mississippi state senator tony smith is author of "the anti-bloomberg law" and amy, the author of a book called "lunch wars." tony, you introduced this so-called anti-bloomberg bill that focuses on limiting restaurant regulations. that includes preventing limits on sugary drink sizes as well as banning any requirements to post calorie counts, even laws about toys in kids meals. what do you see as the government's role, if any, in encountering the obesity crisis that's threatening public health? >> well, thank you for having me this morning. i think it's a far more outreaching than what we're discussing here. it's more about government intrusion into business and putting regulations in place that could be detrimental to their business. the bill that we have passed here in the state of mississippi does not do away with what the fed is already requiring, if you own 20 or more restaurants you still have to plot nutritional values, you to have it on your menus and have it presented for the consumer. our bill is all about protection to the free rights operating business and there again we don'

tony smith in oakland has an initiative that is dealing with not just things like restoretive justice alone but positive behavioral interventions and supports. couple that with response to intervention, whole school reform strategies that work on transforming the way the school is functioning and in so doing making it a more positive culture for everybody. it brings in parental engagement in families and it has the very tough conversations, in the case of oakland i know for sure, around things like race with an african american male focus in that community because it's appropriate for that community, and the way all these things link together. so certainly bullying and harassment is an avenue into transforming the way schools work. just like discipline is an avenue into transforming the way schools work, as is standards and good assessments, it is how all these things fit together to ensure that students feel safe to learn but that what they are learning are the rigorous courses and skills and they are challenged enough to stay in school, graduate, and meet our president's goal we're

[applause] next to nancy is tony smith who i loved his biobest of all and started he's an oakland resident and parent of students in oakland public schools. he was -- became the superintendent in 2009. he's a local boy including university of california berkeley background where he was captain of the football team and he did not include this in the biobut i know it and he wrote his under graduate thesis on emily dickon son so he's kind of a renaissance dude and he's 6-foot something. next to him is -- [applause] and next to him is george gaston and elect to the district attorney of the city and county of san francisco in 2011 after winning more than 62% of the vote which in san francisco is very enviable and focused on reducing violent crime, protecting vulnerable victims and respecting with high school truancy and rel haven't to the conversation today. last is cheryl young and the chief executive director of gate path and oversees a large nonprofit in san mateo county and focus on turning disabilities into possibilities and she's a wonderful addition to the panel and it's an area that sch

on my staff as chronic absteism and involved with the oakland school district and i partner with tony smith and this man brought innovation to the oakland school district which has a lot of challenges which he may go into. i won't. so i really echo what jeff said about soft or hard power but let me tell you from my standpoint. i have a nephew who was in school and was bullied and there were sexual overtones to it and the result is he left the school and i spent time working with the school and my district and it wasn't my area and educate them about what bullying meant and in the most heinous way described to them and it went no where and that gave me the lesson in life we have children that are in fear when they go to school so they don't go and my priority is to have safe schools and they can be educated and create their path to a successful future and it's a healthy environment and bullying prevents that for so many kids. when terreesa and i addressed issues around truancies and one of the common themes and i saw this before with sexually exploited cases and kids were afraid to go to sch

kinds of tools and supports and training to superintendents, like -- i see another one over there, tony smith from oakland, the sort of heroes that are deeply trying to transform their communities and recognize that this is also a community issue, that it is not just a school issue. >> tom, why don't we have a federal definition? >> well, we're working on it. i mean, i think there's a, when we had the white house conference there was a conversation about what is the federal role and there continues to be i think a robust debate in this country about whether education issues are local issues, whether they are federal issues, and what should be done. and there are a number of people --. >> tom, let me jump in. bullying is hardly unique to school day. >> uh-huh. >> so why in the broadier sense is there not a federal definition of bullying that transcends local jurisdiction on schools? meaning, we know what bullying is when we see it. everyone may have a variation, about why isn't there a broad definition? >> certainly in the south philly case, a number of those kids were dealt with in the local

more than that, as tony smith was talking about, creating caring climate, a culture of trust and respect. and that's hard and needs to, top down but also bottom up. i just recently viewed the movie bully and brought back a lot of memories, it brought back a focus on just the cruel course of bullying and the insensitivity, the interviews with administrators and school personnel. i don't know if any of you have seen the movie or a preview of it, it's just an appalling, republic prehence sibl, the ignorance . my beloved niece took her own life a couple miles from here. she was a special needs child and it's hard to know what happened, but this story of grief and then the turn around in the movie was really positive because it emphasized the positive that was coming out of the tragedy. so for rob and for the mom over here who grieves, you have the idea i am somebody. in the movie there's tee shirts, i am somebody, everything starts with one. we got to go from here forward and replacing hate with hope. so those were good themes that came out of that movie. the department of education, we're o

state senator tony smith that owns a chain of barbecue joints. senator smith, is this the freedom to be fat bill? >> i hope it's more than that. here in mississippi we see it is an intrusion in our rights to operate a legal business. it's comforting to know that sarah palin is on board with me. >> geraldo: she certainly is. you know that obesity is bad for people? >> absolutely. we recognize that in our state. let's start off the program by saying a few weeks ago, first lady obama, michelle obama was in town. she was celebrating at one of our school districts in clinton, mississippi there has been a reduction of 13% of childhood obesity. so mississippi is doing good things. i don't think we need more government involvement in an industry like a food services industry to be the whipping stock of the nation. >> geraldo: what about the argument that a fat person is really particularly because so often obesity and poverty run hand in hand, that is person that you are going to have to pay for and why not restrict the color intake if it is possible? wh

. >> reporter: the oakland unified superintendent tony smith has decided to break away from the pack. >> california submitted a waiver that didn't get approved. so we're really at a moment where we have to think very different. >> reporter: thinking different has led to a first of its kind partnership by nine california school districts, including oakland, san francisco, los angeles, and sacramento city. they banded together to submit their own waiver from "no child left behind" requirements. >> so this is a third pass, if you will, it is not what california is doing or the federal government is doing. it is what we think is important to t granted, it will recover 300 million, and break new great with notable policies, including teacher negotiations, including a measure of test scores. and it will also rely heavily on peer reviews, and tests only students in the highest grade of the school, like fifth graders in elementary school, and eighth graders in middle school. >> that is contrary to what the federal government has allowed. they want you to test every student, every year in ever

tony smith pushes the anti-bloomberg bill. bans its state from enacting, well, any ban, fatty food, drink bans, anything, stops it. he's he's, and hopes the plan goes national. >> senator, i applaud the effort. i don't know how far you go, but hope springs e term after the smash down on the mayor for the big gulp. be specific, what you want, a ban? i want to be clear. >> well, neil, we just wanted to do a preemptive bill that prevents individual municipalities in the state from implementing regulations, mainly food regulations, say at a restaurant, sort of modeled after what the bloomberg bill tried to do in new york. we just don't think municipalities should have that authority to reach into a legal business and place more regulation op them that's already controlled by the health department, usda, there's plenty of regulation for everybody. neil: the argument for what mayor bloomberg did, for example, senator, when he went after saturated fats, i think, some years back, and that was argued unchallenged because of the medical

well, mississippi state senator tony smith joins us.ir. >> thank you greta for having me. >> what is the bill you're passing or tell me exactly what it is? >> well, actually senate bill 2687 simply states that the mississippi legislature will retain control when it comes to food regulations across our state. we don't want a hodgepodge of different rules and regulations that are spread out across our state and you have all of these different municipalities doing their own thing and we think it needs to be consistent state wide. >> greta: were there any sort of efforts to pass a law in some community in mississippi that in any way was remotely like what mayor bloomberg wants to do in new york? >> happening in new york and like might be best to be preemptive. and so, we came up with this bill, also, melanie sojornor helped me co-author this. and-- >> i'm not familiar with the balance of power within your state. do you have both house and senate are republican? >> say that one more time, greta, i'm sorry the connection is-- >> i'm not famil

. >> thank you, tony smith, who put forward this antibloomberg bill. >> first they said it was hundredswas actually thousands of illegal immigrants released from jail. should the criminals have been allowed to walk? arthur has something to say about this. keep us out of your punch line, jay leno underfire for speaking the truth about nbc rating. look what mommy is having. mommy's having a french fry. yes she is, yes she is. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. 100% vegetable juice, with three of your daily vegetable servings in every little bottle. >> the obama administration is coming clean, forced to come clean on the detained illegal immigrants released because of budget cuts. i.c.e. director says that more than 2,000 were let go. they were held for various offenses including drunk driving and theft. should they be allowed to walk? the two people we asked first, fox news legal analyst and defense attorney. letting out people being held for theft and d.w.i.? we cannot afford them what is the point of government? >> this is much ado about nothing. if we committed a d.w.i. whic

smith entregó el premio. >>> ramó ayala recibió el premio por su trayectoria artística. >>> otro ganador fue tony torres queconmucho respeto y cariño recibo el premio est anoche, pero agradezco a dios, a los fanáticos y a los ascap. >>> hemos recibido muchos premios, como los grammy, los discos de oro y platino y bueno ahora los 50 años de trayectoria. >>> felicidades a los ganadore sy estos son los premioas más improtantes. >>> y aplauso a los de nuestra casa también! >>> (cantando). >>> yo creo que te querrá ramón ayala en su grupo! (risas). >>> seugimos con el mundo del entretenimiento y rosie rivera, que trabajó en las relaciones públicas, está en contra de la película que se hará en su nombre. >>> está fuerte el tema y así lo comunican diciendo que arturo rivera nunca entregó los documentos de los que hablan y su función era otra. no era representante lega y sus funciones no entraban en este tipo de cosas. >>> en nombre de nuestros hermanos, unamos fuerzas para juntas poner en claro que si sigue con sus difamaciones, tomaremos acción legal en su contra. >>> directo al grano. >>> rosie desconoció si su