cahal is still there by the way and close to a thousand students in cahal and he noticed that the black students were treated just like everyone else, they talked the same as everyone else, they addressed the same as everyone else and they had the same ambitions that he had, and he wrote in his journal that night i wonder if the way we treat black people at home had more to do with how we have been taught them of the nature of things and it transformed him overnight literally overnight into an abolitionist, and he came back, got into politics and was elected to the united states senate when he was 40-years-old, and right up there on the hill he led the abolitionist movement in the senate with the strongest most powerful voice of all. second only to abraham lincoln in how he was felt as a force cahal a. if he was almost beat to death by a congressman from south carolina who attacked him, blindsided him with a heavy walking stick and a virtually killed him from which sumner never really recovered either psychologically or physically. that man, that remarkable man was changed by his experi

popular election but you also run into the view nothing can be done because it is next to a possible cahal -- with the constitution so like the 17th amendment to prohibit same-sex marriage nobody seriously believes that any of these amendments will be adopted it in the case of the flag-burning amendment amendment, it will have no genuine impact if one is concerned as imf the structural impediments then nothing will change. those who support the repeal are not crazy and it is unfortunate that liberals who oppose it do so by saying it is crazy rather than say it was a very good addition to the constitution there is no reason to have it by the legislatures you do what the electorate to pick our officials and ultimately that is why we would have a direct elections. >> host: in then do after word from your book you originally wrote in 1988, this is 2011 after words, one of the major points as the founders were fully aware they had written the imperfect document and expected it to be amended as americans learned of the of less than of experience from living under it. we have the most fundamental

you told me before the were still working on a novel and i am looking forward to the year cahal next year to talk about your novel rather than "the peacock elite" the first eddie of the congressional black caucus that you are a member of 24 years when you were serving in washington. but you never quite come out to say what "the peacock elite" is but i think at times it is positive and other times in negative but who are "the peacock elite" with the congressional black caucus and why is it sometimes good and bad? >> thank you very much for the introduction and also for having read the book. [laughter] i just want to say the previous panel that was year had a roomful of people and they were talking about poetry and music and politics. very interesting. they had the a big audience that if you have something with pop culture you have a bigger audience than the politicians going from a congress down to the city council member have learned the code of pop culture and then it does that matter what it is known for. the high name recognition for those who don't respond differently. the for th

i and it is during a dialogue cahal and the q&a conducted that you will know the answer to your mystery. [laughter] given your background as a poet, have you ever written non-fiction prior to this? if not, did you have any thought about the fictionalizing it to tell a slightly different story in that manner? >> this is the work of nonfiction and my previous work in english was a memoir. and actually come after eyepiece this together i decided this is really what i want to do. at least for the foreseeable future. what i love doing is going out to and finding the story is that are immensely significant but have either fallen by the wayside never made it to the headline or were dismissed or shoved under the rug. i may sound paranoid but but i found i love the notion of the stories and they are so fabulous that you could hardly a come up with fiction we will find out if i did it justice but if i had come and then you agree with me it is so beautiful and astounding that's just in the way it unfolded it would have been diminished but i found that in some great ways there was several dozen and

cahal is still there by the way and close to a thousand students in cahal and he noticed that the black students were treated just like everyone else, they talked the same as everyone else, they addressed the same as everyone else and they had the same ambitions that he had, and he wrote in his journal that night i wonder if the way we treat black people at home had more to do with how we have been taught them of the nature of things and it transformed him overnight literally overnight into an abolitionist, and he came back, got into politics and was elected to the united states senate when he was 40-years-old, and right up there on the hill he led the abolitionist movement in the senate with the strongest most powerful voice of all. second only to abraham lincoln in how he was felt as a force cahal a. if he was almost beat to death by a congressman from south carolina who attacked him, blindsided him with a heavy walking stick and a virtually killed him from which sumner never really recovered either psychologically or physically. that man, that remarkable man was changed by his experi

and quote assistant attorney general who again apologized for a bureau of all cahal, tobacco and firearms program that allowed guns to cross the u.s. border into mexico. this is a little less than an hour and a half. >> good morning. the hearing will come to order. i appreciate the witnesses. having taken the time to join us i'm not sure if any of our republican members will be joining us, but i've been given the nod by the minority staff to go ahead and proceed, so i will begin with my opening statement if anybody else does are rife we can proceed to their opening statements if they care to make one to read every day as we know overseas criminal networks target's americans, weakening our economic prosperity and compromising our safety. today's hearing provides an opportunity to evaluate our current statutory authorities, law enforcement tools and resources for protecting the american people from the series and ever growing threat of international organized crime. .. a innovative american businesses, stealing their valuable intellectual property in order to produce cheap competitors are c