he grew up in rockville, maryland, till he was 9 years old and then his parents moved to tampa wheres in spring training. he always wanted to meel meet cal. when he was 7 years old, his patients took him to camden yards and waited for the right- field line to meet cal ripken. he was going to throw his hat and ball on the field so cal would drop it. he thought would he pick it up, sign it and give it back to him, but chris' timing was all wrong. he threw the hat and ball behind cal and toad beg a security guard to get his hat and ball back. he says hopefully now that i'm in the big leagues, i'll have a clabs to -- clans to meet cal ripken. >> jim: well, if the orioles hosted the marlins, we might have made that happen. that's a nice story out of rockville, maryland. >> buck: yeah, i can see him too an 8-year-old going he's going to pickup my hat and, would you sign it, plees please. he never saw it. you know he would have had he seen it. he was great signing autographs. at the end of his career, i don't know how he did t every night standing out there signing autographs for hours afte

host: rockville, maryland. democrat line. you are on with john sherman. caller: thank you so much. i'm basically calling in response to the myriad issues facing the current administration right now. i did not see our foreign policy to change it all that much. i am by no means an anti-semitic person. but i would like to say, however, that there seems to be a certain dysfunctional society as a whole. our finance rules need to be reformed. too many senators are beholden to to any interest. -- too many interests. guest: when you start saying that u.s. corporations are controlled by israel, you seem to be using as real as a code for jewish people. you may be crossing the line here. the fact is, those who would have us a piece al qaeda, that if it led to the middle east, that would satisfy their appetite. these are folks who have not studied al qaeda. for example, they talk about spain being returned to the caliphate. so you can say that the ethnic cleansing of middle eastern jews would be significant to satisfy al qaeda, but only if you do not know their claims on spain. if you read car

host: rockville, md. 3 independent color. go ahead. caller: [inaudible] we wake up in the last three months and realize we have a healthcare crisis when republicans had the white house for eight years? we had a problem forever. they need the guts to confront the problem. the second thing, with this health issue, they want you to get the talking points. we have already hurt them. let's address the problem. what is the solution? what type of cost do you have in congress, how much does it cost you? why do you say that americans bring you in, and you talk about government -- why do americans not deserve the type of coverage you have? guest: let me just say that first of all, republicans have led the reform effort in medicare, which is under the authority of a committee of mine. we passed prescription part b, which brought drug coverage to seniors. that means seniors no longer have to choose between medicines and food. that was a major reform. i was also very active in the reforms in medicare, bringing prevention for the first time. it had

. >> host: rockville maryland, ellis, republican line. >> caller: thank you for taking my call. is anyone looked at the fact that a good way to handle the healthcare system would be to put it in the free marketplace where there is no insurance company, no government subsidies, to make a truly competitive. in other words a patient would pay for doctors' visits themselves and there could be a large-- major catastrophe. >> guest: i think that is in essence the kind of debate that we should be have been. the problem with it being totally paid out of pocket so to speak is that the costs are astronomical when someone truly get sick and when you see bills that can be $100,000 or more, a bypass operation are treating a cancer patient. when people really get sick, those are catastrophic events that you need to have insurance that i don't care how wealthy why are, those bills won't break the bank. however, that this mean bebchuk what you are suggesting is unfeasible for a lesser cost. and, i think we need to look it that and i think that really is the essence of what went on and what was