host: ok. let's go to jane. democratic line. go ahead. caller: i was concerned about the state emergency benefit fund for the unemployed. i think that it should be approved. they keep bailing out the banks and fannie mae. host: week are talking about the idea of reinstating the superfund tax. the president may be proposing to the house and the senate. we are not sure beyond a chemical and oil companies who would be supporting it. the piece this morning is in "the washington post." the presidential push for the restoration of the superfund tax. remember, for republicans, 202- 737-0001. for democrats, 202-737-0002. for independents, 202-628-0205. you can also send us a tweak at twitter -- twitter.com/c-spanwj. you can also send us an e-mail, journal@c-span.org. we put up the addresses for both of those. this is the twitter address, twitter.com/c-spanwj. in the mail is journal@c- span.org -- andy e-mail is journal@c-span.org -- and the e- mail is journal@c-span.org. good morning. caller: not only

host: ok. looking back at "the washington post" article, it says the report found no direct evidence of payoffs to the taliban. one trucking manager found that about $2 million per week goes to the insurgents. let's go to virginia, john, on the democrats' line. caller: good morning. it goes back to president eisenhower's warning -- now is the military /pharmacological/energy slashed congressional complex. they had just bought enough congressmen to keep wars going and waste resources, and line the pockets of a few at the expense of everyone else. we have to have campaign finance reform, have to get rid of the corporate suits within congress. it is the only solution. host: this is dan come on the independent line, from massachusetts. caller: thanks for having me on. i am with a lot of colors this morning -- with a lot of callers. this is not a news story. it has been going on for quite some time. we are paying the enemy to get our supplies in there, and the same enemy is fighting us. it is crazy.

host: doing what? caller: he was a pipe line about sales president and he was president of the petroleum club in houston. he has been a sales manager for 40 years. on day two he said what they will do is to insert a pipe with it 100 feetit, run deep in the hole and pyrotechnic lead exploded electronically and that was -- pyrotechnically explode it electronically. i spoke to other people and they say the same thing, why doesn't bp used pyrotechnics to stop the flow? it looks to me like they don't care about stopping the flow, or they would do what time honored tradition has done in the oilfield forever. when you have a gusher, you have to pyrotechnic -- and the already sank a pipe to gather a fifth of the oil, the first 30 days we watched them. they extracted a fifth of the oil, while most of it flowed out into the gulf. this proves that they can do bodily insert a pipe and go as deep as they like. host: we will have bob tippee, editor of "oil and gas journal" from houston and we will ask him that quest

post host."f you are at the university of maryland, you can find her teaching there. thank you for being the guest:. thank you. host: 1 become back, a discussion on the use of bronze in u.s. airspace. this is the "washington journal." >> this weekend on c-span2's "booktv," charles bowden chronicles of mexico. after that, a vietnam veteran that took him 30 years to publish. find the entire weekend schedule at booktv.com. join us on twitter. >> he was a volatile, emotional, very complicated young man. he was very adventurist. he was 25 and having adventure. >> take a new look at alexis de tocqueville. that is sunday on c-span. supreme court justice clarence thomas on the prospect of a new justice. >> to bring in a family member, it changes the family. it is different. it is different today than what it was when i first got here. i have to admit that you grew very fond of the court. you spend a long time here. >> the confirmation hearings for a landing can start june 28. -- the confirmation hearings

host: hold on. asking about the studies that you're citing and why is there a correlation between more guns and less crime. guest: the fact that would be victims would be able to defend themselves make it riskier for criminals to commit crimes. in my book, i go through studies by criminologists, economists, even public health people and explain what the results are there. i have tables that list studies and what academics have found there. i am happy to talk about the claims. host: we will get to that. norfolk, virginia. larry. caller: i think they have concealed carry permits. every state that has issued a concealed carry, violent crime has dropped. host: what about that? guest: i think he is basing that on a lot of the johns research. it has been thoroughly discredited by scholar at the scholar after scholar from major research universities who have looked at johns data and methodology and have concluded the methodology was flawed. there's no evidence that more concealed weapons mean more crime. i

host of pensacola, florida. -- host: pensacola, florida.aller: i keep hearing you talking about the tripling of the budget under obama over 10 years, but bush and reagan also tripled the national debt. every time you get into office you do the exact same thing. how does that make it anything but hypocrisy? guest: number one, the president himself cannot spend a dime without the approval of congress. i am saying that the president has proposed a budget that triples the national debt. what you are alluding to our democratic congresses that voted to spend money. i was not always happy with the way that that republicans spend money. i have fought my own speaker and leadership. i was not successful. i think that people view them as the party of fiscal responsibility and they did not live up to the mantle. different leadership, differed members are thoroughly committed to making sure that the federal budget does not break the family budget. it is very significant that this congress has again taken the deficit and increase it tenfold. right now we

host: all right. we are asking if the president should be showing more a motion in response to the gulf oil spill. "the president's spokesman was asked about this yesterday at the daily briefing." >> when the top killed procedure failed over the weekend, he said that the leak was as enraging as heartbreaking. have you seen the president and rage about this? -- enraged about this? >> throughout this process. >> has that come through to the american people? >> the american people are frustrated. the white house is frustrated. the president is frustrated. i do not see how anyone who looks at the gulf cannot be anything other than frustrated and heartbroken. absolutely. host: new york, democratic line. what do you think? caller: i think that he is doing all that he can but he needs to talk more about it. but i want to talk again about how the media keeps putting an onus on him. they laid the groundwork for this with all of that deregulation, drill, baby, drill, letting businesses have their way. these age

host: mr. negroponte served as ambassaaor to mexico, the philippines, and later on we will be joined by ryan crocker. as you look to iraq and afghanistan, what are your thoughts? guest: as far as iraq, better. i was there from 2004 to 2005. certainly, better than 2006, when there was rampant sectarian violence. the fact you have had one prime minister in power for four years, that they are taking over security. when i arrived in june 2004, they had a grand total of one battalion in their army. now they have close to 500,000 troops to help maintain security. as we are withdrawing, we aren't leaving them in pretty good shape. -- we are leaving them in pretty good shape. it was an interesting post. it was one of the most gratifying things. we were able to carry up the first successful elections in the iraq after the overthrow of saddam hussein. i think we were surprised by the peaceful outcome of those elections. host: mike, on the democratic line. caller: i was watching this is really -- isreali

host: all right. jess bravin is our guest. he is with "the wall street journal." he is covering the elena kagan hearings. the numbers are on the screen -- please allow 30 days between your calls so that others can get in. talk about the elena kagan hearings that begin today. in fact, they will be live on c- span 3 beginning at 12:30 p.m. eastern time, live from gavel to gavell the house and senate are both scheduled to be in and that is why they are not being carried on c-span or c-span2 at this point. but on our website, c-span.org, you can watch all of this live at our c-span supreme court hearing hub. it is all right there at c- span.org, so if you got a computer, you can watch elena kagan at your desk or on your wireless. go ahead and start dialing in. we want to show you one piece of video. this is elena kagan and justice scalia talking about the citizens united case. 3 corrupt the federal system. >> self interest -- we are suspicious of congressional action in the first amendment area precise li

host: good morning. caller: my name is john white and teach marine engineering and worked on a marine simmering for 14 years. i believe the senate bill was correct. this is not time to argue about legal things or money. it is a time to look for the solution to stop the leak, first. otherwise, the catastrophe, its effect will be damaging the environment much greater than now. i have a design that i sent to mr. tunney he word sometimes -- to mr. tony hayward several times, and to the white house, but i have had no rrsponse. i have a way to seal the pipe and recapped the oil, and use it to pay for the damages. this design is a very unique design and uses a submarine system to seal the pipes. if you are interested i will send you the design ensure you have to do it. host: thanks, john. guest: yes, would you send it to my office? i'm sure that if you sent it to the folks working at the command center in the gulf, they have it. they have a group of people looking at all the ideas. they have thousands coming in

host: why? guest: they were concerned about the treatment of the naacp and tax treatments and whether they could jeopardize their step -- their tax status. and they also did not like the special treatment for the nra. here we are doing a bill to require disclosure in politics and we are giving an exemption for one of the most powerful interest groups and there is. -- most powerful interest groups their resourcethere is. host: do they just have to disclose who founded an advocacy or an ad campaign? guest: it deals with a lectionary communication, which is an ad saying, vote for joe schmo, or against joe schmo. they would have to say, i mdot acencio x and i -- i am not cce and i approved this data. under current law, they do not have to reveal owners. these nonprofits and the 501-c3 that covers them, they are saying, this is not public. why should we make it public now? host: they are afraid it will impact donations? guest: right. anyone who even funds to the data -- to even funds these advertisem

host: good morning. it in a letter released late yesterday morning, asking house and senate leaders to approve another $150 billion in spending, to be used to help state and local officials offset budget problems. without it, the preeident says that cities will see massive layoffs. your reaction to this latest wave of federal spending and its impact on the national deficit. congress is back in session this week and the president makes his fourth visit to the gulf coast. this is the front page of "the washington post" -- an obama pleading for the aid package. we will get to it in a few minuues, but first to the situation on the gulf coast. here is this story of the administration giving bp a deadline. in a 20-minute telephone call with theebritish prime minister, the president said his unequivocal will view is that bp was a multinational global company and the frustrations about the oil spill had nothing to do with national identity. carl writing for a pensacola newspaper joins us on the phone this mornin

host: mr. yalman onaran? guest: that's the consumer protection agency we talked about and it's supposed to look how the banks target the consumers. so when you get a credit card and there are hidden fees in your credit card and you're not aware of them, the consumer protection agency is supposed to see that and try to protect the consumer and tell the banks, no you can't charge the fees unles onoka you tell the consumer clearly what they're getting into. similarly, with mortgages if you're getting no down payment mortgage and your interest rate jacked up after two years and you're not aware, the consumer protection agency is going to prevent the banks from selling products that the consumers don't understand. also, the financial regulation before the packet was completed, there were several pieces of smaller legislation that passed house and the senate and were signed into law by the president that have really put down harder rules to - in credit cards and other stifts that the banks do to reac

host: fine. caller: i wanted to call and voice my concern with current spending levels and how they relate to the worldwide economy. spending within the u.s. i'm 20 years old so i'm not well seasoned in the realm of political thought. but it seems to me like with spending as high as it has been the last 10 years with our massive overseas empire, we are in 140 countries, how is that going to be sustainable to keep that sort of spending up over the long haul, the next 10 or 20 years? host: before we get an answer let me run this story by you. the president, the white house today asking all agencys to trim at least 5% from their buckets. they want details, they want the information by september. what does 5% mean to you? caller: that doesn't mean anything to me really. i'm 20 years old. and i personally have done the research and the 1996 republican party platform called for the cutting of the education department complete thely and i was awe struck we i saw that and it looks to me leak 5% here and

host: mr.ltz, the "wall street journal" has a headline that echoes the collar's sentiment, that "business group s say that the obama administration is hostile o jobs." shareholler rights to nominate directors, expanded damages for pay discrimination, epa regulation of greenhouse gases come and restrictions on oil. guest: those are all pro-+ corporate and anti-worker. this president and this administration has done more for small business than any president in the last 30 years. there are more tax incentives on the table, more incentives for small businesses could to go out and do things. we never saw this under any other president. but the money is tight, and until we loosen up the lending practices in this country, we are not going to have it until smalllbusinesses have access to capital. the president is doing everything he possibly can. in fact, the republicans are not even matching him on any of this stuff. they think it is all about the corporations and the top 2%. in the book, i documents

host: why so? caller: well, because there is a lot of different kinds of -- there's a lot of different kind of secrecy about what is in a democracy. host: so should it be prosecuted by law then? caller: i think it should be done by law, but i do believe that if there is secrecy in one way or another way, there's a prosecution that needs to know what the leaks are, not by what the secrecy itself is, but what the law for the persons that need to have the secrecy to need to have the secrecy to know what the rights that the need to know. host: missoula, montana. ivan on our democrats line. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: good morning. haven't talked to you guys since reagan's funeral, so i'm since reagan's funeral, so i'm overdue. as far as prosecuting leaks, i think they should only prosecute republicans, buzz they're the ones that need it the most. host: why not someone within the administration, like the front page of the "new york times" talked about? caller: well, i'm sorry. i mi

e host: california? caller: it sounds as if you are saying the new administration is the cause for all of this. you know as well as everyone else, it started many years before this. guest: i did not say there has been a lot of the regulation over the last dozen years. -- deregulation over the last dozen years. there has been a lot of miss regulation. i have been here for seven years. i have been trying to fix that since i first came here, trying to regulate it in a good way. i want to get rid of it so that we do not have this potential systemic risk going forward. only a couple of us are making the call. some are saying we should do it. there are problems with the democrats and republicans. we can spend a whole hour putting the blame, but let us go let's fix it.and fix i, but host: new york. caller: how did this country get into debt in the first place? whether we doing to fix it? -- what are we doing to fix it? e spend too muchto money than we take in. look at your paycheck. we have a spending problem i

host: thank you. robert crawford tweets us -- >> is a call from tampa. -- next is a call from tampa. caller: we keep wanting to put the blame on this person or that person. that is not the issue. who cares who is to blame? what we need to do is get together as american people, we the people, like we used to be back in the early 1800's when people stood together and did what needed to be done. we need to get this oil picked up before it gets to our shores and stop laying around and saying, blame this one or that one. we need to get together and do that and we need to stop making so many laws, that any more it is almost a crime to blow your nose in the street. america is just backed asswards. we need to get together for this country is going straight to. that is all i have to say about that and thank you for your time. host: thank you for calling in. a tweet -- back to front pages. "the washington times" -- also on their front page -- gop sounds alarm on red ink. green is seeing red over new gulf oil pe

host: ok.aller: why do you almost always start with democrats, followed by independents, followed by republicans? host: it is to get to the phone the quickest. we tried to have the diversity of voices. it is to give us a call first . retry to switch that periodically. -- we try to switch that periodically. we tried to get the other number first. caller: your independent colors are almost universally democrats, liberals. -- you independent callers are almost always universally democrats. it's a fact. host: thank you for watching. let's go to pennsylvania, are democrats line. caller: good morning. i was strongly motivated to vote in the recent may primary for representative -- against arlen specter. one of the main reasons is arlen specter's age. i do not think he could expect to live out the term that he was seeking. and mr. sestak has been of very good representative, although not for the area for our live then. -- i live in. i thought he was the better candidate. and if people did not go and v

host: from the u.s. national security standpoint, how much of a challenge is the fact that now the arctic ice shelf is more open for commercial and other shipping traffic? guest: i do not think it is a major concern. it is a area of policy focus. the arctic has been an area of emerging interests because there are lots of natural resources there that may soon be exposed to it explication. it is an area that we watch, but i would not call it a security concern at this point. there's a lot of international engagement an agreement on the protection of the arctic. it is an area for potential and very collaborative and cost of engagement. host: here's a call from jupiter, fla. on the republican line. caller: good morning. it looks like the pirates are back. i have not heard you talk about something we used to do in the wild wild west. the government put a bounty on the yelloutlaws. they engaged private individuals or companies to go after the pirates. congress used to authorize these private parties -- you cou

host: ok. caller: i'm going to change the whole perspective on theeterm limits and thousand congress should be run. after the elections, and in all states and for whatever position in congress, there no longer will be any term onments. they would be put on hourly pay. give them a good hourly pay, but then 2007 privilege and the power to fair to them, if they don't performance well. right now term limits. all these people in congress with the corruption and everything that's going on, we can't fair to them. so if we put them on an hourly pay for a certain length of time or even no length of time, you know? we're not -- we don't have any idea as to how long they have been in office. but if they get an hourly pay, we, the people, are their customers. and we should have the privilege or fair toing them. and once they get fired, all the people that are with that, will go to the different parties in washington. will not have this civil service waged. host: ok. hnry, thanks for the call. sasha has the

host: lots of detail. you are not one of many thousands of americans thinking about -- you are one of many thousands of americans thinking about solutions. there are called lines and areas on bp's web site. they have put some of the suggestions into practice. aking a toll on workers' psyches. catholic charities reported this week -- back to your phone calls. this is a phone call from texas. travis, a republican line. caller: thank you. thank you very much. i am not trying to be smart, not trying to be intelligent garet -- intelligent. i have worked in the oilfield for 39 years. and i would like to try to explain, in oklahoma there is not i well, not a well in ttxas, making any kind of production that does well is -- i heard everything -- a barrel is only 42 gallons, to start with. you have a certain size casing in that hole right there, and that is only 7,720 feet deep. the rest of it is laying on top of the ocean. the thing about it is, you can only get so much production out of a whole -- hole. that is -

host: thank you. from "the guardian" this morning. over the weekend, ariana huffington dubbed mr. obama "the nowhere man." charles joining us from springfield, massachusetts. good morning. caller: i was thinking that what is going on right now is sort of a reflection of what went on at kyoto. it seems as though america is being challenged by these emerging powers. you have the situation in north korea where we are completely reliance on the chinese. and the situation with iran, some of these shifting alliances and up having influence in afghanistan. but the thing that struck me this morning is this situation with israel. i lived there in the 1990's and i'm interested in absolutely how polarized people are that, you know, that israel doesn't bargain in good faith, return to the 1967 borders. everyone takes sort of an line. ve tist i think a lot of is right now, i think it will be interesting to see where the israeli politics shakeout, whether people support netanyahu. but i think you could make an but

host: certainly.aller: the reason we have not been able to extract ourselves from afghanistan has become clearer and clearer. a lot of people, i am sure, do not know that the co for unocal, that was all tied into enron and ken leia anlay and these so-cald funding of afghanistan with the minerals, the titanium and the copper, and all of the other minerals that lay dormant their, i do not think that is anything new. i think that they have known that for a while and they used 9/11 as a cover. host: from the "washington post" writing about the u.s. debt looms large after g-20. one of the figures that they put forth in january, the obama administration predicted that the deficit would precede $1.5 trillion by the end of the year, but then a windoto window by thr 2015 -- to dwindle by the year 2015. next caller, go ahead. caller: just a comment about general patraeus, going back to 1966 and fort riley, kansas. they have as walking -- i was in the u.s. infantry in the army. they had as walking and gave us on

host: that goes a long way? caller: it does in this area. host: some of these people that you know, have they lost a job because of the president's moratorium? caller: yes, i have a friend is not working because of this. host: here is what the president had to say about the moratorium yesterday. >> i have established a commission. already i have issued a six month moratorium on deepwater drilling. i know that this creates a difficulty for the people hat work on these rigs, but for the sake of their safety and for the entire region, we need to know the facts before we allow deepwater drilling to continue. host: arlington, va., patrick on the republican line. good morning. caller: that is great. i called on the second of many -- may, 10 days after the rig blew up. funny, we are almost in the same boat that we were in then. i watched it last night and i was not impressed other than we heard the typical bp is going to pay. we still have not heard anything about the cleanup. you do not have to wait until the leak is capped to start clean up. host

host: the u.n. member states have had a decade and a half long effort, working together to eliminate or significantly reduce illicit drug production. they did not meet their 2008 objective, and now the same objective by 2019 talk about the international cooperation and where we see the effects of it. guest: the united nations office of drugs and crime release their 2010 report yesterday, and the cooperation was very good because we see this as a global issue. as i said, i have been to mexico three times -- columbia, afghanistan, russia, etc. this is not just an american issue, not just a neighborhood issue. clearly in some of the most impoverished countries, people are becoming addicted to drugs. that is because traffickers are pretty smart people. they decided to pay their employees in product rather than paying their employees in some currency. so that extra product ends up editing people, even in very poor countries. >> what are some of the contours of the international cooperation? guest: it is

host: have the bills get paid? caller: i do not have any bills. host: california.aller: i am disabled. from time to time, i have work. they did that if it from my disability, and i get to keep part of it. i do not know the answer. it seems like the big shot -- i should not put it that way. the bankers, politicians, they are all taken care of. it seems like they get money. i am not talking -- i do not know if they are talking about nonprofits or wall street, but the little guy takes the brunt of it. host: what type of work for you doing before you were disabled? caller: security guard. i was in a serious car accident. it left me with a nervous breakdown. host: how long have you been unemployed? caller: i do gardening. not very often. i have been unemployed for 10 years from the security job. host: san diego, california is next. talk to us about your job search. caller: it is controlled by the local union for it i am an electrician. i was 319 that is how many journeymen were ahead of me. it is a pretty scary outlook for a guy like me. i got five months of work this y

host: doug on the democratic line. good morning. caller: -- host: 7 on the independent line. what are your thoughts? caller: i am listening to many people blame president obama for the cleanup, but bp is in charge of the cleanup. why is the plane going to the federal government? government? host: there is an article saying that time is quickly running out for congress to act before the midterm elections. that is a "new york times" editorial this morning. "the washington journal" also weighs in. augusta, georgia. dawn on the republican line. caller: i'd like to think the president for lying to me about my medicare. i know it is cut 21%. also, i thought it was disrespectful for him to be campaigning for barbara boxer when the people that lost their lives were having their funeral. host: next caller. caller: the gulf area is a good area. we could start thinking about having water turbines and harnessing the power. we could use heat pump technology like other places in the world, and it might make a big difference. host: richard on the independent line. caller: i was calling in r

host: please. caller: i have not heard anyone comment on, watching their ads, neither fiorina nor whitman said one single thing about what they want to do if they are elective. all they have done is go after their opponents. we are sitting here saying, so, what are you going to do? big deal you ran a business. that is not the same as running a government. but absolutely not, it depends on what they have to offer. host: in california's kansas you have had two female senators for quite a while -- in california's case. caller: personally i think they are both doing a good sign. i think perhaps it is time for feinstein to move on but i have been very happy with barbara boxer. host: raleigh, north carolina, is next. republican line. does the candidates gender affects your vote? caller: good morning to you, to the rest of your listeners. thank you for taking my call. gender, nor race or ethnicity has any effect on my vote. i look totally -- which all americans should -- we are supposed to be americans no

host: banks. coming up, we will switch gears to financial regulations and conference negotiations happening on capitol hill between house and senate members. a republican from new jersey will be with us in just a minute. here is a news update from c- span radio. >> it is a clause 25 in washington, d.c. president obama hold his first meeting -- 8:25 in washington, d.c. president obama hold his first meeting with executives from bp. the president wants money to go into a damages fund run not by the people at by an independent third party. the federal government wants to crack down on college recruiters. the department of education will announce the rules that will prevent colleges from paying recruiters for students or for in beijing in aggressive student recruitment. -- or for engaging in aggressive student recruitment. officials say israel will significantly ease its blockade of the gaza strip. it was under international criticism on a flotilla delivering aid to civilians. the israeli naval blocka

host: we will leave it there. coming next, we will turn our attention to when it reports on the agent orange in vietnam. first, a news update from c-span radio. >> it is 9:00 04 in washington, d.c. a new poll shows 52% of those asked disapprove of the president's handling of the oil spill situation. that disapproval rating is about the same of george w. bush after hurricane katrina. the overall approval rating stayed stable at 50%. the poll also indicates that the economy remains people's top concerns. 64% of respondents say their household budgets are sound. new figures out today on the economy. home construction plunged last month by 10% from april since the lowest level since december as builder scaled back without a federal tax credit to work by years. building permits also fell. wholesale prices fell for a second straight month in may. the first time that has happened in the year, reflecting big declines in the cost of energy and food. north korea is warninn that tension over the sinking of the south korean w

host: ok. so people on the left, democrats are saying that this is an issue being stirred up by fox news, by the right. how do you respond to that? caller: how can we stir something up? there's a big mess in the gulf of mexico. there's rightly so, people were outraged that the chairman of bp went yachting yesterday. where was our president? where was he? he was out on a golf course. now, can you tell me that this is better to go out and play golf and not know what's going on or to be on a boat and not know what's going on? host: what about his comments related to the jones act? guest: let me p be perfectly clear. nobody wants to clean up this oil more than the u.s. merchant fleet. nobody has more of a vested interest. when the oil is cleaned up and hopefully it will be sooner than i think it will take, we will still be here. will those foreign flag ships still be here? will our tax money have gone and our wages have gone offshore? we have never objected to a specific waiver for any vessels in t

host: good morning. caller: my call goes to the situation with fannie and freddie, who used to be one of the cornerstones of many, many mutual funds and were one of the rocks that helped the new york stock exchange in place for many, many years. now they're derided for this morning crisis. my comment goes to the conservatorship of the government since they've taken over. it seems they've done almost everything in their power to run both of these agencies straight into the ground, all this legislation that they just passed to control these mortgages. they've been continuing to do it and spending billions and billions of dollars and driving these companies farther and farther into history, and i'm just wondering what the purpose of their conserve forship has been. host: b.k. out of dallas, texas, on our line for independents. we're hearing from a lot of independents and democrats this morning. we want to get republicans involved in the conversation as well. the number for republicans, 202-737- 001. democra

host: all right. thank you. maine, mark. good morning.alllr: i think that the president did a fine job last night. ultimately this has to be a turning point. a pivotal moment when we really decide how to solve these kinds of problems in a much larger way. i do not know that it will work, but i do want to say that i m and iraq war veteran. bronze star recipient. i think that people should think about connacting [unintelligible] because they're big on switching to alternate energy sources. host to what you think about the criticism from the last caller that the president did not have specifics on the way forward? caller: i think that he is hemmed in a little bit. anything that he says at this point is going to be open to an awful lot of criticism. if he had become too specific, you know, i think it would have been shot down on technical terms. it would have been really difficult for him to make the big picture argument. i think it was a gambit no matter what he did. but i think that the real critical message is that we+ really need to be th

host: you are. of america was also, before we bailed them out, and probably still, loaning money to illegal immigrants who have no social security numbers for had social -- stolen social securrty numbers -- or had stolen social security numbers. when i called the bank of america before i stopped doing business with them to find out why they were doing that, they said, we would like to give these people a path to citizenship. just think about that before you decide. if we give money to mexico. people are being killed on our borders. and this banking wants to give them money. people that are coming across the board illegally, money. host: let's get a response. guest: i do not want to talk about the detail operation of the bank. we are here to talk about energy, but i appreciate the callers perspective. host: next call from alabama. caller: in response to the lady's question, your responsibility through the housing reconstrrction act, are you responsible to offer mortgages to people that cannot indicat

host: what will be the long- term economic impact? guest: we had just been recovering from hurricane ivan in 2004. many people were looking to the beginning of the tourist season, as the first season that would really turnnut. we were having some new hotels open, and everyone seemed to be having a good spring with hotels and restaurants up, and phis brings it to a halt. it is hard to overstate it. it just kills everything. tourists don't come to the beach you cannot swim. the charter fishing is gone. it is really bad. host: in one of the editorials you took aim at ken salazar -- what kind of job do think has been doing? and more specifically, mms which is gone through its on transformation as a result of the april 20 spill? guest: obviously, mms has done a terrible job. at this time i don't know how much we can expect the federal government to do. certainly, there is no expertise to stop this well from leaking. it will have to be bp. we would like to see -- it is hard to understand bp's responne gutted by the coast guard and pushed by

host: why? guest: partly because the current trend is exaggerated, and because of the few hints we have had and special and primary elections which do not really suuport the idea of a huge conservative sweep. as the election gets closer, i think people will sober up a bit. host: what do you mean? guest: i mean for the democrats. why should they? beuse of health care,nce again. anna the tea par which everyone is so excited about now, has never really articulated an agenda, certainly not a realistic agenda, meaning one that will balance the budget -- or not even balance it, but bring the deficit under control. they claim that to be what tey really want. host: this is the editor at large of the "atlantic wire." you can start by alidialing in. i want to get your reaction to this piece this morning from "the washington post." "how conservative islam has changed underbama." it says the tea party has replaced the religious right. these issues have been overshadowed by the broader, anti-government thing

host: what d.c. as the biggest -pchallenge that the obama administration best -- what do you see as the biggest challenge that the obama administration faces? guest: one has to keep a good view of what is happennng around powers, what is happening in china and russia and other situations around the world. nuclear nonproliferation is a big one. host: some pointed out after the christmas daa bombing attempts and more recently, that mr. blair took the fall on some of the breakdowns in intelligence. do you agree with that? guest: it is really interesting. you can go all the way back to good for literature about missed signals. you know as well as i do that hindsight ais 20/20 vision. someeimes they look like isolated segments and pieces of information. when you piece them ttgether after the fact they make some sort of coherent story. i am reluctant to second-guess what happens in that particular situationnwithout having personally reviewed all of the facts. host: let's get to the calls. this is from onta

host: todd tucker, is it working? guest: agreements of nafta combined with the worl trade organization which is global, you can see that the u.s. has said burgeoning trade dficits and a loss of 5000 -- 5 million manufacturing job a significant chunk of it is due to nafta and. the real purpose of agreements like nafta and to some extent the world tra organization is to make the world safer for multi-national corporations and give them enhanced rights in developing countries, to challenge an firemen to policies and oher public interest laws. host: in 2008 $1.10 trillion in u.s. goods and services between the u.s. and nafta parers -- about $480 billion in exports compared to 2009. guest: of course, the recession had a loto do with those numbers. over the history of nafta our trade has grown faster with nafta partners then overall. the agreement was never going to cure the trade deficit. imports are a great blessing to low and middle-income families. the first five or six years after the passage of nafta were some of the

host: mr. yalman onaran? guest: that's the consumer protection agency we talked about and it's supposed to look how the banks target the consumers. so when you get a credit card and there are hidden fees in your credit card and you're not aware of them, the consumer protection agency is supposed to see that and try to protect the consumer and tell the banks, no you can't charge the fees unles onoka you tell the consumer clearly what they're getting into. similarly, with mortgages if you're getting no down payment mortgage and your interest rate jacked up after two years and you're not aware, the consumer protection agency is going to prevent the banks from selling products that the consumers don't understand. also, the financial regulation before the packet was completed, there were several pieces of smaller legislation that passed house and the senate and were signed into law by the president that have really put down harder rules to - in credit cards and other stifts that the banks do to reac

host: thank you. guest: there are many school districts that have adopted with the call character education programs. the talk about honesty, hard work, the work ethic that is so critical to students. if you have a student who does not understand the need to follow through on their responsibilities, getting ready for tests and doing homework -- teaching of values is important. obviously religious instruction is not part of that. host: joe asks us -- why does the nea have a better evaluation system than the principle of the school would have? guest: many evaluation systems for the neh are done in collaboration -- nea are done in collaboration. i mentioned earlier -- we believe the purpose of to be for the improvement of instruction. first three years. i should always be working to enhance the practice of my profession. i believe the most successful programs are those that have been developed in collaboration. at the local level, to have employees, management, and the school board develop an evaluation

host: mr.an onaran? guest: that's the consumer protection agency we talked about and it's supposed to look how the banks target the consumers. so when you get a credit card and there are hidden fees in your credit card and you're not aware of them, the consumer protection agency is supposed to see that and try to protect the consumer and tell the banks, no you can't charge the fees unles onoka you tell the consumer clearly what they're getting into. similarly, with mortgages if you're getting no down payment mortgage and your interest rate jacked up after two years and you're not aware, the consumer protection agency is going to prevent the banks from selling products that the consumers don't understand. also, the financial regulation before the packet was completed, there were several pieces of smaller legislation that passed house and the senate and were signed into law by the president that have really put down harder rules to - in credit cards and other stifts that the banks do to reach the

host: i'm not sure what you are asking. on the issue of the prophets from the oil they are capturing. bp has said they will set aside that money for a wild life fund that will help rebuild the areas down there. thank you for your phone scalls this morning. that does it for today's washington journal. we'll bring you now to the live

host: independent line, texas. an independent now, what change of mind on when they voted on terry shaiva. she was not taken off life suuport. was starved to death. the judge repeated the 10 %%mmandments. that affected me a whole lot. i am no longer republican. host: what may we see in the over elena kagan? how significant is this going to as we watch her confirmation process? guest: the oil spill is the problem of the obama administration. kagan is a boring story, there has not been a lot of conflict. i am sure she will get some yes votes. the hearing starts next week. there will be a lot of pomp and circumstance. opening statements on monday. in a give-and-take. there will be some trauma there. the white house believes they shape on thatgood nomination. it is looking pretty strong right now. host: queens, new york, democratic caller. that obama medicare pass, will the veterans get the figure as well? guest: i believe so. if you fall into the medicare get, which is an absence coverage, up to a certain $250 rebate.

host: you a. of america was and probably still, loaning money to illegal immigrants who have no social security numbers for had social -- stolen social secutynumbers -- or had stolen social securityumbers. whe called the bank of america before i stopped doing business with themo find out why they weredoing that, they said, we would likeo give ese people a path to citizenship. justhink about that before you decide. if we give money tmexico. people are being killed on our borders. and this banking wants toi them money. peop thatre coming across the board illegally, money. host: let's get a response. guest: i do not wan to talk about the detail operati of the bank. we are here to tal about energy, but i appreciate the callers perspective. host: next calfrom alabama. caller: in responseo the lady's question, your responsibility through the housing rensrction act, are u responsible to offer mortgages to peoehat cannot indite that they have a job? guest: i am not the rit pers to talk aut tsepecific requ

host: good morning. rocket -- given exxon vals was essentially not held accountible f anything, and bp's mess will be more of the same, and the magnitude of these environmental crimes, wouldn't history suggest an armed overthrow of some of these corporations and let their aountability with government will -- guest: think of obsvation on the commencht. and that is in the valdes case where the supreme court comes in at the end anddbasically bails out exxon, it causes ordinary folk, fishermen, me, native alambingens, to lose their faith in the -- alaskans to lose their faith in the justice system of america. so the tracks from the goodwill that our governmental institutions have, it takes away from their legitimacy when the courtystem comes in and bails out a big player. an exxon or a bp. and that is not healthy for america. host: what was the pvailing argument with the majority of baker versus exxon? guest: the prevailing argument was that the award was just too big. host: on what ground? guest: that it wa

host: . . prent athe time of the desert derttorevt.nd i was directo of the aq- t apart fromhe sta department. iouake ferentoint sidenteorge hu's decision to u u. mitary forc tlira kuwt w crit stepot only in and o itself but alsostabshing i think he establishedda very important prinniple that we would not stand back and step aside as adversaries of hours took actions that undercut the stability of a given region and threaten our own sscurity. i think deseet storm was a pretty important event, and we're just coming up on the 28th anniversarr in january. i think president bush got it did.cly right, and i am glad he- host: one more call from st. louis. caller: i would like to get a quick question in. this is more along the lines of intelligence. maybe ambassador crocker can help me. a couple of hours ago i received two calls on a cell phone from an arab-sounding gentlemen. as just a private, average citizen,,i do not know any arabs. i do not mean that in a disparaging way. with tte wiretapping situ

host: why? guest: they were concerned about the treatment of the naacp and tax treatments and whether they could jeopardize their step -- their tax status. and they also did not like the special treatment for the nra. here we are doing a bill to require disclosure in politics and we are giving an exemption for one of the most powerful interest groups and there is. -- most powerful interest groups their resourcethere is. host: do they just have to disclose who founded an advocacy or an ad campaign? guest: it deals with a lectionary communication, which is an ad saying, vote for joe schmo, or against joe schmo. they would have to say, i mdot acencio x and i -- i am not cce and i approved this data. under current law, they do not have to reveal owners. these nonprofits and the 501-c3 that covers them, they are saying, this is not public. why should we make it public now? host: they are afraid it will impact donations? guest: right. anyone who even funds to the data -- to even funds these advertisem

host: why?est: they were concerned about the treatment of the naacp and tax treatments and whether they could jeopardize their step -- their tax status. and they also did not like the special treatment for the nra. here we are doing a bill to require disclosure in politics and we are giving an exemption for one of the most powerful interest groups and there is. -- most powerful interest groups their resourcethere is. host: do they just have to disclose who founded an advocacy or an ad campaign? guest: it deals with a lectionary communication, which is an ad saying, vote for joe schmo, or against joe schmo. they would have to say, i mdot acencio x and i -- i am not cce and i approved this data. under current law, they do not have to reveal owners. these nonprofits and the 501-c3 that covers them, they are saying, this is not public. why should we make it public now? host: they are afraid it will impact donations? guest: right. anyone who even funds to the data -- to even funds these advertisement

host: why? guest: they were concerned about the treatment of the naacp and tax treatments and whether they could jeopardize their step -- their tax status. and they also did not like the special treatment for the nra. here we are doing a bill to require disclosure in politics and we are giving an exemption for one of the most powerful interest groups and there is. -- most powerful interest groups their resourcethere is. host: do they just have to disclose who founded an advocacy or an ad campaign? guest: it deals with a lectionary communication, which is an ad saying, vote for joe schmo, or against joe schmo. they would have to say, i mdot acencio x and i -- i am not cce and i approved this data. under current law, they do not have to reveal owners. these nonprofits and the 501-c3 that covers them, they are saying, this is not public. why should we make it public now? host: they are afraid it will impact donations? guest: right. anyone who even funds to the data -- to even funds these advertisem