an outsized role in my life in childhood i grew up in lansing michigan and hundred fifty s. and sixty's and you know it was a u.a.w. town and it was just. everybody knew walter. it was incredible of him and of these battles and let me let me just first of all what does german socialism have to do with the story of these three brothers. well we dip into that for a very minimal time at the beginning of the film they are you know the family brothers are of german roots and they begin the story of the film with these three brothers growing up in wheeling west virginia their father was an immigrant from germany and he he instilled in them this german socialism in the sense of taking care of your neighbor and understanding that the workers blue collar workers must have some given rights in the workplace they should be taken care of they're not slaves to the company so you know here were these boys that were you know between the ages of seven and twelve years old getting these lectures literally lectures around the dinner table about how important it is to protect your neighbor and

i took that to lansing, michigan. i was the northern michigan legislature.wanted to ensure that the children get the education that they need. i also supported the women against violence act. which this congress has not. putting indian women at risk on the reservations, and they are abused by the mail in their household. i'm very proud of my support of former chairman jerry bailey. gary is an up-and-coming leader not just in the indian community, but in the whole greater community. thank you, gary, for your support. i really appreciate it, and i will always treat everybody the same respect level. i don't care what nationality you are, i will fight for your rights. >> moderator: thank you. doctor benishek, you have one minute. benishek: it has been a real pleasure meeting many of the tribal members in the district. you know, i am very proud to serve on the natural resources committee. it has been a pleasure to hear about the issues that face native americans and many tribes in northern michigan. you know, i don't know -- every single tribal area, i have tried

diane in lansing michigan.ot interested in seeing your scrunch apparently. >> stephanie: requests to see the aforementioned -- >> scrunch. >> stephanie: thank you. okay. if he's new to the show, maybe he doesn't know that i'm not that into -- you know, anyone with a [ bleep ] i don't really care that he thinks -- >> you're not into richard. >> stephanie: chris, yes? >> according to urban dictionary -- there are several definitions. a scrunch is when a girl's bikini bottom goes up her butt. it can mean a hot chick. or scrunch can mean a scrotum with one testicle. [ buzzer ] [ laughter ] >> stephanie: i beg your part. i have not had that since like 1974. that is offensive to me. [ laughter ] >> stephanie: all right. i have two holiday gifts. one for me. one for jim. here we go. [ ♪ "world news tonight" ♪ ] i try to find any story that makes me feel like less of a loser, less of a freak. this will do it. >> all right. >> stephanie: swedish woman used skeleton for sex acts. what now! >> well, hmm. maybe we should a

joining me now is democratic michigan senator and great friend of mine, debbie stabenow coming to us from lansing. senator debbie, so glad to welcome you back inside "the war room." >> jennifer, it is great to be back with you. >> jennifer: let me get right to it. first of all congratulations one of 20 women jumping into the senate. you're rejumping back in. you have to be excited about that. >> you know, i really am. when i think back, if you turn the clock back just to 2000, that was the first year that, when i was elected and we had a group of us come in. it was the first year we had enough women to have a woman on every committee if you can think of that. fast forward to this last term, there are five of us chairing committees, two of us in the democratic leadership and now we have 20 women so this is great news. >> jennifer: awesome. it is awesome. >> really is. >> jennifer: let me get to some substance because everybody is talking post-election now about the fiscal cliff. obviously after january, there are going to be more democrats in the house and the senate and even john boehner said tha

michigan state senator rick jones joins us. he representing that state's 24th district just west of lansing. real plan or are you making a point about the m miserable fiscal state of detroit? >> i'm making a point the governor or even the mayor fail to right the ship they're spending like there is no tomorrow. there is no control. the taxpayers i represent will not bail out detroit. as they teeter on bankruptcy, we have to look at all options. put all options on the table. one could be dissolving the city of detroit. >> is it true -- is it true that the city council -- in as much dire condition as the city is in -- was asked to meet and they said, sorry, we're on holiday break? >> absolutely. the mayor asked them to come in and look at the governor's plan and get ready to save the city. "sorry, we're on holiday." it's ridiculous. it'sdysfunctional. if they don't save their own city, it may be time to look at dissolving it. >> what would that mean? would that mean that the city of detroit -- i thought it was already sort of being fiscally run by the state. what would that look like, dissolvat

michigan to get mad. i read a report by a think tank that showed in lansing school district, some like 775 teachers were evaluatedded. 774 teachers got a passing evaluation. i know, lansing is great place. don't get me wrong. i'm sure it has huge spots of talented teachers. maybe we ought to raise the bar higher. have higher expectations for teachers and reward them when they do the right thing. rather than make it a ministerial process that has no consequence. in the states that do that right, we'll have rising student achievement. there will be massive push back on this. ask tony bennett. a great commissioner of education in indiana who lost his election. [applause] doing what is right is not necessarily politically rewarded all the time. that's not why we do this. but it is the right thing to do to transform our system of compensation and evaluation for teachers to the 21st century. and the third i think i would say is school choice is the cat lettic converter to accelerate things at the faster pace. we need to move it down the field faster. chatter schools, vouchers all sorts of alternatives so parents are more

michigan to get mad. six months ago i read a report by a think tank that showed in east lansing or the lansing school districtsomething like 775 teachers were evaluated. 774 teachers got a passing evaluation. i know lancing is a great place. don't get me wrong. i'm sure it has huge spots of talented teachers. maybe we ought to raise the bar higher. have higher expectations and rewards for teachers. a great commissioner in indiana that lost the election, tony bennett. [applause] doing what is right, doing what is right is not necessarily politically rewarded all the time. that's not why we cothis. but it is the right thing to do to transform our system of compensation and evaluation for teachers for the 21st century. and the third thing i would say or the fourth thing that school choice is the cat lettic converter to ak set rate the thing to the faster pace. we need to move the ball down the field faster. charter schools, vouchers all sorts of alternatives so parents are more ingrated and great a more open schedule is part of the answer. sweeping citizenship program from low performing schools kudos to senator

six months ago, i don't want anybody in michigan to get mad at me, but six months ago i read a report by a think tank that showed that in it was either east lansing or the lansing school district something like 775 teachers were evaluated, 774 teachers got a passing evaluation. i know lansing is a great place, don't get me wrong. i'm sure it's got huge swaths of really talented teachers, but maybe we ought to raise the bar up a little higher. have higher expectations for teachers and reward them when they do the right thing rather than make this some kind of ministerial process that has no consequence. in the states that do that right will have rising student achievement. there will be massive pushback on this. ask tony bennett. a great commissioner of education in indiana who lost his election -- [applause] >> doing what's right, doing what's right is not necessarily politically rewarded all the time. that's not why we do this. but it is the right thing to do to transform our system of compensation and evaluation for teachers to the 21st crentry. the -- century. the third thing i would say is school choice is the cat litic converter to accelerat