tv [untitled] August 2, 2011 9:30pm-10:00pm EDT
9:30 pm
stealth if we want to we're also looking for as you say these cards out we'll come back if it's it's unbelievable this is the republicans planning illegal actions voter caging it needs to come to a stop in the justice department has to get involved now. it's time for our daily poll your chance to tell us what you think here's today's question is voter suppression the only way the g.o.p. and their funders the koch brothers can win elections in wisconsin or anywhere else your choices are yes a.f.p. absentee ballots with late return dates are being sent to democratic with rotors and to wisconsin recalls or knowing the slatted t.v. ads with one hundred fifty thousand bucks funded by the in the lucky no big deal log on to target dot com let us know what you think the poll be open till tomorrow morning.
9:31 pm
crazy alert yet with chavez in an attempt to squash talk that he may not be fit to run for reelection after undergoing cancer treatments then as well and president obama chavez has released a workout video to show just how healthy really is flanked by his cabinet members shot as offers of some exercise tips complete with a techno soundtrack and countdowns he also says that a healthy mind and body lead to a healthy government and i exactly penile he acts but it's not a bad workout schedule unclear where chavez got the work idea from but expect other embattled world leaders to follow next steps right into the bunga bunga beats with silvio berlusconi or maybe he'd be more comfortable demonstrating his natural. five months after the disaster at the fukushima plant in japan things may be
9:32 pm
getting worse for the crippled nuclear facility so what exactly did plant workers find a place that country in crisis mode once again. thank you it's twenty four seven live streaming what to do about the ongoing financial hurricane unlimited free high quality videos for download. and stories you never find on mainstream news. so the political. posts in more aren't. just.
9:33 pm
blog about the big picture i'm tom hartman coming up in this half hour japan just can't get a break nearly half a year after the nuclear explosion of the for the plant officials are still detecting high levels of radiation will they ever be able to contain the toxic leak before things become even more catastrophic and later a daily take on how the new debt deal is not the only thing dragging down our economy so too is some unfinished business in washington left behind by republicans .
9:34 pm
in the best of the rest of the news an update from fukushima nearly five months after the earthquake and tsunami japan's fukushima nuclear plant is still spewing radiation yesterday tokyo electric power come. tepco said it detected the highest radiation levels to date at the crippled nuclear facility recording ten thousand millisieverts an hour the maximum load all the devices can even measure the measurements and lethal measurements by the way i would say. the measurements were taken just outside of ventilation stack in reactors one and two reactors we saw explode in the weeks after the quake quake and tsunami so what's going on here with the nuclear crisis in japan actually the worsening after five months is said to shed some light on the issues haven't amps if their waste watchdog beyond nuclear kevin welcome. what's what's the deal ten thousand millisieverts ten sieverts is fatal virtually instantly fatal and this is coming out of these two stacks why
9:35 pm
now why so hi well another way to put that is one thousand per hour and a five hundred gram dose is fatal and you'll die two weeks or two months later from your bone marrow not being able to reproduce red blood cells from the lining of your gut dying and you die of massive infection so if you work around that kind of level for thirty minutes you are a dead man or a dead woman and what tokyo electric power company has said is that this is agree or residue left over from their attempts to vent the containment structures in the first hours and days of this catastrophe so this has been shining all this time well it's incredible is it took them five months to discover this and this location that they're describing and they have three different sites between unit lawn and unit three reactors they're saying that like you said the radius monitors the most they can measure is one thousand room per hour so that's the minimum amount of radioactivity happening there it could be much higher we don't know and it's
9:36 pm
incredible that took them five months to find this out and that they don't have the right instruments on site to detect higher levels of radioactivity this is challenging chere noble in terms of the worst nuclear disaster in u.s. and world history and. they don't have the right instruments on site to measure how high the radiation levels are it's really pretty amazing is could it be that what is happening here is that the cores have melted down there melting into the cement floor of the reactor buildings could it be that they have reacted that they have melted down to the point where the study hit water tables and radioactive materials being blown up into the into the vent stacks and you know that accounts for this this high level now or is it that it's been this high all along and they just got detectors working but how could be i mean i don't understand well we can't trust tokyo electric power company as far as we can throw them you know they have misrepresented the facts from the beginning of this thing and they're infamous for
9:37 pm
doing this going back decades so they're saying it's residue it's debris but like you said these meltdowns are through the reactor pressure vessels there onto the floor of the reactor buildings which means. if they burn any deeper they are into the groundwater so an incredible statement from a top ho spokesperson just yesterday was we don't think there is radiation flowing through this venting system that's the level of analysis going on being they don't even know what's going on is why they're saying it's old stuff that's been so there for five months while they've been having fire trucks pull up and hose these things well remember that they said a certain amount of radioactivity got out that first month and then come about june more months into this thing and they gobbled them out of radioactivity in the first week it's a place so they're all over the place in terms of what's going on and if the meltdowns go any deeper they are into groundwater we could have steam explosions and that would be even worse catastrophe than we're already seeing. turn into the
9:38 pm
u.s. the u.s. senate today called on the n.r.c. to look into the nuclear regulatory commission to look into this but it is in best it would in fighting what's going on here to prevent what happened there well i'd say certain us that. barbara boxer chairwoman of the environment public works committee is trying to hold an r.c. to task get them to immediately implement the recommendations of an n.r.c. staffed task force that look at the fukushima catastrophe or some other democratic senators bernie sanders frank lautenberg they're calling for quick action to try to prevent a catastrophe at we have twenty three of these general electric boiling water reactors of the mark one design in the united states the same as focus the money the republicans almost to a member are foot dragging they're saying it can't happen here even if it were to happen here it's not that big a deal that somebody like the retired republican domenici from new mexico who's out promoting nuclear power and then we have the n.r.c.
9:39 pm
itself by a three to two majority including one democrat they have voted to not take immediate action based on this on our c staff report as congressman markey from massachusetts puts it the n.r.c. has voted to study the study they've been studying fukushima for five months we have the potential for fukushima in a reactor and a high level radioactive waste storage pool it could happen here any day and the n.r.c. and even congress is taking its sweet time in addressing this issue well apropos of that there have been two nuclear. i don't see incidence issues here in the united states or attempted actions in new york the governor is talking about shutting down the indian point plant near new york city because if it goes new york city goes for the next hundred thousand years that could be a real mess and in kansas i believe it is correct me if i'm wrong or missouri we've got two plants that are along the missouri river and one of them is been completely
9:40 pm
flooded or surrounded by water and the other is partially flooded in the middle we have left what's the update on these two situations well as we approach the tenth anniversary of september eleventh indian point nuclear power plant was targeted by mohamed ata young aboriginal target and you have got her mission from osama bin laden to attack those two reactors they should be shut down as a national security issue immediately and the reactors out last there on the missouri river but they're in the state of nebraska where it's fort calhoun nuclear power plant and cooper coopers the twin the fukushima daiichi and the flood levels are as bad as they've been since the beginning of june they're going to stay that way at least through the end of this month so they're on very thin ice out there they've got six feet of safety margin at fort calhoun incredibly cooper is still at one hundred percent power so if they have to go from one hundred percent power to cold shutdown they could face the same kind of catastrophe that happened in focus lima daiichi they're taking tremendous risks by keeping that reactor operating it's like brother kevin thanks so much for that thanks me for shit this nuclear
9:41 pm
catastrophe is now entering its fifth month and still as deadly as one of the again so warning to nations like us who are still hooked on the most dangerous and expensive power source on the planet nuclear energy time to dig nukes before it's too late. it's the good the bad of the very very obsidian really ugly person the good bruce bartlett bruce the former reagan and bush economist laid out what we all should all learn from this debt limit debate and that is it's time to scrap the debt limit altogether write in a blog post for the new york times article wrote it is nothing would grandstanding for members of both parties to vote routinely for legislation they know creates deficit's and then professional horror that the debt limit must be increased as
9:42 pm
a consequence the only way to avoid disaster of the sort of is not what is right now the republicans have shown the rest of the world that they will use the money our nation owes as a political football we need to put an end to a dangerous game the bat chicago c.b.s. affiliate w b b local news station was covering a drive by shooting in the area and they interviewed a four year old african-american boy to get his reaction when asked if he was scared the boy said no and then said that when he grows up he's going to have a gun because he wants to be a police officer but the news station later edited out the boy's words about being a police officer making to look like a four year old gang banger was in the me just craving a gun take a look. hello i'm not scared nothing you can lose three families yell no no lootie want to do needle the. station has since admitted a lapse in judgment was made in their news room i'm left wondering if matt drudge
9:43 pm
suddenly and use it. and the very very ugly joe lieberman the independent senator from connecticut who caucuses with democrats but acts like a republican went to the senate floor today to talk about his spending priorities and throws senior citizens under the bus lieberman argued that our nation cannot. and social security and the war on terror so we have to cut social security bottom line. we can't protect these untitled months and also the national defense we need to protect the same a dangerous world while we're at war against islam most extremist who took to someone over them will be for a long time to come and so let's take them seniors and give to the bloated military industrial complex to wage wars all around the world good thing those guys retire and so very very hard. after the break house republicans left washington to go out a nice little bit patient yesterday unfortunately they left unfinished business in
9:44 pm
congress that sent tens of thousands of workers and a good station in america it's a nice daily take us tell you which government agency is withering under the latest republican assault on working people. might need twenty four seven live streaming news towns what to do about it ongoing financial hardship unlimited free high quality videos for download. and stories you never find on mainstream news. company that is selling a new political. person more than aren't just. for. fun.
9:45 pm
your take my take is your chance to send in your questions comments rants and observations about anything we talk about here on the big picture or during my radio show and it's my chance to give you my take on it one more time and sat through noon president obama signed into law the bill that raise the federal debt ceiling just hours before the treasury said it would begin running out of money to pay the government's bills so the country won't default all is well right. matthew tweeted us to say just got out of work after eating shift at my union job is there a silver lining in this debt ceiling deal help matthew the best of my knowledge
9:46 pm
there is no silver lining we're all screwed get over it buy some k.-y. jelly actually suffer a line and i see here is that this deal and all the other austerity policies that the republicans are forcing on obama will crash the economy if things get bad enough they'll be enough blowback that if this is a big if a president the democrats begin to stand up for things like unemployment insurance and maybe reinventing the w.p.a. and c.c.c. and helping people with their mortgages they could show up the republicans for the grinches they are before the election stay tuned we'll see how it plays out over the next fifteen months our next comment is from the rant line you know washington has become a city of gangs first it was the gang of six the bipartisan group of senators who tried failed to negotiate a debt deal with vice president biden and there was the gang of tea party zombies who hijacked the debt deal negotiations and held both the republicans and democrats ousted on revenue increases and now there's going to be
9:47 pm
a gang of twelve the so-called super congress that will try to hash out a second round of spending cuts in the fall but one viewer called in with a suggestion for a whole new game in washington d.c. . little tom bowman always scared of both the gang you see syndicate with twelve year olds are beginning how about a gang of twelve to create jobs how to get the six foot four to go wide corporations ship jobs overseas how about a gang of six to bring the jobs back to how about a gang of six would. have to discuss i could agree with you more it's time to stop making cuts and put this country back to work he says that gangs are fundamentally undemocratic they concentrate power in fewer and fewer hands and we need to stop doing that we've been doing it in corporate america since reagan stuck to force in the sherman antitrust act and we started getting oligopolies in megalopolises and
9:48 pm
then run in the banking crash and now we're doing it in government with these gangs frankly nuts and we need to speak up and tell our representatives we don't want any more government by gangs. our next comment is also from the rahm line last night president obama called on americans to get involved in the political process and call in members of congress to tell them that a deal need to be reached on the debt ceiling negotiations americans responded on capitol hill switchboard crashed within hours of the president's speech in a statement today the president again president obama once again credited the american people for their involvement in this process. i want to thank the american people for keeping up the pressure on their elected officials to put politics aside and work together for the good of the country but john called us to express his frustration with the political process in this country with our vote appreciate all you do and i try to can prove all right folks. but i just it's just there to join
9:49 pm
a good we're screwed now on fifty or go to working three part time jobs and i don't see myself making it to the end of the year i am sure that if they get we owe it to both the park people and i tried and we're screwed we're going to depression driven mind everybody how why we need a government john if you very eloquently voice the frustration that many of us feel all across people all across the country are experiencing right now tea party and libertarians keep pushing the idea that we'd be better off without government the answer isn't to handicap the government it's to do with the tea party did infiltrate the government by infiltrating the democratic party and taking it over make your voice heard that's the foundation of american democracy never forget the power of we the people. that's it for your take my take tonight if you'd like your
9:50 pm
comments and questions heard on this segment the big picture listen up we want to know your take send us your comments by visiting the tom hartman facebook page twitter at tom underscore hartman are in the chat room on the message boards or through the blog at tom hartman dot com you can also leave a message on our ramp line at two two five three six fifty three zero six agree disagree sound off its all welcome or remember that your comments may be used on the air. given plane falls out of the sky this month blame speaker of the house john boehner and his little buddy eric cantor within hours of passing their job killing economy destroying ayan rand loving debt limit deal republicans shut down the house of representatives and flew back home to enjoy a five week long vacation unfortunately they left some unfinished business behind
9:51 pm
in washington namely funding the federal aviation administration the f.a.a. and less than an hour ago senate negotiators also gave up trying to end a stalemate over temporary funding for the f.a.a. and for congress gets back from its recess in the fall who incidentally those airports republicans flew back home into yesterday are staffed by four thousand f.a.a. workers who are now working overtime without pay because republicans decided to take their war against the unions on the road literally at the end of july republicans turned a routine funding bill for the f.a.a. into a trojan horse for their war on unions inserting restrictive language into the bill that makes it harder for federal air and real workers to unionize republicans do the senate wouldn't pass a bill that was black blatantly anti-union and president obama even threaten to veto it. three publicans in the house didn't care it passed that anyway welcome to
9:52 pm
john boehner eric cantor's world and now they're flying home on their campaign donors private jets before a compromise funding bill with out anti-union language can be negotiated with the senate so now four thousand f.a.a. workers are furloughed without pay over two and a half billion dollars worth of airport construction projects are on the whole leaving somewhere between sixty and one hundred thousand mostly unionised construction workers out of a job so much for asking where the jobs are. not only that the federal government is losing out on two hundred million dollars a week in uncollected taxes on airline tickets as a result of the partial f.a.a. shutdown and so in a sense that will be at least another five weeks before this is resolved and you can do the math on just how expensive this little republican vacation is so much for caring about deficit reduction transportation secretary ray la hood went on t.v. this morning and speak out against these antics. congress should pass
9:53 pm
a bill today to send seventy thousand construction workers back to work four thousand f.a.a. workers back to work let's get the f.a.a. running again this is not the way they run their investments a few safest aviation system in the world we shouldn't be doing this if there is no we shouldn't be doing this this is nuts but this is politics this is what happens here cantor and john boehner decide to do another hostage taking and a hostage they're holding the gun to this is anybody who flies an american president obama had this to say. other stalemate in congress right now involving our aviation industry which is stalled airport construction projects all around the country and put the jobs of tens of thousands of construction workers and others at risk. because of politics it's more than politics it's actually about the republican war and working people a war the republicans are so hell bent on ways that waging that they've been
9:54 pm
willing to sacrifice the safety of air travel in america to win and coincidentally it's modern war on unions started thirty years ago also at the airports in one thousand nine hundred one the professional air traffic controllers association also known as patco went on strike demanding better wages and working conditions rather than listening president ronald reagan fired over eleven thousand air traffic controllers replacing them with nonunion workers and decertified to pack a union all together so today with union membership in america at half the rate it was when reagan came into office back in one thousand nine hundred one it's no surprise that republicans have returned to the airports to finish this grisly job that they began and besides plane crashes job losses and lost revenue this war on working people will have a much broader impact for our economy at this chart as this chart from the
9:55 pm
center for american progress shows as union membership rates around the country have declined since the one nine hundred sixty s. so too has the middle class a share of national income and you see it right here the red light red line is union membership and which has declined from around thirty percent of our of our working population to a little over fifteen this includes government employees it's actually around seven or eight percent for private employees and then this is you know the blue line is average income and the plus income. for the republican war and working people perfectly corresponds with the greatest wealth inequality our nation has seen since the great depression you know you can see this in the united states. down here. we're above a stone here next to mexico in poland in union membership rates for two thousand and ten among the most developed nations in the world america ranks fourteenth in union membership as i said just about
9:56 pm
a stone in just below mexico and poland at the top of the list of finland and sweden with the union membership around seventy percent and we're here at eleven percent and wonder ikea is opening up factories in the united states for cheap labor but i guess a dismal union membership rate in america isn't good enough for the republican union busters and their corporate campaign donors who won't rest until union membership is that zero and the democratic party is thus defunded and these guys are now willing to crash airplanes to get what they want sound familiar so unless you want america to fall under one party corporate republican rule unless you want the condition of workers around the nation who continued to deteriorate or lets you out the safety of air travel in america are compromised and you need to give the republicans a piece of your mind and no bother calling capitol hill they're all laid out by the pool in their home districts right now so call the district offices and tell me of back to work putting americans back to work and recognize the right to unionize in the united states and if they don't listen then they can be the next americans to
9:57 pm
lose their jobs in the two thousand and twelve elections. that's the big picture for more information on the stories we covered visit our website to tom hartman dot com free speech that org in our to dot com also check out our two you tube channels there are links to tom harkin dot com and this entire show is also available as a free video podcast on i tunes and we have a free time on an i phone an i pad app at the app store you can send us feedback at twitter at tom underscore arbonne on facebook at tom underscore on our blogs message boards and telephone comment winds. and don't forget democracy begins with you get out there get active tag you're it see the.
9:59 pm
34 Views
Uploaded by TV Archive on