poems are going to washington d.c. and here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture. after one of the worst earthquakes in reporter history japan is dealing with another potential disaster nuclear meltdown could this crisis change the game of how the u.s. handles its own nuclear energy issues plus a once affordable drug for women at risk with at risk present pregnancies used to be priced at just ten bucks it's now fifteen hundred dollars why isn't there some say it has something to do with monopoly to uncover the pharmaceutical company and

the laws behind this bogus bill and of some of the biggest protests yet took place in wisconsin over the weekend congressman dennis kucinich was on hand to fire up the crowd and job madison was there recording both of them join me tonight here in the studio to share their observations and thoughts on the future of our democracy . you need to know this as many as one hundred thousand people showed up outside the state capitol in madison wisconsin to protest koch brothers lap dog scott walker's antics last week and illegally passing legislation that strips public workers of their rights a crowd far bigger than any tea party rally ever not to give up their efforts despite many pundits who are now calling the battle politically oh. also on hand at

the protest congressman dennis kucinich who had this to say. so what we have now here is a twenty first century version of the civil rights movement where we understand that i can not do my receipt is a precondition. with you. that that's because madison declaration the right to economic democracy and everyone has a right to introduce. you to it u.k. should thank you right. it was a right to retirement security it was a right i was seeing it was a right to peace well said so what's the next step to preserve this economic democracy that congress can in the senate so eloquently talk about to find out

congressman kasich joins me now on this issue and welcome thank you very much in your medicine speech you said that this was actually a fight for democracy itself for me the efforts on a part of the governor of wisconsin as well as the efforts on the part of the governors of ohio and michigan and other states are aimed at diminishing the role of workers in our society stopping them from having any say so in the conditions in which they work. it's a it's a vital shot at the whole basis of our democracy which is. kind of a transaction where let's talk together let's work together it's goes to a top down approach town which is a dictatorship and people have to fight back i was there to support the workers in wisconsin as i was there week earlier to support the workers in ohio and i'll go to michigan to support the workers there because our democracy is on the line there's an attempt to just. stripped basic democratic principles right out of our form of

government isn't this though in a way just a mopping up job either because when the forty seven of the past half heartly a bunch of southern states flipped to right to work for less electrical work for their right to work for less states and basically did what gov walker did in larger or smaller form and have been that way for decades i don't know frankly why anybody would want to emulate mississippi or alabama but it seemed like they were putting workers against workers here. many workers in the private sector have seen their wages from the senior working conditions go beyond their control their pensions cut and so there's an animosity about those who have been able to hang on and put in public workers and public unions have been able to hang on to whatever benefits they have through a fight that's taken decades but now the corporations are trying to switch and turn the workers of private sector were not unionized against the workers in the public

sector are and this kind of divide and conquer approach is aimed at privatizing public assets it's aimed at this incorporating cities that's what michigan's about they want to actually abolish the whole idea of people being able to directly elect their leaders at a local level it's a fundamental principle of local homegrown and this this is something that requires americans to organize to fight back. absolutely the republican senators from wisconsin who did this thing on this quickie vote that was arguably questionably legal. day after tomorrow in this city in washington d.c. over at the offices of cade b r e g r a company that on their web site suppose as they specialize in lobbying crisis management public relations really it's a big lobbying shop i don't know the city that well. up to five thousand bucks a plate they're throwing a fundraiser for these republican congressman from wisconsin. a.

i'm i'm frankly i'm surprised this isn't getting more for us even in wisconsin but b. what does this say about the state of our democracy that when these politicians do with the big companies want the big companies lavish money people have to understand it's always pay to play whether it's madison or columbus or lansing or washington and so the corporations have used their economic power to usurp democracy that's what citizens united case was all about and until we have a public form of finance and we won't gain back our democracy we'll always have this back and forth we're corporations will seize the moment through electing tools to various levels of government and then when they do their job they come in for their grand we ward which is more fundraising more efforts i'm sure there are so the senators from wisconsin that they will do everything they can to see to it that they'll survive the recalls that are coming out look when you have corporations

able to buy the outcome you have government and private interest when you're public financing you can have government and public interest very well so in the minute we have left i'm just curious your thoughts on p.j. crowley he was just fired the the spokes person for. secretary of state clinton for saying that brant bradley manning's situation his confinement circumstances not not that he's there but how he's being treated are ridiculous counterproductive and stupid but you've commented on this i was wearing well you know it's true it's true that i believe that the truth should shall set you free but mr crawley's case and also got him fired and we should take note of that as we persist in our efforts to address the plight of private manning but we should also express our appreciation for the unfettered honestly your p.j. crowley who in a moment where he was called upon to give an assessment of what exactly the way he saw it he did it and so we. be grateful for that well said congressman as to say

thanks so much extra so you are great having your. inner office building here the wisconsin capitol volunteers are ramping up their efforts to get signatures to recall republican senators who approved walker's bills one of those republican senators randy hooper may have other problems to deal with when protesters showed up outside his home over the weekend they were told by his wife that he no longer lives there instead wisconsin referee senator hooper has moved in with his twenty five year old mistress who also happens to be a right wing lobbyist in madison ohio or wisconsin or the blog blogging blue reports that hoopers wife actually gladly signed the recall petition against her husband is so is this the way forward we call joining me now is someone else who is on the ground in madison this weekend joe madison joe madison show joe welcome great to have you back with us so it's good to be worse yeah i mean it sounds and i

ever know that and i'm very curious what you know what what your sense of was of the energy behind the recall movement the energy number one is coming out of the state there's no way a fan buts about that so these talking points that these are people from all over being bussed in yes there were people who came in who certainly understand what happens in wisconsin may impact what happens in michigan and so people in the neighboring states also came in but for the most part interviewing the mayor of madison and interviewing that county executive a day county interviewing small business men and women they recognize their neighbors and seeing solidarity as you know one of the problems unions have always had is that oftentimes they're very competitive with each other but here we're teamsters here was the president of the. machinist's aerospace sitting next

to the former retired secretary treasurer of assamese so basically private sector representation and then he and the farmers there were well over fifty tractors that they've got involved because the cuts now to people who would basically republicans or in the middle are now filling these cuts there's another factor that is going to play place in watch this and that is that it is a tradition that once a budget is. agreed upon or before it's really passed there are hearings that take place in different parts of the state i talked with a delegate turner out a very scene who says he doubts now that the majority leader of the senate in wisconsin will have these hearings because if they go to the farmlands of west grants and they're going to get an earful if they go to be urban centers. milwaukee

they're going to get an earful and he says traditionally they've always done it he doubts if it will take place finally i will say this boils down to hand to hand combat politically speaking recalls on behalf of a democrat republicans want to recall a few democratic senators they're democrats who want to recall republicans. they are certainly going to be a recall effort against this this governor they've already raised who million dollars over two million dollars and they have fifteen percent of the signatures they need to make the recall governor walker happen so and i and i will also say this when we saw that crying cause you know those pows we b.s. going on with the koch brothers and to hear the governor suggest suggest. consider

it a provocative stab she would provide it to the mayor of madison wisconsin reminded me in the unit you in all the weeks of demonstrations big never had one arrest not one arrest is taken place in terms of any kind of violence or hostility the other thing was interesting it was headlines and madison was. the the governor's people tried to suggest that there had been seven million dollars worth of damage done to the capitol because a sweet plant or it would cost made the news. then they realize that that was an outright lie and it turned out that the estimate was somewhere around three hundred thousand and then when they finally did an accurate estimate it was actually under three hundred thousand the we the people are so proud of their capital that they

actually use blue painter's tape to hang the sign president so they didn't leave any kind of residue on the granite on that type of thing so what you saw was a diverse group of people. cops firefighters and you had folks coming together from all walks of life and it's there we have now taken an event it is now turned into a movement well let's hope so from your lips to god's ears gratis thank you thanks for job for dropping by i was feeling that in the end what republicans in wisconsin did could work out very well for the democrats at least in that state not only does it blatantly illustrate the republicans war against the working class in ocracy a war that more and more people are starting to see it's also awakened a labor movement that can carry the democrats of the two thousand and twelve elections as for walker's crony senators let's hope they don't even make it to two

thousand and twelve in a recall the next few months and walker himself recalled the beginning of next year . there is there is a. dynamic here there's actually a couple of dueling bets that are going on in wisconsin right now it's really interesting first of all how all of this has been pushed off the pages by what's going on in japan in wisconsin it's still happening in lansing michigan and still happening in india in the in india indiana still happen in columbus ohio and still have people are still showing up just not hearing about it media but the dueling bets are the democratic bet is that there's going to be outrage and that that outrage is going to last the republicans better is that people have short memories that by the two thousand and twelve elections which are a year and a half away people will have forgotten about all this it will be a quaint distant memory and by then they can you know their big corporate sponsors and whatnot can run enough big ads and expensive ads that they can they can win the

elections that they can maybe get back to god to gays and guns and stop talking about things like economics and unions and all as sort of thing and the other bet that the republicans are making is that they can knock enough democrats off the rolls that they can win this is what paul way rick a republican strategist had to say about three decades ago or two and a half decades ago he was the guy who masterminded the reagan campaign here's what he had to say. how many of our. what i call for. good government they want everybody to vote. i don't want everybody to vote. won by a majority of people they never help and probably going to iraq and they are not. going to go look for it in the elections why can't avoid. polling populace go down that's why the republicans fought people voting that's why a judge justice rehnquist made his chops in arizona standing at the polls challenging every person of color and every person to look like

a native american as to whether or not they could prove their citizenship and the right to vote and was able to get those potential democratic voters out karl rove is running an ad right. now in wisconsin take a look at this one union boss explains it is not because we care about children and it is not because we have a vision of a great public school. and its affiliates are a threat to the advocates because we have power. and we have the power because there are more than three point two million people who are willing to pay us hundreds of millions of dollars do tell obama you've had enough. you get that that's from karl rove's group and it was wildly taken out of context i want back and watch this guy's original speech first of all he's the warrior for the n.e.a. it was his retirement speech and what he was saying is we're we're great advocates for the kids were great advocates for the schools were great advocates we've been

able to succeed all these years in in maintaining a brilliant public schools is that because we have the power of unity and yet karl rove has turned this around into something nasty this is ultimately right now democracy is on a knife's edge you seen it was constantly seen all over the country are we going to flip into a corporate controlled world where the republican senators from wisconsin do their dirty work and then come to d.c. and get lavished with cash or are we going to go back to a real democracy where we the people rule and the government is organized of by and for we the people. it's time for our daily poll your chance to tell us what you think here's today's question the weekend's protests in wisconsin was the largest in history surpassing

not in history the largest surpassing glenn beck's restoring honor rally bigger than any tea party rally but bigger than glenn beck here in d.c. so where was the mainstream media your choices are a they're all parked outside charlie sheen's house waiting for him and his goddess to emerge or be they're all waiting for the fifty person teabag or counter protests to start was constant first and so far the majority of you say the mainstream t.v. media is waiting and see beggars so you still have time to tell us what you think log on to thom hartmann dot com and cast your vote the poll will be open tomorrow. coming up as japan scrambles to pick up the pieces after their nation was rattled by an historic quake a series of nuclear plant explosions threatens even more lives i don't how this nuclear crisis would spill on to us soil. actress lindsay low in fact he has told the preacher about these women that nothing

people are suggesting she's told her no she says she's a stock. there

is complete devastation in some of the northeastern coastal parts of japan as the death tolls toll soars and will likely surge beyond's and thousand people from friday's nine point zero earthquake and tsunami japanese officials are scrambling to prevent another crisis nuclear meltdown there are four nuclear plants experiencing problems two are in partial meltdown and there have been three hydrogen explosions at these plants since friday's earthquake reports the fuel rods at one plant have been exposed and are in the process of melting radiation is leaked from the malfunctioning plants leading to the evacuation of more than two hundred thousand people who live in cities nearby the japanese government declaring a state of emergency u.s. naval forces stationed in japan are a backyard in the area around the nuclear plants as increased levels of radiation have been detected aboard the u.s.s. ronald reagan in the worst case scenario a full meltdown at one of these facilities could send a radioactive cloud across the pacific to the west coast of the united states in

the wake of what's happening in japan is it time for the u.s. to rethink the role of nuclear power in our nation's future energy portfolio and what's really happening in japan paul gunter is director of reactor oversight at beyond nuclear and joins me now in the studio paul welcome thank you so much tom can you quickly explain what's going on in japan and can it get as bad as chernobyl well they you know the earthquake knocked out the power system the grid these reactors all the reactors are one hundred percent rely upon electrical grid power for their safety systems they went to emergency diesels in. raters when they shut down after an hour a tsunami came in and knocked out the backup emergency power many of these reactors actually were counting nine reactors right now in crisis and it's our understanding that there are three with partial meltdowns underway right now as we speak and the scope of this disaster is not just the reactors on top of each one of these

reactors or pools by design for the market in general electric reactor that is storing nuclear waste so the fukushima daiichi complex has not only the reactors in crisis but on top of our over two hundred tons of nuclear waste sitting in pools top of that on top of the reactors right reactor blows all it says is we are going to dirty bomb the pools actually sit atop the reactor containment so they're on the roof and right now the rooftop pools fukushima dai ichi one and three are looking to the surface of the pool with all this waste is looking up at the stars well actually they're looking up at the rising sun because it is morning there but you know if the accident as the accident continues to unfold certainly the the scope of the catastrophe could be international with no question

we're particularly concerned though about unit three because it's powered by a plutonium oxide. box we like to call it pox rather than the mox but it is in fact plutonium oxide and if this start it has a lower melting temperature for one thing but if it goes certainly we should be having monitoring stations along california of sodium is the most toxic substance on earth one single atom of plutonium in your body can theoretically cause cancer. i remember years ago talking to john kaufman. in the early seventy's i knew one of my hero yes he was a brilliant man and he said. plutonium is properly distributed which would be almost impossible to kill every human on earth well unfortunately there's more than one ounce of plutonium in fukushima daiichi three this is this since chills up my back right now because we're talking about something

a tug of war between the the courageous tepco workers no question tokyo electric power that's a very courageous workers on site are now dead men walking but they are struggling in a tug of war with armageddon right now and i just wonder how many of them are going to end up like many other workers and sure it will go on you know a month or two just dead literally. every time i debate nuclear power and have over the last decade with some right winger somebody from a think tank it was about the french the french have it all figured out the french recycle they're like they're they're radioactive waste down to the point where it's nothing. is there something the french know that we don't know or are the french still dumping nuclear waste in some island in the south pacific and what's the deal well actually they're dumping nuclear waste into the english channel seriously absolutely the french are reprocessing facility at legg has been dumping nuclear waste from the separation of plutonium and uranium and the radioactive signature of

leg has been found in the arctic circle in the arctic ocean so they're contaminating the whole ten in a thing you know all the way up to the our ocean is where it's been picked up and we are holding them the brunt of the actual nuclear waste is being hauled off into siberia so they're not managing it it is better than nationally of siberia it's you know interim storage for ever. this is is sensually it is a passing of a colossal liability a toxic liability for epic periods of time there don't. be fooled by this myth it to say that the french have dealt with the nuclear waste issue is like saying nuclear power is the peaceful out of or it's too cheap to meter these are all a set of images things from this as they all prove to be exactly what they are myths thanks so much. getting word out and thanks for i learned

a lot thank you very much it's so how much radiation is safe radiation and how does radiation cause cancer if you just a little i mention john gottman a few minutes ago this is a story that he actually told me to use thirty years ago a long time. first of all just an interesting story so this picture here this picture is from the one nine hundred fifty s. when i was seven years old i used to walk home from first grade past a shoe store and the shoe store and they had this machine right here and you could stick your feet in here and look at the top and see the bones in your feet inside your shoes it was an x. ray machine to see if the shoes fit now they made these things illegal in one nine hundred sixty because they were killing people i mean this is pretty awesome stuff so the question is how does radiation cause cancer how does the you know what why

why is that machine dangerous this is d.n.a. d.n.a. is made out of bait you know you've got the. with the sugars basically out here the hold was thing together but but there are four amino acids adenine climbing groening inside as seen one inside a scene always form a pair adding and wanting always for a pair or adding in time you know his form here but sometimes it's this way sometimes it's that way and the positioning of these pairs and the sequence of these pairs on the d.n.a. chain is what determines whether you're a human or a mouse whether your eyes are blue or brown and when and a million other things worse and also whether or not this cell is going to duplicate or die and how quickly it's going to duplicate now radiation comes along and whether it's particulate radiation which can hit one of these things and just knock it right out like an alpha particle or whether it's ionizing radiation like x. rays that just electrically energizes the thing to the point where it reacts to something

nearby something in the bloodstream gets pulled out a hole is created in that d.n.a. what that whole does is it means that when this d.n.a. splits it's no longer it's no longer intact is usually what happens is the cell dies or occasionally what happens is the cell simply loses its mechanism to regulate its ability to replicate in other words it starts reproducing over and over and over faster faster and faster and we call that cancer. there is no safe level of radiation because every cancer that's caused by radiation started by one photon of energy one little tiny piece of an x. ray or one little particle one will hitting one piece of d.n.a. in one cell and one cell became the cancer that consumes that person's body anybody who tells you there's a safe level of radiation is not right it does not exist. crazy

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