07/26/12 07/26/12 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is "democracy now!" >> american is at a crossroads. in 2012, we of the sake of fight our country by finishing our task we began in 2010. mr. obama supported -- >> karl rove is back, big time

reid the man once known as bush's plan is now heading a $1 billion spending drive to oust president obama. this we, paul barrett, author of, "glock: the rise of america's gun." in arizona, sheriff joe arpaio is on trial for racially profiling latinos. he testified -- as he testified, four undocumented immigrants were arrested outside the courthouse for blocking an intersection. >> i am a mother of three kids and i'm here to tell arpaio that i am making [unintelligible] , and that may. >> lockdown in london bridge britain has launched his biggest peacetime security operation ever ahead of the opening of the summer olympics. almost double the number of

british troops currently serving in afghanistan are providing security. all of that and more coming up. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. syrian troops continue to bombard areas of the city of aleppo in the sixth day of clashes with rebel forces. the regime of syrian president bashar al-assad has faced accusations of indiscriminate attacks as it seeks to reclaim rebel strongholds. syrian activists say nationwide violence killed 108 people wednesday, more than half of them civilians. the head of the u.n. peacekeeping said international monitors are struggling to carry out their mission before it expires next month. >> as you know, about half the observers, for the time being, have been sent back to their country, so the commission operates on a reduced basis.

it is reduced in numbers, and does what it can, but of course, taking into account the security situation, which in many places, is extremely delicate. >> a government forecast says the worst u.s. drought and about a half century will drive up the cost of food next year. and in a production, the department of agriculture says food prices will climb 3% to 4%, with the price of beef expected to rise 4% to 5%. the scorching drought in the midwest has ravaged fields and driven up the price of soybeans, wheat and corn, with domino effects on the cost of meat and other products. economists fear the drought could impact global food prices as the u.s. is a major agricultural exporter. the department of agriculture has added 76 counties in six states to a list of natural disaster areas due to damage caused by drought and heat. in early 1400 counties have been

designated as a disaster area and the 2012 crop year -- more than 1200 of them due to drought. the u.s. drought monitor last week found nearly 64% of the contiguous united states is in moderate to exceptional drought. for our coverage of extreme weather in what has so far been the hottest year ever recorded in the u.s., you can go to democracynow.org. police in colorado have revealed aurora shooting suspect james holmes detailed his planned massacre more than a week before the attack occurred. and unopened package sent by james holmes recovered at the university of colorado mailroom at illustrations and notes about killing a large number of people. the package was sent to a psychiatrist, but never opened. speaking wednesday louisiana, president obama says he plans to tackle u.s. gun violence in the shootings aftermath. >> many gun runners would understand ak-47's along in the

hands of soldiers and not the hands of criminals. that they belong on the battlefield of war, not on the streets of our cities. i believe the majority of gun owners would agree we should do everything possible to prevent criminals and fugitives from purchasing weapons. we should check someone's criminal record before they can check out a gun show, that a mentally unbalanced individual should not be able to get his hands on a gun so easily. [applause] these steps should not be controversial, that common- sense. >> obama's, gun violence comes as he faces pressure to back a robust global arms treaty before a friday deadline. all 193 members of the u.n. general assembly are scrambling to complete the first-ever global agreement regulating the arms trade. the u.s. is by far the world's largest producer, importer, an exporter of armaments. the obama administration has

demanded a number of exemptions from the new proposals, citing so-called national security interests. the head of the arms control at amnesty international said president obama holds the key to determining whether the treaty will be effected. >> still hanging in the balance, the decision is in the white house with president obama as to whether he will agree a golden rule in the treaty that will mandate governments to stop transfer of arms if it's known or there is a substantial risk the arms will be used for war crimes or crimes against humanity, acts of genocide, and serious violations of human rights. >> the fallout from the fatal police shootings of two latino men this week and continues in anaheim, california, with at least 24 people arrested and a mass protests that stretched late into tuesday night. several people were injured in major clashes between police and

protesters as hundreds of people marched through downtown anaheim, some reportedly smashing windows and setting fires. on wednesday, the mother of the police victim manuel diaz said she did not want it to be her son's legacy. treasury secretary timothy geithner appeared before congress wednesday to answer questions surrounding his initial response to the reading of the international interest rate, libor. the banking giant barclays was fined $453 million last month for manipulating libor, which provides the basis for rates on trillions of dollars in transactions across the globe. recent documents and testimony have fueled accusations geithner failed to adequately share his knowledge of barclay's actions with federal regulators when he headed the new york federal reserve four years ago. in his testimony, geithner insisted he acted responsibly. >> i felt we did the important and fully appropriate thing,

which is to bring attention not just to those in washington, but not just reports in the concerns on the market in the public domain, but also of the range of problems in the way this rate was designed to create vulnerability. we brought those concerns to their attention. we felt, and i still believe, this was going to be on them to take responsibility. >> geithner is, the criticism because federal regulators received little cooperation from the new york fed in building their case against barclays, despite the fed's knowledge of barclay's actions. testifying before a british inquiry last week, the bank of england governor said -- the coalition of a motley workers held nationwide rallies to urge the fast food chain to police to enter into an agreement insuring humane working conditions for farmworkers harvesting tomatoes

sold inside its restaurants. the amok the workers campaign has already won fair food agreement from chains including mcdonald's, subway, and burger king. the protests came one day after rallying in new york city to call for increased to an amendment -- to a minimum wage, which has remained at $7.25 for the past three years. "washington post" reporting skype has increased its cooperation with law-enforcement to give police access to online chats another user data. that includes credit card numbers and addresses. skype as had a reputation as a highly secure platform used around the world a activists seeking to avoid government repression. its reputation for security stemmed from strong encryption technology and other features. but authorities pushed for changes saying skype secured allow criminals to communicate secretly. skype security changes have been held by law-enforcement, the strongly criticized by anti

surveillance activists. one of five self-described anarchists accused of it tempting to blow up a cleveland area bridge has pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against four others. the five were detained in april after allegedly planting and detonating what they thought were active bombs. it turned out there were fake, supplied by fbi informants. anthony hayne agreed to a plea deal that was the received a maximum sentence of 15 years in return for his testimony. those are some of the headlines. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show with a look at one of the masterminds behind efforts to defeat president obama this november, and restore republican control of washington. karl rove, the man once known as bush's brain, helped found two groups that plan to raise hundreds simmons of dollars for television, radio, and online attack ads. this week his conservative super pac announced plans to buy $9

million of air time in battleground states for ads like this one. >> american crossroads is responsible for the content of this advertising. what happened to barack obama? the press and even democrats say his attacks on romney's business record is unfair and untrue. no evidence. why is obama attacking? he has added $4 billion in new debt every single day. unemployment is above 8%. family income is falling. barack obama cannot run on that record. >> an american crossroads, the super pac run the ad, takes donations from conservative donors or willing to reveal themselves. for those who wish to remain anonymous, karl rove has found a crossroads grassroots policy strategies -- or crossroads gps -- the so-called social welfare organization. it operates out of the same offices as american crossroads, has many of the same staff, and the ads it creates, like this

one, sound similar as well. >> america has suffered three years of crushing unemployment rid remember this? >> we will invest in clean energy and create nearly half a million jobs. >> what happened? thousands of americans lost jobs while stimulus money went to companies that went to jobs paid fothe when oversee. tell president obama, cut the that. >> on wednesday, citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington filed a complaint with the federal elections commission against cross for its gps, the group behind that ad and others like it. the complaint argues the group is disguising political ads as issue ads in order to skirt the law that allows it to take anonymous donations. for more we're joined by paul barrett, assistant managing editor at bloomberg businessweek. his new article on karl rove was just published today called, "karl rove: he's back, big time."

his latest book is, "glock: the rise of america's gun." welcome to "democracy now!" tell us about karl rove and his organizations. >> he left the white house in 2007, seemingly a defeated man, inches away from having been indicted in scandal. he began plotting his return almost immediately. after watching the republicans beaten soundly in the polls and fundraising races in 2008, he and some colleagues began planning those two organizations to mention, the crossroads group. these are the republicans answers to some of the liberal outside fundraising groups that began to be active in 2004. but the republicans seem to have found a formula that have allowed them to leap for had of what the democrats are doing this time around, and expected it will raise in total $1 billion in addition to everything that mitt romney's

campaign is raising and in addition to everything republican national committee is raising. it is thought to be twice with the democrats will be able to raise with their outside groups. we have an escalating arms race with the republicans are ahead. >> you have a great chart in your piece, "karl rove: he's back, big time." political circles. let's talk about the contributors, known and unknown. >> the main one we talked about in the lead of the our goal is steve wynn, the casino mogul. someone who has not been discussed much in this race. we heard a lot about sheldon adelson, who has been giving a lot of money and newt gingrich and subsequently to romney. steve wynn is traditionally a identified as a democrat, but turns out his one of the people karl rove has been working on recent times. their personal friends. they have attended each

other's weddings recently. >> karl rove just got married for the third time. >> correct. steve wynn has given to the cross for its gps group, which you can donate to and not be identified. this is a source of concern who think there is a problem with our political system being fuelled by anonymous donations, which will favor candidates, obviously, who had billionaires on their side. >> last year karl rove was asked in an interview on fox business about steve wynn, the las vegas billionaire. this clip begins with the recording of steve wynn followed by karl rove's response. >> i am afraid to do anything in the current political environment in the united states. i am saying it bluntly that this administration is the greatest wet blanket to business in progress and job creation in my lifetime.

>> as you probably know, he is a democrat. he is making these comments about obama being a wet blanket on business. what do you make of that? >> he has been an outspoken advocate for pro-business. between obamacare and stimulus bills and the failed attempts to put a cap and trade on, regulatory policies, and varmint and financial institutions, it is a damper on our economic growth. it is not just the policies. basically, demonizing sectors in american private sector. >> that was karl rove talking about steve wynn. paul barrett, continue. >> that is an excellent example of the karl rove operation, which is so dexterous and how it combines media with money to accomplish its political end. there you see roved on fox or he is a regular contributor. he also contributes regularly to another program -- platform, the

wall street journal. year attacking obama won the groups he founded whose ads showed earlier one anti-obama adds. one of those groups, interestingly, enjoys a non- profit status as a non- political social welfare organization. this is something to which campaign finance experts may object, but we have such -- >> federal election commission. >> that everyone knows nothing will happen, at least not until after the election. there's almost no meaningful rules. anything goes. as a result, we have this escalation in political spending. >> talk about how this came to be. talk about citizen united and before that. >> you really have to start the story long before citizens united. we had watergate, in large part a scandal about secret political

contributions among other corruption, which led to a wave of reforms in the mid-1970s. immediately, the supreme court stepped in and said, restricting campaign money is not as straightforward as you might like to be when you have a first amendment. the supreme court in a very implored decision in 1976 basically set up a very problematic system -- in court decision in 1976 basically set up a very problematic system. once you have a discrepancy, you have an incentive to find ways to get money to the candidates and their campaigns to spend, since that is unlimited. ever since, you basically have a process of case street loophole artists finding ways to get the money to the candidates to avoid those campaign contribution limits. in the 1990's, we had soft money, which was he nan and corporate contributions to the parties rather than the candidates. then we had the reforms of 2002

that ended soft money, but the reaction from mccain fine gold was the founding of the groups we have now. we have the 527's, the so-called super pacs, social welfare organizations. given new mechanism to get around campaign contribution limits. as campaigning has gotten more and more expensive, wealthy individuals, corporations, and labor unions have stepped up to fuel this. >> earlier this year, karl rove appeared on fox news and defended the right of american crossroads to keep secret the names of its donors. >> in the 1940's and 1950's, a number of state attorneys general attempted to force a particular 501c4 to intimidate people into not getting to that organization rid the group was the naacp, which is a 501c4 and does not disclose its donors.

the supreme court in the 1954 case and upheld the right of organizations like that not to make their donor names public. this is about a group of people on the left who have used this the vehicle, 501c4 to run attacks on republicans for years who now object when republicans began to duplicate their tactics, and want to intimidate people into not giving to these conservative efforts. i think it is shameful and a sign of their fear of democracy, an interesting they have antecedents which are attorneys general china shut down the naacp. it goes to show the motions and philosophy behind most of this. >> that was karl rove, comparing his group -- >> you have to give him his due. he is a very smart man. whether you agree with his logic the naacp is the equivalent of crossroads gps that the supporters of the naacp and the

1950's tried to desegregate american institutions are equivalent to billionaire casino moguls who today want to oust barack obama, it is a question of your political and social views. but karl rove has a point. democrats have used the same techniques. in 2004, democrats pioneered some of these techniques. there are very well the democrats who have made the same kinds of contributions. his pot calling the kettle black argument does have some merit. >> i want to look more at karl rove as political circles. you mentioned steve wynn, the las vegas tycoon who said he voted for obama in 2008. explain what angered him about obama. >> what he says angered him is that he did not realize obama was a pro-business regulation figure. and that he believes the health overhaul law, obama's position

on taxes, have caused a tremendous damper for business and business expansion. you know, you can get into sort of a psychological analysis. i'm not sure which candidate obama he was listening to. i do not think obama has done very much an office that is different from what he ran on, but is a free country and if he wants to change his allegiances -- >> and changing allegiances with sheldon adelson, kumi did not get along with. didn't want to see other of the office? >> that is the analysis some have suggested perhaps as sheldon adelson has become such a prominent figure in kingmaker in republican politics, perhaps to go to the speaking across the street in las vegas, steve wynn wants to get into the action. these guys to like to exercise their influence. >> you talk about several others three who are these

people? >> you see the different industries that people are coming from riyadh the chicago real estate magnate. and york financier and hedge fund manager, a dallas industrialist. karl rove has a particular strength in texas or he worked for many, many years. he helped nurture george w. bush and help him get elected. governor of texas, then was beyond his presidential election as well. he is very, very strong in the texas energy industry, knows many wealthy people there. he is, by all accounts, a terrific fund-raiser. and someone -- wealthy people enjoy talking about politics with him. this is not a science. this is an art. it is a question of personal relationships. karl rove is very skilled and

those things. >> what about his relationship with romney? >> they have no long history of friendship or alliance. but karl rove has become basically the embodiment of the establishment of republican party in the same way that romney is sort of the alternative to the tea party, rove is the alternative. rove basically helped push the tea party candidates to one side. he was important in 2010, 2011 criticizing people like michelle bachmann, herman cain, and basically helping us sort out the republican field so that romney could emerge. and this is because karl rove and his allies saw romney as the most electable alternative. they may not have any tremendous affection for him and a personal level or any great history with him, but they think he is the winner. >> george w. bush will not be

attending the republican convention. >> remarkable. i think that is an extraordinary example of his alienation from his own party, the frustration over the fact the party has abandoned him. you never hear romney talking about the george w. bush legacy. i think it is poignant and a human level, and really, really striking that the republican party wants to forget about george w. bush. he seems to want to forget about them. >> the federal election commission? what happened to it? what about the complaint that is just been filed? >> the federal election commission has been ineffective basically for its entire existence, since the watergate era reforms. but at the moment, it has gone to a new extreme. you have an agency that is split 3 to 3 along partisan terms, literally, cannot resolve

any complaint. every significant complaint brought to the fec, when anyone steps 4 and says, we think someone is cheating on the other signs, the results will be a 3-3 stalemate and nothing will happen. it is as if you have a police department, but they have gone fishing. >> let's go back to where we started with karl rove about to be criminally indicted and how he was resuscitated, being involved with the investigation of whether he was involved with outing valerie plane, naming covert caa agent. >> that scandal had its roots in the activities of plame's husband, joe wilson, former ambassador, who publicly called out the bush administration on the weapons of mass destruction justification for the invasion of iraq. wilson basically blew the whistle on that.

the administration was mightily angrily about wilson. shortly thereafter, lo and behold, wilson's wife, ca operative, plame, was added. ultimately, vice president jaime paz chief of staff scooter al- libi was indicted in connection with that leaked to the media. grove was investigated and appear before grand jury no fewer than five times in 2006. ultimately, he was not charged. he always insisted he had not been one of the sources for those leaks. you have to emphasize he was not indicted. as he described as a memoir, he came as close togethertin close-- as close to getting indicted as you could. that is the legacy. it is ambiguous. people who are skeptics of the bush administration, who raise

an eyebrow over why the bush administration would publicly expose a dedicated career cia operative in that fashion would probably include karl rove in that effort, but there is no criminal liability ultimately. >> and he got resuscitated by going on the payroll -- he was writing his own story? >> by his own effort. he immediately set about repairing his image and restarting a whole new career as a media wiseman. he signed on with fox and signed on with the wall street journal, both owned by rupert murdoch's news corp.. he wrote this memoir, which he sold with the assistance of washington super lawyer bob barnett. the book was a best-seller. again, you have to give karl rove his due. he is a very good media commentator. he is very coherent.

he knows the data. in fact, i would say he knows the mechanics of campaigning and the demographics of the united states in the county by county situation politics in our country as well as anybody in the country. this guy really knows his stuff and is on his side of the aisle, considered to be the premier procedural strategic thinker. >> we're talking to paul barrett, assistant managing editor at bloomberg businessweek. this new article was just published today called, "karl rove: he's back, big time." when we come back, we will talk with paul barrett about the aurora massacre. he is also author of the book, "glock: the rise of america's gun." stay with us. ♪ [music break] ♪ [music break]

>> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. police in colorado have revealed

james holmes detailed his plan massacre more than a week before the attack occurred. and unopened package sent by james holmes and recovered at the university of colorado no room contained illustrations and notes about killing a large number of people. among the weapons seized from james holmes work two 40 caliber pistols, smith and wesson, caliber semiautomatic weapon and a 12 gauge shotgun. talk more about the aurora shooting. we're talking with paul barrett, his latest book is called, "glock: the rise of america's gun." horrifying as we learned of the news early friday morning of this massacre that has taken the lives of 12 people and wounded many others, you have been looking at guns in this country for a long time. >> yes, and this terrible episode illustrates the limits

of the regulations that we now have for the dissemination of firearms to private individuals. by that i mean, the killer and colorado acquired all four of his weapons in the months before the massacre. he did so legally. he did so within the law. this was not a case of activities on the black market. it was not a case of someone going to a shadowy gun show and buying guns under the table in some way. he went into a store. the computerized background check was run. he came up clean because apparently he has no criminal record. and the firearms were put in his hand, as were the thousands of rounds of ammunition. >> the latest news of the mail room letter, horrifying. it wasn't well before. whoever it was meant for, if only they had opened it.

>> that points to another fascinating and troubling issue, which is that of mental illness and whether this particular character possibly could have been caught and stopped and marginalized before the event happened. clearly, if someone had seen his apparent plan, as has been described, this new book that described a mass killing, it is certainly possible if that were brought to law enforcement and law enforcement would have gone and question him and perhaps discovered what was in the works. but it also points to the difficulty in identifying people who may be mentally ill. certainly, may be sick combined with some fundamental evil in their soul. the difficulty in identifying them before him. if they're not be heading in and out word way, running and shouting to the heavens about how they're going to kill people, it is hard to know who might go off the deep end.

>> what about cuts in services for mental health in this country? >> i think that is something that is horrendous. i think we need more mental health treatment, not less. but before you condemn treatment, you have got to get the sick individual into the treatment center. if someone is going to be -- >> we don't know what involvement he had with the mental-health services. >> we don't. that is the question. even in a situation where someone is getting mental health treatment, it is a big leap between that status and having that person involuntarily committed. this is a man, at some level, wanted to kill a lot of people. if he was not volunteering himself for incapacitation, it is not one had their% clear to me what we would have done. >> let's talk about gun control. in television, the outrage of the nra spokespeople say, how dare you politicize this, even

before the bodies are buried, the raising the issue of gun control. >> the nra and gun rights proponents generally have been phenomenally successful in the last decade, the last dozen years, and basically marginalizing the gun-control movement and making it almost impossible to federal -- at the federal level for there to even the discussion about stricter gun control, let alone the enactment of any new laws. all of the movement in our country the federal level and states around the country has been toward loosening gun- control laws. it is now easier to carry a handgun, a concealed, then it was before, from 1994 to 2004 when we had certain restrictions on military-style semiautomatic rifles. we as certain restrictions on large capacity magazines. those have expired. all of the movement is in favor

of loosening regulation of guns and promoting second amendment rights. >> i want to go to president obama speaking on wednesday in louisiana, saying he plans to tackle u.s. gun violence in the shootings aftermath. >> a lot of gun owners would agree ak-47's belong in the hands of soldiers and not criminals. [applause] that they belong on the battlefield of war, not on the streets of our cities. i believe the majority of gun owners believe we should do whatever we can to prevent criminals and fugitives from purchasing weapons, and we should jackson's criminal record before they can check out a gun sale, that a mentally unbalanced individual should not be able to get his hand on a gun so easily. [applause] these steps should not be controversial, the common sense. >> that is president obama

speaking yesterday. it was right after the massacre. both romney and president obama said current laws should be able to deal with what took place, even as people like ellen mccarthy, whose husband was killed, has bills in congress to start dealing with these magazines that can kill endlessly if they do not jam. >> i think it was tremendously significant that immediately after the most recent massacre that the president's chief spokesman, when asked about what the president would do, the very first words of his mouth littery word -- we intend to protect second amendment rights. people said, do we need to restrict guns further? he said, we want to protect second, met rights. for better or worse, whenever you're partisan views are, that shows how the gun rights side of this debate has completely captured the issue.

everything that president just said was basically a reiteration of existing laws. ak-47s should not be the hands of criminals. under existing laws, no guns, a 22-caliber target pistol cannot be in the hands of a fugitive or a criminal. so if you listen to what the president was saying, he was saying, it is common sense the existing laws should be enforced. that is like saying the sun is going to come up tomorrow morning. that is saying nothing. >> finally, what do you think would create the kind of -- you think a massacre would, but as you look at the history of the kind of gun control laws we even have today, what is the engine that breaks through this most powerful lobby of the national rifle association? >> i view the issue not so much in the gun-control movement versus the nra, but from a different angle. the different angle has to be crime control, not focusing on guns, not allowing the

discussion to be immediately hijacked and sent off into a second amendment debate. but instead, look at communities where crime has been reduced. gun crime included. ask what has been done in those communities and try to imitate that across the country. and a lot of big cities, crime has been reduced. we have to break down what has happened there, not talk about the second amendment, and instead say, what have the police, would have the social workers, one of the politicians in those cities done and imitated? new york is had some success in reducing the crime rate over the last 25 years. what happened here? how can be replicated? >> yet you have mayor bloomberg was pushing for more gun control. >> he is. he was not only my mayor, but my employer as well, so you're not going to fight me getting into debate with him on your show. >> bloomberg businessweek. >> that is right.

he has his legislative proposals and it would be far above my pay grade to give the mayor advise. but speaking more broadly about people concerned about gun violence, if someone said, how do you change this debate which seems not to be working for the people who advocate more regulation of guns? i answer would be, stop talking about the guns and talk about crime, people getting shot, and how you stop that. delaware let your adversaries immediately to draw u.n. to a debate about second amendment rights. grant the rights and talk about crime control critics paul barrett, thank you for being with us, assistant editor of bloomberg businessweek. his new article is called, "karl rove: he's back, big time." his latest book is called, "glock: the rise of america's gun." this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. when we come back, we're going to london, to the olympics. ♪ [music break] ♪ [music break]

>> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to the 2012 summer olympic games spread over 10,000 athletes from across the world are convening at the main olympic park in east london in anticipation of the olympic games. the role of the biggest security operation since world war ii. approximately 18,200 armed forces, personnel are providing secure for the olympic games, almost double the number british troops currently serving in afghanistan. helicopters, fighter jets, bomb disposal units are all on stand by. security officials have acquired starstreak and surface-to-air missiles, the ministry of defense has attached missile launchers to some residential building roofs. the london of -- near london has said, keeping the olympic venue safe is in everyone's best

interest. >> always going to have loads of military personnel and new, so it really has not changed. i think most people in this country do not have any objection at all to sing venues being properly insulated by professional military armed services people. >> the olympic games are estimated to cost british taxpayers a staggering $17 billion. at the same time, britain -- brits had been issued with laws that limit the olympics language and imagery strictly to official sponsors such as visa, mcdonalds, and ge. activists are outraged that the olympics long list of sponsors include companies such as dow chemical and bp. this is the corporations' human rights records are at odds with the olympic ideals of global peace and goodwill. activist santinath sarangi

explain why five organizations representing survivors of the bhopal gas tragedy in central india are organizing a special olympics in protest of dow chemicals' partnership with the london olympics. >> bhopal special olympics is being organized because of dow chemical sponsorship of the london olympics. we hope this is an attempt by dow chemical to brainwashes crimes in bhopal, to brainwash its civil, criminal [unintelligible] it has inherited. >> santinath sarangi added that children affected from the bhopal tragedy would take part in mock olympic games such as the assisted walking and crab racing as a sign of protest. activists are criticizing the olympics for its alliance with oil giant bp. the recall and shakespeare company is performing a shakespeare-inspired skit called "bp or not bp."

it will be a public venues to draw critical attention to bp's record on the environment. it is their partnership not just for the olympics, but the british museum and the world shakespeare festival. >> they are exploiting the natural resources of the world, and also trying to give themselves a green wash by supporting the arts and supporting the olympics. >> do not believe bp's image when they say they will allow for lee, is supporting the arts. it is a way of disguising the real behavior. >> bp is involved in eco-cide on a global level. >> tar sands, will drilling, disasters around the world. >> the mock award ceremony at the olympic clock in trafalgar square descended into force

after police arrested six people taking part. three people pretending to be corporate representatives from bp, down, and rio tinto were awarded gold medals for been the worst corporate sponsors of the olympics before having small quantities of cream custard poured over their heads. the good nature performance took about 15 minutes, clearly amusing to a number of passerbys until 25 police officers arrived and arrested six people, including the three corporate representatives and people who are mopping up the small amounts of custard on the ground. for more we go to london where we're joined by jules boykoff, says a professor of political science at pacific university and curley a visiting scholar at the university of brighton. he was born in england or has been in england since april following the build up to the olympics. he is writing a book on dissent and the olympics. he played for the u.s. olympic soccer team in international competition from 1989-1991. his recent piece in "new york times" is called, "olympian

arrogance." tell us what you're seeing there and why you came up with the name of "olympian arrogance." >> what we see is a lot of what you have outlined in terms of the intense militarization of the public's fear. it goes back to the international olympic committee, or the ioc. if you want to understand the craft commercialism of the game, understand the intent militarization of the game, it makes sense to start with the ioc. the ioc has always been a privileged slipover -- sliver of the 1%. basically, assembled a hodgepodge of counts and dukes and princes together to run the show. any subsequent, basically, it has remained this old boys' club. in fact, they started allowing wealthy business elites into the club. only in 1981 did they start to allow women to be members of the

ioc. it is not just the composition of the ioc that some might find a little problematic, but the dictates they impose on host cities. for example, right before they make the final selection for who will host the next olympics, all the candidates to the finalists have to sign a document the promises they will follow all 33 of the ioc's technical manuals down to a letter. a lot of that has to do with french protection. -- brent protection. it also has to do creating new laws in the country and the host city that conform to the principles of the ioc. so here in london, they passed the 2006 olympic and paralympic act, which did all sorts of things. it is illegal to use the words "2012" and say "medals" for commercial form. to the ioc ands back

what they impose on host cities. you said a was here since april, so i was here for the jubilee. when the jubilee happen for the queen, there were signs in windows, people celebrating, shops put little placards up and that sort of thing. during the olympics, you do not see that very much because people are afraid they will get cracked down on. a butcher put a bunch of sausages in his window in the shape of the olympic rings. he was asked to take them down. someone implement put on their menu of flaming torch breakfast the gatt and they were asked to take off the many. if flores was put up a little display -- a florist put up a display in your window in the shape of the olympic rings and was asked to take it out or face a 20,000 pound fine. >> jules boykoff, talking about the various corporations, and

remembering the vancouver olympics, the law passed by the local city council same athletes could not criticize the sponsors. talk about who these sponsors are and what is allowed to be said. >> sure. the elites from the corporate world, a city of coca-cola, mcdonald's, cadbury -- not exactly the firms to think of when you think of elite athleticism. they started a new thing in london called sustainability partners. one of the partners is actually bp, which you mentioned at the outset. also, eds energy, which is a big push of nuclear-powered in europe. you see a lot of the commercialism playing out across the country of what people think they can and cannot say. people have been worried about protesting in certain areas.

take the group's base hijackers. they have made themselves the official protesters of the 2012 olympic games. they made it into the a little icon on their twitter page. twitter presented them with a cease and desist order in cracking down saying, you cannot do this. it is very widespread, this sort of crack down you see. another thing i want to say about the crackdown, who are these brand police? they are the olympic delivery authority, or oda. it is a public body. it is publicly funded. it is a public body during the private of the publi firms. this is the dynamic we see over and over again were the public pays in the case of the games or the public carries out the brand policing, and the private firms actually are there to profit. >> during the london 2012

olympics and paralympic games, bp is running a massive advertising campaign to highlight its role is one of the sponsors. let's go to one of the clips for a behind-the-scenes look at the bp ad campaign, which the corporation put on its bplondon2012 website. >> in july last year, it was all about talking about contribution bp was making to successful games. as we get into the olympic year an immediate run of to the olympics, everyone getting excited, we will be celebrating all the many thousands of people who have been behind the scenes who have been helping to make the games a success. >> jules boykoff, your response? >> well, critics here are some that is a classic green wash. there is a commission set up called commission for sustainable london, which is the watchdog group to oversee the

sustainability practices of the london games. they recently put out a report last month that said, essentially, there are no criteria you have to me to become a sustainability partner. basically, you just pay the money and your a sustainability partner. that is what happened with bp, the pieces g-- >> i think we may have just lost jules boykoff. his career to a visiting scholar at the university of brighton. -- he is currently a visiting scholar at the university of brighton. with another segment we want to bringing. we wanted to go right now to arizona where maricopa county sheriff joe arpaio is on trial this week for using racial profiling to target undocumented immigrants. the aclu and mexican american legal defense fund filed a

lawsuit on behalf of latino citizens and legal residents. many of whom were targeted at traffic stops for detention, despite having a valid visa and identification. our pile's own words for used against as it took the stand in federal court tuesday. he spent six hours responding to comments he made in media interviews, books, and letters. cameras were not allowed in the courtroom to record his testimony, but we know he was asked about video clips like one from 2007 when he spoke with cnn possibly chops about comparisons between his department and the ku klux klan. >> local law-enforcement comes across some people that have been erratic were scared or what ever -- >> demeanor. >> they are worried, their speech, what they look like, if they look like they just came from another country, we can take care of that situation rid but i don't need that, anyway,

glenn. >> hang on. when was that law written? all i hear about is that it sounds like profiling and the government is and you cannot profile anybody. >> well that law in 1996, part of the comprehensive law that was passed, it is in there. it is in there. >> that was actually glenn beck talking to arpaio. let's go to share of arpaio talking to lou dobbs. >> how do you react to that? >> they call you ku klux klan. i think it is an honor it it means we're doing something. >> lawyers also read letters from constituents who complained about spanish-speaking residents in neighborhoods where arpaio later launched his trademark immigration sweeps. as arpaio testified, four undocumented immigrants were

arrested outside the courthouse for blocking an intersection. >> i am a mother of three kids. i am here to tell arpaio that i am making -- [unintelligible] , and get me. >> the protesters had immigration holds placed on them when they went to one of our pilot's jail spread of four were released late wednesday but it is not clear they're being targeted for deportation. we go now to phoenix to carlos garcia, an organizer for it later this month he will participate with undocumented immigrant activists and the no papers, no fear bus tour. its final stop is the democratic-to convention in charlotte. carlos, we welcome you to

"democracy now!" explain with this lawsuit against arpaio is all about, which has meant hours of him sitting in this trial, responding to questioning. >> basically, arpaio vs arpaio. he had to respond to videos, when he had to refer to itself as being an honor to be referred to as ku klux klan. he had to talk to referring to mexicans as 30 mexicans and his book. the finale of the things he has talked about. all the evidence of his own words, his own doings of racially profiling in our community. to go along with that, it is the damage he has done, the community raids that he is put upon our community with mass deputies coming out to traditionally latino neighborhoods, detaining and stopping anyone that may look undocumented. >> explain who brought the suit,

carlos garcia. >> it was brought forth by the aclu. eventually it was turned into a class-action lawsuit. it is basically all latinos in maricopa county vs. sheriff joe arpaio, anyone who looks like us, is challenging, bringing the suit for the same arpaio is racially profiling. >> what does this mean for his reign as the