guest: yes, i agree with barbara.hat efficient since the election there's been great unrest and political uncertainty in iran. and this is far from over. host: steve hayes this morning in the weekly standard 2010 regime change in iran, he points to president obama's inaugural address and writes in the weekly turnaround as a candidate barack obama pledged to meet with the leaders of worrogue states with conditions. he said we had been too domineering under george çbush. we spent too much time lecturing and too little time listening. the obama administration would use smart power to change all of that. iran would be the first and most urgent test. the new president started earlyç barbara slaven? >> i think obama has had a role in this. perhaps not the one he would have expected. because he has not been brook n belligerent the same way george bush and others wereç i think has removed america from the equation and what we see now is the iranians are pretty much taking the situation into their own hands. the government i

guest: yes, i agree with barbara. iran. and this is far from over. host: steve hayes this morning in the weekly standard 2010 regime change in iran, he points to president obama's inaugural address and writes in the weekly turnaround as a candidate barack obama pledged to meet with the leaders of worrogue states with conditions. he said we had been too domineering under george çbush. we spent too much time lecturing and too little time listening. the obama administration would use smart power to change all of that. iran would be the first and most urgent test. the new president started earlyç barbara slaven? >> i think obama has had a role in this. perhaps not the one he would have expected. because he has not been brook n belligerent the same way george bush and others wereç i think has removed america from the equation and what we see now is the iranians are pretty much taking the situation into their own hands. the government is trying to blame the protests on outsiders but nobody believes it because it is not tr

barbara is one of the most experience diplomatic correspondents and editors in washington. currently, assisting managing editor at "the washington times," she is responsible for the world and national security coverage. she served previously at "usa today," and has written for "the new york times" and "the economist." she has been a senior fellow at the u.s. institute and is the author of "bitter friends, animes, the twisted path to confrontation." i want to take a minute to tell you about how we came involved in this project. this is the non-profit journalist organization, founded almost four years ago in january, and we are in the business of filling gaps in coverage to stem the crises around the world. we collaborate with major news media outlets, all across the country and europe and around the world in print, broadcast, and television, and we have an active presence on the web and educational programs of high schools and universities in which we take the journalism we sponsor out to younger audiences and try to engage them in the international issues that affect us all

barbara is one of the most experienced diplomatic correspondents.currently assisting manager at "the washington times," she's responsible for world and national security coverage. she previously served as senior diplomatic reporter for "usa today" and has also written for "newsdays," "the new york times" and "the economist." she's been a senior fellow at the u.s. institute of peace and is the author of "bitter friends, bosom enemies." i want to take just a minute to tell you about the pulitzer center and how we became involved in this project. the pulitzer center is a nonprofit journalism organization founded almost four years ago. four years ago in january. and we are in the business of filling gaps in coverage of systemic crises around the world. and we collaborate with major news media outlets across the country and in europe and around the world in print, broadcast, radio as well as television. and we also have a very active presence on the web and in our educational programs at high schools and universities in which we take the journalism that

[applause] >> thank you very much, barbara. it's great to be back in my favorite bookstore here and especially with you with that wonderful introduction. it is funny to hear the talk about being the real writer. i was once asked to do something for the "washington post" page that you may know called the writing life. i wrote something of my daughter who is 13 and spent a lot of time in the store and she was truly an aspiring novelist and she said to me, dad, you're not a real writer. you're just a journalist and a biographer. and to that i plead guilty. as much as i did have that yearning to be a real writer, i began to see what a glory it was to have the joy of being a journalist and a writer. because what you get to do is follow people, understand how they act, and understand how they affect our time. you know, the founder of the magazine where i worked for so long, "time" magazine, was accused because he always did sort of biographical portrait on the cover, sort of indulging in personality journalism. and he said no, "time"

i first met barbara when i joined senator kennedy's staff in 1969, 40 years ago. i could see right away that behind barbara's modest demeanor was a remarkable woman who would never let senator kennedy down. why? because she had learned that his values and his commitment to making a positive difference in people's lives was the very reason she wanted to work for him in the first place. as i thought about public service through the year, it has become clear that the best of our nation was built on the labors of loyalty and love, the unsung public heroines like barbara. it was once said that loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart the absolute principle of self-sacrifice. if that is the standard of loyalty, i can tell you, mr. president, there is no more loyal united states senate staffer than senator kennedy's own barbara su li otus. she embodies the quality of loyalty no matter the circumstance. barbr -- barbs planned it retire years ago but she worked for senator kennedy through the difficult months of his illness and during his final days. after senator

barbara bodine was u.s. ambassador to yemen from 1997 to 2001, a period that included the attack on the "u.s.s. cole". she's now 'diplomat-in- residence' at princeton's woodrow wilson school. fawaz gerges is professor of middle eastern politics at the london school of economics and author of two books on 'jihadism'. >> barbara, a failing state is just how we heard yemen described. what would you call it? >> i would call it a fragile state. yemen is described as the almost always failing state. its economy has always been in a shambles. it's always been resourceful. it's always had ungovernable hinderlands. it's always had a weak central government. one of the miracles of yemen is that it's never failed, but also never quite succeeds, and the issue before us now is not to write it off as a failed or even failing state, but try to see what we can do to keep it from going to the wrong side of the failure curve. >> fawaz gerges, what do you see? what does that say about the potential vacuum of power there? >> i

barbara lee, my name is sylvia, and i live in brooklyn. i think that you and maxine waters are doing a great job being members by heading up barbarathe black caucus there in california. this makes my fifth time calling in the note it takes about four months. what i'm concerned about is, what because individuals have some many questions to be answered, what will they do about the housing crisis? where are the grants? guest: the housing crisis has wreaked havoc on the lives of millions of americans. part of what we're doing as members of the congressional balacblack caucus is to make sue the resources are there for counseling, principal reduction, and to make sure that people can reset their loans. the pew research shows that the black community and minorities were targeted for these subprime loans. the only way people, the majority of americans accumulate wealth and send kids to college, start a small business is through equity in their homes. because of the targeting of these scam loans we're losing a goody, the ability to live lives the a

barbara kantor's businescard says "ceo and founr." she's also t marketing manage chief accountant, and inventormanager. in shorta one-woman corporation. it wasn't always tt way. a form california fashion designer and independe businewoman, she moved to colorado t years ago to do something ne manufacture and sell reflective arm bands an dog leashes to hp motorists spot pedestrianst night. at first it nt well. the prodts are popular on amazon.com, and in retail outlets. but then the recsion hit. and hesources of capital began tory up. i started looking at bank funding and it wasightmare out therto be honest at the mont. the banks just aret loaning to small businesses and iave an extremely high cdit rating. >> reporter: unae to get a loan, she cut cost gave up her ofce space, began to take deliveri at home, and use her own car toaul products to an unheatedtorage unit 45 minutes away whe she stacks and tracks it al even in the dehs of a colorado winter. small business owners like kantor seem to be the hardt hit banks hold on to capital in

host: barbara? guest: yes.k is called "brilingt-sided" how the relentless promotion of positive thinking has undermined america. and yeah we probably wouldn't agree too much on methods of mood control, but i want to say there's one thing here. we have been talking about poverty and people struggling in this recession, and i hope you will agree with me that poverty is not something you can cure by changing an attitude. i think we've had that theory for a long time in this country. . to struggle and people need help. but the congressional majority and the administration has grown big government, thatess can lates the -- that escalates the deficit. as a result of this unprecedented government spending spree, our national debt will reach unchartered levels, doubling over the next five years and tripling in just 10 years. not surprisingly as our debt doubles and revenues plunge, creating jobs has taken a backseat to other issues. the $800 billion stimulus bill has failed to create or save the millions of jobs that i

barbara, a failing state is just how we ard yemen descrid. what would you call it? >> i would call it a fgile state. yemen is descred as the almost always faili state. its economy has alys been in a shames. it's alws been resourcef. it's always d ungovernable hinderlands. it's always had a we central government. one of the mirles of yemen is that it's never failed, t also never ite succeeds, and the sue before us now is not to write off as a failed or even failg state, but try to see what we can do to keept from going to the wrong se of the failure rve. >> fawazerges, what do you see? what does that say abouthe potential vacuumf power there? >> i tnk the situation is extremely volatile and frale in yemen. i mean, every time i vis yemen i see a deteriating security situation, a decning social and onomic situation. whatas happened is that really thisarticular storm has been brewing for the last few yrs, and it seems is finally reached a climax the conversion of social and political and economicrisis, and also multiple tral ideogical and political divisions that areush

foreign policy with barbara slavin of "the washington times" and jonathan broader.after that, a look at president obama's achievements in his first year in office from stephen helps of the brackings institute and dan thomason. that's live here on c-span starting at 7:5 a.m. eastern. in the mid 1990's, he was named one of the most 50 influential people to watch in cyberspace the since then he's completed blackplanet.com, helped found a charter school in brooklyn and explained new technologies on oprah. sunday night he talks about his current studies at harvard and what's ahead on c-span's q&a. >> in just over half an hour, a former british ambassador to the u.s. testifying on british involvement in the war in iraq. but first, a special presentation of our documentary, "the blair house -- the president's guest house" begins. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> the first blair home, the original part, and that where the green awning is, that's the primary entrance. that's where presidents,

barbara lee, i thank you for that leadership as we go forward. let me start in the very beginning, because i think that we need to understand what we are referencing when we use the words targeting and focus. let me just say clearly, yes, we are the congressional black caucus. but we are talking about targeting and focusing our efforts on the basis of need, no more, no less than what they did for wall street. you all may remember -- and i serve on the financial services committee, and it was secretary paulsen, a republican secretary of the treasury, who rushed over here to capitol hill with just two pieces of paper, two pieces of paper and said the sky is falling down on wall street. and we needed to target and focus $800 billion, he said, on wall street. and then he went on to say, not only target it on wall street, but target it to specific 12 to 15 banks and financial houses, target it, because that was where the source of the problem he felt. and he analyzed that source of the problem by saying it's because the credit markets are frozen. ther

after he came out, she continued to cover the story in iran, working with barbara and others'. i think his perspective on trends in iran in looking at the media coverage, how the media functioned in a situation where first, they were under restrictions as to where they could go, what they could do in the immediate aftermath of the election. you also had people being alike -- are arrested and most foreign journalists were being taken out of the country. how to read your report in that circumstance? -- how do you report in that circumstance? we will look at his perspective on iran today and then we will turn to borrow also brings tremendous background in this subject, to give her perspective as well. then we will open it up to "q&a. >> thank you very much for hosting a. it is wonderful but to -- to be back at the woodrow wilson center. as jon mentioned, we meant -- we met during a year which came on the heels of living three years in iran. i made a secondary acquaintance who also happens to be sitting on this panel, barbara, who came to give a talk about her new book that mit whe

i won't read the whole letter but this letter came from barbara ellis. she's in brumal, pennsylvania. i spoke to her a couple of days ago about -- about her letter. and i won't read all of it but i think it describes it pretty aptly what we're talking about. she and her -- barbara and her husband ben live in delaware county, pennsylvania, brumal. we -- she says -- and i quote -- "we are a one-income family with two sons ages 6 and 8. due to the high price of health insurance, my children are currently covered under the free pennsylvania children's health insurance program. program." that's the good news. here's the part where she's worried. "we qualify for free children's hushehealth insurance coverage n pennsylvania but my husband's income is greater than 150% of the federal poverty level, which means our children won't qualify for the coverage under the house's proposed plan." and then she says probably the most important part of this whole letter, she says, "this has us terrorized -- or tear fierksd he shoulterrifies, i sh. i'm reading it wrong. "this

barbara would call me up whenever she could get through on the notoriously bad lines. sometimes the entire network would be down for hours at a time. can you confirm mr. check on that? no, at this point we were 48 hours before the regime actually criminalize investigative journalism. at that point, it became an issue of waiting while the hours tick down on my the sec, which was particularly short and had been granted for seven days as opposed to a couple of weeks and other cases. . ally bad. i started wearing local shirts, which did not look like my for insurance -- foreign shirts, and trying to go around in the streets with friends and trying to understand what was going on. this country that i had lived in, and i had really, and which now was starting to slip away in a very dramatic way. all the old trends were still there. there was a paranoid, a sense that the foreigners are trying to create a revolution and that it is up to the hard core of the it is up to the hard core of the regime to stop it, to the loyalists. there was also a cultural struggle going on, which

that is an industry that is competitive and barbara and is growing at five times the rate of the countrypetitive and vibrant. in general, we think the industry is working very well and is delivering very innovative products. it is doingçó things that we do not see in other parts of the world. i also mentionedÑi that today wn you compare what isÑi happeningn the u.s., all of the attention for wireless has turned up too smart phones. we are leadingÑi the world and e deployment of smart phones and networks that allow those smart phones to work. the fact that when you compare the u.s. and the most advanced formsxd of third generation wireless technology, the u.s. has 40% of the world's customers in those advanced technologiesxdñr. ó[o onlyi have 7% of the world customers. it highlights that the wireless industry today is working well. it is competitive, is delivering a great value in 3wgreat choices. has the latest technology that our customers are enjoying. we should be thoughtful and very careful and have lots of discussion about it. i think that the chairman, to his credit, is seeking

host: barbara? guest: yes.the new book is called "brilingt-sided" how the relentless promotion of positive thinking has undermined america. and yeah we probably wouldn't agree too much on methods of mood control, but i want to say there's one thing here. we have been talking about poverty and people struggling in this recession, and i hope you will agree with me that poverty is not something you can cure by changing an attitude. i think we've had that theory for a long time in this country. . it says that the emotional toll of lost jobs, flat pay, an uncertain futures appears to be driving an increase and other problems. what are your thoughts? host: i have seen that kind of thing in my reporting, too. but unemployment has actually hit men harder than women. and so, a lot of men with child support responsibilities are finding out that they cannot do it. if you do not have the job, you do not have the money. i think one of the appalling things is we do not have something where we have help for dependent children

i am barbara lee, chair of the congressional black caucus. we will begin to discuss our proposal for the jobs creation bill. congressman cleaver will come forward who chairs the jobs task force of the cbc and then open for q&a and members will respond to the questions. this chair of course 42 member congressional black caucus i am here today, all of us are here today to continue sounding the alarm about the urgent and vital need to create jobs in america particularly in the african-american community which has been disproportionately suffering as a result of the brunt of this economic crisis and as a result in desperate need of targeted concrete and meaningful relief. today we are releasing a letter and i believe you have the letter that we forwarded to president obama, speaker pelosi and chairman miller which outlines our priorities. the economic security of all americans is very fragile. communities of color especially the african-american and latino communities have been disproportionately hit by this recession. here are some of the facts.

. >> if barbara boxer is ok with this language, nobody in the right-to-life community can be ok withposition is well-known, and she thinks the federal government ought to spend money on abortion. >> i heard the explanation today about writing two checks. that is what was just alluded to. this is federal money. it is like social security money going in the general fund. the money will be mixed with federal money. i do not care whether there is additional separate premium or not, it's still is mixed with federal money, and that is what pays for abortion. so they are disingenuous when they say that there is going to be segregation among the funding for abortion versus non- abortion policies. >> in your statement, at least what i grabbed, you seem to provide that center nelson used the abortion as a bargaining chip and wound up with worse language than the first place, but effectively used abortion to get a better deal for nebraska. >> you received it correctly, and i think that it shows a tremendous willingness to allow some in this country to win and many to lose by one member of the s

barbara is one of the most experienced diplomatic correspondence and editors and washington. currently an assistant manager at "the washington times," she is responsible for world and international coverage. she serves as a senior reporter for "usa today," and has written for many magazines. a graduate of harvard university, she has also been senior fellow at the u.s. institute of peace, and is the author of "better friends, bosom enemies -- iran, the u.s., and the twisted path the confrontation." i want to tell you about how the pulitzer center became involved in this project. it is a non-profit journalistic organization founded almost four years ago in january. we're in the business of filling gaps in coverage of systemic crises around the world. we collaborate with major news media outlets across the country and in europe and around the world. television, and we also have a very active presence on the web and in our education programs that high schools and universities in which we take the journals and that we sponsor out to younger audiences and try to engage them in the

i'm barbara lee, chair of the congressional black caucus. we will begin to discuss our proposal for the jobs creation bill. congressman cleaver will come forward who chairs the jobs task force of the cbc and then we'll open for q & a and members will respond to your questions. as chair, of course, of the 42-member congressional black caucus, all of us are here today to continue to sound the alarm about the urgent and vital need to create jobs in america, particularly, in the african-american community which has been disproportionately suffering as a result of the brunt of this economic crises and as a result is in desperate need of targeted, concrete and meaningful relief. today we are releasing a letter which we afforded to president obama, speaker pelosi and chairman miller which outlines our priorities. the economic security of all americans is very fragile. communities of color, especially, the african-american and latino communities, have been disproportionately hit by this recession. here are some of the facts. the unemployment rate fo

. >> suarez: barbara jenkins gibson owns a christmas specialty shop. she actually had a good year. she says people cling to tradition even during hard times and they can spend less than $10 and walk out of the store with a nice gift. >> it's a good opportunity to get better at what we do. when its really good, on a constant basis you don't take the time, you don't have the time, to really fine tune a lot of your systems. >> suarez: holding on by a thread, steve lamb is optimistic a recovery will blow through lincoln city, giving his products a lift, hopefully in time for next summer's tourist season. >> i think that we're going to weather this recession, myself and our community. people after a winter of being boxed in will just rush to the beach. it's an explosion of people. and i think it's the same way with a bad economy. when it suddenly starts getting back to normal, people are going to be so ready for that that here they come. >> suarez: what we found in lincoln city is a strong sense of how vulnerable tourist towns really are. whatever they do for themselves, when or whether

there is a texas teacher, barbara door. she was texas teacher of the year.u know that she is good. and she is now a teacher trainer, which is what you should be. she has my books in 22 classrooms, with katrina refugees and kids who could not read. and she uses them in a way that saw reading, bridge and go up 10%, 12%, up 14%. she is using history to teach reading, which are love. -- which i love. she gave these kids in one- paragraph synopsis before reading the chapter. she gave them a word drills, concept drills. and then she would have been read the chapter. -- then she would have them read the chapter. then she would have them read it a second time. she would have them read the chapter four times, astonishing. as adults, if you want to read nonfiction, you have got to read something more than once. but for each reading, she gave the children a separate bowl and outcome -- goal and outcome. and,% in -- and, branch and ended up 12%, 14% higher. at the end of the process, they could read better. so, teachers like this, like barbara, like jim in california, i

the vote by maryland center barbara mikulski was an 61-39. the senate is back tomorrow morning at 9:30 eastern. the chamber will debate the medicare advantage program a private government subsidize supplemental health care program for seniors. watch live senate coverage on c-span2. >> as we get a veteran veterans what we do we run an ever-increasing risks of overconfidence and yurgens. >> fork malcolm gladwell's books that on the "new york times" bestsellers list including its latest with the dogs saw. as he is our guest on c-span's q&a. >> now another in a series of hearings on the president knew afghanistan strategy part of the witnesses are defense secretary robert gates in joint chiefs of staff chairman my molin. john kerry of massachusetts chairs the senate foreign relations committee. this is almost three hours. her. >> the hearing will come to order. secretary clinton, secretary gates and admiral mullen we welcome you here today. thank you very much for joining us. and we appreciate your coming to share more details of the president's

and also to thank senator inhofe the ranking republican and chairman barbara boxer. the cooler heads coalition is an ad hoc coalition of approximately two dozen groups that question the scientific case for global warming alarmism and oppose energy rationing policies. we have done a number of things over the years since being founded in 1997, the year the kyoto protocol was negotiated. and i want to just tell you about the resources, the public resources, of the coalition. first it's the website, globalwarming.org and i urge to you look at it. and if you go to globalwarming.org you can see a sign-up sheet to receive the newsletter of the coalition by email almost every week. it's called the cooler heads digest. i was going to bring copies of this week's digest but some incredible technical difficulties from my colleague's computer he boasted all week that he had just gotten a new computer and as soon as he tried to produce the digest on it, the program wouldn't work. and the other resource of the coalition is this long series of hill briefings. and we have had many di

pash barbara starr, cnn. >>> i'll be back with one hour with the latest news. right now a special edition of "larry king live" begins now. >> larry: tonight another scare in the air. same flight number from amsterdam to detroit. disrupted by a nigerian passenger, two days after an attempted terror attack on christmas day. what sparked the security alert this time? then, controversial remarks from the homeland security secretary about a man charged with trying to bring down a commercial jet. >> the system worked. everybody played an important role. >> larry: we'll get reaction, plus, we'll show you what it's like to be traveling today, if you get past security. next on a special edition of "larry king live." >> larry: good evening. hard to believe, but the same detroit-bound northwest airlines flight that was the target of a terrorist attack on christmas day faced another security scare today. let's go to martin savage at detroit metropolitan airport for the latest. what happened? >> reporter: it was just dramatic deja vu, almost jaw-dropping. it began like it d

the amendment co-sponsored by maryland democrat barbara mikulski and republican olympia snowe, would require policies to include a variety of yearly screenings. a vote on this amendment may take place around 6:00 p.m. eastern. senator mccain has offered a motion to send the entire bill to committee to remove medicare cuts from the measure. live coverage of the health care debate right now on c-span2. tonight president obama will address from the u.s. military academy at west point, address the nation as he announces his decision regarding u.s. policy in afghanistan. we will carry that live on the c-span networks. and we'll open our phone lines for your reactions as well. that starts at 8:00 p.m. eastern. check c-span.org for our coverage plans. a.p. is reporting that president obama is sending 30,000 extra u.s. troops to afghanistan on an accelerated timetable that will have the first marines there as early as christmas, and all forces in place by summer. he'll also declare tonight that troops will start leaving in 19 months. we discussed u.s. policy in afghanistan this morning on wa

robinson, esquire, and barbara jordan from the mickey leland school of public affairs, texas southern university. "our reading of the constitution and supreme court precedent could not identify any reasonable basis, expressed or implied, for granting congress the broad, sweeping and unprecedented power that is represented by the individual mandate requirement. in fact, we could not find any court decision, state or federal, that said or implied that the constitution gave congress the power to mandate citizens to buy a particular good or service or be subject to a financial penalty levied by the government for not doing so." that's -- that's pretty impressive stuff. it is certainly possible to achieve the goal of greater health insurance coverage by constitutional means, not unconstitutional means. i am quite certain, however, that those means are politically impossible. liberty requires that the constitution trump politics, but in the legislation before us, politics trumps the constitution. another provision in this legislation sthas inconsistent with the constitution is section 9001,

host: and barbara boxer was brought in to participate in the talks. that reid first proposed, she would not stand in the way of advancing the bill. guest: we are in a situation because democratis have 60 votes and they need those 60 votes for the motions. headed up to now. one senator could stop this leverage. and ben nelson is a guy in the center of congress who will do that and hold out and assert himself in the middle of these debates. and he did this on this issue and a number others, and they had to find a way to satisfy him. and the concern is if you go too far in satisfying someone on the conservative side, you lose folks çlike boxer or the senator from vermont on the public option. it's been a tough balancing act on the democrats. but the reality is that the folks on the left of the caucus want to do health care badly enough they are willing to take trade offs. host: let's look at senator nelson and the comments he made. >> change is never easy, but it's what is necessary in america today, and that's why i intend to vote for health care refor

i must say this -- standing next to me as barbara mikulski. the senate together, we got on the appropriations committee together, and for me, barbara, senator mikulski, you brought a tear to my eye when she was the 60th vote today. ok, baucus, god, and then harkin. -- dodd, and then harkin. >> today as a victory for american families in our business alders and for our economy which -- and for generations to come. when we started on this path to your ago we knew it would not be easy but we have worked tirelessly to deliver more affordable health care. to deliver an insurance market the worse for patients, not profits. to deliver billions of >> -- billions of dollars and tax credits and to control health- care costs to get american families and businesses and the economy back on track. today, we can all be proud of what this bill accomplishes. we can be proud that every american in every state will benefit from new consumer protections and a more stable, secure health care system. passing health care reform is a challenge for each of us. togethe

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 engaging introduction to american sketches, walter isaacson shares the drive he has had since his youth in new orleans to become a great writer. he was in a place where he was soaking up the atmosphere of tennessee williams and william faulkner but he was also there until walker percy's death. but then before he went off to be a rh

barbara boxer touted medicare is a great example of how seniors are able to choose a public option. excuse me, when we turn 65 we're required to sign up for medicare. how is that optional? i think at this point both sides of the aisle are trying to sell us snake oil and somewhere in the middle is the truth. are you worried yet? your children and grandchildren are going to enjoy the same freedoms and opportunities that we enjoyed? the future of my grandchildren should have been better than the life i had, and my life has been pretty doggone good. instead future generations are going to be paying financially and personally for the mistakes being made right now by a president who presumes too much power in a system of checks and balances that no longer works. so, we've been talking about having a bipartisan bill here, and maybe that would end some of the contradiction and furor that we're talking about here. and i think that a lot of people must have missed the speech that olympia snowe made about durable social reform always being bipartisan. what a -- i want to share some comments on

so i said that really cool, and as barbara said, i was growing up in new orleans, and i started haunting the french quarter bars in which williams falkner and anderson and tennessee williams, and i would keep a corner table in the napoleon house. i was saved from that partly by journalism. i was able to get a time at the times pick pick ewan i realized i was addicted to store teling, and after thumbing through percy's novels and realizing, this is a real writer, he would put up with my earnest questions, and i sort of began to notice there were messages in his wonderful tails, a message in a bottle sort of thing, and they were philosophical messages, sometimes religious messages. and so i would ask him about the messages and the themes he would try to do, and he wouldn't talk about it. he said there were two types of people that came out of louisiana, preachers and story telers, and he said, for goodness sake, be a story telar. once again, the way the bible does it. it's the parts of the bible that works because there's wonderful stories that tell you the moral lessons in a subtle way. a

this morning, the chairman of congressional black caucus, barbara lee, and you have two or three peopleho always criticized president obama who supported his opponents in primaries are saying things now that they said then. most blacks don't listen to them then, they won't listen to them now. >> larry: jeff what do you think? break the tie here. >> let me first say that it's a misnomer to act that all the black community wants the same thing all the time anyway. what segment of the black community are we talking about? but beyond that, i think disappointment in my mind is based on expectation. and one of the biggest problems is when i hear what so many have said about the president not having enough of a black agenda, he never talked about having one. he never said he was going to run on that. he wasn't that when he was in the state of illinois. i think many black people's disappointment is connected to disillusionment of what he was supposed to be. we need to be serious if he's going to be held accountable, hold him accountable on what he said he was going to do, not what you wanted hi

foreign policy with barbara slavin and jonathan broder. also a discussion of president obama's first year in office stephen hess and tom thomasson. that is at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. damage in the mid-1990s, newsweek named him one of the most 50 was influential people to watch in cyberspace. since then, he has created black planet.com, created a charter school in brooklyn, and he talks on what is ahead on c-span's q &a. >> president obama address the sacrifices made by troops overseas. they are followed by duncan hunter with the republican spots. with the republican response. this is about 10 minutes. >> hello, everyone, and merry christmas. as you and your families gather to celebrate the holidays, we want to take a moment to send greetings from our family, from may, michelle, malia, sasha, and from bo. >> this is our first christmas and the white house and we're so grateful for this extraordinary area. not far from here in the blue room is the official white house christmas tree. it is an 18-foot tall douglas fir from west virginia,

host: barbara, thank you for the call this morning.front page of "the philadelphia inquirer" with that the article, "bailout for the unemployed." dale, how long have you been out of work? caller: one year, december 12. host: what did you do before you lost your job? caller: i was a construction worker. host: what has your job search been like? caller: terrible. my feelers are in the air. my old employer is hiring and i have been waiting for him to call me back. host: are you confident that you will find something? caller: i will not give up, life is too short, but like the other lady said, i feel sorry for my children. i think we should do something like what roosevelt did, getting the public back to work. bailing out wall street is not helping me. i have no skin in that fight. host: why do you think that the economy is so bad? caller: i think that they've turned their backs on the average person. taking care of the big banks is not going to help the average people. they are the ones that need help right now. hs%iñ on the issue of une

barbara boxer spent millions to get a seat that pays $200,000. they are all lawyers and crooks in washington. that's my opinion. host: in baltimore. you are supportive of the bill. >> at this point on the senate floor, the vote passes here. host: the senate moves on to other business with a 60-39 vote for the healthcare legislation vote. we'll return to the phone with a call from baltimore. caller: hello. i wanted to say that i feel like everybody who opposes the bill should really have compassion for the rest of the country. i think what the democrats are trying to do is at least provide access so people can stop dying because of healthcare. if those really were to get out and really hear people's stories. there's so many stories of people that die every year from not having enough money from healthcare. i think people should be more compassion gnat. we are all in it together. 45,000 people who die every year from healthcare, that's american. it's all american. i think that should be taken care of. the second thing i wanted to say. i think every

barbara boxer spent millions to get a seat that pays $200,000.y are all lawyers and crooks in washington. that's my opinion. host: in baltimore. you are supportive of the bill. >> at this point on the senate floor, the vote passes here. host: the senate moves on to other business with a 60-39 vote for the healthcare legislation vote. we'll return to the phone with a call from baltimore. caller: hello. i wanted to say that i feel like everybody who opposes the bill should really have compassion for the rest of the country. i think what the democrats are trying to do is at least provide access so people can stop dying because of healthcare. if those really were to get out and really hear people's stories. there's so many stories of people that die every year from not having enough money from healthcare. i think people should be more compassion gnat. we are all in it together. 45,000 people who die every year from healthcare, that's american. it's all american. i think that should be taken care of. the second thing i wanted to say. i think everybody

witnesses include barbara mikulski. this is about 1.5 hours. >> this hearing of the banking subcommittee will come to order. chairman dodd is a busy man these days. the most import reform in our health-care system in a generation while working hard to completely overhaul our regulatory financial system, not to mention his central role in formulating legislation to jump-start our economy and create millions of new jobs. in the interest of giving him a few minutes to sleep and eat, i volunteered to lead this hearing. we appreciate everything he is doing. i want to start by praising the work of secretary lahood and the administrator. they are overseeing transportation when localities have fewer resources to meet this demand. they have proven themselves able and visionary leaders in these trying times. as seen by the proposal they will be discussing today, their leadership on safety has been particularly important. transportation policy, safety must always be of paramount importance. this past summer, the tragic metro crash

barbara slater of "the washington times" an jonathan broder of g.q.will be here to discuss foreign policy and then we will have steven hess from the brookings institution and dan thomasson of scripps howard news service to talk about president obama's first year in office. thank you for watching this edition of "the washington journal" and we will see you tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. eastern. coming up, the communictors, and at 10:30, a senate hearing on the backlog of d.n.a. evidence collected for unsolved rape cases, and later, a former c.i.a. intelligence officer on u.s. policy in afghanistan. tonight, on "america and the courts" encore presentations from c-span's supreme court week special. the supreme court jurn aferlist lyle denison an joan biskubic on covering the courts and appellate attorney maureen maloney on arguing before the court tonight at 7:30 p.m. eastern here on c-span. in the mid '90's, newsweek named omar wasow one of the 50 most influential people to watch in cyberspace and since then he has created the social networking site blackp

michigan, barbara on the independent mind.aller: i love what everybody has had to say on your show this morning. i think the whole thing was ridiculous. i don't see where it is going to help any of us lower income people who used to be middle- class people. i can't afford part b on my medicare, so i don't have it. i have a sick daughter it will probably has over $80,000 in medical bills. doesn't have insurance. took over six years to get my daughter diagnosed with something pretty simple. the whole thing is ms. it is discussing and it is a mess -- and i am against abortion on all of this. i would never go have one but i don't feel i should have to pay for one. host: texas, jerry on the republican line. caller: i believe it is both corrupt and unconstitutional. corruption is designed as dishonest exploitation of power for personal gain and be a constitutionality of that would call under the equal protection clause. these people just amaze me with their ball. it is an unbelievable. host: in about five minutes, the senate will st

host: barbara, thank you for the call this morning.front page of "the philadelphia inquirer" with that the article, "bailout for the unemployed." dale, how long have you been out of work? caller: one year, december 12. host: what did you do before you lost your job? caller: i was a construction worker. host: what has your job search been like? caller: terrible. my feelers are in the air. my old employer is hiring and i have been waiting for him to call me back. host: are you confident that you will find something? caller: i will not give up, life is too short, but like the other lady said, i feel sorry for my children. i think we should do something like what roosevelt did, getting the public back to work. bailing out wall street is not helping me. i have no skin in that fight. host: why do you think that the economy is so bad? caller: i think that they've turned their backs on the average person. taking care of the big banks is not going to help the average people. they are the ones that need help right now. hs%iñ on the issue of une

so anyway, teachers like this, like barbara and jim bentley in california. i know wonderful teachers who are doing it right. we need to use them. >> host: a reminder that we have a student educator line. if you would like to call and talk with speech, (202)628-0205 is that number. e-mail from eni, high school student at bishop kelly and paulson oklahoma. i'm currently in u.s. history class and we discussed the content of what should or should not be any history textbook. this topic arose when we were studying the civil rights movement. we were shocked to find our textbook looked over the tulsa race riots which to me, amy, seems an important subject to discuss. i was wondering what you think is most important to have in a textbook. >> guest: i don't know what is most important but we certainly should have things like race riots. we want to show the good and bad. there is -- >> host: did you include the tulsa ressa try it? >> guest: i think i did you better look. it's been awhile since i wrote those books. but the -- it's really tough to decide what to put in

at wells barbara and so one of the things to do is have that conversation with a customer. there is a profiling process that happens when they come to open an account discussing financial need and goals. many customers would like to be saving more but they don't feel they have that $500 to start a program and with those fees. especially for low and moderate income customers explaining that you don't have to have a lot of money to start a savings program and you don't -- not just put the money in and leave it and you will get rich with the interest, especially in today's market, having the automatic savings every month whether it is weekly or daily or monthly or whatever they can do to put a little bit aside so they have the emergency fund set up. >> your perspective? >> well -- this is going to go a little bit to the dark side answer here. as we look ahead, one of the things i think about is unintended consequences. all of the events on capitol hill right now, all the legislation that is unfolding. you have two sides of the equation. you have savers and borrowers. credit un

police sergeant barbara moe found evidence, and that was submitted for dna test thing. that evidence hit to a man whose only felony conviction was for drunk driving. senator klobuchar was largely responsible for the minnesota law which made repeat drunk driving offenses a felony. i charged that man, and he is now doing 25 years in prison for a crime that never would have been solved but for the fact that he was placed into the convicted offender database. this is a magnificent example where the law of unintended consequences led to a terrific outcome. i am fortunate to have been a part of this revolution in dna evidence. i have made several observations and suggestions in my written submissions to the committee. i believe the use of dna typing to identify rapists can be further enhanced and additional rapists can be brought to justice. i outline in my submissions a number of areas that i think could help this. i want to thank you for inviting me to testify before you today, and i look forward to continuing my work on maximizing the use of dna technology in this area. >>

foreign policy with barbara slavin of "the washington times" and jonathan broader.look at president obama's achievements in his first year in office from stephen helps of the brackings institute and dan thomason. that's live here on c-span starting at 7:5 a.m. eastern. in the mid 1990's, he was named one of the most 50 influential people to watch in cyberspace the since then he's completed blackplanet.com, helped found a charter school in brooklyn and explained new technologies on oprah. sunday night he talks about his current studies at harvard and what's ahead on c-span's q&a. >> in just over half an hour, a former british ambassador to the u.s. testifying on british involvement in the war in iraq. but first, a special presentation of our documentary, "the blair house -- the president's guest house" begins. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> the first blair home, the original part, and that where the green awning is, that's the primary entrance. that's where presidents, our own and fo

my distinguished colleague, majority leader harry reid of nevada, senator ben nelson of nebraska, barbara boxer of california, bob casey of pennsylvania, and chuck schumer of new york. for the printed and practical compromise they reached on the difficult issue of abortion. their work allows the united states senate to now march with our house colleagues toward the forward edge of history and the enactment of the patient protection and affordable care act, and i congratulate them for that important contribution. mr. president, i would also like to commend my colleague, the assistant majority leader, dick durbin, of illinois for bringing to the senate's attention during yesterday's debate an op-ed that appeared in "the washington post" this morning, written by our dear friend victoria reggie kennedy. it was entitled "the moment ted kennedy would not want to lose." vicki kennedy was senator kennedy's partner in all things, including his final efforts to move health reform forward, even as he valiantly fought his own battle with cancer. in more than 17 years of marriage, ted and vicki were i