the one that fascinate me the most have to be the one that spend their lives at sea. so i want to reduce next the president of metro crew stores. -- cruise tours. he is a sea captain graduate from the arena university in genoa, italy. he has sailed world wide for many years. he has worked for princess cruises and crystal cruises before joining metro services. he has a master captain's license. he is a member of thepeople to . thank you for the opportunity to speak. [applause] >> thank you, u.s. coast guard area maritime security committee. he is also a member of the international cruise line council security. we could not have a better partner. please welcome step in now -- stefano. >> on behalf of metro crews services, a business that has been doing business here since the 1800's, we are so excited to be here today to see this incredibly -- coming an exciting project. as everyone said, san francisco is an incredible city. most of all, in addition to that, san francisco is an incredibly deeply rooted maritime city. the waterfront is in san francisco's blood, maybe mor

. >> that's what fascinated me in the beginning, sort of the unlikeliness of this character coming from so many different places and weaving it together in someone who became president. >> ifill: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: tax politics returned to center stage in washington today, as president obama called for extending middle class tax cuts and mitt mney said the white house plan doesn't go nearly far enough. ( applause ) the white house east room was the backdrop for a presidential pivot today: moving away from talk of job loss to promises of tax cuts. >> the republicans say they don't want to raise taxes on the middle class. i don't want to raise taxes on the middle class. so we should all agree to extend the tax cuts for the middle class. let's agree to do what we agree on, right?

that's what fascinated me in the beginning. sort of the unlikeliness of this character coming from so many different places and weaving it together into someone who became president. >> woodruff: you were saying you decided to write it on the night of the election. you had been thinking about it, but the night he became president... >> it overwhelmd me that night. before that, i have to confess that over the years before that, i had been a little bit dispirited by the modern american political culture and was not sure that i wanted to throw myself back into that with a biography of a sitting president. but the story in itself became so powerful, i wanted to write it. >> woodruff: there's so much in here about his ancestors. you open with a story about his great grandmother ruth in kansas, stories about his great great great grandfathers in kenya going back to the 1800s. why were those generations so important to telling his story? >> well, i think they're important to telling "a" story and his story is the culmination of it. we

colorado always fascinated me that way. i want to talk about the women's movement and in 19 -- 18 i'm sorry, i'm sorry in 1840, in london, there was the world anti-slavery meeting. and many quakers went from the united states. now, the quakershood had had a huge fight in philadelphia, very much involved in textile making and some said you can't use cotton because it is grown by slaves. and the others said, look, we're in business, we got to use what we can get. where the are we going to get cotton except from the south? those got mad and moved north. they started to make a very fine wool and had something -- i remember my grandmother had it, made a fortune, because they created what they called finger shaws, so light, you could pull them through your ring, your ring finger. so they were very, very light. ring finger shaws were great, made them rich. a group of them from the northern new york area boarded the sailing ships and went to london, pretty amazing for this event. among that group happened to be la krish sa mott and

. >> just fascinated me. the republican convention gets control of the tampa bay forums july 15th. so it's a month and a half. what happens in that time? >> the hour convention center will house the media. 15,000 journalists will be there. and the tampa bay times forum will house the event. they will take over for the month. so in terms of upgrading the infrastructure, getting id ready for the traveling and the visiting dignitaries, we will spend the next month preparing the environment. secret service will control the environment. the perimeter will be outside of this, so the closer you get, the more security will be enhanced. but it's -- it is a lot of work. it's the biggest lift, and i can probably speak for the mayor, too, the biggest lift the city has undertaken. >> rapid round. president obama's chance of winning florida again are -- >> it will be a tight race. it will be a tight race. i would say 52-48, that he will win. >> that's a landslide. >> in florida it is, yeah. in florida it is. he was down a week ago and i had a chance to spend some time with him. i think florida a

in this particular book something that has fascinated me is sumo and sumo wrestlers and how they get so big and what it's like in their culture. one of the brothers becomes an sumo and that's why it's a big book! [laughter]. >> do you think that -- being a woman who is in women have been oppressed -- i don't know if they are now or not, dou think that has stimulated you in your writing coming out of that? you specifically and in general, do you feel like a lot of women have been stimulated by being part of an oppressed class? >> good question. >> very much so. i will try to answer a, b, c. for me, i know that the first thing i began to think about when i thought i wanted to write a novel was that i wanted to write about my culture. and because i had grownup in the chinese culture i wanted to write about china. i wanted to find out more about myself because of i was raised in the bay area and because i didn't know culturally a lot of things i wanted to know. i knew i wasn't going to write about myself and knew that i was not going to write about my family. but i wanted to write about

but the >>gary: it fascinates me.s is a good athletic competitions, four times a year and yet 90 percent of the people who watch the of the games are families and women. 90 percent according to nbc crew >> when we come back the and >>gary: they met up with the olympic torch. they're fishing to great britain. some native american apaches were flown in by british airlines performing a rainbow dance to try to keep the rain away and finally olympic rowing and canoeing. beware of drew and jonah's. i got a contact high just walking by the door. skye, what's going on? ( tearfully ): i'm going home for the weekend. i'll see you monday.

it's fascinating to me, though, that nobody's ever brought this up. >> dick: never.i've never seen it done noi. >> tim: nor have i. >> dick: you're going to do in the all-star game, i have a feeling. >> tim: absolutely, absolutely. particularly there. they don't want to go back to a dugout of all-stars looking at them, unless they give them a phony laugh. >> dick: jeff keppinger, hitting .327, 2 homers and 12 runs batted in. jose valverde in the tiger bullpen, burke baddenhop in the rays' pen. >> tim: porcello was just terrific tonight. >> dick: in for the strike. 2-1. it was a bunt single by elliot johnson. there was a swinging bunt base hit by carlos pena. rhymes got a base hit to center. that wasn't especially hard hit. probably desmond jennings' single was the hardest-hit. >> tim: i think so, uh-huh. >> dick: count goes to 3-1 to keppinger with jennings on deck, top of the order for the rays. >> dick: hypothetical uniforms being worn. the headline says, rays go back to a time that never was. they weren't in existence back then, so they had to make this up. shot t

there's nothing in here that fascinates me or makes me happy. this is as close to a living hell as i think i ever want to come. >> seeing many of the same inmates cycle in and out of their facilities is not uncommon for most jail officials. nor is it unusual for certain types of inmates to be housed together. as we discovered during a visit to the fifth floor of the los angeles county jail. >> i call it the drama floor because you get a mix of everything. you get a mix of general population from petty theft to burglary to the k 11 inmates, the homosexual inmates. normally they're separated from everyone else simply because a lot of times they will be abused. there's a lot of homosexual inmates that -- the gender bending and it's hard to tell. >> my name is tash a. my last name is duane. >> 37-year-old bernard tash a swain was serving a nine-month sentence for a parole violation. >> how were you making money in. >> prostitution and selling drugs. >> one of the other things that bernard did on occasion inside l.a. county jail was put on beauty pag

to congregate in california and we have the luxury of being able to do something about >> what fascinates mebout this, it catches all of that attention and like the state assembly, you go up there and they're of be own version of that, they have their little pet think. you sit there and wonder what it has to do with the big picture and then they look at something like high-speed rail and pass it without even reading what it is about. >> most of us are really representative of our constituents and those guys who have their own things, someone in their district is just that nagy >> i find it amazing, i look at the bills coming out of the state assembly and when something massive comes along, whether it is the budget or high-speed rail, it is like, which way does the speaker say to vote. >> in defense of my colleagues, matters of that grand in nature have been properly vented. they really do have staff people to examine it in detail. they do have discussions, informally and otherwise. it is the little things that nobody looks at and that is why you have so many of those >> from that we will mov

. >> rose: one lyndon johnson story that fascinated me is richard russell and going to the baseball games with him, johnson didn't even like baseball? but if richard russell wanted to watch the baseball game and he needed somebody to be there with him -- >> you know, johnson -- >> it used to drive me crazy because i loved baseball and he would be talking through every inning. >> it wasn't just that, johnson comes to the senate and asks bobby baker the senate secretary he doesn't ask about the senate rules, baker says everyone else knew senator came in and asked me about the rules, lyndon johnson had one question, who has the power around here and i told them will there is only one power here, richard russell, johnson doesn't ask for the best he asks to get on russell's committee, armed services and starts staying late and say to russell, russell was a bachelor and lonely, johnson would say first let's get a hamburger, he know where russell -- why don't you come home for dinner and russell usually didn't do that, lyndon would say you have to eat somewhere, and when you say what are the mea

what really fascinated me, you know, other than just being involved. and, you know, somebody would have told me that -- at a young age that you would go to prison for it, then i think i would have went in a different direction. because my whole life was predicated on me accomplishing my one dream and that's making it to the nfl. and if it was any, you know, obstacle that would stand in my way, i would, you know -- i would avoid it. and that was just the set of advice that i never, ever received. and i think if i would have, i would have -- you know, i would have used it correctly like i did in other situations. >> did nobody say to you, stay clear of this? no parent, no friend? >> nobody. nobody knew, you know. it took place in places where, you know, you would have never thought -- >> a dark secret -- >> the times night you would have never thought of, you know, unforbidden, unseen. it was an underground world, you know, that we lived in. >> did you -- be honest here. when you were doing it, did you enjoy it? >> you know, i enjoyed the competition aspe

vicky, this is what fascinates me about the case completely.yer in one places i'm a lawyer in florida, the stand your ground law, that allows this judge to actually hear this case before it ever gets to a jury and tell everyone what decisions that the judge gets to make. >> the judge actually gets to make in this matter whether or not this case even will go forward on the criminal side and civil side. if there's an immunity gearing which we ultimately believe there will be, there he a no reason why there wouldn't be, this judge could ultimately slow out the case and george zimmerman would not be prosecuted by a jury and that's huge. really, we're shocked here in new york because you know, we're not used to that so i think, as the judge has a great deal of power in this case and the world is watching, so, for us, the stand your law ground, we hope it's not vigilanteism, whether or not george zimmerman had the right to use self-defense and the judge making the ultimate decision not the jury. >> jamie: and let me put up this point last, kelly and

nonfiction special things like memoirs and biographies is finished that biography that is free fascinating to me and i have a stamp collection that payless and less attention to. i very much like films and like seeing especially what could be done abroad and the countries as well as u.s.-made phones. another of classical music and love this in listening to implant the background sometimes when i'm reading. and going to the opera mozart and a weaker so. i took to lessons of golf and that was enough for me, i began to tease my dad say no golf slows spells backwards flog and somebody else called at the game they earned a perfectly good walk. but i admire golfers and just don't play it. >>> are you a dodgers fan? >>> not any more. i moved north and said in the affections. i am very happy and going to a game this afternoon. >>> were going to take a break and don't want to get this to refit time but everyone of us has people who us toward the person we are today and who was that for you >>> the teachers at an elementary school in the teachers in high school and the seminary like companions in the semi

michael, these words fascinate me. y said, "if it were possible to fully communicate what i believe is in the real enduring best interest of african-american families, you would vote for me." he's suggesting there that for some reason, it is not possible to communicate this. why? because that audience wouldn't understand it? why can't he communicate it? >> i mean, one of the few audiences that really would understand it, because they have an old negro spiritual that says, i want to be a christian in my heart. so here's a guy who's speaking heart language to people who understand heart language, and yet you don't articulate, you don't forthcome. and i think the problem here is that it was a speech that was calculated as goldie taylor said and as toure said, for a broader audience. but he missed a golden opportunity to really win over, by a few percentage points, some african-american people who would have seen him as reasonable, who would have seen him as a person who was willing to reach out beyond the confines and conv

what fascinates me of you picking hezbollah, i think syria at moment could implode, is it a full-fledgedwe'll lead that to others to tell us when the civil war actually happened. what happens to syria? you spent time studying syria for a long period of time to do the book, deal with hezbollah, get facts right as you write the fiction. as you look at this doing research, what happens to syria when syria falls? assad's going to fall, we just don't know when. >> one of the things that drew me to dealing with the subject of antiquities in the book, and as i looked at the map of the middle east particularly that little slice of land along the eastern rim of the mediterranean, how many gram empires came and went over the little slice of land. how many -- romans, greeks, egyptians, persians, on and on, babylonians. i think we delude ourselves into thinking history has come to an end. history has not come to an end. i think it is possible that in -- within a brief period of time that the country that we know of syria might not exist. i mean, it was literally drawn up by european powers. it could

. >> and this is an rnc ad that fascinated me first and all of the times i have seen since being fromet me plme play a clip of >> president obama came to the white house with big plans, he'd halve the deficit, and strengthen the economy and lower unemployment, but what did we get? national debt $18 trillion and climbing and unemployment for 40 straight months and economic crisis with no end in sight. >> i feel like this is therapy for the voters in some way. right. i know you really, really like him, but it is okay to vote against him. >> the north star as ken suggested the race involving a incumbent president is the president. he can run with three points above that poll, and not much above it, and primarily a referendum on him, but the other half is the challenger acceptable. can obama get a few million people who are disappoint ed in him to say that i would prefer mitt romney even less. that is the focus of the obama campaigns advertising and why the heavily trying to disqualify romney, but obama's favorable ratings are above his approval ratings, so people who like him, but not ap

the inside would be something like this bread factory which fascinated me that ms. hunt was able to gain trust of the average civilian. she would go into the war and gain the trust of civilians like this man who is working in a bad factory and they told -- oh my goodness. they told how they were surviving and how the factory itself is being run from a serbian tank may have stolen land she went and met with all the people and would bring the information back to the dinner is they went to indiana which were the outside part and trying get the time to get the people at these dinners like the german ambassador and austrian ambassador and her husband, the good looking guy on the end she is talking to get more involved and to do something to end besiege. the reason i thought this book was so important for today once it was written and the information was out there in some of the other information and she brought it -- she brought this information to world leaders and no one did anything to stop the other genocides and that really upset me. they could use this information

so that fascinated me. i'm economics they read a book by lawyers as well as black swan, which is another financial book. so foreign policy and personal liberties judge napolitano and it's dangerous to be right when the government is wrong, that foreign policy and one i've read recently, to. >> for more information on this another reading list less, they say that seven out of work. >> now i'm