but back to the big picture i'm tom hartman coming up in this half hour when president obama endorsed marriage equality one of the first questions i asked was how his decision to affect the african-american community so as that community's level of support for marriage equality changed since the president's announcement also thousands of americans will tee off at golf courses across the country this memorial day weekend and so will the occupy movement fire occupy protesters targeting a golf course in michigan and in tonight's daily take what would america look like in washington was run like a pirate equity firm and what kind of crazy misinformed person would even ask such a question i'll tell you in tonight's daily take. on saturday the board of the end of c.p. voted to endorse same sex marriage. civil marriage like all civil rights provided

by the government must be provided to equally to all the n.w. c.p. has been making a case where he quality for one hundred three years. while the move is largely symbolic many have said that the vote will help debunk the myth that the african-american community is uncomfortable with marriage equality anti-gay marriage groups like the national organization for marriage have promoted this myth and have tried to use race baiting tactics to drive a wedge between african-americans and gays and support for marriage equality however new poll numbers suggest the national organization for marriage or noms efforts have failed a new a.b.c. washington post poll found that overall fifty three percent five three fifty three percent of americans say gay marriage should be legal up from thirty six percent in two thousand and six of those surveyed however fifty nine percent of

african-american respondents said they wanted to legalize same sex marriage while sixty five percent favored president obama's position so are these new poll findings an accurate representation of the african-american communities feelings about same sex marriage joining me now is dr brad braxton founding pastor of the open church in baltimore maryland and author of the recent washington post article same sex marriage support a sign of love acceptance and devotion to god dr braxton thanks for joining me tonight thank you for having me why is it a common belief that the african-american community is against same sex marriage is that just that canard that was promoted for the last decade or so by the national organization for marriage or has that in part come out of the community itself. i think first of all we must establish the fact that across the history of our country there has been a tendency to look at the african-american community as a monolith on any number of issues and this is yet another example of that i think

there is considerable texture and nuance across the spectrum of african-american life in general and african-american religious life in particular and i think that there are many trends that are beginning to end decay this complexity and that with in the african-american christian community there is a growing acceptance us nationally at the level of labor leaders i think there's probably more resistance at the level of clerical leadership than actually in the pews so in this instance it has always been my contention that the leadership will actually come more from the pews then unfortunately from the pulpit that's a really important point to and that and that. model with the characterization also contributes to the objectification of an entire group of people how much of an effect do you think the president's endorsement has had. a part in my describing it

as monolithic but no more as the african-american community or african-americans in the nosedive. i think a couple of things may happen first i think that this has created an opportunity for communities broadly defined and especially faith communities to have more honest conversations about relationships in general and our own sexual ethics in particular the second thing that i hope will happen as a result of this is that communities will as we move into this presidential election season look at pick candidates on a broad swath of topics and i'm hoping that leaders at the grassroots level and also at the level of official leadership will help persons to remember that we judge evaluate discern our candidates not on any one particular issue so this is

a great opportunity to talk about relationships and broader conversations about the role that human sexuality plays in our communities and also to look at candidates more broadly for what they have done for the entire country but especially for persons who are struggling in this very difficult moment in our country's history dr braxton brilliant analysis thank you so much for being with us tonight delighted to be with you thanks. beginning today residents and community groups from benton harbor michigan will begin occupying the p.g.a. professional golf association later this week the p.g.a. will host a seniors golf tour tournament in benton harbor michigan a city that was taken over by one of governor rick snyder's financial manager cronies you might remember those guys they're the ones paid a quarter million bucks to take over a city and get its fiscal house in order that means firing all the local acted officials then getting to work trimming down budgets cutting back on public services like police and firefighters breaking union contracts and selling

a large chunks of the commons like parks and utilities off. the crony corporations are part of the hostile takeover of benton harbor the financial manager even put up a local radio station for sale on e bay he also sold off twenty two acres of the local public park without the say of voters to a corporation that would develop it into part of a luxury golf course called harbor shores that golf course boasts membership fees of five thousand dollars a year a price that makes it inaccessible to the residents of benton harbor whose annual salary averages around ten thousand dollars a year in other words a park enjoyed mostly by low income minority residents was ripped away and sold off to richie rich investors for their exclusive golf course now the p.g.a. is hosting the tournaments this course and residents about an arbor are going to remind the p.g.a. the developers and governor rick snyder and his financial managers that they're not

planning to stand by silently while the city is stolen from them joining me now for the latest on this story is the reverend david alexander bullock president of the detroit chapter of rainbow push and president of the highland park michigan and double a.c.p. reverend bullock welcome thank you so much for having us thank you for joining us i understand you were in benton harbor today for the occupy the p.g.a. protests what was the turnout like and what was the protest like was a peaceful. the protest was peaceful again we are about the tactics of nonviolent resistance to state occupation and emergency management in michigan it was peaceful but it was powerful as the casket rolled down the street symbolizing the death of democracy in bin harbor and indeed the state of michigan we are seeing now people getting the message that between voter suppression emergency management and this

move by governor rick snyder to disenfranchise over fifty percent of the african-americans in the state of michigan that's something has got to be done to guarantee that the right to vote is protected and defended in michigan how is he disenfranchising voters in missouri. well the emergency managers are like dictators they have basically like czars. and joseph harris has complete control over every aspect of government in britain harbor he is the executor he is that legislative branch he is that you dish your branch indeed as you have correctly reported closing down the public radio station and then putting it online for sale this deal with the land and the development and how the commission was basically dismantled and the emergency manager put his own people on the commission so that they would be able to steer the development in

a way that didn't allow for transparency and so the mayor in the in the city commissioners who are elected have no power base can simply open in closed meetings so in effect those who they are supposed to represent that elected them have no voice and no recourse in their vote is being disenfranchised so this is sort of a second order disenfranchisement down in florida in two thousand jeb bush had katherine harris knock eighty thousand african-americans largely african-americans off the voting rolls because they had names that were similar to felons and taxes and so they showed up to vote and they were just told sorry you can't vote in michigan people vote and they elect city and you know city what he called city council members in a mare and then the governor comes in and says yeah but you know they can't meet they can't talk they can't make any decisions because my crony buddy he's going to run the show as do i have the right. you got that exactly right this is one man

rule us citizens elect a mayor elect city council and in public at four allows for the governor of the state treasurer to appoint an emergency dictator an emergency manager who comes in and has unilateral powers over every aspect of government the people have no voice so then if you add on top of that the voter suppression be a center in the house of representatives in the state of michigan right now bill seven four one three seven four five eight zero three and eight thirty one these bills are going to now on top of emergency management allow for a number of ballots to potentially be challenged ballots and so you may see in michigan also what you saw in florida in two thousand so emergency management on top of potentially thousands of challenged ballots in michigan michigan is ground zero for the fight to stabilize democracy in america and yet when these guys push these laws through and put them into a media fact in violation of the michigan constitution is robin's acted in the

legislature illegally nobody has stepped up to us to seriously challenge that why. well you know what i want to applaud the sugar law center michigan forward were able to push michigan state conference in double a c.p. and other allies of the committee to stand up for democracy i mean we pushed of this huge petition drive and currently we're in the court system now waiting to hear the court of appeals has to say and so there is a grassroots movement unfortunately not as law not as vocal not as bold and courageous as good movement that we've seen in wisconsin but a movement nonetheless i think the racial dimensions in michigan i think the way that governor rick snyder rolled out public at four by targeting bin harbor then targeting cities like flint saginaw highland park and then detroit these are predominantly african-american cities i think we were low to see sleep i think many

who were in the progressive community many who might even be republican but believe that republican over the republican party democrats who believe in democracy or the democratic party i think they've been of people who should be traditional allies basically were loyal to sleep by the way probably got forever and rolled over bowler who are out of time at the thank you saw it thank you first of all for correcting my assertion and per pointing out that people are are speaking back thank you very much sir thank you so much speaking of activism occupy wall street is gaining momentum and recently a group of musicians ranging from bob dylan and david crosby to john by as came together to soundtrack an album for the movement that was released last week on the show tomorrow we'll be talking more about that album with various musicians and the executive producer of occupy the album. coming up the talking heads a fox so-called news one american to be run like a private equity firm what would america look like if the government was run like a business it will lead to the death of democracy as we know it.

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says. wealthy british style. that's not right in the. markets why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy. mike's guns are a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in two kinds of reports.

are coming to come soon george your posts that are thom hartmann facebook page she had this reaction to our story last night about cory booker's comments over the weekend this post really is repulsive cory booker spoke from the heart and what he said was very valid shame on you john for throwing him under the bus because it wasn't what was politically best for the party in the short term well actually first of all if you go back and see what i had to say about cory booker it was that i felt that he wasn't the bad guy that he had been hanging out too much with david gregory and the rest of the corporate media that creates this false equivalency of well republicans are doing something really nasty so the democrats whatever they're doing must be nasty to any kind of water into that false equivalency and was promoting that on the air and it bit him in the bud so you know i think cory booker's a decent guy and has a great future and this is not over. just.

the good the bad and the very very loud orisha slee ugly the good new jersey state judiciary committee the committee unanimously voted monday to send a build the full new jersey assembly that would decriminalize possession of up to a half ounce of marijuana the bill will come up in the full assembly in the next couple weeks if the bill becomes law first time violators will be charged with civil offenses and punishments up to five hundred dollars instead of jail time jersey would become the latest state to decriminalize marijuana joining the likes of connecticut california new york and oregon family merrick at a sensible drug policy so let's hope this momentum continues the bad breath as governor dave heineman recently the cities of the omaha and lincoln nebraska passed nondiscrimination ordinances state attorney general john browning argued they were

unconstitutional now government governor heineman believes both the ordinances should be put to the vote of the people in other words i don't believe that protection from discrimination isn't really a right and a majority even a bigoted majority should be able to vote on whether or not they can discriminate against a minority sorry governor so our public works some issues are too important to be voted on and equal rights for all is one of them and the very very ugly mark try ina traina a school psychologist in louisiana recently is this twitter account to go on a racist rant accusing. dogs are destroying america one tree tweet read we are faced with a young army of black black army of fogs who declared war on the american way of life. another red black dogs of career an atmosphere of fear has wrought america real terms with a longer. traina has also publicly supported alabama's former segregation is

governor george wallace has posed a racially charged anti obama tweets as well the fact that this man was allowed anywhere near the future generations of this country it's just very very ugly. the great minds of fox and friends and i should probably offer the disclaimer that i've been a guest many times on the show are wondering what would happen if america was run like a private equity firm anyway the big debate is whether or not people run private companies better or the government runs things better so if in fact the government actually ran more like a private enterprise when certain people still have jobs that's the question this

morning for instance or a cold or you know he's or attorney general some have said look he had botched the fast and furious thing where one border agent got killed and now some are saying there's a cover up do you think he you know if if government were run like a private equity firm do you think he would survive what about harry reid he hasn't passed a budget as majority leader of the senate in three years would he still have the job and what about the g.s.a. the people who run the g.s.a. in government when you book a smoking clown and a mind reader and then tell everybody you've got to tell the some of the guys to dress up like women and say that's a good morale building is that effective way to lead your culture. this is an extraordinary example of how fox so-called news manipulates both the views and the minds of their viewers by the way some are saying that steve gretchen and brian are having orgies in the back of the set after the show every morning. you think us too harsh but i qualified it by saying some are saying so must be true right

it's actually a technique for making a false point or spreading a lie without a shred of evidence or even a witness which fox so-called news pioneered so some people say would be a pretty good choice for you and the hispanic vote some people say guys posturing somebody will say and excuse me i'll get you joe in just to say but some people say that you may be setting up sharpton for a run against hillary in two thousand and six in the senate journalistically it's a very peculiar technique because the idea behind journalism is that you're sourcing who you're referring to this is just sort of a clever way of inserting political opinion when you know it probably shouldn't be there some people say that this land undermine what the u.s. troops are doing there some people say some people say john kerry has some similarities to an earlier massachusetts politician and some people say in light of what's happened with the oil for food program so people say supported by iran some say i've heard a couple people say it some say that it's a sour grapes book some people say some people say some people say it's just too

violent there's too much blood some people say well some people say well some people say some people say some say if some people say some of us saying some people say there's some people who say something about major has already happened those are his words some people say it's exploitive when he said it that and here they are doing it eric holder watch carefully what each of them reads off the teleprompter. for instance eric holder you know he's our attorney general some who said look he had botched the fast and furious thing where one border agent got killed and now some are saying there's a cover up do you think he you know if if government were run like a private equity firm do you think he would survive what about harry and of course for three years the republicans have blocked any attempt by the obama administration to have a real budget presented to or passed out of our congress they even recently introduced a budget that they said was the president's budget it wasn't and it was voted down unanimously so the talking heads at fox could claim that the president and harry

reid are to blame what about harry reid he hasn't passed a budget as which are the leader of the senate in three years would he still have a job and then there's the famous g.s.a. party. what about the g.s.a. the people who run the g.s.a. in government when you book a smoking clown and a mind reader and then tell everybody you've got to tell the some of the guys to dress up like women and say that's a good morale building is that effective way to leave your cult well probably not it sounds to me like a waste of time and money. but of course when word got out people were fired suspended and it's pretty good bet it's not going to happen again but where did the g.s.a. get the idea from a consultant who really routinely produces events like this for corporate america remember the two point two million dollars party that tyco international threw on the island of sardinia complete with an ice sculpture of michelangelo's david with vodka coming out of his penis that one made the news but the fact is that corporate america is

a walk in lavish spending of their customers money from corporate jets that c.e.o.'s routinely use for personal the cations to elaborate parties that would make the g.s.a. blush to the hundreds of stories literally hundreds of examples that came out during the spitzer investigation laid out in the documentary client number nine of banks toure's routinely awarding top traders at the big banks evenings with high priced call girls so if government was run like a business we could expect to see an end to transparency and end of accountability lavish parties for senior officials and the arrest of anybody who shows up to picket or protest these practices after all you can stand outside your congressman's office with a protest sign but try standing outside the office of the c.e.o. your health insurance company you will be arrested for trespassing on private property companies exist to make money government exists to serve the public good these are fundamentally different things. also companies are run like kingdoms

with kings princes and serfs known respectively as c.e.o.'s senior executives and workers the kings and princes have all the power and take most of the wealth the serfs have no say in anything and increasingly are holding on by their fingernails just to make it through life is that how fox news would have our government run for the people of fox news to suggest that government should be run like a business shows just how little knowledge they have or want their viewers to have about why the fifty six signers of the declaration of independence put their lives on the line to create our government back the original and more narrowly focused question of fox asked what if the federal government was run like a private equity or pirate equity firm like bain capital well first off it would look for a well run state or local governments that are serving their citizens and pay their civil servants a decent paycheck and are administering the commons of the schools the parks the

water and sewage the police and fire for the good of their citizens it would then borrow from a bank enough money to buy that local government say a city so it was now own by the president our country's c.e.o. president romney would then take all that borrowed money and dump that debt on the city and tell them that they had to pay it off that debt burden would force the city to layoff a lot of employees and cut off the health insurance and pensions for the rest of its employees president romney would then scour the city for things that could sell to give the money to him after all private equity is all about making the partners in the private equity company rich for example or might be a nice lakeside public park but it could be sold off to want to rick snyder's cronies the president around these buddies dad three holes to a private p.g.a. golf course more money in the president's pocket and the community gets poorer if the government really ran like a private equity company they'd then take the fire and police departments of the city jail and sell of the blackwater the money again going to president romney's

pocket and by the way. he gets the money he only pays a fifteen percent income tax on it even if it's hundreds of millions of dollars as it has been in the case of romney because private equity or pirate equity only works because of loopholes like this in our tax code he'd sell off the schools to a private corporation as well as the water and sewage systems and again pocket the cash and finally when the community is destroyed and forced into bankruptcy so all its suppliers get screwed and all the union contracts are broken all of that of course after president romney has taken his cut from everything and safely stashed it in either is swiss bank account or is caymans bank account oddly enough when the propaganda artists of fox so-called news write copy like this for their talking heads to read off the teleprompters they're not just totally pulling something out of their well the theater of the absurd what i just laid out for you is basically the libertarian party's platform an increasingly republican party's platform turn everything except the army over to private corporations to plunder and profit from

and to hell with the entire notion of we the people sometimes when you see stuff like this bizarre conversation fox and friends you may think the entire world has gone on sane and for fortunately this insanity is pretty much limited to the countries where rupert murdoch has control over much of the media like the us in the u.k. the rest of the world is pretty much figured out how crazy the entire notion is and hopefully now so if you that's it for the big picture tonight don't forget democracy begins when you get out there get active tag your it will see it.

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