he told rachel. carson. she's a star. the ultimate.

welcome back to the big picture i'm tom hartman coming up in this faffing are released felons in the sunshine state and not be smiling when it comes down to casting their votes in two thousand and twelve and why one republicans governor is trying to preserve his reelection by revoking the rights of tens of thousands of largely democratic voters in his state and it was constant republican senators who supported governor walker's anti union busting efforts may soon be busted out of a job thanks to a statewide recall effort to break down the numbers of markos moulitsas in just a minute.

the wisconsin democratic party claims it has already collected half the signatures necessary to recall eight republican state senators who supported koch lapdog governor scott walker's a union busting legislation that was illegally passed last week with publicans currently holding a nineteen to fourteen edge in the state senate democrats only need to successfully recall three of the eight republicans they're targeting to reclaim the majority and put an end to walker's and coax radical agenda really close conducted polling in each of the eight republican districts targeted for recall here to show share some of the results of those polls markos moulitsas founder and editor of the daily koz dot com marco it's great to see you again welcome like waste good to see you what was the result of the poll you commission. well we look at the history of these are the republicans that are eligible for we car this year that children represent the

person in third red as districts in the state of wisconsin just as are safe they're not going anywhere but what we found is that the other six are in danger three of them already lag behind the mechanics america opponent that's a three would need to actually control the wisconsin senate and in the other three are in competitive races i mean this was actually kind of surprising for a were hoping we have two or three solid pickup opportunities turns out we actually have six that's that's pretty impressive now on the other side of the coin of the metaphor. the koch brothers and dick armey tea party efforts have been given either or getting people out to recall the fourteen democrats the so-called democratic senators who would want to annoy how's that. dick armey brothers ever. yet there are democrats that are also eligible for recall in the state senate we're

not hearing a lot about those recall efforts i mean i don't i don't know if they're not going well or if they're trying to be really stealthy about it but fact is ted barrett refusing to provide any updates on how those recall efforts are going in and i think i suspect they know why and it's because of those eight democrats seven of them are in districts that obama won by double digits including some of the bluest districts in the state of interest not a lot of territory for them to pick up that it is district the only one in single digits obama won by six points so you know in a worst case it's a fairly democratic leaning district now compared to those republican districts of republicans that are eligible for recall obama won six of those districts mccain won nine others republican or democratic districts so they may be. trying to get the signatures not a lot of territory for them to really work with but i think i hope they get those signatures be done very very confident that it be given

a choice that was consonant voters are going to ratify the efforts of those democrats to try to stop the locker agenda i think you're right however what's going to happen when the chamber of commerce comes in with millions and millions of dollars when the election happened i mean we're in a right now that the question that you're asking the poll is do you want to throw the bums out or not do you want to vote for for this bomb or for this other person . the chamber of commerce and the cokes and everybody else are going to come in and portray as just a bomb but also a rapist a mugger when when millions of dollars start getting poured into those campaigns do you think that the balance of the last few weeks have add enough impact that there's no amount of advertising we will push through it. oh they absolutely had an impact and don't forget that the koch brothers in their friends at fox news and elsewhere and rush limbaugh and even demonizing those wisconsin protesters for the last several weeks it's not as though they've been sleeping these last several

weeks that is they've been on. a strong offensive trying to even a few union thugs to calm buds and it's not working public opinion is with these workers as it related to sit in issue but protecting the middle class in america so they're not having a lot of effect millions already trying to sway public opinion trying to bolster scott walker darling public numbers and it's not working so well it had an effect in the recall election i'm sure but as we're seeing in the holy people are raking in that into consideration and democrats are far more energized than republicans i mean remember in two thousand and ten one reason it democrats got killed is because we did not turn out because liberals progressives democrats were not that excited about what the democrats had done the previous two years we start to see that same dynamic but in reverse where democrats are really fired up their route they're willing to walk over broken glass to cast those votes republicans are feeling

a little bit let down because they were promised that obamacare would be destroyed and that it's it would be eliminated in and all sorts of crazy things that were never never going to happen and so this is not a election that it's favorable for the republicans and people who throw a lot of money in behalf of those republicans. i think you. are spot on and it's going to be a very interesting time to watch over the next few weeks marcus thanks i cannot wait to taste thank you well this seems to be a case of local politics the national implications of this recall effort are enormous and could serve as a blueprint forward as more and more voters experience buyer's remorse or put republicans in charge last november. who is the chamber of commerce's new best friend the supreme court a new study coauthored by court of appeals judge richard posner reveals that the

chamber of commerce has won a lot of cases these days in front of the highest court in the land the last supreme court term the chamber of commerce which filed from the corporates in nearly every case involving business interests won thirteen out of sixteen cases thirteen out of sixty this new study corroborates other data showing that today every single justice is more likely to side with the chamber than the justice who held their c. twenty five years ago a pretty good percentage energy justice john roberts who i might add was a bush appointee and made two million bucks a year as a corporate attorney before joining the court so why the sudden uptick in pro-business rulings on the supreme court overall there sure are some answers in no hisor reporter and water at think progress in welcome thank you good to be here tom so i have a name that i even know has a great. i'm curious what if first of all the entire quarter

or just the conservatives are shifting toward. eight actually this is a two part question shifting toward the right and b. why do we call going on the conservative side the right what i mean on the corporate side right well what we have going on is that the whole court over a period of twenty five years has shifted towards the pro corporate side whether you want to call it rightor or whatever but the conservatives have some shifted a whole lot faster justice alito who is george w. bush's most recent appointee has voted with the chamber of commerce in nearly every single case that he's handled since he became a justice and what's interesting about it is that the record has become so newspoll there's been a fifteen point spike in the percentage of change cases they go the chambers way that recently you're seeing business friendly reporters. outing the back of the chamber started to lose a few cases lately they're all really easy cases where it was obvious the chamber was supposed to lose so you can tell that they're there that someone has drawn blood here because no one talks about their failures. this brings to mind of the

the locker core their core to the early one nine hundred towns the one nine hundred teens right up until f.d.r. and into the first few years of the new deal where they were striking down. child labor laws the court was striking down minimum wage laws is unconstitutional we have republicans now who are arguing the same positions that there are those are all our constitutional positions. do you think it's possible that this court could get as as crazy right wing as the walker court was back and back in the pre. f.d.r. in thirty six try to stack the court they all kind of got religion at thirty seven but you know before that i don't think this court will because you there's a twice life we found our conservative politics same with the half life or radioactive materials there's a very short twice life where after that period of time the right is twice as crazy as it was before and so you know when george bush was president certainly this sort

of aggressive mentality was very dominant but this idea that child labor laws would be unconstitutional that social security would be unconstitutional that the minimum wage would be unconstitutional those were ideas that even the right understood were in the dustbin of history but they're being pushed right now yes and cited as was the exactly and yet here we are two years later and senator mike lee says the child labor laws are unconstitutional so security is unconstitutional senator recall rand paul the chair and civil rights act tom coburn said the pell grants and federal student loans are all unconstitutional so i mean they are moving running to the right so fast you can't keep track of them i'm wondering. to what extent this current swing to the right on the court particularly since the death row warren. but arguably even bankwest who dissented in some cases you know of the first national bank first bill oddie i thought his disciples one of those brilliant i've ever read and he went after the twenty six santa clara case. the it

to what extent might this be the result of the powell memo back in the early seventy's where lewis powell said that the it in his letters to his next door neighbor and best friend the president chamber of commerce we've got to get into the public sphere we've got to influence people and out of that memo came the heritage foundation the cato institute the federalist society you know which now has over half the judges in the country this whole huge right wing infrastructure and of course three months later richard nixon put him on the supreme court was that the genesis of this is that the starting point of this or is there some it is they're not even identifiable it's certainly true that the position we're in now where the supreme court is over and over and over again ruling in the favor of the corporate lobby didn't happen by accident you know in that memo that justice powell wrote forty years ago he said that the chamber needs to employ the best lawyers in the country pay them enough ny that they can get these lawyers of national weapon reputation and here we are forty years later and arguably the best lawyer in the

contrie a man named carter phillips who's argued more supreme court cases than anyone else recently said that his client the chamber of commerce has more influence and far the supreme court than any other entity except for the solicitor general of the united states where they go in thanks so much for being with us thank you for coming it's official sadly our supreme court has gone the way of our congress corrupted to the core. in the midst of japan's nuclear crisis could solar energy be a light at the end of the room total war on this and i'd still it's a. flimsy low and back. on the plate that is nothing people are suggesting she's done for you know she says she's a stock. serving

time for the crime isn't enough republican florida florida republican governor rick scott in an effort to ensure that convicted felons can't vote in two thousand and twelve scott changed his state's rules imposed a five year wait period on people newly released from prison and for many of their rights like the right to vote are restored with one out of every thirty two people in the united states and prisoner under probation at any given time by the way the

largest percentage in the world scott's proposal woodrum dramatically disenfranchised a massive portion of the electorate in the state of florida along with kentucky virginia now have become the most restrictive laws we already voting rights for former felons a lawyer with the a.c.l.u. howard simon said regarding scouts will be unseemly haste and lack of transparency suggests clearly that this was public with this is all it's disguised as public policy so silent a right is just and another effort by the republican party to disenfranchise voters and some further mock recy here to offer his take is met and i met a great map great to have you with us a series for joining us. matt blacks are fourteen percent of the state's population for illegals to fifty four percent of the prison population many i'm for being what i call illegal entrepreneurs for trade dealing drugs. we can't have all these black people voting in the state can wait. i don't necessarily think that's what the

governor saying fact i was talking to many people from across the country today about this law and the law is not all that much different than it is in some other states you have twelve probably states but most states reject this i mean it's. what part of redemption don't you believe in a month i don't believe in it i believe. governor scott properly well i think that he thinks that criminals need to pay for the crimes that they commit but isn't it also is the violent criminals need to pay for a longer period of time than not pretty stark an awful time what somebody got busted for smoking a joint films and the five years and the yeah. so what he's doing is he's adding five years to the penalty so he doesn't actually believe in the rule of law and justice he's saying that whatever the courts decide whatever the judges whatever the juries decide it's constitutional bodies that you know the founders put into place in the constitution the fifth sixth seventh and eighth amendment to the

constitution screw that i'm going to add five years he's not the only difference now. why are we talking about going to well he's the most recent one to do this and i think i think that frankly the reason is the same most of the states that have done this have large but black populations and these have been promoted by republican politicians and i think that this is an effort to see branches talking with the other it may i don't know the statistics of kentucky frankly then you know it could have been a test case i don't know but i don't you reminded me of the incidents the problem is why are some of these people in jail in the first place well that's a whole other issue and there has been any quality poverty discrimination i mean that's the legit that's and that's a great topic for debate but for right now do you think it's a coincidence that he just arbitrarily pick five years which is going to mean that anybody from this morning moment forward who gets out of prison just won't be able to vote against him in the next election jim quintessential i would fall more under the adam model. the secretary of agriculture who's

a republican he said that he would have liked to have more time to read read this new law through so i would agree with adam putnam and i'm surprised that they rushed through in the way that they did it just seems to me that this is not what america is about but we have always been a nation. as. as added rights we had franchised african-americans we had franchise women. not that we are a country that takes away rights. is and in fact by doing this what governor scott is suggesting in these in these twelve other states is that voting is a privilege not a right and yet the founders and framers of the constitution you know right down to the federalist papers you know thomas payne is famous quote if you take away a man's right to vote you take away the beating heart of democracy you destroy the building our democracy i always consider voting a right. is this are we watching our our democracy change written for our republic

change or in front of us i do agree that there are some crimes that you give up some of your rights if you show them to judge and jury do that then i mean put them on probation for the next thirty years and say you can't vote while you're on probation as another eighteen states to my reading of the laws that after five years the felons go before a probationary board and same thing for violent felons go before the board after seven years which again is a long a lot of other states but that's not too likely it's not just the it's a very well go out of states doesn't make it right it was overturned by the will people it took a hundred years or so are going to wait one hundred years until we figure out that voting is actually a right and i believe it is a right but there are rights that people give up when they commit violent crimes isn't isn't though if you keep saying violent crimes but this applies i mean that sixty five percent of the of the of the african-americans who are in prison in florida are there for drug crimes and not violent crimes and they're going to be impacted by this this is the same state that in two thousand katherine harris the

secretary of state had a texas company take the names of texas felons and look for florida people who had similar names not even same names you know james jones jimmy johns and just turned out that texas has a lot of black felons florida has a lot of life elin's there's a lot of common. ality in african american names it seems and so they knock i mean that that was it i think is still going on he's still used to fighting the same this is gore said that he didn't want to count the. military votes from from overseas that the research he should they should have counted all of us because you're a new york times finally did they found that al gore actually beat george w. bush i've never seen that report every going to the new york times out of every twelve i don't. read every other report you associated no matter what happened in that recount and al gore has said it he lost no i'm going to let i have lost it on the slopes of al gore talked about the loss of florida he and you know what that that battle zone yeah you're right and we had battles over because seventy thousand

blacks were taken off the voting rolls even though they were not out on the polls are going to come down to this issue and obama is in a lot more trouble than most democrats would know what i think that that would this is one piece of a whole larger strategy that republicans generally have been a point ever since the days when when rehnquist was making his chops in the late fifty's in arizona standing at the polls scaring off mostly blacks indians and hispanics by saying you know can you prove that you can vote on a lawyer and he actually got people to leave the line and not vote he was you know in fact it was written up it was a very good turnout. a big voter turnout in two thousand and i don't have a as a low but was it high if it is that is not people point vote it's going to well you have a more important question is what was the voter turnout in ohio in those places where you can block well said ok it's a black neighborhood you only get one voting machine oh it's a white neighborhood you get ten voting machines the waiting lines were a half hour in the right era if there were ten hours in a black neighborhood in any case we're out of time now thanks for coming but. i do

see discussion is just the latest effort in my pain by republicans to cut down the number of eligible voters in our nation as understand full well that when fewer people are special and fewer minority low income voters turn out at the polls republicans have a better shot at winning it's simple the rest of us think a democracy is the best form of government republicans think of it as an obstacle in the way of one party. crazy alert time to skip class later this month michelle are you hypnotized bachmann will be speaking at an event sponsored by the network of iowa christian home educators a spokesperson for bachmann claims she's raised five of her own children plus twenty three foster children bachmann and is a big supporter of homeschooling so what kind of school lessons can we expect at

the bachmann school well according to recent comments her students apparently were taught that the revolutionary war started in new hampshire the founding fathers ended slavery hundreds of scientists who won a nobel prizes believe in creationism and democrats cause flu outbreaks and wonder what kind of books need to be special order for iraqi curriculum looks like bachmann's outrage over america ors reeducation camps was simply meant to disguise her own hidden reeducation agenda item by students to skip class and for their teachers to take notes.

in the worst case scenario japan may have suffered a triple nuclear meltdown as in three chair knoebels it could send a cloud of radioactive waste sweeping across the pacific ocean to the united states if you want the worst ecological disasters in the history of mankind this is what we're facing let's assume this dire situation is resolved in fact let's hope it's result does that mean we can continue the status quo like nothing's happened. lessons should we learn here japan is a highly innovative society and if this meltdown occurs or even of a does given everything that's gone on so far i predict it's going to serve as a rude awakening to the japanese people to leave nuclear energy behind and pursue

alternative energies like solar wind or tidal power and considering how japan is on the cutting edge of technology and supplies the rest of the world with so many of the new little gadgets we use every day a japanese focus on renewable energy could unleash a global power revolution to encourage every nation to keep their dirty coal oil or radioactive energy happy that's the one silver lining in the tragic apocalyptic event taking place on the other side of the world. our nation currently depends on one hundred and four nuclear facilities located around the country including in areas that are prone to earthquakes as well as along the gulf coast that as we learned during katrina is vulnerable to massive flooding would we be naive to believe that what's happening in japan a highly advanced society with the norm is wealth couldn't happen to us or even

contract he would so create tokyo electric power company the same company the same guys who run the nuclear reactor on the verge of a meltdown in japan and to go to new nuclear reactors facilities on the gulf coast of texas i think it's time to reconsider this decision aside from the constant threat of her devastation posed by malfunctioning nuclear plants it should be noted that even when they're functioning properly nuclear plants the strong ecosystems in order to cool the reactors these plants must suck up and heat up billions of gallons of water which in turn kills aquatic plants and fish and reduces the water available downstream for agricultural purposes and drinking water in addition there's the issue of nuclear waste and what to do with it after all that's what's on the top of these power plants and jeff in japan that are. down and blowing up to ask anyone near yucca mountain in nevada or anywhere else in the country for that matter to a nuclear power plant your backyard about

a nuclear waste facility will tell you they're not too happy about dumping nuclear waste or their homes their kids as i said these are the consequences of nuclear plants working as the should work so is it it worth. in the wake of japan switzerland is considering dropping their use of nuclear power germany is too although they were looking beyond nuclear power way back in one nine hundred ninety nine when they put in place the hundred thousand roof program which subsidized banks to loan money actually didn't subsidize them it was backstop them to loan money to people to put solar panels on their homes to generate their own light tricity and then require the power companies to buy back from the homeowners any excess electricity that was generated from those same solar panels at a premium price that helps pay for the rooftops or you as

a result ten years after the program was implemented by the way this program was put into place because germany was looking at the need to build one or two more nuclear reactors one to two megawatts of power they needed so they figured ok we'll do this program see how it works ten years they generated eight and a half megawatts eight thousand five hundred megawatts a suit eight thousand foot eight to have gigawatts eight thousand five hundred megawatts of solar power but they've added to their national energy grid that's more than eight nuclear plants. easily more than what a half of those nuclear plants get and it didn't cost them a penny oh and solar panels have a life expectancy of about fifty years whereas nuclear reactors last about twenty or thirty years so this is a no brainer our nation didn't seem to learn lessons from the b.p. oil spill we're pushing ahead nonetheless with drilling in the gulf let's hope we learn from this valuable lesson unfolding in japan the rest of the world is taking notice and we can't afford to be exceptional ones to ignore it let's break our

addiction from pollution and radioactive waste and lead the twenty first century into the new energy revolution. as the big picture for tonight for more information the stories we covered visit our website it's dot com and our team dot com the entire show is available as a free podcast on i tunes and check out our you tube page you tube dot com slash the big picture r g r t you know forget democracy begins with you get out there get active show up your it will soon.