what about the big picture i'm tom hartman coming up in this half hour ac packer racial sensitivity seminar got ugly on friday i'll talk with one of the participants and ask him why he feels persecuted as a white man and does fred phelps have a secret in tonight's edition of everything you know is wrong we'll ask a former member of the westboro baptist church about its infamous leader and about life in america's most infamous church. the best the rest of the news sparks flew at the conservative political action conference as an annual convention on friday and watch washington d.c. or nearby a panel discussion on how republicans can overcome their issues of the race and

tolerance quickly spun out of control when a member of the audience terry seem to suggest that slavery had been a good thing and that young southern white males are being disenfranchised in america the host of the discussion kay carl smith from the group frederick douglass republicans was talking about douglass forgiving his former slave master when terry made his mind blowing claims take a look. when does. he write the letter that was going. to give you. that if you're. going to. join me now to talk more about these controversial comments another man who was in the audience on friday. hollander of the white students you know tauzin university and member of the maryland league of the south matthew welcome back to the program thanks much for the record we tried to get him brown on as well who is the

african-american journalist with voice of russia also in the room but she was not available you were at the discussion with mr terry what are your thoughts on that remark that basically. i mean slavery was holocaust for african-americans this country for hundreds of years but of that anyone here is going to defend slavery and i'm certainly not and the thing that mr terry was doing was really we're trying to comment in this kind of very interesting to think progress is focusing on one part of the discussion instead of really looking at what the panel was about and what the panel was about was talk about whether republicans especially tea party republicans are reaching it should reach out to the minority community and whether that's a good idea so really the tara focus of the panel i think what we should focus on you know looking at ann coulter speech one of the comments made by donald trump is this idea on whether minority outreach is a good idea or whether the republican party to to win elections should really be looking towards its base which you know is the reagan democrats is the blue collar working vote and i mean that's kind so so are you of the opinion that the

republican party should be reaching out to african-americans and latinos but i think to be have in every community but you really look at what the base is based largely what the basic largely white it's largely you know small business owners the middle class but also the blue collar vote and what we see is the billionaires and the billionaires and there is the biggest problem the disconnect we see it because you have a lot of tea party activists a lot of real staunch conservative spot. social conservatives they care about issues more than money and the problem is there's a huge divide between the billionaires and millionaires who are pushing this campaign you look like amnesty is being pushed so hard it's because people want to have cheap labor on the republican side be able to make money for their corporate actually if you have amnesty they're good the cost of of labor is going to go up because people are going to be citizens right now they've got a situation where you know basically they have people working for them and they can threaten them with going to call ice if you don't take this lousy pay so amnesty would would hurt those employers seems but but you know the argument that this guy

was making in this see what's his name what. terry i guess is a must. see car or cake cake karl terry was that it was the republican party that was the party of abraham lincoln it was the republican party in fact they were called radical republicans in the eight hundred sixty s. eight hundred seventy s. and early eighty's who pushed through the thirteenth fourteenth fifteenth amendments and who were there who were advocates of the end of slavery the abolitionists and somehow he's thinks that because that republican party then was that republican party that this republican party should be honored for that when in fact richard nixon came out and said you know we're going to reach out to the and the democrats were the party of slavery historically and it's and they were the the segregation now segregation forever party right up until the one nine hundred fifty s. and one nine hundred sixty s. . but the and in fact what eisenhower made some good efforts i think and

tried to to desegregate the republican party but it was nixon who came out with the southern strategy it was ronald reagan who gave his first speech in philadelphia mississippi where he's talking about states' rights the city where three civil rights workers were murdered when the modern republican party ever since nixon has been the party that has been catering to the racist of the democratic party has been. running away from them what did the how did this guy not miss that get get that message well and you know it's actually funny the people that myself mr terry another audience members are with my organization who were in the audience talking we actually got along best with the black people who were they are actually talking to them because it's acknowledging the simple fact that you're right i mean let's look at national review that's a great example you look at what buckley wrote thirty or forty years ago i mean the idea of states' rights in that the got federal government does not have the right at bayonet point to come into a community and tell impose their values upon that state i mean and that's one thing we might be able to agree on the republican party now is have currently have

almost a schizophrenia crisis where they it's almost like we're really in double think well you know what it was it was. democrats in the fifty's and sixty's. george wallace i mean these kind of guys who were saying no we want to keep the lunch counters segregated in alabama in this is city and and in georgia and it was republicans who were you know eisenhower frankly and the one hundred fifty four brown versus board of education but that flipped in the sixty's and seventy's so. how is that flipped not being acknowledged by anybody that now it's the you know the it wouldn't win now when you and democrats talked about states' rights they meant the right of states to discriminate against people of color now when republicans talk about states' rights they're talking about the right of states to discriminate against people of color particular when it comes to voting well i mean in terms of that switch that people usually just don't seem to want to read their history but the idea with the republican party did especially see with the southern strategy they aim to get especially the blue collar southern vote which is their

white yes the white the traditional blue collar white vote i mean as we see racist or you know notice of the race we're talking about people let's look while the paranoid about black people going to take my job in the south well let's look at amnesty in terms of taking jobs that why amnesty doesn't resonate with the true base of the republican party is because it's a day if you know there's the threat of us losing our jobs wages being cut things like that and of course the demographic displacement that especially southerners are facing so what we really see here is a very strong issue where the base that work for the republicans in the southern strategy has been totally abandoned in favor of these minority outreach programs that don't work i mean ronald reagan already did and so you want to down this road you want you want the you want the republican party to go back to talking about states' rights as code for we're not going to let any more brown people become citizens of the united states and we're going to enforce you know. for example voter suppression id laws that make it harder for black people to vote well i mean

those so-called voter id laws i mean the idea if i go and see the r. rated movie i have to show them my id you know but i but i'm going to vote. i don't have they were more people die from televisions falling on their heads every year than are prosecuted or convicted for voter fraud and and the republicans have spent millions of tens of millions of dollars and years looking for voter fraud and we found what eight cases of it last year one of them was a none it there is no you know racially run voter fraud going on in this country but there is you know racially run voter disenfranchisement african-americans twenty twenty twenty percent after americans don't have the kind i didn't necessary for some of these states as well if i mean all eight percent of white people don't have the room or the states are also going to have the money to go to give these ideas out ideas out for free so what we're really seeing here expensive that's not a republican value let's have more big government with republican values need to be

is they need to look towards what their base is minority outreach doesn't work there it wasn't it wasn't we're nervous no it's not about nervous it's about this mostly blue collar voters look at why the democratic party has been able to take so many white voters what happens is of republican support big business international corporations which send our jobs overseas so then if you're a blue collar worker who has a high school education maybe two years of college you can't find an industrial job the more so you become we're going to have to do with race has to address what we're talking about with his trade policy does especially to the white demographic is once our jobs are sent overseas were either put into this government poverty class so that's what mitt romney did in the wind i mean go to ohio in pennsylvania in coal country and after we have the bush free trade policies that obama with the e.p.a. to put these hardworking blue collar voters out on the streets that they become dependent upon government that becomes a whole nother issue but but in any case matthew we're out of time thanks good talking. besides feeling hatred in perpetuating ignorance comments like those made

by mr terry are also helping drive a wedge between conservatives and the rest of america and that's not a good thing for the future of the republican party especially in their stronghold of texas take a look at lists. chart of the demographic breakdown of the texan population balder generations of texans are predominantly white the younger generations of texans and future voters are becoming more and more diverse as it stands now that's bad news for the g.o.p. for the under five demographic to the thirty five to forty four demographic the majority of texans are a race other than white as we know demographic groups like blacks and hispanics are far more likely to vote democratic than republicans so while texas is status as a republican stronghold may not be in danger in the near future if the republican party fails to drastically change its message texas may be in play for democrats in years to come and if republicans can't keep texas red it will likely be very hard for the party to remain competitive in future presidential elections.

crazy alert looking for the next trend in organic food meat arthur boy mr boyd is a resident of cornwall england and an added consumer of road kill. beryl it is interesting diet first started as a curiosity. if you know me mo with my wife. with a cat. i'm often asked how did this begin. nine hundred seventy six when i was living on my own i didn't have to. bother with anybody else's feelings in the matter. the food was there to be brought home and. i would pick up road keown in those days. to bring home when. i'm not

actually done. skin things and stuff them. stead of throwing the body away i decided to start eating now boyd cooks up meals a badger is bad and weasels you name it i mean who could possibly pass up a treat like this. this way. scott. maybe slipping off. that nicely cooked. ok. may we have a casserole badgers haid. point speciality. that is very tender.

i should be in the brains in a moment. i think the brains of all bubbled out actually now have a tendency to do that. just scrumptious. let me let me alone will let me ask you a question from. here on this board is what we have in the bank we have our knives out. to do is this write to us by staying there again here it is history will be i going to talk about the surveillance me.

you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so poor. you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm sorry welcome to the big picture. isn't talking about the same story doesn't make it news no softball interviews no particular topic question. the worst for those. like it was the. radio guy for a minute. because you've never seen anything like

a. little. automatic last week we told you about the congressional progressive caucus is back to work budget proposal and also spoke with congressman ellison and poke him and talk with them about how this budget has gone largely overlooked in the national debate over a federal budget but not any more tomorrow the full house of representatives will vote on the progressive caucus is back to work budget back to work budget eliminates the federal deficit in ten years and in the same amount of time creates a thirty one billion dollars surplus the budget creates seven million new jobs in one year eliminates corporate tax breaks for big oil and closes tax loopholes for transnational corporations and unlike paul ryan in the republicans austerity budget

the back to work budget prevents cuts to social safety net programs like medicare medicaid and social security finally the budget invests extensively in our nation's infrastructure while promoting clean energy sources the back to work budget is the only budget being considered the truly gets to the roots of america's economic woes and helps to strengthen the middle class making sure that the wealthy elite do their fair share to support our economy so let's get this budget passed call your member of congress and urge him or her to vote yes tomorrow on the congressional progressive caucus is back to work budget. so sometimes you know what you know and sometimes you know what you don't know and sometimes is the fires and the others is everything you know is wrong and go with you if you really are you're right. just make. sure. you go with.

westboro baptist churches founder fred phelps as homophobia is rooted in his bizarre fundamentalist reading of scripture right well maybe not according to some former members of the westboro baptist church phelps's hatred for gays may have a more personal cause they think the phelps is gay that's right the leader of one of the most infamously anti-gay organizations in the nation may himself be gay or a shocker for today's everything you know is wrong segment we're joined by lauren drain lauren is an ex member of the church and the author of banished surviving my years in the westboro baptist church a memoir of her time with the westboro baptist lauren welcome to the program thanks for having me thanks for joining us so fred phelps k. really i don't i don't know that he's severely offended by being asked that question he's got an i pad weight witness and then ask you know he had any. and

then see user experiences and he either completely avoids a fashion want to answer it or he just gets really really angry which i just find it strange it seems like if you know if a straight person was asked are you gay they'd say no or of a gay person who was was asked or you get in say yes but so you're saying that this is the behavior of somebody who is you know what what was referred to historically as a closeted gay or he's just he's hiding it. so i'm not because that just anything or say you know i just find the i just find that response like you mention kind of odd that you wouldn't just either answer the question or just ok knowing that if you're not and that's the end of it i just always had about that was strange when you get really angry at that question how did you get in the church and then get out of the church in the first place for you born into the church. you know my

father actually went set out to do a documentary on which rich kind of like an exposé of their kind of bizarre subculture and after spending a summer there. somehow decided he wanted to bring its own family there and brought me myself and the rest of my family from florida to kansas or right or right around the time i was about fourteen. and in high school so how did you get out. it's pretty long story actually wrote a book about it so. and the title of your book is vanished surviving my years in the westboro baptist church and can you give us a one minute summary. was it was hard was it easy did you walk away were you have you been harassed. it's definitely been hard you know i was just sucked up into this culture of kind of living a relatively normal life with my family we didn't really have

a religious background but we kind of got sucked up into this my father was determined to bring us up and he just this thing and. then we became part of it we became inundated by it and this actually brainwashed into believing that they just they taught and for seven years i was there seven years i was living that life protesting at the funerals and all these other places and still i got a real notion of how wrong it was and how much i did not want to be there and i started asking a lot of questions about how we could do and say a lot of the things that we did both on protests and just church policy. i spoke up and i think they didn't like that in the end of kicking out and i went out for about six years now and i haven't seen my family sense because they're all still in the same church. so this is the this kind of behavior on the part of the church there's no stunt to it all this this is really this is their doctrine this

is what they believe that yes they do. that's fast and we're do you see the westboro baptist church going for it phelps is eighty two when he's gone what's going to happen the church. i actually don't think that if the bastard doesn't mean the pastor anymore that it will change i seem are a second and third generation even generation they're being taught all these things from birth and even older ages but they are die hard in their doctrine and even if they had a chance to question it they're being kind of isolated into this method of thinking where there is no questioning and if you do dare question it or talk to people on the outside your deemed evil and you're cut off from your family and there's a lot of threats go on air and tears of threats that battle will kill you that you'll go to hell. your family will hate you and so it really keeps the members inside and some other tactics also emerging side in terms of doctor and the more

they are scrutinized or hated by the out what they consider the outside they try to isolate themselves on the inside and say oh overheated for persecuted it like kind of play this article himself and fill in for officer a sacrum article lauren thank you so much for being with us and for writing the book if you so much for having me . it was science that determined the global warming and climate change were real and now it's science that's determined that the republican party is full of stuffy old man. earlier today they're probably going to committee released its wide ranging autopsy report called the growth and opportunity project report in at the party admits to several shortcomings that contributed to the party's wide losses in the

two thousand and twelve election portion of the report includes market research from voter focus groups around the country and not surprisingly when asked to describe republicans responded so that the party was quote scary narrow minded out of touch and full of stuffy old men the other use those faces of course one of the issues that the republican party is most out of touch with americans on is climate change according to the yale prada project on climate change communication as of last march sixty eight percent of americans believe that global warming was happening and at least in part caused by humans while only fourteen percent believe that global warming did not exist but don't tell that to republicans who to this day are still adamant that climate change is a big phony lie despite the mountains of studies and reports prove you know otherwise and it's that willful ignorance that's largely to blame for americans increasingly labeling the republican party is the party of narrow minded stuff that

stuffy old men. but it didn't always used to be like this in the republican party and it doesn't have to stay this way believe it or not there was a time in america when republicans cared about the environment and acted legislation to protect it during the presidential campaign of one thousand nine hundred eight george herbert walker bush ran on a platform of being an environmental president and presented the passage of the clean air act as a major campaign issue at the time of the one thousand nine hundred eight presidential campaign air pollution small aguas on the rise across our country and acid rain was a major threat not only to our environment but to our infrastructure three weeks after being elected president george h.w. bush addressed a joint session of congress and referencing the growing threat of acid rain in america at that time told the democratically controlled congress that quote the time for study alone has passed and the time for action is now acid rain is caused by emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide which react with light and water

molecules in the upper atmosphere to produce acids particularly sulphuric acid in nature casts besides harming animals soil and vegetation acid rain also damages buildings cars and even was dissolved in older buildings and statues president bush and the senior pushed for and got a cap and trade program for sulfur dioxide and other emissions which is still in use today thanks to george h.w. bush's cap and trade efforts emissions of six common pollutants were down forty one percent to one thousand nine hundred ninety in two thousand and eight and emissions of sulfur dioxide one of the main causes of acid rain are down more than fifty percent since one thousand nine hundred it's clear that in the past republicans put their best foot forward to help our environment and our planet so what's changed. well for starters there's floating around in politics today. more money than there was in the late eighty's and early ninety's during the two thousand and twelve

election cycle big oil made nearly seventy one million dollars in campaign contributions ninety percent of which went to republicans during the one nine hundred ninety s. election cycle big will need only eleven million dollars in campaign contributions only sixty two percent of that went to republicans so clearly the amount of money going to republicans for big oil is one of the largest driving forces behind the party's climate change denial that buried in the history of the republican party is some semblance of care for our environment and for the planet and if republicans are truly committed to rebranding themselves and attracting a larger base then addressing the climate change crisis would be a great place to start. r n c committee chairman reince priebus spoke earlier today about the results of the growth and opportunity report take a listen. if there's one message i want everyone to take away from here it's this we know that we have problems we've identified them and we're implementing the

solutions to fix them. well rents will be waiting for you to right the ship but in the meantime it's time for republicans to say no to big oil and to make embrace of the greatest threat our nation and planet have ever seen part of their solution to becoming a viable party once again after all the work for them once you work for them again and it will be better for american democracy and for all life on planet earth for the republican party to return to some semblance of sanity. and that's the way it is today monday march eighteenth twenty thirteen more information check out our website to thom hartmann dot com free speech dot org or to dot com and hulu dot com slash the big picture and don't forget the marker see begins when you get out there get active tag you're it.

they've been living this way since the seventeenth century. rituals are strict. their communities are isolated. they clearly distinguish between their own and the alien. and guard their family in things and the treasures. go. download the official application yourself choose your language stream quality and enjoy your favorites from outside if you're away from your television and well it just doesn't cut it out with your mobile device you can watch on t.v.

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