let me state at that again. the american association of public health physicians states that these are the best tool we have to get people to quit smoking. as a matter of fact, i'm proud to say that the american association of public health physicians yesterday endorsed the substitute amendment and not the base bill. because they recognize the base bill does nothing but provide a pathway to certain disease or death. just so i'm clear, mr. preside mr. president, under the base bill, h.r. 1256, marlboro is cemented on the retail shelf. camel orbs that reduces death and disease related to tobacco use is band, can't be sold. swedish snus -- it wasn't on the market before february 2007. marlboros are on the shelf. snus? it's banned. even though the swedish experience that i talked about earlier -- during the past 25 years, swedish men showed notable reductions in smoking-related disease, a decline in lung cancer incidence rate to the lowest of any developed nation, no detectable increase in oral cancer rate, improveme

let me state, this is not greta, this is susan. this is your favorite pacifist anarchist. let me state first and foremost, if i may, in relation to the last topic, so far as president obama not releasing photos, i was in the marine corps, the president is the head guy, the head of the military, he has a responsibility to the troops, and in terms of the cost, one american soldier's life, don't release the photos. there is a responsibility, as i understand about coming clean, make us feel good and all this, but it will cost one american soldier his life, don't release the photos. the problem in the middle east is the israeli/palestinian question. once we take care of that, you cannot deny the right to exist. we have to have a solution. somehow the palestinian woman, the mother of a family can send her family out and not hassled at all in going about their lives, where she can feed her family. >> host: first, the release of photos, to block that, then we will come to the question. >> guest: thanks for your service in the marine corps. there was an allegation that guards at gu

host: let me ask you about a couple of states.our home state of virginia, the primary a bailout a week or so ago -- one gain the democratic nomination there. guest: it was exciting four years ago when the two faced off for attorney general. host: only 350 votes' difference. guest: yes, deeds was popular, especially concerning hunting and fishing. bob macdonald has tackled several different issues. it is an interesting race. the dynamics will be much different than four years ago. four years ago deeds got the nra endorsement. bob macdonald ran better than other republicans. he has been the incumbent. virginia is a counter-cyclical stick. -- state for. eight straight times we have elected a governor the opposite from the presidential party. deeds got a bump in the primary. it was sort of an upset win. now i think that bob macdonald has moved back into the lead. but it is a close race. campaigns matter. the history of this is on the republican side. host: we will take your messages. tom davis is with us for a half hour. you alluded t

let me state a few facts. the me emphasize that assertion. we have been using iraqi oil since 2003, 2004. that is the first fact. fact number tworay hunt, the son of the invidious h.l. hunt, the bigamist and oil autocrat has begun production in mosul. the third thing, now we have gotten our government in iraq to open outside contracts outside of the country at extremely favorable rates for u.s. firms and others. this was for oil. that makes it a criminal offense in my view and in view of many, many others. this is no more than theft and murder. it is about time that we leave. host: here is a related peace and side "the new york times," -- s iraq symbolizes china's eyes its oilfields. the chinese of companies are expected to bid for the rights to develop their oil fields and options that are set to start on tuesday. iraq has the world's third largest proven reserves after saudi arabia and iran. many geologists said the troop resources of iraq for even greater because the oil industry has suffered from decades of destruction and under- investme

first, let me state once again the facts. no matter what republicans claim, the government has no intention of choosing any part of the medical plan. we're talking about a public option, a public choice. the government has no intention of khaougs for you any part of your medical -- of choosing for you any part of your medical plan. if you like the coverage you have, you can keep it. in fact, it's the name of the whole section of the "help" committee's bill. section 131 is called -- quote -- "no changes to existing coverage." end of quote. that's what the title of the bill section is. every time you hear republicans say otherwise, you know they're not interested in an honest debate. second, let me reiterate once again the reality. the only thing being delayed is urgently needed reform that ensures all americans have access to quality, affordable health care. the only thing at risk of being denied is americans' ability to stay healthy, get healthy or care for a loved one. is being denied and denied by a party by a party that ma

let me start with judge eckels and just ask that -- well, let me first state that i hope there will be funding tore projects other than those that may be further along than the texas t-bone, and if you could apply right now for federal funding in part of this stimulus, what would you ask for it to do? >> today, our biggest need is the market and environmental engineering studies. before we go on the ground with a system we want to make sure that it's a system that will be viable, will have the market that will support the system. unlike the east coast, we don't have regular service between houston and dallas today. so to develop one we need to make sure that we are building a system which can be priced so we can compete with the automobiles, with the aircraft and also to keep an operational system. i do think bringing the discipline of the marketplace to the system can help set a fair schedule and construction, you know, of the technology that will make sense and would be viable for the long term for the state. >> let me ask mr. szabo, i'm looking at a map, basically the amtrak system

governor thompson gave me a pardon in 1978, and in 2003, governor ryan gave me a pardon based on innocence. the state of illinois exonerated me, and compensated me. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. >> listen, y'all, thank you very much. we -- i notice there are a lot of folks here, so i tell you what i want to ask y'all to do, i tell you what, we're starting to run out of time, we're not there yet, but let's just kind of keep it short so everybody gets a chance to ask questions, ok? go ahead. >> my name is lawyer johnson, i was also convicted for a crime i didn't do. i did 10 years. and also after i got out, from doing 10 years, i waged a successful battle to get a bill passed in boston for the wrongful conviction if terms of compensation. but let me get a little bit more to the cause of the dynamics of this whole event. first of all, i thank god and i thank all the people here, all the people of good conscience, having the courage to deal with the -- if you will, with the realities of what's really going on, because some people sense the reality of what's really going on. we have a race problem h

those numbers may understate the decline in the tax revenue situation for states at the end of this particular fiscal year. let me finish up with this report conclusion on balance levels, balance as a rainy day fund coupled with the end of year balances and there's another good indicator of fiscal health state level and what we see is they are down but they still lag in terms of this was a station and what i mean is they look a little better than the actual fiscal situation. what we see is balances are currently over 5% of state expenditures. that is a fairly significant decline from about 9% last fiscal year 08 and well over 10% fiscal year of seven. although i want to put these columns levels in perspective there's a couple things going on. one is that states don't tend to tap the entirety of the rainy day fund immediately so you would expect those would still exist, but interestingly, texas and alaska account for almost half, about 40% of state balances in their totality. if you took those hour you would have lower balancing levels. now, some states i should mention are beginning the process of training the ra

those numbers may understate the decline in the tax revenue situation for states at the end of this particular fiscal year. let meish up with this report's conclusions on balance levels, balances, rainy day funds, end of the year balances, they are good indicators of fiscal health at the state level. what we have seen is they are down but they still lag in terms of the fiscal situation. what i mean by that is they look a little better than the actual fiscal situation. what we see is balances a little over 5% of state expenditures. that is a fairly significant decline from 9% last fiscal year, 2008, well over 10%, fiscal year 2007. although i want to put these balance levels in perspective, there are couple things going on. states don't tend to tapped the entirety of the rainy day fund immediately. you expect those would still exist. interestingly, texas, alaska, account for almost half, 40% of state balances in their totality. if you took those that you would have lower balance levels. some states, i should mention, are beginning the process of draining their rainy day fund. in the next few months, some of those

next you're going to tell me all state basketball, wrestling -- >> rob: no. told you i was a wiry kid. >> johnny: we had great pictures of you last night. i'd like to see some wiry ones come in. >> rob: with the muletas -- mull let likes to say, business in the front, party in the back. >> back. she said had she met me back in those days, she wouldn't have married me. >> johnny: i understand that. 3-2. shot to 3rd. great stop by zimmermann. he's out. johnson came off the bag. what another tremendous play by ryan zimmermann. would you come to expect that? >> rob: absolutely. i wouldn't expect anything less than what he does at the plate. check it out. all the way, checks the runner. over to nick johnson, nick makes the tag. this is absolute picking it off. you have to be like a hockey goalie at 3rd and 1st. it's a reaction position. you can't follow the pitcher -- >> johnny: nothing he can do. that's gone. two run shot. above the nationals bullpen to right. >> rob: that just saved a run. that's number 14 in 15 on the year for this 14th off right hander. knowin

states. we may want -- let me finish, please, sir. made one of the biggest mistakes when we did that in iraq. iraq is like israel. a state we went over there and created. and a state that is going to always be a pain. host: we will leave it there. guest: let me reiterate that i'm not calling for any u.s. intervention in this situation. i would reiterate that the obama administration has been careful to not say anything to interfere with the elections. they simply said we are observing these elections from afar. really the u.s. has little access or leverage in iran. that i have not had an embassy in tehran for 30 years now. you asked why were the results so lopsided? the reason why, a candidate has to get a majority of the votes, over 50% for him to be the outright victor. if he doesn't, the two candidates go to a second-round runoff. i think what the calculated -- what they calculated was that if this went to a second round between ahmadinejad and mus want avi he would be beat handedly. i think those were the calculations very much. o

those numbers may understate the decline in the tax revenue situation for states and the end of this particular fiscal year. let me finish up with his reports conclusions on bounce levels. bounces are rainy day funds coupled with an of year balances, another very good indicator of fiscal health state level and what we have seen is they are down but is still lagging in terms of the fiscal situation and what i mean by that is that look a little better than the actual fiscal situation. web we see it bounces off firmly over 5% of state expenditures. that is a fairly significant decline from about 9% last fiscal year 08 and well over 10% year 07. although i want to put these bonds levels and perspective there are a couple things going on. one is that states don't tend to tap the entirety of the rainy day funds immediately so you expect those would still exist but interestingly texas and alaska account for almost half of about 40 percent of state vance as in their totality so if you took those out to have lower bounds calls. now some states i should mention i'm beginning the process of turning their funds so i expect so

state to streamline if they want to. they don't have to. they get a choice to do that if they want to. >> now senator murray just told me that if states want to apply for these grants then they have to come up with a plan. they don't have to apply for the grants. if they do, they have to come up with a plan. is that right? >> they require it under the law. >> which means -- which means if they disproportionately have a need in three or four or five areas, and they want to go after all of it, they don't have the flexibility to -- if it's really about health care manpower shortage -- >> but -- >> and if, in fact, oklahoma has a shortage in every area, but our most acute shortage is over here, but i can go take nurse practitioners, which we may have plenty of, and i can apply for that grant, but i don't have the flexibility to then turn around and use it on pas. >> but this is -- but you're not prohibiting the states from targeting three areas. if connecticut decided they wanted to target three areas, there's nothing in this law that prohibits my state from targeting -- or five areas, or one area. >> no, but to your disproportionately exclude

proud to report we met and exceeded the 50% goal bella head of the deadline states have delivered on the deadline current me 60% of the recovery act dollars have been obligated for a total of approximately 4900 projects valued at nearly 15.5 billion dollars. all of the states, the district of columbia and pr half projects under way. federal highway administration estimates there are 1500 projects under construction valued at approximately $6 billion. many states move even faster them the law requires. mississippi for example, as -- has obligated nearly 80% of its funds for highways and bridges we have only approximately $50 million remaining to be contracted. in the transportation commission craft a plan to provide an equitable distribution throughout the state of mississippi to ensure the greatest possible impact in terms of jobs creation and economic development. mississippi plants letting approximately 365 contracts in the funding and as of late me some 524 new jobs have been creating that many or more have been retained and that many more new jobs are expected to come. and this is being repeated all acr

me. [laughter] >> >> thank you, senator. i will work with all the members of the congress. when i was state superintendent of education, if a member of the legislature wrote me, i answered that letter. in fact, those letters were -- i read them personally. we sat down and if we needed to call the house or senate member we did to find out -- >> but your assurance is noted. last year i met with a new jersey family whose daughter was severely injured due to a crib that collapsed. oddly enough, my wife's daughter, my stepdaughter had a baby and she's just turning

considered his role as ambassador and before that to explain to the united states the just cause of the saudis and the arabs. >> let meay one more thing about that. from what we could surmise, the united states really didn't have that developed a position about the middle east. and they sort of followed the british and they saw the british as the ones who as having the mandate, you know, the ones that had the responsibility for palestine so, in essence, they had a very similar position to the british foreign office. and that's why truman when he came up with that conspiracy in the state department, the striped pants boys referred to the british foreign office people. >> the only thing you have realize about the british, you remember last year the british foreign office released the incredible memos on the cold war by ernest bevan. if you read these things you can find them online. bevan as a laborite knew about the role of the communist trying to split the movement in britain. you read his long analysis of how the soviet union was a threat to democracy in western europe, absolutely brilliant. and he was trying to educ

me. media reports state that over 100 federal agents were used in this operation. explains why the force has been [unintelligible] that it is not only unnecessary but brutal. i'm questioning the motivations of some of the pirates at justice and the interior. the day after the raids were conducted, the deputy attorney general appeared before the media touting how successful the investigation was. i have been in the senate for 33 years and i felt like it was a dog and pony show and i know one when i see it. this has all the classic signs of one. the offenses for which these warrants were issued were nonviolent offenses. one has to think the manpower and resources allocated to this operation are usually reserved for resting truly violent felons. let me contrast this case with another federal suite that occurred last week in north texas. after a two-year investigation, 17 people were arrested in a large drug trafficking organization next of texas to massachusetts. the fbi seized cash, weapons, realistic, vehicles and say the ring allegedly distributed 228 -- $22 millio

and if you follow me, on page 5, we have the first stage or face, in which the united states and russia would reduce its total stockpile of nuclear weapons down to 1,000 nuclear warheads each. it would not be done in the current phase of negotiations which just got under way. that phase is designed to be done by the end of the year. that will reduce existing deployed warheads down to lower levels. we are talking about a follow on negotiation where the united states and russia, because they possess 95% of the world's nuclear stockpile, would take the lead in a second negotiation that would go down to 1,000 weapons overall. we can move on to the second aspect outlined on page 6. at the same time that the u.s. and russian sides are negotiating down to 1,000 weapons, there will be preparations for bringing in the other nuclear powers. that would consist of diplomatic efforts to urged those existing nuclear powers, show restraint, not to increase their existing nuclear arsenals. it would ask for more transparency to provide information on their nuclear weapons. create an inventory of warhead

me say this again. i believe this is one of the most important votes members in the united states senate will cast this year. now, let me try to say. why this is a debate about the regulation of tobacco. and to start with members need to be reminded that this is not an industry without regulation today. this is the current chart of federal regulation of the tobacco industry before we do anything. and i might point out that included in that regulation -- regulatory structure is the department of transportation, department of treasury, department of commerce, the department of justice, the office of the president, the department of health and human services, the department of education, the department of labor, general services administration, the department of veterans' affairs, the federal trade commission, the department of agriculture, the environmental protection agency, the u.s. postal service, the department of defense. one, no member can come to the floor and claim that this is not a regulated product. it is the most regulated product sold in america today. but i think there is consensus, and i ag

states of america. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington d.c., june 25, 2009. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable kirsten gillibrand, a senator from the state of new york, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: robert c. byrd, presidet pro tempore. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: madam president, with the senate chaplain, admiral black, standing by, we all listened to the prayer of one of our jewish brethren from las vegas, rabbi harlig. the chaplain, i'm sure, was pleased with the prayer. those of us here were pleased with the prayer. it was a wonderful, meaningful prayer. i want to welcome rabbi harlig for helping us open the senat

to me the state of enforcements seems to be working pair of the general state of enforcement protesting acidification gave the commission time to write regulations and as soon as these regulations that are in place, we probably -- and the commission will probably have to issue it puris days of enforcement. as i have found out and doing my research and talking to members of this committee and two others who are involved with enforcing the law that what is needed is the clear guidance on all of the sections of the cpsc and also regulations. once those are in place the figure will see fewer stays of enforcement him and thank you very much. thank you mr. chairman. >> thank you. senator lautenberg. >> thank you mr. chairman. and thank you speefour -- ms. tenenbaum for your willingness to take on this assignment. in -- we and our professional lives here have a chance to any candidates for office that are recommended and it is so nice very frankly when we have someone who is here presenting themselves to a committee to have the kind of background that you have which is i think privately sudan

was looking in the branch as refining internal procedures on the assertion of the state privileges doctrine. but to me that really raises the profile necessity of congress to act and so whether they are here or not to me they are working on their branch of government but i'm delighted the concourse is considering. more comprehensive reform. >> croswell mr. frank and i are the two people that have raised the question of constitutionality could i can think of in this committee. what do you think about the unconstitutional charge on this measure, mr. wizner? >> i share the views expressed by judge wald x preston her remarks on the constitutional authority to legislate in this area. i would only add that my understanding of the arguments that this bill would be unconstitutional would apply to equal force to the freedom of information act, to the foreign intelligence surveillance act and the classified information procedures act. these are all bills that give courts tools to handle sensitive and classified information and create procedures for courts to do that. none of those interest on the president's co

states. it gave me freedom and gave my country dignity after wwii. i am here to cooperate with the president' obama as i did with president clinton and president bush. i hope we can build a friendly relationship. i will be more than happy to do so with president obama. i think we have a good start. >> absolutely. we have had a very good start. what i expect from the prime minister is an honest, frank sharing of views and their recognition that the united states and italy share common values and interests. our economies have very strong commercial ties. if we are acting on those mutual interests, then we will continue to see strong corroboration. as i said before, his assistants on our efforts to close guantanamo bay is very important. bermuda has done as a great service on that front as well. we are grateful to them. when it comes to afghanistan and pakistan, we are part of the same coalition that wants to make sure the afghan government is able and strong to sustain development for the afghan people and make sure they are not serving extremists. whe

state your name plant in tennessee right next to the nissan plant. that was an arm's length transaction. it's quite another thing for me as united states senator and a member of the government, that on 60% of the company to urge g.m. executives to build cars in my state. i can pretend i'm making my case on the merits -- central location, right to work laws, four-lane highways, hundreds of suppliers, low taxes, a successful japanese competitor 40 miles away, a german company that's picked tennessee to make its north american cars. but my incestuous relationship as owner taints the whole affair. so i will continue to confer car czar awards seeking to end the incestuous nature of these meetings and time-waving hearings until congress and the president enact my auto stock for every taxpayer legislation which would distribute the government stock in general motors and chrysler to the 120 million americans who pay taxes on a april 15. such a stock distribution is the fastest way to get ownership of the auto companies out of the hands of me tkelg washington politicians and back into the hands of americans in the marketplace.

hundreds of law deans, many clergy, former state department legal advisors. let me just close with the words of senator lugar. he said, "given dean koh's record of service and accomplishment, his personal character, his understanding of his role as legal advisor and his commitment to work closely with congress, i support his nomination and believe he is well deserving of confirmation by the senate. there is no stronger bipartisan voice for foreign policy more for the constitution in the senate than senator dick lugar of indiana. i hope my colleagues will follow his example. thank you. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i rise to speak once again on the nomination of harold koh, who the president has nominated to be legal advisor for the state department. just to put this in context, as the senator from massachusetts has addressed, the legal advisor is a very important job at the state department. he is responsible for providing guidance on important legal questions, including treaty interpretation and

all 50 of them, can get out there and set tough renewable energy standards so that each state can do well and let me tell you, a state can be a laboratory for the nation. if states get out there and show that it can be done, that we really can have 100% clean energy in 10 years like they're trying to do in hawaii and say, look, we did it, you can do it, here's how we did it, we can really make it happen. so hats off to hawaii for their ambitious goal. if you live in a state where you think renewable energy standarded like this can be reached, we urge -- standards like this can be reached, we urge you to get out there and try to make it happen. why are we expanding highways when rail transportation would provide greener alternative to communities? i quite agree. 2,799 people asked this question on progressivecongress. we appreciate you putting that question in. as a person who's really into light rail transit, bike paths, we're having this debate right now as we talk about the transportation re-authorization bill. this is a bill that's only re-authorized every six years and i think that people should

because israel is a salient of our values and an hospitable neighborhood it seems to me the united states isn't merely a disinterested arbiter between the two parties. the united states is an ally of israel. many rewards from its association with israel. >> host: as we are jumping around we are talking about policy in the middle east. what are your observations about what is going on in iran and the administration's approach so far? >> guest: it's thrilling and what is telling and interesting is in the run-up to the election, tweetering, i don't know -- tweeting was important. when the ayatollah khamenei can back in 1979 he was using cassette tapes, symbol audio cassettes were an instrument of the revolution. the world moves. 30 years later, we have the internet, salles phones, satellite dishes, all of this. tyrannies have always depended in the modern age on establishing intellectual, sealing the population from outside influences. socializing, nationalizing if you will consciousness of the people. it is impossible these days, simply impossible. furthermore, the median age in iran is 25.

states. how do i see what is happening here after 20 years, and i have a shorter chapter about the world behind me. the chapter of united states called the world around me, my adopted country. then there's a short chapter, world behind the. this is the hungry i left behind. and there is a personal chapter within me, my family, my life and so forth. so there's a great difference. since 1989, the world of books and the world of publishing has declined to an extent that even the most pessimistic people in the publishing world would not have believed there why is this such a complicated thing, you know. but i repeat to you, at the age of 65 when i was perhaps less well known, a book of mine just about me, there was interest in that. sold 10000 copies which is not very big, it's a pretty decent sale. i cannot expect this for any other book of mine because this is what americans do not know and why should they know because of this country was only born 250 years ago. the entire modern age and entire age of the book is dying away. there always will be books. there always will be readers, but there will b

that was the last time iran got money from the united states -- excuse me from the i.m.f. from the i.m.f. with respect to your second observation, the gentleman knows how the i.m.f. works. the gentleman knows the united states is involved as are the other countries in overseeing the distribution of i.m.f. funds. there is no intention and there will be no action, certainly that the united states would support, to give any assistance, i don't know whether they have talked to the i.m.f. or not, the gentleman may have more information on that issue. mr. cantor: reclaiming my time. i tell the gentleman, "new york times," may 27, 2009, hointpointed out hezbollah the shiite militant group involved in lebanon and its government had talks with the i.m.f. to discuss the possibility of extension of credit. are we not, i'd ask the gentleman, affording the i.m.f. the ability to extend credit to groups such as that in countries such as that, as well as the potential for countries to access the credit, including iran, venezuela, simbabway, burma, etc. we are very, very concerned. there is

me. we were playing florida state, and he called me and told me that he had to have the surge, so i appreciatedery much, that he called me during the game, but it was a setback. he took it hard, but never one complained through rehab and was meticulous about rehab. >> gary: 1-1. he has alex cora up. runner at first and one down. berken's delivery is taken to center field. jones, a few steps to left. he's got it, and there are two away. >> jim: he was a terrific high school quarterback, -- how when you say he's no, how did you get him to come to clemson? >> there's a lot of recruiters out there. and tim went to a showcase in wisconsin, and he saw him and he's athletic, and he seems to tell -- i. [ indiscernible ] he keeps telling us -- [ laughter ] >> was he he looking anywhere else? going anywhere else? >> i'm sure he was looking foa few other schools. but clemson is a beautiful place. he fell in love with it, and e we signed him in the springtime, and after the late signing period, we were fortunate enoh to -- >>> he told us the st

a man named oscar ewing on idiocy who ran the federal security agency and said give me a judgment would a jewish state the legal under nashville lot? he studied the situation and concluded that a jewish state would be legal and not a violation of any law he said palestine was turkish and the allies had given part of it to the jews who now have indisputable title to it there for the u.s. he recommended and stick to partition but at this point* the issue would be turned back to the united nations. the head of the american delegation was a man named warren g. boston. warren austan gave a famous speech in march. up this point* one who plus studying and talking to delegates at the u.n., warned truman that in conjunction with the state department was planning to double cross truman and she had spoken to the under secretary of state and he was telling the press the state was beginning to take steps to revise the partition and she warned truman in a couple of telegrams they are really trying to double cross you. austan prepared this speech in march. this is a speech in which he will say among other things tha

part of the fight is to save religion from the state, in fact. host: let me make san this piece from "the new york times." it says one of the mysteries behind this week's demonstrations is who was cordoning them. some suspect of the hidden hand of the par for the position of the former president is. his daughter, a former member of parliament, was spotted at a march. what are your thoughts on that? guest: yes, he has openly voiced his discontent and this agreement with mr. ayatollah khamenei on some points. but there have been influential religious leaders such as one under house arrest for several years who has also openly supported the protests and has objected to the way the elections have been done. host: the next question comes from atlanta on our republican line. caller: good morning, ladies. to start off i would like to let you know that i'm a kosher christian. my question is -- i'm hoping that these protesters are actually individuals who understand that ahmadinejad is twisting what the koran actually stands for. i do not believe that the koran once t

now, behind me, we have a general from the russian federation. tony lake from the united states. next a gas from the united kingdom. -- next a guest from the union -- from the united kingdom. our next guest from the people's republic of china. i think that completes our list. we do have someone on the phone with us, from moscow. he is the chairman of the management board of the institute of contemporary development and enjoys close ties with the presidential administration in russia. i will give you briefly the main results of our deliberations to date. i would just make one introductory. . i think there is a general consensus amongst the commission that whatever impact , positive impact nuclear weapons may have had in terms of enforcing deterrence and stability during the cold war, at any residual benefits of these weapons have been more than overshadowed in recent years by the growing risks of nuclear proliferation and the related risk of nuclear terrorism. that is why you can see a group like ours which is really representative of a group of over 150 former ambassadors, milita

state to fight. all politics is local. the gentleman who beat me in the democratic district became president of the freshman class. there's certainly a level of reward involving those in the political system. now, i will highlight this case because of the numerous and inconceivable outcomes and rulings that defy any logic, and more so any rule of law. and again, i'm talking about my father's case. sure, it's dare to my heart, but there's some very concise and clear things that we must understand. it's inconceivable to me that we would wait. the department of justice would not move immediately. first of all, as in the siegelman case, there was no crime. there was no crime. what started off as a political search for corruption and kwid pro quo ended up being an investigation of my father's personal businesses. how did it get started? my father beat out the current governor of georgia sonny purdue, his friend for the senate majority position. he switched parties, and it is documented, because my father became senate majority leader. he held a press co

me put this out. when we talk about state secrets, underlying that is the power to classify. what we have failed to do as a community is to examine the process of classification because what i see again and again is classification of material that is later declassified or comes as you suggest, the gentleman from iowa has indicated, goes into the public domain and everyone is perplexed, simply because there's no rational basis for classifying that information. so, mr. grossman seems to have great confidence in the executive. his testimony is there are 7 separate requirements including the department of justice review and personal consideration by high-ranking federal officials, ensuring that the state secrets privilege is used only when necessary to protect state secrets. i respect the sincerity of his belief. but at the same time, in my judgment, it is not what the founders designed when they created the constitution, and there was meant to be these checks and balances. it is and distrust of government. >> you indicated you are a conservative. i share your conservatism in thi

[laughter] it is entirely appropriate for me to be following the president of the united states. he cannot allow me for i am the most dynamic public speaker of our generation. you can feel the energy at this very moment. part of the reason i am the most dynamic public speaker, i have a compelling personal story. i was born of two worlds. my father was from massachusetts. my mother, from the city of philadelphia, which i believe is not even in the same stage. i grew up in massachusetts, your typical liberal town, but i did not have a limousine until i was 12. my parents came from working- class families. we had a modest home. 16 rooms, it is true. we devoted one-room solely so i could practice the clarinet and the viola. yes, that is right. strings and winds in the same room. i fused the two worlds, i made it happen but somehow through this strange hybrid upbringing, i still managed to obtain the american dream. i went on television. it can happen. even in this country, a middle aged round faced weak-chinned nerd@@@@@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ >> you know what i'm talking about. he is

state of florida. one is mr. press, miami tammy amy jeep dodge. he told me his dealership was perhaps the top seller in the south florida area and top in the country seems like the kind of dealership you would want to see continueed the other is in central florida holler chevrolet. i've grown up in central florida, holler is synonymous with chevrolet in the central florida region until bill hurt chevrolet ceased to exist, they were number two. presumed now since they are no longer around they would be the number one dealer in the central florida region how in the world does it make sense for a dealership like that to also be on the the list for close yures and in addition to the top seller they also have excellent customer service they know how to do this business, they've been in it all their lives so the specifics of this is what rhyme or reason is it because of this? because it is people's lifely hoods and businesses so we need to understand that this so we can understand these questions. i think they deserve to understand the rational why a dealership li

kwrouft mainstream legal -- out of of the mainstream legal theories as an advisor at the state department, to me, is a frightening prospect. he's also, in the course of his writings, taken a very extreme view with regard to the second amendment to the constitution of the united states, part of our bill of rights. the right to keep and bear arms. in 2002 and later in fordham law review in may 2003, he wrote an arld called "the world drowning in guns," in which he argued for a global gun control regime. do we really want the top advisor at the state department working through diplomatic circles to take away americans' second amendment rights to the constitution? i think not. third, professor koh in 2007 argued that foreign fighters, detainees, held by the united states armed forces anywhere in the world -- not just at guantanamo bay -- are entitleed to habeas corpus review in u.s. federal courts and civilian courts just like afpb -- an american citizen would be. do we want the top advisor at the state department working to grant terrorists and enemy combatants more rights than they have ever had b

if the state make such poor policy that it drives out insurance companies, it should not be up to you and me in another state to pay for a government-run plan to go in and compete. if you look the reasons, you can appreciate why republicans are wary of having an alternative, government run call or insurance company or whatever they want to call. >> you said you are not writing the bill. do you have a seat at the table? is this administration talking to you listening with the 40 votes that you have in the senate? the answer is mixed -- >> the answer is next. i have -- i cannot think of one thing i have said that has been accepted. i have said we need to slow this down to get the scores on how much it costs, for example, to understand what is actually in the bill. we're talking about a markup where the committee actually starts voting on amendments and of voting on the bill -- we do not have language yet. republicans have not agreed to anything. it will be a purely democratic product and must want to delay it and let republicans come in and helped write it. >> delay for a long? >> as long as i

occurred over the last 22 fiscal years with indicators like that with 13 states cut after passage in '08 know up at 42 this year. let me say about the eight gaps there are large majorities of states facing a shortfall there is a chart on those but 36 states have had to close gaps already during this particular fiscal year '09. we still have 20 states that are still closing gaps in have additional shortfalls. in addition, 2010 we expect 37 states to have budget gaps. that may grow. 2011 it is very difficult to project that far ahead for fy 11 but so far 24 states are reporting they do have budget gaps expected 2011 so have the expected budget gap and i would expect that would grow also. talking about revenue collections, no surprise to anyone that revenue collections are down significantly with all sources of revenue. there are numerous reports recently just finishing up the spring collection period that have demonstrated anecdotally and other wise very significant declines in revenue from the state. currently what we're seeing is the overall aggregate 6.1% decline year over year it of state revenue in the three major s

if the state makes such poor policy that it drives out the insurance companies, it shouldn't be up to you and men another state to pay for a government run plan to go in and compete. so i think if you look at the reasons for these things, you can appreciate why republicans are very wary of having any kind of alternate yi government run whether they call it a co-op or an insurance company or whatever they want to call it. >> i want to go back. you said you're not writing the bill. do you have a seat at the table? is this administration talking to you, listening to you with the 40 votes you have in the senate? >> the answer to that is mixed. in my case no, they're not listening. i've proposed several things and i can't think of one of them that has been accepted. for one thing i said we need to slow this down to take time to get the scores from the cbo, how much does it cost, freb, to understand what's in the bill. we're talking about what they call a markup, where the committee actually starts voting on amendments and voting on the bill. we don't have language yet. republicans haven't agreed to a

me that such grounds existed. i came to respect the government for its professional prosecutions, the way the assistant united states attorney handled their cases, until the beginning of this new century. up to that time whether the united states attorney was a republican or a democrat, whether the evidence was strong or weak, and if it fell into the latter category, it didn't get to the jury. the united states attorney almost allways had at least some evidence to support the charges in the indictment. the case that i'm here to talk about this morning, united states versus philip kelly "bobo" don eugene siegelman and paul michael henry, is a glaring exception to the general rule. that case was handed down by a grand jury in may of 2004. by which time a fairly new united states attorney was in her third year. the case just didn't, just didn't spring up. like a phoenix rising from the ashes, it had an earlier existence. two years earlier, the united states attorney had prosecuted and convicted tuscaloosa dr. philip vogel, medicaid fraud. he was a friend of governor siegelman, who, in the same year, 2002, had been narr

state will have more money. to invest you actually have better economic times. let me give you some history between 93 and 1998/99 health-care inflation moderated and stayed relatively flat that was during the time of managed care what most americans hated but the important side effect is a relatively low health-care inflation. what was the economy doing it during those years was implemented rising? on the contrary some of the best economic years america has had since the 1960's those were in the clinton boom years. many things contributed to that time but all economists agree one of the key things was a moderation of health-care inflation that allowed people to spend their money blower that stimulated the economy. i do not accept the premise if we have health care reform we will decrease in employment and create more economic problems. quite the contrary moderate health-care inflation and getting everyone into the system will have just the opposite effect and it will be good in the long term or in the short term for the american e economy. >> how does your plan deal w

the department of state and the country deserve better than that kind of advice. let me provide a few quick examples. on september 16, 2008, mr. koh testified before the senate judiciary subcommittee on the constitution. his written testimony included the following statement -- quote -- "a compliant congress repeatedly blessed unsound executive policies by enacting nominal loophole-ridden bans on torture and cruel treatment and rubber-stamping without serious hearings, presidentially introduced legislation ranging from the patriot act to the military commissions act to the most recent amendment of the foreign intelligence surveillance act." in the same testimony, he argued that congress should revisit the hayesly enacted fisa amendments with less emphasis on the issue of immunity for telephone and internet service providers. he obviously wasn't paying attention. but besides his condescending and inappropriate tone, i think his statements reflect a poor understanding of some of the most important pieces of national security legislation that had been passed since the septe

president obama's vice president and secretary of state but this year president obama, vice president clinton and secretary-- vice president biden, excuse me and secretary of state: have gone silent on the bill. when asked about recently the vice president's communications director said "no comment on this from here." the legislation goes exactly in the wrong direction. so much so that even president obama, vice president biden and secretary of state clinton are running away from it. so should we and i yield back the balance of my time. >> i thank the gentleman and i now recognize the distinguished chairman of the full committee for an opening statement. >> thank you chairman, thank you ranking member in marriages, i mean chairman emeritus. the president is running away from a lot of things, so this is just one more of them. that doesn't mean that the consideration is not extremely important. we have been here before ladies and gentlemen. i am for state secrets. there are some secrets that we have got to keep away from citizens and congress people, and everybody else, bloggers. but, wait a minute, which once? well, that is what we are here