submerge coastal cities underwater and turn forests in a wildfire traps thanks to its citizens united ruling five right wing corporate sponsored justices on the u.s. supreme court are responsible for the destruction of our planet and the only way we can reach a tipping point of elected lawmakers talking about climate change and actually doing something about it is to end the insanity that citizens united ruling that so that corporations are people and money is speech the fact is corporations are not people and money is property not speech and to stop the supreme court we need to amend our constitution to simply and plainly say so go to move to amend or get involved and that's the way it is tonight wednesday october seventeenth two thousand and twelve for more information check out our website at tom arbonne dot com free speech or r t v dot com and hulu dot com slash the big picture and don't forget democracy begins when you get out there get active today your suitable. culture is that so much money and which of course is why on economy and so here is a commitment to put up what kind of forei

and to the polluters that litter on your footsteps and based on the same logic as the citizens united ruling and considers the corporate super pacs the same as real people but with our city attorney i am introducing legislation today and suspend our pilot programs until we see if seattle's law is consistent with the first amendment and i am working with the city attorney to find alternate approaches for the same goal. the rest i commit. >> thank you supervisor. supervisor. >> submit. >> thank you supervisor. >> supervisor mar. >> thank you madam clerk. i have several things. the first is my strong support for the neighborhood theater and in the richmond district. i have been supporting the survival of the neighborhood theaters and i am introducing a motion for what the city can do much more to protect the small independent theaters. i have been working hard to support the balboa theater and the foundation has stepped in really to help our neighborhood show strong support for it, but also at the four star theater and chinese american movie series. it's one of the only one that still continues

the courts citizens united ruling two years ago unleashed a record flood of political spending this year four weeks still to go, more than half a billion dollars has been spent on ads eclipsing the total spent four years ago. barry peterson reports some voters in colorado are fed up. >> romney paid just 14% in taxes last year on over 13 until in income. >> obama wages war on coal while we lose jobs to china. >> they blow everything out of proportion, both sides. >> i push mute. >> reporter: in colorado alone 47 million dollars in five months has been spent by the obama and romney campaigns and groups supporting them. but come november, people here will be able to tell the rest of the nation just how they feel about enduring all those tv ads. >> let me get your e-mail address. >> reporter: he got amendment 65 on the ballot, if passed the state's congressional delegation would be required to propose an amendment to the u.s. constitution limiting campaign contributions and spending. allena nunez is executive director of colorado common cause. >> the result is a democracy that really distort

it may be constitutional, but even those who agree with the supreme court's citizens united ruling thatated super pacs admit our government is awash in cash. money buys influence, but it also may buy government itself. this is the unambiguous conclusion you reach in reading the book "billionaires & ballot bandits: how to steal an election in 9 easy steps." investigative reporter greg palast wrote it. he is a new york times-bestselling author and also works for the bbc and britain's the observer. what is going on is happening behind this very thin veneer of democracy, but as i read your book i get the sense that it really is a gross subversion of democracy. > > yes. we have to think about who these billionaires are. since we had citizens united, which created the so-called "corporate citizen," we've ended up with things like a million- dollar donation to the romney pac, restore our future - and i looked into it, by a company called f8 llc. > > what's that? > > i tried to look up, they have sales of $8,000 a year, which meant that their $1 million donation was pretty generous. also, the p

enterprise and therefore their job and their future and he pointed out that with the citizens united ruling now firmly in place this abuse of power by corporate kings a it's no longer a legal. nothing illegal about you talking to your employees about what you believe is best for the business. because i think that will figure into their their election decision their voting decision yeah that scalia really helped out a lot and romney wants to put a couple more of them on the supreme court so what's the little guy to do to discuss this and other aspects of the political campaign is a man who spent his life defending the little guy president american travelers association co-host of bobby kennedy of ring of fire radio mike happened tony. welcome great to have you here with us one of the effects of this sort of political speech from the boss in the workplace well i think if i'm an employer what i'm concerned about not so much the government is going to do anything but you're not going to have the department of justice come in and say you've broken the law we've seen that history with the with th

it's judgment day for georgia's ruling party challenge by a popularity slump in the united opposition as voting closes on for a day of parliamentary elections with exit polls do shortly we've got the latest for you coming up. nine medics in bahrain lose an appeal to have their prison sentences overturned in a case that's been slammed as politically motivated. and hundreds of people staged demos at a u.s. military base on the japanese island of okinawa washington again props up its presence in the asia pacific again we've got the latest for you this half hour of news. live from moscow eight pm warm welcome to you this is our names kevin now and first tonight polls are closing in georgia where the ruling party and the united opposition alliance have gone head to head in crucial parliamentary elections president psycho's philly's party is desperate to hold onto its majority in the chamber of his popularity plummeted in the wake of a prison abuse scandal. in the georgian capital now with the latest for you see i know it's pretty noisy behind you it's a busy night there ok first off or are

they go on record in front of the press saying that they have nothing to do with the citizens united ruling moreover if you look at their donor summits that they hold these very secretive private donors summits both both justices thomas and scalia have attended these donor summits now you have two members of the supreme court that are attending their donors summits and i know it's conjecture but imma leave it up to your viewers decide whether or not when they attend a massive donor summit like this if it has an influence on them or not. it is a very good question thank you so much for coming on breaking our fortune at a time when sparrow project thanks dad and thank you so we are in slavery by a system that we ourselves created money these days money not only makes the world go around. but more disturbingly it's completely hijacked our right to free and fair elections the right to govern ourselves based on integrity and morality corporations now control our politicians they buy the influence they even own the voting machines for god's sakes so politicians maybe puppa teared by their corpora

these are the fruits of the citizens united ruling. this is in the times said about it. se campaigning for the g.o.p. is part of a larger trend of corporations exercising new freedoms under citizens united. sharing your opinions with your employees, they're trying to tell people, square people into voting for someone and its happening all over the party. tommy thompson, former governor of wisconsin, is running for the senate in the state of wisconsin. his son a surrogate of his, out on the campaign trail says this about your president. >> we have the opportunity to send president obama back to chicago or kenya. [applause] >> and of course their response to the son of a senate candidate saying the president could go back to chicago or kenya the governor agency people said he has spoken to his son. he said something he shouldn't have and he apologizes. you know, his son is 38. we're not talking about an eight-year-old son who spoke out of turn. ridiculous. there was a shooting in denver this weekend at an obama campaign office. no one was hurt, but people were in the office

it was among several that have been down -- struck down in montana marking the citizens united rulingthat allowed unlimited outside spending on elections. on tuesday, the supreme court refused to overturn a lower court ruling from earlier this month that affirmed montana's right to regulate contributions in state elections. the justice department is suing state and local officials in mississippi for allegedly violating the rights of children -- especially black and disabled -- with routine and unjustified arrests. a federal complaint accuses officers in meridian, mississippi of operating the "school to prison pipeline" in which youth are consistently arrested after being suspended from school for infractions such as dress code violations or talking back to teachers. it's the first on the justice department is used a 1994 federal anti-discrimination law on behalf of youths. sudan has accused israel of bombing a weapons factory and the sudanese capital of khartoum, killing two people and leaving another seriously wounded. sudanese officials said four aircraft were able to ebay radar def

that have been struck down in montana the decision citing the supreme court's landmark citizens united rulinghat allowed unlimited corporate spending on elections. this week, the ninth u.s. circuit court of appeals reversed an earlier challenge saying the judge who struck it down needs to provide his full reasoning for allowing unlimited money in political campaigns. today marks 10 years since the senate voted to authorize use of military force against iraq, paving the way for the u.s. invasion that would come less than six months later. among those to vote in favor were future democratic presidential candidates john kerry, hillary clinton, john edwards, and joe biden, who squares off against another lawmaker who also voted yes, congressmember paul ryan, in today's rise presidential debate. and those are some of the headlines. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are in our 100-city tour, here in los alamos, new mexico. yes, we are broadcasting from los alamos, the birthplace of the atomic bomb. we are here at the historic fuller lodge, bui

it's judgment day for georgia's ruling party challenge popularity slump and a united opposition as voters out there are saying parliamentary election it's. not medics in bahrain lose an appeal to help their prison sentences overturned in a case that's been slammed as politically motivated. hundreds of people staged demo's at a us military base on the japanese island of okinawa as washington again problems off its presence in the asia pacific. island thank you for joining our team on screen and online twenty four hours a day seven days a week on karen terror oggi now georgia's ruling party and a united opposition alliance are going head to head as the nation votes for its next parliament president saakashvili his party is desperate to hold onto its made majority in the chamber after its popularity plummeted in the wake of a prison abuse scandal parties alexander shot skiis in the georgian capital. voting continues into what promises to be a crucial election for george and it's more than a history this election will show whether the people are happy with the current political regime with bu

it's judgment day for georgia's ruling party challenged by popularity of a united opposition as voters have their say and parliamentary elections. brain moves in appeal to their prison sentences overturned in a case that's been slammed asked politically motivated. hundreds of people staged demo's at a u.s. military base on the japanese island of okinawa as washington again problems up its presence in the answer percent. hello and welcome to our tea where we are broadcasting to live on screen and on line twenty four hour state seven days a week on karen. well georgia's ruling party and a united opposition alliance are going head to head as the nation votes for its next parliament president saakashvili his party is desperate to hold onto its majority in the chamber after its popularity plummeted in the wake of a prison abuse scandal. skiis in the georgian capital. voting continues into what promises to be a crucial election for georgia and its mordant a history this election will show whether the people are happy with the current political regime with business really and his united natio

it's judgment day for georgia's ruling party challenged by a popularity slump and a united opposition as voters have their say in parliamentary elections. a legal ditch and switch closely rinds appeal against their jail term is a journey time to one of the punk band members turn turn away or. at hundreds of people stage demos at a us military band saw me japanese island of okinawa as washington again pops up it doesn't have the same thing. thank you for joining r.t. this monday it's four o'clock here in moscow i'm karen taraji well georgia's ruling party and the united oppositional lines are going head to head as the nation votes for its next parliament president saakashvili is parties desperate to hold onto its majority in the chamber after its popularity plummeted in the wake of the prisoner abuse scandal artie's alex said a short skis in the georgian capital. voting continues into what promises to be a crucial election for georgia and its mordant a history of this election will show whether the people are happy with the current political regime with prison saakashvili and his unite

candidates from the ruling united russia party won them all. russia scrapped polls for governor in 2004. the president began appointing people to office. critics accused the government of fraud in elections in december for the lower house. protesters called for reforms. government leaders announced this spring that they would revive voting at the provincial level. >> but opposition leaders say some of their members were unable to run. they say politicians couldn't get approval to stand for office in areas dominated by the ruling party. >>> a collection of writings by franz kafka that was hidden away for years is about to see the light. a court in israel has ruled that the documents be made public. two sisters argue that they legally inherited kafka's papers. the court has ordered the women to turn them over to the national library of israel. kafka gave the writings to his friend, max, shortly before he died in 1924. max's secretary kept the writings. when she died, they went to her two daughters. the court said its ruling was in line with the w

our tea with me karen tara well it's no longer just a dream for georgia's opposition with the ruling united national movement party's monopoly on power crumbling together with a poor parliamentary election showing both vote counting is still ongoing the opposition mega blog georgian dream so far has a distinct lead parties i would say to shift gears in tbilisi with more on the ballot count. a quarter of the votes have been counted and right now all the results are putting the opposition a little over fifty percent with the you and them party of mikhail saakashvili trailing at around forty percent but the biggest concern which is growing now is why this is taking so long because two million people in georgia have cast their ballots and the central election commission actually promised that most of the words should be should have been counted by morning on tuesday and so far it's only been a quarter of the votes which is causing some concerns among the opposition that the pro-government forces may be stalling the vote count and maybe stalling the opposition's victory and indeed these concerns

thousand candidates were running for positions as governors or municipal officials early results show ruling united russia party has won or was heading for victory in all the main provincial races. has been following the vote from moscow. overall more than twenty two million russians had an opportunity to arrive at the polling stations and choose from an unprecedented number of candidates regional elections have taken place in russia for the first time in eight years and what is so special and interesting about this day is that it was introduced following laws disabused ways of opposition protests a return to direct regional elections was one of the demands of the protesters people also wanted to see more opposition in parliament so at that moment than president dmitry me they just scrapped the old system which the regional officials in regional governance handpicked by the government and he also made it easier for new political parties to emerge on the political arena by giving him more competitive complection to the local elections and this day we saw thirty two different political parties are ta

and i'm karen tara well president mikheil saakashvili of georgia has admitted the defeat of his ruling united national movement party in parliamentary elections effectively ending a decade long monopoly on power the opposition michael block georgian dream is now tasked with forming a new government let's cross to say at a show in tbilisi for more on the announcement i would say what exactly did mikhail saakashvili have to say. really a statement is as sensational as the outcome of this vote you may eventually become he already said despite the voting both still continuing that he spoke to a. defeat and now will work in opposition but despite that statement there are still growing concerns among the opposition members that the governing forces may still be stalling the outcome of this vote the vote count is going very slowly it's less than three million votes to be counted but ever since the polling stations closed last night less than thirty percent of the votes have been counted so far and also the international ngo called international transparency in georgia reported a very serious violati

joining us it's no longer just a dream for georgia's opposition with president saakashvili is ruling united national movement policy making a poor showing in parliamentary elections so vote counting is still ongoing the opposition microblog georgian dream so far has a solid lead and let's not cross the aussies and exceed your chefs into policing the what's happening that had a valid say so how tell us how has the vote counting gone so far. well we understand that for now almost a quarter of the votes have been counted and right now all the results are putting the opposition in the slight lead with a little over fifty percent with the broad pro-government so party with you and them party of mikheil saakashvili trailing at around forty percent but the biggest concern which is growing now is why this voting is taking so long because let's consider that the voter turnout was around fifty four percent that means. around two million people in georgia have cast their ballots and the central election commission actually promised that most of the words should be should have been counted by morning o

after getting shot down in the united states supreme court is now trying to get around that court's rulingnd still has some shenanigans scheduled for the early voting turn out. it turns out that the romney family considers national service and the only national service worth doing president of the united states nothing less will do for members of the romney family that is coming up. in america today we're running out of a vital resource we need to compete on the global stage. what we need are people prepared for the careers of our new economy. by 2025 we could have 20 million jobs without enough college graduates to fill them. that's why at devry university, we're teaming up with companies like cisco to help make sure everyone's ready with the know how we need for a new tomorrow. [ male announcer ] make sure america's ready. make sure you're ready. at devry.edu/knowhow. ♪ at devry.edu/knowhow. hahahaha! hooohooo, hahaha! this is awesome! folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. i'd say happier than a slinky on an escalator. get happy. get geico. melons!!! oh ye

ruling party faces a tough challenge from a united opposition but his campaign hit by allegations of corruption and the prison abuse scandal artie's alexander reports from the. voting continues into what promises to be a crucial election for georgia and it's more than a history this election will show whether the people are happy with the current political regime with business saakashvili and his united national movement party but more wider picture the party which wins this election will be able to then appoint a prime minister and when the constitutional amendments take place next year when the state is down which will allow other prime minister to have just about the same powers as the president had then this party would be able to appoint the prime minister and basically have the georgia's future in its hands fourteen parties are running in this election but the main battle will be between the united national movement party the ruling party of the president saakashvili and the party georgian dream run by a tycoon whose fortune makes up almost half of the country's national budget

election but the main battle is understood to be between the party of the president the ruling party of the united national movement and the party a businessman whose fortune makes up almost half of the country's budget mr ivanishvili his party georgian dream it's actually in fact an alliance of six opposition parties on saturday the country saw the biggest political rally in its more history with two hundred thousand people protesting in the streets and definitely this adds a lot of spice to this election the importance of this election is that. when he steps down next year the parliament of the majority parliament will be able to elect the prime minister who according to you amendments in the constitution will have almost the same powers as the president's deputy the party which wins this election will have the future of georgia in its hands right now the surveys suggest that the ruling body is in a slight lead but still the opposition still has a very good chance to be victorious in this election as this election seems to be pretty much unpredictable given the latest twist of events in georgia

some legal analysts are comparing this case to the landmark campaign finance ruling in citizens unitedn 2010. the court is now being asked to decide if corporations have the same responsibilities as individuals for violating human rights internationally. to find out more about the implications of this, we are joined by the legal director of the center for constitutional rights, the hair as me. talk about the case. talk about what happened in the early 1990's in nigeria. >> good to be here. royal dutch petroleum, shell, long had a presence in nigeria and ever cash and was exploiting natural resources there for profit. in the 1990's, and in one grass- roots movement, particularly among the ogoni tribe, sought to over their's control natural resources. in response, shell, with collaboration from the government, pressed those protesters and engaged with the nigerian government in torture, extrajudicial killings, and a range of other human rights abuses, it in order for the joint enterprise between the nine jiggering government, shell corporation could proceed. >> i wanted to ask you what t

financing for a nine unit project that is more units they laugh at you as you're walking out the door with your head down, so this is the only way by changing the rules. that's the only way we can produce five to nine unit projects in the city again. as i say i congratulate every one getting behind these projects. we know they're not built. now that we're back here we will see them being built again. it's a good thing for the builders and the homeowners and a general good thing for the city. thank you. >> good afternoon supervisors. elizabeth moore with shamrock streels company. we all know that these projects have declined since the passage of this legislation and obviously that results in reduced economic activity for the city, but specifically as a passionate advocate for efficient land use the department has a mandate to increase obviously in fill housing and under utilized sites and most are zoned for these projects and it resulted in a lot of unused land sitting there begging to provide housing for much needed for the city, and the other thing i wanted to say that speaks directly to supervisor cohen's point. my company completed a six unit proj

on citizens united turns out it wasn't just about money or super pacs the ruling also allows employers to express electoral opinions to employees in private sector workplaces and they can also limit the amount of free speech employees can have on their national labor rate with the national labor relations act so why is all this happening and is this a form of voter intimidation and most importantly what are the potential effects that this will have on the upcoming election well labor journalist mike elk has brought us many of these stories and he joins me now to answer a few of those questions hi there mike that was a lot of examples that i gave there it does seem to me like a lot of those examples happened to be republican is there any evidence of democrats in this case well certainly last year there was an instance where the union that represented a bunch of casino workers in las vegas got together with the company and they had a joint effort where the company allowed the union to push harry reid's action so yeah that happened but this was the union doing it and

after getting shot down in the united states supreme court is now trying to get around that court's ruling still has some shenanigans scheduled for the early voting turn out. it turns out that the romney family considers sna s national service and the only national service worth doing president of the united states nothing less will do for members of the romney family that is coming upr may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. if you're still having difficulty breathing, ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function. get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd.com. we're not in london, are we? no. why? apparently my debit card is. what? i know. don't worry, we have cancelled your old card. great. thank you. in addition to us monitoring your accounts for unusual activity, you could also set up free account alerts. okay. [ female announcer ] at wells fargo we're working around the

american politics i think there's certainly room for a third or fourth ari in the united states unfortunately the rules are written such that they keep the third parties out it's very difficult to get ballot access you know that there's various ways that keep you know we're now there's i'm really happy right now this debate cycle there's been a lot of coverage of the commission on presidential debates which is a secretive group that decides who gets into the debates and they set the criteria and and their contracts are often kept secret so after the elections so. as far as there being room there is i just don't see the opportunity for it on the national level third party to get into the game because the deck is so stacked against them right john logan jones you were a delegate from maine to the republican national convention in florida tell us what happened well it was an experience to put it lightly i went down there as an elected delegate to represent the people of maine maine went strongly for ron paul our state convention we took all the delegates we won all the delegates went down there and variou

with great optimism for the future of our country, a great optimism for the continuing vital rule of the united states senate and the governance of our democracy. >> arlen specter was 82. >>> we turn now to that outbreak of meningitis cases tied to steroid injections from a pharmacy in massachusetts. today the cdc said the number of cases has risen to 205 in 14 states. all this is bringing new scrutiny to a specialized part of the pharmacy industry. we get more from nbc's senior investigative correspondent lisa myers. >> she was the type of person that everyone loved. she was dynamic, she was loving. >> reporter: george carol's wife was getting what she thought was a routine steroid injection for back pain and it killed her. it turns out the company that compounded the drug -- in 2002 and 2003, the f -- in 2004 a man died from a contaminated injection, necc settled the lawsuit. in 2006, the fda issued a warning left for necc to stop marketing the cream. they produced thousands of doses of the steroid. >> when was the last time either the food and drug administration or the massachusetts board o