i'm sam sacks in for tom hartman in washington d.c. and here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture. climate change world hunger civil unrest collapse that appears to be the road that oil barons are taking the planet down in just a moment chris hedges joins me to explain why political solutions are no longer the answer also our nation is about to add another political prisoner to our criminal justice system former alabama governor don siegelman joins me to tell his story and why would happen to him cannot be ignored by the rest of us and finally one democratic member of congress has introduced legislation to force big oil to pay

for its billions of pounds of pollution and debate later in the show on why we can't trust oil executives to do what's right and cut down pollution on their own. and we begin tonight with this spot as the world is no longer on the brink of a major food crisis it is in a major food crisis for the first time in recent history humanitarian organizations are responding to three major food crises on the planet one in west africa one in east africa and one in yemen accelerating climate change when doing resources and predation by wall street speculators are responsible for these severe food shortages adding forty three million more people around the world to the ranks of those who will go hungry this year alone as barbara stocking the chief executive with oxfam great britain warned quote without urgent action things will only get

worse and multiple major crises could quickly move from being an exception to being the norm. the key words in what she just said right there are without urgent action now anyone who knows our current system of government which is working hand in glove with the corporate elite knows that quote urgent action to respond to a crisis is impossible unless that crisis has to do with committing more americans to die in war or saving the rich from just a modest tax increase in urgent action by our government to solve the problem of the forty three million new people who will go hungry this year in addition to the nearly one billion people worldwide who are already hungry we need to do something you just can't do it would mean to rein in the oil barons who fund their political campaigns and are thus given free rein to dump billions of pounds of carbon pollution into the atmosphere every single day accelerating global climate change

it would mean reigning in banks on wall street who have made fortunes manipulating the prices of oil and grains with speculation all turning a blind eye to the food riots that their speculation leads to and would mean reigning in the devastating policies of globalization that have killed subsistence farming across the planet and forced millions into the slums in developing nations all over. and the tragic reality is in america those one billion people who go hungry around the world this year they're invisible they now and have it what my next guest calls sacrifice owns areas of our nation in the world that have been sacrificed to the profit demands of corporate capitalism or human life is devalued and more reality as we used to know it what's right and what's wrong is no longer even a factor a political solution or urgent action by our government is no longer feasible to address the billion person starvation problem just as it's no longer feasible to address the problems of many sacrifices owns in america from the cancer stricken

villages around mountain tops that have been blown to smithereens by coal barons or the slums of new jersey where once bustling manufacturing centers have been off shored to slave labor countries leaving behind poverty drug addiction and violence the forces of corporate capitalism are on the march around the world now and without political mechanisms to stop them what else is there left chris hedges joins me now he's a pulitzer prize winning journalist contributor truthdig and author of several books including his later latest days of destruction days or revolt chris welcome to show. thank you it's an honor to have you on so as far as this global food crisis the latest. is this is a symptom of what you describe as corporate capitalism killing us all. of course and what we're watching is the collapse of globalization because it's not a sustainable system it's

a system that commodifies everything human beings become commodities the natural world becomes a commodity that without any kind of regulation left any kind of impediments any kind of control. exploit these commodities until exhaustion or collapse which is why the environmental crisis is intimately twinned with the economic crisis so i think it's incumbent upon all of us to look at these areas the sacrifice owns which joe sacco and i did over the last two years within the united states because they went first and we're going next we have to look at these areas of the world where unregulated uncontrolled corporate capitalism destroyed the environment destroyed communities thrust people into horrific poverty and misery. because. now that they've finished with the zones they will in business terms harvest what's left and that's precisely what's happening as we watch the

disintegration of the american middle class rise in commodity prices. the disastrous effects of global warming droughts floods heat waves none of it's going to stop there is nothing within the formal mechanisms of power to hold these corporate forces that have seized control of our judiciary of our legislative branches of government of our systems of communication we cannot appeal to them we don't have mechanisms within these systems of power to reform these elements and that's why i think our last best hope is to engage in mass acts of civil disobedience which we've seen in europe we've seen in egypt and remember the rise in food prices were one of the primary engines the drop. people into the streets in both tunisia and egypt and which we saw here with the occupy movement you

were just i believe you're in court today and this is about the n.b.a. issues that you've been challenging so far have been successful at challenging the indefinite provision in the n.b.a. you've talked about the indefinite provision as well as the the data that's being collected on all americans in utah through the n.s.a. and things like that as a means to criminalize dissent. why is it necessary for the elite today to begin creating mechanisms to criminalize dissent. well you talk about indefinite detention and i was in court today for the final hearing in our challenge our lawsuit against barack obama and leon panetta federal judge catherine forrest had issued a temporary injunction this was the last day. in which both sides presented briefs to see whether or not she will issue a permanent injunction section ten twenty one allows the military to seize american

citizens hold them in military facilities including our offshore pealed penal colonies without due process and in the language of the section of indefinitely in an age of permanent war that is forever in the light of the actual language of the end of hostilities so that's just part of a piece of the puzzle we've seen the use of the espionage act the refusal on the part of the obama administration to restore habeas corpus the pfizer amendment act which permits the warless wiretapping ease dropping and monitoring of tens of millions of american citizens we now know that all of our information is stored out in a super computer in utah the authorization to use military force it's all there it's all part of a piece and that's because the security and surveillance state the corporate state understands very well what's coming. that. they will push and push in

till there is blowback until there's a reaction they certainly know and expect a reaction and they are preparing for that reaction both in terms of distorting the legal system to make any kind of democratic dissent impossible and then in essence militarizing police forces which is already very far along so that they can control the use draco nian forms of of repression and coercion. in terms of crowd control i mean you already see and and you look at the war on drugs as a kind of precursor to what's going to happen to all of us a night raid in in oakland for instance it doesn't look any different anymore from a night raid in fallujah they're dressed in black they're carrying automatic weapons command and control helicopters with searchlights and that's what happens when empires implode the non-democratic harsher forms of control that are used on the outer reaches of empire are margrave back into the

heartland and that's the process that's underway as far as revolutions go i mean there's been lots of writing about revolutions is and it's not so much that things are so bad people just revolt it's more that expectations are no longer being met which causes populations revolt have you seen over the last thirty years a lowering of expectations by the corporate elites so that we have a pretty docile population that's short of those mass movements other than occupy which is crippled today that will bring about that sort of change that we need right now. well the political philosopher sheldon woolen argues that the two primary mechanisms which have traditionally ensured political past seventy are cheap mass produced consumer goods and credit easy access to cheap credit both of those two things have dried up. and the state in order to retain control as people now don't have access to credit to sustain. a lifestyle that was once

sustained through labor unions and wages as these bass produce goods are no longer cheap as we have an underclass as we do which is now fifty million roughly people spending thirty five plus percent of their income on food then you have to use the the harsher forms of control and that's precisely where we are headed you know the illusions of who we are where we're going what's possible these are all being shattered it's clearly evident to larger and larger segments of the american population that that good job they lost is not coming back that those benefits are not coming back and not only that will never be there for their children and as more and more people and i think we are watching this process now underway awakened to this reality it fuels a deep kind of rage a legitimate sense of betrayal how that is expressed whether that is expressed

through nonviolent means which was essential to the occupy movement whether that's expressed through a kind of proto fascist right wing backlash and we just saw one of these random racist shootings take place in the sikh temple and gabby giffords. attempted assassin was just sent away today i mean that's the kind of that kind of upheaval these kinds of extremes will be empowered i think it was very misguided on the part of the state to try to physically eradicate or a race. the occupy movements a rational response this is a constant theme in paul krugman columns to the problem would have meant a moratorium on foreclosures and bank waivers actions forgiveness of student debt massive jobs program targeted at the age of those under the age of twenty five and maybe a rational health care system that's a minimum and that didn't happen and so we're headed for very very turbulent times

we live in interesting dangerous turbulent times chris hedges thank you very much thanks them. after the break last friday former democratic governor of alabama don siegelman was sentenced to seven to eight months in prison if the governor do anything wrong or is he just another political prisoner brought down by the republican party. in those stores is here. for going global and it's cooling fire. choose your place take your stand. in the movement. make your statement. spread the word. if you like

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last friday on august third u.s. district judge marc fuller sentence former democratic governor of alabama don siegelman to seventy eight months in prison what crime did siegelman commit none other than being a successful democratic politician in a red state like alabama and thus in the eyes of karl rove an enemy and when siegelman begins his prison sentence next month in america will add yet another political prisoner to her ranks she siegelman devoted twenty six years of his life to public service in alabama and is the only man to ever be elected to the top four statewide offices serving as alabama secretary of state attorney general ten and

governor and then in one thousand nine hundred eight elected as governor plain and simple republican officials just couldn't stomach a democrat achieving so much success in a place like alabama so they went to work trying to take siegelman down and in two thousand and one when george w. bush and karl rove moved into the white house they had some help from the feds. what followed over the next decade was a stolen election in two thousand and two to get siegelman out of the governor's mansion trumped up corruption charges against siegelman a few years later a one hundred million dollar conviction effort by bush's justice department and a guilty ruling presided over by a judge who is poised to personally benefit from ruining siegelman career and the emergence of a vast conspiracy involving alabama republican officials the department of justice and the white house to lock siegelman away a conspiracy that proved successful last friday when that same corrupt judge locked

siegelman excuse me lock siegelman up for six and a half years and the one man whose name keeps coming up the man who is working behind the scenes all this time to take down siegelman down is karl rove you know the guy who is overseeing the multibillion dollar effort right now to defeat president obama and the simple truth is this if karl rove can get away with conspiracy to ruin a successful democratic governor in america then what else can he get away with and what does this story reveal about our current judicial system here to answer that is former alabama governor don siegelman governor welcome. so i'm going to it's good to be reviewed i've wanted to have one little footnote much troubles really kicked into high gear karl rove's best friend of no moment whose wife was the u.s. attorney. general letter started telling me that dark horse candidate for the democratic nomination to run against george w. bush in two thousand for. of course i had to to win reelection in two

thousand to and here we see karl rove's name pop up again. like should you have stolen the person you give him credit for was paul rove's partner the person who stopped us having was paul gross climate the attorney general. but you know the story and you said it very well the only other foot know that like that is that the cast of characters that link. what's been going on in alabama to karl rove include grover norquist karl rove's best buddy who was in here best buddy one of his college buddies who didn't hear to what to do damage civilian and nine hundred ninety nine when i was trying to get the education lottery for our children so our kids could go to college for free rove also had.

jack gave them all of them jack a. partner mike scanlon who came in and spent millions of dollars in this book since you spent twenty million dollars how about well and then i was his top priority and to quote i have a motto i had to be stopped and stopped me then he didn't stop you tube when i get up to run for election two thousand and six i was brought to trial one month before the election by the wife of karl rove's best friend who at the time was running this campaign and i want to say that with the u.s. attorney's husband was running my opponent's campaign while she and her office were bringing charges against me it doesn't take a genius to figure this out but the problem now is this is much more serious than just bringing down don so when you started up something that this could happen to

me it could have been anybody any if you look at it in that light it's not now a democratic or republican issue conservative left or right it is what is fair and what is american and what is un-american and that is i was the first person ever sent to prison on no charge of bribery for raising money for an issue advocacy campaign where there was no self enrichment skin when i was going to buy that was going to be my question there is that at the center of this is this five hundred thousand dollars contribution that someone made to a lottery fund to help fund the state's education programs the guy you gave you who gave the states not you gave the state that money. got a job on a board overseeing hospitals which was the same position he held under three previous republican governors so just how unusual are the charges brought against you given that information. well that the money went to if i had fallen to promote

the education lottery concept so our kids could get free college education but the point that you know the point i want to make is is right now live and that is no money wanted that the government didn't allege that it might want it so how did they get a conviction that's the question how did they get a conviction i was the first person that week in that that we can identify who has ever gone to prison under a new legal theory that is being applied in this case and that is that instead of having an express quid pro quo or an explicit and an and one that is certainly a deal that is serving between the two people who contributed and the elected official the judge allowed the jury to infer that there was a an explicit quid pro quos based on his luggage speaking us as this judge here is a lifelong republican and he also is a majority owner or has a significant stake and in the. air airplane company basically

who since contracting company that they trained i think already. produced or he relied on government contracts courtesy of republican politicians he just said as he was six and a half years in prison was should he have recused himself in this case was there con clear conflict of interest there. well you know i guess i'm a bit naive but i thought that. we're going to be a political battle that we have had some ten years ago when he was just attorney but i'm not sure that he has gotten over that. anyway regardless of whether it was . only probably shouldn't have. had this case with an over probably would not have gone. so. i had to live in the example of what could happen to any body out there who is either running for public office or

in public office and richard scrushy is an example of what can happen to a contributor if the government is allowed to continue prosecuting people under this implied. theory that there was a there was an implied deal i mean every time it had baster is appointed and he or she has raised a bundle of money for the president. and the bushes prosecutor could bring a charge any time the governor does something or one of this orders they could be faced with an indictment process the same thing goes with members of congress that they vote in favor of legislation that they know in the supported right and i mean from the beginning this is clearly a politically motivated attack against you by bush's justice department and by bush's white house why did the obama white house and the obama justice department

not resolve this issue. well you know the house judiciary committee had two investigations go on he wanted selective prosecution and the other were involved in government this conduct of days not dissimilar to that in ted stevens. they had held karl rove. for refusing to testify about the firing of u.s. attorneys and all of the case. that what happened at that point at that juncture well is that. the white house called john conyers. we have just in seconds left governor ten seconds so i think if you let rove all the hook off the ropes and and they did. you know i guess you know they probably did it by piece but whatever we you know i appreciate you letting me come on this very issue for democracy and absolutely i would plug my website dogs and the woman that has people

to go on go to the take action section get involved we're going to be submitting a petition to the president for commutation of sentence absolutely covered dog sit down sigman we wish you the best and we'll continue covering the story and hopefully hold the real criminals accountable in this case thank you so much thank you thank you very much they're. moving on from a story about a governor becoming a political prisoner to a governor who's turned into a dictator a big victory for the people of michigan was achieved last week when the state supreme court ruled that michigan's public act for also known as the financial managers law will be put on the ballot for repeal this november and that law gives republican governor rick snyder the unprecedented powers to take over cities that he deems are in financial crisis and then appoint a crony to fire all the elected officials all the local elected officials and then get to work breaking union contracts slashing public spending and selling off parts

of the commons to corporate interests already sever. cities including flint benton harbor and pontiac are under the control of these so-called financial managers and there these people are living in cities that have reduced police forces street lights gone dark and brand new corporate factories that were once public parks and despite getting more than enough signatures to put public act four on the ballot the effort to repeal the law hit a snag earlier this year when the state canvassing board on which lobbyists supporting the law sat rejected the ballot petition over the font size that's right they tried to void tens of thousands of signatures to protect the law by arguing the font size on the petition was incorrect even though a thought expert testified that it was correct at least the same state supreme court has now reversed that decision and the people of michigan will finally have their chance to bring democracy back to the wolverine state stay tuned.

keeping it in the mud while the world's best athletes are busy competing at the olympics in london some lesser known athletes gathered in finland for the annual swap soccer world championships five thousand men and women came from across the globe to get down and dirty and try to play a little soccer while they're at it the sport is similar to traditional soccer except for the fact that players are sinking in several feet of mud as they try to kick the ball and there aren't any yellow or red cards given out because mud wrestling is allowed in fact mud wrestling is strongly encourage five hundred teams of blood lovers waded through the big mess in order to be crowned champions of what has to be the dirtiest sport on earth. and rumor has it that next year you're going to put away the mud and try coleslaw. after the break the big five oil companies

dump around five hundred thousand tons of carbon pollution into the air every single day isn't it time we regulated the systematic destruction of the planet for sure we continue letting oil barons get off for it a debate coming up. wealthy british style. sometimes violent. markets 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 kaiser report on our.

morning news today violence is once again flared up. and these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. giant corporations to rule the day.