Transcripts For CSPAN2 The Deplorables Guide To Making America Great Again 20170402

Very shy and retiring types. For those also watching online we remind you, youre welcome to send questions or comments also any time, simply email speaker heritage. Org and we will process the post the program on the web site and we have copies of the book available for signing signing signing and purchase afterwards. Leading our constitution and opening the program is becky dunlap, our Ronald Reagan distinguished fellow. She serve as chairman of the conservative action project, advocates for heritages american conservativeth and advances energy and Natural Resources policy in general. Also an active board member of numerous Public Policy organizations and associations. Here heritage she was Vice President of external relations and recently led our restore america project. Prior to joining heritage in 1998, mrs. Dunlop served as secretary of Natural Resources for the commonwealth of virginia and she also served numerous positions in both re Reagan White House and the department of justice and interior. Please join me in welcoming becky norton dunlop. [applause] well, let me add my words of welcome to each one of you who have braved this very cold day washington, dc. Im sure this program will bev replayed many times and sometime in the dog days of august, when its being run, nobody is going to believe that it was, was, 15degree with a choice fact or a wind chill factor of nine we came here. Were delighted have todd starnes. Some people might ask, why would you have a book event on the deplorables guide to making America Great again when youre ave search and Education Foundation . Well, the main reason is because todd talks about in his book the importance of having people be involved, and hes going to good into a lot more detail about all of this, but let me just say, an educated consumer is the best citizen. And because were research and Education Foundation, we do research on a lot of the issues that are going to come before the congress and the president and state legislatures in upcoming years, and in order to be a truly effective deplorable you have to be knowledgeable about the issues that were going to be dealing with in our country in the next upcoming days and months and even years. As you all who were here know, heritage is based on key principles. Individual freedom, is the key principle. The Free Enterprise system. What solves the problems, the needs, the wishes, of the american citizens, not just americans but people around the world. Well, the Free Enterprise system does. Constitutional governance. Wont it we nice to get back to constitutional governance . Laws. Traditional values. You know, its very important when you think about Economic Freedom that you think about what goes into making Economic Freedom work. Well, things that happen within a family. Values you learn about in a family. Integritiy, hard work, respect, and the important traditional values like religious freedom, the freedom to live life according to what you believe. These kinds of Cultural Values are enormously important in order to have Economic Freedom, prosper in our country and our world. And then, of course, the Strong National defense. Now, i mention this because when you hear from todd today, youre going to hear a lot about things that american citizens should do and why they need to engage in these battles. And my point to you is the Heritage Foundation agrees with this, and believes that we can be helpful to you and to all of those who are watching this and reading todds book, become informed. Be knowledgeable. So that you know what you believe and why you believe it. Why are you fighting for these things . That todd it going to talk to us about. And then you can go out and make your voice heard in a way that will command respect, and hopefully the elected leaders we have will follow the advice and counsel of the deplorables who are informed. So, todd starnes is here, with fox news radio. Most everyone in america has heard of todd starnes. He is often on fox news and fox business. The fair and balanced channel. He is the author of four books and his latest one, the deplorables guide to making America Great again is what bring him to our podium today. Please welcome todd starnes. Well, thank you very much and it is an honor to be here the Heritage Foundation, and i just have to say Heritage Foundation, you have indeed stayed the course and have been a beacon of light to the conservative movement in and our great nation and i do, too, want to thank you for coming out on this very cold day. Its actually colder in washington, dc than in new york city where i came from this morning. So thank you for braving the elements as you came out. And before i get into they heart of my remarks id like to encourage you follow me on facebook and also we can make beautiful tweets together on twitter, todd starnes. Want to share my brown before we get into the text of my comments this afternoon. Im originally from memphis, tennessee. I am also a christian man, and my faith flavors everything that i do in life. Im one of those people that president obama was talking about, back in 2007 who clings to his guns and clings to his religion. Im one those of folkses that Hillary Clinton called a deplorable. And i am proud to call myself a guntoting, bibleclinging, constitutionloving son of a baptist and im not bitter, im blessed. I live in brooklyn yucker, in the indigenous population, not could too familiar pham far from income Hillary Clintons campaign headquarters. Among other things they dont serve too much sweet tea in that neck of the woods as they say. I want to tell you about the book before we get any further. A lot of people say, todd, when did you start writing this book it . Came out just a few months ago and we actually started working on the project immediately after the election, and i really probably in hindsight, should have acknowledged mrs. Clinton in my book for fifthing me the giving me the title, the deplorables guide to making America Great again. We had another title in event that shed had actually won, it was called were doomed america, you guide to the apocalypse so we didnt have to bier that book. Back to living in brooklyn. Its an amazing place. My neighborhood is populate with a lot of vegetarian restaurantss and yoga shops and farm to table restaurants. I dont know if you have those here in washington the ones in brooklyn serve organic eggs harvested by amish mid wifes mitchell middle man says im the only member of the National Rifle association in the zip code and you get about a pound of mail a month from those good people, and you also get a really great looking ball cam and the nra ball cap, black ball with the gold hers, nra. Tell you the story because in my neighborhood on the weekend, right outside of our local market, all of the liberalled a sew cassy groups advocacy groups line up and theyre asking for money and you have the planned parenthood and green peace and human rights and the peta people are the worse. Theyre very aggressive people. The peta fundraisers. So i was heading to the market one digrabbed my nr aball caps Something Interesting happened. When theyve saw the ball cap it was a like moses parting the red sea. They let me through except for the peta woman. I was getting ready to smoke a port a pork butt because im from the south and she stopped me and i had my pork butt under my shoulder and she says, sir do you love animals . I said only if theyre deep fried and kept on going. The never bothered me after that. So it is what it is. I do believe that faith and freedom good hand in hand. And that concept, that idea, goes back to the very founding of our great nation. I tell a story in the become about a man named oliver hart, a american of the American Baptist denomination. Im a southern baptist. He was the pastor of a church in South Carolina before the founding of the nation the First First Baptist Church of charleston. In charleston theyre very particular about things so its not First Baptist church charleston. Its the First Baptist church, like the ohio state. So he was preaching comments about freedom and liberty from the pulpit. Such powerful communicator that word reached our Founding Fathers fathers and those organizing the army to fight the british to cure our freedom, and they had an idea. You see they were having troubling in those days trying to round up enough farmers and citizens to fight the british. And so they dispatched pastor hart into the upstate of the carolinas, along with several other ministers and their job was to recruit an army to fight for our freedom. I thought it was quite interesting when it came tike to fighting for our freedom, our Founding Fathers came to the church house for help. And i believe that is a lesson that we could draw from today and these very difficult days in our nation. You know nor past eight years americans have been told that we are the problem, that we are not a christian nation, we are not an exceptional nation, our traditions and our values have been ridiculed and marginalized. And have been mocked by hollywood dismissed by the academics. Bullied and be. Ed by the sex and gender revolutionaries. But all that changed on election day. With a man who promised to defend religious liberty, a man who promised to make America Great again. Now, i must confess that donald trump was not my first or my second or my third choice in the republican primaries. But on election day, he was the only choice. And i do believe that Hillary Clintons comments about that basket of deplorables, i believe that was the turning point in the election. And it wasnt necessarily the words deplorable and you might remember that moment. She was speaking to a gathering there in new york city, and she talked about the homophobic, xenophobic. It i dont think the word deplorable cause cost her he election. It was irredeemable. She was telling that people who i believe in contract traditional american val awes american sovereignty and believe in securing our border, that our belief system is so egregious that we are beyond redemption. And i think a lot of people woke up and said, wait a second. Something is not right here. And i believe that was the moment, thank you turning point that the turning opinion that put donald trump in the white house. Many conservatives understood what was at stake on election day. The Supreme Court and the lower courts were in danger of being lost for generations. Im willing to take the president at his word when he says he is going to defend religious liberty, put conservatives on the court. Ill take him at his word and i believe that he is taking steps in the right direction in these early dives his administration. And im encouraged by people like neil gorsuch, but die have a few questions about judge gorsuch, and im interested to see how the confirmation hearings will proceed. You say, why are you concern . Well, republicans have a really bad track record when it comes to putting judges on the bench. The democrats dont have this problem. They put a liberal up there me and says liberal, she stays liberal, but the republicans, theyre gavels good wobbly and i remember back when president eisenhower was asked about his worst decisions in this presidency, and he said the two worst decisions he made were sitting on the Supreme Court. So, i just am cautiously optimistic and but we all have to play a part in holding our president and our elected heres accountable when it comes to these kinds of decisions. Even though donald trump is president and even though he is doing things early in his administration that are pleasing conservatives, we still face a very grim landscape across the fruited plain, folks. And over the next few moments i want to share with you some of the concerns i have regarding the state of American Values and religious liberty. The first is the military. Under the Obama Administration, the greatest fighting force on the planet was turned into a social engineering petri dish. Received an email from an officer at Lack Land Air Force Base in san antonio. And uheight have seen my column on this story. The email told airmen to stop using offensive words. And phrases. And among the words and phrases the military officers were told to avoid saying were things like, boy, and girl, and colonial, and the list goes on and on and on. There was a training briefing a few years ago that it reported on. Officers were told that the biggest threat of domestic terrorism were not coming from al qaeda or ham mass but were coming from roman catholics and evangelical christians. Think about that. Why they were teaching these young and impressionable many and women thats is happening the local Methodist Church is akin to what al qaeda and hamas are up to. Another military email labeled, organizations Like Family Research Council and the American Family association has domestic hate groups. So i have high hopes that general mad dog mattis will route of the antiamerican and antimilitary infestation in the pentagon and i believe he will do that quickly and i hope so. We have also seen issues involving radical islam in this country. And we have seen in our Public School system where islam has been given accommodation while christianity and other religions have been marginalizes. Titanly Public Schools have been turned into Indoctrination Centers for the left and i believe and i document this in book, that our Public Schools are being used against us. Not all of them. And not all teachers are bad. Hear me when i say that. But we have enough bad teachers and we have enough bad schools that is causing a big problem in our country. I believe the reason we have seen such a massive shift on cultural issues in such a short amount of time is because of what is happening in our Public School system. What is happening on our university campuses. And those safe spaces. Among the perpetually offended generation. The issue of religious liberty, though, is a key component of my book. You see, religious liberty is our first freedom. And i contend that if you were able to chip away, able to marginalize and diminish religious liberty, eve a freedom we have is in jeopardy. Look the evidence. A pew study shows that 40 of millen reallies now believe millenials believe there should be limitations placed on free speech. 40 . Look testify attacks on those who cling to our guns. And the attempts to take our guns away. Again, i believe that once you go after religious liberty, Everything Else is up for grabs. I wrote a story and ive been following this story for quite some time, involving a sweet grandmother in Washington State. I write about her in book. She iscould be a member of the liberty bells literary society. She is a sweet, precious grandma, and inherited her flower shop from her mother. One day some longtime customers came in ask asked if some would provide flowers for their upcoming samesex marriage. And she pulled them aside and, as gentle and as graceful as a white haired grandmother could do, she chanced their hand collapses their hands and told these two young men why should could not do that. The said it would violate her religious beliefs. And then she provided these young men with several other florist around town who would do a wonderful job with their marriage ceremony. But as we know that wasnt good enough. Because, you see, in Washington State, they expect full and complete compliance. She was brought up on civil charges of discrimination and to set an example they decided that instead of just going after her business, they would go after her personally. So this woman, if she loses, the court battle, she will not only lose her business, she will also lose her home and her life savings, every single thing she had she will lose. This case has been petitioned to the Supreme Court, again, it explains why it is so important that we put conservative justices on the bench. Because of her. I talked to her and said why didnt you just provide the flowers . Nobody would have known. And she told me, over the telephone, there in Washington State dish think she was wagging her finger at me. She says,young man, who would you rather obey . God or the government . Thats a question that many people around this great country have been having to ask themselves these days. The list of people goes on and on and on. Im reminded of star just a few emergencies ol from grand rapids, michigan, a family that owns a Meat Packing Company and the usda meat inspectors came by for a visit and they were in the break room and saw some religious materials on the counter, and one of the usda inspectors became offended by those materials and they summoned the man to his office. Can you imagine that . Government agents summoning someone to their own office and their own business . And i told him you either remover the materials because they are offensive to us or we will remove our meat inspectors. Now, any of you know anything about the meat packing business include did not itself if you remove the meat inspend counties, they have to shut down the business. 45 people would have been put out of work. 45 people. So he did as he was ordered to do and removed the materials and has filed a formal complaint. This is why groups Like Alliance defending freedom, the American Family association, are urging President Trump to sign an executive order protecting religious liberty, protecting people like the grandma and protecting people like the meat pack can family. President reagan, my favorite president. He was in Junior High School when he was president. The sea freedom isone generation of extinction and last year we came close, very close. Franklin gray lamb told me for the book we were at a moral tipping point. But i believe that god saw fit to give us a second chance. And i believe one reason why is because of this next generation that is coming up behind us, a generation of young men and women who are unashamed to stand up for freedom, and for liberty. I want to tell you about some of those stories that i write about in this book. I have hope in america because of a young man named connor brewer. Connor is a Football Player at millikan university. Hi teammates decided to protest the National Anthem with remaininged in the locker room, but connor chose to stand alone on the sidelines. And he did so. As his teammates were cowered in their safe space inside the locker room. I have hope in america because of a young man named alex dunn from fayetteville. He was in class and his liberal teacher wanted to explain about freedom of expression so the teacher tried to set an American Flag on fire in the classroom. But the teacher couldnt get the lighter to work. And in disgust the threw old glory on in the floor and then cleansed to stomp on old glory rhythm young alex, 16yearold patriot, rushed to front of the clam and snatched the flag off the ground and ran out of the classroom. So that the flag would no longer be desecrated by the school teacher. You he refused to stand by and do nothing as the flag was desecrated. I have hope in our nation because of a young cheerleader in madison, mississippi. It one long ago that a federal judge appointed to the bench by president obama told the School District that if they engaged in anything remotely religious, they would be fined 10,000 per violation. Well, just so happened that the High School Marching band was doing a performance of how great thou art. Im only from the south and thats a popular hymn in church aattend and im sure the principal was counseling up the number of people in the marching band and he was afraid he would have 0 mountain reply that number by 10,000. Thats lot of cookie salutes the called the kid tuesday the front office and said, kids, im sorry but you cant play that song. Youre notes going to by able to performure halftime routine. And i want to pause for a moment and say this. Once again, it illustrates the importance of not just the Supreme Court but the lower courts as well. This is a lower court ruling. Well, friday night football dame came and it was a hot, humid night in mississippi, as the players walked off the field at halftime, a very strange and unsettled hush fell over the stadium there. No one quite knew what to do. There were no marching bands. Suddenly, a young lady started to sing a familiar song. And onebyone people in the standing began to sing along and before too long the entire stadium rose to their feet in defiance of their government and sang how great thou art. So the question i pose in the book, who among us will stand, with the alex dunn oses the world and the good people of madison, mississippi. The liberals may try to silence our voices and bully us into commissionbut we cannot be silent. We must not be silent. You see they took a stand for religious liberty in the great state of mississippi and i believe its spreading like wild u wildfire across the fruited plain. This is a quote attributed to deitrick bon offer, sigh in face of evil is evil itself. God will nothing hold us guiltless, not to i believe this is a bon offer moment for every freedom loving patriot in america, and the time has come for all of to us stand together and with one voice declare that we are one nation under god. And closing, theres a scene in a wonderful film called we were soldiers that tells the story over of a battle. The Lieutenant Colonel hall moore and is men were surrounds, the enemy was advance, appeared hopeless. A report was there, young man named joe galloway, he was caught in the melee and when the bullets started flying, he reporter dropped to the ground. In middle of us ael all this chaos and carnage, Sergeant Major bass sill plumley stood resolute and the saw the recorder on the ground and kicked him the rear end whiff boots. You tanned cake no pictures from down there, sonny. Sew reporter look down the guy and the Sergeant Major looked looked at him gas him a rifle. The time has come for all of us to stand resolute. He say todd im not a fighter. But there aint no such thing today. Because we are freedoms last line of defense. So i say dont hide liberties under a bushel hold that high and let the flame of freedom burn bright for all the world to see. It is time for every gun toting bible cleaning deplorable american to take a thunderous stand for life, liberty and the pursuit of happyness. Because we have something worth defending. We have a heritage built on a firm foundation. So i hope our prayer on this day and every day moving forward will be that our great nation will once again be that shining city on a hill. Thank you all very much. [applause] okay we do have time for questions. Tom has agreed to take them. If you do have a question please raise your hand. We have microphones that we would like to to wait until the microphone arrives. Then stand up and introduce yourself to everyone here. Then ask a question. I see one right over here. All right. Thank you. I am from Eastern Europe and i thank you for your talk. I have come all the way from armenia to hear you. If you believe that. [laughter] i want you to know that we are allies. So you know youre not alone. We are small but we do feel excited by the news of this transformation in washington d. C. I have to say that i was not necessarily a High School Junior in the days but i was a very young child listening to radio in europe and the voice of america which is funded by Ronald Reagan in those days in the 80s. I was waiting for the moment to see the americans smashing the wall and find liberated 400 million Eastern European spirit in you have done that. And inarticulate show that we are grateful that america has done tremendous things for the people and the freedom in that part of the world. So thank you very much for that. One question, do you think that there is an element of moral sort of era that is in mrs. Hillary clintons comments that made her blind to the reality of the electoral process and forth and is that detrimental to her transport did you learn anything from barack obama . That is the question. Thank you, that is a great question. I have often wondered what hillary is wondering as she wanders through the woods. I dont think she has and this is the reason why. I think in her heart of hearts he believes what she said. I think that a good many liberals who think like her do as well. Which could explain why we have seen such violence and hostility in the streets in the aftermath of the election. I do not believe she has anything, i do not think she regrets anything. I think she doubled down on what she said. You know, one of the things i appreciate about Ronald Reagan, is reading this on the heritage. Org website you have some fascinating stories and Reagan Dinapoli that we should be the policeman of the world. He did believe that we had an obligation as americans, as lovers of freedom to stand alongside the peoples of the world who want to be free. And i completely agree with that. So thank you for that question. Al what opinion and commentary do you have regarding situation you mentioned with the court system and what moore still may happen with that . Thank you for asking that question. The washington Supreme Court ruled against that sale this point the only option would be if the Supreme Court here in washington takes uppercase. If they decline to do so, that would mean she would have to pay those findings and quite frankly would be a chilling, i think it would send a chilling message to people who again, have developed religious beliefs and do not want to violate those religious beliefs. We are going to pay close attention to that story and see what happens. But i think this is going to have ramifications for every person of faith in america. I will wait for the next question. I have to tell you this. This is a fairly literary looking groupie. A lot of people ask how that come about writing books . When i grow up as a kid in the deep south, i grew up in a storytelling culture. I grew up listening to and irma if you are a Junior High School boy and you read irma bomba on the school bus you learn to run very fast. Yes you do. But i also love to read and this really freaks people out, but i love to read liberal humorists. Two of my favorite were molly ivins, did not agree with a lick of what she had to say but she was sort of funny when she wrote about things read and she was also pro gun. And she was from texas so you know. You get your carry concealed cities you come out of the hospital there. But the other one is art walls. I just, i was always amazed at how he could just turn satire in washington i actually pay a mosh to him one of my chapters in the book. Another question . Back here. Hello sir. I came from wyoming and in december just last week fox news reported this among others. Judge neely was publicly censored by the wyoming Supreme Court. Several months ago she had been asked a hypothetical question by reporter what she would do if asked to perform gay marriage ceremonies. And she explained to this report that while she had never been asked to do so, she had certain religious objections to doing so. And in the future she would do something and refer them to other judges who couldnt. So even if you never been asked to perform a marriage, probably censored the attorneys with the state bar association, fortunately they did not move her to the bench. This is another example of the battle that has been left at the local level. The conservatives have done very well. On a National Level and date where maybe traditionally, but have ignored other states . That is an excellent question you raise. Judge neely, what about her in my column this past week. She is a good lutheran lady so i love lutherans. You know they do good potlucks. Along with the baptist. But you know, you raise an interesting point because there is a local component to this. A lot of folks think it is well sexy we talk about fighting for American Values. We have to take back washington. Well, by that point it is too late. So you dont have to, and that is the thrust of the book. It is all about being active and engaged on the local level. One of the areas in particular that we talk about the book is the Public School system. We encourage folks to get involved in local textbook that is, in front of their teaching our children. From a very practical standpoint on felt safe i dont have any kids, we have grandkids, what should we be concerned . You know what, your taxpayer. Yemenis pay for that nonsense in the Public School. See have got to get involved. Some people say well we have soccer, we have danced. It doesnt matter. You have to prioritize. In the country, look, its great to have a soccer team but if you dont have a country whats the point of having a soccer team . So you have to prioritize. Another thing that we really encourage you to do is take personal responsibility for teaching your child about american history. Do not rely on the school to do that. I mean there may be some great history teachers out there. But quite frankly some of them are teaching common core. So teacher kids, teacher grandkids about the Founding Fathers. Teach them about the constitution. Take that responsibility personally in your home. I question down here. Texting sir . Just kidding. Thank you for your comments. I am brian riley. I work here at the Heritage Foundation. I came all the way from the fifth floor to see you. That is a long trip i was reading a book over the weekend about postcivil war. And after the civil war blacks and whites were living together, writing the same essays and that was to prevent that, the State Government had to pass the jim crow laws so the government stepping into tell businesses how they can operate. And even that went where the state is telling a person how to do business who they can do business with. That is a form of that. Yes. They are telling, what struck me about the situation in michigan is there telling a privately owned business owner, he on his own business, what kind of reading material he can have. What is a church pamphlet have to do with that . But i think in the Obama Administration years, we saw gross overage in the federal government into what is happening in local towns and communities. And another part of this, it is important for folks to know their rights. You know know their rights under the constitution. And sadly many folks in my generation, we just did not know how far overreached the government has a partner reached. Thank you for that question. Going back to the case for a moment, do you happen to know if, i hope she doesnt lose the case. Hope the Supreme Court does take it but if she would lose this case in Washington State and would have to quote pay the fines, does that go to . Does go to government, the gay couple . Who benefits from this decision if it is the wrong or the bad decision . That is a great question. Yes, to answer your question. I do not know what fines have been levied against her. But if in fact they found that she had discriminated against the couple they would receive some of that money. That is what happened in the aaron and Melissa Klein case. You might remember that from oregon. Where the christian momandpop bakery in a very similar situation. They were forced to pay those fines. Here is the challenge. Here is the challenge for all of us. And this is the challenge that i write about in the book. When you look for something that, the kids got that right. It was ugly. They want to destroy these people. Just today, i was reading about north carolinas governor pat mccrory. He is unemployed. He cannot get a job because people do not to hire him because he set up and said that you know what . Meant identifies women do not need to use the bathroom with a little girl. And now he cant get a job. So there is a militant strength here. They want to destroy you. So what is the call to action for us . We had to stand alongside these people. After the cameras, the turn of the lights and cameras and people go back to their newsrooms. But other peoples lives to lead. They have to live their lives and we had to stand alongside them and let them know they are not alone. Because it can get pretty scary out there for people that are taking a stand. And one more thing, people like aaron and Melissa Klein and the vander bones in michigan, i love same name as a great man. They didnt go looking for a fight. The fight came to them. And that is a scary thing. Because think about it, one day they could be knocking on your door. Think about that. About that. We have time for some more questions. Yes maam. You are on the tv. When you comment on university situation . Some of it just seems like it is beyond help. And in middlebury last week what went on there, there is no end in sight it seems what we can do. That is a good point. All universities are almost beyond help. I mean, talk about irredeemable. Sweet mercy some of the stuff going on in this campuses, i did not know such things existed. We going to get quite a bit in the book. And we have learned just over for example, after the, there was a big controversy at the university of missouri. And a lot of the alums are just not getting in a lot of donors just out giving. And even though he led people may not have an ideological moral compass on the campus they do one way to fight back is. Withholding money. Or start withholding donations. The other part of it is to encourage young people to consider going to schools that do believe in the constitution and do believe in free speech and do believe in this great nation. There are a number of those schools grove city college, hillsdale, a number of christian universities and colleges out there. So there are lots of other opportunities and alternatives. The sad reality is this, you know yes, i am guilty of sitting back and laughing and chuckling at kids were playing with tinker toys. You know to cope with donald trump being about the president. But the cold hard reality is those folks are about to be kicked out into the general population with the rest of us. We have to work with these people. That is a scary thing to think about. So we have to figure out some way to get back to the basics on the university campuses. One thing i did propose was that any school, and university that doesnt vigorously defend free speech, we ought to yank their federal tax money. One more question back here. D think anything can be done about the can you say that again . Do you think anything can be done about the very popular hecklers veto. Im going to attend im ignorant. Please expand. 55 people come in and start speaking and announcing i have a pretty big voice and i am stubborn enough to keep on talking. That is the sad part about this. The average american liberal is not very polite. And i think we need to have a little bit of stability in our conversations. And that contractor shall you down but im going to keep on talking. We need to call it what it is. Have a big situation berkeley when theyre beating up folks and causing all sorts of mayhem. You know they didnt try but they vandalized a building named after Martin Luther king jr. For goodness sakes these folks are just bullies. A lot of them and i think a lot of them watch msnbc also. Well keep that between you and me and the folks at cspan. Im going to ask one final question here on. In your book, you have a chapter on the rise of radical islam. And i know that this is often discussed in the context of terrorism and jihadist them and so forth. One of the points that you make in marching orders is that americans should understand islam. And i am wondering if you give any guidance in your book on how americans can better learn to understand islam or can they contact you and get some material from you about this . Certainly. That is going to be very important issue and the problem is that when their teaching is on the Public Schools, they are teaching a distorted view of islam. And a book that i wrote several years ago called dispatches from bitter america. I rehashed and interviewed that a muslim scholar had done with the Orange County register. He said their goal was to basically infiltrate our publicschool system so they can become the academic advisors and textbooks that write about or write the lessons the boys and girls learn about islam. And that man is now one of those advisors. Someone called it a form of stealth jihad. That is underway. So, i do recommend a couple of things. Number one is anything written by joel rosenberg, many of you have read his novels. Hes also very astute and learned man when it comes to middle eastern issues. Joel has a brandnew as of today, it just came out www. Foxnews. Com. A new survey regarding how americans view islam. I would encourage you to read that. Theres also another amazing book that i read the environmental l lutzer. And there are two resources feet to take a look at. But again it is very important for us to understand islam. And also the rise of radical islam across the globe. According to the survey that just came out, an overwhelming majority of americans believe that theres going to be some sort of an attack here on the homeland involving some sort of a biological weapon. That is a great fear among Many Americans according to this new survey. It is important to understand what we are facing and dealing with. One final note if i could becky, we provided what we quote marching orders. These are practical things you can do in your homes and communities in churches to really reclaim those wonderful values and traditions our country was founded on. And if you think we will make America Great again but understand this, the something at the do with every generation. Just remember what Ronald Reagan said. Every generation has a responsibility. To move that flame of freedom further. Thank you all very much. [applause] lets thank todd starnes. I would like to encourage you to get a copy of his book and more research for the topics we discussed be sure to go to heritage. Org. Thank you for joining us today. Have a good afternoon. [inaudible conversations] tonight on after words rhode island senator Sheldon Whitehouse examines how government is impacted by corporate money and special Interest Groups in his book captured the corporate invocation of american democracy. He is interviewed by eric littman. When you help one corporate spending 700 million plus in the last election, and threatening, planning to spend 400 million in the next election in the midterms, that is just a huge footprint. There is a lot more going on behind that. The second piece of that has been kind of bringing home the longterm effort of the Republican Party to put socalled business friendly judges in the courts. So that the courts have become increasingly hostile to regular folks and increasingly interested in protecting corporations. Watch after words tonight on cspan2s booktv. I have a lot of people, i almost died a lot of times. I think it really messed me up mostly seeing people like to get awards. I can fight wars and almost dying to have people die in my hands, its fine but you know it just seemed like, i do not like seeing a soulful apartment for me. Someone just trying to lie and do anything for an award. Napoleon said a man will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon. And seeing that an action where people are just fighting end line for a bit of colored ribbon. You know, just breaks your heart. Fix it inside to see that time and time again. And just coming home. One of the reasons i wrote this book was, i talk about it here. I was on a date with this girl. And she starts talking but this newspaper she read in one of his local newspapers. About this guy that just came back from iraq and what a hero he is. How he is the epitome of an american soldier, this perfect g. I. And shes telling about the story. Unlike i enjoy a good war story i enjoy heroes. And thats what is his name . And she says its nicely a hero but these are the biggest drug resident unit heres a public buddy of mine is in you not going to believe this. This is what theyre saying about him. I put my foot in the first premise that cost down back and i said lets you know it just was comically welcome home and theres a lot of real heroes. There are a lot of great guys in the military. And there are also hesitation ribbons, fight for a bit of colored ribbon. It happens. The instant he is talking about iraq is a bunch of you but its worth like we dont want these awards. We dont stand up there but it is churches that can stand up there and get your participation trophy. And on the other side you have people that are dishing to change ontario regulation or. Because they do not qualify for. Everyone wanted a action badge and vessel ever wanted to lie about. And you know, when something exploded but it was an unexploded ordinance because the terrorists took it out, the gun powder did not explode. If the baby basically shooting a rock at us. But these despots will qualify for an award but not real is kind of changed Army Regulation is just so they can get this award. Then later on, the sky wanted me to lie so he could get an award. And i am like i dont even like you. Maybe i would at least think about if i like you but i dont even like you. Its just as bad aspect. It tears at your heart. You think youre fighting for something and then have these guys wearing the same uniform as you got a just fighting for that ribbon. Mentioned that passageway talk to the vietnam vet which. He says our brother have some spit on me to shake my hand. You talk about a book called thank you for your service. And talk about the resentment of that in yourself and a kind of attitude, shallow curiosity that they do want to hear about the nonheroes anatomist up. I wonder, how should we, lets say you see a soldier in uniform at the airport. These say thank you . Do you just let them be . Or at the bar, with a friend who served. How do you recommend for those of us who are, to talk to you or approach you . Whether it is a stranger or friend . Outplayed two quick stories. One was after the publication of my first book i met thousands of veterans. And things just like this. I would never talking to a lot of vietnam vets and they would say thank you for your service safe for your service. And me in on that no one has ever said that to me before. I can understand not supporting the vietnam war. The iraq war is what it is. So i can understand people have that 50 years with people to number nines that you were very willing to give up and you did this and now its 2000 whatever and the first person to say that a dozen people. I think the other end of this is to go back to one of those dating classes. This is one of those games we work on inner games. I remember this one scene with this one exercises. It was a big guy. We are doing this internal meditation exercise. This really big guy, masculine guy had this breakthrough. We just realized something about himself. Something about life. And hes having this really big breaker and starts crying, right . One of those cathartic price beautiful body cry. He just realized something that is life and has this perfect breakthrough. In the middle of this, right in the middle of this moment one of the other guys while cliff says awesome breakthrough, high five dude and he is in the middle of this cathartic full body cry. He does realize you know and this guy is like high five dude. Echoed sometimes, veterans come back for more and they are in that zone. And sometimes some conductive niches. They are like high five and they just dont know. So sometimes if you are in that zone seeking watches and other programs online at booktv. Org. Now on booktv, david france on the Grassroots Efforts that lead to better medical treatment for hiv and aids. This program contains language that some may find offensive