they break like the residents. let's not forget that we had an apartheid. i think. one well. we're never going to says the safe get ready because their freedom.

you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you saw you go sometimes are welcomed as a big issue. for .

welcome back to the big picture i'm tom hartman coming up in this half hour we all know money can buy a lot of things but it can a buy innocence that's the very thing family and friends of former jailed or the jailed former i.m.f. chief dominique strauss are trying to do that is what so called news couldn't get any more by as we were reporting yesterday was supposed crazy most of the sunny parts business. it's wednesday means it's time for the liberal rumble or i take on two expert conservative commentators and some of the biggest news stories of the week panels

and i daniel helper from the weekly standard and jamie weinstein from the daily caller editor of the daily caller. i think it's pretty awesome that if you think thanks for joining us yesterday the white house threatened to veto the defense authorization act which is headed toward passage in the house of representatives the purpose of the bill is to fund our military operations around the world but republicans loaded chock full of controversy all provisions including restrictions on the president's ability to reduce nuclear weapons as part of the start treaty to laze towards implementing don't ask don't tell repeal and section ten thirty four which gives the president the authority to wage endless war around the world until every single terrorist on the planet is. perpetual war if the republicans push ahead anyway without making changes when the president says he's going to veto the bill in our troops will get funded so why is it that the republicans are playing games the legislation affecting our troops why not just a straight forward funding bill it's fine to quibble with with the congress and to

suggest oh you're not doing things exactly right but what they're doing president squiggle yes it's fine for the president to do what he's doing but what but what exactly doing is dangerous and undermining the war policy there's a provision in there as you said that extends the war and actually forever it actually puts what we're doing what we're currently doing in pakistan and afghanistan in a legal framework in fact it legal framework was stablished in two thousand yes and it's true it's been established in two thousand and two and the same interpretation has been carried over into the obama administration so what they're doing tom is they're undermining their no new war effort this is a not a declaration of war it's not a declaration of eternal hostility for it's not even against god even wasn't already doing i would think that you guys as conservatives would be saying this isn't a declaration of war the constitution says congress has to declare war this is an authorization for basically high still it's the war doesn't separate so you don't actions and certainly in that area you don't want the president to have it expanded authority but you're upset with the limited authority that there's also the bill is

also trying to put in i don't really have vietnam or in those numbers are what we're going to but you're ok with him having unlimited priority with whether. to expand or decrease nuclear weapons no nuclear weapons it has nothing to do with whether or not he can chase every single target with every part of his bill with with with there's a lot of things to try to limit and limit his authority as it goes as it relates to what he could do with nuclear weapons whether you could be actually decreased nuclear weapons so in so many respects this bill limits his authority and i respected expanses authority as it with this provision which seems to legalise what were perfectly alive generally speaking you know the constitution is really clear that the power of the congress is to make and declare war and the power of the president is not i mean it's just it's right there in fact the founders were so hysterical about this they were so worried about the prospect of perpetual war in article one section eight it says congress can't fund of the military here's the for more than two years here's the problem if you see if bin laden was alive today or al-zawahiri in afghanistan or in yemen god forbid we don't have time to

call a full session of congress back if there were a recess by the programmer and hours through our resident sixty nine and so so he was in this is he has never ever and the president to embarrass you have hard as george orlando are going to i don't know if you know we're in the middle we're middle of wars we're in the middle of the war it was it was great islamic jihadism we're in the middle of war in afghanistan and iraq and they're they're all growth for the for same goal whether you know what this does is it formalizes what we're already doing it takes care of what we do what your goals we need to complete what we're doing here is forced if you look there's no where we're some expiration date was we were just it's we're just going to see what are we people here saying the point is what you're doing and then we can roll back this provision but first let's finish the war let's win it here's why here's why we can't what we're doing or what you know what every single iraqis as you know just a glamorous look at the end is dead here there is no you can't win or lose or not here is these are not wars these are are not doc you his are not words there is no society here and there is not

a safe fight he's not rushing to us this is iraq is no challenge you're always going to surrender this is not over here we're trying to come clear. the problem here's the problem this is why we can't and this war is so simply because even if we ended this war whatever that means the war is not to be ended all the other side because they won't be happy until they defeat us so we're just we're going to do you think that a guy who makes sixty dollars a year in afghanistan and owns a forty seven because the subway is left over you know you know it's not twenty five years ago he's going to go off a plane and come over here and it take out the american military post nine eleven world but threat is no longer on my plate it was one thousand guys. is no longer armies positioned on the border but we prepped a terrorist with a stealthy terrorist would have a nuclear weapon in the next you would if you were to be so that is like you know i don't understand sort of american nine hundred seventy two going to go through the war they do it again they put it as if america sure and we and we've made our say and i don't know whether it's there that is the president's constitutional i will

see to spring court ruled this week that prison overpopulation in california is so bad that it violates the eighth amendment protection is cruel and unusual punishment there are currently hundred forty thousand people in prison in california way above that prison systems basti and the court is now forcing the state to reduce its inmate population by thirty thousand people has the highest imprisonment rate in the developed world most inmates behind bars more than fifty percent are nonviolent people who are busted and locked up for just getting high so how much more money is going to be wasted and how many more lives ruined before we need to see that it's pretty clear that the war on drugs thing what the supreme court did is they they released three roughly three brigades worth of criminals it is releasing back into california but what they didn't really say they said you've got to move a lot of these pages and put them in real body they call me have to outsource it's an event of it you've got to do something kate the practical implication is that three brigades worth of criminals will be released back into the into california something i busted for smoking pot as a criminal this is not about somebody that got busted for smoking pot this is not

the supreme court this is a breath across overreach of the supreme court i don't want the supreme court's rule or goal to say we're not them. much of the constitution it's not disappear you don't really don't think that had a safety convicted of a nonviolent crime being locked in a cage without even a toilet for forty eight hours where they dedicate all over the globe to making a cat it's like i don't think it's a great idea if you do cool and you want to randomly released so many thousand a president or really they have to have to they have to be awarded the day i think you have to be reduced to the word that they have not been talking all asians in those specific prisons have to be reduced one of the options that california has is what a lot of states do there are there are a lot of prisoners from for example south carolina imprimatur they can outsource my point was that beyond the idea of letting prisoners go which maybe they will or maybe not is that i agree with you i think we should end the war on drugs and redirect before it is to the war and care ok back to the first topic i have next

what they are opposed to i'll leave it at that snow though your post is reporting this week that friends of former i.m.f. chief and alleged rapist dominic strauss are reaching out to the family of his victim a new york hotel maid in hopes of pain them to avoid charges against. family lives in a remote village in guinea and a payoff from stress make them rich is this the way justice should be done in america where if you're rich enough you can just buy your way out of anything i mean this village they didn't even know that she had been raped until the reporter showed up because they have no roads no electricity well i mean he what he's alleged to have done is a terrible thing looks pretty suspicious that we promote we know looks like it seems like he did that of course we believe in us not to go through d.n.a. and so do i think i think he should be brought to the what he should be prosecuted if somehow if unfortunate he gets off he's a shoo in probably to be the next president of france because this is probably out of his this is room for president friends i think he i think he would have been had

he not been a rapist or alleged through this or daniel this is a socialist politician feeds off of capitalism and free markets and here he's trying to use his for. it was about yes and he who who uses his friends to get in curry it's pretty disgusting look a guy agree innocent till proven guilty this is a loser question seem a little more guilty brooke i've heard and i've heard that the family is holding strong they're proud they're proud of their relative who stood up to dominic strauss kahn and they're not they're not going to the larger question at this point i think a political i mean this is may not even be an argument the larger question is in the united states you can sue somebody you can you can go to the police and say i want to prosecute somebody or you can said don't want to prosecute them i'll take it to civil court and i'll sue them and of course this would be settled out of court before he even got a civil court shouldn't there be a and some states have have this with this victim restitution laws should there be some way that someone like this woman can both have her rapist prosecuted and get

restitution because otherwise rich people can basically take a pass on anything if they can simply buy off people so that they want to i think that's an interesting question i don't know the answer to it but let me let me just say this this that i think we need to figure out the as it would as a society is right now the rich are amused but there is something great about america in this story and it's that a chambermaid. after having something terrible happened to her it can go to the cop and we will arrest a sitting you know big who flew to high international profile person with all this power on the word of a chambermaid because this is the proper country we are the rule of law and this is a living are you kidding me and you know and you know why she could do it because those one of the strongest unions in new york city and honestly i don't know maybe only one of the strongest unions in new york city is the is the hotel workers union and they have in their contract that if any other workers come forward and claim that they've been sexually harassed by guests that they cannot be fired for that because typically in the in the hospitality industry and i've got i do this on the radio get calls from all over the country from maids who are talking about how i

think i'm fired up literally reporting it's actually harassment but your if you're right it was and i wonder if you think it was because i heard you had said this if . you don't need a union contract if she's you know if she was fired for reporting that no one in their right mind would go to a soap and tell in new york the business would be shut no i would never even know they would go to the press to know what to grab and there you would want to go to arrest and charge you know the head of the i.m.f. for the rape you have to write and. tell would lose tons of business if they fired someone because something despicable like that happened jamie i you know i hate to break your bubble but it happens in america all the time there's there's another point you're cute the french love american television shows and american cop shows in particular and here they are they're seeing one of their politicians go down the road of american justice after their politicians have been notoriously known for womanizing and massaging me and and and it's a good thing it's a strong sign that we as americans should this is what we stand for yes national

york has ended france french culture i say that he will change dramatically from this and i think it already has and i think i think you're right there are there are positive things that will come from this undercurrent that excellent point thank you i'm under the son of voted overwhelmingly to pass a four year extension of the patriot act the surveillance monster created by george w. bush after the nine eleven crime that means four more years of film wiretapping laws and snooping our library records and details everything you do on the web without any suspicion or what's only eight senators voted no three democrats and she got four democrats three republicans and the independent senator bernie sanders the house is expected to pass their version of the bill sometime this week that would mean the patriot act would be put into law through twenty fifteen what to say about our nation fifteen years after nine eleven we're all still so afraid that we need to keep shredding our constitution i can't believe there you go rob even ten years after nine eleven folks get ahead of ourselves let's let's worry about it now which is about four more years or reason the patriot act has been has been voted on almost in the last year and then it's it's reauthorized every few years so this is

the price for a few months last yes it was a very horse it was a you get where you are still it was the year prior that's. the reason the reason is that it's a temporary act because as we talked about earlier we're in the middle of war and we need to take temporary action the temporary and comes the expected nine hundred thirty. five rolling down one back to i'm just saying i'm on i'm not in favor of disadvantages i'm on the record of this patriot act forever all i'm suggesting is that in the middle of war certain provisions need to be taken for how american rocket science you can reach as they keep america safe and this is the president's primary constitutional duty when did congress and her war any any serious look at the patriot act in comparison to other kinds of conflicts in american history world where one of the alien and sedition acts were were going to inherit camps which was wrong this is the greatest side we're going to get we're going to go to the third wrong let me finish we are so far on the side of freedom as opposed to security compared to those things that i can understand why why there is so much complaint

here we have we have defended civil liberties for a large part in this in this time of great conflict we should be proud of how we've done this compared to many other countries around just the sound of that you got a post that said i went door to door for barry goldwater in one nine hundred sixty four i know i remember what conservative values were i could read conscience of a conservative and no apologies of and i just still frankly a pair of fan of cool water you would never have gone i venture to guess that there is and there isn't a single provision in the patriot act that's ever affected you speaking for myself there's not a single one that they have or they could watch and i'm doing the internet they could put rove in jail so i don't think they care if you're going to get your data or your argument is that those of innocent asians that were doing the years possible this is directed at that terrorism and that's how it's being mostly being utilized and that's what we need to do and that's you know like i said we're in the middle of war you need to take certain provisions in order to keep keep america safe as if you were not girded some provisions either these people are not being

burdened because of these provisions check out what you get from the library and you know to date. and i say oprah winfrey ended her quarter century long daytime talk show with a tearful goodbye to her global audience so now there's an open time slot in the afternoon t.v. lineup what new republican talk show will be the next big hit for the networks those are for will be the happy hour with john boehner which only airs three days a week at the speaker's discretion or republican blind date c.l.o. high jinks that go on when republicans with wives go on blind dates or see three matter in an aborted baby louie gohmert steve king and rick santorum joined together in a letter as news to come. challenge with failing valor been failing it's going to be a good i think you're right i think she's coming and i'm not sure what i'm not sure what the why the republicans are taking over oprah's spot she endorsed barack obama i'd venture to guess that it's a fictitious world in terms of the good well there you go i venture to i've never

seen before in my life i've never seen a episode of over on one of the few americans i'd venture to guess it's katie kirk yes he was ok ok i say who wants to get health care with the paul ryan or senior citizens have the answer fifteen questions in a row to win an all expense trip paid all expense paid trip to see the doc and i would have to pay taxes on that maybe just i think gives it over to build up there you'll jamie thank you thanks again for showing up tonight after the break and early take out five so called news as role in the republican war against the war but. let's not forget that we had an apartheid regime right.

i think. even one well. we haven't got the that says they're going to keep him safe get ready because freedom. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so bleak you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you saw you don't. charge is a big issue. for

. a. few. crazy alert need a new person was this the u.s. marshal's office is currently holding an auction on many of the unabomber ted kaczynski his personal items it's been a rolling in and things like yes the unabomber is typewriter that's currently up to eleven thousand bucks i handwritten copy of his manifesto at more than seventeen thousand but the hottest item right now is of course the aviator sunglasses and the

goodies what shirt at the unabomber was wearing in the now infamous police sketch video at over twenty thousand dollars the auction ends in a week with lots of other items up for grab like a pair of hiking boots personal photos of the unabomber hanging out back in the sixty's i'm guessing the items that don't sell can be put up on a new upstart website e-bay for terrorists. any good war effort needs an effective p.r. strategy campaign to specify just who the enemy is and why they should be defeated i will see rally support so when it comes to the republican war on the working class who do you think they turn to for help with messaging well fox news or box

business channel actually did well enough all this week fox's running segments named entitlement nation makers versus takers who look. all week this week plus business presenting a special series called entitlement nation makers versus takers on the nation's growing dependence on government handouts and the feds give away more money than they collect in taxes the money is doled out primarily in the form of entitlements like social security medicare and medicaid that only are these problems on cuts are these programs unconstitutional as the federal government is not authorized to take money from one group and give it to one of their but they make americans dependent upon big government kicking off tonight for several weeks now scoreboard has been featuring a segment called makers and takers which we think of bodies with great divide this country between the folks who actually make things and those who actually take what

others mate. they say it is a war going on in america a war that pits the rich or the makers against the poor the republicans are foxes calling the takers and republicans accuse democrats of playing class where from. first off the promise of this war is completely absurd as if rich people are having anything taken away from them today in america their tax rates are at historic lows the richest americans billionaire walton heirs paris hilton's hedge fund managers sitting on their butts by the pool collecting their dividend checks in the mail paying only fifteen percent in taxes far less than you and i pay and you name one thing that any of those folks are actually making other than a boatload of money today the rich are richer than they've ever been since before the great depression the wealth inequality is greater than it's ever been since before the great depression the makers as fox calls them have never had it so good in america so why does fox make it look like they're under assault by so-called

takers it's simple republicans need to read brand paul ryan's radical blood budget plan a privatized his medicare and destroys our social safety net america is all about politics and singling out an enemy ronald reagan was the first to single out poor people as the enemy with his welfare queen campaign and today republicans have picked up the same message with their acres mean as though the millions of people who lost their jobs and homes thanks to the banks on wall street crash in our economy really want to be on welfare as though they enjoy the stigma attached to welfare unemployment they enjoy scraping pennies together to feed their family their they're so happy about not being able to buy their kids christmas presents look at warped view of america these right wingers have and they argue that tens of millions of americans are nothing but moochers i don't know about you but i don't see that when i look at my country these people don't enjoy poverty and welfare

people have fallen on hard times want to get back on their feet again i just need some help and is franklin roosevelt said the best welfare program is a job. and guess what the makers aren't making any jobs. at least in in america they're not making millions of jobs overseas and barely any here and the policies they do create jobs like closing tax breaks that ship jobs overseas republicans actually filibustered and fox news bashing last session of congress the problem in america is not that the takers have taken too much from the makers it's that the makers have taken too much from everybody else screwing all of us without anybody really making anything but this makers versus takers war is not anything new at all i and rand referred to the conflict as producers versus looters rich industrialists versus workers and the poor despite her disturbing ideas in rand is

a hit among republicans right now in particular paul ryan take a look. rand more than anyone else this fantastic job of explaining the morality of capitalism the morality of individuals and so if we're here today i think she would do a great job in showing us just how wrong what government is doing is because it's that kind of thinking that kind of writing that is sorely needed right now paul ryan also makes his staff read iran's book so please don't burst his bubble by pointing out that iran herself went on medicare when she became eligible and now fox is taking the same radical philosophy and devoting an entire week to promoting it so let's tell it how it is the real makers in our society of the people creating demand by buying things are more george w. bush said after nine eleven go shopping even bush understood that the real makers in our society are the consumers and the wage workers not the guys out playing golf

on wednesday even people on social security or unemployment are makers because they're sending every penny they get and their consumer spending is what drives the economy this is a nation of makers and takers. it's a nation of makers with a couple thousand millionaires and billionaires living what's left as the richest man in america warren buffett pointed out there is a class warfare going on in america and his class is one in it where the real takers at least buffett is honest enough to admit it and even try to work to change it fox is going to focus group for the republican party in the nation's billionaires the least they could do is take the word news out of their name. as the big picture for tonight for more information on the stories we covered visit our web sites at thom hartmann dot com an r.t. dot com also check out our youtube pages at youtube dot com slash the big picture arts and youtube dot com slash tom hartman also this entire show is available as a free of video podcast on i tunes and no forget the mocker see begins with you

when you show up and participate when you get active it all gets going ted your it sitting on. a mission and free couldn't take three days for charges free. range month free is free. to types free. old free blog cancelling videos for your media projects a free media john to our teeth on tom. all. wealthy british style. that's right in front of the.

market finiteness. find out what's really happening to the global economy with much stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report on. the official antti of location giuliani phone on called touch from the. lunch on in life on the go. video on demand oxys minefield costs and r.s.s. feeds now in the palm of your. question on the call.