how do the bloggers access the internet then? they go online at sadr cafÉs -- cyber cafes and universities. hotels became another option in 2000 age when the government lifted regulations that forbade its ordinary citizens from entering tourist venues. but even at these places, cuban's,s, bloggers, face hardship. sending emails, for example, can take from half an hour to one hour, and the cost, it is very costly, and the internet at hotels and at cyber cafes, it costs around 160 paces -- pesos, which is about $6, almost one- third of a cuban monthly salary. bloggers say the internet is a little better. they can access a cluster of cuban websites. the dutch embassy and another offer a space where bloggers can go online, but there are some bloggers that shy away from going to embassies because they think that's they may be perceived as members of the political opposition. the cuban government has put in place a very regressive regulatory framework, and it has explicit censorship rules described in a decree in 1996. online informati

at the same time, these blotters -- these blogger are different from the journalists in the 1990's.t so politically motivated. they're not so confrontational. did not criticize the government harshly, but they examine issues that cubans face daily. the very critical, but not confrontational. this may be another aspect of the issue. but taking into account what happened with the independent press as they gain more authority, finally, the government decided in 2003 that it was enough and they launched a massive crackdown. i do not think this can be precluded. we may see a future that some of these bloggers will be sent to jail. >> just briefly on the generational disconnect, i think -- just a clear point that if there is any big political lesson that we can take away from internal politics in 2009 is that the old guard is still on top. castro is still running the country in his late 70's, and the no. 2 figure in the government is a i you're older than role -- is a year older than him. you have the dismissal of their people and i think there is clearly a mass of generational gap betwee

why don't they arrest the blotters -- these bloggers and put them in jail? se may be signs of that the regime is beginning to lose its will to crack down in the way that used to. >> i do not think so. i think that it has the will that it always has to keep the political control that it once. there might be members -- the political control that it o wants. role has a different approach. he is trying to preserve the system but make changes that will allow the system a little more space and more oxygen, mainly in the economic sphere. the only reason these people have not been thrown into jail is because they did the government to the punch. the government was not aware of these blocks until they had already become famous. by december 2007, when the big wall street journal cover article came out, the government -- i occasionally talk to diplomats in new york. they say that when she won the time magazine thing, they had to figure out who the woman was. you're supposed to be a cuban diplomat and he had to find -- read time magazine to find out who she was. i think

plumbers said that the government's intranet is -- bloggers say that the government's internet is a cheaperassies because they think that they may be perceived as members of the political opposition. the cuban government has been in place a very repressive regulatory system. ñrin 2009, they say they are intended to defend the country's security. on-line information is restricted also buy it. enter-ministry administration charge -- by an interministary a demonstration. -- by an interministary administration. into the nighinternet service pe to adopt measures to impeding access to sites and good customs and the use of publications that affected the integrity and security of the state. despite all of these limitations, bloggers still find ways to up load their stories, their posts. they write at home on personal computers. some of these computers are put together by black market parts. they loaded their information on flash drives that they take to cafes, hotels, or diplomatic venues. some say that they are able to sporadically post directly to their blogs, but, in fact, most of them e-mail th

i got to the point i asked the bloggers meeting would have ideas. it's hard. i can imagine -- >> guest: just today there were 70, 80 comments per our -- >> guest: a target so that's -- you never know where the next great idea is going to come from and i don't want to make it sound like great ideas never come from people within an area. but i do think that oftentimes some of the really great ideas come from the outside. >> host: one of the early places in the book where i scratched my head and thought i wonder if this is really accurate came in the very first vignette. it's about drunk driving and drug walking and he make the point if you look at the data and compare miles driven drunk and models walked drug people die anyhow your rate than when they walk from and this is used to the street in the beginning of the actual perspective of the book a lot of these things you think to be a subtle section are not settled at all. but i was struck by a move that you guys need, methodological move that i'm sure folks in the audience are stoked to hear that word, and i wan

insite or allow people who call themselves men to beat and drag through the streets women, like the bloggerw can you sleep after your subordinates cruel beat more than once a pregnant woman. how can you and you are government talk about the battle of ideas, when ideas constantly face repression. maybe your followers will not dare respond, but i continue to write. i'm on the long list of those who do not fear you, will answer. you act like that because you are a cruel man. insensitive to the pain and suffering of others, because loyal to your undemocratic and dick at that time orial regime, and that even the most minimal of openings can end the only thing that interests you staying in power. and finally, he wrote, speaking of my case in particular, i will respond to you without the need of first having to ask you the motives for such focused oppression. now he is 45 years old, was a political prisoner for 17 years. your government, he continued to write and it's repressive forces cannot forgive my only two and only crimes that for almost two decades of torture and crueltyy, you are not able

it takes a big organization and money, and so the lone blogger doesn't -- people say why do we need newspapers? we can have journalists. well, if it hadn't been for a newspaper or magazine like "time" i never would have gone to any of these places. you need an industrial organization that can help say, okay, we will train this journal journalist, pay his way. so you lose out on robert, and what happens in the blogosphere, and the digital round, including cable tv, when there's hundreds of choices, the way you attract an audience is to be a little louder, more opinionated, more provocative than others. when i was growing up, to show how old i am, i remember a newscaster saying, that's the way it, walter cronkite, and he had to try to get at least a third of the population watching him to succeed at cable tv now, whether it's fox news or anything else, you need to get maybe 2% of the nation watching, 3%. so what you do is you go after a hard core audience who would be -- who you can excite ideologically rather than try to get a mass audience where you have to sort of not offend people but by off

and so the lone blogger. people say why do we need newspapers. if it hadn't been for a newspaper or a magazine like time, i never would've gone to any of these places. you need an industrial organization that can help say okay will train as journalists, pay is way. so you lose out on reporting. what particular happens in the blogosphere and the digital realm including cable tv is when there's hundreds of choices, the way you attract and not in is to be a little bit louder, more opinionated, more provocative than others. when i was growing up to show how old i am, you know, i remember a newscast that would say that's the way it is. it would be walter cronkite and for him to succeed because they're only three networks he had to try to get at least a third of the population watching. to succeed at cable tv now, whether it's fox news or anything else you need to get maybe 2% of the nation watching, 3% of the nation watching. so what should do is go after a hard-core audience who you can excite ideologically, rather than try to get a mass audience whe

after the release of our letter, it was interesting to read some of the bloggers, some of the pundits, they actually argued that targeted relief was unneeded. and what we proposed is not based on race. i want to be clear on that. it's based on need. we want to ensure that our resources are targeted to areas of greatest hardship. for example, here's some of the facts regarding the african-american community. that are indisputable. the unemployment rate for african-americans is nearly twice that of whites. 49.4% of african-americans 16 to 19 years of age were unemployed in november. nearly 28% of african-americans received food aid, compared to 15% of latinos and 8% of whites. recent african-american college graduates are unemployed at higher rates than their white counterparts, and african-american workers remain unemployed five weeks longer than the rest of americans. more than 24% of african-americans are living below the poverty lines and african-americans are 55% more likely to be unemployed than white americans. african-americans have 2.3 times the infant mortality rate as non-his

this has a chance to drag out into the spring. blogger that the bill is out there, republicans would tell you that they have to move controversial things through quickly and the longer it is out there, there is less of a chance that it will happen. it has been very slow progress, the upper chamber passing the bill by the end of this year. republicans are going to be doing everything, whether it is amendments or filibustering, to make sure that this drags out for a while. host: the said bill got a boost from a congressional budget office report according to one report. what does this say? guest: it is good news/bad news for democrats. on the one hand, it would be a better package of benefits for people out there without insurance. on the other hand, depending on who you are, if you are a small company you might not get the benefit compared to a large company in premiums. depending on whether you have a job and where your job is that, the charles grassley is saying -- the cbo is saying that it could go up or down a bit. so, this is somethin

this has a chance to drag out into the spring. blogger that the bill is out there, republicans would tell you that they have to move controversial things through quickly and the longer it is out there, there is less of a chance that it will happen. it has been very slow progress, the upper chamber passing the bill by the end of this year. republicans are going to be doing everything, whether it is amendments or filibustering, to make sure that this drags out for a while. host: the said bill got a boost from a congressional budget office report according to one report. what does this say? guest: it is good news/bad news for democrats. on the one hand, it would be a better package of benefits for people out there without insurance. on the other hand, depending on who you are, if you are a small company you might not get the benefit compared to a large company in premiums. depending on whether you have a job and where your job is that, the charles grassley is saying -- the cbo is saying that it could go up or down a bit. so, this is somethin

. >> michelle malkin is our guest on book tv, the blogger and best seller of four books.e hours sunday live at noon eastern on book-tv, part of a three day new year's weekend, starting friday. >> there is less than a month left to enter the c-span youth contest, top prize $5,000. create a video of the country's basic, it must incorporate c-span's programming and showing varying views. don't wait another minute, go to studentcam.org for contest rules. >> speak yesterday, author walter oleszek talks about the lobbying and the process. this is about an hour and 20 minutes. >> good morning. [inaudible] the special institute that trains people how to go into advocacy and lobbying. and this morning i am pleased to introduce a colleague of mine. he's been a distinguished adjunct professor and award winning adjunct professor. working here for 27 years. and he's a senior analyst in the government. and he's been there since the 60's. and most importantly he's really a world-class scholar when it comes to understanding congress and congressional procedures. he's got the best book on

themselves man to beat and drag women through the streets, such as [inaudible] and most recently the well-known blogger. i'm adding here for the record the well-known blogger although he doesn't say that she is well known internationally now. recently beaten simply as she was trying to go to a place of civil disobedience. how can you and others sleep after deliberately and maliciously knocking down on more than one location a woman that is several months' pregnant? how can you and your government speak about the battle of ideas when you are constantly repressing ideas through beatings, arrests and years of incarceration? mabey your followers cannot find or even attempt to find response. however, i find myself on long list of persons that are not afraid to respond. you act this way because you are a cruel man, and insensible to the pan suffering of others. to act this way because you are faithful to your anti-democratic and dictatorial vocation. because you are convinced that dictatorships like the one you preside over can only be maintained through terror and torture and because the most minimal open

when i hear bloggers say what is important for instance about journalism is just preserving the journalist, and you could have one individual with good journalism and that is enough. in fact bloggers can do wonderful things and the individual can do wonderful things. people like i.f. stone bernsten stilling great reporting but journalism, really good journalism is a team effort and you need editors and you need in "the new yorker"'s case fact checkers but when you do an investigative report right to a piece for the new yorker i have lots of people that are constantly involved in my life in one hand that piece into then they will say they-- k4 deberry delete in paragraph 20, now were you put it or think the story is all off. i think you need more of the following and i would do more reporting. that is the nature of what journalism is. the team is essential for great journalism. that is the truth for the new york times. you can replicate that unless you have the resources in some kind of institutional support to do that. if we lose that, we lose a lot in our society and in our democracy and

the blogger and author of four books including the best-selling culture of corruption takes your callse-mails and tweets. three hours with michelle malkin, sunday live at noon eastern on booktv, part of a three-day new year's weekend starting friday. >> again, we are returning live to american university's campaign management institute in about ten minutes. it resumes at 1:30 eastern time. in the meantime, we'll get a look at this morning's headlines from "washington journal." >> host: good morning to stone on our democrats' line, what do you think, is more security needed? >> caller: good morning to you and happy new year to your listeners. >> host: good morning. >> caller: i cannot believe an unsophisticated yes tin was able to virtual cause a midair holocaust. and now we're bringing prisoners here to the illinois state prisons to be incarcerated? we still haven't learned yet. this is the most despicable breach of security since 9/11, and i will not support any more people coming here until those issues are resolved. now, i am flummoxed over this, and the administration needs to get

i got linked in by a woman named mercken tennessee megan mccartal to a libertarian the blogger. 0 comments, you know, on the blog, on this one post. the rudest bunch of, you know, just whole bunch -- [laughter] some of them intelligent, i'm not taking issue, you know, with them disagreeing or agreeing, but it was bill crouse. it was the a different purpose than what i, at least, was trying to do on this blog. and i -- on this web site, if you l. and i think the it just shows that of course it's easier to, you know, cop an attitude and get response to that attitude and that tends to be self-fulfilling to extent that you go for consumer choice. >> but if you're -- >> can i -- >> dvd. >> but i want to say one more thing about this because i now work for rupert murdoch, and a lot of people think rupert murdoch is the guy, you know, he created fox news, and fox news had this attack on cnn, and there was a great deal of fear at the time he took over "the wall street journal" that he might use us to compete with with "the new york times" the same way he used fox news to compete with cnn

even data from the liberal bloggers showed partisan intensity had the generic ballot relatively close and definitely voting 39% definitely voting republican. the generic ballot they had democrats winning by four points. they have a four point democratic advantage with that intensity, will take that any day of the week as a republican. people come out to vote in that direction. republican party verses obama. this is the extent of what is going on in terms of trend data, people have more faith in the republican party than barack obama. who will do a better job handling the economy? left hand side, republicans from 923--11. health-care reform, republicans are 7 points down in health care reform. think about that. 7 points down on health care reform and it is not driven by but republicans are putting forward the reaction to what people are thinking about obama and what congress is doing on health care reform. the republican party feared even better against democrats rather than barack obama. two surveys. july survey, november survey, and the movement on the economy. plus 3. it has gone fr

the third instruction, most blogger consul into the tv using tables and use another set of cables too. if you were to follow this guide on justin.tv, you would not see television showing up on your channel. you would see a video game from an xbox or playstation. i just want to make that clear. and i do apologize for the header and the title because i do believe that that's slightly misleading. that's something that we will certainly correct. >> thank you. i want to thank all of you for your testimony and without objection, members will have five legislative days to submit any additional questions to you, which we will forward and ask that you and as proper as you can to be made part of the record. the record will remain open for five legislative days with the submission of any additional materials. thank you again. the hearing is adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> and the use of carbon monoxide detectors in homes. this is about an hour. >> call this hearing to order. today's subcommittee hearing will consider the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning and st

they say this was improperly posted by the agency, with reaction. but bloggerse able to remove the blogging. >> some of the compromised -- the blocking. >> an allied officer may be cleared without undergoing screenings. for example, this is not required for wheelchairs and orthopedic shoes. they are investigating this because they take the failure seriously. with the known terrorist target being aviation, it is a little bit late to get serious. >> the only early christmas present that terrorists will get is the resolve of the men and women of the department of homeland security, the president of the united states, and the men and women of the united states congress. we are here to make certain that going forward in this holiday season, we have the ability to cure quickly the unfortunate and vast mistakes that have been made. and i hope as we proceed, we will hear that steps are being taken to make certain of the safe travel of the families that will be visiting their families during what i hope will be a very happy holiday season. we're here to discuss the revel

the best-selling authors talk with "washington post" blogger brandt columnist ezra klein who has written several articles about the book. >> host: welcome to c-span2's "after words." my name is ezra klein from the washington post. i'm here with steven levitt and stephen dubner to talk about their new book, "superfreakonomics." thank you for being with us. to begin, tell me how we got to freakonomics. you have in one of the chapters the name and this is one of the big brands and economic publishing the the copublishing but it almost didn't happen. what were the other names? >> guest: there's a bad. the first was eray vision to be a guest, the idea was eray, being economics as a special power to look for and there would have to be some kind of character with a cape on his back. but my favorite that was bad but it was a great bad one was we should say levitt's sister, linda, came up with freakonomics and we had this book about everything and nothing and it was hard to name it properly but her other great terrible name was bin did light speed which was so bad it must be the best team ever. >

first i must comment on ben bernanke being named time magazine's person of the year yesterday. one financial bloggerote yesterday this was like rewarding the captain of the titanic for getting everyone off the sinking ship after he ramped it into the iceberg. and chairman ben bernanke may wonder if he really wants to be honored by an organization that has previously named people like joseph stall in twice, ora fat. hitler. among others. vladimir putin. richard nixon twice as their person of the year. i hope he at least turns out better than most of those people. four years ago when chairman ben bernanke was nominated to be chairman of the federal reserve i was the only senator to vote against him. e i was the only one to raise serious concern about his nomination. i opposed him because i knew he would continue the legacy of alan greenspan and i was right. i did not know how right i was and could not imagine how wrong he would be in the following four years. from monetary policy to regulations consumer protection. transparency and independents. chairman ben bernanke's time as fed chair has been a fai

opportunity to comments on chairman bernanke being named "time" magazine person of the year yesterday. one financial bloggeray that this was like rewarding the captain of the "titanic" for getting everyone off the sinking ship after he rammed it into the iceberg. and chairman bernanke may wonder if he really wants to be honored by an organization that has previously named people like joseph stalin twice, yasser arafat, adolf hitler, the ayatollah khomeini, vlad mire putin, richard nixon twice as their person of the year. but, i congratulate him and hope he at least turns out better than most of those people. four years ago when chairman bernanke was first nominated to be chairman of the federal reserve, i was the only senator to vote against him. in fact, i was the only senator even to raise serious concerns about his nomination. i opposed him because i knew he would continue the legacy of alan greenspan and i was right. but, i did not know how right i would be and could not imagine how wrong he would be in the following four years. from monetary policy to regulation, consumer protection, transparency, and

i get linked in by a woman named nagin who goes under the student name jane, so a libertarian lager, -- blogger. some of them are intelligent. it was a different purpose than what i was trying to do on this website, and i think it just shows that of course it is easier to cop an attitude and get response to that attitude, and that tends to be self- fulfilling to the extent that you go to consumers highways. -- consumer's choice. >> i now work for rupert murdoch, and a lot of people think rupert murdoch is the guy -- he created fox news, and it had a media logical attack on cnn, and there was a great deal of fear at the time he took over "the wall street journal" that he might use it to compete with "the new york times" the same way he used fox to compete with cnn. you could not do anything to drag the editorial page further to the right than it already is. a lot of us were worried about that, and it has not happened. why hasn't it happened? it has not happened because rupert is a smart business person, and our audience appreciates the fact that in the news pages -- sure, we provide analysis and

through the streets, such as the maris portias, annaortiaga, edith sparas, and most recently the well-noan blogger -- well-known blogger johann hispanis." i added that, she is a well-known blogger, internationally known, recently beaten as she was trying to go to a place of civil disobedience. "how can you and your subordinates sleep calmly after deliberately and maliciously physically knocking down on more than one occasion idonis contreras who is several months pregnant? how can you and your government speak about the battle of ideas when you are constantly repressing ideas through beatings, arrests, and years of incarceration? maybe your followers cannot find or even attempt to find a response. however, i find myself in the long list of persons that are not afraid to respond. you act this way because you are a cruel man, and insensible to the pain and suffering of others. you act this way because you are faithful to your antidemocratic and dictatorial volkswagen, because you are convinced that dictatorships like the -- dictatorial vocation, because you are convinced that the dictators like the

bloggers and pointed it out. that followed a chain event of me being notified. >> for the particular software that was used to dothe redacting, is that a tsa- approved software? >> ne of their software is approved by our chief information officer. >> did that officer understand that it could be un-rejected on the web? >> that is part of what we will learn in the right to review, which software, which version, and what version was on the various computers that actually touched this document. >> so, we do not know. >> i do not know yet. >> i would take it that you talked to the chief information officer? >> yes, and they're looking at all the versions of the software tsa computers and they are going through that inventory now with the goal being that we will ultimately have the same software on all computers and everybody will be properly trained to that software pa. >> is there a software presently being used by tsa that cannot be rejected? >> yes, sir, there is. >> have we made that software available to everyone who is doing postings on the web for tsa? >> yes, sir, we have, and we're going back and making sure

the columnist and blogger and author of four books takes your calls and e-mails and tweets. n eastern on sunday on the tv. >> now available, c-span spoke -- c-span's book about "abraham lincoln." from lincoln's early years to his life in the white house and is relevant today. abraham lincoln in hardcover at your favorite bookseller and nowlin digital audio to listen to any time available where digital audio downloads are sold. learn more at/c-span.org lincolnbook. >> -- to learn more at c- span.org/menkenbook. >> earlier this year, house committee held a hearing on internet advertising and in particular how companies send ad space on consumers browsing habits. the hearing is about to end a half hours. >> today is a joint hearing of the subcommittee on commerce, trade, and consumer protection and communications technology on the internet. i want to welcome all of you to this hearing and i want to just give you some advanced notice that in about 20 minutes we will be called to the floor for a series of votes. some have estimated to be -- we are scheduled for about 27 votes on t

blogger. i was like, why are you attacking me? it was meant in good fun. there's nothing wrong with the dustup now on again. >> going back to your first book, when was the malcolm gladwell tipping point? >> it was getting the job at the "new yorker." once you get into that magazine, your audience grows dramatically. people take you seriously and would never taking seriously before. you have an opportunity to write about things at length and leisured that you have never had before. that was clearly -- i was one of many "washington post" reporters. i was anonymous. i was not much of anything and then i got the job and everything changed. >> but at some point along the way, "tipping point" sold a million copies at least. and then "blink" and "outliers,"something happened where people are anxious to get that next book that you write. >> there is this thing where people get comfortable with the way that you look at the world. i loved that book of a " free -- "freakonomics." it said light on things that you never thought that economists would have interesting things to say about. i read that

host: robert schlesinger is a blogger. he is the author of "when house coast. " -- white house dosed." carl cannon is a senior correspondent senior politicsdaily.com. previously the bureau chief for "readers digest." he co-authored "reagan's disciple." back to the phones. . individuated himself, came up with his ideas and his thoughts. and is believed by basically putting out ideas that were somewhat politically incorrect, having to defend his ideas in the public domain. he does not think president obama has actually done that. he believes that he was elected primarily to s wage way deals, and that we may have a problem moving forward because of this. he concludes with -- he concludes with -- he is a president that comes to us out of our national insecurities. thoughts? caller: i cannot say with certainty who said it, but i am going to be guessing john or robert kennedy. i mean, i do not think that barack obama was elected because of national white guilt. i think he and his campaign did a pretty good job of notç makig him the black

host: robert schlesinger is a blogger. he is theauthor of "when house coast. " -- white house dosed." carl cannon is a senior correspondent senior politicsdaily.com. previously the bureau chief for "readers digest." he co-authored "reagan's disciple." back to the phones. . individuated himself, came up with his ideas and his thoughts. and is believed by basically putting out ideas that were somewhat politically incorrect, having to defend his ideas in the public domain. he does not think president obama has actually done that. he believes that he was elected primarily to s wage way deals, and that we may have a problem moving forward because of this. he concludes with -- he concludes with -- he is a president that comes to us out of our national insecurities. thoughts? caller: i cannot say with certainty who said it, but i am going to be guessing john or robert kennedy. i mean, i do not think that barack obama was elected because of national white guilt. i think he and his campaign did a pretty good job of notç makig him the black

the tsa says the whole report was proper produce grit -- was improperly posted with redaction. but this person says that savvy bloggersy replace the text. >> let's call this an early christmas present to the people who traffic in this type of secretive permission. >> and onto the airport-assigned law enforcement officer may be cleared without undergoing screening. other reformation is less intuitive. screenings are not required for wheelchairs' and prosthetic devices. but tsa says that it takes this failure seriously. it is a little late to get serious. >> the only early christmas present that terrorists will get will be the resolve of the men and women of the department of homeland security, the president of the united states, and the men and women of the united states congress. that is why we are here today, to ensure that going forward in this holiday season we have the opportunity to cure quickly the unfortunate and vast mistake that has been made. and so i hope as we proceed in this hearing, we will hear that steps are being taken to ensure the safe travel of the families who will be visiting their families durin

in the case of the autoworker perhaps that autoworker is a fisherman or has -- a fan and all of a sudden could become a bloggerme well known because of his or her expertise. and with that, begin to make money on the side that eventually becomes a good source of revenue. there are opportunities. even in our business using the internet. >> larry: well put. let's take a call. new york city, hello. >> caller: hi. how are you? how are you, larry? >> larry: fine. what's your question? >> caller: question is simple. three years ago i started up a business after going to one of tony robbins' seminars actually. one of the things i learned from that is that you focus and don't worry about what other people are doing to the right and left of you. we built a business and have about 40 employees right now. now that things have changed, we are trying to look at other things that can build the business and that can bring in more people. we are dealing with the school and doing a couple of things within. we are finding that the employees we have right now, they are starting to retool and bring out extra things that fortify th

opportunity to comments on chairman bernanke being named "time" magazine person of the year yesterday. one financial bloggerwrote yesterday that this was like rewarding the captain of the "titanic" for getting everyone off the sinking ship after he rammed it into the iceberg. and chairman bernanke may wonder if he really wants to be honored by an organization that has previously named people like joseph stalin twice, yasser arafat, adolf hitler, the ayatollah khomeini, vlad mire putin, richard nixon twice as their person of the year. but, i congratulate him and hope he at least turns out better than most of those people. four years ago when chairman bernanke was first nominated to be chairman of the federal reserve, i was the only senator to vote against him. in fact, i was the only senator even to raise serious concerns about his nomination. i opposed him because i knew he would continue the legacy of alan greenspan and i was right. but, i did not know how right i would be and could not imagine how wrong he would be in the following four years. from monetary policy to regulation, consumer protection, trans

opportunity to comment on chairman bernanke being named "time" magazine person of the year yesterday. one financial bloggernic for getting everyone off the sinking ship after he rammed it into the iceberg. and chairman bernanke may wonder if he really wants to be honored by an organization that has previously named people like josef stalin twice, yaws sar arafat, adolf hitler, the ayatollah khomeini, vladimir putin, richard nixon twice as their person of the year. but i congratulate him and hope he at least turns out better than most of those people. four years ago when chairman bernanke was first nominated to be chairman of the federal reserve i was the only senator to vote against him. in fact i was the only senator even to raise serious concerns about his nomination. i opposed him because i knew he would continue the legacy of alan greenspan and i was right. but i did not know how right i would be and could not imagine how wrong he would be in the following four years. from monetary policy to regulation, consumer protection, transparency and independence, chairman bernanke's time as fed chair has been a

x-ray machines and explosives, listed the country's four passport holders are subject to greater scrutiny and apparently tsa learned of this last sunday after a blogger put it on the internet and initiated a review. who should be held accountable? >> first of all, mr. chairman, let me say two things about the posting itself. and that is that the security of the travelling public has never been put at risk, and the document that was posted was an out of date document. nonetheless the posting did not meet our own standards for what should be available on the net and not available on the net. so we've already initiated personnel actions against the individuals involved in that. we have already instituted an internal review to see what else needs to be done so the incident ever recurs. and i've directed that not just at tsa but we do a free view department wide on all of our components because as you know we have one of the biggest departments around to make sure that we are being rigorous and very disciplined on with this post and what is not treat >> am i correct this involved a contractor? >> the individual involved was a contractor. some of the super

not chat, at least on the internet, but you see some places, "new york times," if an article comes out that is at all interesting, within a few days there have been five or 600 bloggers who have commented on the article, and i found it very helpful to read the article and then read what people are saying about the article. so some credible entity, credible in the arab world, not to us, and the arab world, i think al-jazeera is interested in market share and credibility and would want to manage that in a credible way, and i also think al-jazeera is a place that people go to. if that was to go to place for chats, you would not get caught off when you wanted to go on the al-jazeera site and advance your ideas or the war room would not or the individuals. what do you think? >> i think the point about intercepting the budding jihadist is a great point, and i think it is probably useful, in addition to taking away a negative, we also need to give a positive. for those religiously inclined, there has to be a positive way to exercise their faith. that is what we see in these disengagement programs. >> if i could quickly interrupt, the ballroom concept -- the war room concept

the bailout lending facility, not monetary policy. and those facilities, as was pointed out by a financial blogger yesterday, were not designed by the bank supervisor at the fed but by the market division in new york. i will stop going through the individual questions, because most of them his answers just ignored the question or repeated fed talking points. for this committee and the senate to do our jobs, evaluating his performance, we need real answers, not talking points. we have all heard chairman bernanke talk a lot about transparency. he brags about it. but, his actions speak a lot louder than his words. he promised congress more transparency when he first became chairman and he promised us transparency when he came begging to us for t.a.r.p. money. while he has published some more information than before, those efforts fall short and he still refuses to provide details on the fed's bailout last year. it has become clear chairman bernanke is not going to open up the fed's action to review by the taxpayers. but, i thought he might at least provide more information to this committee as we considered his nomination. so, i asked for a

bloggers. it was all meant in good fun. >> going back to your first book, when was the malcolm gladwell tipping point? it was getting the job that "the new yorker." the minute you start at that magazine and start getting -- your audience grows dramatically and people start reading you and you start getting taken seriously you have an opportunity to write about things that a leg and leisure that should never had before. i was anonymous and i got the job and everything changed. >> at some point, "tipping point" sold a couple of million copies and then "blank." people were anxious to get the next book that you wrote. >> people get comfortable with the way you look at the world. i love the book "o freaknomics." it was a distinctive way to look at the world. it was an economist and a journalist who have combined storytelling and academic rigor to shed light on stuff that you would never have thought an economist at the interesting thing to say about. i read that book and i love that but for the new one comes along and die by it. -- and i buy it. they have won me over to their particular perspective on thin

the frontlines of freedom. a political talk show host, newspaper correspondent, and blogger in venezuela, a vocal critic of hugo chavez. of he was jailed in 2009 after posting information about his court case online. amnesty international's 2009 report on human rights in venezuela noted the physical attacks and imprisonment of journalists by this corrupt and despotic regime. as a conservative that believes in limited government, i believe the only check on government power in real time is a free and independent press. i don't believe our founders put the first amendment freedom of the press in our bill of rights because they got good press. . a free and independent press ensures the free flow of information to the public and serves as a vital check on such abuses. during a time when the role of government in our lives and our enterprises here at home seem to grow every day, taking a stand for a free prees and making the means available to hold the lamp of liberty high and shine it in the crevices in this world is a noble task indeed. i rise today in support of this legislation and i commend chairman berman, ran

that is on "the communicator's" on c-span2. blogger, columnist and author of four books takes your calls, e- mails and tweets. three hours with michelle malkin, part of a three day new year's weekend starting friday. >> education committee chairman george miller and others recently introduced legislation aimed at preventing the appropriate use of so-called restraint and seclusion techniques at schools. the committee will be hearing -- will be holding a hearing on the subject. this is about two hours. >> today's hearing is the first ever on the abuse and seclusion rate -- some restraint of children in schools. last year, we held hearings to examine allegations of the debts of teens in treatment programs which led us to pass h.r. 91 earlier this year. this bill establishes basic health and safety standards passed by overwhelming bipartisan support. when we are talking about keeping our children's sake, it is not a partisan issue. sadly, we are here again to talk about the reclusive -- the seclusion restraint. but this time it is about th

the life and times of our 11th president, tonight on c-span's "q & a." >> book tv tonight, on "afterwards" greg mortenson on his book, stones and schools. and coming in january, bloggerof the hour, will copenhagen make a difference? we are talking about the u.n. climate watch that took place and president obama's role this. we will take your calls at the republican, democrats and independents line. we are also online, twitter, and you can e-mail us at c-span.org. maybe you can speak about copenhagen or other aspects or other ways to weigh in on that. looking at the "new york times," the story seen results as flawed but important step. the united nations climate talks converged to take deal making and it was a attemptn attempt than binding pledge, many said it was flawed but essential step forward. jumping down, many delegates left copenhagen in a soured mood, because it lacked so many elements, including firm targets and a deadline. leaving many provisions uncertain. let's go to our first call, fred , from portland, oregon. what do you think? caller: i think something needs to be done right away, if the arctics melt and will turn the polar into another region, whethe

james joyner, a conservative blogger wrote, there have been precisely three attempts over the last eight years to commit acts of terrorism aboard commercial aircraft, all of them clownishly inept and easily thwarted by passengers. how many tens of thousands of flights have been incident-free? let's expand joyner's scope. over the past decade, there have been, by my count, six attempted terrorist incidents on board a commercial airliner that landed or departed from the united states. the four planes that were hijacked on 9/11, the shoe bomber incident in december 2001, and the n.w.a. flight 253 flight on christmas. we're going read more from this posting and go over some of the stat stex from the bureau of transportation statistics. we want to get to your calls first. rockville, good morning to you on our democrats line. what do you think? is more security needed? caller: good morning to you and happy new year to you and yours. host: good morning. caller: i cannot believe that an unsophisticated creep was able to get on a plane and virtually cause a midair holocaust. and now the administr

small and medium- size, are getting access to the capital they need to grow to make their payrolls at to see our economy through this a dark night in to bloggerconomic recovery. thanks, guys. -- and into long-term economic recovery. thanks, guys. >> spokesman robert gibbs answering a number of reporters questions on the president's meeting with a group of bankers this morning. shortly after that meeting today, the president made a brief statement on the economy. is about 10 minutes. -- it is about 10 minutes. >> good afternoon, everybody. i just finished a candid and productive meeting with the ceo's of called of our nation's largest financial institutions. i asked them to come to washington today at the end of this difficult year for the industry, butñr also for the economy, to discuss what we expect from them going forward and how we can work to accelerate economic recovery. our nation's banks have always played a crucial role in our national economy, for providing loans for homes and cars and colleges to supplying the capital that allows entrepreneurs to turn ideas into products and allow businesses to grow, helping people save for a rainy

the health insurance industry. no longer will these companies be able to deny you coverage if you have a pre-existing illness or condition. no blogger will they be able to drop you from coverage when you get sick. no longer will you have to pay unlimited amounts out of your own pocket for the treatments that you need. we are all in agreement on those reforms. we agree on reforms that will finally reduce the cost of health care. families will save on their premiums, businesses that will see their costs rise if we do nothing will save money now and in the future. this plan will strengthen medicare and extend the life of that program. and because it gets rid of the waste and inefficiencies in our health care system, this will be the largest deficit reduction plan in over a decade. i just want to repeat this because there's so much misinformation about the causal issue. you talk to every health care economist out there, and they will tell you that whatever ideas that whatever ideas exist in terms of bending the cost curve and start to reduce cost of families, businesses and government, those elements are in this bill. and in terms of de

even data from the liberal bloggers showed partisan intensity had the generic ballot relatively close voting republican. the generic ballot they had democrats winning by four points. they have a four point democratic advantage with that intensity, will take that any day of the week as a republican. people come out to vote in that direction. republican party verses obama. this is the extent of what is going on in terms of trend data, people have more faith in the republican party than barack obama. who will do a better job handling the economy? left hand side, republicans from 923--11. health-care reform, republicans are 7 points down in health care reform. think about that. 7 points down on health care reform and it is not driven by but republicans are putting forward the reaction to what people are thinking about obama and what congress is doing on health care reform. the republican party feared even better against democrats rather than barack obama. two surveys. july survey, november survey, and the movement on the economy. plus 3. it has gone from plus 11 to plus 7. basically lost