yale galante coming from aspen,

stat next call walter isaacson and ceo of the aspen institute and author of biography on albert einstein and benjamin franklin discuss his new book of essays. mr. isaacson's writings include a profile of world leaders, his thoughts on journalism and reports on his home town, new orleans. this is just over one hour. >> good evening. i am barbara meter, one of the owners at politics and prose, and i know that we are going to have a good evening to light because this is the i think fourth time walter isaacson has been to politics and prose, and every time it has been an interesting evening. he was here for his biographies of kissinger, benjamin franklin and albert einstein. in the past he has been the chairman and ceo of cnn and managing editor of time and then i just actually read this this afternoon. in november the past month the couple of weeks ago he was nominated by president obama to be the chairman of the broadcasting board of governors, and that is a body that runs voice of america and radio free europe and other international broadcasts run by the government. in what i felt was an

and sometimes this is where the aspen institute can come in. the american government could not easily admit all the blame for this and then be liable for every birth defect or every possible, you know, illness or so in vietnam. but the american government obviously wanted to do some in. so it couldn't do it directly so we raised money for the ford foundation, the gates foundation than others. we cleaned up the dioxin and agent orange that was left at the airbase and contained it. the military has been good, the u.s. government under bush and now under obama has but two or 3 million each year to help with the cleanup. and nobody has remit fault. nobody had to say we're liable for this number of birth defects or whatever but let's just clean it up like a good person would do if you've made a mess. and sometimes you just need practical solutions instead of everybody getting on an ideological high horse. kathy and i went to vietnam maybe three years ago and went to the airbase and sell the containment projects. we were helping them with rehabilitat

. >>> this morning dozens of aspen hill residents are waking up away from home because of a fire. it started in the 14200 block overgave avenue. 100 firefighters battled flames there but crews had to cut the power off to all of the buildings. >> looks like the apartment next to ours, there is a lot of smoke coming out of it. there was a minor explosion. >> in addition to fighting the flames an the cold, firefighters had some trouble accessing the burning three- story building. the red cross assisted people from all three buildings to find places to stay for the night. >>> the red cross also helped people in leesburg virginia that were displaced by a fire. firefighters rescued several victims from two town homes. the cause of the fire is under investigation. >>> an autopsy has determined that the death of a maryland girl kidnapped from her home, she died of "multiple injuries." at point, the medical examiner's office is not detailing what those injuries were. foxwell was taken from her home on december 22nd. her body was are you found christmas day. police have arrested a suspect.

. >> for more information about walter isaacson, ceo of the aspen institute, visit aspeninstitute.org. >>> next, new york staff writer and editor hendrik hertzberg talks about barack obama's 2008 presidential campaign. the longest and most expensive in u.s. history. this event was hosted by politics and prose bookstore in washington, d.c.. >> i want to thank you for coming. i am karlan, one of the owners of politics and prose, and i want to especially welcome hendrik hertzberg to light. we've been pleased to follow doorsteps from speechwriter to president for president carter to the new republic to the new yorker where your talk of town pieces are a highlight of the magazine filled with great articles. but stores are a highlight. "obamanos" is comprised of pieces called from the top of the tom supplemented with bald comments concerning the election of 2008. i see them as a quick history of american politics from 2004 through 2008. part one appropriately named the wreckage reminds readers of the disintegration of bush's second term and the president said increasing befuddlement and dis

homeland security he is current thirty director of the as pen institute's homeland security member in aspen. and the wartime contracting commission on iraq and afghanistan. back to the phones, desoto, kansas. diana on our republican line, thank you for waiting. caller: thank you. mr. ervin, you seemed quite surprise that had a person who was on a terror list was not automatically on a no-fly list. i'm going to ask you was there a change in policy since you were in your position or do you see this has a glitch or what do you think may have occurred here? guest: i wasn't surprised by it. i'm just making the point that most people would think the terror list and no-fly list are one and the same and i was saying one of the lessons we should take away from this is they should be one and the same and unless there's a big reason, anybody on any terror list ought to be on a no-fly list whether they are known to have been but it remains the case that there is a difference between the terror watch list and no-fly list and i think the two ought to be the same to a considerable degree. host: in the wak

all was left, six old ladies who live in aspen going to vote for us. so we were, we actually pulled plug on colorado. it was really controversial. a lot of reporters asked us. ly state you have a chance in. we knew we couldn't overcome that challenge. in terms of strategic thinking on a campaign allocating resources last minute that isly important thing. that was probably a dollar a week, expenditure on television that we pulled. we got to, drive it into ohio where we still have a chance. wrongly but we still got a chance. you have to be able to laugh about it. intention to vote early. this is important before somebody said, part of why you use polling information to do this, identify what kind of people are going to vote early. even on your earliest surveys saying do you intend to vote absentee and intend to vote early, it helps you because what kind of voters are likely to vote early. what kinds of people can we target our message to vote early. where are places we do specific coalition-driven drive? is there someplace to get hispanics to vote early

sometimes the aspen institutes can come in -- the american government could not easily admit all the blame for this and then be liable for every birth defect or every possible, you know, illness or so in vietnam. but the american government obviously wanted to do something. so it couldn't do it directly so we raised money from the ford foundation, the gates foundation, and others. we cleaned up the dioxin and agent orange that was left at the da nang air base and contained it. the military and government has under bush and obama, and nobody has to admit fault or say we're liable. let's just clean it up like a good person would do if you have made a mess. and sometimes you just need practical solutions instead of everybody getting on an ideological high horse. we went to the air base, saw the containment projects, and helped with the rehabilitation centers, because instead of saying, we're guilty and pay for everybody who has a birth defect, creating rehabilitation centers and -- you can try to solve problems, not debate them. yes, sir? >> thank you. in view of the extensive interview

if you have been to ask ben in times of events, -- to aspen in times of events, there were 57 private jets. during the time of a recession, that was sickening to me. they would come to hear me or other people. a federally registered lobbyists may not be in the jet with them. the ceo of a corporation can, or the vice president who is not a federally registered lobbyist can. they can share their opinions about particular issues if they come up. it is a major loophole. as i mentioned before, there are details that you can read later about the revolving door. if you look at the k-street projects, it for his staff from hiring on the sole basis of partisanship -- it prohibits staff from hiring on the sole basis of partisanship. there are other ways of dealing with that. most firms, when the majority party is the democratic party and it has primarily been a republican firm, they try to balance it out. the balance the firm with people who are democratic. they do it for strategic reasons, the iron law of reciprocity. they do this naturally. it is. a k-street -- iti s not a k- street project. w

the klan tin the global initiative, aspen institute, conservation international, the earth's institute. the scripps institute the paraguay's side and what will you be sending in a few minutes of a memorandum of understanding. faced with the challenge of this nature all determination and energy must be mobilized. states ngos come of businesses and international institutions will be closed. this is how we can take effective action. thinks to these partners my foundation already supports over 120 projects all over the world. some of them are directly operational while others aim to raise awareness and among the populations for scientific reasons for all of the respect not to give up in the face of daunting talent is of which we cannot escape. through the wound inflicted on our planet. >> you're right. by climate change, a species threatened or extinct, it is our survival alternately that is at stake our efforts expected of us will be tremendous. in particular we have to proceed with the in depth revision of the principles of which we are built or held to prosperity will have to travel and

homeland security he is current thirty director of the as pen institute's homeland security member in aspenand the wartime contracting commission on iraq and afghanistan. back to the phones, desoto, kansas. diana on our republican line, thank you for waiting. caller: thank you. mr. ervin, you seemed quite surprise that had a person who was on a terror list was not automatically on a no-fly list. i'm going to ask you was there a change in policy since you were in your position or do you see this has a glitch or what do you think may have occurred here? guest: i wasn't surprised by it. i'm just making the point that most people would think the terror list and no-fly list are one and the same and i was saying one of the lessons we should take away from this is they should be one and the same and unless there's a big reason, anybody on any terror list ought to be on a no-fly list whether they are known to have been but it remains the case that there is a difference between the terror watch list and no-fly list and i think the two ought to be the same to a considerable degree. host: in the wake

he is currently chairman of the board of the aspen institute 3 he served on the board of a bank and currently of chicago. i want to thank all of you for coming and i would first recognize mrs. bourne and then go down the line 3 and you are recognized for as much time as he may consume. [inaudible] [inaudible] congress passed a statute in 2000 that eliminated virtually all regulation of the over-the- counter derivatives. it was called a modernization that. because of that statute, the federal or state regulators currently has oversight responsibilities or regulatory powers over this market. the market is totally opaque and is often referred to as the dark the market. it is enormous. in june of this year, the reported size of the market exceeded $600 trillion in value. while over-the-counter derivatives have been justified as vehicles to manage financial risk, they have not practiced, spread, and multiplied -- they have in practice bread and multiplied risk throughout the economy. lack of transparency and price, excessive leverage come rapid speculation, lack of adequate capital and provincial

i was testifying at the aspen institute and said let me give you a personal look simple.my last year of teaching i have to general math class is. geometry and precalculus. so april, however, they take the test and there is another for every one of those 160 kids that i taught what is my number? how are you going to label me? is the average of all 160 or do you wait that? what a diverse group of students, freshmen taking general math to precalculus most of them juniors and seniors? so how are you going to aggregate all of those scores for me? teachers know the system is wrong. there has to be accountability system. and the good things i see coming out of the administration their understanding the has to be multiple measures. not a single score, both for assessing student learning as well as determining whether someone is a -- knows what they should know and are able to do as a professional, with the of to do. the other thing they've done is understanding that assessments have to be made better. all of the talk that we hear assessments are the foundation. if you don't have

all was left, six old ladies who live in aspen going to vote for us.o we were, we actually pulled plug on colorado. it was really controversial. a lot of reporters asked us. ly state you have a chance in. we knew we couldn't overcome that challenge. in terms of strategic thinking on a campaign allocating resources last minute that isly important thing. that was probably a dollar a week, expenditure on television that we pulled. we got to, drive it into ohio where we still have a chance. wrongly but we still got a chance. you have to be able to laugh about it. intention to vote early. this is important before somebody said, part of why you use polling information to do this, identify what kind of people are going to vote early. even on your earliest surveys saying do you intend to vote absentee and intend to vote early, it helps you because what kind of voters are likely to vote early. what kinds of people can we target our message to vote early. where are places we do specific coalition-driven drive? is there someplace to get hispanics to vote early be