[ music ] >> bill: and on a big friday morning, june 7th, good morning, everybody. great to see you today. welcome to the "full-court press" here on current tv. 0, man, lots to talk about today. get ready to give us a call at 866-55-press. get that iphone or whatever ready to talk to us on twitter

at bpshow and at facebook facebook.com/billpress. government's dragnet is even bigger than we thought. it's not only verizon. it covers every single phone carrier, every telephone call that you make the numbers at both ends the location except the content if you believe that but it covers every one of nine internet providers. that the includes every e-mail that you send even those you wished you hadn't. yes, and this program called "prism" now defended by the white house. not only that defended by republicans and democrats in congress. nobody gives a damn about our right of privacy any more. in other words in other news we have a new senator from new

jersey, michelle bachman says she may run for yet another office, and tropical stom andrea% hammering the east coast. you will find out about it here on current tv. those types are coming on to me all the time now. >> she gets the comedians laughing... >> that's hilarious! >> ...and the thinkers thinking. >> okay, so there's wiggle-room in the ten commandments is what you're telling me. >> you would rather deal with ahmadinejad then me. >> absolutely! >> and so would mitt romeny. >> she's joy behar. >> and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? >> only on current tv. this show is about analyzing criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. staying in tough with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people but

somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them, right? vo: the war room monday to thursday at 6 eastern

cenk off air alright in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks! i think the number 1 thing than viewers like about the young turks is that were honest. they know that i'm not bsing them for some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know i'm going to be the first one to call them out. cenk on air>> what's unacceptable is how washington continues to screw the middle class over. cenk off air i don't want the middle class taking the brunt of the spending cuts and all the different programs that wind up hurting the middle class. cenk on air you got to go to the local level, the state level and we have to fight hard to make sure they can't buy our politics anymore. cenk off air and they can question if i'm right about that. but i think the audience gets that, i actually mean it. cenk on air 3 trillion dollars in spending cuts! narrator uniquely progressive and always topical the worlds largest online news show is on current tv.

cenk off air and i think the audience gets, "this guys to best of his abilities is trying to look out for us." only on current tv! [ music ] >> broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv. this is "the bill press show." >> the government is reaching out and touching someone. and that someone is you and me. hey, what do you say, everybody? you know what day it is. it's friday. alleluia ♪ >> bill: june 7th. ♪ alleluia >> bill: we are glad to see friday roll around as we are

today, indeed. welcome, welcome, welcome to the program. the full court press, we are live in our nation's capitol, a rainy, rainy capitol. we are feeling, rather some of the effects of hurricane -- not hurricane yet. tropical storm andrea making its way up the east coast. been raining here in the nation's capitol. supposed to be a crappy today. hope you are doing a little better. and inside or outside, have a good day this friday and thanks for starting it with us because we have a ton to talk about before we let you go into the weekend. the big spying program is bigger than we thought it is. and we will be talking about that and touching that on every possible ang they will morning-- angle here with you at 866-55-press. >> that's our toll-free number, 866-55-press. you should know by now you can

get us on twitter and sign up and follow us on twitter twitter @bpshow. never know what's going to pop up on your twitter account from the bill press show. and on facebook, we want you to be our friend at facebook.com/billpressshow. this is the final day of dan henning's honeymoon. hopefully be he will be back on monday. peter, thank you for filling in and wearing two or three hats this week. >> peter: doing what we can. happy to serve. >> bill: keeping it going. with alicia cruz always on the phones ready to talk to you and take your calls. cyprian boulding are we on the camera now. >> he is here. he is here. >> with cyprian, hit and miss. >> shots fired. >> bill: i will live for that one. a blank screen. >> you don't want to piss off the guy who makes you look good on t.v. >> or mustache.

as i said, tropical storm an dra i can't coming upandrean coming up, the first one of the season. my nephew is getting married in rhode island. the party starts today a big boat trip planned, taking the crowd out, you know, and having a little lunch out on the bay. >> that's all been cancelled because the rough seas and stormy weather. daniel brown of the weather channel tells us about it. >> with the rough surf and heavy rain, it really is not going to be a good beach day on the east coast of the u.s. at least for the next couple of days. >> bill: yep, this weekend, right it off on the east coast of the united states i think. >> peter: bummer. >> bill: susan page, washington bureau chief for u.s.a. today

will be here to give us her take on the day's news and it's then it's a friday. it's almost summer. we are going to kick back and talk about the two joys of summer this morning. yes? >> beer and pot. >> okay. >> we are going to tell you the best beers for the summer and where to get the best pot. so -- >> come on. >> bill: how is that for a tease? coming up, a little bit later in the program and, yes, the big spy network now revealed. but first... >> this is the full court press. >> here's what's making news. let's start at the sports desk because thursday night was game one of the nba finals. >> why do we want to start there? >> peter: you are going to hear about this twice >> bill: i don't think you would want to start at the outcome >> peter: we would have started there.

game 1 of the nba finals between the spurs, my san antonio spurs and the defending champion miami, a big offensive struggle. lebron james did walk away with a triple double, he only scored 18 points and the heat lost to the spurs 92 to 88. the dagger came when spurs' guard tony parker put the spurs up four points for just five seconds remaining in the game. next game is 8:00 o'clock sunday night. >> bill: not until sunday? >> peter: not until sunday >> bill: in san antonio? >> peter: in miami. drag this out for the finals. one game. >> bill: they have been dragging the whole damn thing out. >> peter: one game. they have to win 4. it's the first step. what does apple have up its sleeve. we will find out on monday as they prepare their worldwide developer's conference, their trademark event where they

typically unveil some of their biggest products. some say it will be a new version of the ipad but the big buzz is on i radio. apple has been planning a music streaming service and smart money says they will introduce it on monday. they are expected to show off a new operating system for iphones and ipads there as well. >> bill: i was going to ask you about iphones. >> they are not going to unveil a new iphone but they will probably unveil a new totally different looking operating system. up you will, up date it >> bill: update your i phone to get that. >> your phone will probably look totally different. cathy cash of north carolina suffered a shoulder injury in 2004 while she was on her job as a postal carrier. since she was injured, she wasn't able to load mail on to her truck so she's been receiving worker's compensation. the problem is while she was injured, she went on the price is right and got lucky enough to

spin the big wheel. someone was watching. a september 2012 indictment filed against her worker's compensation claim stated cashwell raised her left arm above her harm gripped the handle and spinned the wheel again where she raise both arms above her head gripped the same handle and spun it very hard. sot if you are going to claim worker's compensation. >> bill: maybe you don't go on national television. exactly. we touched on this briefly today. this story as grown and grown and grown and grown and i think it's a very troubling one. i would love to get your take on it. we are talking about the big government spying program. first reported in the guardian. it's interesting that no united states -- no u.s. newspaper knew about this program. it's been around since 2007. it started under george w. bush continued under president obama.

it does not make it right. what we know now is that the government has been collecting this data, not just on phones and not just on verizon. >> that's all we knew yesterday. that it was verizon and what they had received -- by the way, this is totally legal. i would say it's certainly an abuse of the patriot act, but under the pateriot act and according to the fisa court the government does have legal authority to unchal -- unchallenged so far, to go to verizon, which they did, and order verizon on a daily, continuing basis, every day, to give to the government the records of -- get this -- every single phone call both numbers, your number and the person you called where the

call is made and where the call goes and how long it lasts. they say they do not get put in that database your name although that's easy enough to get. anybody can get that. just take the phone number work it backwards. right? any law enforcement agency can get that. and they say it doesn't include the content, although i find that personally hard to believe that if they are tracking all of these phones, they are not also listening in. but that's what we knew yesterday. now, we know it's not just verizon. it's every phone carrier. that means every single freakin phone call made in the entire united states of america every single day is going in to a government database. they call this me. a data meaning that's all it is. it's just all of those records

but imagine that. bill yons and billions and billions and this meta or think of it as mega database, why do they need this stuff? why do they have a right to get this stuff? and now we find out it's not just phones. okay? it's also internet. it's also -- and this program they call "prism." so they are tracking every single e-mail every web contact. every time you hit a website. all of that, it's also being tracked and stored in this massive government database. to give you some idea of it, here are the tech companies that are involved. so any time you are going to any of these companies, every -- every single move -- right?

stored in the database. microsoft, yahoo, google facebook, cowtalk. youtube, skype and aol and apple. >> that's it except for twitter. >> skype with our kids in california, we are in the database. right? and it includes what the data they are collecting, e-mails through prism, e-mails, instant messages, all of those im's videos. >> videos? whoa. >> the photos. all of that, all of that data stored in any of those places that we are talking about. yeah, the program established in 2007. so this comes out yesterday. and you would expect in the wave of outrage. right? uh-uh. the white house defended it and

then, in congress democrats and republicans defended it. here, chair of the senate intelligence committee my good friend, senator dianne feinstein. >> i really think protecting the nation is important. secondly protecting the nation within this great democracy and constitution is also important. >> bill: senator feinstein goes on to say this is the kind of data we need. >> we've got to examine ways to be able to get data to get intelligence that is operable and that can prevent plots from hatching and americans from being killed. >> bill: her counterpart, the cranking iran on senate intelligence, saxby chambliss from georgia, he said, okay with me. >> somebody in contact with somebody we know to be a known terrorist. >> bill: lindsey graham south

carolina says, yeah, take my number. please. >> i am a verizon customer. it doesn't bother me one bit for the national security administration to have my phone number. >> doesn't bother me. >> when i first heard this story, i thought, lord have merits. please give me a call. >> yeah. >> so there you go. see, so the executive branch they are okay with it. the legislative branch, congress, they are okay with it. the courts have already okayed it. they are okay with it. you've got all three branches of government behind this thing. we are screwed. we are totally reviewed. there is nobody nobody is looking out for us. i don't know about you. look, i want to keep this country safe as much as anybody does. i love this country as much as anybody. but that doesn't mean i have to surrender all of might have -- i believe doesn't have to surrender -- we have to surrender every right of privacy or every opportunity to do

something in private without the government knowing about it. i mean this is 1984, friends. we are there. we don't have any privacy left under this system. and they've got a reason to suspect that i might have to do with somebody to oziris. an, put me under surveillance but every single american every single phone call, every single e-mail. tell me this is not a royal abuse of power. and it started under george bush. it's continued under president obama. the "new york times" says this morning in its editorial that will this administration has lost all credibility on this issue by defending it. i don't think you can defend it. do you? are you willing to sacrifice every constitutional right you've got in the name of the war on terror? >> where it is. 866-55-press. we've got to fight this i think

p we don't need friends in the congress or no friends in the justice department. let's talk about it. >> on your radio and on current tv this is "the bill press show." [ music ] talk to your doctor about viagra. ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> with a distinctly satirical point of view. if you believe in state's rights but still believe in the drug war you must be high. >> only on current tv.

we have a big, big hour and the iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the conversation started weekdays at 9 eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. (vo) sharp tongue. >>excuse me? (vo) quick wit. >> and yes, president obama does smell like cookies and freedom. (vo) and above all, opinion and attitude. >> really?! this is the kind of stuff they say about something they just pulled freshly from their [bleep]. >> you know what those people are like. >> what could possibly go wrong in eight years of george bush? >> my producer just coughed up a hairball. >>sorry. >>just be grateful current tv doesn't come in "smell-o-vision" >> oh come on!

the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo)only on current tv. [ music ] >> i think it violates the constitution of the united states and the heart and soul of america as a free country. >> this is "the bill press show" >> bill: that's senator bernie sanders, our good friend yesterday saying this program is unconstitutional. maybe one or -- senate ron wyden

and senator mark eudall from colorado have also been critical of this program. they have been critical of the program in the past. i am glad to hear senator sanders voice yesterday but the thing is congress knew all about this. senator fineeinstein said this is nothing new. they have known about this since 2007. we didn't find out about this from members of congress. nobody has raised hell about it until "the guardian" reported on it yesterday. look, the obama administration, i blame them action yes. but you can't blame entirely them. some republicans are trying to make this a case against obama. republicans are in this as well as democrats. this is all of them combined with this program. they all knew about it and they all supported it until yesterday. now, suddenly some voices being heard, but not many. most voices, most official voices are saying we got to do this to keep america safe.

i don't buy it. i am not willing to burn the constitution in the name of george bush's war on terror. anna calling from cookeville tennessee. hi, anna, good morning >> caller: hadi. good morning. i have mixed feelings about this situation. when this program kind of first started, don't you remember when they mentioned nsa and a room that they had phones bi phone rooms where they were putting in maryland somewhere? >> bill: yeah. that's where it started on george bush, which was wiretapping. >> caller: right. >> bill: this is a little different, collection of data. but... >> caller: i don't know. i have mixed feelings because how are you going to get somebody if you don't have some type of mechanism to track these people? i mean look how they got the bombers in boston. i mean i don't know. >> bill: they got the bombers from the video cameras in boston, which i don't really have a problem, you know, the surveillance cameras in boston. there is issues there, but i really don't have a problem with

that, with the video cameras in public spaces. i hear you, anna. we want to be safe. but to just surrender all of our rights to the government and let them snoop on every single thing we are doing because someday somewhere somebody might do something wrong, whoa. bryce up in payson vermont. hi, pray son. utah. i'm sorry. i thought that was a v. >> caller: no. i think it's horrible unconstitutional. what happens? where is our personal right to privacy and everything? they are pretty much out the window with all of this. >> bill: it's gone. >> i know that. the big data center is here in utah right at the point of the mountain by lehigh >> bill: really? >> caller: i know the storage is a couple of thousand data bytes. >> bill: bryce we are out of time. next time you are there, wave to

my phone records. will you? just give me a wave. >> this is "the bill press show." >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current.

>> radio meets television, "the bill press show," now on current tv. >> bill: okay. okay. okay. 33 minutes after the hour on a friday. glad to know that friday is here. glad to know that you are with us this morning as we come to you live from our nation's capitol brought to you today by the international association of iron workers, the good men and women of the iron worker's union under president walterwise. for them, the sky is the limit. you bet. and you can visit -- find out

more about their website at www.ironworkers.org. so, the government, we find out government could not spy on us. remember richard nixon's enemy list. they set up this fisa court to say any time the government wants to snoop into private lives of citizens who have done nothing wrong and there is no reason to suspect them of doing anything wrong, they have to go to the fisa court first to get permission. well, now, the fisa court is being used to justify this i believe, massive eavesdropping and they are doing so under the provisions of the patriot act. it comes back to that. the pateriot act is where all of this mess started right after september 11th, when members of congress, most of them who haven't even -- didn't even read the damn thing, but in their panicked response to

september 11th, basically gave away our liberties and gave george bush and dick cheney and john ashcroft everything they wanted. we should have fixed or repealed the patriot act a long time ago. we didn't do it. now, we are stuck with it. before we get to your comments, back to your comments and your calls at 866-55-press, i don't see how anybody can defend this program. we will let you try. just want you to know that the senior council for the aclu, a former fbi agent -- his name is mike german -- he will be here at the top of the studio. at least the aclu is out there fighting this. >> yeah. >> at least they are on record. thank god for them. peter, what have you got on the social media? >> peter: we are on twitter twitter twitter twitter @bpshow. it'sjustbiz says what's line between personal safety and privacy? michael hargrove says the discussion on bill press shows how uninformed the left is.

how did they think we found out about terrorist plots anyway? tell ep tell telepa. hy. so some are okay with it >> bill: we have this great spy network. let's take the one, associated press reported on the leak investigated tracked their phone records. they didn't find out about this plot by tracking phone records in the united states. they found out about this plot in yemen by having people on the ground over there in these terrorist operations. >> that's -- i am totally fine with that. >> that's good spy work. >> that's good intelligence work. but you can't tell me that capturing phone -- every -- the record of every single phone number and every single e-mail made by every single american in the united states, even family to family, that that's part of

busting up a terrorist network. i don't see how you can make that arrange. come on. >> peter: it is funny and you referenced this earlier how it wasn't that long ago we were debating, you know, street cameras and whether or not -- >> bill: yeah. >> peter: were okay with that. >> that's small potatoes compared to what this is. i mean, by a mile. >> bill: i think anna, our first caller, anna, you know, she summed up, though the response on the part of a lot of americans. we are so scared of our shadows since september 11th that most americans are going to say, well, you know, yeah, i may not like this, but boy, we've got to do it. no, we don't. we have to draw the line somewhere or we won't have any privacy or any constitutional rights left. gary calling. by the way, peter, just a second. you mentioned yesterday was the what? 64th anniversary? >> yeah. >> bill: just happened to be the 64th anniversary of the publication of george orwell's book, "1984" all about big

brother, all about living in a police state. >> pretty good publicity for the book. >> go back and read it. gary calling from chicago. >> caller: hi, bill. thanks for having me. >> bill: my god. welcome, welcome. what's your point? >> caller: first off let me say i am a republican, and i am pretty much as conservative as they come. and, you know, i've got to tell you, there is not too many issues that, you know conservatives and liberals or left and right can agree on but this is one issue everybody just needs to band together and, you know, like you said, draw the line in the sand and say enough is enough because this is what we know, you know, that they are disclosing. what else is going on? >> bill: yeah. >> caller: what else are they looking at? and where does it end? >> bill: gary, i would agree with you that i would hope this is something that democrats and republicans, liberals conservatives could band together on. but it looks like they are

banding together on the other side, you know. at least our leaders are, saying this is okay. >> caller: absolutely. and hearing lindsey graham, you know, what he had to say, you know to say i am disgusted is an understatement. and i don't understand how our leaders, you know, republicans, democrats are just totally cool with this. and it just goes, you know that mindset of, well, if you are not doing anything wrong then you have nothing to worry about. >> bill: right. >> caller: and that's the absolute worst thing you could think. >> bill: yeah, gary. you hear that and then, also, the other thing you hear unfortunately, i think, too often from the obama white house is trust us. right? we know what we are doing. we know stuff you don't know. so, you know, just trust us. right? >> caller: right. >> bill: hell with that. >> caller: exactly. you know, the trust us, you know, we know everything and you are the dumb public and just go along with it. i really hope that, you know,

everybody, left and right, you know, can just, you know band together in one group and, you know one voice and say no. absolutely. we can't have this. there has got to be some way to put it a stop to this. >> bill: gary, this is where we all stand up for the constitution as americans foremost first and foremost. i appreciate the call, gary, and i appreciate the fact that a conservative like you would listen and, see, sometimes, sometimes we can even agree on things. jim is calling from mandan. is that right? mandan north dakota. hey, jim, what do you say? >> bill: >> caller: i think it's kind of disingenuous we have a right to own inanimate objects but don't for healthcare and things like that, that we need but we give up our constitutional rights every time we go to the store. we can't carry a gun into a court house or to a hospital or to work. i mean we sign away our

constitutional rights tojust to get jobs or loans or anything else. i think it's a little bit disingenuous to say that the constitution is in jeopardy when we give it up all the time just in our daily lives >> bill: you and i would disagree, jim, on what the constitution -- what constitute constitutional rights mean, certainly in the indicates of the second amendment. i don't think we have a right to carry a church into a court reporter or a church or a convenience store but we certainly do, i think, as americans, have to fight to maintain what constitutional right that we've got. we have talking mainly hear about the fourth amendment and the right of privacy which i think is disappearing on is a many fronts. you know, it does disappear with surf vailance cameras everywhere and we sort of agreed okay. we will put up wereith those. we talked about the pending problems with the explosion of the number of drones we are

going to see flying over u.s. territory and spying on americans and now, even about of the drones, we find out every phone call we make, every e-mail we send is being information that's record of that being collected and stored and kept in this massive database by the federal government. joe's out in los angeles. hey, joe. what do you say? good morning? >> caller: hi, bill. thanks for giving this so much attention. here is what i try to do in winning people away from this jugger juggernaut of oppression and wreckage of liberty. you can't fight something with nothing. if we say no, it's important to say no. but if that's all we are saying, we are missing an important tool. and that is, let's show people that the real way to fight terrorism is to use the reasoning that we use every day. if you don't like a phenomenon what do you do?

study the causes. you look upstream and say what's producing this crap? and, of course the u.s. policies of 80 years of messing around in the middle east, trying to dominate the resources and politics and then, so a few of the people in that part of the world not only get upset but they go over the edge and plan violent attacks. and so you've got to study the policies. if there is something unjust going on, which i think there is you have to quit imposing it on those people. >> bill: that is an excellent point. if you saw me smile when you were saying it it's only because you reminded me of ron paul, who made that very very point in the first republican debate, which is an excellent point. remember, they all wanted to throw ron paul off of the stage and not invite him back. how dare he suggest that our united states policies might be somewhat responsible for the antiamerican feelings that still

exist around the world in some corners. when we come back, susan page, washington bureau chief for "u.s.a. today." >> this is "the bill press show." [ music ]

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(vo) only on current tv. [ music ] >> this is "the bill press show" live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: 0 boy, oh, boy. fourteen minutes before the top of the hour. washington buzzing with all of the -- it just seems like every hour the story about what started with just verizon

capturing our phone calls. now it's every phone company, not just verizon. it's not just phone records. it's internet records and e-mails and instant messages and across the board. what are we going to do about this? maybe susan page can figure it out. joining us on the news line this morning. susan, i want to warn you this phone call has already been stored in the mavin data native databasemassive database database. >> everyone will know i am talking to you, you are talking to me and how long the phone call lasts. >> true. >> is this just business as usual? >> you know, there have been some of the defenders trying to kind of poo-poo this as a story. even dianne feinstein, i thought that was kind of a surprise to see the liberal, california democratic senator talking about how this has been going on for years. nothing to worry about here

clearly, this is going to be a huge firestorm, and it's something that's united. the most conservative republicans and libertarians line rand paul and others with liberal democrats. even if this has been going on for years and we know now it's been going on for seven years. the amassing of these huge telephone calls. i don't think americans understand how it's being used now and it's setting off all kind of alarm bells bill it's not justphones. it's internet communications as well. >> yes although to be clear the director of national intelligence said last night that was targeted only al foreigners foreigners. but it's different from thephone database which they are acknowledging involves americans have done wrong or not figures of -- not suspected of anything. the phone calls that they are making are now part of had a huge security database.

>> true. true. thank you for that clarification. you mentioned some conserve things of have joined some liberal democrats in raising occasions about this but your establishment republicans and democrats. dianne feinstein, saxby chambliss have come out in support of the program. harry reid. right? everybody is out to chill. this is nothing new. the white house defends this. the executive branch, the legislative branch and the judicial branch are all saying no big deal. >> true, and it's interesting the president clearly has defenders on this. but here is what the critics say. they say the executive branch is doing this. they go to this fisa court. they have made 1,788 requests to the fisa court to do this. guess how many times the fisa court has said no? >> not once. >> not once. if you are looking to the judicial to be an independent

oversight of the executive request, it doesn't look like they are doing that. then you go to the congress and you do have serious and respected members of congress saying that they have been very alarmed by this. ron wyden of oregon has been talking about this. >> and mark eudall of colorado. >> these are serious peek talking about this. they talked in the past in the most cryptic ways because they were prohibited from confirming or releasing what was going on. clearly, this is not it. i think it is wrong to say that this is clearly an example the three branches of government kind of working things out and keeping the balance, keeping the balance between maintaining security and protecting civil liabilities. >> bill: i think they are all looking the other way. so, do you think, now, susan, that the -- there will be pressure building on president obama to come out and explain exactly what will this is all about? i mean because ultimately it is an administration decision. right? to continue this program that

was started under george bush but they continue and expanded it. >> bill: >> that's exactly right. and americans are smart. americans can listen to an argument, an explanation of what's going on. it seems to me that at this point, that's got to happen because the cat is out of the bag here. >> uh-huh. >> on these, on these very secret programs. you know, the president yesterday, you know what he was talking being? >> wi-fi. >> no one heard that. he's going to have to talk about this, explain this diffuseness, deal with this before he can do anything else. >> finally, aren't you comforted by the fact that eric holder said yesterday, don't worry. we are not going to prosecutor any journalists. yeah. >> yeah, which i think raises the question why was a journalist described as a co-conspirator in an effort to get a search warrant for him. >> bill: why did they go after the ap. >> i have often thought of you as a criminal co-conspirator. >> with ut.

you are good company. i thought it was a little too little too late for eric holder with that statement. >> of course, that's i think, the leak investigations of the associated press and fox news have made this current revelation a little more alarming. >> bill: right. >> because it looks as though there is a big government. you don't know what it's doing. maybe it's overreaching. >> the american people can count on this. there will be another leak investigation as to who leaked this to the guardian. >> yeah. no question. was it you bill? there is some speculation. >> bill: i wish. i wish. all right. susan page, i've got a to tell you, this stuff keeps us up at night anyhow. so thanks so much for joining us, susan early this morning? >> thank you, bill. >> bill: the washington bureau chief for u.s.a."u.s.a. today." usatoday.com. >> this is "the bill press show."

you know who's coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys who do like verse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. >> she gets the comedians laughing... >> that's hilarious! >> ...and the thinkers thinking. >> okay, so there's wiggle-room in the ten commandments is what you're telling me. >> you would rather deal with ahmadinejad then me. >> absolutely! >> and so would mitt romeny. >> she's joy behar. >> and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

>> only on current tv.

this show is about being up to date, staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding. (cenk) it's go time! it's go time! it's go time! go time. you know what time it is. go time! it's go time. it's go time. what time is it rob? here comes the young turks go time! it's go time. oh is it? oh, then it's go time. anybody? anybody? what time is it? oh, right. it's go time!

smears >> taking your e-mails on any topic at any time, this is "the bill press show" life on current tv and your radio >> bill: here is the most positive, possible take on this whole scandal: it's sue from michigan who says: i think obama purposely leaked this. i think he is forcing congress to address this to make changes to the program. >> peter: in other words he is playing ches while the rest of us are playing checkers. >> bill: exactly. this is a way to get congress to

and the patriot act. god, i wish i could believe that. james allen says personally, i have felt more threatened by orwellian propagandaa methods by fox news. i bet karl rove was studying them along before it came on the scene. james says i think we have to be concerned and outrage by what we hear about this massive database collection of phone records and e-mail records. we will continue our conversation at the top of the next hour with mike german senior policy council for the aclu. >> this is "the bill press show."

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>> bill: good morning everybody. it is friday, june 7th. good to see you today. thank you for joining us here on the "full-court press" coming to you live from washington, d.c. and capitol hill, our nation's capitol. we are right in the heart of the action, keeping our eye on what's going on here in washington, around the country, around the globe, bringing you the stories of the day and of course, giving you a chance to sound off as many of you already have this morning at 866-55-press, our toll-free number on twitter @bpshow and on facebook at facebook.com/bill press show, the big, big, big overriding story of the day that government dragnet we talked about first yesterday has proven to be turned out to be even bigger than we thought.

it is not only verizon. it is every single phone company. that means every phone call you make, your number, the person you are calling, their number, the location your location their location, and how long the phone call lasts. all of that going into the great big database and not only that but now we know every e-mail even those you might have regrets sending. this program has been defended. it is being defended by the white house, by the executive branch, that is by members, leading members of congress democrats and republicans and, of course, already approved by the fisa court. in other words, we've got the executive branch, the judicial branch and the legislative branch all against us. more on current tv. >> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is

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[ music ] [ music ] >> broadcasting across the nation, on your radio and on current tv, this is "the bill press show". >> the fetderal government is reaching out and touching someone and that someone is you. good morning, everybody. what do you say? here we go on the full court press, friday morning, june 7th, great to see you this morning. as we reach out to you live all the way across this great land of ours coast to coast. from our nation's capitol, good place to start. bringing you the news of the day. not only that, giving you a chance to sound off about it and there is a lot you are going to want to talk about this morning. he specially the lead story on this now we know massive government dragnet on our phone calls and our e-mails give us a call at 866-55-press.

yes, your calls will be monitored and tracked and recorded you can join us on twitter @bpshow and on facebook at facebook.com/bill press show. so the more you call us the more you e-mail us the more you tweet to us, the more information we have in that massive government database maybe that's the goal that we are working for to help us sort out exactly how big it is what's going on, mike german the senior sownsell for the aclu. you can count them to stand up for our constitutional liberties. former fbi agent. >> thank you for coming in. look forward to that. our team here joining peter ogburn, of course. >> dan is on his money

honeymoon. alicia cruz has the phones covered and cybrian boulding coming to you on your local progressive talk radio station. it was curious sort of that yesterday with all this unfolding story about the massive collection of data, the president was at north carolina talking about what? talking about wi-fi in schools, which is important. >> in an age when the world's information is just a click away, it demands that we bring our schools and libraries into the 21st century. we can't be stuck in the 19th century when we are living in the 21st century economy. >> excellent point. just sort of ironic. we need more of you to get online so we can get more data. >> spy on kids too. >> yeah. pacific that's the way it works. we will talk about this issue,

talking taking your calls. not everything is so so serious on this friday morning. we are getting into the two great joys of summer a little later in the program. we will be talking about the best beers of summer and alan saint pierre from normal will be here to talk about the best pot of summer. let's talk about yesterday, it was verizon. right? now, we know it's bigger than verizon. >> earlier story from the guardian had a section 215 order under the patriot act. >> which is phone calls? any tangible thing you can get with it. so they had one order that witness to verizon but we know the program is larger than that. there is over 200 section 215 orders made every year so we can imagine if those go out to

other phone companies as well. >> we can assume every phone company company. right? and let's talk about phones just for a second. so with the phone, they say, it's the numbers at both ends. >> right. >> the location at both ends and but they say no name and no content. are we to believe that? >> perhaps that no name and no content is brought in through that program. i mean what you have to remember is the government also has a program with the national counter terrorism center where they can grab any government database so any government form where you put your phone number down, they can match the phone number to the name. >> right. >> but the f.b.i. has the investigative data house that injests phone books. it's easy once they have those kind of numbers over time. this program has been going on for seven years according to senator feinstein so, you know once we have all of your calling

records for seven years, we can tell a lot about your life. who you associate with your friends, your family. what doctors you are calling. if you are calling a fertility clinic, everyone knows about it. >> so in addition to phones now we learn it is also a program called "prism" where they are collecting internet data as well. looking for that list of companies basically it covers all of them. according to the "new york times," prism, they are collecting data from microsoft yaha, google pal talk, skype, aol and apple, e-mails instant messages, videos photos any stored data. there is nothing left. >> right.

and, you know, i mean i think it's no surprise that they are getting material from all of these groups. i think the big part of that story is it says that the government actually has direct access. in other words, it's not like the section 215 worded where we are giving you a court ordering a and asking you for it so you can resist it so if the company says, which has happened in a couple of instances where the company says we think this is over broad would go to the fisa court. this alleges the company has direct access. that small obstacle is removed. >> bill: automatically, it is collected? >> according to the article, they have right into the servers of these companies so that they can basically watch everything that goes by. and, you know, they are trying to defend the program by saying hey, this is directed at foreigners which is a bit of a miss no, ma'amer because even if the surveillance is directed at foreigners, if it's americans calling the foreigners, it's

their calls and e-mails and chats that are being intercepted but also it showed they only had to be 51% sure they are for it. >> uh-huh. >> that's not a very high bar and they can be wrong very often. there is a lot of material of american citizens that is being collected. >> bill: how long has this been going on? >> hard to tell. we know the section 215 authority was granted in 2001 when the patriot act was created, expanded under the patriot act. the fisa amendment act was the continuation of the wiretapping program that went into effect directly after 911 and was legalized with the fisa amendment act in 2008. up to 13, 12 or 13 years. so it's quite a bit of material that they probably have access to and, under, you know, varying degrees of oversight through that period, but the things -- i think the key thing for americans to keep in mind is, you know, when a program leaked

they describe it in a very narrow sense and is a this is what the program is. but then you find there is another program and another program and another program. >> bill: it's bigger and more evasive? >> we have no idea how big. >> bill: i want to play a quick list. this is from the the program yesterday, once the"the guardian" revealed it, it was defended by the white house, senator dianne feinstein, saxby chambliss, by hal rogers, mike rogers. mike rogers chair of house intelligence, who -- and he made a point a lot of them have made is, yeah, this may sound invasive but boy, this has worked to catch tear rachitis. here is mike rogers. >> within the last few years this program was used to stop a program. excuse me. stop a terrorist attack in the united states. we know that. >> bill: do we know that? and they always say this. right? well, you may not like this

but -- and senator feinstein said the same thing, multiple terrorist attacks in the united states have been stopped by their collecting this data. >> right. they always say that. the key is whether it's something that was instrumental to catching that terrorist or whether it was we have this pool of data. you are doing a terrorism investigation because some insider came forward or some informant ratted the person out. we might as well touch this database so we can claim success because inside the government agencies, everybody has a program, wants to be successful. >> yeah. >> when they find out that some case is going towards good conclusion. they say, we have this data. why don't you take it? okay. fine. we'll take it. then we can say we were part of that program. but, also, this cloak of secrecy allows a lot of -- let's sait not quite truthful claims that are made during the patriot act reauthorization, there was one provision. >> you testified against -- >> right. >> reauthorization. >> raising exactly these

concerns about section 215, was that it was overbroad as written and that there was a secret interpretation of it. but the f.b.i. director robert muller, came up and was asked about another provision that was expiring, the lone wolfe provision and they asked: have you found that to be helpful? and highly classified. we can't talk about it but we found it to be helpful. it turned out the justice department admitted it had never been used. >> really? >> so, you know we have to take these claims where we have no information, no ability for the public to look at these programs with a grain of sought and say show me rather than just tell me. >> we haven't seen any solid evidence that this meta database has stopped any terrorist attack? >> no. and there is a 2008 study by the national academy of science on data mining for terrorists

saying it's not mathematical feasible and would create so many false positives that it would never work. >> bill: you know, this is a dumb question but that's what i do, ask dumb questions, i guess. but i have been thinking while you have been talking about boston. i mean these two kids were online, e-mailing to this radical cleric and friends of theirs overseas. they were e-mailing like back and forth. what the hell? never caught them until they blew up the marathon. >> not just e-mailing. you know, some of their -- >> making phone calls. >> some of their websites were public. >> their web sites. >> so the information that is now being pointed to as evidence of some bad intent was public before. plus the f.b.i. had a direct warning. >> yes. >> this person is going to travel to russia and meet with underground groups and did an investigation. >> that's the key. >> bill: staring you in the

face. >> i think it actually shows the pro problem with this type of system because to defend itself the f.b.i. said, in boston alone we did a thousand of these assessments in 2011. well, if you are in an agency with tight resources having to do a thousand of these investigations, you are not going to do thorough investigations, you know, when you know the hour i spend interviewing you means i have two more cases landing on my desk when i get back. you know, it starts to be a "by the numbers." collect information you think you are supposed to collect because there is a form the puts out that says you have to collect this information. once you get that information, close it and look at the next one. >> that's what's happening here. there is so much noise so many false positives that the agents are being tried to just close it down as quickly as you can. there is a reason why you can't pull off a fire alarm when there isn't a fire. they know it will affect the response.

>> bill: a quick yes or no and then we will take your calls at 866-55-press. as senior counsel for the aclu, do you think this is a constitutional program? >> oh, no. clearly unconstitutional. >> mike german from the senior policy from the aclu to tell us more about that. why? we'll take your calls here on this friday addition of the "full-court press." >> connect with the bill press show on twitter. follow us at bp show. tweet using the hash tag: watchingbp. this is "the bill press show." [ music ] laughing... >> that's hilarious! >> ...and the thinkers thinking. >> okay, so there's wiggle-room in the ten commandments is what you're telling me. >> she's joy behar. >> and current will let me say anything. >> only on current tv.

this show is about analyzing criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal, or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i'm given to doing anyway, by staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding. i've worn lots of hats, but i've always kept this going. i've been doing politics now for a dozen years. (vo) he's been called the epic politics man. he's michael shure and his arena is the war room. >> these republicans in congress

that think the world ends at the atlantic ocean border and pacific ocean border. the bloggers and the people that are sort of compiling the best of the day. i do a lot of looking at those people as well. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people, but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them right? [ music ]

>> heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the bill press show. >> bill: 24 minutes after the hour. the "new york times" this morning -- this is the full court press, friday, june 7th. the "new york times" reporting in its editorial saying the administration has lost all credibility on this issue. they are calling it president obama's dragnet. mike german from the aclu is here with you, aclu.org. check them out and join the aclu is my advice because didit doesn't matter whether you are a liberal or conservative. if you are an american, they are defending your constitutional rights in season and out of season. >> that's my plug for the aclu? >> thank you. >> so you don't have to do it. here is where i feel helpless.

the white house is defending this. there are a couple of members of depressed who are critical but for the most part, the leadership of congress is defending it. we approved it. the judicial branch fisa has authorized this. we are screwed. we got all three branches of government against us. what can we do about it? >> you know, one of the things that's key about it is it's the secret groups, you know the secret intelligence committee, secret court. >> yeah. >> the other members of congress mostly aren't written into this program. >> that's why senator mark wyden and eudall have been telling them there is something in here you need to understand. there are members of congress working on this. there are judges who are working on this. and there are actually people in the administration who are concerned about this. obviously that's why this type of information leaks out. i think the public needs to support the whistleblowers number 1 but put that public pressure on your member of

congress, whether he is for or against it. if he is for it, let him know that this is something you are unhappy with. if he is against it, give him some support. >> that's right. we wouldn't know about this if a member hadn't leaked it. we will probably have a leak investigation and probably whoever wrote wrote the story is going to be hounded by the department of justice. somebody saw this, thought it was an overreach and did leak it to the guardian. let's say hello to gary from kanda, new jersey. hi, gary. >> how are you doing this morning? >> bill: what's up >> caller: i am in total agreement with you on this issue, and it just seems in your chat room, a differing opinion doesn't go. they ban you automatically. >> bill: not our chat room. i don't know what you are talking about. we take all kinds of opinions here robert is calling from chicago. hi, robert. >> caller: these politicians, all 535 of them and the

president swear to uphold and protect the constitution. it seems like all of the conspiracy theorists are 100% correct. these are not conspiracies. they are listening. they are watching every phone call. they do everything you do, and they -- and all of the sudden we are living in east germany. >> bill: what do you say about that, mike? it is all three branches. we do live. there are some people who want to do harm to the united states. no doubt about it. we live in a dangerous age. so does that mean we just have to sort of remain -- we may not like it but we have to accept these infringements on our right of privacy? >> no. you know there is no other part of government that we demand no accountability for. it's easy to come out and say these programs work but where is the evidence? every time there is an effort to find evidence. when the terrorist surveillance program, the warrantless wiretap program was first issued, you know, the inspector general did an investigation of it.

one of the things they were supposed to determine was whether this was actually effective and what the f.b.i. agents got the material from the program started calling them were pizza hut leaks that these were such worthless released it was like going to the pizza hut and, you know, you found out that it was a delivery call that you are chasing down. >> really? >> so, you know, i think any kind of objective review of these programs which show they are incredibly wasteful because one of the things i learned in 16 years. >> stop you right there because we are out of time. this has been so good and so grateful that you came in. and i am glad you are taking the lead on this. we'll support you. all of us have to make our voices be heard. >> great. >> mike german, thanks for coming in. >> this is "the bill press show." 1 thing than viewers like about the young turks is that were honest. they know that i'm not bsing them for some hidden

agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know i'm going to be the first one to call them out. cenk on air>> what's unacceptable is how washington continues to screw the middle class over. cenk off air i don't want the middle class taking the brunt of the spending cuts and all the different programs that wind up hurting the middle class. cenk on air you got to go to the local level, the state level and we have to fight hard to make sure they can't buy our politics anymore. cenk off air and they can question if i'm right about that. but i think the audience gets that, i actually mean it. cenk on air 3 trillion dollars in spending cuts! narrator uniquely progressive and always topical the worlds largest online news show is on current tv. cenk off air and i think the audience gets, "this guys to best of his abilities is trying to look out for us." only on current tv!

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>> this is "the bill press show." >> bill: here we go 33 minutes after the hour on friday june 7th. it is the full court press. we are coming to you live from our nation's capitol. we are brought to you today by the laborers international union of north america, liuna, building a better america. >> that's their website. you can find out more about their good work good men and women of the laborers' union under president terri o'sullivan. liunabuildsamerica.org. in studio, you know, it's summer. we are going to be talking about the beer a little bit later in the program. so why not talk about pot, too? all after, got to think ahead. how you are going to enjoy those

summer evenings here from the organization called "normal." national organization for the reform of our marijuana laws alan saint pierre executive director. thank you for coming in. >> good morning, bill. >> you are looking relaxed and restful? did you just come back from california? >> maui. insert joke. >> no pot in maui. >> no pot in maui. >> how is it going? colorado and washington state, of course, i hope you owe bade the law in both states i owe bade the law in that i finally nearly 50 years old in my life tried my first legal marijuana. it doesn't get you higher, bill. >> bill: really? >> even a mile high in denver i

wasn't higher. i want to make it clear to the prohibitionists, legal marijuana doesn't get you higher. >> bill: i remember, peter, you remember we went to denver for the convention. we were on our way in from the airport to downtown and the cab driver said i want to warn you guys, this is mile high. so if you have a drink, it's going to get you considerably higher. >> uh-huh. >> than it would back in washington, d.c. so he said you have to be careful. >> you are saying it's not true of pot? >> how is it working in those states? in colorado and washington? >> once the voters voted for the law back in november attorney general's, city prosecutors immediately stopped arresting people and anybody that had a minor marijuana possession case was immediately kicked. so that was the immediate benefit. now we get down to the brasstacks. both states, one has a commission.

one has a regulatory board, and they are moving forward with implementing legalization such that by 2014, those of us who are over 2 can go to these states and buy marijuana and use it legally just like alcohol. >> where do you buy it? >> you will buy it, in the case of washington, a washington-controlled liquor and canibas control board. in the colorado. >> state stores we used to call them? >> that's right. in colorado private licensees who will he get the license from the state and then they can set up a little marijuana shop? >> right now 3500 medical marijuana dependaries in the state have the first opportunity to upgrade from medical marijuana to personal use. >> full walk in, will you buy,

like, a pack of joints, or will you buy a single joint? i am curious about this whole thing. >> good question regarding actually the laws regarding how much can a citizen of these states buy. non-citizen. as a non-citizen we can only buy a reasonably small amount like three or four joints, if you will. if you are a citizen, you can buy -- >> a pretty good weekend. when it comes to citizens, they can buy an ounce, about 35 to 40 of those little joints. >> in an ounce? really? >> if you roll them frugally unless you were snoop dogg and that's two. >> or willie nelson and it's one big bomber. >> bill: are there little companies that are showing up? >> hundreds of them. hundreds of them. >> they are manufacturing not only in the form of cigarettes,

if you will, but in the form of con concentrates and use them in vapor pens these battery operated pens. people see them outside of those areas for tobacco use and they have been converted for a marijuana concentrate. then there are what are called infused products, hundreds of products lozenges candy, popcorn, way beyond -- infusion products are amazing out there. >> bill: wow. i am curious about this. i walk into one of the -- a state store and a non-citizen of colorado, an american citizen, i can only by four joints? >> yeah. >> what's that going to cost me? >> it's probably going to cost with taxes, between 20 and $30, which is probably about maybe 5 or 10% more than you pay now. right now, if i was to walk outside the streets of this studio, wink, wink here on

pennsylvania avenue in washington, d.c. i would pay about the same amount with prohibition prices. with taxes, it will cost the same with the fear of arrest and society will get taxes. >> bill: are you telling me i could buy four joints on the street in washington, d.c. for 20 bucks? >> faster than you could sneeze. >> look at bill. like your hand up for a cab but put two up. >> bill: i had no idea. >> now you have to ask him where to go. >> bill: do that off of the air. >> peter: all right. >> bill: so, in terms of the economy of the state, i guess it's too soon. >> we have a great outlier, the denver post on monday put out a story indicating $198 million a year is coming in from medical marijuana in taxes. normal's sop situation for every

nine marijuana consumers in colorado one is a medical marijuana consumer. >> whoa. whoa. so you take that 198 million? ? >> yeah. >> and multiply by 9? >> the stilts going into the election, they were hoping to get about two to $300 million in taxes. they are already getting nearly that much just from a small base of medical consumers. >> bill: right. now, that's a tax base from residents of colorado. >> right. >> bill: we have talked about pot tourism. have we seen any signs of that yet? >> yeah. he in fact, i just got the travel weekly, which is the industry publication for those in the travel industry, and the cover for this week is "pot tourism until denver" talking about the lem see services at that take you to the marijuana, how it's grown and since they can't buy it, people will take the ride and ship it. you can't physically go into a store and by it in washington.

>> bill: that's coming? >> that's coming. these folks when they pick you up in the limousine, there is a gentleman sitting next to you that can share his marijuana with you. he can give it to you. >> bill: this is just the beginning. just scratching the surface. so what state's next? i mean it seems -- well i jumped -- i made a leap there. over the obvious question: if it's working in colorado and washington, i would assume -- am i assuming correctly -- that other states are going to follow their lead? >> absolutely. many states. >> bill: should start in california. >> california is big enchilada. california, oregon massachusetts and maine are the states that are at the top of reformers' list they are pulling 65th percentile in favor of total legalization. i would suggest those are the next. >> colorado, oregon? >> massachusetts and maine. >> and maine. yeah. blue states baby.

notice peter south carolina is not on the list? >> bummed out. >> your state. now, washington, d.c. will washington -- it's not on the list but -- >> washington is now about to become functionally finally, after a 15-year legal battle, to finally, have medical patients access marijuana by walking into one of these medical marijuana dependaries. there are three in d.c. that are leased up, brick and moretatarmortar, literally one 2 or 300 yards from this studio on top of a pop popeye's. >> how appropriate. this was one the one that was going to be over the doneunkin' donuts? we don't have windows to show you aboutbut it is like right there. catty-cornered right across the street from here we can smell it from here. >> i am sure at times, you can. >> from the eastern market metro.

the doneunkin' donuts. it's across the street over the popeye's. how perfect. >> just seems so apropos. >> i hope they coordinate their hours. right? first go upstairs and then downstairs. i don't know. you might anticipate after 4:20, a rush for food burritos fried chicken. donuts. >> within that block. chipotle chipotles. >> pete may never use this area. >> i am moving in. a hot dogery. >> all right there. even indian food. i don't know how that mixes. probably does. alan saint pierre executive director of normal bringing us up to date on the efforts to legalize marijuana around the country or at least medical marijuana. we are beyond that now. and there is a pot caucus in the united states congress. what are they up to?

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also at the end of the show we are going to be talking about the best beers for a summer. right now, we are bringing ourselves up to date on the movement toward the legalization of marijuana something i think that is long overdue in this country. it started, of course, with the voters of colorado and washington voting to make it legal in those two states. al ant saint pierre executive director of normal. norml. norml.org in studio with us. i want to come back to washington here because there is a growing movement in congress with people willing to come out and say, this makes sense. we ought to relax our laws. i don't see anybody in congress or maybe i missed truck driver to legalize marijuana nationally. right? >> right now, by our count, there is about 180 members of congress that generally favor

legal access. they have opined about it. >> legal. not rec ce a little bittal? >> medical. >> that's one indication about a third of congress, 85% of them are democrats who have made that clear. those have been in these plebocytes called rorbacher amendments. there was nine congress people that stood up and argued for legalization for these medical marijuana dependaries to be able to have access to changes in the tax code something called 280 e so here we have the classic example of lobbying and congress where an exist industry the medical marijuana business wants a slight change of the tax code. in this case, to allow them to deduct 40% of their business deductions. >> right. nine members of congress standing up for that.

right? >> yeah. >> you are imagining this one such dispensary is going to open right here in our nation's capitol. >> uh-huh. >> right under the nose of congress. right across the street. >> there are going to be three pretty much ringing the congress. >> bill: do you find this movement growing across liberals conservatives? 805% of democrats, you are picking up their support. to me, it should not be a partisan issue. >> to that point, the brookins institution, ej dion and bill galston and they took 20 years of data and indicated we are at a cataclysmic change whether old, young, educated uneducated uneducated, republican, democrat, you favor legalization and that trend will only continue for the next 10 to 20 years. >> sort of like the first

movement on marriage equality. i know john yarmu. h was in from kentucky talking about the big move now for hemp. >> uh-huh. >> mitch mcconnell even is all aboard this. you don't smoke hemp? >> it's the same genus of plant. but if it has under 1%. hc, according to the u.n. regulations, all around the world, you can grow the plant and use it for industrial purposes except the united states has prohibited it. >> the production of it? >> in canada allows for the production of hemp. i used this morning before i came in, a hemp-based shampoo in my hair or the hemp built i am wearing in the end, that came from canada not the american farmers so we had to pay for it to come into the unites states. >> why was production banned?

because it looks like maurrijuanamarijuana? >> it looks like marijuana. it is marijuana. it's been banned for 75 years in the united states, the production of it for non-smokingable purposes for non-medical purposes, non-personal reasons. so whether you are in japan, china, canada, france, you can grow industrial hemp. we use industrial hemp in the united states. we have to pay for the raw product to come in here. >> bill: ridiculous so many of these antiquated laws. >> you would think 800,000 arrests a year for possessing marijuana would be bad enough but hemp and denying the american farmer this ability is one more absurdity. >> one more thing norml is working on norml.org, alan saint pierre is the executive director. and i guess the one thing that people can do is raise hell with their own state legislators.

right? >> yeah. bill to get hair state in mind to follow the example of colorado and washington state. >> i promise you without that political upward pressure coming from the states, it won't happen. >> bill: without that pressure and more and more states the federal government is not going to change it either. >> right. >> alan, you are out there on the forefront. we thank you. >> thank you, bill. >> bill: i will come back and tell you what the president is up to today. a big meeting with you know who. >> radio meets television, the""the bill press show"" now on current tv. satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv.

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