and we've gathered a panel of men to explain why the current unemployment crisis could be solved with one policy change, get mothers out of the workforce and back in the kitchen. and my students back in tulane don't worry about this week's reading. it's just not that important. april fools! let's get started for real. good morning. i'm melissa harris-perry and time to play where in the world are the gop candidates. next stop on the republican primary express, maryland, d.c., wisconsin. in yet another not quite super tuesday, voters go to the polls in all three places this week. but most of the fanfare is concentrated in wisconsin, where most believe rick santorum will make his last stand. wisconsin is not just yummy cheese and frigid football, wisconsin has been ground zero as a political battleground for more than a year, and last

night, the battle cries were less about santorum and romney than they were about this guy. >> i want to say something to you, scott. we love you. thank you for being courageous. thank you for sticking to your guns and we have your back. you are going to lead this nation in making changes in the state level and local level by supporting your governor and lieutenant governor. >> you're a great governor. what a hero he is. scott walker. thank you. >> yes, republicans are exte extending the hand of friendship to wisconsin governor scott walker and he's welcoming their support. what started as a protest chant has now become reality. on friday, wisconsin election administrators verified that the recall election of walker will indeed go forward, for almost a year, walker has been grabbing headlines after he pushed through state legislation, blocking public service union's collective bargaining rights. how did this come about in

wisconsin of all places? historically one of the most progress you have states? in 2010, wisconsin took a dramatic political turn, outsting russ feingold in favor of ron johnson. who just endorsed mitt romney for president and sent fiscal conservatives to the scott walker governor mansion. so wisconsin's labor fight has garnered so much national attention, even trumping the presidential primary there, in part because wisconsin's issues are a microcosm for a nationwide trend and scott walker knows it. >> what's at stake in this election is fundamentally about courage. and lord help fuss we fail. lord help us if we fail. if we were to fail this sets aside any courageous act of american politic forces at least a decade, if not a generation. >> the wisconsin recall election on june 5th will be the state's first and only the thirder in the nation.

now here is the big deal. i am a huge fan of labor rights. but i am not such a supporter of recall elections in pure theory, a recall spells broken democracy. either the sitting leader is pursuing a course of action not advertised during his campaign or a vast overreach of power taking place in either scenario the democratic process has gone aw awry. consider the california recall election. that brought together a rag-tag group of 135 gcandidates, including arana huffington, gary coleman, an adult film star and arnold schwarzenegger. this could land a serious blow to an already weakened labor union process across the country. here with me to discuss how far reaching these implications might be are kiki mclean of

porter novelli galen and state democratic senator from wisconsin, lena taylor. thank you for joining me. >> glad to be here. >> senator taylor, on friday, a federal judge in wisconsin, ruled that key parts of the law restricting unions are unconstitutional. with that kind of ruling, does it make the recall less urgent? >> i don't feel by any means it makes the recall less urgent it maus just means that they've overreached and the radical ideology agenda they had is not for the people. and even the courts have concluded that the actions they took are unconstitutional. and that's been true partly with the voter i.d. law also that they did in secret. and redistricting. >> the ruling is not -- it really has to do with a very

specific element of this bill. it has to do with which organizations were left out, is that correct? >> well, did. it dealt with three different issues, one, which organizations were left out, and the court ruled in governor walker's favor in that regard. however, the issue that ultimately creates the challenge of whether or not unions will continue to exist, the recertification as well as whether or not automatic dues could be collected, those items ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, which were the key issues in the case. >> let me back up for a second to people at the table as well. although this is sort of a local politics moment this is not local politics, particular well all eyes on wisconsin at the moment. what should the national level gop candidates and also president obama be taking lessons from what's happening right now? >> i would say what's fascinating to me, you pointed out earlier in your comments

this is over a year process of what's going on. a year ago before we had presidential politics filling the air waves, we saw evidence of campouts in the state capitol. and as a democrat, i looked up and thought i don't like where we're going with this. this looks very 19 0s to me, very traditional and not a very going forward movement. >> and then the occupy wall street coming to bring the whole '70s movement back. >> exactly. i think the governor began to over reach in his politics, right? and now you have a state in the rest of the country and said, wow if it could happen there, where else could it happen? and you see a little light shone on other political issues with his staff and controversy and scandal brewing, so his condition is tremendously weakened. >> his polling numbers as i understand it, are slightly in -- 50% approve, 40-something%

disapprove. >> the latest marist poll, it's basically split half in half. >> as well as you should expect his numbers to go down. >> we don't know that. we'll see. >> well, we'll see. >> here is the difference between unions that deal with private companies and public service unions. private unions or units that deal with private companies, they have a natural limit on what they can ask for. because if they ask for too much, the company goes out of business and everybody is out of a job. there is a natural give and take. we can give you this, we can't afford that, and if they go on strike, they sort that out. with public unions there, is no limit, because over the years they just -- the -- the entity raises taxes or in the case of the united states, goes into debt, and so somewhere along the line and i don't know -- i'm not a wisconsin person, the senator

certainly is. i don't know where those limits are in the wisconsin particular area. but it seems to me that somewhere between what the unions were getting and what the governor got in terms of -- in kiki's words, overreaching that there is some middle ground and maybe it will be solved by mediation. >> this question of like a negotiation that rich raises here it feels like the overreach that is, if, in fact, the governor and state legislature using their power to take the away the right of organizing altogether, it's a different thing to say you no longer have the right. >> that there is probably some new ground between what the unions have -- in a progressive state like wisconsin, what the unions are able to get and what the state can afford. >> sure, sure. you have two different sides, please, senator taylor. >> the difference between what the governor has done and the

reality of trying to accomplish what has just been articulated, the governor took away the table, so there is no opportunity to negotiate. more importantly, before the governor did act ten, the unions already had agreed to pay a share of their health and their benefits and so on and so forth, so this really was not about whether or not the state could or could not afford or whether or not public sector unions don't have limits. they do. you can look at county executive kathleen faug falk, who negotiated at the table, hard negotiations or what the mayor of milwaukee has done. the reality, those options can exist, but you have to have the courage and backbone to sit at the table to say what you need and ultimately in the end be successful in negotiations. clearly, governor walker was not able to do that and as a result did not have the courage to sit

at the tables with the unions and decided to take the table away. >> i don't know that. i don't know that a personal attack on the governor's courage is the right way to go. but it's your decision. >> with all due respect, it's what happened. >> the concept of the table being taken away. i'm with you. i don't want to see recalls become a tactic. that's bad policy, bad politics and frankly really expensive. and i would rather see the money used elsewhere. i do a lot of work with a group called no labels, which is fighting hyper partisanship. we would say everyone at the table, everything on the table. hyperpartisanship comes up when somebody overreaches. the overreach went when you went to the heart of the process and began to yank out what would create equal -- a live playing

field to have the negotiation. not all things have to be equal and fair in life, but you have to have the same start. >> the people in wisconsin elected him, that's what he ran in. >> threats xleekt >> that's completely incorrect. >> please, jump in. >> the language of having campaigned on this, it's a challenge. precisely, i'm with you, kiki, that i'm not sure i'm a fan of recalls as a general policy, a way of dealing with disagreements. in this case, i think senator taylor, i have heard you say frequently it wasn't he campaigned on this. this actually was a surprise. it's one thing to talk about fiscal austerity and fiscal responsibility and even, you know, hard bargaining with the unions. another thing to take away collective bargaining rights. am i articulating that -- >> you are articulating that perfectly.

as someone who ran against him when he was the county executive just before his race for governor, i'm telling you, he never campaigned he was going to take away collective bargaining rights. if i could finish -- if i could finish, or that he was going to take away the table, so the issue at this point is he never, never ever campaigned on this, and the issue is when the unions decided that they would agree and cooperate to reduce the amount that the state so to say was putting in and increase what employees were putting in, that wasn't good enough for the governor. he wanted to take away democracy in the workplace to negotiate and talk about differences and come up with solutions, so, no, that's not exactly what happened, and what has been articulated. >> when we come back, we'll have jelly bean action. this time i didn't start it. more wisconsin.

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we wanted to come here to jelly belly and it's hard to say that in a political speech. i don't know what it is. >> come on, rick. not so hard to say jelly belly. we've been talking about it for a while here at mhp. seems like rick santorum took our hint about counting his jelly beans, i mean delegates, and he knows that this week's primary in wisconsin may be his last stand. in the recent nbc/marist poll, mitt romney leading by seven points in wisconsin, where 39 delegates on the line. and the "milwaukee journal sentinal" endorsed romney. in the event that the jelly beans don't liadd up for santor,

will his affiliation with the right lead to an interesting convention. kiki mclean and rich gale in and from milwaukee, wisconsin state senator lena taylor. also joining us john nichols, author of "uprising." he lives and works out of wisconsin, but joins us from denver. thank you for being here. john, i want to start with you since are you new to our table, via satellite. rick santorum this week is saying he won't be unrealistic about staying in the race, but i wonder, if santorum loses wisconsin is this the end of santorum's campaign? >> it's pretty close to that. rick santorum has gone in in a big way in wisconsin. he campaigned hard, went to the right places, has gone to the factory towns of wisconsin's eastern shore along lake michigan. those are traditional, blue

collar and very overwhelmingly catholic areas where he thought he would make a real break through. he cap pained hard with the burgeoning religious right in wisconsin. to be honest, he hit the ground well. went bowling in sheboygan, or fond du lac and hit three strikes. people said this guy, doing it right. the problem is that mitt romney really recognized the threat of wisconsin. wisconsin is a maverick state. tends to vote renegade. romney went in with huge amounts of money and he veered hard to the rate ight in wisconsin. ryan, romney, campaigning together the last couple of days, and he really went passionately into the tank with governor scott walker, that's an appeal to the base republicans, and i think it's going to work. i think at the end of the day, santorum won't get the finish he

needed out of wis, and it will be very tough for him. >> we have some language from santorum, talking about really needing to sort of -- the party needs somebody with a strong, courageous, right perspective rather than a more moderate perspective. running moderates has not been so good for the gop. let's take a quick listen to santorum on this. >> turns out like four years ago, we nominate a moderate. we don't get moderate votes, and we lose a lot of votes to people who aren't excited to come out to vote, because they don't stand for what they believe in. >> particularly in the context of what we were just talking about. scott walker defining courage the ability to stand up against recall, the notion that walker's opponents say it's a huge reach, and now santorum saying i can be a walkerlike candidate, standing kranlously on the right is that

a winning general election strategy? >> no, and i think the reason santorum is coming to the end of his campaign, i don't think he is going to get out 2 1/2 weeks from pennsylvania, where he may also lose. >> he has lost there before, pretty dramatically. >> i think if ronald reagan were on the ballot, the godfather of modern cover servetive, he would be assailed for being way too moderate. reagan and to a great extent george w., but i think what santorum -- where he kind of lost his way a little bit, and we'll talk about this later. so deeply into the religious part of conservatism, the all -- all of the social issues, as opposed to things like unions and taxes and fiscal part, but i think most republicans, even

conservative republicans are much more comfortable talking about on a regular basis. >> let me come to you quickly on this. are you listening to folks talking about what's going on with the santorum/gingrich -- excuse me, the santorum/romney race. how does scott walker endorse those figures make a difference to wisconsin voters? >> i think in the end santorum is way too far to the right for many individuals. however, what's ironic, i think santorum and paul ryan are kind of similar. clearly when paul ryan and ron johnson came out, it put santorum in a position where his campaign won't be able to go forward much further. but there individual who's like

to hear what santorum is saying. i question what that means for him later, after the convention so to say. >> is there a possibility of a brokered convention? >> remember, there are two different words here. brokered, versus what they manage through and contest. i think that's highly unlikely. i think you see the powers that be to come in, form the circle and people most likely to be renega renegade, paul ryan, who just aren't doing it. rich tapped into something really important and that is this concept that it started to break away for santorum when he began to as sometimes somebody might say about somebody else saying he started to believe about himself a little too much. you know, as long as he stayed on that angry, blue collar economic message, he is making headway. they like that part of me, surely they will like this other stuff. they started talking about

college is for snobs and the contraception fight. and everybody said wait a minute, that's not what we're about, that's not driving each of us individual until our home. i don't known i can make a mortgage payment, i don't know if i can feed my family next week and that's where everybody put the brakes on him. and it wasn't so much about the social conservatism as it was your own agho gans, you think it's about you. >> no great success that hubris cannot -- in hip-hop we call it getting high on your own supply. thank you, state senator taylor for joining me. everybody else sticking around. up next, a story that's hard for people like me to cover, because it conflicts with our passion for ipads. do you have anything for a headache...like excedrin...

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products. let us count the ways. actually, let me count the number of infractions listed on the fair labor associations report detailing the conditions at foxcon, apple's main supplier in china the findings detail fla's investigation conducted at the request of apple to workers' rights and conditions at three foxcon factories. 3 million, how many new ipads were sold in the first three days of its release earlier this month. and how many did they manage to have so many on hand to be sold? that's because 178,077 at three foxcon plants investigated worked to assemble apple products daily. those workers o exceeded 60 hours of week per week during peak production periods, in violation of chinese labor laws and fla guidelines. they also found periods where employees worked 11 consecutive

days without a day off and 14% of workers may not have received fair compensation for unscheduled overtime. but also consider this. $238 a month is the legal minimum wage in shin zen, china, where one of the factories is located. but $286 a month is the starting wage at fox dcon and workers are compensated at higher pay than local law requires, and 34% of workers would like to work more hours. why? to make more money. compare that to 4 8%, how much apple's stock price gained in the first quarter of this year, earning a record quarterly revenue of $46 billion. all of these numbers add up to this. $499. that's the starting price for the beloved new ipad. now, if it were not for those difficult labor conditions at

foxcon it could cost a lot more. and that's the rub. more on that after the break. [ artis brown ] america is facing some tough challenges right now.

two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for our country's energy security

and our economy. in october 2011, apple founder steve jobs lost his battle with cancer and his passing came just as occupy wall street was changing the conversation, refocusing public taxi on wage, wealth and equality. job' global corporation made massive profits, generated in part by the cheap labor of chinese workers. apple is tweeted on iphones and organized collective action using imaterials and captured police misconduct and documented their experience using nifty built-in cameras. jobs is both the

revealing the inherent challenges. joining me is serene jones, president of the historic union theological seminary and cynthia estlund of new york university of law and author of "regoverning the workplace." and obery hendricks, columbia university visiting scholar. and also still with us, john nichols, political brigwriter f "the nation" to follow up on the occupy piece, i was fascinated to see the way that they were changing the way we spoke about it, talking about inequality but do it by products that were produced by inequality. >> these are challenging matters this is not about chinese workers and not about apple. it's about the choices that

nations make. some countries, like germany and finland, have decided that when they have a technological advance, when their great thinkers come up with new ideas on how to apply technology, they want to have the manufacturing of those products in their country. so they used trade policies, tax policy incentives to keep manufacturing there. in the united states, we have not had their approach. the united states says we want to innovate here, have great ideas, but also let corporations go wherever they want and set up manufacturing at the cheapest place. so really when we debate this, we can focus on apple all we want and focus on some of the conditions in these chinese factories, but if you want to get toward an economic justice model, not nearly for chinese workers and american workers, you have to start to take a serious look at u.s. policies, which, frankly, are not about or not encouraging manufacturing in

the u.s. >> something to think about u.s. policy, but i want to turn to you in part because your work is on international labor law. china being one part of it, even in the course of you doing this semester. tell me, what are -- i worry both we are sort of kind of overreaching with big hearts, oh it feels -- you know, feels so bad, maybe we shouldn't buying these products in a context where it's creating jobs. on the other hand, i also worry we're saying, well, it's skraekting jobs so it doesn't matter what's going on ethically. how do we manage that? >> hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of povrerity in china, partly because global supply chains have made great use of the labor there. from a world justice standpoint, that's been a plus. at the same time, of course,

china has it's own labor policies and own labor standards, there are some international labor standards, involving forced labor, freedom of discrimination, and they should live by international standards as best they can, which is difficult in china, but by chinese labor standards, on the books, they are really pretty decent, and improving for -- by chinese standards, it's a developing country, and u.s. and western multinationals are contributing to the violation of those labor standards by taking advantage of cheap labor that is -- schaeper than it should be and the hours are longer than they should be. >> we have statistics that people want to work more hours, so we shouldn't feel bad about the fact that they are currently working long hours. they want to earn more hours to earn more income and at this

point the wages can't keep up. what -- it feels like there is a deep elt kalish eau here and that is connected to our consumption, our desire to have those cool products and have them at a reasonable price. how do we manage that as consumers? >> i think one of the most interesting things about this moment is that any time we think we have a purchase on what the ethical action is and begin to broad tennessee out to a global context, we begin to realize, it cuts in many different directions, and this is one of those moments with occupy wall street, we have the 99% and the 1%. you expand that picture to the world and you get a very different understanding of what it means to take seriously the claim that all people are fundamentally equal and deserve to be treated equally. >> take it serious, i'll let you weigh in here. >> one of the problems is the question is not asked, what is

the just thing to do. not just what is the proper thing. but what is the just thing. and that's something we don't hear in corporate ethics, in fact, we don't hear it from the business side and certainly not from the right wing at all. it's about just us. what is in our interest. not what is the just thing. i think it's a very ironic thing that what we hear today coming from the more conservative panel that supports corptism, how religious they are, and how much they believe in the bible. yet they ignore the centrality of justice question. justice in biblical hebrew is one of the most oft occurring concepts, fundamental to judaism and christianity. so the question is never asked, what is just. the question, what will serve

our interests, what is just us? >> thank you, john nichols, i appreciate your efforts. >> thank you. >> thanks for being on. what is it about those apple products that make them so great? we'll talk about that and new developments on the humanitarian crisis in syria. we'll bring that to you after the break. to let you know i'm giving you the silent treatment. so you're calling to tell me you're giving me the silent treatment? ummm, yeah. jen, this is like the eighth time you've called... no, it's fine, my family has free unlimited mobile-to-any-mobile minutes -- i can call all i want. i don't think you understand how the silent treatment works. hello? [ male announcer ] buy unlimited messaging and get free unlimited calling to any mobile phone on any network. at&t.

let's be honest. i love my ipad, the way it feels in my hands, i don't really look at it, i kind of go into it, like jumping into water color painting with mary popins, my music, documents, communication, all one of it in one portable, totable, and mostly affordable little package. there are human costs extracted to make this extraordinary little gadget and recognizing those costs makes the experience much more complicated. back talking about fair labor

association report on foxconn, a major chinese manufacturer of apple products. with me is serene jones and cynthia estlund, and cocreator of the daily show, lizz winstead. you are new to our table. i remember the first time -- i remember my first time with apple in terms of experiencing the product. is there something literally about the product itself that makes it harder for us to focus on the ethical questions associated with it. are we attracted to it in a way that makes us put it aside? >> it is something we think about a lot. i would never buy a diamond, i have the one my mother put in her will for me, i would never wu that. i can avoid that.

certain cultural things i can avoid. but in the communication age that we live in,est eshlly with me as somebody who -- i have developed an entire new career because of twitter and fatebook and social networking and be communicating constant well people and dialog on these things, i don't know how we go back, now that we have introduced our lives into this new way of communicating. and i am addicted to it. >> so is there a way then? if this is the new reality? if the consumption, the market is there is there a way through international politics, policy and law that we can influence the conditions under which our products that we love are created? >> the whole corporate social responsibility movement and the heroin branch of that has been about trying to bring to bear our sense of what's right which is embodied in international law and in broadly shared notions of justice and minimum standards, as well as the notion of compliance with local law.

we can put pressure, we can send a message to companies like apple, don't make us feel guilty. we love your products, but we don't want to be associated with abusive practices, so shape up, make yourself into a leader, be in the labor standard world what are you in the world of creating the most spectacular electronics. we know apple can do anything, right? so we know they could become a world leader, a global leader, a leader in the electronics industry for changing the way the supply chains operate. >> isn't one possibility that they would take lower profits. i keep hearing, you can have whatever emotion you want, but you don't want to pay $200 or $300 more for this product. couldn't they take smaller products? or is that so bizarrely naive to imagine that a corporation would

choose to reduce it's profit margin in order to have fairer practices? >> that comes down to the question justice, a question of ethics. in the backward ethics we have today, the most important thing you can do is make the most profit you possibly can. the best way you can serve the people. and, what biblical faith says, if, you know, since these conservatives and corporate types are supposedly so biblical, that's what it comes down to, if they were really that way, they would realize the responsibility is to people and people's welfare and to do the just thing. so profits would not come before the people's welfare. they tried to have some kind of balance. as it stands now, ethically, no compunction to find the balance at all. and, unfortunately, we don't force them to do it because we

love these products. >> and when i look at it, look at my own self, working in television and in entertainment and the media, i have made choices to not work on shows that i thought were garbage that paid a lot of money. i made choices to work on what i believe in i would rather make a nice doctor's salary and know the thing i put out into the world isn't stinking up underneath somebody's window and when they watch it, they feel okay about it, and i can look at myself in the mirror. i think what's interesting, can we make the correlation about how much cigarettes have gone up and how people still buy them. are these things so addicting if we charge even that much more to make them here -- >> is your ipod a pack of sick rhetts? thank you, cynthia, i appreciate you joining us today. up to speed on another story we've been tracking. earlier today, representatives

from dozens of countries gathered to turkey for-to-work on the atrocities in the syria regime. this morning, our own andrea mitchell sat down with secretary of state hillary clinton following her meet negotiation istanbul. here are some of the things she had to say. >> madam secretary, you said there will be serious consequences if assad does not stop killing his people. this is the moment of truth. the time for excuses over. but short of military intervention, what is going to stop this man? >> out of this meeting today, we have agreed on not only more sanctions, but a means of enforcing them. we have a sanctions committee. that is quite an accomplish. this group consists of a lot of countries that are really the main stays of the syrian economy. more humanitarian aid going in. an accountability project under

way to catalog atrocities that have been done and we're increasing the various forms of assistance for the syrian opposition. in addition, we are supporting kofi an an's process, but we wanted to have a timeline, because we don't want to give assad the excuse of being able to negotiate with no end. >> you can catch the rest of andrea's interview on "andrea mitchell reports," tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. eastern. coming up, the outcry over the killing of trayvon martin has gone global. more after the break. instead i got heartburn. [ horse neighs ] hold up partner. prilosec isn't for fast relief. try alka-seltzer. it kills heartburn fast. yeehaw! you you you you

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now, that's progressive. call or click today. this is george zimirman stepping out of a police car in handcuffs, less than an hour he shot the unarmed trayvon martin to death. he wasn't arrest thad night and remains free, and apparently at least after the incident he was in good shape. the "new york daily news" said that the ems workers that

responded to the scene did not sustain fatal injuries in the encounter with trayvon, causing into question the broken nose and other injuries. and the "orlando sentinel" say it wasn't george zimmerman's voice calling for help on a 911 recording of the incident. while zimmerman's story appears to be falling apart, the world is coming together to demand he be arrested. yesterday outside the u.s. embassy in london -- yes, london -- about 300 people assembled and protested for three hours. in sanford, thousands chanted we want an arrest, shot in the chest. msnbc's own al sharpton was there. take a listen. >> somebody needs to inform this county and this state and this nation that you can turn back the clock, but you can't turn back time. we are not going back to the

days when we were killed and nobody did nothing about it. there will be justice for trayvon martin. >> another rally takes place in trayvon's hometown of miami. there is one ray of light in the darkness of the trayvon case. media coverage helping to shine light on similar incidents getting little attention. marley graham an 18-year-old in the bronx of new york. on february 2nd, a new york police officer entered his grandmother's apartment without a warrant and shot the unarmed graham in the chest while he tried to flush a bag of marijuana down the toilet. wendell allen, a former high school basketball star, shot and killed in his mother's home in new orleans on march 7th. the new orleans police actually had a warrant, but allen, like graham, was unarmed, and the shooting remains under

investigation. kendrick mcdade lost a man's backpack. after the man lied about kendrick having a gun, pasadena police confronted him thinking he was armed. the 911 caller was arrested for involuntary manslaughter. beau morrison was intoxicated and fearing arrest for underage drinking at a nearby house party, sow hid on a porch in slinger, wisconsin. it was the porch of the man who called the police on that party. and that man shot bo dead. justifiably according to the state. protected by the state's new hassle doctrine law, similar to florida's stand your ground law. and the same kind of law, rakiah boyd's killer, a police officer, could be protected. if his story holds up, the detective was offduty when he fired his weapon after he

claimed that someone grabbed for a gun. other witnesses contradicted the story, say nothing gun pulled on the detective. i had say again what i said two weeks ago, when these young people are killed, the least we can do is remember their names. the very least indeed. coming up, it is palm sunday. and we're about to bring a whole new meaning to jesus fish. that's next. [ female announcer ] think it's impossible to reduce the look of wrinkles

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starting on earth day, april 22nd, whole foods will be selling a whole lot less food, at least in the seafood department. in an effort to make its catch of the day more sustainable, the supermarket chain will stop selling wild caught seafood red rated this refers to seafood that is either threaten bid overfishing or caught in a way that damages other species.

black listing the red fish is part of the company's policy of sustainability, as laid out in its declaration of interdependence, which says we see the necessity of active environmental stewardship so that the earth continues to flourish for generations to come. we seek to balance our needs with the needs of the rest of the planet. now, i'm just guessing that their definition of stewardship came from an entirely different dictionary than the one rick santorum uses, his understanding of the term sounds markedly different. >> we were put on thaert as creatures of god to have dominion over the earth, to use it wisely and steward it wisely, but for our benefit, not for the earth's benefit. >> emphasis on dominion. the idea that the earth exists at and for our disposal. rick santorum's finer take on man's inheritance of the owner

is one lens of faith. i would argue the gospel of whole foods might be just divine, not just because of the fish, if you have ever been stuck in bumper to bumper traffic, you probably have seen that fish affixed to the rear window and now the driver is probably praying to clear the road. now, it is because of their approach to creating good policy, and i think if there is an idea here of mutual reliance between ourselves and our planet, between ourselves and the other species and other people and that the fate of each other is tied to the fate of all. it's environmental policy as moral imperative and could possibly be a blueprint or green print for liberals who struggle to do what conservatives have done so well. frame social and ethical issues as religious rallying points. joining me at the table. serene jones, president, and rich gay publish and obery

hendricks, are lizz winstead, political satirist and cocreator "the daily show" and author of "lizz free or die." i'm excited to have all of you here. palm sunday, easily my favorite sunday in the calendar, because i -- i enjoy getting the palms at church, and thinking about that made me think about this environmental moment. this question of asking whether or not we can frame a set of questions about stewardship and dominion as policy and politics questions. i'll watch for you, serene. any faith-based frame for progressive issues like the kind of environmental movement as a possibility? >> oh, absolutely. the oldest pro world environmental policy that we have in any kind of text is in the hebrew scriptures, talking about the interdependence. the world shalom means to dwell

together and that includes not just people. it means for the whole community. the world, the path plants, trees, animals, and palm sunday is an interesting moment to think about this, because it's a great sunday, palms are flying, everyone excited, look how glorious and excited it all is, and yet underneath all of that, gross injustice is taking place in the story, jesus coming into jerusalem, the poverty levels in jerusalem, have gone off the charts, the empire cracking down on people. oppression is flourishing, and these two moments exist simultaneously. a real challenge to think about earth justice, world justice, and what it means when there are rumbles junior underneath. >> rick santorum, engaging in part in that moment. it was allowable to have this conversation, because the presidential candidate framed this in part as a religious

issue. >> when it comes down to rick santorum, we'll pet y put you d undecided, after having been down here an hour. >> i think he's interesting, both on the ground, i am the working class guy, and i may disagree with him, but i believe what he says. >> that's the problem. i think he believes what he says. >> right. part of that is what feels like his faith fueled discursive language. >> rick santorum is not a deep thinker. i didn't say he is an idiot, i may say ththink that. he has a very circumscribed view of life. if you listen to him, if one word to substitute with the overt language of class, overt language of race, you see a very supremacist viewpoint that he

has, and we in our group, better than everybody else, the earth exists for -- to be run the way we think it should be run, and it's not -- i keep talking about justice. it's not justice, it's not loving at all. and supposed to be so faith based, so -- in regard to the palm sunday, an important point. this is all attached. when jesus came in, this was a demonstration, palm sunday, people were throwing palms down, they thought he was the messiah. 1 samuel tells us whennointing messiah is to protect his people from their enemies all around. in other words, to fight for their liberation, protect from exploitation. the people expect this is the role that jesus would play and that central to our faith in the

eastern jartinarrative, this mae in, understood to be coming into be a liberator. sentenced, tortured and killed for -- on a civil charge of sedition, the only thing people were crucified for, and this whole notion of justice and being concerned about the exploitation of the people, exploitation of the environment, should be what -- should also be remembered. easter should not be about jesus resurrected from the dead, but to remember what it means to follow him. to follow his ethical example, to fight for justice. to fight for the least of these, matthew 25. >> i love your take. the takes that asks questions that i see, and it asks to us think about the life of christ christ. also last night reading liz free or die, and particularly your

chapter in dog we trust, right? and this notion of actually inverning and asking, you know, why -- how does any of this kind of language, does any of it get us closer to interdependence or always as you tell in your suzie story kind of leave us in a place where we are dividing from one another based on whether or not we believe what happened on palm sunday or easter sunday. >> the disconnect, you know, from when i discovered in catholic school one day when the nuns told me that dogs and jews weren't going to heaven and i grew up in minnesota, and i thought jews were in the old bible. i thought they went away. like argon ougauts or something. and i was outraged that this thing i loved would be dead and not join us, and i said how is that possible? and she said the very thing that rick santorum said, well, god

gave us animals to enjoy and eat and, therefore, us to enjoy. yeah. >> and -- >> can we lighten this up a little bit? good grief. >> thanks for the timing. and what it is i don't get about santorum, if we are stewards of this earth and then we're not supposed to use birth control, at some point the earth is a finite mass, and how can you keep having children who keep using resources and think you are doing a good thing by just taking everything that is on the earth and using it all up? i don't get it. >> i love that your solution to it was to become a catholic priest so you can talk to god about it. >> yes. >> as the only jew on the panel, i would remind you that passover

is coming up and andrew climber says this is his favorite weekend when passover and easter cross, because you can get ticket to any play you want. >> nobody will be out. >> and i have to go to long island for the first night of passover, god's way of reminding jews what it was like in the desert, the first night on the long island expressway. >> is there a space in the republican party, if the party is led exclusively -- i want to have progressive discourse within a democratic party, but is there space in the republican party, if, in fact, religious language becomes so central. >> the issue is whether the model is cotton mathers whacking people on the side of the head for falling asleep in church on sunday morning. the matter is ethics and all of

the things we look to god and religion for. and let me say when it becomes the guiding principle of everything you want to do in public life, i think that's dangerous. >> coming up, we'll see evidence of evolution, right in the republican party, in a way that you probably aren't thinking. i'll tell you about that next. your finances can't manage themselves. but that doesn't mean they won't try. bring all your finances together with the help of the one person who can. a certified financial planner professional. cfp. let's make a plan. you see the gray. try root touch-up by nice 'n easy. just brush our permanent color matching creme

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i never agreed to man made global warming. never once was a member of the club who bought into not climate science, but political science of man made global warming. >> that was rick santorum last night in wisconsin and still with me at the table are serene jones, rich gailen, obery hends

ricks and lizz winstead. >> last living person that cares. >> about rick santorum. what i find interesting about that moment, and i actually think representative of some of the kind of climate change denialism, it's rooted in the question of how do we determine if something is true or not? do we determine it with a faith claim? i believe this book is true and because this book is true, i derive heez policies from it. or any basis of which we have some agreements about how we adjudicate a truth claim? it feels like it's hard to move forward in equality with differences in faith-based opinions if we don't have some things we can say we agree that the sun comes up here, and sets here and that we can adjust a standard error and the likelihood of evidence in this way. how does faith help us or harm us in literally making judgments

as what counts as science, true, and reasonable policy? >> i mean, for me, sometimes i -- when it comes to the science, sometimes i look as it more as the freedom analogy, where as americans don't want to be told, like the one thing we agree, consumption can add to chicago mate change, how we do things, and people get so uptight about looking at changing their ways. remember the outrage of jimmy carter saying maybe we could wear a sweater is it really a problem to ask people to have a smaller vehicle to cut down slightly on emissions? and everything becomes the enemy when we ask people to simply re-evaluate the way they live their lives, whether or not they drive an suv or don't want to wear a sweater, they are insulted and outraged. so i have experienced, just by the notion of being asked, and i

think that part of it is as crucial as what are you talking about. >> when i think of the way faith plays out in my own life, it's precisely faith claims that would lead me to think that science is an absolute necessity, because faith leads to us ask the question, how do we build the most flourishing community we possibly can? and the space of civil discourse is necessary for that then absolutely, amen, that's a faith claim driving us to civic discussion, but i think in moments like now, part what we see with the rise of this religious language is a deeper sense from ordinary people that what they care about isn't heard, isn't listened to. u.s. a version of the 99.1, but getting expressed in very imoh tiff claims about faith. >> i think that argument that everybody missed the boat on global warming, quiet should have been, better to have more crap in the atmosphere or less,

more junk in the water or less, more toxins in the soil or less? can we agree it's better to have less? good. now let's figure out how to do that. >> what's fascinating as we look at rick santorum, your favorite person. >> got it. >> when we look at this conversation and the way that science is demonized when people say i believe in science, and, you know, 090-some percent of scientists believe this. but when they say i believe in biblical truth, you are elevated to front-runner for president of the united states. >> the other temptation is to demonize all religious claims, and it's a version of the same thing. if you are asserting -- and i'm not by any means defending rick santorum, but people make these sorts of claims and how do we as a country not turn around and

demonize people are saying things we don't agree with. >> even in the context of science, we have to be careful that asserting science -- let me be clear, i don't mean climate science, but at the tern of 9/9th century, science said women were inherently different and black people were inherently different, so part of the is asking again what are the common bases we would use to say 100 years later, that is bad science. we can define bad and good science in a way -- how can we figure out there are more or less useful ways to determine where faith claims are leading us as we try to make collective policy choices. >> underlying this is a discourse that we're not pointing to. discourse of freedom, free to do my individual thing, versus responsibility. and what we're hearing in this whole -- >> is this what all laws are

about? >> we go back to american liberty league, and back in the 30s. these very rich guys, dupont brothers started the discourse and started framing everything in terms of freedom. no more about responsibility. >> that's what laws are for. >> my freedoms don't interfere with yours. >> we talk about two things. when you say what's most important is that i be free to do my thing, which means that responsibility for the rest of society is secondary if i feel anything at all. that's a problem if biblical, ethical terms, so the question -- the question that -- the discourse that santorum is coming out, you know, this whole freedom thing, whole liberty thing, free to do what i want and don't have to listen to everybody else, i want to be free to do my thing, they aren't asking, is this a responsible position to take vis-a-vie the

rest of the world? what affect is having on the rest of the world? looking around and seeing islands being subsumed by the ocean now. >> interestingly enough, they are. the catholic church, our current pope or the current pope in the catholic church. i'm sorry, i'm married to a catholic, i live in new orleans and sometimes i accidentally become catholic. but the current pope is actually quite a green pope. i wanted to just point out that despite the kind of, you know, catholic conservatism, the pope saying human beings legitimately exercise a responsible stewardship over nature let us hope that the international community and individual governments will succeed in in countering harmful ways of treating the environment. >> we think of these conser conservative institutions. i appreciate you having a palm

sunday conversation. thank you for being here. coming up, i hope vu binh taking notes. i have a pop quiz after this break. we are going to start with product x. this is a very affordable product that will help save you a, lot of money. i like it.. i like it too. this is product y. this is a much more expensive product. you will not see a lot of savings with this one... harsh. you chose geico and you did not choose their competitor. was this your first car insurance taste test? [ facilitator ] what do you smell? takes me outdoors. sort of a crisp, fresh feeling. [ facilitator ] go ahead and take your blindfold off. [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] the febreze set & refresh. breathe happy for 30 days, guaranteed.

and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. that can help lower cholesterol? you know, those farmers, those foragers, those fishermen.... for me, it's really about building this extraordinary community. american express is passionate about the same thing. they're one of those partners that i would really rely on whether it's finding new customers, or, a new location for my next restaurant. when we all come together, my restaurants, my partners, and the community amazing things happen.

to me, that's the membership effect. welcome back. you have joined us just in time for pop quiz. giving that it's april fools' day, and april fools' day is a scary place in nerd land. lots and lots of pranks played on me by my staff. i'm going to turn the tables, we're playing headline or hilarity. we made up the rules here in nerdland and they go something like this. i will read to all of you a maidline. you at home can play too. you tell me whether you think it's a real headline or fake, and by fake, we mean from the onion. because we all love the onion here and especially today. our participants here have cards to hold up. they will indicate it's fake or real, so back with me, are kiki mclean, a long-time democratic

strategist, obery hendricks and lizz winstead. you asked for it to get lighter, it's about to get lighter, but it's a test. >> notice she goes to her professor pose. >> i do. > >> i feel like i shouldn't have drank last night and i should have studied. >> another shoulda, woulda, coulda. >> the newt campaign is now charges $50 to have your picture taken with him? fake or real? yes, everybody. that is real. >> and $100 to avoid it although all cost. >> what are you willing to pay not to have your picture taken? this is from talking points memo and it seems to be the indication with the super pac drawing up, he's going retail. >> moving out of private equity, into retail. >> a very different way of

thinking of retail politics. second one. 69% of americans say they have a problem with a more mown president who is also mitt romney. fake or real? >> who is also mitt romney? >> two reeall reals, two fakes. >> sorry, your proclivities overwhelmed your sense. >> mister, i think you should just calm down about my proclivities, are you airing into territory that's really none of your business. >> i'm going back to the fact that my 7-year-old is in the green room and monitors are on. >> that is an onion headline. that is not true that mitt romney is making things worse for mormons. >> i should have known when you said and that is mitt romney. bad grammer. >> third one. rick santorum is relieved that

no one has asked him about interracial marriage. real or fake? two reals, and a -- wow. every one at the table hates rick san tourm. that is a fake. from the onion. the onion said in this fake article is that there is no question about it, what i have to say about the topic would absolutely terrify anyone with a conscience. but that is -- >> the reporting may be fake, but it may be the truth. it, may, in fact, be -- >> i think that's a win for all of us. >> i've got one for you now. is it or is it not true that there is an elderly couple in fear over a spike lee tweet? real, real, real. yes. you've got it right. there is actually a -- >> but he apologized. >> so did rush. >> you know what? why would you tweet anyone's address to anyone.

i am -- >> lizz, this one is really here for you. we need to send to spike the rule that when someone tweets you and it says please retweet this, that means never retweet this. >> yes! >> this is like twitter 101. >> didn't bieber get in trouble this past week for tweeting somebody's phone number. justin bieber tweeted a phone number that was some person who got thousands of phone calls into their home. >> this is twitter 101. just don't. here is the last one. sarah palin is set to co-host the "today" show on tuesday. real or fake? >> i don't know. i hope its fake. >> i got to tell you, all of you are voting real. when i heard in this morning, i assumed that nerdland was messing with me. >> that's what i thought. >> worse than that. and according to what we were just talking about in the green room, nbc is doing that as counterprogramming to katie

couric guest hosting the abc "good morning america". >> i know. as i was coming to the show, my twitter feed was blowing up with this story, and i kept writing to someone, april fool's, yawn, april fool's, yawn. and they are like i'm so sorry. >> i am going to say this. if sarah pal inch is coming to co-host the "today" show, i'm going to make the plea made yesterday. newt gingrich, please come sit in, co-host with me here at mhp at nerdland, you are the nerd cab date at the gop. i want you right here. >> i would love to be here. >> they are having a good time. oh, why are you giving newt to al sharpton? i want him at my table. >> see, again with you and the practice on you. >> i am afraid of what's happening. to thanks to all of you. to all of you for playing.

obery, thank you for joining. everybody else will be back. we'll talk more humor in politics. we'll be back soon. with b vitamins, the first and only one to help support a healthy metabolism. three smart ways to sweeten. same great taste. splenda® essentials™. the world needs more energy. where's it going to come from? ♪ that's why right here, in australia, chevron is building one of the biggest natural gas projects in the world. enough power for a city the size of singapore for 50 years. what's it going to do to the planet? natural gas is the cleanest conventional fuel there is. we've got to be smart about this. it's a smart way to go. ♪

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i don't know about you, but laughing instantly changes my mood and apparently the mood of all miff guests in nerdlands. no better source for laughter than politics. intentional or not, there are hilarious political moments. take a look. >> good afternoon. oh, shucky ndukwe. ♪ i >> yeah! >> the opportunity to see what's in here. ♪ so in love with you >> and when they ask me who is the president of you you beuwec

stan stan i'm going to say i don't know. do you know? all right. so here with me to talk about all things funny and all the things that politicians do that they don't mean to be funny but nonetheless are, kiki mclean, john nichols and -- rich gallen winstead. one of the funnest things the founding fathers ever did, to give the power of the government to ordinary people and therefore to put politicians of asking to ask for our support before they can hold office. besides kind of going over the top, what is it that makes politics so funny, why so funny

so frequently? >> the funny moments, when these people are treated like dieties are all of a sudden completely human. that's what makes those funny. those videos of president bush walking to a closed door, that is hysterical. the question is, are you doubled over laughing, or going we're dead in the water, we're done? >> i was off today. i was off today. >> not my fault that this happened. and sometimes retail politics is the best place where this happened. the eating of the local food, different than you ever had before that turns out to be a surprise. >> the corn dog moments from iowa this year, because it wasn't just michele bachmann, i'm not going to go where you think i'm going, but there was corn dogs and then there was rick santorum with the ice cream and at some point i wonder, constantly as a comedian, any

time that happens, i immediately go, where are these people? like shouldn't somebody say, you want to know what? maybe not a photo op with the corn dog that's 12 inches long. maybe not. maybe that doesn't look good somehow. >> i went the other way at the iowa state fair four years earlier when i was a briefly -- a senior adviser to the very brief fred thompson campaign and he was in a full suit and $400 cordoban loafers and took a golf cart, quite the opposite of all that. it was -- we had everything but people with sunday palm fronds. >> these are the bloops and blunders. i stood backstage in the iron range of minnesota, which you know is the most northern most part of the united states, and you hear when rock stars say, hello detroit! and a politician says it's grate

to be -- and it's the wrong town. some take it with a grain, and some don't. >> not so much in the range. >> sometimes they mean to be funny. john edwards moment with the hair. i think we have that, so he didn't -- he was really just -- it was speaking of justin bieber. >> genuine vanity, right there. genuinely doing that. >> sort of looks like a david gregory are. >> don't pick on david like that. >> no picking on david gregory in 30 rock. there he goes with the hair. and i heard you groan when we showed the gore kiss. >> i love that because i know them and it was genuine. sometimes you said it's not planned and sometimes the pranks, it's april fools and one of the great pranks of all time, i traveled with mrs. gore as her spokesperson in 1992. then-senator gore, due to be on larry king. we finished our day of

traveling. i can't even tell you where we were. we got in just in time to turn on larry king, and as we were watching it, i think we ordered pizza, may have had a beer in the room and we looked up, and her eyes started to twinkle, because she loves jokes and has a great sense of humor, and we said, yeah, we're calling in. so that's the night -- >> and you tipper gore called larry king. >> not me. she did it. called the studio, got through. had no idea it was coming in, and you herd this breathy voice say would you like to go on a date with me? and al gore going -- until he figured out it was her. >> that is great. >> i think that kiss also proves why the fear offer ever filming yourself making out with your real person, what's your sex face? you never want to know what your sex face is? >> my agent doesn't think i have one of those. >> you don't want to know that.

and the gores showed our passion face and we all cringed in horror thinking i wonder if my passion face is like that. that's why there are romantic scenes and lighting when people kiss in movies, not just one take, we're out of here, angle, lighting, things. > >>.

we've been talking about politicians being unintentionally funny, what happens when they use humor on purpose? like this one, i'm about to fire the entire nerdland staff because they played another prank on me during the commercial. here were politicians trying to be funny. in response to the flurry of trawl sound personhood anti choice bills being debitted across the country, some lawmakers have proposed these

hilarious responses. in virginia, men were to get rectal exams and cardiac stress tes. in oklahoma, a man can't ejaculate anywhere to a woman's vagina. and let's not forget, georgia, men banned from getting va secreta vasectomies. we can't say that the politicians don't know how to have a good laugh. kiki mclean, rich gallen and lizz winstead, still here. those are all real, not fake. >> i am in the one with the good hair. >> all those women were hilarious, what i found frightening and unintentionally hilarious, one was in a transportation bill basically

talking about crumbling infrastructure and a woman's you the uterus, and you don't even understand the irony. >> my personal highway, the highways on a grander scale, like just get off the road, dude. pull over, people. pull over. >> do not make public policy and drive at the same time. >> especially on my infrastructure. >> that was ruled a nongermane amendment. >> thank goodness. >> the worst part is when a politician that whole idea of intentional humor, there are professionals. we have one with us today. i don't want to pretend to do what she does and she won't write press releases for anybody i work for, right? we'll honor each other's professional skill sets. there are a couple who have it and have that ability to pupt, they are the people with very dry humor, i hate to go back to the gores again, he can pull it

only you watched him go on david letterman and the ashtray, the $600 ashtray and reinventing government and wearing the goggles, he can pull that off because he has such a dry sense of had you more. >> he said that joe lieberman is going work hard, he's going to work 24/ 6. >> most of them not to good. >> even on "tonight" which is very heavily scripted. it sounds like they are making up as they go along, but most of them can't pull it off, and it's better not to try, because, a, they have writers that can't write for comedy and people who can't deliver the lines. >> sometimes they perform beautifully as the straight man or straight woman on "snl." find sarah palin to be a fascinating political figure and particularly love sarah palin, whether you are playing her as tina faye or julianne moore, you

can deliver her own lines, but deliver on "snl" through tina faye, and they are funny, and "game change" through julianne moore, they are straight. it leads me to wonder, is sarah messing with us? is this straight, what's character and what's not? >> what is the character and the caricature? >> you are always looking for people -- as a comedian as somebody that has an extraordinary element. >> that is a really interesting thing. there is political satire and then there is taking jokes that are sort of snarky in tone. you got the big smile, the reagan old, blah blah. to me, i try as much as i can, and sometimes i fail, because i succumb to the just sort of bigger general thing, but i think one of the things that satire can do when it's done

well is to continue the conversation. if you can actually make a policy joke, instead of saying john bayne e join boehner is orange, you can say that the way we'll pay for taxing cuts by people working until 70, well, people aren't working now. so it's not going to work. it's the difference between the way jon stewart or colbert tackle the political landscape and leno or letterman do when you come up with a monologue joke, oftentimes it's not rooted in the bigger picture of how do you take what these people believe in? because -- and quite frankly, i get really upset when people are sexist toward people i don't like. michele bachmann, or sarah palin, what they look like. and when it's women whose policy i don't agree with.

>> i want your twitter handle so i can keep sending you those. >> rich, i get nasty -- >> you don't lizz' twitter handle unless you have a lot of time. >> when you say about people like colbert, for someone like me who sis advising somebody wh is running for office and you get to do a big show, like colbert. for colbert, i had actively council, don't try to be funny. if you're going on letterman, len york they'll work with you ahead of time. oh, ki be funny. no, no, no. not your job to be funny. the person who goes on to try to be funny, dead in the water. the person who goes with the flow of the show -- >> i did jon stewart friday night and one of the things the producer says, do not try to be funny. because if bill thinks you are trying, he will turn, and his considerable comedic talents on

you. so i didn't. i just sat there and -- >> honor the professional. >> i like that, honor the professional, which is why we stole our headlines from the onion. coming up, we'll talk about how the events of the past week have already been playing out for a long time. before that, a preview of weekends with alex witt. >> hello. thank you so much, everyone. new details to share in the trayvon martin case and it has to do with the screens on that 911 call. and a development today in the story about singing star taylor swift and the date she was set to go on with a cancer-stricken new jersey teen. and a march madness story from seven decades ago you probably have not heard before. we'll bring that to you. and the producer of the documentary "bully." there could be a change to the controversial rating. now back to you. >> thank you, alex. coming up, my footnote for the week. first, a correction footnote fo the week. first, a correction on last week's footnote.

last sunday i recruited passages from "a prayer for children." the author of the poem is i ma hugh. we apologize for the oversight and thank the viewer who pointed out the mistake. up next, those who left us and the words they left with us. we always hear about jobs leaving america. here's a chance to create jobs in america. oil sands projects, like kearl, and the keystone pipeline will provide secure and reliable energy to the united states. over the coming years, projects like these could create more than half a million jobs in the us alone. from the canadian border, through the mid west, to the gulf coast. benefiting hundreds of thousands of families throughout the country. this is just what our economy needs right now.

the charcoal went out already? [ sighs ] forget it. [ male announcer ] there's more barbeque time in every bag of kingsford charcoal. kingsford. slow down and grill.

he was in memphis in a labor battle. 44 years later, american businesses benefit from parallel conditions in practice in factories overseas. when he was killed, king was standing for the rights of workers to unionize for better

conditions, and 44 years later, workers in wisconsin are fighting a similar battle. king was assassinated at the lorraine motel. it had been one of the few upscale motels in the jim crow south that allowed black guests. southern lodging is is literally at the very heart of the constitutionality of the 1964 civil rights act. in heart of atlanta motel versus united states, the supreme court held that the commerce clause gave the federal government authority to desegregate local businesses. 44 years after king's assassination at the southern motel, the supreme court is once again deciding how much power the commerce clause gives to the federal government as it considers arguments in the affordable care act before its panel this week. now, dr. king's work was focused on justice, fairness, and racial equality. he died long before seeing it come to fruition. and just this past week, 44 years later, john payton, president of the naacp's legal defense fund, died at the age of

65. payton was a modern civil rights foot soldier. president obama called mr. payton a true champion of equality who helped protect civil rights in the classroom and the ballot box. on the night before his assassination, dr. king promised us that someday we would make it to the promised land. 44 years later, we are still yearning and fighting and working to achieve a beloved community that feels so distant. it is a yearning, beautifully articulated by the feminist poet adrien rich, who we also lost this past week. she writes in her 1968 poem "implosions," "i wanted to choose words that even you would have to be changed by." and so, i will leave you with dr. king's final public words. >> like anybody, i would like to live a long life, longevity has

its place. but i'm not concerned about that now. i just want to do god's will. and he has allowed me to go up to the mountain. and i have looked over and i've seen the promised land. i may not get there with you, but i want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land! >> and that is our show for today. thank you to our guests for sticking around. thanks to you at home for watching. i'll see you all next saturday at 10:00 a.m. when actress kerry washington joins the conversation. coming up, "weekends with alex witt."

who is the "your business" entrepreneur of the week? carmen costantino, the florist struggling with the cost of gas. he's figured out a way to streamline deliveries and bought a more fuel-efficient van. ♪ [ male announcer ] want your weeds to hit the road? hit 'em, with roundup extended control. one application kills weeds, and stops new ones for up to four months. roundup extended control. i'm here to unleash my inner cowboy. instead i got heartburn. [ horse neighs ] hold up partner. prilosec isn't for fast relief. try alka-seltzer. it kills heartburn fast. yeehaw!

[ facilitator ] what do you smell? takes me outdoors. sort of a crisp, fresh feeling. [ facilitator ] go ahead and take your blindfold off. [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] the febreze set & refresh. breathe happy for 30 days, guaranteed. open up. we have come for the foul, unholy beast. the one with the red markings. the miracle whip? stand aside that we may burn it. [ indistinct shouting ] have you ever tried it? it's actually quite sweet... and tangy. ♪ i like sweet things. [ man ] shut up, henry. ♪