Le Show; 2009-11-22

From deep inside your radio. Joining us on the show today for a brief conversation is Dr. Ivor Von Hearden, a familiar voice. He's been on this program a couple of times before, most recently, earlier this year. Are you still Deputy Director of the LSU Hurricane Center at this point in time? No, no, that LSU terminated my position. But you're still at the university. Yes, they have to pay me through the middle of May next year, so I'm a de facto member of LSU right now. And we're talking to you because this week the US federal judge, Stan Wooddeval, should a ruling listeners may have heard about it finding a blistering opinion, 167 pages, I think, found the Corps of Engineers culpable for the US Army Corps of Engineers culpable for the flooding of at least half a dozen citizens in the area near the notorious Mississippi

River Gulf outlet navigation canal. And you, Dr. Von Hearden, were one of the witnesses for the plaintiffs. First of all, how do you feel about the judge's ruling, as if I didn't know? But I was just point out, I ended up not being a witness because LSU barred me from being a witness at the federal court, so I ended up being the lead consultant to the group and I brought the Dutch teams on board to do some of the modeling. I'm obviously very excited. This is total vindication for those of us who've been pressing that this was a man-made disaster, Katrina New Orleans was a man-made disaster rather than a natural event and the only thing that Katrina was the trigger.

And what, since you were a consultant, you probably have some good contact with the attorneys on your side, at least, what do they feel and what do you feel is the prospect for this decision to going forward? Do they think the federal government is going to appeal? What do they think their chances are on appeal? What do you think is going to happen now? Well, even though this decision is really related to six plaintiffs, there is a class action suit that includes many hundreds of thousands and one of the plaintiffs wasn't compensated because the judge felt even though their home may have flooded as a result of the core of engineers, there was immunity in that person's location. I think what's very important is this is just sending the signal to Congress to the Obama

Administration that the core of engineers has done a very shorty job for the last 50 years and is still doing such. I believe that the plaintiffs' attorneys who are going to Washington next week to meet with some Obama folk will press very hard that we need to see a total change in the way coastal restoration and the levees and navigation are tackled in Louisiana. And I believe they're going to be successful. I have heard people like Senator Mary Landry saying the core of engineers is antiquators and they need to get out of the business. So this could herald three important things. One is compensation for those who lost so much, these families who lost everything overnight through no fault to their own. Two, significant federal dollars to restore the coastal wetlands where most of the wetland losses due to federal actions.

And then thirdly, to fully federally fund the levees and the other storm surge protection measures that are needed. That would be obviously, as Vince Cully, the hydro broadcaster says so often, consummation and devoutly to be wished, but let me ask you, finally, since you were working with Dutch experts in the preparation of the evidence that so overwhelmed and convinced and angered the judge in this case, what do you think the odds are that Dutch expertise is going to be invited in and play a part in the protection of this area going forward? Well, I think this opens the door. Many of the Dutch engineers who are very well into the Dutch system and work for, obviously, for the Dutch government have complained to me on the number of trips that they feel that they've been locked out of the system.

So I think by opening the door for others, by perhaps revamping the core or generating a new agency would remove the domination of a few select engineering companies in coastal Louisiana that do all the work for the core of engineers. Certainly, the national environmental groups are looking at a design competition where they would offer a million dollars reward for a future design of the whole of the lower Mississippi River. And this is how the Dutch do it, this is how the British do it, and it's certainly something that hopefully we will start doing. And bringing in expertise from countries where they have been successful and dealing with storm surge. To your competition, that's supposed to result in a better result, isn't it? Yes, I think when you open it up, you allow the best brains in the world to compete. And the Dutch do this, certainly, on their award-winning butterfly gates, the Marsland gates.

They had a design competition and they had an independent panel review the designs and they came up with this really fantastic and very efficient and effective structure of the butterfly gates. So we need new ideas. Obviously, we've been going along for 50 years depending on the core. There's been no outside review of what they've done and we've ended up in this terrible situation where you have a Dutch basically saying they are responsible for the deaths of everybody and all the destruction and new owners. Dr. Varnierden, thank you for spending a little bit of your Sunday and congratulations on your and your team's initial success at least the district federal court level. Well, thanks, Harry, we'll just keep on trucking. Thank you. We'll give you a little show. We'll give you a little show, we'll give you a little show, we'll give you a little

show. We'll give you a little show, we'll give you a little show, we'll give you a little show. We'll give you a little show, we'll give you a little show, we'll give you a little show.

We'll give you a little show, we'll give you a little show, we'll give you a little show. We'll give you a little show, we'll give you a little show, we'll give you a little show. We'll give you a little show, we'll give you a little show, we'll give you a little show. From along the shores of the James River in Richmond, Virginia, I'm Harry Scherer,

welcoming you to this edition of the show. And ladies and gentlemen, first from the news from the digital wonderland, from Paul listener, who says, dear Harry, well, he doesn't say dear Harry, I'm just interpolating that because I'd like him to be saying that dear Harry digital TV provides an information screen that ostensibly lists program information. But certain captions seem to get stuck for days, persisting despite multiple re-scanning. Thus for days I've been encountering this disturbing caption, quote, a badly injured horse dies on a nearby beach, unquote, I don't know why at the moment they're broadcasting a soccer game. That's the wonder, that's why it's a wonderland, it makes you wonder. TV that makes you wonder, don't you think that's worth it? And ladies and gentlemen, from the fun fact department, you know the Army this week announced

a full investigation of the shooting incident at Fort Hood. And maybe they'll come up with an explanation of this along the way. You know why Fort Hood, after whom Fort Hood is named, just a little quiz question for you. I didn't, a listener pointed me to this information, and here it is from, yes, sometimes they're not always right, but this checks out, I think. Fort Hood is named for John Bell Hood. Thank you, good night. Oh no, you want to know more. All right, John Bell Hood was ladies and gentlemen, and this is the United States Army Base we're talking about. He was a Confederate general during the Civil War. Well, he must have been a great general, because he was from the other side to be named, the namesake of a U.S. Army base, don't you think?

Quoting, Hood had a reputation for bravery and aggressiveness that sometimes bordered on recklessness, arguably one of the best brigade and division commanders in the Confederate Army, Hood became surprisingly ineffective as he was promoted to lead larger independent commands, late in the war, and his career was marred by his decisive defeats leading an army in the Atlanta campaign and the Franklin Nashville campaign, now a bank, of course. So that's, that's Mr. Hood from Fort Hood, ladies and gentlemen. I don't know what the lesson is there, lose to the Americans, I guess, and you'll get a, a, a base named after you, and now he's not a general, he commands no truth, he's not an inspector, he picks up no stoops, he's an inspector, general, oh, yeah, oh, yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, news from inspectors general, a point out right at the top here, it's a copyrighted feature of the broadcast, you probably know about this report.

I think it made the news where you are when insurance giant AIG teetered last fall in the brink of collapse threatening to take a lot of Wall Street with it. The New York branch of the Federal Reserve led by Timothy Geithner, Timothy Geithner. I sorry to go to the fall settle mode there chose to make whole the likes of Goldman Sachs and foreign banks at the expense of good old US taxpayers. This finding was part of an investigation of the AIG bailout by the inspector general of the tarp program who said Geithner's office refused to use its considerable leverage to negotiate less expensive buyouts of the contracts that banks held with AIG. Instead, they got a hundred cents on the dollar. Inspector General Neil Borovsky found even when one party UBS Bank of Switzerland offered to take a modest reduction in resolving the mess, Geithner decided, oh no, to reimburse everyone a hundred cents on the dollar for the toxic assets the AIG was insuring. Tens of billions of dollars of government money was funneled inexorably and directly

to AIG's counter parties in addition to Goldman and UBS other banks that received full coverage from Geithner's bailout plan were Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Bank, Wachovia, you can see it from here, Barclays and Bank of America. Good work, Tim. And US taxpayer money that was supposed to be used for emergency purposes in Iraq was spent to buy a special advertising issue for an Ann Bar businessman in a British trade magazine. Was it an emergency? The deadline was approaching. FDI magazine, a monthly, a bimonthly print publication at website owned by the Financial Times. Nearly simultaneously showered Ann Bar governor Kassim Abid al-Muhamadi al-Fadawi, not out of names, babe, with positive coverage praising the dangerous Ann Bar province as quote, a hot place to invest in and giving the businessman an award as global personality of the year.

For this year, this very year we're living in. An award was announced three days before the special report on Ann Bar entitled Bridge to the Future was published on its website. The award was immediately praised by the US military in Iraq without mention of the US funds spent on the advertising supplement. And the website makes no mention of it having been paid for by the American government. Last month, again, FDI magazine Courtney Finger, hand of the governor another award, naming Ann Bar province, one of FDI magazine's standout regions of the year. I'll stand outside it, reached by a publication called The Cable Finger confirmed the US government had spent in the neighborhood of $50,000 on the special supplement, but denied her magazine's content had been bought and paid for, which would be the first thing in Iraq that wasn't. News of the inspector's general legend, gentlemen, copyrighted feature of this broadcast, speaking of which we're faced today with, you know, a severe case of on the one hand

this and on the other hand, that the Ann Bar province, which was home of major problems when Al Qaeda in Iraq was running amok or Al Qaeda in amok was running Iraq in 2006, 2007. Now we learn from the Washington Post that Al Qaeda in Iraq is regaining strength. They've re-retooled. Now it's no longer composed of foreign fighters, now it's mainly Iraqis. Thank you for that. While Dexter Filkins in the New York Times says, uh-oh, the United States is now supporting, financing, helping new militias in Afghanistan to fight against the Taliban, because it worked out so well the last time we financed militias, but he says that it's going to be modeled on the surge.

The surge is when we paid off the Sunnis to leave the- to leave Al Qaeda in Iraq until our money ran out and the Iraqi government didn't pick up the tab. Looking good. Looking really good. Now ladies and gentlemen, there is a name you are going to hear not that often on today's program, um, you're going to- you've heard enough of it, uh, everybody in- and their brother has been sucked into the major look game that's been going on this week. So I'm going to, uh, I'm going to soft pedal it. You're only going to hear this name in- in this- I think this once in this context of setting up what you're about to hear, which is, um, Larry King interviewing Joe the Plumber on what he thought of Sarah Palin's book. Before we get back, uh, with the panel in Las Vegas is Joe Werselbacher. You know him as Joe the Plumber.

Here's what Palin had to say about you in her book. Joe the Plumber reminded me personally of those country kitchen guys I'd sat with on Friday mornings in Whasilla when I was mayor. I liked him. Joe, did you like her? Yeah, I liked her a lot. She was real genuine. Um, she didn't sit there and try to wow me with her being Sarah Palin. She just sat there and talked to me like a regular person and I enjoyed that. I've met a lot of politicians that, uh, sit there and think I should be on my knees worshiping them. So she was a fresh, uh, uh, you know, uh, difference there. You think she's going to run for president? Yeah, I liked her answer that she gave Oprah, which I mean, I thought Oprah did a pretty good job, but, uh, yeah, I don't know, but she said that you don't necessarily have to be in position of leadership, you know, in office to exact change in America. And I think that's really her calling. I mean, she can get out there and really motivate the grassroots of this country to get and back involved and take our country back. Um, and so I really, I hope that she does that to be honest with you because I mean, she can really get out there and talk and get people excited and get them back involved in

our government. Not necessarily politics, Larry, but back involved in our government. Um, I'm looking forward to see what she does. What about the old Ferris statement, Joe, is she frankly really qualified to be president? Well, that's, that's a question that everyone's asking, uh, you know, look how many experts are in Washington and look at where we're at economically, uh, in our country right now. I mean, it seems like we're at a crossroads. So I don't know if I really want an expert running our country. I think we need to get back to, uh, the basic principle of our countries. And that's going to be someone who has five children and can run the state of Alaska. I, you know, she's got my vote. I, I really like her, um, uh, genuine, uh, her love our country. Um, so I, I don't see anything wrong with her as far as that stuff goes. She, uh, like said, she's, she's genuine. She really wants to serve the country. She wants to serve a fellow man to where our current politicians want to serve themselves and you see that in the Republicans and you see that in the Democrats. Uh, so I really like her.

Thanks, Joe. Good to see you again. Hey, thanks, Larry. Have a great night. Joe Laplumber. Who's not a plumber? But then again, Larry, oh, I guess, uh, Dewey Gordon, formerly of the boy band Boys are us. Hit the nail right on the head. Easy, average Joe, but with carbon sense, calling on the phone or need over his fence. Can you write him off as a business expense? Just as Joe, the plumber. Joe, Joe, Joe. He's the guy in the very last row. He'll always make you think. Just don't let him near your sink. Joe, the plumber, zooms about as large as a lover, which I don't impact last summer. Joe, the plumber.

Just as Joe, the plumber, zooms about as large as a lover, just as Joe, the plumber. So when you look at me, when you think I'm that lucky, tells me, y'all are just sleeping dying for my boss, and what you love before me, I see you're scared, unconvinced by what I've tried to say, that I am yours, and that nothing will take me away. You already know, but sing it again, I love you baby, nothing will take me away, I know

that you know, but sing it again, I love you baby, nothing will take me away. The way you're always going to ask some questions, in every time, try to pretend you didn't call me just because I was on the line too soon for you to say out loud, but I know. You love me, and though we don't say it already show, you already know, but sing it again, I love you baby, nothing will take me away, I know that you know, but sing it again, I love you baby, nothing will take me away, you already know, but sing it again, I love you You open up, it's not a fault, you're just what I've been looking for Why don't you give your hair innocent?

Whoever you love before me, that friend is nothing like me Nothing like me, nothing like me You already know, I'll sing it again I love you, baby, no, no, take me away I know that you know, but sing it again I love you, baby, no, take me away You already know, but sing it again I love you, baby, no, no, take me away I know that you know, but sing it again I love you, baby, no, no, take me away The way you look at me, when I think I'm not looking The way you call me, I just just hear what's cooking The way you look at me, when I think I'm not looking

I look at you that way too, you just don't know that I do I know that you know, you are what I know I know you know, and I know it's yours, and I know you know I love you, baby, I can see that you love me, I love I won't let it go, but sing it again I love you, baby, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no I love you, baby, no, no, no, no, no, no, no I love you, baby, no, no, no, no, no, no, no This is Lesho from Richmond, Virginia, think of it And now, ladies and gentlemen, the apologies of the week. Starting off with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of Australia,

who has gathered a bunch of the victims in question at the House of Parliament in Canberra, Australia this week. To say to you, the forgotten Australians, and those who are sent to our shores as children without their consent, that we are sorry. Sorry that as children you are taken from your families and placed in institutions where so often you were abused. Sorry for the physical suffering, the emotional starvation and the cold absence of love, of tenderness, of care. Sorry for the tragedy, the absolute tragedy of childhoods lost. Besides from that, do you have a good time in Australia? Kids? Of course they're not kids anymore. Ladies and gentlemen, Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs, apologized this week for his firm's role in some of the activities leading to the financial crisis, and announced they were giving the government billions,

no, he didn't do that. We participated in things that were clearly wrong and have reason to regret Blankfein, said at a conference in New York, hosted by Directorship magazine. I know, my subscription will last too. But he went on. He said, no, he didn't. He said the firm is very concerned about the criticism because our reputation is very important to us. Okay, I know how important it is. Representative John Shadeg, Republican of Arizona, has apologized for suggesting that if 9-11 trials are held in New York City, mayor Michael Bloomberg's daughter could be kidnapped. I saw the mayor of New York said today we're tough we can do it. Well, mayor, how are you going to feel when it's your daughter that's kidnapped at school by a terrorist? Shadeg said. The following afternoon, he told AP, he's sorry. But added that his point was still a good one. I apologize for the insensitivity of my remarks with respect to the mayor as family. However, I think it is important to note that this decision involves potential risk

to innocent people. A contrite, rubert Murdoch, one of you heard me say that before. One of you heard anybody say that before. Placed a personal call to New York Governor David Patterson this week to apologize for slamming the legally blind governor during a Wall Street Journal CEO council. A source close to the governor confirmed. Patterson accepted the call, accepted Murdoch's apology for saying political discourse in New York has become so polarized because the quote the governor is blind and can't read braille and doesn't know what's going on. I'd quote. Roop. Roop. What are you doing, Roop? Patterson was willing to chalk the comments up to a random mistakement. So much that rubert does is random, don't you think? Speaking of which Fox News delivered an on-the-air apology to viewers this week after a second incident within a month when the network illustrated a story by using video footage taken from a different event.

Jane Skinner, a Fox anchor explained to viewers that Fox had improperly used videos from a 2008 Sarah Palin campaign event to illustrate coverage of supposedly crowds lining up this week for her book appearance. That'll be the last time you hear that name today. And I don't mean Jane Skinner. Earlier this month, Fox used video footage from a much larger rally to underscore point being made by Sean Hannity about the number of people attending at Washington protest. The incident seemed more obviously inadvertent this week, according to New York Times, because the anchor Greg Jarrett in describing the crowd alluded to lines of people outside a bookstore while the pictures on the screen clearly showed Palin at a campaign event. Oops, there's that name again. Skinner and the apology said, quote, we didn't show the video we were actually referencing and said the footage which came in what is known as a tease for an upcoming story should have contained the information that it was file footage. We didn't mean to mislead anyone. Skinner said, meanwhile, one of Fox's competitors MSNBC also apologized this week from manipulating images. Dylan Radigan used a photo, Dylan Radigan show used a photo-shopped image

of that same Alaska governor. I forget her name now. Shooting a gun while wearing a bikini. On his next program, Radigan called the use of the doctorate photo unacceptable and said, I want to apologize to governor and all of our viewers. So that'll be the last time. I mentioned Dylan Radigan. The NFL flags and fines players for excessive celebration in the field Commissioner Roger Godell has now sent a very clear message. The leaks owners aren't above those same rules. The NFL fire find Titans owner, but Adams $250,000 this week for making obscene hand gestures at Buffalo fans while celebrating Tennessee's 41 to 17 win over the bulls. Adams was seen making the gesture both from his luxury suite, classy move, and again on the field at the end of the game last week. The Titans declined to comment after the fine was issued, but Adams issued an apology.

He also said, expectedly disciplined for his actions. I need to specifically apologize to the bills, their fans, our fans, and the NFL. He said, but wait, there's more. The superintendent for Rockingham County Schools in North Carolina has apologized for the suspension of two students last week who brought fast food for lunch, a violation of the school's lunch policy superintendent Rodney Shotwell apologized on behalf of the school system. This is the way it was before I was superintendent, but they had an issue more so with the employees bringing outside food and the kids seeing it and it's kind of competition with the cafeteria. Shotwell said, a school superintendent using the world's longest run-on sentence. But yeah, it is kind of competing with the cafeteria and we wouldn't want that. An Illinois competition, you know. An Illinois congressman who opposes the idea of moving terrorism suspects to a prison in his district issued a qualified apology this week after a comment that critics viewed as insulting to Islam. In an interview with a television statement

Republican representative Donald Menzullo said of terrorism suspects, these are really, really mean people whose job it is to kill people driven by some savage religion. Unquote. An aide said, Manzullo who opposes the possibility of housing, gitmo detainees, in the Thompson Correctional Center in Northwestern Illinois received about 20 complaints about the remark. In a statement, Manzullo said he was not referring generally to Islam, but to terrorists who practice a violent anti-modern version of Islam. He said, Islam is a religion of peace. He said, nevertheless, my apologize for any misunderstandings of my comments and I will endeavor in the future to clarify my remarks to make it absolutely clear that America has not opposed to Islam. Uh-oh, I have to say this name again. Sarah Palin is apologized to hundreds of people who waited for hours in a light rain in central Indiana for a book signing event, but didn't end up getting your signature. I'll let the machine do it. The former Alaska governor said on her Facebook site that she was told about what happened in No Bullsville, Indiana on Thursday night,

and it was working on a solution for those who were left behind. See, she sneaks in a plug for another book. There was an apology in that Facebook thing as well. The road manager for the Black Eyed Peas, Liberio Polo Molino. Molina. That's a good name. Liberio Polo Molina. Polo being his nickname. Road manager. I don't think it's because he plays polo. I don't know any road managers in rock and roll who play polo, but maybe there is one. Anyway, polo offered up a half-hearted apology for punching Perez Hilton. Do you know who any of these people are? Outside of Toronto Nightclub in June. He quickly added that the punch could have been avoided if the celebrity blogger, that's Perez Hilton, hadn't instigated the situation by calling the lead singer of the band that Molina works for, a unpleasant name for gay people starting with an F. I apologize for what I did on June 22, even though you engaged in highly offensive comments,

including a homophobic slur to my clients. I acknowledged that these kinds of issues should not be resolved through a physical response. Molina said. In exchange for that apology, Hilton agreed to withdraw assault charges. The judge imposed several other minor conditions on Molina. He's barred from directly or indirectly communicating with Perez Hilton. Must a clear of the nightclub where the emberolio occurred and cannot carry any weapons while he's in Canada? I thought nobody could carry any weapons in Canada. He also kicked in $500 to a woman's shelter. He still has a civil suit as Perez Hilton against Molina seeking more than $25,000 in damages for a black eye, ironically, of course, because Molina works for the black eyed piece. Oprah Winfrey gave Robin Givens a lengthy apology in her last Friday's show over the manner in which she didn't deal with the comment made last month by the actress's ex-husband, Mike Tyson.

On a previous episode of Oprah's show, Tyson was asked about their 1998 TV interview in which Givens revealed he had physically abused her. At that particular moment, I truly wanted to sock her, but I didn't. Said Tyson to Oprah as her audience laughed, Givens, who's a spokesperson for the National Domestic Violence Hotline, told Winfrey her non-reaction was hard to stomach. I was really hurt, really, really hurt, she said. Winfrey tried to explain what the mood was like that day in the studio. She apologized to Givens for what happened. I hope you accept my apology. She said I have a lot of empathy and compassion for Mike Tyson and still do, but that never makes hitting women okay. It's never okay, said Oprah. So much for Foxy Boxing. Several date line Miami, several Jackson Memorial Hospital nurses personally apologized to Janice Longben, a Washington state lesbian who said a social worker at the hospital wouldn't allow her to be with her dying partner in 2007. Quote, we were certainly sorry for the pain and suffering she felt.

Said Martha Baker, a registered nurse. I apologize. I apologize. Sorry. Said registered nurse, Norberto Molina, probably no relation. I can't imagine what she went through. Toledo Public School officials are apologizing after an employee threw away a memorial for a high school graduate who died in a car crash. The family of 20-year-old Ashley Snyder took pictures when they found the makeshift memorial torn down and in a nearby dumpster. We're working together with the family to put a replacement memorial in the same spot. The employee thought it had already been there for a few weeks and it was okay to remove. And the prime minister and the leader of the opposition in Great Britain heading towards a big election coming soon have apologized after the dean of Westminster Abbey rebuked him for the behavior at a service, memorial service, to mark the passing of the First World War generation. Cameron arrived ahead of the service. He's the conservative with his own photographer

and at his picture taken, inspecting tributes to the fallen, Brown then hurriedly made arrangements to be photographed in the same place with his wife. Officials acting on behalf of the dean of the Abbey were angered that neither of them had sought permission for the photo shoots and made formal complaints. They both immediately apologized in writing and it pledged to avoid a repeat of the incident if the Abbey avoids the repeat of World War I. Japanese trade minister Masayuki Naoshima apologized for leaking gross domestic product data before the official release time said he'd been misinformed about the release time. And finally, at the bottom, well it's about the clippers. Los Angeles clippers and answers, Ralph Lawler and Michael Smith were suspended for one day after they joked on the air about the center of the Memphis Grizzlies who were playing against the clippers, Hamid Hamadi. Sorry, Hadadi and Iranian. First they pronounced the name of the country Iran,

Iran and then they joked, did Michael Smith to Ralph Lawler, that Hadadi might in fact be Borat's brother. Quote, we regret the remarks made by clippers' announcers during Wednesday's telecast, Fox Sports said in a statement, ooh, more sorrow from Fox. While we believe that Michael and Ralph did not intend their exchange to be offensive, the comments were inappropriate. We extend continued Fox our apologies to Hamid Hadadi and to anyone who was offended. We've addressed the situation with Michael and Ralph and have taken appropriate action. Oh, and British low cost airliner EasyJet, airline company, EasyJet, has apologized after fashion photograph shot at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin were published in its in-flight magazine. Don't mess with the Holocaust babe. The apologies of the week latest gentleman. It is so a copyrighted feature of this broadcast. For more information on this broadcast,

visit our website. There you go again. The truth begins to bend that even though he was following on Sunday he is going to be a mockingbird. The mockingbirds always sound so sweet but he'll say anything. Oh, he'll sit outside your window and sing to you all day. Oh, I want you all my darling, go with me and be my love. I'd hold him, he flies away Last night I said at home, waiting by the phone I left the porch light burning all night long

But I never heard a sound, I guess somewhere across town Someone else was listening to your song The mocking birds voice out so sweet, but he'll say anything He'll sit outside your window and sing to you all day But I want you all my darling, come with me and be my love Try to hold him, he flies away You're just an imitation of someone who really falls in love When you say forever, would you really mean it's never

I want you all my darling, come with me and be my love Try to hold him, he flies away Try to hold him, he flies away This is Lesho, ladies and gentlemen, you're aware that President Obama This week paid a visit to Asia, most particularly China While he was there, he held meetings with the President of China Hu Jintao

and the Premier Wen Zhibao And he also, I believe, gave at least one interview Despite the war that's been going on over the last few months, the war of words Between the Obama administration and the Fox News Channel I think there's another interview on that subject with that channel yet to air First up on the Factor tonight, and it's an honor, whatever you think of him It's been a long time coming, and here he is on the Factor It's an honor for him too, I'm sure The President of the United States, welcome sir, thank you Bill, I know it It hasn't been easy to get our two schedules together And other things have intervened, but I'm glad to be with you We've had a great trip to China

And I'm proud to talk about it and to talk about some of the accomplishments that we achieved while we were there Okay, Mr. President, you talk about accomplishments when you sat down with the President of China I mean, we owe them more money than this country is ever going to make in our lifetime And you sat down with Hu? Yes, I did No, I'm asking, when you had your talk, who was it that you talked to? Well, there were a number of conversations over the course No, I know, a couple of days And who was definitely on the list? Who was? That's right You know, we don't have to play this game You're talking with the President of China, that's who? Yes it is All right, there were other people that you had meetings with while you were on this trip Oh yeah

All right, so you want to share any of those names with us? Yeah When? Well, I mean, we were taping now And so if you'd like to share any of those names, I'd talk to Wen No, I thought you'd talk to Hu I'd talk to Hu and then Wen Okay, let me just try to nail this down, Mr. President, because I know you don't have a lot of time for this You talk to the President of China That's right That's who? That's right And Bill, if I can advance the story a little bit please Please, please The next day came Wen Probably when you woke up Well, all right, I see you're sitting down and you're talking to, let's say you're talking to Hu That's right What did you tell him? Well, I told him and and when Yeah Basically that the United States has certain expectations about human rights Good That we would tie any improvement in trade practice to human rights improvements that were certified to us That's great By the Chinese government and who was non-committal who was right, but we did get something more of a commitment I think later from when, when was this

That's right But our people are pretty certain that he couldn't have done that if Hu hadn't signed off on All right, well, by the way, where were these talks held? Oh, there were all the talks were Hu's powers Of course they were Thank you President Obama Yeah I know you have a little more time but we've got to get a part three of the Sarah Palin interview Uh-huh Thank you again Thank you, Bill Coming up on the factor Bernie Goldberg wonders why Dan Ranner isn't dead yet And now news from outside the bubble In the Can you imagine the nerve department from the times of London owned by Rupert Murdoch But that's not the nerve part The chief of the OPEC oil cartel says that oil producing countries should be compensated for lost revenues If the UN climate talks in Copenhagen, Copenhagen almost did that next month Compensated if the climate talks reach a deal that results in the reduction in the use of oil

Pay us more for using less oil And in the interview with the Times, Abdullah Saleem Al-Badri of Libya says Richard oil-consuming nations such as Britain and the US should acknowledge that historically They've created the most carbon dioxide emissions It should not be allowed to block poorer countries from raising living standards We are not emitting, he says Historically it's the developed countries Responsibilities on their shoulders But they want more money if we use less oil The Afghan government could fall within weeks if NATO pulled out troops now Says the British Foreign Secretary has the urge British opponents of the war to give the fight to rebuild the country more time This is the same time as John McCain is saying if we send more troops, he sure will win within 18 months In an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian at the end of a visit to Kabul The Foreign Secretary said if international forces leave, you can choose a time For five minutes, 24 hours are seven days, but the insurgent forces will overrun those forces that are prepared to put a persistence And we would be back to square one as opposed to the square we're at now

Also from the Guardian, three months after the release of Abdul Hasbassat al-Maghrahi The only man convicted of the lock or b-bombing The families of American victims of the lock or b-bombing have reignited a row Over the medical advice that allowed him to be freed early You may remember he was freed early because doctors said he had three months to live It's three months, he's alive Relatives of the victims have been monitoring the release counting down the days This week the three month period passed Today, this week actually a Democratic senator from New York Charles Schumer called for the immediate return of the Libyan former intelligent agent to prison in Scotland He's been treated at Tripoli's medical center but has not been seen in public since the day in September when he was photographed In a wheelchair coughing badly looking frail and surrounded by visiting African members of parliament So maybe we need Libyan health care

Maybe that's the answer Because he's doing okay In a Libyan hospital From the telegraph, the British newspaper, the telegraph And written by Andrew Gilligan, a journalist who was fired from the BBC for saying on the radio that apparently Dossier that Tony Blair had used to convince the British public to go into the rock war had been sexed up Anyway, here's Andrew Gilligan's report on the eve of a new inquiry into Britain's involvement in the rock war The Sunday telegraph has obtained hundreds of pages of secret British government reports on lessons learned which shed new light on and significant shortcomings at all levels They include full transcripts of extraordinarily frank classified interviews in which British Army commanders Vent their frustration and anger with the government that reports disclose that Tony Blair misled MPs in the public throughout 2002

When he claimed that Britain's objective was disarmament, not regime change, and that there had been no planning for military action In fact, British military planning for a full invasion and regime change began in February of that very year The need to conceal that from parliament and all but very small numbers of officials constrained the planning process The result was a rushed operation lacking in coherence and resources which caused significant risk to troops and critical failure in the post-war period This from secret government reports that have been leaked to the telegraph Operations were so under-resourced that some troops went into action with only five bullets each Others had to deploy to war on civilian airliners taking their equipment as hand baggage Some troops had weapons confiscated by airport security, commanders reported that the Army's main radio system tended to drop out at around noon each day because of the heat One described the supply chain as absolutely appalling saying, I know for a fact there was one container full of skis in the desert The foreign office unit to plan for post-war Iraq was set up only in late February 2003, three weeks before the war began

The plans contained no detail for once bag-dadded fallen, causing a notable loss of momentum which was exploited Field commanders raged at the government's appalling and horrifying lack of support for reconstruction With one top officer saying the government missed a golden opportunity to win Iraqi support Another commander said it was not unlike 1750s colonialism where the military had to do everything ourselves News from outside, oh, and the Canadian government was fending off calls for a public uncreary on torture this week after allegations from one of its senior diplomats that Canada was complicit in the torture of Afghan detainees This from the Guardian, Richard Colvin, second-in-command at Canada's Kabul Embassy in 2006 and 2007 said Afghan swept them with security sweeps by Canadian troops during that time We routinely handed over to the Afghan intelligence services according to our information he told Canada's parliament They have a parliament

The likelihood is that all the Afghans we handed over were tortured for interrogators in Kandahar it was standard operating procedure In other words, we the Canadians detained and handed over for severe torture a lot of innocent people News from outside the bubble latest gentleman copyrighted feature of this very broadcast And I don't know if you know this, Playboy Enterprises is in talks to be sold for about $325, only about $325 million You heftner, 83-year-old, is giving up control over the adult entertainment empire he founded What could possibly come next Hi, I'm you heftner Welcome to Playboy's pawn shop Each week we'll rummage through what's left of my fabulous lifestyle To come up with that must-have addition to your world

Today it's my famous round bed Oh, many of the days I've spent on this handcrafted piece of exquisitely erotic furniture Lungering in my black silk pajamas with my two or three girlfriends While thinking of bits and pieces of my famous philosophy The bed can be yours, the pajamas, the girlfriends and the philosophy, first told separately Come join the sophisticated excitement and join the bidding on your touch-tone phone or your computer It's Playboy's pawn shop this week on the Playboy channel And next week on the pawn shop the Playboy channel is up for sale See you then You

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