. >>> still ahead, president obama makes a major move to close the education gap in america. e to see it happen. but first we'll introduce you to a singing walrus named e.t. the summer break is next. >>> the colorado shootings has reignited a national debate about gun violence in the country. and last night president obama tackled the issue head on. >> i like most americans believe that the second amendment guarantees an individual the right to bear arms. but i also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that ak-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals. they belong on the battlefield of war, not on the streets of our cities. >> polls show that gun owners agree. 82% support criminal background checks. 78% say concealed weapon permits shouldn't be given to those who have committed violent crimes. and 85% say gun rights should go hand in hand with public safety. but here's how mitt romney addressed the issue during his interview with nbc's brian williams. >> this person shouldn't have had any kind of weapons and bombs and other devices. and it was

math by rewarding high quality teachers with salary bonuses and hiring more teachers to close the education gap between us and other countries on the other side republicans just released their vision for american education in the funding bill for the part of education the house of representatives republican slashed funding for the program to turn around low performing schools which actually was started by george w. bush and eliminated funding for president obama's top education program program the race to the top but they quadrupled funding for abstinence only education why is it that the republicans are against paying for science teachers and and in favor of pain for abstinence education which doesn't even work i don't get out of you know the solution every time i see this debated you know this is every couple years oh look at the test scores look at this look at the performance of these schools the solution let's throw more money at it and republicans democrats go back and forth and what are the well one eight but we do great schools but again we're not we're talking about a mythological peri

>> he drew a lot of applause when he talked a lot about how he helped bridge the gap as governor between the educationgovernor of massachusetts, how he brought down crime, how he worked across the board, how he worked in a bipartisan manner, ho uh he talked about and agreed with how historic and important having the first black president elected to the united states, he talked about a number of things where he did draw -- >> no, he didn't. i think you're mistaking with what john mccain talked about a couple of years ago. >> the headline is misplaced in that if you want to focus on -- i would like to ask, how many applause were there. how many times were there applause? you know, i think that's a relevant point to make. that's not the point you go to address the crowd. the point is, he showed up, president obama did not. i hope the media also will ask vice president biden tomorrow to explain that and to talk about why president obama -- >> cornell, why is obama not going and to the question, how was he antagonistic? >> wow. well, again, it's not just me that saw him as being antagon t antagonist antago

and does he have a plan to narrow the education gap between the races?e ever believe that blacks are the cursed descendants to cain? what impression was left by the church's policy of racial discrimination that ended in 1987? in 2007, romney said he was moved by the ban's removal. >> and literal we want. even at this day, it's emotional. so it's very deep and fundamental in my life that all people are children of god. i had no question in my mind that african-americans and blacks generally would have every right and benefit in the here after that anyone else had. >> but it was wrong for your faith to -- >> i told you exactly where i stand. my view is there's no discrimination in the eyes of god. >> i'd like to hear whether romney agitated for the ban's removal or just ak seccepted it. his father marched with activists in 1963 and pushed to end racial discrimination in housing. he once called himself quote a member of a minority group that knows the long time harmful effect of persecution and discrimination, thus linking his faith and passion for racial j

>> well, the education gap, for one thing. this recession, like the last one, has been very tough on blue-collar workers, blue-collar males. and african-americans, on average, especially male african-americans, have less education and they've been very hard hit in those categories. in addition, african-americans have eoyed opportunity in the public sector, and the public sector has been decimated by this recession. as jared likes to talk about, but he's quite correct in talking about it. and those are two big factors that are hurting african-americans. >>ared, it seems to me like there's two problems here. you've got a short-term problem, getting the economy back on track, making sure that we're adding enough jobs, and then you have a longer term, more structural problem, like peter's talking about. if you could do anything, and pretend for a moment we don't have a dysfunctional political system, if you could do anything and you were king for a day, what would you do? >> well, first of all, i'd extend my kingship to last for a

the low socioeconomic areas of our country. and today's immigrants have an opportunity to succeed in this culture. and if we don't do a good job of that, especially with education, the gap keep growing. to keep growing. and i see it primarily in education. because the educational opportunities afforded to those people are not -- not nearly as good as the wealthy. >> and the tragedy of that is there's so much untapped talent, not least of which in sport. the kids drifting into gangs, jail, whatever it may be. if they are driven out of our education system, it doesn't nurture them, how can we blame them? >> intellect does not know race, color, nationality, gender. there are smart people, like, i think i'm fairly smart. i grew up in a polish community in chicago. if my parents didn't have the stick to ittiveness to make sure i got an education young, there's no way this would happen. we have to take kids at other ages or else they take their intellect to other areas. i think solving educational problems helps solve some of our crime problems. >> you've become in many ways a surrogate parent to these kids. >> why he. >> what are the values you like to instill in them? >> th

formula has been drilled into the heads of americans view as a recipe to success but with mounting debt and no grace period for graduates r t s is higher education widening the gap of income inequality. and the shortfall from comedy to political incorrectness funny man daniel tosh is in hot water this week for a joke he made about raping women but where exactly did this line fall between inappropriate and free speech last comedian doug stanhope. it is wednesday july eleventh eight pm in washington d.c. i'm christine for south you're watching r t well yesterday morning organizers from the occupy wall street movement in seattle staying an apartment had a rude awakening they were raided by a swat team according to the warrant issued the police said they were looking for quote anarchist material and continuing an ongoing investigation of the made a riot but the police left the apartment in seattle with out arresting anyone and just a few pieces of seized property and that is after they busted down the door used a flash bang grenade and tore through the entire apartment to find out more about what happened i was joined by political organizer philip neal take a look.

the man who invests in educating young minds to create a brighter future. >> colombia's bustling capital bogota is a city full of contrasts. felipe vergara highly familiar with the yawning gap between the rich and the poor. poor families here usually can't afford to provide their children with an education. that is why felipe started his organization lumni -- to invest in education for colombia's youth. >> one of our main objectives with lumni is to improve colombia's human capital. we believe that if we develop human capital in our country, we can really strengthen colombia -- and we will generate so many more opportunities for everyone. >> felipe is constantly on the go, looking for investors to throw their weight behind lumni. if they invest in the organization's funds, they can help students pay for an education. today he's meeting with representatives from one of colombia's biggest breweries. the bavaria brewery is using its own foundation to help lumni. >> the private sector has a major responsibility to contribute to alleviating poverty, working in hand with the government and with organizations like lumni whose objective and whose mission is to benefit the communiti

education because we've increased the standards for head start. all the studies show early education is absolutely critical in dealing with this gap. they cut pell grants, as many as nine million students will lose money. they deny work study jobs to more than 125,000 students who need the help to stay in college. they refuse, they refuse to help the states put back to work over 300,000 educators as we did the first two years, so you don't end up shorthanded, short-shifted and kids not getting what they need. governor romney eliminates the $2500 tax cut that helped middle class families struggle to keep their kids in school. why did they do this? they do this, do they think it improves education? do they think it improves our ability to compete in the world? do they think this will better position us to lead the world economy in the 21st century? i don't think so. i think they do this because they want to make sure they have room for an additional $2 trillion tax cut for millionaires and an $800 billion continuation of the bush tax cuts for the top. i know you think i'm making that up. romney has proposed in addition to keeping the

the future. massive cuts in early education. the one thing educators agree on is the central most important initiative to deal right up front -- right up front with the achievement gapion, and the tax credit for families and the cuts in pell grant scholarships of children of low income families and cuts in title one funding for lowest performing school and the cut of $2.7 billion. cuts in special education funding. in my view, backing away from the proposition we've held for years and years that children should be educated to the degree they're educatable. cuts by $2.2 billion, cuts in job training. just listen to what they say, what he says. he says the effort to reduce classroom size may actually hurt education more than it helps. tell that to all those private schools. tell that to all those parents and the renewable energy and to an increasingly large share. an america that is energy independent. we see a nation that breathes cleaner air where our cities are not polluted, whereas ma doesn't claim the lives of african-american children four times as great as it does all other children because of the environment in which they live. romney sees a different energy f

gets to the states, we'll take education funding, we had a huge amount of money through the stimulus program that went to education. most of the states, the vast majority, filled in their own gaps it never reached the urban areas. we saw a decrease of over a billion dollars in the state of pennsylvania. a billion dollars to education. for us in urban areas, we got him sometimes ten times harder in cuts than some of the rural parts of the state. so it has a detrimental effect on block grants as you talked about. of all the programs that congress wants to cut, they want to cut the cdbg program? it was started by a republican. it's worked well for almost 40 years! >> dan, here we have a president who is from a city. even beyond the fact that he's the first african-american president, he's the first president from a city in a really long time. why not make the case for federal funds going straight to urban areas? >> i think they should. in the jobsill of 2011 there was a lot of money that was solicited for public sector increases in fire departments and teachers and so forth. we talked about this on the break. you go through the urban areas where it is 105 degrees and all of the ur

she was particularly concerned about the growing gender gap in the subjects. in october of 2010 during her education nation program at nbc, i had the privilege of speaking to sally ride on the issue of girls excelling in science and math. >> most important, it's the teachers and the schools holding the high expectations and getting the message to the students that girls as well as the boys that we expect you to do well, that you need to do well, that these subjects are important for your future no matter what career you go into. you don't need to be a rocket scientists, math and science are still going to be important for you. >> and you actually are a rocket scientists. you have some credibility. >> american pioneer sally ride was 61 years old. >>> when we come back to london for this special edition of "way too early," a stunner for baseball fans. ichiro, one of the greatest hitters that ever lived is traded from one locker room in the other in seattle. we'll show you how he looked in the road grays for the new york yankees. and will farrell on letterman last night getting into the olympic spirit

the future. massive cuts in early education. the one thing all educators agree on is the central, most important initiative to deal right up front, right up front with the achievement gap. elimination of the tuition tax credit for families, cuts in pell grant scholarships for children of low-income families, a cut of $2.7 billion, cuts in special education funding. in my view, backing away from the proposition we have held for years and years that children should be educated to the degree which they are educatable. cuts by $2.2 billion. cuts in job training. just listen to what they say, what he says. the effort to reduce classroom size may actually hurt education more than it helps. tell that to all those private schools. tell that to all those parents. energy. we envision a future where clean, renewable energy represents an increasingly large share consumed in america. an america that is energy independent. we see a nation that breathes cleaner air where our cities are not polluted. where asthma doesn't claim the lives of african-american children because of the environment in which they live. romney sees it a different energy future. they are not a priority. where r

the future. massive cuts in early education, the one thing all educators agree on is the important initiative to deal right upfront with the achievement gapination of the tuition tax credit for families, cuts in pell grant scholarships for children of low-income families, cuts in title one funding for lowest-performing schools, cuts of $2.7 billion, cuts in special education funding. in my view, backing away from the proposition we have held for years and years, that children should be educated to the degree to which they are educable. cuts by $2.2 billion, cuts in job training. listen to what they say, when he says. he says the effort to reduce classroom size may actually hurt education more than it helps. tell that all those private schools. tell that all those parents. energy -- we envision a future where clean, energy represents an increasingly large share of energy consumed in america. we see a nation that breathes clear air, where cities are not polluted, where asthma does not claim the lives of african- american children four times greater than it does of other children because of the environment in which they live. romney sees a d

committed to not just getting the economy turned around and creating jobs but closing the achievements gap in education for hispanics and african americans and investing in education and innovation and making sure that we can keep folks in their homes. compare that to mitt romney's focus which was let's let detroit go bankrupt and not rescue the auto industry. more than a million jobs with have been lost. the policies like immigration reform. mitt romney is the most extreme presidential candidate in history on immigration policy and that is is why there is a 40 point deficit between him and president obama among hispanic americans because when it many coulds it to the policies that the two groups care about but really when it comes to the policies that americans care about this is not politics, john, this is important for the lives of americans and we need to all be nighing to move the economy ford like president obama has been doing. >> in the wake of the jobs numbers on friday, one of the campaign's senior advisors david plouffe said that the job numbers were "what everybody expected." which drew thi

drilled into the heads of america's youth as the recipe to success but with mounting debt and no grace period for graduates are to ask is higher education creating a gap in income inequality. and it looks like the stop online piracy act that even sounds like it but this is not so but it's the only intellectually property. quietly unveiled over the weekend so who is behind this and why is it being resurrected we'll have some answers. plus singer songwriter don mclean said it best the day the music died but you'll never guess how never ending legal disputes are killing off beat of innovation technological advances and music creativity we'll talk to the professor who laid out this theory in a case study coming up next. it's wednesday july eleventh five pm in washington d.c. i'm christine you're watching our team. well last week lawmakers in congress took an important vote to prevent the doubling of the student loan interest rates for one year but in doing so and they also voted on some other things they voted to reduce other educational programs and also remove the grace period so despite this being one of the worst times for recent college graduates to

the country met with education secretary arne duncan and former education secretary margaret spellings. he called for high-quality education programs in disadvantaged areas. ms. spelling spoke about closing the achievement gapducation standards fall short for minorities. they're just over an hour and a half. >> thank you very much for being here. i would like to call the meeting of the national governors association education work force committee to order, and i want to thank all of you for joining us. i am bill haslam, the governor of tennessee and the vice chair of the education committee. our co-chair is unable to join us but governor hickenlooper is with us and governor, thank you very much. we've been cheering of you and praying for you and thinking of you through thewide fires so thank you very much for being here. a little bit of housekeeping before we start. all these meetings are open to the press and all meeting attendees, please silence your cell phones. all the governors have briefing books. to my right is the staff director for the education work force committee. i think we have a great opportunity today. we're going to hear from -- my notice say two distinguished speakers but the truth is they

the seven kipp bay area schools. we believe education is essential in achieving social justice. we also share a drive to close the achievement gap, so every student in san francisco can achieve his or her own potential. i assure you that we have the determination and resources to create a high performing high school to join our high performing middle schools already in san francisco. we have a strong track record of serving students in san francisco for the past nine years. there was a record of academic performance, creek to buy our students and their teachers working together. our founding class just completed high school, and 85% are enrolled in college, more than double the enrollment rate for low income communities across the country. we are trying to create more of these opportunities, and i hope you will pass this proposal for a new high school in san francisco. >> i have been a member of kipp for three years. i have enjoyed them because of things like our music classes and helping us get into programs in high schools. now, i go to a program called first graduate, which helps us go to college. what i like about kipp is we

the average age that women has children has moved from 20 to 26. >> it has moved for highly educated women and not for less educated women. that has been driving the gap postponing kids until they are ready. >> the question for me is if you don't wait and if you don't marry, how can you become successful? i felt single women and children are almost punished. you made the mistake and you will suffer for the rest of your life. we help wall street when they make mistakes. why not help women and children? we pay such lip service to women and children. when these children are birthed and existing in certain family structures we sort of write them off as if they are not important. >> you were just saying during the break you had your daughter when you were 20 years old. investments you make in mothers and children, if they are successful investment and your experience was successful produced a lot of human value. we want to have flourishing people at the end of this. >> at that period of the early 70s the notion of being a single mother was not as demonized and negative. i watched it change over the years especially for women of color and women who are not

we found that when we looked at other socioeconomic factors, like in come or education, it did not fully explain it the gaps. even after accounting for a socio-economic and geographic factors, african-american and hispanic households still lack a white household in broadband adoption by 11 percentage points. at rural households still lacked urban households by five percentage points. these ongoing disparities and our critical need for our nation's future to overcome them are white today's summit is so important -- why today's summit is so important. the work san francisco is doing and has accomplished is important. together with our grantees, we're working on the frontline to close these gaps in injuring no one is left behind in the technical revolution. as of the end of 2011, the top grantees had installed your updated more than 45,000 miles of broadband telecommunications lines. they had upgraded and improved service to more than 6000 anchor institutions. schools, libraries, hospitals across 35 different states. they install more than 29,000 workstations in public computer centers, and they had produced w