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.

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

. >>> 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

when i thought i was always an american? there was a great deal of controversy in the camps and difference of opinion. so my character is one of those individuals who signed no, no. that's a form of protest. and because of doing that, he is taken out of the camp that he's in and sent to tule lake where most of the troublemakers were sent. then he gets out of camp and he comes back to san francisco and what happened in the japanese american communities is that many of the young men signed yes yes. many of them went off to war and became part of the 442nd, the 100th battalion, the mis, military intelligence, and were extraordinarily heroic and died in very high casualty rates in europe. and so when chet comes back to san francisco, those people who signed no no were looked upon as cowards. they were traitors. they sat out the war where these other people died. everyone a friend, an uncle or somebody they knew who had died, lost an arm, or was killed in service. chet comes back and he is literally spit on by his own community.

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, from 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 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. >> thank you. >>> so there's some light at the end of the tunnel for the progressive caucus. while congress bickers over spending cuts, no one in washington has any time to address the real crisis of america job loss. former sec

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 after a holiday trip ended disastrously a boat with american tourists sinking off the coast t mexico. here wlas we know tonight, 44 people were on board. 27 of them americans. whwh 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 rur sieval. tourists swimming to shore clutching a cooler. it all happened about two miles off the coast near baja mexico and we begin with abby boudroau in mexico. >> reporter: these are the lucky ones, their tour boat cap sized in the middle of the night carrying 44 passengers and crew. there was no mayday call, for more than 12 hours no one was wear they were in trouble. the rescue operation

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'

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

white americans, $113,000. black americans, $5700. ratio, 20:1. item, net wealth lost during the ongoing recession. white americans, 16% lost. black americans, 53% of wealth lost. that news came on top of the current unemployment numbers, the national rate for white americans is 8.1%. for black americans, 16.2%. president obama, the nation's first black president, is doing nothing about this, some believe. one of these so believers is princeton professor cornell west. >> i think he does have a predilection much more towards upper middle-class white brothers and jewish brothers and has a certain distancing from free black men who will tell him the truth, both with himself and what is going on in black communities, brown communities, red communes, and poor white and working class communities. >> west calls president obama a black mascot of wall street and a black puppet. also, professor west announced he and talk-show host tavis smiley will begin a national poverty tour next month to sharpen the nation's awareness on what they call the failings of t

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

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

they say but why do americans die younger than it's an interesting question not only do we guy younger than britons we do. younger than the french we die younger than many europeans actually and we die younger than the japanese and actually the outcomes of the united states over the last three decades have been getting worse rather than better they've been getting better more slowly than in other nations so relatively speaking we're being worse it was so why the article explains that it's because of income inequality here's the this is the life expectancy you can see in the u.s. the u.k. canada australia japan so they asked the question well why you know why is life expectancy so different is so different and that has to do with inequality canada is very familiar with this and in fact earlier this year just a few months ago the parliament of canada passed this resolution this house notes the findings the society says smaller income differences between rich and poor have fewer health and social problems such as teenage birds violence mental illness and drug abuse further nodes and such

and in the american congress and american think tanks. as i said, in politics, there are ups and downs. but in general, we have a strategic relationship and ties. we see that the united states is valuable to egypt. we are confident that also egypt is valuable to the united states. >> thank you very much. general, you have been generous with your time, with your thoughts. even though some in the audience continue to have certain things -- concerns about scaf, i would like to ask them to join me in thanking you for your time. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] [unintelligible] >> white house debt ceiling in budget talks reached a stalemate this weekend. senate majority leader harry reid unveiled a plan to cut $2.7 trillion from the budget. we will hear from him and jeff sessions next on c-span. and then from president obama and john boehner. both made televised addresses last night on the debt. on today's "washington journal," an update on the debt ceil

news corp has admitted to hacking an american company and fox news be the next to correct. you need to know this the american people have spoken and it's time republicans and democrats listen according to a new a.b.c. washington post poll sixty two percent of americans want to see a balanced approach to raising the debt limit that includes both spending cuts and revenue increases and when it comes to what sort of revenue raises the american people want to see republicans heads are about to explode a whopping seventy two percent of americans support raising taxes on people who make more than a quarter million dollars a year only twenty seven percent oppose not only that large majorities of americans also support raising the social security tax cap closing the hedge fund manager tax loophole and cutting off taxpayer subsidies for big oil corporations curiously none of these reforms are part of the gang of six deal. now all the rage on capitol hill but a new gallup poll renders what's going on atop capitol hill today completely meaningless according to gallup most of us frankl

that's the american dream. that's what our parents and grandparents fought for and we should not let it take away from us on our watch. that's the american dream. [applause] we have dreamed killers. they have a wrecking ball agenda for our country. a wrecking ball for america. but they have painted that wrecking ball red white and blue -- radical white, and blue. and they think we're going to stand here and salute their wrecking ball, wheat -- they have another thought coming. it is time for the deep patriots to stand up to the cheap patriots. it's time for the deep patriots who love this country and to love everybody in this country no matter what color you are or who you want to marry or what kind of piercing you have your nose, we love everybody. we are the deep patriots, they are the cheap patriots. i'm tired of them questioning us and what we stand for. are we going to stand together? what me tell you something. i've done a little study. i'm a nerd. i got in trouble for saying some dirty things, but i've d

the american people don't want that. the american people didn't vote for that. they don't want to see social security savaged. they don't want to see medicare privatised. they understand that these are items that are absolutely essential for the welfare of our people. but the republicans are holding hostage the credit of the united states of america for the first time in history in order to achieve their objectives. what the president is concerned about and rightfully so, ed, is if you have a 60-day, 90-day extension and then another 60-day extension and you fight this every 60 days. what that means is the world every 60 days sees the united states of america unable to act in a rational, first world leader role. >> and finally. >> he thinks that's very dangerous and i agree with him. >> if there is no vote, are members of congress and yourself nervous about the overseas markets? they're about ready to open this hour. >> let me tell you, i'm very nervous. this is, ed, i've told people, i've been in congress 30 years. i don't know that i've been as concerned about

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

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

i would argue the american people finally woke up. 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. the 3.6-liter v6 engine of the jeep grand cherokee has a best-in-class driving range of over 500 miles per tank. so you can catch morning tee time in pebble beach and the afternoon meeting in los angeles all without running out of gas. just make sure you don't run out of gas. ♪ ♪ 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 and done. chase quickdeposit. take a step forward and chase what matters. ♪ we just keep on keepin' on ♪ ♪ keep on >>> the new approach that speaker

years it was referred to as the american way the american way was built on three basic tenets one tariffs or import taxes to make foreign made goods more expensive here and thus protect american industries to a strong national bank to facilitate commerce and three loads of federal spending for infrastructure projects like roads were railroads airports bridges ports even canals that help american industries easily and cheaply transport products around the nation this is the type of economy that ruled america through forty presidencies and turned our fledgling newborn nation into an economic superpower unlike any the world had ever seen before it worked flawlessly but then in one nine hundred eighty one with the presidency around reagan our nation embark on a radical new experiment of so-called free trade and small government and we said good riddance to the american way over the next twenty years we got rid of our tariffs we handed regulating our commerce to the banks toure's and we cut government spending on infrastructure completely dismantling the american way. which is why now we used

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

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.

american soldiers present there and the american presence under his administration and stand by because it's about a regional government there is there is corruption throughout our of a rock 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 serious guy should always run out of time for many things so my guess would be in new york and washington and london and thanks to our viewers for watching us here are to see you next time and remember crosstalk.

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

it was good for all americans. and we ask those who are most capable to contribute the most, but we asked a little bit of everybody. and that's what this doing nothing would do. now, after we have restored some confidence here by this big step of doing nothing, we could do another half of nothing and put people back to work. now, how could we do half of nothing and put people back to work? president obama has adopted this cockamamie republican idea of a social security tax holiday putting people to work. i know a lot of families that could use an extra 20 bucks a week, but them spending 20 bucks a week for food on the tape table, doesn't put people back to work. if you are unemployed, you don't get the 20 bucks. we are borrowing $120 billion to do that under the guise this is creating jobs. and the president last night mentioned he wants to create jobs. guess what? it's not working. we do half a nothing. we allow the social security tax holiday to expire. doesn't create any jobs. we don't borrow the $110 billion fr

[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

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

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

five american companies. so never mind we're punishing american businesses, american oil companies, who are the same businesses other companies all over the world. they're not being punished. but, no, we're going to attack american businesses who employ 9.2 million americans. we're going to say that they have to pay higher taxes than other businesses who are just like them. there are three particular tax provisions -- other businesses goat take in r&d tax credit. arnth we all for research and development in yes, but not in the oil and gas industry. where might they put that research and development money? welling for example, into ensuring when they sink a well-well deep in the gulf of mexico, it will be environmentally safe. no, you can't deduct that. all other businesses will be able to, but not you. what sense does that make? it's bad policy. how about the usual and necessary business expense, the deduction for write-offs, for business investment? all other companies get to deduct that, but we would say to

american soldiers present there and the american presence on iraqis i was thrilled shouldn't stand by it because it's about a 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 always recently 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 kohls by the american occupation it was cold but i don't think this is just the right journalism in a very sad discussion where it's run out of time or many think so my guess today in new york and washington and london and thanks to our viewers for watching us here are to see you next time and remember crosstalk. it. has been in the year in iraq is a military journalist. killed . along the way these. twenty seven days publicizing the invite. who. started the have a dialogue. with students.

most american doctors had not been to medical school. >> stephen: no? >> and trained under doctors that never went. >> stephen: how did it help to good to france? they were teaching medicine in french. >> that's right they had to learn french to attend the school there. >> stephen: were they just as senate toy as they are now? they are creeping people. [laughter] >> you have to remember that frns and the united states have been in very good relationship for over 200 years. there have been rough time it's be sure. >> stephen: oh, yeah. >> but we would not have succeeded with our revolutionary war or independence had it not been for the financial help and military help of the french both on land and sea at the surrender of cornwallis at yorktown, for example, the army under rorcha rorchanmbeau was larger than the army under washington. >> stephen: i don't like. that we'lled it that out. what did we get back from the young thinkers that went there? >> we got back numerous paintings of major importance which hang in the galleries and in the white house and

[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

americans cannot influence the views of foreign governments or americans can't influence the rulings of international tribunals. had the obama administration and the four dissenting justices prevailed, the american people would have lost a part of the right to govern themselves. that right would have been replaced with obedience without recourse to foreign powers over whom our people exercise no voice. that is not the system that the founding fathers bequeathed us. the question whether courts should apply american law or foreign law is of great concern to me and other members of the judiciary committee and maybe to a lot of senators who aren't on that committee, but those of us on the committee have fought about this specific question long before this recent case that has come, i guess, within the last three weeks. and i have asked judicial and administration nominees about these very issues at their confirmation hearings. for instance, just a few months ago, i posed a question to the nominee for solicitor general, mr. verilli, about an a-- amicus brief that he had filed on behalf of

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

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