who in chicago isn't touched by this?laughter] and his dad was in and out of prison when he was a kid. he was a brilliant kid comedy skit to grades and education and schooling was sort of how he what preserve his own sense of self in the chaotic upbringing that he had been traveling around the country as his dad scam people, and his dad left the family when he was about 12 and this was about the time the mother was diagnosed bipolar schizophrenic so they wound up in the housing project at the bridgeport homes in bridgeport and very quickly he sort of dissented in to the crime. first to support his family come stealing parking meters he invented a key he could open the parking meters and all that, the geniuses of the little kid turned him into the criminal direction that the results were of course devastating. and eventually, the most compelling thing about art is he decided he wanted to find his father years later and it's that pursuit that leads him down. that pursued for probation fascinated me and there is a father saw

he did in chicago, coming to chicago, most of it had to do with the medical center even though he dabbled a little bit in politics. he went back to his first love and that was healing the sick. and so his center was a beautiful center. he would help people like angela davis and some of the others on the walls so people came in they felt better because they would see people that they read about. and then he proceeded to help them. so most of his work in chicago had to do with the south side and medicine and one last thing in that his house is still here. still in the city. in his basement, we've seen it, it covers about a block. it's a beautiful home on the south side. thank you. [inaudible] >> i have to say in 45 short minutes, it is impossible to do justice to the rich subjects in these very elegant and impressive biographies. all i can do at the end of our time now is to recommend that you locate those books and read them. i want to express my thanks to professors margaret washington, david and linda beito for joining us this afternoon. and thank you to our audience for joining us as we

there's one here in chicago that's affiliated with us called arise chicago. every day they see workers have not gotten paid. last year they saw workers from 200 different restaurants in chicago. not a single work of grouper had gotten paid overtime in chicago. for the restaurant work here again it's a huge crisis right here in our backyard. next pushback force our trial attorneys, and i have to say, you know, nobody really speaks all that positively about trial attorneys, but they are carrying a lot of weight on this pushback force right now. in 2007, there were 7000 cases filed in federal court under the fair labor standards act. and all but 151 of them were done by private attorneys. so that they are really carrying the freight on this issue. there were 62 different lawsuits that wal-mart finally decided to settle right at christmas time, december 24. they're going to end up paying workers between $30,600,000,000 in unpaid overtime. they made that decision to pay that overtime because those trial attorneys filed suit against wal-mart. so the trial attorneys

you know, even here in chicago right, we now have no labor reporter, and the chicago tribune every time they talk about labor unions, they call them, the leaders they called and union bosses. what's that about, right? so, you know, we had this kind of culture that's kind of created this antiunion thing, and as folks have gotten farther away from personal experiences with unions, and they just have sort of the cultural, antiunion stuff out there, they just don't know. i run into an programs with seminary students, and i'll have no one in the room that grew up in a union household. and they will say, now what exactly is a union anyway? they don't know. >> thank you all for coming. i do many of you have more questions. please come and see our authors. >> and sign and get our books in the room next door. >> and by flat broke and wage theft in america. >> thank you for supporting the chicago tribune's commitment to literacy. our book signing will take place in the arts room. as you exit this room to your left is the first room on her left. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

and not to mention which david will some of the other works he did here in chicago. people who knew him include jesse owens, that great famous olympian, mahalia jackson, representative william l. dawson, representative charles digs, malcolm x and thurgood marshall. so it is with that small introduction i start you to wonder, hopefully, about dr. howard to the point that you'll want to buy the book. i don't want to tell you too much of it because i want you to read it. david? >> i sort of i want to reiterate one point there. this is a great story. and not because of our writing. i think it almost told itself, you know, here's a guy who started out children of tobacco twisters in rural kentucky and became a prominent surgeon and civil rights leader and entrepreneur. now, if anyone would qualify as a renaissance man in black history i think it would have to be trm howard or he would have to be high on the list. he was not only one of the wealthiest blacks in mississippi, he was a successful surgeon but he was also a pioneering civil rights leader. and he was a pioneerin

downtown chicago and this is the chicago tribune's printer's row literature fest that is going on this weekend and also have a studio audience here and joining us at the university center where we are doing our live in depth. (202)737-0001, if you lived in the east and central time zones, (202)737-0002 for those of you in the mountains and pacific time zones and we will begin taking your calls in just a few minutes but first we want to look as some of the mr. ayers books on education. "teaching toward freedom" is one of his books, another one is called the zero tolerance: resisting the driver punishment in our schools, we have a "teaching the personal and the political", essays on hope and justice, city kids in city schools -- these are books and edited by mr. ayers with several different contributors in this. this is city kids and city teachers, reports from the front row and the city kids and city schools, more reports on the front row. these are just some of his education books and we will get into some of his other books also as we go. this is "to teach" which also contains the myt

king came to chicago and i will not miss this. so i volunteered with his lawyer team and pretty soon i found myself on the west side trying to desegregate chicago housing and bring the housing that was there up to code. i wore little are banned that said lawyer. i was a second year law student by then come up pretty ignorant of the world. it was a big teaching and i opening experience. >> host: when did you graduate? said the practice? >> guest: university of chicago, graduated 57, there were only six women and a loss gall not one at single person of color. and every single guy in my class who included

and not to mention which david will some of the other works he did here in chicago. people who knew h@úuÑ3Ñ became a prominent surgeon and civil rights leader and entrepreneur. now, if anyone would qualify as a renaissance man in black history i think it would have to be trm howard or he would have to be high on the list. he was not only one of the wealthiest blacks in mississippi, he was a successful surgeon but he was also a pioneering civil rights leader. and he was a pioneering civil rights leader in the belly of the beast. that's the mississippi delta. probably the worst place to be a civil rights leader in the early 1950s but four years before the montgomery bus boycott, howard's regional council of neagree leadership organized a successful boycott of service stations that refused to provide restrooms for blacks and also organized a campaign against police brutality that was also relatively successful. as linda point out without trm howard we probably would have never heard of medgar evers. also without trm howard we probably never would have heard of fannie lo

those of you don't know chicago politics, he was a big time chicago democratic alderman who converted to republican party in the '80s, sometime, correct? >> correct. >> to what extent -- and this gets to a larger question i have about blagojevich, how much of his political philosophy, his -- what truly animates him is ideological? >> well, you know, that's kind of hard to figure out. i mean, i think his political -- his public political philosophy, his populism, very populist candidate, his concern for the little guy, his antitax stance -- a lot of that does come from his -- the immigrant values of his father. that these were, you know, look out for the little guy kind of values. his father worked in the steel mills. he went to work in the alaskan pipeline. his parents sacrificed everything so that their two sons could be successful. and you can see in rod blagojevich in his public politics but when you look at what happened to his personal life and his personal ethics, there's not a lot of indication that those values, those values of hard work, honesty and performance translated int

if you want to participate in our conversation, we're live in chicago. we're at the corner of south state street and congress, just south of the loop in downtown chicago, and this is "the chicago tribune"'s printer's row lit fest that is going on this weekend. we also have a studio audience here joining us at the university center where we are doing our live in depth. 202-737-0001 if you live in the east and central time zones and would like to talk with bill ayers, 202-737-0002 for those of you in the mountain and pacific time zones, and we'll begin taking your calls in just a few minutes, but first we want to look at some of mr. ayers' books on education. "teaching toward freedom" is one of his book, another one is called "zero tolerance: resisting the drive for punishment in our schools." we have teaching the personal and political, essays on hope and justice. "city kids and city schools," now, these are books that are edited. this is "city kids and city teachers" and this is more reports from the front row. these are just some of his education books,

downtown chicago, and this is "the chicago tribune"'s printers row lit fest that is going on this weekend. we also have a studio audience here joining us at the university center where we are doing our live in depth. 20 #-737-0001 if you live in the east and central time zones. 202-737-0002 for those of you in the mountain and pacific time zones, and we'll begin taking your calls in just a few minutes, but first we want to look at some of mr. ayers' books on education. "teaching toward freedom" is one of his books. another one is called "zero tolerance, resisting the drive for punishment in our schools." we have "teaching the personal and political," "city kids and city schools," now, these are with several different contributors, and this is "city kids and city schools, more reports from the front rows." we'll get into some of his other books as we go. this is "to teach" which also contains the myth of education. what are some of the myths? >> guest: gosh, i wrote that 15 years ago, you're asking me to remember? [laughter] what i, when i wrote the book i was taken with the fact that when

>> guest: chicago. my hometown. yep. eugene field grade school on the north side, and then my parents moved to milwaukee, i graduated from high school in milwaukee, and this is my 50th reunion year for high school. that's one of the ones -- >> host: who were your participants and what did they do? >> guest: dorothy and barney. you know, i had a wonderful childhood. not money. i'm the first person in my family to go to college. my parents had a high school education. my mom was my dad's secretary. she was orphaned as a kid and passed around. she was swedish. she lived into her 90s. my dad lived to 94. he was born on hall stead and about, halstead and about 14th street. used to go to hull house as a kid. in my later life i drove him by hull house and said this is where jane adams and all the women of hull house were as if i were telling him something, and he was, like, i came here every day after school. they considered themselves a mixed marriage at the time because my dad was jewish and my mom was swedish. their families

the chicago -- even the "chicago tribune" agrees with that. "that's crucial. those foreign countries would enjoy a cost advantage in manufacturing if their industries were free to pollute while americans -- american industries picked up the tab for controlling emissions. the democrats need to delay a vote. otherwise, the house members should vote "no." well, that came out today, the "chicago tribune." and even the "chicago tribune" says there shouldn't be a vote. but there's going to be a vote tomorrow, and i -- i -- i -- i can't imagine that speaker pelosi would bring this up for a vote unless she the votes. and what's the motivation of this knowing full well that it will not pass the senate, will not become law, but there's something that they can take -- i mentioned copenhagen a minute ago. big meeting in copenhagen, the united nations, all of these people saying america should pass these tax increases. they have to take something up there that will make it look like america is going to be taking some kind of a leadership role. well, they're not going to do

>> guest: chicago, my hometown. eugene field day school on the north side and my parents moved to milwaukee, and i graduated from milwaukee and this is my 50th reunion year. i'm going back to my 50th 50th reunion for high school. >> whoa are your pains? >> guest: dorothy and barney. i had a wonderful childhood. not money. i'm the first person in my family to go to college. my parents had a high school education. my mom was my dad's secretary. she was orphaned as a kid and passed around. she was swedish. she lived into her 90s. my dad lived to 94. he was born on halstead and about 14th street. he used to go to ho house as a kid. in my later life i drove him by the house as if i were telling him something, and he was like, i came here every day. so my sister and i grew up in loafing household. they considered themself as mixed marriage because my dad was jewish and my mom was swedessish. their families were not happy with their marriage but they had a good marriage and they wanted better for their daughters. >> host:

>> a chicago unionists. i think it is still true and certainly people who work computers believe it to be true, that people value allot what they do with their work, this deal that they put into their work. i was thinking about this barbour, where i had my haircut by an 8-year-old guy in madison, wisconsin and yeah, has he for almost 60 years thought he was really good at cutting hair and proud of cutting hair? absolutely. has that question been posed to him in that way other than someone saying, g that is nice? probably never. that is another fabulous thing that studs did was to tell you that kind of-- i wouldn't call it the inkless but value that unacknowledged skill at job set all levels many of which as you point out have now disappeared and in that way for readers of studs books, allowed them to value their own jobs whether it was the same jobs or similar jobs and one of the most problematic ones in a way for an artist, was about the garbage man. the garbage men, in effect, a job that was the value from

office in chicago@@ú@ú,Ñ about. he didn't want to go. just didn't want that kind of confrontation with anyone that would challenge him which makes you wonder about this basic lack of self-esteem our basic lack of self-confidence. but they said when he did go he was fabulous cover he always turned around the room. so they were just as troubled and puzzled by it as everybody else and i thank you have to say he is a man who had his demons and we saw them play out in illinois. >> that is a pretty serious thing to talk about to discuss whether someone is mentally ill and the governor overstate. for, on the other hand, is the sort of a garden where i any real politician made bad moves along the way? >> adel think he is a venal politician, he is a very likable guy if you can get it out of this house. [laughter] i do have a master's degree in social work but i'm not going to work for rod blagojevich but i do think this narcissistic personality disorder, it is not psychotic, not schizophrenic, it is a personality disorder. i think some kind of di

. >> host: jeff from chicago illinois. comment, three pros. comment, i'm against any kind of draft. universal or otherwise. pro, do you believe that the arab did 9/11? i believe that it was a false flag, boast sides involved, undercover intelligence job. and again, what were the legal things that got you out of the underground, above ground? i noted -- >> host: leave it there. regular viewers of the book fair recognize this gentleman. he is at maybe of the panels and always has a thought-provoking question. so we have 9/11 -- i understand, sir. we're going to leave it there, we're running tight on time. we have 9/11 and what brought you above ground. >> host: how? >> guest: um, 9/11, i think -- you know, i assume with a little bit of skepticism left over i assume that the people who were identified as having cearld out 9/11 did carry out 9/11. i don't really think it was a conspiracy except in this broad seasons the u.s. failed -- the administration, both clinton and bush administration, failed the obvious warning signs-failed to see and respond to the obvious warning signs. i think

think in terms of chicago politics. i think chicago is the city in america that best illustrates the foundation that is acorn. so acorn intimidated lenders. they went up into, they got groups together. some would say gangs. i'm calling them groups. and they went into lenders' offices and sometimes shoved the banker's desk over to the wall and surrounded him and hollered at him and screamed at him and intimidated the lender into making bad loans and-n bad neighborhoods. they intimidated lenders and banking institutions to write nice big checks to acorn and then acorn used that money to operate. if they wrote a big enough check, acorn wouldn't be in there demonstrating or jamming the entryways to the banks and shutting down their commerce. these were intimidations shakedown tactics. acorn is one of the entities that did that. we know of a few others. i think the name jesse jackson comes to mind for most people when i raise this subject matter. there were other entities out there that did the same thing. acorn was in the c

not only did he not go to springfield which the operative much know, he didn't go to the office in chicago either. the troubled his staff to put it lightly and they said it was almost as if have some real psychological problem. i talked to enough people who mentioned this to me that i finally went and talked to several psychiatrists who never good enough psychiatrists so they wouldn't want give a diagnosis of because i haven't examined him but they did appoint a toward the male clinic definition of a narcissistic personality disorder which is someone who has an overall need for attention and has to be in the middle of things, much of which is to cover up a basic lack of self-esteem and many of his staff members really thought this fit into a tea because they remembered so many of the times when they couldn't get him out of the office or at of his house which is most likely, to go to an event or a political event, to talk about his policies and he was so passionate about. he didn't want to go. he just didn't want that kind of confrontation with anyone that would challenge him which makes yo

she starts a settlement house in chicago.she starts the first black woman's suffrage organization in chicago, which is really instrumental in the election of the first black alderman in chicago. she works with marcus campaign and this anti-lynching campaign is successful in many ways. lynching doesn't stop but lynchings go down. it's redefined. she has defended blacks pretty successfully.fñ and yet i remember coming across in her day book that she wrote some notes and in 1930 -- this is a year before her death, at this point she's running for a state senate seat in illinois. a year before her death she writes about going to a negro history week meeting. and with her daughter. and she says -- and they are discussing a book by carter woodson who is known as the father of negro history and who she knew. and she says i walked away disappointed that my name wasn't mentioned as a contributor to the lynching -- the anti-lynching campaign and i felt this was just extraordinary. this was more than racism and sexism and then i looked f

>> guest: chicago, look, he is a chicago politician but as people in the circle tommy there are two strands to chicago politics and illinois politics. there is the reformists and party machine. and obama was never part of the party machine. in fact he lost his first national race, the race for the house of representatives in 2000 because he was a bad at that kind of machine and ethnic politics that characterize as chicago. it was a disastrous race personally and politically and frankly when he ran for the senate four years later even his own friends laughed and said you just lost the race for the house badly. how can you be serious. >> host: we are showing the cover of the book and we have the tweet from a viewer that says how was the cover photo chosin? >> guest: i chose it after back and forth about five different covers. we wanted a couple of things. for a start, everybody is familiar with him and his smiling face. i didn't think it was appropriate to have smiling barack obama even though it was proper and would have sold better. i wanted a picture that showed him as at work as president

i met with the mayor of chicago last week and we discussed that problem and other crime issues in chicago. what i told him then and what i will tell you now is that we are committed to working with him as partners to come up with ways in which we can deal with that issue. one is too great a number, but the numbers coming out of chicago are simply unacceptable and we have to take strong measures to come up with ways to deal with it. >> there are many aspects -- gang activity is one of them. the proliferation of guns to gun -- to gangs by unethical gun dealers. there is a federal aspect to this and i appreciate your being willing to cooperate in dealing with it. there were two investigations you inherited from the bush administration related to activity that preceded your rival. one with a bush administration investigation of the destruction of cia interrogation videotapes. the second involved an investigation of several attorneys in the justice department who authorized the use of abusive techniques like water boarding. senator white house and i asked the then attorney general to give us a

chicago tribune printers row lit fest a. coming out next elizabeth brackett correspondent for pbs our cover her new book is "pay to play: how rod blagojevich turned political corruption into a national slideshow". [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] bodman [inaudible conversations] >> welcome to the 25th annual "chicago tribune" printer's row fast, we would like to give special thanks to our sponsors and community partners to help make this event possible. it just a few housekeeping notes before we begin today's program. please turn off your cellphone and all other electronic devices, also flash photography is not permitted. today's program will be broadcast live on c-span2 booktv. if there is time of the end for question and answer session with the author we asked them to use the microphones located in the center of the room so that our home viewing audience

. >> host: only 20 minutes left in our in-department from chicago.her question from the audience where are you from. >> i'm from chicago and i just have one question but first to say i'm a fan first of bill ayers book, a kind and just parent, so it addresses some of the things that the questions have been asking. also to say that bob dylan -- i'm thinking of bob dylan lately but his son-in-law is coming to chicago a week from wednesday, june 17th so like up peter, anyway. here's my question. i hear -- i have lived a long time, too i have just a few months till 60, and i have seen that most of the time change happens, change comes from something really bad. and i know there are a lot of good things that people wish for and long for and i keep hearing about this longing for, but why do we just write about it instead of doing something? the good things before the bad things happen would be a good idea to act i'm. i'm wondering what's this dynamic. >> guest: do you -- do you have anything to say? >> guest: well, i agree with you that change comes from th

chicago is a place that the blacks are armed. and in this begins though whole idea of the new radical may grow as you mentioned is now a forebear of the '60s. thank you for the question. >> this is a festival of books that are you tempted with the other research you have done for other forums talking about the new documentary's or are you tempted? also against science it is linked to mathematics and ordered to interpret that for people who are not mathematically oriented you have done an extraordinary thing and how can we do more of that for our kids? and last question of how do do a biography of a living person versus someone who you have the entire story done? >> desai as part -- the science part i believe children should be taught math is not an abstraction nine, it is a tool. i did it with my kids but if anybody did it there are museums where rutherford talked and at cambridge. the amazing thing about them is that most of his experiments are about this size. they look like music boxes or something. the reasons he was a great

why is rahm emanuel involved in directing this, the man from chicago, the chicago politics, visits and arrives at the white house with the president. by the way, if one goes back also and even begins to think that president obama wasn't involved with acorn and this is just a random hiring process that took place because it made sense, i would point out also that president obama chaired, for a time, sat on the board for a longer time thombing woods foundation in chicago, which distributed funds to community organizing groups and directed funds to acorn. as chairing the woods foundation he sent money to acorn he also set sat on the board of the chicago annenberg challenge. this is a liberal education initiative, the brain child of the unrepen tant terrorist william arrest. william arrest re-- william ayers recruited president obama, to sit on the board of the annenberg foundation to give money to acorn. president obama is tied in with acorn, part and parcel. he's been their attorney, been an employee under project vote, he's hired them and written them a check out of his campaign for ove

a taste of steaming maxwell street polish sausage loaded with on the ends on a snowy chicago sunday, the train ride to my brother's house in detroit after i learned of our brothers def and the rate of a moment that brought me here to this one-room helm. i grew up in a city of the shiite muslim in iraq 10 kilometers from of chief we played with ancient civilization steadied by the lights of the historic mosque from the summer heat to the shrine to power its behind it. said the pilgrim from across the middle east were for every day child who had trials and chileans of my siblings and me. my family was characterized by a passionate for both politics and religion. my mother was a muslim and my father was a communist and you can imagine the conflict as a kid brought up by these two polarizing believes. foreigners may not know that iraq used to have a strong communist party. it was highly educated country and whenever you have education you use what you have been even though communist ideology was in many ways similar to the path party ideology it represents a threat to saddam hussein powe

first i'd like to ask a question related to an issue in chicago. i recently met with the head of the chicago public school system and he told me an absolutely stunning statistic. in this last school year recently completed, over 500 school children in chicago were shot, at least 36 of them fatally. i think you'll share my view that this is unacceptable in chicago or anyplace in america. i think under the second amendment people have the right to own a gun, responsibly and legally, but children also have the right to be able to walk to school without being caught in the crossfire of a gang war. i'd like to ask for your help along with the help of secretary of education, arne duncan, and other members of the administration, to work with mayor daley and state and local officials to deal with this serious problem in president obama's hometown. >> yeah, the problem that you have detaillighted is simply unacceptable. i met with mayor daley last week here in washington. and we discussed that problem and some other crime issues in chicago and what i told h

where in chicago can we point to a school that the far left took over? i wouldn't even know exactly what that would look like, but the fact is that our educational system today is much as it was 60 years ago, and that is that some people succeed brilliantly, and some people fail miserably, and you can track that success and failure along the lines of traditional privilege and oppression. you know, privileged kids get a fine education. there's no doubt about -- they always have, and they go on to have their life opportunities opened. kids who are poor, who are the children of immigrants, who are the children of formerly enslaved people dend not to do as well, and that's been true for as long as i've been a teacher. >> host: mr. ayers, we've gotten several e-mails along this line and want to read these and let you just respond and talk about it now. jesse leavenworthover terryville, connecticut, still waiting for mr. ayers to reject his past in bomb making and terrorism. did he realize and does he realize even now that innocent people who had nothing to do

so chicago where we have suspensions going crazy, people have a right to the full development of their full selves, not a kind of strain that is going on. so one other way of looking at it that is important and just in terms of what diane said is ask yourself what standards do we want to hold in terms of education. we can say that whatever the most privileged and the wisest parents want and get for their kids, that's what we as a community want for all kids, and that means that the kind of savage inequalities where we fund some schools in illinois to the tune of $40,000 per kid and -- per kid per year, and some schools at $4,000 per kid per year that should offend us as people who believe in democracy because that is that saying to kids? our policy is choose the right parents. if you choose the right parents, everything will be agreement if you choose the wrong parents there's not much we can do. that's offensive in a democracy. so we should correct that. and part of the way we correct that is to say that whatever the most privileged and wisest parents have, that's what we want in chic

>> guest: i was actually in chicago for that fight and it was fascinating because i guess it was that a city council meeting with a representative from the area of chicago where the stores have been sound given exemptions allowed to come in was facing off now against critics of wal-mart who have the data. wal-mart doesn't create jobs, it cannibalizes jobs just like any retailer does. you just shot summer else, it is not a new job, in fact, sometimes of the net effect is a loss. but what she said it is really important and people who support labor, who have problems with the wal-mart model ought to listen because what she said the, i didn't hear any of you all and this goes back to your own book, saying in the '50s when the jobs on offer were stable, paid a living wage, had benefits, have pensions, i didn't hear any of you people saying in that of those jobs are to be the ones we were invited into because it was a black neighborhood in chicago that was bringing wal-mart in this particular instance. and she said and now this is what is left. you know, and so you are reaping in a sense s

we're just going to continue to take your calls here from chicago, florida, george, you're on the line. >> gentlemen. mr. ayers, with your writing and selling of books are you incorporated in i have a couple questions so maybe you want to take notes. i am a combat veteran of vietnam? i was med-evacked through valley forge army hospital and visited -- separated there. given the recent authors from generals of the nva they said after tet we had them beat because we eye him nateed a third of their army. they said it was people like you who made the war go on because they said they would win in the street, and i got ask you as a combat veteran, don't you realize you gave aid and confident to -- comfort to the enemy in the sense they knew they could win it with people like you in the street and you were not for the troop. you were the for the poor vietnamese and you seem to dismisses common sense and reasoning and i will say. why your analogy in the beginning was that poor black children do not know what a poach is. i come from west philadelphia, underprivileged a lot poorer than a lot of b

evans has been with the chicago fed since 1991 and became its president in september 2007. he spoke before the executive club of chicago for about 45 minutes. >> thank you very much for having me come and speak. ben bernanke was the commencement speaker at the boston college school of law and a few weeks ago. his message to the graduating class was simple. the flexible and open minded in dealing with the fact that life is unpredictable. as part of that speech, he quoted from the beatles, john lennon, like is what happens to you why you are busy making other plans. this morning i would like to quote the beatles as well. in regards to the current economy, i think it was paul mccartney who said yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away. now it looks like they are here to stay. [laughter] at our meetings, we get by with a little help from our friends. i am not aware of any secret messages embedded in fomc statement, but i have been told that some of our statements make more sense if you read them backwards. [laughter] i do not agree with that. now to a more serious subject.

it's a delight to be in chicago and to be at this fine institution. i want to begin by telling you that i had wanted to write this book for a long time. i taught a course on u.s. military history, taught a course on the american revolution and spent about half of that course dealing with the war. and taught a couple of seminars on the war of independence, but i had to wait until my editor finally gave me clarence to write the book. i also wanted to write it because a book i wrote in 2003, a leap in the dark, was a political history of the revolutionary era, and i wanted to write a book that would deal with the military aspects of the revolutionary era. and i took the title "almost a miracle" from a line in washington's farewell address to the continental army. he said goodbye to his continental army in november of 1783, about a month before he resigned his commission. he wrote a long address, and this is rather typical of washington. he didn't dwell on the past. he looked towards the future in that address, but have one very small portion of the addre

in chicago we have rick sent kelly calling for his lanitionary key parties. the greatest line of the year so far, something like the bush administration tried to privatize schools and privatize social security. having failed to do so, .pivatize the united states treasury itself using henry paulson's park program. it is a bleak time. i don't mean to be a downer. i was wondering if you could comment, the famous line about propaganda, the mark of successful propaganda is when you can convince people that their own destruction is nktertainment of the highest order. i am hitting on tom frank, when whercan turn a class conscious proletariat, people can act against their best self-interest. i wonder if you can elaborate on those ideas. >> guest: you said very eloquently everything that i agree with. over the last 30 years since ronald reagan, we have had the greatest wealth transfer of any period of any country in human history. 3-quarters of the wealth have gone to the top 1% of the u.s. population. that is a remarkable for left and we were awake during it, not tot

we're just going to continue to take your calls here from chicago. ocala, florida. george, you're on the line, thanks for holding. >> caller: gentlemen. mr. ayers, with your writing and selling of books, are you incorporated? i have a couple questions, so maybe you want to take notes. now, i am a combat veteran of vietnam. i was medevaced through valley forge army hospita >> given the recent authors of from generals of the nva, they said that after tet we had them beat because we eliminated one-third of their army. they also said it was people like you that made the war go on because they said that they would win it in the street. and i've got to ask you as a combat veteran, don't you realize that you gave aid and comfort to the enemy in the sense that, you know, they knew they could win it with people like you in the street? you were not for the troops, you were for the poor vietnamese. now, you seem to be very liberal, and as so seem to dismiss common sense and reasoning. and i'll say why. your analogy in the beginning was that poor black children do not know what

. >> 20 minutes left in our in debt from chicago. st oher question from the audience. >> caller: i have just one question. i am a fan of bill ayers's book a kind and just parent. also to say that bob dylan's on in law is coming to chicago on june 17th. you can google him, see where he is. i will give you my e-mail. my question, i have lived a long time too. most of the time change happens, change comes from something really bad. there are a lot of good things people wish for and long for and i keep hearing about this. why do we just write about it instead of doing something? good things before bad things happen. t you have anything to say on cw to make good things happen before bad things happen? >> change comes from the activity of people, the activity of citizens. and we have an administration for the first time. power exists from below. writing is a political act, speaking to one another, talking to strangers, those are political acts. learning to talk beyond the silo in front of us. some of us on worker's right. some of us on pea

please welcome the moderators, elizabeth taylor and rick kogan of "the chicago tribune."plause] ..

this concludes live coverage from the 2009 "chicago tribune" printer's row it fast. you can watch the entirety of the booktv coverage from the 2009 "chicago tribune" printer's row starting 11 tonight eastern and watch tomorrow at noon eastern for the author interview and call in program and debt. this month the guest is bill ayers former member of the anti-war group the weather underground. >> john catipano is editor-in-chief of illinois press. what books does the university have coming out this year? >> actually all of the posters on the table top display, these are all brand new books and as you can see we have a series of books coming out african-american history including this biography of sojourner truth, a biography of t.r.m. how word. >> who is t.r.m. howard? >> he was actually a conservative civil rights advocate that doesn't get the sort of attention and respect he should but was instrumental in moving forward a lot of black agendas in the south. >> and why did you decide sojourner truth needed another biography at this time? >> the author has a new and unus

i have so many pacoima professor at the university of illinois in chicago and have been there 22 years. began when i was 43. i think of my work as an activist and it continues to be that even though i do a lot of writing and teaching and sponsoring dissertations and all of the rest of what a professor does by have thought of myself during my adult life as a political and social activist. >> host: what we're teaching last semester? >> guest: i am so exhausted i don't want to talk about it i just finished this week. any professor that winds about being a professor should be taken out and given a real job. my middle son is a middle school math and science teacher and would ever he talks to his right your brother and lost to the brother and professor parents he says me quiet some of us have a real job. i except that teaching middle school science and math is a real job. last semester i top four courses i top one of new tariff research which i teach every spring, i taught a course which is required called improving learning environment, i taught a seminar in teaching for a cohort of people

look, he's a chicago politician. but as people in the circle tell me there are two strands to chicago politics and illinois politics. there is the reformists and the party machine. and obama was never part of the party machine. in fact, he lost his first national race as it were, his race for the house of representatives in 2000 because he was bad at that kind of machine and ethnic politics that really characterizes chicago. he lost to bobby rush. it was a disaster rust race for him personally and politically. when he ran for senate later even his own friends last. you lost the race for the house, how can you be serious? of course he proved everyone wrong there. >> we are showing the photograph. we have a tweet, how was the cover photo chosen? >> i chose it. after a back and forth about five different covers. we wanted a couple of things. for start, everyone is familiar with him and his smiley face and i didn't think it was appropriate to have a smiley barack obama even though it's popular and would have fit better.

we've got to go. >> welcome to the 25th anniversary "chicago tribune" printer's row that fast.e would like to give special thanks to the sponsors and partners who helped make this possible. a few notes. please turn off your cellphone italy other electronic devices. flash photography is also not permitted. today's program will be broadcast

want to remain here in the city to get a better life for the city of chicago with the way things areind of falling apart, politics aside? >> i know i said a lot. >> i'm not quite sure that's our job as a member of the media. [laughter] >> really what we are trying to do is bring as much information as we can as to what is happening in government. and somebody said to media the day so what happened in the media? why didn't you guys tell us about this? well, i then had lunch with the reporter at the federal building who said, i wrote 457 stories with what was going on with rod blagojevich. so i think we may, you know, take some of the blame, but i think we are trying to dig out as much information as we can and what's going on at state, local, county government and put it out there and it does have to be up to the voters to read and respond to. >> unfortunately we have given the hour another on c-span. is pay to play by elizabeth bracken. i urge you that are here to come out and meet elizabeth and have her sign a copy of the book for you. does of you who are watching order it or buy it

for me and many people of chicago the air waves will feel empty without the chicago 11 show and weekend review. he will be remembered not only by his loving wife sandra and daughters, but by the citizens of chicago and the american people. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois rise? mr. quigley: i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into, the following members may be permitted to address the house for five minutes to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material. the following, ms. woolsey from california. mr. peters from michigan. mr. george miller from california. ms. kaptur from ohio. mr. inslee from washington. mr. spratt from south carolina. the speaker pro tempore: there's no objection. the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois for a motion. mr. quigley: mr. speaker, i move now that the h d