and that's what he was doing when he met patti. after he met patti, which some think was by design that he had wanted to meet the daughter of a very powerful political alderman in case he ever decided to go into politics, but, regardless, that's just speculation. they went to a fundraiser and patti had just broken up with a boyfriend and she was mopping around the house and her father said come to my fundraiser, many of you remember that great german restaurant and there was the fundraiser and that's where they met and patti said afterwards she told her father you know if anything out with him i'm going to have the time of my life. [laughter] >> she was right about that one and that launched his political career. >> what was it about -- do you think -- do you think that when he was a storefront lawyer with his mother as a receptionist, did he still have political dreams or had he always had political dreams or did dick mel give him political dreams? >> i think he always had some political dreams, you know, the one subject that he a

mel or patti blagojevich. what do we know about her and any influence she might have on him or just -- who is she and what's she all about? >> the whole story of patti mel, dick mel and rod blagojevich is really -- has shakespearean tragic overtones. it does. i mean, patti -- dick mel was very strong family man. he had three children and a lovely wife, very strong family. and when patti met rod initially dick mel was very pleased and thought this was going to be a terrific match. he was -- he was all for it. his wife on the other hand was somewhat concerned about rod blagojevich from the very beginning, she just didn't trust him. and she, you know, was not sure -- he had her daughter's best interest at heart. which turned out sadly to be the case. she wound up with this horrible brain disease and died about five years ago now. so you had dick mel who at one point had a son-in-law who was the governor of illinois, lovely wife, great kids, suddenly, his wife dies. he's completely estranged from his daughter, his

this is patty. caller: i m patrick, not patti. i wanted to respond to a previous article. in the first place, you are talking about a voter the electorate of over 50 million people who are filling out paper ballots. you have an essential dictator coming out and saying within an hour after the election that all of those ballots had been counted and he is going to be the victor. it wasn't just that. if that were the case, if he works such -- if he was such a victorious leader, if his position was so strong, you would not have to enter into being with the media and shut out -- shot up all of the cell phones. another point is, i think it is ridiculous and i think what he even -- was even watching the situation in iran? if ahmadinejad out was the truth victor that the claim, then why would you have to bust in voters from around the country just to give the perception that you were the victor of this election. host: thank you. here is one of the write ups. senator ensign is acknowledging an affair. this is from the washington post." >> last year i had an affair. i violated the v

with the fat cats in the heat the people whose class they have come out of or they hate them, the patty bourgeois. as once a the university of michigan library and on the first and only sort of account of the first and last world congress meeting of the patty bourgeois appropriately and brussels in 1898 and then he says this, he writes his mom various letters, because this huge panic of the bombs and there are all sorts of big bombs. if you go to the airport to his novel the explosions of bags left behind that are put in these things to blow up suspicious objects, those were invented precisely at this time of the dynamize so coses and there are lots of heat mail. i have read in pardons, literally hundreds of threats in all of paris saying i'm going to blow you up. you are mean to your domestics, you are mean to the people who live in your building, and we are going to blow you up. but what happens is it doesn't work out the way fortun thought it was, he had a brief moment of it revolutionary immortality and that is like what is going on now. execution seems still very paramount with emm

some lucky guy wins by grand -- this is called cow patty bingo. >> what if it falls on a line somewhere? is that a foul? >> we scoop it out with a trowel and waited. the heaviest part wins. >> we have a winner. >> were you really asleep there? >> yeah. this is a great way to raise money for charity. >> how many of those people out there know you have a degree from princeton? >> i do not know. next is the work to be in that environment in indiana? >> is it work? >> you have lived the high life. >> i know that this mode is very comfortable for me. it is the one thing i enjoy most about the job. i usually say i liked the work and can tolerate the like, but the one thing i like about the life, particularly now, anywhere i go, people do want to talk, and it mean something to them that you spend time with them. it is a wonderful gift to have, just for a few years. i have had grown men say i have never talked to anyone important before. you want to say, come on, it is just you and me. when he gets back to work, i don't care if he says i told that s.o.b. what i thought of him. staying at people

featuring the dictators, their amounts, the patti smith group, and it is not atypical event but it is about a jewish children from brooklyn and queens to decide to go to manhattan. it is the story of my contemporaries except they went downtown. >> 2009 bookseller convention in new york city with bloomsbury and walker books i am here with peter miller. what you have coming out this fall? >> the most ambitious and exciting is the one over my shoulder which is a graphic novel. we decided to do this one because it is a historical biography of bertram russell and as crazy as that sounds it is interesting novel of ideas and the two people behind it are mathematicians and computer science experts said they decided to approach the i.d.'s of the foundation of mathematics been told as a comic book form because that big idea is what russell was pursuing as heroic and life-and-death as anything you would find with a super hero. it is a book getting a lot of attention before the convention and all lot here. we have been getting a lot of the galley. everyboby seems very excited to embrace this medi

patty is on the republican line. good morning. what do you think about this? caller: i do not think the government should control tobacco. they are already controlling everything else. they are getting everything that they can possibly control and will control under this administration. i think people should know that cigarettes are not good for you, ok? and you know better than to put things in your body that is going to hurt you or kill you. but as far as the government getting into it, no, they are already controlled -- they are going to control us. i am saying everything that can be stopped. as far as the government controlling, they should stop this administration. we have got to stand up and say, no, you are not going to control us. you are not going to be our ruler. obama is supposed to be our president, not our ruler. host: thank you for your call. taking a look back at the new york times article, "despite its financial studies in the 19 -- in the 1950 concert -- despite studies in the 1950's linking smoking to cancer, congressional efforts to regulate

turn to senator mikulski and thank her immensely for the job that tom harkin and jeff bingaman and pattymurray have done all along with others in developing these ideas and quality prevention coverage as well as workforce issues. i'm going to ask senator mikulski to lead the debate on this and we recognize her. >> thank you very much senator dodd and good morning to all of my colleagues here this morning we are taking up title to, the quality section. and after that i believe senator dodd it wants to proceed and prevention. these two titles go hand-in-hand and even interface with each other. once you hear the conversation we've had over the last several days has been related to the cost of health care. there is no doubt that it is skyrocketing. in we see as to all public health policy experts that the issues of equality and prevention could in the long term until late reduce the cost of health care while it increases health outcomes. in my area we focused on those issues, five big issues that were readily agreed upon by all as drivers with their needs to be improving in quality. producti

but i do and i represent watermen, they are called fisherman in your state, watermen and mine, and patti, i am not sure what they called you in seattle. [laughter] but at the same time i know their wives are working in small business to get health insurance so them and can be on the land or out on the water. and those small businesses are shrinking. so let's remember the people. let's work to find the sensible center. right now former leaders are off talking. tom daschle, bob dole, howard baker. if they can talk together and work together and find that common ground and sensible solution so can we. so for 50 and 60 years we've been struggling with how to do it. we are not going to go the u.k. way. we are the usa. we do believe in capitalism. we do believe in the government, but let's be able to come together now and be able to find that way. if you don't like this, then don't try to judge, let's come in with it and let's say goodbye to the invasion of the body snatchers. thank you. >> senator burr. >> awesome. [laughter] thank you, mr. chairman. >> chris, listen to this, i'm about to com

. -- patty austin. so this premiered for a week in philadelphia and now it's being refined to become a national and even international tour. along with the book, it's the latest iteration of joe's classroom work, his telling of the story of america. and so in addition to those projects, he's going to begin a national speaking tour and kicks that off today with you. so without further ado, allow me to introduce writer, producer, story teller, photographer, justin falconer of all trades, joe sohm. joseph? [applause] >> >> good afternoon. it's still morning for me. i just through in from california where i reside and i kind of dodged a few fires on the way and an earthquake that was centered in the town i live, so it's very nice to be here in washington, d.c. i want to thank john for that very gracious inter ducks. -- introduction. mostly i want to thank him for pronouncing my name right. this is a problem most of my life where my name is is pronounced sohm, and occasionally i'll be asked to speak now at a

[laughter] >> that's not a joke featuring tommy ramone of the ramones, dick manitoba and patti smithand this is not a typical yivo event but it's a story of jewish children from brooklyn and queens who decide to go over to manhattan. it's very much the story, you know, of my contemporary but they went downtown and created punk rock. we thank you for coming to yivo and we look forward to seeing you at the lecture and the punk evening. thank you. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> ronald radosh is the author of many books culled commies a journey from the old left, the new left and the leftover left. he's an adjunct senior fellow at the hudson institute and professor emeritus at the city university of new york. this event was hosted by the yivo institute in new york city. to find out more visit yivoinstitute.org. >> bookexpo america new york city 2009 we're here with a publisher of basic books. what does a publisher do? >> a publisher is just the title i have. i run the imprint of basic books so we have editorial, marketing, publicity, design and i just end up making the final dec