then people you haven't eaten in a persian home. in restaurants -- i should stop talking about this, probably. in restaurants i found it fairly predictable. and it was wonderful cabob and rice and all that kind of thing, okay, but you get into a persian's home which we did which i really wanted to do and they pull out the stops and it becomes this incredible banquette and people are very polite that way and we were invited in a home. it was a pretty wealthy home. i wanted to see the women kind of hang out and be lose and casual and unguarded and they would normally do that i would imagine but as soon as we brought our camera in, their house became outside. you see what i mean. it was no longer their private house because westerners were there with a big camera. they were dressed modestly and quite formal. but it was great to get in a house and ate wonderfully there. >> as an american born iranian but a u.s. citizen is it safe to travel to iran with a u.s. passport? i've heard from many people that it would not be wise to travel with

i'm from voice of america persian news network. i have a bunch of questions so i just chose one of them. you talked about the iranian society, and you also described different aspects the cultural aspects and the economical crisis, how have these factors affected the iranian culture or the national identity? and is there any national or cultural identity crisis or not? and how this political situation impacted there the definition of their cultural identity? >> uh-huh, uh-huh. that's a really interesting question. i think that certainly -- i think we came to see during the mahmoud ahmadinejad years that there was a sort of dormant iranian nationalism all of these years after the revolution that sort of rose up during perhaps the year of 2006. mahmoud ahmadinejad made a point of making the nuclear issue one of national pride and that really resonated with iranians especially because this fell in the aftermath of the axis of evil and they felt very offended and belittled by that and i think that that created a very fertile ground for

>> everybody tells me well, you haven't eaten in a persian home of course there's great persian food especially in the united states. but in restaurants -- i should stop talking about this probably. [laughter] >> in restaurants i found it fairly predictable and it was wonderful cabobs and rice and that sort of thing, okay but you get into a person's home as we did and they pull out all the stops and it becomes this incredible banquet which i found exquisite and we were invited in a home and you saw it was a pretty wealthy family's home they were big shot business people and i wanted to see the women kind of like hang out and be loose and casual and unguarded and they would normally do that i would imagine but as soon as we brought our camera in, their house became outside. you see what i mean? it was no longer their private house was westerners were there with a big camera they were dressed modestly and quite formal. but it was still great to get in a home and see a family and we ate wonderfully. >> as an american born iranian with an iranian last name is safe to travel to iran with

persians were becoming followers of the living god. in record numbers. this is not something that mordecai or esther had imagined. the richest begging god to save people. and in the end he not only save the jewish people, he began to save the people of iran, and all across this region from india and the east to sudan and ethiopia in the west, all throughout the epicenter of god was on the move. now the book of esther is the same god we have today. all throughout leaders there have been, all throughout history their kiloliters, evil leaders in the epicenter and all around the world that threatened those that loved the god of cizik, abraham and jacob that have been called by his name. now, some of you gentiles, god bless you, you say jews think you're so special. [laughter] you were the chosen people, think they are so great, and we are sort of like you know, we are really not opposed it someone else wants to be chosen. [laughter] it's okay. the faeroe chose tosk. haman shows us. king xerxes, stalin, hitler, mahmoud ahmadinejad, shoes somebody else, we are

persian gulf. -- on a per ship i see in the persian gulf. i call on the talented entrepreneurs of the persian world to assist the palestinians in us and together we can envelop best -- to get a weekend develop industrial areas and create tourist sites that will attract millions of visitors eager to walk in the footsteps of history. in nazareth, and bethlehem, around the walls of jericho, and the walls of jerusalem, on the banks of the sea of the galilee, and the baptism site of the jordan. there is an enormous potential for archeological tourism, only if learn to cooperate and to develop it. i turn to you, our palestinian neighbors, led by the palestinian authority, and i say let's begin negotiations immediately without preconditions. israel is obligated by its international commitments and expects all parties to keep their commitments as well. i say to the palestinians this evening, we want to live with you in peace as good neighbors. we want our children and your children to never again experienc

persian gulf czar, sudan czar. now, we have an ambassador to sudan, i think. we have diplomats that work with sudan. we have a secretary of of state who has an office that sudan falls under. i'm sure she has got some of the best experts on sudan anywhere in the contry. just like she does on the persian gulf. just like she does on the middle east. the secretary of of state has the best people we can hire. some of these people have been working in this field forever. now we got a sudan czar. this means this is the absolute monarch of sudan experts? what does it mean? or is it just an associate of the administration that needs a be job? i don't know. i don't know what it does. climate czar. it's not clay mat change czar. it's not global warming czar. because we have had to change those terms. we started with climate -- started with global warming and started getting colder that's kind of dropped. now we are climate change czar. he's got to be the climate czar. we always blame the weatherman for the weather. but, hey, we got a czar we can blame now. this guy could

the logic was the more editorials in the press focused on the persian mannes means less space devoted to discussing issues like women's rights and reform. what this means is the tone and style of a rain foreign-policy matters and this is a matter of debate in the presidential elections. some have argued the best thing for some machines would be the direction of ahmadinejad because he is a convenient foil for them and convenient boogieman. now because the iranian threat in the minds of many arab leaders is a symbolic and ideological one because of the disagreement in disarray arab resolve has not materialized according to u.s. designs. this ambivalence has been worsened by what many perceive as conflicting signals about u.s. policy toward iran and according to one analyst the gulf states will have a clear and defining policy toward an end only when diplomacy solidifies because they find u.s. diplomacy is vacillating between cooperation so what we find it is a strong inclination toward hedging an insurance policy against sudden swings in the u.s. policy. deliberations about a u.s. withd

should not only press for other persian gulf oil exporters to develop alternative means to export the oil by building pipelines that avoid the strait of hormuz, but also it would be very helpful if they could build up their excess oil capacity to cushion in the event that a crisis comes regarding iran's nuclear program. fifthly, we think the administration should review contingency plans for a possible preventive strike to disarm iran, and this should not be taken off the table. tehran should not think that just because it's acquired a nuclear weapon that it's home free, and by stressing the increased risks following the attainment of a nuclear capability, it may lead an iranian goth -- not this government, but perhaps futcher iranian government to recalculate the costs of going ahead with a nuclear program. sixth, we think the u.s. should lead a coalition to impose the strongest possible economic sanctions on iran because one of the regime's weaknesses is on the economic frunt. the mullahs have really miscalculated in their economic policies, there's a lot of corruption, mismanagemen

guest: the iran ian's are persians. that sensibility does seem to unite people in the arab world. -- the iranians are persians. host: we are monitoring al jazeera right now. it is this what most of the world is now seen? this is what we're getting right now. this is al jazeera. is there one version around the world? is it different here than elsewhere? guest: we are seeing al jazeera international or al jazeera english. there are two strands. there is one in arabic that is broadcast on satellite. you can see that i set like anywhere in the world. there is al jazeera english that is broadcast on cable. it is still trying to put itself on cable on a large scale here in the united states. as of the first of july, they are going to beat on cable -- they are going to be on cable in the washington, d.c., area. these are two different strands. in many ways, they represent slightly different perspectives on the world. al jazeera arabic as the bulk of its audience in the middle east. it caters to be specifically arab audience in

he served in the late 1980's for the cia as a persian gulf analysts. he joined us and the aftermath of a liberation of kuwait. he is responsible for iraq, iran, and afghanistan policy currently. next, vice-president for policy and an expert on regional security in the least and the central asia and at the russian federation. he has consulted with both the cia and the department of defense and provided assistance on foreign-policy and national- security matters. he is an adjunct professor. he is a member of the committee on the present danger. he is an editor of the journal about security affairs. he most recently finished a book concerning tehran's strategies on confronting the islamic challenge. the next guest has written extensively. he was a research fellow at the congressional research service. he is a member of the committee of present dangers also. he is also on the board of editors of middle east quarterly. i will turn it over to ken. >> thank you. it is good to be back at heritage. i am speaking only in a personal capacity, now reflecting any m

to the capitol city to see the great museum and by this excited to go to the great museum for the persian culture. 2500 years ago the greatest culture. ancient sites between the mediterranean and india and i had a big part of the script written to the empire. i got there and it was pathetic, a couple of dusty faces it seemed like. i was traumatized. i got the curator and said where is the great art? i am making a tv show. i need something that looks impressive. are you guys like the greatest a long time ago? and he said if you want to see obra great art, you need to go to the great cities in western europe because that is where it is. now again, we might say get over it there's more important things but no, that hurts when you are a proud civilization and your things are in another country and nobody goes there to the persian one of the louvre it's not even appreciated and should be in tehran and it's not there so there's a lot of that baggage going on. they just lost a quarter of a million people fighting the guy named saddam hussein funded by the united states in their view. that's not

it's not the gulf of arabia, it's the persian gulf. get it straight. [applause] >> and, you know, one thought i had is i just -- i do not want to radicalize these people. these people are as good as they come when it comes to what they aspire for their children and so on. they happen to have different religion and culture than we do, but it was clear to me all of these people who are teachers and crafts people and mothers and you name it, they could be guerillas tomorrow if we were naive enough to think we could shock and awe them into compliance. that's the one message i could take home this they say we are proud. we're united and you're not going to write our textbooks. this is an important issue. they've got a chip on their shoulder. they got a lot of baggage we couldn't even imagine. and it was so great to be able to be there for a couple of weeks to gather up all that footage to get through it with all our gear and fly home and make this show and be able to come back and remind the united states that it is exciting to be entering a new age where w

roberts struck a mine in the persian gulf, the navy sent brian to provide analysis options. though he only asked to spend a week in the gulf, he remained with the stricken vessel for 45 days until it was again sea worth yism describing the experience he said i quote -- "i'm still amazed at authority i was given to execute this project. i was lucky to have an opportunity at such an early stage in my career." i want our nation's graduates to know that careers in public service are full of opportunities like the one given to brian. federal employees at all levels get to work on exciting and relevant projects every day. after his superb performance in due buy, brian was given

the guard believes that iran is key to security in the persian gulf. there are some questions as to whether they will play a similar role in this election. it has been a very controversial issue. in fact, the representative to the supreme leader made a speech where he said that we have been criticized for becoming involved in politics. they do not intend to interfere at all as long as the right candidate gets elected, they do not care. >> what other u.s. policy implications are there? do not wait until the presidential election to engage iran. in some ways, it is too late. i talk about the correct president. if the as long must write one engagement, to some extent, there will be engagement. there are indications that iran is interested in a limited engagement. knott full engagement, because that would be against one of the red -- one of the pillars of their establishment. i do not think that the islamic republic, especially the right, once a fully normalized relation. if the u.s. opens an embassy in iran, then there will be pressure for the system to o

iranians are persian. they are very try ballistic in the middle east.hey think that they are better than arabs. given a free election, they want the same thing. i do not think that they would have been doing this before. if iran overthrows the regime, which little by little looks like it might have been, i think that a lot of credit should go to george bush. i think that is something that democrats would want to think about. host: these pictures from tehran and elsewhere, courtesy of youtube, the caller mentioned a former president bush. he delivered a speech this past week. he offered his first public, veiled criticism of his successors administration, according to "the washington times." alabama, al, what is next? caller: this is new york. host: i should know that. caller: it is ok. a couple of points. first, this is what happens when you mix state and religion. this is the scenario. it will lead to frustration, eventually. i am still kind of in the era of this. i do not see any signs saying freedom and democracy, i just see where is my vote. is this

seining information both here and abroad is a marker as far as a continuation of the commitment of the persian ministration to fighting human trafficking in modern slavery but shows continued efforts by in hillary clinton and the obama administration. people like myself 11 federal prosecutors, how we are investigating the cases, we are seeing a lot of positive responses to its. elk we will see an improvement in the coming year as far as the counter trafficking response. there is a notion that because we are in a time of economic crisis, and foreign debt workers a very vulnerable because of the way in which recruitment is done, we see a problem in our presence abroad and in the united states. many are affected by country's seven large programs that none had any safeguards built into them. we saw this in the united states in territorial possessions of side bands. -- site bands. we saw there would replicate itself in many countries around the world which is the notion that the first step has to deal with labor unrest or people who are asking for minimum amounts of food and pay, the nation they wo

defense secretary robert gates as he addressed a conference of senior defense officials from the persian gulf countries. he spoke about it around nuclear weapons program and the situation in iraq and afghanistan. he is introduced by general david patras --. trieste. petraeus. having had the privilege of meeting him i realized from the outset that this was a leader who got it. this was hours before he left to go to iraq. i have been privileged to work closely with him in iraq and then of course and the central command position. we have all seen the qualities that he has brought to the job. above all very impressive judgment, extraordinary calm, during pressure-packed. it's. something i think is unique in the histories of our secretaries of defense, and that is, he is about to do something that someone else has not done. to develop concepts and ideas, policies, but then to turn those into budgetary reality in a way that has been quite skillful and very determined. it will have an imprint on our department in a way that i believe is very positive for all of us. beyond that, i would offer to

. $241.5 million for the coast guard to support overseas contingencies in the persian gulf and off the coast of somalia. $382 million for cyber security, to help protect vulnerable computer infrastructure from the escalating sophistication and intensity of cyber attacks and $10 million above the administration's request to expand the alternatives it to detention program nationwide. alternatives it to detention is a cost-effective alternative for low-risk individuals such as asylum seekers, families and the elderly. the bill includes several policy items requested by the administration. it clarifies authorities for temporary protected status petitions and visa fraud investigations. it extends the e-verify program for two years and the provision related to the imported prescription drugs. as it did last year, this bill contains member-requested and presidential earmarks. each member's project has been vetted by d.h.s. and deemed eligible. if part of a grant program or consistent with the department's mission otherwise. we did have to reduce member earmarks by 5% below last year's level.

there is a recession that is the persian part because people have to go back to living within their means. you will see that credit flowing as people get themselves back to the point where they are living within their means and are less vulnerable in the future. that is a healthy process for the country. you will see a slower recovery than we would normally see as a result. >> others have mentioned the fact that the stress tests may have missed the big area of stress which is commercial real- estate lending. is that true? >> the stress test was designed by the fed. they were very careful to put in concerted estimates of potential lawsuits across all areas. they put out a really important picture. it shows the losses they used against things over the last century. the estimates they used -- they used an abundance of caution. the estimates they used were worse than the peak two years of losses in the great depression. unemployment was 30%. our economy has -- had shrunk dramatically. when you saw that level of transparency brought to banks' balance sheets, you see a lot of capital coming int

the whole kind of persian enemy is still alive in people's minds. after iran converted to islam, they became shiites. a lot of cities look down on the shiites and -- a lot of sunnis looks down on the shiites. saddam was afraid his shiite population would change sides. they did not. their arab identity was much stronger. i think the iranians and the government there have managed to create a certain appeal by criticizing the united states and lashing out at israel. i do not think that the appeal goes much beyond that. in terms of freedom, i think one of the things i talk about in the book is the aljazeera of fact. in this country, aljazeera is often criticized because they gave a platform to osama bin laden. you were hearing it called all osama all the time. as a reporter, i used to have aljazeera on all the time. they would find dissonance whether it be libyans or someone else working in lebanon on and who was in jail. it was an incredible tool for finding now what kind of opposition did exist in the arab world. one example in the book, a friend of m

together, we can realize the achievements of the impressive entrepreneurship i see in the persian gulf impresses me very much and i call upon the talented entrepreneurs of the arab world to come and invest here to assist the palestinians and us in spurring the economy. today we can develop industrial areas that will generate thousands of jobs and create tourist sites that will attract millions of visitors either to work, walk in the footsteps of history in nazareth, in bethlehem, around the walls of jericho, and the walls of jerusalem on the banks of the sea of galilee and the ban advertise mall site -- baptismal site of jordan. there is an act of tourism if we cooperate and develop. i turn to you our palestinian neighbors, live by the palestinian authority and i say let's begin negotiations immediately without preconditions. israel is obligated by its international commitments and expects all the parties to keep their commitments as well. and i say to the palestinians this evening, we want to live with us in peace as good neighbors. we want our children and your children to never agai

a play about these very events and he was supposed -- he was the guard -- one of the soldiers in persian, you know, and he was to take his sphere, ladies and gentlemen, king -- the plot begins to thicken and we're not going to go through all the chapters of esther today. but in chapter 3 one through six king xerxes permitted the son advanced him and established his authority over all the princes who were with him. and all the king's servants bow jed down and bowed down but mortik confirmation and we'll talk more in a moment, he neither bowed down or paid homage and they said to him, why are you transgressing the king's command? now it was when they had spoken daily to him and he would not listen to him, that they told him to see where his reason to stand for he told them he was a jew and when he saw he neither bowed down nor paid homage to him, he was filled with rage. but he disdain on mortiki alone he didn't want to take him out for this insolence -- take out mortiki for he had told them who he was, therefore, he sought to destroy all the jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of k

together we can realize the achievements of the end -- impressive monster proportions i see in the persian gulf. the economic success of the gulf states has impressed us all and it has impressed me. i call on the talented entrepreneurs of the arab world to come and invest here and to assist the palestinians - and us - in spurring the economy. together, we can develop industrial areas that will generate thousands of jobs and create tourist sites that will attract millions of visitors eager to walk in the footsteps of history - in nazareth and in bethlehem, around the walls of jericho and the walls of jerusalem, on the banks of the sea of galilee and the baptismal site of the jordan. there is an enormous potential for archeological tourism, if we can only learn to co-operate and to develop it. i turn to you, our palestinian neighbours, led by the palestinian authority, and i say: let's begin negotiations immediately without preconditions. israel is obligated by its international commitments and expects all parties to keep their commitments. we want to live with you in peace, as good neighbou

i'm the editor in chief of their online journal in persian, farsi.a weekly journal we put out about the u.s., on the matter of politics, society and the such. host: back to the phones. cincinnati, ohio. d on the line for the democrats. caller: how are you? host: go ahead. caller: there is a lot of talk in the house and senate about what the united states should say vis-a-vis the elections in iran. these point out to me that there isn't much we really need to say. we said all we need to say in last year's election. and when barack obama was campaigning for president and he talked about the power of one to make a difference in this country. i don't think he was just talking about the american people, i think he was talking to the people around the world to be free. this point sounds so ridiculous for the united states to go into a country and try to force democracy down the throats of people at the end of a gun. democratic has to be legitimate and sustained. i want to know how your guest feels about this and whether or not the young people in iran are

"consider the task of dennis roskam obamas special adviser to the persian gulf and southwest asia he brought enthusiasm and a deep knowledge to the job, but the peace process was constrained by u.s. laws that reasonably require the palestinian liberation organization to abandon terrorism and recognize israel before receiving aid from the united states. the plo took tentative, initial steps toward recognizing israel, but followed those steps with terrorist activities. iran has until the end of the year to signal serious intent to negotiate a resolution to its nuclear program. administration officials are optimistic that iran is willing to engage sincerely. this final point. the administration should remember a simple rule. once is a mistake. twice is a pattern three times as blindness." guest: the point is to say that somehow dennis ross might turn a blind eye to the iranian nuclear program. i do not think that is correct. this is a threat to regional peace. it is a threat to american interests. it is a threat to the countries in the region. you could say i am biased because he is mic

have to apply when i registered to vote, the first time i did, i filled up the application in the persian read it over and asked for my naturalization papers were -- and asked where was. and i said they were in a safe place a home. she said she could not register me until she saw them. now anyone can give a funny name and is encouraged by the government. the mayor of los angeles is a honcho. host: could you respond? the stress in an emotional chord with our viewers. guest: yes, clearly the country is a country of immigration but it needs to be legal and reasonable and orderly. we have the technology to create such a system. unfortunately, it has not happened. part of it is enforcing the law. regardless of your feelings on illegal immigration, everyone must agree you cannot have a country that is premised on the rule of law and then have large segments of society openly flaunting it, ignoring it, or turning the other way. it is extremely corrosive. host: another tweak from a viewer who says he has listened to you want to spend many times. he thinks that you be a great candidate for preside

. >> currently you have combined a joint force -- task force operating in the persian gulf. stressing thae mil to mil relationships, if china was to become part of that, which you entertain allowing some sort of mil to mil contact to be established with the iranian navy? >> i would see the type of relationship that would develop would be one that would be based on the broader national interests and then the question also becomes their reveries various elements in iran that are operating maritime forces and with whom with the relationship be, but that is our decision that is part of the broader diplomatic context and we will conform

there's a section in the utah persian of "roads to quoz" that q calls, oral history of the american west because everything in it i heard or was told to me, west of the 100th meridian i was of the notion wouldn't it be wonderful if shakespeare kept a notebook and would write down things that he heard or emilie donte writing things down? . . that are about footprints and tracks and traces and believing things behind for somebody else is very much about our survival. i hope so. thanks very much. [applause] here is your chance now to prove to the nation on c-span how bright people in seattle are and how talkative they are and how wonderful you are and how humorous you are. i see one hand there. if you can get to the mic if you can. >> i am just curious, what is the most startling instinct thing that you encountered in your travels? >> the most startling food? i will paraphrase the question for the tv. what is the most startling food i have encountered in my travels? a hard question but let me tell you the most recent startling food i encountered. this was and north carolina, near the davids

so many volunteers, helping to translate documents or stories for me, or watching video that is in persian. providing the information. it is a community news gathering operation. i think we also try to maintain a journalistic standard in the sense that we do not post material that is not confirmed, or if we do we are clear about the fact we cannot verify its accuracy. but i think we try to provide a really wide swath of information because it is out there in a whole bunch of places. it is spread out across the board and does require a large group effort -- a volunteer effort in many senses, to track it down. host: thanks for being with us this morning, nico. he is the national editor @ "the huffington post." thank you for joining us. you have a piece today. obama will restore the u.s. ambassador to syria. you read about returning a u.s. envoy to damascus. you say the president is working to rehabilitate relations with the islamic world. why is this? guest: just after the former lebanese president was assassinated in 2005 the bush administration withdrew the ambassador in damascus. there wa

>> currently you have combined task force operating in the persian gulf. stressing the mill-to-mill relationships, if china were to become part of that, because they are going to come into the gulf for energy, and it is known to everybody, would you entertain allowing some sort of mill-to-mill contact, vy -- be established with this iranian navy? in >> i would say the type of relationship that would develop would be one that would be based on the broader national interests. and, then, the question also becomes, you know, there are various elements in iran, that are operating maritime forces, and you know, with whom would the relationship be? but that is a decision that really, i believe, is part of the broader diplomatic context, and you know, we will conform to whatever the commander-in-chief would require. >> admiral, thank you very much for your time. >> thanks a lot. [applause]. >> thank you. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> people have been trying to get me to say a f

deferring on internal reforms, the logic here was that the threats in the saudi press better focus on the persian, means the less space that can be devoted like women's rights and reforms are what this means is that the tone and style of the policy matters, and this is currently a matter of debate in the presidential elections. at least some observers have argued that the best thing for some arab regimes would be the reelection of aqua data job because he is such a convenient bogeyman. because this ironic threat in the minds of many arab leaders as a symbolic and an ideological one, because of this disagreement, disarray, arab result has not materialized according to u.s. designs. this ambivalence has been worsened by what many arab states perceived as conflicting signals about u.s. policies toward iran. according to one analyst, the gulf states in particular that will have a clear and defined policy toward iran only when u.s. diplomacy solidifies, because they find that u.s. diplomacy is vacillating between payment and cooperation. so what we find is a strong inclination toward hedging and accom

iranian state media reported the country's raferse started a low-altitude bombing exercise over the persian gulf and sea of oman. they said the unrest hadn't affected the country's oil output or crude exports. next a call from lee from alabama. caller: let me read something briefly out of one of the local newspapers, the "tribune" here in marshall county. it was on the front page, these are biweekly newspapers, it says national health care network has singled out marshall medical centers north and south for being the top 1% of hospitals nationwide. these are great hospitals up here, but my point is, i sure wish i could have got in the discussion with him, we pay -- we have blue cross and blue shield insurance which is -- we have the best, which is, we don't pay anything up front, and it's $304.12 a month. that's $3,600.49 a year. the employer pays $500. it's $600. -- $6,000. total price is $9,600.88. and incidentally it also pays some dental. this think that's just come out from the senate and house, the -- where they have come up wan estimate and said on -- based on 36 million people, whic

sovereignty based in jerusalem, the land of the jewish people fell repeatedly to invaders, the syrians, persians, greeks, romans. jews were massacred and expelled and departure for so many developed into an unparalleled diaspora. from the 15th century to the early 20th century, it was under control of a caliphate based in eus tan buell. during this time many jews trourpbd their ancestral homeland. the ottoman empire collapsed after world war i and there was a mandate over the area known as palestine. the league of nations endorse and clarified this mandate in 1922, requiring britain to reconstitute a jewish national home within the territory they control in accordance with the declaration made by british foreign secretary balfour in 1917 making the restoration of jewish communities in that area a matter of international law. by the time world war ii had ended, there were more than 600,000 jews living in the british mandate of palestine. in 1947 the united nations approved a plan to partition the territory into arab and jewish states. the jewish agency accepted the plan. the arabs did not. on may

to performance or even mergers and acquisitions, and i fear that they leave the understandable in persian there's a double standard in the economy when the top executives are rewarded for failure at the same time working families are forced to sacrifice. finally, we believe that it is important to have greater transparency and independence. the sale on pay legislation chairman frank has long sponsored which president obama and senator obama was a co-sponsor and senate would be a very significant move forward in terms of transparency and accountability, the evidence in the u.k. shows it has had a positive impact and in terms of the independence of compensation committees i will say briefly we start with the same premise s chairman frank that independence in the name doesn't mean in fact but we do believe if you gave the committee the funding and the authority to be the haulier some of the compensation consultants and the council and you had the sec go forward to ensure reduction or elimination of conflict of interest for compensation consultants it is our hope we would at least make progre

the air force the start of a low altitude bombing exercise over the persian gulf and the sea of ahman -- iman. next is a call from lee in alabama. good morning. caller: yes, let me read something briefly out of one of the local newspapers, the arab tribune of in marshall county. in was onç the front page. these are by weekly newspapers. it says, national health care network has singled out marshal medical centers, north and south, for being the top 1% of hospitals nationwide. these are great hospitals up here. but my point is, i wish i surely could have gone in a discussion with them. we pay blue cross blue shield insurance, and we have the best. witches, we do not pay anything up front. -- which is, we do not pay anything of fraud. it is $304.12 per month, that is $3,649 per year. and the employer pays $5,000, or 6000. the total package cost is $9,649. this thing has just come out from the senate and house where they have come up with an estimate and said, based on 36 million people, which i think one-third of those are illegal -- but at any rate, that would give you 67,000 people a

the fall of 2002 in the run-up to operation iraqi freedom, there was one nuclear aspirant in the persian gulf, and that was iran which had just been disclosed as having a clan clandestine nuclear program. today there's 14. tunisia, morocco, yemen, and the list goes on. jordan, turkey, the list goes on. and some of them undoubtedly are seeking this capability because they have legitimate energy needs. turkey, for example, has a really severe energy deficit, and they're looking for a nuclear program as a corrective for that. but i would venture to guess that a lot of them including many of the countries of the gcc, including yemen which doesn't have much by way of running water so it's not so in dire need of additional sources of energy are doing this from a strategic perspective. they're essentially looking for a counterweight to to the emerg, what they see as an emerging iranian bomb. so this has a great deal to do with, obviously, the balance of power in the region, but it has to do with the fact that our strategy when it comes to the iranian nuclear program has to be robust enough not

after, after conflict in the straight of -- stait of hormuz or the persian gulf. other than that, one would have to look for -- it's not just immediate retaliation but potentially retaliation over time that could come in the form of proxy attacks, so-called proxy attacks. if there are, if there are -- if there are proxies who would listen to iran's request for support. but also potentially terrorist attacks in other parts of the world. and this is something that wouldn't necessarily happen right after a, a u.s. attack but, but could happen over time. >>> i think -- support and diplomacy i think you'd see a great deal of support from a number of our traditional arab allies but at the same time there would be tremendous pressure to oppose it in the public domain. at the symbolic level to, to, to appease their domestic constituents, to play to their, their domestic audiences. regarding the threat of iranian retaliation, i think you may find that this becomes a pretext for sort of a dragnet of internal -- of a round up of internal dissidents, you know, our interviews

what we have done in this bill is leveraging existing resources to build the persian senator coburn is talking about what the amendment eliminates the finance it -- financing mechanisms that help our students get to schools and takes up the education and training programs for them to get the skills needed and eliminate them rossetti programs for health workers some i think our bill does exactly what we need to do which is to make sure the federal garment is a support to leverage those local partnerships and that is how we have written this moment. so i will oppose the amendment because i don't want to see us take out the broad diversity issues we put into this bill and i would remind all that is how we have written this bill to make sure we leverage federal dollars to kill those partnerships and a local communities to me their local employment means. >> mr. chairman, you have a national commission that will set the priorities and is going to set the priorities and everybody is going to be subservient even with their input there are going to be subservient to a national commission and w

the problem though became in this part of the decade in the persian period in a sense there was at a very early stage the dangers and putting mortgages into the structures. the experiment doing mortgages and backed away because they felt the data wasn't there. five or six years later as the bubble became crazier other banks began to make the similar experiments and took a very different decision. similarly, jpmorgan group realized this super senior, the edna to the super senior was on the balance sheet and took the decision to try to get rid of it. fast forward to citigroup merrill lynch and a very different decision was taken jpmorgan basically cut its credit lines in 2002, 2003 because the pulp structures didn't make much sense. again, a very different decision was made by other banks. and i say that not because i think that jpmorgan was somehow superior beings who had a wonderful insight and geniuses to dodge the dribble, nothing is further from the church, they've made mistakes but it's been each to easy to see all bankers are stupid and risky and somehow what happened wis inevit

foreign oil by as much a two million barrels a day by 2030, which is as much as we export from the persian gulf today. we'll use those moneys of billions of dollars -- these hundreds of billions of dollars instead right here on homegrown clean energy. we'll create millions of jobs, high-skilled, well-paying jobs that will focus on renewable energy and energy efficiency and do all that without adding a single penny to our national debt. mr. speaker, i especially want to thank mr. rangel, mr. waxman, mr. markey, mr. dingell, mr. inds lee, mr. gordon and their staff for the collaborative effort that went into the final provisions establishing a clean energy deployment administration. as a result of this effort, america is beginning to have an inget, well capitalized bank charged with the exclusive admission of deploying clean energy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan. mr. camp: thank you, mr. speaker. at this time, i yield one minute to a distinguished member of the ways and means committee, the gentlewoman from florida, ms. brown-waite. th

initial impetus behind these ideas were not bad, the problem became in this part of the decade in the persian time when in a sense there were a series of hard choices may not just by bankers but regulators and one of the ideas of the story is in the jpmorgan group actually spotted at an early stage some of the dangers inherent of putting them into the structures an experiment and a couple of times with the doing of mortgage cbo's and backed away from it because it felt it wasn't there. fibre six years later as the bubble became crazier other banks with two similar experiments and took a different position. similarly the jpmorgan group realizes they invented the idea of super senior was piling up in the balance sheet and tried to get rid of it. fess board to citigroup and merrill lynch with a different position taken. similarly jpmorgan basically quds its credit line in 2002 and 2003 because the thought the structure didn't make much sense. again a very different decision was made by other banks. i say that not because i think that jpmorgan was somehow superior alien beings who have wonderful

course of planning our wedding and there's a chapter in mygcw k devoted to this and it's called "the persian bride's handbook." it looks at weddings in iran and, of course, i being the woman, the one who was planning the wedding, and was quite astonished by the world that i encountered in iran, the world of weddings and what a middle class dream it had become to have an extravagant, beautiful, over the top wedding. being from california, i was very familiar with, of course, this culture of extravagance of a wedding. and i didn't expect to find it in iran and the middle class who could certainly not afford these kinds of lavish spectacles. it all started for me when i started looking for wedding coordinators to help me plan our wedding.!í ask my friends and i started to go around with my fiance at the time to meet them and was quite amazed -- they were sort of characters out of a hollywood film and would run these empires, these g& wedding-coordinating empires and we would be ushered in and be taken into a room that was devoted to the food that would be served at the wedding and there would