talk more about the upcoming gathering in istanbul let's go to joy poindexter blogger and peace activist. thank you for joining us so damascus says the battle to topple the state is over but it's not true given that arms are reportedly continuing to flow into rebel hands you know i mean i think as long as there's fighting going on and long as there is interference coming from other countries or road organizations. arming one side if you know that we're not going to really see an end to this now why do you think the assad regime has if you guys refuse to lay down its arms for us in response to kofi annan appeal to stop military activities as the stronger party in a good faith gesture. well i mean i think that they obviously are under pressure whether it's from you know the members of their own party or people on the outside looking in and seeing that as an act of weakness perhaps they're kind of acrobatics up against the corner you know it's against a corner right now and maybe doing that might give the rebels even more of an incentive to continue on because a lot of these cease fire agre

alan poindexter -- [applause] became the largest contingent in spa ever at one time, 13 people. and welcome pilots bill reedy -- [applause] -- don williams -- [applause] -- joe allen -- [applause] -- chris ferguson -- a [applause] -- tom jones [applause] -- ] -- [applause] tom jones -- [applause] can writer. -- ken ritenour. [applause] steve robinson [applause] casey tornapplause] -- casey thornton. [applause] and last but not least, payload specialist, john glenn. [applaus this is one of the greatest gatherings of astronauts probably in the history of nasa. [applause] the things we have to do to become an astronaut are incredible. but when you are commander, you are the top of the bunch. this is only a handful of the incredible people at nasa. they are risking their lives every day in space and developing new capabilities to get there. you will not see this again either. 2012 is the 100 anniversary of the marine corps aviation. and we will celebrate this the entire year, and you will see to read of it as a evidence by the new zocor -- the drum and bugle corps. you will see more

. >> you should be wearing your pocket protecter poindexter. >> there i see a chance that having feweray jump through, the problem in america is not the i.p.o.'s, it's once those people sold off and had all the money. the i.p.o.'s are actually a vehicle for getting business started and creating jobs, then all the power to the president. i understand what you're saying, that his reluctance on challenging and on standing in the way of legislation that clearly would only help the one percent is devastating. when you look at his intentions, when you hear him talking about the buffet rule, when you hear him talking he is carrying the message as a candidate now of the 99% not the 1%. >> the problem is i don't believe him. >> i know you don't believe him. >> the bush tax cuts, he said i'm going to repeal them for the rich. he didn't do it. i'll be as bold to say if he wins reelection i don't believe he'll repeal the bush tax cuts for the rich. >> if we get him enough help he will. >> we gave him an overwhelming majority in the house and senate at one point, 60 senators mostly on our side and

i got back on the right track and they were calling me nerd and poindexter and uncle tom but i always shut them up by saying one thing. let's see what i'm doing in 20 years and let's see what you are doing in 20 years. they must have believe me because when i graduated from high school they all voted me most like you to succeed. that means that they knew what was necessary and were too lazy and trifling for doing it themselves. unfortunately it is not restricted to just high school. you will find negative peer pressure in all aspects of your life. people trying to control your life, trying to control your behavior. you are abnormal and you have got to learn to think for yourself. and to move forward. in a logical way, and not in a political way. it will make all the difference in the world. but you know when i did get back on track, there was one thing, overriding thing, that i wanted to do. i wanted to be a contestant on my favorite program, ge college bowl. anybody remember ge college bowl? that was my favorite tv program. came on every sunday at 6:00. they pitted two colleges again

i got back on the right track for never calling me nerd and poindexter and uncle tom. but i would always shut them up by saying one thing. i say let's see what i'm doing in 20 years and see what you're doing in 20 years. they must've believed me because when i graduate from high school they'll put me most likely to succeed. that's the negative peer pressure is. unfortunately it is not restricted to just high schools. you will find the negative peer pressure in all aspects of your life. people trying to control your life, trying to control your behavior. your abnormal and we've got to learn to think for ourselves and to move forward. you know, in a logical way and not in a political way. it will make all the difference in the world. but you know, when i take it back on track, there is one thing -- overriding thing i wanted to do. i wanted to be a contestant on a feeder program, ge college ball. there's a few people. that was my favorite tv program that came on every sunday at 6:00. they pitted two colleges against each other. they would ask questions that science, math,

they were calling me nerd and poindexter and uncle tom. i would always shut them up. let's see what you're doing in 20 years. they must have believed me. they voted me most likely to succeed. that means that they knew what was necessary to succeed, but they were too lazy to do it themselves. that is what peer pressure is. unfortunately, it is not constructed to just high school. you will find that there is your pressure in all aspects of your life. people trying to control your life. people trying to control your behavior. you have to learn to think for yourselves and move forward in a logical way. not in a political way. it will make all the difference in the world. when i did get back on track, there was one thing, one overriding thing that i wanted to do. i wanted to be a contestant on my favorite program. gd college ball. that was my favorite program that came on sunday. they would ask questions about science, history, math, geography -- i was really good about stuff. they would also ask questions about classical art and music. there is no way you're going to lear

sterko.o [applause] alan poindexter -- [applause] became the largest contingent in space ever at oneus, 13 more shuttle astronauts. and welcome pilots bill reedy -- [applause] -- don williams -- [applause] -- joe allen -- [applause] -- chris ferguson -- a [applause] -- tom jones [applause] -- ] -- [applause] tom jones -- [applause] can writer. -- ken ritenour. [applause] steve robinson [applause] casey torn [applause] and last but not least, payload specialist, john glenn. [applause] this is one of the greatest gatherings of astronauts probably in the history of nasa. [applause] the things we have to do to become an astronaut are incredible. but when you are commander, you are the top of the bunch. this is only a handful of the incredible people at nasa. they are risking their lives every day in space and developing new capabilities to get there. you will not see this again either. 2012 is the 100 anniversary of the marine corps aviation. and we will celebrate this the entire year, and you will see to read of it as a evidence by the new zocor -- the drum and bugle corps. he was a dis

alan poindexter -- [applause] became the large contingent in space ever at one time, 13 people. astronauts. and welcome pilots bill reedy -- [applause] -- don williams -- [applause] -- joe allen -- [applause] -- chris ferguson -- a [applause] -- tom jones [applause] -- ] -- [applause] tom jones -- [applause] can writer. -- ken ritenour. [applause] steve robinson [applause] casey torn [applause] -- casey thornton. [applause] and last but not least, payload specialist, john glenn. [applause] this is one of the greatest gatherings of astronauts probably in the history of nasa. [applause] the things we have to do to become an astronaut are incredible. but when you are commander, you are the top of the bunch. is is only a handful of the incredible people at nasa. they are risking their lives every day in space and developing new capabilities to get there. you will not see this again either. 2012 is the 100 anniversary of the mane corps aviation. and we will celebrate this the entire year, and you will see toead of it as a evidence by the new zocor -- the drum and bugle corps. you wil

alan poindexter and crew on the space station became the largest contingent ever in space at one timeo with us, 13 more shuttle astronauts. we welcome pilots bill reedy, don william, doe allen -- joe allen, chris ferguson, patrick forrester, john grunsville, tom jones, janet combante, leland melvin, hollow nespoli, ken wrightman, steve robinson, casey thornton, and now last but not least, payload specialist, too, john glenn. [applause] thank you. ok. [laughter] this is one of the greatest gatherings of astronauts probably in the history of nasa. [applause] the things that they have tended to become an astronaut are incredible, but when you are commander -- this is harder than i thought it was going to be. when our commander, you are at the top of the clutch, but this is only a handful of people that missed their lives every day in space and developing new capabilities to get there. you are experiencing something that is not only this -- you are not going to see this again, either. 2012 is the 100 anniversary of aviation, and we are going to celebrate that here in this entire year. you