with the california transportation team that put this together, the initial legislation by john burton who allowed this to take place, the high speed rail authority, it has been phenomenal. but you do not just show up for the ribbon cutting. we are here because of the final portion added to this as well, the recovery act. the obama administration insisted we needed to move this country forward, and throughout the country, there were many who said that the recovery act was too big. now of course, the year and a half later, they say that it should have been larger because the economy is struggling. no matter how big, the speaker of the house said this needs to be a recovery act that can speak to today, in terms of projects that are ready to do with this economy, but they have to be large enough to embrace the future. we have to put people to work in a way that will embrace the future 30 years from today. that is what this project does. that was the house and aren't. then we have to go to the senate. [laughter] i just want to make sure you knew what i was talking about. and then barbara b

all of these great things, congressman miller, my buddy, a friend -- i do not know how many times john burton wrote us about this, but we thank you for your persistence on this. let me just take a moment to thank the person that i have called one of the greatest secretaries of transportation, is not the greatest -- ray lahood. you need to know about this man. he knows i feel this way about him. when you called ray, you cannot make small talk, you just get to the point. he knew about this because i remember i was with him when we were announcing another grant. he said, don't worry, i know about the transbay terminal. in other words, you do not need to talk to me about it again. he is a hero to me because he showed that we can work across party lines. lord knows that we need to come up particularly in times like these. i want to thank one more group of people and then i will sit down. i want to thank the people in the state of california who voted for nearly $10 billion in state funds to support high speed rail. that is why our state is so great, because the people of the state. we are going to

signed during the brown administration and campaign at the state level by former senate president john burton -- [applause] that agreement provides one of the largest funding contributions to this project and allows for the creation of new neighborhoods with hundreds of affordable housing units. today, during the tenure of our mayor, gavin newsom, he has been an enthusiastic and effective advocate of the project since he was a supervisor representing district two. we finally break ground today. this project would not have been possible without the numerous contributions of individuals, and in particular, our transportation partners. the city and county of san francisco, the san francisco municipal transportation agency, the san detail transportation authority, the transit district, the metropolitan transportation commission, the state of california, our state legislative delegation, the california high speed rail authority, and the united states department of transportation, the federal transportation administration, the federal highway administration, and the federal railroad administration.

joining me now, john burton, the author of "ghost, confessions of a counterterrorism agent."ries of events is just surreal, like something out of a novel. unfortunately it's all too real. this man, david hartley, disappears. his wife says he's been shot on the jet ski, then the lead investigator gets killed. is there real escalation of cartel activity in this area or is this kind of the norm? >> anderson, it's just more of the same for mexico, and i think that this is an issue that the mexicans really don't understand, either. meaning the media interest surrounding this case is a bit of a surprise to them as well. >> we're paying attention because an american was killed, and in an unusual way, whereas thousands of mexicans have been caught up in this drug war and killed every single year. >> exactly. and in essence, though, the problems back on the local sheriffs and the state police agencies and the texas rangers that are staring down the barrel of the gun with limited federal resources at times to police this area. >> how realistic is it that this drug gang, the zetas, firs