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tv   Mc Laughlin Group  PBS  May 25, 2013 12:30pm-1:01pm PDT

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from washing on the, the manage law live group, the american original for over three decades, the sharpest minds. the mcjob laughin group is brought to you by seaman's. is the first technology of its
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kind is now providing answers. families in need. seaman's. answers. >> issue one. oklahoma ef-five >> i just felt like my son and i were going to die. that's how i felt. >> it was a monster. the tornado that leveled parts of oklahoma on monday. an ef-five. that's the strongest tornado rating on the enhanced scale meaning inflicting the most damage with winds topping 200-miles per hour. the path the tornado tore up was more than a mile wide and 17-miles long, particularly hard-hit was moore, a saw burren of oklahoma city, more than $2 million in damage is the early estimate for moore. where 15,000 homes were damaged or completely
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leveled. 33,000 people have been displaced or affected by the storm. the tornado also hit two elementary schools, seven children were killed at plaza tower's elementary and the death toll as of friday was 24 with at least 324 inches. moore sits in the middle of what is nicknamed tornado alley, a geographic area that includes among others north central texas, central oklahoma, central kansas and nebraska. the rocky mountains from the west superimposes over warm moist air from the gulf of mexico. no state law or local law in oklahoma requires houses to have so-called safe rooms under ground shelters, underground shelters. public schools are also not required to have saferooms. the school were seven children were killed this week did not have a safe room. when that oklahoma school in moore is rebuilt,
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should a safe room be mandatory? pat buchanan. >> i don't know if the state should make it mandatory, but it's an excellent idea with schools in tornado alley. but all this talk about people getting storm shelters and things. these costs thousands of dollars per individual. take a look at what happened in the worst tornado i guess almost in american history. only 24 people died. now, that's terrible, but that's not a high casualty rate and when you are talking about a cost benefit analysis, i think basically other than schools and certain public places, it ought to be left up to the individuals to decide whether to get together and build a neighborhood shelter or build their own shelter, but they shouldn't be mandated to have to build a shelter for themselves. >> we're going to hit a point on that in a few minutes. oklahomans are not going to want any kind of mandatory requirement, but i would place a bet with you right now that the schools that will be rebuilt will have this storm cellar, and i also think that
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families coming in there are going to try to find a way to provide this kind of safety for themselves. it's apparently six to $8,000. maybe -- i think that would be a good idea. but i don't think you'ring going to see any kind of federal mandate. >> it's going to be disaster, federal money extended for this part of oklahoma. >> yes, and that is entirely appropriate we are all constituents in this land and both the oklahoma senators voted against aide for the victims of hurricane sandy and they are kind of refining their position now. but i think this is kind of an opportune time for the president in the sense that it's a circuit breaker for all the scandal mania in washing on the, and it shows how government can work. this administration has done an excellent job in these really big moments of disaster and the president is going to be there as a consoler in
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chief on sunday. they're all with the people of oklahoma. we don't care how they vote. >> there are pretty close to a dozen existing government regulatory agencies that provide disaster relief anywhere in the united states. any disaster. did you know that? >> i think fema is the big one. federal emergency management agency and it did not perform well when president bush was in office. and katrina undermines the bush presidency. so far this president really has done well in responding to these kind of national disaster, and because of climate change and the affect it's having and the severity and the violence of our weather events, we're going to see more of this. when hurricane season gets underway. >> so common sense, tornado alley, you want some kind of shelter in the public schools for kids. all i could think they had 16
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minutes of warning. still seven kids died. not a huge number. any kid being killed is one too many in a situation like this. tornado alley. build a shelter. common sense. requiring anybody else in oklahoma to require some kind of shelter, that's government overreach. people need to take personal responsibility for their own safety. they know they live in oklahoma. same thing when you live in california. you want to make sure you're going to live in a place where you are going to survive an earthquake. thes just common sense. i don't think the government can force. >> the federal government may have is to extend money on those who have been injured in some fashion or another. that is extending the money. >> there's going to be government cost out of this thing. >> federal government and local government. this is a disaster that is going to reach all the way to washington in one form or another. i do share the views expressed here. for public buildings, there
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should be mandatory shelters. i don't think it's necessary to go to all private buildings, but public buildings should have it especially schools. >> you can offer a tax credit to encourage people. >> i want to nail this down a little harder. should the u.s. government in washington require states to mandate safe rooms for schools to be used both for tornadoes and also for lunatic murderers like adam lanza. >> the answer is no. this should be a decision. if it is a local school. local folks should build it and make a decision. if it's a state project, they should do it. >> they have already got a lot of expenses from the damage of the tornado. >> i don't think the federal government is broke. >> i'm not saying the federal government. i'm talking about the victims of the tornado. how can they rebuild on this level. >> well, look at what i'm talking about is the federal government should not mandate these things. the state government
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understands tornadoes. >> you sound -- no matter how you phrase it. >> actually, the mayor of moore has called for a safe room in these schools. they're going to do this. >> you know, federal government waists so much money. we can't waste little money on little children in elementary schools? how many of you here were in shock to find these kids were not protected when this tornado came through. there was nothing there for them. all the money we waste. a few thousand bucks on a shelter in tornado alley. >> the tornado shelter in falls church? >> tornado alley. >> leave it to tornado alley to decide. >> there we go. let them take care of themselves. >> give me a break. they can't now. >> they need federal aide to get them out of this. regardless of all this, every
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new school that is built in tornado alley will have a shelter. >> the role of the federal government in coercing and demanding the state to do this and then it goes into affect all the way down the line. >> i think but is absolutely appropriate for the federal government to mandate that the states do this for schools. that's right. that has disaster relief. what schools? texas, oklahoma, missouri, how about virginia? who is going to decide that? we'll let the federal government have people. >> why don't you let the state government which deals with this decide it? >> it's not if one government does it or another. >> and what state are you from? >> oklahoma. >> you should too. -- issue two. copping the fifth. >> i have not done anything wrong. i have not broken any laws. i have not violatedded any irs rules or regulations and i have not provided false
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information to this or any other congressional committee. after very careful consideration, i have decided to follow my counsel's advice and not testify or answer any of the questions today. >> lois lerner worked for the irs. she is the head of the irs tax exempt organization's unit that determines whether organizations or individuals are eligible for tax exempt status. the sixth hour congressional hearing focused on the action taken by the irs's denial of exempt status to the tea party and the tea party's various extensions. lerner is the same official who broke the scandal two weeks ago in a scripted q and a at a lawyer's conference that in a subsequent phonecall to reporters sounded somewhat spontaneous but may not have been. revelations have been growing daily about lerner's
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unit. and it's now apparent systemic harassment of conservative organizations. beginning three years ago in 2010, irs officials began tagging any application with the words "tea party" or "patriot" or nine-12 project. the go slow approach the irs usedded was known as bolo. be on look-out. bolo delayed approvals of some 91 conservative groups. lerner knew about the targeting as early as june 2011. but up to may eighth, 2013, she withheld that knowledge when testifying before congress. okay. that is the irs. now, the white house with its treasury department. obama imported deputy treasury secretary neal roland, was told last year about the irs's tea party
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suppression tactic. but, the bombshell on wednesday's hearing was treasury department inspector general jay russell george's admission that he had only conducted a quote/unquote audit of irs procedures, not an investigation. under questioning, george acknowledgedded that he did not ask any irs officials whether their targets of the tea -- targeting of the tea party was known to or ons gaited by the white house. george's revelation means that no authority whatsoever has conducted a probe. white house or obama/biden campaign involvement in the irs's political suppression of tea party groups that criticize the president. question. if lois lerner has nothing to hide, why did she invoke her fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination? >> well, there are a lot of interesting factors here that we learn from the
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hearing this week, and no, we didn't hear from miss lerner who recused herself. she may be summoned back. she may have waived her fifth amendment right by saying she did nothing wrong at the start of the hearing, so we may be hearing from her. if she can come back on her subpoena, she may be questioned. some of the things we heard that were really interesting had to do with the irs commissioner at the time. he made 118 trips to the white house to speak to various people there, the president, others, both beneath the president -- the president and people beneath the president to talk about various things including healthcare reform and other issues. one big question is how far up the chain in all those meetings did this come up in passing in the white house the fact that these groups were complaining about being targeted and that there was an investigation going on. >> what did the president know and when did he know it? >> let me just say this one thing. his predesees so, mark everson who was the irs commissioner before he took over. guess how many times he came to
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the white house while he was there? >> one. >> what is the press concluding? did the president know about this? >> did the president know? the president has said "i found out my first inkling of knowledge of this was when it came into the public press. now, the white house counsel and white house chief of staff knew almost three weeks before. >> at the very least. >> at the very least, and they apparently did not tell the president of the united states hey, we got a time bomb that's going to go off at the irs inside treasury, a political scandal of the first order. >> there's all this on capitol hill, but nobody has found any connection with the white house. mr. shilman was appointed by president bush. he's a democrat. >> well, -- he admitted so. >> appointed by president bush. you started out asking about lois lerner. if she didn't take the fifth, her lawyer should be convicted for malpractice. she's under investigation in a criminal probe so she had to take the fifth. she is a bit of a mystery woman. she blew the whistle on this,
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then she stopped it. then she is the one who brought it to public light at the instruction -- at the hearing -- >> can we please move on? >> i want to finish what i'm saying. >> steven miller, the former acting commissioner says he instructed her to go into question thinking he could get ahead of the story. he said it wasn't the best way to get the story out. >> i want to know what did the president know? did connie tell the president? >> no evidence. >> who used to be on this program by the way? >> who is this new chief of staff? >> dennis income done that. did dennis tell him? >> no. the president didn't know. >> do you believe that? >> i do believe that. i believe it. >> do you believe one # # 18 trips to the white house? >> i believe the president is telling the truth because if he isn't, he really has a problem. >> that's right. >> you mean connie withheld it from him? >> no, connie found out when the president did. >> what about dennis? >> dennis withheld it for three weeks from the president. >> is dennis taking a rap here or is he going to
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be commended? they're saying there are some things the president should not know. >> they didn't say -- >> mcdunna. >> there are some things the president should not know. mcdunna. you think he should? >> no. >> there was obviously a close tie between these two men. they can really talk to each other in a way the previous occupants. >> you know how the chief of staff is. >> i've been in three white houses. you walk in and say give me ten minutes, mr. president. i've got to give you a head's up. >> they speak the same language, and he will not give you an interview to anybody. >> the inspector general's report are some thing the white house does not tamper with. >> there were two excellent pages on dennis in time magazine which was a competitive to your former magazine which i think is no longer in existence. >> it is in existence. it's on the web. >> i recommend those.
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>> there's nothing on this dennis mcdunna. >> i think he's a prime chief of staff. >> exit strategy. >> if we see continued improvement, and we have confidence that that is going to be sustained then we could in the next few meetings take a step down in our pace of purchases. again, if we do that, it would not mean that we are automatically aiming towards a complete wind-down. >> ben bernanke is the chairman of the u.s. federal reserve board, aka the fed. the fed right now is at the end of its third round of quote/unquote quantitative easing. aka qe three. which is for a process by which the fed purchases assets at a current rate of $85 billion a month. this purchase -- the economy.
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the volume of this qe-three is tied to the state of the economy. a moving target. at -- markets quiver at any hint of the fed adjusting. mr. bernanke's testimony asserted the merits of easing monetary policy and without it, the fear of higher unemployment. but, the fed could begin as early as late july or mid september to taper off its flow of money which it eventually must do. but it could wait until 2014 six months from now. or if the economy were to drop without the qe three easing, the fed could put it foot back on the accelerator. on the petal to the metal, to the qe metal as it were. >> question, why is why is mr. bernanke cautioning that the fed may curb qe-three. what has bernanke so worried?
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>> what he is worried about is there is a huge amount of money he has put into the financial system of this country. you will have is bubbles if they think this is going to go on. he wants to make sure that kind of speculation does not exist. there may be a point where this all ends. i think that is what he's doing. he's making it clear that he will be responsive to the way the economy is going. it was, i think misinterpreted. he misspoke i think in terms of what he was going to do. i don't think he has any intention at this stage of the game to lower the rate of growth or to lower qe-three or to change because that is the only thing keeping this economy >> there is a negative side. that is what he is beginning to worry about. >> however he spoke, it shook up a lot of places in the financial world. the stock market was up. when that came out, it dropped.
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>> what do you think is going to be the critical point either in the market or somewhere in the economy that will inspire him to stop this high liquidation that is going on. >> if you have real increases in employment. we have had nominal increases in employment that is insignificant. if you had real increases, the economy -- let me just finish. the economy is only >> manufacturers holding their fire and not hiring because they are waiting to see what further developments are. their sales are not going up. people are not buying enough. we have had unbelievably low rates of increases in deployment. >> what is your prediction of things to come? >> my prediction of things to come in this
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economy. it's going to stay weak for quite a while. i don't believe they're going to change their monetary policy. when i say quite a while i think it's going to go on a minimum of six months to a year. >> issue four, obama up close and personal. >> president obama delivered the commencement address this past sunday in atlanta and an all-male african american college and the alma later -- mater of the reverend dr. martin luther king jr. it's been 50 years since the historic i have a dream speech delivered at the height of the struggle for civil rights and justice in this country. and on the steps of the lincoln memorial in 1963. the president spoke for 34 minutes about his own life and the experience of being black in america. >> i was raised by a heroic single mom, wonderful grandparent. made incredible sacrifices for me. i sure wish i had a father who was not only president, but involved. didn't know my dad. i want to break that cycle.
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when a father is not at home. when a father is not helping to raise that son or daughter. >> i want to be a better father. a better husband. a better man. too many young men make bad choices. i have to say growing up i made quite a few myself. sometimes i wrote off my own failings as just another example of the world trying to keep a black man down. i had a tendency sometimes to make excuses for me not doing the right thing. whatever positions of leadership i have held have depended less an ivy league degrees or sat scores or gpa social security and have is instead -- gpas and have been due to the special obligation i felt as a black man like you to help those who need it most. people who didn't have the opportunities that i had
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because there but for the grace of god, i might have been in their shoes. i might have been in prison. i might have been unemployed. i might not have been able to support a family, and that motivates me. >> question. what does it say that obama, president obama accepted an invitation and not an invitation -- and he got many of them from any ivy league college. >> well, you know, i don't know what that says. i think he wanted to go down to talk to those young black males. that was one of the most inspirational best speeches i heard obama deliver. it had humor in it. it had everything in it about his past and about what these kids could do and what they got for their future. it was a phenomenal, in my judgment, speech at a commencement. >> yeah, people -- it's a 32- minute speech. and -- it's a message that only he could give and speaking to this audience, he said no excuses.
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if you look at your fore bearers, people survivedded worse than what you have encountered and will encounter. then he talked about being raised by a heroic mother and grandparents who did everything for him but how much he missed the father in his family. this is a message -- he's delivered it before -- but it's very compelling today. and he also spoke at the commissioning at the naval academy that raised the subject of sexual assault in the military and basically said how that violates the code of honor in the military. so he is bringing these issues right to the people who were going to live these issues. >> the most interesting thing about that speech. he's given it before. he did it when he was campaigning in 2008. he goes under the radar a lot. what's most interesting about it is how it splits from his philosophy as president. here he is out there talking to an audience about personal responsibility. look at how he governs the
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nation. he governs the nation by increasing the size of government, by increasing food stamps and decreasing dependency on government when it's just the opposite, really, of what he is telling people about the way they should behave which is personal responsibility. that is the most interesting thing. >> you have 15 seconds. >> well, i think one of the alliances he had there that was wonderful. he said nobody is going to give you anything. you know, you have is to earn it. >> that's not true. i just think that is a message that is a wonderful message. >> general holder or at least his deputy through that full-court press on the 20 members of the ap and we now learn the teams has been basically almost accused of criminality in order to run all these reseens of his records. and the president was unaware of both of these. i think eric holder is a going to be in trouble and b, we're going to get more revelations about these searches or reporter's phone
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records. >> the 18 reps is the dirtiest part of that whole mess-up. >> no, the dirtiest part is the fact that the reporter was found to be committing a crime according to the justice department, at fox news for doing his job. >> right. but that was two years ago. he was in charge then and he's not going to be chargedded. secondly, the president made a very supportive speech this week, redefining the war on terror as we go forward and closing -- part -- >> yeah, he does that on thursday. it will affect the talk shows on sunday because he doesn't want -- he wants the irs to disappear. >> it didn't affect this talk show, did it? >> i've got a prediction which is that the immigration reform bill will pass the senate. >> quickly. >> i've got a prediction that the economy is going to grow at no more than a two% rate for the next year and we're going to be in trouble. >> the upcoming will be the most contentious ever.
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try to sabotage. the psprc's growing military spending. >> bye bye.
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program is provided by the gruber family foundation and by the members of kqed. ♪ as an openly gay man, it causes a significant amount of personal pain for me, when the church that i love says that homosexuality is incompatible with christian teaching. it's just fundamentally unfair and untrue. >> we wonder why these people keep banging on the doors, keep pushing us and pushing us, trying to back us into a corner. ♪ >> i think every time we go, we hope that this will be the year.

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