mr. jones, half of my time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman will control half of the time for the gentleman from ohio. the gentlewoman from florida is recognized. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. ros-lehtinen: i rise in strong opposition to this resolution as it would undermine the efforts of our military and our international partners in afghanistan and gravely harm our nation's security. insanity has been described as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. 3,000 people died on september 11 because we walked away once from afghanistan thinking that it didn't matter who controlled that country, we were wrong then, let us not make the same mistake twice. . as are as the undersecretary of testifies stated earlier this week, the threat emanating from the border of afghanistan and pakistan is not hypothetical. there is no other

secretary of state friends are instructive thank you very much mr jones keep your insights. our hero. we hear it because our country out. god promised them this milind belongs to. will if they are still going to be thinking. and call chosen people will not believe that god is real estate agent say ok is that this is for you guys and this is. going to be this is the. first of my panel. leave in protest reportedly rejected an offer from colonel gadhafi to go in and change for using the family's safety at the spike major media attempts to undermine the leader that often still has huge support of the ground. the global pressure on levy amounts with a you and on the verge of a law we have no fly zone with us officially saying it may get militarily involved . also germany's new interior minister says there is no place for islam in his country as the idea of multicultural your takes another battery. and russia scrambles to keep its tiger population alive and nationwide efforts to stop when linked to extinction. as the headlines here in our team already use an about a quarter of an

because way where mr jones recently made a strong statement that the u.s. is losing the information war it's international media outlets meaning our team there when does this mean that the u.s. is officially engaged in a media war with the rest of the wall. i certainly hope not i mean my my sense of it is you know it's true that the kind of traditional state media worldwide are actually enduring a big challenge from the likes of twitter and facebook you know people have ways of sharing information now that do not require going through any kind of official channels that's the biggest challenge you know whether there's an information war at the level of kind of state supported media between the voice of america and russia today you know those in power whatever you know media services trying to has you know i think this is almost beside the point because the reality is your average citizen knows where the information is coming from so if they want to listen to a russian perspective they can listen to what they want to listen to an american perspective they can

mrs. jones and jackman suggest wed form an advisory committee and include the residents. and as a graduate of balboa high school, i contacted parents of the former students who lived in the valley to present the plan. the head of the merchant association gathered merchants and residents together and the san francisco executive park advisory committee was established. to this day it still exists. shirley jones is the president and i venture to guess no other advisory committee has lasted that long in this city. there was great enthusiasm and commitment to see the project go forward. however, there was a matter of getting approval from the planning commission, board of supervisors, and financing and with the help of the mayor at the time, we had anonymous approval from the planning commission with the support of several supervisors. it was approved in 1979. after being turned down by 32 lenders, mr. campbell and mcduffy found financing for the first building now known as five thomas millen circle. from the beginning it was our desire to change the visual entryway to the cit

mr. jones: mr. chairman, did you say i have five minutes' time remaining? the speaker pro tempore: that is correct. you wish to claim time now? mr. jones: yes. i think i'll claim time. i yield myself three minutes at this time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. jones: mr. speaker, first i'd like to say to every member that's been on the floor that served in our military. thank you and god bless you. as i say all the time for those overseas in our country. because i did not serve i sought out a marine general that every marine that spoke on the floor today, if i said his name, i don't have permission, they would salute him. they know him. let me share with you what this marine general said to me back in november when i told him i read an article in "the new york times" that the army colonel saying the training of afghans is going well. so i emailed him. this is six-point response. i'll read three. continued belief that we can train the afghan army to be effec

trucks if thank you very much mr jones good for insults. and great for the fulsome we've got it for. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers on the potty. libyan protesters reportedly reject an offer from colonel moammar gadhafi to go in exchange for his and his family's safety and despite major media attempts to undermine the leader's reputation could offer he still has huge support on the ground. global pressure on libya abounds with the us on the verge of a loudmouth no fly zone and the u.s. officially saying it may get militarily involved. also germany's new interior minister says there's no place for islam in his country as the idea of a multicultural europe takes another battering. and russia scrambling to keep its tiger population alive and nationwide efforts to stop the window into extinction. and it took some rebuilding but chechnya is ready for a friendly football match with brazilian sports stars as they bring their world class skills to the once volatile republic. and you're a farmer joins us now w

eurasia center at the carnegie endowment matthew and john skate hello thank you very much for joining mr jones so how do you view these powers shaped greats and least well i think it remains to be seen how much power actually shifts what we know is that some of the longstanding authoritarian regimes in the middle east are probably going to change in some way but whether they are replaced by the very same military that has been supporting them all along whether another strongman comes into power to replace mubarak in egypt for example or a good profit in libya we can't really say at this point it looks like a civil war in libya and that's very difficult to predict what will happen so i think a power shift maybe is not necessarily in the works definitely great changes and it's very difficult i think to put it well some speculate that the arab middle east awakening was all constrained by washington itself what are your thoughts about that i certainly am not a believer in conspiracy theories i think it's fine when you listen to people who believe in these theories it makes the united states sound

but the cool thing about mr. jones, phoenix jones, is that he let me tase him. >> jimmy: what? went out in the parking lot -- >> jimmy: wait, today? >> today, i tased a dude. i tased a dude. >> jimmy: really? >> yeah. he -- [ applause ] he's got a long taser thing and you press it and it's got the thing, so, it's like in a rod. he's like, tase me, go ahead. i'm like, no. he pulls up his sleeve. i know how to take a tase. he taught me how to take a tase. >> jimmy: how do you? >> well, try -- >> jimmy: you don't have a taser, do you? >> mind tase me. >> jimmy: buzz. >> he roms wirolls with the tas. >> jimmy: are you allowed to have a taser? >> i don't know. >> jimmy: is there anyone in the parking lot watching rainn wilson tase a man dressed as a super hero? where is tmz when you need them. >> this is going to sound crazy. there was a paparazzi dude there. >> jimmy: where are the pictures? >> i don't know. i think he's a loser paparazzi. i was looking for him. he doesn't know how to publish them. they're probably on his tumblr account. i swear, i'm not making that up. dicky's loo

officers fired their weapons in the believe that they or fellow officers were about to be shoot by mr. jones and it appear that's officers actually believed they were in danger of great bodily injury or death. this report said that one of those officers had previously been shot at in the exact same neighborhood and jones family says that does not give police an excuse to be on edge. the investigation into opd should be finished within next couple of weeks and officers remain on the force. >> and san francisco district attorney being forced to drop eight more criminal cases because of the possibility they may have been tainted by officers now under investigation. skb vic lee has more on this growing scandal. >> that brings the number of cases either dismissed in court or dropped to 13. now this growing number of cases causing concern among public officials including the mayor. >> i'm disturbed by the video autos the mayor says public defender made serious charge autos if this is confirmed then not only the police department but the district attorney and others will have to take action. >> the

mr. derek jones. and actually reasonable believed they were in danger of great bodily injury or death. jones family still plans to pursue action between city and police department. the internal affairs investigation is not yet completed. that should be done within the next weeks but officers remain on the force. >> and police are hoping phone shall witnesses will watch this video recognizing two men wanted after a triple homicide inside of a nightclub. you can see a man chasing another man in this video. there is this footage captured january 8th. detectives say four men tried to kidnap owners. a gun battle broke out two, suspects died in the shooting. police still looking for the driver with another, unidentified plan. >> in san francisco eight cases have been dropped related to an under cover police misconduct investigation. that brings a total to 13 accord together public defender. surveillance video released of police raids. he says in one case the police framed an innocent man. three cases reported last week were either dismissed in court or dropped. eight officers in those raids

mr. jones: thank you very much. last week, secretary of defense gates spoke at west point and i'd like to quote his one comment from his speech. in my opinion, any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big american land army into asia or the middle east or africa should have his head examined. as general mcarthur said so delicately put it years ago, again, this is secretary gates, i have great respect for secretary gates, i think he's one of the true outstanding secretaries of defense this cupry has ever had. the reason i'm here today, i bring a photograph of a flag-draped coffin it's called a transfer case, being escorted off a plane at dover air force base. it is time to bring our troops home. they have been in afghanistan for over 10 years. i would also say it is time that this congress meet its constitutional responsibility to debate war and whether we should be there or bring our troops home. in recent weeks, i was concerned to hear our government and military leaders say it could b

how often do you think people go to the polls and say, "i'm going to vote for mr. jonesecause he's a good coroner"? in some communities, you could run a dead man for coroner, and he'd get elected if he was on the right ticket. >> bergman: i first encountered an elected coroner nearly 20 years ago, when i was reporting a story in new orleans about crime and violence in the police department. the new orleans coroner back then was an obstetrician, dr. frank minyard. 20 years later, dr. jazz, as he is known, is still in office, the longest-serving big city coroner in america. it's not a very large facility. >> no, no, it's not. >> bergman: during hurricane katrina, coroner minyard became part of the city's folklore when he swam through the storm water to get to work. >> there was ten feet of water here where these boats are coming. there i am standing there, and you can see my john wayne pistol. >> bergman: minyard's exploits helped win him re-election. >> ...no food and no water. >> bergman: you're the elected coroner. >> yes. >> bergman: and you've been elected how many ti

can we go, mr. jones, please exhibit 2y page 116.a couple control room transcript statements made that i wanted to have you maybe show us on the one line or your diagram. >> it is probably easier on your diagram. >> okay. they are referring to actual valve numbers. >> all right. some of that live testimony going on there this morning. one of the things we want to look at is the pressure of the pipeline. and everybody is concerned about the valves because they have to be shut off manually. and that took a long time. so the fire really burned until they could get somebody to do it manually. that could be one of the things that changes coming out of the hearing. >> it was a huge episode in bay area history. we'll continue to keep tabs on this and bring you updates as they become available. full reports tonight at 5:00 and 6:00. >>> in the meantime, the "today" show is coming up in a few minutes. we'll have another local news update for you in a half hour. thank you for joining us. >> here are a couple live looks outside this morning. ra

mr. jones: mr. speaker, thank you very much. a couple weeks ago we had the opportunity to vote and bring our troops home from afghanistan . it was mr. kucinich's amendment resolution, excuse me, that many of us hoped that my party would have joined. we only had eight republicans to vote to bring our troops home this year from afghanistan. mr. speaker, what is so ironic, we sit on this floor and debate cutting the budget, doing this or that, yet we are supporting a corrupt leader named karzai in afghanistan. in fact, i want to share with the people that a former marine general is my confidential advisor, i don't have permission to use his name, but i could, i guess, but i don't have his permission. this is what he said in a recent email to me. what do we say to the mother, the father, wife, the last soldier or marine killed to support a corrupt leader and a corrupt government in a war that cannot be won? let me share with you, mr. speaker, a couple comments from the leader of afghanistan, president karzai. on march 12, 2011, in "

the chair recognizes the gentleman from north carolina, mr. jones, for five minutes. mr. jones: mr. speaker, thank you very much. yesterday, dennis kucinich, ron paul and i, along with other colleagues, held a press conference to announce house concurrent resolution 28, which would require the president to withdrawal all united states armed forces from afghanistan by the end of 2011. last month's "u.s.a."/gallup poll, 72% of americans favor congressional action this year to bring our troops home from afghanistan. this week, the rasmussen report finds that 52% of voters want our troops home from afghanistan this year. and to quote this poll, a majority of voters for the first time support an immediate withdrawal of all u.s. troops from afghanistan or the creation of a timetable to bring them all home within a year. 14 months ago i asked a retired military general to advise me on afghanistan. i have asked him for his thoughts, and i will read some of them to you. back in november i emailed this general and i said, what do you think about the possibilities of being in afghanistan for f

mr. jones. >> mr. chairman, thank you. madam secretary, general petraeus, it's an honor to have us -- have you before us today. i want to read a couple of comments and then i'll have one simple question for you. i pull the close from secretary gates a couple of weeks ago about the 2014 withdrawal. i want to read this too. it said that is why we believe that beginning in fiscal year 2015 the u.s. can with minimal risk begin reducing army active duty and strength by 27,000. in the marine corps by 15,020,000. these projections assume that the number of troops in afghanistan would be significantly reduced by the end of 2014, in accordance with the president's strategy. so i assume from that that we are talking about 2014, 2015. with a large number of military in afghanistan. just a couple things. i've got can't leashing in my district. i think i'm pretty close to the marine corps. i don't have a military background, but i listen to them very carefully. and i have a couple of friends who are generals were active duty. a couple

now, i want to finish up, i was given a book of historical nature called "mr. jones meet the master." it has sermons and prayers of peter marshall in his time as chaplain of the united states senate in the 1940's and it's got some wonderful material in here and i would just like to finish my time by reading a prayer by the chaplain of the u.s. senate as he prayed it in the u.s. senate. chaplain -- senate chaplain peter marshall prayed these words in the u.s. senate, our father in heaven, give us the long view of our work and our world. help us to see that it is better to fail in a cause that will ultimately succeed than to succeed in a cause that will ultimately fail. may thy will be done here and may thy program be carried out above party and personality beyond time and circumstance, for the good of america and the peace of the world. through jesus christ our lord, amen. that was the prayer of chaplain peter marshall during his time as chaplain of the united states senate. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced p

you can't do that in person-centered care, because how do you know that mrs. jones wants to wake up at the same time as mrs. smith? so, we are not just addressing that from the budgetary standpoint, but we have a philosophy that says that doesn't work. i think that one of the former long-term care recipients said it best. when she said to us in absolute dismay, you have never lived until you have had to go to the bathroom on somebody else's schedule. and so, if you think about that, you think that we're going to make sure that everyone has choice in relationship, choice over schedule, and choice over to location of their care. the reason we are able to do this is not just because we have a vision and i think that this team has a stupendous vision, is that there is actually a business case to support this. the business case indicates that this is actually good for our organizations, it is a good business model for a nursing home occupancy goes up, and per bed operating margins go up, and retention goes up, and so that these are all win-win. but as importantly or mayb

mr. jones: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank the gentleman from ohio, mr. kucinich, for giving me half his time. we are debating how long are we going to be in afghanistan. recently, secretary gates testified before the armed services committee, which i serve on, and said that he thought by 2014 we could start substantial retux in our troop strength in afghanistan 20 14, it might be 2015, 2016. that's why this debate in this resolution is so important. not important for those of us in the house, but important for our military and the american people. and mr. kucinich did make reference to "the washington post"/abc news poll taken a couple of days ago that said that 73% of the american people said it's time, this year to bring our troops home. in addition, i would like to share a quote from the leader of afghanistan, mr. karzai, he is our man in afghanistan. all right, he's our man, this was his quote three days ago. i request that nato and america should stop these operations on our soil. this war is not on our soil. if this war is against terror, then this

i was going to ask mr. jones if you have the option of televising your case, which you have opted to allow cameras that are not? >> excuse me, the question is being if you could have, which would've allowed cameras in? >> two weeks before the trial started, i received a motion to intervene from what was then court tv. and i looked our local rule and the national days, obviously and i declined and i frankly thought i had enough to do without the boulder stroke and i wasn't as creative as my friend judge walker was in his case. i wanted to. i really did. i tried to find the path to do it. he was too late to find the role and to televise it. i'm sorry that it wasn't televised. it was a bench trial. i thought exactly as judge walker benched in his remarks that there is other a case that should have been televised, whether it's terrific lawyering on both sides. we sit and we decry the lack of good civics education and the failure by the public to understand what goes on in the courts and then we let them miss these ma

. >> thank you, mr. jones. >> thank you, thank you, general petraeus, undersecretary, it's a pleasure to have you before us today. i have a couple of comments and then i will have a couple of questions. i pulled something from the 2014 withdraw. i want to read this to you. it says, "that is why we believe that beginning in fiscal year 2015 the u.s. can with minimal risk reducing army active duty in strength by 27,000 and the marine corps somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000. these projections assume that the number of troops in afghanistan would be significantly reduced by the end of 2014 in accordance with the president's strategy." so i assume from that that we're talking about 2014, 2015 with a large number of -- our military in afghanistan. just a couple of things -- i have camp lejeune in my district. i don't have a military background. but i listen to them very carefully i have a couple friends who are generals that are active duty. a couple that are retired. i'm not going to mention their names. it will

i was going to ask mr. jones if you have the option of televising your case, which you have opted to allow cameras that are not? >> excuse me, the question is being if you could have, which would've allowed cameras in? >> two weeks before the trial started, i received a motion to intervene from what was then court tv. and i looked our local rule and the national days, obviously and i declined and i frankly thought i had enough to do without the boulder stroke and i wasn't as creative as my friend judge walker was in his case. i wanted to. i really did. i tried to find the path to do it. he was too late to find the role and to televise it. i'm sorry that it wasn't televised. it was a bench trial. i thought exactly as judge walker benched in his remarks that there is other a case that should have been televised, whether it's terrific lawyering on both sides. we sit and we decry the lack of good civics education and the failure by the public to understand what goes on in the courts and then we let them miss these ma

. >> mr. jonesve decided to award your wife $750 a week. that's very fair your honor, the husband replied and every now and then i'll try to send her a few bucks myself. >> i didn't get it. >> the problem is i have to keep these clean. >> there aren't that many clean jokes outs there. >> what do you mean? >> the court is going to pay her -- >> oh. it's time for the other -- >> i knew that wasn't the funniest one. >> our favorite part of the program is bobbie's buzz. >> i promise you can wear them. >> where did you get na? >> at a thrift store, and it was $2. this week i have adorable finds for the little ones. pedi-pet makes cute sneakers but washingable. so if they stomp in the mud, you can go from the play yard to the washing machine. they're so cute. i'm so obsessed because there's nothing better than shoes. really cute idea, kids cuffs, like mary pop ppins said it wil help the medicine go down. it will flavor it with these crystals. >> that's a smart idea. >> this is for little girls and big gir

jones, john and linda squitero, david a. klein foundation, and the villagers. >> "dear mr. chalfin, what do you think about the name vizcaya for the florida house? tradition has it that it was the name of one of the early spanish adventurers who explored this part of the world. we could also use as an emblem for the house, a caravel. i doubt if we are likely to find a better name. yours sincerely, james deering." >> i think as a world traveler james deering viewed architectural history from a lens of timelessness. he knew what the princes of the renaissance had built. he related to the princes of american industry changing the world in the way the medicis changed the world of renaissance europe. >> vizcaya had to look like a italian villa that had been lived by several generations for 300 years, and the place was never meant to looked new. >> and yet it's built in the 20th century and it doesn't look corny, it's not a pastiche. it's the real thing. >> in 1910, industrialist james deering started making plans to build his dream palace in a primeval jungle. a wealthy bachelor

mr. baldanado. previously, i used to work at the san francisco sheriff's department, and we had a veterans department. i can tell you that mental health is a big issue, as you well know. dr. jones always had a veterans mentor ship program where he would bring in veterans to talk to or inmates and ex-offenders. we always had a hard time finding falls to come in to those meetings. i appreciate everyone's fine service, and then you. -- thank you. >> good afternoon. i actually am a female veteran. i am here to recommend mr. ramirez in his application to the board. one of the reasons i think he would be very good is because after working for the va for -- i'm not going to say, but quite some time, there is a big hole in the people that are able to relate to some of the people that are coming back, and some of the veterans that have been around for quite some time. i think that's eduardo ramirez can fill that, and i think he brings resources and networking and a certain philosophy to the board that may not always be transparent at the medical center, but could definitely work well within the community and definitely within the community of san francisco on the commission, so he is my

and not rescinding the jones act, in light of that to help contain the oil spilled into the goldfine just curious and this is a yes or no i'm going to run down the line here. mr rusco, does the government bear any responsibility, any? for the disaster in the gulf? >> the commission said -- >> i'm not interested in the commission. it already been here. i'm interested in what you think i've got time, yes? >> yes. >> yes. >> yes. >> no, you're on the panel, just you and me talking. forget all these other people. it's just you and me. give me your opinion, ms. pierce. >> [inaudible] >> i understand it's difficult and that's why i asked it but it's really not that difficult. 720 violations cited, refusal -- and this is my time, that's right, asking the question. yes or no? >> [inaudible] >> you don't know? so the 720 violations and the refusal in containing the action and rescind the jones act, in light of what we have seen, the underwriting of the oil exploration in countries like brazil by this administration you're telling me the government has no responsibility and mr. salazar is an amazing man and has 70,000 employees at his disposal of 12 billion-dollar budg

and not rescinding the jones act, in light of that to help contain the oil spilled into the goldfine just curious and this is a yes or no i'm going to run down the line here. mr. rusco, does the government bear any responsibility, any? for the disaster in the gulf? >> the commission said -- >> i'm not interested in the commission. it already been here. i'm interested in what you think i've got time, yes? >> yes. >> yes. >> yes. >> no, you're on the panel, just you and me talking. forget all these other people. it's just you and me. give me your opinion, ms. pierce. >> [inaudible] >> i understand it's difficult and that's why i asked it but it's really not that difficult. 720 violations cited, refusal -- and this is my time, that's right, asking the question. yes or no? >> [inaudible] >> you don't know? so the 720 violations and the refusal in containing the action and rescind the jones act, in light of what we have seen, the underwriting of the oil exploration in countries like brazil by this administration you're telling me the government has no responsibility and mr. salazar is an amazing man and has 70,000 employees at his disposal of 12 billion-dollar bud

mr. chairman, i've heard a number of significant stories in sacramento. it is essential that we require lenders to continue to report the loan modification activities. we need to know how many jones are out there struggling but seeking assistance. we need to know where the lenders are doing all they can. mr. chairman, this amendment will ensure that a level of transparency and accountability will continue. i urge my colleagues to support this commonsense transparency amendment and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. who seeks recognition? for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina rise? mr. mchenry: i rise in opposition. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. hen hearn i appreciate -- mr. mchenry: i appreciate the gentlelady from offering this amendment. unfortunately i must rise in opposition to it. the requirements in this amendment are both cumbersome and unnecessary. it requires servicers and lenders to provide information regarding proprietary information on their entire portfolios, not just hamp. the reporting requirement for, quote, requests for modification, unquote, is undefined in

mr. obama signing the $41 billion cut from the obama f.y. 2011 budget. it was the democrats that did it. we had one republican vote, walter jones. and i just want to remind you, that was done in december, in a lame duck session, which turned out to be a very effective lame duck session. and in that bill we made cuts across the board in all these areas. so, you know, i want to make it clear, we are also for deficit reduction, but what i am worried about, and i know the gentleman's very sincere, i can tell that, i know you believe in every word that you're saying, but the biggest problem with this is of what the effect will be on our economy. moody's says it will cost us $4 -- 400,000 jobs and 700,000 jobs in 2011. goldman sachs, who i don't normally quote, they say that this could cut 1.5% to 2% out of gross domestic product. that could mean the loss of 2.4 million jobs over the next two years. that's not what you want to do. you're trying to reduce the deficit. and the way you reduce the deficit is put people back to work, you get them back to work and they pay their taxes in and the deficit comes down. the unemployment rate com

jones and jazz musician sonny rollins. the national medal of arts and the national humanity metal are presented each year. this is about 30 minutes. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president and mrs. michelle obama. [fanfare surrounding] ["hail to the chief" playing] >> thank you very much, everyone. please have a seat. hello, everybody. it is wonderful to have all of you here. i want to make mention of some folks in particular that have helped us to celebrate the arts and humanities for many years. first of all, if i am not mistaken, our democratic leader in the house of representatives, nancy pelosi, a great champion of the arts, is here. there she is. the chairman of the national endowment for the arts, rocco landesman is here. the chairman of the national endowment for the humanities, jim leach, is here to. the two most powerful people in the white house, jill biden and michelle obama, are here. and two recipients who were unable to be here, but who we love, i want to make sure they are and knowledge. meryl streep and harper lee could not be here today, but they will be receiving their awards as well. so please give them a round of applause. i was just told by my wife that i

jones and a sunny rollins. the males are presented each year. this is about 30 minutes -- the metals are presented each year. this is about 30 minutes. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president and mrs. obama. ♪ [applause] >> thank you very much, everyone. hello, everybody. it is wonderful to have all of you here. i want to make mention of some folks in particular that have helped us to celebrate the arts and humanities for many years. first of all, are democratic leader in the house of religions, nancy pelosi, a great champion of the arts is here. [applause] the chairman of the national endowment for the arts is here. the chairman of the national endowment for the humanities is here. [applause] the two most powerful people in the white house, joe biden and michelle obama, are here. [applause] and two recipients who were unable to be here but who we love. i want to make sure they are acknowledged. meryl streep and harper lee will not be here today, but they will be receiving their words as well. -- receiving their awards as well. i was told by my wife that i went all program, because originally we were supposed to get everybody seated and i was supposed to come in and make my formal