philosophy but i think that in order to stand really if you've got to realize that it's not just that if that's all there was to it she would be as powerful as she is the reason she's powerful is because people young kids you know they discover oriya and they get really into it to. go back to the big picture i'm starvin coming up in this half hour while the high court finds it easy to give corporations more and more rights to buy our elections is it just as easy to destroy the rights of actual people i was the court's latest decision an example of judicial activism at its worst and designs daily take with a broken economy it's no wonder america isn't in the world's top ten happiest countries is there a way to turn our nations frown upside down. about

the rest of the news the supreme court things you need to be strip searched in a five to four ruling on monday the high court said jails have a right to get any new detainees in and basically strip search matter how minor the criminal offense was that means even people who committed minor crimes like forgetting to pay a parking ticket or jaywalking during an occupy rally would be strip searched and viewed in pope by cops and is to set a case just as prior wrote such searches are inherently harmful humiliating and degrading and a quote and he also said that there's no reason why they should be used for jaywalking speeding or protesting so once again while the high court is busy giving corporate so-called people more and more rights to buy our elections and screw over their customers it's the rhodian the rights of actual human beings joining me now to discuss more on the court's latest attack. our rights as. an attorney and

privacy advocate rebecca walker thank you town great to have you here just how serious is a breach as a breach of privacy is this ruling it's one of the worst and the flames of the fourth amendment are being extinguished throughout the entire country once again under the guise of police protection and law enforcement protection and i just think that the justices are out of step with what's going on since nine eleven in the united states this is not going to turn the frowns upside down that's pretty darn sure since nine eleven the people of the united states of america all suffered greatly and we are suffering more and more every day because it's turning into a police state and i think that the outcry of trayvon martin is the finger of the polls has to be touched it's an outrage because it's happening in every state

everywhere the group tally and the invasion of privacy by law enforcement and now it's going to continue in the jails and if you look at what happened in this case what happened to albert lawrence you know he's a guy who was strip searched this is where the kids came from he's in the passenger seat his pregnant wife is driving these got a four year old son in the back seat they're going to the mother and was for dinner and when she gets pulled over for speeding and he says this is my car here's the registration sir you have an unpaid ticket well i really don't and i have a piece of paper proving i've paid this ticket i keep getting pulled over so i carry proof i've paid to take it get out of the car and you can scan it was dismissed immediately because he had made it he is a united states it is since he took him to jail mistress' are now once like you said towards twice the most brutality that most american citizens are. suffering

now is at the hands of police or law enforcement first you give the police officers all of the you can go into the car you know you can search the individual they're not following the fourth amended because of nine eleven they have so much more room now so all of the kids are being taken out a car the swat team non-primary county maryland swat goes in thirteen nascar men with with shotguns putting everyone on the floor because there is they have to get in the houses now because of nine eleven so the worst brutality little kids are seeing are the police breaking down the door with shotguns to their head the worst brutality kids are seen or when they're pulled over all the time illegal stock to get out of the car we're searching nearby if they say i know i have a right not to be searched they don't take into the police station and they're strip searched. as to to what extent might this be actually.

i mean this this is the five right wingers on the court promoting this and they all have and these are also five republican appointees there seems to be i don't want to make it partisan but there seems to be this anti occupy wall street agenda coming out of that party and out of that political side and an awful lot of people in the occupy movement get arrested for trivial things like stepping into the street when they're supposed to be on the sidewalk or not being on the sidewalk that the police have decided they shouldn't be or sometimes just hey we can arrest them and then you know six hours later they let them go if all those people are now going to be subject to being stripped naked in front of a group of police officers and poked and prodded and humiliated is this a you know throwing cold water on it's a lousy that's not even a strong enough metaphor on the right to protest it it's it's it's freezing the constitution and it just it almost doesn't exist when it comes to your body your

car your home and think about what they're doing they're giving this power it's bad enough that the police have day and they're ignoring the constitution through out the current three you know how many people are being shot you know this is happening everywhere and that's why there's just such an outcry ok now they're giving it to prison guards prison guards i can't stand you get over here that's what's going to be happening now is that one of the things that he said was that you know some of the i think the quote was that some of the worst people timothy mcveigh was pulled over because he didn't have a license plate on his car but timothy mcveigh is one of the most awful people in the world he's not somebody who doesn't have a license plate was strip searching him would not have told you that he was going to blow up a federal. building in oklahoma city that i've read or write

a supreme court justice made this statement it makes absolutely no sad to ha yeah but i wonder why is the people who don't have their plate are still people who just don't have a plate and look what they did to this man you mention we have just a minute left you mentioned that the for the most for the moment isn't flames or is in trouble here the fourth amendment says what this is a violation of. privacy in your own by literally that your person papers shall be a call for you not and it's the most intrusive and true since search into your own body you can never imagine what can be worse than that you strip search bent over and probe. it it's pretty pretty bizarre rebecca thank you very much there accurate media thank you this is just the latest ruling by the supreme court that has far too much power you know democracy here's the bigger picture republicans republicans

scream about judicial activism they point to two cases typically brown v board of education which they just absolutely went nuts this was daddy koch he went crazy on this he was running the john birch society or funding it or whatever of one of the pounders in the john birch society and back in the fifty's and after nine hundred fifty four when when the earl warren court said oh it we've got integrate the schools to comply with the constitution the koch brothers went crazy and you see the saudis impeach girl warren billboards all over the country the other are the other one that they talk about judicial activism which you know is in their mind but courtney in law is roe v wade and there's actually an argument that could be made because the court roe v wade said well there's three trimesters of pregnancy that kind of arbitrarily or some arbitrarily science has changed over the years do you find these three periods and came up with specific rules for each of those three periods now if the court was not activist and this is the conservative

argument but as i said i think that there's an element of truth and not just for roe v wade very across the board for all of these if the court was not engaging in judicial activism they would have either said this law is no good we're striking it down which as i've said before is a right i don't think they should have but they could say that and then throw it to congress they hate each your job to make laws come up with something better or they could say this crucell are just fine and we're going to keep it we're going to stand up but you don't build new law really that's you know real judicial activism is citizens united it's the strip search writ ruling it's it is you know roe v wade and brown versus board these things but. it is getting more and more dysfunctional it is getting more and more micro micro it's where the court is basically making laws congress and state legislatures should are the ones who should be making these right not on the right and judges unfortunately ever since

marbury vs madison and the court case and you know three with the supreme court took on to itself the power to over rule laws made by congress and signed by the president the judiciary has become the most powerful branch in government eight hundred three justice marshall chief justice marshall wrote in his decision it is in fact a great a province and duty of a judicial department to say what the law is. a power is not anywhere to be found in the constitution and that point on courts have had the power in america to strike down laws passed by passed by both congress and the president and this is exactly what president obama question the court against doing yesterday. ultimately i'm confident that the supreme court. will not take what would be an unprecedented extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by. a strong majority of.

a democratically elected congress just fine but other nations don't operate this way judicial review in other nations and many other nations doesn't exist and in some cases it where it does it's highly checked. in the united kingdom for example there is no judicial review their supreme court does not have the power to strike down laws they seem to be getting along just fine they have what's called parliamentary supremacy which is what most of our founders intended for us the first branch of government congress is the first among those in switzerland there's no judicial review if parliament is writing a law there supreme court can offer advice which can be ignored in canada the courts are given the was the right to declare laws unconstitutional but the government can ignore their rulings and frequently does in germany there is strong judicial review but it's done by a separate court that only does that it's called the federal constitution court in

germany it has sixteen members eight are appointed by each chamber of the senate and it requires a two thirds majority to appoint one of these people so you don't know if this filters out the whack a doodle plus they only serve twelve years they don't serve for life marbury vs madison really screwed things up in america congress has the power to end it judicial review as we've come to know it it's a right there article three section two of the constitution that the supreme court will operate under regulations established by congress congress should use that power and reclaim their position as the first among equals instead of being subordinate to a group of unelected men and women who sit around in black robes. coming up in tonight's daily take denmark is the api is nation on the planet and usa not so much what do the danes know that we don't and is there a way to put a smile back on america's brains.

look. we just put a picture of me when i was like nine years old like the silage through. the concession i am going to get it and that i like rap and hip hop music. he was kind of yesterday. i'm very proud of the world without you it's a place. look look look

. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you've lived 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 sorry welcome to the big picture .

your take my take is your chance to send in your questions comments rants observations about anything we talk about here on the big picture or during my radio show every day our first comments and i comes from a caller in new castle delaware had a great take on what it means to be a republican they told us yeah. if you something viable all day and sleep firearms you're probably a republican if you preach than values on sunday and sleep with your mistress on

monday the problem. if you think you only reason to help the poor is it has them by two wars you're probably a republican if you want to make an extra buck in that responsibly to achieve your problem. and if you can you're just. intolerance the set you free you're definitely a republican thank you scott tragic is not. actually an element of truth so that. when you think about a once great political party founded originally as as a progressive party abraham lincoln the first national candidate of the publican party the republican party was started in jackson michigan in june of eight hundred fifty six and a blink in their first their first candidate was the was the guy who was going to end slavery he was going to bring the nation together he was the great united he he had a guy from the opposite party as his vice president andrew jackson. johnson excuse

me and and what was to become an eight hundred eighty s. they were captured the republican party literally bought out by the railroad barons and ever since the eighteen eighties the republican party has been the party of the fat cats and the plutocrats and the only guards america is truly treasure the next comment of the night comes from athena post in our tom hartman facebook page this is her response to friday's great minds segment about the self-made myth she says this is a lot of b.s. the government definitely helps big companies we know that but to say that self-made is a myth is a lot of crock by the left i know many many individuals who work their butts off and become successful without the government government funding the corporations who fund their campaigns they get their handouts etc ryan miller is full of it ok so she's saying on the one hand. government corporations they can but on the other

hand successful people they got that way on their own and he didn't get people you can't run a business without an educated workforce words that come from the government you can't run a business without reliable courts and and the comments were that come from the government you can't run a business with without knowing that your contracts will be enforced where does that come from the government you can start a business without public rights of way to transport things where does that come from the government our final comment of the night comes on our facebook page from robert in britain an interesting take on justice scalia's refusal. to read the entire health care law i'm a lawyer in britain he said and our judges read things at length and in detail i really can't understand a judge who sits in a court saying he doesn't read documents material to the case i don't even think it would happen in a third world country well it did happen here it was justice scalia in fact he claimed it would be cruel and unusual punishment for him to have to read the law

that he's going to decide whether or not it's constitutional bizarrely enough and you know this is part of the third world if a cation of the united states were seen these guys these hard right wingers just take us down that road to you know we welcome third world america. that's it for your take my take tonight if you'd like your comment or question to sharpen the segue to the big picture listen up we want to know your to send us your comments by visiting the tom hartman facebook page by a twitter at tom underscore her or in the chat room on the message boards or through the blog at thom hartmann dot com you can also leave a message on our rant line at two two by three six fifty three zero six agree disagree sound off its all welcome remember that your comments may be used on the air. hits the good the bad in the very very pappa lived through

a silly ugly good maine senator olympia snow snow a moderate republican has one or two left attacked her party last night for using contraception as part of the political debate in america still a crowd at a women's campaign fund gala that i feel like it's a retro debate that took place in the one nine hundred fifty s. it's surprising in the twenty first century we would be revisiting this issue and the quote seems snow realizes there are more important debates to be having today like how to rebuild our economy or protect our environment a sudden debate over contraception america is nothing more than political grandstanding by republicans or fully sen snowe can convince some of her colleagues to jump off that bandwagon and focus on what really matters the bad mitt romney yesterday romney became the latest conservative to bash the chevy volt general motors super fuel efficient hybrid vehicle and big oil's worst nightmare speaking of wisconsin he told

a crowd quote i'm not sure america was ready for the chevy volt but i think instead of having politicians tell us what kind of cars we ought to make we ought to let people who are trying to understand the market make that decision and quote. all that surprising coming from a man who hates detroit and would love to see the american automobile industry disappear and should be noted you know politicians out in there with the chevy volt that was the executives of the company and the very very ugly detroit's frederick douglas academy fifty students were suspended from the all boys' school last thursday after walking out of classes in protest. high school seniors they're about to graduate but they say they're not learning because of what's happening inside this school. the students were demanding a proper education in complaining about a lack of consistency teachers and a shortage of textbooks for detroit has been designated ground zero for education reform by secretary of education arnie duncan and education isn't just

a problem of detroit it's a problem across this country our public education system is broken and needs to be fixed only she knows who are trying to address the problem and promote change that is very very. so what do the danes know that we don't know well a new report is out ranking the happiest nations on the planet and like most past reports on happiness denmark is at the top of the list here are the other nations that made the top ten mostly northern european nations along with canada new zealand and australia those which nation isn't on this list united states we rank a love just proves that money doesn't buy happiness since we're far and away the

wealthiest nation on the planet with forty one trillion dollars in combined wealth and denmark doesn't even crack the top ten in that category over the last half century as wealth has skyrocketed in the united states or happiness levels of flatlined so what's the point of being rich if you're not happy and if it's not wealth and what is it that makes people happy here in the united states conservatives want to believe that low taxation equals happy to us. the more money you get as a worker and you can key the happier you'll be but in denmark people are taxed at far higher rates than in the united states especially rich people if you make which translates into about one hundred forty thousand dollars a year in denmark expect to be taxed at above fifty percent whereas mitt romney who makes over ten million dollars a year pays less than fifteen percent in taxes here in the united states even the middle class is taxed higher in denmark with people who make roughly sixty six thousand dollars

a year paint thirty five percent in taxes approximately what millionaires and billionaires are so opposed to be taxed at in the united states although rarely do they actually pay that much spite all at denmark is still a way happier than the united states so low taxation doesn't equal happiness in fact thanks to the high progressive taxation denmark is one of the most equal nations in the world ranking third when it comes to income inequality or equality rather in the global joining index united states ranks about ninety if and when it comes to union membership which also helps balance wealth inequality denmark boasts a seventy two percent union membership rate united states is that a pathetic eleven percent union membership rate conservatives also want to believe that happiness depends on a for profit health care system in which we all can choose what for profit corporate alp insurance plan we want without dealing with government but in denmark

they have a government run single payer system financed by income taxes it allows every citizen and every long term resident of denmark have the same basic access to health care and about a quarter of the population decides to add a small amount of private health insurance coverage on top of the basic health coverage to cover things like plastic surgery no one goes bankrupt in denmark because they got sick and gains live on average a full year longer than americans. could be one reason whether happier than we are or maybe it's faith in government the market denmark city denmark doesn't have super pacs or millionaires and billionaires meddling in their elections they have publicly financed elections the last three weeks not a single political ad aired on television during the entire time because all the major political parties have agreed to ban political ads on average politicians in the united states spend eleven times more money per vote and they do in denmark

then mark has much higher voter turnout rates with an eighty seven percent voter participation rate by contrast in the two thousand and eight presidential election the voter participation rate the united states was just fifty seven percent so maybe politics free from corporate money goes a long way toward making people happier happiness could also have something to do with not living in fear of your neighbor and arming yourself to the teeth just in case you might have to stand your ground and serve it is want to believe that the second amendment serves as our defense of happiness because it really in denmark there are only twelve and guns per hundred people in the united states or eighty eight in denmark fewer than eighty people die a year from guns in the united states more than thirty thousand people die a year from some more guns don't seem to equal happiness. how about a big and strong military does that equal happiness denmark spends roughly four point three billion on their military

a year we spend six hundred eighty eight bill and while the military is the biggest portion of our discretionary budget we're a lot bigger than that mark in denmark it's the fifth biggest denmark spends more money on social programs on labor on education on health care and on technology and they do on their military so military power clearly doesn't equal happiness either so here we have denmark a nation that taxes at higher rates than we do in the united states gives basic health care and free education citizens hasn't sold their elections off to the highest bidder doesn't place any importance on arming their citizens against each other isn't involved in any wars abroad and has seventy two percent of its workers unionized here in those stats would probably consider what explode it denmark is the happiest nation on the planet were the nation that wrote the right to pursue happiness into our first document our declaration of independence maybe we should take our own advice and learn a few things from them that's it for the big picture is that i don't forget

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