> john: today american leaders who seek to protect children from violence and murder passed some of our toughest gun control laws or, as the nra calls them, un-american activities. if you would like to hear more about whether hillary clinton is going to run for president, do nothing. the media is on it. get ready for more premature prognostication and for democrats to be so focused on 2016 they may forget about 2014 in the process. will youst the wave of adhd drugs and we lost a profoundly influential and deeply progressive man and writer. today is the birthday of former republican senator dick lugar ousted by the tea party for the

sin of getting along too well with democrats. maya angelou is 85 years young today and muddy waters would have been 100 years old. we lost dr. king 45 years ago today. thanks for joining us tonight. this is "viewpoint." >> john: i'm john fuglesang and this is "viewpoint." if you've got a child in school, especially a boy and that child is having trouble staying focused, could he or she be suffering from adhd? or has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, to give the ailment its full title an overdiagnosed to the point where millions of children are being treated with powerful stimulants they might not need? according to data from the centers for disease control compiled by "the new york times," 11% of kids from 4-17 have been diagnosed with adhd

including 7% of school age girls and 15% of boys. the times broke those numbers down and the percentages for boys are quite staggering. for kids age 4-9 4% of girls and 10% of boys have been diagnosed with adhd. for kids age 10-13, the numbers go up to 8% for girls 18% for boys and for high school teens the adhd count is 10% for girls 19% for boys. almost one in five. according to the times adhd diagnoses are up 16% since 2007. and 41% in the past ten years. meanwhile, spending on adhd drugs has gone from $4 billion in 2007 to $9 billion last year. and the cdc data shows nine southern five midwestern states and maine report adhd rates for school kids of around 12%.

significantly higher than the rest of the country. if you're looking at the numbers, adhd researcher james swanson said... apparently quite a bit. but that's not to say that adhd isn't real or that kids who have it and are put on medication don't benefit enormously from the treatment. in fact, one mother of an adhd child told abc news that the new numbers could mean that many kids who have the ailment are finally getting the medicine they need. >> i think that once people start hearing about it and talking with others, that that's a big reason why we're seeing the increase. >> john: for more, i'm pleased to be joined by dr. william graf a pediatric neurologist and a professor at the yale school of medicine and by corey hebert assistant professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at tulane university.

gentlemen, welcome. such a pleasure to have you both this evening. >> thank you for having me. >> thank you john. >> john: we want to begin tonight's show talking about this topic because nobody else is. let me begin with dr. hebert, what are the symptoms of adhd? >> you have a kid running around like he has a motor inside of him but the problem really, more than that, is you've got overbearing parents weak doctors and a pharmaceutical industry that caters to both. and when that kid is running around like that and he needs some type of therapy of some sort whether it is pharmacotherapy or just the regular psychotherapy, they want to give him medicine, if the child really needs it, then that's a good thing to do. if the child doesn't need it, it is a travesty. >> john: dr. graf, there is a lot of debate about how much of this is boys suffering from adhd and how much of this is boys suffering from being boys.

do you have any theories on why adhd numbers have been rising so dramatically and what was your response when you first saw these numbers? >> john, i think the numbers are high and they're probably real but possibly inflated. the way these numbers were attained is through a cross section of a telephone is your i have a across the country. many people who answered the surveys had a particular interest in the problem. we do have enough evidence the rates are rising. we see more doctor's visits. more prescriptions written. more drugs being manufactured and consumed. last year, there was a national shortage. >> john: when you say the rates are rising, do you mean the rates of adhd or the rates of medication prescribed? >> the rate of adhd diagnosis and there is no question the rate of prescription medications, mostly amphetamines is definitely rising. >> john: do you believe the actual rates are rising or more kids being diagnosed? >> the diagnostic rates are rising. this is a pretty complicated

neurological disorder. it has a couple of symptoms that we highlight which is inattentiveness, impulsivity and hyperactivity but these things have to result in impairments and different reasonable people will view those factors differently. those impairments and also the symptoms. so it becomes a controversial diagnosis only because there's no biological marker and there is a fair amount of subjectivity involved. >> john: dr. hebert, why boys more than girls and do some groups tend to show the symptoms of adhd more than others? >> boys are more diagnosed than girls. i think it is because boys are marked as impulsive to begin with. african-american boys and hispanic boys are more diagnosed than their female counterparts. you have a little boy running around that's being a quote-unquote boy you know, sometimes it is mistaken or impulsivity but at the same time, i diagnosed thousands of kids with adhd. and the kids that actually do

exhibit the symptoms, that do fit in the counter scale and the doctor does monitor the medicines, the side effects and the behaviors of the child those kids actually do so much better. i mean i've had kids go from as to fs because if it is done -- i mean from fs to as. if it is done appropriately it is done in a way that you monitor that kid you know, parents hate the fact that they don't want their child to be a zombie but if a child is a zombie on those medicines that's the wrong medicine. if a child -- if you had a headache and you said i'm going to take motrin and the motrin gave you a side effect, what would you do? say i'll have a headache again? no. you would say i need to try a different medicine so my headache would go away. that's what i think we need to do with the medicines. >> john: dr. graf, when i was a kid, it was add. now it is adhd. i was intrigued to learn the association is going to change the definition of adhd later on this year. what does that mean and will it

lead to more kids being diagnosed with this disorder? >> that's a good question, john. i don't really know if that's true or not. this is about a 40-year-old diagnosis for the most part. it started out a long time ago. minimal brain dysfunction. it has changed its name. criteria have changed. i think kids are still kids. i think their environments are changing a bit. we might see actual changes in diagnostic rates for a lot of different reasons. kids are changing. diagnostic strategies like you mentioned. that the criteria are changing. the acceptance rate and the acknowledgement of this condition might be changing and the pharma industry has contributed to make sure that's true. a milder case might be diagnosed. certainly, the biggest rise in any of the groups has been teenage boys. that's remarkable. i don't know if the system's clamping down on those boys, if they're changing in teenage years. lastly some percentage of this is being used as study drugs. in other words completely healthy kids who don't have adhd

who are getting adderall to use as a study drug. >> john: right. that's the real question here. does treatment involve more than just taking medication? i'll ask that of both of you. dr. corey? >> i think that treatment involves the family taking a holistic approach to make sure that the child is getting what he or she needs. you can't just throw medicine at a child. i've done clinical trials on children with these medicines and sometimes the medicines just don't work for every child. but it is a very complex diagnosis. like the doctor mentioned. everybody in the family has to embrace the child and let them know that -- and empower them that they can succeed without the medicine but the reality is if you need the medicine and it is proven because you made the right diagnosis of adhd, then the medicine does help the child. >> john: right on is. he right dr. graf? if you're a parent and your child has been diagnosed with

adhd and you're only giving them drugs, no other treatment are you doing your child a disservice? >> i think it has to be looked at as a team. these kids are in school. oftentimes the school psychologists are involved. the doctor's in the doctor's office is not seeing the child in his regular life. even if he has a subjective rating scale. there's more to it than that. dr. hebert is absolutely correct. the question really is here this week not whether or not adhd exists or that some children have it and deserve treatment. i think the question is why the number is going up so dramatically. why has it changed over the last 20 years? this is a good opportunity to look at where are we going from here? in other words, is this going to continue to rise? is the diagnosis and labeling of children going to continue to increase? is this going to be the new norm that everybody has it? >> john: that's the question. let me close our segment asking you both the million dollar question. are drug companies partly responsible for the rise in adhd

diagnoses? i'll start with you dr. graf. >> i think with direct-to-consumer advertising this is the only country in the world that. >> allows direct-to-consumer advertising, as long as congress has permitted that, it makes it a lot easier for the drug companies to make the sell because the families are more familiar with the condition and feel more comfortable with it. >> john: interesting. dr. hebert? >> i think pharma has a lot to do with it. only because when a parent hears this type of stuff on television, they can put a lot of pressure on the physician to do something and sometimes doing something may just mean prescribing drugs. i think the doctor is right. congress needs to do something about that direct-to-consumer advertising. it has become a bit much, i have to say. >> john: i thank you both so much. dr. william graf, yale school of medicine professor and dr. corey hebert, always a pleasure to have you ceo of black health tv.com and professor at tulane. i could talk about this all night. we know this issue ain't going

away any time soon. thank you both for coming on the program tonight. >> thanks, john. >> thanks, john. >> john: if the federal government can't do much about gun control maybe we can still work it out one state at a time or can we? gripping, current.

>> i think it's brilliant. (vo) first, news and analysis with a washington perspective from an emmy winning insider. >> i know this stuff, and i love it. (vo) followed by humor and politics with a west coast edge.

bill press and stephanie miller. >> what a way to start the day. >> john: today's thing of the day is our tolerance victory of the day. sorta. north carolina's republican house speaker thom tillis halted legislation to establish an official state religion which is nice but it begs the question how legislation this truly crappy got this far. i mean gee what religion do you think they were going to pick? no offense to all of you jews, scientologists buddhists and zoroastrians, you would still be welcome in north carolina. you just wouldn't be, you know, official. okay from tragedy transformation. an emotional ceremony attended by a number of parents of newtown victims dan malloy signed into law the strictest and most comprehensive gun control reform in america. the law bans the sale of 100 new

assault weapons as well as magazines that can carry 10 or more rounds, requires mandatory background checks for all gun sales and creates the nation's first statewide registry of criminals. but even as progress was made in this most poignant state, all eyes remained on the capitol. here was nicole hockley speaking at the ceremony whose son died at sandy hook elementary. >> this is a path i never thought my life would take but working to save the lives of others is one of the ways that i'm honoring dylan's life. this makes me hopeful that despite everything we've been reading, the u.s. senate will also take the time to listen to us when we go to washington next week. >> john: joining us now is the incomparable michael tomasky special correspondent for "newsweek" and the "daily beast." thank you so much for your time tonight. >> she's incomparable. i'm just here. >> john: i appreciate the sentiment. you're pretty great at what you do. i wanted to ask you about this because despite an obvious desire, michael, for washington

to do something on gun control is the state by state method, as we've begun to see in new york, colorado and connecticut actually a more effective way to go? maryland's house today also passed strict gun control measures that the senate is expected to pass and sent to governor o'malley who will sign it? does this open us up to untold new dangers? >> it is how it is going to happen for the time being but no, it is not a better way to deal with it or more effective way to deal with it. maryland, where i live, shares a pretty long border with virginia which, obviously isn't going to be passing any such laws. any marylander who wants to go get a gun just has to drive a few miles maybe legally maybe not but they can easily get a gun or anybody from virginia who wants to bring a truckload -- or a trunkload of guns into maryland can quite easily do so. we know that many, many guns that are used in crimes in new york in boston, in northeast cities, come from virginia and florida. so it is not going to be a very

effective way but it looks like it's the only progress that's going to come for the time being. >> john: exactly right. adam lanza did bring his guns into connecticut from another state. while it is excellent that the connecticut governor enacted the stricter gun controls today i want to show our viewers a map. here's a map of all of the states that are strengthening their gun control measures after sandy hook. actually, that's the wrong map. i apologize. this is a map of all of the states that are weakening gun control after sandy hook. some states are actually weakening their gun control while strengthening gun control. but it is amazing to see how many states have actually made gun control easier since this massacre. michael, why does the pro-gun movement have momentum after sandy hook than before? >> well, because they exist in a lot of these states in very big numbers, first of all. the gun lobby spends money in these states, too. the "wall street journal"

article that accompanied the charts pointed out that the pro gun lobby in states in the last few years has spent something like $2.3 million compared to the gun control lobby figure in states $55,000 over the same period. $2.3 million to $55,000. so that's not very even fight. but, john, it is the culture. it is culture of these places and it is states even where the culture is more mixed like michigan where you saw was highlighted on the map, is a state that happens to be in full republican control since 2010. it is culture in some of the states. it is question of the republicans being in control. and they're just going to do this to thumb their noses at people like you and me. >> john: it just seems make a mockery of the american way. we keep hearing this refrain from the same people who like facts. 90% of americans want universal background checks. if this is the case, michael how is the extreme right and the

nra been so successful in hampering the legislation and in the case of the nra disobeying the will of their own members? >> yeah. it is really astonishing. the last point you make, john, is really an important one. the nra is not listening to a member of its own members. they're listening to the vocal minority of its own members and then, as a result, subsequently, members of congress, senators are listening in turn to the nra which is listening to only that vocal minority and we're just stuck. i don't think i ever, in my -- whatever many years i've been doing this, 20 something, i don't think i've ever seen a situation where congress was just mocking the will of the people in such a way. you always see cases where you know, 55% of the people are against something that a party rams through or 60% are against something that a party rams through. i've never in my life seen 90%

of americans support something that's just not going to happen. now, i still hold out slight hope in the senate. but as for the house no. it is not going to become law. >> john: it is very important to make the distinction, i find more and more to separate the nra leadership from the nra members because they appear to be ever more two separate groups. but on the subject of democrats we've gotten used to see harry reid fold like a lawn chair. why does it seem the extreme right dictates the debate on every issue in this country? not the democratic majority, not the will of the people, not the president, but a few republican extremists seem to have the loudest voice in our politics. michael, i'm not just talking about on guns. when you look at what barack obama ran and won on in 2008 and he was not allowed to try to enact in his first term. what gives? are republicans just better at politics? >> i wouldn't call that better. better isn't the word i would use. they're more disciplined. they're more monolithic. they're more ideologically cut

of one cloth. the democrats are more heterogenous ideologically. there are genuine moderates in the democratic party quite a few of them. >> john: you don't say. >> i know that's not a news flash to you but there are. whereas in the republicans, how many moderates are there? mark kirk and susan collins some years but not other years. that's about it. maybe, you know, you can count on one hand the moderates in the house. they're just monolithic and they're just -- you know, tenacious about fighting for political power. and yes, you're right. we see it all across the board. basically 2/3 of the country wants to do what obama wants to do on our fiscal situation. but it is impossible. >> john: it is fitting we're having this conversation on dick lugar's birthday, the symbol of a moderate republican, killed by a tea party determined to marginalize the brand. somewhere the wig party is laughing at us. michael tomasky, thank you as

always for your time and insight. everyone has to read your column because you're the best. >> you're too kind. thanks john. >> john: have a great evening. the jon stewart of iran joins me to talk about the jon stewart of egypt. thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything.

>> john: we conclude wtf idaho week with a story about the sick and needy and how the idaho state legislature apparently wants to keep them that way. an attempt by democratic house minority leader john rusche to schedule a hearing on expanding healthcare for low income idahoans was rebuffed by republican house speaker scott bedke. why, you ask? mainly because obamacare has the word obama in it. among republicans keeping

healthcare away from the poor is a hip happening trend. it is like a dance craze where you can dance on the greys of the poor people you denied health coverage to and still brag about how christian you is. but let's give credit to republican house state affairs committee chairman tom lurcher who said accepting more federal subsidies under the affordable care act is "a no-brainer" and he's right. however most of his republican colleagues didn't realize this was a no-brainer because they have no brains nor hearts, nor souls. wtf, idaho! your state house has put off dealing dealing with medicaid until next year because house speaker bedke is urging a further study for the need for more medicaid. i'm sure that will be comforting to the idaho poor suffering from illnesses. medication is one thing but nothing eases pain like gridlock and red tape. well done! i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of out for us.

they think this world isn't big enough for the both of them. but we assure you - it is. bites. little greatness.

>> john: they call him the jon stewart of egypt because dr. bassem yousef uses his show to sat rise his country and his government. specifically, mohamed morsi. you know who doesn't like it? mohamed morsi. he was arrested for belittling morsi. it caused him to take issue with president morsi. >> what are you worried about mr. president of egypt? the power of satire to overthrow the status quo? i've been doing this crap fest for 15 years. granted, i'm not as popular as bassem. without bassem and the journalists and bloggers and brave protestors who took to the square to voice dissent you president morsi would not be in a position to repress them. >> john: i admire his early work with the smiths. when the u.s. embassy and egypt

tweeted out a link to the segment, the morsi administration said... completely appropriate to tweet that out to the embassy itself. now the u.s. embassy has since taken the link down from the twitter page. particularly satirical comedy in the united states is a far less risky endeavor than it is for those in more restrictive areas of the world. i can say in america all you really have to suffer from is starvation. but no one knows how tough it can be in the middle east more than our next guest. salmon ar barbie is the host of a satirist show. i'm so honored to be joined here by mr. ar about a by. >> obviously there is a real risk for doing this sort of humor. >> just a little. >> john: just a bit. in a country that likes to crack down on its critics.

like the popular bassem yousef. how did you feel when you saw his plight? you have those concerns in your own home country of iran? >> i actually thought mr. yousef's situation was a little bit better than mine because he actually went there he spent some time there. and then investigated some stuff and then they put him in jail. if i went there, it would be a one-way ticket -- >> john: if you went where? >> back to iran, they would probably execute me on the spot because they don't really like me over there. >> john: why is that? >> they're not really fond of humor. they don't like laughing much, i guess. and the fact that a lot of people come together on friday and they watch the show and they laugh over their turbans bothers them a bit. >> john: here in the states, our extreme religious conservatives often have a tough time taking a joke. your home country is run by extreme religious conservatives. >> exactly. >> john: was it this way for comedy before the revolution in

the late '70s? >> didn't exist. no. in iran, you mean? >> john: yes. did comedy have a safe space? >> it wasn't as extreme difficult as it is today. but it was -- obviously he was a dictator too. he let some stuff go but he wasn't a free, democratic man either. >> john: is there inherently less humor in the middle east? or is this more of a generational thing? >> it is a little bit of both. you know, the younger generation the arab spring generation, people who have access to social media and they can get information from outside. they clearly, they're not any different than you and i. they understand sense of humor. they enjoy it. they like it. however, some of the humor in the middle east is tough to get around because it is a lot of traditional stuff that you have to be careful, for example touching religion is a tough

issue. >> john: you should see my hate mail sometime. >> we can talk about that later. you gotta be careful with religion and politics, obviously. and you saw mr. morsi there are some sound bytes of him saying he welcomes anyone with any kind of free opinion to discuss and criticize the new egypt. >> john: unless he doesn't like it in which he will say you're speaking out against government or religion. >> when he wore a funny hat he got in trouble. >> john: he tweeted out the cops were thrilled to have their picture taken even being arrested, the guy was funny about it. >> he cracks me up in the tweet from the state department. >> john: why? >> i mean this isn't the worst thing they've done. i'm trying to thing why would they do that? >> john: when you consider our embassy in egypt was also attacked on 9-11-12 and they got so far as to raise an islamic flag on the u.s. embassy something our benghazi freaks have forgotten about. i want to talk about what's going on in iran because

president mahmoud ahmadinejad who is a gift to comedians around the globe. >> i would be out of a job without him. >> john: he's talking more about citizens' rights, not women's rights. >> they're not citizens. >> john: of course. he's open to talks with the united states. any reason to be hopeful or is it all about politics and protecting his -- >> with iran, that's a very tricky question. he's the only president i've seen in the last four years come from an unpopular oppressor someone who a lot of people got killed over in '09 uprising to someone who is actually popular now. he's like the -- of the iran anygovernment. >> john: does he have any power? >> he does. >> john: i thought ahmadinejad was the figure head to give speeches about how the jews are bad. >> he still does that. in between all of that, he tries to reach out to the people. he is sort of like a socialist. he talks about you know, the

corruption within the higher -- on the far right side. he talks about -- he's a very social -- he's waving the flag of nationalism. this is actually something that unites iranians all together and it is something the far right doesn't like. anything that's preislamic, they don't really welcome. he's waving the flag, now talking about opening dialogue with the united states. it is a weird situation here. >> john: you can't get elected in america by talking open dialect with iran either because of our social conservatives. our countries have more in common than people might like to admit. >> we do actually. >> john: is it 75% of iranians are under the age of 35? >> yes. >> john: that's astonishing. >> it is a huge generation gap. it happened during the 1988 war between iran and iraq. they killed a lot of guys. parents didn't want to have kids. >> john: america was arming both sides of the war because we were so patriotic.

my question then is if the mullah's main concern is keeping power and if they want to hang on to power, don't they have to change with the times a bit? when that much of their population is that young? >> they do. only 5% of iranians are over the age of 65. those are the ruling mullahs. they have to. this is a trick that -- the supreme leader has to figure out. he had an opportunity in '09 to say i heard your voice and make some changes right then and there. instead, he screwed up. he took sides with ahmadinejad and look what happened now. ahmadinejad and him do not get along. >> john: we had a five-minute window when we could sigh iran is just like us. now they're back to -- as you know al jazeera has been purchased this network and will be launching alga -- al jazeera america on this network. >> if they keep such good shows of yourself and they continue

doing good tv. >> john: that's not going to happen. we're more opinionated than they care to be. they're about straight news. >> well, i mean, it is a talk show. you have a show -- you gotta have a little bit of everything. but it is good. i hope they can keep the same sense of balanced journalism on the arabic side as well because they're far more open and balanced in english and in america which actually, i reach out to the social views. >> john: al jazeera eng slish a great network. >> if they can continue expanding it, it builds a bridge between the two sides of the world. if they can follow the same policy in the middle east and do the same thing in arabic -- >> john: i've met several of them. they really are committed to doing straight news and changing the face of american news just by adhering to really admirable journalistic principles which makes me excited for what it is going to bring. >> the more press we have, the

better it is going to be. in washington, d.c., we have "the washington post". sure, you can get "new york times" and "usa today." in london, you have 12 major newspapers. we need more press. >> john: and then there's the internet. salmon arbabi joins my panel after the break and we'll talk about the leader america will elect in 2016. with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. real, gripping, current. documentaries... on current tv.

>> john: i asked how people felt about the media hype over hillary clinton running for president in 2016. er -- bwd said...

>> john: maybe it is time to start speculating on hillary for 2024. earlier this week, hillary clinton made her first public appearance since stepping down as secretary of state. speaking at events honoring women leaders from around the world. her attendance at the event has caused many to speculate once again about whether mrs. clinton will be running come 2016. with it still quite a ways away, you tend to hear stories and think who cares. here's why you should care. to state the obvious the u.s. has never had a female president but the rest of the world has had many including the ^17 female world leaders currently in office. pakistan is ahead of us on female leaders. sure they wind up killing her later but the point is what matters. question may not necessarily be will hillary clinton be our first female president but why has it taken us this long to have a female president at all? i'm pleased to still be joined by the host of the iranian satirical news show, saman

arbabi. joining us, founder of the nationwide animal rescue tails of joy, elayne boosler and editor and chief of the contributor.com, tina dupuy. since we're talking about women in powerful leaderships -- >> ask a man. it is america! >> john: main by because i want to ask what the international perspective is? does the rest of the world -- your mideastern friends and family ever express any surprise that america is so behind the curb of having a female leader? >> not really because actually, iran -- in iran about 80% of the things that get done are by women. the first woman who won the nobel peace prize. so women have always taken to the streets first and have taken care of business first. 33% of the doctors are women. that's one out of every three doctors. >> john: wow. >> obviously the government's different. but in society, women have always been a step or two heat

of the men. that's why i can't even talk right now. >> john: how does this feel, elayne boosler? they're ahead of us in so many ways? >> i think the reason we don't have anything like that, the history of other countries is that america is such a much younger country. we're still -- we haven't been weaned yet. we're literally still in the breast-feeding stage. we're in the victoria's secret stage. look at our mentality. card -- kardashians have $50 million and madeleine albright can't buy skittles. >> john: i was once on a train with madeleine albright. you know it is true. tina is it embarrassing? do you get embarrassed america still is behind so many countries? >> i was just in iceland. she's not only a female but a lesbian. they're not only recovering nicely from their economic collapse but yeah, no, it is marriesing. we're having debates about

whether birth control is okay. we're having debates about basically, they want to nationalize women's bodies and criminalize bit -- birth control. >> john: isn't it great to have the people who hate the government the most want to have the most power over your uterus. can you envision a day down the line maybe in our lifetimes where there are more female leaders in the muslim world? >> absolutely. pakistan is one of the most extremist islamic countries on earth. i would compare it -- there is only saudi arabia and pakistan. if they could have one then -- >> think there will ever be a time when they can drive? >> i don't think so. >> they can ride a bicycle just not to go anywhere. >> you see the men. they're holding hands and their wives are like 50 feet behind them. it will take another 50 years for them to -- >> to catch up.

>> john: i will say to that, the internet is an amazing wonderful thing. why be surprised if progress happens faster than we expect. >> i wonder why they hate us so much if they don't have to drive with us. where is that coming from? >> john: i want to be like a conventional news show. do we think hillary clinton will be the next president? yeah? >> yeah, no, i think she is going to run and i really would love to see her as the first president. i have since i was 13 years old. >> john: is she popular around the world? >> hillary is, yeah. hillary is. i think she is definitely qualified. i like her. >> anything bill can do. >> john: i have to say while i have a lot of respect for mrs. clinton, i will enthusiastically vote for her if she's elizabeth warren's running mate. switching gears here, the u.n. approved a treaty that would regulate armed sales to tyrranical regimes.

iran north korea and syria voted against it. the nra loves it. the treatly will be killed in the senate where anti-gun senators are echoing the false claims that this will affect gun owners in the u.s. that's a lie. get used to it. are the senators really willing to put the will of gun lobbyists over our national security again? east lane? >> two things to say. one is i think it is time to build a very large wooden basketball player on wheels and present it to kim jong-un. that's number one. >> john: apparently dennis rodman is a chamberlain. >> i think he thought he was meeting obama. number two to the nra, if this is my camera. we're getting tired of prying your guns out of your cold, dead hands. >> john: tina? >> the u.n. just feeds into a conspiracy theory that, spoiler alert, the jews are behind it. by one world government trying to take your guns. and so this really -- like this

is a dog whistle to gun nuts. and so senators who are feeding into this kind of crazed conspiracy are of course, going to put our national security above our national security -- their conspiracy theory above our national security. >> john: when you think about national security, keeping kids from being mowed down by guys who bought a kill machine seems to fit the definition. >> this has nothing to do with reality. this has everything to do with they've already decided this is true and so they regard all other facts to fit into their world view. >> john: there is no country like america and the rest of the world when it comes to guns, is there? >> no. i haven't heard of anywhere else. the fact that the nra is on the same side as syria iran and north korea should tell you something. >> john: it does. >> i don't even own a car. i want that as a bumper sticker. >> john: why is it when it comes to gun control, common sense and the will of the people is being trampled on by the will

and desire of gun manufacturers and their lobbyists how did this group -- no other group has this power. the afl-cio doesn't have this power. how did these guys manage in a short amount of time because the nra began as a gun safety organization. not as a gimme gimme, gimme what i want, want, want. out how they manage to run our country? >> this is the only industry in america that cannot be sued. you can sue chrysler if your brakes failure and get a million dollars if someone dies or you hit a wall. you cannot sue any part of the gun industry. even if a gun blows up in your face and kills you because it misfired, you cannot sue them. they bought enough of our leaders and shame on them! that is what america -- there are so many responsible gun owners that should say the nra does not represent me or what i believe or what i want and they should pull out and take the power away from this insane minority that puts profit above the lives of children. >> john: so far one nra member who's done that and it is

former president george h.w. bush. it is especially ironic because the nra does not sneak for their members. >> john: the u.n. arms trade was a huge deal. let me ask you something how do you think our country's gun culture or obsession is viewed by others around the world? >> very violent. believe it or not, with all of the mess in the middle east, it is -- people don't have guns. you don't hear about armed robberies or a kid going to school and killing each other. most of the killings happen between the governments and the police and stuff. >> you don't think this is costing america money? you think people aren't coming here anymore? you don't think it has taken a huge bite out of tourism? they're costing america so much. >> john: i want to thank campbell brown for telling us it is because of violent games. my panel stays with me after the break as we remember roger ebert. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in

the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything.

>> john: the first writer to ever win a pulitzer for film criticism has died. roger ebert had more of an impact on cinema than most actors or directors could hope to achieve. his influence on films is like the big bang in that it is still expanding to this day. when he and gene siskel began hosting at the movies, they brought educated film analysis to the broadest audience ever. they did it by being entertaining. it is impossible to measure the impact this tv program had on movies, especially independent cinema. untold thousands of films that would have never been seen were able to find audiences because of roger's writing and broadcasting. he tried his hand at screen writing. and to this day beyond the valley of the dolls stands as a landmark piece of us are meyer

'60s exploitation cinema. i'll never forget the shock of my classmates that something that outrageous and politically incorrect got released in this country. though roger was a here -- hero on o three other fronts. first off, he was a profoundly political writer. and he used his celebrity to bring his readers his take on many of the issues that divided us. even if it made him unpopular. he championed many progressive causes and wrote pointedly and with intelligence and passion on issues of social justice the poor and very stupid politicians. this guy was a champion of african-american cinema and his reviews brought caucasian audiences to films that studios didn't try to market. secondly, roger was one of the celebrities to truly redefine twitter and make social media a much better place to exchange ideas. roger used his twitter to champion his favorite films his political causes and his excellent column and blog for the "chicago sun-times." he was never afraid to use his fame to advance the issues and

art he believed in even if it meant taking a ton of online abuse from ignorant trolls. finally, in roger's later years he became an unlikely hero for people with living with cancer or disabilities and for their loved ones as well. we live in this culture that likes to shuffle disabled people off stage or extreme cancer patients offstage but roger was never afraid to educate his followers about this disease and the toll it took on him. he was fearless about going out in public, letting people see what it happened. he continued his writing and advocacy after using the ability to speak and that was an inspiration to millions and millions and millions of people who are never going to get the chance to thank him for it. i first met him in hollywood at the academy awards. he became a special person in my life. he already was. as the years went by, he kindly promoted me. he even once ran a commentary of mine about john lennon's assassin on his blog. i'm going to be forever grateful

to roger ebert for helping my career and more grateful for turning on to so many beautiful wonderful films. roger's top ten all-time favorite movies. stanley kubrick's a space odyssey, citizen kane, a general, herzog's wrath of god apocalypse now raging bull, tokyo story vertigo and the tree of life. i thank roger for sharing his gifts. i can think of no better way to honor him than to spend time with his brilliant twitter feed and his online columns. take advantage of his wisdom, his wit and his deep and abiding humanity. that's "viewpoint" for tonight. i want to thank my guests, saman arbabi, elayne boosler and tina dupuy. listen, make sure you tune into monday's show because phil donahue will join me to talk about thomas young and if you can't wait, phil is screening his powerful movie body of war this sunday on