entire region that dragged toxic water. i thank god for the obama administration's willingness to teethen regulation and stand up to the coal companies. for steve day, black lung may be the executioner, but deregulation is the death deny sense. that does it for the cycle. republican governors looking to run in 2016, run into trouble instead. it is tuesday, april 22, and this is now. >> say you're part of the gop donor establishment. 2016 looks kind of grim. >> new jersey governor chris christie has been named father of the year. >> that's good. >> there is a very real possibility he could be on the stand at some point. >> thanks to bridgegate.

>> would you consider testifying? >> i'm not going to talk about that. >> how about scott walker? >> jeb bush. >> bush is a paid director to a giant hospital other than which supported president obama's affordable care act. >> republican party base is unified in their hatred of obama. >> jeb about your doesn't come with package. >> it is an act of love. >> should not the do what governor rick perry did. >> i don't think you have a heart. >> he should not do what governor rick perry did. >> sotomayor. >> he should not do what governor rick perry did. >> today has been you awesome, girl. >> girl, today has not been so awesome for rick perry. because yesterday a texas district judge named 12 jurors and two alternates to a grand

jury that is weighing possible criminal charges against the governor of texas. the issue is whether perry abused his power last summer when he carried out a threat to veto $7.5 million in funding for prosecutors in the state's public integrity unit. that unit is run by travis county district attorney, a democrat and also someone convicted of drunk driving last april. upon her conviction, perry called on her to resign. when she didn't, he axed the funding for her unit. at the time, the public integrity office happened to be examining one of governor perry's signature projects. and if she had resigned, perry would have been able to p a point her replacement. so questionable timing, poll ethics violations, partisan hijinx in the statehouse. it all sounds really familiar, doesn't it? almost unbelievably familiar.

were the republican governors supposed to be the heros? >> we see the voters where they work, where they live, where they play and we make commitments and then we live under the same rules and laws we pass for everybody else. republican governors are driving america's comeback. >> unfortunately, a number may be driving the comeback caravan in on a ditch. there is the controversy surrounding governor christie. >> we're fully cooperating. >> have you personally been subpoenaed? >> no. absolutely not. >> and, yes, we know a lot about that ongoing saga. but less well known, the fact that prosecutors in wisconsin have been looking in to possible illegal coordination between governor scott walker's campaign and outside groups during recent recall elections. and while he is not under investigation, a former florida governor jeb bush's evident passion for amassing personal wealth is already creating provocative headlines. if republican governors are indeed driving will bus, let's hope they packed a spare. joining me now is "times"

editor-at-large and senior political analyst mark halperin and david corn. mark, rick te perry, how much o big deal are the potential charges? there potential statutes that have been violated. bribing a public official, abusing one's position by misusing public funds, and coercion. >> let's get the msnbc paddy g wagon and load the governors andest governor and est ex-governors into it. take away one variable. i think he's been pretty straightforward about what he's doing. she was arrested. he wants her out. >> there were two other texas d.a.s charged with drunk driving. perry did nothing about that. >> he didn't. but because of the position she

holds, she does investigate corruption monday staamong stat officials. so i don't think he's trying to hide anything. in the scheme of scandals, controversies and the context of 2016, i don't think rick perry's candidacy will rise or fall on this assuming there is no indictment and it is being looked at. so we'll let the legal process play out. but this is not a hidden hinge. he's been very straightforward about why he did it. >> david, just because it's not hidden, does that make it less worse? >> it still can be illegal even if he did it in full sight. the problem is he could have vetoed the funding for this office whenever he wanted. but he basically said if you don't quit, i'm vetoing. so you have a threat and coercion. and that is the problem. but i got to say, the big issue seems to be here there is like the curse of the maltese falcon on republican governors. if you're john kasich or bobby jind jindal, you better start worrying.

one by one, they were supposed to be the saviors of the party, don't pay attention to those crazy tea partiers up on capitol hill or elsewhere. we have these reasonable moderate sometimes moderate but reasonable governors who know how to be electle, they know how to govern. and we have someone to choose from when it comes to 2016. they are dropping like flies. and i think if you're part of the republican gop establishment, doughnut class, whoever they are, you may have to start looking elsewhere and may even go back to paul ryan who is not a governor and say maybe he's our horse here. >> but he does have quite a paper trail. mark, before we say that governor perry has dropped like a fly, it is worth noting that he is bringing it as they say on the streets. he has invite willed governor andrew cuomo of new york to a throwdown basically over economic policy. and is involved in this new ad that was out i think just a few

hours ago yesterday. let's take a listen to the ad. >> here is some truth in advertising. texas is number one for doing business. lower taxes. affordable energy. and a fair legal system. so if you're tired of new york, there is an option. >> if you're tired of new york, come visit me and my glasses in texas. he is undeterred by any of this investigation. and is coming to new york city on thursday to steal business from the empire station. >> a little fly with glasses. he's been doing this all over the country to try to get businesses to come to texas. they do have a pretty good business climate there. there are other problems with the texas state government to be sure. he's very competent. and the plots of all these guy, particularly people who ran last time or thought about running last time, this guy is on a mission to prove that the last time was a fluke, that he had back problems that kept him from being the type of candidate he wanted to be.

he will not get david corn's vote. he may have legal problems with this investigation. but he's going around trying to say there is a texas economic miracle and i'm a new guy from the guy you thought you knew last time. >> and he's betting on amnesia it seems. and please come to texas where we have the most unemployed -- excuse me, not unemployed. the most uninsured people in the country. with cost on down. great living standards throughout the state. we can have this fight back and forth. but i tell you, mom always told me, you get one chance to make a first impression. so he's really far in a hole and putting on metro sexual eyeglasses will require much more than that to get people to think twice about rick perry. >> i don't think that i'd call them metro sexual. just a fetching, you know, square frame. they could be a -- >> there is something about them. >> you see them in brooklyn all the time. >> all respect to brooklyn.

mark, i want to talk specifically about cuomo, though. because we looked at this sort of pairing of rick perry and andrew cuomo and our senior producer likes to call it the undercard race of 2016. like these are the second -- this is like the second maybe third tier candidate for possible presidential run. andrew cuomo, how serious do you think rick perry is taking him as a potential opponent? >> rick perry is looking for a trial to try to get more attention. new york has run a lot of aggressive advertising saying people should bring companies to new york. andrew cuomo has not been baited very much by anybody except bill de blasio. we'll see if he falls for this. he might find the glasses so fetching, they bring him in. and it could rise up to the main event under certain circumstances. >> david, you brought up the broader point here, which is bobby jindal saysovernors are

the future of the party. and you look at the governors, and it is not exactly rosy picture. to the jeb bush question. because i think we're talking in terms of serious contenders here, jeb bush is allege mentwa mentioned. how much is it an issue that he did work on behalf of lehman brothers trying to convince carlos slim to rescue lehman before the crash? >> as well as that big hospital in favor of obamacare. >> which may be the worst of them all, right? >> mark and i can probably come up with three dozen problems with jeb bush. he had the immigration statement that put him far outside and and i will yep natualienates him fr base of the part iity. he doesn't have the social media age. it allows him to be attacked from different directions. the tea party people can say you

want a company that supported obamacare. people elsewhere can say, oh, you are working with carlos slim and lehman brothers so you're a tool of wall street. people don't like immigration. i mean he's not a consensus candidate. he's basically a consensus candidate and that everybody can have a reason to target him. >> there are no perfect candidates running. however he is the least funny tweeter of all time. >> is that a good thing? >> to david's point, he plays on on social media, but he doesn't do it with any verve or humor. >> like you. >> or like hillary clinton. he's not an up fan any man, but he's not gone to social media as a laugh riot. >> there are no perfect candidate, but there are perfect pairs of glasses. mark halperin and david corn, thank you for your time. >> thank you. after the break, today the supreme court upheld michigan's controversial and voter approved ban on affirmative action

because apparently it's not necessarily a race thing. really? really. really? i'll ask professor michael dyson all about that next. [ male announcer ] the wright brothers started in a garage. mattel started in a garage. disney started in a garage. amazon started in a garage. ♪ the ramones started in a garage. my point? some of the most innovative things in the world come out of american garages. introducing the lighter, faster cadillac cts. 2014 motor trend car of the year. ain't garages great? add vanishing deductible from nationwide insurance and get $100 off for every year of safe driving. we put members first. join the nation.

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this morning the supreme court voted 6-2 to uphold a michigan ban on affirmative action in the state's public universities. the decision affirms a michigan constitutional amendment from 2006 that says state colleges and universities shall not discriminate against or grant every enshal treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity

or natural origin. in a fiery dissent which she read from the bench, justice sotomayor argued we out not to sit back and wish away rather than confront the racial inequality that exists in our society. it is this view that works harm by perpetuating the notion that what makes race matter is acknowledging the simple truth that race does matter. in other words, merely acknowledging bias does not create it. the importance of of a piaffirm action is in facts. "new york times" documents the effect bans on race conscious admission policies have had on an entire generation of american students. michigan is one of eight states to ban affirmative action in higher education. in the year after that ban went into effect, the percent of michigan freshmen who were black dropped from 7% to 5% even as

the state's college age black population increased. in california, the numbers are even more dissfres itressdistre. in 1990, there was a 12% enrollment bank between hispanic freshmen enrolled and number of college age hispanics in the state overall. that gap now stands at 38%. either the roberts court is woe friday ignorant of the effect their ruling will have on students of color or they are perfectly okay with a society that makes it harder for hose students to get a quality education at the very moment when we should be making it easier. joining me now is the co-host of the cycle and author of the series presumed guilty, and georgetown university professor. professor, let me start with you. i thought sotomayor's dissent was searing and absolutely spot on. it appears the roberts court thinks by just acknowledging racial inequities, you create them.

>> absolutely right. i think she was elegant and also eloquent. she was fiery in defense of a principle that is about true merit to being accuracy, not the fake and false mary to being accuracy that says we've acknowledged race in the past, but if we acknowledge it now, it will create the ib inequality that we seek to undermine. but it has to function as a merit in order to take into account the dell obstacle. african american, latinos and even women as well. it enables more people in the dominant culture to get a foot in terms of 34r0i789 and education that even african american people. but if we talk race specifically, affirmative action is not the belief that we will hand out to people who are not deserving a particular slot in school or at a job. it says that in the competition

among relatively equal candidates, we'll give the nod to the underrepresented minority because that constitutes justice in repairation and also in terms of broadening in what we want to play. it acknowledges we've prevented them in the past and now seek to have a more just society. >> ari, the decision today was not necessarily surprising for people who had a sense of where justice roberts was going. in 2007, he was giving his guidance on a school deseg gags indication and he said the way to stop discrimination is to stop discriminating on the basis of race. this seems to be the organizing

prip he wi principle. it has damaged access to the polls for millions of americans. >> this is a huge priority of john roberts. you mentioned that famous line from the seattle schools case. which was of course a case in the line of brown v board of education, a case that no politician openly opposes and yet that was a stop sign on that road from john roberts saying you can't do that kind of voluntary integration plan. what is different about today's case, if does not change the status quo across the country. so affirmative action in a certain context is still basically legal. >> but doesn't it put wind in the sails of those who would like to overturn affirmative action policies? >> what it does is give a boost to the political effort to ban affirmative action. michigan being the central place

because this was where the original case came out of, the university of michigan had a program that had been tested, that had survived the court's scrutiny and then they went to the the polls. you and you mentioned the sotomayor dissent. she says her view of what happened today, she says the majority of michigan voter changed the rules in the middle of the game. reconfiguring existing political process in michigan in a matter that burdened racial minorities. what she's saying is that you cannot put something on the ballot through referendum. of course you can. but if you take something that was once done a certain way and was always fine as long as it had legacies or favorite tim for donors or all the other ways that we have a swiss cheese admissions policy, the moment you say we want to do equal opportunity policy, she says if you look at that in the context of political discrimination, that shouldn't fly.

let's be real here. you're not supposed to personalize the court. she is a minority on the court having this debate. >> who has been unabashed in her support for affirmative action policies and the importance they played in her life. professor, so much of this is happening in and around college and university admissions policies. and as a professor, the debate over sort of racial justice issues and economic mobility in this country and who is afforded a sort of place at the starting blocks and who is not very much up for debate. and i feel like and i want to know your thought, when these cases come up, i'm sure it spurs a lot of discussion on campus and there is a real reaction to and a sechbs indignation about decisions like this. what is the experience like for you at georgetown? >> well, you're right. first of all, people presume when i was a graduating from my undergraduate college going on

with a full ride in the ph.d. program at princeton grating at the top of my class in philosophy, graduate number one, a white student's father came up to me and said you know, son, you're not just going to prince top because you're black. well, the reality is i guess all those hard earned grades that i had made and all the hard work that i had done in his mind was not sufficient. i didn't like some black conservatives go, oh, my god, because white people will think i've gotten a hand out, i'm going to deny the legitimacy of the opportunity. because those same white people didn't believe i was smart before, why now should i reject the offering in light of that kind of rejection. so for me, it's very simple. many white people are not asked to talk about their own privilege. the way in which affirmative action was written, we're pretending as if white americans have not been the recipients from the beginning of this nation. when we talk about the g.i. bill

which in majority strokes went to white americans, there were a few other exceptions, it created the middle class, it provided opportunities for them to buy homes, to get educated and to get employment. that is an extraordinary degree of affirmative action. when babe ruth set the home run record, he was an affirmative action class. he wasn't batting against the greatest ballplayers. he was batting against the greatest white ballplayers. so my point is simply we don't ask white people to ask questions about their privilege in the negative. so that now as it's talked about in regard to sotomayor, you want to change the rules. when the rules benefited you, it was all good. when it didn't benefit you, thousand it becomes a problem. the burden of race still is born on the back of those african, latino and others and america must see that it has imposed

that burden and must now share it. >> worth noting that legacy admissions have not been held up for scrutiny. >> or athletic access, as well. >> well, the ripple effects that this has in terms of black and hispanic and people of color, mobility, economic mobility in america society not having access to a college degree is profound. in the last six years, white families have lost 1% of their wealth. black families have lost 23% of their wealth. this is not the time to be cutting people's knees out from underneath them. ari, professor, thank you very much for your time. as a reminder, you can catch ari on the cycle every weekday at 3:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. thanks for pulling double duty. >> and nonpacific. don't forget the west coast. >> always in my heart. coming up, oklahoma supreme court stays the executions of two death row inmates over concerns about the drugs used in lethal injections.

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unregulated cocktails mixed by often shady compound pharmacies, drugs that human rights activists run foul of the 8th amendment which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. following oklahoma's action, lawyers for william rousan who is scheduled to be executed at midnight tonight filed an appeal to stay his execution on the same grounds. that appeal is currently before the missouri supreme court and the clock is ticking. just ahead, how about being sentenced to an extra 3 1/2 years in prison because of a typo. white house is poised to take steps to correct injustices in the justice system. but will they be enough. ryan steven so that, director of the equal justice initiative, joins me coming up. they're cloudy. [ doorbell rings ] stall them. [ imitates monkey ] stop stalling.

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there are still too many people in federal prison who were sentenced under the old regime and who as a result will have to spend far more time in prison than they would if sentenced today for exactly the same crime. this is simply not right. >> that was attorney general eric holder announcing the justice department's decision to set new criteria for executive clemency. it is a move intended to decrease the number of prisoners serving long sentences for nonviolent drug offenses under outdated sentencing guidelines. those guidelines which include mandatory minimums are largely responsible for the 800% growth in our federal prison population over the past 30 years. the american prison population has exploded in 40 years from 300,000 in 1972 to 2.3 million today. it is the largest prison population in the world. president obama has so far granted fewer acts of clemency

than any modern president, but you new guidelines from the department of justice and recent moves from the white house are signs that this could change. last week, president obama commuted the sentence of a man sentenced to an additional 3 1/2 years in prison because of a typo that put his so-called base offense level for drug possession at 36 years instead of 34. as a result, that sentenced him to an additional 42 months in prison. under president obama, the justice department has received a record number of petitions for commutation, over 10,000. so far he has commuted 10 of them. joining me now is the director of the equal justice initiative, brian stevenson. thanks so much for joining me. let's first talk about clemency. on some level, these new criteria would seem to be a good idea, but is this really the solution to the larger problem we face in our justice system?

>> well, i think you're right p. it is a good idea, it will have an impact. we know that there are thousands of people currently in the federal system that shouldn't be there if we applied the law that was changed in 10 2010. but we have much bigger work to do to address this problem with that first of all, we have to have sentencing reform. we've sent people to jails and prisons in these crazy numbers largely because we refuse to recognize drug addiction and drug abuse is a health care issue, not a criminal justice issue. the rope we have 5% of the world's population, 25% of the world's imprisoned people is because of the drug policies. the same reason why one in three male black babies expected to go to jail or prison is because of drug policy. so we have to deal with the problem more broadly. but i do think this is an important step about 10% of our nation's prison population is in

the federal system. getting people out immediately who shouldn't be there because they're not there for crimes that threaten public safety is an important step forward. but we have to get states to replicate some of these initiatives at the state level. and we have to have a more honest conversation about criminal justice reform and even republicans are now recognizing that we have to be smarter on crime. we just simply can't be tough on crime. >> the senate is expected to take up some of the most far reaching changes to sentencing guidelines. it feels there is some bipartisan accord. rapped paul last week was speaking about mandatory minimums. are you surprised this has been taken up by both the right and the left? >> i'm really not. because it's been such a huge waste of state and federal money. i think most taxpayers if you tell them we can spend $60,000 or $70,000 a year to put somebody in jail or prison for writing a bad check or for simple possession of marijuana, we can spend a fraction of that,

make them pay back to the systems or the people they victimized, get help treatment and get them off drugs almost everyone will say, no, let's spend less money and do something more effective. the difficulty is that we've had 40 years of the politics of fear and anger where good ideas, effective ideas at dealing with drug addiction and drug abuse acceptsbly couldn't get heard because everybody was trying to be the toughest politician around. they all wanted to compete with each other on harsher sentencing. and it create this hd this worl huge prison population. we've learned we can't afford it. the only up side to the 2008 recession is it caused states to look at areas where they're wasting dollars. and there is no bigger area than the area of prisons and mass incarceration. >> you talk about that, the back in the day, in the '80s when a lot of the policies were put into place. 1972, 300,000 people in the federal prison system. today 2.3 million.

nonviolent drug charge arrests in 2012, 1.5 million of them. you spoke to it just a moment ago. did anybody have the sense when these guidelines, these minimums were being instituted that this was a terrible idea and it would have catastrophic effects on certain segments of society and indeed the state coffers and the prison system? >> you know, i think that's a great question. i think we did know. some people knew, they just couldn't get past the politics. sentencing commission recognized in the mid-80s the disparities between crack sentencing and powder cocaine sentencing would create huge racial effects and it couldn't get anyone to pay attention. everybody was afraid to say let's do something sensible to bring down the prison population. i think our big cultural challenge, our big political challenge, is that we have the highest rate of incarceration in the world and we're not ashamed of that. we don't think that's a bad thing.

and creating a culture where we recognize that in the land of the free and the home of the brave, you cannot imprison everybody and be a great society, is really going to be key. and i think that is where we failed. we knew a lot of these projections would create very serious problems. you look at poor communities where now we have 6 million people on probation and parole, we are v. tare have tens of milo can't get jobs. the collateral consequences have been devastating. so i do think it requires a political shift, a cultural shift and that's where the leadership from the attorney general and the white house is so vitally important. and it's one of the reasons why i think this is an important step forward. >> let me just before we let you go, bryan, on the subject of leadership, on the numbers alone, the president has had the worst record in terms of granting clemency and commutations of any president in modern history. lbj had 1186. richard nixon at 923. this president has now commuted

62. he has pardoned and commuted sentences for 62 people. are you surprised? what are the factors there that have led to such a low number? >> i thinks's d it's disappoint. second term presidents do much better than first term presidents on this issue. i'd like to believe that before the president leaves office, that his numbers will be stronger. he'll be deeply disappointed if they're not. we have a wonderful opportunity on dramatically increase these numbers just with this initiative. i hope we see some real changes. >> amen to that. bryan teach sostevenson, thank always. coming up, a republican lawmaker in alabama claims to have a sur fire combo for re-election. guns and grills. that's next on "now". hey. i'm ted and this is rudy. say "hi" rudy. re-election. guns and grills. that's next on "now". esur fire re-election. guns and grills.

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alabama republican steve hurst really, really, really wants you to know that he likes guns. according to al.com, he bought a giant barbecue in the shape of a revolver. he's now using the smoker as a parade float in his re-election campaign because why? as a 16 year veteran of the state legislature, he claims the fleet has two purposes. for one, it reminds people's a small business other than.has t. for one, it reminds people's a small business other than. and, two, the gun shaped barbecue often attached to his truck reminds people he supports gun rights. is that what the giant gun barbecue means? steve hurst is not the only republican candidate using weapons of violence as a campaign gimmick. in colorado, greg brophy held a

giveaway to raise money and supporters. it lures in the gun hungry with the picture of the firearm which he apparently tricked out. gun giveaways have taken place in south carolina and tennessee and arizona and california. which all begs the question whatever happened to politicians kissing babies. coming up, genetically modified organisms, gmos. frank p foods or future foods some do they need a warning label? food policy activist will explain. fwrs you, my friend are a master of diversification.

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. breaking news. the new jersey legislative super committee just confirmed four new subpoenas in its investigation into the george washington bridge lane closures.

and they are christina rena, a staffer who resigned in february. christie spokesman michael dharun yak, the port authority commissioner. not on the list for today, governor chris christie. the four will testify in early may. after the break, genetically modified salmon is about to hit american grocery store shelves. are you scared? and should you be? we get the low down next. but first, a market wrap. here is how the market ended up today. we had a pretty good day. s&p up six days in a row gaining eight, the dow up 65. and the nasdaq adding a whopping 40 points. allergen shares went higher. novartis is buying smith klein

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unitedhealthcare. the debate over genetically modified foods has been raging for over two decades. but lately the fear factor around franken foods isn't quite what it has been. scientists and even folks in the environmental movement have reversed their previous opposition and now the debate has shifted to labeling. do customers have a right to know what is in their food? >> it's not about taste. quite frankly, i'm no scientist, so for me it's not even about the science. it's about the fact of freedom. i don't approach this as a chef, i approach this as a parent. i want to know what i'm feeding my kids. >> ballot measures to require labels on gmo products failed in both california and washington state. but vermont is now poised to become the first state in the

nation to require labeling and other states may follow suit. in anticipation of this, a new federal bill sponsored by mike pompeo would seek to prohibit mandatory labeling. instead it would establish a federal standard where all labelling is voluntary. a move that is currently supported by the fda. but opponents of that bill have a different name for it, the deny americans the right to know or d.a.r.k. act. they note that in the 13 years since the fda adopted the voluntary labels standard, not a single company has opted to do so. joining me now is the owner of kraft restaurants and board member of food policy action. tom, a joy to have you onset. >> always a pleasure. >> let's pretend i'm joe consumer and i don't know anything about this.

if the fda says the gmos are safe, does it not stigmatize the now 70% of processed foods that use gmos in some way for pointing out the fact that they have gmos? >> that depends how we're pointing it out. i don't think anybody is suggesting skull and cross bones on the front of the packaging. it could be in the ingredient line saying gmo corn, or it could be a label on the back of the package. so it all depends on what the hysteria is around the labeling. what will this really does, it creates a lot of confusion in the marketplace. for instance, let's say you go into the supermarket and let's say you care about the environment. and you care about the amount of herbicide being used because of gmo products and you're looking at strawstrawberries. one isn't labeled, one says natural, one says gmo free and the other one says organic. which one is gmo free?

a trick question. >> i don't know. >> they all are. by definition, organic has to be gmo free because there are no gmo strawberries. and that is because of a lack of labeling. if it there was labeling, then the strawberries would have to label that they contain gmos. but since they don't, they wouldn't. so this is why people are confused. and it's that confusion that should lead to labeling. >> it's also, pardon the pun, but sowing the seeds of confusion seems to be the problem. the safe and accurate food labeling act wouldn't actually label anything. >> exactly. >> but narrative is really important. and i do want to talk about the narrative the fda has established. here in the u.s., they say it's safe. but europe does not allow gmos. >> 64 countries do not allow it.

a lot of the asian companies, the eu. so the argument is that it will increase prices because of packaging. that's not true. they constantly change be packaging to new and improved or natural or things like that. if you look at what the act does, besides just the labeling, it himself prevents the fda from labeling. and also allows ingredients like natural to contain ge material. it has no concern for environmental effect of dumping all the herbicide on gmo crops. and so it does a little more than just sort of focus on the labeling. >> i think also when we're talking about the health effects of something like this, this stuff has been around for decades rngs bdecade decad decades, but decades isn't that long to have a controlled study of whether or not it hurts people. >> and in fact there is a study that came out i think it was last friday that soy, they're showing high levels in soy

products. so it is passing through. there is a lot of misinformation around this. but again the science -- let the scientists deal with that. i want to know -- let's say i'm an environmentalist and i'm concerned about the amount of herbicide. it's half a billion since 1996 of increased herbicides. a half million pounds. so if i care about that i want to know that my dollars aren't going to support that. >> let me ask you one question on the environmental front. true environmentalists support gmos because you want a stable food system at a time when we're looking ahead to potentially catastrophic climate change and food insecurity. don't you want to have as many tools at your disposal to combat global hunger. >> again i think there is a time and place for it. i think in a developing country if you can get things to grow in areas where they normally wouldn't grow, that's pine. label it. all we're asking is to label it. >> transparency. >> i just want to know. >> i think it's key that you you guys have made freedom and a free society a bedrock sort of

foundation in the strategy here. that always trips up people. >> states' rights. >> exactly. wave the flag. chef, thank you as always for your time. for more information and to sign the food policy action petition, go to stop the dark act.com. that is all for now. i'll see you back here tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. eastern. the ed show is up next. good evening, americans. welcome to the ed show live from miami, florida. i'm ready to go. let's get to work. >> voters going to the polls to pick their gop candidates to replace former congressmen trey radel. >> the 19th district. >> today republican voters will decide between these four candidates. after the fight over who is more conservative, all that money is spent and thoses thatinasty ads comes