he is asked often by african- american reporters if he has an african-american agenda, and his answer is, at this time, my overall agenda is the best thing to help african-americans. it is sort of a sense that he is not trying to develop an agenda specifically for african- americans, and i think, politically, that is probably smart. >> when you look at presidents, it is often said that arthur like kitchen cabinets -- they are like kitchen cabinets. did any african-americans have influence? >> more recently, we have that african-americans in key positions like colin powell. before that, one example is a person named william slade. abraham lincoln trusted his judgment, and felt that he was in contact with everyday america. he actually got -- bounced each lines off of william slade, and took him with him when he spoke, including at gettysburg. he wanted to see what his valet thought about it. that is remarkable. the person he trusted with the gettysburg address, it was is african-american the valet. >> this was a free man? >> at this point, absolutely, yes. he had been a slave. >> there

that death americans are exceptionalism we think those people who still believe in the american dream are the super majority in america and rebuild the dream dot com is about supporting both people coming up we're going to say it is absolutely astounding to me i have sat through so many. organizing meetings activists means from literally i'm i'm a bit older than you literally from my days in the s.d.s. in the late sixty's before you were born or about the time you were born to be you know latin three weeks ago and it's like so often people are competing there they're there there's infighting there's all these these politics and i'm just astounded you were able to pull all this together. i tell you what i tell you one thing. but i tell you if it were just to try to do it it wouldn't work but i think what has happened is that we have a certain wisdom and maturity across all these organizations you know these organizations remember what it was like in two thousand and eight when we were unified and we were a member who was like a two thousand and ten we were not unified and that is the b

and to defend american infrastructure from this weeping reckless attack from d.c. the dream killers cannot prevail those who still believe in america who still believe that america is exceptional because we have an exceptionally large middle class we have exceptionally smart social programs and services essential services that state the net that's american except exceptionalism we think those people who still believe in the american dream i was a supermajority in america and rebuild the dream guy is about supporting those people come in the courts i got to tell you it is absolutely astounding to me i have sat through so many. organizing meetings activist means from literally i'm i'm a bit older than you literally from my days in the s.d.s. in the late sixty's before you were born or about the time you were born to you know what three weeks ago and it's like so often people are competing there they're there there's infighting there's all these these politics and i'm just astounded you were able to pull all those together. i tell you what i tell you one thing. well i

they believed it was good for african-americans and americans in general. that was the divide between the naacp and tuskegee institute and that goes back to the founding of the naacp. were w. e. b. du bois argues against the pragmatic vision of tuskegee's founder booker t. washington, much more idealistic where washington is more pragmatic. it is a debate they had been having for 30 some years by this point but the program was created, african-americans did begin flying in tuskegee under the army's in 1940. they created the site the national park service now has as a primary flight training facility that would be managed by tuskegee institute. civilian instructors teaching african-americans to fly on a large scale for the first time using federal dollars. the fact that they forced the federal government into this to they side is giving african-american greater opportunities lead to greater changes down the road so in that sense the pragmatic side was right. once cadets graduated, they advanced to tuskegee airfield where they were taught to fly the army way.

he did point out that he did promote and name the two highest ranking african-americans in american history in condoleezza rice and colin powell as national security advisor for condi rice and then secretary of state and, of course, powell's secretary of state in the first term. and he says he isn't given a lot of credit for that. and that just shows that he's working on merit rather than a racial template to put over things. >> host: how do you think secretary rice and powell influenced president bush on domestic issues? their portfolio was of foreign policy, of course, but domestic issues were never seen quite as his forte? >> guest: no, that's true. i interviewed secretary powell for the book and he said that he did discuss some domestic issues with the -- he served ronald reagan, george bush, the father, george bush the son, he mentioned how in the case of the l.a. riots after the famous incident with rodney king, he did try to explain to president bush, the father, why so many people were upset in the african-american community about a traffic stop. and about this sort of thing and try

. >>> on a uniquely american holiday weekend, a look at the american dream. a steady job. a home of your own. a better life for your kids. a secure retirement for you. the reality of today's struggling economy threatens it all. is the american dream fading? >>> today, a "state of the union" special. "making it in america." with steve case, housing secretary, shaun donovan, and educator, jeffrey canada, and finance expert, suze orman, and then first john mccain spending the fourth with the troops in afghanistan. >>> minutes ago we were joined from kabul by the ranking republican on the armed forces committee, john mccain. you have been fearful that withdrawing the troops by september of next year is risky to the troops and advances made on the groupd. have you seen or heard anything on your visit there that causes you to rethink that? >> no, basically what i have seen and heard here, both from afghans as well as a number of americans is that it's an unnecessary risk, and it's not recommended by any of the milita military, and i hope it will work out, but it certainly depriv

but there's one thing that americans don't do -- in fact, there's two things americans don't do well. one is history. the american attitude is, you know, joe? he's history. [laughter] or as henry ford said once, you know, all history's bunk, you know? that's the attitude. it's for kids who go to college and study. one young man introduced himself as a history major, and i said when i was teaching for this cup the problem was finding enough kids who wanted a history major. not understanding history. and the second part more thans don't do well -- americans don't do well is patience. and we in our part of the world, history is most important. so there's a historic context both to our relationship and to our relationship with our neighbors. and because of that we find ourselves in a position where we have never been fully able to or at least some parts of our government have never been able to fully trust their counterparts in the u.s. government and vice versa. and now we have a situation where we have a war that we need to fight and win for our people's sake which is the war against te

move over "american idol" how about our american troops? ♪ and the rockets red glare >>> good evening. it's great to have you with us on this fourth. we begin with a dramatic rescue operation under way right now after a holiday trip ended disastrously a boat with american tourists sinking off the coast of mexico. here's what we know tonight, 44 people were on board. 27 of them americans. when the boat flipped over and sank during a storm. at least one american is dead, several others missing. at this hour, the u.s. coast guard has joined mexico's navy, pulling survivors from the water. as this tragedy unfolds we're learning tonight of some remarkable stories of survival. tourists swimming to shore clutching a cooler. it all happened about two miles off the coast near baja, mexico and we begin with abbie boudreau in mexico. >> reporter: these are the lucky ones, their tour boat capsized in the middle of the night carrying 44 passengers and crew. the mexican navy says there was no mayday call, for more than 12 hours no one was aware they were

spending binge in american history.here's what we got for that massive spending binge. a new health care bill most never asked for. stimulus bill producing material for late night comedians than producing jobs. national debt so out of hand it sparked a crisis without precedent in my lifetime or yours. the united states cannot default on its debt obligations. jobs and savings of too many americans are at stake. we told the president in january, the american people will not accept an increase in the debt limit without significant spending cuts and reforms. over the last six months we've done our best to convince the president to partner with us to do something dramatic to change the fiscal trajectory of our country. something that will boost confidence if our economy. help businesses get back on track. last week the house passed such a plan. with bipartisan support. it is called the cut, cap and balance act. it cuts and caps government spending. and paves the way for a balanced budget amendment to the constitution, which

who is an american? how do we sort of coexist in this post war period where the people from that community are by and large marginalized, yet you have this whole kind of other thing happening where it's -- the war has been won, this is like new things, television is happening, advertising, this whole advertising thing is happening. so you have these marginalized peoples and what happens, is it possible to develop a kind of at that moment a cross-cultural community? is it possible to have kind of a multi cultural community that emerged from that moment? and so, in particular, that's what i wanted to explore. and part of the back drop is there was this extraordinary jazz scene happening in that area. there's this wonderful book called fillmore harlem west and also there's several other books that are about that particular era. but that's all happening too, people like billie holiday, count basie, duke ellington, they were all playing in the fillmore district, bop city, plantation club, jack's tavern. that'

writing an african american character. you have to think about, too, this whole idea of political correctness has both an up side and a very bad down side. one of those is people tend to be very cautious and not want to try things like that. i eventually through my relationship with danny glover pulled it out of my drawers -- out of the drawer, desk drawer, and read it and danny was instrumental in saying, let's do this. let's just do this. but, again, it was me working with some african american actors and i actually had it vetted by august wilson, read it and checked it out for me and there's another fellow who wrote soldier's story, charles fuller, took a look at it for me. i wanted to make sure my bases were covered. but this new play, what i did was, i feel comfortable writing the characters, but you are never sure. one thing that happened was steven anthony jones helped me a great deal with the african american character. we took it to sundance and what happens when you go to sundance is you bring some actors and som

african-americans and hispanics and american indians and after more than a decade after granting 14,000 of these scholarships gates scholars have a five your graduation rate of 88%, double the number of non students of color. a six your graduation rate of 90%. much higher than the overall national graduation rate and comparable to the graduation rate of students from the highest income families. what is the millennium scholar's formula? it is money. a lot of bloody. $1.6 million. it is understanding that students need more than a check. they need academic support. they need mentoring and social support and all the kinds of support students from higher income families, students from families where college is a tradition they need over kinds of support other students take for granted. if you hear anyone say low-income minority students can't get through college, that we can't empower them to get through you tell them yes we can. so we know we can help students of color get through college. can we help from get to college? can we give them the education before they step onto a college camp

i would argue the american people finally woke up.eep talking about this tea party movement, lawrence, i think that movement is a lot bigger than your profession -- or actually, either party understands. >> i'm going to put congressman joe walsh as a maybe for voting for the reagan debt ceiling increases. congressman joe walsh, thank you very much for joining me tonight. >> thank you, lawrence. >> coming up, senior white house advisor david plouffe joins me from the white house. somewhere in america, there's a doctor who can peer into the future. there's a nurse who can access in an instant every patient's past. and because the whole hospital's working together, there's a family who can breathe easy, right now. somewhere in america, we've already answered some of the nation's toughest healthcare questions. and the over 60,000 people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers. ♪ going to the bank without going to the bank... that's a step forward. with chase quickdeposit on your smartphone, you just snap a picture, hit send

that would be terrible for american family and for the american government.ally asking, i think, is for speaker boehner not to follow this extreme group, but to lead a little bit. this group, the 80 to 100 house republicans, many of them newly elected who are at the extremes, shouldn't be able to say to the entire country, it is our way or no way themselves don't represent the thinking in most of the country. >> we are face arg financial doomsday here. the american public are watching you guys all squabbling around and saying just get this done. nearly 10% of us are out of work anyway will. >> if one side is willing to reach out and compromise all the time and the other side says no, it is awfully hard to get it done. and to do what they want, which is a short term renewal of the debt ceiling, raising of the debt ceiling, we'll be back where we started in a couple months and standard & poors is likely to down grade us. much more likely than under our plan. so we're asking senate republicans, many have shown a degree of compromise. 16 or 17 of them signed a st

[applause] and new american media. [applause] apparently, tonight is hyphen's night.tulations to hyphen. [applause] a quick word about the organization. it was founded in 2003. it's a volunteer run nonprofit news and culture organization that illuminates asian america through hard-hitting investigative features on the cultural and political trends shaping the fastest growing ethnic population in the country. it engages people through our print magazine, website and events to fulfill the commission to tell the untold stories of asian americans with accuracy, nuance and complexity. to showcase emerging artists, creators and leaders of our community and to build a socially and politically aware community through media, dialogue, and cultural events. it's been honored by chinese for affirmative action, with the flames of justice award in 2008, nominated by the utney reader for -- for utney independent press award, best new title in 2007 and in 2010 for best social and cultural coverage. so again we say congratulations to you. [applause] >> thank you all so much. as much a

americans are watching. it's time for us to lead and demonstrate the american exceptionalism. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. mcgovern: thank you, mr. speaker. at this time i yield two minutes to the gentleman from new york, a member of the committee on budget, mr. tong -- tonko. mr. tonko: thank you, mr. speaker, and i thank the gentleman from massachusetts for yielding. we're here today at long last to vote on the republican default plan. after 200 days without a jobs agenda, after 200 days of saying that those hardest hit by the recession should bear the burden of unbalanced cuts, after 200 days of rhetoric and walking away by republican -- away, my republican colleagues have brought their default plan to the floor for a public debate and a vote. so what do they offer up? courageous leadership, a grand bargain? sad sadly, no. when you walk out of -- sadly, no. when you walk out of negotiations and spend more time talking to the press than to the president i'm not sure we expected more. we have before us the same tired

we put american infrastructure, american manufacturing, we get americans roads, light rail, all theseneed to be done, all across america, and that is the way we get ourselves out of this deficit situation, is we put americans back to work. >> well, for the reid plan, that really is the devil in the details. how far does $2.7 trillion go and how would that affect job creation? because that has been the real problem right now. >> that's the question. that's why when you ask me, are we ready to sign up for it, i say, we'll see. it meets our basic criteria, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it's what with we think is needed to build this economy. we're going to look at it, but job creation and infrastructure and investment is what is needed to get america back on track right now. >> congressman, good to have you with us tonight. thanks so much. >>> so there's some light at the end of the tunnel at the progressive caucus. while congress bickers over spending can cuts, no one in washington has anytime to address the real crisis of america job loss. former secretary robert reich joins me

african-americans serve at the head of the nation's largest corporation. african-american sits in the white house. by any measure, that is progress. but if that is -- if that is one america, there is as well, as we well now, another america. in this other african-american of 100 students who start the 9th grade in that african america, only three -- only three will complete college. compared to 10 white students. now the ten is nothing to be proud of. but the three is appalling. much of the difference between the college graduation rate of people of color and the majority population is, of course, financial. the cost of college, and the inability of millions of family incomes to keep pace with the cost continues to be the single largest factor in the inability of families of color to send their sons and daughters to college. and the inability of those sons and daughters once enrolled to stay in college and graduate. ask any college president, ask any african-american college president, ask any president, what's the number one barrier, staying in school, pa

of the asian-american communities here in san francisco in the 1950's.ing along to 1977 and the fall of the international hotel. our friends, we have come a long way. [applause] i have to tell you the most amazing moment of the year of 2011 was the first meeting of the board of supervisors this year on january 8, leading to the vote that we first cast for the first asian-american mayor in the city and county of san francisco. this was a vote that came about because you, the people of san francisco, elected four asian- american to the board of supervisors. and not just three chinese representatives, but the first korean-american representative, and i am so honored to represent the four of them, to welcome you here to this celebration. we have decided to implement a new yearly award, with each of our district supervisors recognizing a 11 awardees representing the best, brightest, most impact low in our community we will be honoring as part -- most impactful in our community we will be honoring as part of apa heritage month. in district 1 -- in district two

we put american infrastructure, american manufacturing, we get americans building bridges, roads, light all these things that need to be done, all across america, and that is the way we get ourselves out of this deficit situation, is we put americans back to work. >> well, for the reid plan, that really is the devil in the details. how far does $2.7 trillion go and how would that affect job creation? because that has been the real problem right now. >> that's the question. i mean, that's why when you ask me, are we ready to sign up for it, i say, we'll see. it meets our basic criteria, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it's what with we think is needed to build this economy. we're going to look at it, but job creation and infrastructure and investment is what is needed to get america back on track right now. >> congressman, good to have you with us tonight. thanks so much. >>> so there's some light at the end of the tunnel at the progressive caucus. while congress bickers over spending can cuts, no one in washington has anytime to address the real crisis of america job loss. former s

kind of the american dream, i guess.ork for ashland, massachusetts. a small little community. and i'm in charge of the water division. i worked my way up. and i make sure the water is clean, pure, people can drink it. i make sure that we have no problems with it. >> what was the water like in portug portugal? >> well, i tell you, if you grabbed a jug and you walked a half mile down the river, you would get it right out of the side of the mountain. couldn't analyze it, and you had to go grab it every day, four or five times a day. this country takes everything for granted because it's just there. if you go to countries like where i'm from, the simplest things aren't there. >> congratulations, my fellow americans, my fellow intentional americans. [ applause ] >> what are you going to do to celebrate becoming a citizen? >> i'm going to go home and i'm going to buy myself a flag for my house. that's another dream i've had. putting an american flag on my front door. that's the first thing i'm going to do. that's how i'm going

american soldiers present there and he american presence on his administration and then by a kurdistan regional government there is there is corruption throughout our of iraq on a much greater scale than the kurdistan region i think what you've heard me unfortunately is old fashioned arab nationalist propaganda and what is vital to understand is that iraq has just gone through an absolutely terrific intra arab civil war that was not primarily caused by the american occupation it was cause i don't think this is just journalism in a very sad. time for many thanks to my guest today in new york in washington and london and thanks to our viewers for watching us here are to see you next time and remember crosstalk.

concerning the child adoption process just recently several american families have been blaming all groups for children adopted in russia south moscow wants to help i like to examine the living conditions tribe adopted children what other problems does the russian children on the front face here's the presidential commission for the children's rights by the left after. a number of scandals where american parents badly treated the children played up with russia last moscow and washington to come up with a solution to talk about design by russia with new york helping americans are not true to russia international recognized convention but inside russia it's a different story children's rights are also in. the country doesn't have a single juvenile court to deal with such things. welcome to the show thank you very much for coming in first of all about this new agreement that the russians and the u.s. are planning to sign what will be the new. rules of adoption will there be new rules because there are a few changes and a few rules in this new agreement because this is the first agreeme

i think that americans agree. today, and we have to act with urgency in order to save it. because americans are not interested in affiliation. they are interested in absolutions and leadership that will tell them the truth. the truth is, all of us, we, the american people, are the solution, not our government. because this issue is about big issues. it is not about pey wines. when all is said and done, we cannot be about big government as usual. becausthen america will lose, quite frankly. and in washington, u.s. of bringing a voice to the halls of congress that has been missing for a very long time. it is your voice. it is the voice of the people that i love and the people that i learned souch from as a young girl growing up here in waterloo. it is the voice of reasonable, fair minded people, who love this country, who are patriotic, who see the united states as the indispensable nation of this world. [applause] and my voice is one that is part of a much larger movement to take back our country and i wan to take

but those are not the americans we remember. we remember americans who put country above self. we remember the americans who held this country together during its most difficult hours, put aside pride and party to form a more perfect union. that's who we remember. that's who we need to be right now. the entire world is watching. so let's seize this moment to show why the united states of america is still the greatest nation on earth. not just because we can still keep our word and meet our obligations but because we can still come together as one nation. thank you. god bless you and may god bless the united states of america. >>> speaker of the house john boehner is set to speak in 2 minutes. >>> i want to get a quick look that weather. chief meteorologist bill martin is in the weather center. >> temperatures have been on the cool side. lower fire danger but numbers have been chilly. i will show you what we have. fog showing up that ocean beaches. that fog regroups tonight and when it does it fills in in the inland valleys. look at what we are forecasting tonight. the fog and l

it's high time to stop playing rush and rule et with the american economy and american jobs and that's what this will measure does. it says ok, america, we are going to pay america's bills, but only for five more months and only if we put in motion a plan that will end the medicare guarantee and slash education. the proposal befo us today will put the american economy and american jobs at even greater jeopardy over the next five months than they are today. it deliberately, by choice, keeps the economy under a cloud of instability and uncertainty. it chooses to risk higher interest rates and shrinking retirement funds a hit on every american family. so why would we choose to intentionally keep this cloud hanging over the country and the american people? we're told that we have to do it in order to force this congress toreduce the deficit. that's what we're told. but the actions tell a very different story. the actions suggest this is not about reducing the deficit, it's about reducing the deficit in a particular way, the way the republican plan wants to reduce the deficit. that's why ou

a part of it -- i could be way off here, but native americans are americans-americans, too. america in general, i think, is a humorous country often. i mean, that's what people say -- that's the reputation of americans in other countries. that we're funny. so why wouldn't native americans be funny, too? but some are just hysterical. this one woman in yakima, she's so funny. i tell her a joke she's heard it. and i said have you lived on the reservation your whole life and she will say, not yet. [laughter] >> just a take off on other jokes but in generally, i found that native people laugh at each other, certainly at nonnative people and at some of these assumptions and sometimes they just get absolutely outraged at the rudeness of nonnative people towards them and they make that into a joke. for instance, i interviewed an osage woman, a lawyer, who's very sophisticated. she works in washington, d.c.. she has her own law firm there. she goes home and she calls it oklahoma to the reservation. but she says sometimes people come up to her and they say, you don't look like a real

in this case, the notion of the african-american staff and the first african-american president is so much more intense. >> host: yeah. let's go back to george w. bush and the household staff. the certain of reyou knowon that george herbert walker bush talked about. any staff members george w. bush was close to? >> guest: i didn't find any particular staff members, no. but the staff that he knew when his dad was president, as you say, it was almost like sort of a reunion with the bush family when -- after the clinton period of bush the son came back. then the father would come back for visits. so that sort of enhanced the whole notion of sort of the bush family knows the household staff. the household staff liked the bushes in some ways because they were so predictable. that's very important to have consideration for the household staff. some presidents were late, some presidents were like lyndon johnson would say i'm going to have 50 people for dinner in two houses. take care of it. bush's were much more willing to give people notice and understand when some things couldn't be done.

and that's 50 years in space by the american people. >> what about the american spirit?say nothing of explore nation, both of which i think are hard wired into our character. what about what this did to rally our people? >> i think back before the early space flights, which i was fortunate enough to be on one of them. and i think some of those early space flights are what brought the american psyche back into battery again maybe and said hey, we can do this thing. we had some successes. and we were moving and yes, we'll outdo them and we did. it was a restoration of the american psyche i think back in those days and i think we played a role in it. >> our thanks to nbc's jay barbree and to john glenn who later this month will turn 90 years old. he and his wife annie just celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary. just getting started. that ee that's our broadcast for this wednesday night. thank you for being with us. i'm brian williams. hope to see you right back here tomorrow evening. good night.

to ensure that there will be american troops patrolling the disputed territories they'll be working hard to ensure that their recent successful detente with the government of turkey continues and they continue to attract inward investment if the kurds were to take the risk of going for independence that might damage all of the successful inward investment they've made it would also mean that they'd have to devote almost the entirety of their resources to military needs and they are they don't want to do that they've come a long way in the last decade they don't want to lose the gains of that last decade sam if i can go to you we heard the word leverage and i think that's probably the most important word when we look at it we drove american troops i mean how much can the kurds get from baghdad ok i mean we meet everyone's watching each other across the the the question so-called border where the kurds the kurdish lands been relatively quiet kids and considering the violence since two thousand and three what can they get from baghdad and how resistance is bad baghdad going to be and w

the american people want us to compromise. the american people are in the middle. that's where most are. they don't want extremes from either side. so what would we do logically to find a solution in the middle? to close our budget deficit? we would first of all cut spending. secondly we would close tax loopholes for big corporations, and thirdly, we would let those who can afford to pay more, pay more. the president has proposed something like this, $4 trillion reduction in the deficit. and the republicans have refused to do it. they refused to even plug loopholes for big oil and gas. so this is where we are now. it takes two to tango. if they are going to vote no on anything that closes tax loopholes, we have to just raise the debt ceiling. we voted seven times under brush to have a clean debt ceiling raised. 28 times under president reagan to have a clean debt ceiling raise. and yet the republicans won't do it. and they bring us to the brink of disaster. the truth of the matter is, we don't need extremes. as pointed out here before, this will end medicare and me

again and again they talked about this is going to make me a better american or feel i'm a better american. >> charlie: you're talking about the people at the time of jefferson. >> in the 1900's. they're not going to bring home 80 crates full of stuff but they're going to bring home themselves as a better sculpture, better physician, better politician. >> charlie: i've asked you about this before. when the famous story that jefferson and adams died on the same day. >> yes. >> charlie: who was it that reached out to whom. someone told me or you told me that it wasn't either -- i first heard it was adams' wife abigail who was responsible. then i heard no, that she actually -- >> no, it was benjamin rush from philadelphia, the physician who signed the declaration of independence. >> charlie: felt like what. >> he felt those two shld have a reconciation before ty die. and adams agreed right away and wrote to jefferson. >> charlie: adams wrote to jefferson and abigail had nothing to do wi it. >> nothingo do witness. abigail is more angry at jefferson. >> charlie: that's what someone told me. th

more americans can name the judges on "american idol" than on the supreme court of the united states. what does this mean to us? how did we get here? well, first of all, unless the next generation understands the obligations imposed by the constitution, we are going to have a serious, serious problem. my children can always tell me about their rights, but very rarely tell me about their responsibilities. those responsibilities are critical to our future as a country. the fact of the matter is, if we do not understand the constitution, if our children do not understand the constitution, and appreciate the separation of powers, and appreciate the different roles that are branches of government are meant to play, how are our elected officials opposed to understand? what has happened today in washington? what is happening to our country? what is happening to a saying that we all have heard? i will ask people to raise their hands. do you remember going to school when we all heard the statement, "i don't agree with what to say, but i will defend to the death your right to say it." to do you

americans are watching. it's time for us to lead and demonstrate the american exceptionalism. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. mcgovern: thank you, mr. speaker. at this time i yield two minutes to the gentleman from new york, a member of the committee on budget, mr. tong -- tonko. mr. tonko: thank you, mr. speaker, and i thank the gentleman from massachusetts for yielding. we're here today at long last to vote on the republican default plan. after 200 days without a jobs agenda, after 200 days of saying that those hardest hit by the recession should bear the burden of unbalanced cuts, after 200 days of rhetoric and walking away by republican -- away, my republican colleagues have brought their default plan to the floor for a public debate and a vote. so what do they offer up? courageous leadership, a grand bargain? sad sadly, no. when you walk out of -- sadly, no. when you walk out of negotiations and spend more time talking to the press than to the president i'm not sure we expected more. we have before us the same tired

i just did team teaching on african-american jewish political thought. next year i'm teaching another course on martin and the influence on art, and a whole range of courses. most having to do with either history, political thought, 19th century political thought or doing with critical race theory, african-american political thought. >> host: you're the author of "look the negro". what's that? >> guest: a group of essays relating to race and film, and two other occasional essays as well, so, for example, i have an essay there on representation of race in a movie, you know, "the lion king" that many of us saw a long time ago. i have an essay on med ya representations of race during the king uprising in a book i edited and also interesting piece engaging another philosopher around the reading of the british stair movie. unlike the du bois book, it's less an engagement to reconstruct the thought of a particular thinker. again, it has more to do with race and contemporary culture, representations of race. >> who in your view, if any, is similar to du bois to

but it's at the same time a distinctly american story. and i may not get told as as often as they take in this country, but it gets told more often than any other place on earth. it is a defining story. in 1970, i got a breakthrough program called a better chance to go to the academy. for me that was like landing on a different planet. i saw for the first time the night before classes began in 1970, all by myself. my family didn't see it until graduation day. i remember they had a dress code in those days. the boys were jackets and ties to classes. my parents splurge on a brand-new check ever meet were to class. the jacket on the southside of chicago is a windbreaker. so the first day of class all the boys put on their blue blazers and codes in there as i in my windbreaker. i want to point out that i figured it out. i struggled but there were teachers and other adults who reached out into how. i went on to harvard college, the first in my family to go to college, to harvard law school. i've lived in chicago, boston, los angeles, new york,

african-americans are about 12.3% of the american population. they are 14% of all illegal substance users, thereby 14% of all drug, it legal drug sellers. however, they are 35% of all people arrested for drugs. they are over half of all people who work in -- convicted for drugs. they are two-thirds of everybody who goes to prison for drugs. that is racism. that is not the result of negative police officers. that is the result of the way the criminal justice system works. it is the places that they -- the police are dispatched to arrest people who are doing these things. a quick example. on the new jersey turnpike back in the 1990s and i'm using this example because many of you have heard about it. automobiles were stopped pretty regularly, and searched. they stopped many times the proportion of african-americans they represent in the country. as a result, they arrested many more african-americans because they found what they were looking for, often -- not often, sometimes, drugs and guns. so as a result, more african-americans were arrested on t

this is about american jobs and the american economy. and if we don't do something serious about controlling our debt. it's hanging over our entire economy like a wet blanket. that's why i believe taking serious steps toward solving this problem will, in fact, breed more confidence in our economy and help create jobs here. i'm going to do my best to work with my congressional colleagues, my house republican colleagues to be able to put a framework out there today to begin to remove this wet blanket. >> chris: i just want to pursue this again. you talk about putting a framework out today, you are saying you would not doing that unless you have democratic buy-in? >> i would prefer to have a bipartisan approach to solve this problem. if that's not possible, i and my republican colleagues in the house are prepared to move on our own. >> chris: today? >> today. that would be republican plan. along the lines i talked about the two-step process, cuts now, debt limit increase into early next year? >> i don't want to get into all the details of w

and american military base in the north of england stonewalls type of missile system is the scene of crash as bad he's answered it says more and more secret u.s. facilities particles but what. am general much cannot issues a gentility yugoslav crimes tribunal courtroom in the hague for protests demolishing his own choice of the door rather than a court appointed one carriage and stood at the wall no skill chiefly on behalf of the accused over genocide charges and alleged crimes against humanity during the bosnian war in the nineteenth you are next in cross talk about his guest discuss will the u.s. withdrawal might mean for the kurdish community in iraq and what it fears of separation is and ethnic clashes persuade the americans to stay. hungry for the full story we've got to say the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers who. can. still. live. welcome to cross talk i'm peter lavelle as the u.s. starts its military withdrawal from iraq what does fate hold for the kurds is posting beige an iraqi administrative leave and democratically strong enough to keep

the american people are sold. [unintelligible] >> you have 80% of the american people who support a balanced approach. 80% of the american people support an approach that includes revenues and cut its. the notion that somehow the american people are not sold is not the problem. the problem is, members of congress are divided ideologically into various positions because they boxed themselves then with previous statements. this is not a matter of the american people knowing what the right thing to do is. this is a matter congress doing the right thing and reflecting the will of the american people. if we do that, we will have solved this problem. >> i wanted to ask about the two trains that seem to be rolling down the track down the hill. later mcconnell has laid out an elaborate plan to raise the debt limit. he says it will be paired with the new committee that would be tasked with coming up with the big solution you talked about by the end of the year. your comment on that proposal. meanwhile in the house, you are

[laughter] and my guest david mccullough has a new book about americans in paris. sounds like somebody wants to deduct his vacation. [laughter] a six-year-old beauty queen has retired. i'm not surprised -- she was starting to get crow's dimples. this is "the colbert report." captioning sponsored by comedy central ["the colbert report" theme music playing] [cheers and applause] thank you very much. woo! woo! boom boom boom boom! [cheers and applause] [crowd chanting stephen] [cheers and applause] welcome to the report. good to have you with us. that kind of chanting makes me want to say, you are the man! but -- [laughter] i don't want to get that wrong. [laughter] nation, we all know the gop's number one priority is to make sure obama is a one-term president. but i say, aim higher. make him a no-term president. let's build a time machine, go back to the 1970's, and convince young barack to go into dentistry! [laughter] he would have been good. i would have trusted him for that. [laughter] but on the slim chance that my time machine plan doesn't work, there may be an