and troubled children in pennsylvania however according to the washington post the majority of charitable funds raised went to run the church itself as well as were given the santa arms political insider friends before it folded in two thousand and seven the charity raised around two point five eight million dollars with only thirty nine percent of the money actually going to help the citizens of pennsylvania normally a charity would donate seventy five eighty percent of its total funds to its designated cause at least all santorum continues to be proud of the work or lack there of the operation good neighbor did it appears he was actually more interested in creating a scheme to pad the wallets of his political friends and actually help the people of his home state and that is very very.

so how do we know when today's republican party has jumped the shark when fox so called news is trying to pull the party to the left over the last few months diehard fox viewers have noticed a change of tone coming from the republican party's mouthpiece it might have something to do with fox chairman roger ailes saying back last fall on the heels of the tea party debt limit debacle that the network was in store for a course correction ailes saw the writing on the wall which was that the tea party was going to drag republicans into the political wilderness if they kept dictating the agenda so it was time for fox so-called news to sever ties and hope that the more moderate voices in the tea party would do the same. of course to the casual viewer this lurch to the not so far right is barely noticeable after all with fox and friends of riley hannity still throwing bombs of the president every day metaphorically it seems like things haven't changed a bit but to the tea party it's like

a dog whistle that only they can hear or see they notice the difference is a blogger on the prominent tea party website red state dot com put it something's happening at fox news more often these days i hear the language of the left and hearing their news programs conservative points of view are becoming more rare on fox and or are treated with scorn i have not made a lot of these events document these claims but as someone who is sensitive not only what to what is said but how it is said i know fox news is changing and as a political as a politico reporter reported yesterday across the conservative political action conference this year there were similar grumbles among conservative activists but the cable channel was no longer speaking for them as it once did with the network distancing itself from the tea party cheerleading to characterize the first two years of president barack obama's presidency lately fox's increasingly promoted straight news talent in the press and conducted some of the toughest interviews and

debates of the republican primary season. so this apparently is actually happening fox so-called news is desperately trying to inject some moderation into the republican party maybe that's because they know history especially the history of the republican party is a history that over the last hundred years has seen radical forces rise up within it hijack the party or run it into the ground until more moderate voices finally stand up and take back their party this is happened over and over and over again we talked about this earlier in the week this is the cycle of republican waves of radicalism from teddy roosevelt in one thousand nine hundred square he was quite progressive actually the bottom of right wing radical reason and then warren harding was elected in one nine hundred twenty and saying that he was going to put more business in in government and less government and business it was a slogan he dropped the top income tax rate from seventy three percent on

a twenty five percent deregulated the markets which led right to the crash of the one nine hundred thirty s. and franklin roosevelt and the democrats actually got on or the republicans many republicans actually got on board with the new deal which is led to the right wing reactionary movement within the in the republican party the do nothing congress of one nine hundred forty six the radical republicans they passed taft hartly blow up the unions they blocked harry truman's attempt to have universal health care which you know that in two years just two years this was forty six the election of forty six election forty eight the republicans were kicked out of the house of representatives and they didn't come back until one thousand nine hundred six forty six years in the wilderness so this led to then moderate republicans like eisenhower and of course then the for crazies said oh we can't have this and so they came back with barry goldwater the right wing radicals saying no no we're not going to we're not going to go with that moderate eisenhower stuff and so you had goldwater goldwater blew up the election blew up the party brought back the

moderates nixon and ford and that. brought out the crazies reagan and with and you know which was polish by george george h.w. bush which was followed by a right wing crazy george w. bush and you'd think that the party would be going into a moderate phase but it got dragged out by the tea party this weird thing that only lasted a couple of years from the radical going to the moderate to coming back to being the radicals and frankly it's because you know all this money can't was thrown into it by by the billionaires and the and the tea party so we'll see how this this whole tea party thing you know works out but it looked to me like it's going to get a little more moderate and so this is going to be these struggle in my opinion. for the republicans over the course of this year how do they root out the radical elements in their party the tea party before those radical elements crashed the

economy again like they did in one nine hundred twenty nine or run congress so poorly that they're banished from the majority in the house of representatives for forty six years like happened in one thousand nine hundred eighty eight or pick a radical as a presidential candidate like they did in sixty four woodbury got well water and get absolutely crazy so you know roger ailes the chairman over at fox so called news and a lot of the other republicans within that group they have a lot of sway in the republican party you could say that they've become the tail that is wagging the dog of the republican party so they may be able to succeed in promoting moderates if that's really what they're up to is let's go back to some moderate the other is when elections. then again and ben mitt romney might be a part of that for that for that matter you know although he's having a tough time getting through the primary here but then again i'm not convinced that fox can silence the radicals within their own corporation. let alone the whole of

the republican party is why they wait and see but in the meantime while the republicans are doing some soul searching on this issue frankly i think it's time for democrats to be focusing on how progressive they were during the f.d.r. period. and during the presidency of lyndon johnson which was in here someplace arguably and here when we had we actually had two very progressive presidents because as much as the cycles of the republican party showed crashing and burning when it gets super conservative those same cycles show that the democratic party is at its very best it's at its most successful when it's it most progressive people love the democrats when f.d.r. passos the security and right to unionize laws of built the modern middle class they feel like the four times or reelected three times like that in four times they

so love the democrats when l.b.j. cut poverty in half in this country in less than a generation with the great society they rethink from civil rights to medicare and medicaid so while the billionaires are busy trashing the republican party. we are so overdue for a return of franklin delano roosevelt's democratic party that it is just it's not even describable we really need to bring back progressives in the democratic party so here we get this whole republican cycle and this whole republican discussion about you know the republicans going to become more moderate and and it's time frankly as the republicans are cycling moderate it's time for the democratic party to become more progressive and i think that the bill clinton presidency is not is not so long for the way that f.d.r. is was because he wasn't that progressive he was a moderate democrat and so for republicans if they want to hold power they need to have moderates democrats if they want to take power if they want to get elected

they want to get things done if they want to accomplish things and if they want to have the long term love of the people then do things like creating social security or creating medicare do things or defending them standing up for them or let's build out something you know let's let's go to medicare party and bring everybody into the party or let's go to let you know let's let's say everybody gets a free college education this country like they do in the rest of the developed world. so that's the big picture for tonight for more information on the stories we covered visit our websites of thom hartmann dot com free speech dot org you. can also check out our two you tube channels there are links. and this entire show is also available as a free video podcast on i tunes and you can visit thom hartmann dot com and download the audio podcast of our daily noon to three radio show and we have a free market i phone and i pad app in the app store. you could send us feedback on twitter at tom underscore arpan on facebook at tom underscore on our blogs message

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. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to gaza reports. more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images are seeing from the streets of canada. trying to corporations rule today. critique free. free. free free. free. to free. free

book you get videos for your media projects free video dog r.t. dot com. un a general assembly prepares to vote on a resolution targeting the regime in syria and despite our side's pledges of democratic reform politicians in washington want the opposition. athan surrenders to the last of the e.u.'s bailout demands to be kept in limbo and presented with more terms as austerity leaves a greek hospital struggling with the military unscathed. iran's display of nuclear progress and offer of talks while this missed by a banker in israel as bluster response to severe economic sanctions. is largest

bank has finally found a key to access to european markets find out how and why in the business bulletin in about twenty minutes time. costing live from moscow you're watching out. activists in syria have accused regime forces of stepping up attacks on rebel held city meanwhile the announcement of a referendum on new constitution does not appear to have helped stem the violence the vote which will take place at the end of february is aimed at significantly curbing the power of the ruling baath party. is in damascus for. the date for the people's referendum on the country's new constitution has been announced on wednesday it is expected to be held on the twenty sixth of february the syrian government has been working on a draft for this new constitution for quite

a while now and it has sad that the most important thing about this new constitution the most important change is that it implies the end of monopoly of the ruling party in syria the vast party has been in power in the country for the last fifty years actually since the beginning of the uprising here in syria last march protestors have been calling for democratic reforms and for amendments to the country's key law in the wake of violence that followed in the show demonstrations peaceful demonstrations many opposition leaders have been only demanding president bashar al assad to go and they will not be satisfied with this particular reform with this particular referendum this news it's how has come it's numerous reports about violence all across syria we've been hearing reports from the city of hama north of the capital damascus from the opposition activists saying that the tanks

of assad's army have been deployed in the city and we've also been receiving reports from another troubled area from the city of homs where reportedly there have been explosions at the all pipelines since almost all these calls have been coming from one source from the opposition there has been a feeling that another part another side of this conflict in syria has been kind of ignored. but a new draft resolution on syria to pressure the ruling regime will be put to a vote happy u.n. general assembly they tried thursday moscow as war ended well in back the document tell us it suggest to them and take into consideration he wants both sides of the conflict healthy equally responsible making calls on all opposition groups not to back rebel militia but changes are they being dismissed by delegates at the u.n. well russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov says foreign countries are intervening and part of the blame lies with them. you can always find

a compromise but only through carrying out negotiations this is what some from the opposition refuse to do being dissuaded by some external players who carry huge responsibility for the ongoing violence for the deaths of peaceful civilians. the white house has criticised the syrian government's promise to hold a referendum describing it as laughable and accusing the regime of making a mockery of the unrest that's a major swelling chorus within the u.s. calling on washington to supply fighters with weapons and there's. reports many believe that would make peace impossible. hawks in washington calling for the arming of insurgents in syria we should start thinking all options including arming the opposition i give them training i give them communications equipment and then ultimately i give them weapons. experts say arming the fighting groups among the

opposition is a sure way to drag the country into a protracted civil war it will also further marginalize those in the opposition who have advocated nonviolence or would be asked political strategies that the more. plied to the to the factions of the syrian opposition the more that happens the less likely it is that they'll be a negotiated solution leading to a sistar in a peaceful settlement there encouraged i think very much by the united states the civil war in lebanon went on for fifteen years absolutely appalling bloodshed and you can easily see that that could happen in syria like the u.s. all qaida has indorse the rebels fighting in syria under president assad syria has been a secular state some analysts argue that one of the reasons why al qaeda supports the violent uprising in syria is that in the last secular more islam is the environment it's easier to recruit new terrorists so if the government holds that

you'll be looking forward to just a very long period of complete disintegration and they will be able to attract more and more fanatical recruits look at this so you know the war in iraq in two thousand and six and seven it was absolutely appalling the calls to arm fighting groups in syria sound even more alarming given the u.s. history of arming radical afghanistan one example it was a placing itself in alliance with the mujahideen including osama bin laden and these people who now of course it is lately been deploring as fanatical fanatical enemies that the united states said these. these alliances a totally cynical and totally opportunistic there's not a shred of guns. but despite the hawks outcry the obama administration is taking a more cautious stance with regards to syria we don't think more arms into syria is the right answer some analysts say arming the very much fractured syrian opposition

would contribute to its further radicalization and would make a political solution virtually impossible a number say washington might support arm supplies indirectly through its arab allies as of now the administration denies having such plans but will that position hold. down reporting from washington r.t. . well michel chossudovsky from the center for research and globalization says foreign intelligence operatives on the ground are helping to stir up political chaos in syria. i certainly know it's the fact that the government. that's its combat but to swallow by the constitution that introduced multi multi party system but the people who well why didn't the government are not interested in multi party democracy they are they are directly as we know they are directly backed by date so when i say. operatives which are present.

collaborating with the rebels the free syrian army is not something which is representative of the opposition because of this direction is to create political instability which will subsequently lead. to. the syrian government to stabilize syria as a nation state what they don't like about syria is that syria is not a proxy us state although like with washington so it's not all big all those it's a secular government it's a country of tremendous religious tolerance well for one possible outcome of revolution in syria we take a look at libya he spoke. yes it's the start of it's revolution calling me a shambles former rebels fighting each other that he's a former gadhafi supporters reportedly twitching in prisons. and

overseas demond indian summer that's drew pools as a recession he's hopeful parents struggling to pay the u.s. price tag. that greece has fulfilled the last few preconditions needed to secure a second one hundred thirty billion euro bailout but that cash injection may yet prove to be in the use of greece pushed to final cut some wednesday committed to a written promise to stick by austerity all through elections that's still not enough for the e.u. . which now wants afghans to accept what it is to make sure it's following the terms of the bailout greece has already struggled to meet the terms that the idea of monitoring your response in some quarters british any. part of an effort to bring athens to heel what the e.u. is now doing it's trying to influence the outcome of the greek general election not satisfied with getting rid of the last democratically elected prime minister and

putting in a puppet in the form of us to papademos it now says it's now saying to the greek people unless you vote for the right parties unless you vote for parties that are happy to be subjugated do you control we will not give you the rest of the money and you will go bankrupt i suspect that despite the dissatisfaction that is felt by many german politicians i think the german parliament just as the greek parliament did last sunday will continue to toe the line and continue to say the bailout so the answer as far as i'm concerned it's rather like saving the cancer and not saving the patients well the human cost of austerity in greece is being felt like never before cuts and spending slashes have left workers short of cash hospitals short of medicine many greeks out of luck but jake agrees reports not so the military with nato chief and there's rasmussen's visit to greece highlighting a sector immune to stereotype. the mini athens has been a battleground in recent years to try to get some popular stare to sunday's events

to show this little hope for a cease fire one shot being fired for those discontent is a discrepancy in spending when it comes to the military something serving m.p.'s from a defense of our relations with turkey remain for some as ever present a threat as a current debt crisis or our nato partners don't seem very keen to help us not to need to spend so much i mean think about it we have been through we are being threatened from a member of the alliance that we belong and the alliance doesn't do anything. so we have to spend huge amounts of money but the nato chief arise in athens the talks other things may be on the table among them weapons but you're meant to believe that meaning there is a kind of negotiation if i may say so between the major partners which are germany of course in france. that if we spend

a little bit more on you procurement of course that major part will probably crunch in general jim france she's the our major creditors such potential buys include a contract for greece to purchase a number of french frigates still under review the last talks remain afloat another threat looms it be may nice but what we've been advised to do is to sell copies of medicine and keep relations of patients are being forced to put their hand in their pockets for treatment this problem persists in other hospitals i've worked in dimitri's account comes on the back of carts slashed medical staff by a letter desperate shortage of equipment including affordable prescription drugs is a problem only likely to worsen as the job listing increase that fewer people are way to go for private health care this is a very human face the term austerity measure i think creasing number of people can't find the treat they need in the current health care system and desperation i

turned to aid agencies like this originally nova care into athens immigrant population let me take you at this and this shows just how sort after the treatment is first of all are seeing more and more people coming to us that are there is that we might see up to three hundred people and the numbers of the greeks are also increasing in the past we have known many greeks but lately we see more than twenty percent greeks governing this cleaning so present many greeks remain too ashamed of the situation to be filmed those wanting to be. paint a picture of. greece cannot recover from what's going on right now if you're greece is finished. it's a situation that has a country verging on implosion all jury time of peace not war. the nation remains sick cuts have a real damaging impact on the people's well being. is an illness that could spread

as fresh measures may reduce spending on outpatient drugs bodog billion euros putting greeks health at risk despite the sizeable military defenses protecting them degrees happens. when it's been no secret that from the onset of the euro crisis germany has spearheaded the austerity drive the original argument was that cuts and pain when necessary and seven thirty g.m.t. max and stacey focus on that. well actually wolfgang schauble cording to this article he was actually quoted caught on tape anyway talking to a portuguese finance minister in which he said to the portuguese minister don't worry we're not going to do this to you this our treatment of greece is in order to appease our population at home right exactly this is amazing it's coming through now that the policy makers in germany that are applying their scorched earth policy to greece are doing so to appease their local constituents who want blood for some

reason they're just bloodthirsty which then brings up all kinds of other questions about who is the germany of all is this to germany we remember from world war i want to know is this the imperial genie out of the bottle once again. israel wants a washington to batter iran is tougher sanctions before its nuclear program reaches what's described as a point of no return mccain response to tehran's demonstration that its atomic power. it is progressing iran says it's willing to restart nuclear talks with world powers but only after announcing it now domestically produced nuclear fuel rods and stated the centrifuges to enrich uranium this is meant to skepticism the u.s. state department has dismissed the claims as hype in the face of western economic pressure that's creating situations around iran has someone heard about

a military outcome but the from the national iranian american council believes a military strike would wipe out its nuclear capabilities the real problem here is that there is this escalation towards this military action that's not going to actually take out the nuclear capabilities of iran if israel bombs iran the program back a couple years and then they have to go in and bomb again and then have to go in and bomb again and you just have this cycle really the end of the day this ends in full scale occupation total war there's no clean right that happens this is if this happens it's the beginning of a long confrontation that really it's going to make you rock in afghanistan look like a cake walk and it's going to plunge the u.s. into a very long term military engagement. well that more on the israeli iran stand off for you when we talk to joe selenski the founder of the trends research institute has a preview of what he has to say if the interview is coming up next hour here and.

if the united states israel or nato attacks iran's nuclear facilities it will be as i said before the beginning of world war three syria may be the other. because who's syria's top out. around. and as we have seen from reports that came out with the leaks. the united states and the west has been very instrumental in undermining the syrian government even before the latest uprisings have begun. amnesty international has accused libya's national transitional council of failing to stop human rights abuses it says uncounted thousands of mughal duffy's supporters are being held without charge and tortured by former rebel.