hello i'm john berman in washington d.c. and here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture voters in michigan go to the polls today in the g.o.p. primary will admit take his home state or will feel is shall also the supreme court will decide if a corporation can kill or torture you and not have any responsibility for it yes that's actually what was argued today at the supreme court and the corporations want no responsibility at all and the occupy movement just got a strong show of support stay tuned for ben and jerry's ben cohen and occupy the

hood. you need to know this polls are closing in michigan and it's likely to be a long night before a winner is named that's because heading into the michigan primary mitt romney and rick santorum were neck and neck in a dead heat you bet romney who was actually born in michigan just like me wasn't expecting this close of a race then again when you write an op ed for the new york times titled let detroit go bankrupt there are political consequences consequences the santorum is now using as he reaches out to of all people democrats to push him over the top in the wolverine state take a listen to this robo call that went out to democratic voters this week paid for by the santorum campaign. michigan democrats can vote in the republican primary on

tuesday why is it so important romney supported the bailouts where his wall street billionaire buddies might oppose the auto bailout that was a slap in the face to every michigan worker and we're not going to let romney get away with it on tuesday join democrats who are going to send a loud message to massachusetts mitt romney by voting for rick santorum for president this call it we'll see how well as strategy works out meanwhile president obama couldn't help himself went after both romney and santorum today fiery speech at the united auto workers going to. folks who say if we went forward with our plan to rescue detroit you can kiss the american automotive industry goodbye. now they're saying we were going out i. know you got folks saying well the real problem is what we really disagreed with

was the worst they all made out like bandits. just the same the going to sue is just not paying back to you it's. really exciting even by the standards of this town that's a load of you know what and we'll see which candidate is low to you know what pushes them to victory tonight and should romney prevail and he has one special person to thank this guy. that's think progress uncovered ron paul has never once attacked mitt romney in any of the twenty republican debates the guy hasn't said a one cross word about romney at all but paul has routinely attacked romney's rival candidates thirty nine times in fact prompting the santorum campaign to accuse paul and romney of working together so does that mean that the libertarian rabble has actually sold out to a moderate republican establishment and if santorum comes out on top does that make

a brokered republican convention inevitable and get to those questions in just a moment but first another election news the recall effort against governor scott walker in wisconsin move one step closer to its ultimate goal the deadline for governor walker to challenge the more than one million signatures gathered to recall him from office came and went on monday with the governor failing to challenge any of the signatures which means the recall petitions only have one more hurdle to clear before recall election date is set in that state election officials who have until march nineteenth to validate the signatures then the stage will officially be set grassroots activism versus big corporate money so can the koch brothers who already pledged to do all they can to help walker stay in office can they use their tens of millions of dollars in corporate cash to neutralize the grassroots effort energy in the in the badger state time to turn over to my panel for all of these issues joining me now here in washington d.c. is richard pollard democratic strategist and from our new york city studio anthony home republican strategist welcome to both of you joe great to have you read since

first you know let's get to michigan what's what's the deal with ron paul i'm curious in particular anthony you're your take on this is a republican. has as ron paul the who's supposedly the super outsider sold out to the guy who's the establishment you know super insider. well none of us know all we can do is speculate but it seems very suspect to me i don't know why isn't attacking romney but he hasn't been and that's ok that's his prerogative he has a strategy and he's executing it and it is to attack others there is no way i believe in my opinion that's all this is speculation and opinion that romney and ron paul have cut a deal and they're just too far away from one another to ever do that however only recently has the field narrowed down to a handful of people so we'll see what rog is on today and said that he and ron paul are good friends i mean they hang out together he calls him all the time. you know

he's he is offered as going they all say about it other well but i mean this is i think this is sincere don't you. look how do we judge the city they all say my friend he's my friend they most of them have relationships that's just how it is it is it would be very curious to me to believe that they ever cut a deal and time will tell but it's just i think an absurd richard could it be that the republican establishment i mean you have we've had now two states republicans held primaries where romney lost but the official establishment announced that he won iowa and maine and then we discover afterwards well maybe not maybe and you know could it be that they just kind of had a little conversation with ron paul's you know your son just became a senator. and i'm reading the names of those that are exposed that's not far from the truth here i mean the truth of the matter is we already know the coordinates on both pulling out of the georgia or the atlanta presidential debate so we are there is some sort of core dimension what the mission is only mitt romney and ron paul

though but the truth of the matter is that it benefits ron paul to team up with mitt romney so that he's the presumptive quote unquote or well we'll see what happens tonight but he's the front runner and you know he's going to eventually turn over his whole entire you know libertarian platform to his son so it's a really good you know step first on the right direction making some friends with the g.o.p. insiders as for interest here is why that they here's why that's a bit ridiculous actually because we're saying that they're coordinating to pull out but look of the twenty debates they've had they don't all simultaneously agree to do that invade what happened in a way are from each other and there are two or three so we're not saying that they coordinated on the first twenty they're only coordinated after twenty they're no longer choosing to do a debate in georgia come on but no i mean the truth the truth the truth of the matter is those are they both campaigns admit to coordinating on both go into the debate in georgia i mean they admitted it i mean that's the truth and most of the campaigns coordinate on the first twenty debates about accepting them i'm not going

to do it unless these three are there ok well let's do let's let's move this along so that's normal you know how to if mitt romney. loses in michigan. what kind of obstacles particularly since michigan is a portion of representation state in arizona if he wins or loses and he's almost certainly going to win there's a huge mormon population in arizona if he if he carries arizona to winner take all so he gets all the delegates marathon but in michigan whether he wins or loses if it's a tight race he might end up with only half the delegates and what kind of damage is that going to do to mitt romney. anthony. well it's not so much on the delegate count as it is the perception count this he's a home state guy his father was governor his mother ran for senator there that's a name that's power and it's so it's perception he needs to have to not just win but exceed expectations so many of the states have changed some portion representation in the last five years or so this thing is likely to go on and wouldn't be surprising at all if it's california in june so you know numerically

a map is just math and given the math richard i'm sure you're looking at the republican math as well as the democratic math. you know there's there's talk about this leading to a brokered convention and it was one of the big topics on my radio talk show today is a lot of bunch of radio stations in michigan in detroit grand rapids in arbor and in charlotte and i'm saying to the democrats don't go out and vote for rick santorum just let the republicans have their primary and leave them alone don't don't do what the republicans did with george wallace in sixty eight mess with somebody else's primary because if romney is taken down by santorum and and and it becomes a brokered convention we might end up with somebody who's actually a strong candidate against barack obama could be jeb bush it could be marco rubio i mean there's a couple of people there who actually have a lot of health and would be better candidates and romney in my opinion what i know i think you're right though tom tom the truth of the matter is no matter what happens in a brokered convention if there is a book convention it bodes well for democrats saying that

a lot of the really good candidates i don't see them jumping into the race in a brokered convention they all know that after all these republicans from across the country have voted and after they voted then they're still going to have the you know the party inside of the side who wins i think it's really going to upset their base the voters going to the tea party voters were against the establishment they got of the things that republicans do really well and really fast as a drop in the line you know it's the old chris matthews joke republicans are looking for a leader democrats are looking for a meeting i think there's actually truth to that and the i'm saying that a brokered convention actually might work to the advantage of the republican i guess i'm disagreeing with you yes i was there maybe a stronger candidate than the. in your example i mean it was almost of whether or not there's a strong candidate this candidate if there is a broken bench is going to happen what the last week in august so they're going to have just about three months to introduce themselves of the entire country which whether or not to manage if there was one i mean it's a lot to mount a full fledged campaign against president obama who we all know going into going into his convention going to not only have a great approval rating going to see jobs numbers tick down are also going to see an economy that's working what we saw that's happening the auto industry so i think

it bodes well for the president either way the longer the republicans are confuse the better it is for president obama interesting your take on this and then also i'm curious what your thoughts are anthony about in wisconsin is this upcoming competition between basically grassroots activists and the koch brothers and their billions you know who's going to win that. i wouldn't quite label that way but look even you touched on it last night i did encounter late as last week that that transition into wisconsin you know you brought up rubio you brought up other people who could potentially surface in a brokered convention like it is the politics of obama and the d.n.c. to go out there early and destroy anybody that disagrees with them and try to make them afraid to come on and engage and they are all currently doing that right now absolutely chicago style politics and currently doing rubio right now they like this year are going to go politics that's going on is being done by santorum it's being done by gingrich i mean they're now going to tackle. the same union

thugs are doing it in with a new lease and here's the problem i generally use layouts road i can see about fifty is this hold on the doctor isn't just on cyclists and he won't know what's going on i don't that guy who works that way when i get ugly one side of the union thugs these are teachers these are nurses these are firefighters absolutely none of these officers. are these are yours all asic even you know what it is going on in wisconsin you say you know you're one of the oh you people are wrong again if you say it doesn't mean as you or i know a million people had to go peddle it does it mean to repeal the governor because he's he's going he's against the middle class and working class and i are union people is also you know class it's about the unions this is how you and i were among the organizing guys those of i need your time here you got to let me speak are not yes they are there are all those teams are there are ten god and let me speak or not it's your decision and yours got decided last time you decide you don't understand or not but it's all yours. it cost nine million dollars i have

that recall in wisconsin they are trying to recall ten republicans this is union activists who say you got duly elected by the people but you don't agree with my views or your we're going to recall you that's thuggery ok one hundred percent we will leave it at that and let our informed viewers make up their own mind anthony thanks so much for being with us richard great to have you with us thanks tom pretty good thank you for the time thank you. after the break can shell oil have people tortured and murdered and not answer for court. you just put a picture of me when i was like nine years old and she told the truth. i'm a confession i am a total. get a friend that i love rather than hip hop music and. he

was kind of a yesterday. i'm very proud of the role that al-jazeera has played. you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture.

is news let's assume i run a giant trans national corporation. joint oil company and let's also assume that all my corporation is exploring for oil in africa i am quite mercenary armies to

torture people and murder people among the local population who are all that happy about my company being there. given that should my corporation be held liable for damages caused by this is salt and sued in court here in the united states that was the question before the united states supreme court today in the case of kyogle versus royal dutch petroleum a case that could give corporations immunity from any civil suits for engaging in some of the worst violations of human rights around the world that you can think and we're not talking about anybody from the corporation actually going to jail for these tortures murders we're just talking about the families of the people who were murdered being able to sue for a few dollars which the corporation probably wouldn't even notice on their annual balance sheet according to the alien tort act passed during the george washington administration more than two hundred years ago private parties are legally responsible for violations of international law and can be sued in u.s.

courts but the second u.s. circuit court decided last year that corporations are not considered private parties under the law that's the language of the law uses who could be sued private parties and those therefore cannot be sued or held liable for breaking international laws against things like torture or murder the ironic thing here is that this is essentially a corporate personhood case if corporations are people and can spend unlimited amounts of money in our elections as the court ruled in citizens united twenty ten then as people corporations should be held liable for atrocities committed abroad right. not so according to the second circuit court and it remains to be seen how the corporate friendly supreme court is going to rule on this matter but should the high court go along with the lower court and the corporations and the consequences frankly could be disastrous as second core second circuit court judge pirro laval

wrote last year in his dissent warning of the consequences of that court's rulings . so long as they incorporate businesses will now be free to trade in or exploit slaves employ mercenary armies to do dirty work for despots perform genocides or operate torture prisons for a despots political opponents or engage in piracy all without civil liability to victims so what kind of atrocities are corporations up to overseas and how might the supreme court let them get away with it joining me now is b.b.c. investigative journalist an internationally best selling author greg palast his most recent book is vultures picnic and pursuit of petroleum pigs power pirates and high finance carnivores if you don't have a copy to get one right away it's an amazing read you can put it out greg welcome back to the program. glad to be with you tom so greg what exactly are these corporations up to overseas that they want to cover from potential civil suits and

and i you know it's boggling to me that they don't even have to worry about criminal prosecution they but they're they're going to the supreme court to stop paying out a few bucks to families of people that they tortured murdered i mean with what's going on. the shell oil company royal dutch is there or is there overseas operating alias it's the good old shell oil and they have been accused there is a hell of a lot of evidence that they were involved in using the nigerian military to kill people torture people assassinate people that got in the way of their drilling that have proven true they would be liable under george washington's law which went after pirates and international criminals you know obviously the supreme court is trying to square the circle is trying to say well corporations are people when it comes to buying elections but they're not people they're off the hook when it comes to committing murder i mean it's too late for murder inc and i bet osama would have

benefited from this law if you'd only spent twenty bucks to incorporate in delaware he'd still be watching the videotapes right literally what you're suggesting is of al qaeda had been a corporation then we could have gone after them i mean or and even if we even if the alien torah law was upheld we could have gone after him criminally we could only have gone after them civilly like you know hey you got to pay for it. well right now you know i'm sad reading a bit but in fact in fact you know al qaeda and the saudi royal family for supporting them have been sued these are we've had torts now again alien torts is about crimes committed overseas by u.s. affiliated or u.s. based companies you can only be sued if you have a u.s. operation this you know this was used to stop pirates and the supreme court the right wing of the supreme court is going to be relying on the fact that

corporations have not been successfully sued under alien torts so far that's because they've usually settled or just agreed to the punishment like for example i.g. farben which made gas chambers for hitler so we have had corporations pay for and have to make restitution for and suffer for committing crimes against humanity mass murder and genocide this is a dangerous new business so the guys who built the gas chamber made bucks off it would under the u.s. supreme court's ruling if they go as expected if the right wing goes as expected would be off the hook this really is serious business we've used this law to stop mass murder texas and mass destruction throughout the world stop piracy. and you know if you're for example if you're hit by a somali pirates this law applies to any affiliates or banks that are taking in their money in the u.s.

do you realize that if the somali pirates incorporate they're not subject to the alien torts law anymore assuming that the supreme court goes along with the second circuit. that's assuming the supreme court goes along and you know let's face it this supreme court hypocrisy consistency doesn't mean an awful lot here going all the way back to two thousand this court back to two thousand when they coronated george w. bush as president. the first steven brier today one of the you know one of the just as for in court pointed out during the oral arguments today that in sixteen sixty in the first the first modern corporation arguably was the east india company which was incorporated in this number of sixty one by queen elizabeth the first there was you know ten years earlier she'd incorporated the golden hind pursuer francis drake and given him limited liability but really the first big big big one was in sixteen zero one and in sixteen sixty prior said the east india company was subject to

a lawsuit that was under similar provisions to the alien torts act and you know so he's he's clearly of the opinion that a corporation should be able to be sued any any sense of the other justices or where this might go i mean and here you've got this this does sound the judge who says that you know if the supreme court goes on the second circuit then businesses will now be free to trade in or exploit slaves employ mercenary at armies perform genocides operate torture prisons or even engage in piracy. that's right i mean what this supreme court's going to if the right wing wins on this if the corporations win on this it by the way we should note that the obama administration has come down completely in favor of applying the alien torts law to corporations that commit murders and atrocities right so at the instructions of brose going to show it we'll. that's correct obama administration is saying shell

oil if they've committed the atrocities better pay the victims but unfortunately the british and german governments and it's very unfortunate that the german government is taking this position given their history. is taking the position on the side of shell oil that's a very dangerous business what they're going to try to do that you can see the trick if you listen to your arguments that's being turned here which is say well this has to do with particular language of this particular treaty right private persons but on the other hand you know it's so close to if they play a game here they're obviously reversing themselves on the same reasoning that was applied to citizens united saying that corporations can give unlimited funds to political candidates and by the way when we talk about international law let's not forget that citizens in effect gives companies like shell oil foreign companies whether it's the people's liberation army or al-qaeda inc if they incorporate in delaware they can get money too so it's you know to say that it's

a domestic versus international question it's also ignoring the fact that citizens united opened the door to foreign to foreign money in u.s. campaigns in the in his dissent in stevens's to sound in citizens united he said the if this decision stan had had been in place in one nine hundred forty that tokyo rose would have had you know who would have had free speech to talk to the american troops would have been protected under the first amendment which is totally bizarre but now as you say if al qaeda were to incorporate they could be supporting rick santorum is campaigning and who would know i mean you know it's just incredible greg palast brilliant work that you're doing out there and brilliant reporting thanks so much for coming and sharing your stories with us and again i want to tell people vultures picnic this is an amazing book in pursuit of petroleum pigs power pirates and high finance carnivores you got to check it out greg thanks so much for being with us from from new york tonight. thanks tom you

know giving corporations free rein to commit genocide would be a disastrous decision by the supreme court it would move us closer to the corporatocracy where life becomes to quote thomas hobbes your paraphrase thomas hobbes nasty brutish and short. crazy alert that's one cool cat in what will soon be the latest viral video sensation on the web a cat has honed it skills in a particular shell shuffle gambling game when its owner shuffled the shells three times the cat correctly guessed where the hidden object was two of the three times and if you watch the concentration with which this cat is watching the scrambled shells you might think it's more than just luck take a look. at this. thank you thank you thank you.

thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you. thank you. thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you. thank you thank you thank you thank you. thank you. thank you animals have been used half heartedly in games of luck you may remember paul the octopus who correctly guessed the winner of every match that the german soccer team played in the two thousand and ten world cup all i know is this cat was better at the shell shuffle the most human beings which makes me wonder what are the games of luck have previous researchers found cats are good at maybe texas hold. coming up after the break occupy wall street is getting

a major boost from the ice cream guys stay to her bed go on about injuries.

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. i'm sorry welcome to the big picture. now because i'm lauren lyster.