Transcripts For CURRENT Viewpoint 20130126 : comparemela.com

Vanguard is allnew with a world premier episode straight from todays headlines. Only on current tv. [ theme music ] cenk youre going to see us later tonight as the young turks. Com. Right now stay right here. Viewpoint is next. [ theme music ] john what is worse, zero dark thirty which glorifies torture or the twilight movies which constitute torture. The republicans are tired of fighting democrats so some of them are upgrading to just fighting democracy. And it turns out there is oil in afghanistan. Sean hannity is demanding that we reinvade. The oil will pay for the war. Just like last time. Today is the birthday of the late Virginia Woolf alicia keys and Texas Chainsaw Massacre and poltergeist director tobe hooper. And 98 years ago today Alexander Graham bell made the first crosscountry phone call. Tragically he did it using at t wireless and dropped out halfway through. This is viewpoint. [ music ] john good evening im john fugelsang. Thank you so much for joining us tonight. With the nothing in the 2012 National Election behind them, and the risk of demographic doom at the hands of surging minority groups growing every day the g. O. P. Is making an allout effort to reboot the whole brand. Last night luis boy governor bobby jindal had this advice for his party at the Republican National committees winter meeting in charlotte, north carolina. We got to stop being the stupid party. Im serious. Its time for the new Republican Party that talks like adults. Its time for us to articulate our plans and visions for america in real terms. Its no secret that we had a number of republicans that damaged the brand this year with offensive and bizarre comments. Im here to say weve had enough of that. John just how the party plans to keep four todd akin and Richard Mourdocks from disgorging offhand comments on legitimate rape and rapeborn children as something god intend intended remains to be seen. But Reince Priebus the g. O. P. Chair has vision of a renewed Republican Party. We can renewt americans around our values if we can prove we can take them to a better place. Unfortunately for priebus many feel they have been there already. Its called george w. Bush america. It has two unfunded wars, depression and ongoing effort to divide americans over wage issues. It leads to secure a president ial win in 2016 by changing the rules of the Electoral College. Now under the old rules the candidate who wins the popular votes gets all of the states electoral votes. Which is how president obama beat mitt romney handily 332 332206. But under the new rules president ial candidates would split the Electoral College votes based on which congressional districts they won with two additional electoral votes going to the winner of the popular vote. So if those rules had been in effect last year, president obama would have lost to governor romney 262273. Nice thinking. Right now those rules are in effect in two states maine and nebraska. But g. O. P. Legislation in michigan pennsylvania and virginia are also considering making the change. The g. O. P. Also isnt backing down on its effort to restrict access to the ballot box by potential democratic voters wherever it can. So the democratic legislators in both houses are offering an Voter Empowerment act. Modernize Voter Registration systems. Ensure online Voter Registration. Allow sameday registration. Restore Voting Rights to convicted criminals after theyve paid their debt to society and been released. And set standard for polling place practices. Im happy to be joined by the one and only john conyers. What a pleasure. Greetings, and its a pleasure to be with you sir. John its great to have you. Im very inspired but what youre trying to do. The g. O. P. Only held the house through jerrymandering, why is a voter amendment needed. What we found out after the election in november was that there were a great number of disillusionses voters who had to wait hours in line, not just in detroit and chicago but all across the country. We also found that there were a number of states that were doing supposedly clever things to discourage voting. For example, they would make the early voting shorter. They would limit registering to vote. They would do all that they could that would make voting a little more difficult. Caging in which you try to find out who isnt living where they are supposed to be living, and challenging their vote. And so what a number of us have been working on through a lot of election reform groups and civil Rights Groups and some scholars is that we put together this omnibus road to Electoral Reform bill. Its 199 pages long. It has over 50 important changes, and you named some of them all right. And what were doing is saying as far as weve come already voting still has a little bit more perfection. We can make it better, make it easier, make it friendly to the voters. Thats what some people in politics dont want to do, but thats what those of us that are 160 in number, including senator Kirsten Gillibrand in new york just introduced, and well have our work cut out for us to make the election fair and easier for the american citizen. John is this designed to help democratic voters or do both parties try to play dirty tricks with each others voters . Have democrats tried to suppress republican votes as well . Were not angels on the democratic side, but i cannot name you one instance to document that. I dont know about it. And look, all republicans are not all bad guys. A lot of these things are being done by their political organizations by a few elected officials that dont care about how they win. But by and large making voting easier for everybody is nonpartisan. If its easier for everybody it will affectit should be fair. But i must say sir that many of these tricks that were trying to eliminate and rules that were trying to change happen in low income communities, in communities of color, after american or historic, and so there is that element that has to be considered. John sir, were you encouraged to hear Florida Governor rick scott say he would like to make voting easier for residents of his state after the many many complaints after last novembers election day opening voteing earlier, for example. Of course, if he means it. Thats what we want to do. We want sameday registration. We want early voting. We want to end the long lines that people are complaining about in the last election. John any chance of bringing the motor voter bill vetoed by george h. W. Bush that was automatically register you when you got your drivers license . You know, you would make a great staffer in washington because nobody has come up with that yet. John well, you know, it seems like it would work. Before we go, and i do thank you for your time, congressman, what do you think of the republicans effort toss rebrand themselves by changing its messaging without changing the core values of the party . Do you think voters are rejecting what republicans are calling their core values . Do you think theyre on the right track changing at least the way they present their message to the voting public . Well look, ill leave the details to someone else on that subject, but i can say this, the Republican Party is disintegrating before our eyes. Theyre embarrassing conservative americans that vote republican. Pretty soon they wont even have a party that they can refer to with a straight face. And so theyve got to make changes. Which way they make them i just want them to be as fair as i think the process should be for everybody regardless of their political point of view. John well, well always have fox news no matter what happens. Representative john conyers from the great state of michigan. Thank you for your time tonight. Have a great year. John you, too, come back now. For more on the g. O. P. s rebranding effort im pleased to be joined by republican strategist rick tyler, a former adviser to todd akins campaign and former newt gringrichs spokesman and democratic strategist basil smykell. Were you shocked when you heard bobby jindal said the republicans have stop to being the stupid party especially since he was referring to todd akin. There are a lot of reasons why you could say the Republican Party is the stupid party. I think were a party of bad manners. I think our policies are right but how some call outreach and some call inclusion is not always right. Yeah i think the g. O. P. I think hes probably right in saying what he said. I think the g. O. P. Has a long way to go and that was evident in the last election, no question about it. John considering that Governor Jindal is opposed to abortion in cases of rape or insist, is it fair of him to call out todd akin or richard mourdock. I didnt hear him mention either one of their names but i assume hes referring to. We can all have different opinions about abortion, gay rights marriage, i think to get to the rebranding issue i havent heard a lot of talk about what is it that the party is going to look like . Do we have to be a National Party . Yes, i absolutely agree with that. I think we can get rid of these battleground state idea. I think moving to winner take all would change the dynamics of the president ial election and i think eastern ohio, which has coal, would get finally represented where they get ignored even though they are a swing state and get a lot of attention. I think the winner take all by cd makes a lot of sense. John let me bring in basil if you were a consultant, would you be preserving that bobby jindal sound bite for the next generations. I would be, but i dont think it would make a huge difference. The reason why i say that, just as alluded to, the Republican Party is in danger of becoming a regional party, a southern party. Long are the days of the republicans from the northeast. No George Pataki from new york. But you say that but they the reason for president. The interesting thing by mitt romney a lot of republicans thought he would be the strongest candidate to go up against the president. But it seemed like he had to disavow so many of his own policies and move so far to the right it was impossible for him to come back to the center to really go up against the president between the romney huntsman, maybe a lot of democrats were thinking, but again the problem is that a lot of these northeastern republicans, a lot of folks who are republicans could hang their hat on, they dont seem to have a space and a party. Ill just add there quickly if you look at the fact that Mark Zuckerberg from facebook doing a fundraiser for chris christie, there is hope, but its in danger of becoming a regional party. John rick, let me ask ask you, do you think that Governor Jindal was price to position himself as a leader with those remarks even though he holds the same views that have been deemed unpopular with abortion. I like Governor Jindal. I dont know what his plans are for the future. But recruiting candidates who claim to be fiscal conservatives and social moderates weve lost ground in the northeast weve been obliterated. The reason for that is different. Its not because there is no room in the party with differing opinions, if youre going to have a republican who is not a conservative and a democrat, then people are going to choose democrat. Thats what has happened. I cut my teeth on the northeast. I grew up in new hampshire. Im aware of the northeast. Thats the problem. Thats why im worried about the direction of the party is going to go. It has got to have its conservative values. I always found it interesting that we saudi arabia about social conservatives and fiscal idea here. But i want to know what this Fiscal Economic policy or even an accounting principle that doesnt contain moral and ethics. Bernie madoff would really like to study that that doesnt have morality and ethics. I dont buy the idea that fiscal issues is not a social issue. Of course its a social issue. John thats a great point. The counterpoint i would make is new york city, 51 democrat to republican. But we havent had a democratic mayor in 20 years. There is room. There is room for fiscal conservativism here. There is some room, maybe not a lot, and maybe not in new york city exactly but there is some room for social conservatism as well. But from a fiscalcally conservative point there is room to vote for a republican candidate. It has been proven here in new york for the last 20 years. John rick, let me go back to you. Talking to the g. O. P. s meeting and messaging versus the actual message. The poll shows that americans favor abortion rights or most of the president s gun control measures are quite popular or 50 of americans support marriage equality. Is it really more the matter of the message than how they present it. You have a poll that shows that americans are more prolife prolife. A minority describes them as prochoice 40 . But last may the amount of americans who support all or some abortion rights come to 77 in that poll. It depends. We get into those issues but i would say america is roughly split between prolife and prochoice. You can get into what that means. Exceptions half a Million People here today marching on the right to life. That wont be covered. John indeed, there are. And then you have the marriage issue. There may be that there is a Marriage Civil Union but where you get into trouble as soon as the state tries to tell the church what marriage is. Thats supposed to be protected in the first amendment, the constitution about the establishment clause. So look, i think that the Republican Party does not have a message problem. Weve had often a messenger problem and delivery problem but i think most americansi do believe this is a centerright country and most people come down. There are some common sense gun control laws. I havent seen one come out of washington, but look many americans, and youre looking atits really becoming more of an urbanthis is true in the Electoral College urban versus rural, and i think Rural America is getting the shaft. John i agree with you. Rick tyler, i hope youll join us again. I will. John and basil smykell. Thank you for being here. Thank you. John a man who represents is a survival of abuseed will join me next. Without enough College Graduates to fill them. Thats why at Devry University were teaming up with Companies Like cisco to help make sure everyone is ready with the knowhow we need for a new tomorrow. [ male announcer ] make sure americas ready. Make sure youre ready. At devry. Edu knowhow. [ voice of dennis ]. Allstate. Really . I was afraid youd have some cutrate policy. Nope, ive got. [ voice of dennis ] the allstate value plan. Its their most affordable Car Insurance and you still get an allstate agent. I too have. [ voice of dennis ] allstate. [ normal voice ] same agent and everything. Its like were connected. No were not. Yeah, we are. No, were not. Ask an allstate agent about the value plan. Are you in good hands . Its a Vanguard World premiere event. It doesnt anymore real than this. Currents Award Winning original series is back with an allnew episode straight from the headlines. In the minefield of the nations gun control debate, this could be the most polarizing issue. Anybody could claim stand your ground and they can get away with murder. Only on current tv. John more shame for the peddlers of shame. According to internal documents released by the Catholic Church this week, Cardinal Roger mahony once helped conceal cases of child monthly less station by priests from Law Enforcement authorities. Now mahony who served in Southern California was at the time the archbishop of the largest Catholic Diocese in the u. S. In one letter about a priest who admitted to preying on undocumented children for decades, mahony warns quote i believe if monsignor garcia were to reappear within the archdiocese we might very well have some type of legal action filed in both the criminal and civil sectors. Did you catch that . Not that he might sexually abuse children. But if he was here we might have legal problems. Which would be far worse than calling the cops and having him incarcerated so he cant assault more children. Joining me now on the program is the director of snap or the Survivors Network of those abused by priests. David thank you for your time and being here this evening. My pleasure. Thank you. John what was your initial reaction about Cardinal Mahony upon reading these despicable documents. I hate to say it, it might sound cynical but i wasnt surprised. I was dismayed. Its one thing to passively keep information hidden about child predators. Thats wrong in every sense. But to actively conceal child sex crimes from Law Enforcement when you know that these predators are likely to strike again, and you know that your efforts could keep some behind bars away from kids, thats just unconsciencible. John how flimsy do you find the churchs defense. I agree with you this was not a huge surprise. Anyone who saw the documentary deliver us from evil knows Virginia Woolf<\/a> alicia keys and Texas Chainsaw Massacre<\/a> and poltergeist director tobe hooper. And 98 years ago today Alexander Graham<\/a> bell made the first crosscountry phone call. Tragically he did it using at t wireless and dropped out halfway through. This is viewpoint. [ music ] john good evening im john fugelsang. Thank you so much for joining us tonight. With the nothing in the 2012 National Election<\/a> behind them, and the risk of demographic doom at the hands of surging minority groups growing every day the g. O. P. Is making an allout effort to reboot the whole brand. Last night luis boy governor bobby jindal had this advice for his party at the Republican National<\/a> committees winter meeting in charlotte, north carolina. We got to stop being the stupid party. Im serious. Its time for the new Republican Party<\/a> that talks like adults. Its time for us to articulate our plans and visions for america in real terms. Its no secret that we had a number of republicans that damaged the brand this year with offensive and bizarre comments. Im here to say weve had enough of that. John just how the party plans to keep four todd akin and Richard Mourdocks<\/a> from disgorging offhand comments on legitimate rape and rapeborn children as something god intend intended remains to be seen. But Reince Priebus<\/a> the g. O. P. Chair has vision of a renewed Republican Party<\/a>. We can renewt americans around our values if we can prove we can take them to a better place. Unfortunately for priebus many feel they have been there already. Its called george w. Bush america. It has two unfunded wars, depression and ongoing effort to divide americans over wage issues. It leads to secure a president ial win in 2016 by changing the rules of the Electoral College<\/a>. Now under the old rules the candidate who wins the popular votes gets all of the states electoral votes. Which is how president obama beat mitt romney handily 332 332206. But under the new rules president ial candidates would split the Electoral College<\/a> votes based on which congressional districts they won with two additional electoral votes going to the winner of the popular vote. So if those rules had been in effect last year, president obama would have lost to governor romney 262273. Nice thinking. Right now those rules are in effect in two states maine and nebraska. But g. O. P. Legislation in michigan pennsylvania and virginia are also considering making the change. The g. O. P. Also isnt backing down on its effort to restrict access to the ballot box by potential democratic voters wherever it can. So the democratic legislators in both houses are offering an Voter Empowerment<\/a> act. Modernize Voter Registration<\/a> systems. Ensure online Voter Registration<\/a>. Allow sameday registration. Restore Voting Rights<\/a> to convicted criminals after theyve paid their debt to society and been released. And set standard for polling place practices. Im happy to be joined by the one and only john conyers. What a pleasure. Greetings, and its a pleasure to be with you sir. John its great to have you. Im very inspired but what youre trying to do. The g. O. P. Only held the house through jerrymandering, why is a voter amendment needed. What we found out after the election in november was that there were a great number of disillusionses voters who had to wait hours in line, not just in detroit and chicago but all across the country. We also found that there were a number of states that were doing supposedly clever things to discourage voting. For example, they would make the early voting shorter. They would limit registering to vote. They would do all that they could that would make voting a little more difficult. Caging in which you try to find out who isnt living where they are supposed to be living, and challenging their vote. And so what a number of us have been working on through a lot of election reform groups and civil Rights Groups<\/a> and some scholars is that we put together this omnibus road to Electoral Reform<\/a> bill. Its 199 pages long. It has over 50 important changes, and you named some of them all right. And what were doing is saying as far as weve come already voting still has a little bit more perfection. We can make it better, make it easier, make it friendly to the voters. Thats what some people in politics dont want to do, but thats what those of us that are 160 in number, including senator Kirsten Gillibrand<\/a> in new york just introduced, and well have our work cut out for us to make the election fair and easier for the american citizen. John is this designed to help democratic voters or do both parties try to play dirty tricks with each others voters . Have democrats tried to suppress republican votes as well . Were not angels on the democratic side, but i cannot name you one instance to document that. I dont know about it. And look, all republicans are not all bad guys. A lot of these things are being done by their political organizations by a few elected officials that dont care about how they win. But by and large making voting easier for everybody is nonpartisan. If its easier for everybody it will affectit should be fair. But i must say sir that many of these tricks that were trying to eliminate and rules that were trying to change happen in low income communities, in communities of color, after american or historic, and so there is that element that has to be considered. John sir, were you encouraged to hear Florida Governor<\/a> rick scott say he would like to make voting easier for residents of his state after the many many complaints after last novembers election day opening voteing earlier, for example. Of course, if he means it. Thats what we want to do. We want sameday registration. We want early voting. We want to end the long lines that people are complaining about in the last election. John any chance of bringing the motor voter bill vetoed by george h. W. Bush that was automatically register you when you got your drivers license . You know, you would make a great staffer in washington because nobody has come up with that yet. John well, you know, it seems like it would work. Before we go, and i do thank you for your time, congressman, what do you think of the republicans effort toss rebrand themselves by changing its messaging without changing the core values of the party . Do you think voters are rejecting what republicans are calling their core values . Do you think theyre on the right track changing at least the way they present their message to the voting public . Well look, ill leave the details to someone else on that subject, but i can say this, the Republican Party<\/a> is disintegrating before our eyes. Theyre embarrassing conservative americans that vote republican. Pretty soon they wont even have a party that they can refer to with a straight face. And so theyve got to make changes. Which way they make them i just want them to be as fair as i think the process should be for everybody regardless of their political point of view. John well, well always have fox news no matter what happens. Representative john conyers from the great state of michigan. Thank you for your time tonight. Have a great year. John you, too, come back now. For more on the g. O. P. s rebranding effort im pleased to be joined by republican strategist rick tyler, a former adviser to todd akins campaign and former newt gringrichs spokesman and democratic strategist basil smykell. Were you shocked when you heard bobby jindal said the republicans have stop to being the stupid party especially since he was referring to todd akin. There are a lot of reasons why you could say the Republican Party<\/a> is the stupid party. I think were a party of bad manners. I think our policies are right but how some call outreach and some call inclusion is not always right. Yeah i think the g. O. P. I think hes probably right in saying what he said. I think the g. O. P. Has a long way to go and that was evident in the last election, no question about it. John considering that Governor Jindal<\/a> is opposed to abortion in cases of rape or insist, is it fair of him to call out todd akin or richard mourdock. I didnt hear him mention either one of their names but i assume hes referring to. We can all have different opinions about abortion, gay rights marriage, i think to get to the rebranding issue i havent heard a lot of talk about what is it that the party is going to look like . Do we have to be a National Party<\/a> . Yes, i absolutely agree with that. I think we can get rid of these battleground state idea. I think moving to winner take all would change the dynamics of the president ial election and i think eastern ohio, which has coal, would get finally represented where they get ignored even though they are a swing state and get a lot of attention. I think the winner take all by cd makes a lot of sense. John let me bring in basil if you were a consultant, would you be preserving that bobby jindal sound bite for the next generations. I would be, but i dont think it would make a huge difference. The reason why i say that, just as alluded to, the Republican Party<\/a> is in danger of becoming a regional party, a southern party. Long are the days of the republicans from the northeast. No George Pataki<\/a> from new york. But you say that but they the reason for president. The interesting thing by mitt romney a lot of republicans thought he would be the strongest candidate to go up against the president. But it seemed like he had to disavow so many of his own policies and move so far to the right it was impossible for him to come back to the center to really go up against the president between the romney huntsman, maybe a lot of democrats were thinking, but again the problem is that a lot of these northeastern republicans, a lot of folks who are republicans could hang their hat on, they dont seem to have a space and a party. Ill just add there quickly if you look at the fact that Mark Zuckerberg<\/a> from facebook doing a fundraiser for chris christie, there is hope, but its in danger of becoming a regional party. John rick, let me ask ask you, do you think that Governor Jindal<\/a> was price to position himself as a leader with those remarks even though he holds the same views that have been deemed unpopular with abortion. I like Governor Jindal<\/a>. I dont know what his plans are for the future. But recruiting candidates who claim to be fiscal conservatives and social moderates weve lost ground in the northeast weve been obliterated. The reason for that is different. Its not because there is no room in the party with differing opinions, if youre going to have a republican who is not a conservative and a democrat, then people are going to choose democrat. Thats what has happened. I cut my teeth on the northeast. I grew up in new hampshire. Im aware of the northeast. Thats the problem. Thats why im worried about the direction of the party is going to go. It has got to have its conservative values. I always found it interesting that we saudi arabia about social conservatives and fiscal idea here. But i want to know what this Fiscal Economic<\/a> policy or even an accounting principle that doesnt contain moral and ethics. Bernie madoff would really like to study that that doesnt have morality and ethics. I dont buy the idea that fiscal issues is not a social issue. Of course its a social issue. John thats a great point. The counterpoint i would make is new york city, 51 democrat to republican. But we havent had a democratic mayor in 20 years. There is room. There is room for fiscal conservativism here. There is some room, maybe not a lot, and maybe not in new york city exactly but there is some room for social conservatism as well. But from a fiscalcally conservative point there is room to vote for a republican candidate. It has been proven here in new york for the last 20 years. John rick, let me go back to you. Talking to the g. O. P. s meeting and messaging versus the actual message. The poll shows that americans favor abortion rights or most of the president s gun control measures are quite popular or 50 of americans support marriage equality. Is it really more the matter of the message than how they present it. You have a poll that shows that americans are more prolife prolife. A minority describes them as prochoice 40 . But last may the amount of americans who support all or some abortion rights come to 77 in that poll. It depends. We get into those issues but i would say america is roughly split between prolife and prochoice. You can get into what that means. Exceptions half a Million People<\/a> here today marching on the right to life. That wont be covered. John indeed, there are. And then you have the marriage issue. There may be that there is a Marriage Civil Union<\/a> but where you get into trouble as soon as the state tries to tell the church what marriage is. Thats supposed to be protected in the first amendment, the constitution about the establishment clause. So look, i think that the Republican Party<\/a> does not have a message problem. Weve had often a messenger problem and delivery problem but i think most americansi do believe this is a centerright country and most people come down. There are some common sense gun control laws. I havent seen one come out of washington, but look many americans, and youre looking atits really becoming more of an urbanthis is true in the Electoral College<\/a> urban versus rural, and i think Rural America<\/a> is getting the shaft. John i agree with you. Rick tyler, i hope youll join us again. I will. John and basil smykell. Thank you for being here. Thank you. John a man who represents is a survival of abuseed will join me next. Without enough College Graduates<\/a> to fill them. Thats why at Devry University<\/a> were teaming up with Companies Like<\/a> cisco to help make sure everyone is ready with the knowhow we need for a new tomorrow. [ male announcer ] make sure americas ready. Make sure youre ready. At devry. Edu knowhow. [ voice of dennis ]. Allstate. Really . I was afraid youd have some cutrate policy. Nope, ive got. [ voice of dennis ] the allstate value plan. Its their most affordable Car Insurance<\/a> and you still get an allstate agent. I too have. [ voice of dennis ] allstate. [ normal voice ] same agent and everything. Its like were connected. No were not. Yeah, we are. No, were not. Ask an allstate agent about the value plan. Are you in good hands . Its a Vanguard World<\/a> premiere event. It doesnt anymore real than this. Currents Award Winning<\/a> original series is back with an allnew episode straight from the headlines. In the minefield of the nations gun control debate, this could be the most polarizing issue. Anybody could claim stand your ground and they can get away with murder. Only on current tv. John more shame for the peddlers of shame. According to internal documents released by the Catholic Church<\/a> this week, Cardinal Roger<\/a> mahony once helped conceal cases of child monthly less station by priests from Law Enforcement<\/a> authorities. Now mahony who served in Southern California<\/a> was at the time the archbishop of the largest Catholic Diocese<\/a> in the u. S. In one letter about a priest who admitted to preying on undocumented children for decades, mahony warns quote i believe if monsignor garcia were to reappear within the archdiocese we might very well have some type of legal action filed in both the criminal and civil sectors. Did you catch that . Not that he might sexually abuse children. But if he was here we might have legal problems. Which would be far worse than calling the cops and having him incarcerated so he cant assault more children. Joining me now on the program is the director of snap or the Survivors Network<\/a> of those abused by priests. David thank you for your time and being here this evening. My pleasure. Thank you. John what was your initial reaction about Cardinal Mahony<\/a> upon reading these despicable documents. I hate to say it, it might sound cynical but i wasnt surprised. I was dismayed. Its one thing to passively keep information hidden about child predators. Thats wrong in every sense. But to actively conceal child sex crimes from Law Enforcement<\/a> when you know that these predators are likely to strike again, and you know that your efforts could keep some behind bars away from kids, thats just unconsciencible. John how flimsy do you find the churchs defense. I agree with you this was not a huge surprise. Anyone who saw the documentary deliver us from evil knows Cardinal Mahony<\/a>s slate has not been clean in this regard. But when some say he was just naive on how to handle the sex abuse charges did the word naive upset you as much as it upset me. Oh sure. Its laughable. Its absurd. This is an extraordinaryily smart, welleducated man. They lead the nations largest archdiocese, and these are shrewd people. They think long and hard about clever ways to protect the predators and enup endanger kids. Even a teenager, even a High School Drop<\/a> out knows if you suspect a crime you call the police. Thats especially true if you know about the crime. Its especially true if the victims are children. Its especially true if the crime is likely to be repeated. Cardinal mahony knows this. Hes a social worker by training and background, for heavens sake. There is nothing naive about the men who hid these crimes for decades. John these people who came forward, i wont call them victims but survivors weve seen payouts by the church, do you think this deception and secrecy is still a part of the churchs culture today . I have to say sadly it very much is. I know thats hard for people to understand but its crucial to remember, john, that this is a monarchy. As much as this scandal has tarnished the hierarchy the men at the top of the pyramid still have faced little if any consequences for their dreadful wrongdoing. And for that reason their power remains intact, and for that reason weve seen so little change on their part. There are tons and tons of policies panels, procedures, and protocol, and on paper it looks like the catholic hierarchy has responded well. But bishops are still acting very recklessly, very callously very secretively. Its really disconcerting. John especially since the vatican at one point tried to blame this on gay priests despite the overwhelming majority of priest who is have interfered with children have been heterosexualidentified males. Absolutely. John it gets back to this is not a christian thing but a roman thing. This seems to be an old tradition kept alive in the vatican walls and it has turned this faith into a third world religion. Do you see any connection between a vow of celibacy, put in place in 1100 ad so priests could not leave wealth to their kids, in this unhealthy behavior that we dont see manifested in religious that dont have this celabicy rule. Youre right. The problems with the celibacy rule many believe that the sexually troubled catholic teens and young men who have bizarre scary, sexual urges they believe that celibacy is a gift from god and if they pledge themselves to a life to god and in church they will be suppressed of these urges. Thats are a nice hope but the practical reality is that many instances the reverse plays out. When you restrict your pool of potential ministers to only men who have promised to be celibate youre bound to attract less than healthy individuals and youre going to create situations in which many, many men, if no one can have sex of any sort, then many men will have a sexual secret. And if you have a sexual secret youre not going to rat out priests who are abusing children children. David executive correcter of the survivors of those abused by priests. Thank you for the work that you do. I appreciate it. John would it surprise you to learn violence has something to do with oil . Shocking, i know. Thats coming up. Question whether im right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. John louisiana governor bobby jindal spoke to the Republican National<\/a> committee and he had a very blunt message for his fellow conservatives. We got to stop being the stupid party. Its no secret that we had a number of republicans that damaged the brand with bizarre comments. Weve had enough of that. John bobby jindal is right. The g. O. P. Is march marginalizing their party and telling them to stop being stupid is bobbys way of positioning himself in the president ial. Who else to admonish against stupidity than the governor who proposed education cuts while signing the Academic Freedom<\/a> act which allows teachers to talk about the design theory in design class. Governor jindal supports the constitutional amendment banning flag burning but opposes the fairness doctrine because that might infringe on free speech. Hes against abortion in cases of rape and incest like the two guys hes calling stuff stupid. I guess you wants you to stop being the willfully stupid party. Only on current tv. John where there is oil there are humans fighting over it. Could this explain the recent surge in taliban violence in afghanistan . Thats what investigative journalist Antonia Juhasz<\/a> has found after a threeweek undercover investigation. She writes, the result is clear and far from unique to afghanistan. As the development of oil and gas sector has risen so too has violence and insecurity. The author of the tyranny of oil. Thank you for joining us. Thank you. John why should Americans Care<\/a> about this particular story . Well, the u. S. Pentagon is leading the development of oil and gas in afghanistaned and what that has meant is an increase in violence. Thats a problem for afghans certainly, and its a problem for troops fighting in afghanistan, and it could be a cause to delay our leaving afghanistan, which i think something most americans want to see happen. John indeed. Now when we think about holyproducing nations afghanistan does not usually come up in the top ten. How much oil is underneath afghan soil. Yeah, it doesnt have a lot. It doesnt have a lot of natural gas. It doesnt compare to iraq. Afghanistan has 1. 6 billion barrels compared to iraqs 116. That said, any oil and natural gas right now is oil and natural gas that somebody wants and is going to fight for. Also afghanistan is very strategiccally located among other countries that do have oil and natural gas holdings. Both have resources of its own that are important and the strategic location of the other countries that have even more than it does. John the mining of this oil and gas is controlled by our pentagon and not the Afghan Government<\/a>. It is owned by the Afghan Government<\/a>. It is the u. S. Pentagon that has been pumping to open to foreign sectors and pushing bringing in Foreign Companies<\/a> Companies Like<\/a> exxon and cheveron that have said they want to invest in afghanistan but thus far have not. John it seems like the talibans greatest threat to their power potential by might be Foreign Investment<\/a> rather than attorney troops. What does the taliban have to gain by committing acts of violence against these drilling locations . Im not sure if its the biggest threat against the taliban but it has drawn their attention. As the u. S. Government has increased its interest in afghanistans oil and gas what i experienced and what i found was that so, too was the taliban, and i think the taliban is attacking oil and gas targets and seeing it as a lightening rod for their attention. Because they want to deny the power of having that resource would bring to the karzai government to the u. S. Government to local warlords and regional leaders who they oppose. And basically they want to deny control of this resource to others who would want it. John now, is that because they aspire to one day control it themselves or is the effort to keep the people of afghanistan in the stone age . No, when the taliban controlled the Afghan Government<\/a> they did negotiate to control the passage of oil and gas through afghanistan. They wanted to negotiate with u. S. Oil companies the lead negotiator for the company was the ownerin california, cheveron, i think they would be interested in developing this resource if they were in control. But right now they want to deny it to those that are in control. John its not that theyre part of the green movement. I dont think so. John when you decided to go undercover, what did that entail and what made you want to do this . I wouldnt say that i went undercover. I definitely tried to pass as an afghan as much as possible. I focus focused on oil and what happens the environmental rights cause, human rights cause and for a year now this was my second reporting trip to afghanistan, i spent three weeks traveling all across the north and over to the west of the country trying to see if this sector is developed who lives where the oil and gas lies, what will happen to them . What do they know about this sector and what does it mean about the war and our troops fighting in the war. What i found when i traveled supposedly safe areas of afghanistan was i kept having near misses with taliban attacks, including deadly taliban attacks. It became clear that the taliban were essentially following a similar map that i was that they were targeting oil and gas just as i was traveling, and the timing was not coincidental. I was there because the pentagon was in a new negotiating round to try to get new Oil Companies<\/a> into afghanistan and the world attention was focused on the country in that sector, and so, too, were the taliban. John we only have 20 seconds left but if the taliban were to get a place at the table in terms of governance, what is their end game here . Well, i think that that certainly is a bigger question for what the talibans end game is. I think in terms of this resource, what we dont want is to create another hotbed for violence in afghanistan. There is plenty of hotbeds for violence. Its dangerous for afghans. Its dangerous for americans. Its dangerous for arability ability to end the war and we dont want to put another thing in the talibans hands that lets them create even greater instability and insecurity. I think its important for the pentagon to be focused on this volatile resource, and i think my experience in afghanistan demonstrated that, it is creating more volatility than it is creating stability. John we thank thank you for sharing your experience. Its completely fascinating and another side of this story that were not hearing enough about in the conventional media. Youre the author of the tyranny of oil. Thank you for your time tonight. Thanks for having me. John zero dark thirty, a great movie, but is the message as dubious as you heard . An fbi interrogator joins me to talk about it coming up next. Excellence. Where ever the story is we will go there to get it. We dive deep into the topics that we cover. It doesnt get anymore real than this. And on the next vanguard straight from the headlines. In the minefiled of the nations gun control debate, this could be the most polarizing issue. Anybody can claim stand your ground, they can get away with murder. On current tv. [ voice of dennis ]. Safe driving bonus check . Every six months without an accident, allstate sends a check. Ok. [ voice of dennis ] silence. Are you in good hands . But when joint pain and stiffness from Psoriatic Arthritis<\/a> hit even the smallest things became difficult. I finally understood what serious joint pain is like. I talked to my rheumatologist and he prescribed enbrel. Enbrel can help relieve pain, stiffness, and stop joint damage. Because enbrel, etanercept suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. Serious, sometimes fatal events including infections tuberculosis lymphoma, other cancers, and nervous system and Blood Disorders<\/a> have occurred. Before starting enbrel your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether youve been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. Dont start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. Tell your doctor if youre prone to infections, have cuts or sores have had hepatitis b have been treated for heart failure, or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. [ phil ] get back to the things that matter most. Ask your rheumatologist if enbrel is right for you. [ doctor ] enbrel, the number one biologic medicine prescribed by rheumatologists. John the film zero dark thirty was released earlier this month. However, the controversial surrounding the film started way back in august of 2011 when congressman peter king called for an investigation into how much the c. I. A. And the Obama Administration<\/a> cooperated with filmmaker Catherine Bigelow<\/a> in providing information about the raid that killed osama bin laden. However, had the pro torture antimuslim congressman simple by waited to see the film perhaps he wouldnt have had as much of an issue with its content. Almost immediately after the films release a number of critics took issue with the way the film portrays the use of torture as a key to tracking down binladen. From acting c. I. A. Director Michael Morell<\/a> releasing a statement saying, quote, the film creates a strong impression that the enhance the interrogation techniques were the key to finding bin laden. The truth is that multiple streams of intelligence led c. I. A. Analysts to conclude that bin laden was hiding in abbattabad. Some came from detainees subjected to enhanced techniques, but there were many other sources as well. Contrary to what her film might suggest zero dark thirty director Catherine Bigelow<\/a> seems to agree. I think its been a very controversial issue. Its been debated since the early part of 2000 and it will ton to be debated. Since its part of the history we had to show a few sequences of enhanced interrogation but again there are many techniques that led to the compound in abattabad. John and those secrets are shown, and shown well but the question is were those a lead to bin laden. Joining me now to discuss the cover surrounding the film jim clemene, former fbi academy interrogation instructor and allison bailes, a film critic for more magazine. Welcome. Is the film pro torture. And is the torture that led us to bin laden. Unfortunately it does. It shows that in the torture he gave up the information. The one character maya, who was there to show how horrendous torture was she goes on to have somebody else torture the guy shes interrogating to get further information. I think in general it does, in fact say that torture actually worked. Thats incorrect. John yes, its interesting because the only character allison pack me up on this, but the only character who speaks out against torture is i think president obama in a scene in the commissary when theyre watching 60 minutes. He has one line of dialogue in this film. And supposedly from then on these techniques continued. I dont feel that the film is pro torture. Anyone sitting through that film you cannot come out of it and say torture is a good thing. You would have to be sadistic lunatic to think that. The torture is so oh horrific and i think its clear that theyre morley irreprehensible. I think she makes that very clear. Whether some information was gathered in that way that may lee to a more secure lead to capture binladen. I dont think well ever know. There was so much information gathered over a long period of time. This was a film that condenses ten years into two and a half hours. Clearly characters and information is condensed. So i think that we have to look at this as a cinematic piece of artery than a historical piece of fact. Jim, what are your thoughts. Youre right to an extent. Unfortunately when you have a movie that starts out saying this is based on real events, that there is a responsibility on the part of the makers that have movie to tell the truth when it comes to an incredibly difficult and moral issue. What they could have done is showedthey did show that torture is reprehensible however the people who did it went away scott free with no negative consequences because of what they did and they didnt show that torture has helped the terrorists recruit more terrorists. It has helped the people that we tried to interrogate shut down completely because they know that we were doing that. It just reinforceed their negative stereotypes and it hindered us. John the people who committed the torture did get away free. Whose fault is that. Thats not Catherine Bigelow<\/a>s fault. I dont have a problem with it unlessexcept for the fact that it says it was true events. This, sir goes back to the point i wanted to make. Yes, i think were getting into a sticky wicket, to use an english phrase, with document dramas. When they say this is a true story, this is the team that caught bin laden, that is misleading. This is an artistic impression of what happened using facts gathered. But we have to remember this is a filmmaker and screenwriters impression, and you know, of all the facts. But it was also on the credits. It is. But we cant deny that its based on a true story. Jim, one thing we would agree on is the torture scenes are very well done. In your opinion jim do they accurately reflect the techniques used by the c. I. A. During that period . Well, i think they accurately reflect some of them, yes. I know that there arethere are probably dozens of more things that werent shown that were actually done. But the important thing is that for example waterboarding. Thats based on our sear training. The r in sear is survival evasion resistence escape. This is what we use against torture. They used the techniques that we teach our pilots to resist torture to torture. Unfortunately, it didnt work. Im not going to use specific names but the guy who notoriously was waterboarding waterboarded the most he used to count on his fingers ten seconds because he knew they would limit it to that much time. Thats how he learned to resist torture. It hardened him and he gave us information that was false and it put us down a lot of false leads. Others did the same thing. And others still other detainees just shut down completely when they were treated harshly. I just cant overstate that. John that guy by the way owns the record of the longest waterboarding in history. Allison i want to ask you one question about the problem that i have in the film. At no point does any character express any criticism of the torture. Have. As a critic, i was wrapped up in the film. I enjoyed it immensely. I thought the torture scenes were so hard to watch. Anybody coming out of the film has to know that this is wrong and we must elect those who do not endorse torture. John would you recommend people see this film with thed admonishment that it might not be real. Absolutely. It depicts a lot of accurate things but keep in mind that the torture did not get us to osama bin laden. John jim clemnete and allison bailes. Thank you for your insight. Well be right back. The Natural Energy<\/a> of peanuts and delicious, soft caramel. To fill you up and keep you moving, whatever your moves. Payday. Fill up and go vanguard is allnew with a world premier episode straight from todays headlines. Only on current tv. [ theme music ] john well, the weekend is upon us. And for those of you looking for a relaxing get away but cant decide where to go or what to do maybe our top lawmakers and celebrities can give you hints. Hillary clinton certainly has has had a tough week so shes going to kickback in her chappaqua home and with republicans and fox news anglers demonize her, and spews her popularity right back in their faces. And mayor cory booker will spend the weekend driving around with a police radio. John boehner likes to spend his weekend at his favorite store the stop and sob. He wanders","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia904708.us.archive.org\/2\/items\/CURRENT_20130126_010000_Viewpoint\/CURRENT_20130126_010000_Viewpoint.thumbs\/CURRENT_20130126_010000_Viewpoint_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240619T12:35:10+00:00"}