cut cap and differing over the budget political wranglings being blamed for a stalled deal over raising the debt ceiling or maybe business as usual in the us critics say enough is enough. and if it bleeds it leads argue keypad boy tactics over to this side of the pond. plus we've all heard of cheap labor abroad but what about here in the good old us a find out how the military is cashing in on inmates just fuel their industrial complex but these who are on this. new state. are truly in crimes against this country and also in terms of the world and i'm

back with deals from the book union grove will bring you war we'll tell you what dark secrets protesters have found out about this it's dortmund the news starts now . deal or no deal that's certainly the fourteen point three trillion dollar and counting question i'm talking about the debt ceiling of course and to raise it there is the debt debate let's see there is the gang of six plan the cut cap and balance proposal and other words you have plans that have support but no fine print written on paper yet plans that passed that have no future it's confusing it's driving anger at the government to a near twenty year high if you have politics folks so why do we accept it as such here to help me figure that out is sam seder he is host of the majority report a daily political talk show sam thanks so much for being with us i want to take a step back for a second and pretend that we don't follow and analyze this is closely as we do as

far as u.s. politics and just look at this as we would kind of looking in let's take the house they voted to pass their cut cap and balance plan that reportedly they know has no future of the senate won't pass it obama said he vetoed it so why would they do that with so little time left before the country defaults. well i mean look if we are not following this stuff we're only we're only partially thinking about it unless frankly were the partiers the tea partiers believe that if we raise the debt ceiling which which is happened. five or six times over the course of the bush administration for instance that it will be the end of america for some reason but because that's what their leaders have told them so the kabuki theater that we saw the other day in the house was basically so that these are republican lawmakers can go back to their most fanatical constituents and say look you know we were willing to. to attempt to do to usurp the entire budgetary process

as a way of cutting spending and it just didn't go anywhere but we took that vote i mean that's basically why they do it i mean if we're looking in on the outside we're just saying why can't they get this done so what happens that when they turn around those lawmakers and then they do vote for another plan when they get behind a plan that obama course doesn't that make them look a little prat. well i mean that's why there's such a stalemate is that they have a talk themselves into a box however if the obama administration continues to push a plan that's going to cut social security and going to cut medicare then at the very least i can assure you what they're going to end up doing is they're going to run against democrats on that very issue but let's back up and look at this from like the thirty thousand foot perspective looking at american politics is it ludicrous that group of lawmakers will vote for something that they know can't pass

to kind of make a statement to their constituents then turn around vote for something else because they know something has to get done is it ludicrous the way our system works that this is normal well you know i listen there's a certain amount of theater in politics there's a certain amount of you take votes that might not lead to any kind of a legislation but you stake out a political position i'm not as offended by that as by what they may actually end up passing frankly but what about the theater over something that is literally bringing the country two weeks away from to follow up it's incredibly irresponsible i mean there's really no other way to say it i mean. this is this is simply pure partisan and so even partisan it's just pure politics for the sake of their jobs and the idea that they're going to play chicken with this default is is is should be terrifying to most americans frankly because this could have real implications

on our daily lives so should there be a point at which this political theater doesn't happen are certain topics that people don't tolerate at the political theater goes on. well you know i mean in short you know good babli sometimes it's the the implications of something like a default i think the way people up there just exactly what's going on but wake people up to what because of course we have an a.b.c. news washington post poll that came out today that shows that eighty percent of the people polled are dissatisfied by it or are flat out angry about the work the government is doing and they can narrow it down to this debt ceiling debate because that's when these numbers started really going south compared to past numbers so why aren't americans in the streets upset demanding that their government works. you know i that's that's the sixty four thousand dollar question i mean i think to a certain extent we're at a time in this country of unprecedented wage stagnation for the middle class words

and i'm in this country of incredible joblessness that we haven't seen in years we've we're we are still no not technically we're still feeling we're still feeling the effects of the recession and to the extent that we've had a growth coming out of it it's all been on the corporate profit side and i think frankly people are trying to make ends meet i think that there's such a mess idea about how they're going to. make you know make their health care payments make their car payments make their mortgage payments that there's just simply isn't the time or the security to get involved in politics i mean that's the only explanation i can offer and really quickly yes or no do you think with how much news comes out on this every minute every second all of these different plans all of these different vote it's very confusing even if i'm in that following it closely do you think it's too difficult for americans who are trying to form an opinion to follow this process yeah it's

a very arcane process and i think at the end of the day they want to see jobs yeah we don't know when the conversation is ever going to shift to that in washington or if it well that that certainly is taking out any of that bandwidth and we don't know where the economy is headed yet as a result of this stalemate and also today we also don't know where the u.s. media is headed rupert murdoch of course his hacking scandal has brought up questions on that topic and one that lloyd carr finessed of the resident dot net brought to people on the streets of new york where you are is why tabloid journalism has gotten so big let's watch that and then i'll come back to sam. how did tabloid journalism become so influential and so popular in today's world this week let's talk about i mean people. i like to read about other people's business. you know. newspapers have to try to compete with the internet.

with up to date you know. dirt i think it's absolute trash there's no space in this world for it all i hope they'll go under but they're not going under they're increasing in power i don't believe that this is going to be the biggest takedown ever rupert murdoch is going down i think it's more of a pop culture based audience and so the journalists kind of cater to that and in turn it's kind of fun for them to tease secret detectives but isn't it terrible i mean it might be fun but it's still criminal acts it's horrible i hate journalists you know whatever that whatever it takes to get the story whoever they want you know do you ever do you have that attitude at your job no not at all so what makes journalists national they're not special there are the opposite of special they have no scruples we have of them are true because. people. know what they like and we have a right. to it. but that's not what journalism specifically what's true but

never believe the media's. if it is going to keep getting worse probably do you think journalism like that is bound to spread around the world and become as rampant as it is in britain i do unfortunately and it really isn't journalism i mean there is no logical reason to garbage the bottom line is that if the rampant popularity of tabloid journalism in the u.k. is any indication the rest of the world should be prepared for their own journalism to get a lot dirtier. and aside from a lot of trash talking on journalists in that story there are a lot of questions about is that kind of journalism going to just spread not only does this question what's going to happen to murdoch but it does show the power of the empire he built what he did in the u.k.

was he kind of revolutionized newspapers in a direction that merged tabloid with political in a powerful way where you had papers that you went to for both celebrity gossip but they could also make a great political elections so how soon until this does become the model in the u.s. because it certainly seems to be the direction things are moving in. well you know look i think though that was murdoch's plan wasn't i mean he always wanted to explain the same level of political power in the united states as he had in britain and i had because i think he's done i think the shock if he's still at the home of news corp. over the next couple of months and i think we're going to see actually a reversal of this i mean murdoch was in many ways a throwback and. professor jay rosen and why you as as basically said that this was not a a new news company it was a media company that has a news division that essentially functions as a lobbyist as the lobbying arm for that media and surprise and i think murdoch

wanted that political power and i suspect that anybody who takes over for murdoch and we don't know who that will be but i'm sure there will be somebody will see this this pursuit of political power just for the sake of political power to be antithetical to running a good business look kind of a reversal stand because come on let's look at what already is in the united states in the mainstream media we saw one of the biggest stories this summer that has been poll last or all over the twenty four hour cable news network has been casey anthony which was a very tabloidy case very tabloidy coverage analyzing every in an out of line young girls trial looking at it like a soap opera locking out like you know great you know gladiator fights or something because you just want to see this tragedy play out before you you have that you have websites like i think and post which have had to bring in entertainment and order to get more traction you have t.v.

journalist that's actually becoming celebrities i want to bring up i can't help but bring up the picture that anderson cooper tweeted can we bring that up please him at i'm you know topless covered and but he's tweeting that it gets picked up by celebrity web sites showing kind of that t.v. journalists are celebrities. or maybe like they need to build themselves out celebrities and all seems to be moving in this direction even if you take fox news and new york post reporter out publication out of the picture well look i don't think that you're ever going to. pay for that element of of period interest in sensationalism i mean you can go back to the fatty arbuckle case you know one hundred years ago near and near now this is always been around it will always be around the really talks aspect of what was going on with news corp was that not only did they have the scruples of this sensationalist the tabloid journalism but they had the political power outside of that that essentially kept

their kept politicians that they that kept politicians in line and that's the part that i think we're going to see slowly melt away we're not going to get rid of celebrity journalism we're going to see more and more of it but what we won't see i believe in the in the near future is a is a melding of that type of sensationalism along with a. an inordinate amount of political power that how can we say that one with the last time taken out the political power here saying you don't think that these two are going to be mild or continue to be when was the last time you saw something like casey anthony which really was kind of tabloid and got a t. get so much play on c.n.n. a talent and that's n.b.c. and fox news an a.b.c. and n.b.c. one about time you saw something like that well i mean it was going to last case of you know a white girl going down a well it was gary condit it was o.j.

simpson but you know i've been with him again maybe absolutely i mean this was just a girl so i mean look we see these cases all the time and we're going to we're going to see more of jon benet ramsey i mean the list goes on this is what this is what made cable news. frankly was was these type of cases that i really have no bearing on anyone's life i mean frankly o.j. simpson the famous retired football player but it is his case had absolutely nothing to do with anyone's lives other than as a you know who shot jr on dallas did one last time you saw someone from the most trusted name in you did topless covered in my adding tweeting that picture of a tough well maybe i'm not watching them enough. but you know we have to frisk i think i mean you know fox news has has always had that type of you know celebrity girl or wolf blitzer made his name. but then my father would be in wearing

a tough guy you know vast you know there's there's always been a lot of this yes i think there's more in t.v. news in cable news to make celebrities out of people but this isn't the most nefarious aspect of it that's more of a reflection sadly on what our star society ingests and frankly i'm got cheaper and easier for the networks to do i mean rather than actually going out and doing real reporting and real journalism if you can don't you're host in a vat of mud and that that helps with your ratings it's easier to do it there you go got to go get myself and not to get more people to watch the direction this is going and i will i will retreat that picture all right well that was sam seder thank you so much as i want to see what really happens with that feature of news in this country that was the majority report bank of england. now from media war through actual war with today the u.s. led nato coalition in afghanistan handed over control of the capital of helmand

province to the afghan army now this is one of the first places in afghanistan to go through the transition process to get u.s. troops out of the country by two thousand and fourteen that president obama has pledged but is it as smooth and hunky dory if we're made to believe has the u.s. left the afghan army prepared or does it leave behind forces too weak for the job they've been given there are in fact concerns about the new guard jason my leg who is an r.q. correspondent he discovered the reality from much better perspective than i can here he discovered it from within the ranks and called her watch. there's confusion on the faces of the afghan army soldiers as a firefight unfolds on the other side of the wall looking for them this is the kabul military training center and the boards being fired blanks the men here halfway through a ten week program and the officers don't cut them any slack when it's over they'll be deployed eastern congo province one of afghanistan's most violent corners and.

we must push them hard so they can perform under pressure day by day we're making progress the afghan national army has already come a long way its ranks of swollen to about one hundred seventy thousand troops thanks to fresh waves of recruits attracted by higher wages and extra perks the soldiers and says they are all united in their desire to be back to tell one led insurgency regardless of age or ethnicity then in the army we are all brothers and we are all called by one mean. by a call of duty is also struck a chord beyond able bodied males a first ever class of women soldiers has just graduated. and there's even a mujahedeen unit made up of hardened veterans. this is all good news to u.s. military planners have set a two thousand and fourteen to hand over security responsibilities to the afghans the afghan army and so is a much better reputation of the police force is even featured in the recent movie. but is the army takes greater responsibility for security around the country there

are concerns that the quality of troops may be coming at the expense of quality starters more than eighty percent of troops are illiterate a big problem ability to read maps and numbers can spell the difference between life and adding to the woes are widespread drug use and desertion rates today roughly one in four combat soldiers quit their post critics also point out that the military leadership is made up of many rival x. warlords who still command loyalties along regional and ethnic lines could lead the country people flat as the u.s. begins to scale back its role as custodian this summer there are concerns that these divisions may flare up if i thought you truly are. to lead you through the. job. if you conclude you get another obstacle for a young army that still has much to put forward. a

lot of factors to consider and all american troops are still fighting wars abroad american inmates are actually making some of the weapons they use prison labor is being used to make patriot missile for example for big defense companies such as lockheed martin and are getting paid nothing or nearly nothing to do the work and it is not just about the interest some of the other items that prison labor produces just look at this this is from one of the companies that does this riot helmet is one fingerprint kits sulfur chambers loudspeakers he saw thought chambers a and floodlights those are all manufactured by they're put together by unit or which employs about twenty thousand prison inmates so military industrial complex aside though this cheap labor could also be undercutting wages for everyone else and earlier i spoke with labor journalist mike out to find out more about this and i asked him how it's possible that people in the united states are making just twenty three cents an hour. it's

a sad situation but you have you know nearly one out of every one hundred adults in prison and prison labor you know the the meme is about slavery don't apply to prison where you can pay prison labor spending anyone and some states are supposed to pay the prevailing wage but in a lot of other states you can pay prison labor as much as twenty three cents an hour and most of that fence which is you know all those faulty body armor that the soldiers had in iraq was only by prison labor almost all of the profession made because of labor all the electronics conant in the patriot missiles are almost all made by the way the wiring is almost all made by prison labor so then what's new here because we've you know always sort of prison labor is making license plates or making things that you know not patriot missiles perhaps but you said this is been going on for what's really new and concerning i mean to me what jumps out is how is this you know how are these laborers these slave wages being paid to people that are producing what and for private corporations for huge multinational corporations

yeah i mean they're government contracts so if they're allowed to do that since that's never been done if it's a government contract although in some states now there can be made some goods they can be sold in the private market as well you know you have changed furniture in florida making chairs for prisoners making twenty three cents an hour or so that you know for a variety of different stores so how is that legal how does that work. well i mean it's quite complex actually there's a number of different laws being passed at the united states that are supposed to be prison labor the prevailing wage but in a lot of places there's not oversight so they don't pay the prevailing wage they never actually get the wage what happens is the big reason why prison labor is expanding is that there are two things that never get cut no we talk about cutting deficits the defense budget and the prison but both of you know grown hugely over the last thirty years and even now we are talking about that in the end so how do you finance. prisons and the defense budget so the obvious answer is you use

prisons to help to finance the defense budget so they pay the prisons nearly twenty cents an hour and then the state gets some of the money as well from the private corporations and the contractor saves money because they want to take as much so that tell you keep expanding it to as you try to use the two so more and more we're going to be see prison may be used as states have a tough time paying for the well you know i mean we say to you going broke in prison that you know cost that up fifty billion dollars a year so does that help defray the cost to keeping people in prison so in that regard it could help some of the states that are broke that is it then not if it means that states try to keep more people in prison because what winds up happening is companies like having really cheap labor and if you have so many people in prison and companies like having those people in prison because they can pay them next to nothing then that gives just another incentive to keep more and more people in prison so as that grows as any surprise you see people that from prison lobbies

lobbying congress harder for tougher crime laws and things like that and yet having that kind of an insidious role yeah i mean certainly look at what we know about what happened in arizona with the anti immigrant bills there what happened there was that the private prison corporations lobbied for those bills illegal immigration and gun down by two thirds in arizona but they lobbied for those bills because if you lock up immigrants then you have no. people in prison right over see more and more laws and that's a good example is speaking i want to bring that up because the king of arizona they passed a law where they included legislation to finish their border fence and they had a website to get donations and not to finance that and kate said that they're going to be using prison labor to help defray the cost i mean i guess it would be if they're looking for a low cost way to do it i guess it would bring some political problems if they brought the other people that work for some minimum wage which would be undocumented workers that they're building a fence against what do you think of of them using prison labor for this purpose i

think it's something we're seeing spend if you if the united states do you suppose maybe we can point seven million people in prison much one out of every one hundred adults that's a huge fortune riches really want to tap into it and the big incentive is actually quite ironic because i've read some of the transportation of these conferences is that you know these people encouraging prison leaders say well you know doing business in china is so complicated you know even when it takes a little you know it's so much easier if we just make it here in the united states and then you know we have it in the supply chain so this is actually the problem is now the wages are getting so high in china that they want to bring it back here are prisons going to be the next china i mean prisons are china's worst nightmare i think prison labor is the only thing that can really give china run for its money you heard it i was labor journalist mike elk now bohemian grove it's something that we've talked about a lot over the last few days what's believed to have come from inside the gathering over the years we've talked about but what about the protesters outside their small group at least this year but their charges are hefty they blame the government for

everything from crime to conspiracy and a group of them were there over the weekend to protest actions of the government and some of america's largest corporation protesters stood outside the gates of bohemian grove where for more than a hundred years there have been watching our coverage some of the most powerful men in the world had gathered for an all men exclusive a highly secret retreat so were these protesters complaints heard by anyone aside from the trees that surround bohemian grove a large christine because i was there she was outside a secret retreat to so she found out here about. smart meters cell phone towers any kind of radiation the tot's a vacation of everybody and everything weather month vacation over there would have been protests for human growth. those who stood guard at the gates of bohemian grove had high hopes that those attending the all men's retreat would pay attention to their concerns i'm here at all he called attention to protest against militarism

and against imperialism what's happening right behind me at this place and others like it decisions are being made that affect all of us yet the people in their answer to none of us certainly they came to the right place as far as trying to reach the rich and powerful and more than one hundred year old annual conference has been attended by everyone from dick cheney newt gingrich henry kissinger and thomas kean the man who two years after this photo was taken would head up the nine eleven commission bohemian grove is located on the outskirts of this tiny california town of monta rio and for more than thirty years protesters have also been coming through here for how their message just heard outside the gate there are messages that have over the last few years changed immensely the all of you that you are free as i call it are trying to bring about a new world order that means the abolition of all society as we now know what the plan is to reduce the population of the planet population reduction just one of

many claims and concerns by those who attended this weekend's protests blaming those inside in the past heads of major electric companies like pacific gas and electric attendant go union grove a popular issue this year smart meters a new technology used by some electric companies that records and communicates electricity consumption we're referring to them as smart murder meters now because people are getting very very sick bernie's heisler says radiation from smart meters has poisoned her daughter she's been having severe for. dain burning in her head above the ears like fires she's had palpitations of her heart those here say the disease is called morgellons it's a new. disease that is characterized and brought down from the skies on all of us and what you do is you hold it to your skin and you'll see these opalescent

luminous strands and and everybody has got this some say the men attending bohemian grove should be charged with murder though there is no evidence of it they say rituals that take place during the cremation of care ceremony involved symbolically sacrificing children killing children whether ceremonial or and actuality is a crime some believe it actually happened so there was an event and it was there and that's where the true meaning of the lawyer for this child was for the purpose of receiving more power over this book by the catholic church i need direct evidence you know all the evidence is the child is gone there's a lot of children missing in your hands with women all over the negro as you can see the tensions here are high with arguments breaking out between protesters become child sacrifice and satan worship in really illegitimate planes you know really these are the fireworks you probably after the creation down the road

a bit activist mary moore says she no longer attends the protests even though she organized them for thirty one years and has an office filled with information collected from bohemian grove she says the new generation of protesters have made the real issue of what goes on disappear there is no conspiracy happening up there it's just rich and powerful men talking to each other exchanging information that you and i aren't privy to. perhaps this is one point everyone agrees on ninety five percent of us are getting screwed at least five different ways well they're up there laughing their butts off were there. it happens inside the grove of folks a large portion of the population the most have no idea this secret retreat even exists in montreal california christine for r.t. and that is going to do it for now and leave you on that note for more the stories we cover go to our t. dot com slash usa and check out our you tube page on youtube dot com.