looking out for the best interests of those with autism and how can we work to include rather than exclude autistics from society also each year wall street banks toure's rake in billions of dollars and they turn around and throw a good portion of it at politicians in d.c. how can we stop these corporate cronies from buying off our elected officials and restore the power in the american democracy to we the people i'll tell you and i'd still take. it as the rest of the news since friday's shooting massacre in colorado media pundits have been giving their takes on why the shooter may have done what he did and one of the most stunning offensive and outrageous suggested reasons for the shooting came from m s n b c's joe scarborough on yesterday's episode of morning joe take a look you have these these are these people that are somewhere i believe probably

on the autism scale i don't know if that's the case here but it happens more often than not. people that can walk around in society they can function on college campuses can even excel in college campuses but it is socially disconnected. naturally scarborough's comments created a firestorm of controversy and anger throughout the day yesterday especially for those with autism and in the asperger's who read people like the autistic self advocacy network called on scarborough to retract his cause is comments as did labor journalist mike elk who said that he too has asperger's syndrome a form of a part of the autism spectrum under pressure joe scarborough issued a statement this morning not on the air but in writing saying during a debate regarding the recent colorado shootings i suggested that the aurora tragedy should make americans focus more on mental health in this country those suggesting that i was linking all violent behavior to autism missed my larger point and overlooked the fact that i have a wonderful. with asperger's perhaps i could have made my point more eloquently not

exactly an apology and not exactly the sort of discussion that many in the autism community hope for after scarborough's comments yesterday so tonight on this show we're going to have that discussion joining me now is mike elk a journalist for in these times who publicly called on scarborough to retract his comments ari ne'eman close enough ok president go father the artistic self advocacy network welcome to you both how cute proud i was close up what is. it ok thank you ari mike why was it important for you to come out and speak directly to scarborough and his comments. to stick people who have asperger's feel socially isolated enough putting the vernon burden of them possibly being violent people is even more socially isolating them and in fact research shows that there is no link between violence and having autism in fact it's the opposite you're much more likely to be the victim of a crime or abuse if you have some sort of disease like god tism cetera and.

there's no scientific evidence as mike was saying about this but to the contrary can you speak to that is absolutely you know there are a lot of myths and stereotypes surrounding autism including this idea where violent or that we lack empathy and that is very real practical consequences it's important that we understand this isn't about political correctness it's about recognizing that we as a community face discrimination in employment in housing or more likely to be segregated in school to be institutionalized and all of that has that as it at its root a general sense of fear and prejudice in our society mr scarborough's remarks quite frankly only fed into that and if we're going to take steps to try and address that discrimination you know we really. have to respond to

them yeah let's let's define terms here for a moment ari autism what is autism what is the autistic spectrum and what is asperger's what autism is a developmental disability and you know like many disabilities it's very broad it has a lot of different manifestations some autistic people like mike and i can talk and experience mainly challenge is in social interaction the executive functioning our sensory sensitivities things of that nature or other autistic people have cognitive impairments and struggle with verbal communication but across the board there is still you know the possibility for real quality of life and real inclusion if we have our rights respected asperger's is a particular diagnosis on the autism spectrum it's actually going to be folded into the broader autism spectrum diagnosis in the next iteration of the d.s.m. five and it's generally used to refer to autism without speech. so

my autism speaks this organization has a space i'm unfamiliar with the support groups in the organizations and in this world can you tell tell us about as autism speaks is like the susan g. komen foundation for autism you know the group that deny the funding to planned parenthood what they do is is there's a lot of rich corporate board people on the board of that and they raise a lot of money and they feel good about themselves but only four percent of the spending goes to actually helping families cope with adaptability strategies for people have autism at forty five percent if spending goes to finding a cure for autism let me tell you something there's no cure for autism it's a genetic thing it's the way we're born the problem is an odd tism i mean that's sort of like going to a gay person and saying there's a cure the problem isn't that there needs to be a cure the problem is the discrimination you know you've got to find ways to make people fit into society you can have peace. they're completely non-verbal that can

control their bowel movements that are brilliant composers brilliant writers i've read several of them that can do brilliant wonderful things but we have to find ways to fit them in an optimism speaks i mean they woman is suing them right now she got offered a job there and she said well you know i might have to make special arrangements for my kid that has autism and they said nope we're not hiring you so this is a really hypocritical awful awful reactionary organization and one that you know joe scarborough says oh i'm very involved with them so they're just off ari one of my favorite introductions to to the autistic spectrum and asperger's in particular was norm legend's book diagnosing jefferson in the book he just kind of goes through the diagnostic criteria and then goes through jefferson's biography and his autobiography but basically the biography you're familiar with the book your thoughts on that but i think it's a very interesting book in part because it points to the reality that. we only talk about the autism spectrum and autistic people and

a very one sided way and it's a way that frankly fits the fundraising agendas of groups like autism speaks fear and pity and negativity and things like that but often doesn't relate to the kinds of things that we're actually hoping to accomplish improved lives for those of us on the autism spectrum you know in two thousand and nine three hundred fourteen million dollars were spent on autism research and only three percent of that money went towards research into improving the quality of services and less than one percent went towards research into the needs of adults we need a conversation about autism centers the voices of those of us on the autism spectrum ourselves and talks about areas of challenge but also areas of strength might be in a group like that there's and speaks one of the people like me and are able to serve on its board or even to work there so we're being told you know this is sort of like having in tbilisi people only having white people. run it so is is there an

alternative yeah i think what ari's group is doing here with autism self have you seen that works important and i think it's important for people like me to come out you know people know me because of my labor reporting and i still get nervous talking about it i had a rough childhood i was bullied but never did i think about doing what joe scarborough suggested being violent i channeled that into the way that workers are bullied and i think really the struggle for nor diversity at its root is a labor issue because it's about making institutions that aren't just you know taller tarion institutions but that actually respond to the needs of people and give people a say and how they're going to arrange their own lives and i think this is a fundamental cause and when i hear people say oh we need to cure autism i think about my life and all the gifts that asperger's has given me the ability to have an encyclopedic memory and i don't want to cure that that's crazy that's crazy that in the end it's just really crazy where it's going. like thank you both for being with us thank you it's real pleasure that it was. yesterday joe scarborough chose to

further alienate a portion of the american population that already feels like it's all along we need to be doing more as a nation help those with autism succeed in society instead of wiping them off as castaways. and now a quick update on the ongoing fukushima nuclear crisis for the second time in a month another damning report is out blaming the nuclear crisis on tepco the operators of the fukushima plant and government regulators who failed to take necessary measures to ensure the plants were safe from natural disasters in recent weeks japan has restarted two nuclear reactors for the first time since the crisis began last year but this new report suggests that the steps taken since last year to prevent another nuclear crisis are not sufficient to deal with potential disasters both manmade disasters and natural disasters unfortunately the panel admits it didn't have time to look deeper into the situation at reactor four which many fear could collapse should even a small earthquake strike and could trigger

a nuclear catastrophe worse than chernow i've said it before on this show i'll say it again and again nuclear power is the most expensive and dangerous form of electrical energy generation on the planet it's time for all of us to work together toward creating a world free of it's. crazy alert sex toys look so real ways days especially in china you may remember last month we brought you the hilarious story of an entire chinese village of professional news crew that bought a sex toy it was actually a newly discovered species of rare fungus and the people of china have been fooled again this time by an inflatable sex toy in a river nearly eight teen cops responded to reports of a woman drowning in a river in shanghai dong province after working feverish for forty minutes they

rescued the woman only to find that she was actually a blow up doll there in the rescue over a thousand people looked on with excitement and anxiety. only to have it all quickly he flaked after really in the plastic person flees presented it to the crowd of onlookers while parents in the crowd quickly covered the children's eyes rumor has it after police told polly plastic out of the water an all out brawl ensued with officers playing over who would get to give her the kiss of life. coming up thanks to citizens united billionaires out of wall street can throw all the money they want into political campaigns and they've already thrown nearly two hundred million dollars at this year's election cycle i can we stop the purchasing of our democracy and restore some sanity to american politics i'll tell you that i still take.

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our first comments and i comes from sandy bosome tom hartman facebook page this was her question about mitt romney and his religious views when the someone going to square romney with his religious views religion is such a strong part of our country if his supporters are of like mind how can he as a man of the cloth because he's a mormon official push for defense spending to kill more people if social services are cut what will he say well he recommended the poor and hungry go to his church. well yeah actually that that it typically is the response of conservatives and

republicans is that you know charity begins with churches and family and that the government should play no role in it and maybe you know arguably in times when we lived as as tribal people population was really small there was some sense to that but we started building cities and you know fully developed civilizations we had to create institutions to protect ourselves and to help each other out and you know the founders of this country fought and died to create one called the united states of america our final comment of the night comes from ryan joulwan you posted this in the thom hartmann dot com message boards why do we need a tax increase what good will it do how will this make things better for the average american is a tax increase going to accomplish a single positive thing well when you look at the period from one hundred fifty to one nine hundred eighty three decades three ten year periods those are the only

three decades in the entire history of the united states when our economy grew more than three point two percent per decade in other words it was just spectacular growth the middle class got really strong rich guy rich but they didn't get massively richer and the poor got lifted into the middle class what was going on during those times during taxes corporations were paid about thirty five percent of the total tax load and the top tax rate on millionaires and billionaires was ninety percent now corporations are only paying about seven percent and the top tax rate on millionaires and billionaires like mitt romney is fifteen percent so i think you can kind of figure it out for yourself and see if your take my take that if you like your comments and questions here in this segment a 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 by three six fifty three. six agree disagree sound

off it's all welcome to remember that your comments may be used on the ear. it's the good the bad or the very very sad. don't mostly ugly the good yang angwin unlike c.e.o.'s in america will hoard their wealth and collect millions in bonuses at the expense of their employees yang the c.e.o. of the computer company and with novo actually cares about his workers he's giving his entire three million dollar bonus to ten thousand of lenovo those employees majority of whom work in china each employee will get three hundred seventeen dollars out the same as a full month's a cord in news reports yang said he made the decision because he owes the strength of the company's business performance to the workers on the production line only c.e.o.'s in the us felt the same the bad senator jon kyl republican from

arizona senator kyl took the senate floor yesterday to attack president obama complain that obama talks too much about the middle class to the list. most prominently we have a president who talks and certainly about plants particularly the middle class maybe you've noticed that oil senator kyl you know and i've noticed i've noticed that you and your colleagues only care about the wealth in america and always look out for them at the expense of everyone else and instead of helping the middle class senator collins buddies want to eliminate the very programs that are helping programs that are helping them survive if you have conservatives in washington start to care a little bit more about the well being of the ninety nine percent president obama wouldn't have to. talk about their welfare. and a very very ugly fox so-called news on this morning's edition of fox and friends talking head brian kilmeade interviewed two little girls sisters who had started a lemonade stand and somehow kilmeade managed to turn what should have been a cute these into an idiotic attempt to attack the president take

a look. clara how do you feel about the president saying they you needed help to start this business and just speak from a speak from within. by you know let's switch over to that they. don't want to answer that one. i would say that three because we worked very hard to build this business but we didn't have house. after all that kill me didn't even get the answer you want fox news is that a lot of crazy things and it was borne out of rupert murdoch's wall of the plane on the innocence of little children just to promote your political agenda that it's very very.

wall street makes a lot of money or merck more correctly they take a lot of money as the leeches and bankers on wall street are very much takers rather than makers they don't make anything they just move money around and skim take their vigor off the top. but in the process they end up with hundreds of billions of dollars in cash truly big bucks about a dozen wall street banks toure's made over two billion dollars last year. and the banks themselves have had one of the most profitable years ever borrowing billions from the fed at zero percent interest rate loaning that money to the us treasury at two percent or so spinning off trillions into rivet of us and stuffing all the profits in their pockets meanwhile other divisions of the banks are foreclosing on your homes and actually making a profit and a tax write off the result is that both the banks toure's and the banks on wall street have billions and billions and billions of dollars that they can buy pretty

easily and given that what better place to put that money that in a bind politicians and the laws and regulations that those politicians can write and trial most of the money wall street bankers are making right now is being made in ways that were completely illegal for more than seventy of the last eighty years and they bought some politicians got the laws changed and for most of the twentieth century if they made that kind of money they would have paid upwards of seventy to ninety percent income tax on it until they bought some politicians and got those laws changed too. in the two thousand and eight election cycle the banks hers were betting the democrats would help them out so they invested over one hundred seventy million dollars in that party a bit more than they gave to republicans and of course those are just the official donations they may have given a lot more through invisible sources groups like karl rove's so-called charity that doesn't reveal its donors but the democrats won big in two thousand and eight and immediately started to pass laws that would rein in the banks' toure's and even

slightly increase their taxes oh the horrors so in two thousand and ten and so far in two thousand and twelve wall street has been funneling more and more of their money to the republicans because the republicans have promised to make it even easier for banks to rip us off and when they do to keep their taxes low i mean the republican party is even running a banks as their candidate for president and like a good banks to his wife for telling you people that they're not going to let us see their tax returns we've been here before back in the election in one nine hundred twenty herbert hoover ran for president on the slogan of less government in business more business in government he promised to deregulate the banks toure's and he cut their taxes from ninety percent to twenty five percent the result nine years of a bubble that looked like boom times the roaring twenty's followed by a horrific crash that produced a decade long republican great depression and when f.d.r.

tried to do it obama is trying to do regulate the banks toure's they said like they are now saying that the president was an anti-american socialist and he's trying to tear down important american institutions like banks and capitalism roosevelt kicked them squarely in the teeth they. economic. blame that way. the end. of america. what they really plain. is that we seek to take away. in vain they seek the right but i know the play and the cons. in the line that they forget what the flag on the constitution pan. but back then the banks toure's couldn't buy every politician in america made laws

against that passed back in the eighteen hundreds of the state levels and in one thousand seven at the federal on the tillman act the prevented corporations and even in some cases very rich people from buying politicians or political parties for example the old wisconsin law was on the books from around the time of the civil war until the one nine hundred fifty s. no corporation doing business in the state shall pay or contribute or offer consent or agree to pay or contribute directly or indirectly any money property free service of its officers or employees or thing of value to any political party organization committee or individual for any political purpose whatsoever or for the purpose of influencing legislation of any kind or to promote or defeat the candidacy of any person for nomination appointment or election to any political office and the penalty for breaking that law remember last week one of the world's

biggest banks just pled guilty to criminal manipulation of live work and not a single banks or from barclays was arrested back in roosevelt's day they were serious about taking on bank strippers. the penalty part of that law reads in part any officer employee agent or attorney or other representative of any corporation who shall violate this actual be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for a period of not less than one no more than five years and if the corporation is guilty and is a domestic corporation it may be dissolved and if a foreigner nonresident corporation its right to do business in the state may be declared forfeit the reason that law is no longer on the books and the reason why obama can't take on the bank's toure's with quite the vigor that f.d.r. did is because of five men on the us supreme court they've appointed themselves the kings of america and it clear that money isn't property it's not things in your

pocket it's speech and because it's speech billionaires on wall street control all of it they want into political campaigns and their banks can as well because as banks to mitt romney said so well and so often corporations are people my friend. it's time for us to stop the insanity and it really i mean politically genuinely practically it's insanity of bought and paid for politicians and political parties and it's really only one way to do that and that's to overturn these twin crazy supreme court doctrines that corporations are people in that money is speech with an amendment to the u.s. supreme court or the u.s. constitution excuse me that speaks to the u.s. supreme court that plainly and openly says the corporations are not people and the money is property and not speech. if you all are more information on how to clean

up american politics how this can be done and all the groups all over america that are getting together to actually do this you can even start a chapter in your own hometown go to move to a man and dot org move to amend dot org check it out and participate it's one of the most important causes in the us in america right now that's the big picture for more information on the stories we covered visit our website the tom hartman dot com free speech to order r t dot com also check out our two you tube channels or links of tom arbonne dot com also there you can check out all the different ways you can send us your feedback and don't forget the baucus it begins with you get out there get out to tag your it see the. wealthy british style. that's not on. the.

market why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to gaza report on . the book. it's.

see. it.