but can they allow to show that the real headlines with none of the mersey are going live in washington d.c. now so i will take a closer look at the one department that hasn't been affected in this budget crisis the department of defense so let's talk about why nobody dares to touch it and it is perfect timing too as today is the global day of action on military spending but all the eighth anniversary of the u.s. islamic world forum d.c.

is going to be hosting the conference for the first time but is speaking out in form and do they really represent the entire islamic community i'm sorry marks a very important anniversary one hundred and fifty years ago the civil war began here in the u.s. so take a look at the changing role of african-americans in our society i will see of prison has become akin to a new form of slavery for black men i mean space fans are all celebrating an anniversary today as well fifty years ago he got guided and became the first man in space so let's talk about how this day change the world i will ask if the end of the space race has meant the end of human space exploration and i'm sure it's only tuesday but that doesn't mean we can't treat ourselves to a good happy hour so our views lucy cough and often jenny churchill will join me to discuss all the stories that are grabbing headlines this week or saving that plan for the end of the show now our top story. although the government has been working feverishly to create a budget with reduced spending there is one area that remains untouched military

spending seems to be that sacred cash cow which we told you yesterday has almost doubled since two thousand and one so we now know how the government feels about its military budgets but the u.s. taxpayers feel the same way forward reports. the. money is on the u.s. chopping block this week health care education infrastructure one. dollar. everything that is except for the pentagon my greatest fear is that in economic tough times the people will see the defense budget as the place to saw the nation's deficit problems i would be very reluctant to cut defense spending until we see really how these two conflicts were are going to come out worldwide military

spending increased by twenty point six billion dollars in two thousand and ten and one thousand point six billion of that was the u.s. alone according to the stockholm international peace research institute the u.s. very much sees itself as a global military power it's the only global military superpower and so it perceives security interests as encompassing the whole world. the u.s. has spent one hundred eighty nine two hundred thirty five years at war in two thousand and ten the u.s. spent more on its military than the next ten highest countries combined. both presidents bush and obama have read that the wars defense spending in the u.s. has increased eighty one percent since two thousand what this seems to reflect. prioritization of military power and military conceptions of security even the face of such difficult economic times an american earning federal minimum wage and

working forty hours a week fifty two weeks a year can expect to earn a little over fifteen thousand dollars this year well below the poverty line they can also expect to pay more than five hundred dollars directly to the pentagon and american earning fifty thousand dollars a year will see their income. over two thousand of it go directly to america's war they thought of controlling the oil fields and rolling them profits back we're going to be just. traps those tax dollars also go to maintaining over one thousand u.s. bases in sites world by as well as the pentagon's two hundred thirty four golf courses . all of. it fifty one percent of americans polled would rather cut military spending than sacrifice social programs children poor women in homeless you know take care of the needs of our population to spend enormous amounts of money on the pentagon budget or every program is being is just chillin in obscene

to put it on the ground. floor and. they say they feel betrayed by a president was elected and promises to end war where doing all these wars may don't even want us there and i think that right there is i'm upset with obama you need a reset you know we need to change right we need the obama administration to do the right thing to stop this attention to continuous military build up at the four cents of every dollar americans pay in taxes goes to funding past and future war and for all the tough talk by president obama about making hard choices cutting the budget and closing the deficit gap many americans are wondering when it will be the pentagon's turn to tighten its belt you know in florida artsy washington d.c. . a few months ago when defense cuts were brought up most american politicians use that really easy blanket line of saying that everything is on the

table but if you look at a thirty eight billion dollars in cuts that congress is voting on this week but notice the defense cuts while we're in a part of it in fact defense was increased by five billion dollars and tomorrow president obama is going to unveil his own deficit reduction plan which supposedly will bring defense cuts to the top. able but considering that this is a president that's expanded the war in afghanistan what is toying with the idea of leaving a continuing troop presence in iraq and a president that's just got the us involved in another war in libya it's hard for imagine any drastic changes quite the opposite creating a new combat theater will no doubt create more sales for weapons manufacturers the world over earlier today i caught up with corey pyne editor of war is business dot com now today happens to be the global day of action on military spending and i asked corey if he's seen any mainstream media outlets reporting on it because i know that i have not. gosh you know i haven't either i don't really check

the mainstream media that much anymore i get most of my news online. including mainstream sources but i haven't seen a word about it and it was on my radar for months i've got to tell you something right considering that budget cuts are right now a top priority that something that the media is covering nonstop the fact that defense cuts are really even on the table right now i mean i think you have to start pointing fingers and say that you know even the media becomes complicit in this and we saw a protest here in washington d.c. today but the numbers are really minor and so it makes you wonder you know where the anti-war movement went where all of the questioning really went well you know i don't know about the organization of the protest themselves but obviously it stands to reason that if they did actually had more coverage there'd be more people protesting. really does a pretty poor job in general of educating people about the issues of military spending overspending. and what that means for the wider economy you know it's

pretty basic economics guns are better you can take one you can't vote. now when we talk about military spending you know for example even this recent report that we discussed about global military spending reaching one point six trillion dollars this talks about spending on forces salaries benefits operation expenses equipment purchases research and development but i'm wondering does anyone ever factor in you know medical costs for troops how about all the troops that come back and have p.t.s.d. or that you know may have other injuries that maybe amputees what would happen if you actually countered in some of these lifelong medical expenses. well you know probably double i mean i actually surprised when that report came out in a suit local spending was in the range of. one point whatever trillion because the last time i saw somebody tell you the u.s. defense budget alone include veterans' health costs and all of that it was in the

one trillion two trillion dollar range. if you don't back to those costs then you're not really going up the cost or do you think it's a little ironic also the u.n. announced today they're backing this global day against military action but then again it's the u.n. where approval was just made to go in and attack libya. well you know in fairness here really if we didn't have these wars in the middle east. we wouldn't have oil and we were now but global economy so you know maybe this is just the cost of doing business. well i want to talk about that right of course your blog is called war is business and so i want to ask you do you think that libya ends up being the perfect sales tool for a lot of these you know weapons developers weapons manufacturers around the world because now you have a place not only to show off your technology but now that you can prove that it's

actually you know worked in a combat zone. you know if you read the defense trade publications there's no replacement for testing out your hardware and an actual shooting war so a lot of the defense companies are looking at libya particularly the you're european defense companies whose gear is being used. as this is a great marketing opportunity right i mean especially if you can get news crews to show fancy footage of your planes dropping bombs on you know or get up these old soviet tanks and i don't mean you but you don't understand my sarcasm here i understand your sarcasm here but we also have to understand perhaps the irony to write that the french are now bombing cafes forces who actually have some french weapons as well because they not so long ago sold them weapons and so really becomes this visual search vicious circle and so you know you have to ask that no

matter how perhaps the world may change no matter how much alliances may shift over the years i think weapons manufacturers are always going to find a buyer somewhere but yes of course a and you know the obama administration not i think it was just last year was actually considering suspending some of their old embargoes on libya to put through a major arms package you know and then months later. they're they're bombing this country i mean it shows that the bigger policy questions aren't really being addressed in a serious way and the short term interests of the arms manufacturers and the defense companies are always going to surface and i mean stupid policies work in their favor. i'm just curious you know recently there was a gallup poll that came out yesterday actually and it said that americans basically thought that the federal government the corporations the lobbyists the banks all of

these things had too much power but when asked about the military they said the military doesn't have enough power and i think that's by he ways and interpret that i think that for most americans they don't see the military marching around on their own streets every single day so it doesn't necessarily hit home the way that it would for other countries you know where they do you see our troops there they have our bases where we're waging war but you also have to wonder if americans really realize the mount of power that the military industrial complex the pentagon brass have over over our politicians and our federal government as well you know i didn't see that well that it's really interesting i'd like to see a breakout of what people within the military thought of the militaries were i would suspect that. you would see that service members themselves are a little more cynical about the military as an institution and the role of big business in shaping military policy i would not be surprised at all to see the

results showing. but as far as the general public's confidence in the military polls are showing in america for a long time americans don't trust congress they don't trust the news media they don't trust financial institutions but they do trust the military i think a lot of that is the fact that we have a volunteer military now and we stand or kids are off to fight wars that nobody else wants to fight and i think a lot of the general public's reflexive support through a yellow ribbon on your car or attitudes towards the military has to do with guilts very interesting thanks so much for joining us tonight and of course obama supposedly is going to announce some defense cuts tomorrow when he lays out his speech so we'll see if there's anything significant in that thanks for joining us ari. thanks a lot. for taking a break but still to come one hundred fifty years ago today the civil war began here in the u.s. so it's not have a look at the status of blacks in america but i ask if we've really reached

equality or the prison system has become the new form of slavery now first try to improve the u.s. image in the muslim world the international islamic forum began today here in washington can the west really improve their image while waging three wars in muslim countries i cannot. let's not forget that we had an apartheid. i think. either one well. we never got the look as the safe get ready because the freedom.

they charged here broadcasting live from washington d.c. coming up today on the big picture. new web site with twenty four seven live streaming news times what to do about the ongoing financial hardship unlimited free high quality videos for download. and stories you never. aren't. you guys welcome

michel and tell me alone a show we part of our guests have to say on the topic now i want to hear audio just go on to you tube does video response or twitter respond to the questions that we post on you tube every monday and on thursday to show your responses. the first time in the eight year history of the annual that washington d.c. is hosting the u.s. islamic world for a created to address issues critical to arabs and muslims and foster more understanding between arab nations and the u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton will be headlining a three day conference this year and the timing couldn't be more important as the revolutions and unrest spread throughout the middle east north africa as a nato led force wages war and moammar gadhafi and as relations between pakistan and america's soured further putting into question the idea of success and fighting

al qaeda and the taliban but do these speakers at this form really represents the arab world or is it a carefully selected pro western group that might only show one perspective joining me to discuss it is shadi hamid director of research at the brookings doha center and fellow at the center for middle east policy at the brookings institute institution so he thanks so much for being here tonight thanks for first order is eight years and this is the first time that it's here in the u.s. five it takes so long well i mean the idea is that most of the time it's been doing . this conference but we wanted to switch it up this time to kind of change perspective a little bit and it's important also to have a more d.c. oriented focus so i think that's what we're having this time around where you can have more of a discussion about the implications of u.s. policy and the role of official washington the. the muslim world so what are they saying the implications of u.s. policy are i know you are you're laughing about it the second ago but i am curious as to find out really who's who's speaking at this forum how many people they

represent when you think about the arab you know in the muslim world when you think about the fact that it's one that's rapidly changing as we see an arab spring with unrest revolutions unfold you know well there's no such thing as perfect representation i mean we try to get a broad diverse range of voices so not just secularists but also islam as she saw me opposition government so i think we've done a good job of capturing that range but again i mean there's always going to be some voices that are missing ok but so like we were saying what are the implications then that they're that are being discussed when it comes to u.s. foreign policy there's no doubt the arabs are still not the biggest fans of the u.s. policy and there's a lot of anger about the obama administration's approach i mean we had the kyra speech there was a lot of optimism but there's been a lack of follow up and that's not news to anyone now we have the arab revolutions and every criticism we hear in the arab world is that the obama administration is

not supportive enough of democracy that they are instead backing these authoritarian regimes so that's a criticism we hear a lot double standards how come the u.s. is intervening in libya but the buck raney regime or the yemeni regime are using force against their own citizens why isn't the u.s. being there and those are things that we know that we should be hearing right the fact that there is this double standard perhaps that we're saying that we're in libya now because it's a humanitarian intervention but you can easily point out the hypocrisy there but you know some of the statements really really shocked me also that were made today for example the secretary general of the organization of the islamic conference called on washington to have a more active role in seeking solutions when it comes to you know conflict in muslim countries but we're already involved in three wars that's not even including . istana it's not even including yemen right because those are the unofficial the shadow wars i'm surprised to hear that anyone wants american take an even more active role because i thought the perception was that we are the aggressors we're

the ones that intervene where we shouldn't be yeah but there are different kinds of intervention there's bad intervention and there's good intervention the problem is the u.s. has been meddling but in a bad way i think what people want to see in the region is the u.s. playing a positive constructive constructive role putting more pressure on israel to make concessions putting more pressure on arab regimes to open up their societies so i think when we talk about pressure you mean just you know over toric leave for the president to come out and say could offer you must step down or to launch airstrikes and involve themselves militarily well there is a middle ground where you can use diplomatic leverage you can use usaid and say if if these regimes don't need certain standards on human rights we're going to take away their aid so i mean it's not either or it's not just rhetoric or military force there's a lot of nonmilitary means that the u.s. is disposal now you mentioned of course israel and this is a center point when it comes to the way that u.s.

foreign policy is viewed as special i think in a lot of muslim nations and a lot of people are asking the u.s. to force this peace process to keep moving last year it basically fell apart when they finally had a face to face meeting do you think that there is a bit of i deny all or no resistance when it comes to a lot of u.s. politicians to admit that israel is an incredibly important part in this when it comes to the way that muslim nations see america well i think everyone realizes that there's a big problem here that the government has not done enough on the peace process but the question is is there the political will for the u.s. to really put serious pressure on israel or to more generally do you think there is the political will to do that i feel like we don't see enough of it well not yet and that's a major criticism i mean that's why arabs are a group. the u.s. because they want to see more of that they want to see the u.s. putting pressure not just on the palestinians but on the israelis but i think right now the problem is the u.s. is kind of taking a step back and saying you guys have to sort out your differences and that's not

the way it's going to work the israelis are too strong to make concessions and the palestinians are too weak to make concessions you need a third external force to just knock some heads together and say listen guys get your act together make peace now and get serious about it because we can't wait forever perhaps this could be the force to now one last question i want to ask you is last year at this forum hillary clinton made the promise that guantanamo bay to be close to obama in a video address basically said that he was going to ask attorney general eric holder you know to work more with the muslim community in quite the opposite we've seen is that going time of day has not been closed obama has made a formal detention policy now that he signed on to and. i'm just wondering if those are looked at as things that are bigger disappointments for perhaps the muslim countries for foreigners and they even are for american citizens sometimes well you know i mean barack obama talked to really good game arabs had really high

expectations they thought this was a real break with the bush administration's policies but what we found out is on certain issues there's a lot of similarities and obama came with a lot of promises and he's able to deliver and i think people should hold him to account for that and i think better on civil liberties was one of his major campaign promises and this would be central to improving the relationship with the muslim world but especially on guantanamo not even close to meeting those expectations but i think it's a good reminder to the administration here that the world is watching when it comes to those policies and not just some of the pundits that you see here in washington d.c. and new york thank you so much for joining us for having. now today is the one hundred fiftieth anniversary of the beginning of the civil war the day the first shots were fired and it's safe to say that we've come a long way since that doesn't mean that our society is equal the fact that he want to know where african-americans really stand in america today let me give you some statistics more african-american men are in prison or jail on probation or parole

than were enslaved in eight hundred fifty before the civil war began for black males in their twenty's one in eight every age is in prison or jail on any given day and as a consequence of jail time thirteen percent of black men are unable to vote while the current unemployment number nationally is eight point eight percent for african-americans it's at fifteen point five percent and that's not including the underemployed and the discouraged who've simply stopped looking so how do you explain one hundred fifty years later went wrong here this got to witness christopher chambers a blogger at not turner's revenge and lecture georgetown university chris thanks so much for being here tonight. obviously there's a lot of statistics that you could point to it's a large discussion to have but i think that it's really so powerful especially considering this anniversary you think that there are more black men within the prison system here in the u.s. than ever than than were enslaved back in eight hundred fifty i mean how do you how

do you presume to go it's a scary scary slow. one hundred fifty years or two hundred fifty years or fifty or eighty years where the black middle. and serving private. free enterprise in the states you are doing slave labor. it's a question of value it really did value we african americans back then and now and that's that's the connection because if you're devalued whether you're three fifths of a person or look down upon it in an underground economy basically you know with days what with the war on drugs that stuff back then and now basically destroy. royce your self-worth and that's like a cosmic ripple effect like those stars that exploded billion light years away and wipe out everything you know even here because that affects family life sexuality marriage employment underemployment all these people that went to jail you know

they were they had jobs but they didn't have jobs that paid anything ok they were underemployed they were you know working as laborers or in a car wash and that's not to excuse anything that's not to put a premium on behavior and culture but the cosmic ripple effect creates the culture creates the nihilism people still have free will but you know when you're in it when you're in a cage you know either a mental cage or a physical one generation after generation it does a number on you and that does explain the bridge between then and now but do you think that maybe it's not even all that easily distinguishable but do you think that it's more about racism or is it more about you know economic and social class these days because if you look at the drug war and you look at the areas that are affected are you really saying that the officers are disproportionately going after minorities or is it because minorities happen to live in the communities that are are the poorer communities where they can't fight that it's a little of both i mean it's to me that you have certain proclivities and that are

ingrained for you know so trees and stereotypes about people but at the same time you know it's easier to go after people in certain areas but certain classes and certain you know approaches to how they live their lives when you look at the drug war in say rural white america as opposed to urban america you have republican governors and people in congress saying well it's a health issue because we have rampant prescription drug abuse and people cooking meth left and right but they don't call their own people animals they say they were you know they refer to black people black men as animals and again people have. freewill and this is a culture that is created to perpetuate itself but it's a culture that has its roots in racism in economic disparity and under the spare it is a clean you know kind of sterile word just in various just nonsense it's been going on and that is cooks that's the stew and it was bubbles over and you see the

results in prisons now and we do have let's not forget the largest incarceration system in the world this is something that's very profitable and this is something that also provides a lot of jobs so it definitely is enough you know in someone's interest to keep it going but if we look at it as a whole because as we said you know prison is is just one part of it that you can't get a job you don't have the same education opportunities after that thirteen percent of black men are disenfranchised they carry a longer vote they're no longer thinking of the self they're all citizens here but how do you know how do you rise above that how you know it seems like this vicious cycle is there some way to change it or you know that's helped me question we've been searching for that for forty years back and forth as people really start to get to really take a slice at this at this level i really don't know i mean a lot of it is going to be you know a comprehensive behavior change from african-americans point of view but

a structural change in terms of the country and attitudes around us and it goes whether you're at one point people have to understand that there is a is a is a is a condition and a mental condition and a historical condition that they really go after deal with an overhead whether you're a you know a last blue blood or you clean you know off the boat ellis island you always kind of knew where you were and who you were in this country african-americans have never had that so it's not a victim mentality it's a lost mentality and there is a difference and if we get over that last mentality i think that we've gone a long way to curing this and i think we're also seeing a lot of that now with its new immigrant communities to latino community this is not the line chris i want to thank you very much for joining us. now still to come on tonight's show don't forget to grab your bible and your thirty eight special before you had a church on sunday we'll have more of a politician who says that bringing a gun to church is legal.