allen, you said franken is as nice and pleasant as he is funny. is he funny?> let's just say he is also as funny as he is attractive. >> piling it on on franken. >> lastly. >> he is hot! >> lastly for the jersey shore thing. greg you asked who is dumber the jersey shore cast or those who call the jersey shore cast dumb? it is the jersey shore cast. i don't care if it makes me a racist homophobe for disagreeing with you. >> you are not a racist homophobe? >> no, you're not. it's holiday season. you are just a bigot! >> allen/a wonderful holiday, whatever you celebrate. let me welcome back our guests baron swatek. so hot that heat waves are now called swatek waves. cris carter. he knows the exchange like i know the mange. it's true. i itch constantly. mail time. what a surprise. happy. happy. a special edition of mail time. the address is redeye@foxnews.com. you write, i read and then we make a lovely casserole out of tuna and blood. tonight instead of me reading the letters, robot greg which was created with extra normal.com technology will be responding. so le

i am joined by co-host linda gasparello, and columnistob franken. if you want to see us, you can see us on whchronicle.com. back to o issues of health. l's moven. what other contentiou issues have a loteople on both sides -- >> there are none. everybody is happy as can be. well, theres afghanistan. >> of urse. >> what are we goingo d? as an oldoliceman, i got into a ratr heated discussion th other day that i did not plan on. in the 1900's, there used to be a saying ithe british paiament that we cannot be the wod's policeman. i was told at we had be becauswe are the world's superpower. >> my feeling is that we nee a gional security apparatus. it is a regionalroblem that e region is not ting responsibility for. we need more interest by china. china has a lot to lose with and afghanistan and falls apartr a pakistanhat falls apart. >>r iia. >> india has a huge thi to lose. we are fighting th battle for them. it is our blood and it their treasure, d we should take more of an interest in the are >> what do you feel out being iranian enrichmentf uranium? e

levin: madam president, i recently returned from a trip to pakistan and afghanistan with senator al franken. we heard a great deal of troubling news out of afghanistan over the past few months. casualties have increased, the political situation has been unsettled. based on what we saw and heard during our trip, i am somewhat more optimistic that we will succeed in afghanistan. i'm a lot more optimistic now than i was after my last visit to afghanistan in september. now, success to me is defined as preventing the taliban from returning to power at the same time that we strengthen the afghan security forces to take responsibility for afghan security in order to ensure stability and -- in afghanistan. over the course of three days, we met with key civilian and military leaders in both pakistan and afghanistan, and, madam president, i would ask unanimous consent that the next two paragraphs of my statement listing our meetings with various leaders be inserted in the record at this time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. levin: madam president, our men and women in uniform are perfor

i think senator franken was here before me for the deadline. so you can go first. >> like to thank senator klobuchar in the chair. here's a question that has been on my mind. i would like to direct this to the director. and i think i know some of the answers. this abdulmutallab was on a bigger list, 550,000 list. why -- and he wasn't on the no-fly list, but he was on this list. he gets to the airport. it's easy to access -- is just as these to access a list of 550,000 as it is to access a list of 18,000. nobody at a counter goes through 18,000 names. it's done through a computer. so he name checks just as fast if it's on a 550,000 person last as it does if it is on an 18,000 person list. why -- why don't we have access -- why don't the people who book these people in have access to that list? and simply say, okay, that means you're going to get another patdown or that means you're going to go through the full body scan? and i just came through dubai and you go through security ones and then asked the gate you go through security again. but at t

franken: thank you.urge my colleagues to join me in quickly moving forward on a bill to put americans back to work, and i urge them to join me in support of the seed act, strengthening our economy through employment and development. i ask unanimous consent that the text of my bill be included in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. franken: thank you. and i yield the floor, and would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. sessions i a dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sessions: mr. president, i would offer an amendment and send it to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. mr. sessions: an amendment proposed by myself and senators mccaskill and kyl. the clerk: the senator from alabama, mr. sessions, proposes an amendment number 3308. mr. sessions: i would ask that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with. the p

new york 11, minneapolis, only one he° -- only 1 because al franken is coming home that puts a chill.ppened to global warming? he is it a lie? >> it is not a lie. over the last years the earth is warming. in my own lifetime in alaska i've seen glaciers disappear. i've seen glaciers melt. >> sean: how often do you see glaciers over the weekend? >> they have. the earth is warming. >> sean: there's an ebb and flow totter's temperatures. in 19 2 the same thing you are saying the glaciers are gone lo and behold some of the coldest years on error is this historyia? >> certainly it is hysteria. i think it is a undeniable warming trend for a while, as you say. this is the natural cooling and warming trends of the earth what matters is how long ago. >> the last 10 years has been cooler. science is not consensual. science is an examination of facts. the proponents of global warming has cast doubt over this thing by the suppression of disagreement. trying to make this consensual. this whole incident with the e-mails there used to be a political agenda for the world to be flat. there was a consen

and i was thinking senator franken was saying that if we had the names that could pop up with modern-day technology. but i think you and i talked about this before and it's a computer system that don't always work a way that it showed that can't search automatically and repeatedly for possible links, even simple keyword searches as were reported in "the new york times" january 19th are a challenge according to a 2000 require re- four the house on science and technology. is this a fair assessment? do there need to be some computer assessment? >> there was asked to be some computer changes as a result of a number of fact yours. the growth of technology, the growth of different databases. .. short-term and long-term fixes come individually with their agencies but also across the community. it is not as if we haven't been doing it since september 11. we certainly have but this may give us more additional momentum to find some of the later fixes and then have them funded so we can get them into place as soon as we possibly can. >> there has been a lot of discussion with my colleagues about th

the gun and 60 votes in the senate, including al franken, but it turns out that they could not pass many of the things that they could not pat bridge -- that they wanted to pass. you read all these stories, about how the republican party is a regional party in a relevant and we will be a one- party system. the fact is that however the ebbs and flows go with party politics, conservatism has been the dominant ideology in our culture for a number of years now. go look it anyone's polls that show conservatives are 40% of americans, they call themselves conservatives. ladies and gentlemen, this is why liberals do not call themselves liberals anymore. they have read the same polling data. they know that. they call themselves progressives, and they spent quite a pretty penny coming up with that term, progressives. its car insurance, i know. but if they will not call themselves liberals, perhaps they should. again, even nancy pelosi does not stand there representing a fairly liberal and progressive district and say, in this congress we are going to grab your guns and increase the number of abort

the senate who have in the fashion they have been able to this the past few months, since senator franken them that 60th seat. it would be something of a roadblock that before the democratic majority could stymie -- it is obviously a media issue but a number of issues the democrats are pursuing. >> what items are you talking about? >> financial regulation of wall street. if they can get to an energy bill. if they can get to an immigration bill. those are three items that, you know, without having 60 seats, could make it harder for democrats to pursue their agenda this year. elections? how would this race affect that? >> well, that 41st vote i just mentioned. there is the symbolic impact. the larger political impact. that is what it would do to the if they can't keep ted kennedy's seat and if they lose to a little known state senator up here, what does that mean for democrats who come interest more competitive districts? it would really throw a scare into a lot of folks in the party. >> we've seen reports that this is the biggest single american election outside presidential politics in de

al franken and myself just recently returned from a visit to afghanistan and pakistan. i would share a few thoughts with you, and give you some reaction. can i move this down? will this create a problem? the mess up anyone? let's see if we can put this down. ok. thank you. there have been some positive signs that i have noticed in afghanistan, particularly since most recent visit, which was in september. the soldiers are comfortable with the counter-insurgency strategy, and that has been the universal reaction to try to protect the people of afghanistan. we have reached the conclusion based on the opinion polling that was released that the afghan people are more optimistic about their future, and the visits confirmed the polls that said that 70% of the people of afghanistan believe they are headed in the right direction. 60% believe that their children will have a better life than they do, and the taliban as some popular. i believe the mission should be to train and equip the people of afghanistan. it is absolutely essential that they understand the mission -- the prese

franken? >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, admiral willard.i want to direct my first question to you. thank you for your lifetime commitment to the cause of human freedom and all the things, people like us talk a lot about the importance of protecting freedom, and people like you personify it and we're really grateful to have you here today. i was encouraged about your discussions related to protecting some of our battle groups from emerging, chinese missile technology. and as you probably very aware, a specialty report, it said we have to be careful with a long range defensive because it could upset the strategic balance between the u.s. and china and u.s. and russia. but in light of some other recent reports reports in the media that china has working to perfect or develop a midrange and long range missile defense capability, they don't seem quite as concerned about that strategic balance as maybe we are. and so i guess my question to you, can you talk to is a little bit about the chinese missile defense technology advances, and specifically

through in a fashion that they've been able to in the past few months since minnesota's senator al franken gave them that 60th seat. so it would basically be something of a roadblock, you know, before the democratic majority could stymie not just an immediate issue but a number of issues the democrats are hoping to pursue. >> what other agenda items are you talking about? >> well, for example, financial regulation of wall street. if they can get to an energy bill, if they can get to an immigration bill. those are just three items that, you know -- without having 60 seats could make it harder for democrats to pursue their agenda this year. >> what about the midterm elections. how would had this raise affect that? >> well, there's the substantive impact, of course, the 41st vote i just mentioned and there's the symbolic impact. a larger political impact and that is what it would do to the psychology of the party. if they can't keep ted kennedy's seat and if they lose to a little known state senator up here, then what does that mean for democrats that come for more competitive districts, from

it is too soon to jump back into politics after his loss to former saturday night live comedian al franken announced he would not run for governor, adding that a campaign would come too late to run properly and to early after his senate loss. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. >> tuesday, your chance to talk to the authors of the best selling "dame of change." they take your questions of the 2008 presidential campaign and impact of the book on washington politics and policies, live, tuesday morning, on "washington journal." >> middle and high school students, just a few days left to enter the of entercam contest. sen year 58 minute video. get it to c-span or your chance to win a grand prize of $5,000, $50,000 of total prize money and all the winning videos will be shown on c-span. be sure to up load your project by midnight wednesday. >> do you know one of the top three news apps for iphone or itouch is c-span -- c-span radio, c-span, and c-span2 and tabs with links to all of our podcasts, and it is all free and available from the app store. >> "washington journal" con

and al franken, the progressive, is going to go away, too. it is unfortunate we do not have a recall mechanism because i will guarantee you he would be gone, and so would klobuchar host: if you want to read more about the document so would klobuchar. host: if you want to read more about the president's first year in office, "a one-year report card." we found a lot of weariness, glimmers of optimism, not much good news for the democrats, writes "the wall street journal." back to the "financial times." "why obama should play to populism." "mr. obama's getting down and dirty with them and cox is a -- this taste for getting down and dirty with them and causes a fatal misunderstanding of american politics. it is his job to make it signify something. if he chooses, financial regulatory reform is the perfect theater for him to reclaim the populism heenes is president is to survive in any form were having. take it to the bad guys, barack. remind the country where it was when republicans were still in the white house. otherwise your government will ex

al franken has also robbed people the wrong way. went on and on about newer members and said they really need to understand what the chamber is all about. host: should you have done about retirements. but on the same page there's another "gop struggles to capitalize." you have some new polls out. what are they telling you? guest: there was a recent poll, how you identify yourself as a democrat has dipped considerably over the past year. republican members and polls are still struggling. the problem for house republicans is -- you don't have much power when you are in the minority in the house. republican leaders are trying to make the case that they can win back the house. we will either get close or make significant strides. a lot of these guys have been in power. they have been chairman. now they have very little power and it is frustrating to them. host: the newly times" has -- "the new york times" has the story about bart starr pack. his position on abortion does not reflect that. -- bart stupak. guest: what stupak did on the he

we have a panel moderated by bob franken. he is an emmy award winning journalist, syndicated columnist he served as a correspondent for cnn and msn bc. our second panelist is margaret brennan. she is also a graduate of mr. jefferson's university of virginia. alan murray is deputy assistant managing editor of of the "wall street journal's out of -- "wall street journal's out -- wall street journal." next, we have robert simons, a contributing editor at "newsweek" where he has written about business and economic issues since 1977. past and future of american affluence. we have a pbs correspondent for the news hour. recently, he has become a fellow at yale's center. he was a lively moderator at the panel that followed at the dinner. and without, and going to turn to bob and asked him to conduct the discussion on the question, has the financial crisis changed the nature of economic news. >> people are almost desperate to want to pay attention to the type of thing, the selahi thing. and they are encouraged to do so by my medium, t

federal congress and a number of governorships and they've got 60 votes in the senate, 60 being al franken or arlen specter or a combination thereof which doesn't matter because it turns out they can't pass many things they wanted to any way because their own pockets so we are not a center-right country anymore, are we? and you read these stories some bye republicans how the republican party is a regional party and irrelevant and we are going to be a one-party system. the fact is that however the ebbs and flows go with party politics, conservatism has been the dominant ideology and philosophy and our culture for a number of years now and anybody who the fisa should look at anybody's polling that shows conservative 40% of americans call themselves conservatives. to-1 who will call themselves liberals. ladies and gentlemen this is why liberals don't call themselves liberals anymore. they've read the good data. they know that. the call themselves progressives and spent a pretty penny coming up with the term progressive. and i'm not even sure what it means. car insurance i know, but -- [laught

al franken has also robbed people the wrong way. he went on and on about newer members and said they really need to understand what the chamber is all about. host: should you have done about retirements. but on the same page there's another "gop struggles to capitalize." you have some new polls out. what are they telling you? guest: there was a recent poll, how you identify yourself as a democrat has dipped considerably over the past year. republican members and polls are still struggling. the problem for house republicans is -- @@@h republicans are trying to make the case that we can win back the house, just hang in there another year. we will either close or makes it didn't strike. but a lot of these people run the house on the republican side had been in power and had been committee chairman and now they have very little power and it is frustrating to them. host: the "new york times", i believe, has a very -- has a store about art stupak and his role in the discussion about the health care bill and the topic of abortion but his p

legislation in the fashion they would be able to in the past few months, since minnesota senator al franken gave them that 60 of seat so it would basically be something of a roadblock, but for the democratic majority could assign not just health care which would be the most obvious immediate issue but a number of issues that democrats are pursuing. >> what other agenda items are you talking about? >> well, for example financial regulation of wall street. if they can get to an energy bill, if they can get to an immigration bill. those are three items that you know without having 60 seats could make it harder for democrats to pursue their agenda. >> what about the midterm elections? how would this race the fact that? >> well, there's the substantive impact of the 41st vote like edges mention and there is this symbolic impact, the larger political impact and that is what it would do to the psychology of the party. if they can't keep ted kennedy's seaton if they lose to a little nonstate said avera peer what does that mean for democrats to come from more competitive districts from more politica

federal congress and to a number of governorships and they have got 60 votes in the senate. 60 being al franken or, arlen specter or combination thereof which doesn't matter turns out they can't pass many things they wanted to pass anyway because of their own caucus. so we're not a center right country anymore, are we? you read all the stories, some written by republicans, republican party is regional party and irrelevant and we'll be one-party system and all. the fact is, that, however the ebbs and flows go with party politics, conservatism has been the dominant ideology and philosophy in our country for a number of years now. anybody who decides that, look at anybody's polling shows conservatives, 40% of the americans call themselves conservatives. two to one the number of people who call themselves liberals. ladies and gentlemen, this is why liberals don't call themselves liberals anymore. they read the same polling data. they know that they call themselves progressives and spent a pretty penny coming up with that term progress sifsz. they, and i'm not even sure what it means. car insurance

provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable al franken, a senator from the state of minnesota, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: robert c. byrd, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the leader. mr. reid: on saturday, on public radio, there was a very, very nice piece on our chaplain, long. it must have been taken 10 or 15 minutes, an interview -- the woman doing the interview on public radio came to his office here, was various places with him and it was a very, very good piece historically about the history of the chaplain here in the senate and it spoke very well of our chaplain, the first african-american to become an admiral in the navy, our first african-american chaplain. he's a person that is really accomplished. i so appreciate the work that he does for each of us individual individually, the work that he does with various groups. he has a number of study groups here that he works with on a weekly basis and i would just say here in the senate, we're very proud of our senate chaplain. adm