welcome the lower show where you'll get the real headlines with none of the mersey are going to live in washington d.c. now today's day sixty for the u.s. involvement in the war in libya and according to the war powers act that means it's time for congress to step in but why are we hearing crickets from capitol hill then as is the rule of law really need anything in this country if the president power does continue to go unchecked and the next story is the president also is hosting

talks with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu in d.c. here today so intentions already high over obama's middle east speech yesterday is there any hope for a great through to end the decades of conflict in the region then as you probably heard by now there is a rapture coming we got the opportunity to ride along with members of the group who say that may twenty first is the end of the world as we know it will bring you details on all of that now and make a toast in our happy hour segment but before we get to the fun let's move on to our top story. the deadline has finally arrived it's day sixty of the intervention in libya according to the war powers act now it's time to decide if the u.s. should get out or get approval from congress to say but neither obama nor congress seem to be acting on it so does this mean that america's laws about engaging in war simply don't matter artie's lauren lyster has more. fifty eight. fifty nine. sixty i said at the outset that this was going to be

a matter of days and weeks. the days have turned to months and in libya the battle rages on in washington time has run out. in this rhetoric is running up against a real broke lock thing gary you said you don't think before power things there's a war powers act the war powers act a resolution that says sixty days marks the deadline for an american president pull u.s. forces from hostilities or get congress's approval for a formal declaration of war yet neither appear to be happening and according to the president publicly time seems to be the enemy only for someone else now working against gadhafi. he does not have control over his conference but it's unclear who or what has control over this one the law or the will of the president the united states the president did not seek or declaration of war begin with. nor really has

there been much discussion of the war powers act nor does it seem there will be when pressed by the majority of congress not with leaders of the senate foreign relations committee saying there are no plans for action and top lawmakers like john mccain saying quote he's never recognized the constitutionality of the war powers act nor has any president which is only sort of true according to legal and political experts every president has expressed some concerns about its constitutionality but interestingly not a single president has questioned the sixty day rule hathaway says if obama does this would set a new precedent for combat by a president who campaigned on ending u.s. wars and abiding by constitutional law. still when it comes to war powers there's enough blame to go around absolutely congress doesn't take it seriously and president seven taping it seriously and us media it's don't take it seriously

meanwhile u.s. drones fly over libya dropping bombs and the laws governing this type of mission seem to have flown out the window to makes a joke of the whole idea of how the laws that you can still go out and do is beautiful speeches as the president seems to do and talk about peace and justice and principles. as the clock strikes the basic fee in the libyan intervention and the bill hits a reported three quarters of a billion dollars and the us is third war with no congressional oversight or end in sight time is working against the rhetoric and the rule of law in theory in reality in the nation's capital though noble arm of her. has to be going on lauren lyster artane washington d.c. . so the clock is take down to day sixty of the war in libya and thus far the obama administration hasn't addressed the issue they haven't even made any moves to

suggest that they might hit and it's a sharp reversal for the man who we saw campaigning to be the u.s. president. no board nor in the law what is inconvenient that is not who we are it's not what is necessary to defeat the terrorists. the pfizer corp works separation of powers works our constitution works we will again certain example for the world that the law is not subject to the whims of stubborn rulers and that justice is not arbitrary. we have to wonder what example the us is setting by waging a war with nato against moammar gadhafi and i say the us not just the president because it takes the congressional branch to hold the executive branch accountable so far we've really only been hearing crickets coming from capitol hill rand paul and five other republican senators have vowed to take the issue to the supreme court but in terms of a media action a call for a vote none of that has taken far so how can we be fighting

a war to bring democracy to the libyan people our government ignores subverts our own here to discuss this with me as per his fine chairman of american freedom agenda and a former associate deputy attorney general and the reagan administration bruce thanks so much for being here thank you for inviting me. who do you think is more to blame here obviously there's a lot of talk about expanded executive powers but congress also isn't really stepping up to the ball they're not doing their job it's day sixty and how come we don't see more members of congress pushing for goes to the political culture because this is not a novelty with president obama we had harry truman his early is the korean war who insisted that the war was a police action and he did not obtain any congressional authorization for war that ended up killing over thirty thousand americans in a car greater number who were injured we had president clinton who then began a war over bosnia serbia he went to congress tried to get an authorization couldn't get a new he said well i just won't call it war so this is

a longstanding problem so if you're trying to assign culpability truly the american culture that is embrace this psychology of empire the united states is exceptional meaning it doesn't have to comply with any laws in any international regime of legality that all other countries must comply with and i think even the into. the auctioneer vastly understated the egregiousness of the violations president obama said when he was on campaign that if a president initiated war without congressional authorization it was flouting the constitution and his running mate joe biden said it wasn't be an impeachable offense in fact joe biden when he was in the senate instead of being vice president said he would make it his life's mission to impeach and remove president george w. bush if he invaded iran without congressional store so these are gross hippocratic oath hypocritical statements about devotion to the rule of law as they violated this is like on reason rules lawyer. service and it shows that we as an empire have

disowned the idea of the rule of law except for other people we can invade sovereignty we can put people on assassination list we can commit torture with impunity but other countries can't because we are the superpower i said all empires share this mark whether it was a silvery down far ottoman empire the chinese empire all of them have there and only a leader who can try to loose the better angels of our nature can retreat from this precipice of lawlessness and arrogance and he talked about the libyan war is not just one violation of the constitution that transpired today there's been three because it was initiated in violation of the war powers resolution says the president can do that only under three conditions one a declaration of war didn't happen to a specific statute authorizing didn't happen or three in response to an actual attack on the united states would didn't happen all or a lot of people are saying of course yes the it was unconstitutional from here on the very beginning but then what does that say about our country like i was asking how come people aren't more upset sure we can talk about international laws and

there's constant hypocrisy when it comes to the u.s. trying to point to international laws and applies to other countries but not our own but what about the american people talking about their own president violating their own constitution because there is an indifference who are the victims libyans not the united states who cares and even. with the ball also call a volunteer professional army you don't have like the vietnam war kids in college who whose fathers and mothers serve in the administration being summoned to go risk that last full measure of devotion so it's the voiceless underclass that's going to suffer the consequences not the people who feel comfortable and worry about american idol or some stupid idiot movie actors or whatever something like that and that's why there's no protest who's there's no harm there's no injury did anything is felt by the united states of america and moreover it's a muslim country it's not a christian country muslim lives don't matter is that kind of callousness that induces this indifference but it comes back again it's true of all empires that the

inculpate a political culture of indifference to lawlessness in the name of national security you could call it crucifying the rule of law on a national security cross and that is the earmark of the united states today because we have only touched the surface of the lawlessness we're just talking about war we haven't talked about the state secrets we haven't talked about the illegal interrogations putting people on assassination list detaining people for life without accusation or trial trying civilian crimes and military commissions just the endlessness of the violations of law that go under the banner of national security and that is why it's far more horrifying than just the one that is unsettling horrifying and that's you know if you look at the picture as a whole that's what you see but i want to talk about president obama specifically to you as a constitutional law professor this is somebody who as we showed when he was campaigning always spoke about upholding the constitution of holding this rule of law and so what is it that happens once you get into the white house the make

someone willing to throw all of that out the window as the advisers know that it is not this difference that is every said at least vocal about the rule of law when he wasn't the president so what then he became the president binns different because now he gets to assert that power is the corrupting influence of power member lord acton power corrupts. absolute power corrupts absolutely it's like and i don't want to draw that you can l.g. too closely because the christians were all in favor of religious toleration when they were in the minority amongst the pagan roman empire then when they converted king constantine ok now it's a crime not to be a christian so once you get the hands on power then suddenly you believe that you're only benevolent and you can only be exerted for good so reason to live you why design ceding all these civilian lives my gosh i should get a second nobel peace prize for conducting more i mean truly george orwell has now reached its peak of the hackers in describing mr obama and in some sense because obama is

a law professor he does teach const you are headed it demonstrates the pervasiveness and the strength of this culture of dominance and empire which overrides even someone as area diet is mr obama in complying and scrupulous regard for the constitution it doesn't matter power trumps everything so how long is it going to take for the sixty days or our congress hasn't done anything about it yet in the meantime obama isn't asking congress to approve any of these funds he's just taking it from the pentagon when are they going to be forced to actually make some kind of decision because you never just talked about this before the show to you it's very easy for members of congress to not have to vote on this because then they don't have to get their hands dirty they later can then you know and nobody can point a finger at them and say that you voted to support this conflict in libya if it ends up being poor but when is it going to come down to that wire well there's nothing that forces congress to act if the voters and you're suggesting rand you can send e-mails telegram saying screen you shut this operation down then the

members might vote there is at least a non-trivial number of members i've spoken to some of them who are eager to introduce a resolution a statute that would say no monies of the united states can be expended could be out to war in libya or elsewhere in violation of war powers resolution that would shut things down you can. fight wars without any money now whether it goes any place or not it's still in the terminal and i say this is one of the true tragedies it's far more likely to succeed if the whole thing and delivery of blows up in the civilians are being massacred in say huge mess and americans die there crashes of our aircraft or something then people will wake up and say why god where are we now in the longer and longer means a stalemate not so much in the public eye then i guess the easier and it's bad to preserve our de minimus serious i want to thank you very much for joining us tonight thank you. now still to come president obama meets with netanyahu to discuss the decades old conflict between israel and palestine but is there any hope for a resolution and how much influence does israel have on u.s.

politics of iraq. let's not give that we in the fourth quarter. i think. either one well. we're never going to be safe get ready because freedom. a charmer over here broadcasting live from washington d.c. coming up today on the big picture.

new website with twenty four seven live streaming news times what to do about the ongoing financial hardship unlimited free hi paula the videos for download. and stories you may never find on mainstream news. media so. people who live in. boston more on our team just watch to say. hey guys welcome to shower tell me alone a show we've heard our guests have to say on the topic now i want to hear audio just go on you tube does video respond or to twitter for part of the question that

we post on you tube every monday and on the first day of the show your responses please let your voice be heard. as israeli prime minister netanyahu engages in talks with president obama today it's clear the tensions are high then yahoo wasted no time expressing his disdain after obama's middle east beach was given yesterday so as the conflict between israel and palestine remains as complex as ever we can't help but wonder what exactly is the u.s. role artie's christine for zeile has a story. it is a scene only too familiar in this region a protest on israel's border that leads. to violence. here in was the may fifteenth protest marking what palestinians call nakba or catastrophe the creation of the state of israel on this date in one nine hundred

forty eight because for israel it was a matter of security according to van kol a co-director of the zionist organization of america i don't know what any country would do when people gather on your border and come across a violation of the law. one for palestinians it is the continuation of the seemingly endless. right for an independent palestinian state a fight in which u.s. leaders try time and time again to play a chief negotiator from president carter to reagan to george h.w. bush to president clinton george w. bush and now the obama administration has said we believe the borders of israel and palestine should be based on the nine hundred sixty seven lines with mutually agreed swaps. so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states and unusually blunt indorsement of an end to israeli occupation of arab land i.o.u.'s president the idea was immediately rejected by prime minister benjamin

netanyahu israel argues peace cannot come at the cost of its security with continued palestinian rocket attacks but there is one thing both sides actually agree on when it comes to the u.s. role as mediator it approaches they say is all wrong american policy is built on this conceptions a wrong view of the causes of the conflict and a prescription that doesn't stand up to even the most casual scrutiny of the question is not why don't we have a solution at this point but why on earth should we expect to have a solution with with this system as it is their use of money your with the jerusalem project says talk is cheap when the u.s. says it's in gauged in the process of a two state solution but is funding and supporting behavior by israel that simultaneously working against it paying somebody bribing somebody to change their behavior doesn't work when you've spoiled them rotten a recent example in november

the us offered several billion dollars in military assistance to israel if it put off the construction of jewish settlements for three months the regardless award obama say is or how he sees it and he says it better than bush but what he does is to say the costs of peace are high high cost of broad and at home pro israel money accounting for between one quarter and one third of all donations to the major political parties a concern for many including former u.s. congresswoman cynthia mckinney they were at the executive branch they were what the legislative branch pro israel campaign contributors totaled nearly twelve million dollars in two thousand and ten far higher than other. major donors making increasing the pressure on israel a politically daunting prospect especially if elections eighteen months away but a bit of this is a lot of good with the need to show support for the arab spring and

a reconciliation between the two palestinian factions u.s. leaders may be feeling pressure to make a push yet again christine for is now r t. well it's clear that israel palestine issue has once again become the focus of all attention for those living through or watching the arab spring as well as those who listen to president obama's speech yesterday where he advocated for a return to the one nine hundred sixty seven borders with agreed swaps now the reaction thus far from the right has been the expected outrage of the calls of betrayal never mind the fact that george w. bush bill clinton all proposed similar solutions before and today in a non betrayal move the president is meeting with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and he will be speaking a over the weekend but it's becoming a never ending political game here in the u.s. and it's one that cost u.s. taxpayers three billion dollars a year and what's mostly military aid so let's talk about why joining me to discuss

it is medea benjamin co-founder of both paint and international human rights organization global exchange and from our studio in new york jeff berkowitz former bush liaison to the jewish community i want to thank you both for joining me tonight now jeff i'm going to start with you because i just want to know where the criticisms come from when we keep hearing that obama doesn't really have a good relationship with israel that it's been rocky and now we're hearing calls that because he suggested we go back to nine hundred sixty seven border lines that he is a b. tray or but if you know i haven't seen anything really change we're still giving israel three billion dollars in aid every single year i haven't seen any change in our policies so where do those critiques come from. i think it mostly comes from the language that the president uses and the real betrayal that i would argue happened yesterday was a betrayal by a vote of the american people american people were expecting a speech about how he was finally going to engage in response to the arab spring

and it was a good speech on the decent speech on that until he decided to wrongly interject the israeli palestinian conflict into it when the arab spring is fundamentally about arabs looking at their own leadership and saying we want to canonic opportunity we want freedom and liberty and how can the president turn from talking about how that is good in the in we we support back to talking about the palestinians and pointed israeli occupation in instead of the palestinians own leadership that has for so many years been denying them economic opportunity in the opportunity for you peace and prosperity because they're only willing to stop the terrorist war against israel's media give me do you think that you can really remove israel and palestine from the arab spring but of course not it's part and parcel of it and in fact it's the palestinians rising up in thing to their own leaders stop fighting between you and that's why we've got fatah and hamas signing a unity agreement and instead of our leaders saying isn't that great now we can

move ahead we have this pro israel lobby like a pac that has a stranglehold on us policy that says no and it's one more excuse now for netanyahu to say we can't talk which is ridiculous and i think the american people are getting fed up with this never ending quote peace process that never leads to peace and it's because of the intransigence of the israeli government and because our policy has been like a lapdog to this little country israel well jack i do wonder about that i mean you talked about you said that obama's speech was a betrayal to the american people because they didn't want to hear about israel but at the same time today he's meeting with prime minister netanyahu he also will be speaking at apac israel plays a huge role when it comes to domestic politics but why does it matter to the average american quite the opposite i think you might be able to argue that america's foreign policy towards israel makes the world much more dangerous for many americans. i wouldn't hardly disagree with that we have fundamental reasons

and strategic reasons to stand with israel in most americans are pro israel that's why pro israel sentiment is so strong in washington among cars and senators of both parties obviously much more so among republicans that have a much more unified view on this than the democratic party does. on like my colleague in washington here i don't think that the moderate you allege moderate aligning himself with terrorists and loss of their response will four israeli deaths and american deaths are going to be is going to be good for the palestinian people the israeli people for the american people the americans want to see a president that will stand with our ally that is a strategic resource for us in the region and has strong cultural and democratic ties to our country as well but if you want to talk about deaths let's talk about gaza and the fact that israel invaded this country of gaza that is still under

siege and killed fourteen hundred people and be us instead of saying oh my god how can you do that collective punishment the u.s. went along with israel and vetoed condemnation of israel and the united nations and this is happening constantly so the world is saying the u.s. is so hypocritical to talk about democracy democracy all over the world but when it comes to israel it violates human rights of palestinians on a daily basis it builds separation walls like an apartheid south africa that maintains a siege of gaza that treats palestinians as second class citizens and why do we unconditionally keep supporting israel it doesn't make sense i'm jewish i want to see the best for the israeli people but i also care about the palestinian people and our policy is all wrong you know you bring up gaza but a lot of. other issues as well but if you talk about the u.s.s. liberty right i mean this is a situation where american citizens were killed and i can't think of another example where we would just be silence and not really want truth and answers on

that from any other country. i'm sorry i have to jump in on the gaza thing the israel disengage from gaza it was a perfect example of what's wrong with the palestinian leadership right now because they had the opportunity to build something in the show the israelis that they that they could be a partner for peace to show the world that they could be you know they could provide for the palestinian people and provide economic development and instead they decided to use gaza as an opportunity in the withdrawal to bomb an attack in three missiles into israeli towns unprovoked and without any reason so that's why israel had to go back in and defend itself and i think every country has a right to defend itself but until the palace and realize that the path to peace begins with actually believing in peace stop teaching hate to your children in school in your schools in your textbooks and on television in engaging with the israelis the israelis have have in obama's words you provided on clenched fist many

times to the palestinian people including in two thousand under clinton in under the why you know why again is i not there i wanted i want to try to get obviously there's a lot of people the prize should stop teaching american children and their schools that they should hate all muslims as well just give me one good reason that why should we give israel three billion dollars in aid that's mostly military aid every single year when domestic services social services are being cut for americans right now. because the role of the federal government is to provide for the common defense and it is in our strategic interest for us to support our allies like israel in their support of our efforts to make this a safer world more peaceful world by fighting terrorists and that's why we should do the role of social services and domestic services is best left to the state and local places that actually know best how to provide the services well exactly which is why we need those three billion dollars here at home so that our local

communities that are suffering from these intense budget cuts can use it for health care and education infrastructure and things we need at home we shouldn't be supporting a real be a government of israel the twenty third richest country in the world and a government that uses those funds to violate international law and abuse the palestinians on a daily basis just last question before we have to wrap it up here so we are supporting as a country america supports the arab spring they support democracy in the middle east what happens if those leaders that are now democratically chosen aren't israel friendly well that's what's happening look at egypt now the egyptian people are saying to their new transitional government why you maintaining this siege on gaza at the border between egypt and gaza and the government is having to rethink that policy and lift it because people are saying we will not continue to do what israel tells us to do that hurts the palestinians so it's going to change the equation and the u.s. can no longer be supporting dictatorships just because they are friends with

israel's are and i thank you both for joining me sorry jeff we can squeeze one last word in there for you but thanks for joining me tonight now still to come on tonight shall we give our tool time or more of the washington post for their new plans to take thought we would be just a few hours away from the end of the world a group claims of the rapture is going to happen tomorrow r.t. sailing for it has more on that with the fact. that we are. right. i think. whenever the government says that they are safe get ready because their freedom.