have been realized is because the lack of sophistication of african-americans as a collective organized unit so for example idp leaves barack obama is one of the first presidents but lacks the base. i say he doesn't have a base because many of the groups responsible for his election were african-americans and young people and both of these groups have not traditionally been in the power structure of america therefore we are not used to holding the leaders accountable or are not as good as you would say conservative evangelical movement. this impacts obama's ability to impact these groups because he doesn't have this base it's hard for him to have a solid construct that informs his decision making because obviously his construct doesn't align with african-americans as you can tell by the congressional black caucus lack of ability to sway his agenda so i just want to get your reaction to that thought that he doesn't have a base and it may be our fault not being as able to hold leaders accountable. >> the argument to make why he's not doing what his constituents want is because his constituents

washington acorn is now organization united for reform. acorn is on the verge of bankruptcy.y announced that april 1. acorn has been dissolved. sad to see them go, but here is the good news. they didn't actually go away. you see, you will still be able to get your free tax evasion advice. the business card is the only thing that is really changing. change. isn't that great? it's interesting to me, because i wonder if the new organization will be able to get federal funding. the new organizations they're not acorn. huh-uh. it's also interesting to me that the president is seeking advice from or surrounding himself with people and groups who seem to succeed at nothing besides running companies in to the ground. acorn, not really efficiently run. unions, the seiu pension funds. look at that. down. also seem to surround himself with criminals or people with criminal can activities, or alleged civil -- what is we're saying at goldman? there are no arrests with goldman sachs. it's civil something or other. yeah. you know what i saw on the drudge report today? goldman sachs lawyers

the global fund is a well-run organization. the united states has been the biggest contributor. whatever generosity we provide there, other countries will respond in kind. the current approach does have a small cut in the money for the global fund. i hope that is fixed, particularly because this is a replenishment year and those other donors will be looking at us as they make their decisions. overall, this is very important work. we have evidence about the great impact that these investments have. we have a chance to increase them and make them more effective. i appreciate the opportunity to talk about this and engage in a conversation. thank you. >> thank you very much, mr. gates. mr. president and mr. gates, let me ask you the first question, if i can. you both alluded to the budget pressures that we face, and you are both passionate about the importance of the united states being committed to this and to this particular initiative. can you help some reluctant member of congress, who is feeling the intensity of the pressures of people unemployed in his or her state and the pre

much with the idea of other militias and pitcher groups which sea of heads of transnational organizations the united nations, the e.u., three figurations of the terrible socialists hal we are headed for. in any event this group is accused of a remarkable plots. and supposedly they were going to murder a local police officer that would draw them hundreds of other law firm officials from all around the country to a big funeral and our idea was that they would attack this funeral with improvised explosive devices and also misfiles. it was quite remarkable. so given all that it's no surprise to me at all that the other militias of hatred groups and related organizations are essentially running away from them as fast as their feet can take them and want nothing to do with this plot to murder a whole lot of police officers. >> host: we're talking about militias and extremist groups in the u.s. with mark potok of the southern poverty law center. if you want to get involved it is a call at (202)737-0001 republicans, (202)737-0002 independence, (202)728-0205. we want to show you a little bit about what senat

unrealistic and the lack of understanding how the senate or congress or the presidency or most organizations in the united states actually work. and we have to deal with an organization that is capable of passing wall in accordance with the powers given them by the constitution of the united states, which is the whole point of the constitution. part of it is that this data is highly attuned to the needs, desires, and reactions of the person they work for. i see nothing wrong with that. i do not apologize for it, and i think our judicial system should continue to take that back into account. >> i will tell you what is wrong with it. you compare what happens in the legislature to what happened that the department's in the government. that is absolutely wrong. the legislature is like the judiciary. legislative power cannot be delegated, just as a judge cannot delegate to his law clerk the decision in this case. he can let the law clerks write the decision, but the judge has to sign it. it cannot be signed, and nothing the law clerks as are thinks has anything to do with the law. it is the same thing in the l

most organizations in united states, do not run like judges perhaps. thank goodness. most organizations are pretty specialized. they have bits and pieces. the ceo of general motors is not know what is going on in every department, but he has a system. i worked in the senate for a while. i thought it did not work then as bad as people now think. maybe it does not work that bad. what happened at the staff level is the staff works for the senator. that is absolutely right. the senator does not read every piece of work that comes to the committee. nobody thinks he should. what he does is he relies on staff, like everyone else in the nine states -- in the united states, outside the judiciary. we do have law clerks. most people have a system. in the system there is my goodness that staff person better be alert to the interests of and the desires of the senator for whom he works. otherwise we would never let anything get out of the judiciary committee -- we would never let anything get out of the judiciary committee without showing it to everyone. i have nothing against [laug

united states. each of these entry points has the potential for criminal and or terrorist organizations to exploit corruptials willing to misuse their official positions for financial or personal gain. in fiscal year 2000 mine alone fbi field officers along the nation's canadian border conducted nearly 300 public corruption investigations. the fbi recognize the real threat public corruption poses of the nation's borders and points of entry. we are working in lockstep with law enforcement partners to address that threat. fbi headquarters for example we have established the national porter corruption task force consisting of representatives of the fbi, u.s. department of homeland security office of the inspector general, u.s. customs and border protection internal affairs and the transportation security administration this task force insurers general guidance and oversight of border corruption programs on going across the country. through trend analysis, intelligence and information sharing and utilization of lessons learned and best practices we are uniquely positioned to address the very real threat of bo

united states, and form conspiracies. as i said, this is a very serious problem, but we should not call it a war. if a stateactually organizes itself and makes war against the united states, if jihadists or others seize control of pakistan, that's a war, an there is a constitutional and very pressing legal question in there, which congress has yet to address in some ways and let me put it to general mcmaster, in the field, bruce just said, terror is a technique. we aren't making a war on terror according to bruce, so who is the enemy. and for the purposes of dephoenix, for the purposes of -- detention, for the purposes of what the president of the united states can do, who is an enemy that we can imprison? : you have several groups. you have the afghan taliban. you have the pakistani taliban. that is -- made of a number of other suborganizations. but these organizations are operating against us. many of them are operating against the pakistani government. others are linked to transnational terrorist organizations that have conducted attacks in india and elsewhere. and so these organizations are who we're fighting. so it is a

al qaeda has proven time and again to be adaptable and resilience adversary the organization's desire to attack the united states and our interest abroad remains a strong as ever and even though it is under the great pressure has experienced since being evicted from afghanistan the group continues to nobody should presume we're out of the woods are far from its. but let me also bring up one important addendum. of kie it is not the only group with global ambitions operating in a shut nor is it just a focus. it is clear it is willing to undertake fold mass casualty operations of the target set that would please al qaeda planners. the group's moller board a conspiracy to attack the u.s. embassy should deepen concern it could evolve into a global threat and one that seeks to replace al qaeda or compete with it. very few things worry me as much than the strength and ambition of a maligned presence of south asia reelected-- working closely to reduce the threat of this very dangerous group and i am pleased to say there is growing cooperation in the region to sort let especially through a critical and not always

lay out your experiences talking to hamas and hezbollah who were classified as terrorist organizations by the united states government. your book titled "talking to terrorists" chapter three is hezbollah chapter four is israel. [laughter] >> they are a terrorist eight? and no. >> you will get phone calls and i think we have to begin redefining our relationship. of the biggest offenders say what do you mean? don't jews have the right to live wherever they want? this is not about jews to live wherever they wanted is about is really is. it is a diverse complex sophisticated society pro for those who vote in the parliamentary election and that palestinian election is increasing every day. we cannot look at israel as an extension a dubious and it is a state, nation state and as a nation state to make poor policy decisions to embark on questionable military adventures are dubious them is a very humanistic language very different when it's not conflate the two as take a look with clear eyes and not all the world are their interest of we can make these distinctions we can have a strategy in the middle east.

we got the word that small av's were coming out we were pretty excited because now they are organic to the unithave control of them. we request airspace, and basically we can put them up when we get the airspace. >> the more ways that the military can figure out, to keep a soldier safe, by using technology, they are going to do it. uav's are part of that. >> thought uav's that you have seen cost thousands of dollars as opposed to millions of dollars and they are built right here rolling off the assembly line in seem my valley, california by a company called arrow viroment, thousands have been shipped to the u.s. department of defense. hard to tell how many are already cruising the skies over the middle east. >> less money more safety. love it. thanks, casey. >> you bet. >> one the few remaining missions for space shuttle program. now the shuttle is cleared for early morning launch headed for the international space station. the discovery is loaded with tons of equipment. updating the orbiting laboratory before the mission stopped. only four shuttle flights remain. president obama is set to visi

now they are organic to the unit. we have control of them.ir space and we can put them up when we get the air says requested. most of the larger uav's you may not have that request granted. >> reporter: those uav's rolling off at assembly line here in simi valley, california. more than 14,000 purchased by the department of defense. the planes that you have seen can cost thousands as opposed to the millions with larger heavy duty machine delay is mostly flying now in the me east fighting the war on terror. >> -- in the mideast fighting the wart on terror. >>> gizmos and gadgets are part of every facet of our lives and rely on them to communicate, learn and get from point a to point b. what if our enemies were to use electro magnetic pulls to wipe out and blind our country potential threat posed coming up next. . >>> terrorists use a device to create an emp electro magnetic pulse to take out all electronic devices. they are reel in theory one could be used to knock out all power and all defenses here in the u.s.. how likely is this to happen? w

them you want your leader and this is an interesting question because if the company or the organization or the unit is doing well the answer is that come back are from students that haven't had a lot of experience and organizations and leadership. it will come back i want a leader that cares about its people, i want a leader that is charismatic and approachable and those are all well and good. it's strange, the first time i ask that question of a bunch of corporals and sergeants coming out of the vietnam and i said what did you want from your lieutenant officer was the single most important trait and those young marine said to me i want them to know his stuff and they didn't say stuff, marines don't say that i use it here. i want them to know his stuff. almost every one of them in the end it is competency. i want you to be a good person and have values and treat people well. but the heart and soul of leadership as you are competent, you know your stuff. i can get you through this crisis. i can lead this company or unit to success and accomplish the mission. i can bring you back home and make this s

has proven time and again to be an adaptable and resillybt adversaresy, the the organization's desire to attack the united states and our interests abroad eremain as strong as ever. and under the greatest pressure it has experienced since being evibted from afghanistan in 2001, 2002, the group continues to try to inspire attacks. no one should presume that we are out of the woods. far from it. let me also bring up one important addendum here. al qaeda is not the only group with global ambition that is we have to worry about operating in south and central asia, nor is it our only focus. others have made it clear that it is willing to undertake casualty with an underset that would please al qaeda planners. it thwarted its conconspiracyy, that it could evolve into a threat and one that seeks to replace al qaeda or compete with it. very few things worry me as much as the strength and the ambition of let, which is a truly maligned presence in south asia. we are working with allies to reduce the threat from this group and i am pleased to say there is growing cooperation in the region to will naurt let, especial

vision of the human person, of the nature of freedom, of the ways in which we can organize ourselves in smaller, more natural units of various sizes. we have to have a counter- narrative. reagan was extremely effective in laying the groundwork for that. there is a whole different vision that he offers. i think we can and should build on it. >> allan, a comment? >> i will say something nice about you. your emphasis on faith in america renewing itself from the bottom up -- i think reagan had a very great faith in that. he came out of a small town, not far from my regular home. a faith in the common people and the ability of america's small platoons to still have the energy and ability to find a new interest to old problems -- find new answers to old problems. he had such a down-home understanding that americans have that capability. europeans really do not. togo -- alex to don't build -- when the british see a problem -- when the americans see a problem, they create a committee to solve it. there is still an element of america that reagan had a strong faith and confidence in. >> hardley? >> he would put us in touch

the citizens united is an organization in washington, d.c. a conservative orient of public interest organization and the case that had resulted in this very important supreme court decision of which president obama referred during his "state of the union address" basically had found constitutional defects and flaws in some provisions of the campaign finance law that senator mccain had championed and the law which bears his name the mccain-feingold federal bipartisan campaign reform act. the president deliberately mischaracterized the decision was not held accountable for doing so as a matter of fact was applauded by members of his party there present in the house chamber listening to the "state of the union" and what happened after that was particularly distressing because you had sitting directly in front of the president much as you all are here in the house chamber as the president was delivering his "state of the union address" you had seated there i forget whether it was all or most of the supreme court justices the justices of the unite

the organizations desire to attack the united states and our interests abroad is even stronger. and even though it is the greatest pressure it has experienced since being evicted from afghanistan in 2001/2002, the group continues to try to inspire attacks. no one should presume that we are out of the woods. far from it. let me also bring up one important addendum here. al-qaeda is not the only group with global ambitions that we have to worry about operating in south and central asia nor is it our only focus. it's made clear that it is willing to undertake bold mass casualties operations with a target set that would please al-qaeda planners. the group's more recent thwarted conspiracy to attack the u.s. embassy in dacca should only deepen concern. it could evolve into a genuinely global threat and one that seeks to replace al-qaeda or compete with it. very view things worry me as much as the strength and the ambition of l.e.t. which is a truly maligned presence in southeast asia. we are working closely with allies in the region and elsewhere to reduce the threat from this very d

organization especially not the magazine there is a constant pressure to turn it out. investigative units are costly and time-consuming. and the traditional models will probably go away or decline significantly. however i am not quite as downbeat because they're all of these other new models that are starting with the web at. there was a guy that was reading about that has a notion he is exploring now within local markets he publicizes an area of inquiry and investigation and solicits donations from interested citizens. it is like a little microfinance thing way on a local level to finance an investigation it is not traditional but if it works it is fantastic. i am a little more optimistic. >> out ask our panel listed they have been a concluding remarks they want to share with the audience as we wrap it up? i will go in reverse order and start with john if there's anything you want to say in closing? am i thank you for your time this is such an important aspect of democracy to make sure the government and business leaders are held accountable and the secrets can be brought to light when n

experiences in talking with hamas and hezbollah have both been classified as a terrorist organizations by the united states government, and let's say your book is titled talking to terrorists, chapter two is hamas, chuck petraeus has the local chapter four is israel. are you saying israel is a terrorist state? [laughter] >> guest: it think we're going to -- >> host: we are going to get phone calls here. >> guest: i think that we have to begin redefining the relationship with israel. the biggest offenders of israel and the columnists in the country say what do you mean there can't be settlement? don't the jews have a right to live where they want, and my response is this isn't about jews having the right to live where they want, it is about the israelis having the right. we have to realize israel is a very diverse and complex sophisticated society that includes 20% of its population of palestinians who voted in parliamentary elections and that palestinian population is increasing every day. we can't look at israel just as an extension of today's some. it is a nation state and as a nation state capabl

this has been one of the most peaceful civic, civil organizations of mass citizens in the united states. can you find one or two citizens in the recent history of the united states. i think attacking them in this way is really wrong. it is not just foolish. it is an attempt to demonize the movement. >> chris: let's put up the new york times poll. it is quite interesting. put it up on the screen. they found 18%, 18% of americans now identify themselves as tea party supporters. other polls have it higher. and it also turns out that they are wealthier and better educated than most americans. i mean this is not a lu. in tic fringe. >> and that means they are more likely to vote. >> they are also older. >> they are older and the kind of people who turn out in mid term elections and they fit right inside the republican base and i think that that is how they are functioning. i'm not saying that is how they see themselves. some of them see themselves as slightly apart from both parties. they are an important energy part of the republican base. >> i think they are threat to the republicans in so

this has been one of the most peaceful civic, civil organizations of mass citizens in the united states. can you find one or two citizens in the recent history of the united states. i think attacking them in this way is really wrong. it is not just foolish. it is an attempt to demonize the movement. >> chris: let's put up the new york times poll. it is quite interesting. put it up on the screen. they found 18%, 18% of americans now identify themselves as tea party supporters. other polls have it higher. and it also turns out that they are wealthier and better educated than most americans. i mean this is not a lu. in tic fringe. >> and that means they are more likely to vote. >> they are also older. >> they are older and the kind of people who turn out in mid term elections and they fit right inside the republican base and i think that that is how they are functioning. i'm not saying that is how they see themselves. some of them see themselves as slightly apart from both parties. they are an important energy part of the republican base. >> i think they are threat to the republicans in so

constitution to the united nations, when the organization or some executive are objectionable. comes back and said these are a treaty obligation that we are beholden and obligated to provide whatever money the united nations asked us to provide them. and i would like to know what your thoughts on that is withholding useful, does it advance u.s. interests, and is it an obligation the u.s. is bound to fulfill? >> i don't think there's any question that withholding u.s. ss contributions from the u.n. system has been effective in getting the system's attention to make at least some small reforms. i think the problem is it's not been effective enough. the argument that we are required to pay what the u.n. is assess, but what the u.s. is assessed by the majority in the u.n., though i think is an argument that ultimately means that we don't have, we have agreed to an international taxation. and i don't think that's will be agreed to and ratified the charter. and i don't think that's really what the whole mechanism, funding the u.n. comment was intended to do. let me give you an example

this is one of the most peaceful, civic, civil organization of mass citizens in the united states. you find one or two citizens in recent history in the united states? attacking them in this way is really wrong. not just foolish, but an attempt to demonize and discredit the movement. >> chris: let's put up the "new york times" poll. it's quite interesting. put it up on the screen. they found 18%, 18% of americans now identify themselves as tea party supporters. other polls have it higher. and it also turns out that they are wealthier and better educated than most americans. i mean this is not a lunatic fringe. >> no. you know what that means? that means they are more likely to vote. because when they are wealthier -- >> chris: they're also older. >> they're older and kind of people who turn out in mid-term elections and they sit right inside the republican base. and i think that is how they are functions. i -- how they are functioning. that's not how they see themselves but they are an important part of the republican base. >> they are a threat to the republican base. that's why th

organizations. and the public about it. that was the essence of it. this is not an equal opportunity issued in the united states military. is not an equal opportunity organization. it is an organization that has a mission to win on a battlefield and it has to train organizations to be successful. and the only way that we can get people to perform highly, under that high degree of stress is the have to care about each other and have to trust each other. so much so that the psychological variable that is operating to keep the unit functioning under tremendous stress and going forward and doing what it needs to do, is that the individual soldier does not want to let down their fellow soldiers. and that gives that soldier the courage to overcome their fears that its the basic training crucible. so the cohesion of that organization is paramount to us. it's one of the reasons why in those fighting organizations, we do not have women serving in those fighting organizations because we believe, our judgment, that introducing women into a fighting organization is a cultural norm that a straight different and will be difficult to ma

the company was organized across four primary business units including rating services, equity researchervices, index services, and data and information services. each business unit was led by a seasoned executive having direct operating responsibility in their respective area and reporting directly to me. one of those units was waiting for services which issued credit ratings of hundreds of thousands of securities across the globe including corporate security, government securities, and structure and financial securities. ratings services was led by an executive vice president, an executive with over 30 years of experience in the ratings business. he had day-to-day operational responsibility for that business. among her direct reports with the executive managing director of structured finance redding's is responsible for the day to day operations of the structured finance ratings group, the group that issued the ratings that are the subject of this subcommittee's focus. consistent with the s&p longstanding and publicly disclosed practice, ratings decisions were and are problems solely

immigration benefits are such a valuable commodity to enemies of the united states whether they are drug trafficking organizations or other persons that would do us harm and the ability of lower level employees to make decisions on immigration benefits is disproportionate, similar, i would say, to cvp's authorities at the border where you have -- your average employee making decisions about whether someone can come in the country. certainly, with immigration benefits, the impact is even more lasting than profound. >> do you have a sense of how these agents in the various agencies of how they are first approached? if they are working and doing their job, how did they go from point a to point b in terms of being corrupted? >> we have compared it to the espionage-related corruption techniques where organized criminal groups look for vulnerable employees. it may be someone that they already have a social relationship with. people like to say on the southwest border that the river is just a river. there is a lot of commerce, family and other interaction between people on both sides of the border. the same is true on t

is the united states or any other country trying to organize or could together a coordinated set of responses for next steps for the day the iranians finally go public, who is in charge of this? >> i an not and the government, so i cannot talk about what is going on, but my sense is like yours. the u.s. government is starting to take some steps i described, whether it is working with the gulf coordination, in terms of enhancing defenses, strengthening our security cooperation, i think that is the right thing to do. some of the started in the last administration. remember secretary rice started to have meetings with countries plus saudi arabia and georgia, and she started talking about iran and but also started talking about, how do we deal of regional security, and secretary clinton, you may remember she says something about the importance of defenses, and a lot of commentators interpreted that as we are giving up on iran having nuclear weapons, and she said that is not the case. the challenge for the administration is how you shift from the diplomacy of prevention to the diplomacy of contain

how can this organization of 17 intelligence agencies embody the promise that the united states is safer from threat, a better able to take a the end of opportunities, whether they are close carnation fifth, and if there were obstacles to achieving that vision, what are they, and how can we not been down -- knock them down i knew david touched on the history of the intelligence community already, but i think we have to remind ourselves of the extremely important context of what we are about in the 21st century. the conversation is meaningless if we do not relate set where we are in history. it is a somewhat uncomfortable activities you have to do. it seems compatible with a transparent democracy. intelligence was perhaps a necessary evil during the cold war and an important component of power as we phase of an enemy attacking our very existence. times have changed, and how does the affects the intelligence community. i find when we have this conversation, there are fundamental questions asked, and these questions are difficult. they are complex. they are only going to be answered in the

united states. we get somebody to do that, you have to have discipline, organization, because we never want to take more life than necessary. that's american values operating in war time and environment. we will do what we need to do to compel an enemy in terms of taking life. then when we have a prisoner or detainee, we want to treat them that another human being deserves. that's policy. torture is about as foreign to us as officer or noncommission officers in the united states military. it has happen. when it does happen, we're going to hold people accountable and if necessary, put in corrective mechanisms in terms of

day has been held in observance of the world intellectual property organization by the united nations. world intellectual property day calls attention to the importance of i.p. for our nation and the international economy. it recognizes the contributions made by artists, innovators and other creative minds that enrich us in many ways. around my district in washington state i'm able to observe daily the critically important role-played by intellectual innovation and intellectual innovation -- and creativity. we are fortunate to have a robust intellectual economy from large corporations to hundreds of smaller and medium sized businesses. they create hundreds of thousands of jobs and create billions in economic activity. each relies on innovation and respect for intellectual property to remain successful and internationally competitive. similarly, in states and localities throughout america, employers in i.p. are important to the economy. it drives research and development investment, creates new products and services to make us more globally competitive. for intellectual property to wor

in fact, is the united states or any other country trying to organize or put together a coordinated set of responses or next steps for the day when the iranians finally passed or go public? who is in charge of this?

in fact, is the united states or any other country trying to organize or put together a coordinated set of responses or next steps for the day when the iranians finally test or go public? who was in charge of this? >> i certainly don't know, so you might. [laughter] >> i'm not in the government so i can't talk to you right now what's going on. but my sense is like yours, and as i think george said as well, too -- i mean, the u.s. government is starting to take some of the steps that i described. whether it's working with the gulf cooperation council countries in terms of enhancing air defenses, enhancing ballistic missile defenses. strengthening our security cooperation. i think that's the right thing to do. some of that actually started in the last administration. remember, secretary rice started to have meetings with -- she called it -- what did she call it. it was the gcc countries plus saudi arabia and jordan, i believe. >> and egypt. >> and egypt. i'm sorry, you're right. the saudis is part of the gcc and she started talking about iran and also -- how do we deal with regional secur

at the time i was a prosecutor than the organized-crime prosecutor for the united states. i had a fairly busy life outside of reading. i joined a riding club in san francisco where my wife and i live and i made a scheduled of appointment with this club to write and that is what i did it is amazing the progress you can make. as a novice author, you are a better writer at the end of the draft and at the beginning so i have the constant or will recognition at the end of my draft the book is 300 pages. by the 300 pager would look at the first page and say but for all hon insight fall levin piece of work. [laughter] then you do it again and again. at some point* you throw your hands and say enough. >> thank you. if you would like to ask a question please come down to the microphone on either side. >> what kinds of people commit atrocities like dennis cider the average people or criminals? and what instigates or sets off a genocide? direct is a simple question. [laughter] actually something i have thought about a lot in and to its your first question, i would say that the offer

. >> an examination of the illegal organ trade, examples of a dozen profound essays. >> for years the unitedractice injustice. >> reporter: all winners. >> 325 students submitted their writing in the contest. tonight we celebrate those that made the cut. >> reporter: it is the competition orchestrated through one world education. the founder says as a dc public schoolteacher he saw an untapped learning opportunity where students can learn from other students have that's an important message because the best way to learn is through your peers. sometimes when you hear it from your mom it is like, oh -- but someone closer to your age you listen. malcolm barry's piece will compliment health studies. >> mine is about hiv aids rates. >> he draws on his experience that when he traveled as a boy. >> instead of measuring gdp they measure happiness.

the largest civil rights organization in the united states of america. and dr. dorothy height was an honored guest and seated among the dignitaries at the inauguration of our current president, barack obama, on january 20, 2009. she helped create and organize the black family reunion celebration held annually since 1985. these gatherings were intended to honor the traditions, the strength and the history of african-american families. while seeking solutions to such social problems as teen pregnancy, drug abuse and violence. . she attended these black family reunions and celebrated on the national mall until her death this morning. her death was something that we all feel so terrible about. we mourn her loss. but she leaves is a great legacy. and we all stand on her shoulders. and she had the insight to keep our families together, because when we were kidnapped off of the continent, when they brought us here to america, they separated husbands and wives and took the babies away from their mothers' breast and sold them for more property. and she knew strength was w

united negro college fund, dr. lomax heads the nation's largest minority education organization. through its member colleges and universities, scholarship programs and advocacy activities, he is dedicated to combating inequality for low income students of color and overcoming educational inequity. prior to his current role, dr. lomax served for seven years as president of dillard university, and prior to that he spent 30 years in public service as -- and in academia, including serving as the first african- american chairman as the filson county board of commissioners. he has taught literature at spellman college and the university of georgia, and is a trustee of emory university, as well as a member of the teach for america national board of directors and a national -- member of the national museum of african-american history. it is my great pleasure to introduce him now, please get a warm welcome to dr. michael lomax. [applause] >> thank you very much. good evening. i am deeply honored to be here. after watching that clip, a little intimidated. as we have seen from that clip of

resolutions being passed in international organizations of conference going, of articles written were of people pushing their own agendas. effecting the unitedin the way coral reef grows in many cases. it's not anything that the is subject to dramatization. but that doesn't make it any less significant or any other important. now in years gone by, people who weren't favorably disposed to american constitutionalism used to talk about world government. nobody talks about world government anymore. accept out in the fever swamps. they've got other phrases that they use. my favorite being global governance. now that's not the same as world government. and i'll be clear. not everybody who advocates greater global governance really thinks you're going to end up with the world government. there's a lot of disagreement about the ultimate goal, the pace at which people are going and so on. global governance itself is a way of expressing dissatisfaction with the workings of an autonomist u.s. constitutional system. become in 1995, a book with the charming title, our global neighborhood. i don't know what other neighborhood we're in, by the way. but our

one of the things the secretary announced was the united states is going to increasingly support efforts to allow grassroots organizationsand allows citizens themselves and to circumvent government censorship so this is something the state department has done for -- supported for years but didn't speak about publicly until january this. part of what the secretary has done is she's put increasingly level of investment, focus into providing tools and resources to citizens around the globe so they can freely access the internet, web sites of their own choosing in each other. she calls this freedom of connection. >> host: let's take another example with china which is often seen shutting down websites and preventing information from reaching its citizenry. china works with the u.s. in so many other areas, but it google it is pulling out of china. how do you diplomatically create internet freedom in china and not take the government on? >> guest: we have a very comprehensive partnership with china and is one i would argue largely is positive. this is an area with disagreements and what we continue to have a our candid con

the single biggest threat to the united states would be the possibility of a terrorist organization obtaining nuclear weapons. >> reporter: the president warned that groups are trying to secure the deadly weapons. he said they wouldn't be afraid to use them if they could. >> fortunately, we have a situation where there's a lot of loose nuclear material around the world. >> reporter: the president's goal is to get the nation's to secure the loose nukes and he wants ways to crack down on the smuggling. there's enough material in the world to build more than 120,000 bombs. so far, there haven't been known instances of the groups obtaining the deadly weapons and still, there have been a dozen cases of the material being stolen or going missing. >>> we want to deal with the nuclear threat firsted a for most. >> reporter: with the government's attending, this is the largest gathering of world leaders in the nation's capital uncooperative countries aren't on the list including iran and north korea. i'm tara mergener, wjz, eyewitness news. >>> and last week, russia's president and the united states s

united states in international sail training forum. barkley warboreden, iii, founded asta in 1873. he was inspired to form an organization in the united states that would be dedicated to supporting character building through sail training and promoting sail training to the north american public. they have worked to ensure a love for sea in the next generation. it gives young people a chance to sail on tall ships and support professional development among the crewmembers who work on tall ships. asta organizes tall ship races such as tall ships challenge series. these fest villes give young people interested -- festivals give young people interested in sailing. they've also enabled millions of spectators to experience the imagine gee of tall ships and have economic benefits in the coastal communities in which they have been held. i note that the united states coast guard cutter eagle was used to train cadets at the coast guard academy on the principles of seamanship. it's just one of the many vessels that have worked expensively with asta and participated in main sailing events. asta's work is critical in enriching the mar

leaders, i know they are not perfect but the state organizations are the foundation of party politics which is central to popular government and the united states and data how power over the organization i cannot simply dismiss these people that is the work of the localities that is not the exact relationship that was talked about but it keeps them committed to the system of that my colleague would insist is a very important part of the american constitutional tradition. >> in his remarks and makes more sense than the book to underscore it was not a difference between progressivism but was a fair libertarian constitutionalism and a funny thing goes the progressives themselves often seem to make the mistake otherwise that in their debate with the founders who understand them they're not talking so much about the constitution and has it has been brought to them are translated to them through the social right wing of the century with an extreme highly problematic of view of the constitution. that serves to exacerbate some problems i think. >> we have a question down here. >> >> my question is the 1912 election you have the four parties that

. >> the world health organization recently rated the united states 37th out of a list of countries in our health care system despite the fact that we spend the most in the world for health care. as of 2008, 43.6 million americans were uninsured and with america's economic crisis, those who were insured had seen their premiums skyrocket. americans with pre-existing conditions can still be denied medical preement by their insurers or can can dropped from plans altogether. >> individually i have a health plan through my partner's work, he's a nurse, it's an excellent plan. however that's a rarity, i think, among insurance policies. most people think they have insurance. there's 55 million people who don't have insurance. there's another probably 20 million to 40 million who are underinsured but the reaility is you don't know you have bad insurance until you get sick. >> many uninsured americans avoid making doctor visits as they cannot afford them. as a result, many serious problems that could have been avoided with preventive treatment get progressively worse. eventually forcing people

of the things that the secretary announced was that the united states is going to increasingly support efforts to allow grassroots organizations and allow citizens themselves to circumvent government censorship. so this is something shah the state -- that is state department has supported for a number of years but which we didn't speak about publicly until january of this year, and part of what the secretary has done is put an increasing level of investment and focus into providing tools and resources to citizens around the globe so that they can freely access the internet, web sites of their own choosing and each other. she calls this the freedom to connect. >> host: well, let's take another example then. we have china which is often seen shutting down, as you say, web sites and preventing information from reaching its citizenry. china is, works with the u.s. in so many other areas but here google is pulling out of china and here -- how do you diplomatically create internet freedom in china and not, you know, take the government on? >> guest: yeah. so we have a very comprehensive partnership with china, and it's one that i wo

having months to work on a story, because any news organization, especially want a magazine, there's a constant pressure to churn it out. investigative unitsare costly, and they're time consuming, and the traditional models probably will go away or really decline significantly. however, i'm not quite as downbeat about it, because there are all these other new models that are starting with the web. i mean, there's a guy he was reading about a while ago who has a notion that he's exploring now where, within local markets, he kind of publicizes an area of inquiry and investigation, and then solicits donations from interested citizens, and it's kind of like a little microfinancing way on a local level to finance an investigation. it's not traditional, but if it works, fantastic. so i'm a little more optimistic. i think just the forms are going to change over the next couple of years. optimistic. >> out ask our panel listed they have been a concluding remarks they want to share with the audience as we wrap it up? i will go in reverse order and start with john if there's anything you want to say in closing? am i thank you for your time this is s