Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20141022

This has to be part of the game plan going forward. You cant have people in front of 45 judges behaving like it is their first trip in the court. We have to consolidate so judges can make informed decisions about Everything Associated with those things. I have no problem at all. It would be a good idea to have a review that takes place every 10 years or so. Not only should there be a review, they should be reupped by Governors Council or whomever. Should be another vote . I guess what i would say is you can either have a process where they have to be reupped or the review would determine whether or not they would go before the Governors Council. I like the letter better than the former. These are lifetime appointments. We want to make good decisions. That is why we set them up. But they ought to be held accountable. At the same time, everybody ought to know at some point theyre working for the public and taxpayers are paying for it. Lets hear from patricia. I cover social services. Both of you have talked about caring about Vulnerable Children and the need for fixes. Neither of you have talked about adding more money for the agency. A federal judge said the primary problem is a budgetary shortfall more than anything else. My question is do you think you can fix it without adding more money . I actually supported the governors proposal, 30 million increase for dcf. Both for social workers, and for a variety of other pieces. I think there are management reforms that ought to be part of what happens there. I may proposals when the jeremiah all of her case broke earlier this year. In many respects dcf has a difficult and complicated job. They are dealing with some of the most troubled families in the commonwealth. The fact that they had an opportunity to move toward fixing this for years ago when childrens rights filed that case, which was a compelling case against the department, and the attorney general and governor chose not to move to fix it but to fight it, was a problem and borne out by what happened after. In addition to that, ive said this before, you have a terrific record with respect to advocating for children. To have that case in front of you and to stand silently by why they cut the budget by 40 million was a problem and showed a lack of judgment. First of all the case is so compelling the judge dismissed it. Lets be clear. We get represent the government. That is my job. I always do that to the best interest of the children and families we need to represent. Lets be clear about whats going on here. Outside lawyers were suing us. It was not the right solution for massachusetts. Better use of that money to go in to dcf. We need to restructure the agency. Ive had a plan since i work with that agency for 25 years. We have agency to protect kids and keep families together. They dont do it right. We need to change it. By the way, im glad youre advocating for these changes while youre running for governor but you had an opportunity as secretary and undersecretary helping Human Services to look at caseloads, technology, and reverted 2 million. Is 30 million enough money . Everyone says restructuring and moving things around him and they will never have enough money. Its not just about money. Every judge has said the same thing. It is money. They dont have enough money. We can give them more money. Problems dont get solved. The structure of the agency doesnt work to give omissions to the social work and an caseloads are too big or they dont have enough training. I work with terrific social workers that we need to change the structure of the agency and then we need to say with an increase in technology, we need to better communicate what the mission of the agency is and what they are supposed to do. Instead we have fought that. The lawyer who represented that case on the other side worked in the clinton administration. She was hardly partisan. The way you describe that, you said you did what was best for massachusetts. It was not that lawsuit. The onesizefitsall result. I absolutely refuse to say ive read the brief you said you would rather give a lot of money to outside lawyers to tell massachusetts what to do. I dont think that is a good solution for a manager. You have praised martha coakleys work for children which leads me to say we have to play a snippet of ads, most parents tell their children to leave the room. Lets watch a piece of these. More than 50 children abused, neglected, lives cut short under the care of the Massachusetts Department of children and family. Martha coakley. Baker eliminated nearly 2000 jobs at his company. Tripling his own salary to over 1. 7 million a year. Very quickly, somebody who supports you, the former attorney general say you did a great job. I still dont understand briefly why you are not answering the super pac, klees take that commercial off the air. It does represent my value. I said i didnt like the tone of the ad. Were still having a discussion about whether they made the right decision or not. The proof is the tragedies and problems and the broken agency of the dcf in many respects at the time and through those cuffs in their budget. Why cant you do that . Why are you asking the ads about him be pulled . Despite your criticisms, he led the saving of hunter pilgrim. The facts in that ad are accurate. That is the difference between those two ads. Factual inaccuracies. I think that add is just for entertainment. That i sat by while children were killed. That is outrageous. This is a campaign. I understand that. I asked charlie. He would not do it. The first negative ad was run by a super pac against me, they give thousands is of dollars through a finance loophole. To some extent she doesnt have any credibility on this issue. Lets move on. I spent five days this summer reporting from ferguson, missouri that erupted in near constant protests after an africanamerican teenager was shot and killed. Many of the officials in the city and the state were criticized for not understanding the circumstances that contributed to the volatile situation. My question is, how would you as governor make sure that all communities, but especially the amenities of color have a seat at the table so disparity and education, housing, income, as well as health care that those gaps are closed. Could you give me one example to address . I think that we want in Massachusetts Community policing, not combat policing. I would propose getting men and women in our fire Teaching Police services, and areas of Public Services that would address those things. Im very proud of the fact that i was endorsed by the minority Law Enforcement Officers Association because of the time and effort ive made getting to know the folks in the communities of color. A huge part my plan is Economic Opportunity and education and Public Safety in those communities. I was proud to stand with leaders from those communities a week ago today to talk about the plan and gain their support. One thing i would say, i havent to do a right along on the friday night of when ferguson was breaking. Sergeant johnson, i wanted him to take me around the city for five or six hours and show me what goes on in urban boston. The first thing he did was he took me to Dorchester High School where they were holding practice and cooking. This is what goes on in this community. Which no one ever talks about. He knew every single coach, he knew half the parents who were there. One of the things we have to do if they want to avoid situations like that is we have got to embed ourselves as human beings in these communities of people understand not only do we care about them but we get where they are coming from and they can see us, and they can know it would make a commitment they will follow through. I have done that for 18 years with community policing, and messy violence. It is important to make sure we have a good criminal justice system. Educational factors, Charter Schools. A few months ago i went to one of those Charter School drawings. No parents were there. I realized so few kids can get in its too depressing and upsetting to go to these things and not get called in. You have been supportive not so strongly for Charter Schools. Charlie baker said denying the options of Charter School support kids is nothing less than an affront to their civil rights. How is he wrong . This is where he differed. It is about education. We have made this distinction between charters or not charters. Charters were the reason that we were able to see what works and what doesnt great extended learning time, early education. The ways in which we get every cap the best possible education. Its about making sure we keep the promise to take the best practices from charters and seed them in district schools. We have highly innovation schools. We know what works. You mentioned prek. Primary night you celebrated your plan, but has morphed into a plan where 17,000 people are on the waiting list, who need support. What happened . I still support universal prek. We are going to start with 17,000 kids in 100 50 million immediately to get them into places we have. There are parents that have that ability now. Im trying to land the claim field. Charter schools . The position is basically the same. Im glad to see that she agrees with me, we should make targeted investments in expanding participation in prek. I spent a lot of time and city schools over the course of this race. Im looking for excellence. There are 45,000 parents on a waiting list. Those parents deserve choices. When i knock doors in dorchester, in springfield, the first question that comes up when im talking to somebody is i dont have enough choices for my kids. They are desperate when i talk about this. For anybody who has kids, it kills you to hear the concern in their voice. There are a lot of great traditional schools out there. One of the things ive talked about during this campaign is wanting to create relationships between folks who are actually doing a terrific job of educating kids and Public Schools with other folks in Public Schools. We dont do the inservice type learning and teaching and best practices that we should be doing. Im going to make that happen. We have to start doing that. There are stars performing in urban education we are not leveraging them. We are going to move to an issue that is huge. Income inequality. The minimum wage increase, and question four, mandatory paid leave. Do you support those things . Very quickly, are you not concerned about the arguments of Small Business that one or both of these is going to croak them. Like snow. The minimum wage has been passed. Most supported it. We have families living week to week to pay their rent or put food on their table. There is a couple that works at logan airport. They can barely afford to put food on their table. That is not right. The corporations they work for are doing quite well. This income inequality has to be for everybody. Connecticut and california, we would be the outlier became the third because Small Businesses say it is a killer. I think that it is absolutely a cost of doing business they would be able to afford. This is a right for people. Most dont worry about six time. If they are sick they are going to lose their jobs if they dont show up. It is a Public Health issue. It mostly affects women. Minimum wage women who have childcare responsibilities, who dont have vouchers for early education. This is a fairness issue. I support it. You had said earlier in the campaign you would consider a sub minimum wage for teenagers and people in training. We should go ahead and pursue what is happening on the minimum wage legislatively. I also believe we should, and i would file a bill, for Small Businesses tax credits to absorb the increase without taking hours away from people or jobs. Question four, you propose a threshold of 50 or more employees. 120,000 businesses, they would not benefit from paid sick leave. Does not trouble you . That would be the same as the connecticut law. Only two states have this law and both of them have a lot more in flexibility. I support doing this. I will work with the legislature to get it done. I worry if were all concerned about jobs and Small Businesses and their ability to create opportunity that this puts us at a significant disadvantage. 1. 2 Million People who would get sick time. A lot of people are going to lose their existing flex benefits when that passes because they wont be able to access the flex benefits their companies have put in place. Both of you have been involved with ethical questions. Martha coakley failed to disclose a lawsuit against fannie mae and freddie mac. I think the opportunity, as the chief lawenforcement officer and the overseer of the office of campaign in finance it wouldve been inappropriate for the attorney general to disclose that relationship, especially since she had financial opportunities. This woman raised money for her as well. The premise is in your question. The statute, ive been fighting to keep people in their homes. The only purpose and that statute was to make sure homeowners to stay in their homes. It is not the only company that does that. It is a notforprofit. We disclose everything we needed to. We checked and checked again. We did what we needed. We did everything we needed to do. Some have suggested you engaged in pay to play. Seven months before [inaudible] receive 50 million from the pension fund. Should voters be concerned about that . Those facts indicate at least from my point of view a reason to investigate. He said under 33 different times he filed and was a partner of it. He is in violation of the law. If he is not he should disclose his contract. The reports today, that Chris Christie and the treasure of new jersey appointed by Chris Christie, a supporter of yours, is holding up the lease of the investigation about this page plaything until several days after the election in massachusetts. Would you use this opportunity to urge christie to disclose what their investigation is . I cant control. I stay as far away from it as i can get, which is appropriate. They will issue their report when the issue with. Martha issue the fact that i was working for general catalyst. Ive been transparent. Ive never tried to hide anything. I gave all the documentation and said if there is something you need to do here tell me. I wrote a brief on it. I made that brief publicly available to anybody who wanted to see it. The governor of new jersey should the voters of massachusetts [indiscernible] the pension board is want to make their decision whenever they finished their study. As far as i can tell based on the work that was done, i have done nothing wrong. He can resolve it by disclosing his employment contract. We are short on time. There is only one person at there is only one person at this table who is paid a Campaign Violations find. The attorney general. Ive been completely transparent when we have had errors that have been pointed out. We have fixed them. We refer to the money to where it should have gone. I always have done that. That is the transparency. We are going to release the tension. Lets hear from the boston globe. A serious question about taxes. He is going to ask you one quick question. Who would play you in the movie of this campaign . Who would lay your opponent . Reese witherspoon. They are looking at each other. [laughter] liam neeson. Same question, most of this has been about power you have. Lets talk about our you dont have. The bully pulpit of the Governors Office that you would advance. You just use your position as governor to try to move the public on. What would that be . We need to create more things at night for kids to do in urban communities. I would like to put together a coalition of folks who were involved in all kinds of recreational a communitybased athletic activities across the commonwealth involving urban communities and come up with things kids can do at night. Thats a big problem. The legislature i am most concerned about kids, others a notforprofit sittings that dont have the resources to get what they need, not just sports but social work, mental health. There are troubled kids in the state that need help. Thank you both. We appreciate your time. That is all the time we have. [applause] Charlie Baker and martha coakley. Thank you for tuning in tonight. [applause] in an hour, the constitution and the rule of law at the Heritage Foundation. She was nominated to the d. C. Court of appeals in 2003 and confirmed in 2005. You can see her live at 5 30 today. Our Campaign Debate coverage continues. The new york 11 district debate between michael mm and Dominic Ricky a dominic. Followed by the new york 18th district debate with Sean Patrick Maloney and nan hayworth. Then the illinois 10th district debate with rodney davis and ann callis. 2014, 100 debates for the control of congress. Last night in Jacksonville Florida governors debate was held between incumbent rick scott and charlie crist. Here is a short part of it. Are you saying there are so many racists in the Republican Party you could remain a republican . No. Im saying that element exists. They dont have a racial bone in their body. What is a word here is a simple thing. If you number two 2008, some emails to should be kid about. He president by some members they werent exactly flattering. I think you can research and find out what i am talking about. Reaction ive the gotten from some in the Republican Party leadership wasnt tolerable to me. It was clear that it wasnt just because i was willing to work across the aisle to get the recovery funds to come to florida. He was the first africanamerican president. It is not what is fun to say. Im going to tell the truth. Governor scott. Youre a mudslinger, a divider. The entire time you have been in politics, you are a divider. Look at what we want to have. We have a wonderful state. Who haveo many people come from all over the world and you want to divide people. I want everybody to have the same shot i had. Nothing could be further from the truth. I reached across the aisle when i was your governor. I work with the president to get the recovery funds. Governor rick scott wont work with the president even to get highspeed real, which is so important to the state, 2. 4 billion to florida. Some say 60,000 jobs. He will not lift a finger to get Medicaid Expansion done. It would bring 120,000 jobs. Your highspeed, you let a 3. 6 billion deficit. You borrowed everything you could. You lead a project that would cost us billions of dollars. You want to talk about medicaid. You were governor when it passed. Why didnt you pass it in . I have worked with the federal government as an example, something you would not do. You would not lift a finger. Recent polling has listed the race as a tossup. You can see the entire debate at 8 00 eastern. On tomorrow mornings washington Terrance Gainer discusses the canadian harlem and shooting. Your phone calls, facebook conversations, and tweets. This is one hour. Good afternoon. Questions,et to there are things i want to talk about briefly. I want to begin that the help and prayers a lot of families affected by todays shooting in canada. As most of the family of the soldier who was killed this week. The president was briefed earlier today by his top Homeland Security adviser. The details about the nature of this event are still sketchy, which is not unusual in a chaotic situation like the one, like this one. Canada is one of the closest friends and allies of the United States. From issues ranging from the strength of our Nato Alliance to the Ebola Response, to dealing with isil, there is a partnership and friendship between the United States and candidate. Officials in the u. S. Government have been in close touch with their canadian counterparts today to offer assistance. That includes officials here in the white house. With theeen in touch canadians about arranging a phone call between the president and Prime Minister harper at his latest at his earliest convenience. With that, do you want to get started with questions. Talk about the announcements coming out of the cdc that the 20 day monitoring of people coming in from west africa countries . Is that a way to avoid a travel ban that some have been calling for . I think what it is is to put in place the policies that we believe will do the most to protect the American People and the help of the American People. The president has been clear as explanation of why he believes a travel ban is not the best policy at this point. He is not philosophically opposed to a travel ban but it is his view based on guidance he has been given that putting in place a travel ban exposes people to more vulnerability. Because the travel lanes are have some confidence in our ability to detect individuals who are traveling from west africa or who have traveled recently in west africa as they attempt to enter the United States. Because of our knowledge about their travel history we can ensure that the screening measures in place in west africa can ensure those individuals are not exhibiting symptoms of ebola. There are dozens of individuals that have been denied boarding. They are subjected to additional screening measures. To determine and confirm they are not exhibiting symptoms of ebola. This is important because ebola can only be transmitted through close contact with bodily fluids of an individual exhibiting symptoms of ebola. That is the focus of our efforts. The announcement from the cdc today is an additional layer, ant will be based upon effort to share information between state and local authorities to protect populations of their state. That includes giving them the content information from people traveling to their states. So that the state and local Public Health officials decide to put in place additional monitoring provisions, they have the wherewithal to do so. What happens if people dont selfreport their temperature with debbie Law Enforcement coming to look for them . This will be the responsibility of local Law Enforcement in the states where these travelers are located. It will be the responsibility of maybe evencials and elected officials to determine what steps are needed to protect citizens. As far as the white house is concerned having police show up to find people would be going too far. It will be the responsibility of individual states to make those decisions. . Why these states at this point what we are talking about the six states were 70 of the travelers destination. These are the states where the vast majority of people who have spent time in west africa are headed to in the United States. Willld anticipate that we continue to coordinate with state and local officials to expand the ability to do more. Us more details about what his job will entail, does he have a staff . Is he going to be hiring and firing . Is he being paid like a Senior Advisor . We will get you more details in terms of his salary arrangements. He does have his responsibility to coordinate the Ebola Response to the u. S. Government both in west africa and also here in the United States. This is a coordinating function that is typical of other senior officials of the National Security council where they are responsible for ensuring the actions of a variety of Government Agencies focused on addressing specific problems are properly synchronized integrated to maximize the impact of their efforts. That is essentially what he is focused on. The hiring and firing . I dont know individual staffers reporting directly to him. I would anticipate he will get the support that he needs to do this important job. Realizing back to canada,hat this is a fluid situation are you able to say whether the United States or canada considers this a terrorist attack . Im not in the position to render judgment on that at this point. Obviously, canadian authorities. Re responding to the situation im confident they will conduct an investigation which they will consider a range of questions not unlike the question you just asked. Is the indication whether there is a connection to terror groups that you are able to say now what she might say now . There is no conclusion im able to say now at this point read we are in the early stages. A number of u. S. Officials in the government have been in touch with the canadian counterparts to offer assistance tragic respond to this situation. Is there any reason for u. S. Government facilities or other areas to be on high alert . Im not aware of any decisions made by individual components to change their Threat Status three there are agencies their Threat Status. There are other agencies like the department of defense that set threat conditions. Im not aware of any changes. Are officialsere in touch with canadian officials. Offeringbi, cia assistance . I dont have a rundown in terms of who has made phone calls to their counterparts. I know that a number of officials have done that. Can you give us any details about how the release of jesse foully was a range . Im not in a position to do so. You can check with the state department and they will have more details. Any change to the security measures being taken here at the white house as a result . Not that i am aware of. You can check with the secret service. If they have something to announce they will be the ones to do that. U. S. Law enforcement officials have been concerned aout there being some kind of raise in the threat level because of what is happening in the antiisis campaign. Has that concern be shared with canadian authorities, have authorities been talking about this in recent weeks . The United States, again i want to state that we are buting general matters, that said these United States has been in touch with an indian counterparts over the last several months to talk about the issue of encountering violent fighters that could be with isil. They have been trying to radicalize citizens in other countries. Canadians who will participate in the United Nations security. Ouncil convened last month idont remember frankly, dont recall if Prime Minister harper himself attended that meeting. I know the canadians were supportive of that process. Engaged in working with the United States on these broader efforts to counter foreign fighters. Foreign fighters are individuals in countries around the world isilhave been recruited by to trachsel travel to the region and take up arms to get training and fight alongside isil and their cause. The concern is that these individuals could return to their home countries and carry out acts of violence. The circumstances around todays tragic events in canada are unknown. That is a concern that the United States has been focused on for quite some time. We had been talking to other countries about steps we can threat. Mitigate that canada is one of the countries that has been robustly engaged in those efforts. Any response from the administration to the teenage girls from denver who tried to travel to syria to join isis . Were picked up in germany. Any response from the administration for that specific . Ive seen reports about this matter. I know the fbi put out a statement on it and i would have nothing to add to that statement. That ola, the fact you feel like the white house has turned a corner with ebola . Those of you are among those closely watching our response here have noticed there has been a steppedup level of activity here at the federal level to deal with this issue. That includes everything from the announcement from dhs about funneling travelers from west africa to five airports where there are protocols for secondary screenings to occur. You see an announcement from the department of defense about the military medical professionals that have been mobilized to be inthe ready, to help assist treating ebola patients if necessary in the United States. You have seen these additional longer protocols from the cdc about steps that help your workers can take to protect themselves when they are treating ebola patients. There have been a number of announcements from the Obama Administration from other aspects of the federal government to deal with this situation. It is a something we continue to be vigilant about. The guidance we have received from experts about the extraordinarily low likelihood of an Ebola Outbreak in the United States continues to be the operating principle here. It should be, while americans who are watching the situation should recognize that their government is taking the necessary steps to do what is necessary to protect them, at the same time the scientific assessment is that the risk of a widespread Ebola Outbreak in the United States remains extraordinarily low, and the rest the average american from the ebola virus remains extraordinarily low. Ago, weple weeks talked about the attack [inaudible] claimings. Government [indiscernible] reports claiming that. Claiming nt is near thehird one, kurdish borders. I assume that this is important because of neighboring countries. Can you confirm if this claim is true . I cant confirm those reports. Im hearing them for the first time from you. I would refer you to the department of defense. The focal point of our efforts tocounter isil has been build the capacity of local fighters both in iraq and in serious take the fight to isi syria to takein the fight to isis. That could make a difference on the battlefield as local fighters confront isil on the ground. That is the core component of our strategy, the rategyrterrorism sterrit we have used in other countries. I would refer you to the department of defense. Im not aware of the specific reports. The turkish Prime Minister spoke this morning. The Defense Department confirmed one of the packages of weapons bani appears to have ended up in isiss hands. I would refer you to the department of defense on the details about the specific airdrop carried out over the weekend. What i have heard from them so far is a continue to be confident the vast majority of did reachrdropped their target and were recovered by the antiisil forces we were seeking to assist. For eachof accounting of those bundles of preferred department of defense. I want to go to the department of education. We have relaxed a bit some of the strict rules with the parent plus loan. That alone program came under fire. It prohibited a lot of students from being able to go to school because terrance had blemishes on their because the parents had blemishes on their credit report. Does this new guidelines satisfy to bring students back to school and keep them so they can get an education . I guess you would have to ask if they are satisfied. We feel good about it on a roll issued today. These are new rules to allow more parents the opportunity to borrow and send their kids to college. At the same time ensuring parents are able to repay those loans to make informed decisions about financing the education of their children. This is consistent with other steps the administration has taken to try to open up the door to a College Education to even more students in this country. Never before has a College Education been so critical to a good middleclass job, particularly in the modern 21st century economy. There are other steps the administration has taken consistent with todays announcement late increasing the maximum pell grant award to 1000, creating the American Opportunity tax credit makes it easier to afford a College Education. There are steps that have been taken to reform the student loan program, to lower costs and make more Resources Available to more students. We have talked a bit about creating a Rating System for college so that students who are considering a College Education can be better informed about the offerings it available to colleges that we can ensure that they are choosing a college that matches their own goals, and matches their financial ability to afford the tuition, and not be weighed down by too much debt when they graduate. Do you believe these changes are ensuring people are able to stay and get [inaudible] dothe changes today will even more to open up the doors to College Education to more families and students across the country. Our goal here is in recognition of the fact that a College Education has never been more important to being able to get a hold of a good middleclass job in this country. And what is happening in canada, does this speak to gun control or terrorism, or both . The details about what has transpired there is still under investigation. Authorities are still responding to the incident. I would reserve judgment about what happened or because of what happened until we have greater insight into what exactly happened. [indiscernible] i wanted to followup on the inspector generals report on the secret Service Incident in 2011. What was the president s reaction when he learned about it . You, i would refer you to the statement from secretary johnson he put out earlier today. He has asked the acting director of the secret service to review the investigation into the specific allegations and take the appropriate disciplinary action necessary in this case. That obviouslyng has attracted the attention of senior officials at dhs and they will deal with that. The president doesnt have a direct role to figure out exactly who should be held accountable . He has the director of the secret Service Going to be responsible to make sure appropriate accountability steps are taken. Laura . In washington, a jury convicted [indiscernible] i have seen those news reports that i am not prepared to follow from here. The russianrted economy had become stagnant and it could be the lowest output since 2009. The sanctions in the United States have worked that way. That make Vladimir Putin more dangerous or less dangerous . It does make clear a couple of things. As you point out, sanctions regime put in place by the United States in close coordination with our European Partners has impose a significant cost on the russians for their inappropriate interference in the affairs of the sovereign nation of the ukraine. Is an indication of a successful policy implementation. The question goes to hasnt had the desired effect in terms of getting the russians to change their behavior . That is a calculation that only the leader of that country can make. We have not seen as much as we would like in terms of abiding ceasefire, of the an indication the russians are prepared to respect the basic International Norms, particularly the borders of sovereign countries. We continue to have concerns but it is clear that the sanctions regime has taken a toll on the russian economy and the russians are paying a price for their actions in the ukraine. Is the strategy to weaken russia in this way, is it a danger it could backfire and make Vladimir Putin more dangerous . I guess i dont follow your thinking on this. The stretch we have put in place as one we have been candid about. Russians clearly understand the International Community expects a set International Norms will be respected and the failure to do so will result in significant cost to countries like russia more basicntly International Norms. We have seen russians actively support separatists in the ukraine. It has been ample and intent there has been ample evidence that personal have moved across the border into the ukraine. An inappropriate interference with the affairs of the sovereign nation. And the russian government and russian people and the russian economy have sustained costs. You believe it has been a success . If looking at the numbers that you cited, that is an indication that the sanctions regime has had an intense effect on causing cost for the russian economy. We are waiting to see if those influence have an over the actions of russia in that region of the world. The jury is still out. I know this was yesterday, a few reported that there have been green cards printed ordered for printing, as many as 9 million. Does that tell us anything about the president s intent on the people that he intends to make legal in this country once the election is over . Once i did have a chance to read those reports since the briefing and before today. It is a relatively clever way to ask about the policy the president has not yet announced as relates to executive actions he is compared to take to address the problems in our immigration system. Beyond that, no. You are suggesting then that ordering these green cards shows the government is at least preparing for the president to announce this soon. No, i would not suggest that is an indication. 900 million 9 million cards being printed. The ordered some paper. You would need to convict unless you are playing to print a lot of green cards. We are talking about an order from the department of homeland contract related to Ongoing Operations of the department of Homeland Security. They are responsible for issuing green card street those who are trying to read into specific orders about what the president are too cleverly trying to define the president s conclusion might be. Candidate, you cant but we aredgment, told maybe we have more information. The president did connect harper a fewt minutes ago. We will have more details later today. Thehe fbi has to deal with fallout and has put out a bulletin around the United States suggesting raise your threat posture and that there has been a spike in isis chatter in recent days. Officials have been picking it up. I know that does not prove that isis has been involved but given that they have to prepare for that possibility can you talk about how concerned the isis trying toe wage war against not just us but our allies. I have not seen those bulletins or the reports. I cannot comment specifically. Able to getbe more information. Has beend states cognizant of the threat posed by foreign fighters or individuals who could be radicalized in this country. The effort to counter violent extremism something the administration has been focused on for years. That continues to be an important priority because it is a critical part of our effort to protect the American People. The reason the president has galvanized the International Community to take the fight to isil is because he is concerned about the risks associated with havenstablishing a safe inside syria. If they were to establish a safe or it could give them greater space where they could turn more of their planning, plotting, organizing attacks against the United States or our allies, including the homeland here. Th a ais i ands th youe reason the president has atried is trying to establish this. Will give you a chance to check about the Vice President s role. He has taken some shots about his comments. Does the white house still view as an important asset . It is the campaigns himself that believe that the Vice President is an important advocate. He has established her his career over decades a profile of someone who has woken up every morning, gone to work ready for to fight for middleclass families. The think that gives him kinds of credentials that are helpful to democratic fats across the country that are trying to make the case about the importance of an agenda that is focused on middleclass families. The white house put out a transcript about the first lady being in the senate race referring to him as a candidate for governor. At one point they say the operation has gone from annoying to embarrassing and this came a couple weeks after the first lady mispronounced his name. What does that say about Senate Democrats feeling that the white house keeps messing up. The fact that the first lady was campaigning yesterday and the Vice President is there next week says all you need to know housese white commitment. What happened. Ow the issue of security of parliament had been raised since two weeks ago intruding to the usled fight against isis and contributing fighter jets and other forms of health. And i am wondering in the context of the conversations that have been held about foreign fighters, what can you possibility ofhe retaliatory strikes against people who have joined the Usled Coalition . Would handle it in similar fashion. The u. S. And allies have been mindful of the risk that is posed by foreign fighters. Individuals who have western past four to have taken up arms alongside sold isil. Robustly engaged in International Efforts to coordinate this month the response to the risk. We continued cooperation on their front. The reason that the u. S. Under the leadership of this president has worked hard to build an International Coalition against isil is they did pose a broader risk to the u. S. And our allies in the region. There has been a concern about expanding if they were able to establish a safe haven in syria. Our efforts are motivated to denying them that safe haven. Appreciative of the commitment that canada has made to this broader effort alongside the other countries. Can you give us more specifics when you say officials are enclosed contact with canadian counterparts, any more details on who that would be . Number have calls have n placed to our candidates our counterparts. There was a comment by Chris Christie that got a lot of attention when he said i am tired about hearing about the minimum wage. He has talked in the past that ass is about a bigger issue they see it as an opportunity gap. Is this reflective of the problem the president has and will continue to has as he tries to [indiscernible] a minimum wage. There are those who are tired and that is the 20 million who would benefit from an in these kris an increase. Below the poverty line and i would anticipate that would make you tired. That is why the president has worked hard to cut to encourage those workers to get a raise. Have a substantial and beneficial impact on the u. S. Economy. It would make a difference in the lives of those hardworking americans and the president has been pleased that there are 13 states and the District Of Columbia that have acted on their own to raise the minimum wage in their jurisdictions. We have been pleased to see so many arriving Companies Make similar decisions to raise the wages of their workers. This businesses are not doing it out of charity. They recognize it is good for business. President believes in this is backed up with some Academic Research that raising the minimum wage would be good for the broader economy in this country. Following up on ants question. Worth doing well if it is worth doing at all . It should speak for itself that the first lady was there. Mistake in the previous mistake something that the white house regrets . Anyone who heard the first ladys comments yesterday would come away with the impression she did a good job advocating for him and motivating support for the campaign. I think she did it well. The number of people who heard her remarks is significantly higher than those of you that are closely reading the transcripts. Something that is not important from the white house . Aced on the comments i have seen their lives to have the support of people like the first lady am pleased she is out on the campaign trail doing such a good job. The attorney general said. Hey are cautiously optimistic [inaudible] president is continuing to evolve on this issue. I do not have any of the in terms of the president s position. The attorney general might be expressing his own point of view with his observation of the of the nation implementation of laws in the states you have identified. The situation in ottawa, does that increase the urgency of continuing the secret Service Review [inaudible] complex ise capital , the former top cop today saying that there should be a fence around the capital and much more security of the capital. Do you have a sense of whether the urgency and the security situation should be reevaluated in light of what is happening . Strongre is already a sense of urgency associated with completing the review about the Security Posture around the white house. I do not know if that was further enhanced by the situation in canada. It was operating at a pretty high level. As relates to security that is thelace, i would refer to white house. There are thousands of tourists who walk out the [inaudible] this is a key priority. At the same time the top priority needs to be safeguarding the first family and balancing those priorities is difficult. There is a similar dynamic in play and i am confident that the u. S. Capitol police is aware of were doingd everything necessary to grapple with that challenge. In terms of recommended changes we referred defer to them. Theres a question about whether you want more ebola that part of the portfolio . This is something that will continue to reside at omb. The government governments response, it will be included in the discussion of what if any Additional Resources are needed. [indiscernible] is the Senate Appropriations committee holding a hearing . Do you expect to have recommendations . Rex i would not set a timeline on a decision we would make on our end about resources but this is something we are looking at. It is not clear exactly how that question will be resolved. Followup up on something you said yesterday when you spoke of an unprecedented level of nsparency in. It is unprecedented why does and that forsparency extend someone who is so interested in anticipate i would anticipate that you would technology thank you for humoring me. Why does and that why does that not extend to the donors which would be of great interest to all of us . Rex what we strive to do is and it ise desire to a legitimate one to hear the president pitch to donors about why they should support. Emocratic political committees there is a legitimate interest there. Those who have been close observers have found that the pitch the president delivers in those more intimate settings is consistent with what he delivers in bigger settings Like Campaign rallies or fundraisers that have take place at much leather gatherings. The goal of the sessions is to foster a more candid and open dialogue were you have donors who are expressing their views it is the heisenberg principle. The fact that someone observing something necessarily changes what is being observed. In a dynamicay like this where you have a small group of individuals who are seeking to have a conversation with the president. We have structured this in a way that tries to balance your understandable interest in the pitch the president makes to donors with the ability of donors to have a candid conversation with the president [indiscernible] theou are referring to heisenberg principle. If you are in a setting with where the president is speaking it would be hard to make the case that leading 12 additional people observe that speech would necessarily change the interaction. The dynamic is different when we take a Smaller Group of individuals. That doesnt necessarily change the interaction. Click she released the transcript of it. Wayhat would be a different to observe the interaction in a way that would have a Material Impact on that kind of conversation. May expect privacy. Not in his early. I do not there are plenty of occasions in which individuals have walked out saying i asked the president this and he told me that. Said that they violated some sort of harvest see agreement. I do not think that there is some expectation of privacy. What is implied is a little intimacy and an opportunity to have a frank and candid conversation that is different than one has been observed. Will you acknowledge what we suspect which we are not going the separation of cost. Not answering that question. Just acknowledge that. I will say there are numbers associated with the costs that i reported. Whatn there are proportion they are so there is a level of transparency that the Obama Administration and democratic committees are responsible for paying for some of these costs is reported publicly. I will acknowledge that. It is not the level of transparency the seat but there is transparency building in the system. Onwhat you often fall back an conversation with mark and others is we will stick with the previous policy. Which is not to disaggregate the numbers and to do anything more than is required, that is what you told mark for many years. What i would say about that why is that defensible . Specific laws that are in place, rules and the costns that govern associated with president ial travel to local event. Is that costses associated with Political Activities may not be paid for by Government Funds and the hatch act and fcc rules set out a system to ensure that political committees paid their fair share of travel in those payments are publicly reported to the fcc. You need tos far as go to explain to the public how these costs are paid and they are apportioned between what the taxpayer has paid for. This administration feels the letter andlow the spirit of the law and that is what we did. Are you saying that this is unrelated or coincidental . There are decisions made by lots of agencies including the ordering of specific sheets of paper. That is central to what the president has promised in public to do. It is central to what they are doing. Is it coincidental or unrelated . X you have to ask the dhs about green paper they have ordered. Is coming from the department of Homeland Security, right . You would have to ask the department of Homeland Security. Anybody that tries to look at the order, it is crazy. You are being clever and that would be a rare thing. It is not connected to the underlying policy, ok . If the president has said that i am going to do this and there is a mechanism by which he can be achieved once they executive order is put in commission and there is this contract to print more, why is it not just obvious that seems to be related . Will try this one more time. Dhs has responsibility to issue green cards to individuals who are signaling seeking to legally enter this country. This is 5 million more . You would have to ask about the policies that involve the procurement of green paper. I am trying to be a straightforward as i can. Does not makee specific direction to agencies about [inaudible] it would not want to be in position, no president would want to be in a position to have the legal work that dhs has gone through and the department of justice has gone through to propound [inaudible] we do not have any paper for this. You would not want to do that. That is malpractice in a procedural level. There are still decisions to be made about what that policy will entail. When we are ready to announce that policy we will announce it. What i would caution you against doing is making assumptions about what will be in those announcements based on the procurement practices of the department of Homeland Security. I know that you had given the estimate of the number of coming from three west african countries. For monitoring, do you think the number of travelers estimated will go down or stay the same . Is there any estimate of how many people will come to those from those countries. The current estimate is 150 a day enter this country from those three west african countries. I have not seen projections about whether or not the expectation is that number will increase or decrease or stay the same. You can check with cdc or dhs to see if they have any updated projections. Have the travelers been informed that they will be monitored . I will can refer you to the state department. There is a visa application process and they would be responsible for notifying travelers of those kinds of requirements i believe. If it is not them is probably dhs. Update us about how is excepting the level of contribution to the ebola effort and whether it is getting up to a level that he is feeling more confident or whether there is more work to do . They have been gratified by the increase in contributions but there is a lot more work and their efforts to encourage the International Community to ramp up the response to this urgent situation. Faucir the weekend dr. Indicated that he thought the u. S. Needed more than four highquality facilities that can handle ebola. Expandknow the plans to beyond the four facilities . You should check with cdc. The efforts are to offer strength and guidance so that hospitals could have in place procedures that were necessary to treat ebola patients onsite. Those resources could be augmented by the department of defense medical personnel that tol soon be ready to deploy support treatment efforts. There is this cdc swat team that andt the ready right now ready to deploy of a patient tests positive for ebola. Will bethese patients treated on a casebycase basis. What we want to do is make sure that hospitals have the information they need to detect and treat ebola patients. Where that takes place will be guided by the individual circumstances of that patient . So decisions about what sort of protocol should be in place, what experts need to be there, what sort of medicine they should be given and all the. Ecisions that should be made depending on the dr. And the condition of the patient. Czar,terms of the ebola the president wanted someone who could do it 100 of the time. Why not ask someone [inaudible] why not pick someone from wind and the cabinet. Some uneasiness with the executive ranch . Their effects there are a lot of executive officials in the executive branch that have important responsibilities they are working on. The president feel like it was important for someone who had the kind of management chops that [inaudible] his timeocus 100 of on this urgent issue. And for taking someone off of another priority to focus on this we have to find someone to. Eplace them it made sense in this case to bring in someone from the outside who had extensive experience in the government and had strong management deploy them to spend 100 of the time coordinating the governments response to this issue. The [inaudible] with the president involved in [inaudible]n deal with any domestic outbreaks. It reflects the Team Following up on the president s directive to pursue a government response. In this case the government sought out resources that were available inside the federal government that could be used to assist hospitals across the as they potentially are in a position to treat ebola patients. This is an example of the president and his team being resourceful and seeking out available expertise that exists thatpplying it in a way would benefit the American People. Would you concede this is one administration has not increased the level of transparency . If you will cite one example of where this administration has exceeded the transparency standards of previous administrations [inaudible] [inaudible] not consistently and that is what this administration has done. [inaudible] the policy that we have theued is consistent with spirit and letter of the existing law and is consistent with the policies that were followed by previous administrations. [inaudible] why not open the books and let the American People see this . We are following the law that is disclosed. I do not know if there is a downside or not. I am not sure there is an upside either. There is a specific and is it illegal to [inaudible] is that treason . He would have to consult a lawyer in figuring out that. It seems like it would be. Check with the department of justice and maybe they can give you a legal conclusion there. Intelligencee any decisions from allies . We value the Counterterrorism Partnership we have with partnerships around the world. Workingrts of relationships and partnerships are critical to american National Security and we have worked aggressively to strengthen those. They contribute to the safety and security of the American People and our allies around the globe. [inaudible] policy, at thehe beginning of the administration reporters would like to have greater access to events they did not have access to. We agreed to put in place a policy where consistent access would be granted. That is something we have done. That is not my understanding of the previous policy. Thank you guys. Have a good day. We are live at the Heritage Foundation. This is part of the Heritage Foundation legal lecture series. Onoring joseph story obama condemned the fatal shootings and canada today, calling them outrageous attacks. Community of soldiers are standing guard. Authorities say one gunman was killed. President obama said the shootings and their motive remained unknown and more will we expect this to get underway momentarily. [no audio] [indiscernible chatter] from are waiting to hear judge Janice Rogers brown. She was confirmed in 2005. [indiscernible chatter] coverage to get underway momentarily. Tomorrow morning on washington journal, a former chief of u. S. Capitol police will discuss the Parliament Shooting that happened in ottawa. Look at the role of health care and the 2014 midterm elections. Onhington journal is here cspan every morning starting at 7 00 eastern. [indiscernible chatter] you can tell youre in a room of lawyers. [laughter] we would appreciate everyone taking their seats so we can begin promptly. Thank you for joining us at the Heritage Foundation. Lectures andtor of seminars. It is my privilege to welcome you. We would ask everyone in house to make sure that your cell phones have been turned off especially when weather bulletins come. It is amazing what happens in a room. Watch ourge you to program again online following, posted for future reference. A hosting our guest today and introducing our special program, edwin meice. E meice. [applause] thank you. John a pleasure to join and welcome you to the Heritage Foundation and to the annual joseph story distinguished lecture. This is our most prestigious legal event of our Legal Centers preserve the constitution series. It is part of our Legal Strategy Forum taking place today and tomorrow are the ceos and primary Legal Officers of the freedom based Public Interest Law Organization throughout the country get together to plan their efforts to defend the constitution and bring justice to the people of the United States. We are glad to have them with us. The lecture is named after the Supreme Court Justice Joseph story for two reasons. Because of his dedication to the constitution, and because of his influence on the law. He had one of the most outstanding impacts on the development of our system of justice and the development of the law itself in the United States during his time on the court. Oliver Wendell Holmes who didarly said story, not always agree with him, said he had done more than any other englishspeaking men in this law luminouske the and easytounderstand. He served as a professor of law at harvard university, and was almost singlehandedly brought the universitys law school into being since the year before he arrived and it had only one student. Student bodyhe there. While on the Supreme Court he continued a pattern the early justices followed to write courtss, and appellate in the northeastern part of United States while at the same time a continuing to teach at harvard and to do his duties on the Supreme Court of the United States. He had a busy schedule that he followed and carried out in the distinguished and dedicated manner. Broad justice storys reach of his activities relating to the justice system, we have tonight a distinguished guest who has an even broader experience in the law. She has had experience in virtually every aspect of our justice system. Dewey parker. To she graduated from the Ucla Law School and received her degree from university of virginia. To show the variety of her experience between graduation from law school and her appointment to the federal bench, she served first of all in every branch of california government. She drafted bills initially and the First Experience in the legislative counsels office to dealing with the state legislature. She served in the attorney generals office, almost a separate branch in california. She was deputy secretary and general counsel of the states business, transportation, and Housing Organization there. Ultimately was Legal Affairs secretary to governor pete wilson. She had experience in private practice at one of the states distinguished law firms there, and then went on to her experience in the judiciary first as an associate justice of the Third District court of appeals in sacramento, then on the california Supreme Court. Experiencethis vast and her distinguished service, in 2005 george w. Bush appointed as the judge of the court of appeals for the District Of Columbia circuit where she continues her distinguished service to our nation. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in recognizing the joseph story distinguished r, judge lecture Janice Rogers brown. [applause] thank you. Youre a lovely audience. I probably should sit down now. I want to think think the Heritage Foundation for asking me to deliver the joseph story distinguished lecture. I am intimidated to be in such company. I have attended many of the other lectures. I especially want to express my , for ase to and meese many kindnesses, and being such inch. Sa thisrsations would like would not be taking place, we are all in tha indebted becausee took seriously his oath to defend the constitution. This is [applause] this is where i usually offer my caveat, and tell people i am not a philosopher. Im going to do something a little different and im going to speak as a conservative, and as a conservative judge. One who had the good fortune to be particularly ill educated. Having escaped an ivy league education, i find myself predicting however i like. [laughter] i suppose if i have been around when judge story was teaching at harvard i might have rethought that. Conservative i spend most of my time thinking about the present evils of this world, unlike my liberal counterpart to spend their time thinking up new ones. [laughter] these days, frankly i find myself a little bit like gladys knight, ive really got to use my imagination to think of good reasons to keep on keeping on. For those of you too young to know gladys, youtube. [laughter] developedolder i have a new appreciation for justice , reform greatform art things bad enough already . Ofhaps that is why latecomer, conservative discussions about the constitution and american constitutional wisdom generally have had a distinctly remedial tone. Downright elegy repairing and defending the constitution. I do not think our sense of urgency is overblown. Our panic is justified. Adds mye of this piece bit to the theme of preserving the liberty. My analogy is drawn from the stonemason. I suggest they may consider repointing the constitution. Some of you who do not live in old brick buildings may be unfamiliar with that term. When we first moved to washington dc we purchased a row house in the district and being aom the valley, california, part that has little experience of row houses world houses of any kind, we were unprepared to deal with maintenance required for structures that have been withstanding elements for more than a century. Stacking inere moving boxes, our neighbors dropped by to warn us to expect strong smells, noise, and dust. They were having their home 3. 2. Our response was what . The value brick and mortar structures was more likely to result from the degradation of the mortar between the bricks than any other cause. The old cement must be cleaned out and replaced. It is a painstaking and laborintensive process. As a lever and more about i became aware of the critical importance of the replacement cement having Properties Similar to the original mortar. Nowhere and stronger cement may actually be too good. According to the author of the art of the stonemason, modern materials can hasten the deterioration of the stone by being so unyielding that over the seasons of change they actually crack the bricks, climate enough and can repair. The result is a high love rubble. Dgepoint thing seems repointing seems the perfect point. Is it not the new ingredient, the love child of the modern enlightenment and its handmaid that hasodernism, impoverished our original understanding . We must ask ourselves what were the ingredients of that mortar, that binding spell, that gave us statesman like atoms, and madison, judges like marshall and story, and president s Like Washington and lincoln . What made america possible, limited government conceivable . Can we recapture the optimism and certitude of the founders in a world of Big Government and. Udge made right or was a republic people by free men and naive dream to which we wiser, more sophisticated goodups should bid riddance. America seemed a miracle. Was it a product of its time destined to fail as symptoms abated from the National Conscious . Is there anything to be learned about constitutional repointing from a judge like joseph story . Perhaps. Based onof examples two very different species of normative reasoning neighboring the issues into clearer focus. At one time the judges wrote in interpreting constitutional text was based on the anchor of a fixed constitution. Joseph story was part of that tradition. He was born three years after the colonies declared independence and a year before john adams helped draft constitution in 1780 which reminiscent of the declaration confirm that all men are born free and equal. Toddler thewas a high court of massachusetts held those words were incompatible with slavery. Chief Justice Cushing admitted slavery had been an accepted usage in the colonies but he concluded whatever formally prevailed, different idea had taken place with the people of america. More favor of the natural rights of mankind into that natural innate desire of liberty, with which heaven, and i had to quote this part, without regard to color, or shape of noses features, has inspired the whole human race. Story condemned racism story slavery previewed presti was a lover, a devoted lover of the constitution, and a friend of the union, wrote an opinion declaring a pennsylvania statute making a substantially more difficult for slave catchers to recover you to this unconstitutional. The court heard arguments reviling the constitutiona as a damnable proslavery contract. He saw the constitution itself and the union it sought to perfect as the means by which the wrong would be ultimately eradicated. Said it is a tribe for freedom he foreshadows lincoln meant to preserve the union, which the constitution brought into being. Exhibits prepared to patience to support and defend that constitution. It might be said of him that when others despaired of the republic, and would have allowed it to succumb to a stern necessity, he resisted the impulse and clung to the union, and nailed its colors to the mast of the constitution. Early. H the natural system was between the frame of , as weent and personal would say, natural and unalienable rights, incredibly not the same as the rights of man, they recognize the natural law as the ground of moral reasoning, but exceeding their authority under the positive law would violate the natural law in whose name they purported to act. Such reasoning included concern about the preservation of the kind of governmental structure which made liberty possible. Unless the framework of limited government, the constitution of liberty was preserved through , the project would fail. Professor dorgan assumed story rejected accuracies of natural law entirely. Otherwise he would have recognized american constitutionalism presupposed a conception of individual freedom , antagonism to slavery, conceptions that should have informed positive law. Professor kent neumeier said story misunderstood the way in which moral choice and political informed legal doctrine. What they identify as more of reasoning has a different route than the natural law enterprise. Dorgans reasoning required judges to identify abstract reasonings of justice. Had story not accepted premises he would not have settled for the easy answer. Both would deny there is any source of Normative Authority independent of man. In contrast to stories attention to the constitution, many modern judges see themselves as translators of the generalities of the evolving constitution. Consider justin brenners position on the Death Penalty. He described the constitution as a public text and a sublime oration on the dignity of man whose ambiguities judges must resolve. In the process of translating the generalities of the constitutional text Justice Brennan concluded Capital Punishment is under all circumstances cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the eighth and 14th amendment. He knowledges interpretation is wanted with me that the majority of his fellow justices nor his fellow countrymen subscribed. Thegnores the fact that text of the constitution does not forbid Capital Punishment. Instead brennan articulates what he sees as a larger constitutional duty. The Death Penalty i hope to embody a Community Although perhaps not yet arrived striving for Human Dignity for all. In short he would impose his biases to force the community into being even though the believe he seeks to foster contradicted the text of the constitution. In brennans view the task is not the patient work of repointing. It is renovation. Dorganshe spirit of insistence that the constitution licensed judges to identify and impose their own moral principles. s activitytice story cannot be described as brief pointing. The constitution was to knew. We can see ingredients of which you relied. Respect for the positive law, prudence, patience, precise application, unshakable faith in the natural laws universal objective moral truth. If we read pointer constitution today these understandings seem to be important ingredients. Brennan, austice phrase whose meaning is undefined. He is influenced to meaning to those abstract values. Justicet a story and brennan are identified as naturall law jurists. The latter would dismiss the principle to which those early judges were devoted as quaint relics of a bygone age. It is easy to track the ectory that has essaysyells a identify the problem at the heart of any book on human action. Tell aboute tell and the difference between right and wrong . How can or a society, one ground any statement in the form it is right to do acts in anything firmer than the quicksand of reiterated assertion . Left his candid not only about the nearterm implications of his conclusions about the reason for rejecting the obvious solution. If there is no external source on which to ground normative assumptions the answer to why x will be because p believe so, or group of person persons. I call this visit code i call this the zip code theory of jurisprudence. P everyone, left explains the real stakes. If human nature is defined as a good there can be no argument for change. In that case an intellectual like unger uphold the world would have no role at all. To escape that possibility, the good has to be not what people were now about what they are becoming or could become ever more perfectly ever more fully. It is impossible to see this, without hearing the echo of lincolns morning that men of ambition who thirst and burn for distinction will have it weather at the expense of emancipating slaves or enslaving free men. His book contains this passage, thel discourse presupposes existence of humanity and the authority of the striving to be and to become ever more human. He goes on the first assumption that there is a unitary human nature. One that changes and develops in history. The second premise of that is that human nature constitutes the final nature of moral judgment in the absence of objective values and in the silence of revelation. In 1979 professor left it gave us the short academic tour de absence ofe objective values. He says if we cannot believe in a complete transcendent set of propositions about right and wrong, findable rules that are direct us to live righteously, any premise flounders on the grand says who. In order for any normative evaluation to be binding and unquestionable, the evaluator must be beyond question. The evaluator must be the unjust judge, the untold legislature, the grimace maker who rests on no premise. The great i am, god. He admits that if god is rejected the result is the total elimination of any coherent, even more than momentarily ethical or legal system dependent on