check on that in washington well for more on this i'm not joined by the president of the center for constitutional rights michael ratner joining us live anywhere in new york thanks very much indeed for joining us there michael now to be with. us some analysts are saying the vote is largely symbolic but do you think it will have any effect on the future direction of the nato mission in libya we know it's remarkable that there is this much opposition to the war in the united states you know there's no american soldiers really being killed in it so it is surprising that so many members of congress not just republicans but many many democrats voted on a resolution to not authorize the war any longer now it's true they voted also not to cut off funding but there's a lot of opposition going on and the perspective i have and why didn't the president come to congress and the issue is obviously once a war starts you're in the middle of supporting nato when it's all operation it's much harder to cut off the funding but the president didn't go to congress he's constitutionally required to do what he didn't do it an

regards to the war in libya inertia which some say could be very dangerous the head of the center for constitutional rights michael ratner says president obama is staking his political career on the war in libya. the perspective i have and why didn't the president come to congress and the issue is obviously once a war starts you're in the middle of supporting nato when it's all operation it's much harder to cut off the funding but the president didn't go to congress he's constitutionally required to do what you didn't do which and it's really it's an outrageous constitutional violation so what we're seeing here is not just political posturing we're seeing deep resentments around us fighting so many wars at once i think people are saying it's too much it's too expensive what are we just the war machine and i think you're seeing a really strong opposition building to the war what's interesting is that i think obama looks like a real fool would use it looks like he made a real mistake to not go to congress to get the authority to go into an illegal war that's contrary to the u.s. constitution and contrary to

center for constitutional rights michael ratner says president obama is staking his political career on the war in libya. the perspective i have is why didn't the president come to congress and the issue is obviously once a war starts we're in the middle of supporting nato and its whole operation it's much harder caracal and i think you're seeing a really strong opposition building to the war what's interesting is that i think obama looks like he made a real mistake go into an illegal war that's contrary to the u.s. constitution and contrary to the war powers resolution which is a statute that was passed by congress a number of years ago and this principally a legal issue oh although it really reflects the underlying discomfort right now with this war and i think there's tremendous discomfort despite the fact that costs are nothing compared to afghanistan or a straight affair we're not losing soldiers who are getting sick and tired of war for a fan of finance minister in a hostile bartz ousted egyptian government has reportedly found safe haven in the u.k. that's despite the fact he'

right-of-way and does that constitute a general advertising sign. i think something -- i have seen signs in elevators for instance in embarcadaro center and that is truly in the interior. i guess that's a question that we're going to have to do some more work on and interpreting with the zoning administrator. >> let's look as we come to the end about historic signs. this is a historic sign and this black smith shop and on howard -- folsom and has the beautiful sign on the side of the building. get a little close up of that. tool, manufacturing, in general black smithing. do we make exceptions for historic signs and what way? >> historic signs are allowed and addressed in the planning code. we do want to preserve that and valuable remembrance of the heritage and we want to preserve this. >> i think what is lovely about these signs and what they disappear and appear and this is around for a while and when there is a demolition of a building and you frequently find an old sign for a laundry or whatever and also what is interesting and the degree to which the signs and uses disappear and they're named in the buildings in their place and foundry square and

professor of advance constitutional law at the university of denver and in london we crossed the leslie video morry she is co-director at the center for international politics of conflicts rights and justice at the school of oriental and african studies my focus is crosstalk that means you can jump in anytime you want my very much encourage it but first let's have a look at a short report about whether or not obama's foreign policy is in line with the law . i said at the outset that this was going to be a matter of. weeks more than ten months after obama's promise to put a time limit on u.s. military intervention in libya they made a lot of campaign continues to live off of u.s. support beyond the fact that the campaign has morphed into an indefinitely protracted mission america's participation in a very well be a violation of the us constitution under the war powers act introduced in one thousand seventy three over president richard nixon's veto us armed forces of gravity from being involved in the foreign military action for more than sixty days without congressional authorization and obama has so disregarded this law as existence every president has expressed some concerns

constitution, he brought the power of the federal government to the aid of civil rights workers. so today the rfk center takes that as our model and we look foro are the martin luther kings and john lewises of today and we work with them for a six-year period and we bring the power of the international law to their aid as they work on human rights issues in their countries. so abel hernandez berra is one example. he lives in mexico. he has had many members of his organization killed by military and police officers in that area, in guerrero. and he is working to assure that indigenous people have their th. >> and their cause -- i mean, this is separate from the drug wars and everything else that's going on, but there is such corruption there, but this is political freedom, this is basic human rights freedom for these indigenous peoples in mexico. >> that's exactly right. it's basically political freedom but in the context of the drug wars. so the united states government has an agreement with the mexico government under the marita agreement to spend $1.6 billion in central america, $1 billion of it in mexico stopping the drug trait. over the l