some people said you can't understand henry james in to you are past 40 because his books are all about regrets. things i should have done and didn't do, feelings that assail us as we get older and older and we know our time is running out. >> the book is "classics for pleasure," the authors michael dirda. >> thank you. >> at the virginia festival of the book, book tv sat down with ariel sabar to discuss "my father's paradise: a son's search for his jewish past in kurdish raq". this is 10 minutes. >> ariel sabar, are the jews in iraq? >> as of last count, there are all of eight. the new york times did a story last year saying there aren't even enough to hold a religious service. the remarkable thing is iraq used to have the largest jewish population in the middle east, 135,000 strong. now they are down to their last seven or eight. >> where were they? >> all over iraq. largest concentration was in baghdad. this was a striking figure what i can across it but after world war i or world war ii, 1 third of baghdad's population was jewish. much of the population lived around baghdad and this

[laughter] >> but just to show you what henry james and then, when he said a fiction writer, he seesnto the unseen. when i told this story all while ago i got an e-mail from a man who is familiar with lewis and clark journals. and he said there was an item about a sergeant killing a prairie dog and making dinner for two officers out of that prairie dog. so i was right. [laughter] >> but you asked how i got into history. but i think it went from genre into history. growing up in new york, i never felt the city confirmed a little red identity on me the way the midwest would have on sinclair lewis or the south lawn were involved or. and somehow i stumbled onto the idea that a sense of time was as much is organizing a principle or book as a sense of place. and the second book i wrote i won't even talk about, it was a bomb. but then somehow that informed the book of daniel and "ragtim "ragtime." and on the other hand, i don't think of myself as a writer of historical novels. i object to that modification of the word novelist. >> would you like to me talk about that? >> guess i would. you

i never know what i'm going to need something by abraham lincoln or henry james or longfellow. and did a piece on long bill last year for the smithsonian magazine, quoted some abraham lincoln letters and a little piece i wrote about abraham lincoln's reading. they are marvelous books and the other books in his bookcase are largely but not entirely analysts say most elite literary biography books about authors, primarily books in their work in dallas say however many there are year, there are a couple hundred, there are at least three times as many additional volumes about other writers and various sections of the house. so here we are in the library, and guests were one of another name. i do some of my riding up here. there is a computer. e-mail and whenever. i was a i write a book reviews, pt james which i'm reading for the los angeles times. i am a great p. d. james fan. what i am not reading from my book every for entertainment and pleasure. as you can see i did our these things but am just trying to write but this little shell right here, this is the nicholas basbanes shelf

will president obama's meeting with harvard professor henry louis gates, jr. and sergeant jamesowley at the white house close yet another chapter of tense race relations or rekindle the flames? the meeting gave the president a chance to make further amends for saying: >> the cambridge police acted stupidly. >> bonnie: although both parties agreed to the meeting, leading up to it gates continued to say he was a victim of raraal profiling, and crowley said he was not going to apologize for doing his job. meanwhile a new poll finds more americans disapprove of the president's initial response to gates' arrest. so is this the end of the dust up or the beginning, irene natividad? >> let's get real. this is one person's solution to a person faux pas. but that said, i think this is the way you lower the temperature and reach out to peacpeople who don't necessarily believe what you do. >> no, i don't think this is the end. this has demonstrated by his own words and association that this president is not in fact the postracial president. >> i think it's probably good pr for the president

then the french ship became extremely close. >> how did he get to know james monroe and henry clay and john marshall was the longest serving chief justice? >> they were enrolled as students. they sought him out pensio. he had very strict lessons that he taught at his house every day. they sought him out for that reason. monroe was a student for a year after the revolution broke out. he came back -- he came back after the war and was a student for a semester and became very close to thomas jefferson. he was an elected governor of virginia pensio. jefferson mentored monroe. john marshall, at that time his students would keep notebooks and most of the notebooks were about 30 or 35 pages. john marshall's notebook was 240 pages of notes on things that he listen to. in the margins of many of these pages he would write the name of his girlfriend. it is funny to look at pensio. >> so this is number 28 that you have written. >> i started out writing baseball. i was a baseball fan all of my life. my son was a fan when he was about eight or nine. he got very interested in baseball. he started col

over a glass of beer between president obama, vice president joe biden, professor henry louis gates jr. and sergeant james crowley, who had arrested him. what are we hearing? it was a frank conversation. there was no tension. what's a good thing, they're setting up a second meeting. what do you think of this? have we learned something? is this an example for the nation? we'll take your calls on this on our "what matters" segment, 1-877-tell-hln. we like to hear from you on this as well, michael jackson, we know the custody dispute is over. we believe it's official. now a judge is going to decide in finality on monday if jackson's mom, katherine, will get sole custody of little prince, paris and blanket. ex-wife debbie rowe said to get visitation. will the judge rubber stamp this? let's welcome back kim serafin, russ webson and anne bremner, sat in on michael jackson's child molestation trial. we'll take your phone calls, 1-877-tell-hln. all right. ann, do you see the judge rubber stamping this or tweaks that could be made come monday? >> i see the judge rubber stamping it. there's been so much out there a

they became extremely close. >> how did he get to know james monroe and henry clay and john marshall who was the longest serving chief justice? >> they were enrolled at william and mary as students and they saw him out -- they sought him out. he had stripped tutorials that he held at his house to teach a different language, arithmetic, geography, politics, everything you could think of. monroe was a student for a year when the revolution broke out. he came back after the war and was a student for about a semester. he became very close to thomas jefferson. jefferson was the governor of virginia and ask monroe to come with him to the state house. monroe was reluctant to leave george wythe. jefferson than mentor monroe. john marshall, at that time, his students with keep notebooks and most of the notebooks were about 30 or 35 pages. john marshall's and notebook was 240 pages of notes on things that he listened to from george wythe. in the margins of many of these pages, he would write the name of his girlfriend. he would have all these notes and then he would write i love polly ambler.

and of course i'm talking about the beer summit at the white house between henry louis gates jr. and sergeant james crowley of the cambridge police, the president and vice president. >> i think it mostly was an effort to extract president obama from a mistake. and he had waded into the middle of a very delicate issue and he had waded in in an impolitick way, clearly regretted it, said so. this was the last step, i think, that probably at the time they decided to do it, it seemed like a good idea. i think by the time it happened -- gwen: it took a long time for it to actually happen. but is that the way they saw it at the white house and were they happy to have it -- is it done? do we not hear them talk about it anymore? >> they sure hope it's done. they truly are taken aback at the way this thing -- the media went totally overboard, but, you know, 80% of the american people knew about it and seemed to have some interest in it. it's one of these weird things. it shows certainly that race is still a very sensitive issue and obama talks about that. i think dan's right, i think by talking a little bit

and ofourse i'm talking abo the beer summit a thewhite house beween henry luis gates jr. and sergeant james rowley ofthe cambrge police,the president and viceresident. >> i tnk it mostly was an effort toextract president obama from a mstake. and he had wade into the middle of a verydelicate ssue and he had waded in in an impoliick way, clearly regretted i said so. is was the last sep, i think, thaprobably at the time ty decided to do i, it seem like a good idea. i think by the timeit happened -- gwen: it took a long te for it to actually happen. but is that the way they saw it at the white house an were they happy to hve it -- is it done? do we not he them talk about it nymore? >> theysure hope it's done. ey truly are taken aback at the way this tng -- the medi went totallyoverboard, ut, yoknow, 80% ofthe american people knew about it d seemed to have some interes in it. it's oneof these weird things. it shows certainl that race is stl a very sensitiv issue and obama talks abo that. i thin dan's rigt, i think by talking a lile bit off the cuff at that wedesday night press coference, he prob

professor henry louis gates, sergeant james crowley, president barack obama, and vice president joe bidenough apparently the vice president was late or something since he's not present in the official white house photo of the event. no worries. let the healing begin and cue the late night jokes. >> things over at the beer summit, here we go to number ten. don't worry biden will clean up the empties. number nine. guys, stop me if i try to drunk dial nancy pelosi. number eight, smoking, drinking, suddenly our president is arty lang. number seven, let's call limbaugh and take this party to the next level. number six, i feel dizzy and confused just like bush. i don't want to freak anyone out but i just saw nixon walking down the hall. number four, tell geithner to put his shirt on. number three, senator larry craig asked if he could have his beer brought to the men's room. still a reference, people. number two, you guys want to see where clinton used to get freaky? and the number one thing overheard at the white house beer summit, excuse me while i take a presidential leak. >>> back at the ra

american patriots did, like thomas jefferson and george washington and james madison and james monroe and patrick henry and benjamin franklin, everything that they did was illegal, so that the rules ought not to be reasons why you do or don't do anything. one of my great teachers, henry david thoreau, who reminded us about the importance, not the importance, the necessity of civil disobedience, that all these rules that we have, you know, when my mom, my beautiful mom was born in 1916, she was four years old before women even got to vote in america. and the women, i mean, half the population of our country was not involved in any decision-making in the first almost 200 years of our history. how absurd that is when we think about it now, and how did that change? because people said, the hell with those rules, i don't care whether it's legal or not legal, if it's not moral and i have rules within me, i have to go to those. these are memes. i don't have the energy. i'm too tired. it's a meme. one of the commitments i made, and my kids have never heard me say it, is that i'm tired. i just, it's a word that

finally, tomorrow, president obama has his big beer summit with professor henry louis gates and sergeant james crowley. yeah, that's a great idea. in my experience, the best way to settle an argument between guys from boston, just add alcohol. [ laughter and applause ] hey, everybody, we have a great show tonight. give it up for the roots. ♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> jimmy: very nice. welcome, welcome, welcome. i could not be more excited about tonight's show. this woman has it all. she's beautiful, she's hilarious. from the new movie, "funny people," leslie mann will join us. very good. [ cheers and applause ] i saw that of movie last week. it's so good. it's just, any comedian, it's just so funny. it's, like, sandler, seth rogan. god, there's so many people in this movie. the cameos of other comedians. you're laughing the whole time. it's, like, one of the funniest movies. couple little serious things in there. emotional roller coaster. i was weeping like a baby. [ laughter ] and then laughing hysterically. then weeping again. and then i took my bipolar medicine, and i'm fine now. [ laughte

president obama invited harvard professor, henry lewis gates and sergeant james crowley to the whiteouse for a beer this thursday. it's all part of obama's new approach to diplomacy. "how would they handle this on 'cheers'." that's what he's calling it -- [ laughter ] [ impersonating cliff clavin ] "hey there, president obama, there." [ laughter ] i'm not going to do any more cliff clavin. that's it. mtv is showing a new documentary, it's called "paris, not france." it's an in-depth look at paris hilton's life. it's the -- [ laughter ] it's true. that's not the joke. [ laughter ] it's the first documentary to be shot entirely in night vision. it's going to be fantastic. [ laughter and applause ] trying new things. hey, did you hear about this? dallas cowboys quarterback tony romo has instructed security to keep his ex- girlfriend, jessica simpson, from coming on his property. it wasn't that hard. they just put a push sign on the door that you have to pull. [ laughter and applause ] doesn't seem right. that's what reports are saying. "american idol" auditions are just two weeks away,

highly anticipated white house beer summit between president obama, harvard professor henry gates and police sergeant james crowley, is the controversy now over? now, throughout this ordeal, one thing is certainly clear. a rookie president, unnothingly -- unnothingly waded into a firestorm when he said the cambridge police department acted stupidly. that launched a local issue into the national headlines and now may be responsible for bringing the president's approval ratings down. and i'm joined now by pollster, frank luntz is with us. thanks for being with us. >> thank you, sean. sean: why don't we -- we'll start our way and move our way backward, all right? let's go back. this is sergeant crowley immediately yesterday after the big beer brouhaha. here's what he had to say. >> we had a cordial and productive session with the president, vice president and professor gates. we have all agreed that it's important to look forward rather than backward. issues important to all of us will form the basis of discussions between professor gates and me in the days and weeks to come. professor gates and i bring diffe

highly anticipated white house beer summit between president obama, harvard professor henry gates and police sergeant james crowley, is the controversy now over? now, throughout this ordeal, one thing is certainly clear. a rookie president, unnothingly -- unnothingly waded into a firestorm when he said the cambridge police department acted stupidly. that launched a local issue into the national headlines and now may be responsible for bringing the president's approval ratings down. and i'm joined now by pollster, frank luntz is with us. thanks for being with us. >> thank you, sean. sean: why don't we -- we'll start our way and move our way backward, all right? let's go back. this is sergeant crowley immediately yesterday after the big beer brouhaha. here's what he had to say. >> we had a cordial and productive session with the president, vice president and professor gates. we have all agreed that it's important to look forward rather than backward. issues important to all of us will form the basis of discussions between professor gates and me in the days and weeks to come. professor gates and i bring diffe

. >>> as you know, president obama, professor henry gates and came ridge police officer james crowley had a beer together at the white house today, a big dog and pony show because of the racial controversy involving the sergeant. we get together with geraldo rivera. this isn't a photo op, it isn't going to lead to anything, is it? >> i'm a little tipsy right now. >> you have been rehearsing. >> i try to put myself in the minds of the participants. au contraire, i think this is a big moment. i believe that the whole issue of race and justice, remember, have not, i leave been discussed in the white house since the clinton race initiative but we. >> but we don't always -- >> back in 1998. >> sit at a picnic table. >> pictures sometimes mean a lot. here you have the president who admittedly overreact. it was stupid to use the stupidly adverb. crowley, i believe, was out of line and i think professor gates was also out of line. >> why do you think the police officer was out of line, just because he handcuff canned him on his own property? >> i think that was a big deal and it appears from

of course, henry louis gates and sergeant james crowley, meeting over brews with the president. boy, this story just took on a life of its own. here's what some of the coverage looked like. >> breaking news tonight, the beer bash. just wrapping up at the white house. >> was there any warmth, could you see, in the body language? >> didn't look like an especially warm moment. >> i'm told that the interaction between these two men was actually quite warm. >> we can report that president obama, as expected, drank a bud lite. >> sat around, drinking a little brew, chatting, but nobody could hear what they said. there were also snacks. >> let me ask you the broader question, michelle martin, why are the media still talking about this two weeks later and what's your reaction when people say, this is such a distraction from the real issues. >> there are so many strains to this. we have talked about this. first of all, it's august. i mean, we're normally talking about shark attacks and jelly fish infeations, so it's august. thing two, this actually is about something different. it really

at the table, harvard professor henry gates, cambridge police sergeant james crowley and president and vice president of the united states. all were trying to find some closure in an incident at gates' home on july 16th that got him arrested for disorderly conduct. and crowley accused of racial profiling. afterwards, crowley described what the men accomplished over a few glasses of beer. take a listen. >> what was accomplished was this is a positive step in moving forward as opposed to reliving the events of the past couple of weeks, in an effort to move not just the city of cambridge or two individuals past this event, but the whole country to move beyond this and use this as a basis of maybe some meaningful discussions in the future. >> all right so now as part of this ongoing dialogue on race relations here in the united states, this week we asked cnn viewers to submit their experiences of what they believed was racial profiling. timothy dart of the wrongs in new york said he had too many too count. but one encounter with police left a lasting impression, and you may find the langua

all the accusations and the meeting in the white house rose garden, no matter what professor henry gates, jamesrowley, and president obama think about the arrest, blacks and whites have a very different take on race relations and how they affect policing in this country. a cnn/opinion research poll finds 52% of americans overall believe racism among police officers is common, while 44% think it's rare. but when you break it down by race, the numbers are drastically different. 47% of whites says racism among officers is common compared to 86% of blacks. when asked if they felt police treated them unfairly because of race, 6% of whites said yes compared to 56% of blacks. >>> the postal service may close hundreds of post offices. officials say e-mail is a big part of the reason. the postal service could record a loss of nearly $7 billion this year. that's despite a 2 cent increase on stamps and large cuts in staff. now nearly 700 post offices may be closed or consolidated. no final decisions will be made before the end of september. what is your view on this? what do you think? is the post office

since 1619 when a dutch privateer peter henry can slow the of the james river deposited first african-american slaves on the continent, race relations have affected the character of the united states more than any other factor. black slaves laid the cornerstone for the white house and the capitol. so like chattel and a huge market that still on the side in washington with an national archive now, today this very moment, houses the declaration of independence and bill of rights and became the source of blood shed, civil war, discord, discrimination to plaid the nation through the history dishonor in its space principles of equality. this is the point i think we will always take away. whatever happens with mr. obama's presidency. whatever happens in his presidency, his election as the first african-american president will form a proud chapter in the american story. so what comes next is another aspect, but that was history in the making. and i think we should be proud of that. thank you. [applause] >> you want to come over here, dan? your questions? >> as i observed the democratic primary and 20

he brought together harvard professor henry louis gates, cambridge police sergeant james crowley at the white house. according to another poll, the public disapproved of the president's handling of this, especially whites. how damaging was that and how much do you think that has contributed to this bad july for him? >> not that damaging. most of the decline in the polls was before that and i do think it is substance that is killing him, if i can return to health care. they can try to demonize the insurance companies. big insurance is not against obama's plan. what does big insurance hate? senator demint's proposal, which would introduce competition. big insurance is okay with carving up the market. this is what you do wn you're desperate. you're trying to sell a big proposal instead of selling it on the merits, you try to make it a political campaign where people don't like the insurance companies and supposedly like your proposal. people are capable of not liking insurance companies and not liking obama's reform. >> there's one thing the insurance companies don't want. they do not want

two wieks after the arrest of harvard professor henry lewis gates, president obama hosted professor gates and the arresting officer sergeant james crowley at the white house with beer and sergeant cr bridge police department took questions from the press. >> can you share any words the president shared with you? >> it was a private discussion. it was a frank discrather not. >> did the president provide any to the discussion? >> he provided the beer. >> vice president joe biden was also at the beer summit. why was he there? >> they dragged the vice president at the amtrak train at the last moment. >> why? >> i think they were concerned about the image, the photograph that would go all across the country of having two after cab american men professor gates and the president of the united states with one white police officer squeezed in between the two of them. so for racial balance, i think they brought joe biden in. also, joe biden's background from scranton, pennsylvania, gives him some blue collar street cred which the president needs. >> joe biden is the guy on the campaign trail running against obama who said obama was a clea

today the police officer at the center of the much publicized arrest of harvard scholar henry louis gates. sergeant james to thank them for defending him when president obama said he acted stupidly. obama later backed off that remark and invited both men to the white house for a beer. he was hoping to smooth things over. crowley call it had a productive meeting but said no apologies were offered. >>> and that photo of the squirrel crashing a minnesota couple's vacation picture was the top google photo over the weekend. some people wonder, come on, now, this was photo shopped, right? here's what melissa and jackson brandt told matt and ann this morning on "today." >> we snapped a couple photos of just us. while we were doing that, our little squirrel friend was running all over. and then as we, you know, started taking the pictures, he ducked down into the racks and then heard the shutter release scene and became interested and thought perhaps it was going to give him food, it was food dispensary item. >> and he popped up at just the right time. >> awesome. melissa said all she did was upload the photo to

beer summit into the -- the controversy, this week and he brought together henry louis gates and cambridge police sergeant jamesrowley at the white house and according to another poll, the public really disapproved of the president's handling of this, especially whites. how damaging was that and how much do you think it contributed to the bad july for him. >> not that damaging and most of the decline in the polls, and the substance that is killing him, they and try and demonnize the insurance companies and big insurance is not against obama's plan and facts really matter and what is big -- does big insurance hate, senator abdomen's proposal to let people buy insurance across state lines to introduce competition and big insurance is okay with carving up the market and -- in an oligopolyistic way and you are trying to make a political campaign, instead of selling it on the merits and people don't like the insurance companies and people are capable of not liking the insurance companies and not liking obama's reforms. >> the insurance companies love the individual mandate and want the big new market but don't want

nearly 60% of african-americans agree that officer james crowley "acted stupidly" in his arrest of henry. another boston cop suspended for making racist comments about professor gates. tonight he says he is the victim. joe johns reports. >> reporter: first he fired off a racially offensive e-mail to the "boston globe" when it got him suspended he fired off a lawsuit saying his civil rights were violated. he complained about a column sympathetic to professor henry louis gates t. e-mail got him suspended from the police department. should the e-mail be enough to cost him his badge? you be the judge. he wrote if i was the officer he verbally assaulted like a banana eating jungle monkey i would have sprayed him in the face with oc. barrett called it jungle monkey gibberish. he said gates "transcended back to a bumbling jungle monkey and told the writer her column should have been called conduct unbecoming a jungle monkey back to roots. >> he said he is not a racist. he went on television to apologize. >> i am not a racist. >> reporter: the higher ups in beantown erupted. the mayor said barre

as has john mccain and lindsey graham, james baker, henry kissinger and condoleezza rice. admiral mike molen and general petraeus have called for us to close guantanamo. as long as it's open, it's a recruiting tool for terrorists around the world. it's time to turn the page and acknowledge history. we have successfully prosecuted and incarcerated terrorists in the united states much more succe successfully than any military commission in guantanamo. thank you.

the president of the united states sat down with professor henry gates and sergeant james crowley.beer. gates was apparently over the booked at a martha's vineyard book festival. he sold out withstanding room only with a new book he has got. dana, what exactly happened on thursday other than the end of an episode where the white house was knocked off message for eight days? >> i say that you are just playing a individual overthe server coming over to serve them the beer. i just cannot imagine that we would have had this event in the public. i think it's perfectly find and appropriate to president obama invited them to the white house. i think it probably would have been better to keep it private and in the residence and keep it away from the public eye and release a white house photograph. instead they made a whole scene and event to. me they basically rubbed the spot on the wall and made it a little bit worse. now, if gates and crowley are now reconciled and it can help people recognize that there are ways to resolve your differences without yelling or arresting, that's probably a

henry lewis gates jr. and police sergeant james crowley hoping to quell the uproar over the gates arrest. over a couple of beers. it's being touted as a teaching moment to discuss america's racial issues. sure, it was a grand gesture, but it's the same old debate. when will we have a 12st century post-racial conversation about the underlying causes of all these sorts of situations? it goes way beyond rights. it's about making false assumptions about race, gender, sexualilty, status, class, you name it. we're guilty of it. this incidence brought the race to the forefront but the discussion needs to go beyond race and all the way to thum condition. for more analysis, tune into issues tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern. ing? >> tonight on issues more jackson drama. they called him an addict in search warrants and reports said jackson spent his last night in dr. conrad murray's room. why? monday is the big. >>down. will katherine jackson get her way? >> border patrolman robert rosas hoped to see his 2-year-old son follow in his foot steps and dance at his little girl's wedding. sadly that won't hap

professor henry louis gates extended an olive branch to cambridge, massachusetts, police officer -- police sergeant i should say james crowley. without the president even being there. i want you to listen to what professor gates said earlier at his book signing in cape cod. >> you know what, i like crowley. i thought that we would like each other, and, yeah, i don't know what we'll talk about. but i asked him if he would have lunch with me one-on-one. i asked him maybe we could go to a red sox game together, maybe go to a celtics game together. maybe we could have dinner with our families. why not? you know, i offered to get his kids into harvard. >> all right. so no word on when that game or the dinner summit might happen, and they probably won't tell us because they don't want all the cameras. martha zoeller, warren ballentine, our radio hosts are here tonight. the beer summit, we've been hearing a lot about it. i know from sergeant crowley, speaking to his friends and family, he can't speak to the media anymore. he wants to move beyond this, he said. he really wants to figure out a way to work with professor gates

professor henry louis gates extended an olive branch to cambridge, massachusetts, police officer -- police sergeant i should say james crowley. without the president even being there. i want you to listen to what professor gates said earlier at his book signing in cape cod. >> you know what, i like crowley. i thought that we would like each other, and, yeah, i don't know what we'll talk about. but i asked him if he would have lunch with me one-on-one. i asked him maybe we could go to a red sox game together, maybe go to a celtics game together. maybe we could have dinner with our families. you know? why not? you know, i offered to get his kids into harvard. >> all right. so no word on when that game or the dinner summit might happen, and they probably won't tell us because they don't want all the cameras. martha zoeller, warren ballentine, our radio hosts are here tonight. wg, guys. the beer summit, we've been hearing a lot about it. i know from sergeant crowley, speaking to his friends and family, and him as well. he can't speak to the media anymore. he says, i can't talk to the media anymore. he wants to move beyon

moment, a conversation on race in america and the recent meeting between president obama, james crowley, and henryis gates. then a review of contractor bonuses by the federal government. >> i was c-span funded? >> i have no clue. >> may be a government grant? >> i would say donations? >> advertising? >> my taxes? >> house c-span funded? the american cable companies created c-span as a public service. no government mandate, no government money. . [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> welcome, everybody. i am going to begin by welcoming our esteemed panelists. we have a book signing that is going to be directly after this panel and also we are going to do questions and answers up here for about 30 minutes and then opened it up for questions on the floor. if you have a question, you are going to let me know who the question is for and they're not. let me begin with my introductions. we begin with dr. john jackson who has been an adviser on education matters for president clinton and the obama/joe biden transition team. plea

henry louis gates, jr. was arrested in his cambridge home for disorderly conduct. gates, who is african-american, was arrested by sergeant james crowley, a white officer who had responded to a 911 call about a possible break-in. the controversy intensified when president obama said the police "acted stupidly" when they arrested gates. the president later said he regretted his choice of words and he hosted both gates and crowley at the white house thursday for a conciliatory beer. the incident and the ensuing debate show how divisive racial issues can be in this country. even though america has elected its first black president, efforts toward racial integration are often still fraught with difficulties, not least in churches where it's been said that 11 o'clock on sunday morning is the most segregated hour of the week. lucky severson reports. >> reporter: if something seems odd or unusual about these worshippers, maybe it's the diversity, all the different colors and nationalities of their faces. this is the wilcrest baptist church in houston, and pastor rodney woo couldn't be more proud of the cultural and racial mix of his c

henry louis gates jr. talking about his new friend sergeant james crowley. the two hit it off at the white house. guess what? they are planning to meet again. we're going to hear the harvard professor's first public comments after the two sat down for a beer at the white house. >> he joked about getting his kids into harvard. >>> is the white house looking for raise tacks to foot the bill for health care and slow a ballooning federal deficit. it's something two of the top money men were asked this weekend and neither one of them ruled it out. >> we have to do what's necessary. the critical thing is people understand when we have recovery established, led by the private sector, we have to bring these deficits down very dramatically. we have to bring them down to a level where we're stable, at a reasonable level. that's going to require hard choices. we have to try to do that in a way that does not add unfairly to the burdens the average american already faces. >> there's a lot that could happen over time, but the priority right now, it's never a good idea to absolutely rule things out no matter wh

henry louis gates, the harvard professor o was arrested after breaking into his own house and sergeant james crowley, the policeman who arrested him there was one awkward moment they say when crowley asked obama for some i.d. but he was just kidding. vice president biden showed up too. i did not know he was going to be a part of it. i guess they wanted to even things out racially, but they sat around a table in the rose garden. and drank. i'm starting to think the president cooked this whole thing up because he didn't want to ask michelle if he could have a poker night or something. it was scheduled to last about an hour. but in fact, it looked like they were having fun. you can see here. they're in the white house, just on the edge of the rose garden there. you see they all had their beers. even played a little quarters. that looks all right, right? tomorrow morning it will be heretofore be known as racial harmony hangover day. president obama said this is a teachable moment for the country and i like to believe it is. in fact, we went out in the street today and asked the local hollywood b

this photo shows sergeant james crowley assisting professor henry louis gates down the steps of the whiteeviously released pictures only showed the two men at a table with president obama and vice president joe biden. interesting to get a new view there. >> a warmer look at the two men together. thank you, brianna. >>> it was likely the most frightening plane ride passengers had ever taken. >> i was scared. all the people, so scared. all the people. >> a plane just drops unexpectedly. everyone is safe, but what should you do in a situation like that? >>> and remains for the first american officer shot down in the gulf war is found. does this provide closure to his family or open up painful wounds? when you think about all you can do in an all-wheel-drive subaru... you'll find there is a lot to love. that's why we created the subaru a lot to love event. where you can get a great deal on any new 2009 subaru. and see theee really is a lot to love. hurry in and lease a 2009 impreza for $179 ppr month. now through august 31st. >>> their stories are frightening but at least they are alive to te

james peferrat and kelly goth. good to have you here. did the president -- let me say first, our white house correspondent ed henry reported that the president traveled all the way out to montana and didn't say anything new. is this an effective way for him to campaign for his health care plan? >> who doesn't love montana this time of year? >> look, didn't mean to suggest that he wasn't enjoying the trip. >> well, no. in all seriousness, especially when you look at the polls, his message isn't effectively connecting with a wide swath of americans and some of them live in montana. you have to take it beyond the beltway and people that agree with you. >> i dunt see the montana meeting, but i saw parts of the new hampshire one. he said two things that were disruptive. one, when he compared what he wanted to do with the health care system to the postal system. postalization, is that really what he wants? >> do you think we'll hear the president make that comparison again? >> i hope so. >> maybe the dmv. that would be better. >> and the other one was he made this sort of glib comment about pulling the plug on grandma, to which the audience respon

. >>> new revelations about cambridge police sergeant james crowley who arrested a black harvard professor henrygnited a national debate on race. files requested by a boston newspaper show eight citizen complaints over his 11-year career and two were allegations of racial bias by black male else. crowley was cleared in both cases. these files were release in response to a request by two boston newspapers and the number of complaints against crowley amounts to fewer than 1% of the cases in which he'd been involved. >>> we are remembering a true pioneer of television news this morning. donahue wit, best known as the creator of "60 minutes" died yesterday. he joined cbs in the late 1940s. he devised a late night newscast and also produced the kennedy-nixon debate. he had pancreatic cancer. he was 86 and he will be missed. >> this morning, history is unfolding in afghanistan. the second election is under way. the election that taliban is trying to stop the violence and threats against voters. a lot at stake there. here to break it all down is a fellow at the center for new american security. he rece

henry lewis gates, jr. seen on this picture, if we can throw it up on the left-hand side, there is he is, saying that he and cambridge police sergeant james on the right, found some humor over the incident during the meeting over their beer at the white house with the president. but, gates certainly not finding anything funny about the death and bomb threats he says he's received. we understand harvard even suggesting he consider moving. of course, gates and crowley part of the most famous happy hour ever. president obama inviting the two men to the white house to help differences over a beer and neither men apologized to one another, but they promised to talk and maybe meet again and gates arrested by crowley off disorderly conduct broking into his home, those charges later dropped. razing fires on one of spain's islands. it looks like an inferno, fast moving flames taking over, so out of control, even firefighters had to retreat. how officials think the blaze might have started and the rest of the dramatic video after the break. i've been growing algae for 35 years. most people try to get rid of algae, and we're trying to grow it. the a

professor henry louis gates kicked back at a book festival on martha's vineyard that weekend offering the scoop of last week's white house beer summit with the man who arrested him, sergeant james gates. >> i asked him if he would have lunch with me one-on-one, i asked him if we could go to a red sox game together, go to a celtics game together. maybe have dinner with our families, you know. why not? i offered to get his kids into harvard smg. if he doesn't arrest me ever again. >> actually, i think harvard would do well to admit more kids of policemen. talk about encouraging diversity up there. >>> time for tonight's big wisdom. the president's party generally does lose seats in congress during the midterms. while that may well happy again this time, a new poll from gallup just out has some good news for democrats that may cushion the blow. when taking a look at party identification, how many states are considered right now to be solidly democrat? 30 states out of the 50. republicans meanwhile just have four states that are considered solidly republican. democrats have a significant i.d. edge, 30 states to 4 going into the next big election. >>> up next, why is cash for clunke