it's a good week for monsanto an act was signed that protects it from potential lawsuits over any damages its seeds may cause we'll tell you more about the bill's supporters. and the graphic novel series persepolis faces a ban in chicago schools seventh grade classrooms are no longer allowed to use the book in their curriculums but students and teachers are calling this censorship more on this page turner just ahead. plus it's no surprise that as soon as your tweets leave your computer they enter the public arena they could even land you in a lot of hot water but imagine having a system that ranks your tweets and could predict if you're about to be fired details on the fire me out later in the show.

it's friday march twenty ninth five pm in washington d.c. i'm megan lopez and you are watching our t.v. well it was supposed to be a temporary budget bill that would curb threats of a government shutdown and fund the country for the next six months president obama signed house resolution one three three into law on tuesday but hidden within the text of this budget bill is a section critics are calling the monsanto protection act this action actually protects the biotech industry from being sued the farmers assurance provision takes away the federal courts right to halt the sale and the use of genetically modified seed crops regardless of public health concerns now food safety groups are calling this foul play they say this provision is a major violation of the separation of powers in the u.s. to discuss this issue i was joined earlier by jeffrey m. smith he's the author of the book you see here seeds of deception i began by asking him who this provision affects specifically. it effects the biotech industry

they're trying to introduce new genetically modified crops typically they break the laws in order to get these crops to the market without doing proper environmental impact statements and this is why they have to stop the introduction of rounds are pretty alfalfa in the past and they have to face lawsuits and court court statements that was how we would stop the introduction of sugar beets now ever had . with this provision even if the court tells the u.s.d.a. you have introduced a genetically modified crops illegally and you must stop and introduce a proper evaluation of the environmental impact this measure tells us ga that they are mandatory that they're required to go ahead and allow farmers to plant it and wave their finger so to speak at the courts so it actually dismembers the normal balances of power and checks and balances between the courts and the executive

branch now from what i understand affray this provision will only last as long as this bill does so just about a year or so so what harm could one year really do considering the fact that monsanto and other biotech giants when the majority of their court case says how it affects us legally and environmentally well actually they continue to lose to the center for food safety because they turn they continue to introduce these products without proper environmental impact statements and so they recently asked a policy that allowed companies like monsanto to do their own environmental impact statement so now we have a situation where the foxes guarding the hen house and then also managing all the key positions but it could be that we'll have some very serious crops introduced during this six month window it's supposedly for the six month funding bill but that is doubtful that they're actually going to get replace the bill in time in six months we may just extend the provisions of this bill which could make it last about a year as you mentioned so

a lot of damage can be done during that time right now like dances trying to get crops on the market that can withstand doses of two four d. herbicide which is a proponent of agent orange there's other things in the line and any of these things could create major environmental catastrophes but once it's released into the environment there's no full recall that you can do because the g. propagate through a hole in it because it's so propagating judoon exclusion that you know the effects of global warming a nuclear waste so potentially huge consequences now one of the major proponents for this bill is actually senator roy blunt he the new york daily news actually reported that this mizoram is ory us senator actually worked with monsanto to craft section seven three five which is an essential protection act here's a few other c.t. things that i was able to dig up about him first of all he's a ranking member of appropriations subcommittee is on agriculture we're all development and also the food and drug administration he also received sixty four

thousand two hundred fifty dollars from an santo for campaign committee for his campaign committee between two thousand and eight and two thousand and eleven that's according to the center for responsive politics and that actually makes him the largest party recipient of monsanto funding as of late so what should we make of all of this since he is the one that actually put this into the bill. this is perfectly typical of the kind of things that monsanto does then the bottom get this to an agricultural industrial giants have spent tens of millions of dollars hundreds of millions of dollars in fact lobbying washington and paying for campaign contributions etc and i think we all know that the person in charge of all a c. at the f.d.a. back in one hundred ninety two when the general policy was created was bugged out his former attorney and later my sandoz vice president and now the u.s. food safety czar back at the f.d.a. even the us secretary of agriculture don't sack the biotech governor of the year

when he was the iowa governor and gave auxerre to it award in year two thousand so we have a situation where there's key people in the obama administration who are basically month sentiment or have been receiving financial support so this is why we are in favor of a market campaign to stop g.m. goes where people avoid g m o's because they're actually dangerous for health and then we'll see the companies eliminate them even if the government still works marching in lockstep with the biotech industry so obviously they're very influential when it comes to both the biotech industry as well as possibly lawmakers as you're saying now some democrats are simply claiming that they didn't know anything about this particular part of the bill the entire bill which was h.r. nine three three was about seventy eight pages long i read the section seventy five myself i found the text to be rather cryptic but i'm not a paid to vote for these things is this an assertion that the democrats simply

didn't know about the monsanto protection act a valid excuse or does it highlight perhaps a bigger problem about our legislators i think yes and no this did not go susan normal committees for the digital committee or the agricultural committee and it should have because it really is just to rate the checks and balances of the government and is probably ok. to chanel's in fact even secretary don't sext office mentioned in a response to the press is going to check with the digital branch because it may be unconstitutional this was done the appropriations committee kind of is in and around so that shows if the entire mechanism of government has been hijacked and it explains why some of the senators and congressmen didn't really notice the time because it didn't go through normal channels however tens of thousands of people have contacted their senators and congressmen and over one hundred thousand people called the white house demanding that president obama veto this particular section

he ignored the callers the senators and congressmen ignored the callers as a whole and we end up with this extremely unconstitutional passage which could really result in significant damage to the environment something where all of us to should something we're definitely going to have to follow up on jeffrey smith author of face of deception thank you fer a penny and. well as if the cargo public school system wasn't under enough fire for planning the closure of fifty four schools this year the school district is taking heat for removing the award winning graphic novel persepolis from the seventh grade curriculum at first a notice was sent out to chicago schools ordering teachers to remove all copies of this book from classrooms and libraries but then the blanket ban was reduced to a ban from using the novel in the seventh grade curriculum this book has only ever been banned in one other place that place being iran itself leading the country

a public outcry of censorship by outraged parents and students they rallied outside of the school to demand an end to the book banning here's the justification chicago public schools chief barbara bird bennett gave for banning the graphic novel she said that the book quote contains graphic language and images that are not appropriate for the general use in the seventh grade curriculum she also said it uses powerful images of torture however that assertion is one that the author mark johnson denies she claims that the only one there's only one frame of the graphic novel that actually depicted torture correspondent on a sassy takes a deeper look into the controversy surrounding the book. this march has been a month of eyebrow raising decision surrounding the chicago public school system coinciding with the recent protests sparking announcement to shut down a record number of public schools for u.s. history a total of fifty four another recent announcement has been causing much debate and

controversy here in chicago now this internationally acclaimed autobiographical graphic novel called persepolis depicting the life of marjane satrapi focusing on her earlier years during the one nine hundred seventy nine iranian revolution has currently been banned for seventh graders in chicago now it's interesting to note that this novel the film adaptation of this novel has been winning many international awards was also nominated for an academy award in the best animated feature film category take a look. she questions. to divest going to try. to get. into she said. earlier this month instructions were sent out to chicago public schools demanding that all copies of this book were no longer to be found in classrooms and libraries

although this ban was later downplayed to just a band surrounding seventh graders it's currently being debated whether or not this novel should also be bad for children in the eighth ninth and tenth grades now initially was speculated that education system officials were concerned with the message of islamophobia being sent out by this book and that the feelings of muslim students could be heard but later the announced that in fact they were more concerned about some of the graphic language and graphic images depicted in this book and although there are certainly some scenes surrounding topics such as violence sex and torture critics say that really nothing in this book is not something that students in chicago. we have already seen on t.v. news and more sadly in their neighborhoods here in chicago they're saying that possibly officials are concerns that students could draw one parallel to many when it comes to their own lives now it's important to note that many free speech groups scholars and the chicago teachers unions have spoken out against this ban they have

said that this book has a lot to teach to students that it's been taught for years here in chicago as well as throughout the united states and they believe that this latest ban this act of censorship is quote constitutionally suspect now they're also saying that it's important to remember that as many as ironically and sadly one hundred sixty schools here in chicago don't even have libraries so maybe education officials have better things to concentrate on and also we have to point out that ironically this book another country where it's bad the only other country in the world is iraq and . chicago illinois now the graphic novel itself was published in two thousand and a film adaptation came into life in two thousand and seven as a result the film was nominated for an academy award for best animated feature film here's part of that film. trade. show.

the original track the best something graphic novel. i love you. like in life everyone knows has a true. saying the straight. forgive. yourself i really want to hear this. in essence the graphic novel is an autobiographical account of mars on mars on childhood during the one nine hundred seventy nine iranian revolution here's how she depicts the novel. it's a human point of view and greedy if there is one missing in this movie is the humanistic message is that human beings anywhere is the same and they have to lie through their right to be because they have dreams because they have love because they have parents and kids. need life or football the first word something and then we have to understand that the situation is not as easy as we think so why is this

book being banned from the seventh grade curriculum and why now earlier i asked those questions to acacia o'connor she's the coordinator for the kids right to read project at the national coalition to stop censorship. oh why this book i really wish i could tell you i think that there's been fortunately a complete lack of transparency and growth before the ban and when the ban was first handed down and then afterwards when the school was backtracking to try and decide what it excuse what excuse it would use and it finally settled on this panel in the book that does depict a man who was a family friend of the main character being tortured and then ultimately murdered but that is something that obviously goes hand in hand with evolution and it's portrayed in a very almost quieter sanitary way in the book and the book has many affecting

parts and i think. as a reporter rightly noted chicago public school students have seen their share of violence and this this book i'm sure is nothing shocking or alarming to them now the books offer claims that torture in this book is limited to one frame and that children these days are exposed to much more gruesome things than one drawing in a graphic novel here's the frame that is being contest it now as you can see it's still was a man being peed on and whipped and burned with an iron and being cut into pieces it's unsettling yes but it's also very real so we shouldn't be trying to hide these realities from our children i mean by the seventh grade to our children have already learned about the holocaust so why hide this. absolutely and i think it's really unclear why they're hiding it but we see it all the time that we have kids right to read we have challenges on a daily basis that come up where people are trying to hide information from students whether it be about sex or violence whether it be profanity related

religious issues things like euthanasia that are they're sensitive there's a real need to control information and limit that in certain when it comes to certain parents certain administrator is and it's or is really unclear what's going on here in the show how chicago public schools and they really have not offered any justification for why this ban had to happen in the first place and it was very sweeping at the beginning it was to be removed from all libraries and all classrooms immediately without any explanation and they backtracked and sort of said only it must be removed suddenly from seventh graders and then teachers would be required to take training through a through tenth grade but even so why and why now in the middle of the school year this is march why so suddenly and it's i think that the main problem with chicago public schools is that there's a huge lack of transparency and they do not have what many school districts have

which is a district wide policy for handling materials complaints and having open and transparent and consistent clear conversations about whether material is appropriate and including their teachers and students in that conversation. that was a k. show conner a coordinator at the kids' rights to read project at the national coalition against center ship. well friends in the middle east are in short supply for the u.s. these days there's no question about that and friends are exactly what american officials have admitted that they need in order to exit afghanistan and also keep control of iran but who's really benefiting from these friendships last year we found out that former indiana congressman dan burton set out on a nearly twenty one thousand dollars trip to buc reign with his wife a trip that was paid for by the american council which is a washington group set up to promote the country's interests in the u.s.

we'll pick up the story from there in just a minute but here's a quick geography lesson for you brain is a small island nation located off the western shores of the persian gulf that's close to saudi arabia it's an archipelago of thirty three islands and the total population of about one million three hundred thousand people. now the country made headlines over the past two years because of a fierce crackdown by the regime in power over protesters involved in the arab spring uprising an uprising that is still going on two years later the train has a sunni monarchy which rules over a restive of shia my majority and the situation in the country is still very volatile and yet numerous lawmakers still support king. which brings me back to congressman burton when he was returned to the u.s. congressman burton delivered a passionate speech about bahrain and urged fellow lawmakers to support the country

and its regime. i had occasion to visit a great friend and ally in the persian gulf area and if we ever needed our allies in that area because of iran we sure need them right now and i'm talking about the country of bahrain now the us committee on ethics says that staff members can receive expenses from private organizations quote an affiliate of an affiliated with any government for foreign travel so basically they can get their trips paid for as long as the expenses don't come directly from the government itself but that doesn't mean that the trip isn't intended to promote national interests as if one trip wasn't enough he's going back and this time the congressman isn't alone the former congressman will also be joined by u.s. ambassador to the united nations john bolton is just one of the many perks of being a policymaker and it could end up affecting american attitudes toward the nation so the next time your congressman skips town ask where he is and where he's going and

more importantly who is paying the bill. most of us have learned by now that posting something on the internet is more powerful than ordinary even if you delete it copies can surface cures later congressman anthony weiner found this out the hard way when he accidently tweeted out a picture of his genital region to the world but even that horror story has prevented people from going over the line online across the country employers are using twitter as a place to vent about their bosses and their jobs but a new internet app called fire me can actually track what people are saying about their bosses to explain more about this app and a few of the other digital developments we're seeing these days digital media specialist ashton moore joined me earlier he began by explaining what exactly the fire me app is and what it can mean for employees. so the fire me is actually following everybody if we treat tweet right now it will show up on the live web

cation and its website than anybody can access and on there they have a list of tweets that they call most offensive or most likely to get you fired and even go so far as to have a section is most likely to kill their boss so how can this potentially hurt employees is this enough evidence to have some fired. absolutely without a doubt people have been fired for lusts and. today i think that a lot of social media sites or over utilized by people who don't understand the real reach that they have everything that you tweet unless you have your account locked is public everything that you say is looked at by employers unless you've lost them and also potential employers if you're on the job search but at the same time actually i have to ask you i mean it's kind of their fault right i mean you can only blame the employees because they're the ones that are putting this up online it's no secret that this stuff is going to go up online i agree completely i would

call it all night i did it he managed to write that it's extremely important today to make sure everything from your linked in profile to even your facebook profile if you don't have the whole thing locked down to the things that you tweet to everything that you put out on the internet is saved and a tweet these days talk twitter users or their tweets are catalogued and saved immediately so even if they go and delete it it's still there it can still be found now and we know that the library of congress also keeping track of those they want to keep it as part of history so it could be you making fun of your employer bashing them or whatever but twitter isn't the only social media site where employers can actually employees can actually get in trouble facebook for instance knows if you're procrastinating because it knows what you're doing and what you're signed into and if you're signed a network also should be concerned about this well i think it really depends on the work environment that you're in a lot of for example for arms in d.c.

actually like their. staff to engage on facebook to tweet about their company and to talk about the company on linked in whereas if you're a air traffic controller you probably should not be on social media so it really depends they call things they would use you know for what you're doing with it and how much you're using it during your work day and technology helps people connect when we're getting to a point. where we're connecting too much doesn't actually hurt they the basic point of this technology the point is to help us get information but can also be very damning against us on the flip side i think is wonderful and the reason why is you can actually project to the world exactly what you want the world to think of you so if you say guy for example i do digital media so if you look for me you'll find me you'll find stuff about me if i mean doing that and the same for any specialist you can make sure that your message is crafted to connect to the people that you want to connect to you can make sure people just stumble across you find the image

of the person you want to be online and you just have to know what your limitations are you have to know the things that are public or public in the things that are private probably aren't as private as you think sure well and i think the big question here is really what are the lessons that we're teaching our children when you're in the seventh grade or the eighth grade you're not really thinking about how this picture or this post can affect your future what kind of lesson should we be instilling in our kids about the things that we post now that can affect us years later i think today we actually live in a new era of this today i mean sit in the library of congress today everything that we say and do will be looked back on and i forget it was somebody very famous maybe maybe obama who said children if i can say anything to you today if you want to career in politics to think about what you post on be cautious and be wary and be just be very pointed with what you project and what you say now some assume the

people that are running for political office will have a facebook long before the elections i mean we when we had president obama first coming out as a candidate you know everyone was very worried about the fact that he smoked what will we see is the future what will we learn is this just another door to transparency with our elected officials or does it go too far well i think that if if you do have plans for office to see a teenager and. school and you plan to take that that should be so that you're thinking about no you should think about what you say and they where you check in on foursquare you should think about where you're seen and you should just say to yourself is this something that i was and people didn't know that i've done twenty years from now because twenty years ago we didn't have this today we do should today we just have to be very careful and very aware of it it's certainly going to change the way people learn about others in the future and it's already doing that ashmore digital media specialist thank you for joining us well have you ever heard of the catch phrase catch twenty two it's a paradoxical situation where the preferred outcome isn't possible thanks to some

contradictions in your potential decisions the case of eunice jessica shown here is a prime example earlier this month i was hired by the chicken franchise k.f.c. into palo mississippi it was a positive step for jessica who have lost her job and subsequently her home and car all the way back in december but when the helo k.f.c. manager chesley ruff learned that jessica was living at a nearby salvation army he was drew the employment offer rough signed a letter saying that he couldn't employ her quote due to concerns of a lack of residence and transportation that's according to the clarion ledger and here's where the catch twenty two comes in to play here without a job jessica cannot make the money she needs in order to pay for a home and the transportation but apparently she cannot work at the k.f.c. unless she already has a home of her own now the manager of the k.f.c.

says that he lying to jessica to protect her feelings and that his real reason for rescinding his offer was because jessica seemed too old for the job and also didn't have enough experience in food preparation k.f.c. after all prides itself on a high quality of food. the process may be simpler now but the colonel's philosophy lives on today ambient air war where the mr were and dignity and what you do. just don't ask if they agree to that but this story does have a happy ending for jessica anyway the clarion ledger is now reporting that on time transportation has hired her to drive patients to from the doctor's office she has twenty seven years experience as a driver. and you might be surprised to learn that the latest plan for the marines wasn't dreamed up by dr evil of austin powers even though it involves a laser beam the office of naval research the now and yesterday it wants marine

trucks to have laser guns attached to them the new program is called ground based air defense directed inner g. on the move not the catchiest name and also not the shortest so why lasers well out of a fear that marine trucks are too vulnerable because of drones that they could fly over and be used to spy on them interesting because the country that began the proliferation of drones and uses drones in other countries to monitor enemies behavior is of course the united states of america now that technology has been around for more than a decade it's much cheaper now than it was before and there are certainly concerns that other countries will fill the skies with their own new avi's but nothing that a laser can handle though according to wired a laser cannon mounted on a humvee could burn through a small surveillance drone with relative ease the harder part will be powering up that laser for action for now the program is still in the research stage and that's

going to do it for now for more on the stories we covered go to youtube dot com slash r t america there we post all of our interviews online in full so don't forget to check them out and for the latest and greatest information from our website and on all the stories we covered today go to our website r c dot com slash usa don't forget to follow me on twitter my twitter handle is at meghan underscore lopez my question for twitter followers tonight should g.m.o. foods be labeled it's estimated that seventy percent of food and grow. stores contain some sort of g.m. ingredient proponents say it makes for greater transparency but critics say it will actually deter people from choosing g.m. foods and could hurt farmers in the end so should they be labeled to be responses who knows it could end up in our later show today and breaking news that was host abby martin is coming up at the top of the hour so stay tuned for that she's got a whole new plan of new information that you would see anywhere else except for right here on our t.v. so stick around and i'll see you right back here.