while the world was watching the rise of occupy wall street the department of homeland security was keeping an even closer eye coming up we'll tell you about the secret surveillance from a peaceful protest when obama won that nobel peace prize who has a lot of controversy on what exists whether he exactly deserves it or not now there's a growing petition that would provoke that award that story straight ahead. and a tale of two worlds the streets of the homeless in poverty will on the other side the lavish lifestyle of the rich are to explore how the rich have gotten wealthier while millions of others have gotten poorer. well it's wednesday april third eight pm in washington d.c. i'm margaret held in there watching our t.v. . well r.t. has reported in the past the department of homeland security is conducting surveillance on peaceful protest groups like occupy wall street the advocacy group

partnership for civil for the civil justice fund release new documents that show the surveillance here's a snippet from the fall of two thousand and eleven good morning please send me an update on the occupy movement in your respective regions by levon thirty s. t. the director is extremely interested with the movement and how it will affect federal facilities. so just who is in the department of homeland security spying on these days teach us is saying that they have every right to track a peaceful demonstrators like those involved in the occupy wall street movement but critics say it's an abuse of their power the whole purpose of the creation of the h.s. was to consolidate different government departments to fight terrorism in response to the nine eleven terrorist attacks now according to these documents it turns out d.h.s.s. been spying on peaceful law abiding citizens since two thousand and six and they say well it's perfectly legal to discuss this and more i was joined earlier by a journalist and radio dispatch co-host john nuff will i asked him about the occupy

movement and if he felt that there was any surveiling activity there take a listen. well you would see. here in there especially at the larger actions like it no nato protest and there was certainly a general awareness of the potential if not high likelihood of surveillance which is in many ways just as effective as actual surveillance itself because that serves to deter people from showing up and it limits the range of discussions that people are willing to have even in what they believe are open groups well john these documents they certainly seem to reinforce previous accounts of law enforcement who seem to target activist and coincidentally terry janet napolitano said yesterday she actually wrote it on her blog she posted concerning privacy and civil liberties

saying quote the department has implemented strong privacy and civil rights and civil liberties standards and all its curity fiber programs and initiatives from the outset in order to protect privacy while safeguarding and securing cyberspace so john what do you make about. well whenever you have a federal agency or a law enforcement agency of any kind talking about how much they're protecting civil liberties and civil rights there's a very good chance they're actually doing the opposite they're at they're actually infringing this is something that you hear repeatedly from the f.b.i. regarding their surveillance of muslim communities is something that you hear from the n.y.p.d. regarding their surveillance of muslim communities and so it's not at all surprising that in light of these new documents that really seem to equate activists with terrorists that the response from v.h.s. would be to say everything's fine here don't pay attention that that's

a very clear sign that you're paying attention to the right things i see so you know a lot of information is being gathered it's been compiled the a fusion centers we're now finding l. and they've been described as massive habs where amounts of data is collected essentially analyzed now are we going to see the role of fusion centers become more central in the fight against terrorism well i think that what we're going to see is an increasing. to an increasing amount of federal agencies amassing surveillance amassing data about what is protected speech protected action and there's no question about that whether it comes from the fusion centers whether it comes from this new as a massive hub that's been created in the southwest in some ways that they sometimes feel like academic differences because if the surveillance is happening at the federal level there's an incredible amount of data sharing that goes into that right but more specifically are we going to see these centers actually aid in the

fight against terrorism. well i mean i'm not sure whether or not that will happen i would sort of say that what we've seen right now is not actually anything has anything to do with terrorism other than in name only as a way to sort of demonize a group that they want to marginalize so going back to janet napolitano blog you know in her her discussion of civil liberties and especially the issue of privacy what issues do you see at play here when it comes to you know d h s now in frenching on these rights that we all seem to think that we have regarding our privacy. well i think what's at play is that there is an incredible chilling effect people don't want to attend protests people don't want to get involved in activist causes because they feel like there's a chance they could be arrested or surveilled and then on the other and of things

people who are arrested for say cyber activism what we've seen lately is an incredible amount of over prosecution from u.s. state attorneys so you both have the chilling effect on one end and then on the other end you have these massive disproportionate sentences loads of people that also has a chilling effect in itself as well i see so you think that people are going to become more apprehensive and they're not going to protest necessarily because they think that the f.b.i. may be in fact be watching them. i think that there is a lot of that that's already happened with people just anecdotally who are reluctant to go to occupy wall street at the same time i think that in the future there is going to be massive social unrest and so what we're seeing right now is at the federal and state level agencies attempting to create templates for how to

police that unrest that i think they are fearful of in the future and say well john thank you so much for joining me to talk about that was john nuff will adjourn alist and co-host at radio dispatch thank you john absolutely thanks for having me well keep your eye on the prize the nobel peace prize that is do you remember when president obama won the peace prize back in two thousand and nine it was a total surprise good evening the president was awakened at six am and told he had just won the nobel peace prize well this is. not how i expected to wake up this morning it was a stunner it came out of nowhere to go to that is why don't. we well for an announcement about a peace prize this one was a bombshell a time magazine writer called the nobel the last thing president obama needs now the activist group or it's action is launching an online petition calling for the rough occasion of obama's two thousand and nine nobel peace prize the campaign's

one quarter million member strong claims obama has become an aggressive military leader after taking office he's too aggressive they say to maintain that percy just peace award the initiative continues to gain steam an escalating as escalating conflicts abroad contend you and the failed promise to close guantanamo bay prison prevails for more on why this group wants to revoke that prize i was joined earlier by leopold you're a member and former president of that are ins for peace. millions of people across the world were dumbfounded when he was given the prize only months after he took office and. you know president carter stated that he thought that president obama had been given the prize in anticipation of what he might do or promised to do in the future but you know during the time that president obama's been in office he certainly disapprove been any promise of being a peace president i see so we have you know we actually have

a clip of president obama accepting this prize in two thousand and nine and this clip you know essentially displays that we're going to take you to that now it's just a thought of him explaining you know exactly what's happening so. civil war that speaks to our highest aspirations. for. the hardship of our world. we are prisoners of. our actions matter. and can bend history direction of justice. and you know i would be remiss if i did not acknowledge the considerable controversy but your generous decision has generated. you know miss folger so hearing him say those words and considerably you know having him sensually take that prize what do you make of his of his speech well it's just very hollow you

know just the other day i heard him talking about the gun violence and. you know so saddened about these children that are being killed by guns but his actions are responsible for killing hundreds of thousands of people in other countries many of them children and so you know it has his actions don't fit with his words i see if he were so essentially so part of the reason that this group is calling to recall that you know that prize that president obama was given they say that he's been a proven perpetual aggressor when it comes to wars in iraq and afghanistan do you think that his mori status was a war that was awarded was in fact politically motivated oh absolutely you know the committee the nobel committee is made up of norwegian legislators it's very political and yeah i think i think politics had a whole lot to do with it you know look back in history some of the nobel prize winners have been. he's not the first person it's been controversial henry

kissinger received the prize so i think that yes there's a lot of politics that goes into play and. if if they're really going to restore the value in the prestigious of the award then they need to revoke it because right now it's just it's very. it's laughable almost to give the prize to this man who's been a warmonger and responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people sure so you know certainly a lot of controversy there so talk to me again you know this group it's actually worked. stating that you know they were call it do you think they're going to have any six sassy you know when doing this or is this some just some symbolic gesture as a means of kind of highlighting the hypocrisy of this yeah i don't think we have any real hope of changing it you know like i said very political and i don't think the committee is going to to go back and change it but we can use this as

a tool to educate the public about what a hypocritical president obama has been that he's not the peace president no matter how much he says he is and he's been responsible for war crimes that he's been to the drone killings that are being done in his in his name in our names that by by the obama administration violate all kinds of international laws and geneva conventions you know they continue holding prisoners in guantanamo without a release these are things that he promised to take care of that he would do the first thing he did step into office and he hasn't done it. you know the backing of israel in their aggressive war on palestine the you know a aggressive bellicose language towards iran imposing sanctions on iran all these are these are not peaceful actions and certainly well just right here you see this

petition of how many people have actually signed it miss bolger you know where do you see this going are we are we going to see anything come of this movement well i mean i'm talking to you now about this and we're raising awareness by you know i've gotten all kinds of media contacts from the press release that the institute for. media accuracy put out and the rejections got a lot of attention now with this so not only are we calling for the river the price to be revoked from president obama but we're also calling for the price to be awarded to bradley manning so you know i don't think we have. a whole lot of hope that bradley manning's actually going to get the prize but we're using this as a way to educate the public about about bradley manning and about about president obama's certainly so this group you know that you are citing the recall based on hypocrisy can you give me some examples that you feel are blatant hypocritical actions that he's taken that maybe display what he doesn't deserve the award well

the drone drone policy is an easy example you know we are we have with our country is responsible for the killing of thousands of people in pakistan a country with which here we are not at war and these drones go in and kill people. seemingly randomly they're not identified many of them are children are women are people who are noncombatants but this is a country with which we're not at war and there's remember been any declaration of war liza finally you i think certainly we thank you so that was leopold your board member and past president of veterans for peace so drunk campaign protest are underway in the u.s. with the goal in mind to get the spotlight to the drones that they say violate the sovereignty of other countries along with human rights abuses the organizers say that they got a boost when the white house nominated john brennan highlighting that drone issue artie's maria port naya has more. a month long nationwide anti drone campaign has

kicked off in the u.s. and here in midtown manhattan dozens have gathered to protest washington's use of drones for targeted assassinations overseas and domestic surveillance here at home organizers say the aim the goal of this month long campaign is to bring the widest possible public attention to the ways in which drones they say are being used to violate sovereignty due process privacy and freedom of assembly hopefully the american people why drones are just a new truly for the military it's supposed to target terrorists but sadly too many civilians have been killed by these drones as well and that includes children and women who were here saying these killed this are not appropriate we shouldn't be killing people with these unmanned drones aside from the human cost this is

horribly horribly expensive we're never going to get our social programs in order here or our infrastructure or any of the things that are vitally needed as long as we're pumping all this money into military the u.s. has a reported one hundred drone basing sites and critics say the biggest problem is a lack of transparency u.s. citizens don't know how federal and local officials are using the drones who can be targeted and what justifications lawmakers can use organizers say they began planning this event late last year and the campaign received an unexpected boost last month when washington's drone campaign came into question with john brennan's nomination for cia director and drone events are planned to take place in major cities throughout the country including boston baltimore san francisco and san diego which is home to general atomics the company that manufactures the killer

predator and drones reaper. unsent on thursday war veterans and anti drone activists are planning to hold a rally outside of general it's hot makes production office reporting from new york marina artsy. well still ahead here in our t.v. economic turndown has left many americans in dire straits but that doesn't seem to be the problem for the rich only gotten richer when we return a glimpse of the gap between the rich and the poor. the same story doesn't make good news no softball interviews no puff pieces some

tough questions if you. let me let me i want to know what let me ask you a point. here and this is what we're going to debate we have a night. before you before you with us tonight staying there again hearing the story would be i don't want to talk about the arraignment we. here is mitt romney trying to figure out the name of that thing that we americans call. for mr guy who cares about what you

see. you know what that is my terror cells. want us to feature isn't the only the christian religion is. suited to. you know the corporate media distracts us from what you and i should care about because there are profit driven industry that sells a sensationalistic garbage because that breaking news i'm happy martin and we're going to break this that. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly 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 tom hartman welcome to the big picture.

potentially deadly blizzard taking aim for the northeast it's expected to hit stunning in a few hours from new york to maine we have team coverage of the storm. that we're watching is the very heavy snow moving into boston properly or today it was very sticky you can see it start to become much more powdery down he said the bottom line there's still a lot of snow out here a good place for snowball fight if. decent it is going to be pretty incredible day there and even record snowfall throughout what's been like bilbies long three driving lessons to them urgency here are exceptional.

well the stock market is enjoying record highs in the mainstream media is touting a recovery in the nation's housing sector there are more billionaires though than ever around the world but this economic boom isn't being felt in every part of the u.s. economy while the wealthiest have their paychecks or the pain on main street contending us as americans struggle to find work and keep their homes artie's correspondent rym uncle lindo shares of the super rich are getting richer during this jobless recovery market. the jury pools in scenic beach for use at a price tag of ten point nine million dollars only the wealthiest suffer comforts like these what brought the luxury real estate market back so fast was seen creasing the wealth that's being produced according to forbes there are more than

fourteen hundred billionaires with a whopping five point four trillion dollars while the mega wealthy shopper mansions in gated communities americans who can afford a place to live at all bases starkly different challenge and you know volunteers handed out clothes and food to thousands of homeless people on skid row got sides of the issue of shrimp property remains a major problem in cities all across the u.s. here in los angeles for the man for homeless services has skyrocketed over the last two years in new york more than fifty thousand people sleep each night in shelters twenty one thousand are children we've gone through probably be the longest economic downturn is farms duration that we've seen since the great depression and you know the time it's going to take to pull out of that is difficult the shelters sit in the shadows of the most prosperous corporations. since two thousand and eight corporate profits have jumped twenty percent every year disposable income for

america's average wage earners only increased one point four percent yearly could explain the disparity on federal reserve policy that's great if you're a banker going to benefit on several fronts the markets are more vibrant so you can make more money speculating people think that there is a recovery going on it's not the economy is actually getting sicker as a result of the current fed policy washington has celebrated a reduction in the unemployment rate but latino black communities are still facing double digit jobless rates i got this great heidi rod garcia as a forklift operator but has been for sustained. shelters because he can't get steady work garcia knows he's not alone i was talking to a truck driver you know he couldn't get any work you know he couldn't get it to pay for a hotel he couldn't get by so you know he stayed in a shelter until he finds a job to get back on the road doing budget cuts could slow economic growth experts say seaquest ration could cost the u.s.

seven hundred thousand jobs despite that corporate america likely won't take a big hit when say the data definitely indicates that the rich are not suffering looked at real estate company knight frank expects the number of billionaires to nearly double in the next decade the luxury property market and its buyers seem to be in their own universe the income of just one of the richest americans could cover the cost of a room for every homeless american for an entire year when you have policies that encourage all the wealth to go to the top that means that while income and wages stagnate even for people who have jobs we don't have anywhere else to go a cut in your paycheck for state employee betty by the go to ask for a modification on her home loan she says wells fargo it's failed to negotiate with her and is now at risk of foreclosure seriously i mean you know. in an attempt to save your home by there will come from it wells fargo c.e.o. john stumpf he made twenty two million dollars last year my children raced here

we've been living here nineteen years this home means everything to us it is the roots of our family headlines of a housing recovery mass that investors and hedge funds are turning foreclosed homes into rentals and securitizing the rental income. as well these enjoy the finest in high living u.s. fiscal policy will likely support an increasingly disparate economic recovery in los angeles ramon the lindo r t well of course everyone's heard the saying that justice is blind there's a twist when an eye for an eye concept on justice is taking things too far the residents lauri's harford s. tells us more.

i mean you're is a twenty four year old saudi citizen who was incarcerated he was jailed ten years ago at the age of fourteen because he stabbed his best friend his best friend has been completely paralyzed from the waist down ever said the victim was granted the right to request a monetary settlement to forgive a leak and he settled on a price of one million saudi reales which is about two hundred seventy thousand u.s. dollars at least family is poor and hasn't been able to raise that kind of money just by fundraising efforts so if the leaders in payout he will face another punishment he's been sentenced to keep stopped or right tribute and is set to be fully paralyzed himself as part of an eye for an eye punishment that's right because only paralyzed his friend either have to pay big bucks or be paralyzed

himself. and harrison from and the city international has come out and said that such a punishment would be torture calling the punishment shocking she said it is time the authorities in saudi arabia start respecting their international legal obligations and remove these terrible punishments from the law saudi arabia is a state party to the un convention against torture which the paralysis sentence with country b. so ok that's crazy he writes now i don't wish anyone to be paralyzed ever let me just say that now i'm a peace loving person was against all violence but this story. brings up some really interesting questions about crime and punishment because i can't help but wonder if we had an eye for an eye punishment here in the us that deters them would be criminals if they instead of letting wall street executives off scot

free for stealing everyone's homes and money out from under them what if we told them you were guilty of hate is thievery and as punishment we are going to take your life savings and pensions and homes away from you when you least expect it or if you steal a car you are going to have your most prized possession taken away from you or if you break a girl in your school you are going to have to be raped when you are found a load and bone or a book or if you shoot up a school or a movie theater you are going to be shot at a place and time when you are supposed to be able to feel safe and secure if we implemented an eye for an eye punishment here in the us would it be a successful deterrent for crime we are after all a christian nation and an eye for an eye does have biblical roots so why not is an eye for an eye as a punishment really any more egregious than a life sentence at one of our privatized prison so they kind of make that or does

that make me a horrible horrible person honestly i don't know my mind explodes as soon as i hear that someone is capable of doing bad things to others and that's just how this catholic school girl was great tonight let's talk about that by following me on twitter and the rest. well that's going to do it for now for more on these stories we covered go to youtube dot com slash r t america for the latest and greatest information coming out from around the world check out our website at r.t. dot com slash usa our digital producers are always working hard to connect with you and the world these stories so check it out and don't forget to leave us your feedback you can also follow me on twitter at m. underscored underscore how will all of us here have a great night.