of rule 12, which states that all victims and witnesses may object to being filmed, videotaped, or photographed. if they object, their objections should be known to o all persons. they may not be filmed or photographed as they so specify. is there anyone here who objects to anyone being photographed by the media? >> your honor, the family members ask that they not be photographed. >> all right. the media is instruct ed not to take facial photographs of any of the family members, which are the two aunts, the grandfather, or t.j. lane. photographs not showing facial features will be permitted. that brings us to the issue of

the rule 7, detention, which is the main purpose for us being here today. with that mr. joyce, it's the burden on the state to demonstrate to this court that the requirements of juvenile rule 7 a, which reads a child shall not be placed into detention prior to final disposition unless any of the following apply. one, detention or shelter care is require d. a. to protect from threatened or emotional harm, or b to protect the person or property of others from immediate or threaten physical or emotional harm. two, the child may be removed from the jurisdiction of the court. three, the child has no parent, guardian or other person able to provide supervision and care for the child and return the child to the courtroom requires for an order for place of employment of the court. five, confinement is authorized

by statute. prosecutor joyce, the floor is yours. >> thank you, your honor. may it please the court. yesterday law enforcement officers responded to the high school for a report of an active shooter. it became known at that time that a student by the name of t.j. lane had a handgun and was shooting students in the school. there was students injured by gunfire. t.j. was seen heading down the number 200 hallway. the chief arrived and took command of the scene. the officers entered the cafeteria making a safe location of three injured male students. another injured was a male student located in room 200, shot in the neck area. it became clear at a that point that t.j. had left the building. eyewitness accounts show that lane was the only shooter involved. five victims were shot. after shooting four students in

the cafeteria, and one in the hallway, he ran down the hallway and down the recreation drive into wooded area. he was located on wooden road and taken into custody by deputies without incident. once in custody, lane was advised of his rights. he admitted he fired ten rounds in a group of students sitting at a table. he didn't know the students but chose them randomly. since then, three of the victims have expired. your honor, for the reasons set out, this is an active investigation. for the safety of this juvenile and the safety of this community, and we'd ask that this court entertain a motion to detain him while proper charges are presented to this court. >> thank you, prosecutor joyce.

t.j., before you respond, t.j., you have a right to counsel in this matter. is that correct? >> yes, sir. >> the court will note that discussion with your attorney that should he feel he needs additional counsel in this matter and cannot obtain additional counsel through private matters, the court will review and entertain a motion to have the public defender assist if necessary in the further proceedings of the court. additionally, you understand, t.j. that you have the right to remain silent with respect to any of the allegations pending in this court at all times. you understand that? >> yes, i do. >> you understand as the legal custodian, you also have a right to be represented? >> yes, i do. >> you heard the information

provided by the prosecutor on this matter as to why -- the kwurt will find 7 a that the placement of t.j. in his home could be contrary to the juvenile's own welfare and the protection of the community and that efforts to prevent or eliminate the need for removal of said juvenile from his home will not be reasonable and that t.j. shall remain in detention in the order of court during these proceedings for the reason that detention is necessary due to the serious allegations and charges. detention is necessary and required to protect the person or property of others in the community from immediate harm and that detention is required to protect the juvenile from

potential threatened physical or emotional harm. this matter then under rule 7, i can place t.j. in detention for 15 days. the court will make a few other notes. in this case, the prosecution has not yet charged t.j. that under the juvenile rules, the prosecutor has untto formally charge the juvenile that in anticipation of that charge, this court has scheduled the initial hearing on any charges that may be filed for tuesday, march 6, 2012, at 3:00 p.m. in this courtroom. the initial hearing will be scheduled for march 6, 2012, 3:00 p.m. in this courtroom. the court has also tentatively

scheduled for hearing the date of march 19th, 2012, commencing at 9:00 a.m. should there be a filing of a motion for transfer to the adult court. so the tentative date for rule 30 probable cause hearing is march 19th, 2012, at 9:00 a.m. any questions as to those matters, prosecutor joyce? >> no, your honor. >> next on the list, the court notes that there have been multiple requests by the media for release of documents under the custody of this court. those documents are of three categories. there's been requests for any records if they exist as to any juvenile records pertaining to t.j. there have been requests for any records, if they exist, for

juvenile court records that may pertain to t.j. but are not involving our delinquency division, which would be the family division. now there are requests that have been made of this court for release of information of records, if any exist, as to at least one of the victims in this matter. the court will ask the prosecution, do you object to release any of these documents? >> your honor, no. >> we about to all three. >> in light of the objections of counsel for both the prosecution and defense, the court has set a hearing date for tomorrow, february 29th, at 3:30 p.m. to hear any media representative

and to allow both the state and defense to defend against a request for release of any of these documents. for those in the media, if you wish to have these documents released, you're going to need to file at least some sort of formal motion or request with the court and have somebody here representing you tomorrow at 3: 3:30. the court intends to take up all three areas of potential records. the court is not saying they exist or don't exist, but we will address the release by category at the hearing tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. >> obviously, you're watching the proceedings as fallout to one of latest and most acutely painful american community tragedies. this focused on, obviously, the

issue of lethal violence being used inside one of our own schools. jay gray is spending time in that community as they continue to digest all of this. jay, what can you tell us? >> reporter: well, dylan, let's wrap up first what we heard in court. no real surprise. it went as we expected. the suspect in this case, the accused gunman, t.j. lane, who is 17 years old, will stay on a 15-day hold. he will not be allowed to go back to his home. he was living with his grandparents before the attacks. his initial hearing is set for march 6th at 3:00 p.m. no official charges at this point. they will carry that out at the hearing date. there's been a request of the judge for juvenile records, if there are any pertaining to t.j. in the past. any problems he may have had. also learning a request about one of the victims in the

shooting. those requests coming from all of the media outlets that have gathered in this small o'town. there will be a hearing to discuss that matter tomorrow afternoon. representatives of those media outlets that would like to have those released along with the state and defense attorneys being allowed to respond and say why they think some of those records, if they exist, should be blocked. so really procedural today as they went into the courtroom, but the first time we have seen the gunman in public since the attack yesterday morning. still a lot to go through. this is going to be a long process and a long investigation as it continues here. >> all right. thank you so much. appreciate you're informing us as we bare witness to a breach in one of our american communities. it makes us ponder how we can heal our own communities. our show starts right now.

good tuesday afternoon to you. i am dylan ratigan. today is a tuesday, which means we are in the primary election calendar season. contests today in arizona and michigan. what we want to do here is ask this question, which is as we see individual indications of failures of the social covenant in american communities like that school shootings or broad failures like 30 million unemployed, two sets of rules, where have america's leaders gone? it seems every four years, we ask the same question. as we say, this field may be our weakest yet when it comes to leadership. we're not just talking about candidates for president. let's look at the leaders in our congress. both sides of the aisle, democrats harry reid and nancy

pelosi, republicans mitch mcconnell and john boehner, where is their leadership? compare them to lyndon johnson and speaker sam rayburn in the '50s. before my time, but i hear it was awfully nice. giants-like speaker tip o'neill, even the loyal opposition of gerald ford and everette dirkson in the '60s and '70s. john alter is with us today. there's a human tendency to look to the past. they call it euphoric recall. we look to the past. it was better then. was it better then? >> well, i'm not sure. i just came from speaking with one of lbj's top aids. in some ways, it was worse.

you had rank racist. they were throughout the house and senate. i could tell you stories that would curl your hair about some of the things. and theodore billbow, senator from mississippi. >> what about at the top? in other words, if you look at the edge of leadership. >> we need to be careful about these blanket comparisons to the past. but i think when you look at the big picture, and we have some very good people who serve, but they are serving in a system that is paralyzed and dysfunctional. >> and you do that for what? we know it's not just money. >> it's a myriad of forces over the last 25 to 50 years that have brought us to this past. the origin of our problems structurely is the primary

system in american politics. not just at the presidential level, but for house and senate as well. because what happens is, you are driven to the extremes. particularly in the republican party. on the republican side, there's been purge after purge after purge. so what you have now is even moderate to liberal republicans like olympia snow. >> but let's talk a little bit. i get it. what is it specifically about the -- what do we need to learn about the american primary process that will help us understand why this is happening? >> first of all, there's nothing in the constitution about these primaries. they are only 100 years old. >> meaning we can do whatever we want. >> so we can fuel with this system. and california is leading the way. they have a law in place to have an open primary, a nonpartisan primary, where the top two

finishers. >> so you and i are running against each other for whatever in california. >> there are five candidates in california. top two, they face-off in november. now what does that do? >> so basically, a race towards more agreement as opposed to disagreement? >> in a district or state with a lot of different people, you can't go with this wing nut, whack job stuff. you're not going to win in november. >> if we're running against each other, we have to appear to a broad group of people. >> exactly. in michigan with all the home schoolers, people who think only snobs go to college, whatever their views are, they are dominating the the press. so one of the key events of the last few years is in 2010,

robert bennett, who was a very conservative senator from utah. at his party convention, he was running for reelection. because he had worked with a democratic senator -- all he had done was talked to a democrat. he was purged from the utah republican party. they threw him out. that sent a warning to gallop to the right. >> those anecdotes are instructive, but you can get lost in them. the real point is for leaders in america, the way we choose our leaders has room for improvement. >> that's the key. >> i love it. thank you very much. neither of us remember some of those examples that i gave. fair? >> fair. >> we heard they were good. coming up on this primary day, we have all the auction 2012 coverage you'd ever want. the mega panel straight ahead.

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a rather unique but potenti potentially important case coming before the high court this morning. an issue whether corporations can be charged and held responsible for international human rights violations. recall that according to the

supreme court and citizens united decision two years ago, the decision would be to be consistent that they could be held accountable as they are people. if corporations are people as they were declared. our next guest has been fighting citizens united. it's a pleasure to have you here. how realistic is the assertion that corporations should be accountable as a matter of consistency with the previous ruling. >> dylan, the supreme court actually believes a corporation is a person, but that's their ruling. then of course, those same corporations should be held liable for human rights violations wherever they occur. >> there seems to be an underlying theme that has eme e emerged whether you look at shareholder reform, whatever it is, where there's a disconnection between the most interested party, the community

that's most affected being the voters, or the shareholder who is the most affected by the actions of management. there's a new scheme that's developed with power in new york and washington primarily to make it it more difficult for voters to get access to government and difficult for shareholders to get access to management. why in this newly-formed world would we remotely tolerate people trying to disconnect the most important circuits? >> we can't. i think the year 2012 is going to be decisive. and voters have to make very clear they will no longer accept anything that limits the information they deserve that takes away their democratic rights. right now, we're fighting with the sec where they are sitting on their hands doing nothing to make sure that the people of the city actually know which companies are spending money on politics and which aren't.

the sec could make a huge breakthrough by requiring disclosure of all political spending by corporations. they are not doing it. we have to make that happen in the month of march. i'm going to lead protests in front of the sec if that's what it takes. >> the irony of the fact you would have to suggest such an extreme response to something that's so idiotically obvious, it shows how screwed up the folks in d.c. are. one of the kmigers offered some encouraging words. he says, when it is clear that investors are in the dark and not receiving disclosure, the commission should act to ensure investors have what they require. new information on wall street and decimalization.

i enjoyed it. i was a financial reporter at the time. i got all this information. i was an admirer of governor leavitts. i'm stunned that i'm 12 years later talking to you as a public advocate in this state about the fact that we don't have this. >> that's exactly right. the sec, unfortunately, made a habit of unaction. whether it comes to protecting shareholders or trying to protect our economy or whether it comes to protecting our democratic rights. the commissioner did something very powerful. he said, this entity is not fulfilling its responsibility. he stood up and said it's time to change that right now. now, dylan, that has to happen in the month of march for it to have any impact on the fall elections. we're asking people to go to saveourelections.com and join the americans who have said directly to the sec, do your

job. they are not used to that public input and pressure. we're going to show them what it feels like. because the congress let us done. we can't let the sec let us down as well. >> the sec with as something as a rule change, no political campaign, i don't need a new president, i don't need to amend the constitution, a rule change can force disclosure on all donations. is that correct? >> that's exactly right. what they do in the process is allow the public to know who is trying to manipulate our system. which corporations are trying to buy elected officials. trying to get the legislation they want. the sec by the vote of three commissioners could show us exactly which companies are spending money on what. that would give us a tool to fight back against the mistake of citizens united. >> not only the rational engagement it represents, but the hot spotting.

you found the three people in a room that could do something. now we have to pressure those people by hot spotting them, elevating them, and moving on. a tutorial for our times, thank you. >> they are going to learn about democracy the hard way. >> sometimes that's the only way. the super tuesday mega panel with us after this. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation, so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates. ♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had

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time for our mega panel. karen, susan and jimmy are here. the most consequential thing that a man like myself must know if we're going to deal with the content of the absurdity of these. >> good god. what? >> for those who recognize this is pro-wrestling, let me try again. me and the people who watch my

show are highly aware of the fact that this primary is a corrupted process by money that's a fake that's not debating america's actual problems. in the context of the fact that we know that, what's happening in the primary we should care about, if anything? >> the republican party is eating itself alive. >> at the end of the day, that's what happening. republicans are killing each other. if it you're saying, what does today mean? it means it's a bad day for the republican party and they have not discussed one issue in the last week. they are hurting their chances. >> can i say something about that? that's the most consequential revelation. we have for a long time highly-consequential political parties. we have relied on those two parties to debate core issues. defense, energy, trade, banking policy, et cetera. now we have bad symptoms.

wealth inequality, unemployment is high, we spend a lot don't get a lot. how much has it hurt the democratic party that they have not had a powerful strong opponent to stretch them? so instead of the democrats being forced to really deal with bank reform instead of them being forced to deal with trade reform and all the new modern problem solving that's revealing itself, which the republican party was perfectly positioned in theory to do, none of that has happened. >> you're always better if you have a strong opponent that makes you up your game. always, always, always. no matter what we're talking about. one thing i would point to of what's important of what's going on in this election. i do think it's important to pay attention on some of the social issues to where people are. it does say something about

where our culture is. for example, the shooting. there were so many things that we heard time and time again. bullying, he was a loner. there were signs. why aren't we paying attention to that? >> that goes to community health. >> and that's a social issue we should be paying attention to. >> are we investing ourselves in our own community's health? >> when we're letting these conversations get devisive and people respond to the dog whistle politics, we are basically spreading that cancer in our own culture. the problems you're talking about, we can't even get there because we're so busy scrumming around here fighting each other. >> we're not discussing the problems at either level. >> we don't nowhere we are or where we're going. how much, susan, does it hurt on the republican side that we don't have a primary system that

forces more of an elevated debate? jonathan alter was arguing because the primary system rewards and cultivates the most extreme behavior, that we are getting the optics are my god america has gone crazy. you walk around america and people aren't crazy. compared to what we're getting. how much is john right that the primary system is not yielding the people that really represent the vanguard of american leadership? >> because the primary voters are the die hards. they are the only ones showing up. they are never going to show up in a primary. so since the people running for office know that, they are only going to appeal to the die hards. on both sides. >> it gives you more and more extreme politicians. fair, jimmy? that's self-evident. >> i don't mean to laugh. >> what do you think about john's suggestion that we have

to tackle the primaries. not necessarily with his solution, but we need to highlight not just amending the constitution, which we'd all like to talk about, but really engaging the primary system in a way that -- >> we have had primaries for awhile. my problem is -- >> let me be clear. i'm making a specific point which is that mechanism and structure by which we conduct our primaries seems like it has vast improvement. >> it has everything to do with county, local politicians ruling and being boss hogs. >> then you have to have another election and call it that way and have runoffs. >> that's the open primary. >> but if you don't vote, smaller and smaller group of people gets to decide what happens. i would never run for office, but god bless those people who are willing to get out there.

whether you're a tea party person or a far left person who says you don't get to tell me if you get to run or not. that's the thing we get to do. we're not going to change until we get more people involved in the process and people step up to the plate and run. >> that's the primary challenger. >> you have to do it. and we have to find more ways, maybe that's part of the primary process. how can we create more pathways to help those kinds of candidates. >> it has nothing to do with the primaries. people run around in washington, d.c. and in state houses hating each other. >> but it works. they are doing it the same way kids are shooting people. >> what are we teaching our kids? >> a specialist is going to come join us. you think they dare join us? you guys look good over there. this is -- you guys are really

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we're back with the mega panel and today's specialist who has plenty to say. his name has been thrown around as a presidential candidate. david walker is a part of a nonpartisan group focusing on washington getting their financial house in order and the way it thinks about making decisions period. david, give us a sense of sort of what you think is the unifying thesis of what you represent and why it's so appealing that people want you to run for president? what's the principle resinating for you in terms you're different in what's going on now? >> i focus on substance and solutions. fiscal responsibility, the need for government transformation, and the need for political reforms. political system is broken. we have a republic that's not representative of the public. dominated by the wings on the

far right and far left and by career politicians who are not making progress on large known and growing problems. we're not except of laws of proven finance. what's happening in europe can happen among here. people know it and want truth, leadership, and solutions. that's what i try to give them. >> go ahead, jimmy. >> when you were comptroller of the united states, you came and you would testify before various committees. one of the things i was always very impressed about with you is you were always fair. you didn't seem partisan. i assume you're a republican. maybe not. i don't know. in your opinion, what's the one thing wrong with the republican party? and the one thing with the democratic party? >> for the record, i'm a political independent, and i have been for 15 years. for 21 years before that, i was republican. the first 7 years of my voting

eligibility i was a southern democrat. what's wrong is some of the things you were talking about before. the system is broken. we need redistricting reform. we need integrative primaries. we need campaign finance reform. and we need term limits. because right now, what's happening is a very small percentage of americans are deciding who a vast majority of elected officials are. and once they come to washington, they are disconnected from society and they want to keep that job for life. and we're seeing it play out in the republican primaries. they are going to have to attack to the center if they get the nomination. but 42% of americans are political independents like me and they are growing tired of the limited choices they are being given and the fact that nothing is getting done. >> go ahead, susan. >> right now we're seeing the democrats and republicans nibbling on the edges when it comes to reform.

frankly, they can get away with it. so the only way to have these serious discussions are by having a third-party candidate run? >> i think a third-party candidate could provide more choice and competition. if it's a credible ticket, could be viable for the presidential daeblts. and potentially have the effect that ross perot had, which was to set the agenda of the next president. i would like to be able to do what perot did, but without running for president. have an issue-based campaign to wake up america to make the general election more substive and make sure the next president will actually start leading on a range of problems that threaten our future position in the world and our standard of living at home. >> the question i have. you hear people are frustrated. i have friends in washington who are frustrated with what's happening in their party. but they are not willing to

speak out and take action. it strikes me with perot, he was willing to step up. people were willing to support him. what can people do? this is the other side of this. there's got to be some activity and some action to make some of these happen or we're never going to make changes. politicians are not just going to wake up and say let's have a debate. >> i think that ratigan was right after all. how do you answer that question, david? >> three things. one, i think on fiscal issues, check out comeback america. no labels. and on another choice for president and vice president, check out americans elect. these are outside the box efforts to try to shake up the system to try to help make sure we start making tough choices so our future is better than our past. >> a good friend of mine's father used to lecture the simple premise that you can't do

anything if you don't nowhere you are or where you're going or how to get there. do you think that america right now has any sense or even tool to know where it is? or let alone where it's going? >> great point, dylan. we have been a republic since 1789. to this day, the federal government still does not have a strategic outcome-focused resource constrained plan. none. it is flying blind. and living on our past success and reputation. we're not learning from others. if you don't have a plan, you're going nowhere fast. >> your point is, we don't know where we are. >> we don't. if we looked at where we are and where we're trending and how we compare to others, we might wake up. for example, the uk talked about their financial problems. we're worse than the uk on gdp.

if you add what we owe social security and medicare, we're significantly worse. only two years away from greece. >> to make you feel better, we do have the tools as a society to identify where we are if we wanted to find out. and we actually have the network capital 311 million of us to move towards solving those problems. that's the most inspiring component of an otherwise upsetting topic to think about. i can keep going. fantast fantastic. we have more time. i feel like i got more time on a game show. go ahead. >> here's the thing though. when you talk about on this show about misaligned interests, one of the problems and most corrosive impacts this primary is having is it's driving people further and further apart. >> people are just removing themselves from the whole process.

i'm not voting. if you look at the statistics, it's like forget it. >> women shouldn't. no contraception. some of these social issues. all it does is see further divide us and get us focused on that. part of it is you're saying we needed a plan. how do we get everybody on the same page that we need a plan and here's some basics to agree on. >> doesn't that begin with an honest inventory of where you are? then you can agree where we are. we are in america. it is 2012. we want to be healthy. we'd like to have schools. it seems like the inventory is the most valuable thing. >> we need inventory and go back to our founding document. it's called the constitution of the united states. it was founded on timeless principles and values. and the truth is, we strayed from a lot of those. limited but effective government. individual liberty and opportunity. rule of law. equal justice, fiscal responsibility, just to name a

few. we are violating all of those principles today. so you need to figure out where you're at, but you need to figure out what you're trying to accomplish and align yourself to make sure that you're achieving what's needed and that you're making progress that's sustainable over time. >> but don't we also need to have the public demanding that as well? i mean, the reason we have our political system in the way it's in is because these negative campaigns work. that's how people get elected. that may be what we're trying to achieve, but at the end of the day, that's the environment we have. how do we get people to say this is our priority. right now, they are responding to nonsense. >> we need to make two things happen. first, we need to make the first three words of the constitution come alive. we the people. you do that by stating the facts and speaking the truth and understanding the tough choices. about helping provide a way forward. secondly, we have to make sure the president of the united

states, whether it's barack obama's second term, mitt romney, or somebody else, that they end up using the bully pulpit to help the people understand what we need to do, why we need to do it, the risk of not making tough choices, and the benefits of doing so. if we want america to stay great, if we want our future better than our past, if we want the domestic tranquility in our streets to be there. we better get moving. because we are rapidly approaching a tipping point. the next three to five years will determine whether our future is better than our past. >> i think all of us agree with you. you keep talking like that, they are going to try to make you run for president. >> i've got a job. >> you might have another one. regardless, we are delighted to have you in the conversation under any capacity. thank you for your time. we look forward to having you as a central figure in our

conversation. >> always a pleasure. >> thank you, david. next up here, thanks to the mega panel. next, the presidential election is not the only thing that happens every four years. we shall explain. i knew it'd be tough on our retirement savings, especially in this economy. but with three kids, being home more really helped. man: so we went to fidelity. we talked about where we were and what we could do. we changed our plan and did something about our economy. now we know where to go for help if things change again. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get free one-on-one help from america's retirement leader. immerse yourself in all over relief [ female announcer ] feeling that flu all over your body? with alka seltzer plus. it's specially formulated to speed relief to every inch of you. liquidate your flu symptoms

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it's almost that time again. i'm not talking about the primaries. tomorrow 200,000 americans will be celebrating their birthdays. maybe you're one of them. four-year-olds turning one.

64-year-olds turning 16. yes, for them, the leap year means something different on their birthdays. so first things first. why the kwerk in the calendar. our calendar is 365 days. some of you know that. add it all up, you have an extra day every four years. and you have to be pretty lucky to be a leap year baby. the odds of being born on february 29th are 1 out of 1,461. there's quite a bit of history. for the ladies waiting for your significant other to work up the nerve, every four years you are expected to take matters into your hands and propose to your boyfriend. there's another tradition where the men have to pay if they turn

you down by purchasing 12 pairs of gloves to keep your ringless finger every cover every single month. not sure the ladies would be satisfied with that. a bit of history that might be more interesting to you. hockey fans on february 29th, 1980, gordie howe scored his 800th goal. i'm not sure if tomorrow is the 32nd anniversary or the 8th anniversary. we are just now hours away from the gop presidential primary results in michigan and arizona. chris matthews has your primary politics still to come here on "hardball." before we let you go into the night of primary madness, could a controversial oil pipeline actually be the keystone, forgive us the pun, for bringing america back together. david goodfriend believes he has

a scheme. >> an example of how corporations have not only bought our democracy but literally taken it over? look no farther than nebraska and the pipeline. you remember keystone? this is the pipeline that transcanada lobbied congress and the white house to approve so they could pipe canadian oil sands crude to the gulf for refining and to export. climatologists predicted that it would be game over for the global environment and activists ringed the white house in one of the largest acts of civil disobedien disobedience. president obama did the right thing and said no to the pipeline and was threatened with political destruction by big oil's washington lobbyists. those oil guys don't like being told what to do. not only are they trying to export the oil. but they will do it without paying any taxes because of a special deal. you can't ask for a better

poster child to get money out of politics than the oil guys. but back up a second. let's look at the place that really was ground zero for pushing back on transcanada. nebraska. it was here that farmers, ranchers, and elected officials decided to fight the pipeline. why? some obvious answers like the fact that the awe kwi fer would have been put at brave risk by this pipeline. but there's more. big oil staged a cue in nebraska and took over the government. they got the law changed so nebraska oil companies can do what only governments up to that point could do. take citizens land. the law of eminent domain says the government may take your property, but has to pay just compensation for it. in nebraska, big oil said we can do that. and they got the law changed so that an oil company can take your land. just because they need it.

but a funny thing happened on the way to the gulf of mexico. nebraskaens got upset. people from opposite ends of the political spectrum, the strangest of strange political bedfellows got together and said, no. corporations cannot take our land or our government. this is important, folks. because nothing scares the lords of the status quo more than the idea of citizens and activists from opposite ends of the political spectrum uniting in common purpose to change the system. yet that's exactly what happened and continues to happen in nebraska. it's spreading to texas and other states along the route where they have appropriated land, but cross itself. this will be a long fight, but memo to big oil. you just might have provided the spark we eded to roll back your coup. >> the way