small berms and dams, water retention, water collection rainwater collection and so on. and they have greened an amazing amount of the land. same in india. there are many projects where a wonderful man they call "the rainmaker" has brought back water to just a massive amount of land. a wonderful engineer in southern australia that convinced his government to let him gather all the rainwater, the storm water, the sewage water, put it all through massive lagoons that were planted with the kind of plants that eat bacteria and the poison, they've got so much water they've greened the desert the birds have come back. the animals have come back. it's a miracle. because we need to remember that nature will come back. if we stop hurting nature, nature loves us wants to come back to us as soon as it can. we need food policies that promote local organics

sustainable agriculture. we have to move away from the form of agriculture we're now engaged in and has been supported by policy in all of our countries. and we've exported it. there's an area of land three times the size of great britain in africa alone where foreign interests, foreign investors, foreign corporations foreign governments have come in and bought up massive amounts of land and water and they're using it to grow crops that they sell out of the community. and they're using all the same bore well technology that's ruining the ogalala aquifer here, they're using there and pumping this water up and destroying water there. we have to learn. people who have lived for millennia in communities in asia and africa and south america know how to live with the fluctuations of rain and then dry season and they know how to conserve and they know how to farm dry land. we come in with our technology and we're ruining it.

energy sources that don't harm water have got to go and we're fighting the pipelines. you know the keystone xl pipeline, which is still a very hot issue and is going to remain contentious through the next election. but we're fighting huge other pipelines in canada because they want to move that terrible tar sand stuff from the tar sands in a alberta to export markets. fracking is a really dangerous form of energy in terms of water, and so we have to say we can do better. if we ask the question for energy what's the impact on water, we're going to come up with different solutions. i also call for in my book the notion of using water as a source of peace rather than a source of conflict. and think about it for a minute. if you stop and think in a world where the demand for water is going straight up and the supply is going straight down, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that maybe there's going to

be conflict. maybe there already has been. the deep germ of many of the conflicts ownin the world have at least partially to do with water. from syria to egypt to israel/palestine, many, many disputes in africa disputes in asia are around water or water is a part of it. and water is being used now around the world as a weapon of war. the government in syria has cut the water sources off to the people at aleppo which is where the original revolution took place, just cut the water. so if you want to make war on people, you just take away their water supply, and there's very little people can do in the absence of access to water. so the question would be then well, if it can be a source of conflict, could water equally be a source of peace? could we think about water as nature's gift to humanity to

teach us how to live with each other? and maybe, you know, my grandfather was taught to hate your grandfather and your father was taught to hate my father and vice versa and i'm supposed to hate you, except we both live on this river and it's dying. so maybe instead of expending our energy hating each other maybe we can come togethering and build something that saves this river. maybe our kids will live in peace because we'll come together and save this water source. so there's a whole discipline in universities now around water and nature as being forms of peace-making forms of negotiating a peaceful settlement. coming around the concept of governance watershed governance and watershed sharing, instead of saying this is my portion and i'll fight you for it it's like, what does the health of the watershed demand? whatever that is let's conform to it. let's make that happen. one of my favorite examples is a

group called friends of the earth middle east who came together years ago and they got people from -- members from all the warring factions -- gaza israel syria, lebanon, all of them -- and they came together to say, we're not going to talk history, because we won't agree and we're not going to talk religion or politics because we won't agree. we're going to talk about how to save the water systems in our community. and it's been so successful that there's actually some parts of the wall that have been taken down where people got to know each other and realized how much more in common they had with one another than they might have thought. we also have to promote human laws that mirror and reflect the laws of nature. there's a whole movement that i'm involve in a number of really thoughtful and interesting people are creating called the rights of nature. that's the notion that nature has rights beyond its use to us. yes, it's a public trust, which

means we all have common access we all have equal rights to these common assets but water has rights separately. even if water didn't serve us water serves other species. water serves itself. nature has its own rights, and we've got to stop thinking of ourselves at the top of this chain of command as if we're so important. and how that would be? well we actually have examples here in north america and around the world where local ordinances are being declared that the local water or the local wetland or the local forest has kind of the status of the human being, right? it has fundamental rights. and people are coming around the concept of protecting those rights. somebody said to me oh you mean you can't go fishing because fish have rights? i said no, of course you can go fishing but you can't fish a species to extinction. that would be the way the law would work. yes, you can take water from

that watershed but you can't take so much water from that watershed that you destroy the watershed. you have to leave the integrity of the species or the integrity of the ecosystem intact. and that's a seachange for us for we humans. and the more rich and powerful we get and the more industrialized and the more urbanized and the more consumeristic we get the more we think that nature is there to serve us. and nature's got a really, really rude wake-up call for us. finally, and then i'm going to stop so we can chat with each other, finally, we have to make real this fight, this concept of water as a human right. nancy talk about the struggle at the united nations. i was invited in 2008-2009 to be an adviser to the president of the u.n. general assembly. that's not ban ki-moon's secretary-general. general assembly, which is all the countries together every

year elect a president. that year it was a man named father miguel a liberation theologian from nicaragua, wonderful man. he read my first book on water and he called and said, before he was even president, would you come to new york and meet with me because i want to make water a human right. i said hmm, do i have time to go to new york and meet with the new -- okay, yes, maybe. like, now, can i get on a plane now? fabulous man. we worked with a lovely man named pablo solo who was the ambassador at that time from bolivia, a landlocked country locked into a water war. a water war where people were killed because the world bank had said you have to -- you have to take a private water company if you want help from us. so they brought in this private company and it tripled the price of water and they said we own

the rain and we're going to charge you for the water that you catch from the sky. and they sent inspectors around. i mean these are the poorest people on earth. 85% indigenous a very, very traditional culture. this is their water from the sky they're being told they had to pay for it. there was a revolution. the army was brought out. people were killed. it was a real water war. when the new president, evo morales, wonderful man, came in he assigned this pablo solo to the u.n. and father miguel and pablo solo and i worked together built a small team there, and pablo solon put the resolution to the u.n. general assembly in june of 2010 and it was a very brave thing to do and it basically said that water and sanitation are fundamental human rights equivalent to all other human rights. water was not included in the 1948 human rights declaration because nobody at the time ever

could imagine water would be a problem, right? but for the last number of years, it's been pretty clear that not only is water a huge -- the lack of water a huge threat but it's the greatest threat, particularly to children. when pablo solon got up in the general assembly, he had formidable enemies. your country was opposed at the time. my country was opposed. great britain was opposed. water companies opposed. we. didn't think we were going to win. he got up to present and said there's a new study that in the global south, every 3.5 seconds, a child dies of water borne disease. he held three fingers up like this and then half a finger. and then everybody realized a child just died. a child just died. you could hear people breathing. it was absolutely amazing. and then the voted started. at the u.n. when they vote,

they sit in their seats and press an electronic button and it comes up on a great big board at the front. i was standing at the back up in the balcony holding hands with a couple of my staff saying, we're going to lose but it's okay. we never thought we would win so soon. we'll be back in five years. we'll win then. i was preparing them. i was sure we were going to lose. they're in tears. they vote. i was wrong. 122 countries voted in favor. not one country, including the u.s. and canada, voted against, even though they were opposed. they abstain. 41 countries abstained and the place erupted in cheers. it was an absolutely fabulous moment. and in my opinion, in that moment the human family took an evolutionary step forward. we said it's not okay that your child has to die a horrible death of waterborne disease because you couldn't afford to buy expensive water. that's not okay. now, does that mean the day after this was adopted

everything was fine? no. in fact, the crisis in detroit has happened since then. we outlawed torture back in 1948 and torture still exists in our world, but it doesn't mean we think it's okay. and when we don't think something is okay, we collectively make that statement. and it was really important that as a human family the united nations said, we will strive so that no one has to do without. the only way that no one will do without is if we take care of our water better and we share it more justly. this is our task now, and it's a huge and very, very powerful one that lies before us. we've had tremendous success with this law in a number of countries, mexico being the most recent, have adopted the human right to water in their constitutions or in separate laws. a number of countries have set out plans to move forward. we have had a wonderful success

with a group of first nations indigenous people in botswana which is a country just north of south africa. botswana has a desert and they have bushmen, hunter/gatherers who live very much the way their ancestors did. 15 years ago, the government at the time starting trying to get them out of the desert because they found diamonds in the desert. they were also beginning to frack in the desert and they wanted the people gone. when the people wouldn't go and kept coming back, in fact they smashed their water bore wells. they passed a law saying anyone bringing water to the bushmen would be put in jail. it was like a terrible violation of their human rights. they went to court with a group named survival international. they won the right to go back to the desert but they didn't get their right to water. but after the u.n. adopted the human right to water and

sanitation, we all went back to the supreme court in botswana and armed with this new right, the people the indigenous people there won the right to have their water reopened, and they were returned to the desert. and it's a really marvelous story of a kind of genocide and people fighting back and saying we know who we are and we know what we stand for and we will take nothing less than the fundamental rights. we don't want the whole world. we don't want to be competitive. we don't want all your stuff. we want to live our lives the way our parents and grandparents and their parents lived and we want and need water for this. so when i think about my own life, i guess, i think of a few highlights. i can tell you that being part of that struggle was a very deeply moving one for me and for everyone involved. so this vision i have of a water

ethic based on water conservation watershed restoration, watershed governance, putting water at the center of absolutely every policy, what is the impact on water? if it's not okay go back to the drawing boards. water is a public trust and a commons. nobody has the right for appropriate it for private property, gather it up and collect and sell it for personal profit when other people are dying because they don't have access to it. and water is a fundamental human right, not just for this generation, but for generations to come which is why i call it forever. nancy loves it. it's a little bit cheeky to write a book saying how to protect water for people and the planet. i put forever in. my husband said, it's pretty strong. what, 100 years? it's got to be forever. we better do what indigenous people do and think seven

skwergz generations ahead. i'm going to end the formal part of this with my two favorite quotes and then we have time for discussion, i think. so i'm going to just -- so many wonderful -- i'm going to give you three quotes just because i have enough time. one of them is from a writer michael. who talks about watersheds. i just love this. he says watersheds come in families. nested levels of intimacy. on the grandest scale the hydrologic well is like humanity -- serbs, russians indians, amish the people's republic of china. it's broadly troubled but it's hard to know how to help. as you work upstream toward home you're more closely related. the big river is like your nation, a little out of hand. the lake is your cousin. the creek is your sister. the pond is your child. and for better or worse, in

sickness and in health you are married to your sink. then there's the late, great carl sagan. your wonderful scientist, environmentalist. anyone who used to watch him on television will remember he used to talk about billions and billions of stars. he would make nature and science come alive. he was a wonderful man. he said this. he said anything else you are interested in is not going to happen if you cannot breathe the air and drink the water. don't sit this one out. do something. you are by accident of fate alive in an absolutely critical moment in the history of our planet. that would be my message to you guys, the younger people in the room. it's not like me saying okay we're handing over this problem to you. this is generation to generation. we do this together. but we are given a gift of a challenge here and that's how i see it. i don't see it as a problem. i see it as a gift that we can come up with the answer that is

needed, and we can. and the last quote -- and i love the best -- this is from tolkien, ""lord of the rings."" this is gandalf, who sees himself as a water steward, and i want to share this with you because i think you're all water stewards or you wouldn't be here. he's talking about what it means to be a steward of nature, a steward of the earth. this is the night he's standing there -- some of you will remember -- the terrible army is coming, the deep the one in the second movie where they're going to -- all living things, all good things all things of nature could be possibly destroyed. i don't know about you, but for me the books are very much about nature the assault on nature, and nature fighting back when the trees fight back. it's nature fighting back. here's what he says. i want to leave the formal part of this with this thought. gandalf says the rule of no realm is mine, but all worthy

things that are in peril as the world now stands, those are my care. and for my part, i shall not wholly fail in my task if anything passes through this night that can still grow fair or bear fruit and flower again in the days to come. for i, too, am a steward. did you not know? thank you very much. [ applause ] so now weave have time to chat and we have two wonderful people who are going to bring the mic around. and don't be shy. questions, arguments? yes, right here. >> thank you for your

presentation. you outline a very comprehensive and interesting approach to things that need to be done. my question relates to setting priorities about where to start and when i'm thinking is some of the -- many of these issues are broad, very deep, comprehensive. how would you go about looking at priorities or criteria to determine where you can get the political consensus what set of goals where you can get the political consensus and the financing to do it? i'll just give one example that everyone recognizes in this state and in most urban areas. and that has to do with storm water sewers and what's going on. yet in our state, the proposed budget for -- that our governor has come up with, is basically

$10 billion short. there's not any funding for infrastructure. and in general, everyone wants to shrink government and no one wants to pay taxes. so against that backdrop any thoughts you have about how to identify the priorities where consensus is low-hanging fruit where you can actually make some progress? i'd appreciate your thoughts on that. >> well, it's a really, really thoughtful and very tough question, as a matter of fact. i wish that there weren't the apathy that there were -- that exists now. i'll start with the smaller, local. i think that people can say -- well first of all, learn as much as you can. read, read read. get your heads around this. in the u.s. -- if you lived in canada, i would send you to our website.

but go to foodandwaterwatch.org. good information on food and water protection keeping water in public hands and leading the fight on fracking in the u.s., one of the groups. start with getting as much knowledge as you can. for those who are still students, very involved in an institution, high school or university you can start a discussion around bottled water on your campus. there are many, many campuses around the united states and canada that have actually stopped selling -- stopped providing bottled water. it's not that they've banned it. if you want to bring bottled water onto the campus that's your business but the campus is saying, we're no longer going to provide it because we have these great drinking -- you know what i'm talking about. the fresh waters. thank you. it's been a long day. my brain's gone. and so that's sometimes a way to start that then leads to much

greater sensitivity. i was in one university where the students collected the small plastic bottles from just one week from the vending machines from the cafes, from the cafeteria, from all the sources that existed, and they put them end to end and i'm telling you they went all through the school outside all around the university. it was just like stunning as a visual image. this is what we're doing. and, by the way, last year, if we were to take all of the individual single plastic bottles just of water that people drank in the world and put them end to end, they would reach to the moon and back 65 times. try to imagine the plastic we're talking about. when it's not necessary, right? so sometimes it's what's very particular to you. it could be a local fracking fight. and those are really worth getting involved in because we are winning a number of those. in my country, we've now got

moratoriums in quebec, nova scotia new brunswick. we think we're going to get one in ontario and maybe one of the prairie provinces. there's been an absolute backlash. we've put up with the tar sands prosecution. people are saying, we don't want another form of this. sometimes it could be that kind of a fight. it can be when you get to the larger question that you're raising, which is how do we get people to pay taxes, to be prepared to say, we have to have the kind of government that's going to put this front and center. do we have to wait until everybody is california with the signs saying, okay, folks one year, you ready to talk rationing now? i notice they didn't say, are you ready for regulation? we need regulation. i quoted martin luther king. i'll quote again. we need the rule of law. legislation may not change the heart but it will restrain the heartless. we need law.

we need to get to the place where we elect leaders who will do what's necessary to do. i don't know the easy way to do that. i do think, however, if you start at a level that is instructive for you that feels within your grasp, that creates a movement. i spoke at one university in new england five years ago and a group of first year students were so moved and excited by the challenge that they decided to form a club to get rid of bottled water on their campus. and they invite me last year, they were now graduating. it was their last year and they had succeeded and they wanted to celebrate and have me there. every single one of them has gone on to other environmental challenges. some of them have gone into sciences. one of them is going into environmental law. all of them from that one experience became dedicated to a larger vision. it's a very, very exciting process. but it's hard and i don't have

an easy answer for you. if i did, i'd be queen of the world. >> question back here. please stand up when you ask. >> i've got a bogus question for you. but technology is one of the solutions. qatar has just opened a 550 million gallon a day reverse osmosis plant. israel has 2 250 million gallon a day reverse osmosis plant. they're trading energy for fresh-water. can you comment on that? >> thank you for asking that. i think one of the myths besides the myth of abundance is that technology will fix whatever we're doing. it's okay to foul those waters because some technology will come along and clean it up. we'll just build desal plants and pull it in from the ocean. here's what you need to know about desalination.

it's extremely expensive, number one. that's why you don't find it in poor countries that are thirsty, only rich countries that are thirsty. number two, it's intensely energy heavy dependent. so it uses fossil fuels to run and that creates more greenhouse gas emissions which in turn hurt water. so it's defeating the very purpose for which it's supposedly being created. number three, what it puts back out into the ocean is a poisoned brine. what they do is take in the seawater with aquatic life, put it through a heavy reverse osmosis process using chemicals. what they put back is the dead aquatic life this very intense brine, and the chemicals. and it just destroys the fisheries, the coral reefs and so on. one community in australia, their answer was just build a deepwater pipe and send it out into the ocean. see no evil hear no evil.

it's gone. desal, i know it's used very, very much but i believe it is the technology of last resort. and here's something interesting. you've heard of peak energy and peak water. here's a new one. it's peak salt. in the arabian states, the gulf states -- because, as you say, they use all -- almost all of the water that's used is seawater desalinated seawater -- they have used so much of it and put this heavy salt brine back into the arabian gulf that they're saying now they can't get much more water out of it because each time it's saltier and saltier. and you say, surely it runs out to sea. no, it doesn't run out to sea because they dammed all their rivers. the rivers aren't reaching the ocean anymore so the natural flushing system that may have helped them is gone. as humans, we're saying, what are all the things we could do put together, that would make it impossible for us to live.

and i quote in my book a scientist in dubai who says that if desalination for some reason were cut off, maybe the price of oil, maybe they would discover some cold fusion or whatever and suddenly the money dries up in that part of the world in terms of energy and they don't have the money to desalinate because it's really expensive. guess how much money dubai has? dubai has golf courses and 20-star hotels that are built on water themes and water theme parks and fountains. it's a really really water-joyful city in the desert. they have one week's worth of fresh-water. if the desal water were to dry up. one week. we're that -- when you stop and think about it when you understand it that way, you go to a place like dubai. i've been to qatar.

i've been to some of these places that depend on this water. it's lush. oh, my god. the shopping. i call them 20-star hotels because they are. 5-star will not describe what we're talking about. it's based on tears. it's based on something that's not going to survive. we really need to ask these questions about protecting in the first place. which goes back to your question. if you're not prepared to protect in the first place, you're paying to have it cleaned up at some point or people don't have it. >> this is a little bit of a personal question. it just gets discouraging sometimes when you're fighting the good fight. when you get down, when you get discouraged, where are you looking for inspiration and how can all of us help you and help each other? how can we be a community? >> that's probably the most

important question there is. people ask me sometimes how do you stay cheerful and hopeful in the face of all this stuff you know? like some of you, you meani'm on all these list servs. there isn't a moment that goes by i don't get horrible news about some crisis or another. then i come speak to you and i get upset and feel all better. which is actually true. my husband says, you mean people deliberately and consciously come out and hear you and upset themselves? first of all you have to take time for yourself find support around you. i believe in joy in activism. i believe in having fun. what's the old saying, i'm not going to the revolution if i can't dance. i believe in making communities of activists who love each other and care for each other and build a support system for each other and build in fun times and build in that kind of support. because it's -- i do a lot of traveling in the global south,

and i've seen things that will never leave -- you don't -- not -- i'm just forgetting the name of the slum in kenya, which has -- yes thank you -- which has almost 1 million people there. and they have what they call flying toilets. there's nowhere to go to the bathroom. there's outhouses that are controlled by local thugs. you have to pay to use it. it's terrible. so they defecate into plastic bags and they just throw it. everywhere you go there's plastic bags of shit everywhere. it's just so hard, and you come home and you say, i'm so lucky. i get -- i've got a private bathroom i can go in. i've got clean water coming out of the sink and i've got a shower and a bathtub. i'm so lucky and i find myself

being really grateful for having this. and i think that sense of gratitude is extraordinarily important. we've got to stop having the sense of entitlement. this is gratitude. 2.5 billion people in the world don't have a toilet. i was in a slum in india, in calcutta the old bombay mumbai. and they said this bathroom here this toilet here services 5,000 people. try to even imagine what that means. kwoen i don't know what that means. i can't even imagine it. i guess part of it is being grateful is being humbled. i think we need to be more humble. i think we need to love nature and put it in center of our lives and be grateful for it consciously grateful. and we have to find joy in the work that we're doing and realize that it can be tough, but to my mind it's like you open a door you see what's on the other side.

some people choose to close it and not see. i call it the right not to know. i don't want to know. it's not my business. i find if you walk through and see it it will hurt. we talked about a quote from the wonderful writer margaret atwood. the world seen clearly is seen through tears. why ask me what is wrong with my eyes? if you're really seeing it you're going to be sad a lot. but that's a good sad. that's a sad that gets you out of bed in the morning and off to doing something you need to make it better. i have enormous hope. i really do. i'm not just saying that. everything i have talked about here is absolutely recoverable. nothing here is not recoverable if we start to take action now. >> let me just say you're a true inspiration. i'm a junior at a local high

school. we're very conscientious about your our environmental stance. we're forecastcusing on our watershed. natural prairie. i'm wondering how in my personal life can reduce my footprint on water and how my school can reduce its footprint as well. >> first of all, thank you. you say i'm an inspiration. you're an inspiration for me. it's really, really important that we have this intergenerational friendship, solidarity. no particular generation is going to solve this alone i expect you know as much as i do what you can do at your school. my guess is you guys are already doing tremendous thing. you know in your home and school the appliances that are water-saving, the toilets and all that stuff. we all know that. cutting down on the length of the showers. the way we grow -- what we have in our gardens and our lawns. all of this really matters. this is a more water-rich area.

it's not going to be as crucial here as in some dry places. but all of those things, what food we eat, cutting down the amount of meat is one thing we can do. trying to support local food producers, local organic food is extremely important in terms of the water footprint. helping find energy sources that don't hurt water, all of those things are incredibly important. but it's that -- it's that sense of knowing that you have a role to play that's most important. i mean you already are there. you guys are already there by being here. you already have made that kind of conscious decision and i really, really appreciate it. i think i spoke a little earlier to some of the high school students and i told them about a 95-year-old friend of mine who has been involve in every single fight, including the vote for woman. that's her age, right. she says when any of us get

tired, she says you just cut that out now. becoming an activist is a lifelong commitment. you do it every day. it's not a fashion you talk off now and then. when she gets really exercised, she'll say fighting for justice is like taking a bath. you do it every day or you stink. having made the decision you guys to be part of this you're already part of the answer and you're going to come up with answers that i haven't got, like each of us is going to give something back. new technologies. there's wonderful work being done on new technologies for porous pavements, parking lots. for recovering dead water. unbelievable technology. small technologies that are just marvelous. so finding a career where you can find a place to both make a living and make a difference and fabulous. just being conscious of the way

you are is great. you inspire me back. >> i work with the local food and water watch and with many other groups along the ohio river to keep the corps of engineers from approving shipping fracking waste down the ohio river in bargains. and despite all our efforts they approved it. so my question is what if anything, can we the people do to make them change their mind? >> it's very difficult when governments refuse to listen. just stop and think about what we know about fracking wastewater from fracking operations. i don't know if you guys know about a community in quebec a small community. a train a year and a half ago carrying fracked oil and

fracking wastewater left the track and plowed into this small town late at night close to midnight. into a local pub that was very popular. clild incinerated 47 people. i mean incinerated. it blew up. this is what we know about fracked oil and waist-- wastewater. it is explosive. it's not just toxic in slow motion. it is explosive. and they are talking about moving it storing it all around the great lakes because they've fracked so much now they don't know what to do with the fracking wastewater. now, as they say, the coast guard has given the okay to move it on barges on our water. ships have accidents. it's going to get into our water system. ships have accidents. it's a form of insanity to allow this to happen. how communities stop it? we have to make these decisions separately and how far we're

willing to go. sometimes we have to put our bodies up in a peaceful way on the line. i was involved in the 350.org, some of the protests in front of the white house a couple of years ago with bill mcgiven. bill would say, maude come and get arrested. my husband, a lawyer, would say, you're not getting arrested. because it's not a joke anymore to get arrested. it goes on your record and you're suspected of all sorts of terrible things. try explaining to a customs officer it was a protest. they don't care. so i promised bill that i would get arrested in canada at the first chance. so a year or so ago we held a big protest on parliament hill against all of these pipelines. not just keystone. and it was understood ahead of time that -- like a morality

play. you know exactly if you do this you'll get arrested. we worked with the royal canadian mounted police. the rcmp. wear the red hats. if any of you come to canada you'll see the rcmp musical ride in front of parliament hill. they police parliament. they put up barricades. they said if you cross the barricades, we'll arrest you. there was a whole bunch of officers getting ready to arrest everybody. we had drumming and music. i told my lawyer husband that nothing was going to happen because it was really boring. i had forgotten to tell him i was intending to get arrested. sure enough he shows up. what's that green armband you've got? all the people planning to get arrested. what green armband are we talking about right? we had drumming and speeches and so forth and then a group of us

went to this stage and i crossed the barricade. i was one of the first. and this very tall, big rcmp officer said -- looked way down at me and he said, ma'am i would like you to step back over the barricade. he said, i would really like you to step back over the barricade. i said i really can't, officer. i'm sorry. he leaned down and said mrs. barlow my wife is a huge fan of yours. if i come home and tell her i arrested you, i'm in huge trouble. i said, would you like a note? i said you're going to have to arrest me. pick somebody else i don't know what else to do here. he said, are they too tight? i said it's okay i think they're supposed to hurt a little bit. but it's a choice that we -- i'm not suggesting you go get arrested. i'm saying that there are times when we have to stand up and find ways to be there and to

say, this old-growth forest or this aquifer or this lake or this whatever isn't mine. it just doesn't belong to me and it doesn't belong to you guys who are about to destroy it. it belongs to future generations. it belongs the other species. it belongs to the ecosystem and we just simply have to find stronger ways to express this. and think of all the changes that have come. the women's movement. the civil rights movement. all of them. have come through struggle. not one of them has just been won by benign sitting down and say, it would be nice to have equality. people fought hard for these changes and i think we're going to have to fight hard for our water. i do. >> you mentioned the buying by a corporation. bolivia of an urban water

system, a public water system. i had been reading up until a year or two ago about more and more of an effort by multinational water corporations to do that in the united states in lexington and indianapolis and other places. what's happened lately with the attempt to privatize public water systems? >> well, it's an ongoing struggle. let me just say, i have no problem with a corporation or an engineering company building pipes or lying infrastructure. we're talking here about private companies running the water service for a profit and i'm totally opposed to that, as is food and water watch. the idea is basically that the profit motivate should not be involved in the delivery of water services because it's an essential public service. and it's a public trust and it's a human right. so what we're saying to the private sector help us with wonderful technologies that you can come up with -- there's many, many roles for the private sector, but i believe that's not

a good one. we have two big, big companies, suez and one from france, and they've got their american counterparts. but the parent companies are these two, the biggest in the world, are these two companies. and we've been fighting them for years. a number of municipalities in both of our countries have tried water privatization and have decided it was a mistake. atlanta, georgia signed a 20 year contract and after 2.5 years cut the contract and said get out. the water was coming out brown out of the taps. it smelled. and they were charging a fortune for it. every study that we have seen every single study shows that privatized water is way more expensive than water run by a government agency because they have to build profit. they have to find 15 to 20% profit. either they're going to cut corners, cut service. cut the workers, the number of

workers, and they're going to raise -- and/or they're going to raise the prices and that's just right across the board. however, the fight is being won on this front. they call is remunicipalization where municipalities bring the water back under public control. there are something like 185 municipalities around the world that have remunicipality municipalized their water, including in paris. two years ago they took the water out of the hands of two french water companies and within a year they were able to lower the water prices for the residential users. it's an ongoing struggle and one we continue to fight. let me tell you i know we have to stop soon. i'm aware of our time. there's a trade agreement called

ptip the united states-european union agreement. based on a model agreement between canada and the european union, which we've been fighting, which gives corporations from the other countries the right to sue your government if they don't like what you're doing. if it's signed between europe and the united states any municipality in the united states that privateizes their water will have a very hard time changing their minds because these companies can sue for compensation. it's called investor state. so anyone who wants to learn more about that, please go to public citizen citizen trade campaign. tremendous information. so does food and water watch. on the implications of trade. and i have a whole bunch of stuff in my book on the implications of trade agreements on the right to go back to a public system once it's been privateized. it's another ongoing struggle and i don't have a crystal ball to see where it will come out,

but common sense tells people that it's better to keep democratic control. i mean water is life. water is needed for life. we better keep democratic control of it at all times. >> we'll make this the last question. >> good evening. i'm wondering if you have any particular vision of how american policymakers maybe how and when, you know they can really begin to tackle the problem of meat consumption in the united states. >> meat consumption, is that what you asked? >> yeah. >> well, you know meat is very water intensive. as well the way we tend to produce meat in north america is more and more in these factory farms, these intensive live stock operations that then in turn hurt the animals because

it's terrible treatment in turn destroy massive amounts of water. again, i would send you to food and water watch. food and water watch has a wonderful project a wonderful campaign on farming -- on i mean, people will choose or not choose to eat meat and those are personal decisions. but on how these farms are run and the destruction they're doing both to animals and to local water. but, again the more we can learn about what we're eating and the impact on nature i think the more we can think through, beyond just, that looks good and that looks good. but where did it come from and the questions i was talking about, what is the impact on water? when we start asking that question, i think we're going to have some different answers in our personal lives. okay. please join me in thanking maude barlow again for -- [ applause ]

this sunday on q&a, senior editor for the weekly standard andrew ferguson on his writing career the gop candidates for 2016 and what voters are looking for in a candidate. >> they want somebody who looks like he's stood up for them. i'm amazed now, the degree to which primary voters on both sides are motivated by resentment and the sense of being put upon. and those people really don't understand us. and here's a guy who does understand us and he's going to stick it to them. that happens on both sides. hillary clinton will give her own version of that kind of thing. i don't think that that was actually true 30 years ago. i mean resentment has always been part of politics obviously.

but the degree to which it's almost exclusively the motivating factor in truly committed republicans and democrats. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern and pacific on c' span's "q&a". >> congress returns from a 2-week break next week with several items on the agenda. the house is expected to consider bills on tax code policy and irs oversight. meanwhile, the senate begins the week considering a judicial nomination for the southern district of texas. also pending in the senate is an anti-human trafficking bill that failed to advance last month after several procedural attempts. for more on the week ahead we talked to a capitol hill reporter. >> with congress set to return after a two week recess huffington post congressional reporter laura barron lopez on what to expect in the house and

senate in the next few weeks. this coming week, the senate foreign relations committee plans to mark up chairman bob corker's bill on the iran nuclear framework agreement. you write about it in your article, laura, gop steadfast on passing iran bill despite obama's plea to stand down. what would the senator's bill do and what kind of support does it have among senate republicans and democrats? >> well, thank for having me. so what senator corker's bill does is it essentially gives congress a chance to weigh in on the iran nuclear deal the framework that the administration just announced last week. and so it either would let them vote on it. vote for the framework. vote against it. or do nothing on it. and so it kind of puts a halt on whatever final deal they have for 60 days. and there's a good amount of support within the republican conference for it.

but republicans do need democrats to come over to get a veto-proof majority. >> also next week the budget resolution that passed the house and senate before the break heads to conference committee. you tweeted yesterday that house budget chair price and senate budget chair enzi met today to chat 2016 budget plans and ready for conference next week. what are some of the main differences they need to work out? >> so they need to work out the difference in defense spending. both the house gop and the senate gop budgets aim to boost military spending but they have different amount in their budget and have to reconcile that. they also have to reconcile in how far they're going to go in repealing obamacare in their separate budget plans. >> turning to the senate, the antihuman trafficking bill was -- anti-human-trafficking bill was at an impasse due to

abortion language. what's the status of that and how does that impact moving ahead with the loretta lynch nomination for attorney general? >> it impacts loretta lynch a lot because senate majority leader mcconnell has said they aren't going to be moving forward on lynch's nomination unless the human trafficking bill is pushed forward. like you said, in order to to have the votes on that they need to figure out the abortion language on that bill. >> you wrote regarding the house that the first 100 days has been a learning process for the republicans. tell us why that is and what we can expect key bill-wise over the next few weeks and into may. >> as you know, the senate is now controlled by a republican majority and so it's been a little bit of a rocky start for republicans in both the house

and senate. tin the senate they -- in the senate they spent a month and a half on keystone knowing it was going to be vetoed. but senator john thune said there was a commitment they were going to vote on that. a matter of honor. in the house, there was the lockheed/dhs battle followed closely by a budget debated where the house gop leadership had to put two different budget plans on the floor in order to make sure that one passed. they really had to work with their deficit and their defense talks ahead of time to make sure that one of the budgets pass. i spoke with congressman mulvaney who is pretty upset with leadership. he's a republican from south carolina and he was saying that he wants more republican voices

to be heard more. we'll see how that plays out in the months ahead. when they get back next week how majority leader kevin mccarthy, they're going to be focusing on some tax bills. there's also possibility that they may vote on reauthorization of the patriot act, but that's not for certain. >> laura barron-lopez of the huffington post. you can catch her on twitter,@lbarronlope zeshgs. laura barron-lopez, thanks very much for being with us today. >> thank you. >> the white house correspondents' dinner takes place saturday april 25th. watch it live here on c-span including the speech by president obama and "saturday night live" cast member cecily

strong. bill clinton in 1998 visiting several african nations and visited chile a month before. he begins his remarks by referencing those travels. president clinton: thank you very much. thank you. thank you very much. thank you, mr. mcclellan. mr. powell. good evening, ladies and gentlemen. as you know, i have been traveling to other lands quite a lot lately. and i just want to say what a pleasure it is for hillary and me to be here in your country. [ laughter ] since i arrived here, i've been

awestruck by the beauty of your landscape, the spirit of your people. [ laughter ] the color of your native garb. [ laughter ] now, the crowds who greet me here are not quite as adoring as in other nations i've visited lately. [ applause ] but they seem occasionally friendly, nonetheless. i've even sampled some of your indigenous cuisine. your hamburgers. [ laughter ] quite tasty. sort of a meat sandwich. [ laughter ] it appears that democracy is thriving here. there are regular elections contested with vigor. honored by some. [ laughter ] in the legislature, persistent coup attempts. so far have failed to upend the

balance of power. you have a lively, independent press confident in its judgment and bold in its predictions. [ laughter ] and persistent i might add. yes, this washington is a very special place, and hillary and i will never forget our visit here. [ laughter ] now, as i have come to do on these tours, i want to take just a few moments to reflect on our shared history. the past decades, indeed centuries, are filled with regrettable incidents. mistakes were made. injustices were committed. and certainly the passive tense was used too much. [ laughter ] ladies and gentlemen, i regret

so much. i regret our long neglect of the planet pluto. [ laughter ] it took until 1930 -- 1930 -- to welcome pluto into the community of planets. [ laughter ] and that was wrong. and i am so sorry about : that whole era of leisure suits and beanbag chairs. we had to in your the cheesiness of the 70's -- we had to endure the cheesiness of the 1970's and that was wrong. and then there was an bfthe susan b anthony dollar.

it looks too much like a quarter, and that was wrong. the expression, happy campers. it was cute the first couple of times and it got old really fast. i recently used it at a cabinet meeting, and that was wrong. pineapple on pizza. some things are just wrong. i would like to also, in this moment of cleansing take just a moment to reflect on past treatment of the white house press corps. i apologize for the quality of the free food you have been served over the years. thatyou deserve better. it was wrong. for many years, when the space that is now the briefing room in the white house was a swimming pool reporters had to tread

water for hours on end. that was wrong. sort of. i would really like to apologize or all the information you have had to attribute to anonymous sources over the years. of course that apology has to be off the record. were that, i am truly sorry. now that we have put the issues of the past behind us, i really would like to thank you for inviting me to the nice dinner. it's is a night i get to poke fun at you. that is my definition of executive privilege. i am at a bit of a disadvantage this year. i have been so busy, i have no ready newspaper or magazine since the pope to cuba -- went to cuba.

[applause] president clinton: what have you been writing about since then? i hardly have any time to read the news. mostly i just skim the retractions. i have even stopped watching mccurry's briefing. he never answers a single question. i don't know how you put up with it. i have told him again and again you can answer any question he wants. what his he told you? seriously, i have been looking forward to seeing all of you this weekend. i want to know one thing. how come there is no table for salon magazine?

that is supposed to be funny. don't take yourself so seriously. you will see the light. don't worry about it. loosen up. one of the things i like about this dinner, as it as it is, it is smaller and more intimate than the white house pundit's dinner. i don't have anything against political pundits. some of my best friends used to be political pundits and some political pun used to be my best friends -- pundits used to be my best friends. i am here to warm the audience up for ray romano. i feel ambivalent about it. he is us the star of a show called, everybody loves raymond. i cannot stand a guy with 100% approval. i want to come congratulate the

winners. i would like to say something to mike, now that you have won this will work, i think you should slow down and work less read enjoy the finer things in life. intoand to ron, he is the only person who came to washington with me is not in subpoenaed. but the night is still young. i am happy to see peter mayer is getting an award for his excellent work. i was worried, since he was nearly mauled by a cheetah on our africa trip, he ought to be given the purple heart. come on, could you write a joke peter mayer? it was reported that sam

donaldson scared away elephants with his to stink the voice. that is not fair. elephants are smart. they knew he works for disney. they thought he was trying to round them up for a new theme park. this has been an extraordinary few months. no wonder you have been swarming around. there is nothing to cover on capitol hill. listen to this. all over, tv executives are asking, what can possibly fill the gaping hole on thursday night once seinfeld goes off the air? i got it. congress on c-span. there is a show about nothing. [laughter]

not that there is anything wrong with that. there is nothing wrong with that. there are beardarely 40 days in the 10 fifth congress. this is congress with nothing to do and nothing to do it in. one news item coming out, i met with the senator to decide who should be the next sting which member of congress hurled into the our reaches of the universe. we have our man. godspeed, diggck armey. on tuesday, speaker gingrich is holding a press conference to proclaim tony the tiger is not selling frosted flakes to children.

last week, he said the movie titanic glorified smoking. i cannot believe it. this week, he will accuse it of glorifying drowning. it's funny if you think about it. for all of you who do not live in washington, this is a unique and unsettling moment in washington. i am not the only one who is anxiously awaiting the release of steve brill's new magazine. i have an advanced copy. it is called,"content." why would anyone want to call a magazine that?

mccurry says, it is called 'content"content." why would anybody want to call it that? you might be interested in what is going to be the first edition. i have it here, the table of contents. makeover tips. by john king. george mitchell writes about the prospects of lasting peace between barbara walters and diane sawyer. six recipes for harvest burgers by david brinkley. retrospective, cbs news from her --

he got what he deserved. by maureen dowd. he was an article called waiting in the wings cowritten all gore and brian williams. i think they are both going to make it. here is lenny davis's review of spin cycle. he liked it. i have to say one thing. this book implies the coop kabuki dance between the white house and the press is a recent phenomenon. it is a cherished phenomena in our history. i had the national archives send over transcribes to make this

point. there is good from the hoover institution. housing starts were up in the third quarter of 1931. these hoover bills reflect a commitment to private initiative. the president is proud they bear his name. in 1814, a white house official disputed the idea that the burning of the white house was a setback for the medicine administration. -- madison administration. yes, fire consumed the mansion but it was in need of renovation anyway and this effort by the british aids us time and taxpayer money. here is one from the jefferson administration. a spokesman for buys president aaron burr -- vice president aaron burrus asserted, people do not kill people.

guns kill people. we back in 1773, a spokesman for samuel adams asserted the boston tea party was not a fundraiser. no one paid to attend. there was no quid pro quo. it was just a town meeting for colonists to get to know each other and discuss details of the new tax law. we have an at this a long time. helen hunt to know. -- helen ought to know. she was there. let me say one serious. helen thomas is not just the longest-serving white house responded. one reason she got the award is she is still the hardest working. the first to show up every morning about 5:00. five days a week for nearly 40 years. and i daresay, tonight is time she has been completely scooped.

by mike hanke cancellation, she had about 10,000 mornings, thousands of notebooks ballpoint pens, cups of coffee sometimes brought to her by staffers. never has it come from i stir yet. for -- compromised her yet. for us, she is a rock. a symbol of everything american journalism can and should. the embodiment of fearless integrity. the insistence on holding government accountable. all of that on the spirit of the free press. by tradition, you always get to ask the first question at the press conference. to honor the tradition, you can ask me anything you want. remember, and in even older tradition, i don't have to answer. thank you and good night.

[applause] >> president george w. bush first attended the correspondents dinner in 2001 where he presented a slide show of the bush family including pictures of his father, mother and siblings growing up. [applause] president bush: thank you. thank you very much.

thank you, arlene. i am delighted to be here with all the major leaguers. tonight, i decided to do something different. my mother over the years has put together at least 70 scrap books about our life as a family. what i have done is full of the actual -- pull out some of the actual never before seen photos from these scrapbooks and create a little slideshow. gordon, if everybody's cell phones are turned off, you can hit the lights. tonight, i present a bush family album. what you may not realize is i grew up at a time in texas

history when it was still a rough and tumble frontier. we were ranchers back then. this was my favorite horse. he was surefooted, steady. i trusted that horse totally. here's the weird part. his name was dick cheney. but times were hard back then. [laughter] president bush: this was during the great drought of 1953. dad, and the rest of us.

my family with those kids in the tub, it is not arsenic in the water i would be worried about. personally i have always preferred a private bath. this is my actual first grade report card. it says, george w. bush. notice the final grades on the right. writing, a. reading, a. music, a. art, a. my advice is, don't peak too early. [laughter] [applause] president bush: here i am with my fit rate science project --

fifth-grade science project. bolted myself. it is still meeting our energy needs. i went on to college and graduate school. somehow, the press has gotten the wrong idea that i was a smart alec party guy. this is an unfair perception. in college, i did a lot of independent reading. after graduation, i joined the texas air national guard. i am the one who committed the state of texas to defend taiwan from attack. [applause]

speaking of pilots, i am proud to honor a lieutenant. [applause] president bush: i hope you and your crew will be coming to the white house soon. i know you will like it there. i said this personally but i am proud to say it publicly. welcome back lieutenant. some people wondered, and i'm

sure there might have in a few out here, how i would handle the recent incident in china. the truth is, i have long been a serious student of the orient. my mom and dad of course were in china when dad was the liaison there. people ask me, is a difficult to follow in the footsteps of a man who was president and vice president, you and investor, -- un ambassador? is it hard been such a man's son? not really. [laughter] most people don't realize it, but that has had some tough times. -- dad has had some of times. back in the 1950's, he went through a time when he thought

aliens were trying to contact him so he built this contraption to receive their signals. as for my mom after bearing six children, she herself became a bit stressed. [applause] she took to acting strangely. for while, she thought she was too tall and walked like this. as if that weren't strange enough she wrote a book with that dog. i hated that dog. my mother treated the dog better than she treated me. she never to me right my book -- write my book. i will say this however.

my mom always stuck up for us kids. here she is responding to a reporter's question about something barbra streisand said recently. fortunately, i have great brothers and a sister. some have asked if the vote recount left any hard feelings between my brother jeff and me. -- jeb and me. not a bit. in fact, here's a picture of the governor of florida. [laughter] [applause] president bush: this brings me to a serious point. eventually, i met a woman named laura. she changed my life.

she has given me as an adult i enjoy as a child. that is a loving family. the defining moments are not when my father was elected president or when i was elected president. the defining moments have been telling moments. -- family moments. i have been blessed with a family full of love, and i pray the same for you. good evening. [applause]

chris showing candid pictures that chronicled his first year in office. -- >> showing candid pictures that chronicled his first year in office. [applause] president bush: thank you. thank you very much. 8?lthank you very5 much. mr. vice president. members of the white house correspondentsz0z association. ladies andhz( gentlemen. zñ 0xp0: :rlaura and i are honored

to be here. thank you for the invitation. [applause] president bush: what a fantastic audience we have tonight. washington powerbrokers. celebrities. hollywood stars. ozzy osbourne. [applause] president bush: ok, ozzy. might have been a mistake.

the thing about himçúz(z is he has made a lot= of the kitñ"z z@ recordings --j big hit recording. xpparty with the animals. : yseven, bloody sabbath. @(bloodbath in paradise. mom loves your stuff. [applause] drew carey is our entertainment tonight. he has a fun tv show called "whose line is it anyway." drew, do you have any interest

in the middle east? last year at this dinner, i showed some photos straight out of the bush family photo album. tonight, i'm going to show you some actual never seen before photos taken by the white house photographers over the past 15 months. we have created just for you this little slideshow. what life is really like inside the bush white house. if everyone is in the seats you have assigned them, karen hit the projector. when i look back to the last year, i have grown in office. i am more focused. i feel relaxed.

occasionally, there are moments where i heal a little stressed. [laughter] i may have aged a bit. one of the great things about being in the white house is having laura close by. whenever she drops by, my day is nice. she helps me in a million ways. here she is helping me pronounce azerbaijanis. we have to bring dogs -- two dogs. this is our dog, barney. i tell him when i rose that, he

ought to be a senator -- with eyebrows like that, he odd to be a senator. he been telling you is in trouble here. this is the day he chewed up the list of undisclosed locations and we cannot find dick. the little guy keeps a lookout like this, our after our. -- hour after hour. kind of wish tom ridge had ever had that talk with him about homeland security. this is our dog spot. people asked me how i came up with the name. i don't know, i am just kind of a creative guy. the thing about spot she is the president. -- the thing about spot is, she

thinks she is the president. here she is coming back from a fundraiser for the american kennel club. she is truly a great canine american. i value her counsel just as i do the others on the staff. we have a very experienced mature team of professionals down here at the white house. this is josh. he is the white house the beauties -- deputy chief of staff. america should sleep better knowing this column, levelheaded man is helping to guide our nation. as nick calio -- this is nick calio, the head of legislative affairs. i said what are the chances of the senate passing anwar? nick really prepares me well

when congressional leaders come from meetings. syria's, testing out a what the question -- here he is, testing out a cushion. we have a motivated group. no matter what the task at hand each gives 100%. the truth is. the door to the oval office has a little peek hole. this is karen hughes, peeping on me. this is karl rove. this is condi rice. spot has her own peephole. this is andy card. and ladies and gentlemen this

is the vice president of the united states looking through a peephole. dick, i hope you are not doing what it looks like you are doing . [applause] president bush: this photo has nothing to do with anything. i thought it would -- i would show it to you because it is the only known photo off alan greenspan smiling. this is ari flesher. i was chewing him out here. i am saying, i am sick and tired of you not fully answering all the wonderful questions asked by our hard-working press corps.

are you sure? we are not leaking enough. have we given them enough access to me? i have an idea. i will do more interviews. with baseball tonight. part of the job of a president is to meet with representatives of special interest groups. here i am meeting with representatives from the american cloning counsel. i try to work with republicans and democrats alike. for political reasons, some prefer it not be known they are working with a republican president, so they sleep in the back door. like hillary clinton here -- slip in the backdoor like hillary clinton here.

it is not all work of course. one day, i decided to show some of the staff the white house bowling alley. boys and girls there is a reason you where those special shoes. [laughter] of course, another job of the president is dealing with the press corps. you ask tough questions but to tell you the truth, i don't you have laid a glove on me. here i am at the last press conference. in closing, i thought about turning serious. talking about all we have been through since i was last here. then i decided, this was not the time or place. you came to have a good time. we have to carry waiting to

entertain us. instead, -- we have drew carey waiting to entertain us. instead, i will leave you with one last photo of our dog spot. i ask you, is this a great country or what? thank you very much. [applause] >> we move ahead to president obama in 2011. he gave a speech poking fun at some of his potential opponents. incidentally this dinner happened one day before a military operation resulted in the death of osama bin laden.

this happened a day before a military operation resulted in the death of osama bin laden. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. >> ♪ american the rights of every man i am a real american fight for what is right when it comes down and it hurts inside you've got to take a stand you don't have to hide when you hurt my friend, you hurt my pride

i am a real american fight for the rights of every man i am a real american fight for what is right ♪ ♪ >>president obama: all right everybody please have a seat. my fellow americans. [applause] president obama: it is wonderful to be here at the white house correspondents dinner. what a week.

as some of you heard, the state of hawaii released my official long form birth certificate. hopefully, this puts all doubt to rest. just in case there are any lingering questions tonight i am prepared to go a step further. tonight, for the first time, i'm releasing my official birth video. [laughter] now, i warn you. no one has seen this footage in 50 years. not even me. let's take a look.

[applause] president obama: back to square one. i want to make clear to the fox news table, that was a joke. that was not my real birth video.

that was a children's cartoon. call disney if you do not believe me. they have the original longform version. anyway it is good to be back with so many esteemed guests. celebrities. senators journalists. essential government employees. nonessential government employees. you know who you are. i am very much looking forward to hearing set myers tonight. -- seth myers tonight. a young fresh face who can do no wrong in the eyes of his fans. seth, enjoy it well at lashile it

lasts. i think it it is fair to say, when it comes to my presidency the honeymoon is over. some suggest i am too profess oriole. i would like to address that head on by assigning you some reading that will help you draw your own conclusions. others say i am arrogant, but i have found a great self hope tool for this. my poll numbers. i have even let down my key core constituency, movie stars. just the other day, matt damon said he was disappointed with my

performance. matt, i just saw "the adjustment bureau," so- -- [applause] president obama: there's someone i can always count on for support. my wonderful wife michelle. [applause] president obama: we made a terrific team at the easter egg roll. i gave out bags of candy to the kids and she smackednatched them back out of their hands. snatched them.

and, where is the national public radio table? you guys are still here. that is good. i couldn't remember where we landed on that. i know you were a little tense when the gop tried to cut your funding. personally, i was looking forward to new programming like, no things considered. or "wait, wait, don't fund me." of course, the deficit is a serious issue which is why paul ryan could not be here tonight. his budget has no room for laughter. michele bachmann is here, i

understand. she is thinking about running for president. which is weird because i hear she was born in canada. yes michelle, this is how it starts. [applause] president obama: templetim polenti seems all-american, but have you ever heard his real middle name? what a shame. my buddy jon huntsman, is with us. something you might know about

jon. he did not learn to speak chinese to go there. oh no. he learned english to come here. [applause] president obama: and then, there is a vicious rumor floating around which could hurt mitt romney. i heard he passed universal health care when he was governor of massachusetts. someone should get to the bottom of that. i know just the guy to do it donald trump. he is here tonight. i know he has taken some flack lately, but no one is prouder to put this verse to forget -- this birth certificate matter to rest many donald.

-- than the donald. that means he can get back to issues that matter like, did we faked the moon landing? what really happened in roswell? [applause] presentsident obama: all kidding aside, we know about your credentials and breadth of experience. for example, just recently, in an episode of "celebrity apprentice," the cooking team did not impress the judges from omaha steaks. you recognized the real problem

was a lack of leadership, so ultimately you did not blame littlejohn or meatloaf. you fired gary. these are the kinds of decisions that would keep me up at night. [applause] president obama: well handled, sir. well handled. say what you will about mr. trump, he would bring change to the white house. let's see what we got up there.

yes, this has been quite a year of politics. also, in the movies. many people were inspired by "the king's speech." wonderful film. some of you may not know this but there is now a sequel in the works that touches close to home. because this is a hollywood crowd, tonight i can offer a sneak peek. can we show the trailer, please? >> the following preview was begrudgingly approved by the president of the u.s. the film has been rated unwatchable. the year is 2011 and opposition rises. >> congressional republicans could force the government to shut down. >> a president must face -- >> it is a serious business.

>> his greatest challenge. from the people who brought you universal health care and the huge backlash to universal health care comes the true story. >> as our economy added -- they say that, let's start over. >> the president has lost his home. -- prompter. >> he has gone from, yes we can to know we cannot. >> i will also visit chile. let's try that again. >> mr. president, what are you going to do? >> he returned to a man

who never let prepared remarks stand in his way. who broke all the rules. >> his mom lived in long island for 10 years or so. god rest his soul. god bless her soul. >> who spoke from the heart. vice president biden: i have never seen so many insurance commissioners. lord, i am not that old. actually, i am your. >> is the story of friendship and the power of the human spirit. mostly, it is this. 42 hfor two hours. vice president: in someone we appreciate. she is better looking than rahm

emanuel. >> join barack obama. renowned fruit and vegetable enthusiast michelle obama. and passenger of the year, three decades running. joe biden. as the president loses his teleprompter. but wins the future. president obama: thank you. my outstanding vice president joe biden is here. coming to a theater near you. [applause] president obama: let me close on

a serious note. we are having a good time. as has been true for the last several years, we have incredible young men and women serving in uniform overseas under extraordinary circumstances. we honor their courage and valor. we also need to remember our neighbors in alabama and across the south that have been devastated by storms. michelle and i were down there yesterday, and we spent a lot of time with some of the folks who have been affected. the devastation is unimaginable. it is heartbreaking. it is going to be a long road back. we need to keep those americans in our thoughts. we also need to stand with them in the hard months and years to come.

i intend to make sure that the federal government does that. i have faith that the journalists in this room will do their part. report on their progress, let the rest of america know when they will need more help. those are stories that need is telling and that is what all of you do best, whether it is rushing to the side of the devastating storm or braving danger to cover a revolution in the middle east. in the last months, we have seen journalists threatened, arrested beaten, attacked?, and in some cases even killed simply for doing their best to bring us the story. give these people a voice. hold leaders accountable. through it all, we have seen daring men and women risk their lives for the idea that nobody should be silenced.

everyone deserves to know the truth. that is what you do. at your best, that is what journalism is. that is the principle that you up old. it is always important, but is especially important in times of challenge like the moment america is facing now. i think you for your service. the contributions that you make. i want to close by recognizing not only your service but also to remember those who have been lost as a consequence of the extraordinary reporting they have done over recent weeks. they help, too, to defend our freedoms and a low to flourish. god bless you -- and allow democracy to flourish. god bless you and god bless united's

states of america. [applause] >> you can watch this year's correspondents dinner live april 25. we will have the guest arrivals, speeches from president obama and this year's host saturday , night live cast member cecily strong. >> were you a fan of c-span's first lady series? it is now a book. looking inside of the personal life of every first lady in american history based on original interviews. learn details of all 45 first ladies who made these women who they were. their lives, ambitions and

unique partnerships with their presidential spouses. the book "first latest" provides lively stories of these fascinating women who survived the scrutiny of the white house sometimes a great personal cost why supporting their families. and even changed history. c-span's "first ladies" is an inspiring read. it is available at your favorite bookstore or online bookseller. >> monday night on "communicators," carl on the importance of spectrum. >> the last 2 administrations have written memorandum on spectrum. when i first started back in 1979, i came out of the marine corps after being an artillery

officer. i had never heard about spectrum. most people i met and even some people i worked with do not understand much about spectrum. now everybody realizes a part of our daily lives and the devices are completely reliant on iraq ability to communicate and do our jobs. >> on monday night at 8:00 eastern on "the communicators" on c-span2. >> just a few days after announcing his candid before president, kentucky senator rand paul traveled to south carolina to give a speech on for policy and taught by the military's role as said he would never take the u.s. to war without just cause and congressional approval. it took front of uss york. it is 25 minutes.

rand paul: it is great to be in south carolina. [applause] you know what i like most about south carolina? you feel free enough and confident enough to cheer for the prayer. that doesn't happen everywhere in the country . it still happens in south carolina, kentucky, and a lot of this country. i think there is no greater responsibility for any legislature or later than when we go to war. war brings great obligations. the consequences are ominous. that responsibility should never be given to any individual who previously or cavalierly calls for war. war brings with it great obligations. these obligations do not in when our brave young men and women come home. it's just the beginning. one thing i know is true, we owe a debt of gratitude to our men and women who have taught and continued to fight for our bill of rights.

[applause] senator paul: we owe the next generation the wisdom to know when war is necessary and when war is not necessary. i promise you this, i will never forget our veterans. i will never forget our soldiers in the field. and i vow to judge questions of war with a solemn and profound deliberation. i will never take the country to war without just cause and without constitutional approval of congress. [applause]

as commander in chief, the world will know our objective is peace. the world will not mistake our desire for peace for passivity. the world should not mistake our reluctance for war for inaction. if war should prevent avoidable, america will fight with overwhelming force and we will not relent until victory is ours. [applause] behind me is the uss yorktown, the ship men on the original yorktown were silent as they watched it seemed to the depths of the pacific during the battle of midway. vc was a mass of bobbing heads wrote a reporter for a magazine. there was no conversation, no hysteria. these men were brave and proud lawyers. over 100 sailors died that day. is it any wonder that the people who have served in combat are usually more circumspect than th