all seventy nine hires had quote far left credentials these were likely either obvious on their resumes or reasonably discoverable through a quick internet search noticeably absent were new employees with resumes very obvious conservative or neutral ideological credentials now it's also know that the media outlet that has signed cites in this letter here is pajamas media a conservative operation to current headlines on the website kissing assad's ass and celebrate black history month slap a leftist author of the report because it was part of the bush era civil rights department when its hiring practices were breaking the law so we'd have enough most credible source the d.o.j. responded to represent of smith and the letter was obtained by mother jones and the response they outline their hiring practices a career attorney is in charge of all hiring rather than political point at point appointees excuse me as was the case under the bush administration internet searches of candidates aren't allowed to reduce the chance of bias now that obviously rules out reps miss a gesture of a google search to expose the radical leftist tendencies of the qualified buyers

and letter also of the year olds that hires can only be overruled by the head of the civil rights division a political appointee with a written statement why don't more same world representative smith would be troubled that the d.o.j. is unable to find more qualified conservative civil rights attorneys but i think that we all know it's not a sane world right in fact that were wrote about this morning in mother jones it's pretty interesting to hear smith complaining about hiring bias in the first place high requirements have long been the bane of the conservative movement existence after all they're the ones who rail against affirmative action the very notion that one person would be hired based on age race or ideological consideration over somebody with equal qualifications being antithetical to the principles of america well apparently not when it comes to hiring conservatives for jobs that they're simply not qualified for in that case let's have affirmative action as long as that means that they got the jobs and not the women or the minorities so who are complaining of the most qualified civil rights attorneys weren't conservative

rather than wondering why that's the case we award representative lamar smith tonight's tool time award. my guys have time for a happy hour and joining me this evening lauren lyster host of the capital account here on r t and j.p. frere senior communications strategist with new media strategies hey guys and i know we have you down to say happy valentine's day ok larry i mean you know everyone's talking about gingrich and santorum and mitt romney and i was tell you how they obsess about it on the media but sometimes the way they choose to describe these people and i guess you could say compare these candidates gets a little over the top so listen to this clip from morning joe today. you get the idea. newt gingrich said a lot is in his room. you know eating candy bars reading history rick santorum you

get the idea of a bunch of brothers and they beat him because tormes that tough guy when he gets attacked doesn't get angry he just looks at mitt and you see it on the stage he's a really. i mean really if you're oh really and when i asked nothing back i was going to beat up a bunch of guys i don't worry i've grown to dislike the monkeys sergei's they think they're waging jihad against them is like being the his teeth are really clenched all the time he's kind of always imitating i think clint eastwood in that way so i mean he might have. to go to the patient look to me i mean maybe maybe he he was listening to when he talks about iranian scientists because in that regard it sounds like rick santorum is a little bit arlie when he talks about how sas names great i think the u.s. needs to send that message you're entire and ok but do we think that gingrich is sitting in a room eating candy and that when i read an actual review. of my connection i don't

know marilyn's his family is quite the ladies' man so i don't know when we doing that with his you know next to him if you. know nancy grace. i wish that we could still play our death with dan for the night but she all she does is build up these cases and i think often just scare people and spread a lot of misinformation and like she basically made the entire country think that casey anthony was guilty and now with what he's saying about whitney houston. i'd like to know who was around her who fifty one gave her drugs following alcohol and drugs and who let her slip or pushed her underneath that water. i mean she's sort of saying that somebody pushed her underneath the water but are you surprised are you kidding she wants this to be her next big story casey anthony put her ratings through the roof i think they put a jealous ratings through the roof if you're going for the next case and michael

jackson is probably sweating about now let's admit it well compared to casey anthony i mean this could be the next big thing but the thing is the police already said that she did not you know she didn't drown she was found about that non issue for nancy grace little detail like that celebrity news coverage has always eluded me i've never quite understood why why we become so fascinated with what happens to the celebrities after their deaths i mean they're good singers what do i want to know about their i call into her life and i know it well they're alive and kind of with us actually right after their death like let them die in peace for a minute before you start talking about the drugs and the overall rate of all of the around you you raise the price of their albums thirty minutes after they actually got into the court fine fine i'll come down this road with you all pretend i actually care no i'm totally curious who did push her under the water. and let me into the ratings for the i want to show you what i can. let's get it through you know there's been a lot of debates these days over contraception and birth control here's

a little bit from mitch mcconnell. legislation that would ban any group that had just a quote moral objection not just a religious group but just to any group that had a moral objection to that would would you be willing to push that in the. yeah you know if we end up having to try to overcome the president's opposition by legislation of course i'd be happy to support it. all right so not just you know it religious organization the catholic church doesn't have to do it but now if any organization of the boss morally objects to something he doesn't have to provide you with insurance that's crazy i think. the real compromise here the real ideal thing the thing on which we can all agree is that health insurance should not be tethered to employment and that is that that is the absolute worst way to go about it because if you get fired from the job if you get laid off you can't bring that insurance with you so it also destroys the price was going to be around you need to

state your case on health care well no i mean way no but the important thing i mean i do have i do know that it's coming out with some guy that you know shouldn't you be able to have the guarantee that you can have health insurance from your company so it's not just up to some of the whim of some boss want to feel what i like about this is it's religious or moral objections so i can just see any boss thing like ok let me see the price tag for all of these things ok i got a moral objection to that surgery too expensive got a moral objection to that i mean but it was a really creative way to like corporations pick and choose what they want to do i hear what you're saying but at what point do you stop i mean you're talking about a cadillac health care plan right that's that's the ideal it's got everything in it right ok so you don't force me to give people dental right exactly so i mean. we're going to go all the way through and say ok everything is permissible i mean people are going to want to cut costs somewhere but i don't think that that's where the religious objections come up and i do think that once we're talking about you know forcing religious employers versus regular employers to do certain things i mean if

we're talking about somebody who runs a small business for instance and employs the rest of his family not a religious organization but this person is a religious person they should be forced to purchase something that they don't that they don't agree with you know in terms of moral i don't understand why there were even be any connection i just i don't want my employer to know anything about my health care i don't want them to have any. hand in it if they are paying for my health care insurance i should be it well i think you buy at the exit eventually and you're invited on the bracket insurance company which will not have you know much power and that should be and you almost agree with me and so you know we'll get a fist bump out of it i mean you know but just on a related still highly debated topic now shoot we're running out of time so i think we're going to skip once we discovered i had the sports illustrated and and who is on the cover i think we have a clip of this girl first to me in dance. i

am all right there she is on the cover everyone always looks for is to the swimsuit issue every year but what has come on those. katie bottoms and you want to get away or what you want me to wear one and i objected on principle because it's one moral yeah i should do it or leave a little bit to the imagination it's like a fire in sexy if it's a swimsuit edition i mean you know there really is no imagination how women with their in the would play why would i long for a maverick this big so sensitive we're going to win it this segment is really just about having been able to show the show that clip avi that you haven't needed to have gone far because you got to wrap it up thanks for joining me that's a good idea thanks for joining in making the come back tomorrow kevin last encounter halls and you joining us for happy hour in the meantime don't forget we can family l'arche on facebook and follow us on twitter there's anything you ever miss that's all you tube dot com slash on our show and coming up next is the.

people calling like you said for free and fair elections. and they're still reporting from the. if you can hear behind me loud explosions. get it gave.

you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so silly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm sorry welcome to the big picture.

of washington d.c. and here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture. republicans like any in government are supposed to follow the principles of the custom touche so why are they following the actions and words of a tax alone billionaire instead also state prisons everywhere are up for sale at least that's what the corrections corporation of america wants is this desire signaling the doomsday scenario for capitalism in america and in tonight's daily take why are americans being gouged by the telecom injures industry europeans are free to text whomever they want.

you need to know this as expected one day after president obama released his twenty thirteen budget proposal a top ranking republican in the senate mitch mcconnell is declaring it dead on arrival he was the minority leader speaking on the floor this morning. we had a little more time to look at the president's budget and up to say they want the more one looks at it the harder it is to believe that there's the president's concern or response to the crisis that we. last year's budget wasn't worth the paper it was predator on and neither is this one not worth the paper it was proud of. and then this morning the ranking republican on the senate budget committee jeff sessions put in his two cents this budget increases spending over what we agreed to last year it wipes out part of the sequester half of it increasing spending one point five trillion dollars increase in taxes by nearly over one

point five trillion and that it was the tea party house of representatives turn to respond speaker of the house john boehner slammed the budget saying the president's budget is a gloomy reflection of his failed policies of the past not a bold plan for america's future. failed policies of that past that have created twenty three straight months of private sector job creation i might add and then house budget chairman paul ryan whose own budget last year ended medicare as we know it so president obama's irresponsible budget is a recipe for a debt crisis of the decline of america so this isn't really surprising republicans lining up against a democratic president's budget there's a bigger picture here or something else causing these republicans to line up against the president's budget beyond just typical politics what are these four guys have in common what the senators mitch mcconnell and jeff sessions and representatives john boehner and paul ryan all have in common beyond just being

republicans what is it give up they've all signed multimillionaire lobbyist grover norquist anti-tax pledge forbidding them from raising taxes on anyone anyone except one hundred sixty million working americans by letting the payroll tax cut expire and these four lapdogs aren't the only guys who signed the pledge so to have two hundred thirty six other representatives all but six republicans in the house and so to have thirty nine other senators all but seven republicans in the senate and since president obama's budget calls for making millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share three major tax increase republicans are contractually obligated to vote no on it just as they're anti-tax master grover norquist demands in other words republicans are choosing grover norquist. over our founding fathers.

according to the article six of the constitution members of congress shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support the constitution that oath reads i do solemnly swear that i will support and defend the constitution the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic and that i will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that i take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which i am about to enter so help me god but two hundred seventy nine republicans in congress have taken another rose oath as the americans for tax reform both the taxpayer protection pledge. pledge to the taxpayers of the state of blank and the american people that i will one oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rate for individuals and businesses and to oppose any net reduction or

a limitation of deductions and credits unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates in other words no income tax increases no closing tax loopholes no cutting off taxpayer subsidies for millionaires billionaires and big corporations no matter what so there's a fundamental cost constitutional conflict here or conflict i guess governing council between the constitution and the oh what do you do if you have a war. in egypt you need to pay to fix a front to defend the nation right well actually george bush didn't he just put on the credit card trillion dollars what if you have an energy crisis what if arabs cut off for oil again for example or you need to make new investments in clean energy you're not allowed to cut off oil subsidies no you can't touch those will subsidies those those are important to billionaires financial crisis one of the banks do incredible temperature the economy oh no tax increases and for the banks manufacturing crisis cutting off job tax breaks for job outsourcers not can't do

that sorry that would be cutting away a tax loophole congress is basically paralyzed today because nearly every single republican has put a lobbyist's oath above their oath to support and the constitution now the republican lapdogs grover norquist have a new strategy. a lot of people are saying the house republicans caved yesterday when they proposed extending the payroll tax cut for the rest of the year without paying for the straight clean bill basically what democrats were asking for all along but this is not a cave this is merely the release of one hostage one hundred sixty million working americans who are eligible for the payroll tax cut and the retaking of another hostage millions of unemployed americans who depend on unemployment insurance benefits to survive by deed linking the payroll tax cut from unemployment benefits republicans can avoid looking like they're about to raise taxes on working americans but at the same time quietly hold millions of unemployed americans

hostage until they get the spending cuts they want or at the very least until they kill any prospects of tax increases on the rich that's not a cave so how much longer will republicans bow down before millionaire lobbyist grover norquist while ignoring the general welfare of millions of unemployed americans as the constitution demands here to offer his take on this is vice president of government affairs of the national taxpayers union andrew welcome pleasure to be here great to have you with us i. know you're a fan of grover norquist pledge i take it sure i believe that we should be reducing taxes not raising them i have a pledge for you hear that and see if you want to sign a high end of the oil and pledge that i will always put the interests of the very wealthy few ahead of the interests of my country my fellow americans including during times of war famine pestilence and natural disasters. we've we've already discovered a difference between you and me which is that i'm not going to impugn your motives than having a difference in policy i think that we have

a federal government that's too large and small is those who much are not always what is that what i just read in those different big room from from i will tell you exactly why the reason is that that you think that my job that my goal in life is to protect the very wealthy few and that's not the case my goal in life is to protect my three year old daughter who is sitting at home right now to make sure that she has a country that has a solid future. that doesn't have that kind of debt crisis in its future and that's who i'm caring about i don't care as much about millionaires as i do about my daughter and about my family our debt our so-called debt crisis you know when we left when we ended world war two we were one hundred twenty seven percent of g.d.p. and debt right now we're less than one hundred percent you know how we got out of that debt and after world war two economic growth is the biggest answer we borrowed more money. go back and look it up harry truman and dwight eisenhower democrat and republican they borrowed more money they built the national highway system they built hospitals they built schools they put people like my dad through

college for free and gave one hundred dollars a month stipend to live on they borrowed more money and spent it and invested it in the intellectual and physical infrastructure of this nation and and created fifty years of of prosperity as a consequence of it and then reagan came along and said not we're not going to do that anymore we're not going to invest in our people we're going to stop building schools stop building hospitals stop putting you know no more federal funds for anything and by the way tax cuts for the rich in and he ran up the biggest debt in the history the country ronald reagan one guy you are more money than every president sort of the washington jimmy carter you just revealed a prob with your argument which is that you bring up ronald reagan and a lot of folks talk about ronald reagan certainly people in my side of the world are very fond of him but people forget that ronald reagan spending under ronald reagan was actually very high comparable to what we're seeing right now twenty two twenty three percent of g.d.p. year after year after year so if what you're saying is true that spending a lot of money as a percentage of g.d.p. or as an absolute amount is what's going to ensure prosperity for the future then

you should i guess i'm going to say it's investing in america will ensure prosperity ron reagan spend a lot of money stupidly he had almost a trillion dollars off to his buddies in the defense industry for the star wars program that never materialized and a lot of money just vanished into space i'm not not literally but well actually literally i suppose but you know if you're concerned about your three year old daughter i would think that you would be wanting america to be making investments in their feet in our future like we did fifty sixty years ago not just spending money for the sake of running up the debt so that the you know the to an excuse to santa clause three could play out like reagan was where if you run up the debt big enough the democrats when they come into power are going to be forced to cut social security but i don't think that there's anybody that disagrees that there are certain investments that we ought to be making for a future. i wouldn't advocate that we should be cutting government by ninety percent or anything like that what i'm saying what a lot of folks that are fiscal conservatives are saying is that we have a spending problem in this country we have nothing we have spending right now

that's at twenty two twenty three out of g.d.p. and we are. we are spending at historically low levels barack obama just introduced a budget that never balances he envisions a future in which we never balance the budget i think that that is insane i think that the debt that we have right up to this. day and our economic growth and that well you know. again i say go back after world war two we grew our way out of that debt you put people to work they start paying taxes tax collections go up being go you're doing great and you know what happened at the end of world war two there were a lot of keynesians who said when government spending was going to drop dramatically that we were going to put ourselves into another depression at the end of world war two when we ramp down all of that military spending there were a lot of folks who thought that the sky was going to fall and it didn't and you know it started at the g.i. bill because you had all those guys come but then they were saying was that all these guys are going to come back seven hundred thousand men are going to come back to the united states without a job and it would have been a disaster without the g.i. bill in the g.i. bill it was done with borrowed money and and and here we are you know it built

a great nation so but and andrew thanks for coming in and sparring with pleasure and. a souvenir i'll take my three year old they are going to put it. coming up coming up after the break the corrections corporation of america wants to buy your state prisons while this for profit corporation be lobbying to make it legal or illegal so you can be tossed in the slammer increase their revenues. thank you. just put a picture of me when i was like nine years old on such a little truth. i'm a contestant i'm a total get of friends that i love traveling hip hop music and. he

was kind of a big yesterday. i'm very proud of the world without you see it's a place. you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so silly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm sorry welcome to the big picture.

did screw news corporate america's high crimes plunged our nation into a great recession in two thousand and eight pushing several states to the brink of bankruptcy today and now they're back looking to turn a profit off the damage they caused and the corrections corporation of america the

largest for profit prison company in the nation c.c.a. is now reaching out to cash strapped states hoping to make a deal basically c.c.a. is saying sell is your state prisons and we'll take over the job of incarcerating your citizens why would c.c.a. want to do that because they want to sort of profit off each new person who gets thrown in prison in the same way for profit health insurers turn a profit off each person they deny life so. medical care is part of a contract states the individual states have to pay c.c.a. were called prisoner per deum or predate costs and looking over the letter c.c.a. sent to forty eight different states corporation has just a few requirements the state has to agree to to maximize insure to insure maximize profit ability one being that the prison has to be able to hold a lot of prisoners minimum a thousand beds to be exact and another being the state has to guarantee a minimum of a ninety percent occupancy rate over the term of the contract which is twenty years

. that shouldn't be much of a problems and c.c.a. working with alec has been successful in passing several stricter drug laws that lead to more and more americans being thrown into prison for longer and longer times just last year ohio's old state own palais curie correctional facility to c.c.a. for seventy two million dollars according to a report by policy matters of ohio that state well actually that sale is going to actually cost ohio taxpayers eleven million dollars more over the next twenty years than it would have had the state simply kept ownership of the prison so here we have corporations making huge profits buying up the commons forcing taxpayers to then guarantee and subsidize their profits and then making a living off throwing those very same taxpayers in prison this isn't a good deal for the states this is the cancer stage of capitalism the point at which the drive to make profits is literally ruining the lives of america so this is really the sort of economy we want joining me now is business attorney seth barron's way seth welcome pleasure to be here glad to have you with us so of all

the things we privatized shouldn't police functions like imprisoning people be the very very last well police functions in the broadest sense in many instances are not privatized you're talking about in this aspect a small segment of prisons the prison system there's been a trend over the last twenty five years to privatized prisons at both the state and federal level c.c.a. is one of over a dozen companies that provide proposals and bids to the federal government the aggressively bid against each other they're under financial pressures to be able to sharpen their pencils and give the best deal and in this kind of an era where we have huge budget deficits at both the state and federal level this is an opportunity to be able to save very rare federal federal and state dollars to be able to make sure that we can keep teachers to take care of our children to make sure that we can keep it in that i'm not buying it i'm sorry c.c.a. last year i pulled their annual report total management read revenue for the.