with a brand of ice cream is not post-racial, it's post-stupid. thank you very much for watching. dylan ratigan's here to take us forward. dylan? >> the vagaries of your opinion, sometimes, it's hard to tell where you're coming from, martin. that one was pretty clear-cut, i appreciate that. >> i'm damned with fake praise. thank you very much, dylan. >> i'll talk to you next time. the show starts right now. well, good afternoon to you. nice to see you. i am dylan ratigan. it is a milestone monday for so many today. first, occupy wall street marking its one-month anniversary in occupation. more importantly, the movement has cemented itself as a worldwide aligned event. more on that a bit later. but we start off with our own milestone here at "the d.r. show," because over the weekend,

we achieved our first-ever digital double. more than 200,000 of us joining in a partnership to simply get money out of politics, as a singular principle. as we've been saying, this is the beginning. our hope is that all of us will be able to join the debate on this proposed amendment and double our digital wave again and again, the 200, 400, 800, and so on, until we are massive by the conventions next year. most of the people we've talked to say in getting money out of politics, ending the auction, is the best way to lift the green special interest curtain of cash that currently buys our government at auction and prevents us from getting the real debate on the real issues, and for that matter, real resolution. but they also tell us that while it's a good idea to separate business and state, they, whoever they may be, say it will never happen. remember, politico said earlier this month that getting money out, as we aspire to do, will happen when the chicago cubs win

the world series. in a bit of a side bar on the cubs, they now have former boston red sox general manager theo epstein as their new gm, so the cubs may be worth keeping an eye on. no one knows more about politics than our first guest and political prose. he's the former mayor of philadelphia, the former governor of pennsylvania, and also the former head of the democratic national committee. his friends call him ed. he is ed rendell and now works as an nbc news political analyst. ed, you're on with us, in principle, you have encouraged all of us from the get-go to pursue this path. at the same time, you maintain an understandable degree of caution as to whether we can pull it off. what do you see as the barrier? >> well, first of all, let me say that i think this is an incredibly good idea, whose time has come. and when i was up in boston teaching at harvard for four days last week, and i told the occupy boston folks that what

occupy means in my judgment now is to coalesce around two things, an idea that can unite them in terms of action, and two, political organizing for the 2012 election. but your idea, getting big money out of politics, is the best way to help begin the process of closing that gap between the rich and middle class and the rich and poor in this country. because it's the influence of big money that cements the educative policy in harrisburg and sacramento and springfield. it's what does it. it's what creates these loopholes. creates the ability for warren buffett to pay less percentage of his income in taxes than his secretary. i think it's a great idea and i would love to see the occupy folks take up the cudgel. can we do it? it's hard. you know, dylan, this will require a constitutional amendment. because citizens united, the decision was based on the constitution, the first amendment. so it would essentially require qualifying or limiting the first

amendment. but all of our amendments are, in fact, inherently limited, and this should not be a tough haul. but we need really citizen action to do it. because you were the equal rights amendment, with all of those passionate and involved women, fell short of its goal. that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. and by the way, what better thing for the occupy folks to take up as their cudgel. get big money out of our government, that's how to get rid of the income disparity. that's an important first step. >> and the three things i have looked to as we've gotten into this process, as my own encouragement and as a way to encourage others that are working with me and with us on what we know is a long mountain are this. one, the recent amendments based on fairness. this is clearly a fairness issue. if money is speech, it creates an inherent unfairness. we watched in the vietnam war a constitutional amendment to come

up to get the voting age up to 18, because everyone saw the unfairness. do you think that's a reasonable point of inspiration? >> absolutely. it will be somewhere between that, because there's very little opposition to that, whereas equal rights had the opposition. it will be somewhere between the two. the entrenched forces aren't going to like this amendment. i think i'm thinking of the pennsylvania legislature, one of the legislatures we need athlete fourths. incumbents don't want to get money of politics, but if the people speak, if they speak loud and clearly enough, that's a tidal wave that can blow all the inroads that money had made can be blown away by a tidal wave of entrenched opinions. we need exponentially to get that 200,000 into 20 million. and i think it can be done. i would love to help you in pennsylvania, although i have to tell you, dylan, i was such a good fund-raiser in politics that when i endorsed mccain/feingold, the "philadelphia daily news" said,

having ed rendell an endorse an end toll wild campaign spending is like having ali baba endorse an end to thievery. >> they tell me i'm the same thing as lightning hits and an asteroid hits. >> they should do this with and they should begin political organizing to take anyone who's voted to increase that income disparity, whose voted against shortening that income disparity, try to get them out of office in 2012, whether you're democrats or republicans. >> one other thing that i started a conversation with myself and the 205,000 partners that we now have on the petition and we know we need to make the wave massive, we know we have until next year and everyone gets that. you can see it's happening, 100, 200, 200 will go 400, 400, 800.

and as long as we maintain our focus which we are doing and have all the necessary thresholds in place to maintain and develop, i believe that's achievable. but one other thing we talked about this morning was taking the 200,000 balls of fire, each of these individuals that are worked up and devoting their attention in the short-term to not just telling people, but exposing the auction itself. so we're actually creating a public blog that highlights all the fund-raiser e-mails, that shows all the fund-raising, for everybody to see it. maybe start throwing tailgate parties, even, at fund-raisers, for get money out, so we can raise money at the fund-raisers. what do you think about a campaign in the short-term, really just getting this group of people together to expose the auction itself, so that everybody can understand it? plus, i love a good tailgate party. we might as well get some money for ourselves. >> i think it's a great idea. anything that continues to focus attention on this as one of the crucial underpinning problems of the income disparity that exists in this country.

but, dylan, if i can ask you a question, have you gone down to and spoke to any of the occupy people about this? >> i have, indeed. i've spoken at the general assembly in new york. i had a chance to talk at the general assembly in washington, d.c. i'm actually anxious to get up and speak at the general assembly in boston. at the end of the day, the occupation and my relationship with that movement is very simple. that occupation clearly represents an individualized resistance to breach of fairness that is bigger than my agenda or a lefty agenda or a righty agenda or an american agenda. it wouldn't be a global movement if there wasn't a universal principle of rejection of fairness. and i have simply offered my amendment as a potential vehicle for them, but, again, just as i would argue it's inappropriate for any other political vehicle to suggest that they speak for our have a representation for that group, that group is a group of people that are individually deciding of their own volition that they are not going to take it anymore, whatever it might be, and

everybody's sit a little bit deferent than the next person's, and i think we have to respect that. >> i agree. but i think the time has come for the occupy movement to start clearly delineating a course of action. they not only have to be against something, and we know what they're exist, and they're against something that is the biggest problem facing this country, the growing disparity in income. but they've got to be four ways to correct it. and i think what you're proposing is a very, very important first step. >> and i have had a tremendous number of individuals associated with the occupation who agree with you and who are advocating for this amendment as a positive harness for some of the frustration everybody feels. i think you aour best bet is tot a way up the mountain and hope we can get any and all comers, whether you're occupiers or not, because as you point out, constitutional amendments require pretty much everybody. >> pretty much everybody, and it's got to be a national

movement. but i think that people understand this now. for years, they didn't understand the influence of money in politics. with citizens united, it was a terrible decision, but it may have done something very, very good for us. it may have opened people's eyes. >> governor, we couldn't be more grateful for your support in helping us to develop a path forward with this energy in a way that can actually get us to where we want to go. >> send me something, dylan, i want to sign. >> listen, it will be in your e-mail box before sundown, governor. >> thanks very much. >> thank you, sir. coming up here on "the d.r. show" this afternoon, the world, as we all know, has taken notice as occupy earth took hold this weekend. stunning, amazing, incredible images from around the globe this weekend. asia, europe, and of course, america, and a conversation about the forces who may now want to claim credit for it or make the occupation into a political vehicle as opposed to one of principle. plus, president obama

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dr. king understood that peace without justice was no peace at all. if he were alive today, i

believe he would remind us that the unemployed worker can rightly challenge the excesses of wall street without demonizing all who work there. >> that, of course, president obama yesterday at the dedication of the martin luther king jr. national memorial in washington. his re-election campaign now seeking to capitalize on the occupation energy for its own gain in 2012. not a surprise to see this. much less, republicans sought to capitalize on the tea party energy during the midterms. but is this really a lefty/righty, and when the issue is breach of fairness and lack of integrity in our banking system that is prevailed over by not only this president but a series of predecessor presidents, are we not fooling ourselves into a lefty/righty paradigm for an issue that is truly forwards or backwards, either corrupt or not. with us now is devon degraw, author of "the economic elite versus the people of the united

states," and a man who has been in occupations in zuccotti park since the first day, the 17th. it's been a month. how are you feeling? >> exhausted. feel like i'm standing at the end of a fire house. >> give us a sense, i want to do this with a series of folks i have met down there. i tell the audience all the time and telling you, everybody's down there for a different reason. why are you down there? >> from a personal perspective, i'm here to really defend my family, to defend my friends, and to defend this country against what i consider to be global financial interests that have taken control of both the democratic and republican parties throw a campaign finance lobbying the revolving door between washington and wall street, as you always cover. they have bought control of our government. they have rigged our economic system against hard-working american people. >> why is that not a left or right issue? >> because, i mean, as we say, 99% of the population has lost political representation. this is, breaking it down even

further, it's one-tenth of 1% of the population that is responsible, in my view, and in the view of many others, for trillions of dollars of fraudulent activity. and when i say global financial, i want to be a little more specific. you take people like tim geithner, ben bernanke, lloyd blankfein, jamie dimon, hank paulson, certainly, these people are personally respondent for trillions of dollars fraudulent activity. they have set our economic future on fire. and it doesn't matter if you're a democrat or a republican. whatever your political viewpoint might be, your economic future has been set on fire by these people, by these too big to fail banks. so we are here to defend the american people in the absence of a government that will defend us. >> and i can't think of anybody who is more appropriate to take up the gauntlet that you just laid down than one of the chief prosecutors in the banking system in america, historically,

william black. associate professor now of economics at the university of missouri. and professor, did you hear david's characterization? >> i did. >> do you -- how would you critique it and what can be done? what could we do that is not inside of a political paradigm, but is inside of a legal paradigm, a just versus fraudulent paradigm that could be done? >> well, let me bring your two comments together, because we're seeking here from the heartland of the united states. and the most prominent person in finance, in kansas city, a rock-ribbed conservative republican used the exact phrase. he said, we put the treasury secretary up for auction and lately goldman sachs has been the highest bidder. so, this is not a left/right, it's not republican/democrat,

it's honest folks against the elite frauds who now cheat with impunity. and the biggest victims of those frauds, of course, are the homeowners, but the second biggest victims are the honest bankers. the ones that can't compete with the frauds. >> if you were to be put in a situation, which i honestly think a lot of folks would like to see you in, where you could advocate a path to begin resolution to fix some of this, which, obviously, the left/right political paradigm is not equipped to do, how would you advise the rest of us? >> well, the first thing is, get rid of the systemically dangerous institutions. these are the 20 biggest banks that the administration and the last administration told us. as soon as the next one goes down, there's going to be another global crisis. well, there's nobody serious who

doesn't actually work for one of those banks, who believes they're an efficient size. in other words, they're way too big. if we shrink them, we make them more efficient, we dramatically reduce the risk of the next crisis, and we produce greater employment and less fraud. that's a win, win, win. we need to do that first. the second thing is you need to fire geithner, you need to fire holder, and you need to demand bernanke's resignation. and you need to replace them with people that will actually enforce the laws for the 99. >> it would been an interesting thing, david, we've seen this, i think all of us, whether you've lived through bill black's last few years or yours or mine or a lot of other folks who have been working on this issue in this country through their own means, we have seen that the dependency of the power base, in this case, it's obama and geithner, but in

fairness to obama and geithner, it was bush and paulson before that, they all have one thing in common, which is they refuse to engage in the conversation publicly that we're having right here. why, ultimately, do you think we have been so prevented from being able to have this conversation at the highest levels of our country? >> well, look, let's just be real here, okay? this is a criminal racket that has paid off politicians since the clinton administration. moving forward, you know, i believe, and will black can speak to it much more elegantly, this these people should be prosecuted under rico laws, the racketeering influence construct organization act, that was designed to prosecute the mafia. we have a criminally designed wall street racket that needs to be prosecuted in this country. >> do you agree with that, bill? >> well, for technical reasons,

you just add to your burden of proof when you do that, but we could prosecute them under the existing fraud laws for very conventional fraud. look, the fbi warned over seven years ago that there was an epidemic of mortgage fraud and predicted that it would cause an economic crisis. there's no excuse. we've had over seven years to deal with open frauds. only about a month ago, the federal housing finance administration filed fraud complaints, civil ones, against 17 of the largest banks in the world, in which it said, there is a paper trail that demonstrates the fraudulent intent of these banks. well, where is the justice department? and for that matter, where's paul krugman, who can't be bothered to use the "f" word, this is the five-lettered f-word

you can use in public. it's called fraud. and until the economists get over their tribal taboo in saying fraud, we'll never make progress. >> bill, i would like to take this opportunity, i've been in conversation with a lot of people occupying locations, and we would love to nominate you as kind of a de facto attorney general, the occupy wall street department of justice. if you can come down to one of our general assemblies throughout the country and propose some enforcement actions that we can stand by and line up behind, that would be greatly appreciated. you are, perhaps, the greatest white collar crime expert there is, so we need you and we'd love to have you come down. >> be happy to serve. we just -- we're here yesterday doing it in kansas city. >> there you go. thank you. >> it's an honor to share this conversation with both of you.

thank you for giving me the privilege of hosting the two of you. and i hope that the relationship you just proposed comes to fruition and i hope the privilege of covering bill black's prosecution of the banks in 2012 or some version thereof. professor black, thank you, and congratulations on your own courage and your own investment in defending the principles we all see being hurt. >> thank you. you're the one person on tv i trust. >> thank you. ultimately, this is not a left/right thing. this is about fixing a rigged system of an auction government that has literally changed what it means to be a citizen in america. two classes, everybody and the platinum citizens. that is the topic of our latest "huffington post" blog up this morning at 11:00 and throughout the afternoon, platinum citizenship. give it a look and you'll see the specific mathematics of how tim geithner has officially

engineered the two classes of citizenship. straight ahead here, with the president on the move in north carolina this hour, how the occupy protesters can tell whether this president is serious in supporting their movement. [ male announcer ] humana and walmart have teamed up to bring you a low-priced medicare prescription drug plan. ♪ with the lowest national plan premium...

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well, right now the president, there he is in north carolina, set to hold a jobs event at the top of the hour. north carolina the first leg of three-day-long bus tour through some key swing states and it's just the latest in a recent campaign like bush in which the president has voiced support for the occupy wall street protesters, which made me and a lot of others wonder if the reality matches the rhetoric when it comes to these types of endorsements. i have some thoughts on that and of course, so, too, does the peg panel. here in new york, legal commentator, imogen lloyd webber, sam seder, and tim

carney. majority hottreport and the "washington examiner," respectively. for me, it's a simple test, at this time geithner runs the treasury department, supervised the mortgage program, supervised the bank legislation, tim geithner has supervised the too big to fail banks. he is literally just the tip of the spear for a long line of people going back through hank paulson, back to bob ruben, who have all been doing this. and to the extent to which any president, whether it's president obama, george bush or any of those protesting the banking system, it seems the only referendum that matters is a referendum on who the president is choosing to run the banking system. >> geithner was the architect of the bailout. he and bernanke crafted it when he was head of the fed under bush. and who did obama pick as your treasury secretary? it wasn't one of your liberal friends, it was geithner. >> who says sam's a liberal.

who says he has liberal friends? who says he has friends? >> then he re-nominates bernanke too. >> two things. i'm not sure that occupy wall street is that narrowly focused on just the banking industry, frankly. but -- >> although, when you look at what they say on their website, their articulation is pretty explicit. >> i think we know, there are a lot of people and a lot of agendas down there. but with that said, i agree. i think that firing geithner -- but that would not be enough to satisfy at that point. >> but do you think that that would -- what do you think, imogen? >> i think, a very interesting thing coming out of the uk at the moment. >> three days into a -- >> last year they started a movement called the robin hood tax, which would be a taxation on all banki iningizatio ining hopefully around the world, and that would be a way for the banking community to pay everybody back worldwide. put a tax on every transaction. very good idea. and i'm suddenly looking at the

occupy the world movement and thinking, this might actually happen. the big argument was, it can't just be the uk only, because that would be unfair. now they're going to prosecute these people who will be bogged down in the legals or whatever actually have a positive drive. >> i have an issue with that tax. i actually that tax is more of a cover-up. you don't want to tax a banking system that's extracting value. it's better than nothing, but she brings up an interesting point, which is a policy initiative to confront some version of the functionality. >> the biggest problem is that we've got banks that don't -- aren't subject to the whole idea of the free market and checks and balances. senior creditors, in other words, the most important len adores to the banks know that they're going to get bailed out. when moody's downgraded wells fargo, citigroup, and bank of america, they said, now we used to think it was certain that the government would bail it out,

now it's only very likely that the government will bail it out. riskiness doesn't have an economist -- >> which is a breach of market principle, that's not a left/right issue, that goes to the concept of platinum citizenship. >> didn't we learn this since savings and loan, since the homestead. this has gone on and on, we keep bailing out these massive corporations. i think there's some value to the tax, i agree with you, you don't just want to take some of what they're robbing, but it may disincentivize. >> the robbery. >> it may disincentivize certain behaviors. >> but the bigger point is that banks, to bill black's point, are essential to our country. hating banks is like hating the government. the government may have reason to be hated, as do bapgs, but if you're going to have warehouse money and then allocate money into the collaboration and problem solving, you need a capital market and financial system to do that, the same way you need a government to do certain things. and i think it's easy for us to

get lost in -- burn the place to the ground when, really, there's a tremendous value. >> you need it. but there's a difference between -- and this is where i know you're not going to like this. it does get into a left/right paradigm to a certain extent. it's not a partisan issue, but you have run-of-the-mill fraud, which the bankers have not been held accountable for, and there's plenty of examples. then the question is, what does government do to impose certain restrictions on what banks can and cannot do that is not -- >> sure. >> exactly. and that, to me, falls within that paradigm. >> but we've actively gone ahead and tried to promote a more sort of robust finance system. since alexander hammiltonhamilt has been a decision by our political leaders that we want more debt, we want more securities trading, all of this. this was an active decision -- >> as a policy agenda. >> as a policy agenda. this was the idea of the federal reserve and all of these things. and so, you don't have to go to all of this regulation to say,

maybe we should have dialed back this idea of government positively promoting finance. >> and have capital requirements and let people take -- >> capital requirements are, in fact, regulations. that's the point. >> that is the regulation. if you don't have capital requirements -- >> listen, i agree with you. but the point is not let the banks go even wilderly. >> last word. >> fundamentally, when you're looking at the banking systems, the governments were banking them out -- i knew somebody at home in the uk that was making that decision and we were looking at financial armageddon, i would not be able to go to the cash machine to get my money out of the bank -- >> isn't blackmail good? >> that's why it happened? >> listen, we know why we got blackmailed. the question is, why are we r allowing ourselves to continue to remain in a system what they continue to blackmail us? >> we paid off the blackmailer and never got the photos. >> we've got to get the photos back. >> and then geithner -- >> well, we'll see -- that goes

to the individual resistance. everybody has their own thing. sam, a pleasure. tim, always nice to see you. imogen, thank you so much for your perspective and your -- she classes up the joint ten ways. i tell you. you make us feel smarter and more international just because we're here and you start telling us things and we learn and it's wonderful. we'll talk to you next monday. here, we turn our attention to the president that's hitting up key southern states in a sure sign, of course, we don't already know this, that twain 2012 auction is around way. as they pass the hat, we've hit another huge milestone in our campaign to end the auction. more than 200,000 of us have now assigned a petition, and even so, our senior statesman, ed rendell, reminds us, this must be just the tip of the iceberg if we are to succeed. >> when the people speak, if they speak loud and clearly enough, that's a tidal wave that can blow all of the inroads that

money had made washington, all of though entrenched interest can be blown away by a tidal wave of public opinion. that's why you're right. we need exponentially to get that $220,000. >> we're all connected. honestly doesn't seem all that hard as long as we do it all together. we made 100, 200 like this. it's about getting the word out and telling a friend. it's the only way that the wave theory can function. tell a neighbor, tell a coworker. my big task is try to tell people that i hate or don't like, because if you can make peace with that, you can bury the hatchet and get a signature. what the heck? we want to welcome aboard our friend and neighbor and coworker up on the eight floor, which we like to think is the cool floor of the building. although no one else thinks that. chris had this to say on his weekend show "up with chris

hayes". >> bad news as we head towards the first ever $1 billion election funded by wealthy people. you should know, my colleague dylan ratigan has been providing amazing coverage of the movement to get money out of politics and you can find him here weekdays at 4:00 p.m.. >> and you can find criss hayes here weekdays in the morning. can you spell scandal? it's not just the banks, my friends. thousands in prize money, allegations of cheating, and a demand for a strip search. welcome to this week's world scrabble championship, after this. tle emotional hetlretl?tl

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his opponent demanded he be strip searched in the bathroom. the letter "g" is worth two points. and there was, in fact, a "g" missing from the set. still, martin's win did not spell victory for the letter hoarder or accused letter e hoarder. the ultimate winner took home $17,000 in prize money. he won with words like regrants worth 61 points, uranites and omn omnified that clinched the match. among all the scandal talk, when it comes to the simple debate about pot policy in america, the author of a new

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enforcement groups are up in arms. the news from california, just the latest twist in the battle over legalizing marijuana. our next guest claims america is ready to do it, and joining us now is dr. christopher glenn fincher. he's the author of "cannabi-onomics." what's the basis of your idea for the tipping point? >> the idea is based on the fact that we're witnessing three different trajectory policies coming together. the first is the growing consumer demand for access to cannabis for medicine, beginning with california's law in 1996, and now there are 16 or 17 states that have passed those laws. the second is growing recognition of the dru war itself as a public health problem. and i think that the california medical association's announcement really was more about reducing the public health problem associated with the drug war and with the criminalization

of ordinary americans, but also opening the door to doing more research to find out exactly what the medical benefits are. the third policy trajectory that i talk about in my book is the reality of the economic crisis, which challenges us to find new ways to manage our resources. and you can see that the public health and medical and economic trajectories are really intersecting in california, where producers of herbal cannabis products are beginning to measure and standardize those products and actually label them, so physicians who do those recommendations and physician who treat patient who is use herbal cannabis are better able to advise them about what type of herbal cannabis they would be able to use or should use for their particular condition. >> the best arguments that i've heard against legalizing marijuana tend to draw from the same principles that would be used as an argument against alcohol or an argument against smoking, which is that a mood-altering substance, whether

it's marijuana, alcohol, or nicotine, is inherently risky, is inherently -- opens risk to abuse, self-abuse, and other things. how do you reconcile the obvious mind-altering, potential for abuse, whether it's with this or alcohol or anything else. >> well, first of all, there are numerous products on the market that have risks. and, you know, not the least of which which are mind-altering and tobacco as well. there are numerous products on the market that have risk. obviously, regulation is designed to minimize those risks. during alcohol prohibition, alcohol is for more dangerous than it was today. although, admittedly, it's dangerous enough as it was today. the problem with those arguments that trying to support marijuana prohibition is that rarely do they look at the specific harms of herbal cannabis or marijuana in the context of the harms that

you can attribute to other substances. whether it's tobacco and alcohol or the side effect profile of some of the medicines that are prescribed for serious conditions, and whether in some cases, the side effect profile might be more preferable with herbal cannabis. >> and what of those that could be concerned on the special interest side that the legalization of cannabis is a threat to the profitability of the private prison system, i think 50% of those incarcerated are on minor drug offenses. it is a threat to the ability of the government to fund the war on terror or the war on drugs, excuse me, without having to disclose the flow of money, because of the illegality of the structure, meaning of the drug itself, that it authorizes, basically, undisclosed allocations of defense spending. and for that matter, that it could represent other threats to other entrenched interests, no different than, you know, reforming health care or for that matter, banking.

>> well, you mention a lot of powerful special interests and you mentioned, you know, a lot of major large global-scale questions, such as the war on drugs generally. in "cannabi-onomics," my task is more modest, to point out that with herbal cannabis or marijuana, it's widely consumed, grown in all 50 states, it's been estimated by several major studies as being a major cash crop in the united states. one study suggested it was more valuable than corn and wheat combined. and in california, another study suggested that it was more valuable than the grapes crop in connection with the wine industry. so, clearly, there is a major cannabis industry in the united states and the argument is to start with something that, where the side effect profile is relatively acceptable, where it's very hard to argue on a medical basis, that herbal cannabis or marijuana is more

dangerous than our alcohol. very hard to make that argument. and so, the idea is that regulation offers the opportunity to improve the safety and reliability of access to specific products. >> and what do you see as the path to that? if you say, we're at the tipping point, how would you envision the end of prohibition from a technical standpoint? >> and let me just add, in connection with to what you said about the privatization of the prison industry, i mean, it seems very clear that although government officials will argue that very few people are doing hard time for low-level marijuana crimes, while that may be true, marijuana prohibition is playing a major role in the initial criminalization, the initiation in the criminal justice system for a very large number of ordinary american citizens. so, clearly, marijuana prohibition is wreaking havoc at that level. i think the california medical

association's announcement about its support for legalization, with the idea that it then could be studied, cannabis products that are now standardized and labeled and regulated, to a certain degree, although not at the federal level, in california, could be studied. and we'd have a better idea of what the extent of its medical applications are. interestingly, this happens at the same time as there is a product available, produced in england and approved in several countries since 2005, it's a liquid cannabis extract that's highly standardized and sprayed under the tongue. i think it's important in california, we're seeing a growing number of those kinds of products. and the path forward would be to provide space within which programs such as california's could begin to continue the regulatory process. >> understood. listen, dr. fitchner, we are interested to see where this goes and we appreciate your

coming to educate us a little bit this afternoon. >> thank you. >> all right. "cannabi-onomics," the book. christopher glenn fitchner, the author. you just heard his words. chris matthews has kevin spacey, coming up on "hardball." but next, mind your own business! keli goff with a rant on how social media is making america a whole lot rude per. just one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day

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well, it's monday which mean it's time for keli's rant and the floor is yours.

>> in an age where parents post baby's first picture on facebook before they've lost the hospital and celebrities post their divorce on twitter, maybe it's hard to believe boundaries still exist. i was asked twice this week by two people i barely no, keli, are you married yet? while the marrying question may be a common one for women of a certain age, i learn from friends that i am far from alone in being asked questions about marriage status, parental status, and financial status and a whole host of other questions that fall in the category of nobody's business. are we becoming an increasingly nosey society? it's become accepted fact that privacy as we know it has become a thing of the past. don't let potential employers to know you like to dance on tabletops? don't do it. every week, there's some new into privacy cautionary tale, often involving some naughty photos online and someone losing

a job. i'm wondering if these disappearing boundaries have sort of empowered all of us to ask questions that are really none of our business. if you just said to yourself, i have no idea what you're talking about, keli, hate to break it to you, but that's probably because you're a member of the nosey rosy club. if you're under the impression that other people are not that nosey, it might be because you are. what do i mean? in you've ever asked someone you don't know that well questions like, so, do you plan on having children or do you think you're going to have more children? congratulations, you're a nosey rosy. there's not a single question more personal than asking someone what she plans to do with her womb and offering someone's unsolicited advice about her womb, like, oh, you'll change your mind and decide to have more children, tacky with a capital "t." another question, what are you? like what's your ethnicity. i think everyone should reply, a human being.

do you really need to know how he lost all that weight, unless you're looking for a weight loss plan himself. maybe he used surgery, maybe he didn't. why do we care? my point is, if someone wants you to know the details of his or her personal life, they'll share them, and if they choose not to, you can always snoop on them on facebook. >> there's a guy in germany who's started living his life as a transparent event. he put all his bank accounts online, every meal that he eats, and has become a digital icon. i'll get the guy's name, but i think this is the path that is unresolved, which is either we're going to come to accept the fact that people behave crazy and that's what happens, or we're going to not. >> right. >> but i don't think that keeping people out of your business will ever happen. >> okay, well -- fighting a losing cause, right? >> i think there's a system that has come into play her that