on behalf of our members worldwide i d like to welcome our speakers and attendees which include guests of our speaker as well as working journalists. i d like to welcome our c-span and public radio audiences. as the speech concludes i ll allow as many questions as time permits. i d like to introduce our head table guests. on your right eleanor cliff, columnist for newsweek magazine. rick dunnham, the president of the freedell. donald linewand, the immediate pass president of the press club. billy shore, founder and executive director of share our strength and the guest ofs speaker. andrew schneider, associate chair for kiplinger and speaker s committee chair. skipping over our speaker for a moment, melissa charboneau, clark bunting, president of the discovery channel. governor martin o malley of maryland, a guest of the speaker. [applause] robert yune, cnn political research director. justin duckham from talk radio and new member of the national press club. paul mckella