08/28/12 08/28/12 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> fromtampa, florida this is "democracy now!" breaking with convention. war, peace, and the presidency. we are broadcasting from the republican national convention inside and out. >> i met here because the whole world is upside down and we to set it right. >> as protesters marched and republican national convention, it is party time for corporate lobbyists. we will stick with the sunlight foundation about how at&t, mcdonalds, comcast, and other firms are skirting campaign finance laws to host massive

parties for republican lawmakers. in the fight for voting rights. if a tea party linked organization has launched a nationwide poll watching effort while millions of voters could be disenfranchised due to new voter id laws. mike burke questions can blackrock, the former ohio secretary of state, about the disputed 2004 elections. >> my answer is this. ohio, examined by ohio newspapers and election authorities, had a good election, a clean election -- not a perfect election, the good and fair. >> but the question arises -- >> that is my answer. >> is really court clears 23- year-old -- these record clears anyone responsible for the death of rachel corrie.

we will speak with her mother cindy. all of that and more coming up. peace report. i'm amy goodman. tropical storm isaac is heading through the gulf of mexico, threatening to batter the gulf coast. federal officials expect the storm to develop into a category 1 hurricane, and make landfall on wednesday. the storm will mark the most serious test of new orleans rebuild levees in the seven years since hurricane katrina. u.s. government scientists have disclosed the sea ice in the arctic ocean has melted to its smallest size ever, potentially signaling that the worst-case scenario of global warming is becoming a reality. the national snow and ice data center and the national space

agency says the arctic sea ice has dwindled to some 27,000 square miles less than the previous record set in 2007. the ice will likely continue to melt with several weeks of summer weather still to come. in a statement, government scientists said the melting of the arctic sea ice "is considered a strong signal of long-term climate warming. speaking to the press, michael mann, the author of a major 2001 report on climate change and director of the earth system science center at penn state university, said -- is really judge has cleared israel's military of responsibility for the killing of u.s. peace activist rachel corrie. 23-year-old college student from olympia, washington, rachel

corrie was crushed to death by an israeli army bulldozer in gaza nine years ago. she was standing in front of a palestinian home to help prevent its demolition. today's ruling came at a wrongful death civil suit brought by her family, with the judge rejecting any negligence on the part of the driver and finding that her death resulted from "an accident she bought upon herself." rachel corrie's family attorney hussein abu hussein denounced the verdict. >> the strong evidence presented in court contradicts fundamental principles of international law with regard to protection of human rights offenders. in denying justice in rachel corrie shows the systematic failure to hold the military responsible for content in violation of basic human rights. >> the ruling follows an earlier internal israeli army

investigation that also exonerated the bulldozer drivers. the rachel corrie family have been seeking a symbolic $1 in damages as well as legal fees. we will have more on the verdict later in the broadcast. we will speak with rachel corrie's mother cindy. the u.s. military has flatly reprimanded for deadly unrest. marines urinating on corpses and the burning of copies of the koran. on monday, both the army and marine corps said the service members involved received administrative punishment such as demotions or reductions in pay, but no criminal charges. the burning of the koran at bagram air base sparked violence that killed at least six u.s. soldiers and dozens of afghans. the syrian government has carried out a series of air strikes across the capital damascus, reportedly leading to dozens of deaths. syrian activists say at least 60 people were killed in a series of bombings. the attacks came hours after a

syrian military helicopter crashed in damascus after reportedly taking rebel fire. those are some of the headlines. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. fromtampa, florida this is "democracy now!" breaking with convention. war, peace, and the presidency. the rnc is officially beginning today after monday's session was cancelled due to tropical storm isaac. but the storm did not stop the partying. dozens of parties have been held across tampa -- mostly paid for by lobbyists and corporations. the list of party sponsors include at&t, mcdonalds, the chamber of commerce, comcast, bluecross/blueshield, motorola and duke energy. many of the parties have been designed to take advantage of loopholes in corporate finance laws. according to the sunlight foundations, house ethics rules bar lobbyists and organizations

employing lobbyists from holding events to honor an individual member of congress. but they are allowed to put on lavish events that honor a group of members. to keep track of corporate parties, the son the foundation, a dc-based organization that promotes transparency in government, has launched a website called party time. joining us now a staff writer at the sun life foundation, keenan steiner. his most recent piece is called, "did at&t rent out sprawling eatery to influence lawmakers all week?" welcome to "democracy now!" in this storm the town of tampa, not part hurricane strength, but at least a tropical storm, it is nice to have a little sunlight. >> that's right. >> let's start with at&t. actually, i have got a swag bag, the party for the michigan delegation. here we go, at&t. inside, the elephant, which has

an at&t logo on it. we have a pin that everyone can wear. we have got another pin. let's talk about at&t. talk about the bigger picture of the corporations sponsoring the parties and then we will start with at&t. >> so we have over or about 200 parties happening this week in tampa alone that we know about. these are parties that require $20,000, $25,000 sponsorships from corporations. they get a bunch of tickets. they get to some of lobbyists there and friends to rub shoulders with members of congress. when members of congress are legislated last year -- next year, they can remember who threw them the party. this is where the seeds are

planted for laws to be written. in washington, and state capitals across the country as well. >> i remember in 2008, one of the first parties of the democratic convention in denver was a party that was sponsored by at&t. it was not only one little party that had the at&t logo emblazoned on it. the democratic delegates -- every back to the at&t logo. thousands of delegates at the democratic convention. at that time, at&t and other companies, telecoms, had been pushing hard to get retroactive immunity for spying on americans. senator obama put on his website -- in the midst of running for president, but was not get elected -- he had put on his

website that he would filibuster any kind of retroactive immunity bill. he not only did not filibuster it, but right before the convention, he voted for the retroactive immunity for these companies like at&t's spine. within a few weeks, we have the delegate bag emblazoned with the at&t logo. the significance of this and what it means for delegates coming, sometimes first elected to local legislatures, when corporations sponsor this? >> sure. the significance is, they would not be here were able to have a good time the whole time without these corporations. it is a sort of starting process to become dependent on these corporations. in washington, lawmakers require about 100 lobbyists, over 20 lobbying firms that at&t hires, they require the work of these folks to get their work

done. they are a sort of legislative subsidy. they also require these corporations to get reelected. they want to stay in office. you better be friends with the chamber of commerce, with the nra, with the big nonprofit groups -- the really bad be friends with them. if not, they could drop a lot of money in your district and make you lose an election. >> what you mean by chatelin nonprofits? >> this year, more than ever, it is been dominated by groups that do not disclose their donors. that is americans for prosperity, thekoch brothers and cousins gps, have already spent $60 million -- cross for its gps, have already spent $60

million. the big deals are the shadowy nonprofits and republican outside groups estimated to spend about $1 billion in this election, the really important part of bad is these groups that say they are social welfare groups -- part of that is these groups that say their social welfare groups and have that tax-exempt status, but they're really groups influencing the election and doing so tax free. >> talk about the u.s. government subsidies. i'm looking at a blog that talks about they start off with taxpayers are footing the democratic and republican conventions to the tune of like starting off, $136 million. $50 million each for security, and we will be broadcasting some of the security the protesters met here in tampa. $18 million each for the parties for the convention? >> exactly.

that is taxpayer money to put these speeches on at both conventions. >> this is the party here in tampa that decries government spending. >> exactly. >> in fact, yesterday at the convention, didn't they start -- although they canceled the convention last night, they gaveled in and out in the afternoon. at that time, they started a debt clock. >> that's right. they are taking the taxpayer money -- they said they prefer have taxpayer funds pay for conventions. they have so much corporate money to pay for this convention that the republicans and democrats, frankly, they do not need taxpayer money really anymore. this is all soft money. this is a loophole in campaign

finance laws. the committees or the parties can set up unofficial host committees that can raise an unlimited amount of money, and we don't know who the donors are because they are not disclosed until october 15. we can guess. google has made a massive -- not massive, but a beautiful, impressive innovation center. they are the official live stream provider. they're doing the same anti- democratic convention -- at the democratic convention. there spent $10 million so far lauding washington this year to become official sponsors. we do not know who is influencing party officials right now. >> why don't we know this? who would pass the laws to let us know? the very legislators? >> that's right. if we want a more real time

disclosure, basically, the foxes guarding the henhouse. if we wanted disclosure within a reasonable amount of time, you could simply pass a lot and say that. it could be on the internet as well, which is something the sun life foundation promotes to get to nations disclosed. >> there are expected to be a number of parties that the koch brothers will be involved with, and i expect some will be honored. can you talk about who the koch brothers are and why they're significant in tampa? >> their network is going to spend, they say, $400 million influencing the election. they have friends. koch brothers are funding a

constellation of groups including american prosperity, where one of the koch brothers will be honored, so we know they are in town. the significance is, both the koch brothers, other super pac donors by paul singer a billionaire hedge fund-type from new york, is here having private briefings. you can book private briefings with him condoleezza rice and other officials. so the super pac donors are becoming hubs for other big donors to go ahead and meet with these elected officials. the koch brothers are funding the faith and freedom coalition, the american future fund, all of these names are spending millions of dollars blanketing the airwaves with election ads.

just talk a little about the koch brothers, they are the biggest private industry or the biggest private company -- own the biggest private company in the u.s.. they are in energy and oil fields, oil refining to paper towels, you name it. there are big in trying to do regulate the energy sector. they don't like these tough epa laws -- if you could call them tough. certainly, they won a romney/ryan presidency, which would be much more fun for energy industry than obama. >> and one of your pieces, you talk about a fundraiser for congressmember allen west, republican year in florida. >> yes. he is a tea party member of congress who had become an outspoken figure.

he is holding the party of the citizens united tent. the group citizens united is the one behind the 2010 lawsuit that open the floodgates for all of this corporate spending in the first place, by sending the case to the supreme court that allowed corporations and unions to spend an unlimited amount of money to influence elections. that is the perfect example. he can raise money for some campaign at the conventions. there is nothing that says he cannot. he is raising $1,000 money in corporate pacs, contributions, and that even critics senator rubio was getting a round last night. you talk about a party he had. we were at a major event that

was honoring marco rubio, among others. talk about this and the corporations behind it. >> marco rubio is everywhere. you're talking about a party last night with a salsa band or the american conservative lobby put on as party, introduced marco rubio like a rock star. the crowd went wild. the corporations behind it are microsoft, progress energy, the chamber of commerce -- >> what is microsoft get out of this? >> they have one of the biggest lobbying presence in d.c. period. there in battle with other telecom groups. look at what google is doing. google is the biggest rival. google has a tremendous amount of interest before washington right now. they don't want tough online

privacy laws to be passed. that is their biggest thing in d.c. right now, with consumers worried about the privacy of their data online, google does not want tougher laws on that. microsoft and google and these folks have to compete. >> how do you find out who is sponsoring these parties? they're not always self of it with big, flashy dollars self evident with big, flashy symbols? the people who know, those who are being honored, that is what matters. >> i have been asking how much the sponsorships cost. none of the -- they won't tell me. if i go in and take photos of these elephants and the sponsorship billboards when you walk into the bar, it has the chamber of commerce on there,

microsoft on it, as duke energy on there. we're keeping track of it all. >> last night at the cuban social club, which is a historic monument, there was not a full description given of how the social club got started by anarchists and socialist cuban cigar makers who would put in 25 cents -- one of my colleagues was on the show yesterday describing this -- 25 cents or 50 cents and it basically socialized medicine. they would take care of their health needs. not exactly what the republicans who were celebrating last night in the same space -- >> sponsored by the chamber of commerce who has lobbied very hard against the healthcare bill. it is very ironic, indeed. >> thank you for being with us. last question, talk about what

has been happening. >> it will be an assembly line on a boat near the tampa convention center and block away. they're on a yacht with back-to- back fundraisers for their campaigns. what better opportunity than at the convention with all the corporations and lobbyists here than to raise tens of thousands of dollars for your campaign? >> thank you, keenan steiner, for joining us, as i hold the at&t elephant, just one of the favors given out, unless significant considering the favors corporations get when they sponsor these parties. thank you for being here. keenan steiner is a staff writer for the sunlight foundation, covering the lead of to the convention here in tampa. his most recent piece is, "did at&t rent out sprawling eatery to influence lawmakers all week?"

did they? >> did they? it looks like they did, yes. >> why is it so significant? >> the restaurant shut down for a week to the public. >> for the first time in 15 years. >> just a day, the illinois delegation will be there, sponsored by at&t. i am going to try to go. i don't know if they will let me in. they may not want me there. >> these are supposed to be celebrations of democracy, both coming up in the democratic-the convention, and here. >> they don't let you in. i was sitting for a fund raiser and they tell me i was a fundraiser -- i was sitting there and tell the house a fundraiser, they tell me they did not want me there. >> thank you very much, keenan steiner. when we come back, "democracy now!" senior producer mike burke

questions the former ohio secretary of state ken blackwell. we will talk about voter purges, voter rights, and who gets to vote in the 2012 election. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. from tampa, florida this is "democracy now!" breaking with convention. war, peace, and the presidency. we are covering the republican national convention here in tampa, inside and out. a coalition of groups are planning to stage a protest outside the republican as the convention today to decry new voter id laws and cut backs in early voting. our recent study by the brennan center estimates that new voter id laws could disenfranchise more than 5 million people across the country in november, including voters in swing states such as pennsylvania, new hampshire, virginia, and wisconsin. florida and ohio have been

criticized for cutting back on early voting. in june, attorney general eric carter described the voter id measures as a new form of a poll tax. but many republican leaders have defended the new laws saying are needed to prevent voter fraud. on monday, "democracy now!" spoke with a promise supporter of the new voter id laws, ken blackwell, vice chair of the republican national committee's platform committee. and the former republican secretary of state of ohio. in 2004, he oversaw the election process for the state of ohio in the state while serving as co- chair of the committee to reelect george w. bush in ohio. his role in the ohio election which saw george w. bush narrowly defeat john kerry remains controversial to this day. blackwell was the target of over a dozen lawsuits over his handling of the 2004 election. on monday, "democracy now!"

senior producer mike burke frantic blackwell in the halls of the republic national convention. he began by asking ken blackwell about the state of voting rights in the country. >> the past 40 years, we concentrated on making sure the franchise was not impeded by onerous regulation and unfair process thees. in the last six years, we have looked at the other voting rights, which is the right to make sure legal ballots are not ballots.a gated by fraudulent i think we have struck a good balance between those. >> how much of a problem is fraudulent voting? >> we have enough evidence there are folks who deliberately or accidentally or fraudulent.

there was an exhaustive review of 2008 and found, for instance, 1.3 million registrations were collected by acorn and project vote. of that, over 400,000 were bad. i tell people all the time. if you protect the integrity and safeguard the integrity of the ballot box by putting a duty on citizenship and voting by saying we have an obligation to make sure that common-sense steps are taken against fraud, then you protect against fraud. at the end of the day, what is most important is that people believe that the electorate is an accurate picture of what was done. >> what about the studies that show some of the new voter id laws will actually disenfranchise people, predominantly people of color as well as older citizens?

>> that is not backed up by fact. whether you take georgia, indiana, where several of the other states that have had voter rights laws and compare the registrations and voter participation before the voter id and after, and what you find -- i was particularly interested in the study in georgia. hispanic voting went but 142%. african american voting went up 43%. >> we hear the stories of longtime voters who haven't voted for decades to may not have the right type of id, no longer drive, and it seems like they cannot vote. >> again, the courts have taken a hard look at this and basically said that there is no evidence that is a problem. the supreme court said that in the indiana case. i think it is incumbent upon all communities to make sure that

voter id's are made available free of charge and that we use a lot of our volunteer efforts to make sure that anybody who doesn't have a voter id gets one. id's are very much a part of our culture, whether you want to check out a library book, by alcoholic beverages you have to prove your 21, or get on an airplane. voter id's are not out of the ordinary in terms of expectations in american culture. >> one more question. last week we interviewed craig unger who is a new book about karl rove and dedicates a lot of time to the 2004 election in ohio. he raises serious questions -- >> what kind of questions? >> about the accuracy of the vote. >> let me tell you something about 2004. i hear a lot of urban myths about 2004 about voter

suppression and long voter lines. the case study they used is franklin county. franklin county is where columbus is located, and there were long lines. there were long lines due to tremendous efforts by both sides to get out the vote and a decision that was made the students at ohio state university would vote in columbus as opposed to their home precincts. what i think it's incumbent upon you to get across to your folks who view you is this -- in ohio, voting machine location is determined by [unintelligible] each one of those boards of elections has two members. two democrats and two republicans for it in 2004, the head of the franklin county board of elections was a guy named bill anthony.

he was a labor leader. he was vice chairman of the franklin county party -- democratic party. he was a co-chairman of the kerry campaign and african- american. i don't think he would have allowed the voting machines to deliberately not be placed in african-american communities. but it is this notion that the secretary of state made a determination, therefore getting long lines, frustrated african- american voters, that was not the case. i have not read the book, so i will not comment. >> i'm not asking about the boat. >> i will not comment. >> he asked about smartech. >> i don't know anything about smartech. >> my understanding ohio has a contract with his company. >> let me tell you something. i in fact gave you my time --

>> it's -- >> in ohio in 2004, we had a record turnout of african- american voters. >> that is not my question -- >> my answer is this -- >> you're not answering my question -- >> ohio had a good election, a clean election -- not a perfect election, but a good and fair election -- >> but the question raises -- >> that is my answer progress that is ken blackwell being interviewed on monday by "democracy now!" mike burke here in tampa. the former ohio secretary of state refused to answer questions about smartech, the republican linked firm hired by the state of ohio ahead of the 2004 elections to host the backup servers for electronic

voting records on election night. smartech is featured prominently "bossig unger's new book, rove: inside karl rove's secret kingdom of power." he talked about blackwell and smartech last week on "democracy now!" >> somehow or other in 2004, in the state of ohio, which was the single most crucial state in the electoral college, when it came to the actual voting, the secretary of state of ohio, a guy named ken blackwell -- and the secretary of state's job, part is to ensure fair, nonpartisan elections he happen to be co-chair of the bush campaign. there is no conflict there. he gave a contract to host the fail oversight for the republican -- rather, for the vote in 2004 to none other than

smartech. this is where things went crazy. as the votes came in, it was clear it was one to be an all- nighter in terms of the results. around 11:00, florida was called for bush. that meant the entire fate of the election hinged on ohio. suddenly, the servers for the secretary of state's computers -- >> ohio secretary of state. >> exactly. they needed to lock into the fail oversight with smartech in chattanooga. this is when the results went a little crazy. suddenly, an enormous number of irregular returns came in and the boat shifted. the exit polls had shown john kerry winning ohio, therefore,

the election, and the bakiyev won the presidential election. i remember the day vividly because i was in reports from the exit polls and went around telling people it looked like john kerry had won. but there was a 6.7% difference between the exit polls and the actual results. as a result, the election ended up going to bush, and that was the entire story. >> craig unger, author of, "boss rove: inside karl rove's secret kingdom of power." he was speaking about the 2004 election in ohio. we turn now to speak with two guests about voting rights at of this 2012 race. here in tampa we're joined by rev. charles mckenzie, state coordinator for the rainbow push coalition. he is organizing a protest at 5:00 p.m. today at centennial park in tampa against voter suppression. and joining us in houston is the reporter brentin mock. he is the reporting fell on

voting rights for colorlines, covering the challenges presented by new voter id laws, suppression of voter registration drives, and other regions to limit electoral power of people of color. his latest article reveals how a tea party-backed organization called true the vote is building a nationwide poll watcher network for november that critics say is designed to intimidate voters. we will talk about the hurricane as well after this discussion. rev. charles mckenzie and brentin mock, thank you for joining us. rev. charles mckenzie, why will you be marching today? >> by the way, thank you for for inviting me. there are times when we must take the moments in history to dramatize the underlying conditions that are not in front of the public in order to place those issues are before the conscience of the state, local,

national committee, as martin luther king said. we're marching to highlight the fact that voter suppression laws have a disproportionate and negative impact on the african- american community, our seniors, students, disabled people, and latin americans. these laws are not designed to protect us from the fraudulent claim of voter fraud, but to suppress the vote that might go in the direction that certain partisan interests do not want them to go. >> tell us what is happening in florida. there is a real standoff between florida's governor rick scott and the obama administration, ic holder, the attorney general. >> what has happened in recent days is that a federal court issued a decision to deny florida preclearance for shortening the voting days and implementing some of the other changes that it wanted to do through a house bill that would

have shortened the voting days, would have limited access to the voting booth in the minority community. the federal court decided that they could not -- florida could not shorten the voting days, could not restrict this access and the five preclearance counties. after the court decision was issued, governor scott began to make phone calls and reach out to the supervisors of elections in those five countries and say, "well, we have a proposal because the court left a window and said if we could increase the hours to the level they were before a recent law was implemented, the wheat we could go for with it." four, is agreed to the increase

in hours, but not expansion of days. one republican supervisor of elections i believe and monroe counties said he was not going to go along with that. he felt this will disproportionately and negatively impacted the african- american community. so he was not going along with it because it was an extension of hours, but not days, and he intends to continue with this 14-day cycle. of course, the governor has threatened to take legal action against him. he has pressured him and other ways. we think this is political theater, an intimidation tactic, and it is immoral. >> brentin mock, you're just here in tampa. you have been covering the voting rights and the republican platform -- and if you could talk about rick scott today, the trajectory from him today backwards to ken blackwell and ohio in 2004, the interview you

just heard here on "democracy now!" >> i think we hear florida governor rick scott tried to pull off a lot of the same things that can blackwell pulled off in 2004. this is a democracy. we're all supposed to be in this together. i think the kinds of laws that florida governor rick scott past and championed has been in the way of democratic participation. >> and what is happening right now in the republican national platform that is being passed here in tampa? >> the voter id language that was already in their platform from 2008, which basically was an endorsement for a strict voter -- photo id law has been

expanded this year to include endorsement of proof of citizenship for first-time voters. that means if you happen to be walking down the street and the naacp is having a voter registration drive and you have never voted before, you can go up to their booth and fill out an application. but if you do not have some kind of document that proves you're a citizen of the united states, then guess what? you cannot register to vote. this is a rather draconian measure that has been added. it was ushered in by kansas secretary of state' chris kobach who would make him blackwell look like a murf. he is the author and architect of about some of the only strictest voter id laws in the country, but also the architect of some of the strictest immigration laws in the country, notably, the arizona law's and alabama.

chris clawbacks has been known to fraternize and work with a number of tea party groups and other groups that have a reputation for voter intimidation. what we basically are saying is a vertical emigration of white groups. wing >> talk about your exposé "true the vote." what is this organization? >> "to the vote" is a dangerous right wing organization which is seeking to train a million people for what they're talking -- calling day kobaching network. their whole agenda is basically to gather in the tiny irregularities or mistake that

is made in the boating area and talked up as voter fraud. they take these into the reports of voter fraud, so-called voter fraud, and go to legislators and policy makers, lawmakers, and say, look, we have cases of voter fraud. even if their unsubstantiated accusations, they use it as a way to justify or push for restrictive voter id laws that affect early voting, voter registration, so on, and so forth. "to the vote" is a two-party group -- "true the vote" is a tea party group. there are successful in getting a strict voter id law in texas. they went out in the 2010 elections and dispatched a few ohundred of their volunteers.

they're very aggressive and the way they did their poll monitoring. they looked for any little tiny mistake or infraction that was made, reclassified as fraud, send it to the legislators who then used it as a promise to pass the photo voter id law in texas. >> can you talk about the recent summit that was held this past weekend in ohio? >> sure. in ohio this past saturday, "true the vote" had a state summit where they go around to various states and have with a call these states summons. basically, recruitment tools, meetings they have where they bring in a number of far right- wing individuals from far-right wing organizations to talk about or rather drum up cases of so-

called voter fraud. they would inflate -- groups like acorn, and basically use that as a recruitment tool for people to come in and volunteer with their network. they have won a couple weeks ago in colorado. this past weekend, they have one in ohio, which featured ken blackwell, whom we just heard from, and also featured judicial watch, who i heard ken blackwell name drop. they said president barack obama stole the election in 2008 and is planning to do it again in 2012 with the help of the "illegal alien" vote and the " proved stamped army." the current secretary of

state' of ohio was a scandal speaker this past weekend at the true the vote summit. shortly before the summit, our story at colorlines and "the nation goes to expose the voter intimidation network that "true the vote" has amassed over the years. the morning at the summit, secretary of state husted pulled out as a speaker. he did not attend. yesterday i spoke with his office about the reasons why he pulled out of the event and they said it was due to a schedule change. they would not elaborate with me on more details about what actually changed the schedule -- in the schedule printer >> one of the states that recently passed a strict voter the dedication was wisconsin, home of republican vice-presidential candidate paul ryan and

republican national committee chair priebus. wisconsin's law would require voters to present a government issued photo id before casting ballots. it has been struck down by two judges, but wisconsin's attorney general, j.b. van hollen, has petitioned the state's supreme court to overrule the lower court decisions and reinstate the law before the debris elections. we caught up with republican senator ron johnson of wisconsin and asked him what he thinks of voter id laws in wisconsin and other states. >> i am a big supporter of voter id. you need an id to fly in an airplane. it is not an onerous requirement. i think if you don't have an id, those states will provide one for free. i mean, it is a basic right in terms of voting that your vote is not cancelled by in a legal one. i think it is perfectly reasonable to simply ask people to make sure you prove you are a legitimate voter. >> that is wisconsin senator ron johnson hear the republican

national convention in tampa. rev. charles mckenzie, your response? >> i would think in very real terms, this is nothing more than nullification when it comes to the secretary of states and other entities refusing to follow the court's decisions and try to push it up to another level. this is an cut of tactics used in the 1960's to prevent civil rights laws from being fully implemented. this is one of the most egregious assaults on voting rights laws we have seen in this country and perhaps five to six decades. it is absolutely disgusting. news 21 recently did research of some 2000 supervisor of election offices in the country over about a 10-year span. they said the so-called

impersonation that is the heart of this fraud claim the republicans have come up with, that kind of incident occurs one and maybe 15 million. it is virtually nonexistent. this is disingenuous. i am not surprised at all that can blackwell who was the former secretary of state for the state of ohio has gotten on this bandwagon. i tell people often when they say to me, you know, there are african americans to support these kinds of things. we had over 100,000 african- americans who fought with the confederacy against their own freedom. now that we have a small army of african-americans who are self seeking, where been disingenuous, not surprising at all. we have always had people who put their self interest against the others. >> i would be remiss if we did not go back to brentin mock to ask about the situation where

you live in new orleans. you have evacuated and are in houston, texas. talk about how the city is preparing for the expected hurricane isaac making landfall tomorrow morning. very frightening on this anniversary of hurricane katrina. >> yes, well, i was in tampa to cover the republican national convention for colorlines and "the nation." the day i arrived, the mayor of new orleans declared a state of emergency. governor bobby jindal followed as well. my wife is in new orleans bridge she was there at the time. she suffered through hurricane katrina and hurricane gustav. i rushed back to be by her side and make sure she was able to evacuate safely right now, i think the major concern should be with of the people in new orleans who suffered from of the

tragedies and ptsd and other emotional disorders based off of that tragedy -- a tragic experience of hurricane katrina, the worst disaster this nation has ever experienced. also, i want to point out all of the fisher folk along the coast, particularly in the parish right below new orleans. these are commodities that go back decades where you have african-american fisherman who have lived off the gulf, provide a lot of the seafood for the restaurants and grocery stores. they have had their homes and boats wiped out every time a major hurricane comes through, and also from the bp oil disaster in 2010. you can read a lot of the stories of those fisher folk

online. these are people along the coast who lose their lives, lose their livelihoods almost every year when these disasters come through. >> we will continue to follow what is happening in new orleans. brentin mock, thank you for being with us but you have had a rough few days, and i vacuity to houston, journalist reporting with colorlines.com and "the nation" magazine with his latest piece called -- we will link to on democracynow.org. rev. charles mckenzie, thank you for being here. we will cover your 5:00 protest for voter rights. when we come back, we go to the corries to talk about the verdict in the rachel corrie killing. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in israeli judge has cleared the military from responsibility of 23-year-old rachel corrie was crushed to death by a bulldozer in gaza nine years ago, standing in front of a palestinian home to help prevent its demolition. today's ruling, and wrongful death civil suit brought by her family with the judge rejecting any negligence on the part of the driver and finding that rachel corrie's death resulted from "and accident she bought upon herself." to talk more about the verdict, we're joined by rachel corrie's mother, cindy corrie. bachmann to "democracy now!" your in-. can you respond to the verdict? >> frnak is here as well. >> hi, frank.

>> we've had about six hours to sit with this latest development. we have been busy talking to a lot of people since then. a short amount of that time with our attorney. it was shocking, of course, to sit in court and to hear the verdict this morning. it was deeply disturbing on a lot of levels. only because of our quite lengthy journey to get to this point, but also because the judge chose to say the israeli military was engaged in an active war.

at the kid made it a bad day for human rights. basically, disregarding the rights of civilians, the right of nonviolent activists under international law and he's really law. her rights were violated by what occurred that day. the judge basically went to a poor place to say that with the israeli military did, what the military's to anything that determined to be an act of war is legitimate that is kind of where we are left. >> craig, rachel was standing in front of the home of the palestinian family, preventing its demolition. what do you want to see happen

now? >> of course we will have to review all of our options. i think this needs to be appealed but of course it has to be opposed, this sort of thinking. i think you do know i was in vietnam in 1970. strangely enough, as a combat engineer, i had some responsibility for bulldozer operations. >> we have 15 seconds. >> i think we have to oppose the idea of military can do whatever it wants. we have to oppose the idea there are no civilians in wartime is. we know civilians are in gaza. gaza was under occupation. we have to oppose it any way we can. we need the support of american people and the support of people around the world to do that. thanks. >> thank you both for being with us, craig and cindy corrie, speaking to us from haifa. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who

appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!] democracy now!]