this 100 percent cotton shirt features the kcsm logo on the front. it's a great way to show your appreciation for your local independent public tv station. also to say thank you we'll include a dvd copy of one of the many kcsm produced documentaries. from washington, "the mclaughlin group," the american original. for over two decades, the sharpest

issue one, tsa labor pains! ♪ come fly with me. let's fly, let's fly away! >> unfortunately, we have to be right all the time. terrorists only have to get lucky once. a lot of this has been security theater and is not done the job to support the air we need to.

>> republican congressman jason chapin is the chairman of the house subcommittee on national security homeland security, and foreign operations. he is no fan of the transportation security administration, the tsa. that's because a number of airport security breaches over the last decade adds up to 25,000. that's about seven breaches per day in the last 10 years, ranging from improperly screened passengers to unscreened passengers. travelers boarding planes without being inspected at all. yet, the annual budget for the tsa is, get this, $8.1 billion. critics say that with 25,000 security breaches in 10 years, it's hard to believe the tsa's budget is making passengers safe. rather, the tsa's patdowns and invasive full body scans do

more to embarrass children and the elderly than they do to catch terrorists. many believe. a recent case in point is a florida woman commanded to take off her adult diapers during a security patdown. >> they did something because i had something in my pants and they -- put me through a screen and -- that kind of thing. they took me in a different room and took my pants. >> the lady is old. question, all travelers are treated as equals. all have to go through security screenings. is that a good idea? pat buchanan? >> everybody should have to go through that machine, john. i agree with that. to see if there's something hidden somewhere. but i think they -- >> you mean is there -- standing suspicion that all travelers are capable of terrorism? >> something can be planted somewhere. and i think they should go

through, so should the luggage. but i agree with what the implication of your question, if you're talking about individuals, 95-year-old women and kids, i mean, you ought to use the professional expertise of a agents who ought to be able to profile individuals to say this one looks more likely to be carrying something than that one. and if they've got a select out someone, the idea of a quality there is stupidity, and what they've been do ridiculous. >> most of these breaches are technical infractions, like carrying a very small penknife or something with a sharp object, or even a bottle of water. they will stop you down and do an inspection. >> you have to throw your water out or starbucks or whatever your liquid is. and they make rules and they're across the board. they can't look at you and say, you look like you just bought that starbucks and paid $3.80 for it, and you don't look like you're carrying any lethal

liquid within it. and let you walk through. but they can't make those judgments on the number of people that walk through there. they have to come up with blanket rules that sometimes do seem ridiculous. but the tsa has become everybody's favorite whipping boy, in parted because the republican majority in house like to privatize them, and because they won the right to unions this last summer. so it's a political football as well as security football. >> the percentage rate of those who are guilty of some technical infraction is 0.0001%. now, doesn't it seem absurd to treat everyone the same when you're operating with that? >> and they do actually have profiling rules, but some of those are ridiculous. one of them is, if you're acting i think the words are arrogant and angrily objecting to say being fondled by a tsa agent, if you're bad mouthing the whole tsa process, that's one of the criteria where they're more likely to pull the

out and do that search. does that have anything to do with making us safer, advised by a terrorism expert? is that their way of telling you you have to shut up and do what we say and -- be groped, have the nudity scan if we want to you. >> are you familiar with -- >> yes. >> what do they do? >> they have a lot of experts who are trained at observing people and picking up what they think are clues to the possibility of -- >> we're talking about the israeli -- >> yes. >> have you ever had a problem with that being inadequate or incomplete? >> i don't think -- and they have no problem with public -- >> have you ever had any problem? >> no, not to my knowledge, not in all the times -- >> isn't that amazing? >> yes, it is amazing. but it's a real security issue for them and everybody feels that every day. >> they've own got a few thousand fleets here. kim's point is very well taken. if somebody is angry and yelling at them, he is far less likely to have a bomb with him

than somebody that comes through and who has it hidden and doesn't want to make any noise and -- like that guy, who mohammed a that at the boston guy, said if i ever thought of a terrorist, this guy looked like it. and this is one of the problems these tsa agents have. they don't want to be the guy that let through the bomber that killed 200 people. >> you don't have the right -- you don't have the right to be abusive to the tsa agents. so if somebody is going to go and -- make a big scene, i think they're asking -- >> they're asking -- >> i don't think we call it fondling. i don't call it fondling. and -- >> don't put yourself -- >> don't push! [everyone talking at once] terms clearly defined! >> tsa is struggling to find what the methods that will come back -- >> do you think this making a

safe now? >> think they're doing a pretty good job in a field where nobody -- where perfection is not. >> i get the impression that the tsa screeners, who do the patdowns, are not given very much freedom of discretion. >> by discretion i mean evaluating the person coming through. >> they have -- what else can you do? when you say discretion, there are certain rules that they have to follow. but they should follow. >> pistol, now heads it up and said he is going to give them more discretion over time. >> right. >> i think there's also going for training of these people to pick out people. i think that's the key thing. between the israelis are very highly sophisticated in this because they have this issue. but once there's a terrorist attacking believe me, these rules will be end to an extraordinary degree. >> somebody told me were you very annoyed by screenings so you now have your own airplane.

>> if you want to discriminate, john, you can go ahead and do whatever you have tom. >> you know, eleanor's point is well taken. got to be basic rules of everything that is checked out. but after that, if you get the experts, the guys who can look at somebody, they're the guys that are likely as a backup to prevent the terrorist attack. >> actually have a program along those lines. i think it's in boston airport some they're trying. >> so greater discretion on part of the tsa employees does not mean lesser security at the point of where they do it? >> i hope not. but the question of their training. >> exited question, on a security success scale, zero to 10, rate the effectiveness of the tsa, zero to 10. >> it gets close to 9 or 10 for the simple reason that it's been 10 years since 9/11, and they haven't taken down a single airliner, and we had underwear bomber and shoe bomber, and a lot of maybe other folks who tried it. >> i think for a much maligned

agency, let's give it high marks. perfection is the goal but that's not reality. >> you want to go all the way and give this. a 10? >> no, he said -- i'll give them a 9.2. there's always ram for improvement. >> uh-huh. >> based on zero terrorists, they didn't stop the shoe bomber or stop the undy bomber, and they might even make us less safe because more people end of driving because they doesn't want to be caressed maybe. driving is less safe than flying. i'm give there. a 2 1/2. >> take the blame for highway deaths? >> if they're driving, they're not even saving lives. >> you got to give this. a high rating. i give them 9+ because we have not had a terrorist attack. that's the standard. that's the only standard. >> i think in those two instances of the underwear bomber and shoe bomber, they did not -- [everyone talking at once] benefit of the tsa screening. >> right. >> am i right or wrong? >> you're right. >> terrorist attacks without

the tsa -- [everyone talking at once] >> no evidence tsa has prevented. >> ♪ ♪ >> 170 billion plus pieces of mail this year, i don't think it's going to go away any time in the near future. >> not true! in some areas, the united states postal service is going away. more than 3600 postal offices will close within the year. that's one in 10. post al services in those area will be absorbed by privately owned local businesses. the postmaster general says it's the only way to keep the debt-strapped agency running. donahue's other idea is to the the saturday delivery. >> we should have moved six days to five days three or four

years ago. we would have been profitable then and now. >> senator tom carper of delaware, chair of the subcommittee on federal financial management, which oversees the post office, has introduced a bill to do that, ending saturday delivery could save the usps $2 billion a year. unforeign, it would eliminate 20,000 jobs. technology will also lighten the volume of u.s. paper mail. e-mail, smart phones, and other tech apps have decreased the volume of hand-delivered mail by 20% over the course lasts five years. is this a constitutional question? u.s. constitution? >> yeah, i think it is. u.s. post office i believe is in there. i may be wrong, but the figures are -- they're going to cut out 120,000 jobs of the 600,000 of the post office because it's

got an $8.5 billion deficit, and the reason is we all know e- mail, fedex and all these other things are taking it over. but i think it's going to be there, still there be there, but our generation, penmanship generation, one that writes letters s different from the next generation, beyond which doesn't even print very well. >> by law, they have to deliver mail six days a week some congress has to change the law. but i've been noticing that the post office is running paid advertising on television, pointing out that they fund themselves through sampson, they're not paid for by the taxpayers. although they have taken out loans from the u.s. treasury. i think if you stop saturday delivery, that is inevitable, and i think the postmaster general said if immediate reforms aren't attorney, we're have mail three days a week, 20 years from now. i think it's an inevitable consequence of the way we've changed how we communicate. >> bulk mail is a huge industry now. >> right.

>> and a lot of people keep that mail because their names are on it, and they open it on the weekends. so why do you want to eliminate saturday delivery? particularly that day to eliminate. why don't we eliminate a wednesday delivery? >> i think it affects rural america. most of the world still works monday through friday, something called the weekend. and we don't get mail on sundays, so i think -- >> part of the -- the mail is delivery is mentioned in the constitution, at least once, and maybe twice. so is it a constitutional issue? >> no, the government -- the government is the federal government is authorized to do it. it's not mandated to do it. >> it says levy an army and get a postal road. >> that's the responsibility. federal government. the saturday delivery thing, union rules don't let them work six days, so you have one guy delivering the same route five days, another guy has to pick

up the sixth day. that's part of why it will cost jobs, and the jobs cost -- >> what is the solution. >> get rid of saturday delivery, make sure the post office is paying for itself. if you have raise the rate it, should not be subsidized by taxpayers. >> i like to see the post office work on sundays too. >> are you willing to pay for it? >> this mail collects. are you willing to pay for it? >> i'm willing to do is go to e- mail and charge e-mail one cent for every e-mail that goes out and have the same people that brought it into existence pay the one cent! >> john -- >> would it balance things out? >> i don't think it works at all to put it mildly. i mean, you simply can a cannot afford to lose dollars 8 billion a year on the post office. >> it itself. >> john, a number of years every christmas for 10 days, i delivered mail, even the

pigeonholing. it's been computerized. but one of the problems is we delivered the mail with three cent stamps. how much is a stamp today? 44 cents every single -- a lot of people -- >> cheap! >> a lot of old ladies that used to write to me don't write anymore because they can't afford to pay for it! >> now that you moved out of the district of columbia and into your chic neighborhood in virginia, when cops do you give hymn a tip? >> i give him a christmas check. how much do you give? >> how much do you give? >> i'll match yours! [everyone talking at once] >> i have to tell you, in response for what pat just said, a lot of young women are writing me, and how -- that's how it works! >> it doesn't work any longer. [everyone talking at once] technology will not completely -- >> it's sad! >> the 44 cents that you can dropping? a mailbox in washington, d.c. and expect it to get to

seattle, washington or wherever and all of this people in the machines that touches it, it's a ven't talked to anybody right now. we've had got unemployment over 9% officially, when people are out of work and month after month can't find a job, when small businesspeople are having trouble just keeping the lights on, i don't talk to anybody that says please raise my taxes. >> eric cantor is a republican congressman from virginia. he is the current majority leader. john boehner is the speaker of the u.s. house of representatives. cantor is also a solid conservative with an american conservative union, acu rating of 92 out of 100. his ada rating, americans for democratic action, the premiere liberal rating system, is 5 out

of 100. as congress recovers from its painful -- critical debt problem in the u.s., $14.3 trillion of debt. cantor has rejected all proposals that would taxes for the american people. >> question, who deserves more credit for holding the line against tax increases, john boehner or eric cantor? >> what impresses me about eric cantor is he is the republican guide to wassef and that's not the tea party base. it's two bases, the wall street and the tea party, the real conservatives. so cantor top fund-raiser, very close to wall street. and wall street was the guy saying cut a deal, cut a deal. i think cantor was going back to wall street saying, our deal is not going to involve raising taxes. i give them both credit for holding the line. >> you like cantor? >> there are things i don't like about cantor. he's too close to wall street. but i'm glad he helped -- >> legislative?

you really need to be have something executive experience before the american electorate will consider you for a viable and plausible president of the united states. what i'm getting at it is, this guy is really good. >> he's very talented, very smart, very, very capable guy. >> is he on -- any other track except to succeed boehner when -- >> no, right now his experience is being legislative but he's very good at managing their problem and executive experience in my judgment is very much of an advantage for the -- >> is essential [everyone talking at once] executive experience is really of being president of the united states? no i'm not sure it's executive experience. you have to i have a sense of way things work, a lot of that comes out of having executive business. i don't think a business background is essential to be the president of the united states. >> does he have the equivalent of that as a united states representative. >> no. >> you don't think so?

you think there are details in miss management -- >> no, not but in managing the congress. manage his as a leader of his party, i think that is a very good experience for him. >> do you think he has the kind of executive experience he -- cantor does not have? >> sure he does. >> without question. >> sure he does. he's been governor for longer than anybody else! >> also cantor has the legislative experience that perry does not. >> obama has legislative nears what kind of legislative experience! >> obama is the same background -- >> couple years? yeah but he's not an execute you've and it shows! >> who. >> obama, the president! >> who is on trial in this? >> we want to know who will represent the republican party up against obama. >> not going to be eric cantor. all politicians are opportunistic, but he basically just latched on to the tea party folks. he is not only aspiring to be speaker, he is probably plotting to be speaker. he's not going to be on the

ticket. he's not going to be president. rick perry has -- >> that was unfortunate phraseology on her part. eric cantor latched on to the pea party? please! >> what she is saying about the plotting thing is what i hear some other republicans worrying about, he's trying to undermine boehner. >> he may not be speaker, john, he may not make speaker himself. he's not all > issue four, work dog! ♪ ♪ >> 2011 is the giveth anniversary of the beatles. they took the stage in liverpool for the first time in 1961. ringo starr replaced one him a year later. the beatles appeared in american homes three years later via televijolted and

revolutionized rock and roll, and the u.s. president at the time lyndon b. johnson jolted congress. federal funds were budgeted to promote the performing arts in. 1965, the national endowment for the arts, nea, was created, and the national endowment also for the humanities, the neh, created too. both were included in president john on's budgeted program, great society. now fast-forward to today, a period of economic slowdown. what gets debudgeted? the humanities are often the first target and thought to be dispensable. the performing arts aren't only good for the soul, they're also good for the body, including the economic body. they generate revenue and fight

poverty. four years ago, 8900 performing arts groups in the u.s. generated more than $13 billion in revenues. most of it taxable. in one year, americans spent $14.5 billion on performing arts, more than a $10 billion spent on box office movie tickets. studies have also shown that the odds make people physically and emotionally. let's suppose the national endowment for the arts got a budget this year of about $49 million. existed in 1961. let's suppose that the beatles first took the stage here in the u.s. with the nea have supported the likes of thebeat unless. >> that's too many supposings, i think. the beatles took off in england and they came here, they were already a big hit. so i think translating them into arts funding is not a good

analogy. a lot of this is ideological, the house republicans again want to -- they'd like to end the nea. they've now cut the funding by 25%. but if you look around the country, it's arts funding for elementary school students, where you develop a love for the arts and you develop people's talents. i think that's where it hurts the most. and then you have a lot of people talking about how much they want to cut government. when they get in office like nikki haley in south carolina, she goes after two agencies that fund the arts, that are miniscule in the overall budget but prove some sort of ideological point. maybe tim can tell me, why do republicans hate the arts? >> they hate subsidies. and the fact of the matter is the beat releases a good example. they make tons of profit. why shearts can be very profitable. and arts for kids if that fits

into a budget that's one thing. but the clashesubsidize a crucifix in a vat of urine, you might think that's okay, i might think that's wrong, let's call a truce so i don't have to pay for it. that's the republican objection. >> what about first amendment rights? >> lets them do it! [everyone talking at once] >> as long as we don't pay for it! >> place. >> john, look at what we've tunnel john, rock and roll, beatles, elvis, jazz, all these things came up in the arts and music in america without a single dime from the national endowment from the arts. the most famous things are the crucifix in urine and pornographic prediction, patted. >> cantor is very talented, jong. but i predict that he does not become speaker of the house and he's blocked from running from governor because two outstanding guys, and he got two democrats and republicans will have that senate seats locked up.

>> eleanor. >> republicans will return to work after labor day, chastened by the anger they will have heard from their constituents about their performance and the anger over a debt ceiling bill that seeps to have further flattened the economy. >> tim? >> rick perry will win the iowa caucus in january, michele bachmann will drop out and endorse him, and then will be a one on one between perry and romney. >> wow. mort. >> and jon huntsman will drop out of the race if he doesn't come first or second in new hampshire. >> marco rubio, senator from florida, will be the republican vice presidential candidate in the next presidential election. happy labor day. bye-bye! ññqñqñqñqñ8ñ8