our guys have time for show and tell on tonight's program earlier this week we spoke about rising tensions between the u.s. and china following the president's announcement that we would be focusing our military i on the asia pacific region and china didn't exactly take that news with open arms so if you think you are now headed into a cold war with china is going to produce a pretty reason to send you to find out what you had to say. as the chinese economy continues to grow the u.s. is increasingly concerned that china may be also preparing to back up that at konami growth with military might now in response the obama administration plans to move our military focus away from the middle east to east asia and the pacific rim something the chinese are not at all happy about so is this just the beginning of what is sure to become the next cold war now where a fake said absolutely yes soon the pentagon will begin aggravating the tensions

between china and taiwan and georgia agree a cold war is ahead but not for the right reasons he told us of course we need to have an arms race or china i mean who knows what they're capable of with one aircraft carrier how many do we have again now calum and said the u.s. has long thought of themselves as the best at everything they can't win they don't play unfortunately they're stars fading next the new global superpowers and gert said bad idea for the world if there is a new cold war it's not something humanity needs with the problems it faces now some people may not like trying is expanding economy or growing military and others object to the new us military focus on china the fact remains that the two countries' economies are intrinsically tied for better or worse a cold war won't help anyone. now as always we appreciate responses and here's our next question for you for the show we spoke about haley barbour's pardons in mississippi which of caused quite an outcry many argue the pardons are. positive

steps to give people who served their time their rights back so do you think the power to pardon is an underused tool by governors let us know on facebook twitter and you tube and you know his response just might make it ok. now the republican and democratic national conventions are still about seven plus months away but the cities of tampa florida and charlotte north carolina are already gearing up for the krauts always say gearing up we mean that literally each working with a fifteen million dollar federal grant from sick for security the cities are planning on buying new crowd control devices bringing in thousands of borrowed cops even passing new ordinances to make it more difficult to protest and also forget the wall there are usually protests at the conventions this year just might be a lot bigger thanks to the occupy movement but it's turning the city's into many police states really the best way to care for the crowds not only does it seem overzealous but also chilling for the first amendment the very values that some of these conventions are meant to represent let's get some more details you know just how for just how far off the roads are planning on going joining me to discuss it

is ronnie colleague associate writer for alter net thanks so much for joining us tonight and fifty million bucks a pop from the federal government in these two cities i guess what we should do is break them down so why don't you first tell us how tampa is planning on using that money. well our city council last week actually voted on how to use some of the funds in the first in a series of votes that will determine what they buy and so probably they've agreed to buy two hundred thirty seven thousand dollar lingo bear cat which is a swat team are her vehicle it's like a truck it's kind of like a teen core police officers and. they've also they're also allocating about a million a little over a million dollars for to upgrade their communication system from analog to digital also that. surveillance and helicopters above can be transmitted via a video stream to police on the ground and they're also contemplating spending

another two million dollars on more traffic cameras basically at sixty cameras that would be able to monitor protesters on the ground and so that's what's come up so far. so they're really really gearing up now for a while there though you know as being report of the temple was even trying to get to drones to do aerial surveillance for them and then somehow they ended up dropping that did they drop it because people or had so many proper i think privacy concerns well you would think they did want a couple of drones to monitor the situation below which is a bit overkill but it turns out they dropped it because it was an affordable and i guess impractical so yeah i'd like to think they dropped it because of privacy concerns but that wasn't the case they also wanted i mean they wanted some crazy stuff at first there was degraded things like. buy it cop helmet camera. and you

know really high tech. street cameras that could you know see things from miles away i mean it's pretty ridiculous this revealing kit that surveillance cameras haven't passed yet as starving for the city council but another thing that they're spending about two thirds of the fifty million dollars federal grants on is to. basically pay and housing fee between three thousand to four housing additional. police officers from surrounding cities and surrounding areas of the country that are going to basically join that you have a police department to help secure and police the forty convention to the als and other people in here is there anything from charlotte that you think that also stands out the needs to be worth mentioning well in charlotte they actually chile they've been planning for a while how did you see how to prep for security but one thing that really stands out is that the department of homeland security actually offered this three hundred courses back in august to basically train the charlotte lease department in crowd

control techniques. it was kind of secret but some video footage of a scene from it it's basically just teaching officers how to how to you know at it engage in crowd control so that was a little bit interesting but in charlotte things are focused a little bit more and that's where the d.n.c. is going to be held in charlotte north carolina and things are focusing bushell are focusing more on trying to get these ordinances passed that would basically make it more difficult for protesters to demonstrate and make it easier for police to arrest protesters. basically you know give them more leeway to do so without any i mean they basically make illegal a camping out on city and city grounds would also make a legal carrying certain items like one of them was backpacks but also a gas mask and chains and lumber or some really bizarre i don't know that you can get a team for carrying over this for a day is it to me that stuff sounds really crazy and like overkill and completely

overzealous at the same time you know is it a little ironic that we're having these democratic and republican national conventions we're trying to use our democratic process in our political system and yet basically what they're doing to prepare for it is passing ordinances. and gearing up with crowd control classes in crowd control weapons to stifle you know our values and our free speech you need interesting because this happens you know every convention it seems now you know forty years ago in st paul for the r n c you know people think it was nearly like a thousand people were arrested and lawsuits took place after the journalists were arrested similar situations took place in denver at the d.n.c. four years ago where protesters were being arrested in cordoned off and free speech zones you know every time he's party conventions gather it seems as though you know the cities the host cities take it upon themselves to basically fortify the city to

shield these policy makers in important people that gather. purchasers for evidence from their own fellow citizens i guess you could say we don't think of this here this time around we're going to see even more protesters that it's going to be a much larger group of people outside thanks to the occupy movement. and you know i think so and i also think it's really interesting that i spoke to one councilwoman from from tampa who was talking to me about these this equipment that they're purchased age and she actually even said that she believes that you know as much as she respects the tampa police she she feels that they're actually using the occupy movement which is pretty small as sort of like a training ground for preparing for the r. and b. . so yeah i do think that occupy is definitely going to make a difference there's the protests will probably be larger and i don't know maybe even more well organized but you know it's also allowing these in tampa police to practice these techniques i get this. go to prepare it's very odd and street side

and i think that it's you know scary if you look at the ground the way that we saw so many the police use their force and their tools and whatever else they had you know to go after occupy protesters throughout the last year now at the same time let me just ask you more question here is. fifty million dollars isn't really cheap in a federal grant right now we're talking about one hundred million dollars that they've given and at this moment we have so many financial crises in almost every single state in the united states right for a federal program that's also a lot of money that's being given to it do you think that our priorities are in the right place while social programs are being cut and you get one hundred million dollars for security and ten absolutely top of florida. yeah absolutely not i mean fifty million dollars and it's not you know it's not a grand amount of money in the grand scheme of things but at the same time it's a good chunk of money to be spending on secure you know securing a perimeter for these huge conventions that are pretty much just you know big media

advertisements for four days it's also interesting because in tampa they recently passed a panhandling law to kind of you know. get rid of the homeless population on the streets so it in one of the councilman i spoke to actually tried to suggest that some of the grant money be spent on so little services for housing the homeless because the beginning only while that was passed was lobbied for heavily by business interests who are looking to make some money off of r. and c. coming into tampa but of course the mayor was completely against that but it's interesting that this is what we're spending our money on when people are really struggling right now to basically you know secure this big party you know. these big conventions for the policy of security i guess is you know just the way that they do it this time around but it definitely sounds like they're gearing up for these conventions ronnie thanks so much for joining us tonight thank you for having me. i saw the concert i went down and personality took to his blog to share his

admiration for the g.o.p. presidential candidate. and in happy hour c.-span gets in the middle of a debate surrounding romney's penis as the new york times ask people if they should be truthful if you plan to address that. internally or military mechanisms to go to bring justice or 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 a charismatic version of american exceptionalism. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then something else some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know.

welcome to the big picture. i'm lauren lyster. you're still. please don't let any.

one protest nobody seems to know. that never a pepper sprayed the face but part of the argument that they're being overly dramatic. hi guys it's time for tonight's tool time award and tonight it goes to one of c.n.n.'s finest well blitzer has been a journalist since the seventy's and he's been one of c.n.n.'s most recognizable hosts since one thousand nine hundred so over those years he's provided us with the news that he thinks affects our everyday lives in the most dry boring way possible but just recently he did take a little break from boring us to death for a moment to salute presidential candidates on his c.n.n.

blog and his salute all seems a little more like a love letter than an actual blog post if a piece which was written on january tenth starts out with will saying i know will probably sound weird but i admire these politicians who put themselves out there before the american public knowing full well that all their warts will be exposed big time i think god we have wolf as a member of the media who supposed to that question these candidates to express admiration for their willingness to air their dirty laundry in front of the american people then will goes on to say most of them already have lots of money they could easily coast at this point in their lives and sit back and relax. i mean i don't really quite understand what so admirably here yes a lot of them have a boatload of money because they're either businessmen or a sixty minutes pointed out they might have insider access information about stocks and property that helped them obtain all that money or they use their political capital to make boatloads of money lobbying like rick santorum or newt gingrich

what about that is so admirable but the end of the c.n.n. host editorial i think is where it really gets good he said i know what they say they say they're interested in public service and want to help the american people they say they believe in what they're trying to achieve the cynics say they have huge egos and are simply simply seeking power and glory that is certainly true of some politicians but having covered many of them over the years i also know some are trying to do the right thing and i salute them. so since wolf is that the rare opportunity to cover these candidates he supports them because he sees things the way that nobody else can give me a break let me just take a bow to show you how wolf approaches hard hitting issues like for example the anthony weiner scandal. it sounds to me like it may have been his picture but it was out there but somebody else hacked it and somebody else said get out to embarrass him but i sort of believe you know that line. yeah it sounds to me like

he's a bit of a sucker just take whatever politician says and believe it or not even an ounce of skepticism and i thought the whole point of people like wolf blitzer is to get to the real story not play lapdog to romney santorum and gingrich but then again blitzer is one of those mainstream media puppets that just drools over the idea of a good interview but it is a blog he wants to show us that hey he's a trailblazer he's the martyr he is the one member of the media that's willing to say what nobody else will the politicians are great and let's not forget well this so far ahead of the game here is such a trailblazer he even tried to teach us how to do. thank. you. all right now back to the issue at hand wolf is a blog he gives him the chance to share his real wroth thoughts about these candidates and what does he do with it he decides to write them a love letter instead so we're going way too easy on the g.o.p.

candidates while trying to reinforce his value in the mainstream media c.n.n. is that wolf blitzer is tonight's tool time where. guys it's time for happy hour joining me this evening is our team producer jenny churchill and our t. correspondent christine. hello ladies you guys are matching here it looks better with you cute very often outfits the very different outfits but this is a can we can we talk about what you're wearing really quick because of the kentucky look. i don't know i feel like it's more than the analog ok we can we can go to kentucky if you i've never been so i thought maybe you could it really feels already and to me ok possibly and i like it i love it let's move on though to ban and. sorry this story was a larry is because what is c.-span known for race these band is a little dry

a little boring and at the moment c.-span seems to be suffering from a spate of prank callers that call in pretending like they're going to ask a serious question about mitt romney and then it ends in a totally different way take a look. my question is regards to how turnout will affect the electoral results and that is for mr chairman do you believe that mitt romney has a big penis. i apologize to mcdonald for that comment or trying to keep the conversation productive here this morning as well to make sure i heard him right i was running what suddenly people for me still for his appointments and also how big is their romney's penis. charlotte north. i want to do this so. i want to go into very. well i don't know i guess i am going to actual question first a very viable normal question oh and by the way you have to get past the screeners

you know it takes some skill and not every crazy person is able to get past the screeners and ask a legitimate enough to ship will some people out there are theorizing that perhaps it's the same person that is just really good at doing that if everyone says yeah it could be like a person i feel like we're avoiding the obvious question here is what is it how romney i mean i have a big penis i mean inquiring minds clearly want to know. i'm rather not you know i have no interest. i wonder if the caller is actually have an interest in knowing or if they just have an interest in sort of lightning you know what is normally a very stiff mood on c.-span and it's just funny too because those are c.-span viewers knowing our viewers this is why we don't do call it and soon it looks like we totally how do you call it is the stuff that is going to come out of their mouths i want everyone i know i want i want to write in campaign i want everyone to write and tell us why we should do collins on the on

a show to make happen i've got to spend three days and you know i'll go over and say with an assistant there will somebody out and inappropriate questions. the thing elles. the onion who i love they had their news stories and scandalous photos reveal grover norquist carried on secret affair with taxes for years which grover norquist runs for americans for tax reform he's the one to make somebody sign the pledge and why nothing gets done in congress because all the republicans are promised they will not do anything that will raise their taxes in any way because grover norquist they've basically promised they would but he was actually kind of cool about this sense that he then played a. long and gave a press conference take a look. in two thousand and four. drove. for the income taxes of. two thousand. at the height of what it's called quote her strongly served in the european stock.

what do you say they would like to do that i mean i think anything for grover norquist anything that can make fun of that shed light on bring attention to the fact that he in his mind taxes are ridiculous he will take part in the onion is a widely read publication the onion t.v. is getting a lot more traction so i think that like you know i guess it it's kind of fun to see grover norquist be fun i mean thank goodness someone in this town has a sense of humor because you know our biggest issue is we can't get people to come on the show and be fun and have a good time because everyone's so concerned that it's going to be used against them so i salute him for standing up and i have to say when i met him there was something weird in his eyes and i thought he might have something going on like a sack like a ready made no. i don't i don't i. don't know it's a fun idea yeah you don't see it a lot in people in d.c.

so when you do you're like. oh yes you know you have a point there it's hard to find funny people around these here parts. this is something that the new york times decided to write and basically the headline and this was written by their public editor arthur brisbane today and he asked people as readers should the new york times or should the times be a true vigilante which then caused a huge uproar or twitter and everybody making fun of them because you consider yourself the top newspaper in the country you're asking people if you should actually focus on truth but there is a little more nuance to this because you brought up moments like this. we have to have the. free world free world. apology. so what he was asking is you know if he wants to write that new that he's going to mitt romney keeps attacking the president for apologizing for america should he

have to write p.s. by the way obama has never actually apologized for america well like we talked about this morning the issue with this specific example is there's some nuance to this just because obama has never sad you know i'm apologizing for what americans done a lot of people would look at his actions and say they're apologetic so while i disagree with romney on that i think there is some gray area well i mean a that's the name of romney's book because he sees what you see which is that he sees president obama apologizing which again he hasn't done but but you know there are some things especially in the past under the previous administration that a lot of people in this country should be apologizing for should be sorry for the question is is it on the new york times so there is a great lesson i know there are you know i'm just quoting somebody right if you want to say mitt romney said this and say you're quoting him verbatim and you have to go and correct his quote the bottom line is should the paper of record just

spewing what people say well mitt romney said this in works in terms of this no matter whether or not there's any truth to it i think the new york times should be saying this is not a false statement or not using it at all because if they're putting you know even if they say according to that doesn't get them off the hook you know thank you and don't ask questions like should we be a truth vigilante because that is a bare saying it makes you look stupid. a supreme court's ruling yesterday i think of this this clip here pretty much sums it up. a fourth grade teacher at a lutheran church missouri synod school in michigan who mainly taught secular subjects but also taught religion and led prayers she took a leave of absence to get treatment for a sleep disorder when the school was reluctant to let her return she threatened to sue for violation of the americans with disabilities act. so basically what happened is the supreme court sided with the church saying is the church is allowed to fire people. despite what you want to call your first amendment rights and

a lot of people that i have a few things i mean first of all this woman was a teacher in a school and her disability was narcolepsy so when you're falling asleep in class in front of children that's tough but that's not what the supreme court case was about the supreme court case had to do with church and state and all justices took one side there wasn't even as a sort of a distant dissenting opinion written about this because they said that you know the courts should not get involved when it comes to the decisions of the church and i think completely absurd to say that the the court should not get involved with the church when a church is discriminating against someone on a disability that they have i don't care who you are if you're discriminating and saying because you have this disability you can't work for us you don't have that right why do you have you know what special rules apply sure it. doesn't it doesn't count in this case and you know according to the court it's because she was considered a minister and ministers churches are allowed to decide who ministers their people

and that's where the church should decide what are you looking at disability as not what it's a disability that's leading to that i just completely disagree i don't think that religion gives you the right to discriminate against people so now churches are allowed to say no blacks allowed because their church in the court can't get involved that's ridiculous i mean we don't we did a story on how p.r. were churches have decided that they have done that they couldn't be members. of their black yeah it's a problem that you that we see a lot of too it's something that we see in this legislation though the anti bullying stuff they want to exclude religion is ready that if your religion you think that you hate somebody because they might be gay or what i'm going to get really really good this is good that there are a lot of room open for individual cases in the future but in this particular case and i kind of a group of them i err on the side. the separation of church and the right and irish a verse is preserved i got to wrap it up guys if it's so much for joining me tonight but there are nights show i thank you for tuning in and making the come

back tomorrow with a black author of the book the best way to rob a bank is to own one that's going to be back on the show talked about mitt romney's past with bain capital flows naturally it is the private equity firms the feel and meantime don't forget the family want to show on facebook and on where you can see everything on you tube and coming up next is the news. if they shoot something inappropriate for the public they can easily be. cast he's a war ok. i wish he would have never happened but it has. been a war a t.v. camera becomes unnecessary would destroy their own safety all foreign nationals including journalists and inspectors should leave. and the spear company was such

witnesses i got among my sight. of one of my many checks to. mercy shooting on our. wealthy british soil it's time to. go. to. market. why don't what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines. guys a report. from

covert operations oh i had to block him disrupt the iranian program we've been putting taking out there so i'm going to as you heard that right up newt gingrich is running the country we would be picking off our enemies one by one and he certainly isn't the only one with things that way we'll tell you who is benefiting from the assassination of a nuclear scientist and what it means for tensions with iran. and while tensions with iran reach a boiling point the new york times is once again in hot water this time for spreading false information about iran's nuclear program at it there is no i don't believe everything you read.