branson lens, if you will. cenk: all right. >> which is what's the bypass system, you know? cenk: we're out of time. i could talk to you guys for hours. i love it. thank you so much both of you. we'll see you later tonight on "the young turks".com where you would have seen these guys years ago. >> john: gay marriage laws may change but as long as some congressmen still have easy access to assault weapons america is always going to have a sense of continuity. president obama calls out the 10% of the population who oppose background checks but fox viewers don't know he did that as fox spent that time broadcasting an anti-obama economic story before cutting to a fred thompson commercial for reverse mortgages. and the sequester is sequestering the poor from the idea of fairness in america. but now it may be backfiring often the very republicans who who led the tax increase. well played, boehner.

today is the birthday of edwin muskie. happy birthday to sheryl james of salt-n-pepa. tomorrow is good friday. hopefully my jokes will be funny three days from now if my jokes die. welcome. this is "viewpoint." >> john: good evening. i'm john fuglesang. this is "viewpoint." thank you so much for joining us tonight. an outraged president obama stood before the families of gun violence victims at the white house today and demanded congress enact gun control legislation in the wake of the sandy hook massacre. >> obama: less than 100 days ago that happened. and the entire country was shocked. the entire country pledged we would do something about it and this time would be different.

shame on us if we've forgotten. >> john: the president also called on citizens and public advocacy groups to put more pressure on congress to act. >> obama: we've got grassroots groups out there that got started. and are out there mobilizing and organizing and keeping up the fight. that's what it's going to take to make this country safer. >> john: we saw evidence of that mobilizing today. because mayors against illegal guns organized a national day to demand action to end gun violence which sparked demonstrations in 29 u.s. states. in san francisco, a small crowd rallied to support a ban on assault weapon sales and in indianapolis protestors stood outside the state house and demanded tougher gun laws be passed. mayors against illegal guns released a new ad with sandy hook victims' families calling for sensible and popular gun control. >> i want to prevent any other family from having to go through what we're going through. >> i owe it to my son, jesse, to

speak out for changes to be made. >> it's not taking guns away from people. it's making it a safer place for everybody. >> john: try telling that to congress. you see, in the senate, iowa republican chuck grassley says he will introduce his own gun control bill that excludes universal background checks for gun buyers which 90% of americans support. and senators marco rubio and mike lee said today they would join fellow republicans rand paul and ted cruz in blocking majority leader harry reid from bringing his gun control bill to the floor. they don't even want it to come to a vote. meanwhile, investigators have released a list of the weapons found in the home of sandy hook shooter adam lanza and his first victim, his mother, nancy. more than 1,700 rounds of ammo. an enfield .323 bolt action rifle. a savage mark ii .22 rifle. a volcanic .22 revolver starter

pistol. a bb gun bayonet knives, spear, and nra certificates for adam and nancy lanza. that doesn't mean the lanzas were actual nra members and the organization wants you to know that really bad and i quote they say... >> john: it's also completely true, my friends to say that if adam lanza was still alive the nra would be fighting for his right to own those guns and ammunition and as big an arizona nal as he wanted. for more, i'm pleased to welcome back joe williams along with kim russell, a gun violence survivor and national director of communications for moms demand action. welcome to you both. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> john: kim, i want to start with you. you were at the white house for the president's speech earlier today. what do you think are the chances of even getting any kind of meaningful gun reform

enacted? >> you know, one day it seems hopeful. the next day it seems pretty discouraging but we're going to hang in there. we're in this for the long haul. if things don't happen this time it is okay because we still vote and you know, we'll take it to 2014 and beyond. we're out there, we're calling our congressmen and we're just making our voices heard. it's gotta happen. >> john: joe the president spoke powerfully this morning and i'm sure you know that expressed his frustration at what is now being called the connecticut effect that many people have now lost the fervor and passion for gun control reform 100 days after sandy hook. how much of a political reality do you think that is? >> i think that it is a political reality for a lot of different reasons. i mean, one of the things the president said was that we, as a nation, are not the type to turn our attention away from something so tragic and so necessary. but, in fact we are. think about the things we've talked about since sandy hook

occurred. we've talked about sequester. we've talked about drone killings and north korea now. but the hopeful side of this discussion is the fact that we are still talking about it. i did a bit of research and it seems that back when gabrielle giffords was shot in january of 2011 gun control legislation the favorability rating of gun control and trying to do something to colt weapons in the country, 47%. today, it stands a tick or two above 50% which is progress given the fact that that poll was taken a day after a sitting u.s. congressperson had been shot. still very much on the minds of american people. more efforts need to be done at the grassroots and president needs to use the pulpit more than he has done so far. >> john: it's gree with that. today's protests brought people out in 29 states. i know you were deeply involved with it. i deeply admire the will behind it. do you think these sorts of actions can serve to put any kind of pressure on our

legislators in congress or does it take a super pac to make them feel anything? >> that's what this is about. we have a democracy. these senators and congressmen they work for me. they work for us. you know, if we make our voices heard, they need to listen. and that's -- you know, our voices are important. there are more of us that feel this way. so they need to know that and they need to pass laws accordingly. >> john: do you feel frustrated? >> we are frustrated. it is really difficult. but we're sticking to it. we're going to have a huge week of action next week because the senators and congressmen in d.c. will be in their homes so we're making appointments. our members will go and visit them. we're going to have a day of calling. a day of tweeting. a day of e-mailing. we're going to trend on twitter. we're just going to get heard. they need to know, our opposition is a loud minority. we're no longer going to be the silent majority. >> john: exactly.

>> we're going to wake up with our cup of coffee. call our two senators and our congressmen and say this is what we want. we vote. >> john: joe we've got now four republican senators who say they're ready to filibuster any gun control law harry reid tries to bring to the floor. regardless of the fact this is 100% harry reid's fault and regardless of what the american people want, they're going to do it. they don't care about the will of the people. how serious is that threat, joe and what would the repercussions be if they succeeded? >> the threat is very serious to a degree. i mean one of the things that your guests had talked about is the fact that the congress works for the american public. the american public is demanding action. but you have a problem in the senate where it takes a super majority to get anything done. and that is part of the problem. if you want to place this at the feet of harry reid, there are more than enough reasons to do so. number one he's come from a red state where gun control is not that high on his priority of things to do. number two you've got him -- having brokered a bargain in

which the filibuster still exists as we know it. >> john: exactly. >> that's part of the problem in what the four senators are able to do. and thirdly, you have a very, very powerful advocate in dianne feinstein. someone who is in the room when gun violence occurred and basically had to carry out this sort of mandate this tragedy. if you can't listen to that voice which ted cruz made sure that didn't happen, if you can't listen to that voice and you can't get that voice with the authority and the wait and the resonance that it has to move an assault weapons ban forward when all of the evidence shows it is very positive and has an effect, that's part of the problem what's going on in the senate. >> john: amen. kim, we're almost out of time. i notice you have an easter egg. why the you bring that? i'm guessing it is not a gift for me. >> this is an interesting easter egg. it is a chocolate egg banned in america. >> john: really? >> to protect our children. there is a potentially small toy in here that could choke our children. however, this is a chocolate

easter egg. >> john: that's banned. >> it is beloved in canada and europe. kids safely eat them throughout the rest of the world. we cannot get it in america. however, we can get an ar-15. >> john: incredible. the solution is to put an ar-15 in a chocolate egg and hope that gets banned. >> i hope so. >> john: i can't thank you enough. that's a powerful bit of american insanity. joe williams and kim russell national director of communications for moms demand action, thank you so much for coming on "viewpoint" tonight. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> john: for more, i'm joined by congressman jim langevin, a member of the house gun violent prevention task force. what an honor to have you with us on this very special day. >> thank you. good evening john. >> john: thank you. so president obama sounded rather frustrated this morning when he mentioned washington commentators who say the nation's moved on since the sandy hook massacre. and that the opportunity to enact any serious gun control legislation may have passed us

by. a recent poll, sir, suggests those commentators may be right. do you think the political momentum has shifted already on gun control? >> well, actually, i share the president's frustration that nothing has yet happened on gun safety legislation moving its way through congress. i hope we have not missed that window of opportunity to bring gun safety legislation up before the congress to at least have a vote on these issues. that's what the president asked for in his state of the union message. that's what i have been calling on -- for and the violence task force has been calling for. i believe that the victims of sandy hook and so many victims of gun violence across this country deserve a vote in congress on this issue. >> john: sir how offensive is it to you when you hear nra officials using phrases like the connecticut effect, meaning the moment when people are united and outraged and want sensible gun control legislation as something that naturally fades away? >> well, the nra has hoped that

the momentum would dissipate and that the focus would shift. that the new cycle would move on from what happened at sandy hook or any time one of these gun massacres has taken place. and certainly, the strategy has been delay delay delay. well, we're not going to take the focus off of this issue. the president, i know, is committed to gun safety legislation moving its way through congress. i was just in rome with vice president biden and he and i were talking about a collaboration, working together on this and committed the administration is to seeing gun safety legislation being brought up. at least seeing background checks passed, making sure closing the gun show loophole where people can buy a weapon without any kind of background check at all. being carried out. >> john: exactly. it is worth mentioning yet again, the majority of americans and the majority of gun owners favor regulations like that.

>> over 90% of the american people and 80% of gun owners support the idea of having a background check when someone is buying a weapon so we keep guns out of the hands of criminals and we keep them out of the hands of people who are deemed to be mentally ill. could be a danger to themselves or the community. >> john: you don't have to ask, congressman, the will of the people is established. we know what america wants. why is it so hard to get congress and i'm talking about the democratic party as well, at least getting an up-or-down vote on these issues? >> well clearly the nra is a very powerful lobby in washington. they're very well financed. that's why i'm so grateful to mayor bloomberg and mayors against gun violence who are committed to raising the resources and also carrying the message forward and mobilizing at the grassroots level to combat the nra and their powerhouse lobby operation that they have in washington. but this is about the american people. it is why the president has been

so forceful in going to the american people and asking them to join with him in demanding that congress take this issue up for a vote. really, it comes down to speaker of the house boehner taking up the issue, giving us at least the opportunity to vote on these things. i know we won't get everything we want on gun safety legislation. let us make the case. let both sides have the argument on the house floor and then let's bring it to a vote. i'm very confident that some of these things will pass, especially closing the gun show loophole and requiring the universal background checks. i have to tell you, any time i hear about gun safety issues, this is obviously personal for me. i was 16-year-old police cadet. i was in the police locker room, should have been the safest of environments and unfortunately a police officer's gun went off not realizing the gun was loaded. the bullet went through my neck and severed my spinal cord. i understand my accident was just that, an accident, not an issue of gun violence. but the issue of keeping our

community safe isn't more guns as the nra has repeatedly suggested. >> john: that's why so many admire you congressman. someone who is putting his own experience on the line and someone who can speak from a place of real pain, who knows the devastating power of guns and gun violence. and iowa senator chuck grassley is opposed to comprehensive background checks. he's saying he's going to craft his own gun control bill without them even though, as you said, 90% of americans want the background checks in law. sir, even if grassley's bill fails as expected and a bill of background checks passes the senate, do you think it will make it through the republican-controlled house? >> it will if the speaker of the house will bring up the issue before the congress. if they'll bring it up on the calendar and he'll let us have our day on the floor giving us -- both sides have the opportunity to make their case befores our colleagues, before the american people and then we have a vote, i believe strongly believe that background checks would pass the congress. but again, it comes up to is the

speaker of the house going to give us the opportunity to actually vote. >> john: congressman jim langevin democrat of rhode island and a member of the house gun violent prevention task force, thank you so much for coming on the program. >> john: when congress cuts money, the pain trickles down to your city hall. that's coming up next. [ male announcer ] it's red lobster's lobsterfest our largest selection of lobster entrees like lobster lover's dream or new grilled lobster and lobster tacos. come in now and sea food differently. now, buy one lobsterfest entree and get one 1/2 off with a coupon at redlobster.com.

>> john: it's time for our thing of the day. tonight,, it is the crazy of the day and glenn beck is bringing it. the feds are investigating michele bachmann for campaign

finance but really glenn beck says it is the somalians. [ ♪ dramatic ♪ ] i'm glad we have wacky sound effects. the state department located somalis to minnesota and michele bachmann there to ask why. >> why was my district selected for this? >> has she gotten any answers? >> no and now she's under investigation. >> why does his office look like the oval office? minnesota has good agencies for somali refugees but beck says this is infiltration of the government by radical islamists so now you know. as is too often the case when the politicians in washington, d.c. act like politicians in washington, d.c., and are unable to reach a reasonable compromise, it winds up being the rest of us who end up feeling the pain and nowhere, my friends, is this more apparent than the recent failure to avert the sequester a policy both parties claim to detest. in a telling piece on politico,

author steven sloan examines the actual impact of a sequester where it is going to be felt most acutely on the local level where taxes may be going up because of it. sloan tewks a variety of local leaders across the country about how they're coping with this new fiscal reality. what he learns is that... joining us now to discuss that mess, local leaders left are left in, senior leader of politico, steven sloan. thank you for coming on the show. >> thanks for having me. >> john: when i read your piece, i knew i wanted to talk to you about it. one of the things we're trying to do on this program is highlight the real world effects of the sequester. can you explain the impact of the sequester on the local governments you explored? >> what's happening right now the sequester just went into effect earlier this month. a lot of local governments are kind of at the beginning stages of assessing what this means for

their finances, whether there lobbying gaps in their budgets that they're either going to have to deal with through spending cuts or fees or tax increases or some type of all of the above approach. >> john: is there any irony some of the republicans dead set against federal taxes may actually, by supporting the sequester, wind up causing additional local taxes? >> it is an ironic situation we find ourselves in. the sequester is happening because there is a standoff in washington between democrats and republicans over whether to raise taxes. and that is leading to the situation where many local governments we talk to, officials are saying they might have to raise property taxes to kind of make up for their budget shortfalls thanks to the sequester and so you kind of have the situation where residents are saying that's great that my federal tax bill didn't go up but that doesn't do me a lot of good if my property tax bill goes up.

>> john: most of those people land in whatever political party they don't like. besides raising taxes what are the other option for the local munis pats to deal with the impact of a sequester? >> a number of municipalities are look at spending cuts, at ending programs, ending services to their residents. so that's one option that is available. other mayors that we talked to, other county commissioners said they'll talk to their constituents and if there is really strong support for a particular program that might be on the chopping block if there's really strong support then maybe they'll continue to offer that. but at a fee or at an increased fee. >> john: fee is the magic word. your article also touches on broader concerns for municipalities in the whole tax reform debate. can you explain some of those for us? >> well, as tax reform kind of goes along, if it really gets off the ground, there is always this push to figure out what tax breaks you would get rid of to

pay for lowering the rates that you would do in tax reform and so one of the things that many local officials are concerned about is the elimination of the so-called muni bond deduction. this is a tax provision that many local governments fund themselves by issuing debt to investors and the investors don't pay taxes on that, on the debt that they're buying. and so you know, if you get rid of the tax incentive for investors, then there is a concern that municipalities who are already losing out on the sequester and spending cuts that were already in place even before the sequester took effect, there is this real concern, this will be another hit and there aren't that -- there won't be that many more options left for these governments. >> john: when you talk to many of the local leaders what are they looking to washington for at this point? if they don't want to see tax raises what do they want? >> i think they want some stability, some consistent city. they don't want to lurch from

budget crisis to budget crisis that gets punted down to the local level. they're frustrated. everybody i ta you can to whether they said they would increase taxes or not everybody i talked to, they were speaking from the same playbook almost saying it is really not fair that washington kind of gets to punt down to the states and the states get to punt down to the cities and the counties and there's nowhere else for the cities and counties to go. these are people providing your trash service and sewers and stuff that people care about. >> john: everybody on the right and left who cares about taxes needs to read your piece. politico senior tax writer steven sloan, thank you. >> thank you. >> john: we're pleased to be joined by one of the local officials featured in mr. sloan's piece. the mayor of mesa, arizona and vice president of the u.s. conference of mayors, mayor scott smith. thank you for coming on the show. >> thanks for having me. >> john: it is a pleasure. have you feeling any of the effects yet in mesa, arizona?

>> not really. we've heard certainly some of our grants, community development block grants will be cut. we've heard our housing grants will be cut. but it hasn't yet filtered down. we know there will be some reductions in grant programs and things like that. but it hasn't hit us directly. where it has hit us is indirectly. we see companies especially here in arizona where we have a great defense industry presence. already been layoffs. there were layoffs three four, five six months ago in preparation for the sequestration. so our effect is really indirect. we also see some things like the announcement of closing of some air-traffic control towers at several airports. this is an interesting one because these are contract towers that are not faa employees but by closing them down, what they really do is have a ripple effect on the businesses there. we have one airport here in the phoenix airport who caters very, very much to high-level flight

training. lufthansa has a flight training organization there. if there is not a control tower they can't train their pilots because their operations won't allow them. so what you do is you really -- you really kill something besides just the budget on that tower. you actually put a lot of people out of business or threaten to move their operations somewhere else because they can't operate now that you've cut their positions. >> john: i have to say sir for politicians on the national level who are anti-tax and pro business, it seems to be backfiring. of course, mr. sloan talked about how local municipalities may have to raise taxes and we're hearing about the impact on small business. how do you plan on coping with the effects of the sequester. i know you don't want to raise taxes so what will you do instead? >> in mesa, we'll have to cut services or adjust. you talked about the frustration. there is a great frustration among city officials. the frustration is two-fold. number one, the uncertainty that

steven talked about. we in the cities faced our fiscal cliff three and four years ago. we were all dealing with massive budget shortfalls. we dealt with it. we changed. we adjusted. we went on with life and we've done the best we can to balance our budgets and go on with life. what we see in washington is first of all an inability to make decisions. that uncertainty hurts us more than the decisions that they make, whether they be good or bad. the second thing is the complete and total disconnect between washington and the real impact of their decisions. as i talk to members on both sides of the aisle i get the deer in the headlights look when i talk about things like well, when you cut this agency, understand that here is the real effect on main street. here's the real effect in our communities there and is a complete and total disconnect as to what the real consequences of these decisions are. >> john: it seems like -- like a lot of local leaders, you fell like you're left holding the bag

over washington, d.c.'s dysfunction. has this become part of the job for being a mayor in america in 2013? >> it has. because we are holding the bag. we're on the low side of the gravitational flow. and whatever washington dumps down on states, they end up dumping down on cities. and the difference is that we can't be caught up in just philosophical debates because the garbage has to be picked up on thursday. we have to deliver water. and we have a homeless vet who has mental health issues, we can't ignore that person. we have to deal with the realities of life. we don't have the luxury and i see that as a blessing but also a real frustration because with the political gridlock we have in the state house and in washington, d.c. real people seem to be the odd person out in this whole debate. >> john: as a federal revenue issue, the bush tax cuts were originally designed by president bush to expire in 2010. they got bumped for two more years and then earlier this year the president obama in this case, made 800% of them

permanent. -- 80% of them permanent. if you were in d.c. would you have voted to raise the debt ceiling? >> that's a load question. >> john: it is. we're talking about the same thing here. >> i'll tell you what i actually appreciated was the notion of the balanced approach. and that means really looking at what's broken in our system. i think what disappoints me is why i would not have voted for what's been presented is none of them are real solutions. they're band-aids. they're piecemeal. what happens is when you make a decision that makes one part permanent, the other part is not permanent. then both sides are backed in the corners. that's where we are with sequestration. what you've done is you have no way for either side to get out of the mess that they put themselves into and so you have no decision or you come with another band-aid that simply kicks it down the road and you don't really get a solution. that's what frustrates not only local officials but it frustrates our citizens, too.

>> john: exactly. that's the joy of the two-party system. mayor of mesa, arizona and vice president of the u.s. conference of mayors, scott smith. thank you for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> john: of course, the university of tennessee is looking forward to something called sex week. don't worry. it is educational and like most education, it is about to lose its funding.

>> john: wtf tennessee. we conclude with a story about health education and social responsibility. this story is every bit as sexy as it sounds. the university of tennessee is holding its first ever sex week next month. you might think sex week would be a chance for the campus cal ignore eulas to have sex week. it is about raising awareness for health issues and free testing for sexually transmitted diseases. in other words, most of sex week has all of the erotic spark of a

"wall street journal" subscription. state senator stacy camp raised a stink about the lesbian bondage expert. you're trying to prevent the spread of stds. lesbian bondage is about as safe as it gets. he felt the students were too young and innocent to learn about the social lives of the republican national committee. so school chancellor jimmy g. cheek, if that really is his name pulled all sex week funding, about $11,000 in tuition dollars and state taxes. if you get an std on campus, you know who to thank. wtf, tennessee. college is about knowledge. what's wrong with students learning about sexual issues? i'm sure none of this will stop your universities from producing the sex hating, gay bashing women-fearing citizens that have helped make your part of tennessee what it is today.

>> john: in the wake of the tragic shooting in newtown the

question on gun control was "if not now when"? with nearly 60% of the country interested in stricter gun control laws, you would think congress, our representatives works have passed some sort of gun control legislation! but that would mean you don't know much about congress. as the public outcry for gun control begins to unfortunately wain, the new question becomes if not after newtown will we ever see meaningful gun control in this country? for more on this, i'm pleased to be joined by my panel of nonexperts featuring finally here writer, comedian and founder of the nationwide animal rescue organization, tails of joy, you're elayne boosler. >> i am. >> john: welcome. >> forbes.com contributor, rick ungar is back and a correspondent for vulture.com welcome back julie klausner. what a pleasure. >> thank you. >> john: i'm thrilled to have you all here. we have heavy stuff and fun stuff to cover. president obama spoke urging the country not to give up on the fight for gun control.

is it too late? have we missed the post-tragedy window where public opinion and support for gun control was high enough that we thought we could really get something done? >> big mistake being made is they're calling it gun control. you have to take a page from the republican book called the clear air act. when they were putting poison in the air and they should just do background checks. they should call it the more guns for everybody act. then everybody will support it. >> john: i think you're right. gun control sounds like you're placing limits on someone's liberties. >> what about living kids. >> john: the protection of american life factor. if you call this -- if you would call the hurricane sandy relief bill the iraq war supplemental funding bill, congress would have found the money in a second. >> by the way, i have to start by saying something. this will be a tough panel because both julie and i are you are.

awe-struck. >> i don't know who they think i am. >> you know exactly. >> you know i'm cynical about this. what you're going to get is what you were going to get from day one. it doesn't matter how many people are behind this legislation. it makes no difference what terrible things happen. we know how the nra works and we know the members of congress. we know the members in the senate. we know -- i knew what they were going to do from the first moment. it hasn't changed. >> john: what's the solution? people against gun violence have to get together and form a super pac to make legislators listen to them? >> the mistake that the news organizations make is that america thinks the nra represents gun owners which are what 100 million people. the nra has 4,000 members. >> john: the nra ignores the will of gun owners. >> yes, they do. nra follows the money. all they want is to sell products. >> it is a little more than that because the nra has the best inside outside game of any organization in this country. not just the money.

it is the people that they can mobilize and turn out to scare the hell out of politicians. >> lobbyists. >> in particular. >> john: if the head of any other union any other lobbying group in the world tried to call a press conference in america, nobody would show up. they've got the power because they own that many congressmen. they represent the people who profit after newtown the gun owners. >> that was exactly what that sort of like -- that swiftian sort of proposal that, you know, the idea to fight guns is more guns. that only comes from someone who sells guns. >> john: it only works if you ignore the fact that they have a lot fewer gun deaths. we learned today that adam lanza fired over -- >> don't say his name. that's my new thing. we don't say the name. >> john: i will say the -- i won't say the name of someone who did it to be fame us. >> john: this guy had a lot of mental issues.

he fired over 150 shots in under five minutes. i will say his name because i want to tag this guy to the nra and have him equated as much as possible. >> he had an nra certificate in his house with a name on it. >> john: that's why i say it. if this man -- this young man swfnt able to use 30 round magazines, he would have had to reload more. those present would have had more opportunity to react and respond. why have gun control appropriates given up the fight for limiting magazine capacity. anyone have any ideas? is it just harry reid? >> i hate to be the voice of cynicism but you know why. harry reid gave it up because he knew he didn't have the votes and he didn't want to have to cast his vote. >> john: with the healthcare debate rick, if they had gone for single payer, they could have compromised. >> i agree with you. >> i totally agree with you. >> john: then pull back and compromise but the democrats fold like wet cardboard. >> have you no shame, sir, at this point.

>> they told when they have an election next year. >> look at the guys now saying they're going to stand against this bill. all of the guys who want to run for it. >> rubio. >> exactly. >> those are the republicans. and you have the democrats that have elections coming up next year and they're all scared to death of this. by the way one thing i want to add about mr. lanza -- i apologize. we learned one bizarre thing today. his mother was buying him guns. >> john: we knew that already. the pbs special documentary. >> they were more concerned with her buying him video games. i think. >> john: go ahead. the nra saying he wasn't one of ours and yet he was every bit one of theirs whether he was a member or not because they're fighting for the right for the next adam lanza i will say his name. think of the nra when you hear his name. they're fighting for the right of him. >> the guy who did virginia tech had been in a mental institution and the law stated in virginia, he couldn't have a gun but the

person who sold him the gun sold him the gun. you cannot sue that guy? you cannot sue the guy. it is the only industry in america that you cannot sue. why is that? >> john: you know why. >> privacy. >> john: we have to go break but i will say the next, my panel stays with me after the break when we talk about talking about sex. we'll be right back. come in now and sea food differently. now, buy one lobsterfest entree and get one 1/2 off with a coupon at redlobster.com.

>> john: welcome back to "viewpoint." today on social media, i asked all y'all if y'all thought obama's hopes for immigration reform had any hope of happening well joanne, i'm afraid these days, the republican party seems to be more sylvia platt on oven-cleaning day so i don't think they'll help their own cause. if you have a comment for the show, do tweet us at john fuglesang or use the hashtag "viewpoint" or post it on our

facebook page. now, how do you teach the biology of human sexuality without saying the word vagina. sorry, mom, i know you're watching. with reproduction, vagina is most of the story. but a teacher was in trouble after parents complained he said vagina during a lesson about -- by the way in case i forgot to mention it vagina. that's in idaho. parents said tim mcdaniel taught the biology of an orgasm. showed video of genital herpes. they were upset he played a film called an inconvenient truth and more seriously that he told allegedly inappropriate jokes and shared confidential student files with someone besides the student's parents. let's bring it back to my panel. elayne boosler rick ungar and julie klausner. now, the student file may be serious issues. the main thing he is said the word vagina.

>> it was a cooking class. >> john: i'm going to ask you this. why is vagina a word that scares people? >> it is up to a parent, if they don't want the -- going into the pooh-pooh and the sha needle goes into the you the new-new then they shouldn't bring it up. >> john: i appreciate the translation. >> all kidding aside, the sanctity of the idea you can't joke or talk about female genitalia is just part of like the silence around female sexuality and it drives me crazy. >> john: yes, i would say i grew up in a sexually repressed household but i'm not comfortable saying the word "sexually" yet. >> it scares the hell out of me. >> we argue you're scared of vaginas. >> we have no economic power. >> wonderful. >> i didn't bring mine because i didn't know we were going to talk about this.

>> john: this teacher says he's been teaching out of the textbook for 18 years and never had a complaint. >> the textbook is the complaint. >> john: are people getting more squeamish? >> about vaginas? >> about sex in general. >> before sushi nobody cared. >> john: you would think in the age of the internet, we would be getting more european. >> we're talking about idaho. more squeamish in new york, i don't think so. >> the idea a woman could have an orgasm is upsetting. >> they call a vagina a potato. >> do they really? >> has a woman in idaho ever had an orgasm? >> no. she's had a potato. >> john: mitt romney popped up -- >> speaking of vaginas. >> adjacent. >> john: he was on dennis miller's show. >> speaking of vaginas. >> john: he told dennis that he's leading a normal life again. although mitt romney couldn't have a normal life if his dad died and willed him one.

what's a normal life for mitt romney who makes $20 million a year for not working. >> i guess the dog is back on the roof. >> that poor dog. i think smaller chandeliers. >> it is all relative, right? for him a normal life is he's riding the elevator to see his car. >> john: how did the g.o.p. wind up nominating such an out-of-touch candidate? or how did citizens united help him buy the nomination? >> i think all of their candidates are out of touch. it was completely reflective of who they are right now. >> the best of what was available. >> jon huntsman never had a chance. it was his turn in the barrel. the rest of them were -- >> john: jon huntsman who was never the front-runner at all. that campaign was so depressing, sara mclaughlin was doing late night infomercials for it. speaking of altered states, hippies were right. if everyone would spark up a don't doob everyone would be okay.

nationwide legalization to bring $6en 4 billion in new tax revenue. do you think if we decriminalize cannabis, could we really make that much money and help our deficits? >> based on a very small biased selection of my friends which are mostly musicians and comedians, we will be rolling in dough. >> two things that will bring in big revenue to the states. dope and gambling. >> john: elaine, you're shaking your head. >> you're not going to get a penny because everyone is going to forget to pay their taxes. >> it will be in the price when you buy it. >> oh. >> john: the real reason you'll never see in our lifetime is it is such a big threat to pharma. >> and also to alcohol. people want to get high. people want to get drunk. pot doesn't have a lobby. >> when pot is legal -- >> they keep forgetting to show up. >> and when pot is legal it lobbying pharma that ends up boning all of the fields.

you may not believe this but there was a guy on fox business channel yesterday who was talking about the business of pot. on fox business. >> john: once they buy it, they can call it a drug. >> big pharma. >> if they can spray it, they can genetically engineer it.% >> they can put it in our corn and they can never tell us. >> we could have like fish pot. >> i can't wait. if you're allergic to fish, just die and you won't even know it. >> john: why is it only ron paul and rand paul leading the fight politically on this issue? think about it. >> i think the liberals tired out. now it is happening without them. >> the government reflect the people at all in anything anymore? >> john: it would help with our taxes and that's where we get the expression joint return. when we come back, an easter story that isn't just about easter. you don't want to miss this.

>> john: finally, it is time for tonight's f bomb. easter is always a special time. a time when parents teach their

children the story of jesus by having a rabbit in their home to leave teeth rotting candy. christians can mark the anti-death penalty jesus and it is irony free. whether you regard the bible as ancient, parable the easter story does have relevance for all of us. it is a story of pain and suffering, of death and rebirth. in the story of course jesus shows up in jerusalem on palm sunday, gets a hero's welcome. he preaches love, drives the money changers exploiting the poor out of the temple, the conservative religious bosses, the pharisees get nervous and conspire with the occupying european imperial government to have him arrested. by friday, the very people who welcomed him have been spin doctored into demanding his death. almost everybody abandons him. he's locked up by the soldiers. sold out and abandoned by his friends. he's executed by the state. a naked bleeding, humiliated, outcast criminal loser. and, of course, as the story goes, he rise from the tomb on

sunday and does not seek revenge, just keeps talking about love. now we've just witnessed what may have been the most powerful few days in the struggle in the history of the struggle for lgbt rights in america and it happened during easter week with not one but two anti-gay laws going before the supreme court and america on the side of gay marriage and an endless procession of politicians who once opposed equality but have come to view it as an essential human right and none of this would have happened without the unspeakable tragedy of the a.i.d.s. crisis. kids born after the mid '90s have no memory of the people suffering from h.i.v. were targeted by cruelty. politicians did nothing and thousands of people died. if you have ever been close to someone who died of h.i.v., you know it is a painful degrading and demeaning way to go but gay people organized, came out of the closet. the a.i.d.s. coalition to unleash power was formed. it began leading demonstrations designed to make the rest of america very uncomfortable.

people didn't wait for their rights. they demanded them. as more people came out more americans realized they didn't really hate gay people. they already knew some. in 2012, the first openly gay and openly bisexual americans were elected into congress. and that same fall, the president of the united states came out in favor of marriage equality before an important election. no doubt the white house had focused grouped this thing to death. they knew the reality america was ready to be the right side of decency and history. what did we see through this evolution of the heart the greatest swifterrest advancement for civil rights for any minority group in the history of the human race. all of this good happened because of a plague. that's the story that led us to this particular easter week. and that's the story of easter. that's "viewpoint" for tonight. i want to thank my guests, comedian elayne boosler. >> follow me on tails of joy.net. >> rick ungar. >> forbes.com. >> julie klausner from how is your week. how do we follow