good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show." was a slap in the face to anyone who owns stocks. everyone else who doesn't own stocks, like the poor and the working class, they've been getting slapped around for decades. that's why this country needs to keep its promises. even though republicans say we can't. this is "the ed show." and as ed would say, let's get to work. >> you elected me president to do the tough things, to do the big things, even if it took time. >> on his 50th birthday barack obama is fulfilling the promise of america. today republicans are saying we just can't keep that promise anymore. >> promises have been made that frankly are not going to be kept. >> tonight, my commentary on keeping promises. five days away from the wisconsin recall elections. john nichols of "the nation" is here with today's major developments.

and spongebob squarepants gets caught up in the right-wing war on science. >> clearly, nickelodeon is pushing a global warming agenda. >> every time they choose that show i'm like, why? the united states of america was built on a promise. the second section of the declaration of independence clearly states, "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." 235 years later those very words are under attack by decades of conservative economic ideology. democrats like fdr, jfk, and lbj tried to create a more perfect union by taking care of our sick and elderly, giving every american a chance for a great education and striving to make everyone in society more equal. you see, republicans have a completely different idea of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

they've been on a mission to destroy the new deal and the great society in order to line the pockets of the privileged few. even after republicans got 98% of what they wanted in the debt ceiling fight, they're still planning to break america's promise of social security and medicare. take a look at what house majority leader eric cantor said to the "wall street journal" today. >> wt we need toe able to do is to demonstrate that that is the better way for the people of this country, get the fiscal house in order, come to grips with the fact that promises have been made that frankly are not going to be kept for many. the math doesn't lie. >> republicans have no problem keeping their promise not to raise taxes. but they're determined to bankrupt every other obligation america has. congressman paul ryan is even gloating about it. in an op-ed in rupert murdoch's newspaper paul -- ryan said, "during the negotiations over raising the debt ceiling, president obama reportedly

warned republican leaders not to call his bluff by sending him a bill without tax increases. republicans in congress ignored this threat and passed a bill that cuts more than a dollar in spending for every dollar it increases the debt limit without raising taxes." republicans need to drop their religion of tax cuts at all costs. ronald reagan was not god. he was just another man with flawed priorities. >> it is not the solution to our problem. government is the problem. >> ronald reagan, like nixon before him and two doses of bush after, wanted to wipe away social and economic progress, the great legacy of democratic presidents is that at their best they've been concerned about the little guy, the poorly educated and the socially and economically vulnerable and the person who yearned to use education as an elevator of upward mobility. without them a middle-class kid from hawaii couldn't have borrowed money and made his way

through life with programs that aimed to lift the poor and working classes to the heights their talents could carry them. at this hour president barack obama is the guest of honor at a party to celebrate his 50th birthday. the president can't be enjoying himself very much, however. the stock market dropped over 500 points today. we still have over 9% unemployment. and the republicans just rolled him into making the largest cut in spending in the history of america. if that ain't bad enough, the conservative media machine is in high gear. >> after sitting on the sideline for most of the debt debate, president barack obama, well, he's giving himself a not so well deserved pat on the back at this hour in the form of a lavish birthday party. but in light of the u.s. passing $14.3 trillion in debt, the dow crumbling, millions still out of work, and the country flirting with a double-dip recession, perhaps the president could find a better way to spend his time. >> president obama's 50th birthday present to himself? i want to know.

hmm. $3,580,000 in cold hard campaign cash. but if his focus is on creating jobs, should he be out raising re-election money? >> president obama is on the ropes from the scurrilous and vile attack from the right and from people on the left who voted for this guy back in 2008. >> change will not come if we wait for some other person or if we wait for some other time. we are the ones we've been waiting for. >> let's be honest. while a lot of black men are doing well, succeeding at their jobs, nurturing their families, and holding down their communities, they just don't seem to get that much good press. and the great thing about obama being president is that there's a guarantee that on most days a real smart black guy with impeccable credentials and an incredible wife and kids will

snag the headlines on television and the front covers of newspapers and websites around the globe. if you've got to show a black man living in public housing, it might as well be at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. and when we stop to think about what made barack obama possible, we've got to nod to the remarkable freedom fighters that gave body and blood to make america all that it should be. those nameless and faceless heroes were hard-working americans who were maids and milkmen, ditch diggers and truck drivers, longshoremen and train porters, cooks and accountants, and yes, engineers, doctors, lawyers, preachers and teachers too. without their sacrifice, without their blood, sweat, and tears there would be no barack obama. they longed to see america fulfill its promise and embrace all of its citizens as brothers and sisters in one national family. that point was lost on the birthers as they pummeled the president day after day until he finally shut their mouths, trumping one man in particular,

showing the donald that he needed to log more time as an apprentice of fact and truth. let's remember this now that obama is in office, carrying the desperate hopes and deep desires of millions of americans who feel that no one will ever speak for them or care about their well-being. obama is worthy of criticism, as is any public official. but it should be principled criticism, not unprincipled assault. some black critics have claimed that their loving hearts belong to martin luther king jr. at his to martin luther king jr. at his to martin luther king jr. at his best while their la tongues seem to belong to malcolm x at his worst. from the mainstream attacks on the president have often projected the worst of our racist past. obama as monkey, tar baby, terrorist, and unpatriotic un-american rather than the glorious possibilities of our rich and diverse future. as barack obama turns 50, let's wish him the courage to embrace the full range of his remarkable

challenge to change america for the best. and let's give him our steadfast support so that he won't be punished for doing so. and so america to america, citizen to citizen, brother to brother, black man to black man, happy birthday, mr. president, and many returns. joining us now is california attorney general, kamala harris. attorney general harris, welcome to the show. >> thank you. it's wonderful to be here. thank you. >> you know, before we even get into the specifics of president obama, and of course this is his birthday, you have a similar story to barack obama. and you brilliantly used the outlines of your story when you were campaigning for attorney general because you had to win a statewide office. give us some of the parallels between your experience and barack obama's experience that resonate for so many voters. >> of course our president is very unique in many ways. but we do have i think a shared experience and focus. i talked a lot in my campaign about the fact that i'm one of

two daughters of parents who met when they were graduate students at the university of california berkeley when they were active in the civil rights movement. and i grew up then in that environment, where all the adults around us were marching and shouting for that thing called justice. and in many ways that's why i decided i wanted to be a lawyer in the tradition of thurgood marshall and charles hamilton houston and constance baker motley. i went on to howard university, went to law school, and i became a prosecutor. and have personally prosecuted some of the most serious and violent crimes you can imagine. and then i ran to become district attorney of san francisco and won and was re-elected and then ran to become attorney general of california. based on a belief that government and these systems including the criminal justice system can and must do the important work of being a voice for the vulnerable but we also must be committed always to being the best that we can be, and that includes reform of broken systems.

>> sure. and in light of that extraordinary experience, do you think president obama himself, having grown up in similar situations of course with his own unique story, is doing enough to really resonate with those people who identify with him so powerfully? is he doing enough to live up to america's promises? >> i think he is an extraordinary individual and president. part of what he talked about and what really was powerful in that campaign for president in 2008 and continues to be is the power that barack obama as president and then as a candidate had to really build coalitions. and by that i mean to bring together people who seemingly have nothing in common but have everything in common. when we think about what most people want for their children or the dignity with which they want their elders to live, with thinking about what we all want in terms of having a quality of life that allows hard-working

people to understand and truly realize the american dream. that's what barack obama talked about. that's what he did. and it was the strength of building a coalition of people. understanding and embracing the diversity of our country. and bringing everyone together under one flag. >> yeah. a lot of people, however, have said that barack obama has been willing to compromise too much, that he's gone the other way, that compromise turns into capitulation and that negotiation turns into surrender. what do you say about those people who task him with the unenviable responsibility of holding harder to his democratic principles and pushing those on the table with equal ferocity? >> i think he understands that the reality of leadership is -- and success is an embrace of compromise. and some might interpret compromise to be defeat. but what i think we all know, in any relationship, be it a personal or professional

relationship, is the way it is a functional relationship is that usually each individual who is a part of it engages in compromise for the better and greater good. and this president appreciates that. he has led and i think has demonstrated the importance of leadership that does not allow pride to associate with any one position and instead is committed to bringing the country forward. and if we want to talk about what happened recently, listen, we were on the verge of collapse. we now have a situation where we will pay our debts, where people will have their social security benefits, where small businesses will be able to continue being in business, and that's about leadership under very difficult times. this president is someone who came into office under unprecedented difficult times and has shown i think a remarkable level of dignity and maturity in his leadership.

>> and given the fact that the republicans have been so vigilant in pursuing their particular philosophical commitment to no new taxes and to cutting spending, do you think if america's safety net is cut will they ever see a middle-class kid like barack obama become president again? i mean, you've got to raise so much money you can't even be educated in the same fashion and you can't even pay your bills. >> as a career prosecutor i'll tell you that i believe one of the greatest threats to our public safety is a lack of education for our children. i believe there's a very direct connection in fact between public education and public safety. and if we are truly committed to being smart on crime, we will be equally committed to making sure that our public school systems have all the resources they need. i think that the president is right in wanting to help people understand that most of these issues are actually not even bipartisan, they're non- non-partisan.

whether you're a republican or democrat you want your child to be able to live a productive life, and that's going to start with a meaningful education. that education is going to be a function of our priority as political leaders to give the education system the resources it needs. and i think that most people regardless of their party affiliation would agree with that, and it's time that we act like adults when we sit in these positions of leadership in legislative houses and we stay committed to the values that we have as it relates to our own family. we should see our responsibility as being -- responsibility to our constituencies that is equal to the responsibilities we have to our own family, which is to make decisions based on what is in their best interests and not ours. >> california attorney general kamala harris, thanks so much for joining us tonight. >> you're welcome. thank you. it was wonderful to be here. >> it was the worst day on wall street since the height of the 2008 financial crisis. how much of an impact did the recent debt deal have on the market tumble?

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weighing in on the results of the prolonged debt debate in washington and it's not pretty for congress. only 14% of americans approve of the job congress is doing. 82% are unhappy with their elected representatives. it's the highest disapproval rating for congress since the "times" and cbs started this poll in 1977. house speaker john boehner is the individual who fared the worst. 57% say they now disapprove of the job he's doing. a 16-point jump from the last poll. the tea party also took a hit in the debate. a plurality of voters have an unfavorable view of the tea party movement, with an 11-point jump in negative opinion since april. opinion on president obama

remains steady at 48% approval and 47% disapproval. but while the president's numbers survived the debt standoff, will they survive a ravaged economy? we'll have the latest on today's ugly financial numbers, next. ou, energy is being produced to power our lives. while energy developement comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing decades of cleaner burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self contained well systems and using state of the art monitoring technologies, rigorous practices help ensure our operations are safe and clean for our communities and the environment we are america's natural gas. ♪ let me make you smile ♪ let me do a few tricks ♪ some old and then some new tricks ♪ ♪ i'm very versatile ♪ so let me entertain you ♪ and we'll have a real good time ♪

[ male announcer ] the new hp touchpad. get it now for $100 off, starting at $399.99. ♪ it was a day that had everyone thinking back to september of 2008, when stocks bottomed out and the economy was on the brink of disaster. worries about the weak u.s. financial outlook and fears of looming economic catastrophe in europe caused a massive stock sell-off. the dow jones industrial average fell 512 points, a drop of more than 4%.

markets are complicated and volatile. so it's a fool's errand to come up with a single reason for today's sell-off and why it happened. but we already know that the recent debt deal in washington hurts the country's financial future. the spending cuts in the deal will cost the economy an estimated 323,000 jobs next year. lack of a payroll tax holiday and unemployment and benefit extensions could cost an additional 1.5 million jobs. financial giant jpmorganchase echoed that grim outlook. in an analysis of the debt deal the company wrote, "all in all, by our estimates federal fiscal policy will subtract around 1 to 3/4 percentage points from gdp growth. this doesn't bode well for next year." let's bring in pat garafalo, the economic editor for thinkprogress.org. how much of this plummet has been related to the debt deal?

a lot of people have been weighing in thinking there's a direct correlation between the fiscal crisis we just endured and the lack of security americans now feel. >> well, i think there's a correlation in the sense that now that the debt ceiling debacle is over, now that the dust has cleared, the theater's done, investors are looking for answers and realizing that the economy's in really bad shape. unemployment's really high. the latest manufacturing data was really bad. as you said, prospects for growth are sluggish at best. and investors realize that. they're just looking around, and they're not seeing much to feel good about. >> well, some people would say look, things are getting worser and worser. we expect another dismal jobs report tomorrow. do you think that's going to push stocks down even further? >> it's absolutely possible. and even if the number is higher than the last few numbers have been, and there's really no reason to believe it will be, at the rate we're creating jobs we're not even creating them fast enough to keep up with the number of people entering the labor force, never mind the 14 million people that were unemployed because of the great recession.

>> you know, the president's ideological opponents are already linking him to this stock slide. no surprise will. a "wall street journal" column remarked that the last time the stock market slid on nine straight days "jimmy carter was president and the country was struggling to come to grips with a period of anemic economic growth and high inflation. isn't it comforting to know we've made such progress over the last three decades?" they'll blame obama when the stock market dips, but you won't hear them giving him credit for the rise in the dow jones industrials over the past 2 1/2 years. do you think the president has any control over the way the market swings here? >> no, he doesn't. i mean, if anybody has control, it's congress in the way it is implementing fiscal policy. and right now congress is cutting back and putting in austerity measures. and investors realize that, and they realize that means growth is going to go down. >> well, do you think there's a benefit from a market correction like this? because doesn't it give the economy a chance to rebound so

there's some positive news there? >> i think that's right in the sense that we shouldn't take one bad day as indicative of anything. you know, markets bounce up, they bounce down. but i think this many down days in a row on the heels of an austerity package are really worrying because people are looking at the long term and they're not seeing anything to feel good about. they're not seeing prospects for the kind of job creation that we need. >> yeah, well, obviously, it seems that the lack of familiarity with the complicated nature of the market has led to a lot of disgruntlement. do you think americans at any rate will become more familiar and more informed about what's going on here? if we could give them some kind of economic lessons, an economics 101 that would help in a sense defray some of the anxiety, or do you think this is going to be reinforced by the objective market itself? >> i think the market like the deficit number is something kind of like when people hear those numbers are bad they realize the wider economy is bad and so it

kind of becomes a projection of their wider economic woes. and people shouldn't be worried about the stock market going down per se. they should be worried about the reasons it fell, which is that the numbers coming in are bad and they're not looking good for several quarters out. >> all right. pat garofalo of thinkprogress.org, thank you so very much. >> thank you. the faa shutdown is almost over. for now. how democrats are rescuing the tens of thousands of workers being held hostage. next. and a billionaire puts his money where his mouth is when it comes to job creation. it just so happens that he's also the mayor of new york. we'll have more on mike bloomberg's remarkable jobs initiative. [ male announcer ] before you take it on your road trip...

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senate democrats and the obama administration have figured out how to end the faa shutdown and rescue the 74,000 workers being held hostage by republican political demands. at least temporarily. senate majority leader harry reid announced a "bipartisan compromise" this afternoon. under the deal the senate will approve a house bill that extends faa funding through mid september. the bill still includes $16.5 million worth of cuts in subsidies to rural airports. but transportation secretary ray lahood will sign a waiver negating those cuts, effectively making it a clean bill. the controversial anti-union measure that has dominated the

faa fight is part of a longer-term funding extension, and it does not factor into this short-term deal. senate commerce committee chairman jay rockefeller indicated the battle was far from over, releasing the following statement today. "it's clear the right wing of the gop wants to undo worker protections and may again block progress on the faa bill in september in order to get its way. thankfully, for now, this deal allows the faa to restart, maintain workers' rights, and ensures that rural airports can get the resources they need." the senate is expected to pass the bill by unanimous consent as early as tomorrow, allowing faa employees to get back to work by monday. with five days to go until the wisconsin recall elections, money is pouring in. ultimately, up to $30 million will have gone into the nine races. john nichols tells us where it's all coming from, next.

and he's working with the government to brainwash your kids. why spongebob squarepants is the newest enemy of fox news. you're watching "the ed show" on msnbc. entertain you ♪ ♪ let me make you smile ♪ let me do a few tricks ♪ some old and then some new tricks ♪ ♪ i'm very versatile ♪ so let me entertain you ♪ and we'll have a real good time ♪ [ male announcer ] the new hp touchpad. get it now for $100 off, starting at $399.99. ♪ right? get. out. exactly! really?! [ mom ] what? shut the front door. right? woop-woop! franklin delano! [ male announcer ] hey! there's oreo creme under that fudge! oreo fudge cremes. indescribably good. i thought i was invincible. i'm on an aspirin regimen now because i never want to feel that helplessness again. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor

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we're heading into the final stretch of the wisconsin recall elections. voters head to the polls on tuesday. democrats need to pick up three seats to take control of the state senate. and they're running strong in at least two races. a third seat they might be able to flip is the one currently held by alberta darling. she ran into trouble this week when she was asked to name a company in her district that created jobs this year. >> i have several manufacturing companies in my -- there's a chemical company. i'm just -- they're in germantown. there was just an article about a company in menomonee falls. there are several manufacturers,

i'm in my moment, i'm forgetting the names but yes, there are several manufacturers who have grown jobs. >> what had happened was even after palinesque responses like that one, darling is still stunned she's being recalled. >> you just have to say to yourself, why are we being recalled? when so much is going right. >> she answered her own question less than 30 seconds later. >> i just went to a woman today and she said, you know, do you believe, you know, why are you giving tax breaks to the wealthy? i said, what do you consider wealthy? she said $250,000 and above. and i said that is small business. those are small business people. those aren't wealthy people. a lot of people just don't understand that these are not rich people. >> let's help her understand. only about 1% of people in wisconsin make more than $250,000 a year.

senator darling, the fact that you give tax breaks to the top 1% while slashing the rights of working folks is why you're being recalled. joining me now from madison, wisconsin is john nicholls, the washington correspondent for "the nation" magazine. welcome to the show. >> it's great to be with you. >> john, money is pouring into these recall elections to the tune of $30 million. where's all that dough coming from? >> well, it may add up to $30 million. we don't know exactly how much because it's very hard to track it all. remember, we live in the citizens united era. this is the post-supreme court decision time now, when corporations can spend whatever they want and do so without much accountability. but we do know that some of the primary sources of money coming into wisconsin are classic right-wing funders with an agenda. the koch brothers have poured money in via the group americans for prosperity. and also the devoss family. these are the heirs to the amway

fortune over in michigan. dick devoss, a former candidate for governor of michigan, who was defeated, and his wife, who is a former chairwoman of the michigan republican party. they're billionaires. they're very, very wealthy. they fund a group called the american federation for children, which sounds wonderful, but in fact it's really a organization that pushes for privatization of schools, for really gutting out the funding of our inner city schools, of our rural schools. and they have poured money into these races, especially into the alberta darling race that you've been highlighting. >> well, there's no doubt that that supreme court decision had a deleterious impact on the common good as a result of, you know, lobbying from so many different parties and of course pouring this kind of unlimited capital into the coffers of these particular races, it certainly has a huge effect. alberta darling's race is certainly turning out to be the

most expensive legislative race in history. will dems be able to win this one or do you think they'll be able to take control of the state senate? >> well, that's a great question. of course it's the $30 million question at this point. that's why so much money is pouring in. all of these national groups that are coming in to defend alberta darling wouldn't be doing so if they didn't think she was vulnerable. that is a swing district. it is a tough district. but her opponent, sandy pash, is a nurse, an educator, a state representative who has run a very, very effective campaign. and at the end of the day, with so much money coming on television and radio and in direct mail i think it kind of begins to overwhelm people and they go back to those core questions. what did governor walker do? who stood with governor walker? who stood against? the darling race is a classic test because alberta darling is governor walker's point person on budget issues whereas sandy pash as a state representative

was one of the leading people in the capitol fighting against the governor's agenda. it's going to be a clear choice. and my gut tells me that there's an awfully lot of people over there in the north side of milwaukee and in some of those near-in suburbs who really don't think the state's headed in the right direction. >> well, there's a lot of motivation out there then for the democrats. they've already survived one recall election. they've got two more coming up. are either of those in danger? >> well, i was up in northern wisconsin the other day, and the most targeted of the democrats is a guy named jim holperin, from near the michigan border up there. he has a very aggressive opponent. they're spending an immense amount of money that that area's never seen so much spending. but as i drove through the district, i was struck that those jim holperin signs were out on the country roads in front of the farms and in the small towns and my sense is he's done what he needs to do to solidify himself.

still, it will be a tough race. the other race in southeastern wisconsin is a guy named bob wirch, a veteran state senator as well. they nominated a corporate lawyer against him. and my gut instinct, that this just isn't going to be a good season for corporate lawyers. so i will predict that bob wirch will win pretty easily. >> all right, my friend, john nichols of "the nation" magazine, thank you very much for your time. >> and we want to remind you that ed will be broadcasting live from madison next week. he'll be outside the capitol building on the corner of east washington and pinkney on august 8th and 9th. washington is asking where are the jobs? new york's mayor is showing everyone how to create them. i'll talk with professor james peterson about mike bloomberg's jobs plan.

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the clinic visit their website at freeclinics.us. you can also text the word "health" to 50555. that's 50555. to make a $10 donation by cell phone. when we come back, new york city mayor michael bloomberg is putting up millions of dollars to start an outreach program for minority youth. you're watching "the ed show" on msnbc. are switching from tylenol to advil. here's one story. [ george ] my name is george. i switched to advil six months ago. i love golf. but i have knee pain, hip pain, back pain and pain in my hands. advil is definitely my pain reliever of choice. it covers all, and i'm a walking testament. you may not know it to look at me, but i can dance too! [ chuckles ] [ male announcer ] make the switch. take action. take advil. [ male announcer ] these days, even your trash can be a gold mine for identity thieves.

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need the city's help to improve their lives. and to pay for new jobs and education program, he's turning to himself. the program, called the young men's initiative, will focus on careers, education, and family issues for the city's black and latino youth. bloomberg will help finance the 127 million program with $30 million of his own money. >> you have to provide a solution rather than just sit around and complain.

and that solution is to engage those kids and to give them an opportunity, a path out of poverty, out of desperation, out of a life of crime so they can participate in the great american dream. >> wow. also kicking in $30 million to the program is one of the right wing's favorite progressive boogeymen, george soros. let's see how long it takes for someone to call the program a part of the soros liberal media conspiracy. joining me tonight is james peterson, director of africana studies and associate professor of english at lehigh university. he also blogs for the huffington post. welcome to the show, professor peterson. >> thanks for having me, doc. >> while washington will only talk about spending cuts, professor peterson, what kind of message is bloomberg sending by pumping millions of his own dollars into a public program like this? pretty remarkable, no? >> well, i think that the effort on his part and mr. soros and the matching effort of the city,

these are great supplemental programs, and i actually want to applaud him on this initiative. it's really, really important. but i really also think we need to look at the numbers and understand there has to be other structural changes in order to make these sort of supplemental things much more effective and the changes we need for black and brown men in inner cities much more permanent. for instance, new york city has about 8 million people in it, right? so the black and brown males make up maybe somewhere between 1 1/2 to 2 million of those. $40 million over the course of three years for that segment of the population is probably not all that we need. so it's a great supplement, but we also need structural changes, educational reform, addressing the prison-industrial complex more directly, address the issue of indoctrination of the police forces against black and brown men. there are a lot of other things that need to happen. also bear in mind here, mayor bloomberg is the largest employer in the city of new york, correct? and it's not his bloomberg media empire. that's the city itself. so the city has the capacity to

employ young men and to engage them in constructive ways, but we can't think about supplemental things. you know, supplements are not substitutes. right? and as you know, dr. dyson, charity and philanthropy is no substitute for justice and equality. >> no doubt. dr. king made that clear. and you talk about the structural changes that are necessary to of course make these supplemental additions to their particular economy something that's attractive. but do you think the giving of the money itself creates such a groundswell of tremendous media attention and attracts other donors who might follow suit with their pocketbook backing up their rhetoric? >> i hope so. but i don't want folks to think that we can have private solutions for public problems. i hope other people do give their money. this is really, really important. and again, i applaud his effort. but we can't have private solutions for very, very real public problems. i'll give you an example. the new york viewers will be familiar with the monumental five, a group of black and brown young folk who were profiled and mistreated by the new york city

police department at a very, very peaceful event in new york city honoring the release of an album, right? so we've got to address those issues. and so yes, we can support and supplement financially and other ways young men in inner cities, but we also have to understand our police force, our educational system, our job structure, all of these things have got to be addressed structurally and permanently. what happens when this money runs out? or what if other folk aren't feeling charitable? we need justice and equality and structural change to make the kind of progress that we need in our cities particularly here. >> well, finally, give us in your sense, what will happen with this kind of money stimulating the young people themselves? what will be the impact, in 30 seconds, upon the young people themselves? >> well, it's exciting. young people will feel galvanized and they'll feel valued. but without the structural complement it just doesn't work. so i hope they're very, very strategic about how they use this money. i hope they give it to grassroots organizations. i hope they do the research and make sure they're doing very, very comprehensive things

because sometimes these donations and these kind of foundations turn into sort of capitalistic money grabs. so i really hope it's a grassroots effort. i hope they go to the right people, they use the right resources, and i really, really hope that people understand that private efforts like this are great but they're no substitute for our larger public issues. >> all right. dr. james peterson, thanks for joining us. >> thank you for having me. coming up, the far right goes after another made-up boogeyman. this one happens to live in a pineapple under the sea. [ man ] they said i couldn't win a fight.

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the made-up specter of sharia law has found a permanent home in far right political discourse. in the latest hyperventilation from the islamophobic crowd comes over the appointment of a muslim lawyer to the new jersey superior court. soheil muhammad represented several individuals wrongly detained after 9/11. this prompted some right-wingers to call him "a long-time mouthpiece for radical

islamists." end of quote. well, the man who nominated mr. muhammad to the bench is fed up with the baseless attacks. his name, governor chris christie. >> ignorance is behind the criticism of soheil muhammad. soheil muhammad is an extraordinary american. sharia law has nothing to do with this at all. it's crazy. it's crazy. the guy's an american citizen who has been an admitted lawyer to practice in the state of new jersey, swearing an oath to uphold the laws of new jersey, the constitution of the state of new jersey, and the constitution of the united states of america. this sharia law business is crap. it's just crazy. and i'm tired of dealing with the crazies. >> it's not often that you will find chris christie getting a round of applause on this program. but when so many on the right are using fear tactics to improve their poll numbers, governor christie has stood up

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progressive sponges are taking over this great nation and indoctrinating our children. one sponge in particular of cartoon origin is working in conjunction with the u.s. government and doing the unthinkable. >> the department of education using spongebob squarepants now to teach kids about global warming.

the government agency showed kids this cartoon and handed out books that blame man for global warming but they did not tell kids that that is actually a disputed fact. >> i mean, where do they find these people? that was gretchen carlson of "fox and friends" exposing the far left propaganda machine. but miss carlson got a few things wrong. yes, the department of education held a literacy event for d.c. school kids last month. however, as an agency spokesman tells media matters, students were not shown a cartoon but "participants were permitted to choose one of dozens of diverse books to take home with them, and the spongebob book was one of those options." and as far as climate change being a disputed fact, the reality-based scientific community disagrees. here's just a small sample of the meteorological society, "human activities are a major contributor to climate change." the national research council,

"the preponderance of scientific evidence points to human activities." the geological society of america, "human activities account for most of the warming since the middle 1900s." nevertheless, steve deucy and not steve deucy have their own set of facts. >> clearly nickelodeon is pushing a global warming agenda. the big question is is it manmade or is it just one of those gigantic climactic, you know, phases? the science on both sides, there are a lot of scientists who say it's this. others say it's that. >> right. it's unproven science. and again, this is a public education system that we all pay our tax dollars for. and the spongebob book says it's a manmade problem that requires human intervention. >> they're presenting it as fact. >> as fact. >> facts aside, miss carlson admits that her main issue with the cartoon's titular character is its intricate plotline. >> my kids watch a lot of tv but

anytime they choose that show i'm like, why? it's hard to even follow sometimes. >> joining me now is eric burns, democratic strategist and founder of bullfight strategies. mr. burns, welcome to the show. >> thank you, michael. how are you? >> i'm doing fine. should we be disturbed that a cartoon sponge knows more about facts than the hosts of "fox and friends"? >> yeah, i mean, look, that doesn't come as a surprise to me in my work at media matters. i think that a bowl of wet noodles i think could probably do better than steve doocy and gretchen do in the morning in terms of getting their facts right. but i'm really shocked that nickelodeon -- it's the fear mongering going on over there. can you believe it? you know. but at least the teletubbies are off the hook now. but this debate has just gotten so absurd. because it's not a debate. you know, it's 2,500 scientists, 2,500 in 2007 came out and said

yes, humans -- human beings are contributing to climate change. what is wrong with teaching kids to respect the environment? i don't imagine that steve doocy would want his kids being taught that it's okay to litter on the streets. and even if he doesn't -- even if he doesn't buy into the fact, the proven scientific fact, he ought to at least understand that it's good for -- it's good for kids, you know, to learn how to take care of the world around them. but the best -- the most ironic and the really kind of delicious part of this, if it weren't so damaging and serious, is that rupert murdoch, the -- i mean, the chairman and founder of news corp., has himself acknowledged that humans contribute to climate change, and he even tried to take news corp. carbon neutral several years back. >> wow. allow me to read a passage from the offending literature. i promise this is not go the

heck to sleep. "the residents of bikini bottom returned home and worked hard to make their community beautiful again. they planted trees to add oxygen back into the air instead of driving their motorized boats, which burn fuel for power, people started riding their bicycles more. to conserve energy they used less electricity and unplugged appliances when they weren't being used. spongebob worked night and day to help repair the damage he created." now, is that indoctrination? >> i mean, look, i think it sounds like common sense. and i just wonder, maybe we need to put spongebob in charge of the news division over at fox. and we might actually get some accurate facts and some accurate reporting coming out of what is supposed to be the most powerful and popular news organization in the country that is just filled with lies. and i just really challenge steve doocy to really come back on this and admit that he's just deceiving his audience and

lying, and it's hurting our democracy. >> here's co-host david briggs attempting to explain america's school performance. >> i mean, we're talking about 14th in the world in reading, 17th in the world in science, 25th in math. so we're forcing an issue that is not yet proven. we can't even teach our kids the adequate math, reading, and science at this point. >> the right wing with fox as a mouthpiece has been successful in convincing a segment of the population that the idea of climate change is based on junk science. by encouraging folks to ignore facts and scientific evidence and not consider science important doesn't that contribute to students' poor performance in science? we've got about 30 seconds left. >> oh, of course it does. and i'll tell you, i looked up those stats today, and i found that we were ranked -- the united states, 23rd in science. and i'm wondering if that segment on "fox and friends" actually accounts for that difference between steve doocy's numbers and mine over the course of a day because that's the kind