we did not get it until december 23. we have never been able to get to the information, the people signed up on their website, that has been a total disaster. we have tried to do the best we can, but it is rate frustrating. we have worked and negotiated with them in good faith, but we
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have not felt that we got the cooperation that we deserved. i have spoken to a lot of other governors and there is a general feeling among the governors that this whole process of waivers is very slow, difficult, cumbersome , some states have gotten waivers, others have been denied waivers for similar requests. host: daytona beach, florida, good morning. governor, i have studied ethanol for some years. for every dollar that you put into producing switchgrass, unit nine dollars in energy back. for every dollar that you put get $1.30 inu only energy back. it takes an enormous amount of water to make ethanol. i think you are going on the
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wrong track with ethanol. it damages our cars. guest: does it? we haven't -- all are just doing it for your own benefit in iowa. say this. me just we are now going to the next generation, cellulosic ethanol. you mentioned switchgrass. you can make that. that is the stocks, the cobs and things that are left over after the corn kernels. there are a lot of things that can be done. i think the renewable fuels have a bright future. all you need is a flexible fuel vehicle and you can use any amount of ethanol. brazil has completely eliminated their dependency on foreign oil. they use ethanol very effectively. they make it from sugarcane host: our last call is clear
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from new orleans. caller: i bitterly resented the comments about corn. the lubricants, the pesticides -- that his state uses in agricultural industry, all come from the petroleum that we produce in we the anna -- louisiana. i am against them putting out misinformation and renewable fuels. you have a great governor, bobby jindal. i have worked with him. i have also worked with companies in louisiana and iowa. they make nitrogen fertilizers that go into the production of corn. i do resent the misinformation that big oil put out and the fact that they convinced a lot instead ofo use mtb
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ethanol as an oxygen aid and enhancer. i think that we can work on these things. i resent the big oil wants to eliminate renewable fuel standard. they have total control the products. they do not have to share the market with renewable fuels. host: one other policy question from kevin. where you stand on the issue of minimum wage? what is the right number? guest: that is an issue we have dealt with over the years. bill that did sign a increased the state minimum wage. there is a mixed feeling about whether this would actually cause a reduction of jobs or whether it would improve incomes. that debate is going on. i thought i would reserve judgment to see what happens in the iowa legislature. i do not expect with hours with legislature that i am likely to see that this year. host: on 2016 politics, final
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question for you. will you endorse anyone prior to the caucuses? guest: i will reserve judgment on 2016. it is a long way off. i do want to be a good host and encourage all candidates to come to iowa. i will be glad to meet with them and give them my advice and counsel. one of the most important things is i would encourage them to come to iowa early and often in all 99 counties. that is the best way to be successful in running for election. i have had a lot of state -- experience doing it. i think it is probably not likely i will endorse because i want to be a good host and i would to encourage all of the candidates to come and actively campaign and compete in iowa. host: governor terry branstad joining us here in washington. the host of the winter meeting of the nga, appreciate you being
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with us. guest: you are welcome. thank you very much. out: we hope you will check our programming online, anytime at our newly redesigned website. a moment,in just we'll continue our conversation with mary henry, the president of the service employees international union. overll continue the debate the minimum wage. and the shocking situation in north korea. more details on the grandma findings from the united nations. you're watching "washington journal." is sunday, february 23. we are back in a moment.
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>> american history tv debuts its new series, "real america," featuring archival films produced by the government. it takes you on a vivid journey into america's past. this week, films on washington, d.c. during world war ii and women workers during the 1940's. >> a few months ago, they r olled out materials for industry. ships1000 docs were idle with cargo, the call persisted. that was the call for help. it was filled in the detroit area when women began to respond. they said they could do factory work or anything that men could
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do for uncle sam. listen, the wings of her head. sisters are singing. it is a song of women. american women on the warpath. starting today at 4:00 eastern on c-span3 american history tv. journal"ngton continues. back we want to welcome the president of the service employees international union, mary kay henry. thank you for being with us. we have phone lines set aside for those of you who are members of organized labor. we hope that you will join in on the conversation. the governor on the issue of minimum wage -- the president outlined in his state of the union address. some companies are doing it on their own. what is the right number? $10.10 is an incredible
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first stop for it we applaud the president's leadership. if you adjusted for inflation, it would be $10.65. you know that there are millions of workers in minimum wage jobs because they are the fastest growing jobs in the economy. they're trying to raise their children and can't do better. the floor ising incredibly important. we cannot stop there. we have to be able to negotiate those in wages beyond to minimum wage that they can support their families on. host: the good news bad news is that by raising the minimum wage, people have more income. pulling people out of poverty. .5nomists predict that million jobs will be lost if the wages increased. guest: there are 600 other reports that say that that is wrong.
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when you look at new jersey to pennsylvania, new jersey raised the wage one dollar. there was no job loss on the new jersey side of the border compared to pennsylvania. are seven nobel laureates who signed a letter saying that the conclusion is just wrong. the 540 look at counties with minimum wage higher than the next door county, there has not been the kind of job loss that was perfect it. i cannot explain it, except to say that when you look at both experience -- the experience in this nation, some cities and states are listing their minimum wage. that job loss has not occurred. host: with the free market take care of this? gap,u work at costco or you will now or in more than the minimum wage. if you are looking at that kind of job and can consider gap or costco, you more likely would
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want to get the higher pay. without a federal mandate, this push is doing it on it's own? think if there was more of a snowball happening, your argument might prevail. it is essential for government to act and list the wage. it has been so stagnant. the real issue we have to confront is as we lift the minimum wage, how do we get these jobs to be living wage jobs? one out of three jobs right now in this economy is minimum wage. we know that people are stringing together two and three jobs to make ends meet and feed their families. it is just wrong. when you working people have more money in their pockets, they spend it locally. on gas, groceries, necessities. that helps to create more jobs. there is more money flowing through people purchasing
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things. it is good for all of us when the minimum wage is increased. it helps to create more jobs where people are getting services that they need and could not afford before. host: the sign-up process continues for the affordable care act. the rollout has a lot of outcomes initially. from your assessment, how has it worked? guest: is the most transformative security step that we have taken. we think it will bring down health care costs. it will transform the american health-care system from being about managing disease to actually creating a more healthy america. we are thrilled to be a part of the army of people that is helping to enroll. 1.4ave had one -- million conversations. not: your sentiment is shared by other members of organized labor. some are very critical of the white house. guest: i think that other parts have been concerned about the impact on their collective
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bargaining. i understand that those concerns have been addressed. what i try to say to my brothers and sisters in organized labor is let's think about the 30 million people who are going to have health care for the first time in their lives. without peace of mind, those people will now have that when they go to bed at night. they can imagine a secure health care plan that does not put them on the edge of bankruptcy and where insurance companies are not allowed to pull coverage because of pre-existing conditions. we should begin thing in the streets about the 100 million people who'll never have their health or taken away again because of this law. host: who are your members and how many makeup seiu? serve we have members who in health care by caring for the elderly and seniors. we have public service workers in cities and state governments that deal with protecting our communities and making them safe. and our property services
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workers clean downtown will buildings and secure them as serving as security officers. host: how many earn minimum wage or just above? the workers in property services and home care are minimum wage workers when they first start. through collective bargaining, they take minimum-wage jobs and $12 per hour $11, with health care and a secure retirement. everyone deserves that in this economy. host: were you following that plant in chattanooga? wanted tototally help. we had 50 of our members helping to reach out to the workers. we thought it was a heartbreak and a step back. was not chosen by the majority of workers. signedrwhelming majority a card saying they wanted the union. over the course of the campaign,
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it ended in a no vote. we think there was huge impact by the threat of job loss. u.s. senators and state legislators accused workers by saying if you vote for the union, we will not allow another product line to come into chattanooga. we will take away the tax incentives. never before in the history of workers coming together have i seen government officials threaten workers with job loss and removal of tax incentives if they tried to string together to improve their lives. i am really interested in continuing to support what the workers want for themselves and their families. host: are you saying this was not their decision? they felt enormous amount of pressure and were forced about a different way? guest: they obviously made a decision, but it was heavily influenced by outside forces. an agreementmade not to interfere with the workers decision. we think that is the way it
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should work across the economy. employees need to stay out of the question of whether they want to form a union. we think that being able to conflict of would bargain is the way we will raise wages. we cannot make minimum wage jobs living wage jobs unless workers have the ability to come together and collectively bargain their wages up again. host: we will get your calls in just a moment. you can also send us an e-mail or a tweet. guest is mary kay henry, president of the service employees international union. one final question on the situation in chattanooga. does this bode poorly for unions? guest: i actually think there's a huge movement of workers across the economy and this setback will not stop the incredible momentum of tens of thousands of fast food workers saying they want $15 and the union. there are airport workers that are trying to take minimum-wage
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jobs and make them living wage jobs. governor cuomo just issued the port authority at laguardia to lift wages $1. $10 jobs.ll become he wants the airlines to come together to figure out a collective bargaining agreement to lift those jobs. delta airlines and american airlines just agree to comply with the $10 per hour. i think there's huge momentum. people understand that america will not work for all of us if one and two jobs is a poverty wage job. it is unsustainable. host: should college football players get paid and bailout organized? guest: my brother as being that it there is huge impact beyond the wage for the individual student. the football revenue, as i understand it, helps to finance a lot of women's sports that is nonrevenue producing.
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i am not equipped to weigh in on that. host: let's go to jesse from south carolina. republican line. caller: thank you for having me on. the only thing that i have to say about minimum wage is that it gets it up there -- we can make decent money and stuff. has shown history that every time we get minimum-wage raises, inflation comes along with it. you never really get help. that is all i have to say. guest: i think the colors actually write. strugglingilies are to get into the middle class or stay in. they feel it we are falling further and further behind. wages have been stagnant for two decades in the u.s. economy. even this minimum wage increase that we're having a debate about, people will feel it does
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not deal with food, gas, basic necessity prices that keep going up. is afraid fromer anaheim, california. member of the union. thank you for calling. caller: i have a question. comment. country isthis divided north and south, i think the unions will have a lot of problems. it seems that this image of right to work puts the politicians -- they want to have that -- the whole country in that image. that is where they want to go. you can see it for yourself. happened with detroit was not the fault of the union. it was the fault with the managers read -- managers. they blamed the unions for what happened. movedcar companies
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overseas and moved down south. guess what? detroit is going to dry up. all of the work dried up there. with the rust belt, that happened all across it. thank you, we will get a response. guest: i agree with you. here's where i think we need to go. play its part to by dealing with the minimum wage. i think the president's lawyers in this country need to come to the table and think about how to create minimum-wage jobs and open new job creation in this country. i think working people need to come together and say in spite of right to work, in spite of the attacks on workers organizations, we are going to unite together and help create good jobs where we can expect our kids with little better -- will do better. i completely believe in the richest nation on earth that we are capable of coming together as a nation to have an economy that works for all of us. host: information on the service
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employees union. it has 2.1 million members. it is the largest health-care union with about 1.2 million members. the largest property services union. it is also the second-largest public employee union with about one million state and local members. let's go to the suite. when were fast food jobs supposed to be careers? these are entry-level jobs and nothing more. guest: i used to be true in the 1950's and 1960's. what has happened since the recession is that these jobs are the only jobs available in the lot of inner-city and low income communities. now the average age of the average age of a worker doing fast food is 28. 30% of the people working in fast food jobs have college degrees. situation where the job creation in this country has stalled. we need to think about how to make fast food jobs good jobs, the we also need to work
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together between employers, government, and working people to think about how to create the next economy of the future that has more information technology. more biotechnology. more windmills and solar panels. there's a lot that we should be will to imagine how to do. we're such an innovative people. we can create the next american middle class. host: minimum-wage in new york city is going to be very different for a living wage then say birmingham, alabama. how do you deal with that disparity? guest: collective bargaining. the best way that occurred is when wages were rising for everybody -- three percent of the american workers have the ability to bargain with their employers. the wages were different depending on the region and city of the country. it is possible to have the market at just to a bargaining process. that happens when we have prices set for coca-cola or when you purchase products.
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it should be true for wages again. host: next is regina from michigan. good morning. a member of a union. go ahead things. caller: i have been a member of uaw for 14 years. i am disturbed by what happened in tennessee. there. already exists i was disappointed to see that they did not utilize that. that influence their to be able to unionize those workers. spring hill, tennessee" a while and just reopened to start building new products. they did that with tax incentives through the state. i do not understand why the uaw did not use that as a model or call the senator out for some of the remarks he made regarding bringing in a new product to the plant.
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if it comes down to it, they will give them the tax incentive regardless of the membership. host: thank you for the call. we also had this from one of our viewers along the same lines. the governor and senator corker must be investigated for threatening to withdraw those tax incentives. your thoughts? guest: i know that we do need to raise a question about whether it is right for government officials to weigh in on this decision when an employer has agreed to stay out of it. that is a basic principle that we have been fighting for with health care employers and property service employers in our union. to have our government way and is just wrong. the germanok at economy, there are things level flag and does with the german workers together with the german government that we should think about. how do we take those things that they are doing and apply it to the u.s.?
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for everybodyng in germany. there's a lot less poverty. there is a standard wage that everybody is expected to earn in germany. there are imports and exports that are in balance. we have a lot to learn from what the germans have been able to figure out between the employers , working people, and government. host: danny is next. republican line. good morning. are you with us? caller: yes, sir. host: go ahead, please. caller: i had a couple topics here. if you raise the minimum wage, would that cause certain people to lose benefits and maybe not want to take that job were moved to another job? i work in the shipyard. i started my life as a welder. i had 15 hours to start with. i have no union to support me or back me. i went to$7.50,
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$9.25, then i went to $17.50. never had a union. welded over other people's welding. they couldn't even weld. guest: i think it is terrific that you are able to have their wages increase in the way that you just described. trying to talk about here this morning is that i think what you experienced is what should be possible for every american worker. working families are the engine of our economy. when workers have more money in their pockets, they spend in their local communities on gas and groceries and fixing windows and buying things that they need for their kids to go to school. get is the way that we can the economy growing again from the middle out. we can all prosper. host: next call is bob from
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michigan. detroit, good morning. caller: good morning. leaving aside what a pile of excrement be aca is, i would like to know from this lady where in the constitution the government has a right to tell private businesses what they have to plaay their employees? where in the constitution doesn't say that? guest: i do not know of anyplace place in the constitution where it says that. what we want to figure out as a nation is when we have corporations earning record profits and ceo pay increasing at a higher percentage each year , how do we make sure that the level of inequality between those who are doing work and those who are creating jobs starts to decrease? we are on a path as a nation that is totally unsustainable. we have an economy that is not working for the majority of
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americans. we all need to come together to restore the promise that when you work hard, you can get ahead. host: you do not deal directly with trade issues, but i want to share this headline. the vice president is acknowledging from members of the democratic party concerns over trade issues. he was in mexico meeting with his counterpart. unable to get any type of trade agreement pushed through. your view unless? guest: i think trade is a very important impact on the u.s. economy. when you look at the trade agreements that china and india are making with the rest of the world and you think about them as key global competitors to the u.s. economy, how we tackle trade questions is really important. i think the labor movement views the way in which we have treated trade as totally out of kilter. when walmart goes into china, the chinese government requires
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walmart to give 50% of its manufacturing. there's a level of accountability to corporations about the good and well-being of the people. we think that we need to factor in more to u.s. trade law. host: was nafta good or bad? guest: we think it was bad. not that there was loosening of trade, but the way in which it occurred. it incentivized countries to leave our shores and go to other places. we are thrilled with the move back because of the energy cost. i think we will see more and more u.s. and lawyers reconsider and bring jobs back. i think we need to figure that out as a nation, how to help incentivize. we'll send it to make sure that we can raise wages again. we have canadian workers that are being hurt because it is
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more profitable for their companies to shut down in ontario and moved to upstate new york. we have had our canadian members talk about that all the time. the decrease of wages in the u.s. is pulling down the canadian standard of living too. we owe it to all of north america to figure out the straight problem. host: a large majority of their members deal with health care and elderly. 10,000 baby boomers retire every day. eiut does this mean for the s and this industry overall? guest: how do we finance long-term care? act stillable care with the population under 65 in a very comprehensive way. we now need to look at how do we care for the aging population in this country? 3 million new health care providers are being created in the next 3-6 years. those jobs are poverty jobs.
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we need to make them living wage jobs that people can stare step back into the middle class in order to care for the aging population. host: back to the minimum wage issue. raised,ak -- if it is will they have to raise everyone's pay equally? guest: anybody who is currently earning minimum wage will get an increase. those who are earning about the minimum wage will not automatically get any increase. but we have found in cities and states that raise their minimum wage is that it has a ripple effect. employers do raise other wages in order to keep those employees. also because people have more money to spend. it allows for the money to get spread around. in some states, we see more raised above minimum wage. host: jim from los angeles, good morning. withr: i am disagreeing about raisingying
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host: we will stop you there. we're getting a little bit of feedback. guest: it is really important to ink about how do we sustain the medicaid and medicare programs? their key pillars of the american health care system. i think a question i would post to you is how do we think about corporations and the wealthy paying their fair share in taxes as a way of thinking about how do we have a social standard in this country for what every human being has the right to expect? we would not be having this debate if we were craving good jobs at the level that we need to. there are 17 million unemployed in this country. a want to go to work and as a nation we need to answer the call and create millions more jobs. i will require the private sector to step up. we also need congress to act. host: our guest is mary kay henry, the president of seiu> she is a graduate of michigan
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state. what is your background? guest: i wanted to rebuild the city of detroit, so i went into urban policy. peoplewas doorknocking, kept saying that the way to rebuild the city was to bring the jobs back it the plants had closed. are in 2014 having the same debate that i heard as i graduated from college. that is my background. host: the front page of the to troy free press focuses on the bankruptcy. these neighborhoods are being torn down and becoming green areas because somebody people have left. they want to eliminate these abandoned homes and buildings. guest: we have 14,000 members that lived within the city of detroit. home care providers and nursing providers who care deeply about the future of that city. i think what people in the city would like to see is, in addition to removing blight, which we think is important, how do we think about an economic
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revitalization that is not simply about the green areas, which is good, but insufficient. we want to see more economic development within the city limits in addition to the greening of the city. host: who is to blame for their bankruptcy? guest: i do not think that question is worth focusing on. what we want to do is join together and think about a unified solution and call on the private sector, the finance sector, wall street, and the banks -- the federal government, the state government, the city government, and working people. we should all roll up or streets -- roll up our sleeves and get back to work or it host: are there ways to think about how you got to this place? guest: puerto rico is the next on the block. there are 24 more cities in a similar situation to detroit. we are trying to now synced together and try to avoid that situation.
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the lessons are, i think, much more civic and business and union leadership. thinking ahead about how to avert these crazies. host: mark from ocala, florida is next. caller: good morning. i would like to thank you for your patriotism. i happen to be the son of a korean war veteran, a marine. i am a desert storm veteran. guest: thank you for your service to our nation. caller: i thank you for this service to our domestic economy. to our america. i was a platoon sergeant it done at -- in desert storm. my father works at a power plant. my grandfather was the president of a union. i knew unions growing up. i found myself in central florida continuing after leaving
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atlanta to be with my daughter again. i was never able to exceed $10 per hour. one afternoon, after befriending a fellow carpenter, and helping him build his house, he said there was a local in gainesville, florida. myt is where i went and met business agent. she is the euro. -- a hero. i went from $10 per hour in 1995 to $15 per hour. i have not looked back. the courage that it takes for my fellow union people, i want to thank them. courage as aal marine, but i could not make a living. i found the labor movement where i got my figures -- self-respect and dignity that. guest: thank you very much. akron,e go to james from
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ohio. democratic line. caller: yes, you are talking about a lot of things this morning. comment, i will make this quick. the republican party wants the minimum wage to say where it is. most of the people in the south -- they are red states. case, then let it see where it is that after one year. they should be able to make a living wage. we should immediately go to a living wage if they survive for one year. that is the first thing. talking about what happened in detroit. greed has happened in detroit. it has happened across the country. the older people in these andories -- now their kids grandkids are running them. they do not care about the people. ford was a republican. he was the first one to say you
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have to make enough money to pay rent -- and support your family. they brought the middle class up. it, you start looking at these people think that just because he did it, all of these other employees are going to do it. they are not going to do a. they have proven that. a lot of people, i hate to bring race into it, but a lot of people think that by giving me -- that it will help a lot of black people. they are not working hard. that is the way it has been per trade when you look into the republican talk. they think that blacks are lazy and do not want to work or do these things. they have to realize there are a lot of poor white people. more poor white people than black. host: thank you. we will get a response. guest: i appreciate your perspective. what we have to do is stop thinking about red and blue and republican and democrat.
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understand that our prosperity of the nation is within 10 ethos that we are all in this together. we have one in three jobs that are minimum wage. to get the economy going for everybody, we need to inject an infusion by lifting the minimum wage and then allowing a situation where working people can come together in airports and walmart and company after company and negotiate their wages beyond the minimum wage. we can rebuild an american middle class and have more shared prosperity throughout our economy. host: in your spot to this sentiment from steve? this basically captures it. asia have arope and totally different relationship with the employer then unions in the united states. it is often difficult to compare. can you weigh in? wast: that is what i
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speaking about earlier with germany. in france, for instance, when the health care union goes to bargain with the health care employer, they may represent 10% of the workers in the french economy. what ever wages negotiating, it lifts the wages for all throughout the economy. if the employers agree that to train and develop a workforce that continues to stay in the industry, that the wages need to be taken out of competition -- that kind of principle was agreed to in post-world war ii europe as part of the marshall plan. it is part of the u.s. rebuilding of europe. created a wage and price stability throughout those countries. in asia because of the shift in their political system to democracies, there is more thinking about how do we make sure we are lifting the bottom and creating a middle class?
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they want the middle class to be able to consume what they are making. that is the kind of policy development where we need to return to a nation that supports the creation of a middle class. our policies and priorities -- think about how do we do that again? that is going to be a real key. beyond the minimum wage, we have to think about health care, retirement, long-term care. think about how do we make it possible for a family to earn a living, own a home, expect that their kid will go to college and then be able to get a job that matches what they just learned in college. we can return to that engine. we have had before in this nation and i am completely convinced it is possible to do again. host: let me go back to the affordable care act. what changes they to be made? guest: lots. lots of changes. we have made steps forward to cover 30 million people.
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we have made a lot of compromises to get the walk-through. the president himself said there are lots of improvements that need to be made. host: give one or two specific things. guest: i think that what we would like to see changed is more innovation. that encourages home and community-based care giving. that thinks about preventative care. just being done on an experimental basis in oregon and washington and vermont right now. we think that more access should be given to them. you should be more clinics in low income communities so that low income communities can also begin to thrive in terms of access to their health care. there are a lot of changes like that that i think will help to improve the law. the most important thing will happen will bring down cost. we have artie seen that happen in the first couple of years. insurance premiums are the least high that they have been for 50 years.
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that is amazing impact that the law has already had. host: mario is on the line from lebanon, ohio. caller: good morning. this is a question -- i would like to say that you have raised your game among the lines of your mentor. when you asked a direct question, who was to blame for detroit, you press to get the answer. now i would like to give the view from the employer standpoint. what skills can an employer expects to receive from the minimum wage? guest: i think everybody should be able to read and write in this country. we have more and more people graduating from our public schools. they cannot read and write. i think that is a travesty and we need to improve that. neednk the minimum skills to be talked about based on how do we get them foyers and
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technical schools and public schools thinking together about the kind of computer and information technology skills that the workforce of the future will need. host: do you want to take another stab at who is to blame? guest: i think that it is a combination of factors. an earlier caller talked about greed. the lack of accountability that we had on corporate behavior needs to shift in terms of government accountability. i think the attack on worker organizations and the decline of unionization has direct connection to the disappearing of the middle class in our economy. i think government officials were not held accountable. i think that the state withdrew funds from detroit in order to help create the collapse. swaps --all street they pushed into cities five years ago and played a part.
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cycle entity or sectors fall. we all need take responsibly for detroit. host: our next caller is from detroit. larry, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. thank you god for c-span. my question is this, i am a third-generation employee. one of the things that i see is hasoblem with uaw that occurred in my generation is those issues that we have been founded on. things like health and safety. protecting the rights of workers. looking at their wages for the type of work that we do. we have two and three and itetimes four and five are why are we not defending the right of workers to have a increases? cost of living? keeping up with the economy? why are we not looking at those
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issues that we are subjected to daily about health and safety in our work places? why are we not doing more of that? trying to build a union instead of losing the union. what about the pay discrepancies that increased with the hired union officials compared to that of the workers? i will listen for your comment. guest: you are raising completely legitimate questions. the great thing about the trade union is that we can raise these questions and be critical and have debates and agree to disagree. reach a majority opinion and try to address the issues you raised. the fundamental question that you are pointing to about pay increases is that there has been a systematic attack on worker organizations in the last 30 years. corporate interests do not believe that the existence of independent worker organizations serve their interest. our ability to bargain increases and health and safety has been
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systematically undermined. that is why we're using every last breath and fighting tooth and nail for our existing members. i think that is true for every union in this country. we're trying to think together about how do we reach out our hands to the millions of american workers who want to join together to raise wages again? both of those things have to happen simultaneously. one final point. the president is giving a preview of his budget that will be announced next month. the issue of social security and the cost of living increases. there have been changes in the cpi. the white house is backing off of that plan. good idea or bad idea? guest: it is a very good idea to back off of that plan. the debate on social security in my mind has to be about how do we lift the cap? how do we make social security based on people's income? come, if anybody who earns more than $150,000 per
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year gets the same amount as people earning between $100,000 and $150,000? the debate that we need to have is the same that we need to have on our tax policy and will raising living wages. had we make it more active role -- equitable? host: should they raise it? when you are a certain amount of income, you are no longer attacks after that amount? guest: the cap should be taken off. then the system would be totally well-financed. host: thank you very much for joining us. the president is of the service employees international union. we're going to take a short break or it when we come back, we will dig into some of the details on this report from the united nations on the situation in north korea. john park is the advisor to the u.s. institute of keys. he will join us. and later, the kentucky senate primary.
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first, look at the other programs that can be heard beginning at noon eastern. we're keeping track of the topics and the guests. tv talkday's sunday shows, the topics include the week ahead in congress, politics, the situation in ukraine, and you can hear rebroadcasts of all of the programs on c-span radio. it all begins at noon with "meet the press." rice.est is susan also, mark wells from the 1980's miracle on ice u.s. olympic hockey team. week" with george w. bush. also, the cofounder and ceo of team rubicon. rickfox news sunday with durbin of illinois. walker, of wisconsin, and a vermont gemma
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crap. the state of the union follows at -- with the rick perry and mike pence. also, general moly. nation" withe the john mccain and bobby jindal. and martin o'malley from maryland. the sunday network talk shows are on c-span radio and they are brought to as a public service by the network and c-span. the rebroadcast will begin at " at with "meet the press. ek.", "this we finally, at 4:00, "face the nation." you can listen to them on c-span radio. across the country, on xm satell ite radio. download our free app for your smart phone. >> the title is "down to the
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crossroads." a civil rights march that begins in memphis in the beginning of june 1966 and inns in jackson. in this three weeks, you could they civilument that rights movement transforms. it approaches its crossroads. the call for black power is first heard. the slogan is unveiled. midway through the march. it immediately generates controversy. greatediately generates a swell of enthusiasm among many local black people. it ignites a new direction in black politics. those changes might have happened over the course of time anyway. what the march did was dramatize this shift. rightsght together civil leaders and regular people, white and black, from across the country. it put them into this laboratory of black policy. it moves through mississippi and
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creates these dramatic moments that highlight the key divisions and tensions. also some of the key strengths. look at the overwrites movement tonight at 9:00. on march 2, more about black power in this overwrites movement. we will take your calls, e-mails, and tweets live at noon eastern. tv book club, you can comment on bonnie morris. read "a woman's history for beginners." >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us from west newton, massachusetts is john park. he is an adjunct lecturer at harvard. he is also an advisor at the u.s. is to tune of peace. if you for being with us. we want to talk to you about this report on north korea.
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to set our discussion, i would to share with you the thoughts of michael kirby, who is chair of this commission, outlining some grim details of what the situation is like in north korea. this is from last week here at the u.n. michael kirby outlined what he thought. [video clip] washen the commission created, we immediately made contact with officers of the mission here in geneva. insequently with the leaders north korea, including the supreme leader, kim jong un. in our endeavors to make contact with them and to be allowed access, we were not successful. that being the case, we had to embark upon our inquiry with the use of a novel procedure. which are not common
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to the united nations human rights commissions. we conducted public hearings which were held in the republic of korea, in tokyo, in london, and in washington. witnesses, 240 additional witnesses who were not willing to come to a public hearing. also, a large number of formal submissions by the international agency human rights parties and so on. we also received a large amount that was- testimony objective in the sense that the satellite images are objective and could demonstrate that much of the oral testimony that we received was truthful. from the assessment michael kirby, the chair of the u.s. commission looking into north korea.
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an editorial cartoon was distributed by the washington post and compares the leader of north korea to hitler and what would have been his mustache. comparison?ir the atrocities that we saw and witnessed in world war ii -- piece i think this is a of approach that is being taken to raise more awareness about what is going out in north korea. the challenge is been not so much bringing these revelations alike, but trying to get an international response. i think what he is trying to do is make this association and wring some level of tangibility to what is going on. the fact that this is not a notion that is remote -- it is unique to the international system. it is something that we have experienced in the recent past highlightt: let me some of the starkest paragraphs. number one is that children are
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forced into what they call weekly confession and prison confessions as part of their indoctrination. also, the bodies of the bodies of a number of these prison most are earned and ashes are used as fertilizer. children are forced to draw pictures of their dear leader, stabbing u.s. and japanese soldiers. finally, sexual assault is common among the military in north korea. those are a collection of revelations that have been brought to light in the past. what is unique about this report is that one document has all of these different types of testimonies that were mentioned in that press conference. 80 witnesses and 240 content -- confidential interviews. the ability to gather all of that information and put the u.n. stamp and seal on it is an effort to try to trigger some kind of international response. that has been elusive up to now. host: what happens after this report?
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guest: that remains to be seen. the policy recommendations are very specific. to getthem is an effort movement of this issue to the international criminal court. there are impediments to them. as cited by a number of experts who have looked at the report across the world. this whole notion that getting chinese cooperation -- this is something that may be a bridge too far in the current formulation. their eyes are now focused on china. there are a number of areas in chinaport that focused on aiding and abetting some of these activities. one is the forced repatriation of refugees in china. the second recommendation is explicit. it targets sanctions on those responsible for committing these crimes against managing. that is something that certainly national governments could do in that area. atthis category of looking
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enforcement and implementation of targeting sanctions -- up to now, that record has been pretty spotty. includess report also video testimony of a number of former north koreans who have fled the country. abc news is focusing on one story in particular. i want to share this with you. theirn survived to one of notorious labor camp and says that her four children and parents starve to death in the camp. they were arrested as a group punishment because the woman had gossiped about the regime's former leader. guest: those type of allegations -- those type of witness testimonies, it is very important to document. with statements have been us for a while now create -- now. on a standalone basis, it has either been dismissed or somehow become background noise.
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evidence,this type of there is this point that one of the most remarkable things about this report is the potential for action in the future. almost 400 pages, there's careful documentation of these types of revelations from the sectors. some of these people who testified paint such a portable picture. -- horrible picture. -- the these crimes dismemberment of bodies and burning them in hot water and oil. guest: it is very striking. the level of detail and in some cases the pattern that emerges -- all the more that this type of report is coming out in the fashion and manner that gives a lot of credibility to statements that in the past have been dismissed. there's this notion that the evidence was not up to par.
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now i think the report has risen to the level and standard of truth. what do you do about this now? they've carefully laid out this notion of reasonable ground. those who have carried out the commission report under that definition -- having laid the foundation, this presents a document that, if the stars align, there could be some kind of move toward a criminal court. it is a very long step toward that type of movement. it lays out the possibility. even though it is a very low possibility at this time. host: our guest has written a number of essays and publications with regard to north korea. he also is a lecturer at the kennedy school at harvard. he joins us from massachusetts. let me summarize this u.n. report. it is available on the u.n. website as well if you want to read some of the grim details. hundred 74 pages. violations of the right to food.
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withtions associated prison camps. torture and inhumane treatment of individuals, including children starve to death, the arbitrary detention of north koreans -- systemic violation of basic human rights and fundamental freedoms. the violation of freedom of expression. violation of right to life. violation of freedom of movement and forced disappearances, including a productions, of national and other states. on that last point, this enforcement -- forced disappearance, what has been happening? guest: this is a reference to what the north koreans did in the 1980's. they would object chinese nationals. -- japanese nationals. the purpose was to train north korean spies to look like japanese tourists as they carried out espionage in the international community. this is something that has been documented. you pinhead try to get some kind of action on this.
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the members of the six party talks -- the focus of the talks was frozen. the japanese effort to bring this to the table and put on the -- the response to that effort was really pointing out that the talks were designed -- as much as the other countries were sympathetic, they try to keep the focus. the fact that this issue is fact it is so highlighted in this report shows you the scope of the commission's report. and it is not just a look at what is happening inside north korea but what is been happening in other states. amazingly, a lot of these type of activities are taking place membertries that are states with the human rights council in geneva. more than 60 years ago
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the north koreans have detained more than 200 rows and foreigners and many have been brought to north korea to serve as wives of leaders of the military and government over the last 60 years. how can they do something like that? how does that work? guest: it is a very considered program. in some cases it is recruiting individuals and north korea. in other cases, as documented with south korea, there was a .outh korean director the leader of the time, kim jong-il, wanted to basically have him work in his entertainment industry, his film industry in north korea. is quite spectacular.
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of these individual reports that existed before, they were treated as far-fetched. it is -- the evidence clinton now makes the treatment different. >> how did kim jong-un kill or execute his fungal and why -- his uncle and why? this received a lot of media attention. in early december we received uncle -- the official report was he was executed by firing squad. then there was a lot of very diedre reporting that he -- malta to death by a pack of dogs.
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factsk if we focus on the and the significance of the execution of his uncle, the charges against him specifically looked at a number of things. his uncle was in charge with a large number of north korean company dealing with chinese companies and customers and had sold strategic assets at low prices. in doing so he disadvantaged the north korean people. system and and the the swiss this -- and the swiftness of the sentence showed a level of the gravity of the situation. if you are guilty of these charges, they would be purged. he would be read -- he would be rehabilitated as he once was.
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this execution is quite stark. the other point is that his uncle was something of a trusted , a conduit between the north korean regime and some of the elites on the chinese side. and his closest ally is china. why does china put up with it? guest: there are many actors on the chinese side. there are a lot of different groups that have different interests. , there areor levels deep concerns about instability emanating from the collapse of north korea. this idea that north korea as it stands now may present high risk. as the party of china is getting more constable dealing with a -- giving with
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north korea, it is something that is a big headache for them. if north korea were to collapse, the regime would collapse treated that is something where there is no approach to dealing with managing with uncertainty. the other actors that are very important are those in the chinese provinces near the border with north korea. china,look at the map of provinces -- the provinces closest to north korea are the poorest. actuallyh north korea has significant benefits, particularly in the areas of coal and ireland. they are seeking to do more trade. the statistics are showing that in the coal area the output of north korean coal to chinese markets is increasing. he is an advisor at the
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white house institute of peace. laura has a question of whether north korea has an education system system educated enough to start a revolution? north korea has one of the highest literacy rates in the world. education is something that has been a main focus of the north korean regime. if you look at the structure of the basicthere, while tools of literacy our priority, education is the main means of in. the nation -- of indoctrination. as they grow and get older, the propaganda and different kinds of roles and responsibilities they are expecting to play out a
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closely managed through the education system. it comes to outside information for different generations of north koreans, i will say that the taliban of north korean people but increasing segments of the north korean population do have access largely because of the growth of these informal markets. because fuel is a part of these info markets and comes from china, you can imagine how all the information that goes on the --nese side has access to that hasn't translated in terms of any organized unrest and any people, especially after the arab spring phenomenon. puzzleomething of a where information coming into north korea has not brought about particular change.
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they really are a counterweight to the penetration of the south side of information. the from from west virginia, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have been given to understand that under the free trade agreement that rumsfeld and through the halliburton corporation and north korea -- host: are you familiar with that? guest: not the specific details of halliburton. i think you may be referencing the 1990 four u.s. north korea framework agreement, where in return for giving up their nuclear weapons program at that particular point in time, the
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north koreans were to receive two light water reactor -- two light water reactors. -- catos a consortium was in charge of financing and construction the project. framework fell apart in the early 2000's. this light water reaction project -- educator andn teaches at harvard's kennedy school. advisor as well. on toton will be handed south korea, hosting the games in 2018. what impact does south korea hosting the winter games have on the region? guest: i think if you look at the regional -- original developments, the fact that south korea is getting the
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winter olympic games, it is symbolic. south korea got the summer olympic games in 1988. that was a watershed. it was south korea debuting itself is an advanced industrial country. this time around, in hosting the winter olympics, there is an opportunity to showcase south korea as a global country, a country that has local presence that has been the elite club of $1 trillion gdp on an annual basis. there are a number of things that would showcase south korea on the pillars. in terms of the overall tonificance, i think it goes show you the increasing gap between north korea and south korea. in 1988, south korea has jumped north korea -- of
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north korea. it was a time where it was unclear who had emerged as more dominant in that particular point in time. the early 70's, some would argue, was the pinnacle of development in north korea in terms of their industrial capacity and so forth. the winter olympics and south korea would be another opportunity to objectively show that the south korean system is able to produce something by way of far advancing gaps in terms of achievements between the two countries. are focused one north or south korea, this question comes up to you -- this comes up -- this question comes up. all?ikely is that, if at there was a particular
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point in time after the great famine in the second half of the 1990's where it looked like north korea's collapse was all but certain. there end of the cold war were a lot of analysts say and that given the dramatically contracting north korean economy in most of the second half of the 1980's and part of the 1990's, north korea would follow these countries. what we're seeing is a remarkable phenomenon in north .orea the survival mechanisms in the beginning became coping mechanisms and are now the provider through commercial activity. members of the 99% have to find ways to make goods, barter goods, and sell goods in return for the market.
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the one percent basically constitutes the elite regime in north korea who are surviving. that is quite tangible when you watch -- when you walk the streets of pyongyang. you see the latest models of mercedes-benz and designer clothes and so forth. it is remarkable in the sense that we have a national economy in china that is globalizing. the ability for the one percent to do more of their activities inside of china prisons the phenomenon of the constantly that the defense should of the peninsula -- of the continuity of the defense of the peninsula. a cup of month -- a tweet about the conditions of the average citizen's.
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in the 99%, it is something that is still well documented. they are able to engage in more activities. they are also able to increase human security. there is a wide variance in terms of what that means in academic literature. in a literal sense, individuals are able to trade more to small business type of activities and improve their situation for themselves. markets arethe women. there's something unique about the ability to communicate and to the logistics that made this type of phenomenon grow. statistic is malnutrition and the 1.2 million man army. for a country that writes itself is military first, malnutrition and incidence of tb among the military in north korea goes to show how stark the baloney a shim between the 99% and the one percent -- the delineation
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between the 99% and one percent is. host: james is joining us from washington state. good morning. caller:. call.you for taking my i am a first generation from korea. i have experienced the korean war. i follow korean events very closely. host: do you still have family in south korea or north korea? caller: i have one sister in south korea. i have been living here since 1960. i have a degree from two universities in america. i am doing very well. i am 74 years old. is we have about
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30,000 troops stationed in korea. nations are finding there has been a -- commissionnations took a long time to come to this kind of report. it is a little late but i am there -- i am happy about the findings. why didn't the u.s. take a to reveal alle those things? they knew about it and the korean government knew about it and the state department and cia, the whole government knew about it. why were they so late? thend question is commissioner was talking about criminal courts. as long as the chinese are the peninsula they
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need to give approval. that is unlikely to happen china needs north korea against u.s. interests. the call.k you for we will get a response. question, therst guarding the u.s.-south korea 30 thousandmost u.s. service personnel are in south korea and serve a very specific function. that is to prevent another north korean attack on south korea. their stated person this is a very specific one. it has been a love of commentary to why these type of force projections haven't been used to pressure the north korean regime in other ways. i think that debate will continue. the unique thing about the
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it hasre -- as much as been cured on north korea it will take a global orientation. oath countries are seeking a way to have a larger international impact on the submit -- on the community. it is a strategic relationship to advance this notion of democracy, of certain values your countries have, and south korea being a showcase in that success. the use of the forces putting pressure on the north korean regime, it is not treated as a primary focus. there have been areas of .eaceful denuclearization we haven't seen north korean human rights go beyond that in terms of the policy priority set. of the criminal court,
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some would say it is purely symbolic and doesn't have a material impact. there is this very with optical approach to cases -- and very methodical approach to these cases. given a similar question in one of the press conferences and he mentioned that in the early days, when he worked on the cambodia issue, the discussion of taking it to the icc was very remote. date, judge kirby said this could be a very important stepping stone. as james mentions china as a member of the permanent five on the security council, certainly they could block any movement toward the icc. if it wanted to do that it would be very public. the ideas that are advocating
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more work on human rights, this would draw attention. back to two to go areas. the children of both korea are trained to draw pictures stepping u.s. and japanese soldiers. why? guest: there are historical legacies connected to both. if respect to u.s. soldiers, that is a reference to what happened in the korean war with a lot of the bombing of north korea, the civilian casualty rates was very high and very was very high and very well looked at. with respect to the japanese
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soldiers, this is a reference to the imperial time, where japan was essentially the empire extending itself over the korean peninsula. this was before the division of the korean peninsula. aom 1910 to 1945, korea was colony of japan. the subjugation of the korean people during this time was something that is very strong in terms of animosity towards particularly japanese soldiers in north korea. >> this is a vivid picture for what it is like for some of these prisoners. the report indicates it had bought it hundred prisoners dying every year from infectious and illness. many of those bodies are burned and used as fertilizer. a were already stripped by rats who
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away the flesh before these bodies are burned. guest: very graphic. witnesses paint these type of actions. i go back to the report where the authors lay out reasonable grounds. the idea is to gather the information in a way that it can constitute reasonable grounds in the basis of any number of the attempt of bringing it to criminal court. these graphic depictions, which are not new, but because they are in the report, they interviewed 80 witnesses that had 240 confidential interviews. research of methodical
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gives this testimony a level of legitimacy it did not happen. i think that is one of the remarkable differences before and after this report. there are soldiers who rape women, often in public places. and that is not considered a crime. guest:, the striking thing about the report is the detail with .hich the authors go women inmajority of are conducting activities that help improve the security of their families because of the wages and other goods they are able to procure to this activity. -- they also victims would pay for the ability to move between districts.
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this transactional nature, this time that was mentioned in the report is quite troubling. in other areas, the weight that these did are related to the repatriation process. a third area is basically the -- theyility of women try to start the journey from the border. the level of dissemination and transactionex as a thea tool of oppression, nature in which it is documented is something that is important in terms of gathering it all in one document host: and court --
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and north korea is calling all of this information fake. your comment? this is something that as the different groups weigh in on this >> there are different groups trying to use this report for different causes and purposes. what is different is the fact that this report has the seal of the united nations, of which north korea is a member state. if you look at the human rights council, north korea is a signator. there is a push to get north korea to live up to his obligation as a signatory of these covenants. is a remarkable step-by-step
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place in response to something like this. there has been discussion of different kinds of sanctions against leaders in the north korean regime. a lot of the activity that the north korean regime is carrying out his inside of china, with private chinese companies and so forth. as we look at some of these i think theons, whole notion of target sanctions is something that potentially has a lot of impact. to the hallmark and lasting importance of this which is that the documentation of all of these different allegations in a you something ofhis is a benchmark that will be significant going forward. host: he is a lecturer at harvard kennedy business: boston. he is also an advisor at the institute of peace. thank you for being with us.
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we are going to go back to a question we asked our first hour. is legalizing marijuana. you can begin the conversation by dialing in at 202, 3581. if you say no, 205-3880. we're going to take a short break and we're going to have you check them with sam young on the very latest on the kentucky primary race as washington journal continues. a half hour left on the sunday morning. title is "down to the crossroads.
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it ends three weeks later in jackson. in those three weeks you can make an argument of the civil rights movement transforms it. it approaches these crossroads. the call for black power is first heard the slogan was unveiled midway through the march ended immediately generates controversy and immediately generates enthusiasm. those changes might have happened over the course of time. it dramatized this. regular people, white and black, from all across the country, were put in this laboratory of black politics and it created all these dramatic moments that highlighted the key to mid -- the key divisions and also some of the key strengths that have long been the enemy of the civil rights movement.
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dam at the civil rights movement. -- >> a look at the civil rights movement. neil joseph will take your calls, comments, e-mails, and tweets. and on booktv's book club, you have time to comment on "a women's history for beginners." >> "washington journal" continues. host: we want to begin with your calls and comments on the question, should your state to legalize marijuana? washington state and colorado have legalized marijuana. there are a number of states that have the issue on the ballot either this year or in 2016. some headlines from "the washington post" in the moment. up front page of "the l.a. times" --
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this is a story we want to focus on on the front page of the the push toost legalize marijuana has both flourished and foundered over five decades but have shift in sentiment. the story makes a couple of key points. this is based on a new poll that has taken place. it has never been as close to mass acceptance as it is today. since the 1960's the u.s. has traveled on a --
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host: chris says -- -- chris says yes, legalize it. caller: thank you for c-span and thank you for this issue. i am an attorney and i went out and talk to people who wanted to invest in edibles in the cannabis industry. the cannabis industry is like the beer industry. we are not getting the revenues. colorado is getting a flood of revenue. adults are finally being treated like adults. i have never seen someone smoke a joint and start a fight. i have seen people drink tequila and take on everybody within arms reach. with all due respect to the previous color, i have been smoking for many years, i don't do heroine, i don't drink out call. i am a smoker and that's all i do. it is not a gateway drug.
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becauset me ask you, the oven or cuomo has addressed this issue -- governor cuomo has addressed this issue. this is a story from the washington post along those lines from january of this year. is it a good idea? doesn't open the door and new york state? -- doesn't open the door in new york state? column it is ridiculous. in new york state the government controls lottery and gambling. i don't think there's any reason i should go to your home and regulates you and that way. doings what new york is and it should really be more of a sense of you can go into a liquor store and buy a bottle of champagne. it is regulated, it is taxed. a i think the colorado method is breath -- is brilliant. i thought everyone over there was adult and mature.
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they were checking ids and making sure that people are proper and respectful to each other. they have 25% tax out there. we don't patently five percent tax on anything. people willfully pay for it. thank you for it. you for the call. cq weekly is out with this -- republicans want obama to get tougher. that is a message from the weekly standard. the cover, the great disappointment. joining usestine from oakdale, west virginia. caller: i am in the negative vote for even medical
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marijuana. as to berhaps dispensed by hospitals. that might be the solution. for general use, no. host: next up is anna on the issue of legalization of marijuana. she is calling from lagrange kentucky. your take? caller:. i feel like there is a lot of people that do it for no reason. kid --s going to help a which is not good, but seizures and stuff -- i don't know. andink all drugs are bad they need to get a hold of all of it and tried to straighten the mess out.
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i am undecided. thank you for the call. piece by john mccormick, the other kentucky derby. it will mitch mcconnell prevail? youngg us live his sam man, who was full-length -- who is following the story. the morning to you. caller: inc. you for having me. for having me. host: we take a look at early polling and at the moment mitch mcconnell still has a healthy lead. matt devon. over some conservatives think he can still win this race. think the general contours of this race haven't changed much from the end of last year. mitch mcconnell is not well-liked. and matt devon has not been able to gain really much traffic at
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all. thee are pockets within republican parties who have grown disdainful. there have been no signs that has caught on statewide or is in any danger of blossoming into a full threat. host: the primary is scheduled for may and in terms of turnout based on past midterm elections, what can we expect the echo guest: there's going to be a lot of interest in this race. i think kentucky has a closed primary, which means republicans vote republican primary. democrats are going to be watching this very closely. they're setting up a win for the opposition. right now it looks like senator mcconnell has enjoyed a sizable
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lead and is in no danger of losing that host: let me share with the audience to ads that were released this week, first from the chamber of commerce supporting senator mcconnell. now airing in kentucky. [video clip] >> most of us don't get caught up in politics. there's just no time to support it. this obamacare myth is scary. losing our doctors yet opinions we can't support? what's next? mitch mcconnell is leading the fight to take care of this. he is fighting for us and for kentucky's future. right now, that is what we need. u.s. chamber is responsible for the content of this advertising. host: let me ask you about the chamber of commerce, how much money will be spent in this election? guest: it is going to be an expensive race.
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i anticipate this will be a $60 it goessenate race right at the heart of what senator mcconnell has been tried to convince conservatives all along. he is the number one fighter against obamacare. mcconnell has laid down and allowed it to happen. you have two women voices in that ad. are seeing here in kentucky is a replay of what we thought that's what we saw a nationwide in 2012. narrowly wonnell the women's vote. it is going to be -- he is
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really focused on its like a laser. i can see senator mcconnell and his allies trying that. host: is anything -- it is something anyone in kentucky politics will want to read. calls, the mcconnell campaign called the mitch -- called him a bully. guest: and sometimes -- in some ways they are trying to re-create the magic ron paul captured in 2010. that is how his allies, the tea party fund-raising groups fund the madison project. of this is how they want to position themselves as the underdogs against the bullies. tumulty all if there is enough
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conservative kentucky voters out there who believe that. from thee's the latest campaign also released this week. [video clip] mcconnell voted for billions in earmarks, including the bridge to nowhere. matt devon opposes wasteful earmarks. the choice is clear, matt devon for u.s. senate. host: let me go back to the turnout in the may primary, which was critical. how much support does mitch andnnell have against those what does he need to do to turn this race around? know what he can do to turn this race around. he's last few weeks have been problematic for him. there was this issue of the investors that praised the asked relief program.
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he has struggled to change that and changed his explanation a few times. it has been a rough couple of weeks. whatey to remember is mitch mcconnell wants out of this primary. beat not necessarily to matt credit -- to beat matt devon. it is mostly like a proxy war. are hoping to do is meet matt in a way that separates tea party groups from tea party voters. i'm not sure they can achieve that and i'm not sure it was a that -- too make make him a rally point. as his numbers show, he is very not well-liked. host: sam young men with the
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lexington herald leader newspaper. we appreciate you joining us. we are going back to our question this morning, whether or not you think your state should legalize marijuana. this is front page of above the fold. series of stories by "the washington post." the nation's governor is in town this weekend to discuss the issue. the vice chair of the nga is also there, from colorado. is joining us from memphis tennessee. good morning. caller: i think marijuana should be legalized. reefer madness was started in the late 30's to protect his business. we need marijuana very bad.
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we need hemp more so than marijuana. it is the product that would change the world. you have seen the revenue that colorado has gotten so far, it will change. to the people that think it needs to remain a legal, they have to do the history of why it became illegal in the first place. host:, thank you for the call. -- host: thank you for the call. we were joined on the question of marijuana and what iowa may or may not do. here's a portion of the conversation. >> we have a series of deadlines and it failed to meet that first final deadline. it is not going to be debated this year in iowa. host: meanwhile, the very latest on the situation in the ukraine. the wall street journal reports
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that the whereabouts of the president remain unknown today, the day after he left the capital. kiev described as set after a new parliament the new presidential election for may 25. the newly elected speaker calls the current economic situation catastrophic. the headline from the washington post, ukraine up and political order. press, thesociated former president tried to flee to russia. about an hour and a half ago he was unable to enter that country. john is joining us from philadelphia on the issue of medical marijuana were legalized nation of marijuana from states around the country. caller: if they are going to legalized it needs restriction.
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next is clotted joining us from massachusetts. welcome to the program. -- caller: good morning. i thought here i am representing the marijuana and moonshine party, five pounds and five gallons. that is what i think the whole country should be allowed to have. we think we should take off the edge -- take the edge off of this edgy nation. people say the children, these used to makeren all of our love a good and in theyarment industries, have arty abuse the children enough. evil and root of all this urge of the nation as it was sold to us in 1937?
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isn't the constitution written on hemp? the dea has to come up with a itter plan than scheduling -- i believele one it is more dangerous than cocaine is what they say. sarah palin summed that up. if you smoke a joint in the privacy and safety of your own living room, that is something america should be able to do. thank you very much. this, willel says pot legalization mean a bigger lot -- a bigger black market?
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medicinal marijuana is relatively easy to get in california. theme have cards allowing to shop in hundreds of dispensaries -- it is one of a series of stories on marijuana and whether or not it should be legalized across the country. jonathan joining us from pennsylvania, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am totally for the legalization of marijuana, considering all the success. i called it a plant because the drug has been modified. it doesn't technically require any kind of --
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as a narcotic it would be physically addictive. the biggest part of the marijuana species, which could potentially change the way our country works as far as renewable energy, there are products that can help with housing and clothing and paper. host: thank you for the call. joining us at the top of the hour is the interim head of the naacp. among the topics, the rollout of the affordable care act and african-americans, are they or are they not signing up. here is a portion. [video clip] >> it has not been anything that anybody had hoped for. this comes from the persona that maybe this is something i want to participate in. and showpeel that back of health advantages
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care and why that is much better than using the emergency rooms of our hospitals at the primary care for a lot people, i think people understand it. it helps them plan their health .are it works. it takes a lot of education. miller will join us on newsmakers. it was taped on friday and airs at 10:00 eastern time on c-span radio -- at 10:00 eastern time, also on c-span radio. is a summary of "the washington post" as we ask you the question if your state should legalize marijuana. from florida, good morning. caller: good morning. issued say that the whole of legalization of marijuana is
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kind of a red herring. are legally available already in florida. people believe there are different benefits from this. i think pot leads to harder and other drugs. i have seen it over and over and over in florida. it is just appalling, the effect it has. i know a guy personally who has become a millionaire but not until after he quit smoking. host: thank you for the call. forbes magazine talks about the economics of marijuana. we can show it online. the economics seem simple. prayedough a legal truck and tax should be filled up.
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trade and taxg should be filled up. recreational marijuana is now legal. the cost per ounce of high-grade pot from a retail outlet is more than double what it cost for an illegal drug dealer. ken from florida, good morning. caller: good morning. host: please go ahead. another issue, ice -- call him -- caller: another issue -- to margaretl go next from lakeland florida. the young and the innocent have so much on their backs. thank you for your time. host: next up is bob from virginia. think it should be legal for recreation.
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it is not really hurting anyone and it is supposed to be a free country. the whole thing is ridiculous. the pharmaceutical companies, electric companies, everybody is against it.thing i have had three back operations. me tomuch better for smoke a joint then take a bunch of pain pills that will eat my liver away. money froms just people donating to what they want. host: other governors in town he saidmga torpedoed a he has spoken to half a dozen governors with questions on how it is working in colorado.
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going back to this washington post piece in 2012, legalize marijuana -- president obama in colorado. and 56%s identical each. legislatures in 13 states are considering bills to legalize a plant -- tomorrow we will continue the conversation and focus on the situation in ukraine. our guest will be for secretary of state for political affairs and senior director of russia, ukraine, and eurasia affairs.
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we will talk about the health-care law and 20% failing to pay premiums under the affordable care act. money with your marjorie of the washington post to talk about defense and government contracting. it is all 7:00 eastern time. newsmakers is coming up next. afternoon coverage of the mga live on c-span. usappreciate you being with on this sunday. enjoy the rest of your weekend. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014]
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>> today on c-span, newsmakers with naacp interim president, lorraine miller. by our coverage of the national governors association meeting. in the afternoon, state efforts to fight prescription drug abuse. >> this week on newsmakers we want to welcome lorraine miller, the interim president of the naacp. here in the studio we have kevin cirilli and jesse holland. go ahead with your first question. >> thank you for having me. last week the congressional released a report on the minimum wage, and they said that it would reduce total unemployment by 500,000 workers or .3% by 2016. obviously the naacp has advocated
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