mr.

hi guys it's time for you said it i read it take time to respond to my brilliance and engaging viewer comments from facebook twitter and you tube because you got something to say i listen and yesterday i spoke about most of the media's utter disinterest with the national defense authorization act which president obama signed on december thirty first as we discussed on the show obama signed this bill which included a provision allowing for the indefinite detention of americans then in the signing statement he assured the american people that his administration would use that provision of our viewers that weren't quite satisfied with his assurances so for ron tweeted at us at the lone a show and he went out for a group and da poem i'll start if some day i get hauled away tell my family it was the n.b.a. so you know i think the group and da poem is a really good idea so let me try adding a next line how about but wait obama promised americans would be excluded another

promise he must think we're easily deluded about natural poet but i did my best there were going to tweet this after the show everybody else out there should join it right if we're going to have our civil liberties stripped from us we may as well have a little fun while it's happening i guess so i think that we can make this poem good if everybody adds on that we're going to try to read it next week on the next you said i read it the next don't respond to if you were the washer tool time on rick santorum statement that contraception is quote a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be so sure was just a comment that argued to he should f. off of people's private lives and you know what i couldn't agree more honestly i'm not even sure what it means that it's a license to do things in a sexual world counter to what they're supposed to be i wish rick could light me in fact is there a set day and time that people are supposed to have sex maybe a set number of times per week what about septa zisha locations play. rick tell us how things are supposed to be or wait i have better idea out about rick take our

viewers advice and stop trying to tell americans how to conduct themselves sexually because guess what rick nobody cares what you have to say about their sex lives and finally i want to respond to a very kind of you are really coming down she said on facebook alone oh you are freaking awesome you are a great american you open up controversial topics discussed an objective lee welcome disagreement and you always make people keep an open mind i just wanted to show my appreciation and keep up the great work so thank you so much for those kind words especially poignant to me because i've been called anti-american a time or two in my day which of course is b.s. and name calling that people easily fall back on when somebody speaks the uncomfortable truth so i do my absolute best to always keep an open mind which means a lot of people aren't necessarily going to like what i have to say so thanks for the support and i just want to say that i had a lot of fun with those out there on the twitter verse that twitter with me while i was on vacation hope you enjoyed some of the pictures of beautiful hawaii that's at my rantings tonight and i'll be back with more as usual next week. and now over the

last few days both afghan president hamid karzai and the taliban had big announcements for the world of the taliban the opening of political office in qatar approved by karzai where the u.s. hopes to engage in negotiations now according to the guardian in exchange the us is ready to release high ranking taliban officials from guantanamo bay so after more than ten years of war that's a big move and it's a big change from the rhetoric that we've heard from previous administrations. some seem to believe that we should go with the tertian radicals. as if some ingenious argument. were persuade them they have been wrong all along. we've heard this foolish delusion before the turks who helped rule afghanistan are found in dozens and dozens of countries around the world. and that is the reason this great nation with their friends and allies will not rest until

we bring them all to justice. so now there may be. so is that some hail it a breakthrough or is it a final capitulation by the u.s. by the obama administration to finally wrap up this war and get out of the process that means matthew hoh former u.s. marine and state department employee he's also a senior fellow at the center for international policy and the director of the afghanistan study group thanks so much for joining us tonight thanks how do you look at this i mean if you could say that this has been in the works for about a year or supposedly we've heard a lot of whispers a lot of reports out there but is this one side caving to the others anyone losing our i mean we're saying that we're going to give up some detainees from guantanamo bay and these are former military commanders this is a good step this is a good step it's a step that should happen probably years ago but you know we've got to look forward move forward what is happening is what has happened is the u.s. is stuck in the midst of a thirty five year old afghan civil so to end the civil war you have to have a political settlement and they get the political settlement you have to have

certain steps and this is the first of many by opening an office for the taliban that gives them legitimacy that gives them credibility that establishes them as a counterpart that you can talk to or an adversary you can talk to so it's importance of first step in the unfortunate i think is going to be a long process and what is the result of is all sides in this conflict it's a multi-sided multilayered conflict very complicated but everyone realizing that the united states can't stay in any meaningful capacity in afghanistan past two thousand and fourteen is that what changed right because you saw the words foreign president george w. bush we don't negotiate with terrorists terrorists we will not negotiate with the taliban if you look at any of the g.o.p. candidates right now at any of the debates they will say the exact same thing why didn't president obama try to set up negotiations when he first came into office i mean you know in that. sense that really seems like a fine we finally give up we get it can be one of the biggest problems that we have

in pursuing the gaucherie actions with the taliban in trying to find an end to afghanistan's civil war and i think it's important for people to understand that you know the u.s. can end the war the u.s. can get out of the conflict which i believe the right thing to do because there's no value in the u.s. fighting in afghanistan and it is not there it's not keeping us safe for terrorists but the u.s. can serve a role rather than a combatant or a belligerent in a conflict as a mediator. the problem is going to be is just as he said we're in the middle of g.o.p. campaign and so even though ron paul got twenty twenty one percent of the vote in iowa yesterday which you can say hey look a republican got a strong anti-war vote. you still have all the other front runners who are going to pound the table and say that obama is appeasing that he's giving in to terrorists etc so i think this may be real difficulties on the u.s. side in terms of keeping up their part of any boarding or any type of negotiation. strategy that we get into well in that sense do you think that obama's putting

himself in a risky position let's say that something implodes i mean at the moment this is we said we're going to set up a political office who knows how long it might be until that actually happens but let's say that something really bad does happen and it looks like these negotiations a failed is that enough for obama to lose the election i don't think so i mean the majority of the american public polls have it near seventy percent or not in favor of the u.s. continuing to be in combat in afghanistan i think he's got the ball i mean just look at every time you turn the television read the newspaper there is another reason why the united states is stuck in absurdity in afghanistan there's another reason why this is the tragedies are the reason why despite all the proclamations of success coming from kabul or from washington d.c. we're not really seeing that we're not making progress you know last year fifty seven hundred americans were killed or wounded in afghanistan this year there were fifty five hundred killed. afghanistan you can't really say that's a great measure of progress and every other indicator is

a want to see it wants so what different would call progress yet tell me this i mean do you think there is there any negotiating with the taliban if you look at part of the reasons why the taliban have said all along that they refuse to negotiate as they say we won't negotiate until all foreign troops are out so how are we going to be a mediator if we're part of the problem right where occupying the land i mean we can look at it is that's a precondition we have preconditions as well and so preconditions are always put out there by different parties involved in the goshi ations as preconditions but in this what i always thought and other folks thought too look if you tell the taliban you're leaving if you start to give into that that gives them a reason to move forward into the next stage of the war and the seems to course i side in the government that we prop up there they're not going to support they're not going support negotiations or not to support reconciliation even wanting to be a part of the negotiations if you look at the language thus far they're saying the only talk to the u.s. that's right that's correct because they see the karzai government as you know basically imperialists stooges or or corrupt criminal so if there were to be some

kind of solution obvious this is a civil war like you said that if you go on for a very long time but let's say if the u.s. is trying to broker some kind of a negotiation then what would it be they would have to share power and kabul the taliban are allowed back in kabul and then what happens to all that democracy we were trying to well it's i mean come on i mean if you believe that democracy and i don't believe that i don't this is a terrible thing this is a terrible thing because the other side the side it's on cars i side the old northern alliance united front they are barely marginally better than the taliban and they are composed of warlords and were criminals and drug lords i mean they are not much better than the taliban or and this is what you get thirty five years of civil war. everybody's got blood in their veins so at some point you have to get to the point where you have reconciliation i mean you have one of the folks that one of the men that we may release from guantanamo. is accused of massacring. shia.

minority in afghanistan how do you how you deal with those issues because on the other side you know how do you deal with that how do the how do you deal with the fact that we have people that are in guantanamo bay that maybe were picked up by accident because they're wearing the wrong time next watch right or because they happen to be a driver for somebody and then you have some people that really are dangerous that were foreign military commanders and that's who we think it's ok to let go the other people we deny them any kind of a day in court you know we we think that we can detain them indefinitely how do you explain that to the world. you know it's crazy right it this is where we're at now so again we have to move forward and we have to understand that in order to find an end of the afghan conflict to get some degree of stability both sides have to give something so you have to one address grievances so the taliban represent those who are opposed to occupation to those who feel like they're excluded from the afghan government to those who feel like there they are on. the outside of a corrupt government etc but you've got other folks in afghanistan to say hey look

when the taliban were in power they try to exterminate us to mean what was happening in afghanistan prior to our involvement there in two thousand and one was in some cases ethnic cleansing so how do you how do you address all this is very difficult but the first step is i mean let me just be you know i guess you could say harsh here too but why is this our problem why can't we just pull out the troops and leave. that's you know that's that's someplace we're that maya why do we have to go to a right that you know i say hey put the guys on a plane and fly home the problem is we've been there for ten years you know we were there we were involved in afghanistan throughout the eighty's we continue to support the mujahideen after the soviets left because we did. want to get a settlement with the communist government we wanted to beat the communists you know and then when the we walked away from it the place where the civil war the taliban came to power we went in except her and so now we're here so i think we bear some moral burden in this the other part too there's practical things i don't

think we want to see afghanistan go into some chaotic situation where we have a million a half two million refugees going back into pakistan or a million more refugees going back into iran so i think there are some legitimate geo political reasons but my heart is there as well in the sense that there's no reason why american men and women should be killed or being or or killing in the midst of an afghan civil war that i think our solution our involvement should be diplomatic. you know seems like we've had a hard time trying to learn our lessons in a situation to see if this actually goes anywhere matt thanks so much for joining us thank you. all right so come tonight christian activists want to allow some people to legally be bullied but the new bill that he's proposing before the tennessee legislature will give details his rights to all time and then happy hour when i when wants you to rethink what you think you know about iowa and then we're going to ask if he had really censored a veteran while he was speaking on air and get into all that after the break.

into i don't really know what the mechanism to do the work to bring justice for accountability. i have every right to know what my government should do if you want to know why i pay taxes. but i would characterize obama as they care is now a crucial problem merican except for the lives of. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then. other part of it and realize that everything is. hard welcome to the big picture.

of the capital account i'm lauren lyster. right to the police corruption is. what is protesting nobody seems to know. us but never a pepper sprayed the face but part of the argument that they're being overly dramatic.

are guys it's time for tonight's tool time award and tonight we're giving it to an activist who wants to protect bullies david fowler is a former g.o.p. states out there for tennessee and he's also a christian activist that's linked to the family action council i just to give you the just about what fowler and the family action cancel council stand for here's fowler explaining in his own words his stance on marriage but we are in the belief that the producers are going to say to me i'm on the right and they're going to marry raising their children is a good christmas aren't using the free world. all right so i make that pretty clear that he's soley for traditional marriage between a man and a woman and will he also happens to be a homophobe and in fact we try to look up information about fowler all we could

find were clips of him spitting hate about gay marriage and homosexuality we can't change what marriage is are cannot draw a square circles and i cannot draw all round squares and i cannot make a marriage between two people of the same sex. you know i have to ask what's with all these pows in comparing gay marriage with things like beer or water or circles and squares and shapes but anyway getting off track now fowler is proposing a bill that would amend a current anti bullying lawn tennessee but rather than crack down on bullying he wants to create a loophole in this legislation the bill protect those who are bullying based on their religious philosophical or political beliefs so as long as the person who's doing the bullying isn't actually a physical threat to the victim or his property then that person would have the right to bully another person because they're practicing their religious political or philosophical freedom so i'm a little confusing what wouldn't in some way classify as political philosophical especially or religious you can pretty much but anything under those parameters so

basically this eliminates all the protections altogether and sadly this isn't the first time that something like this is happening short while back we told you about similar legislation that was written in a michigan bill titled matzos a school law just like the one that fowler is proposing the michigan law said that it was ok to bully if that's what your religion told you to do now fortunately in that state one lawmaker spoke out against the measure. you may be able to pat yourself on the back susie and say that you did something but in actuality you're explicitly outlining how to get away with bullying. and you know what she's right laws with these ridiculous exemptions that really show people how to successfully get away with bullying people so sorry but it's not exactly the reason why and labeling laws were enacted in the first place now fowler's argued in a recent interview that the purpose is to stop bullying not create special classes of people who are more important than others i think is utterly laughable that

fowler is trying to argue the homosexuals that are being bullied are being offered special protections and it's the poor bigots and the bullies that are harassing them that are being persecuted and once again it's that victim complex that conservatives just can't seem to shake whole reason a bill was made into law was to protect. all people i did treat everyone as equals equal rights or equal rights and guess what your religious beliefs don't know if i that now i was appalled by the fact of this man that even made it to the state legislature and then i remembered another tennessee classic remember that whole don't say gay bill to actually get the discussion of homosexuality out of the classroom the exact same state as the ones going to vote on this bill which is very comforting so tennessee got a little piece of advice come join the rest of us in the twenty first century and for trying to prevent that fowler is tonight's jewel time winner.

hi guys it's time for happy hour and joining me this evening are key correspondent christine for example and kevin glass managing editor of townhall dot com hey guys you know me happy new year to you too i this is a way to get all new you know groups of people and money to help so. i'm so sick of talking about iowa because that's all it ever has been talking about but you know we heard a lot about highway doesn't really represent the rest of america very white of law this guy is trying to tell you that i once can actually be cool i guess take a look at the song. you think. well fortified most of the city's. sort of farmers is that you think primaries are hillbillies sort of what i will farmer needs one hundred fifty five you. looks like you think. i can i get you must be like the one hipster in iowa i don't know who you get hate

mail from iowa is now. the hipster i was in their community in iowa a year that i was city is actually full of very hip people but i think that is missing the entire point of the iowa criticism you know it's not about i was not a special state it's more about why do they get to go first why doesn't work in the brassica get to go first why doesn't south dakota get to go first all of those states are just as deserving and just as important and just as a special as iowa and probably filled with just as many hipsters and probably less special i think california should get to go first because obviously it's my home state i mean i think there's a special i think they should take turns but the point is iowa that i looked cool looks like somebody that i would even want to have happy hour with i don't know but the point is a state that's very and representative of the rest of the country and to be the. first i mean this is a state that knocks michele bachmann out of the race and it's ninety one percent and it's extremely conservative come on i know you're going to miss her i am a vis a vis michele i have to be a little bit as much as a member. of

a surging because that's just fun to say ok i'm moving on and some people are wondering you watch this video you decide whether you think that this was on purpose or not some republicans out there have been saying that ron paul would be very dangerous for this country because he wants to bring troops like you back from your post from all over the world well i think it would be even more dangerous to start nitpicking wars with other countries someone like iran israel is more than capable of. sorry we just lost our touch and that should unfortunately. the internet is going crazy saying that c.n.n. censored this that what do you think i mean i've got to say i was watching this last night live as it happened and i also saw dana bash's tweet ahead of the interview saying she was going to interview a veteran that was a ron paul supporter so i made sure to tune in to hear what he had to say and i thought he was really well spoken he had a really good interview and i was very surprised that they would have someone as

honest and kind of telling saying exactly what he said and i myself thought it was a little fishy when that happened but i really don't think it was on purpose i think that i would really have a please don't feed the ron paul conspiracy trolls. this was a technical mistake these things happen all the time on t.v. shows this was not an effort to silence a veteran who's in favor of ron paul and who's anti-war you know i just think that the conspiracy theories that get thrown out there especially by some of ron paul supporters we need to take it a little easy on that well i really i mean i've people who work in t.v. christine and i definitely know that technical mistakes happen all the time sorry control room you know it's just have been out of your control and we're going to come back because then drop and they never did this they would have come back having to be saying something that you never ever really hear somewhere like on c.n.n. so i don't blame people for thinking that it was kind of fishy ok this is great and

i love speaking of conspiracy theory is the latest obama conspiracy theory first we'll just show you a little image of what we thought it might look like a little explain what it is. six. all right so these two guys are saying that obama was one of ten youths selected to seek. teleport to and from mars forming a band of interplanetary teen titans and the white house actually responded and they said no you never went to mars only if you count watching marvin the martian. like you got ahead of these guys their original conspiracy theorists i've never

heard anything like this that obama is a time traveling martian or something that we're going to be like wasn't born here in the u.s. that he's from another country he's been to other planet and it's not out of the realm of possibility that intelligent people who end up at harvard do things like get very interested in mars and played dungeons and dragons and yes i'm totally into higher large portion of the population really gets to me what i'm seeing on is you know i've played dungeons dragons and i was not good at it but i assure you some of my friends that i played with once ivy league schools i'm going to see a teleporting people over to mars why is the white house responding to you know what are you trying to elevate these crazy conspiracy theories at this point yeah i don't know it's a good question what had i would like to say that i like shows they have a sense of humor but on the other hand there's a lot of other stuff out there that people are asking that you're choosing not to address but i don't like now this next one so every year there's this two day festival called jesus fest this is west virginia and a.c.l.u. is saying that it should end because the county gives two thousand dollars to it so

they're saying that it's a breach of the constitution this is the defense of the city. it's not taxpayers' dollars it's money that we fund all for some for the spoils regardless of what subject matter is it's open to the public and in doing so that money does not come from property tax money it comes from what i call the devil's money which is gambling money. the devil's money. guys i know you had a good point until you got to the party so if the k.k.k. for example wanted to hold a festival and that's not totally uncommon unconstitutional because they have the freedom of speech whereas you're not supposed to be that way but i would like the lady of the county give two thousand dollars to go home with you there i have to wrap it up guys unfortunately last words real quick evan. happy new year to everyone i hope your vacations went well mine certainly have been your thanks for coming on you guys as every night show thanks for tuning in and make sure you come

back tomorrow leon panetta is going to announce a new american defense strategy right offer some analysis so in the meantime don't forget to become a fan of you love the show you can follow us on facebook on twitter everything's on youtube dot com slash we want to show and coming up next is the news. wealthy british style. markets why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's cause or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars

a report. 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 that everything is ok if you don't know i'm tom harvey welcome to the big picture. download the official auntie application to go on the phone oh i pod touch from the i choose ops to. life on the go.

video on demand on t.v.'s mine gold coast's and says feeds now in the palm of your . questions on the dot com. hello i'm starvin in washington d.c. and here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture mitt romney ekes out a caucus victory in iowa does he have the momentum heading into south carolina or is it works in forms showed just deal and president obama bucked republicans today using executive powers to make a recess appointment what ticks republicans off more recess or the fact that the middle class is getting so much in health plus the european union is on the brink of a monumental collapse but germany is doing better than ever.