u.s. congress and interest groups and social movements and introduction to american government. trying to get as many incoming interested in the political science as they can. >> to national interest groups represent the representation? >> i think they do. it is in the focus of this research although i have another work focusing specifically on legislative lobbying. i think the way they can impact how legislators perceive the district is by encouraging members to make contact with them and that is something we know they are good at is making it easy to send a letter, send an e-mail to can reform letters sometimes, just facilitating the process i think makes a big difference and suggests it is all the legislators act. >> we are going through a redistricting period right now for the u.s. congress read what it makes sense to make the district's more homogenous thus the representative could be more representative to more people? >> would make the job easier for the representatives and the district's. i say this with to caveat. the first is a thing about constituencies in the distric

u.s. congress, also a class on interest groups and classes on social movements. and introduction to american government so we're trying to get as many incoming freshmen and sophomores into political science as i can. >> to national interest groups affect constituency representation? >> i think they do. interest groups per se were not the focus of this research although i have done other works focusing specifically on legislative lobbying. i think the way they can really impact how legislators perceive the district is by encouraging their members to make contact with them. that's something we know national interest groups are really good at is making it easy to send a letter, send an e-mail. they give you four letter sometimes. i think that makes a big difference and this book suggests it should sell legislators enact. >> we are going through a redistricting period right now for the u.s. congress. would it make sense to make districts more homogenous? >> yes. i think in theory it could be, right? it would make the job easier for the representatives and more homoge

u.s. congress to bring the war dollars, and san francisco is not. please fix that. please pass the resolution. thank you very much. >> good morning. my name is paul lowe rodriguez. -- pablo rodriguez. and we are one of the largest institutions, not only in the state of california but in the whole country. madam we have 110,000 engines and over 2000 members. -- we have a 110,000 students and over 2000 members. that is the voice of concern. and it is very alarming that due to the cuts and the priorities, we're losing hundreds of thousands of students. supervisor avalos, i am very proud of you for bringing this resolution. i am also proud of being in your district. you are my supervisor, and i am very happy you are here. just a few days ago we have this little meeting with some of the veterans, and one of them came and talked to us and said do not talk to me because i am all war veteran. i feel that what we did was just destruction. we destroyed the lives of thousands of people. now i am here, and i am going to work against the war machine. ithis is costing all of us $

u.s. congress in the u.s. senate so israel has its agenda on the other side you have the oil producers and the oil retailers ok i'm talking about saudi arabia and the other gulf states and i'm also talking about unocal exon british petroleum and these companies that actually take and deliver the oil from the arab states ok if this goes to blows with iran it's going to mean a spike in the price of oil and the oil companies are absolutely drooling at the prospect of setting a new standard around one hundred dollars a barrel or maybe one hundred twenty as a new benchmark for oil this is good news for the saudis because it's making money overnight and it's good news for the oil companies because even if this conflict calms down they will maintain the price at the pump at a much higher level in proportion to what it should be from the price of the barrel to the price of the pump it's a win win situation for the threats of the drama got i mean which side in your opinion should make concessions to know what your answ

u.s. congress to the whole world of media and say the fundamental principles of free speech on the internet stands. as a russian rocket successfully launches from the european space post into friends guyana we look at walk in space during the while. authorities in catholic stand say they've restored peace in a western oil town where riots on friday night after at least ten that the on rest began during senate ration marking twenty counting one is dependents from the something union local genocide gallon countenance told. well thirties were staging a concert at the central square but the oil workers on strike took it as an insult they've been on the same square for seven months waiting to be paid after almost a thousand employees were fired in may they've been expecting the authorities to solve their dispute with the company but were largely ignored so the celebrations became a boiling point in the months long wait as you can see on the video they started turning the stage upside down smashing sound monitors the police moved in to clear the square and that's when the riots began several buil

u.s. congress and others the national endowment for democracy various other so-called human rights politicized organizations are fanning the protests claiming to be in the military against against us human rights n.g.o.s so. the idea is to create as much chaos through the region as possible in order to justify i believe a stronger nato role permanently in that region and when you when you talk about nato that's not an attention to that. all the deadliest uprising with a civil war that will be left tens of thousands that khadafi as we all know among them nato weighing in with air strikes causing civilian casualties is that piece of loss for the libyan people what can they look forward to for two thousand and twelve i think they can look forward to pure hills. the opposition groups were given a promise by the french well before the. cut off a government that they would get a chunk of the oil revenues and that was the incentive they were armed by the west and now libya is being converted according to the latest information into a giant nato aircraft carrier if you will and the libyan oil is being

u.s. congress could tell a whole wallop of media and shake the fundamental principles of free speech all names that sound. as a russian build rockets exactly which is from your piece based french guyana we're not going to drop the space jack means for the wow. off our season catholics down say they've restored peace in a western oil town where riots on friday that unease eleven people dead at the on rest began during senate braincells marking twenty as the country one is dependence from the south even what i call genocide gallon cars that told off. well thirties were staging a concert at the central square but the oil workers on strike took it as an insult they've been on the same square for seven months waiting to be paid after almost a thousand employees were fired in may they've been expecting the authorities to solve their dispute with the company but were largely ignored so the celebrations became a boiling point in the months long wait as you can see on the video they started turning the stage upside down smashing sound monitors the police moved in to clear the square and that's when the

u.s. congress is rallying to crack down on the country through a series of sanctions but how effective will they be and what are the real consequences jamaal of d. is here in our d.c. studio to talk more about this welcome jamal so u.s. congress targets both of these sanctions are targeting both the central bank and the oil industry these sanctions would make it more difficult for iran to. and for other countries to do business with iran. i know your organization among others has serious concerns that these high end sanctions will do more harm than good absolutely these are these are the broad ascensions imaginable these are saying sions against iran's oil sector they make it illegal basically for any country to do business with iran and by illegal i mean the u.s. would say action those those countries if they do business this is very similar to what we saw with saddam hussein in iraq we saw these sanctions imposed you know crippling humanitarian. facts on the people of iraq killed half a million people and didn't depose of saddam hussein in fact actually entrenched him and his regime were

u.s. congress could tell the whole world of media and shake the fundamental principles of free speech on the internet that's to come also this. there goes as a russian built rocket successfully launches from the european space port in french guyana we look at what this journey to the stars means for the world. authorities in kazakhstan say they've restored peace in a western oil town where riots on friday left at least eleven people dead the unrest began during celebrations marking twenty years of its independence by a group of all workers on strike local journalists in china told r.t. what happened. oh workers in generalising have been striking for fairly long already for several months if this race were even out but the reemerged in full force yesterday the senate was deliberating its twentieth anniversary so there was a big date and instead of a concert and a celebration there was a riot and people killed the people who were on the video those people the old dressed in clothes and the guns uniforms this is fairly strange for a strike and there were two uniformed you know and they were you

u.s. congress i spoke to internet activist r. and schwartz who told me the move could go though and that with the web falling into government hands this is what he had to say. the government doesn't just take down the infringing material it takes on the site entirely and it does it without even a trial to find out whether it's illegal or not and as you know copyright laws are extremely complicated there are lots of things that look like copyright infringement that turn out to be licensed in one way or another part of this is a larger crackdown on freedom of speech there's pretty much no other law that would give the government the power to censor the internet that wouldn't be laughed out of congress you know if you said the government needed to censor the internet to protect national security it would be widely seen in america is totally unacceptable and beyond the pale but by using copyright as a wedge issue suddenly we're able to put this power in the hands of the government and then once they have it it can be expanded and exp

u.s. congress -- u.s. congratulated moscow. russia's that it would not a legally apply wto rules with its dealings with america. >> some good news for france. ratings agencies have been on a downgrade spree, but fitch says france will keep its aaa status for the time being, but they did downgrade the outlook from stable to negative. the agencies as france remains a wealthy endeavors side economy and it has taken measures to improve its finances. there has been speculation that france was about to lose its top rating, which would jack up the level of the eurozone's debt crisis. figures unveiled in ireland show the country's economy is in worse shape than feared. the central statistics office says the economy shrank by 1.9% in the third quarter, a much bigger drop than forecast. it is the worst quarterly results in the eurozone. ireland is midway through a seven-year deficit-fighting program that has continued to fight economic growth to meet its targets. economists say ireland is unlikely to meet the government's modest target o

u.s. congress and mainstream media treat this as sacrifice it must be challenged in every available public platform. this is what democracy looks like. thank you for sponsoring this resolution. thank you. supervisor avalos: 6 speaker, and anyone else that would like to comment on this item, please come forward. >> thank you for submitting this resolution. i happen to agree it should take on the of the policy and feinstein. a couple of points, i think this idea that in our locality we cannot deal with these issues at our level is a form of cowardice politically, because what it really says is we will let the 1% direct every aspect of our economy, direct everything going on in the country, and when local people say what are you doing with our tax dollars, what are you doing -- doing killing but millions of people, they say it is a local issue. it is cowardice and political cowardice. i agree with the speaker earlier that said he believes all 11 supervisor should support this. what we have to see is a 1 percent occupied the entire country in every aspect of our lives, and occupied most parts

congress on this issue. we cannot remain silent when the war for our residents is at stake. no the u.s. council of mayor's pass a resolution on june 22 calling on congress to read direct military spending, supported by san francisco mayor ed lee. los angeles also passed a similar resolution on april 15. the mayors and lost angeles are on record as asking the u.s. congress to bring the war dollars, and san francisco is not. please fix that. please pass the resolution. thank you very much. >> good morning. my name is paul lowe rodriguez. -- pablo rodriguez. and we are one of the largest institutions, not only in the state of california but in the whole country. madam we have 110,000 engines and over 2000 members. -- we have a 110,000 students and over 2000 members. that is the voice of concern. and it is very alarming that due to the cuts and the priorities, we're losing hundreds of thousands of students. supervisor avalos, i am very proud of you for bringing this resolution. i am also proud of being in your district. you are my supervisor, and i am very happy you are here. just a few days

u.s. congress finally passed an extension of the payroll tax cuts that had been going down to the wire. across the atlantic, governments have not fallen and the word austerity has come to mean something rather real and european. however, if you're in shanghai, you probably had a different year. does this mean the dominance of the west is about to end? in his new book,s, "civilizatio" niall ferguson without his theories. thank you for joining us. are we done for? >> not necessarily. this is not a case of irreversible decline. we have to get our act together. if you think about china, india, brazil, it is also partly to do with us doing things worse. not just politically, but economically, too. >> is there a sense of what we have seen this year is the limit of governments? no matter how much money you put into the system -- president obama as a case in point -- that stimulus package had a small effect on the margins? the financial markets have a disproportionate amount of power. >> if you think 500 years ago, it was not governments that caused the rise of the west to happen. they made the

u.s. congress is shaping up as the grinch of this holiday season. lawmakers today hit a stale meat on a tax cut for 360 million workers. jennifer davis reports the republicans say a two-month exstengs not long enough. >>reporter: this house vote kicked off the latest blame game in washington. gop house members essentially rejected the bipartisan two-month extension of payroll tax cuts and unemployment benefits the senate passed saturday and voted to take the matter to the negotiating table. >> we're here and ready to work with our counter parts in the senate to resolve the differences as quickly as possible. >>reporter: now harry reid has to decide whether to bring senators back for the holiday break. a frustrated president obama made a surprise visit to the press room urging acceptance of the only viable plan. >> the american people are wear ri of it -- weary of it. they expect better. >>reporter: but the house insists the extension will hurt rather than help. >> handling tax policy monthly is not just irresponsible, it's crazy. >>reporter: democra

u.s. congress finally passed an extension of the payroll tax cuts that had been going down to the wire. across the atlantic, governments have not fallen and the word austerity has come to mean something rather real and european. however, if you're in shanghai, you probably had a different year. does this mean the dominance of the west is about to end? in his new book, "civilization," niall ferguson without his theories. thank you for joining us. are we done for? >> not necessarily. this is not a case of irreversible decline. we have to get our act together. if you think about china, india, brazil, it is also partly to do with us doing things worse. not just politically, but economically, too. >> is there a sense of what we have seen this year is the limit of governments? no matter how much money you put into the system -- president obama as a case in point -- that stimulus package had a small effect on the margins? the financial markets have a disproportionate amount of power. >> if you think 500 years ago, it was not governments that caused the rise of the west to happen. they made the

u.s. congress finally passed an extension of the payroll tax cuts, which have been bickering down to the wire. across the atlantic, the euro zone crisis has been dominated by street fights and government have fallen. if you are watching this in mumbai or shanghai, you are probably having a different year. in his new book, neil ferguson lays out a compelling case of how the west lost their edge. thank you for being with us. are we done for? >> not necessarily. this is not a case of the reversible -- irreversible inevitable decline. but we have to get our act together. i think it is part due to do with cost of doing things worse. not only politically, but economically, too. it is not irreversible, but we have to act. >> is there a sense that there is a limit of government's ability to act? however much money you put into it, one trillion dollars put into a stimulus package that only had a small effect on the margins. the government is limited. >> if you think back 500 years ago, it was not a government that caused the rise to happen. my book takes the long view and tries to explain what made th

u.s. congress might not be able to agree on how to fix the economy but they sure do agree when it comes to signing away american rights like indefinite detention of u.s. citizens and internet spying big brother is getting even bigger i'll explain next . we just put a picture of me when i was like nine years old and just you know look through. i'm a confession i am a total get a friend that i love rap and hip hop music and pretty. much it was kind of a yesterday. i'm very proud of the world with its place. r.f. oakes there is a lot going on right now decisions are being made are unprecedented and will have an overreaching impact on what it means to live in the united states of america a few things the case of bradley manning his treatment and his precedent his case will set for future with whistleblowers and for transparency we talked a lot about that but that is just scratching the surface also congress your elected officials both the senate and the house of representatives have just overwhelmingly passed the national defense authorization act now it's not just funding for the pentagon tha

u.s. congress would need to approve it, and many politicians in washington are not convinced myanmar has done enough. clinton has spent a lot of time during her visit getting to know aung san suu kyi. they even had dinner together on thursday night. it hasn't been long since the u.s. considered myanmar a rogue nation. that showed progress in civil rights. forming a close relationship with aung san suu kyi will be critical if the obama administration is to build a successful new policy towards myanmar. that, also, has support at home. for nhk world, yangon. >> about 200 prisoners were released in october but hundreds more are believed to remain in detention. nhk world was there and filed this report. >> reporter: this gallery in central bangkok is exhibiting photographs of 50 former political prisoners released by myanmar. they have been to different parts of the world, including the united states, europe, and japan. the photos show the palm of their hands where they have written the names of other political prisoners still behind bars. prodemocracy leader, aung san suu kyi, also features in t

u.s. congress has not approved the funding for transferring about 8,000 u.s. marines to guam from okinawa. american lawmakers say the plan is deadlocked because of strong local opposition. the transfer to guam is dependant on the futenma air station relocation. the current agreement would close the base in a densely-populated area and move it to a site off the coast of the city of nago. >>> well a number of okinawans want futenma moved out of their island prefecture entirely. they've been hosting the american military since the end of world war ii and the soldiers haven't always been the best of neighbors. now, a theater group is acting out in an old story to give people a fresh perspective on this issue. nhk world's jun masumoto shows us. >> reporter: performers make last-minute adjustments, their play recounts a real-life drama. june 30th, 1959, a u.s. fighter jet crashes into a village on okinawa. it skids into an elementary school, killing 11 children, six people who live nearby die. more than 200 others are hurt. this woman works with the play group. she

u.s. congress has aproved new sanctions against iran. president barack obama is expected to sign the measures into legislation. the senate voted in favor of defense bills which include the sanctions. they would ban foreign financial institutions that process transactions through iran's central bank, from doing business with the u.s. banks. the sanction would in effect halt foreign business dealings with iran. >> the goals that the administration and the congress share, which are to maximize the pressure on the government of iran, are implemented in a manner that affects iran, but also protect the legitimate interests of america's friends and allies around the world. >> nuland added that clause may exempt some banks from sanctions. the measure is aimed to dry up oil revenues. the sanctions would have a severe impact and japan and other countries that import oil from iran. >>> next, we go to our bureau in bangkok. pachari raksawong is there to find out what's going on in the region. >>> we begin in afghanistan, where insurgencies have cost

u.s. congress. house republicans introduced a new bill extending it through next year.posal would pay for the tax cut by cutting pay of federal workers and raising some medicare premiums. it also includes a clause requiring the white house to issue a permit for the keystone pipeline within two months. that's the pipeline that runs from canada down to texas. democrats say that makes a bill dead on arrival in the u.s. senate. >> their proposal doesn't have a shot. it is one of the republican senators as what we are doing here is pointless. >> republican leaders in congress are still playing politics at the expense of middle class families. >> republicans do plan to vote on the bill next week. john boehner says the bill is a compromise between both parties and is worthy of the president's signature. >> the controversy dream act, one step closer to heading to a public vote next year. announced it is no longer challenging to petition that would put the issue on the ballot. they will continue a lawsuit. the dream act allows illegal immigrants who meet certain requirements to

u.s. congress would need to approve it, and many politicians in washington are not convinced myanmar has done enough. clinton has spent a lot of time during her visit getting to know aung san suu kyi. they even had dinner together on thursday night. it hasn't been long since the u.s. considered myanmar a rogue nation. that showed progress in civil rights. forming a close relationship with aung san suu kyi will be critical if the obama administration is to build a successful new policy towards myanmar. that, also, has support at home. for nhk world, yangon. >> the release of political prisoners was one of the conditions that clinton set out before considering lifting sanction. about 200risoners were released in october but hundreds more are believed to remain in detention. nhk world was there and filed this report. >> reporter: this gallery in central bangkok is exhibiting photographs of 50 former political prisoners released by myanmar. they have been to different parts of the world, including the united states, europe, and japan. the photos show the palm of their hands where they have writte

u.s. congress might not be able to agree on how to fix the economy they sure do agree when it comes to signing away american rights like indefinite detention of u.s. citizens and you know that's fine looks like big brother getting even bigger well explain coming up next. the uk with the other there's always the option of with what it was nobody seems to know. but never a pepper sprayed the face but more of the argument that they're being overly dramatic. look at the capitol and now because i'm floored list for. all right folks there is a lot going on right now decisions being made that are on precedented and will have an overreaching impact on what it means to live in the united states of america a few things the case of bradley manning his treatment and his the precedent his case will set for future whistleblowers and for transparency but you know we just talked about that this is just scratching the surface also congress your elected officials both the senate and the house of representatives have just overwhelmingly passed the national defense authorization act now this is not just funding f

u.s. congress were on the brink of shutting down. they didn't. and though california spent months over a pending transportation mess they dubbed carmegeddon -- >> it certainly will be a traffic disaster -- >> reporter: -- it ended up as a news story about a highway shut down for a while. then there was oakland preacher harold camping who predicted the world would end may 21. >> it will begin with a huge earthquake. >> reporter: when it didn't he changed it to july 4, then october 21 and then stopped talking. still, recent polls show americans by huge margins, 2 to 1 and 3 to 1, think we are on the wrong track as all the occupy protests demonstrated it's worries about money. >> i lost a couple jobs because of the economy and things. everybody's going through that. >> maybe congress will get it back together and do what it needs to do and go forward. >> reporter: but 2012 is at hand and as the poet alexander pope once famously wrote, "hope springs eternal." you may have heard we have an election coming up. so around half the country will find its h

u.s. congress has approved new financial sanctions against iran. lawmakers are trying to stop tehran from developing nuclear weapons. the measures target those who do business through the central bank. president barack obama is expected to sign the measures into legislation. the senate voted in favor of defense bills which include the sanctions. they would ban foreign financial institutions that process transactions through iran's central bank, from doing business with the u.s. banks. the sanction would in effect halt foreign business dealings with iran. >> the goals that the administration and the congress share, which are to maximize the pressure on the government of iran, are implemented in a manner that affects iran, but also protect the legitimate interests of america's friends and allies around the world. >> nuland added that clause may exempt some banks from sanctions. the measure is aimed to dry up oil revenues. the sanctions would have a severe impact and japan and other countries that import oil from iran. >>> next, we go to our bureau in

u.s. congress passed a bill that would dramatically complicate transactions through iran's central bank european and asian nations iranian oil and use its central bank for their transactions president obama has yet to sign the bill and that's going to be a severe blow to the uranium economy around eighty percent of its revenues depend on crude sales e.u. ministers say. a decision on whether or not to boycott iranian oil will be made in coming weeks the west says all the rand has to do to avoid sanctions is to give up their nuclear program iran says they are not doing anything wrong by pursuing a peaceful nuclear program for civilian purposes some experts believe cornering iran like that by sanctions creates a powder keg which could blow up at a slightest spark and the potential confrontation over the strait of hormuz can be that spark. that is she can afford that now the editor of consortium news robert perry says while neither ron nor the united states want the file route to be blocked a war against iran could still be on the cards for washington. i don't think any side here wants that to happe

u.s. congress. >>> the former democratic candidate had a serious call in front of his lie prayer.to a scheduled television appearance on friday. the 89-year-old was taken to the hospital. he ran against the president in -- president nixon as an anti- war candidate. >>> when the president ordered almost all american troops out of iraq by the end of the year, it made the stay shorter for thousands of troops and that is is 140 soldiers from one group. >> on this chilly morning, it is end of the injure e is 6,000 miles long. >> the maryland national guard soldiers were told to line up. they were waiting, but after ten months away, they broke rang to said that their marching orders came from the heart. >> i could not wait until after that. >> i understand that you were supposed to wait. >> we did not care. we wanted to see each other. >> there was one for february. the president pushed this draw back by

u.s. congress. on january 4, 2007, she was elected as the first woman to serve as the speaker of the house. since 2010, she has served as the democratic leader. leader pelosi has been -- [applause] leader pelosi has been a longtime supporter of veterans, but she has also been a longtime supporter of homeless veterans. i do not know if you remember this, but i do. about 15 years ago, her and former mayor brown came to 13th and mission. they heard about this government's of homeless center to serve homeless veterans, and she took the time to come and to tore and see what we were doing at 13th and mission. i was a young social worker at the time, and i was very impressed, so thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much. it is a personal pleasure to be here at the salvation army today. thank you so much for your hospitality. coming here, walking through, almost double-seen this a beautiful space came as a surprise, but how appropriate that it is here for our homeless veterans but i am honored to join th

u.s. congress passed a bill that would dramatically complicate transactions through iran's central bank european and asian nations import iranian oil and use its central bank for their transactions president obama has yet to sign the bill. and that's going to be a severe blow to the uranium economy around eighty percent of its revenues depend on crude sales e.u. ministers say. a decision on whether or not to boycott iranian oil will be made in coming weeks the west says all the rand has to do to avoid sanctions is to give up their nuclear program iran says they're not going to do and they're not doing anything wrong by pursuing a peaceful nuclear program for civilian purposes some experts believe cornering irad like that by sanctions creates a powder keg which could blow up at a slightest spark and the potential confrontation over the strait of hormuz can be that spark that she counts morning there was a rant stop nuclear negotiator has expressed iran's readiness for fresh talks with the west over its alleged atomic program parents olive branch comes just days after the state said any sanctions

u.s. congress passed a bill that would dramatically complicate transactions iran's central bank european and asian nations import iranian oil and use its central bank food for their transactions president obama has yet to sign that bill that's going to be a severe blow to your brain an economy around eighty percent of its revenues depend on who to e.u. ministers say they do a decision on whether or not to boycott the rain in a while in coming weeks and those threats that are coming from iran indicate that it's ready to take action to protect its interests pensions rice the west says all the rana has to do is to give up their nuclear program iran says they're not doing anything wrong by pursuing a peaceful nuclear program for civilian purposes the rhetoric here in washington against iran is getting very harsh the u.s. spy drone shot down by the uranium before that a washington accusing iran of plotting to kill the saudi ambassador to the u.s. and blow up the israeli and saudi embassy in washington those were just some of the most recent episodes it all adds up and creates a lot of tension now