i feel. like ron paul is going roam the texas republican is stepping down but you can rattle the election to step up his twenty twelve presidential election but hear what he told our team about the distro problem. and president obama says the checks stopped here well august third that stop you know now it was back to work to blame in this political game of chicken over the debt ceiling and the budget shadow will be tracked down or throw out. lovelady's and it will be up to you let it go grab it put on trial like you as julius on head to a london court to appeal his extradition to sweden i saw no drug company the wiki

leaks founder end up in the united states or the power of his celebrity allow for a fair trial if that happens there's no question that in a country that we gauge and torture itself from choice others how to do it it's forbidden in the constitution but is the u.s. using cruel and unusual punishment here we say torture while condemning it abroad. it's tuesday july twelfth four pm in washington d.c. and christine for sound and watching our t.v. . kicking off today some surprising news from texas congressman ron paul it came in a tweet this afternoon he said quote i have decided not to seek reelection to congress and have a link to the full story was published in his local newspaper the facts in that

instead he says he will focus as efforts on his presidential campaign and this is important for many reasons in two thousand and congressman ron paul won his feet with more than eighty percent of the vote in his district fourteen fifteen in texas and would almost certainly enjoy another victory in two thousand and twelve of course he doesn't win the republican nomination for president but polls are not showing him anywhere near the top of the somewhat crowded field he did raise the second most out of all g.o.p. presidential candidates who have reported quarter totals so despite the naysayers representative ron paul seems to think the republican nomination for president could be in his grasp i spoke to ron paul just a short time ago and i asked him how he came to this decision not to seek reelection here's his response. well you know i didn't come to it lightly i've been thinking about it for quite a few bonds but thought the once i made my decision it was appropriate to.

constituents know so i did talk to the newspaper this morning and really said that i would not run and that i would not be you know campaigning for two different offices i would concentrate on just the presidential run i'm wondering if you've got any pushback from people who say you know you've been serving us for nearly twenty four years if you don't win you know the presidential office you know we feel a little hurt that you're abandoning us have you have you heard anything like that well no but i guess if i did it would be flattery. no i haven't heard that of course you know it's it's only been out for a few months but nobody's indispensable that's what i know so somebody will have to fill you know. i will just be there congressman i've been been that position for a long time and certainly another interesting fact about this congress the one hundred twelfth congress you're serving with your son of course who's in the senate kind of an interesting thing i want to switch gears though to your presidential campaign certainly if you look at polls you're not in the in the talk top but your

voices being heard much more this time around i know that back in two thousand and eight that election i remember i think it was the summer of two thousand and seven i was in chicago at a music festival and there were three guys walking around with a sign that says who is ron paul i remember driving to vegas from san diego looking at a hillside that same question who is ron paul on the side of a hill i don't think anyone's asking that question this time around what do you think has changed in the four years that's made your name and your voice so much more prominent but i think a lot has happened i think we got a lot of the message out four years ago and people became aware of what i was saying and it was it was met with a lot of resistance it was not accepted but because of what i was saying it became important because it. concerns i have for the economy were you know they are down in what happened we did have a financial crisis but foreign policy has gone to the dogs i mean we're still at

war wars are being added and we're facing a bankruptcy the federal reserve has been on the defensive because we point out that the fed is so responsible for so much we've had so the the conditions of the country have changed dramatically but. the free market economists that i follow they have been completely right on on their concerns and what's happening so it is a different world the support is tremendous now compared to four years ago and i think it's going to continue to build and we're going to continue to work at it and you say the conditions of the country have changed your message though seems to have stayed the same you said some of these messages and of these ideas that you brought forth four years ago were met with resistance what specifically i know that still you have the somewhat unpopular position although changing rapidly about the wars in afghanistan and iraq what do you think are some of the messages that are really resonating the most people i think that i think in all areas when it comes to war more people are skeptical there's more votes now in the congress to protect

home and bring our troops home from iraq and afghanistan and and surely not get another war started in libya so we've gained tremendous support there and i think the people of the country are agreeing when i talk about personal liberties people are more worried now about the patriot act and how the patriot act is used to harass us at airports and and pester spirit in the attempt to pretend that they're defending us and nobody really believes are doing much good but certainly on the economy in the federal reserve that's where. you know we've gained so much support because we have talked about the financial bubble that existed the housing bubble and that there would have to be a correction and certainly we're in the middle of that but we still face a lot of problems so i think people are paying attention to in the hallway areas all right so you're not running for another. turns out you are still you know working here in washington on on this term want to get your take on what we're seeing right now with these talks about raising the debt ceiling and sort of the

back and forth it's a hot day here in washington but it feels like one hundred fifty degrees if you kind of think about the mood and what's going on between the two parties here yes and they have a long way to go because they have no easy answers to this because they're trying to solve a problem which they can't solve unless they change their whole ideas and notions about what government should do what they don't want to give up on is being the policemen of the world they don't want to give up on being the economic planner and it's the government supposed to run the economy and that they don't want to give up on the federal reserve so therefore they don't have any answers and they don't understand the business cycle they don't know that they are supposed to allow banks to go bankrupt then are supposed to cleanse the system of excessive and malinvestment so they're just propping it up and they're buying bad debt and dumping it on the taxpayers and they wonder why the recession doesn't and so i'm not very confident that they're going to come up with a solution and that's why they're at an impasse because they're trying to say well maybe ten years out we might cut some money and that just won't just won't work i

have to do something now and i have to start talking about bringing our troops ohman change in our monetary system and not being bogged down in trying to pay for all these entitlements because there's just no money left and finally congressman this is kind of a big decision i would say that you've made sort of regarding your presidential bid on the to decide not to run for congress again until as you said not run for two offices at once can you give us an inside in terms of some of the other things that you're thinking about doing i mean it is still summer of two thousand and eleven but things are about to heat up what other changes are you going to make what else is going to happen what will we see in terms of your presidential bid chris we're going to continue to do what we've been doing in my job has always been to do what i've been doing for thirty years and talk about the change. as that are necessary philosophically and in the campaign itself we'll continue to do more of what we've been doing and that's where we've excelled because we've had

a small number of people beginning now the numbers keep growing exponentially literally into the billions of people now that they are from us so we'll just continue to do what we're doing and stay as organized as possible next to the goal we have right now is to do well at the ames straw vote which is coming up in august so that'll be one area that we're going to keep an eye on on the next one all right us congressman ron paul talking about his decision not to run for another term in congress certainly representative paul no matter what happens when he's well to have a feeling that your message is going to continue to resonate with a whole lot of people thanks so much for speaking with us thank you very much thank you ron paul of course very outspoken about the economy and some interesting figures out now whether you like it or not the government is providing for those in need but the numbers may shock you really two dollars out of every ten dollars that went into americans wallets last year were payments from the government i jobless benefits food stamps social security and disability that's according to

a report by moody's analytics so what happens when steyn federal benefits run out by the end of this year could be a pretty dire situation joining me from more from our new york studio is economist and radio host richard wolffe. hey there richard you know here in washington there is so much back and forth talk about what's best for the economic health of this country but the bottom line is real americans are going to be affected by whatever the decision is i guess i want to start out by asking you how you interpret by what we're seeing with all this conversation over the debt ceiling and what needs to change there. well i think to be brutally honest that neither side neither the president of democrats nor the republicans are facing the basic issues of this economy we are in serious trouble we have very high and persistent unemployment and what we are doing is arguing over the technicalities of the debt limit ceiling that

is going to be changed and raised as it has been every other time this theatrical drama has been rerun and meanwhile our political leaders are not dealing with the underlying problem we have a state minnesota that has already shut down we have other states that are following suit we have cities facing collapse we have a serious economic problem the private sector has not provided the jobs so it shows no signs of doing it and either the government is going to step in or we're facing an economic situation that is more dire than any i have seen in my lifetime of being a specialist on the american economy i think it's really interesting richard that you mention on and certainly every state has big troubles we've been talking a whole lot about minnesota and a government shutdown there and some other interesting things in that i want to take a look at just a few things arizona for example there are now ten job seekers for every job opening in florida where there's nearly four hundred seventy six thousand people

collecting unemployment benefits just eleven thousand two hundred were added last year and over to michigan forty thousand jobs added since may of last year but two hundred sixty seven thousand people are still looking so i want to ask you you know when the spending stops that much of these payments will stop so what do you foresee as a result in faith like this that we just showed. i'm afraid i see very dire consequences now that president obama has indicated he is willing to participate in getting big cuts to all kinds of payments thereby taking away the capacity of the federal government to help cities and states they're going to continue to cut people should know that since this great recession began over half a million city and state workers have been laid off that does not help our economic system that diminishes the amount of buying that those people can do that in turn

cuts the deed for other jobs or we continue to commit our corporations to hire people in other countries because they're cheaper in addition to their not being enough jobs if you actually look at our economy because wages are going down the quality of the jobs that people get even if they're lucky enough to have one is the tyria rating we're looking at long term economic decline if there isn't a basic change and blaming the government and having fantasies that by cutting taxes it's magically going to solve our problem is not an adequate solution and i think we're seeing a growing alienation of the american people from the whole spectacle as they watch their real situation deteriorate and nothing really is being done in america a few good points there richard i want to touch upon any i read about every day you know people with master's degrees and ph d.'s working you know if starbucks there are you know these it's july a bunch of a bunch of students just graduated from college they're having trouble finding jobs

but you mentioned president obama a few times and we've been hearing from him a lot lately is of course making it very clear and i'm moving as words when he said that if this debt ceiling debate doesn't get solved on august third the day after the deadline social security checks will stop coming and if they do he says it will be the republican's fault even the economist magazine just published an article in . titled shame on them the republicans are playing a cynical political game with huge economic stake thing also this is academically a literate and disgracefully cynical and that both parties have in recent months been guilty of this core wrath recklessness right now though a brain falls on the republicans and independent voters to take note of how does one of the not really one they usually play politics is not certainly doesn't usually prepare in the republican court in terms of who's to blame your fund finance i think the economist speaks for most of the business community that is

frankly disgusted with the republicans because they know that the debt ceiling has to be raised let me remind you that when the budget was passed last year for the fiscal year we're in and it was passed by the republicans and the democrats together they knew that the spending program of that budget to pay fares would require raising the debt ceiling acting now like suddenly always a big issue really makes no sense and is dishonest but here's the answer that the republicans give and here's cynicism on a big scale their answer is the american people are suffering from a terrible crisis they're looking for any help they can get and the republicans are making this theater around the silly because we can allow them to get maximum populous city for being the party that's going to at least help the american people little businesses individuals by cutting taxes or at least not allowing taxes to grow all and that's going to build their mess base because people are angry about

their situation and are grateful if a politician doesn't raise their taxes tax. lucian that it will not affect the basic economic situation except in a negative way well that's what's going to happen tomorrow meanwhile they're running for office in the elections of two thousand and twelve it is a very cynical ploy and if they push it and if the american government can pay its debts for a few days and that's the most that will happen it will do a very bad job on diminishing the credit of the united states in the world economy at a very dangerous so it is playing with cyber and you may find that they will be very sorry the morning after if the whole business community gets on them the way the economist did such a good point you know i keep listening and i'm just not hearing any sort of historical examples of a time when the taxes were cut and things got better certainly an interesting point to communist and radio host richard wolffe well thirteen months ago i walked

a couple blocks down the street to the national press club to attend a news conference on a little known web site called wiki leaks the news conference was hosted by the web site's founder julian assange who also at the time almost no one had heard of all the news conference was over i interviewed him one on one asked him to come back to our studios that afternoon for a couple more interviews he agreed no problem and appeared on the news right here on r.t. america and then later on the alona show well let's fast forward to today julian assange now cannot walk down the street free his name is widely recognized around the world and his extradition case has become one of the most famous and closely watched on today as time spent most of his afternoon in a british courtroom where he is fighting extradition and where he claims that his encounters with two women who made complaints against him involves consensual sex the charges against him should be dropped are his lawyer and has more. seven months

since junior souls was released on bail he returns to the high court to appeal his extradition if he fails will be sent to sweden within ten days but many believe his feet won't touch the ground next stop america i think. the worry is that we in the process was extradited people to america with a minimum of thought. was she was a possible you know but thought to carry much water awaits him in the us is this. is a criminal you ought to be. put on trial for war used earlier a notorious neo conservative group held the swedish prime minister friedrich reinfeldt win reelection last year and there's another glaring link in the shape of lawyer thomas strum his firm's representing the two women bringing the sex charges

against our souls in two thousand and one he was minister of justice and is alleged to have helped handover two asylum seekers suspected by the cia of terror they were sent to egypt and allegedly tortured he might well want to stop wiki leaks from functioning the questions of gravity became even even clearer thanks to some of the documents from exactly wiki leaks there is. a willingness to. do the ariens of the united states over many years from. questions of. making asylum seekers in sweden. to the cia freddy's is particularly strong now with a right leaning government in sweden sweden once i thought on sex crime charges the us is reportedly preparing an espionage case and it suits no nato member sweden just fine to be a conduit in this case and in others they get. all the benefits. being an

intelligence partner of the united states without the baggage of being in nato sweden seen as an easier way for the u.s. to get their hands on ourselves particularly after it requested the extradition of hacker gary mckinnon from britain which so far hasn't been granted but critics say the u.k. is just as much in computes with the us and sweden have a traditional role of britain to represent us foreign policy in europe and that's what the. military really politically economically. as judy back to court in london he'll have an eye on the british justice system which could save him from being extradited but the other guy will be firmly fixed in sweden a country that insists on its own neutrality whilst turning asylum seekers a bit of the u.s. allegedly to be tortured only as souls and his staff that wiki leaks know what else sweden's got to hide your enemies r.t.

wanted. the united states has long wanted its place as a big can of democracy and a defender of human rights but what about the lessons it has taught houses of soldiers from other countries are his killing for has more on a long dark legacy of teaching torture. it's been thirty years and i mean soldiers kidnapped be starved and electroshock hector i received about all for having a quote subversive but. remember he relives every day people who are through this time very lucky to be able to tell the story most people get through for this. chart. many. after says the colombian soldiers who tortured him and later killed his brother. were trained right here on american soil at the school of the americas in fort benning georgia army major garrett of player was an instructor there i was very

much in for. aver of the school of the americas there in the cold war era but major blair says he was horrified with what his former students did with their anti-communist training in their own country the classified. army school of the americas use the words interrogate next portion assassinate the allies. commonly start it all the way it's. graduates from the school of the americas have been implicated in massacres and torture throughout the hemisphere have been more than sixty thousand soldiers and police have graduated ten thousand of them have been colombia has been the largest of the americas i don't think is an accident or. abuse of human rights and it was the eighth amendment to the us constitution forbids torture and other forms of cruel and unusual punishment as has the geneva convention but if

that happens there's no question that in our country. and torture it sort of taught others how to do it we also render people we also sent people to prisons in other countries where they were in fact tortured there although congress demanded more oversight of military training programs and internal investigation by the government accountability office so that school of the americas manuals advocated using quote torture truth serum blackmail and execution the pentagon said it didn't know what the manuals contained because it's that advisors assigned to review them didn't speak spanish united nations special repertoire for torture one mendez himself a survivor of torture says a lack of transparency in the u.s. led to further abuse can be eighty's unfortunately. the military aid and police aid was restored and after that it's been difficult to document to what extent includes teaching. techniques that are prohibited by law or by international law it's

a legacy that sharply contrast with u.s. rhetoric about risk. but for human rights abroad the fact that there is an engagement with the police bodies for example that do themselves extensively practiced torture is an embarrassment and perhaps more than an embarrassment to the united states torture survivors and religious leaders in washington d.c. have come together to demand a full commission of inquiry into what they describe as torture prep is relabeled by the united states including in its own prisons like one time of day and by the cia when president bush says that he waterboarding and he would do it again. and said damn right that he had ordered it. it's a very serious problem for the spirit soul of our country as the myth of how many prisoners were tortured by the united states are hard to find but survivors like hector's say the numbers don't tell powerful story when someone gets tore through not only the person with or first quarter past the hour with that big wouldn't

because of those on the third tour it's also someone who has to be humanized themselves in order through the human eyes of those human beings but a society that. is going to pay a price a very big price as well feeling for artsy washington d.c. . but there are of course countless cases of people who are tortured many of whom are then killed one such person is out on obama who was part of the mayan resistance force in guatemala back in the early ninety's he was captured and tortured for nearly three years then injected with a toxic gas that caused his body to swell and according to a much later and still fuzzy investigation he was then placed in a full body cast and either thrown out of a helicopter or dismembered from what is known about the case those who held him who tortured him were trained at the school of the america. so we want to go ahead and talk to his wife human rights lawyer jennifer her very jennifer is also the author of this book truth torture and the american way the history and consequences

of u.s. involvement in torture she joins us from weslaco texas. senator i want to start by getting your reaction to the report we just showed a few things stuck out to me things i think people don't often think about when it comes to torture you know that the torture has to do you mind some self in order to dehumanize another human being and that this is a serious problem for the spirit and the soul of this country that's a reaction to all that. i think that's absolutely true i'd like to think that it doesn't come naturally to anybody to a lot of child springer nails or disavowal a pregnant woman i'd like to think that you have to be worked into a certain mental state to be able to do that at all. i think in terms of the soul of our country patrick henry one of the one of the founders of this country. which is. the early colonialists came to this country fleeing

religious persecution the rack to screw with the star chamber and if the united states was out as a government to use those techniques even in the name of national security that we are quote lost and i think a lot of people who live in the united states don't think of this country as being one that supports torture going home of a that was of course run by the u.s. and also the school of the americas called by some the school of the assassins to what extent do you think people are actually conscious of the fact that this goes on here that there are some definite hypocrisy here. well i think a lot of people are not conscious of that because our government is very careful to do that outside our boundaries and much less. certainly minorities can tell you the top and all was out but what i'd like to add the discussion here is the fact that we not only torture in the cia manuals and in the americas but we also have

many people throughout the western hemisphere in the torture chambers showing the torturers how to do it in the dust watching those are people who could have been saved if we turned them into the courts of law for example there's a case. where an american came in and said are you crazy this woman is an american citizen and what they. turned her over there's three cases in this morial who was tortured at length but three sixteen members in honduras parent using all but picnics that were also used by our own people at abu ghraib and guantanamo and there was a mr mike from the cia that routinely came by to pick up information in ever our case not only was the head of intelligence who is in charge of the prisoner program but current presidential candidate. not only was he trained in the americas

but also a number of his torturers were in fact cia payroll as we found out after my hunger strikes i think. these are really important cases that you bring up and there are certainly everywhere one of the most famous cases of course bradley manning the accused wiki leaks or. what about the fact that the un special rapporteur on torture who i interviewed just a few months ago. was like your camera going in and out a little bit anyways he is having tons of trouble talking to bradley manning why do you think this is. because the united states government absolutely does not want any proof to go out that we have in fact engaged in war crimes if we're crimes or authorized all the way to that including president bush and i'm sure international law died or extradite those people must go to prison all right jennifer hardy i'm so sorry we're out of time jennifer her very human rights lawyer and author.