>> we will get to studio audience questions after the break. stay with us. >> now, conversation with the candidate continues. >> welcome back. tonight's guest, wisconsin governor scott walker. time to bring in questions from our audience. i will jump in if follow-up is needed. our first question is coming from joan. good to see you. >> what do you see as the needs for the department of defense and homeland security in the next administration? gov. walker: i think one of the most sacred duties of the commander-in-chief is to protect the american people. right now, i think we have had a real problem in that regard. in my lifetime, the best president for national security and foreign policy was a governor from california. he helped rebuild the budget. he helped rebuild the military budget. he stood up for our allies and stood up against our enemies.

overall he stood up for american , values. one of the nice things about that is we had one of the most peaceful times in modern american history. to get to that, i would go back to rebuilding the defense budget to levels proposed by former madetary of defense gates the case that we need to get back to a stronger military. >> thank you very much for the question. the next one is coming from judy elliott. >> the u.s. still has almost 5000 nuclear weapons in its military stockpile and many are on hairtrigger alert. and now, the obama administration and the pentagon plan to spend one trillion more dollars on nuclear weapons and delivery vehicles. it is going to be very profitable for the private weapons labs and for the pentagon contractors. do you support this plan? gov. walker: i think overall, we have to have the capacity to defend ourselves. unlike when i came of age during the cold war when we thought it

was the old soviet union, today, it is not just places like russia and china, but a mixed bag increasingly even with this recent deal proposed with iran. i am very concerned about their capacity. look at intercontinental ballistic missiles and their capacity. i am worried about what that could mean for the future, not just for israel and others in the region, but potentially what it could mean for the united states. i want to make sure that all the children in this country are safe. >> do you support the plan? gov. walker: i believe we need to have a nuclear triad which includes all three legs. i think part of it goes beyond what you asked about. i think we need a replacement for the ohio-based nuclear submarines that are part of what kept us safe for so many years. >> thank you for the question. where are you when it comes to the debate of gun violence versus the second amendment. gov. walker: i believe that law-abiding citizens should have the right to protect themselves

and their families and their property. in my state i was the first , governor to sign into law a -- concealed carry and the castle doctrine for those reasons. i think the focus should be cracking down on criminals. some of the sad stories we have heard about of late have been folks who had access to firearms for reasons that did not involve the legal process. that is where we need to crack down. >> does that include expanding background checks? gov. walker: i think we need to improve them. the problem in south carolina was in part the technology and failure to enter critical information. we need the most up to speed technology to make sure when we do background checks state-by-state jurisdiction by , jurisdiction, that the information matches what that individual has or has not done. scott walker.com has all the details on twitter, instagram, and facebook. my kids are soon to be 20 and 21 so they keep us up to date.

>> the next question is from facebook. scott is asking, how are you different from the other 100 republican candidates? gov. walker: a lot of great people. one of the commandments you will get from me is i will not spend my time beating up on others. i think americans are tired of people saying who they are against. i think americans want to vote for someone. i will tell you what i am four. i think what makes me unique is some have fought and some have won, i have done both. americans want someone who will fight and win for them. someone who will actually get results. >> let's go back to our audience. the next question is from patrick carroll. >> are you willing to raise the age of retirement for social security? gov. walker: i look overall and think, to balance our budget going forward, and it will not

happen at one time but over many years, i am not going to touch social security for current retirees or people near retirement. but for my generation and those younger, i think we need to have some sort of reform. we will later that out. i just got in last we are a new monday. candidate. in the coming months, we will lay out our plans for budgets. in terms of current retirees and people near retirement, i don't think we touch it. that is a sacred promise made to people in terms of preparing their life for retirement. in terms of younger people, we have to look at real reforms. >> should means testing be part of the equation? should the qualifications of age be considered? gov. walker: in a couple months, we will come out with some specific plans. we will talk about tax reform, regulatory reform, what to do with health care going forward and entitlement reform will be a part of it. >> new hampshire voters are inpatient.

gov. walker: we are committed. we are committed to doing town hall meetings across the state t. >> the next question is coming from chuck. >> isn't paying taxes what john kennedy was talking about when he said ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country? gov. walker: president kennedy brought about one of the initiatives and president johnson followed up after his untimely and tragic death. tax cuts that were very similar to what president reagan proposed in the mid- which 1980's brought about some of the greatest sustained economic growth we have had in modern history. my belief is that at the local, state, and federal level, the things we have to pay for. the federal level is protecting our national security interests. at the state and local levels, it is education, support for fire and police. i think it is responsible for us to keep it at a minimum. under kennedy's proposal and under reagan's proposal many years later, we saw sustained economic growth. i would like to get back to that

kind of growth going forward. >> some candidates in this field , rand paul in particular have , already proposed a flat tax. others have variations. is there some merit to something along those lines? gov. walker: it's certainly an interesting appeal. if you look in 1986, president reagan put forward an initiative that had two tax rates, a lower tax rate that was very appropriate. to me, that would be a model. you saw one of the longest sustained periods of economic growth in modern american history. it did not just go through the reagan term. bill clinton in large part lived off of this excess of the reagan -- the success of the reagan tax cuts and economic package he put forward going forward for america. i would like to get to that kind of growth. i think tax relief is part of it. >> do you think the tax code needs to be simplified? gov. walker: i think we need to take more jobs back from overseas. we need to put more americans

back to work. we need a reform code for it to be as simple as possible. >> next question is coming from you. hampshire, someone who earns minimum wage earns less than $300 a week. if elected president, what policies would you enact that would ensure the strength of working families, businesses, and the economy. what an increased minimum wage be one of them? gov. walker: i think the best policy is to get people the to pursuethey need careers that pay far more than minimum wage. the greater focus should be on education, training, qualifications, how do we help people find careers? in my state, that is what we have done. we've spent almost $200 million to help people not just in traditional universities, that in our two-year programs and worker training and apprentice

ship programs because many of the great careers are in every thing from health care, information technology, to advanced manufacturing. we have to lift up our young people coming out of high school and tell them it is great if you want to go on for a career that requires a four-year college degree or a postgraduate degree, but it is just as great if you want to pursue something that requires a two-year associate degree and we will help you get those resources. as president, that is why i would take more power and money for worker training and education and send it back to the states where the states are more connected to people at the individual and local level and can make appropriate decisions for new hampshire or new york or wisconsin or anywhere else much better than the federal government can. >> the next question is coming from terry. >> if elected president, what would be your priorities during the first 100 days in office? gov. walker: i wouldn't wait until just the first day, i would start working before.

for me, that means reaching out to the members of congress as well as to our allies around the world and seeking to get our military budget back on track. on our first day, i would send a draft legislation to the congress to fully repeal obamacare. i want to get rid of the so-called affordable care act and replace it with something that will put patients and families back in charge of their health care. i would terminate the horrible deal with iran, seek to work with congress to enact even more crippling sanctions. i would pull back on the executive action i think the president wrongfully put in place, and i have been part of , i lawsuit challenging this think the president went beyond his bounds when it comes to illegal immigration. in wisconsin, we acted within the first month or month and a half. we put in place an economic and

reform plan to move court power out of washington back to the states in everything from medicaid to transportation to workforce development education. and start putting in place a plan that repeals obamacare, helping with education and skill development, and lowering the tax burden on hard-working americans. >> that is a lot. where do you start? who does your first phone call go to? gov. walker: i would start calling the day after the election. as governor, that's what i did. that helped us with the progress we were able to make in our first month. i would reach out to our allies. i think you reach out to everybody from netanyahu to let them know there will not be space between the united states and israel. i think there are grave concerns now. when i went to israel, i not only met with netanyahu. i met with the opposition leader as well. many other leaders in israel are very concerned about the iran deal and about the disconnect between the united states and their country when it comes to this very issue.

i would meet with others, merkel, cameron, all sorts of leaders across the globe and let them know the american people have elected someone who plans to have america lead again. leading from behind does not work. >> let's go back to facebook for the next question which is coming from joel. now that gay marriage is legal in all states if you became , president, would you try to do anything to change that? gov. walker: i believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. i voted for that as a state lawmaker. i voted for it as a voter in the state of wisconsin. we approved a constitutional amendment back in 2006 in wisconsin. as governor, i stood up for that. when the supreme court came out with that, i said for those who disagree, the only outcome is to pursue a constitutional amendment to allow that decision to be made by the states. the simple reality is that will be a hard bar. something like that starts in congress and has to go through the states. i believe that the most appropriate thing the president

and other leaders can do is to make sure people in this country are able to freely practice their religious beliefs which are the foundation of our constitution and why so many of our founders made a big deal about that being included in the constitution. i think that more than rehashing some of these other debates is the most important priority on this issue. >> carol, take it away. >> i have heard about the well-regarded wisconsin shares program and the young star rating system that assesses the quality of early childhood programs offered in your state. i have also read about wisconsin not accepting federal preschool grant money, and it seems a bit mixed. i am wondering if you could take a couple of minutes to talk about your vision for early childhood education in america and how we can fund high-quality programs for all children. gov. walker: great question.

couple of different parts. first, we put in place a rating system to make sure that for assistance we provide for childcare and other things, if we provide assistance, we want to make sure it is quality. it not only has star ratings, but we increase our payments based on the quality of the care provided. not just to protect health and safety, but also make sure that literacy and learning how to read early on is a key element. before third grade is a critical time when you go from learning to read to reading to learn. you graduate from high school, you are more likely to get a good job. we are very proud of the work we have done in that regard. we need to do more of that across the country. the other part goes to a point i

have made repeatedly. all too often, the programs from the federal government come with strings attached. sometimes the strings put city states and local governments and -- in very difficult situations. my belief is the more we can spend resources for early childhood development as well as whole slew of other issues, send those dollars back to the states and local jurisdictions without overwhelming them with strings attached, they can make the adjustment for what is right in that community and make it a priority but do it in a way that fits, whether in new hampshire or anywhere else across the country. >> more of a block grant situation and let the states decide how to spend it. walker: we've had that debate in washington the last two years on medicaid. many of us governors have said give us the flexibility to run things like medicaid on our own without giving us strings attached. we will do what's best for our own state.

it varies tremendously. new york state is a lot different from new hampshire or vermont or maine. they are all very different. the same thing is true across the country. i think we need to make that a higher priority. it is not just medicaid, it is a whole variety of social services as well as things like education in general and even others. infrastructure, transportation, you name it. there is a lot of opportunity to send it back to the states which is what our founders intended when they talked about the 10th amendment to the constitution. they said if it is not spelled out in the constitution as a role of the federal government, it is inherently those of the states, and more importantly the people. we need to get back to that. >> your take on common core? walker: i am all for high standards. by getting rid of seniority and tenure, allowing schools to hire and fire based on merit, i am proud that graduation rates are up, third-grade reading skills

are higher act scores are , highest in my state in the country. i don't support common core. i don't support a nationwide school board. i think those decisions should be made locally and on the state level. the more we can take power and money out of washington and send it back to the states and schools and people, the better off we will be. >> what are you looking for when it comes to choosing a running mate? gov. walker: i think the most important thing is not politics. i need someone who has the capacity to be president of the united states. as morbid as this might sound, if you are president picking someone to run with you. i don't want this to happen, but god for bid something happened if i was president incapacitated me from serving of that term, i want someone who can be the president of the united states. i think that is far more important than a geographical or political reasoning. i'm going to choose a man or a woman that i believe can be the

president if called upon. i want someone that shares my belief that power is better vested in the american people as opposed to the halls of the capitol and white house. >> fair enough. best of luck moving forward. wear your helmet when you are on that motorcycle. gov. walker: thank you. >> the conversation with the governor continues online and in our mobile app. you will find 30 minutes more. thanks for joining us. goodbye. >> the c-span cities tour, visiting cities across the country. this weekend, we are joined by charter communications to learn more about the history and literary life of grand junction, colorado. the mining of a certain mineral had a long-term importance in this area of colorado. plateau the colorado and outside of grand junction, we are surrounded by morrison rock. we find a lot of dinosaur bones and fossils. that has intrigued scientists for a long time. the other thing we also find is a mineral called carmen tight --

carnatite. it contains three different elements. radium, which is radioactive, which was used to fight cancer. it also has been made him -- v d nadium, used to strengthen steel. carnatite also contains uranium. uranium is one of the best sources for atomic power and atomic weapons. >> the colorado congressman was largely responsible for this area's agricultural development through his legislation. >> he fought the battle to preserve water for western colorado by making sure we got our fair share. how did he do that? beginning in his state career and then going on to his federal career, he climbed up

the ladder of seniority and was able to exercise more power than you might normally have. certainly, in the united states congress, where he was able to make sure colorado and western colorado would be treated fairly in any divisions of water. his first major success was the passage of the colorado river storage project in 1956. >> see all of our programs from grand junction today at 7:00 eastern on c-span two's book tv tv and on's book c-span3. this labor dayss weekend, president obama highlights recent economic progress in america and why congress should pass a budget. senator pat of pennsylvania has the republican response. against the case

iran nuclear deal, expected to be on the senate floor this coming week. hope most ofma: i you are gearing up for the long weekend with family and friends. maybe some barbecues, road trips, or fantasy drafts. i wanted to take a moment to talk to you about the real meaning of labor day, the day we set aside every year to honor the hard-working men and women who fought for so many of the rights we take for granted today. the eight hour workday, the 40 hour work week, weekends, overtime, and the minimum wage, safer workplaces, health insurance, social security, medicare, and retirement plans. all of those gains were fought for and won by the labor movement, folks working not for a bigger paycheck for themselves but for more security and prosperity for folks working next to them as well. that is how we built the great

american middle class. that is this beer we have been working to restore these past six and a half years -- that is the spirit we have been working to restore these past six and half years. over the past five-and-a-half years, our businesses have created 13.1 million new jobs, the longest streak of job creation on record. the unemployment rate dropped to 5.1%, the lowest in seven years. the american auto industry is on track to sell more cars and trucks this year than it has in more than a decade. 60 million americans gained the security of health insurance. 17 states and 30 cities and counties have raised the minimum wage. we have proposed extending overtime protections to as many as 5 million americans. all of that is progress. this month, congress has an opportunity to continue that progress. as always, the deadline for congress to pass a budget is the end of september. every year.

this is not new. if they don't, they will shut down the government for the second time in two years. at a time when the global economy faces headwinds and america's economy is a relative bright spot in the world, a shutdown of our government would be wildly responsible. errorld be an unforced that sapped the momentum we have worked hard to build. plain and simple, a shutdown would work -- hard-working americans. it does not have to happen. congress wants to support working americans and strengthen our middle class, they can pass a budget that invests in the middle class. if they pass a budget was shortsighted cuts that harm our , if theyand economy make smart investments in our infrastructure, military, health and research, i will sign that budget. they know that. let's get it done.

our economy does not need another round of threats and brinksmanship. we can't play games with the middle class and our economy. tell congress to pass a budget that reflects the values we honor on labor day, rewarding hard work, giving everybody a fair shot, and working together to gallic -- give all of our kids a better life. thanks, everybody, and enjoy your weekend. >> i hope you're are enjoying a great labor day weekend with family and friends. next week, the senate is likely to debate the iran nuclear weapons deal. what is it stake here is nothing less than the possibility of giving hundreds of billions of dollars to the world's largest and worst state sponsor of terrorism and ultimately paving the way for this outlaw regime to obtain nuclear weapons. this is one of the most important senate votes in a long time. over the years, i am many others

have warned of the dangers america and our allies face when it comes to the islamic republic of iran. in the past several weeks since the deal was announced, i have studied it carefully. i have read the language of the agreement, consulted with experts, and had numerous briefings on its implications, including classified briefings. i can tell you unequivocally this deal is very dangerous. it will make america and the rest of the civilized world less safe. at the heart of the issue is whether iran has given up its 30 year quest for nuclear weapons. nothing in ron's words or deeds --nothing in iran's words or deeds show it has. it allows it to keep enrichment capacity. it allows iran to keep important underground facilities open. it allows iran to engage in further enrichment research and development. a country that is not interested in nuclear weapons does not need any of that. this deal legitimizes iran's

nuclear program, not stopping it. we know iran cannot be trusted. get president obama argues it will catch iranian cheating. instruction system is full of holes. it is nothing like the anywhere, anytime inspections we were told were being negotiated. the deal allows iran to delay for 24 days inspections that are necessary. there are other serious problems with the deal that go beyond iran's nuclear program. we know the tyrants of iran are directly responsible for killing americans in iraq and afghanistan and lebanon. we know iran is the chief weapons supplier to hezbollah, which used those weapons to regularly attack israel. we know iran was heavily involved with the stabilizing and overthrowing the government of yemen. we know iran has in the past and is currently holding americans hostage. we know the iranian streets are filled with chance of "death to america" and their leaders

openly threatened to wipe israel off the map. this deal does not address any of that. instead, the deal removes economic sanctions upfront, removing our great it -- greatest leverage and provide iran with over $100 billion of cash within months. this massive cash infusion to the iranian terrorist machine will cause untold destruction and misery throughout the middle east and potentially to americans. the deal jeopardizes american security in a fundamental way. like all the radical islamic movements, if iran is able to inflict harm on americans, it will do so. this deal would give him on the capacity to inflict harm in more destructive ways than it is currently able to do. this deal will make military conflict more likely, not less. there is a growing bipartisan consensus against the deal. several leading democratic senators and members of the house have joined republicans in opposing the deal.

i urge you to speak out and encourage your senators and representatives to vote against the deal. it is not too late to save america from this disaster. i'm senator pat toomey, and i thank you for listening. >> this labor day weekend, three days of politics, books, and american history on a full day of special programs on c-span. here are a few of the features for labor day monday beginning at 10:00 eastern. a town hall event in seattle discusses the pros and cons of big data and civil liberties. later that evening, a debate on how to reduce poverty between president obama and the president of the american enterprise institute. and formerrk cuban president bill clinton and george w. bush on leadership skills. sunday at noon, a live conversation with former second lady and american enterprise institute senior fellow lynne cheney, who will

take your phone calls, e-mails, and tweets. at 9:00, she talks about how families from chicago to appalachia and the mississippi delta are surviving on no income. labor day monday beginning at 11:45 eastern, authors share their thoughts on social and political issues. american history tv, "crowd out," the 1958 go addressing overcrowded schools following the post-world war ii baby boom. and on labor day monday, our interview with billionaire philanthropist david rubenstein. get our complete schedule at www.c-span.org. c-span, created by america's cable companies 35 years ago and brought to you as a public service by your local cable or satellite provider.

>> than this year, " the communicators" visited several technology fares to see what researchers and technology are doing. they visited the microsoft offices to learn about research and intelligent fabric. in microsoftentist research. my background is in environmental design. efficientlyre understand how to monitor and manage environmental aspects. have you been working? >> it started around president obama's climate data initiative.

openness to promote resiliency of the food system. >> so what we call at the moment is the farm data dashboard. what we wanted to do was this one-stop shop about agriculture and production. is kind of a different world in the online ether. so we wanted to have from a interested public to a busy farmer all the way to professional developers and to start using them in ways that would be powerful for them.

brought four of the usda's most important data sets together we have all of this on the cloud computing platform. the first thing we are doing is just allowing the rot data download. you can go and download the raw data that goes on your personal computing platform. we understand that a lot of people might not want to have to deal with all of the intricacy, so we provided a nice user interface. i am saying i want to get the area harvested for corn and i amited states

going to ask it to do that in the state of alabama. out howu can figure many acres of corn were planted in alabama? >> yes there are many things this service will allow you to do which is to pull the data down and look at trend lines over time and plot out how things have been looking. of differentyield crops. so i can show you here, one of the things that you can do is simply get data here and display a table. one of the things that i want to highlight, is one of the big difficulties in dealing with

these open data initiatives -- they are for multiple different services. the way that you can access them is widely different across different government agencies. so every time i am clicking on the link, you can see that this url is changing. that means i can simply copy and paste this link and it will bring down data in the same manner as i have done through clicking on the user interface. instanceoff-line for and i can use the data science programming languages. thigns like start to build predictive models. data oning down all the this website for the past 100 years from production. i'm doing a few lines of code

in one line i will do something called the multiple progression model. this is based solely on the amount of cotton, soy and wheat that was harvested there. focus on what might happen it nationally next year. roughn see that in this visualization, where i am plotting out the trend in the area for each of these six main crops that was harvested in a given year. on the last line you can see i am plotting how much more was planted. this red line is my prediction. you can see it is doing a fairly good job.

it is smoothing out a lot of the data and giving you general insight into what might happen next year. so the more data that we pull in, the better these models become. capability of what people will be able to produce is only going to increase. >> what is the benefit to microsoft? >> i am a researcher and i am understanding how we can make our products better. the interesting thing about dealing with agencies like the department of agriculture -- they are heterogenous. variety thatt of they can see. creatively about how you would build that one-stop

solution -- it is a very large this print set of data. but it is interesting one of those things to help the project get better. i hope it solves a few challenges for microsoft and the united states. have an agricultural background? >> i don't have an agricultural background, but i am from northern wisconsin and lived on a farm for a large part of my life. i have a very keen interest in it and it is impossible to it nor the agricultural benefit. >> now joining us is miss roseway of microsoft.

>> i am a design research. we work in areas of effective computing and we are able to detect emotion from your and we areal sensor, able to play with emotions through crystal and things that you wear and we can notify you of things going on in your body. >> how long has this been in development? >> i would say three years. >> are these things pretty primitive? >> it is still fairly early. we have been able to couple our bands, so i know when he is stressed and he knows when i is stressed. notified iflly be we or our parent or child is in an unusual state.

i can see his heart rate. >> this is your husband? >> this is my colleague. but these are that notifications i might get. >> oh, it says stressed. >> this is just another notification. step countories and we can start to monitor those that we love. because it is through bluetooth, through the cloud, through the phone i can be across the country. ailing parentn on the west coast and i am on the east coast and i will know. objects.ve some shiny >> when i get notified, my band goes off. in the future we can provide the awareness on your body. , but this buzzed enables us to get buzzed remotely as well.

this is our ui. i will power it on, hopefully the battery has not died. in the future, fabrics will be intelligent enough to receive the data we send. if i am stressed, my fabric and sooth me with heat or vibration. so i will turn it on. hopefully it will turn on. each one of these is a module. >> what are we looking at here? what is contained in this? microprocessors that actually tell these actuators to vibrate. signals to these and gets in to vibrate. because it has been on for a few hours, and always dies when

you guys show up. a he is getting notified that i am stressed out right now. but people can basically customize what they need in cases of stress. do they want to be heated up or to be warm or have vibrations. this has been designed for people with acceptability issues for visual impairment or audio impairment where they can use the extra layer of notification. heartbeat and some of the other monitors? are those contained as well? >> this is more of output. what you are talking about is something that would be input. upif your heart rate goes your scarf can turn on and call you down with heat. this is an output for all things you are wearing on you. so in the north, we live in

climates like seattle where we lack certain sunlight. so this is something that is pretty prevalent. disordersan rhythm have been associated with moodiness, over eating, sleeplessness and depression. the blue light therapy is something used with a lightbox and you get zapped with blue light and it makes your brain think there is more daylight than there is. we can take the same blue light spectrum and integrated into fabrics at a lighter intensity so it is wearable and portable. instead of being stuck behind a box it is actually very fashionable. it was made with the notion of people wearing it and using it more often because you're not

stuck in a box -- you can see for yourself. we are just using fiber optics. just using the light. you can wrap yourself in light. you feel better, you look better. the idea is how to take basic technology and integrate them into new scenarios like this to alleviate the serious problem. >> how far away are these from commercial? >> i would say three to-five years. >> why that far? ily power consumption. also where ability and durability. this is not something you can throw in the wash and if you feel it, it is still a little course. people want things that are soft it so it will just take a few more years to get it integrated into soft fibers.

by then, the power sources might come from other places like solar and body. >> where did the idea come from? >> well i have the disorder. i have had to sit behind those light boxes and i hate it. i cannot go anywhere and i cannot move. and i said, white mis -- and i stuck behind a box when i can put it in fabric? it was a personal thing for me. year, "thethis communicators" visited ces international in las vegas and learn about technological developments worldwide and robots. >> we are with one of the ces.itors here at a, what do you do

with allie baba -- alibaba. >> they are a leading, global wholesale platform. organizations, manufacturers, suppliers and training companies all over the world. >> it has been described as the google of china is at a fair comparison? >> google is more of a search engine. but on the website it is similar to google. >> recently, an ipo in the u.s.? >> we are very excited about. >> it is a public company. do you make anything? >> we don't. we are simply an online platform that helps facilitate buyers and suppliers. 2b searchit as a b@

engine. you can find manufacturers and distributors from all over the world. >> give us an example. >> we are at ces today, and we are here meeting our suppliers to give folks a taste of what we do. one of our suppliers here is a company called eyepatch. there was a person out of new york who was a journalist and he had an idea for a prop, found alibaba.com, had his product created, and now he is selling on alibaba.com. you can have an idea, get it created and actually become a supplier. >> how many years has alibaba been in this business? >> we have been around since 1999 and in the usa since 1999. the u.s. is the biggest market outside of china.

it started in 1999 founded by jack markell -- jack maw. >> so what is this? >> life smart as one of our suppliers. people come here looking for some of the cutting-edge technology. anythingoesn't sell but we want it bring some of our suppliers here to get attendees and businesses to find the type of products they can on alibaba. so these are folks all over the world selling products that people might be living for. this is a great example. technology that can make their mobile smartphone. anybody can use it for home or business. >> so life smart is a supplier of alibaba? >> they are a supplier on the alibaba platform.

he had an interesting idea and came to the u.s. in the 90's. at the time there wasn't anyone online in china. we said how do we get the supplier succumb to us online? where anybody, anywhere in the world can find them. instead of traveling to china, we make it easy. that was the mission statement back then -- making it easy for businesses anywhere in the world. that we have been focused on since day one. >> it seems this year at ces, there are a lot more chinese companies overall. have you noticed that? >> i have. when it comes to china and asia a lot of the components are being made in asia. as the world becoming a smaller place. now easiergas, it is

than it ever was because you can andin touch with somebody have product delivered within a matter of weeks. alibabapanies like where making the sourcing aspect of little bit easier. that is what we hope to continue to do. >> and you have partners in the u.s.? >> and our headquarters are in china. >> thank you for your time. >> what is i robot? robot company that builds practical robots. homecus on robots for the and defense and recently we had it for collaboration.

. >> why would somebody need a robot? >> the classical way of answering that question is the d's of robotics, dirty, doll -- one of the areas we are well known for is roomba, the robotic vacuum. who wants to push a broom around? i would rather spend time with family and kids then clean the floors. >> everybody has seen the videos of the cats running around on the roomba. from a consumer point of view is that the only consumer product that you make? you do more business to business? >> we do a number of different floor cleaners. cleanersners, gutter and essentially every area in the home where we think we can

have the task that people don't enjoy doing or something you have to keep doing every time and we will develop the technology and the solution to deliver on that promise. defense --comes to what kind of robots? are you working with the pentagon? >> with the dod and other government agencies, what we deliver is to keep soldiers out of harms way. as he witnessed during the iraq war, there were a lot of bombs on the roadside and you have to send people to a scary job to investigate the package and detonated and in these scenarios you are putting people in harm's way. we have robots that can remotely be controlled to control the packages and if necessary, detonate them. arst comes to worst you have

robot that will explode or save the life. we have this quote -- robots today are much like retarded coca -- cockroaches, do you agree with that today? >> i agree that there is a long way to go. you hear debates about robots taking over the world are in from a scientist perspective i would say that was very optimistic. i wish we were that smart. we are far away from that but we arm aching a lot of headway. in the recent years there has been a confluence of technology that allows us to have robots that are smarter to perform tasks on their own. ,> five to 10 years from now will we buy robots like we buy mobile phones today? >> i believe so and i think that

robotics will be embedded into our daily lives. you will not have see three po or r2-d2 but you will have robotics enabling tasks in your daily life. one of the areas that we know is happening is the auto industry to build safer cars that can drive autonomously which have a massive impact on society. we don't need to have one car per member of the household, you can have one for the family that takes the kids to work and drops the kids -- takes you to work and drops the kids off at school and comes back to home and parks itself. that will free the roads of cars. one example of how robotics will influence our lives in the coming decades. >> is that one of the areas that your working on? are you working with the automotive?

thee are not but a lot of robots we are working with our using technology that is very similar. robots that can autonomously drive to a desired location, perform a task and come back. in a robot we have now deployed the robot will drive to the patient on its own. so the doctor is not wasting time trying to joystick the robot to the hallways. the robot will go to the patient, and haul back the doctor to get on task. >> that is one area of health care -- where else? that is the exclusive air yet we are working in health care right now and the same technology we use that allows doctors to be anywhere they want, anytime they want, we also

used for remote collaboration with fortune 500 businesses across the nation or globally that allow you to have interaction with your factory in china, to walk the production line 4 -- my office is in i spent a lot of time interacting with people in boston. enabled by our robots. >> why is the company headquartered in new bedford, massachusetts? cofounderscause our are all from m.i.t. vision, and common they started in the venture capital firm way too early 25 years ago to fulfill a dream of putting a robot in every home. >> in those 25 years, what has

been the advance that you have seen? >> significant advancements. 25 years ago it was a dream to think of practical robotics. that provide enough value for the price you have to pay for it. at that time, a lot of the robots you saw were experiments from labs. really expensive and they performed very simple and monday and tasks very slowly. now we have robots that are in millions of homes and perform a daily chore every single day. we are cleaning a lot of late -- a lot of acreage everything all day. that therice point

consumer is willing to pay for an they benefit from it. irobot booth,e what are you showing? >> we do not have major announcements of new products, so we have a booth to input -- to extend invitations to private meetings. >> are you in the drone business? >> we are on the ground robot business. there is a lot of ground to cover -- no pun intended. we have decided to focus on that. there are a lot of companies going after the unmanned air vehicles, the drone market as he called it. we believe that is a well covered he others. >> how did you get into this yourself? >> when i was figuring out what to do with my life, i was brought up in denmark, going from lab to lab, as a computer

scientist. trying to figure out what to do with my masters. andnt to the university denmark and met my professor, harry christiansen, who has become a major figure in u.s. robotics. he is a professor at georgia tech. when i saw the robot he was talking about, i said this is what i want to do. irobot, chief executive vice president. this is "the communicators." communicators" airs every week on c-span and again on c-span2 at 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. if you would like to see some of our previous programs go to c-span.org/communicators. by aspan -- created

america's cable companies 35 years ago and brought to you as a public service by your local cable or satellite provider. ofwith the sudden death president harding, vice president calvin coolidge takes office. grace coolidge was an enormously popular first lady and influenced the taste of american by becoming a style icon. she never spoke to the press, but brought attention to the issues she cared about. the original program "first ladies: influence and image." examining the public and private lives of the women who filled the office of the first lady and their influence from martha washington to michelle obama. department state

international consultant recently spoke about women in afghanistan. charlotte, the program director for the american committee on foreign relations discussed challenges in progress for american women after the fall of - after -- four afghani women after the fall of the taliban. this is about an hour. [applause] ms. ponticelli: wow. quitet think i ever had such a warm and wonderful introduction and a want to thank my very good friend judy, who has been such a support and inspiration to me also for so many years now for the great here innow she does out

this beautiful part of our country and i cannot tell you how honored i am to be here and to have another dream come true to be back in santa barbara. it is really almost like the ark of my life having kind of cut my teethcal and policy during the reagan administration. i never dreamed i would get out here. i never dreamed i would see the reagan ranch, which was such a moving experience for me on saturday. man -- i had the seen the man as the head of ronald reaganelt as the man, the genuine person that he was and remains for all of us who work for him, who knew him and loved him. here i am today speaking in the reagan room of this beautiful place named, of course, for

another great american, seth parker, someone whom i loved as a kid growing up. burke at theatt white house once and saw davey crockett when he king in. daniel byrne is good too. nother chaptert ' of my life. i am so pleased to be here today, talking about one ongoing chapter of my life. one way, i feel like those american express commercials. do you know me? most people know me as the committee director. i am also a professor at catholic university but really a huge part of my life i call my pro bono work. it is the volunteer work, the ongoing work i do with and for

the wonderful women of cause itan, a first became involved in in september of 2002. on september 9, 2002, i began a new job at the u.s. department of state heading at the international women's issues office and as you can imagine, the cause of the woman in afghanistan was issue and priority number one. at that point, i probably have trouble still finding afghanistan on the map. i guess a lot of americans would have had a hard time. i certainly had never, ever before -- although i have been to different countries and regions -- never met anyone from afghanistan.

i even must confess that i don't ofnk i have ever known anybody from the islamic faith. me.as completely new for i was very involved with afghanistan. i traveled there several times when i was in the women's issues office at state. country, to meet those people -- and especially the women. and now here 13 years later, when i meet particularly with young afghan people in washington and i remember one meeting recently at the u.s. institute of peace in washington on afghanistan and we were going around the room. young afghan

delegation. so they get to me and i think what do i say? they have been so many different affiliations with a aniston -- with afghanistan. i said i have been involved in afghanistan for 13 years and this one man sat up and looked at me and said 13 years? and then i realized this young man -- this had been more than half of his life that i have been working on this wonderful cause. so, i think it is a very critical time and yet a very challenging time to be speaking about the cause of women in afghanistan and i should say the men who support them. that is often a misconception that it is such an awful, oppressive problem.

again, i have heard from different woman, scholars, "i wouldn't be here if it weren't for my father." "i wouldn't be here if it weren't for my brother." really, they have done so much to inspire and inform my life. i was going to say -- it is a difficult time to be talking this issue. we all know that the headlines like to proclaim that it is all going downhill, the security is -- getting worse, that attacks on civilians have increased, that the opium trade continues, that corruption is

topant, and there is truth an aspect of each and every one of these challenges. but it's humbling and yet a product opportunities for me to be here. because in spite of these in june, right now 2015, there are women in afghanistan and there are male supporters who know that their accomplishments could be regarded as fragile but they are determined to continue to work hard, to use any bit of help we can give them come and do the job they need to do. they don't really want anybody doing the job for them but they could use help. they are grateful for the help

and every ounce of help and support we provide them -- believe me, the ripple effect is phenomenal. womanumbling because the in afghanistan -- i will speak about some of them i know personally. they are more courageous, hard-working, resilient than i could ever hope to be. they make me proud to be here talking about their cause because they are among the most courageous, hard-working, and resilient people i know. here, i knowand -- when i am like here, i feel like i bring so many of them of on this podium with me -- up on this podium with me. i can tell you about

parliamentarians, ministers, ,omen lawyers and judges midwives,journalists, committed to help workers come entrepreneurs, business women, and young women leading the way for a new generation. i wish i could tell you about some of the specific individuals . i have met women across the board from these areas but i could tell you about a governor sarabi, the first woman governor in afghanistan. she was actually one of the vice president of candidates in afghanistan's election a year ago. ma,ould tell you about fati

head of the afghan red crescent society. thet the woman who heads up society of women engineers in afghanistan. a owns and runs a construction company. province were recently we heard reports of isis. i remember reading lisa and she said i own my own construction company and my brother works for me. she is pretty amazing. and i could tell you about fauzia.woman, she was elected to parliament in 2005 she has been reelected since then and she became the first speaker -- fema speaker of

speakernt in -- female of parliament and afghan history. there is a great book about her called "the favorite daughter." she was the youngest of 19 daughters. 19. when she was born, her mother took her out to die in the sun. took her outside to die. felt she hadafter, to rescue her. she went out and rescued her and pledged that she would be her biggest supporter and fauzia would be a favorite daughter. her father was in politics. he was assassinated. her mother moved the family to kabul.

was getting ready for medical school, the taliban took over. she was prisoner in her own home and was denied opportunity to work in further education. after the fall of the taliban, it was determined she was going to leave her medical training and going to politics and become part of the solution and the future for her country. i have met her several times. she continues to do amazing work. article, a very moving article just about a year ago and it was titled "a letter to my american sisters." i would really like to read part of that letter today because i can interpret so much on behalf of the wonderful women i am proud to call my afghan sisters,

but i think when you hear it in their own words, they tell the stories the best. 12 long years in afghanistan all stop -- afghanistan. many americans who did the international community in this country was a failure if not a mistake. not comey of americans to believe most of the goals of the international community, especially in regards to helping the women of afghanistan, were not achieved. she talks about the constant barrage of negative media coverage of afghanistan. she said it has focused on the progress of the war but not the afghan people and has reinforced the negative perceptions. for those of us, she says, especially the women of afghanistan who are on the ground fighting for justice and equality as mothers, sisters,

wives, teachers, politicians, and more portly as citizens -- more importantly as citizens, there is a different reality that stands in contrast to what has been accomplished. she said it is true afghan is and wearadise for women face a very uncertain future with the upcoming withdrawal of international troops. but this is a part that struck me -- she says, that if the world could only see through our eyes, they might get a glimpse of the fact that afghan women have come a long way over the last decade. kate has been a difficult journey marked by blood and violence, but we have made significant gains and achievements, which would not have been possible without the generous support of the international community, especially the american people.

so i would like to point to some of those achievements that fauzia mentions in her letter to her american sisters. the benchmarks of progress. education. afghanistan has basically rebuilt an education system that had for all intents and purposes stopped functioning. in 2002, only 900,000 students in primary school and all of them were male. studentsmost 9 million are in school and 40% of them are girls. i mentioned to some of the just byl achievements auzia, of women like f who had been leading the charge.

25% parliamentarians are women and in the last election, 20% of the provincial council members were female. -- i remember that delegation where the young man stood up and found it hard to believe i had been working on afghanistan have his life and i remember him saying how much now among the young people -- the young men are proud and happy to work alongside their female counterparts. the young generation really is -- i remember a woman on that same delegation. she said you have to understand we were born in war, we grew up during work, and we live in war.

we are 60% of the voters. we are sacrificing our lives for a better future because their work leading up to the election puts them at great risk. there haveth sector, been significant gains. the afghanof population now has some access to basic health care. this is a massive increase from just 8%. now, you have more than 60% of the population. to thein great part system, community health programs have helped to reduce the maternal mortality rate by 80%.

the infant mortality rate by about 23%, meaning this is saving 80,000 newborn lives each year. there have been significant increases in life expectancy for both men and women. .hat to the political the young people and women were actively courted by all of the candidates in the field, particularly the top two. and i think we just need to think "yes, that election was not problem free." there were charges of fraud and the handling of things but the election and the way it proceeded exceeded people's expectations and i think it's important to look at the fact that in that election, about 60%

.f eligible voters voted one was the last time we had 60% of our eligible electorate voted in our election? economy, women are starting businesses. programs.raining women comprise 60% of the country's agricultural workforce. perhaps all of these positive changes is the ability to dream. i remember my first trip to afghanistan and hearing young woman say "you know, i was toied my basic human right an education. i didn't have the ability to

dream. we were prisoners, oppressed, we had no future." now when you talk to little girls in afghanistan, they will tell you their dreams. "i want to be a pilot peer cap -- pilot." copent to be a doctor or -- dr.." the picture is certainly not rosy. of all the times i've spoken to audiences about the achievements and challenges of the women of afghanistan, this is one of the hardest moments. the reports are not good. the fear among the women is very clear. they are very heartfelt. whenat a time in the u.s.

there is a great time of afghan fatigue and certainly donor fatigue. we live in a world where we want instant change, instant progress atm. atm -- and we cannot forget the fourth transition needed and it is the generational transition, which holds great promise. still as i mentioned ongoing problems, it is hard to believe despite all the efforts, more than 70% of afghans over the age .f 15 cannot read or write have of all afghan girls are .till not in school

of those in school, if you stay long enough to make it through secondary school. child marriage is still a scourge. so, how do we address this? what are the tools in our kit? audiences, asked by don't we try to take solutions or a possible solution and we try to prescribe something that would never work in their culture. one of the best approaches we have used in afghanistan, the low cost comes sustainable efforts, have been because of partnerships. my basic approach to a lot of

issues is find a way to connect the dots and that means not just connecting houses, education, health, connecting the issue dots come -- dots, but connecting the dots that are the players. one of the most successful initiatives i have been involved in over 13 years is the u.s. afghan women's council. it was headquartered then and started out at the state department. it was launched by president ofrge w. bush in january 2003. colleaguessed by my then at the u.s. department of state to be able to respond to from theing outpouring american people.

business men and women, academics, democrats and republicans alike, we didn't care. we wanted a way to harness the ofrgy and ideas and support leaders across the board that said i see the situation of the lumen of afghanistan and i want to help. so we worked together, pulled together. the council is still very much alive and well in supporting its members projects. recently, we had a wonderful meeting in dallas, texas. it was hosted by laura bush at the first lady of afghanistan.

what a fascinating meeting to be a part of. we had an honest discussion around the table. different members. one lady is a business lady. she runs a wonderful program. she came up with the idea after her first visit to afghanistan and said she wanted a business that afghan women can be part of. rugs, we design the will make it part of the deal to get the support. children have to go to school. the woman will run the businesses, we will sell the rugs come all of the profit goes back to the project. it is a fabulous project. they are beautiful products.

connie was just one person in dallas. there were some afghan women who were there. one woman does an amazing job running orphanages and mobile training clinics for women to soch them some basic skills they can start their own business and be self-sufficient and provide for their families. so the council really was a partnership. , public and.s. private. it was a way to join forces, make strength in numbers, and to really respond. criticism of here the projects in afghanistan being our ideas. did anybody consult the women of afghanistan? everything the council has

supported and been involved in has been very much in response to the priorities of afghan women themselves. that means education, political employment, and health. those were the topics that came up again in dallas. one of the council members provided a description several years ago. she said initially, the work we digging at aike mountain with a spoon. then the spoon became a shovel and the shuttle became a bulldozer. joining together, you get stronger. , involved with an organization

they are afghan americans who went back. they started one of the three top telecommunications companies in afghanistan. the foundation has built 12 hospitals across afghanistan, focusing on maternal and child health. dhey help support the new buil at the american university of afghanistan. they are supporting projects to dig wells, to provide water, sanitation, health projects. aid, just across the board. they do it quietly and with

great determination. they recently joined forces with another foundation and went over and city 1700 children in afghanistan with hearing aids so they could hear for the first time. projects thateted are having a ripple effect. another organization i'm involved with is a scholarship and leadership program involving a number of u.s. colleges and universities that provide full four-year scholarships for rising women leaders from afghanistan. graduatedwoman just from college. i got a note from her today and

congratulated her on her graduation. if you ever have a chance, catch the 8.5 minute documentary film she made. she made it as a student. she and her sister made this little film, which is amazing, about their quest to get their driver's licenses in afghanistan. it took great courage at the time. it is a story of their journey , she talksg women about what her future looked like now. she sees her future compared to what it looked like when she was growing up during the taliban when she said they were like in cages. they were prisoners in cages.

then she composes herself and says now, i am going to try to inspire other women to stand up and be drivers of change in afghanistan. she is one of the beneficiaries programprogram for josh .- program another young woman is already petitioning a chance to go back to afghanistan and starting a project teleconferencing speech pathologists here to train speech pathologists in afghanistan, which until recently only had one for the entire country. .he saw the need she is getting the academic background so she can, this project. she is doing some kick starters to get on the. , the otherthe dots

efforts would the hearing aids. win-win can work out a with that. build do we sustain and from some of the progress i have talked about, particularly in the midst of some of the challenges i mentioned? first of all, we have to remain steadfast in our commitment. we told the afghan people but particularly the women of afghanistan over different , differentions political parties, different secretaries of state, we will not abandon you, we will stay with you. we have to remember that commitment. i like to think we americans live up to our promises. i like to think we like to

safeguard our investments and lord knows we have made a phenomenal investment in the future of afghanistan through our blood and treasure. it is not a gift. that is taken likely. underappreciated, believe me. my last trip to afghanistan, there was a young woman that was a deputy minister of health. the day i was leaving and i was with the delegation and i said i have been out there to weeks longer than the delegation and she came up to me and took me by my hand and looked at me and said "promise me you won't forget us. me you won'tromise

forget me, you won't forget us." i promised her and we as a country have made that promise. said my plea to you would be please don't give up, please continue to support us. so this is heartfelt and we have to live up to our commitment. second, we have to make sure women remain part of the deal. whatever security assistance package, negotiations with the plan thathatever new might carry forward though and aspiration for more jobs and economic opportunity.

we have to make sure women are part of the deal. we have to focus on youth. two thirds of afghanistan's population is under the age of 25. populationof their of 30 million people under the age of 25. 42% of the population is under the age of 15. we can all read the headlines. we know what happens now in this age of violent extremism. the extremists are targeting the youth. in terms of our capacity building, in terms of our efforts to prevent violent extremism if not stop it, we have to focus on the youth and we have to focus on their education and skills.

education is the tool the insurgents fear the most. rightion is a basic human . its impact is transformative. i know soon you will have malala this part of the country. of course, she is from pakistan but there are many malalas in that part of the world. i think often about some ring of the ministers in afghanistan said in terms of focusing on education and focusing particularly on connecting education to job skills. this is a couple years ago but i believe it still holds true. he was a minister for rural development. he said few insurgents are driven by theology, many are driven by unemployment.

he said here is the key dollenge -- how and where you get the jobs needed each year in a country where two thirds of the population is age 25 or younger? in my view, the minister said, it is unemployment rather than insurgency that poses the greatest threat to achieving a stable afghanistan. focus on technology. this is an area of hope. we do hear about technology being used by the bad guys as well. but it is really amazing when you think that women in afghanistan 13 years ago who really had no education, no literacy, no understanding of anything outside their home, that now there is about 80% of

the women in afghanistan have cell phones now. that is an amazing opportunity. not a techie but i do know about apps. there is a lot of useful information, a lot of education ,or health, citizen awareness peer-to-peer entrepreneurship endeavors that can be achieved through cell phones. is a way that we can come up with some creative solutions like begun woman i mentioned who is working on a speech by college of project. look at ways you can use to knowledge he to train people.

can trains you people. the government is working hard but they need to achieve a lot more in terms of tackling some of the big problems. to look at the win-win. i think that we're at a point in time where we think what is the smart thing for us to do? ,ust walk away from afghanistan not care about the progress that has been achieved? , to usesy to say culture as an excuse. and you look at its history

how many times it's "culture" has changed. inre are positive changes the air, even in the midst of the challenges, there is a lot of positive things happening. again, thinking about the arc that brought me here today and ronald reagan room, i think about something ronald reagan once said. he said "we cannot help everyone, but everyone can help someone." it brought to mind a conversation i had with a group of women on my first visit to afghanistan. kate was any literacy center funded by the u.s. government. it was just a plain room where we all sat around a wood burning stove. there were about 25 women there

ages 18-60. some were widows. they have to provide for their families alone. this was soon after the fall of the taliban. i had thought that as we sat down that i should prepare myself to hear a lot of really hard stories about the suffering they endured, about their fear, their whatever. they each were so happy that someone showed interest in them, they couldn't stop talking about their hopes for the future. factwere so proud of the -- i remember one of the older woman said i can knit sweaters, i can sell them. one young woman said i know how to weave a carpet.

right now, the men take our carpet and tell them to pakistan and we don't get any profits but i know how to do this. that is why some of our projects have been helpful because we have offered partnerships with these women who deserve them. tellach one had a story to not about fears or victimhood, but about possibilities and their hope for the future and their self-confidence that with enough work, we can do it. one of my favorite expressions i have learned from them when -- from the women of afghanistan is "no problem." they love to say that. and going those women around the room and one of us said "see?

everyone here knows how to do something." so, that is the arc. we cannot help everyone but everyone can help someone and everyone here knows how to do something. so i welcome your questions, your support, and your interest on behalf of my sister's afghanistan. thank you. [applause] >> we had a microphone here in the middle of the room. it is very important to go to the microphone to ask your questions. >> to say that was inspiring is

a gross understatement. this is a such a sincere question. as i listen to you and sure there is true possibility and potential, i don't know what i can do. what can i do? is it money, tell me. ms. ponticelli: i think this has been a beauty and thank you for that question. it is one of the reasons the u.s. afghan women's council -- that was the genesis of it. what can i do? we wanted to make sure the point is, it is not just about writing though, trust me, and especially in this challenging time with donor fatigue, there are good organizations where you can make a strategic difference with a relatively small donation. but it is not just about writing

a check. sometimes, it is about offering ideas. and i think that just making contact -- i mean, again, let me go to my connecting the dots. if you are a dentist and you want to know about how you might -- and i actually was telling judy that story the other day -- talking to a group at the state department from kentucky and i got the same question. i said you know, your talents, ideas help. they can use anything. to send books to a school. if you want to know where a school is, i can give you the name of us w -- of a school. it is using our network. i heard once someone described the perfect definition of vocation. i heard it can be described as

this -- the connection between one's deepest desires and the world the greatest needs. deepest desire is to help on the literacy front, to help children have access to books, there is a way to do that. i think we connect, we target the need, and we do it. i want to show you this because i think this is one of the most effective brochures. thank you for that question. i hope i answered it. if anybody wants to help, i will give you my card. love -- there were young afghan woman that helped design this brochure. educated women lead to lasting change. eir education is the change

that makes the difference. participation is the difference that makes a change. so, this is the type of program. it doesn't go to overhead. it goes to the women to support them, to help buy their books. where the medical insurance doesn't. there are all kinds of needs. they are going back and leading the way for change. it's a great program. sure. this would be a great example. thank you. >> i am just wondering what is the influence of the taliban at this point on the women? before we even went into afghanistan, i happened to go to different talks about the country and the woman had to

burkas allurqa is -- the time, public amputation, the woman could not go to school. how much influence do they have? ms. ponticelli: obviously, when the taliban fell out of power, you have the pockets in the part,ces but for the main there was a return to some ability of freedom. people look at that of think is that the symbol oppression? when you meet young afghan women, some might wear a scarf, some might not at all. i was telling judy the other day one of the first afghan woman i -- women i met, she actually ran

for president at one point. remember her and some other afghan women saying i remember when i could wear miniskirts or the younger woman would say my mother tells me she used to wear miniskirts. burka is usede primarily in the rural areas but a lot of those restrictions are no more. under the taliban, girls couldn't go to school. period. some of the bravest woman you will meet were those who ran underground schools during the taliban at the risk of their lives. one woman told me she became a deputy administer of the education ministry and she is one of those women who ran a

school. she said we told the talan it was a religious schools will be children would come with the quaran. when the taliban would knock on the door, they would put the quaran back on the desk. whoe was one woman i met became the first head of the afghan midwife association. remember her telling us she had her son drive her around but didn't tell him what she was doing, which was delivering babies. she delivered 2000 degrees during the taliban regime. babies during the taliban regime. -- education,ents

health, life expectancy. met,irst afghan woman i life expectancy was 42. now they have gained 20 years. there has been tangible, real progress. the international community withdrawal leaves a vacuum and we open a door for the bad guys to come back in. that is what they are afraid of. the peace and reconciliation commission has kind of a token participation of women. but they are very fearful of negotiations with the taliban. >> what is the presence of americans at that point? are there still any troops as advisors? ms. ponticelli: yes. there are still troops there as advisors. we are trying to continue the military advisors there. they're trying to continue the

capacity building for the afghan security forces will stop some women are -- forces. some women are involved in the police force. training, advising, assisting. we are looking at complete withdrawal in maybe 18 months. it is a very short window and i often think -- a general i heard -- iwho was talked about have heard this story several times. it is a very vivid story of after the fall of the taliban and he was talking to a taliban representative and the taliban "you havehe general all the watches, but we have all the time. " >> thank you.

>> i thought i would highlight one of your points, which was that a lot of young men are supporting women and having been part of the feminist movement in this country, the mistake we made was not to include men. so what i'm proposing is we have of men and women here and a think that is a way we could connect electronically. so, i guess what i'm proposing is maybe we could help by mentoring. the netwe need to help and so instead of boots on the ground, we need hoots in the air. air --ink boots in the >> hoots. >ms. ponticelli: what? hoots. cheering people on. yes, support is

wonderful. and i know there are so many universities in this part of the world, this state. they give out the ways in your local colleges you could connect as well. you had michael smith, a former president of the american university of afghanistan. i think there is a great way to connect. and afghan women themselves tell that thank you for raising point. ,hey have told me for 13 years thanks for helping us educate our girls but we need to educate the boys too. [applause] ms. ponticelli: and thank you for training woman but if we're really going to advance the cause of women's rights and equality and women's

opportunity, we need to train the men. so, we get involved in this gender thing and i never use that word when it comes to afghanistan because it is a neutral term and it doesn't translate well. but women, men, mothers, fathers, family, they get that. and so do we. thank you. >> the last time i checked, there were approximately four countries in the islamic world theiruired sharia in constitutions. afghanistan was one. is that still the case and what is the prognosis for women in the future if that is brought to bear? thank you. ms. ponticelli: thank you. afghan women were very active in the drafting of the constitution.

that was one of the big challenging points they had to work out. they did feel -- at least my thinkection is -- i they're pretty proud of our constitution and they don't see a conflict between the particular clause and the equal rights for all citizens. so, they are working things out. the judicial process is one of their big challenges, the rule of law issue. so, they want to make their existing constitution work. we have amendments to our own constitution. so who knows? they may amend it sometime. to one big goal right now is try to make that first female

appointment to the supreme court. women are pretty much relegated to the family court right now and there is a lot of work that needs to be done on the rule of law and judicial systems. thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much, charlie, for a very inspirational talk. thank you so much. we have a gift for you. we want you to come back to santa barbara, california. ms. ponticelli: thank you. >> thank you. [applause] ms. ponticelli:

>> this is been tour in grand junction, colorado. >> especially here outside of grand junction, we are surrounded by rock. we find a lot of dinosaur boro's fashion phones yet it is intriguing -- we find a lot of dinosaur bones. it is intriguing. there are three different elements. it can chains radium which is radioactive to help solve and fight cancer. during the build up to world war ii to and during world war ii itself, it was of extreme value.

it also contains uranium. it is one of the best sources for atomic power and weapons. >> the colorado congress was largely responsible for the agricultural development to his water legislation. >> reserve water western colorado by making sure that we have got our fair share. how did he do that? in his state career and then going on to his federal career, he climbed up the ladder of seniority and is able to exercise more power than you might normally have. certainly in the u.s. congress where he was able to make sure colorado and western colorado would be treated fairly in any divisions of water. his first major success was the passage of the colorado river

storage project in 1956. >> see all of our programs from grand junction sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. on c-span 3. >> coming up on c-span come a look at how new technology is being used for civic engagement in cities across the u.s. then south carolina governor nikki haley talks about race relations in her state. and later richard trumka's system with reporters to talk about the u.s. labor movement and the 2016 race. >> dustin haisler is chief information officer. he recently spoke at the city club of cleveland about the use of social media and other trends in cities across the globe. in cities across the globe.