but. in yemen looming. go on some 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 recorded 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 in just ten bucks it's now fifteen hundred dollars why isn't there some say it has something to do with nonpolluting one cover the pharmaceutical company

and the laws behind this bogus pill and of some of the biggest protests yet took place was constant 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 over also on hand

at the protest congressman dennis kucinich who had this to say so we have now here is the twenty first century version how the civil rights movement where we understand that i. don't know. i perceived as a precondition of a political democracy was somebody who ok thank you send back holy shit for a drink and have it come back regime that is everyone has a right to address my god was a total education be my thank you carol before you reply to retirement security was at the time magazine was right. so what's the next step to preserve this economic democracy that congress can and the senate so eloquently talked about to find out congressman kasich joins me now

on this issue and welcome thank you very much tom in your madison speech you said that this was actually a fight for democracy itself for achieving. 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 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 which is a dictatorship and people have to fight back i was there to support the workers in wisconsin as i was there a 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 strip basic democratic principles right out of our form of government isn't this

though in a way just a mopping up by the republicans in the forty seven other past half heartly a bunch of southern states flipped to right to work for less electable or for their right to work for less states and basically did what governor 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 drop we've seen your 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 the private sector were not unionized against the workers in the

public sector where r. 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 be able to directly elect their leaders at a local level it's a fundamental principle of local growers and this is 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 was arguably questionably legal day after tomorrow in this city in washington d.c. over at the offices of b r a.g.r. a company that other websites pose as they specialize in lobbying crisis management and public relations apparently 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 on them 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 financing we won't gain back our democracy we'll always have this back and forth where 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 fund raising more effort and i'm sure they'll throw 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 or private interest or your public financing you can have a government of public interest and it will set in the minute we have left i'm just curious your thoughts on p.j. crowley he was fired at the as the spokesperson for. secretary of state clinton for saying that bret bradley manning's situation is confinement circumstances not not that he's there or how he's being treated or ridiculous counterproductive and stupid or you've commented on this i was wearing well you know it's true it's true that i believe that the truth 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 honesty 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 and so we. be grateful for that. congressman as to say thanks so much

actually i don't so you are great having. in an 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 and 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 a 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 right you have you back with us. good to be yeah i'm use fountain our brother and i'm going to 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 is no way a fan but it's about that so this 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 so people in neighboring states also came in but for the most part and interviewing the mayor of madison and interviewing become an executive at a 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 president the. machinist's aerospace sitting next to the

former retired secretary treasurer of assamese so basically a private sector representation and in the farmers there were well over fifty tractors and they've got involved because the cuts now to people who would be basically republicans or in the middle are now filling these cuts there's another factor that is going to take place and watch this and that is that it is a tradition that once of 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 sane and 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 france and they're going to get an earful if they go to the 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 there recalls on behalf of a democrat the republicans want to recall a few democratic senators there are 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 of governor walker happen so and i and i will also say this when we saw that crank call you know there was supposedly b.s. going on for the koch brothers and to hear the governor suggest suggest. consider

it a provocateur or slavishly. the mayor of madison wisconsin reminded me in the interview and all weeks of demonstrations never had one arrest not one arrest has taken place in terms of any kind of violence or hostility the other thing was interesting it was headlines and madison was. the governor's people who tried to suggest that there had been seven million dollars worth of damage done to the capital because asleep in an hour it would cause made the news media b.s. 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 people are so proud of their capital that they actually use blue painter's tape to hang the sign

reza so it 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 and event it is now turned into a movement well let's hope so from your lips to god's ears medicine thank you thanks for job for dropping by there i was feeling that in the end what republicans in wisconsin did could work oh very well for the democrats at least in that state not only does it latently 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 could 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

twenty twelve and a recall the next few months and walker himself recall beginning next year. there is there is a. dynamic here there's actually a couple of dueling bets they're going on in wisconsin right now as really interesting first of all how all of this has been pushed off the pages by what's going on in japan in wisconsin still happening in lansing michigan and still happening in india in the in india indiana still happen in columbus ohio would still have people are still showing up just not hearing about it meeting 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 beppe 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's gays and guns and stop talking

about things like economics and unions and all that sort of thing and the other thread that the republicans are making is that they can knock enough democrats off the rolls that they can win this is what paul weyrich 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 said. how many of our. what i call them brought good government they want everybody. i don't want everybody to vote elections are not won a door to the people they never help and from the beginning to rock concrete every are not now come out of pocket or look great in the elections why can't avoid go. oculus 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 or their right to vote and was able to get those potential democratic voters out karl rove has run 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 effective advocates because we have power. and we have the power because there were more than three point two million people who were 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 to back and watch this guy's original speech first of all he's the lawyer 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

or not in history with 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 protest to start was constant first and so far the majority of you say the mainstream media is waiting on today. cast your vote at the poll be open. coming up as japan scrambles to pick up the pieces after their nation was rattled by an historic way a series of nuclear plant explosions threatens even more lives find out how this nuclear crisis could spill onto u.s. soil. for flimsy low and keep. the preaching about these women as 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 ten 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 hundred jhon 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 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 europe in japan is it time for the u.s. to rethink the role of nuclear power in our nation's future energy portfolio what's really happening in japan paul gosar is director of reactor oversight at nuclear in 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 true noble 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 the wind to emerge the diesel. when they shut down after an hour a tsunami came in and knocked out the backup emergency power of many of these reactors actually we're 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 are pools by design for the mark one 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 their 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 core box we like to call it pox rather than marks but it is in fact plutonium or 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 all in california tony and 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 gottman. back in the early seventy's i knew one of my he was that a brilliant man and he said. one ounce of plutonium is properly distributed which would be almost impossible to kill every human on earth well unfortunately tom 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 some very courageous workers on site are now dead men walking out but they are strug they're in a tug of war with armageddon right now and i i just wonder how many of them are going to end up like many of the workers at chernobyl don't you know about that you know you just literally. every time i debate nuclear power and have over the last decade with some right winger somebody from a think tank there was a book the french the french have it all figured out the french recycle they're like their 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 a nuclear waste and 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 reprocessing facility at le hague 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 they're intimidating you know all the way up to the our ocean is where it's been picked up and what with all 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 in 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 way out of or it's too cheap to meter these are all a set of primitives things from the says they all proved to be exactly what they are myths thanks so much. to getting the word out and thanks for i learned

a lot thank you very much it's so much radiation is safe radiation and has 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. hughes thirty years ago. first of all just a 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 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 we shoes fit now they made these things illegal in one 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 it you know you've got the. the sugars basically out here you hold this thing together but but there are four amino acids adenine climbing guanine inside as seen on either side as seen always form a pair adding and wanting always former or adding and climbing always from there 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 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 particulates radiation which can hit one of these things and just not right out of a particle or whether it's ionizing radiation like x. rays that just electrically energizes this 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 with guys but 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 and keen the cancer that consumes the person's body anybody who tells you there's a safe level of radiation it's lucky it does not it's just.

crazy alert who sponsors you a condom company has released a new line of contraceptives that displays advertisements of other graphic designs directly on the condom itself but first series recently released features kiss front man gene simmons with his long tongue plastered on the latex the c.e.o. of graphic r. is in israel a critic promote reaching out to entertainment companies and sports drinks for a potential future condom every i suppose the advertisers hope that people will suddenly feel that urge mid-point us to go shopping by the way we've already been contacted by the company and i think we can put the big picture logo to good use. coming up turns out james o'keefe did use some creative effort at editing in his effort to uncover the true.