welcome back to the big picture i'm tom arbonne coming up in this half hour who have the dogs out the dogs against romney have any effect on mitt's presidential hopes come november also the u.s.d.a. is charged with making sure the food served to us and our children is pure and safe so why is the u.s. the knowingly allowing thinks lie fairly good enough for drugs into our hamburgers and in tonight's daily take a strong manufacturing sector is crucial to a healthier economy so when will america throw out all those made in somewhere else stickers. to the best of the rest the news things are looking up once again for mitt romney he won the puerto rico primary on sunday and is expected to add the territory's

twenty delegates to his widening lead over rick santorum and looking ahead at tuesday night when republican voters in illinois will it the polls in that crucial primary it looks like romney's eye on another win will show that he has big leads in the state rasmussen reporting and nine point edge for romney over santorum in public policy polling reporting a fifteen point lead this is welcome news for romney who is beginning to or hoping to begin to heal soon from the brutal republican primary season and millions of billionaire dollars in super pac funded negative ads but as romney strengthens his grip on the nomination prices are circulating about whether or not voters can trust a man who thought it was just thought i am to strap is to the roof of his car for a twelve hour road trip in fact rick santorum made it an issue yesterday in an interview with a.b.c. . for a seamus the dog outlook i would say is you know the issues of character important

the selection and we need to look at all of those issues and make them assimilation as to whether that's the kind of person you want to be president of states all right santorum isn't the only one making seamus the dog an issue the wall street journal the washington post the daily caller and i have imposed have all reported on doggone rough date or just how big of a problem right is being for mitt romney heading into a general election joining me now is scott crider the founder of dogs against romney scott welcome. i'm there thanks for having me so what is bank for joining us what is the odds against romney already accomplished wow well it's it's it's accomplished things far beyond my wildest imagination that's for sure we we have our blog is getting four to eight thousand people a day on it and just depending on how much media coverage we have we've had international media coverage from about six or seven countries that action think

right now and and our facebook page is growing rapidly with over forty thousand members on it so we're getting a lot of a lot of word out about this story to add your bragging minister on the air in over one hundred countries right now has the group has your group stage any protests. yes we did that we had several smaller protests some more notable than others the largest in terms of media coverage so far as been a protest the state tests that the westminster dog show in madison square garden last month that was covered very widely everywhere and one that didn't get as much attention is that i think it does or says that one of our crack members in littleton colorado went to a romney event with a dog crate strapped to the roof of his car and actually didn't make it because he was stopped by a police officer on the way first suspected animal abuse. which raises the question

are you motivated by. being more on the peta side of things in other words you're concerned about mitt romney's abuse of an animal or are you motivated by one liking republicans or not liking specifically that romney you know more partisan motivations. i'm personally an independent vote more important person in a new car to you know candidates on both sides of the of the equation in my life this particular thing and i started this blog actually in two thousand and seven the very night that i read very her story about this that came out of one of the boston newspapers and i started to blog because it's it's the story struck me as being particularly something particularly cold and cruel to do to a pet and that's the best last hour yeah well and it does seem. at the very

least odd and i think cold and cold as especially after he has the dog down six hours into the trip because it had evacuated all over the car i mean this been driving off with a wet dog at sixty miles an hour scott thanks so much for being with us tonight hey no problem thanks for having me again good luck something tells me the longer part of seamus the dog might get the last laugh this year the story lines but here's what's really going storylines create reality for people especially for low information voters which tragically is the majority of americans they don't need to be so true story lines they just need to be story lines howard dean's scream for example can be heard played most of the people in the room actually couldn't be heard by most of the room a fact that the media probably didn't tell you it's not a quite normal in that room what he said it's just that in the microphone that the cameras picked up it's out of love al gore actually did work on and vote for legislation but he helped develop that legislation that created what we today call

the internet. michael dukakis whose photo in a tank in opposition to reagan star wars fiasco caused people to think he was weak on defense actually served two years the army was very strong on defense george mcgovern who ran against richard nixon in one thousand nine hundred eighty two was portrayed by nixon's people as a if he dove in fact he'd been a bomber pilot during a war to successfully completing thirty five missions including one where plane had one hundred ten bullet holes in the fuselage and wings lost his hydraulic power had an engine on fire he made an emergency landing on a strip that was so short it killed many bomber pilots before him and he pulled it off and was awarded the air star with three oakleaf clusters bottom line in politics perception is more important reality and why you can't come up with instances of republicans being stuck with such wrong perceptions in public and political operatives to spread this stuff about their their enemies in this primary republican strategist working for santorum and gingrich have been happy to label romney this way so will be interesting to see if romney can overcome the perception of a guy so weird not of touch that he'd strap his dog to the roof of his car and meantime

here's some food for thought for the obama administration. you think you know. i made a lot of money i've been very successful but you don't really go there maybe to you but sheen is mitt romney's dog. i bet you think romney love seamus think you're good. but a twelve hour family trip there was no room for seamus in the car so romney made for seamus right on the roof of the car in a cage that's right the republicans nominee for president meet sweet little seamus run on top of his car for twelve hours a cage my dog likes fresh air. in fact seamus loves fresh air so much he ran away to canada mili after the trip where he'd be safe for mitt romney's canine agenda this is how you trouble with your dog inside the car safe and sound like

he's one of the family if mitt romney doesn't even care about shamus then how could he possibly care about you i'm barack obama and i think he would approve this message. so sometimes you know it you know and sometimes you know you don't know and sometimes it's the firesign theater says everything you know is wrong. don't get your what you hear your right. to make. sure. you go is. every day millions of parents across america with the school cafeterias to feed their kids safe and good food still have the energy they need to do great in school from fruits and vegetables to proteins in dairy it's expected that our nation's school cafeterias are serving the best and healthy and safe meals to our kids right. maybe not as a fright in disgust a new type of meat in crowds taking over our children's lunches so if you think

that the meat used on taco day is safe and good for your kid and everything you know about cafeteria food is wrong joining me now to talk about the news cafeteria concoction is sarah seltzer associate editor with alter net sarah welcome. hi tom thanks for having me thanks for joining us we're showing a picture or will in just a second of some pink slime and you know here it is frankly it was pretty gross can you tell me to describe to our viewers what pink slime is. it is pretty what it is is the part of the cow that are otherwise and usable and about a decade ago were only used for things like dog food or cooking oil they're a little bit clinging to the skin in the bones then they're taken off and by a process using centrifuges and then once they're off the bone there they're sprayed with ammonium hydroxide gas to take away this in fact that because

these in fact are the parts of the cow that are most susceptible to things like eco lie and other infections you can really sort of the rotten parts and then they're sprayed with ammonia eye which is the gas form basically of what we all know is a household cleaner and then they're repackaged and at certain points in the last decade made up seventy percent of the brief beef products that we're being told and math market and so if you are true to clarify they are there added into the hamburger kind of as a small percentage of the hamburger sort of like filler as opposed to being seventy percent of the have about seventy percent of the hamburger out there or the me has this pink slime in it. that is exactly right so so why who are the u.s.d.a. approved of this and when and why. ok so i'm here make forget it was approved for and read back not just

a pretty but recommended for all of the nation's public schools and now this is after a couple of months ago a number of fast food chains publicly said that they were not going to be using this product which is that technically called lean finally textured beef is now commonly called pink slime and they were going to use it anymore but the u.s.d.a. recommended that all schools use beef that that contains. pink slime and then there was such an outcry after reports began to circulate in the media about this that the u.s.d.a. now is that as well schools have the option of not taking. feeling this order basically but the problem is that it's a little bit of too late you know it's a little too late because a lot of schools have already placed their orders for last year wasn't this originally allowed into our food supply technically a reagan appointee in the last months of the george herbert walker bush administration i wasn't aware of that but if that's that's definitely the era when

it first came into the food supply i don't recall her name but i'm quite sure that within a week after she made this decision she left that job at the u.s.d.a. and went to a job with a meat packing company where she was making big bucks. this is and is right here and. this is a story that more americans to go about this is just totally totally creepy. sara thank you so much for it's thanks so much for dropping by for sure and story was sure great to see you take care thank you but i'll make you sick now you everything you know about the meat served in any school cafeteria or maybe even the restroom. or maybe even store is right. coming up in tonight's daily take without a strong manufacturing sector of the country's screwed i was brazil working to protect its economy and converted to islam for.

patriot act and how it's been interpreted since it was signed into law more than ten years ago back in two thousand and one it's gone to the point where two u.s. senators organ senator ron wyden and colorado senator mark udall have written a letter to attorney general eric holder asking him to reconsider some of the ways the patriot act has been used and interpreted throughout the years and how it is in the future as well they say there is a significant gap between what most americans think the law allows and what the government secretly claims the law allows so i want to talk more about this with trevor tim an activist for electronic frontier foundation. hey there tim trevor excuse me. if i know has been very active fighting to gain a better understanding about all of this with court orders with freedom of information requests to the department of justice what is it specifically that you are hoping to obtain. but i think it's that back here for a second look at the actual part of the law that we're trying to challenge it's

called sections who fifteen and what it does it essentially allows the d.o.j. to go to a. foreign intelligence surveillance court it's called which with all issues secret court orders it allows them to obtain basically any business records so it can be criminalized p. it could be your internet history or it could be all your cell phone records let me just copy it we have a we have something that we can show our viewers with this language on it that we want to put up on the screen for the part of patriot act you're speaking of section two fifteen again helps officials get access to people's records. issues that so much of. which are called on it in the year the candidacy of paul what makes him tick why is he still popular among young voters why do republicans smear him while.

your take my take is your chance to send in your questions comments ranson observations about anything we talk about here on the big picture or during my radio show and it's coming comes from an anonymous caller our viewer rant line she had this to say about the tea partiers i'm crying from functionally killer night problem for your show please talk about. the republican tea party seeming gap to impale you don't entitle eccentric couldn't quite christian to a chair act back intellectuals are presidents peace talks about the entanglement they have to use church people fear oh thank you for your reporting. well i think what you're really describing there is not so much in title men as it is racism and it's tragically alive and well in the united states right now in fact we just we

just learned that one of the best selling bumper stickers rub site that promotes perseveres says it's got the obama logo and then says don't re are either dash and i g. in the second one says in two thousand and twelve i mean this is just like throwing out the n word and people are putting these numbers stickers in their cars all over the so this is this has a long history in american politics way back before reagan used it in philadelphia mississippi in one nine hundred eighty as his first official speech when he was running for president and when you call it out that's it for your take my take tonight remember we're trying to get a comment from every country in the world we want to hear from you so if you'd like your comments and questions or on this segment of the picture listen up. we want to know your take send us your comments by visiting the tom hartman facebook page via twitter at tom underscore hartman or in the chat room on the message boards or through the blog at tom hartman dot com you can also leave

a message on our ramp line at two two three six fifty three zero six agree disagree sound off its all welcome or remember that your comments may be used on the ear. it's the good the bad and the very very. really ugly but good former president jimmy carter her in an interview with out in post carter discussed his support for marriage equality in america he said that homosexuality was well known in ancient world well before jesus was born at christ was born jesus never said a word about homosexuality carter went on to say that jesus never said that gay people should be condemned in the carter's words again i personally think it is very fine for gay people to be married in civil ceremonies and the quote hopefully more people will listen to president carter and work for america make marriage equality a law in the united states the bad the t.s.a. the t.s.a.

is inability to properly conduct airport security has truck again t.s.a. agents at o'hare airport in chicago subjected a very young boy who was in a wheelchair to an invasive pat down take a look. here repeat it sure if you don't want to hear. her scream get. the fix right. if you hear me. like this here. this is just a little fragment of a verb very long quote for kids what are you doing fairly t.s.a. agents thought the spirit an innocent little boy was a terrorist mastermind there's a reason that x. israeli security officers some of the best in the world have condemned america's airports very well as our government going to learn that our airport security

process is out of touch with reality and needs to be overhauled and the very very ugly paula smith smith is the owner of a website which is currently selling a highly offensive bumper sticker directed at president obama sticker reads don't we and i g in two thousand and twelve play on the n. word which involves one of the most horrific racial epithets used in american history even worse smith seems nothing wrong with shill for his magazine the according to the dictionary the n word does not mean black it means a lot of lazy and sorry person ever really makes it so much but dr smith also said she thought the bumper sticker was cute and that the n. word was not offensive attacking the president as states over his race and calling one of the most horrific words in english language cute now that it's just very clear.

without a strong manufacturing base a country is rude that's because as adam smith pointed out back in seven hundred seventy six does work wealth of nations only manufacturing produces new wealth for a nation service sector is important for an economy we need somebody washing cars repairing computers but without the manufacture of that car or that computer the nation has no real or original wealth. every time you look at something in your house or apartment that's stamped with a made in fill in the blank country sticker or made in any nation you know that's one less product manufactured by an american factory by american hands generating jobs and real wealth for american government brazil knows this which is why they're taking steps this week to protect their manufacturing base is this weekend's financial times reported in an article titled brazil vows to protect manufacturing

the brazilian finance minister guido marr men tend got is taking new steps to protect their own domestic industries from a flood of cheap goods manufactured mostly in asia as finance as the finance minister told the financial times we don't want to lose our manufacturing sector in two thousand and ten brazil's economy grew at a blistering seven point five percent rate but then a slowdown last year just two point seven percent and in january this year brazil's manufacturing sector actually declined to two point one percent after a flood of asian imports poor and into brazil's retail stores cutting demand for products manufactured in brazil by brazilian workers creating real wealth for brazil as the financial times reports the government fears that employers will try to maintain their competitive business by cutting workers' salaries hampering domestic consumption domestic consumption is the key phrase here the brazilians

know that demand that drives an economy and the vast majority of demand in the economy comes from workers having good wages in money in their pocket that they can go out and spend for they're creating demand for more goods and services. brazil is absolutely committed to not making the same stupid mistake the united states made by embracing the now totally discredited supply side reaganomics which says that when rich people do well the money trickles down to everybody else they want their workers to make the money their workers in their country so those workers will stimulate demand side and they're also committed to not making the stupid mistake we made of becoming totally defenseless against foreign manufacturers the idiocy of so-called free trade meanwhile back here in the united states we're still stuck with reaganomics and free trade and transnational manufacturing corporations have laid off two point nine million americans and hired overseas workers to the tune of two point four million workers just since two thousand sucking all the stimulus

that those jobs and wages once produced here in the united states out to foreign countries and free trade deal after free trade deal the united states has committed itself to a suicidal race to the bottom falling wages and collapsing domestic manufacturing instead of doing what we should have done which is to protect the mystic manufacturing like brazil was going to do with a mix of new monetary policies a new protections for domestic industries the finance minister of brazil is working to revive brazil's manufacturing base first and tend to is given a tax break to manufacturers like the textile clothing industry that employs two million workers in brazil so brazilian companies don't have to cut wages to stay competitive he's also imposing higher taxes on imported cars import tariffs so the foreign car manufacturers can't undercut domestic car manufacturers of course the free traders who come from transnational corporate boardrooms and benefit the most from so-called free trade are hysterical but mr manzanita is holding firm saying he

was ill is not taking protectionist measures brazil is taking defensive measures we are in favor of free competition but we cannot keep our borders completely free while others are using noncompetitive reckons. brazil knows how an economy works and just over idle a strong and protected manufacturing sector is to a healthy economy unfortunately our policy makers don't know that's why every month over the last ten years fifty thousand manufacturing workers in america have been laid off every single month fifty thousand workers on tens of thousands of once booming manufacturing plants are now shuttered lining amtrak's northeast corridor with broken windows crumbling walls and graffiti stained facades and in time it takes me to tell you all of this five minutes or so well over a million dollars of american industry mostly manufacturing will have been sold off

to foreign investors to generate profits for foreign economies instead of for the american economy in fact more than four thousand dollars of american industry is sold every single second of every single day twenty four seven three sixty five as a result of this liquidation sale of america's manufacturing base and the resulting massive trade deficits the united states has in just thirty years gone from being the world's largest creditor to the world's largest debtor instead of being the world's largest exporter of manufactured goods as we were thirty years ago before reagan came into office we become the world's largest importer of we've gone from being the world's largest importer raw materials to becoming the world's mining pit now standing as the world's largest exporter raw materials and minerals in just three decades we went from being the world's premier first world nation to becoming the world's largest second world nation all because we forgot what it means to protect domestic manufacturing we forgot alexander hamilton eleven point plan for

protecting domestic manufacturing tariffs and subsidies it was put in place and seventeen i need to read and lasted nearly two hundred years. as the united states went from being a rural and agrarian nation to the world's economic powerhouse while other nations like brazil are developing or developed thanks in large part to adopting parts of alexander hamilton the plan united states has spent the thirty years since reagan undeveloped in a way that has never before been seen in our nation's history ross perot that crazy old coot the big years the charts and graphs he was right if we don't wake up to this economic disaster soon and begin protecting our manufacturing base like we did from seven hundred ninety three until reagan came in our nation will continue to slide down the bumpy road toward third world status that's the big picture for

tonight but more information of the stories we covered this in our websites of top . free speech or in our t. dot com it also check out our two youtube channel is there a link that tom harpur dot com this entire show is also available as a free video podcast on i tunes and you can visit thom hartmann dot com download the audio podcast of our daily in the through radio show or it's actually through the system and we have a free target i pad and i phone app at the app store you can send us feedback at twitter at tom underscore harben on facebook at tom underscore on our blogs message boards and our comment line at thom hartmann dot com and if you think that ronald reagan's policies and for that matter bill clinton's policies the whole free trade the whole free trade reagan bush clinton bush if you think this is insane. check out a book i wrote called rebuilding the american dream the first chapter starts out with george washington. before he was sworn into office saying i want to be sworn in you know in american made suit there's only one guy in america doing that he got

a suit from it's possible don't forget democracy because if you get out there and get active your. wealthy british scientists. sometimes like.

markets why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's cars or there are no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds a report on our.