more about this i'm joined by jim all of the policy director of the national iranian american american council welcome jamal so this documentary is stirring up quite a bit of controversy how credible would you say that it is not credible at all it's . completely ludicrous it's based on very. substantial evidence and i think that it's part of the war propaganda machine that we're seeing ramping up right now when it comes to iran. what is you're saying it's not credible so what is the agenda behind it. and who is behind it well there has been this campaign sort of the perfect marriage for hawks in the u.s. you know people who want to get tough on cuba venezuela people who want to get tough on iran they're driven by two of the most powerful lobbying groups in washington the you know cuban lobby and you know a packin israel lobby so. linking iran and latin america is very convenient. the fact that it's not credible comes from you know if you watch the documentary they're saying that a team of student hackers was led by their leftist professor to make an offer to hack into the white house computer

from the national radio american council thank you. the battle for the future of internet continues with the u.s. congress debating amendments to the stop online privacy act or sopa the legislation aims to slash the amount of pirated online content but some of the original engineers of the internet have strongly criticized the bill saying it would create an environment of fear and hamper innovation as well to aaron swartz he's a web programmer and net activist who thinks it could end up with a web falling into government hands. the government doesn't just take down the infringing material it takes on the site entirely and it does it without even a trial the find out whether it's illegal or not and as you know copyright laws are extremely complicated there are lots of things that look like copyright infringement that turn out to be licensed in one way or another part of this is a larger crackdown on freedom of speech there's pretty much no other law that would give the government the power to censor the internet they wouldn't be laughed

. >> mark bloomfield is the ceo and president of the washington- based american council. he says the challenges for eu leaders is there are -- is that they are as much political as they are economic. >> most western democracies today have an extremely difficult time dealing with tough political challenges. that is the overview. nine countries have to go to their parliament. who knows what reaction among the populace, population will take place in germany and france? yes. i think it is much more or as much a political question as an economic question. >> the un secretary general banking moon -- ban ki-moon is in somalia. he said this is a fresh opportunity, announcing the office will be relocating early in the new year because of recent security gains by african peacekeepers. barbara has been traveling with him. this report does contain some flash photography. >> it is the first time a u.n. secretary general has set foot on somalis soil in nearly two decades. ban ki-moon called this a moment of fresh opportunity for the country. what he saw was mostly through the windows o

its on exports it says they may more than double fuel prices to be from the national iranian american council such sun still who only called really struggling western economies . these are saying that. this is the sponsors that actually acknowledge ok this is going to raise gas prices a little bit here in the u.s. it might you know take away some jobs here in the u.s. but it's so important that we need to do it even though we've never seen these sanctions actually work meanwhile in europe they've talked about imposing similar sanctions actually imposing an embargo on iranian oil exports so that europe wouldn't be able to purchase those and it looked like they were going to go through with it and tell spain italy greece said now hold on we're teetering right now if you actually raise gas prices here if you cut off our oil imports from iran we're going to go under that's going to create far more damage. than we could expect from actually pursuing a different course with iran focused on a way out of this sort of escalating confrontation. and more towards diplomacy than just pressure for pressure

and reza miranshah of the independent lobby group the national iranian american council says neither to us no we run one divines a route to be blocked but he said the lack of diplomatic relations for decades between the two increases the risk of a dangerous. cold in the strait of hormuz for the iranian government would be the equivalent of cutting off its nose to spite its face its heavily heavily reliant on its on its income from oil exports the vast majority of which go through the strait that being said just because it's something that the iranian government doesn't want to do doesn't necessarily mean that it's something that it's want to have pressure increases to the point where iran is backed into a corner to governments that haven't been communicating for over three decades and when you don't have direct channels of communication that increases the likelihood of miscalculations and misperceptions and it reinforces a cycle of escalation in conflict and it increases the likelihood that you can you can take actions that might not be in the court and even with your own interests a

atrocities victims and there was no iranian representation in court tomorrow from that actual iranian american council says that it's part of a buildup compay in who are against iran. i don't see any evidence that is particularly compelling that iran had a direct role in nine eleven i know that we have seen. in washington there's been a campaign in new york to link iran very publicly to nine eleven on the anniversary of those attacks earlier this year there was a billboard campaign in times square with god's face and something along the lines of you know the silent partner of al qaeda. there's clearly a campaign right now to try to ratchet up the pressure for yet another u.s. attack on a middle eastern country and i just think this is so dangerous if you go back to when those attacks happened immediately afterward iran condemned the attacks there were there were candlelight vigils on the streets of tough broad in solidarity with the americans who lost their lives. in cooperating with the united states in helping topple the taliban who is. the enemy of iran as was osama bin laden what we're seeing now

the research director of the national radio and american council thanks for being with us now this isn't the first time the rands threaten to close the strait of hormuz despite the little cripple to runs over the oil industry do you think this time though the pressure has built up sufficiently for it to carry its threats through i don't think we've reached a point yet where the iranian government will act on threats that it's made for the better part of three decades with regards to closing the strait of hormuz closing the strait of hormuz for the iranian government would be the equivalent of cutting off its nose to spite its face it's heavily heavily reliant on its on its income from oil exports the vast majority of which go through the strait that being said just because it's something that the iranian government doesn't want to do it doesn't necessarily mean that it's something that it's want to have pressure increases to the point where iran is backed into a corner just remind us what is the main stumbling block here i mean this is going on for such a long time there isn't with agree

thank you so much for weighing in on this that was a policy director for the national iranian american council jamal of the. well still ahead on our teeth here there everywhere big brother has its eye on you and all of your information so much for personal liberty is that story next. pepper spray let's just bring gerard is right right i mean it's like a derivative of actual pepper it's a food product essentially. it's much stronger than anything you'd be by obviously loses dolls of the arms were stronger than any kind of the w they were putting on. the. well for those of us that use i phones blackberries google any of the stables of modern technology apparently we are all screwed despite the economic slump there is one sector which is booming and raking in billions it's the spying sector and who else but wiki leaks is helping to bring this all to light their new project called spy files is exposing how private surveillance companies are selling monitoring software to various governments across the globe this is software that tracks your every move by monitoring your phone online activity and y

thank you so much for weighing in on there that was a policy director for the national iranian american council jamaal of the. and despite the economic slump there is one sector which is booming and raking in billions it's the spying sector and who else but wiki leaks is helping to bring this all to light their new project called spy files is exposing how private service companies are selling monitoring software to various governments across the globe this is software that tracks your every move by monitoring your phone online activity and your facebook so who are these companies selling the information to apparently they don't discriminate and sell it to western intelligence agencies and countries ran by dictators alike listen to this facebook does message surveillance if there is a like button on the page facebook knows that it will who this is that page and it can get the ip address of the computer visiting the page even if the person is not a facebook user so you visit several pages that have like buttons and facebook knows that you visited all of those and he is certainly not alone with th

thank you so much for weighing in on this that was a policy director for the national iranian american council jim all of the. well despite the economic slump there is one sector which is booming and raking in billions it's the spying sector and who else but wiki leaks is helping to bring this all to light their new project called spy files is exposing how private surveillance companies are selling monitoring software it's a various governments across the globe this is software that tracks your every move by monitoring your phone online activity and your facebook and who are these companies selling the information so you apparently they don't discriminate and sell it to western intelligence agencies and countries around by dictators alike here's what julian assange has to say about this who here has an eye for who has a blackberry. users gmo well . so are we well i talked more about that whether alex jones i was a little curious so to start things off i asked him just what kind of cell phone he has take a listen. i use a globalist designed apple i phone which surveilled everywhere i go everyth

.- based kashmiri american council. he never reported the millions of dollars he received from pakistani intelligence. >>> the virginia senate race will hold their debate today. george allen and tim kaine will face off this afternoon at the state capitol in richmond. >>> a senate subcommittee will look at whether the washington area is prepared for a natural or man-made disaster. today's hearing was prompted in part by gridlock during january's snowstorm and after the august earthquake. >>> there are some new accusations against former penn state assistant football coach jerry sandusky. a 19-year-old man says he abused him back in 2004 when he was 12. he says jerry sandusky gave him liquor and assaulted him on the campus. jerry sandusky is scheduled to. in court next week for a preliminary hearing. several of his accusers may testify. >>> closer to home, the washington redskins are now officially down two starters. yesterday, the team got word that the league suspended davis and williams for 4 games without pay. they fa

we are part of the american immigration council, formally known as the american immigration law foundation. we work very closely with lawyers, including one of the sponsors of tonight's events. when i talk about compehensive immigration reform to people, i often like to move away from the movie analogy to the game analogy. think about it as a rubik's cube. if you get one side right, it probably means the other sites are screwed up. you cannot think about immigration as the one issue. there are so many that interact with each other. we often focus on legalization because it's such an overwhelming issue in many ways. we have so many people that are here without the appropriate documentation. we also know we have huge family backlogs. we have all kinds of problems with the due process and the interior enforcement issues that we face. we have a worker verification program that does not really address our needs. we have a very dynamic economy, but very static numbers for immigrating. we have a system that does not match up with what we need. immigration has become such a polarizing issue that w

>>trace: more american colleges are creating programs to help veterans according to the american council on education and other groups, 70 percent of public colleges they surveyed and 60 percent of private institutions increased their veterans specific programming from 2001 to 2009, and, now, thousands of veterans are taking advantage of the most generous veterans assist answer benefits since world war ii. california is starting a new program. >>guest: and it sounds interesting is, a joint venture between the california department of veterans affairs and the community college system to make it easier for veterans to go to college so when troops return home, and they are ready to leave the service all they have to do is sign a reintegration form on the veterans affairs website getting them all kinds of information about the community colleges close toast their zip code, enrollment assistance and how to use the game bill to pay for their education. >> i was last at first and afraid, i wanted to go to school but just did not know how to even take the first step in applying for a school. >>

the american legislative exchange council or alec is an extreme right wing membership organization comprised of state legislators and powerful multinational corporations including the corrections corporation of america. is the most active. anti immigrant. in. russell pearce like c.c.a. he's an alec member one with obscure ties to national white separatist neo nazis during an alec meeting c.c.a. and pierce crafted a model legislation that became almost word for word arizona's s.b. ten seventy. doesn't mind as long as they fill the detention facilities for gays. months or even years seventy on the copycat laws sprouting up across the country. so how does alec get away with this. very easy they have a lot of interest in of their own organization their membership organization that is comprised of big corporations not only c.c.a. not only for profit corporations we're talking the likes of. wal-mart for example we're talking the likes of exxon philip morris big corporations that have an interest in some aspect of the corporate legislative process as we call it they also get money from the cold bro

trina parsi is the president of the national iranian-american council.ch for being with us. >> thank you for having me, ali. >> i have informally talked to some people who feel this isn't just posturing. it's very real. these countries that were mortal enemies in the past have far less reason to be mortal enemies today. it's quite likely that there is some detant, between iraq and iran. >> in the short term, yes, the relationship between the current iranian government and the current iraqi government is rather strong. it is still a precarious situation, so it remains to be seen if it is durable or not. there's much that indicates that it will be difficult for the iranians and iraqis to retain this level of relationship for much longer. at the end of the day these are two countries that for 3,000 years have been pretty hostile rivals in the region and there are few reasons to believe that that will change. >> what's the biggest reason that it will change. the fact that iraq does have a shia majority that is now in a lot more control than they ever were un

trina passi is president of the national iranian-american council. thanks very much for being with us. >> thank you for having me, ali. >> i have informally talked to some people who feel this isn't just posturing. it's very real. these countries that were mortal enemies in the past have far less reason to be mortal enemies today. it's quite likely that there is some detant, between iraq and iran. >> the relationship between the current iranian government and the current iraqi government -- it remains to be seen if it is durable or not. there's much that indicates that it will be difficult for the iranians and iraqis to retain this level of relationship for much longer. at the end of the day these are two countries that for 3,000 years have been pretty hostile rivals in the region and there are few reasons to believe that that will change. >> what's the biggest reason that it will change. the fact that iraq does have a shia majority that is now in a lot more control than they ever were under saddam hussein? >> certainly, but at the same time, you hav

the latest exploits of the world's oil barons and vultures also is the right wing american legislative exchange council and doors seen letting children get poisoned by rat poison you won't believe what alec is up to now and later in tonight's daily take occupy wall street has reached a new phase in the battle against corporate personhood why the movement is finally winning. the finger pointing over the b.p. oil spill continues more than a year after eleven men were killed and five million barrels at least of oil blanketed the gulf of mexico dick cheney's halliburton is in trouble after was alleged that the corporation destroyed evidence that may have proved it was partly responsible for the b.p. oil spill and deaths poured into court documents filed in new orleans this week albert destroyed the results of physical slurry testing and it has at best lost the computer modeling outputs the showed no channeling in part because it wanted to eliminate any risk that this evidence would be used against it at trial and quote so why does it seem like everything dick cheney touches turns criminal and the bigger qu

the latest poll from the american research council shows the race in a three-way dead heat. did fog in a new york times survey earlier this month, two of the three voters said they might change their minds. fourth half's fifth half safe >> personal history does matter. 60 percent of participants in the iowa caucus are evangelical christians. >>grant: mitt romney is facing questions about his personal wealth making him by far the wealthiest candidates. he will not let anyone see his tax returns. >>craig: one week after the iowa caucuses and new hampshire holds the first primary. officers found four women and remanded dead in an apartment. another massive shooting in tennessee just after midnight on christmas morning. police say that nine people were halted during a flight between two rival teams. hornets o >>grant: a helicopter crashed in a florida her. they were on their way to a gain so hostile to retrieve a hartford transplant was a draw for went down in a wooded area off. the national transportation safety board is investigating. in the connecticut house, five people died

honor to present today, on behalf of our city and county, the filipino american history month proclamation. you may join the council general, and please, the honorable hydra mendoza, president of our board of education, and of course, kyra rodriguez from our filipino channel. please take this problematic -- proclamation declaring this is a filipino-american history month in san francisco. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the highest ranking and only filipino-american elected official in the city and county of san francisco, president of the board of education and education adviser to mayor edwin lee, honorable hydra mendoza. [applause] thank you. it still saddens me when you saw the only in the first filipino ever elected in san francisco, but it is always such an honor to be here with my community, and i want to thank you all for this celebration. we really have so much to celebrate, and i wanted to make sure we acknowledge this month alone and some of the things we have been able to accomplish. as the council general mentioned, ab 199 finally acknowledges the work and the tremendous bravery of o

last night as the renewable energy leader, a decade by the american council on renewable energy.award ceremonies, swarzenegger called on congress to make sure that all energy sources will be playing by the same rule. currently the subsidies for the fossil fuel are five times greater than those for the renewable energy. >>> and there are new legal accusations surrounding the country's worst offshore oil spill. bp is accusing them of destroying evidence about the cement used as the oil well that blew out last year. federal and independent investigators have already said the cement work was faulty and that they did not properly plug the well. bp also claims that they did their own investigation that resulted in the same findings and then destroyed those records. >>> your time now is 8:17. new developments for you in the penn state university and the child sex scandal. the campus newspaper reports that the former head football coach joe paterno had closed business ties with board members of the charity second mile. and now that is the charity that was founded by the alleged child mol

earlier today my colleague hala gorani spoke with the head of the national iranian-american council who doesn't like what he sees. >> as we are kind of sleep walking towards the military confrontation, i don't believe the obama administration has the intent for war, nor do i think necessarily that the iranians are looking for war. but the policies that we are pursuing nevertheless are increasing the risk of a military confrontation. >>> tehran is up in arms over new western sanctions it may face over its nuclear program. >>> amid a growing turf war over immigration law, the feds are reaching out directly to detainees facing deportation in local jails. immigration and customs enforcement is setting up a hotline for detainee questions or complaints and it's reminding all concerned that police can hold undocumented suspects for 48 hours at most. after that, the feds are supposed to take over or the detainees released. >> three, two, one -- happy new year! >> don't worry, no one's jumping the gun. this was just a test of the ball drop in "new york times" square last year. of course the real