i wanted to ask ralph to start us off, and, ralph, the issue is very simple. right now as we look at the presidential election, we see a republican electorate that is not excited about their front-runner, but 75% of republican voters think that mitt romney will be the nominee. how do you see this playing out? >> the political landscape is littered with imponderables and improbables and unknowables far later in the contest than it usually is. and i hate to say this at a conservative political action conference, but none of these things as i see are particularly good. intensity has gone from -- usually it's with republicans. polling i've seen shows that intensity and enthusiasm about voting is now with the democrats. i regard that as a very bad sign. the enthusiasm among republican voters for any of the candidates is dangerously low. so that if you have -- no matter who you have win this, you have to be an extreme partisan to believe it's not going on be mitt romney. he just has the money to get the job done and go all the way to the end zone. that is for the no

it doesn't sound genuine at all. >> ralph, does it sound genuine to you? do you believe he was a sincerely conservative governor? do you think the people in the room believered that? >> well, i believe that his advisers feel strongly and he believes, anderson, that his entire tenure at governor during the course of the campaign has been buffeted by his opponents, by the media, by critics and boiled down and distilled really solely to the health care plan, and i think he felt, and it was a good call that he needed to let them know he cut taxes 19 times, cut spending $3 billion, balanced four budgets, left $2 billion in a rainy day fund, and left a state that he inherited in a fiscal night mire, left it with one of the best fiscal situations in the country with unemployment hovering around 4%. and he had every right to make that case. >> but ralph, in 2002 when he was running, he said he was not a partisan republican and describing himself as anything but severely conservative back then. >> sure. i don't disagree with that, anderson, and i have been doing th

it doesn't sound genuine at all. >> ralph, does it sound genuine to you? do you believe he was a sincerely conservative governor? do you think the people in the room believered that? >> well, i believe that his advisers feel strongly and he believes, anderson, that his entire tenure at governor during the course of the campaign has been buffeted by his opponents, by the media, by critics and boiled down and distilled really solely to the health care plan, and i think he felt, and it was a good call that he needed to let them know he cut taxes 19 times, cut spending $3 billion, balanced four budgets, left $2 billion in a rainy day fund, and left a state that he inherited in a fiscal night mire, left it with one of the best fiscal situations in the country with unemployment hovering around 4%. and he had every right to make that case. >> but ralph, in 2002 when he was running, he said he was not a partisan republican and describing himself as anything but severely conservative back then. >> sure. i don't disagree with that, anderson, and i have been doing th

it doesn't sound genuine at all. >> ralph, does it sound genuine to you? do you believe he was a sincerely conservative republican governor? >> well, i believe that his advisers feel strongly and he believes that the entire teen ur as governor in the course of the campaign haseen buffeted by the opponents and the mediacrit to the health care plan, and it is a good call that he cut taxes 19 times and cut spending $3 billion and balanced four budgets and left $2 billion in a rainy day fund and left a state that he inherited in a fiscal nightmare and left it with one of the best fiscal situations in the country and unemployment hovering around 4%, and he had every right to make that case. >> but rafflph, in 2002 when he was running, he said he was not a partisan republican and describing himself as anything but severely conservative back then. >> sure. i don't disagree with that, anderson, and i have been doing this a long time and james have been doing this a long time. we both had good friends and clients in the case when we have been u consultaconsultants

because i treasure another man's life just like i treasure my own. >> reporter: ralph's concerns are supported by tragic facts. every day in this country, 600 drivers over the age of 65 are involved in an accident. and nine of them are killed. what are the warning signs your loved one is in trouble? >> the best thing is ride along. when you're riding along observe for things. is their reaction time slow? are they getting lost? is their loved one really struggling to judge distances as they merge into traffic? >> reporter: 33 states have begun to impose more stringent requirements on drivers over age 65. pennsylvania where ralph lives is one of them. >> this last spring they picked me at random and sent me a nice letter and said, send in your medical records and you'll be able to drive your vehicle. >> reporter: were you insulted? >> no. not at all. i was happy. >> i'm happy about that, too. >> it gave me more confidence because i'm okay. >> reporter: after making a mutual decision with his children, ralph's free to drive, but only during the day and around the neighborhood he's lived

he says ralph, i need you to come with me. ralph goes, oh, i guess i'm going to jail on easter. i better call my deacons. so he knows he's not having to preach on easter sunday. he and martin luther king walk out and lead a demonstration and what happens? they get arrested really fast. i think they managed to walk two blocks and they are arrested. the cops pick -- they almost literally pick him up, by the belt in the back. they lift him and toss him into the wagon. yes? >> i was reading and i was shocked at the kind of religious parallels between king and what's in the bible. with him going, kind of going to jail, you could say he's being crucified and coming back and rejuvenating it. it was staggering once you look at it. >> it is why i find this entire story so tremendously moving. it's exactly that. it's exactly that. because he was arrested, and they didn't just put him in jail, they put him in solitary confinement. they put him in the hole. the only light came from a little window as he wrote later at the top of the cell. he was alone in a tomb-like place for easter weekend

coach hitting an all-time high and ralph lauren as well. is there more room to run for these stocks? and the financial rally continues. bank of america pushing above eight. but are the gains getting too hot to handle? the traders take their positions on two highly anticipated earnings reports at the close, groupon and cicso. welcome to the "fast money halftime report." let's start the trade. blackrock ceo larry fink says investors should be 100% in equities. let's find out if the traders agree with that bullish sentiment. what percent of your portfolio right now, b.k., do you have in stocks? >> very little. the only thing i have, as i mentioned on monday is i have the s&p calls, upside calls. but everything else i took profits on. i don't necessarily disagree with mr. fink. but since we've been up 15%, 20% off the lows, this is not the place to start buying hand over fist. you can buy stocks on a pullback and maybe this is going to be the only pullback we get. but you have to be very cautious here. >> a week ago you said basically just that

let's bail him out. >> ralph tried his best.e was short of cash since he invested so much with mike. but he offered his credit card for the $10,000 bail. and then, he got the shock of his life. when the bail bondsman wouldn't take a chance on mike grogan. why? >> he said this man has other names other than mike grogan. >> other names? his bride-to-be couldn't believe it either. i can't imagine the night before your wedding, the man you're going to spend the rest of your life with -- >> yeah. >> -- is in the back of a police car and a cop is showing you a picture saying, it isn't even him. >> yeah. >> help us understand what that feels like. >> i don't think anybody can understand. it is very -- it is very surreal and horrible. >> a bride left at the altar. friends left with huge debts on luxury cars and an old couple who had invested their life savings. they all wanted to know if this man wasn't mike grogan, navy s.e.a.l., football star, millionaire, then who was he? the answer was more complicated than they could imagine. comin

there are two pieces by ralph waldo emerson largely dealing with emancipation. how influential were his writings and speeches on abraham lincoln dealing with >> he registers at a contemporary type. the op ed columnist. the first piece was calling for an emancipation proclamation. it is the demand of civilizat n civilization. all else is intrigue. he had been crusading on this question for a long time. really you can see him -- you feel him writing to an audience of one, trying to stiffen lincoln's spine. after it is issued and emerson writes at the end of that year celebrating its arrival. he says, though, but it better not just be a piece of paper. he needs to stand up and deliver on the promise that is made here. >> and his tone is victorious almost. >> and yet still a warning that we need to back it up and put actions where our words are. >> we're going to hold your feet to the fire here. >> so this is one of two pieces. you have a piece by harriet beacher stowe. she responds to the women of great britain. how did that come about? >> she had a relationship wi

has settled a civil suit against ralph cioffi and matthew tanny of the now defunct bear stearns as you see they knowingly fraudulent lee sold fraudulent mortgages to the likes of cal pers the biggest pension fund in the world and now what their punishment is. chump change according to the federal judge in brooklyn overseeing the case chalfie who made twenty two million dollars in two thousand and five and two thousand and six at bear stearns who paid just eight hundred thousand dollars and agreed to a three year ban from the securities industry ten mean who is paid four point four million in his last two years that bear stearns will pay two hundred fifty thousand dollars and agree to a two year ban we need these guys they shovel the ape poop. they're the shovellers that's their job so embarrassed turns or some other bank emits a few trillion dollars' worth of toxic sludge from the orifice of the anus of their investment bank i mean that's all jamie diamond is just one big orifice that's excluding banking toxicity in the form of toxic back sludge you need to poop sweepers that's what th

he puts his hand up and says ralph, i need you to come with me. and abernathy goes, oh, i guess i'm going to jail on easter. i better call my deacons. and so he knows he's not having to preach on easter sunday. and he and martin luther king walk out and they lead a demonstration and what happens? >> they get arrested. >> they get arrested really fast. i think they managed to walk about two blocks and they're arrested. the cops pick up -- they almost literally pick him up. they pick him up by the belt in the back. it's almost like they lift him and almost toss him into the paddy wagon. >> yes, kareem? >> when i was reading, i was kind of shocked at the religious parallels between king and, like, what's in the bible. with him kind of going to jail, like, you could say he's being crucified in a way and then coming back and rejuvenating the entire movement. like his ultimate resurrection, it's kind of staggering once you look at it. >> kareem, it is why i find the -- why i find this entire story so tremendously moving. it's exactly that. it's exactly

thank you, author and stanford professor ralph richard banks.ll be right back. >>> we wanted to mention that dr. banks is speak tomorrow at the common wealth club in tafer and we have all the information on our website, go to cbssf.com and click on links and numbers. >>> meantime balancing the needs of his city and juggling the expectation for the economy in america's cup, plus all of the other issues he is dealing with. we are dealing with san francisco mayor. >> he has a full plate but first we asked the mayor what is his biggest surprise so far? his answer? >> i have to do more planning. every decision now has four year implications and i have to spend more time planning all my decisions. >> your decisions that? >> he did. he worked for me. at the time. >> so he did the planning for you. >> he was in charge of all of that. whether it was -- >> interesting point because it is a dominoes you to look down the roads at whatever decision now is don't you have to sit there and go how will this come back to help me or haunt me. >> that's right. and

apple, ralph lauren, coach all making highs today. this is people just sticking to what's working, i guess, in a lot of ways. it's not an overly bullish sign for the breadth of the market. but if you have other things not working so well, maybe it's just like a flight to quality in some ways. >> i think apple unlike the other two names is actually kind of a value stock. i think what a lot of people might be hoping is an opportunity to buy it lower. when they didn't get that opportunity, then there wasn't anybody coming in selling. in the other valuation, i'm concerned. we have some potential bad news on the horizon. when i look at those names. ralph lauren is -- the valuation always seems a bit high. >> i don't know if these are growth companies or consumer companies. >> can't be both? >> they can. but is apple a growth company? the pe would say no. the only thing that grows with apple is the balance in your statement. but apple doesn't trade at a humongous. which had a fantastic day. and not all the social media names are doing well

big lots, jcpenney, or ralph lauren? now, the payoff.n. >>> welcome back to "closing bell." i'm seema mody. the nasdaq up .3%. chip stocks continue to provide strength to the nasdaq. a lot of these companies are seeing a recovery in demand and optimistic on seeing increase in corporate i.p. spending in 2012. take a look at the chart, a very clear spread. some of the movers in the semiconductor space, look at invidia, ending a patent dispute going back to 2008. the market always likes resolutions. bill? >> seema, thank you very much. we're heading to the close. about 19 minutes left here. time for a quick smarcheck on t nasdaq. a fresh 11-year high, on course for its sixth gain in the last seven sessions. up 9 points right now at 2913. it was down 11 at the day's lows around noontime eastern time today. volatility index has popped up, up 3% today. we're at 18 and change. unless it gets back to 20, you're not exactly seeing a yellow flag being waved. the last time it was above 20 was around january the 18th. maria, say hi to my friend warr

the sacramento bee reporting 75% of longtime participants did not get tickets in the ralph.pants are the ones who make floats and displays that define burning man. organizers have 10,000 tickets left and there are rumors they'll give them out to the performers and art groups that were left out. burning man ralph ticket for the very first time ever to try to crack down on scalpers. >>> looking to get back on your feet and into a new job, there's help in oakland. nbc bay area news is sponsoring the diversity and veterans career fair happening now at the alameda county training and education center. this is on 12th street, just began and we will continue until 3:00 this afternoon. nbc bay area is recruiting workers out there today with the department of veterans affairs, the university of california berkeley, clear channel and aflac, among some others. >>> banana sam he is back in action. how you can visit san usr. primate just aheadans .mo notor primate just aad. great! at progressive, you can compare rates side by side so you get the same coverage, often for less. wow! that i

earlier, we spoke to ralph silver, a banking analyst, and he said, look, we've got to bonuses.er we could see many of these talented individuals leaving the country and going elsewhere. of course, they're the ones who are benefiting in other countries. >> there's always risks involved here. it's the nature of the business. it's a risky business. so, we have to pay these guys to keep them, butç we have to pay them only the amount that we need to pay them to keep them so they don't move on. bob diamond is a realñvç flight risk, because, a, he's american, and b, barclays makes most of its money in america. >> but this is a footnote to that. bob diamond did a conference call with various analysts,ç a somebody had the courage to qa21:urpá'sç happen with this bonus? and he said, this is about results today, and apparently it was a very crisp reply and they moved on.  bonuses, but ralph makes a fair point as well. there's an india-e.u. summit, and many question how much progress, if any, is being made. >> it's interesting, because what they're trying to do is to generate a free tr

or you also start to get portrait painters like ralph earl. ralph earl who trains, first starts out in massachusetts, then moves to great britain during the revolution. he's a loyalist. 183, he looks around, decides this is a time to come back to the now united states. again, although he is trained in the british style, he is able to paint in a brushy mode like sir joshua reynolds. make maybe not quite like sir joshua reynolds. connecticut, to paint elijah boredman, the owner of a store and prominent merchant, he paints in an older, liny flat mode. he also paints boardman, as you can see this is a huge seven-foot portrait. it almost looks like boardman is about to step off of the canvas and join us in the room, or you can also get something like james wilson, who moves to not just making the 13 inch globes but he also downsizes so to speak, and this is a three inch globe. this is much cheaper and less information on the globe, but ranged now in a place and at a cost that many more people could afford. so again, you are getting a wider range an

good to have you here today, ralph. drew von bergen is among several former ncp presidents e and is public relations director with the national association of letter carriers. so that's how he got his ticket. also joining us today is john cosgrove. he is our senior surviving npc first postal forum. and for those of you who aren't club members and don't know john's story, he was inaugurated 51 years ago this next january. so, john was inaugurated when jfk came over and offered him congratulations that day. i'm very happy that john can join us today as well. ron stroman is the deputy thank you for being here, ron. skip over the podium for just a moment. angela gryling-keen is a reporter for "bloomberg news," new chair of the speakers committee and also our membership secretary. thank you for all of that. skip over the speaker for just a moment. amy morris is the organizer of today's luncheon. this is her first and she's done a fabulous job. thank you for all of that. and she is executive editor and anchor for federal news

and i just can't help but pick up on that ralph reed point. he said presidents speech was thee ologically thread bare. before i came over here, i found this quotation from pope john paul ii who many would regard as theologically sophisticated and see him as a conservative. he said, the needs of the poor must take priority over the desires of the rich. and the rights of the workers over the max mization of profit. that sounds like it has a lot of relevance to this campaign we're in the middle of. >> what explains the difference in the partisan interpretation of remarks like that? you saw the president today in that speech making remarks much -- that echoed those of pope john paul there, also that had with big lickal ill biblical sions about how to treat the rich and the pour in society. it is treated informally as being something that say technical partisan exercise where he's throwing religious stuff out there to sort of give a dog a bone. nobody in beltway politics at all reads any legitimacy at all into his religious belief, where as rick sa

his brother ralph is there to film it.mates the 600 foot drop will last eight seconds, giving him a four second freefall before he has to pull the rip cord. >> if you don't pull your chute in time, you're going to hit the ground. that will make it dangerous. >> simply jumping off a bridge isn't insane enough for alex so he decides to make things a bit more interesting. >> i tried to do a front flip half twist into a back flip for my first jump at like 5:00 in the morning. i was barely awake and just not coherent with myself. >> alex's fancy flip work costs him more time than he can afford. he can't deploy his chute in the four second time limit and now he's deep into the danger zone. >> he just died. >> the ground was coming up really fast and i was like freaking out. i just threw my pilot chute as fast as i could. >> but it isn't fast enough. alex hits the ground traveling more than 100 miles per hour. >> when i hit the ground it was lights out. i woke up about 15 seconds later on my back floating downstream in a daze abo

and ralph peters. fox news strategic analyst. spent much of his career working as a military intelligence officer. i want to start with you, ramp ramp -- with you, ralph. you are calling this the worst crisis we have faced in afghanistan. >> i watched the soviets go into afghanistan. in their decade in afghanistan, the soviets actually made more progress than we have. and what we saw in this week of crazy keadly demonstrations -- deadly demonstrations was the realization of how little effect we have had, how little our sacrifices have changed afghan society. how we are not wanted. they are not going to become good americans it's a broken, primitive, savage society and not worth another drop of american blood. megyn: general, you look at this, and americans ask with all we have done over there, then some of our troops burn the holy books, but there is no appreciation for everything else we have done, we are judge bid this single incident? >> i have to agree with virtually everything ralph said. the fact is, my concern when the pre

let's go to ralph in florida. ralph? >> caller: boo-yah, jim. from spring hall, the retirement capital of the northeast. >> i didn't know that. see? i'm learning something every day on this show. this show is just a brain trust. what's up? >> caller: there you go. my stock of concern, jim, is starwood hotels. about a year ago, you recommended it. i did my homework. it looked good. i purchased it. after that, it started to go downhill. and every time it dropped two to three points, i bought more, i bought more. and now suddenly it reversed. i'm almost even on it. >> all right. >> caller: and what would you do? >> ralph, my charitable trust owns it. we've had the ceo on the show. china is booming. europe has held up very well. you stay long with the stock. i think it drops to $51. you pull the trigger and buy more. i would like to go to shirley in north carolina now. shirley? >> caller: good afternoon, jim cramer. this is shirley calling. i need help with tiffany's. i purchased tiffany's in 2010 in january. and wondered if it is time to sell or to

ralph sharon, my great friend and musician, for finding this song. i was in little rock, arkansas, and we were on our way for the first time in my life. he found a song, and he said, "why don't we do this in san francisco?" i said ok, and i have no idea, but there was a bartender who said, cassette and i don't mean to interrupt your rehearsal, but if you record that song, i'm going to be the first customer -- "i don't mean to interrupt your rehearsal, but if you record that song, i'm going to be the first customer." as i started singing it, the people came up and said, "you have to record the song immediately." i always thought it would be a local song in the area, but the fact that it has become such an international song throughout the world -- everybody loves it, and they love this city. it reminds me of one time when i was playing the fairmont hotel, gorbachev from russia with here and travel throughout the whole united states and in front of the company could tell, i was listening to him speak about san francisco. he said, "i traveled to every c

i think ralph is right on that.ut there are a lot of catholic voters who actually believe that that speech was completely appropriate and who idolize jfk and that could hurt him with catholic voters and santorum is a catholic. >> let me ask you a question about mitt romney. what we saw was mitt romney who was sort of going into the social realm briefly, has moved out of it and is back attacking rick santorum, but on the economy and jobs. >> yeah. i think they've decided th they -- it's probably a really good inside the romney campaign fight between the social guys and economic guys. i think what they found, what happened was i think in colorado, the certainly conservatives overperformed dramatically because it was right after the contraception decision by the department of haeealth and human service, it boiled up over the weekend. the santorum people said, well, if we can energize our base, we can overcome the economic message from romney and we can't afford to drive that message to romney. on the other hand, can af

of the things that i'm most author about the green party one of the main reasons that i voted for ralph nader in two thousand i lived in vermont i knew i could make my vote would much affect the presidential election but i wanted the green party to get the federal matching funds and it's because there are at that time two thousand there were something like three. thirty communities across the country i'm not sure san francisco had by that point yet or not but they're the largest had adopted instead of voting something that is opposed by both democrats and republicans because it would break the doowop away and the green party has been doing this in at the community level and i just have been aggressively encouraging people for ever to get involved with the green party at the local level even if you're going to vote for a democrat or republican at the national level. although i have no problems as i saw the. top of the national post the green party doing right now good grade one something great. you know as you know there are a lot of unhappy campers out there you know with the crisis in