Transcripts For KRCB PBS NewsHour 20130914

It is like the greatest museum ever. You have your piece there, you dont see any other pieces around it and you see this vastness of the desert. Woodruff and its friday. Mark shields and david brooks are here, to analyze the weeks news. Good evening. Im Judy Woodruff. Those are just some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by support also comes from Carnegie Corporation of new york, a foundation created to do what Andrew Carnegie called real and permanent good. Celebrating 100 years of philanthropy at carnegie. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. And friends of the newshour. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff u. S. And russian negotiators worked into the night in geneva, on putting syrias chemical weapons under international control. One u. S. Official reported the two sides were at a pivotal point. Secretary of state john kerry said the meetings with his russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, were constructive. He said the outcome may determine if theres any hope for actual peace talks. We are committed to try to work together, beginning with this initiative on the chemical weapons in hopes that those efforts could pay off and bring peace and stability to a war torn part of the world. Woodruff in washington, president obama said he will insist any chemical weapons deal is verifiable and enforceable. Also today, u. N. Secretary general ban kimoon said he expects an overwhelming report that chemical weapons were used in syria last month. His chief inspector said the report is finished, but he declined to discuss the findings. Thousands of people in colorado faced a flooded landscape today, after days of heavy rain that triggered flash floods. The casualty count stood at three dead and 17 others still unaccounted for. We get a report from newshour producer mary jo brooks. Reporter walls of muddy brown water poured down mountainsides today. That added to floods that have already inundated towns along colorados front range. Weve lived in this area for 32 years. Never has the creek gone. Its gone over, but its never flooded. This i would consider a 100year flood for us. A foot and a half or two feet of water doesnt look like its life threatening, but it is. Its different than normal water. Reporter Governor John Hickenlooper had those words of warning this morning for residents of his drenched state, where roads are washed out, communities are cut off and thousands are being urged to leave. Youve got to recognize this water is filled with debris and sand, it is almost like liquid cement and just a foot and a half of water can knock people over and you can be swept away. Reporter the entire town of lyons was being evacuated by National Guard troops after u. S. Route 36 was washed out. It stranded the 2,000 people who live there. There were evacuations overnight in boulder too, as warning alarms blared, urging people who lived along Boulder Creek to head for higher ground. Im feeling horrible and reporter Jeremy Barnes lives halfway between boulder and lyons. He wasnt under official evacuation orders, but as the water rose higher, he decided to leave. By then, though, it was too late his car and house were engulfed by water. And he and his wife had to be rescued by firefighters. We had no idea anything like this was going to happen and it probably would have been okay but once this wall of water came down the canyon, there was just no getting away from it reporter the skies over colorado were clear today, but forecasters warned the next round of rain could come this evening and with it, new flooding. Woodruff new violence erupted today across iraq, and afghanistan. In baqouba, northeast of baghdad, a bomb exploded at a sunni mosque, killing 33 people and wounding at least 45 others. The attack continued almost non stop bloodshed that began in april. The u. N. Estimates more than 4,000 iraqis have died since then. And in afghanistan, a u. S. Consulate came under taliban attack. It happened in the western city of herat which had been considered one of the safer areas of the country. The militants triggered multiple car bombs, touching off a firefight with security forces. No americans were hurt, but at least four afghans died and 17 people were wounded. Later, u. S. Officials said all consulate personnel have been temporarily moved to kabul. The government of iran announced today its converting its supply of 20 enriched uranium to reactor fuel. The u. S. Had feared the uranium might be enriched to the 90 level thats needed for a nuclear bomb. Also today, president Hasan Rouhani said he wants to end the standoff over his countrys nuclear program, so long as iran retains its right to enrich uranium. In india a judge has sentenced four men to be hanged for a gang rape and murder that became a symbol of widespread Sexual Violence. We have a report narrated by nina nannar of independent television news. Reporter as they were driven to court today to hear their sentences save us brothers the save us brothers the men called from inside the bus, but their crime had caused revulsion and disbelief around the world act and there were shouts and cheers outside as the death sentences were passed. The mens brutal rape and murder of a 23yearold student said the judge that had shocked the collective conscience of india. It has been an anguished wait for the victims family today. Said her brother, they got justice. Fruit seller pawan gupta, mukesh singh who was unemployed, Akshay Thakur a bus cleaner and vinay sharma a gym instructor launched their vicious attack on a bus bring driven around delhi the students friend was beaten up, she was raped and assaulted so brutally she died in hospital two weeks later. The case horrified millions in india. The countrys appalling record on Sexual Violence against women bringing many onto the streets to protest calling for the government to take such crimes more seriously. The result was tougher anti rape laws, but campaigners say after todays result the fight for other victims of sexual crime must continue. Woodruff the death sentences handed down today are still subject to review by higher courts. Two major immigration measures are close to becoming law in california. Governor jerry brown announced today he will sign a bill authorizing Illegal Immigrants to obtain drivers licenses. California would be the tenth state to take that step. The state assembly also passed a bill last night that allows undocumented immigrants to become practicing lawyers. Wall street finished this friday on an up note. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 75 points to close at 15,376. The nasdaq rose six points to close at 3,722. For the week, the dow gained 3 , for its best fiveday showing since january. The nasdaq rose more than 1. 5 still ahead on the newshour the latest from geneva on the syria talks; the uncertain future for egypts Muslim Brotherhood; the history of latinos in america; shields and brooks and massive sculptures in the desert. Now back to syria and prospects for a deal in geneva. Jeffrey brown has more. Even as secretary of state john kerry and Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov resumed talks today. The wall street journal reported that a Syrian Military unit was scattering the countrys chemical weapons stockpile. For the latest on that and on the talks, im joined by New York Times Diplomatic Correspondent Michael Gordon in geneva. And wall street journal military reporter Julian Barnes. Michael gordon, let me start with you. Lets talk first about the progress there. Where is there general agreement so far, regarding syrias weapons and what should be done about them . Well, secretary john kerry has been meeting with his russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, they have really been getting in nittygritty of this. The general expectation is theyre going to announce some sort of diplomatic understanding between the two sides tomorrow on how to approach syrias chemical weapons stocks, how to control them, how to destroy them. And there was progress on at least agreeing how much syria has by way of chemical weapons, which was an important point of contention between russia and america. That said, i think its going to be very important to see the fine print of this agreement tomorrow because the task of dismantling syrias chemical weapons is really highly problematic, especially in the context of a civil war. Brown when you say nittygritty earlier this week i talked to former weapons inspector john duelfer, and he talked about the importance of such things as who decideses which sites can be inspected and whether the inspectors can talk to anybody scientists over there soo or whether weather those are withheld. Do you think theyre at that level of negotiation at this point . I dont think so. Theyve been here two days, and its difficult to elaborate basically a years worth of arms control agreement in two days. But what i expect is theyll enunciate some general principles. For example, secretary kerry wants the syrians to turn over data on their chemical weapons stock right away instead of waiting up to 60 days under the terms of the treaty. I think there will be some important principles laid down. But it would also be my expectation that there would be a lot of this additional work to be done. And as you just pointed out, cheating by the assad regime is going to be a major concern. I mean, how can the west really know that hes declared all of his stocks and he hasnt hidden any of it . That was a big challenge in iraq, and its going to be a big challenge in syria. Brown speaking of that, Julian Barnes, today you reported a special syrian unit has been moving the weapons around bhap do we know so far . This unit is called unit 450. Its an elite, small group, within syria, all of the alawite sect, all very loyal to assad. And within receipt weeks, as the threat of u. S. Military force mounted, they started of dispersing chemical weapons around country. Brown lets bring up a map we can show our audience. This is from a year ago which shows very few facilities. And whats been happening since then . Thats right, so weve seen quite an evolution since that time. So from, say, seven major sites to about 24 major sites now, and another two dozen smaller sites. They are almost all parts of the country. Theyre in the north, the south, and even a couple in the east, where theres much less solid regime control. Brown and how much is u. S. Intelligence able to keep track of whats going on . This is a great debate. I mean, the u. S. Has been saying we have a good idea where most of this is. But thats starting to shift. In recent days, as this chemical weapons have been pushed out, theres a lot more doubt that they know exactly where all the stocks are. And thats going going to be important to this verification process. Brown are there any signs even in the last day or two as the geneva talks are under way, whether thats having an impact either in making more movement or freezing things . What u. S. Officials have told me is that this week, as the diplomatic process got going, as the threat of military force was reduced, that movement stopped. They saw it last week. They did not see it this week. And the theory is either assad moved the chemical weapons where he wanted them, or without the threat of an imminent attack there was no more need to move them. Brown now Michael Gordon, back to you. There had been reports you had been reporting about a potential largerdale here of a peace conference that goes even beyond the chemical weapons issue. Where does that stand now . Well, this is a very interesting question that you have. I mean, there are really two things going on. One is trying to figure out how to control assads stock of chemical weapons so that he doesnt use it again, and i think the evidence that he did tiewz is persuasive, and, also, eventually get rid of it. The other question is how to solve and resolve and come up with a political settlement that stops the civil war in sir yoo because virtually everyone has been killed in syria, like 99 of them have died at the hands of conventional weapons, not chemical arms. There was a meeting at a taid, a threeway meeting between secretary kerry; mr. Laf roz, and the u. N. Representative. They agreed there is going to be another meeting in new york toward the end of september, but secretary kerry made the point if there is going to be a geneva peace conference, resolution or progress on the chemical weapons issue is an essential prerequisite for making headway on a peace conference. Now, that said, i think the chances that a peace conference is going to achieve a wraek through at this point is extremely slim because assad is in control and hes not about to yield power, and i also think the Syrian Opposition feels a bit, i would say, betrayed by the fact that the United States has pulled back on its military threat, and is seek a deal with the russians, which after all, is the major power thats been arming assad. Im not justifying the oppositions position. Im not taking a stance on that. Im just representing how they feel. Getting them to the talks i think is going to be a difficult undertaking. Brown Julian Barnes youve been reporting from the pentagon all these last days and weeks. Given all that were talking tag about right now, what is the posture there is that what are they saying about the readiness or the sense of whether strikes may or may not happen . The readiness is still there. They still have all the ships, four ships in the med, an Aircraft Carrier in the red sea. They were extended this week to stay there longer, but the feeling is we are much less likely to see a military strike now. The mood is just skepticism that its going to come to that glowr all right, Julian Barnes here, Michael Jordan in geneva, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you. Woodruff as we reported yesterday, the Egyptian Government has extended its state of emergency in the country for another two months. The move comes amid an ongoing crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, and steppedup jihadi attacks in egypts sinai region. In her latest report from cairo, chief Foreign Affairs correspondent Margaret Warner reports on the future of the brotherhood and political islam in the new egypt. Patients flown in yesterday were seeking lowcost care and andidized medicines. Its one of two dozen hospitals in egypt, built and long supported by the Muslim Brotherhood. When we visited this one two years ago, patients spoke proudly of its brotherhood ties and high standards. But now, the hospitals director is keeping his distance from the group. Who operates this hospital . We are a branch of the medical association. We dont receive any help from the Muslim Brotherhood. Warner signs of the hospitals brotherhood benefactor are nowhere to be seen here, and thats true of the many Vital Services the group once ran or funded. Indeed, its a drug drus time in egypt to be associated with the brotherhood, must less a member. Many are under arrest. A few are free but many are on the run. Were talking have a skype, why is that . Its a wanted man for standing in opposition to the cue. Warner the cue was the removal the president , mohammed morsi. The army said it was responding to tens of millions of egyptians who filled the streets june 30, demanding moralesy resign. Then on august 14, Police Forcibly cleared two large promorsi sitins in cairo, killing hundreds and wounding many more. Since then, the Security Services crackdown has intensified, forcing alhaddad into hiding. I havent seen my family in over a month or my kids. I cant communicate with them because theyre as wellbeing followed. Its a police state with everything that comes with it. The police state never really went away in egypt. She is the human right director, and sees the logic behind the sitin clearing, the arrest of the brotherhood leaders, the detention of an estimated 2,000 more members without charge charges and suggs about banning the group. All of that means that somebody in the Egyptian Government, within the security agencies in particular, or the military, has decided that they want to exclude the Muslim Brotherhood from political space. Warner the brotherhood should be cut out of politic for now, says a politician and writer, part of the 2011 revolution that toamed longtime ruler hosni mubarak. The first chant of this revolution was about freedom. It was definitely not about some fanatic religious cult coming and telling you what, what you can write, which sports you can play, what your children will study at school. Morsi was trying to change egypt from being egyptian, from being islam. Islam is a part of the egyptian composition, but its one part. Warner even the brghthoods onetime ally supported morsis removal. Its media strategist says the brotherhood cut itself off from too many egyptians. We are not a family. We are part of this egyptian people, even we have our own ideas. Warner and you think the Muslim Brotherhood is a family in the sense to feeling exclusive . Oh, yes. They excluded themselves from the egyptian people, and this is one of the fatal mistakes. Still, he is actually the first and the only democratically elected president. Warner we posed that criticism, that the brotherhood tried to ram through an islamist agenda, to a leermd of the brotherhoods political arm, the freedom and justice parent. He admitted it made mistakes but sidestepped the deeper question. In any democratic country, you utilize the military to overthrow the government or use the democratic means to do that . Warner he said the party would try to keep up pressure to restore morsi with street protests. One month after the sitins came to a bloody end, this is what the Muslim Brotherhood has come to modest demonstrations at scattered times and locations around this country convened at the very last moment through social media to evade security forces. At this one on a highway in nasar city, we found a woman whose husband was killed at a sitin. They took him by motorcycle tie hospital. Somebody called me and said he was in this specific hospital and he is dead. Warner was he shot . Yes, the hospital wanted to put it in the report as a suicide. Warner a fellow protester and brotherhood member said he fears for his safety. Can you imagine, you killed your government killed 3,000 people in one day, one day. Some of them were my relatives, my students, my brothers, my friend. Sphwhrarg there is no official count, and the department Prime Minister couldnt give us one. But there was violence from both sides, he said. There was the Police Action to disperse the sitins, which,ob, and sadly, took more of a toll than anybody would like. There was, on the same day, widespread attacks on police stations across egypt and on churches south of egypt. Warner what about the number of Muslim Brotherhood members, morsi supporters who are in detention without charges . We are under a state of emergency, and that, by definition, gives the police more powers than under normal circumstances. It is an exceptional situation. It is not one they like. Warner a Human Rights Watch member who investigated the incidents says some brotherhood members did incite violence but not in numbers to justify the widespread crackdown. There are brotherhood members who should be held accountable, but what the government is doing is to use these individual incidents of violence to then collectively hold every brotherhood member responsible. Warner for now alhaddad says the military has pushed the 85yearold group back into its comfort zone in opposition. Theyre trial to wipe the existent, decapitate the Muslim Brotherhood. And you cant do that. Its an idea. You cant kill an idea. Warner do you think some will turn to violence, well see a rebirth of some sort of insurgency, that took place here in the 90s . Nonviolence is central to the culture of the Muslim Brotherhood, so i dont think any time sooner or later the Muslim Brotherhood will turn to a violent means of change. I cant say the same by the other groups in egypt. Reporter the noor party is making a bid to stay a player, participating in the militarydesigned road map to fashion a new constitution and elections. The aims, is to keep the islamist ideas center of what cmeds next. Lawyer warner thats a sellout this man says. Even they invited us, this is a body stemming out of a coup of a military coup. Thats why i say that it is absolutely important for us and for all the protesters out on the streets right now to stick to the democratic process. Warner so if the train is leaving the station, you just wont be on board . We are on board, but maybe on another train you know. We are going our own path. Warner a path for the countrys most enduring Islamist Organization leads it an uncertain future. Woodruff now back to the u. S. For a significant, but often untold piece of our nations history. How Latino Americans have shaped the country. Our own ray suarez has written a book on the topic, and he sat down recently with gwen ifill. Heres their conversation. Ifill from the first spanish settlers who arrived in america decades before Plymouth Rock or jamestown, to the 53 million hispanic americans living here today, latinos have helped form what is now the United States in ways we were often never taught in school. From the wild west to the Civil Rights Movement to the current fight over comprehensive immigration reform, it has been a fivecentury journey, one that our own ray suarez chronicles in Latino Americans the 500year legacy that shaped a nation. Ray, its fun tow have you on the other side of the table. Suarez it is strange, but i think were going to get through it it. Ifill i think its worthwhile. You as a puerto rican, brooklynraised american knew a lot about your heritage before you started doing this book, but you learned a lot more, didnt you . Suarez and thats the thing that i think is really distilled by this book. Latinos who read it may go into it thinking, oh, you know, i know about the alamo. I know about the war between the United States and mexico. But you will constantly be saying, hey, i didnt know that, when learning about other national origins, like why and when the dominicans started to come. Details about the cuban refugee crisis that accompanied the mariel boat plift. There are going to be things you didnt know before, but also, all other americans will say, this meshes with the American History i already know in all kind of unexpected ways. Ifill you know, even in the introduction i referred to spanish americans, Latino Americans, its a kind of a catchall but it doesnt really catch it all, does it . Suarez i keep coming back in the book to the idea of people who came from what was the spanishspeaking empire in the western hemisphere. And that catches everybody, and it catches all the different times in American History that theyve come for all different reasons. You know, latinos are a unique group inside this country because they were already here. They werent immigrants. And they have been immigrants for a century and ifill and they keep coming even today. Some immigrant groups came and basically stopped. Most immigrant groups. Theres a runup, a big spike in their arrivals, and then a tapering off, historically. The italians, the irish, the polish, the jews of eastern europe. There was a big time of arrival, and then it tapers off to nothing. Latinos have been coming for every century since the spaniard came to what is now the United States. Ifill the other thing you write about which we spent a lot of time on in this year, 2013, the 50th anniversary of all the events of 1963, talking about the Civil Rights Movement, the march on washington. But there was a hispanic Civil Rights Movement, a very distinctive one, that paralleled the African American Civil Rights Movement but which you hear a lot less about. Paralleled it, was inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, crosspolinated and crossfertilized with it. Martin luther king was in contact with hugo chavez. We forget sometimes just what a ructious time the 1960s were. But it wasnt just the struggle for full black citizenship and full black civil rights. Mendez versus westminster was a precursor case to brown versus the boferred education that led to the diseg dpaigz of schools in the United States. Mexican schools was a phrase that people used easily in the southwest to talk about the inferior and lesswellfinanced set of schools that they had for mexican kids to go to. Ifill you had one illustration in the book of a no spanish speakers, no mexican here signs, that looked exactly to me like the calendars versus whites only in the south. And similarly there were problems getting served in restaurants. There were problems getting realtors to show you homes that you could afford but they had decided you werent going to live in that neighborhood. Ifill you talked to some folks in want southwest who talked about how we didnt cross the border. The border crossed us. Talk about that. You know, people as prominent as the former senator and secretary of the interior, sanasar, people as well known as eva longoria, their families have been in the United States since long before there was a United States. There are land grant maps from the spanish going back to the 17th century that shows how its first big encounter in that part of the world between the spanish empire and the American Indian nations of that part of the world was really a huge, huge struggle that shaped that area, but it was long settled by the time americans englishspeaking americans started to arrival from back east and changed the political calculus in that part of the world. Ifill like other immigrants, African Americans among them, hispanic americans were patriots. They fought for their country even when their country wasnt fighting for them. Suarez if theres one thing i want people to take away from the act of reading this book its to even remember or learn for the first time how much the people i write about loved this country and all they wanted was to be accepted like anybody else in return, and they kept that love, kept that affection, and kept that struggle going, even when they were getting nothing but the back of the hand from america. Its a remarkable story. Instead of become alienated and angry and removed and creating a separate Society Inside the country, they kept fighting for acceptance. Ifill one of the Latino Americans you write in the book is someone i bet most of our viewers in fact many Latino Americans never heard her name. Isabel gonzales. Suarez Isabel Gonzales is a beautiful story because it illustrates that pushing, pushing for acceptance at a time when port reekans were of indetermine nationality. After the United States took that island in the spanish american war, it wasnt clear whether they were citizens of the island but not citizens of the United States, whether they were immigrants if they came to america or people who were moving like somebody moving from new jersey to massachusetts. She arrives at ellis island she arrives in new york harbor, and they tell her she has to go to ellis island like an immigrant. She said, hey, im from puerto rico. The American Flag flies over san juan, flies over the government buildings. Im not an immigrant. And even after it was established that she could legally move she married someone who was legally resident so the case was moot. She fought it all the way to the supreme court, famous case, and established the right of Puerto Ricans to be considered people who were part of these United States. In some ways shes puerto rican immigrant number one by establishing that in law. Puerto ricans were not to become citizens until many years later, but her case set the press department. We had laws for sacks of coffee and sugar cane and coconuts and bananas and Everything Else but we hadnt really thought about the people. What are we going to do with them . And Isabel Gonzales solved that problem. Ifill ray, your book say real contribution to our understanding of who we as americans. Thanks so much for writing it. The Latino Americans the 500year legacy that shaped a nation. Thanks. Woodruff rays book was released in conjunction with a pbs special threepart, sixhour documentary series of the same name. Latino americans chronicles five centuries of history, and debuts next tuesday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Woodruff and to the analysis of shields and brooks. Thats syndicated columnist mark shields and New York Times columnist david brooks. So, welcome to the new format, gentlemen. Thank you. At scary. Woodruff scary what a difference a week makes, a proposal to get priewfl for a military strike, david, turns into an effort to get a peace deal. What do you expect is going to come out of these talks in geneva . Im a lil worried that were entering a little diplomatic morass here. Thats in part because the arms response seems to be off the table. The congress clearly is in no need mood to approve this thing, and i think without congressional approval, even that leverage you have in the background of diplomatic talks is pretty much gone. The u. S. Leverage is severely diminished, i think, and i think Everybody Knows that, especially in the region. When you get to the talks, there are preliminary agreements to sit down, but there are a whole series of things that i think are trouble sell. One is assad is beginning to make a few demands if i give up my weapons you have to give me something he wantaise reward for using the weapons. Theres a possibility and maybe theyll surprise me but theres a possibility that th thing will just drag on and on and on, and well effectively have no answer. Woodruff drag omark . I dont think it can, judy. I think there have to be timetables, dropdead dates, and that is the only way its going to work for secretary kerry, for the president. The two positions this week in town that one should not listen to it, a, this was part of the master plan on the part of the administration itse itsed is t at the improv. They may have been luck wethe putin. The other is the thet of military force was not determinant. It was. The threat of the United States using military force, and i dont think that can be removed from the equation. And thats what brought i was encouraged by putins editorial in the New York Times, his oped page piece. I think it shows hes invested in this now, some of his own stature and status and selfimportance is involved in this being resolved. Woodruff and does that matter . Meanwhile, david, theres talk that the president s stature is diminished . I think both those things are true. I think putin is loving this. That oped piece in the times was a bit of an end zone dance. He was enjoying it. And the president is diminished. This has not been a good week for the president , a good couple of weeks for the president. Its an issue in my view, once the red line was crossed he should have done something, people would have explained complaind and we would have been done with it. Now it is central to his presidency and a nowin situation. I have to disagree with mark. I think the armed response is off the table. You can set a dead line or else but there is nowhere else. Theres an old rule in town, judy, that an ideologue believes what is right works and a pragmatist believes what works is right. If this turns out well, and i think the biggest shortcoming and defect is that assad remains in office, and that is a problem. But if it does lead to a negotiated settlement of the syrian civil war, i mean, remember this there are 21 Million People in syria. Seven million of them are refugees, or dislocated. Imagine 100 Million People in the United States being refugees out of our population or dislocated. It is a crise, a humanitarian crisis of historic dimensions. Woodruff does it matter, though, who is up and who is down if there can be some kind of solution, positive solution thats out of this, either on the weapons or if thams, then i say, barack obama will get another nobel peace prize, maybe three or four more. Im just a little skeptical. Assad is winning this war. Hes winning the international war. Im not sure hes going to be in a mood to start compromising with the opposition, especially given the furious hatreds that are already there. One of the interesting dynamics that is also out there is the emergence of john kerry as a bit of an independent player. This has been a very centralized Foreign Policy process in this white house. No like Everything Else in the white house. Woodruff you mean independent of the white house. Id say he has more independence already than hillary did, for all her strength of personality and strength of character, hes sort of carved out a little course for himself in the midst of this. And, you know, maybe he can lead in a slightly different direction, in part because the reputation of the president , frankly, in Foreign Policy is in a little dip. There is a great advantage john kerry has. This is his last stand. Unlike hillary, who at least is prospectively a president ial candidate. This is it for john kerry. John kerrys career will be written and defined not simply by having byebye a president ial scnd and senator for massachusetts for some 30 years, but basically what he did as secretary of state, and i think the commitment and passion he has brought to it speaks for itself already. Woodruff we hear he is going to israel this weekend, following up the talks with the russians, and hes been involved in trying bring peace to the middle east, between the israelis and the palmieris. Another likely prospect. Woodruff lets turn to something weve never discussed before, and that is the capitol hill and the failure to come to some kind of an agreement, david, on the budget. This week, the republicans in the house tried its leadershi tried to bring a vote to the floor. It was the conservatives in their own party that said no. Why wheredo things stand right now . If i was irrationalally pessimistic about the middle east, im irrationally optimistic about the budget thing. Somehow i think we will not have a Budget Shutdown woodruff you mean government shutdown. Whats going on in the house, and a bit in the senate, too, is what you might call the rise of ted cruzism. And the senator from canada through texas, is basically not a legislator in the normal sense, does not have an idea hes going to congress, create coalitions, make alliances and is going to pass a lot of legislation. Hes going in more as a media protest person, and a lot of the House Republicans are in the same mode. Theyre not normal members of congress. Theyre not legislators. They want to stop things. And so theyre just they just want to obstruct. And the second thing theyre doing which is alarming a lot of republicans, theyre running against their own party. Ted cruz is running against republicans in the senate, the House Republican Tea Party Types are running against the republican establishment. Thats how theyre raising money. Thats where theyre spending their money on ads and theyre having a very instructive role going on this week and i think it will make John Boehners life even more difficult. If john boehner wanted to pass a damage he could do it. There are enough democrats and republicans in his own caucus. The problem is hes terrorized by the these people davids talking about, the tea party people. The rule or ruin people mostly ruin because theyre not really interested in ruling and what theyre facing, judy, is the worst of all these are people who live in a fantasy world. They wanted to repeal obamacare. Obamacare will never be repealed. Now they want to defund obamacare. And there is not a single vote on the democratic side in the senate nobring it to the floor if it even passed the house. I mean, harry reid said yesterday i think he likes john boehner he said very candidly, i feel sorry for john boehner. There was probably nothing worse you could say to the a speaker of the house. John boehner i think has to face, can he lead leadership means getting people to do that which they really dont want to do. And i dont know if these people if in fact it does shut down and i think theres a lot better chance of it than david does. Woodruff you do . These are people not living in reality. It is going to be on the republican hands and its the one thing, that the one thing that could change the equation for the 2014 house wages. Right now is looks like the deck is stacked for the republicans the way the districts are drawn. This could reshuffle the deck if they bring it down. People like mike simpson from idaho, respected house member, are warning shaef said we cant do this. We cant pass it. We cant close down government. Were onesixth of the government the House Republicans are. Woodruff youre saying its not a side show. Its something that could turn everything upside down. I think they will reach a lastminute deal but i have no evidence. What mark says is persuasive. In both bodies, the leaderships inability to force any discipline. Thats partly because a lot of these people are not interested in the committee assignments, the normal leverage of leadership has, in part because the earmarks are gone woodruff youre talking in both parties now . Its more evident right now in the Republican Party, i would say. Yes, it is. So the leadership cant impose any discipline on a ted cruz. What ted cruz and some of the tea party people, their object is not to win obamacare. Their object is to take over the Republican Party and for ted cruz to potentially get the nomination. To mobilize enough republicans and take over the party and really transform the party, then that becomes the object. One little straw in the wind, the heritage foundation, a prominent conservative think tank, is running against exprns thats part of the change going on. Woodruff jim demanipulate. Take over an antihealth care, antiimmigration party that has the affection and loyalty of a diminishing number of american veert voters. Thats why i say theyre living in a fantasy. There are three or four counties in mississippi that would care. Woodruff this weekend is the anniversary, the fifth anniversary of the financial collapse which we be what it did to this country, to the economy. Whats the legacy of that, mark, five years later . The legacy, judy, is 100 of the Economic Growth of the Income Growth, 100 , more than, has gone to the top 5 . 95 of the Income Growth in this country has gone to the top 1 . If more than 100 has gone to the top, 95 has fallen back. There is a populist revolt waiting to be led. There is only one candidate who has tapped into it and that was Elizabeth Warren and she in 20 telph got support and Financial Support from all around the country. Ill make a prediction a wise person who has been through several president ial campaigns said to me today, that as iraq was the defining issue between Democratic Candidates in 2008, income inequality will be the defining and galvanizing issue among democratic president ial candidates in 2016. The Obama Administration has really not responded to it in any way. And its there. Theres an anger and fury, and it spills across party lines. But its particularly keenly felt among democrats. Im sort of interested in this. If you had told me there would be a financial crise centered on wall street, an oil spill by a big oil company, wage stagnations over decades and widening inequality, i would say we would be in an era of liberal progressive renaissance, the left would be on the march. There is Elizabeth Warren, but ooum not sure i see the left on the march and thats i think because its still true people distrust government so they see the problems but they dont see solutions because they dont think government is a viable offering for the problem. So i think there will be a populist movement in the Democratic Party but im not sure it will be as big as maybe mark feels. Debecauseio swept across every demgraphic group by not running for the poor he did graes the poor the income gap, it was against the rich. The democratic primary in new york city is not representative of country but i think theres nothing more imitative than american politics. If it works youll see other people following. Woodruff we may want to talk about this some more in the future. Mark shields, david brooks, thank you both. Thank you, judy. Woodruff finally, we take a look at the nations largest outdoor art festival burning man. And how its massive sculptures are popping up beyond their annual desert home. Our report is by thuy vu of kqed Public Television in San Francisco. Reporter every year thousands of artists make the trek to nevada to display their work in one of the most extreme environments imaginable. For one week, five square miles of the Black Rock Desert is transformed into a more than 300 piece exhibition of radical selfexpression. It is like the greatest museum ever. You have your piece there, you dont see any other pieces around it and you see this vastness of the desert. Being able to see the change in scale, from something from a distance and then being able to get right up to it and climb on top of it and actually touch it is amazing. Reporter core to burning man culture is its noncommercial nature. Nothings for sale here. Its purely art for arts sake. Many of the desert playas most aweinspiring pieces are no temporal flights of fancy. Structures like these require months of painstaking and carefully planned design. Most of which happens in the place where burning man got its start, the San Francisco bay area. Theres definitely a community of artists that im not sure would exist at least not in this form without burning man. And its become a mecca for people to come here and be part of this scene. Reporter a prime example the boxshop artists collective in San Francisco, a hub of creative innovation yearround. Tell me what were looking at here. This is all steel, its disassembled at the moment but all these pieces fit together on the structure. Reporter its main tenants are a femaledriven group who collaborate on jawdropping kinetic sculptures for burning man. Flaming lotus girls is a group of 200 individuals. And we make art together. We teach people, particularly women, how to do all parts of the art making process through this one big group sculpture. If you can get into it you can never leave, its addictive. Reporter part of that addiction, a decadelong fascination with fire and designs that push the limits of interactive mechanical art. One thing that we believe in is making immersive environments. You actually walk into and become part of the art. Reporter this year theyre crafting one of their most ambitious pieces yet, xylophage is a giant tree stump with enormous mushrooms that spout fire and sound effects. It takes hundreds of hours of volunteer labor to bring such an intricate design alive. Jackie britton flew all the way from london to be a flaming lotus girl. What am i helping you with . We are making bark for big stumpy, so you start with a bit of metal, you flatten it like this, and then you smack it with a hammer. Its not massively dangerous. Okay, thats good to know that its not massively dangerous reporter jackies what the group affectionately calls a minion, ready to take on any task thats needed. Well thats suitably barky. Hey, you know what, two down, 100,000 more to go. Reporter one week later, xylophage makes its debut at burning man. You kind of have an idea of what its going to look like but it always turns out different and its really the road there and creating something a lot of other people are going to enjoy. Reporter like the burning man himself, much of the art here goes up in smoke at the end of the week. But over the past decade the influence of burning man has spread, as an increasing number of these sculptures are finding new homes in urban settings. As executive director of the black Rock Arts Foundation tomas mccabe helps Fund Community based interactive art projects all with a burning man aesthetic, like futures past by kate raudenbush. Futures past is obviously like a mayan temple, this is all modeled after circuit board, circuitry. Reporter the foundations first project was a david best temple in hayes valley. We set up the temple and people started writing on it and in the beginning police would stop people from vandalizing. We had to like actually acculturate the police and the local residents. Well thats what its for. Reporter over the past eight years the black Rock Arts Foundation has supported more than 30 civic Arts Projects in the bay area and beyond. One of the best known is bliss dance on treasure island. There is an iphone app where you have a photo of the sculpture on your phone and you can slide your finger up and down the sculpture and the lights will change according to which colors you select. Marco cochrane has been working for years with life size bronzes, and hes taken this classical art form to a whole other level of scale and technology. Reporter palo alto will soon be home to artist charlie gadekans aurora, a piece hes shown at multiple festivals across the country and is readying to install outside city hall. This will have technology that the city can use to change lights according to energy usage or the weather or whatever the city wants to do. Reporter the black Rock Arts Foundation is not the sole champion of burning man artists. I think the biggest example of burning man art making itself into the mainstream art culture is leo villareals bay lights. So he took a bridge that was nearly two miles long and created an entire l. E. D. Art piece on that bridge. Reporter the installation was privately financed to the tune of 8 million. Donors included yahoo c. E. O. Marissa mayer, among a new crop of Silicon Valley patrons of technologybased interactive art. And soon, pending final approval by the city, the San Francisco waterfront will boast yet another former burning man creation. This one courtesy of the flaming lotus girls. Well, weve made so many pieces where we will make the piece for burning man, well break it at burning man, and then bring it back and work on it and make it perfect. But definitely burning man for flaming lotus girls at least is where we were born, where we begin and so that is a special place for us. Woodruff again, the major developments of the day u. S. And russian negotiators worked into the night in geneva, on putting syrias chemical weapons under international control. One u. S. Official reported the two sides were at a pivotal point. And thousands of people in colorado faced a flooded landscape and the prospect of more rain. Online, the leastknown, best retirement deal on the market today. One of our guest columnists breaks down annuities. Thats on making sense. And, how Ocean Acidification poses a threat to crabs in the north pacific. Thats on our science page. All that and more is on our website newshour. Pbs. Org. Woodruff and a preview of a story coming up tomorrow on the pbs newshour weekend. Almost 10,000 americans die each year in accidents involving drunk drivers. The National Transportation safety board has said lives would be saved if the legally permitted blood alcohol level was lowered from the current. 08 to. 05. The canadian province of British Columbia has done just that with startling results. Heres an excerpt from correspondent william branghams report. In 2010, the provincial government not only stiffened penalties driving at. 08 but targeted drivers who fall below that level, to. 05, drivers who are not legally drunk. The rationale 99 a few drinks, as few as two for a woman and three fair man, can impair your ability to drive. The big change was that if you are now caught driving with a. 05 blood alcohol level, the police were authorized, on the spot to fine you, suspend your drivers license, and immediately impound your car for at least three days. They would get you out of the vehicle and a tow truck would haul it away. Woodruff pbs newshour weekend airs on most pbs stations saturday and sunday. And later tonight, on washington week. The focus is syria. Gwen ifill examines the complexities facing president obama and the international community. Here on monday night, we talk with former treasury secretary hank paulson about the financial crisis, five years after the fall of lehman brothers. Im Judy Woodruff on behalf of all of us at the pbs newshour, have a nice weekend. Thank you and good night. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Captioning sponsored by Macneil Lehrer productions captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org a warm welcome to the journal. Heres whats coming up in the next half hour the four men convicted of raping and killing a young woman in delhi are sentenced to death by hanging. The american and Russian Foreign ministers say they are working hard to find Common Ground at their talks on serbia in geneva. Tragedy in russia as 37 people are killed in a fire at a psychiatric hospital. Psychiatric hospital