author and "boston globe" columnist james carroll, a former priest, has a new book out called "jerusalem, jerusalem," with stories that jews, christians and muslims -- all three -- may find surprising. we talked with carroll at the historic synagogue at 6th and i streets in washington. >> jerusalem in the ancient world was a cockpit of violence. it was the place where all the warring armies of the empires intersected. beginning with that first experience of exile in babylon, jews came into a new awareness of who they were and who their god was by looking back at jerusalem, and they claim their identity by refusing to forget it. augustine was arguing for the survival of jews as jews in christendom who would witness to the truth of christian claims by their degradation, and that's en the source of tremendous anti-jewish and ultimately anti-semitic behavior, contempt, and one of the most powerful forms of the degradation was the jews are to be permanently in exile from jerusalem, from the jewish home. it's so important to emphasize that the islamic arrival in jerusalem was nonviolent and re

. >> next, author james carroll talks about the history of jerusalem with a panel of theologians and religious leaders at the interfaith center of new york city. a little under one hour and 15 minutes. >> let me just say, this book has a very personal sort of jump start for me. i was a young man, as you just heard from calling, who was shaped in large ways by my catholic faith, but also by my experiences as the sun of an air force officer. i came of age, at -- but i came of age in the late 50's and early 1960's and was actually defined by a sense of the evidence of the soviet threat and, understanding our place in the world, our being the american forces in germany, including the american dependents, innocent kids that we were, in effect -- i did not know what to think of the symbolic language. we were, in effect, on the altar. we were the tripwire also. if the soviets moved into west germany the first thing they would do is hit s which would immediately required the united states of america's involvement in resisting the soviet move. we were there a guarantee for europe that the sov

[applause] >> that was james carroll and others discussing the past and present of jerusalem. visit jamescarroll.net.

my name is james patrick carroll, representing amnesty international. i'm also a democratic candidate seeking the mayoral position in november. i very much appreciated ms. lee's comments. i share her concerns for sanitation and cleanliness in the city. supervisor newsom, in his seven-year tenure as mayor did nothing to clean the feces and urine which still exist in the tenderloin. he was handed 31 businesses and ended up costing the city over $300 million in total. i'm also concerned are about the $40 million in cuts, which are proposed to the substance dependent adults programs in the city, as well as the services, which are now in place for marginally-housed adults. these programs have saved the city tremendous amounts in human will capital as well as in dollars and cents. a human being who is housed has a five times less chance -- lesser chance of making a police contact. a human being is -- >> thank you very much. thank you very much. >> -- has five times lesser chance of going into an emergency room. it's saving the city a great deal of money. i wo

my name is james patrick carroll and i made democratic candidate for mayor. this last year in san francisco, we experienced over 50 inches of rain and a record- breaking snowpack in the sierra. there's more water available now than ever. i think it would be an excellent idea to turn this. into a win-win. yesterday, while walking through the tenderloin, i noticed that shop owners were spreading their buildings with high pressure spray water to keep the crack cocaine dealers from being anywhere near their block. i dithought this was a very intelligent way to keep them away from the stores. i heard the puc director commented that there was $1.3 million in profit available from the go solar program. he also mentioned that there's a $25 million available in a capital development program, which he, for some arbitrary reason, has chosen to absolutely not pursue at this time. why not force him to pursue that capital development program into a private capital development program, and also use the $1.3 million surplus to fund a program in the tenderloin area to finally

my name is james patrick carroll. i will not sing, i promise. supervisor chu: thank you. any other speakers that wish to comment on item 3? seeing none, public comment is closed. supervisor wiener? supervisor wiener: thank you. i move that we forward this to the full board with recommendations. i know that this kind of bond is always controversial because of this debate we have been having today about whether road resurfacing or reconstruction is an operating expense, expense -- capital expense. it is a spectrum. there are splisignificant aspecf our rowe that our capital, and the presentation accurately pointed out that we are not an anomaly. throughout the country, bonds are used to finance our roads and it is not something that is typically paid out of ongoing general fund. whether that is a good thing or not, that is a debate we could have, but we have to look at the reality of our situation. our roads have deteriorated substantially in the last several decades. in the last five years, thankfully, we have managed to stop the deterioration but we are now in danger of al