headline, see you back here at 11:00 eastern, 8:00 pacificism coming up then the ring of fire where there are hundreds of active and deadly volcanos. of course "consider this" with antonio mora is up next. we'll see you back at 11:00. ♪ ♪ the streets to the suburbs, also the olympics strike back. are powerful nations trying to play politics with the games? plus collateral damage in the millions, eyeing the countless refugees on every continent left hopeless because of civil strive. the oldest living survivor of the holocaust, how music literally saved her from the nazis. i am antonio mora and welcome to "consider this." here is more on what's ahead. ♪ ♪ oscar winning actor philip seymour hoffman was found dead

in his manhattan apartment. >> the tragedy bring to go light this growing epidemic of aaron e use. >> you are a mom, you are supposed to set an example and you can't. >> women in poll tig dues get things done. >> representation is terrible. >> big reasons for that is that this old boy sheen that dominates the parties really decide who gets to run. >> as long as they wanted music, they couldn't put us in the gas chamber. >> my world is music. i am not interested in doing anything else. i am full of joy. ♪ ♪ we begin with heroine. the tragic death of actor philip seymour hoffman comes as heroine has made a major comeback across the united states. where the number of users has doubled since 2007. but as al jazerra's janet reports, today's epidemic looks very different than the one that infected many urban communities

in the '70s and early '80s. >> reporter: you probably imagine heroine addicts to look like this. but this weekend's death of oscar winner philip seymour hoffman shows stereo types don't hold true. this is the new face of heroine. >> i was so anti-drug. before drugs like people you know, relied on me a lot of times, you could pick up the phone and say listen, i need your help. i was there. >> reporter: a middle class, young mom of four from long island. >> it was the wonder mom drug. you know. it just gave you like -- you didn't have pain. you know, you were doing a lot more. >> reporter: it started 10 years ago when a doctor prescribed angela benson with vicodin for her back pain. her addiction to painkillers escalated from there. >> so i started noticing i was going through my precipitation very quickly. and that's when i started doctor shopping. i was going to four different doctors, and i was getting a precipitation for 120 pills each time he would go to a doctor. >> reporter: like so many others

nationwide, an los angeles could no logger get precipitations. a friend suggested a cheaper option, heroine. and she went for it. >> for me to go from roxy cotton to heroine was huge. i mean, now it's not a precipitation drug anymore. in my head, this is a hardcore drug. >> reporter: angela hit rock bottom while watching her toddler one afternoon. >> i was in the bathroom and my two-year-old, i didn't think he could open the door i was sitting there sniffing nigh line and he walked in and i cupped it like that thinking, you know, i am safe. i am good. and it was not too long after i shoot him out. i took myself away. and he came out and there was a play table right here and he was drawing. and he took the pencil and put it in his nose and i was like, that is it. i am done. >> reporter: now 132 days clean an what is on a mission to warn

others. >> you think you can handle it. this drug is nothing to mess with. >> reporter: al jazerra. >> for more we are joined by jeff a recovering addict who is a social worker and free-lance writer from pennsylvania. and sam who covers drug trafficking and gangs for the los angeles times, he is writing a book on the surge of heroine in the u.s., he joins us from our los angeles studio. it's good to have you both on the show. jeff, i'll start with you. you just celebrated 10 years clean, you were a heroine user and you ar you in your peace ine atlantic it's a bad time to be an injecting heroine user. what was your experience and why is it such a bad time now? >> i think it's a bad time right now because all of the stuff that was ever bad about being an injection drug user is still out there hiv. hepatitis-c. overdose, death potential of but there are new things in terms of

the tainted drug supply in the black market more frequent, you know, boughts of fentanyl-tainted heroine that is very potent and easy to die using. and then also new ways for attics to get sick, like you know, drug resistent, you know, bacterial infections, skin infections, that are very easy to acquire in the community when you are sticking yourself with a needle a couple of times a day in unsanitary conditions. >> we saw in janet's piece we saw angela benson and saw her heroine use being an unincidented consequence on the track down of precipitation pain pills. people who take oxycontin or vicodin and moving to heroine. and the dea says that in new york city, one oxycodone pill on the street costs $30, but buyers can get six glass owns of heroine for about the same price and that's in the same chemical family and clearly it's cheaper.

sam, you have looked at this. there is heroine market something. >> heroine is a commodity. the way you sell heroine, there is no difference largely between heroine, types of heroine except for the way it's cut. the marketers -- heroine traffickers have to become expert marketers. in new york city, philadelphia, d.c., places like that you get the stamps, the reported that philip seymour hoffman had a heroine stamp -- glass own stamped ace of spades or something like this. other parts of the country you don't see that. in phil and baltimore don't control it. the folks that i am writing about in mexico two traffic in 22 states this one group i am talking about they have

developed their own marking technique, that is to provide convenience, they deliver, like peds a it's like the dominoes of heroine. call a number and they'll deliver it to you. they don't put marks on it, they sell it in balloons, but in both cases you can see that these traffickers really have to pay alog of attention to masking because what they are selling is not like marijuana in humboldt county where you have various kind of heroine, very similar to napa valley wines being you know, you have really good quality and really bad quality. you get very aggressive traffickers, they come to you. at least the guys that i am covering do that a lot. >> but, jeff, what's the psychology here? because as you were saying, there are so many dangers of

heroine, as opposed to oxycodone or vicodin or other painkillers. i understand the attraction of the cheaper price, but at least with those pills you know what you are getting. here you have no idea what might happen to you. >> well, no, you don't. and not only that, actually, nothing moves a batch of dope on the streets faster than a rash of overdoses, which is twisted. i understand. >> why because people -- >> but that is -- >> because people think if hoffman died because of an overdose from that heroine, that it's strong heroine and we want some of that? >> yeah. yeah, that's a good bark i gotta get some of that. absolutely. that is part of -- that's part of the deal and why these fentanyl batch out breaks flare up really quickly and disappear. the supply goes dry very quickly and then it pops up somewhere else. so earlier this year, and last year you saw it move from you

know, very quickly from camden, new jersey, over to philadelphia, out to lebanon p.a., out to western pennsylvania, down to baltimore. it keeps popping up all over the place and it's very unpredictable. and you don't know when it's going to come around again. so for addicts who aren't heavy habituated users catching one of those bags unexpectedly, is almost -- it's almost guaranteed to lead to an overdose. whereas, however, if you are a very heavy habituated user, who needs a lot of heroine to get through the day, yeah, when you hear on the streets that you know, the bag down the block, you know, knocked out 14 people last week, they want to know what the brand stamp on that bag is, first of all, getting back to the marketing piece. and then once you month he what the brand stamp is you can figure out which corner it's being sold on, so, yeah, you can go buy that bag intentionally. >> i just wouldn't think of these things and it's incredible

that that is going on. sam, you have called it a quiet epidemic that it's just under the radar. a remarkable statistic deaths from drug overdose has been rises in the past two decades and interesting the leading cause of death in the united states surpassing car accidents, i was surprised when i read that. >> that's a stunning statistic since the rise of the american automobile traffic accidents have always topped that list in the last few years, drug overdoses, principally to opiates, have taken the place of that. and the thing is, this is a very different drug playin plage thae have had for a lot of years, first of all, it's rooted largely in prescribing practices by doctors, prescribing far too liberally these very strong opiates. it's a very quiet thing, you don't have -- if you you remembr the crack epidemic blood and kreupcrips, shootings on the st.

it's a public scourge. the columbians in miami, the murder rates we want sky high. none of that has been happening with heroine. it's a quiet thing that has to do with the fact that you know, doctor says legit miced, the le. they are selling a drug statement thed by the fda. but also across the country, the people -- the families of people who are dieing are stigmatized, they are horribly ashamed and mortified. this is a nightmare i can situation for them. a lot of parents grew up in the '70s, they consider heroine to be the lowest form of drug use. and so they don't speak out, they don't -- they are -- they are kind of ashamed of the whole thing that their beautiful son was found dead in a mcdonald's bathroom with a needle in his arm. all of this tend to his create a real silence surrounding this. that's changing. there is lots of new parent groups that are forming and i have talked to a number of them

for the book i am writing. but by and large this is still pretty quiet and the only notoriety it gets is as we are doing right now, when somebody famous either dies or enters rehab, as with rush limbaugh a few years ago. that's the nature of the plage. it's not the same as say the crack or the heroine epidemic of years ago, which is very public. and it leads to it's almost as if the drug itself has kind of narc co tiesed the country in to not really caring too much. meanwhile you have thousands of people guying every year where they are now the leading cause of accidental death in america. it's a stunning statistic. >> let's hope this gives this drug playing some very needed attention, jeff, sam, appreciate you taking time come on the show and talk whether it tonight, thank you.

turn to go the olympics. thomas bach took a surprising swing at world leaders on tuesday. >> reporter: accusing them of playing politics at the expense of athletes. without naming names it was a clear reference to obama and european leaders who have spoken about -- >> if notices used as a stage for political decent or for trying to score points in [inaudible] certainly or external contests. have the courage to address your disagreements in a peaceful direct political dialogue and not on the backs of the athletes. >> for more i am joined by jewels, h he is the author of. and a prefoes or of political science and played on the u.s. soccer team in international competition. also joined by dave, sports

editor at the nation, also the host of edge of sports radio and the author the back game over. he's also a contributor to al jazerra. first i want a reaction from what he said. >> shame a thomas bach. for so many different reasons. physician of all his insinuation that u.s. athletes are somehow the puppets of president obama in terms of their lgbt activism when the opposite is true. the athletes were more active before you heard one peep out of the white house. shame on him. it's not political to have the games in sochi which is right near the chechan war zone the. this entire masquerade we are seeing over there isn't a political act in and of itself by the ioc. >> i want to get to that that i moment. jewels your reaction to the businesser comments that bach made? >> scoping back a bit it seems to me that when people try to argue that the olympics transcend politics, typically those people are milking the olympic could you with both hands. so it's either somebody from the

international olympic committee or it's somebody from a corporation who is a sponsor that stands to gain a lot of money from it. >> bach also said that the ioc must be politically neutral without be a political and athletes must not use the olympic village and venues for polight cam demonstrations. but he also said that olympic values are against discrimination. but they gave this to sochi and they are keeping it in sochi. was that i that a political act give it to russia? >> absolutely. vladimir putin wowed the international community by speak big remaking an entire region of russia. when the ioc hears statements like that and thinks about the olympics that will cost more than every winter olympics combines that is puts stars in the eyes of ioc not agent let i- athletic competition. you have both quoted a new zealand skating that came out

and said he was game. you said that the time is right for courageous athletes to seize the opportunity of a lifetime the column went on it say let's hope an athlete or critical mass of athletes to the historic challenge what would you like to see? >> i yo wouldn't prescribe anything, part of being an agent legit is being creative individual. i will leave it to them to challenge the laws. i step back also because thomas bach recently said that athletes could speak out at press conferences about equality. that's actually a step in the right direction. he also said that they could not do anything insides of a venue at a competition, on the medal stand, but that's right baked in to international olympic committee olympic charter. so that was just rehash that go. >> am i right to assume that you guys would prefer more than just something at news conferences? >> it's less about what i would prefer and more about what i would expect. i have been stunned and frankly incredibly inspired by the number of athletes who have

committed themselves to say, something is going to have to happen at these games, there is too much injustice, it just cannot stand. >> let me bedevil's advocate. if you go back in history. the most horrible olympic games of all were munich, because of the horrible terrorist acts there. but then the politics also got in the way in 1980, when we boy comed the olympics in moscow and then in 1984 when the russians retaliated and boycotted the olympics in the united states. can't we just keep politics out it have? >> we can do this argument, you go first and i'll go second. >> that's why i have never support aid boycott i don't think it's actually effective as a way of promoting political fairness. so you know, you have to show up to the games otherwise you are ruin it for the athlete who have put a whole life time of commitment in to it. >> shraeufpblgt i would argue there is politics from above and below in these games. and like john carlos the 1968 olympian who raised his black gloved fist he said at lease have bodies muscles and minds and we are being incredibly,

incredibly disingenuous if we ex-pebble them not no use their minds if they see something they feel like they need to speak out about. >> you guys also wrote interestingly that the u.s. has a long and inglorious tradition of attacking agents legits in their mime but only to praise them later. do you think that's the case here if they do protest they will be praised nod. >> the piece we argued hope and history rise in this instance and history is tantalizingly that -- the trajectory of history is tantalizingly out there for us. people coming from the united states know that equality is on the way in many parts of united states. not everywhere, though, and that should be pointed out. no everywhere for lgbt for example. >> one thing, though, athletes will be risk ago lot if they speak out in terms of their relationship the international olympic committee and their future as athletes. but as far as praise back home, i think that's something that they could expect. >> should the ioc simply not

award olympic games to controversial venues? >> what's your thought? >> i think that they shouldn't. they should think long and hard about who they give the olympics to. if a place is undemocratic or has a finger snap autho authoritarianism like paout puta does she. shouldn't. >> there is in the charter you will see athletes with the number 6 on their uniforms it will be on people's snowboards, bobsleds and this is the principle 6 campaign and what that means is principal 6 is you do not believe in any country to host the games if they discriminate against their own citizens. >> human rights watch released a video on tuesday showing what they say are anti-game attacks in russia and i should warn you it's disturbing. >> reporter: wha >> what we see in these videos are criminals census happening

the most egregious case of violence that we have seen so far and documented a migrant was lured and abducted by a group who burned his clothes, they put a gun, what looked like a gun to his head and they threaten him with violence. and forced him to say that he is game. >> now, the head of the ioc said that vladimir putin had assured him there would be no problems in russia during these games, but after seeing that have vido put it bluntly what is the ioc smoke something. >> seriously. since putin and the russians pass the these laws the amount of hate crimes are on the rise there is a tremendous pee in gq called the iron closet that everybody should read he goes over there and details it and goes to the underground clubs and talks to kids and it really is harrowing. the idea that the ioc is not

only blessing russia with the games but giving paout a inningn international platform is frightening. >> i agree it's horrid and demands a moment of courage and i hope an athlete whim show that courage in sochi. >> let's hope the olympic have his a positive affect on what is going out there and help all the people suffering as a result of those laws good to see you both, thanks to coming in. >> thank you. coming up, if you being hillary clinton's presidential hopes are the best shot to women to gain political power, you are behind the sometimes, plus we are talking the top story on his web what's trends something. >> we have talked a lot on the show about the underground website silk road. things just got worse for the man authorities believe created the site. details coming you feel what do you think join the conversation on twitter at ajcan considerthis or on our facebook and google plus pages. ♪ ♪

and what to expect. >> start every morning, every day, 5am to 9 eastern with al jazeera america. stun gran neighborhoods to dis

the list of armed conflict

troubling the world is growing and so are the numbers of refugees. among the millions who manage to flee their countries for safety elsewhere and millions more who are physician displaced and trapped inside their board. according to unites nations, syria's war has produced 6 million refugees two and a half million have escaped to turkey, jordan, lebanon, even iraq, in africa, ethnic fighting in south sudan has created over a half million of refugees in internal some in camps uganda conflict between christians and muslims have led to 430 refugees since last march. many people throughout the world are dieing in desperate attempts to find a better life. for more on the world refugees problem i am joined from washington, d.c. by jeff crisp, very director for policy and odd vo cass foy refugees international which focuses on field research and advocacy on

behalf of displaced populations. it's good to have you with us. this is, again, a worldwide problem. to my surprise i found there are hundreds of thousands of refugees in latin america, it's the conflict underway in africa, middle east, central asia the war in afghanistan and, of course, at this point the syrian civil war seems to be the deadliest and the one creating the large he have number of refugees. has any recent conflict created so much havoc for so many people so quickly? >> looking at the global picture it looks pretty grim. in all of my time working refugees in the humanitarian era i can't remember a time when there were so many i don' congrs flick creating such large movement of people. you mentioned syria already, it's preoccupying most of us at the moment. the conflict is not three years old. the first year of the conflict there was relatively little displace think. but just in the past two years,

up to 2.5 million people have left syria to go to neighboring countries as you have just mentioned a large number have been displaced within syria and they are unable to get out because they are trapped in conflict zones, i don't think we have seen a refugees exodus of this scale and this speed and magnitude for many a long year. so this is definitely something, voomly concern to go us. and it threaten to his get worse. not so long ago the united nations high commissioner made a public statement where he said at the current rate of departure from syria there could be 4 million refugees by the end of 2014 so it's a very serious situation. and as you have just mentioned, this is not the only conflict taking place at the moment. which is generated large-scale displacement. >> we just looked at a map of the refugees being displaced as a result of the syrian fighting and looking at the number in lebanon, almost 900,000 people. some have said it's like putting -- taking the whole population of dan and moving it

to the united states in a matter of a company. years. the situation in lebanon is extraordinary. i have been there a couple of times in the past few months. just physically you can see refugees settlements, refugees villages everywhere throughout the country. they are disbursed throughout lebanon. it's equivalent to the number of canadians moving in to the united states over a period of 18 months or two years. and one of the things that we are beginning to appreciate in lebanon, it's not just the refugees that his we have to worry about. it's also the local populations because when such a large number of people flood across a border, settle in local towns and villages and cities, they place an enormous pressure on local resources on the infrastructure on health and education services. so whereas the humanitarian community has traditionally focused its efforts on the refugees themselves now we are beginning to look at the host populations and to see what we can do for them. and that's a real challenge. we are not used to working in that way. >> to get a sense of how big

this problem is around the world, we found some numbers that there are 10 million long-term refugees around the world, that's including people like pal any generals who have been in refugees camps for a long time. 30 million people throughout the world that are internally displaced. we are talking about 1.7 million afghans and pakistans, 310,000 somalis in kenya. 100,000 burmese in thailand. it's happening everywhere. are the u.s. and world powers doing enough to help. >> the international response and particular the u.s. response to the syrian crisis has been extraordinary. an extreme amount of resources devoted to that operation. it's because the middle east is a ver vol volatile area.

it's much more difficult to raise funds for a country like that which doesn't have the same global importance as a country like lebanon. >> and, again, some of these refugees are not just crossing the nearest board, they are going enormous distances in order to be able to get to some sort of safety. fleeing overseas, some cases as far as australia. and we have seen hundreds in this past year dieing in the mediterranean when the their ovo crowded boats sank. offense times once they get to the places that they are trying get to, they don't even get a very good reception. >> sabbatabsolutely. oeufrpd there are someplace that his give refugees a good reception. i was afternoon al jazerra america before we came on air and i saw a very interesting feature about a somali ice hockey team playing in sweden where they seem to have integrated extremely well. other countries australia is unfortunately another good example of a country giving extremely hostile reception to

asylum seekers and refugees being sending them back to indonesian, a detaining them, sending them to remote pacific islands in extremely poor conditions and even if they are recognized as refugees without any prospect after i long-term future in australia. so there are some generous countries around the world, but there are also some very disturbing trends in other countries. >> so many people suffering in spoepso many places, thank you r your time. jeff. >> thanks so much. >> we are going to continue the discussion and turn to refugees camps and terror groups, refugees camps throughout the word breed misery, destitution and hopelessness and are providing to be fertile grounds for extreme ideologists and can offer purpose and a way out for some. j.j. green is joining us and he's just returned from the western sahara territory where he interviewed refugees former prisoners and security officials on the potential threats coming

from refugees camp little. good to have you with us. how big i've problem is this? >> it's big enough for people in the west to start getting nervous about it. because they recognize that within the next 10 to 15 years, this could be the source of all of the terrorists or most of the terrorist attacks against the west in because of the fact that west africa is a place where you have an extreme amount of wealth. you have a lot of diversity, you have got very weak borders in many cases, and you have a significant conglomeration there of tear orist eyed kwrolss, you even have in west and north after car, i have been told by security officials within the last couple of weeks, you even have some insurgent groups from as far away as china that are represented in that heg region o they are all scrambling for the wealth and resources including the human resource to his build their ideologists and their platforms to launch attacks in

many cases against the west in the coming years. >> how big of a threat it that for the west and how much attention are western intelligence agencies and militaries paying to this? >> it's an enormous threat. and the director of national intelligence james clapper said just last week, while testifying before congress, that this area is a hot house, pretty much a breeding ground. you have terrorist organizations or insurgent and militant groups popping up almost monthly, many of them looking to fly the black flag of al qaeda, a simply to just become more popular in the eyeeyes of the disa affected dio recruit people. when you line at the populations you look at the amount of people cut off from the economy that have to engage in the black market just to feed their families. al qaeda represent to them, many of them a good alternative. and al qaeda recognizes as well, that they can find a lot of good

candidates for their plan for their operations in refugees camps. many of which are popping up again as well in west africa and north africa. >> that's scary to hear you say that. talking about james clapper his full quote was that africa is a hot house for the emergence of extremists and rebel cruise: how do the refugees situations vary between regions, middle east, western sahara, east africa and other parts of the world? are more areas prone? >> absolutely. anywhere where there is a permissive environment or what they call in the intelligence would ungoverned space you have these organizations going there. they will go there and look for any place where they can operate out of sight, and whether people know it or not, refugees camps

are prime targets because they can slip in to those camps. and they can actually hide themselves in those camps amongst people just what happened i mali once the french came in they disappeared in the to desert and many we want to refugees camps. that's what they can do with this -- in this ungoverned space is hide. sit there, plan, communicate as best they can and in some cases they are able to collect arms and all sorts of resources that can help them plan their next attack which may be a local or regional attack. >> j.j. green thanks for joining us and bringing our attention to this problem. >> thank you. let's check back in with hermela. >> the man authorities believe claimed silk road was indicted tuesday prosecutors are accusing him of creating and operating the website which they italian

abled users to buy and sell drugs and other illegal goods and services anonymously. he is being charged with truck trafficking, computer hacking, money laundering and engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise. if he's convicted he faces a minimum of 30 years in prison. and a maximum life sentence. according to indictment in september, shortly before the silk road website was should down it contained nearly 13,000 listings for drugs. what's more, prosecutors say silling road also offered document forgery services for drivers licenses, passports and other forms of identification. his attorney said his client would plead not guilty at his arraignment scheduled for friday. for more, check out our website america.aaljazerra.com. they allege he paid for murders of six people in connection with the website. there is no evidence that the murders were actually carried out but noneless he's up against a slew of charges it's an

incredible stories with so many different consequences and brings up so many different issues, hermela, thanks. straight ahead, why has the gender gap remained so prevalent in politics. congresswoman will gin me to talk about how to get more women in politics. later how music saved a concert pianists life during one of the ugliest events in human history.

can we want break the glass ceiling of politics? the new hampshire they already have. in 2012 the state became the first in u.s. history to elect women to all of its top political offices. but of the 435 seats in the house of representatives, just 78 of them are held by women. and women hold only 20 of the 100 senate seats.

so why does the gender gap in politics persist? we are joined from washington, d.c. by congresswoman shelly representing maine's first district and spoke today at an event called the new founding mothers. women changing path to political powers great to have you. you address the gender gap today and had to "this week in football" to say. >> one of the biggest challenges for women is often who goes off in our heads, i gave you 100 reasons why i thought it wouldn't go well in my family or community. there are people that will say you can't do this. what will happen to your family. >> and sure enough a 2012 study from american university confirms what you say that men are more likely to think about running for office and that when asked they think they are more qualified to run than women. do you think that's change something. >> i do think the next

generation thinks about it my daughter ran for house and was one of the young of the speakers in the house in maine. i think it's questions fore year for the next generation but you can tell from the just a minuter gap a lot of women don't visualize themselves in the office, they worry about family, children, and whether they are adequate. 20 years ago i would go in to a town hall meeting my opponent was considerably holder than me, had been in office before he would walk in in a trench coat you would walk in in order roy pants and i would walk in and say he looks look a poll jim what am i doing or think think i won by 62% of the vote in that race because people were ready to elect a woman but i had to convince myself i could do it. >> now, you would think that the 2008 candidacy of hillary clinton and sarah bay lynn would have encouraged more women to run for offers but that same study we just mentioned found that the opposite happened that it actually discouraged women

because of the amount of sexism that clinton and palin faced. how bad is that problem still? >> well, you know, you saw it in those two campaigns i think we saw it often, you know, i am sorry to say in the media women don't always get covered as well, sometimes there is a bias, sometimes it works in our favor going back to that race. i had a agre debate with my pa t end during that campaign i was a small business owner and he said to me -- he was also a business owner he said you are not a business owner, you are just annal us in wonderland and it turned out backfiring on him and oven does on well, but it's a amazing how often men say those things about their opponent or the press will mote mit quote something and we'll are sensitive about that. we have tough skins once we get in the race we are de destined o win but a the local people say how will it affect my family. the people around me. >> and also you are dealing with comments about your appearance

and your clothes in ways that men very rarely have to. alex address extra starr of the new american foundation had there to say about another on be identical that women face. >> you look at states like massachusetts, new jersey, pennsylvania, you know, they are -- female representation in those states is pretty terrible. and a big reason for that is that this old boy machine that dominates the parties really decide who gets to run. >> you know, how big of a problem is that in this day and age and how can you fight back against it in. >> it's interesting, i do think that that is dominated many of those states that she mentioned. you talked about new hampshire has an all women delegation today. one of the interesting things is that they have a 400 person member legislature, they get paid $100 a clear. so in many cases it's sort of thought of as women's work, you are not getting paid much, go ahead and represent people, it's

not a sophisticated career. in pennsylvania you make a did he rent wage, so i think in some ways that's why men have dominated it. maine is a state that doesn't have a strong party system and party bosses so you don't have to go to somebody to ask for permission. i wasn't actively engaged in the political party before i ran for the first time. and i think i just set off on my own didn't work by what the rules said didn't worry about who would say i could be in or out and i have talked to many other women and many of the times that women get elected they start from sort of a sideways position. they are not the chosen ones, sometimes they beat the chosen one and that's how they get there. >> what if your congressional ann ma -- one of your colleagues had this to say today. >> women do get things done. if you just look at the most recent example of the budget breakdown and the shutdown of the government, voters across the board male and female think that congress is broken. but what you saw in shelly's colleague susan collins and my

colleagues, was that it was the women that came together and said we have to take care of this. we have to fix this. >> and women have played an increasingly important role in the middle of some of these seemingly intractable conflicts in congress. being able to look past party and partisanship. how important do you think beyond just the equitable distribution would it be to have more women in government? >> oh, i absolutely think and, of course, i have a bias. if we had 50/50 in congress today, the public would have a much different opinion about us, we would probably get more work done. and i don't know i don't mean to say all women are good and all my male colleagues are bad. we have positive thinking members on both sides of the aisle. but i do think that many welcome in to this many women are use today raising children, taking care of their families, taking care of older parents, they are the ones that bring about compromise in the family, and i think a lot of welcome in to office because they want to change things. it's not because of their own individual stature or as much

about their ego they say i want to fix something. i have a problem and i want to change it. and that's a very different motivation. you are often thinking about how many am i going to get this job done now how will i appear better at what i do. i think people would generally agree in congress there is a lot of women who work to find compromise. >> we have a social media question for you, lets go to hermela for that. >> congresswoman says there would be fewer wars if women ruled i guess this isn't the first time that you have heard that. as a sitting congresswoman what is your take? >> well, again, you know, i mean everything isn't absolute. but let's face it, traditionally women have been the ones who have had to sends their sons off to war who have really thought about the consequences about what this would mean to our families. what the -- you know, the challenges and the obstacles are, and i do think we think about it differently. it's not necessarily about making our country look like a more powerful nation, it's what will be the consequences of going after this. so i have to agree.

>> congresswoman shelly, it's great to have you on the show, thank you for joining us. >> absolutely. thank you for having me. and straight ahead, the farm bill has family passed and you won't believe some of the pork that's in it. our data dive is up next.

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interviews with the most interesting people of our time. >> you're listening because you want to see what's going to happen. >> i want to know what works what do you know works? >> conversations you won't find anywhere else. >> talk to al jazeera. >> only on al jazeera america. >> oh my! >> today's data dive focuses on pork in the farm bill. senate passed the $965 billion deal on tuesday. the farm bill is only readdressed every five years it's most live farm subsidies and a major part of it is food stams, but representatives still managed to attach all sorts of other pet projects. for example, the bill finances a lot of experiments, more than 100 pilot programs. it also has $200 million for an advertising program for big agro businesses. why do they need that money? lawmakers are quick to claim that always been a $23 billion cut in excess spending, but even if you adjust for inflation it

still means more than $250 billion in new spending. the bill includes a new 15-cent tax on christmas trees. yes, christmas trees. and there are also billions of dollars this subsidies in research money. but public interest groups are still fuming because only 4% of business collect 74% of farm bill subsidies at least in recent years. and there is a million dollars in the bill just to buy weather radio for farmers living in remote places. also $170 million for catfish inspections when there is already a program for that at the fda. and do we really eat that much catfish? still it's better that was money allotted for a reality show to promote cotton last year. welsh food got a million dollars to pitch grapefruit overseas even though it's produced less than that in sales. and this year's bill is 949 pages. that is close to a billion dollars per page. talk about excess.

and coming up, the older living holocaust survivor, our look at oscar no, ma'am dated documentaries continues with a very special wham who survivorred the natural is because of music.

>> start with one issue education...

our series profiling oscar-no, ma'am gatenominated ds continues with a profile of one of the most memorable people you will ever meet. at 110 she is believed to be the world's oldest piano play and oldest holocaust survivor she was allowed to survive because she was in an arc extra. music and the outlook saved her life because the lady in number six is he attorneyly optimisti . >> i knew that we would play and and if we can play it can't be so terrible.

the music, the music, music is in the first place of art. it brings us on an island with peace, beauty, and love. ♪ ♪ >> music is a dream music is a dream. >> nick reed produced the film and joins us from los angeles. oscar winner malcolm clark directed the film and joins us from mont rat the laid any number six is playing in select cities across the country as part of the program with the other oscar nominated short documentaries. nick i want to start with you and alice, because watching your

fill, yofilm, you can't help bon love with that woman. she went through the holocaust. lot her husband in the nazis ander is hahn died in his 60s, but she is not bitter and says that hate only breeds more hate. how she managed to find that kind of inner peace and joy. >> i can only imagine having spent time with her that it's something that mandela or dahle lama orga or began gandhi we pre world in a different way if we could do that well all live to 110 and be laughing and smiling still. >> it's incredible to watch her. malcolm you were nominated for an oscar for prisoner paradise about the same camp where alice was in prison. so you must have a sense more than many others as to what she went through. and that camp was different than some of the morneau tour justice

camps. >> it was not a death camp, actually. it was a feeder camp for auschwitz. so pretty well everyone who went in to there was -- huh an expectation of being sent down the track across the border in to poland where they would be exterminated. but the interesting thing about the camp is that it was also an extraordinary kind of collector of famous jews, jews who were nobel prize winners, society leaders, politicians, leader scientists. and they were all collected there for prop began at that purposes think they were asked to write letters to their relatives and their friends and the rest of the world to tell the world that they were okay. that they were surviving and that they were -- it wasn't as bad as the rumor said it was. in fact it was as bad, and it was pretty much worse than you can imagine there. people were dieing wholesale.

but, you yeah, it was a different place than the other camps. >> and after that experience, of make that go film. when nick came to you and talked about make this is film, you didn't want to do it. and you didn't even want to meet with alice for a few years, why? >> no, i -- we had -- we had a colleague who had been trying to persuade to us do this film for three years. and i was adamantly opposed to even meeting with alice and the reason for that was because i had made prisoner of paradise, it took two and a half years, from an emotion the point of view it was a dreadful experience. because every day you sit and you watch people suffering in the most intense and hor remember doehorrendousways wheng room dealing with that material. i made one film. we did pretty well and got an academy award nomination i didn't want to go near the subject again, so it was three years before i was actually even persuaded to go and meet her. and i flew for london, i -- you

know, i spent an hour with her, i had a cup of tea with her and as i left her apartment, i realized that there was no way we couldn't make this film. this person was like moneyed ever met on prisoner of paradise, she was a totally different kind of human being. and i knew if they made this film it wasn't going to be a holocaust film it was about much more than that. >> how she was an i credible and different human being certainly comes across in this fill. she was an established concert pianist before she was put in the camp and music ended up saving her life while she was in the concentration camp. >> yeah, one of my favorite quotes in the film one of the cellist ladies anita says her father said when the war broke output as much in to your head as you possibly can because no one can take that way from you. and then alice says in the film also, you know, just thinking of music makes her happy and what they were able to do living

inside their mind in horrible conditions somehow sort of set them apart and this ability to live in your mind and feel things and see things is obviously incredible. and people talked about how that when we went to a concert it allowed them to be somewhere else and it recharged their spirit. it's absolutely remarkable and shows the brain is this incredible mechanism that we don't understand at all and alice somehow managed to connect to its power and it's quite, you know, it's mesmerizing. >> it's mesmerizing and remarkable as you is. and she played more than 100 concerts while she was in the camp. and there is an especially poignant moment that came from one of her friends and we see this in the film who was in the camp with her, she explains how she found what was truly important. >> when you were really down in the hell, and come up again, you

have learned what matters in life and what doesn't. and what matters is very few things. life matters, human relationships, and that's about it. the rest is not important. one can live without and because of this, it has enriched my life. and i am grateful for that experience. i can say that. >> i know am us feels the same way. nick. what kind of impact is the film having on people when you screen it in? >> i think all of us involved in the film have a phrase is what will alice do, because nothing happens in our life even comes close to it. and that's a very, very balancing thought. it he screening some of my favorite things have been for the young people a 10-year-old after seeing the film took up

the piano and you expect adults to get something from the film but it's the response from the young people that has been the most beautiful. people talking about music, literally changing their interests, potential career goals, so, you know, one of the big things we are going it to try to do is reach out to more schools and colleges and get younger people to see it. because some people are worried there is a holocaust movie so they don't think it's put for young people but there is nothing in the film that is red cross rated in terms of imagery that would scare someone and the connection to music and ma it means, that's been one of the most touching things i have seen, it's been gorgeous. >> it's a beautiful, about a beautiful human being it's amaze to go watch at 109 people would come and listen to her play at her apartment number 6. thanks for being on the show best the luck at the oscar and the lady number 6 is being played in select cities as part of the program with the other oscar nominated short

documentaries. the conversation cons on our website. or on our facebook and google plus pages and on twitter at aj consider this. we'll see you next time.