so i named my first daughter after benton. benton brinkley. second is johnny brinkley. i had an uncle johnny which i never met. he was killed in world war ii in guam. he was a marine. my mother -- he was kind of a hero in my life even though i never met him. and i was a big fan of johnny cash. so he was johnny. i went with jonny. >> you're going to call him johnny for the rest of his life. >> i'm going to call him johnny. he can make that decision when he gets older. >> he's 4? >> yes. >> my youngest is 2. that's cassidy is her name. it's from a character of jack careways from on the road. there's a grateful dead song called cassidy. my wife ears formerly anne goldman of new orleans. we met there. got married in new orleans and have become a family man. it's changed my life. and brian than changing your life having kids, i love taking them. all my kids want to do now is go to the wild basin to see animals. we have a place in austin where i take them all the time to a nature study center. if nay see a fish they know, the perch. they each favorite animals that they honed

is hosting the tournaments at this course and residents of benton harbor are going to remind the p.g.a. the developers and governor rick snyder and his financial managers that they're not planning to stand by silently while the city is stolen from them joining me now for the latest on this story is the reverend david alexander bullock president of the detroit chapter of rainbow push and president of the highland park michigan and double a.c.p. reverend bullock welcome thank you so much for having us thank you for joining us i understand you were in benton harbor today for the occupy the p.g.a. protests what was the turnout like and what was the protest like was a peaceful. the protest was peaceful again we are about the tactics of nonviolent resistance to state occupation and emergency management in michigan it was peaceful but it was powerful as the casket rolled down the street symbolizing the death of democracy in bin harbor and indeed the state of michigan we are seeing now people getting the message that between voter suppression emergency management and this move by governor rick

will host a seniors golf tour tournament in benton harbor michigan a city that was taken over by one of governor rick snyder's financial manager cronies you might remember those guys they're the ones paid a quarter million bucks to take over a city and get its fiscal house in order that means firing all the local acted officials then getting to work trimming down budgets cutting back on public services like police and firefighters breaking union contracts and selling a large chunks of the commons like parks and utilities off. the crony corporations are part of the hostile takeover of benton harbor the financial manager even put up a local radio station for sale on e bay he also sold off twenty two acres of the local public park without the say of voters to a corporation that would develop it into part of a luxury golf course called harbor shores that golf course boasts membership fees of five thousand dollars a year a price that makes it inaccessible to the residents of benton harbor whose annual salary averages around ten thousand dollars a year in other words a park enjoyed mostly

last wednesday we told you about how residents and community groups in benton harbor michigan plan to occupy a senior p.g.a. golf tournament was being held in that city their plans to occupy the event were in response to governor rick snyder's possible takeover of the city and his appointment of a financial manager for that city who has the power to fire all the local if elected officials trim down budgets cut back on public services like police and firefighters break union contracts and so of large chunks of the commons like parks and utilities to crony corporations and fat cats reverend david alexander bullock president of the detroit chapter of rainbow push and president of highland park michigan and he joined us on this show last wednesday to talk about the early stages of the planned protest i understand you were in benton harbor today for the occupy the p.g.a. protests what was the turnout like and what was the protest like was a peaceful. the protest was peaceful again we are about the tactics of violent resistance to state occupation and emergency management in michigan it was

>> barbie benton. >> yes, barbie benton. >> of course you know, anthony. >> anthony would know that. barbie benton once told me -- this cracked me up -- that hugh hefner was very embarrassed of anybody hear him go to the bathroom. i said hugh hefner has orgies. what is he worried about next door going a little pee pee? i just thought that was funny. >> public rest rooms have gotten so weird now because, you know how you don't touch anything. i still go in the bathrooms with all the automated stuff. before you even sit down it flushes because it thinks you're leaving. do you know all that stuff? sometimes you get up and you're done and you're waiting for it so you don't want to walk out and someone thinks you didn't flush. you have to wave your arms around it and dance in front of it, anything to make it go. because it doesn't know you're leaving. >> having been in israel -- you see this a lot in the middle east and also in europe -- i think it is so much smarter. they have toilets that you press one for if you need just a little bit of water to flush, and another one -- you imagine h

cities like flint, pontiac, and benton harbor, michigan, have already been saddled with it. labor says this is more extreme than anything in wisconsin. that's because the law busts up collective bargaining agreements. its anti-democratic. it's another template for radical governors everywhere to follow. but citizens collected more than 200,000 signatures for a referendum to be put on the ballot in november. they got 40,000 more than what they needed to get on the ballot. but the state board ruled the petition invalid because it did not use the correct font size. petitioners say that they used the right font size and that they say that the decision to vote against certification was politically motivated. the michigan court of appeals will soon rule on this issue. a valid petition would immediately stop the implementation of public act 4 until the november vote. and there are a number of cities that are on the list to be taken over very soon. let's turn to tom hartman, my friend, author, and radio talk show host extraordinariary and journalist. great to have you with me tonigh

and as i was born and raised in michigan and i'm just astounded by this in places like the chorus benton harbor flood like we've had on this program three times now over the last year one of the city council members of our bridges telling the story of this right this is this is not only was it was a. arguably illegal and highly unconstitutional action but it also looks like there's an undercurrent of hey we want that park you know that's on the waterfront so that we can hand it off to a buddy developer who's a big republican donors i mean just all this weird stuff going on with this thing what cities in danger. take it over next if rick snyder keeps you know annoying little little dictators will detroit is in danger right now there's a what they're calling a consent agreement in place in detroit and the consent agreement is a middle middle position between democracy and emergency management and so what has happened now is the city of detroit is actually being run by the state but the city council and mayor agreed to it and the terms and reasoning for that agreement was that we have to do

the canal in clear weather conditions it was carrying retired policeman to an annual veterans of benton furnace emergency rescuers are at the scene searching the canal in case there are more victims as investigations into the calls continue. free public schools available to all have been the cornerstone of the u.s. education system but savage government cuts slashing budgets in half have brought teachers parents and pupils out onto the streets saying that learning is now beyond the reach of many parties medina listen to their plight. parents who join forces can be a powerful voice for change. i think i think reflection or if she was ok with being the third here but this is being served if the governor is caught you go into a plane from ny from two thousand and three till today if you will of experience of forty six percent much you can't know eleven year old vanessa had to repeat her grade and was well behind a just reading ability she lives with her mother to remain in a poor town in south in california there remains frustration over what she sees as the school's fame things led her to

have retained that division they still don't love role and the role this for a minute the the the benton finance minister. and there's a big change if as we said seventy five even if the energy minister is being replaced so these appointments now really going to be the thing that. the president needs and in the kremlin. also you sir what they're putting their will meantime political commentator sort of gives token says that russia's power team now has the right people to drive the country forward from my point to you this is the moves dramatic cabinet reshuffle the deck eat and what matters is not only the number of the new faces which is really amazing can you imagine three quarter of the new faces but that qualitative change is that there was an enormous cry all of the all of it presumes a late appointment of the cabinet and added to the confusion to the story that we didn't didn't go through as you know through the g eight summit to get there so what we see to be is that the release system often blame is these are working it is quite effective it might be criticized it might be ridicu

. >> well, you were the first one that got on the benton harbor story. and it has just snowballed, city after city, and there are a number of cities right now that are on the docket, and these folks have done everything they possibly can to get this vote going in november, but of course it's the technicality of the font size. that shows you how determined that opposition really is. >> that's right. thanks, man. and thank you at home for joining us this hour. we've got a big show this hour. the top elections official in any state is usually called the secretary of state. now, that can be a little bit confusing, because at the federal level, the person who has the title secretary of state is hillary clinton. and she's not at all in charge of elections. she's in charge of something totally different. but at the state level, the person who has that same title, secretary of state, is usually the person who in that state is in charge of voting. in that charge of elections. well, in the great state of indiana, the republican secretary of state this year, a man

the analysts at the time who followed the company for goldman sachs, dan benton, poured over financialse product and he made a judgment that the company, while having short-term momentum, would not have any staying power. i was aghast. i stood to make a big six figure ticket for bringing this deal to goldman sachs, young guy. man, this is it. the analyst wouldn't budge, reminding me this was goldman sachs, not some firm that would put it's name on any company because it was hot. sure enough, goldman passed. within a couple years the company failed. a victim of better technology and poor financial management. take it from me, that's why the brokerage pedigree matters. i would pass on deals done by firms that you've never heard of or that have little or no track record with successful underwritings. doesn't mean every ipo brought by a high quality brokerage won't fail, far from it. only after i've gone through the three-step vetting process, would i then consider what the company does or what it makes or how it's done in the past. in part because it is so difficult to judge these issues.

. >> if you want to help detroit, flint, benton harbor, saginaw, if you want to help the cities in michigans deal with foreclosure. 90,000 foreclosures in the city of detroit. that's 90,000 forced evictions in the last three years. so if you look at 300,000 people leaving one city, you're seeing the tax base leave. this city is not in financial strain because of mismanagement, because people are incompetent. that is not the right analysis. we have to deal with foreclosure, insurance redlining. and so what the state should be doing is helping to -- the federal government, county government and state government to reinvest in these cities. we -- michigan is a manufacturing state. really, really a one-industry state. so as the automotive industry, we saw manufacturing meltdown. we saw plants go from michigan to mexico. that's trade policy. this is not incompetence. >> is democracy the problem? is it just that the bad people of detroit are making bad choices when they vote? when they put people in charge of running their city? could detroit somehow be an oasis in michigan, if only its elected o

security cameras capture the empty aisles at the benton harbor walgreens. is at work when two masked gunmen rush through the doors and seize one of the assistant managers. >> one of the managers ran across an aisle holding a piece of shelving and headed directly to the stock room. this frightened me and i suddenly realized that something was wrong. seconds later i saw another manager with a gunman in the pharmacy area. the gunman saw me. and i saw him. >> hovan moves back to call 911 but the gunman hurtles over the counter. hovan draws the handgun he legally carries in a concealed holster during every shift. the robber appears to fire his weapon, although it doesn't go off. >> the gunman repeatedly attempted to fire upon me. i feared for my life. and in self-defense, i fired my weapon as i continued to move from him. >> he shoots three times missing the robber who drops his weapon and flees with his accomplice. another employee picks up the dropped gun. if hovan expects praise for his vigilante actions, he doesn't get it from his employer. instead he's fire

in a memo, chief strategist jesse benton said paul won't quit, even while acknowledging mitt romney's certain nomination. he wrote: "our delegates can still make a major impact at the national convention and beyond." but many of paul's active, grasootsupporters aren't happy, insisting he has a chance to grab the nomination. to help us sort this out, we are joined by jon ralston, political columnist with the "las vegas sun," and brian doherty, an editor at the libertarian- leaning magazine 'reason." he is the author of the new book, "ron paul's revolution: the man and the movement he inspired." gentlemen, thank you both for being with us. john ralston, do you first. it hasn't been a secret for some time that mitt romney has this nomination locked up. so what precipitated this announcement from the paul camp? >> well, i think he's out of money, judy. that's the real problem for him in terms of going forward. so he's going to do something that no other candidate in history has. he's going to run backwards. that is, he's going to go back to these states where he's been able to infiltrate

when he started missing the cut for the republican debate, the benton to go -- come on over. -- begged him to come on over. we will hear some of an interview that is all about -- that is about the presidential race overall. president obama kicked off his campaign earlier in ohio. he will be in virginia earlier -- he was in virginia later he -- he will be in virginia earlier today. >> talk to us about the president. he ticks off his campaign >> -- -- guest: it comes as no surprise. he has hundreds of people mobilized for him. as you know, as some republicans have complained, he has done a lot of these events, including a slow of them last week that skirt the line between campaign and governments, but today is the official kickoff on the joint andrews air force base. we will fly out first to we will fly out first to columbus,

the first, james benton. [applause] >> what would the dead want from us watching from their cave? howling? rave or disfigure ourselves like an extemporaneous slave? none of my a dead friends were at emperors' with such taste. or vengeful to have their friends waste away to be disfigured and defaced. dead-end would want us to weep for what we have lost. time would find them generous convalesce self engrossed. time the fines than generous as they used to be. they want and honored place in our memory. room, a chair, privilege and a celebrity. they may not grieve. we might to make amends and there could be a pact between dead and living friends. what they could be would be from such living friends. [applause] >> ♪ ♪ ♪ >> i want to get you in the mood for scions. [laughter] >> every time i left christopher and carol's place late and a drunk i would say what do i deserve to be his friend? i was interviewed on cnn who said on the one hand he aspires skepticism and rational thought to but at the same time of bullying whinney contrarian as if that was a bad thing. [laughter] christopher wa

you know like benton harbor. >> emergency managers. >> emergency managers who come in and run your fiscalto be both the birth and the death of democracy. >> well, this point about the death of democracy is an important one. even though i said the eu is a democratic project. it doesn't feel like democracy to greece, greece is at the whimsy of its creditors and they, what's happening is you are seeing a democratic, a democratic rebellion. which if you say to people we're going to impose horrible misery on you, would you like that? people go to the polls and say, we do not like that, no thank you, we will vote for whoever says we don't like that. and the biggest party that's gained is the left party, serisa that says we're not going to take the terms of this deal. i want to play nigel ferage a member of the a euro-skeptic party. giving his articulation of the skeptical case of what the currency union and the eu is doing. take a look. >> the eu "titanic" has now hit the iceberg. it is a european union of economic failure. of mass unemployment, of low growth, but worst of all, it's an eu with

caroline in benton county writes i am an oncology nurse presently working on my master's degree in nursing. like many others, i have student debt. if we are to have an educated work force, we must ensure that the high cost of education doesn't leave students in financial ruin. that's the end of her letter. and indeed, the fear of financial ruin from heavy debt burdens and high interest rates is a significant factor in dissuadeing people from pursuing higher education. cynthia from columbia county writes if we expect to compete in a global marketplace, our children must have affordable access to education, exclamation point she puts on it. i have two kids in college and the debts we are incurring are already topping $50,000. is it right that only rich people can send their children to college? what kind of country is it where we can spend billions on -- quote -- independent security contractors in iraq and afghanistan but not on our own children's educations? she concludes please support a plan to stop student loan interest rates from doubling this july. i want to dwell on the point she mad