10/15/12 10/15/12 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is "democracy now!" >> i do feel betrayed. i feel betrayed by our like they have not done the right thing. they have not been honest with us. they have not told us the truth about none of it -- the jobs or anything else. >> a standoff underway in texas over construction of the keystone xl pipeline that would run tar sands oil from canada to u.s. refiners on the gulf coast. we will speak with susan scott who owns land where the pipeline

will run, and with actress daryl hannah, who was arrested there last week and has long been active in protests against the pipeline. >> we cannot afford to poison our soil and fresh water. we need that money and those jobs that were going to go toward this pipeline to go toward real solutions, american, u.s.-made community-based energy like solar, like wind, like geothermal. >> then we will speak with reporter mike elk about his new exposé, "koch sends pro-romney mailing to 45,000 employees while stifling workplace political speech." >> the boss is constantly talking about politics in the workplace. all of the sudden, your co- workers are wearing republican buttons. does that mean you to wear one, too? if your co-workers are volunteering with your boss on the weekend for gop candidates, does that mean if you want to

get a raise you have to do that as well? >> mother jones looks at how the romney and obama campaigns are digitally mining personal data in order to get out the vote. all of that and more coming up. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. new details have been revealed on the efforts by democrats and republicans to mine american voters' personal data to influence the outcome of next month's election. the new york times reports the obama and romney campaigns are purchasing an unprecedented amount of personal information from private companies and using it to encourage or convince targeted voters to head to the polls. the information collected includes everything from religious ties, interest in pornographic sites, product preferences, financial status, social media affiliations, and whether a voter has gay friends. that information is then used to

shape the approach of unsolicited phone calls from campaign staffers to the voters, based on how they've been analyzed. some voters will even be pushed to vote by being publicly ashamed, when the campaign publicly divulges how frequently they and their neighbors have previously voted in the hopes that public disclosure will spur them action. will have more on campaign data mining later in the broadcast. with just over three weeks until the election, president obama and republican challenger mitt romney will hold their second debate on tuesday at new york's hofstra university. on friday, romney and vice- presidential nominee paul ryan addressed reporters -- supporters in ohio just after ryan squared off against vice- president joe biden. >> when it came to jobs, with biden and in my debate with obama, they did not have a plan for creating jobs for middle income americans. they say they care about middle income americans, and i believe they care, they just don't know

at to do. and so they say, well, they will have another stimulus. >> what we're witnessing when we turn on our tvs on a daily basis is the unraveling of the obama foreign policy. to when you say, it's ok impose these devastating cuts in our military or that we don't need any more tanks built, we are projecting weakness. when we project weakness abroad, our enemies become more brazen. our enemies are more tempting to test us. our allies are less willing to trust us critics vice-president biden addressed supporters in wisconsin, where he says the differences between the two campaigns are as stark as any in his lifetime. >> anyone who watched the debate, i do not think there is any doubt that congressman ryan and i, governor romney, the president, we have a family different vision for america. quite frankly, a different value

set. the fact is, the differences that we have about the future of this countryuite frankly profound. there is -- they are profound as any presidential campaign that i have observed and have been involved in. >> we will be covering the presidential debate tuesday night, live from hofstra. it will be in a town hall format and we will be bringing out the voices of people on the hofstra campus. on wednesday morning, we will bring the exurbs of the debate between presidential candidates mitt romney and president obama, expanded aontinue our cam bit with third-party candidates. the syrian government is being accused of continuing to drop cluster bombs on civilian areas in recent attacks on rebel strongholds. in a new report, human rights watch said the regime of syrian president bashar al-assad has used military planes and helicopters to drop the cluster munitions, further

endangering civilians with unexploded bomblets left on the ground. >> if we needed any further proof of the disregard for the lives of its own citizens and its own children by the government come here is. we know now the government is using cluster munitions in populated areas. of course, these weapons are extremely dangerous for the population and their children because most of the bomblets that are left on the ground do not detonate on impact and remained for weeks, months, and sometimes years. >> the british government has announced plans to withdraw thousands of troops from afghanistan next year. the british defense secretary says despite the withdrawals, more than half the british troops in afghanistan will still remain behind until the u.s. pulls out one year later. >> we expect it to be

significant. which means thousands, not hundreds. but i would not expected to be the majority of our forces. >> [indiscernible] >> by the beginning of 2013, we will have 9000 troops there. by the end of 2014, we will have virtually none. >> you do the math. >> a warning to our television audience of graphic content, a new study has provided further evidence of the damage to iraqi public health caused by the 2003 u.s. invasion and occupation. the bulletin of environmental contamination and toxicology found staggering increases in iraqi birth defects and miscarriages in the iraqi cities of bosra and fallujah, both of which endured heavy u.s. bombing. iraqi children were found to have elevated levels of mercury and lead, key elements in the manufacture of bullets and bombs. overall, the study says u.s. bombings have left "a footprint

of metal in the population" causing a public health crisis. next march will mark the iraq war's 10th anniversary. khalid sheikh mohammed and co- conspirators will appear in a military courtroom for pretrial hearing in their tribunals for plotting the 9/11 attacks. all five of the men were once on in secret cia prisons before being sent to guantanamo in 2006. ahead of today's hearing, the military prosecutor in the military attorney in the case sparred over the admissibility of the suspects' alleged torture while in u.s. custody. >> i have said that new statements to the military commissions act obtain as result of torture or cruel treatment or coercion is admissible. that's true. that refers to the prosecution's case against an accused. it cannot be admitted. that is not to imply that there can be no addressing by the

military commission of evidence of mistreatment. i have never said that and that is not what the military commissions act reads. from a legal perspective, it is unconscionable that somehow the government would maintain green half years or for a half years of someone's life cannot be discussed. and not just those years where they may not have been doing anything of substance, but those years for our government torture them. >> the pakistani teenage activist shot for advocating girls' education has been flown to britain to undergo further medical treatment. 14-year-old malala yousafzai was on the way home from school last tuesday when taliban militants shot her in the head and neck, leaving her critically wounded. the taliban says she was deliberately targeted for her vocal campaigning against efforts to stop girls from attending school. on sunday, pakistani military spokesperson brief reporters on

her treatment and the effort to apprehend her attackers. >> malala yousafzai is still on a ventilator. they reduced her sedation today in order to carry out a better clinical assessment by the neurosurgeon. malala yousafzai responded and did move her [indiscernible] which is a positive development. there had been apprehensions, investigations are ongoing, and everyone concerned is trying to pursue and get all the game involved. >> the philippine government has signed a preliminary peace deal with the country's largest muslim rebel group. the pact lays the groundwork for negotiations to resolve the conflict by 2016.

steps would include the establishment of an autonomous muslim region in the southern region of the island of min danao. talks begin in norway between the colombian government and colombia's largest rebel group, the revolutionary armed forces of colombia, or fork. ahead of the negotiations, norway's peace research institute of also said addressing economic inequality and establishing lasting trust will be pivotal to a successful agreement. >> trust is in itself a key problem, given the lost negotiations and ceasefire and conflicts of those negotiations were basically misused by the government to clamp down on adversaries. also, the economic inequality in colombia is a massive dimension

-- is of massive dimensions. one critical issue is the ability to look at economic redistribution. >> the talks are due to move on to cuba after concluding in norway. 10 people were arrested under rain on friday when government forces disrupted a pro-democracy protests. police fired tear gas and stun grenades at a crowd of hundreds of demonstrators marching against the u.s.-backed sunni monarchy. it was the latest in a series of protests against the bahrain regime. bahrain is a key u.s. government ally, hosting the u.s. navy's fifth fleet. rallies were held in dozens of cities saturday under the banner of global noise, a worldwide day of protest against austerity and inequality. organizers called on demonstrators to create a global march inspired by protests featuring the banging of pots and pans by the reds were students movement in

quebec. in madrid, thousands marked global noise with a march to the headquarters of the european union, just one day after it was awarded the nobel peace prize. police in denver are investigating the shooting of president obama's local campaign office on friday. people were inside the office when a single bullet was fired through the window, but no one was injured. former pennsylvania senator arlen specter has died at the age of 82. he achieved national prominence in the early 1990's to in the confirmation hearings a future supreme court justice clarence thomas when he harshly question anita hill, the law professor who had accused thomas of sexual harassment. he drew criticism after accusing hill of perjury and helping to push through thomas's controversial point. a longtime republican, specter again made headlines in 2009 when he crossed the aisle to join the democrats. he retired after losing his seat the following year. and those are some of the

headlines. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. @we begin today's show in texas, or a standoff is underway over construction of the keystone xl oil pipeline. it would run tar sands oil from canada to u.s. refineries on the gulf coast. while president obama delayed a final decision on the pipeline until after the november election, he has already approved transcanada's plans for the southern portion of the project. but as the pipeline route makes its way down from cushing, oklahoma, it has run into resistance in winnsboro, texas, about 2 hours east of dallas. in a protest now entering its fourth week, dozens of environmental activists working with local landowners here have blocked the pipeline's path with tree sits and other non-violent protests. recently, actress daryl hannah and a 78-year-old east texas farmer were arrested while

protesting the clearance of her land seized by eminent domain. this is eleanor fairchild speaking as she stared down one of the transcanada bulldozers. >>i am mad. this land is my land, and it's been our land since 1983. our home is on it. they're going to destroy the woods, and also they could destroy the springs. it's just devastating, but it also is not very good to have the tar sands anywhere in the united states. this is not just about my land; it's about all of our country. >> much of the property the keystone xl passes through was obtained by eminent domain after a judge ruled transcanada is a so-called common carrier and its pipeline could be spain will

company willing to pay published rates. will the blockade has drawn plenty of attention, protesters have had to document much themselves because off duty police officers paid by transcanada have set up a perimeter blocking reporters from accessing the actions. last week, two journalists with press credentials were arrested and spent the night in jail before their charges were dropped. police detained two new york times reporters in handcuffs before letting them go. for more, we go directly to wood county, texas, where we're joined by campaign spokesperson ron siefert, who is roughly 15 miles from the proposed keystone xl route. protesters just finished an action camp to get more people involved in the protest, and today they plan to hold one of their biggest actions yet. we're joined on the telephone by actor and activist daryl hannah in california. in texas, we're joined by susan scott, who owns land in the area where the xl pipeline will run. she says she came to regret accepting tens of thousands of dollars from transcanada for

accessing -- for access to her land after she learned more about the pipeline. we welcome you to "democracy now!" let's begin with ron siefert. explain what is planned for today and overall, give us the story of what is happening in winnsboro, texas right now. >> winnsboro, texas people have been occupied ioccupying the ar, beginning their fourth week today. individuals have taken risks to stop construction sites, shutting down construction for days at a time in isolated incidences. not just in wood county, but all over where this pipeline construction is in full swing. today, to show solidarity with those who have come before us and coming out of a successful week long training camp and action training program, blockaders will do the

largest walk on protest in the history of the keystone xl pipeline story. over 30 blockaders will be taken to a construction site and if you will involve themselves in more technical activities to shut down construction hopefully for an entire day. >> can you explain how imminent domain is being used? and then, where climate change fits into this story? >> certainly. in order to build this pipeline for transcanada wants it, they had received a minute domain and, so it could unilaterally to expropriate land instead of feeding the pipeline route across texas and oklahoma the last studiously feeding the pipeline route across texas and oklahoma. the basically like to the state of texas and said they were conventional, common crude-oil pipeline and was going to be used for the public good and the

public interest. we know that is not the case. this is a private, for-profit venture and there is no public good or public utility involved in the process. ultimately, transcanada was granted this in a domain entitlement by texas without any texas [indiscernible] verify their claims. no one has ever asked transcanada to prove what it is doing is for the common good, instead, there were able to approach land owners years ago and basically say -- we have the power of eminent domain and we're going to take your land whether you like it or nine. we will try to haggle with you over a price, but we can continue in taking thiinto to c. just like a typical mafia shakedown, landowners had nothinno choice, regardless of r they wanted the pipeline in the first place or not.

>> before you talk about climate change, i want to bring susan scott into the conversation. susan, you own land in the area where the xl pipeline will run. and he accepted over $20,000 from transcanada for access to our land. what is your concern now? >> let me clarify that from the reason i accepted the money is because i was forced to accept the money because of what ron said. they threatened to me with a lawsuit of eminent domain, so i just figured i would go on and take the money and do something with it. tell everybody to put their shovels up, it ain't there. from the very beginning, i have told them i did not want them, and never, ever back down on that statement from day one. i am very con, mostly it was a selfish concern to start out with. i did not want my pristine forest messed up, screwed up,

whatever you want to call it. i did not want it touched. i held them off for two years. then he told me that they had in a domain. now then it has become an unselfish thing, when i really found out what they were fixing to put through there, it is going to ruin our water system. it is going to take away everything that we have worked for. from the very beginning they never told me the truth. i just watched a thing on tv the other night and geraldo was talking about it. i feel our constitutional rights have been wiped completely away. that we do not have any more. i feel the government has failed on us. i told that openly. i wrote the president and all the commissioners and whoever else, and their response was to pass the buck to somebody else. i don't know where else i can say other than that.

i have always said i did not want them rid yes, i did take the money because they said they were taking my land anyway. >> i want to get your response, susan scott, to the statement to the "new york times" from transcanada's spokesperson shawn howard, regarding the concerns of some texas landowners like you who have about a pipeline crossing their property. he said -- >> that is not true. they never, ever would tell me. i called randy huts and in houston and he said, well, i will get that information to you right out. that has been two or maybe three years ago, i forgot what time it was. but i never -- they never have told me the actual content that it, of the pipeline, period. they keep saying it is not tar sands, but we all know that it

is. it is quite obvious. >> we're all so -- also joined by actress daryl hannah, who has been an activist against the pipeline for a long time. in the last few weeks, she went down the winds for, taxes and was arrested for protesting the keystone pipeline. welcome to "democracy now!" why is this issue so important to you? >> i think even if we choose to ignore the ramifications of the climate crisis, we cannot deny the extreme drought that we have been experiencing in this country over -- with over 64% of the country ravaged by drought this year. those effects on our food and water security our national -- it is a national security problem, not just energy security problem brigitkxl has been completely mischaracterized.

it does not serve our energy security problems. this is an export pipeline and it is caring tar sands oil, which even the house and ways committee clearly states its crude oil does not include shale oil or tar sands oil. >> what happened when you went down at the beginning of october? >> i went and met with some of the farmers, ranchers, and land owners who have been affected by these eminent domain abuses and have been isolated and intimidated and bullied. i heard their stories. i was with eleanor fairchild, whose husband was in the oil business for 50 years. she knows about oil. she is not against oil or oil pipelines, but she is against tarzan's we heard the bulldozers and saw the smoke rising from the bulldozers. they promised to lay aside her trees so they could be used for further use, but they were burning them. we stepped in front of the heavy

equipment to stop production and to stand in solidarity with the other block caters -- blockaders. >> ron siefert, on to play part of a phone call your colleagues made to the wood county sheriff after he refused to allow food or water to activist participating in the blockade. >> the situation, as i am sure you're well aware

>> ron siefert, explain. >> this type of disregard for the health and safety of those involved in and run the construction sites is endemic to the keystone xl story. supervisors have been present overseeing what the police and private security have been doing, how they have been treating peaceful protesters. the most egregious and brittle

instance, to the peaceful protesters were locked to each other -- brutal instance, two peaceful protesters were locked each other. supervisors huddled with police and shortly thereafter, the police took in an attempt to extract these protesters, too handcuffed their free arms, stretch the behind their backs. the police then put the protesters in choke holds while they were restrained. the contorted their blocking devices to abrade their skin. then they pepper spray the protesters. because of their conviction, the protesters remained in place until they took out the tasers and tased both protesters multiple times. this is all while transcanada supervisors were watching, overseen. as soon as the protesters were removed from the site, transcanada supervisors

congratulated the police on a "job well done." and suggested those tactics should be done in the future. this is the posture they have taken. this is a multinational corporation that is trespassing on stolen land. although they claim to be a great neighbor, the of littleton a regard for the health and safety of those -- they have little or no regard for the health and safety of those were defending their homes. >> there's an interesting piece in the new york times, last- ditch bid in taxes to try to stop oil pipeline" that ran over the weekend. what it did not mention is the man who wrote the piece was also handcuffed along with another new york times reporter during the protest. >> it is interesting that was left out. not only were they handcuffed on private property, mind you, not

that they had set foot on transcanada is easement for the construction site at all, they're on private property where they had permission to be, the police working as private security for transcanada -- just to emphasize that, these are police officers wearing police uniforms during state issued weapons, but are on transcanada is a time clock. those police officers walked off the easement on to private property and handcuffed a journalist and cameramen, restrained them so they could not communicate or approach the blockaders, could not take pictures of what was going on through the day before, to journalists wearing press credentials were handcuffed. there were a@d and held overnight before being released. in a separate incident, police had taken cameras of bystanders watching the protests from public roadways and private property as well.

there is this environment and culture of repression constitution to protect our rights, our land rights, our speech -- these things are under attack in texas. transcanada is leading the way. >> this issue of climate change, how the tar sands pipeline fits into that. >> certainly. that is the biggest piece of this whole blockade campaign. the keystone xl pipeline will open the floodgates to what is the largest carbon cool and more than america. it is the largest hydrocarbon pool outside of saudi arabia. over 53,000 square miles for destruction had been earmarked. that is a forest area the size of new york state. you can imagine your entire state been wiped off the earth,@ destroyed. if all that carbon that they hope to do that is burned and

put into the atmosphere, it is game over for the climate. the science is there. we do not have a carbon budget large enough. it has to be stopped. we cannot allow this unfettered expansion of the exploitation. the keystone xl pipeline is just a necessary condition -- to stop it i should say, necessary for our collective future. if it goes on line and starts bidding over 800,000 barrels a day of this incredibly energy intensive and dirty fuel to the gulf coast refineries, we're not going have a viable future on this planet. >> daryl hannah james hansen said last may in "the new york times, >> good of canada proceeds and we do nothing it will be game over for the climate. yet been arrested several times from this pipeline, most recently in winnsboro, texas. do you really think t

actions can stop the pipeline? what happened? after 1200 people were arrested making a ring around the rose garden in washington a year ago, president obama said he was putting off the construction but then agreed to the lower part that goes through texas to be built. >> right, the southern leg of the keystone xl was fast track, but it was sort of done under cover. from then on, the keystone xl got very little press and most people just assume the decision had been postponed until after some environmental review and after the elections. you have to remember both the president and secretary of state hillary clinton had transcanada's chief lobbyists running a high part of their campaign efforts. the director president obama's campaign used to beat transcanada's chief lobbyist, and hillary clinton is deputy campaign director is now their

chief lobbyist. there's a very comfortable relationship. very few people have any doubt the whole pipeline was going to be approved. i think it is important that we all stand up for our natural living systems, our life support systems, and get this back into the conversation so people know is happening, so our rights are not trampled. >> i'm going to give susan scott the last word. you are a land owner there. your land taken by eminent domain. your thoughts on this action that is taking place today? and whether you think you can be successful, susan? >> i am certainly hoping that we're successful because let as said before, our lives and grandchildren's lives are all at stake here. they are all at stake.

>> i want to teach you all for being here, susan scott, land owner or the xl pipeline will run. she says she regrets accepting the tens of thousands of dollars transcanada gave her for access to her property because she says it was against her will that they were taking her property any way by eminent domain. and we have been joined by ron siefert, spokesperson for the tar sands blockade coalition, joining us from wood county, texas, roughly 15 miles from the site. today, another mass protest is planned. this is "democracy now!" daryl hannah with us, actor and activist, arrested right there in texas and winnsboro, texas, for protesting the pipeline. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

our 100-citying tour, back in new york, will be covering the presidential debate tonight at hofstra, and expanding the debate wednesday morning on "democracy now!" we will bring third-party candidates in to respond to the very same questions that are put to the major party candidates. with about three weeks to go for the november election, we turn now to a new exposé that raises alarming questions about the ability of corporations to influence the voting decisions of their employees. an article published by "in these times" magazine, labor journalist mike elk examines the contents of a voter information packet that koch industry sentence of thousands of employees as a subsidiary georgia-pacific. the packet advised employees on whom to vote for and warned them of the dire consequences to their families, their jobs, and their country, should they choose to vote otherwise. coke industries is run by

billionaire brothers charles and david koch. that helped to bankroll the tea party movement and dozens of other right-wing causes. the cover letter by coke industries president and chief operating officer dave robertson said -- the package also included an anti-obama editorial by charles cooke and a pro-from editorial by david koch. cook industries and other corporations are legally allowed to pressure their workers to adopt political views at the ballot box because of citizens united supreme court decision. the ruling granted free speech rights to corporations effectively removing regulations preventing employers from politically manipulating their

workers. in related news, florida billionaire david siegel recently informed his 7000 employees that a vote for obama would endanger their jobs. meanwhile, the coal company murray energy allegedly coerced its employees into supporting republican candidates. for more, we go to washington, d.c., where we're drawn by the author of the expos 8, mike elk of "in these times as good magazine. this piece is titled, "koch sends pro-romney mailing to 45,000 employees while stifling workplace political speech." welcome to "democracy now!" please, lay out your expose. >> as a result of citizens united, the first employers are allowed to talk to thee they employ about who they should vote for any elections but obviously, this is a interest.of influenc as well, you have a situation where koch industries is

expanding its rights to talk to its employes about politics, it is decreasing the rights of employees to talk about politics on facebook and other forms of social media. koch industries has a new social media policy that says workers can be fired for non-work related things that oaffect its brand reputation it has been interpreted that if a worker pose something negative about the koch words politics, they could be fired. several have been told about posting too much on facebook. last year, we rode a similar article for "the nation goes up about how the kochs for campaigning in the run-up to the 2010 election. a worker was quoted. he later was pressured by his employers for talking to us. he was told he shoulde doing things like that. we went for promotion, he got an excellent scoring is a violation, 3.7 out of four.

devaluation itself said he talked too much about politics in the workplace. -- the evaluation itself city talk too much about politics in the workplace. obviously, this is showing hypocrisy. kochs are in favor of limiting free speech rights for their employees. >> how did too, about discovering this story, mike? >> i followed it last year mark ames and i wrote a story and i stayed with the workers, talk to them, kept in touch covering other issues. we kept on this for about eight months. finally, we are able to get ahold of some documents, which we are releasing today, internal evaluations showing a worker was disciplined because of what they said, documents that showed georgia-pacific's restricted media policy. really, the credit for this story getting out there goes to the three great workers, jim pierce, travis mckinney, and

larry wagner, who were quoted in the story. all three could be fired, perhaps legally, for releasing confidential information about koch industries. >> can you talk about how that worker was disciplined and the whole social media policy and code of conduct that you discovered? >> travis mckinney, what happened, and a lot of different situations, travis would be told by his boss there were monitoring his facebook, that he is putting up too much about koch industries. we went for his evaluation, he scored 3.7 out of four, but denied a promotion and it said in his evaluation that he talked too much about politics in the workplace. for travis' say, he felt his been signaled out for his views. with the social media policy, this is incredibly restrictive. it says it worker can be fired

for completely non-work related things. first off, the union feels the social media policy is illegal. one, social media policies as the national labor act defines it, [indiscernible] they feel it infringes upon the rights of unions to talk about matters that they need to in order to fight for unions. i talked with some legal experts, even pro-union legal experts, that say this is a gray area. for instance, if a worker posts something about anti labor policies about coke industries, they would not be fired. but say a worker wanted to pose something about koch's investing in fracking are the keystone pipeline, they could be fired. is that protected speech. it is a gray area. the national labor process where you hear these cases of workers being fired for engaging in

union activity, a worker could be fired and out of a job for year-and-a-half before they get their job back. this is a big risk for most workers to take, and most are not willing to do it. a lot of folks keep their heads@ down. >> last year thinkprogress.org published video showing massachusetts republican senator scott brown thanking conservative billionaire david cope for his campaign donations and asking for more money in 2012. the video was shot at a recent dedication of mit's's david h,. koch institute. >> your response, mike elk chrishaun >> they have a lot of power grid scott grounded them in order to win. it is funny because in this packet of information, there is an op-ed from charles koch in

which talks about how i get so upset about ceo's lack courage to pursue public politics, the fold under pressure. abandonedo's who alec, he says seo's havana that organization in the wake of a controversy lack courage, and he has the kind of courage to go forward. this is what they see. in terms of the workplace political intimidation, the kochs are starting the trend. we will see more and more pressure of employees from their bosses and supervisors as more employees or employers catch on to the fact they can do this. >> the largest publicly held coal company and the nation has allegedly coerced its employees into supporting republican candidates. the company murray energy reportedly told workers that attending a pro-romley event would be both mandatory and

unpaid. however, murray energy chief financial officer rob moore denied the charges when speaking to radio host with david blomquist. >> were workers forced to attend this event? >> there were no workers forced to attend a bid managers that communicated to our work force the attendants at the romney event was mandatory, but no one was forced to attend the event. we had a ph registration list. employees were asked to put their name on a pre registration list because they could i get into the event unless they were pre registered and had a name tag to enter the premises. we had people that did not show up that day, and there are no consequences or repercussions taken against any employee that did not attend the romney event. >> murray energy chief financial officer rob more. mike elk, can you expand on this? >> my friend at the new republic

did a story where it really disputes this account and many workers say they were forced to event -- forced to a tennis event and paid. the ceo was pressuring workers to donate to gop candidates. the second -- they're the second largest donor to the house speaker. he reveals documents and letters from the ceo of the company, singling out people who are not giving money and pressuring them to show up for these banquets. he even has the spread sheets or they show who does not have money and who does so far this year. this is a big trend. sure, maybe murray energy is not exactly telling people they are fired, but imagine your boss says, we're supporting his republican candidate and volunteering for him this weekend, are you coming with us? if you want a raise, you're going to do whatever your boss tells you. there's nothing to be gained by not going along with your boss on politics, so the idea that an

employer does not have course of power when discussing politics with workers is ridiculous. >> mike elk, thank you for being with us, labor reporter. his latest article is, "koch sends pro-romney mailing to 45,000 employees while stifling workplace political speech." we will have a link on democracynow.org. we will be back in a moment, talking about data mining. ♪ [music break]

>> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we're in new york, continuing our 100-city election 2012 tour. as we continue to look at the election with a new report that looks at how the romney and obama campaigns are digitally mining personal data in order to get out the vote. focusing efforts online, the campaigns have been using cookies and various data mining techniques to determine which voters to target, how to do it on a scale and scope that's never been seen before. according to a new series published in mother jones magazine, the obama campaign pioneered the data mining strategy, and the romney team put one together once he won the primary. to talk more but the implications of data mining by the presidential campaigns, we go to washington, d.c., where we're joined by tim murphy, a reporter at mother jones. his article is called, "inside the obama campaign's hard drive" and it's a comedy by terke-- and its accompanied by a

chart called "stalk the vote: how obama for america gets to lnow jane q. voter." >> starting in 2004 when republicans and romney's campaign two years earlier started to buy consumer data bases, it has become inoperable. for years he had different databases. you're sort of the checkbook, which is whether or not yet given to campaigns in the past. you had your voter history, with the voted in the primary. whether you had volunteered, basic senses level data, race, ethnicity, family members. they have sort of been able to incorporate that. at the obama campaign headquarters in chicago, some of your on-line information. they may have your e-mail but if you sign up for an e-mail, they get your address. if you are on facebook but not only do they have all this information they had for years,

they also have access to your facebook friends lest, and through that, can sort of use your social network to get you to volunteer, get you to give money. >> explain how it works. you have a chart called, "stalk the vote." explain what it is that information about what you buy, when you go on facebook. explain how that helps them to get some out to vote. >> there are some very obvious things for all of the party's key very detailed voter lists of who showed up to caucus, who showed up on primary day. they do not know who you voted for, but can figure out pretty easily. that is sort of one pot of information they have on them and sort of land from one campaign to another. they have access to detailed contribution lists, which go

much further beyond sec info. it is down to whether someone gave a dollar or $3 or did it on top of that, they have this.@ new consumer information have started purchasing fell last decade or so. that comes from these big firms like axiom that says whether or not you subscribe to hbo, whether you are into hunting activities or sports activities. that kind of thing. from there they can sort of model all of this consumer information to get a sense of what your interests are, whether you're going to be a second and limit voter, a reproductive rights boater, whether you're a straight up jobs voter throw one of these variables in there, and it is not entirely clear. when to start looking at 10 or 12 variables, it is highly

reliable. they integrate this into one data base. they sort of give you a score on zero to 100 on how likely you are to vote and then a score on how likely are to show up. using all of that, they figure out how to approach to, whether to ask for money or not, whether to ask you to volunteer or not, whether to sing you mail or not. >> the ap did an exclusive report, romney's is secretive data mining, a little while ago, talking about building on its fund-raising prowess mitt romney's campaign began a project this summer to drove through americans' personal information including purchasing history and church attendance to identify new and likely will the donors. similar to those used by the business world to influence the way americans shop and think, now using it is with presidential elections. the same personal data consumers give away, often unwittingly

when a swipe their credit cards or log into facebook, is being used by the people who might one day occupy the white house. and they talk about using a firm tied to bain and company, the company mitt romney was led, called buxton co. from a fort worth, tx. >> the whole consumer data mining thing is really something the consumer, actual business world pioneered campaigns were late adapters to that. they have been slowly playing catch-up. i don't think there's anything now the campaigns to the corporations don't already. that does not mean it is not troubling or creepy. the big difference now and the big difference between what campaigns do and what corporations do, there's a much different expectation when we're dealing with campaigns. we expect to be able to assess of the analyze candidates and figure out about their voting

record and past, who is giving money to them. now they're basically doing the same thing to us. >> interesting how candidates are so careful about their own information, deeply data mining the information of the american public a big article today in the new york times, details have been released on the efforts by democrats and republicans to mine american voters' personal data. reporting the campaigns are purchasing and a president amount of personal affirmation including everything from religious ties, interest in pornographic sites, product preferenancial status, social media affiliations, and whether a voter has gay friends. how does pornographic sites relate to 2012 voting? >> interestingly, mitt romney has sort of pledged quietly that he would do something about pornography and select a president, said that is one of the types of things of having that information helps candidates said different things to different groups. as some voters that do not

really care about pornography and those who cast their vote based on that issue. being able to separate which voters care about which issues based on consumer data that is not necessarily freely supplied by voters makes a big difference for the campaigns. >> is it shaping the ads that are populating the american public right now? >> i think it is. it definitely is. one of the firms that mitt romney employees was founded were directed by his digital director and they bragged they are able to target two completely differe to two computers in the same household. of specificity. get that level >> you say there is nothing on the level of target. what was targets practices? >> target is sort of on the cutting edge of consumer data mining.

they most notably last year, reported i think in the new york times, that they were able, based on the various purchasing habits and search history of one particular female shopper, were able to determine not only that she was pregnant, but when she was due before her father even name. they bragged about this. they thought was really great what they had done. the campaigns do not do that. a lot of the consumer information they have is sort of very general, aggregated. they conclude certain things from it, but they do not have access to your browser history or that kind of thing. >> and she was 14. >> yes. exactly. that sort of invasive news is what we're talking about. >> tim murphy, thank you for being with this. we will have a link to this article on 10/15/12 10/15/12

democracynow.org. that does it for our show. we continue our 100-city election to our print we will continue with our debate, broadcasting tuesday night. go to democracynow.org receive your radio or television station asis running it. then we will be broadcast in the debate on "democracy now!" and including jill stein and rocky anderson. 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!]