Transcripts For CURRENT Viewpoint 20130111

John good evening. Im john fuglesang. Thank you so much for joining us this evening on viewpoint. Vice President Biden says president obama will get hig working groups recommend ailses on curbing gun violence by tuesday. Around the time joe biden was making the statements, news broke on the latest American School shooting. A male student was shot in the chest allegedly by another male Student Armed with a shot gunn at the Taft Union High school in kern county, california, about 120 miles north of l. A. The alleged shooter is said to be 16 years old. Hes alive and in custody. His victim is said to be in critical but stable condition. A teacher who reportedly helped convince the shooter to surrender was lightly wounded with a shotgun pellet and refused treatment at the scene. Now, back at the white house vice President Biden sat down today with hunters sportsmen and gun owners groups including the nra the real victims in all of this gun violence, as part of his Factfinding Mission for the president. Before the doors closed, he told reporter whats heard from Gun Control Groups and Law Enforcement thus far. There is a surprising so far, a surprising recurrence of suggestions that we have universal background checks. Not just the closed gun show loophole but total universal background checks. Including private sales. Theres also a good deal of talk about gun safety. And what responsibility goes along with gun ownership. Ive never quite heard as much talk about the need to do something about highcapacity magazines as ive heard spontaneously from every group that weve met with so far. John not every group. Not the nra. After todays meeting with mr. Biden, the nra released a statement that reads in part. John which is something no one is trying to do at all ever. If the nra supporters in congress get in line, toughening gun laws on the federal level could be a tough job indeed. On the state level new york governor and obvious 2016 president ial candidate Governor Andrew Cuomo has laid out a fresh agenda for what he described as a reasonable balanced and measured gun policy. Among the highlights. Number one enact the toughest assault weapon ban in the nation, period [ applause ] number two close the private sale loophole by requiring federal background checks. [ applause ] number three, ban high capacity magazines. John following the Brutal School shootings in newtown connecticut last month dan malloy said his state would reject the nras advice to protect school kids with armed guards in every school as they had at columbine. We must balance our respect for individual rights with our obligation to provide for the Greater Public safety. And when it comes to prepreventing future acts of violence in our schools let me say this. More guns are not the answer. [ applause ] john for more on vice President Bidens meetings with gun owners today im very pleased to be joined by richard feldman, president of the independent Firearms Association and author of ricochet and an actual attendee at todays session. Thank you so much for joining us d is really great to have you. Good evening. John thank you sir. What can you tell us about your meeting with the Vice President today . Well, i was actually a little surprised. I thought it was more of a conversation than it was a lecture. There was a lot of power in that room. The attorney general, obviously the Vice President secretary duncan secretary lahood, sullivan the head of the secret service and about 25 senior counsel and other staff members. And we had a pretty wideranging discussion from the difficulties with checks as well as uploading mental records. Oddly enough, there were a large number of areas where we were in complete agreement. Everyone in that room i dare say the every intelligent american citizen opposes violent predatory criminals and mentally deranged people from getting guns. Part of our problem in this country is we dont know how to discuss this issue in terms to get agreement rather we often talk about this issue in terms that sets us apart. John i couldnt agree more. Did you find that to be the case during the meeting today . Did things get heated or inflammatory . No. It was a very professional, adult discussion. I dont think anyone attending the meeting expected to turn the other people around and have them go mystically, my god youre right. But again, you know, we had a lot of agreement. One of the points i made was the need for serious about criminals to provide the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms with the tools specifically the ninen program that mixes and finds criminals guns and suspects and uses Ballistic Technology to match them together and solve crimes. Weve defunded this program over the last several years instead of funding it. We have things that work but sometimes theyre noncontroversial and people dont know much about them. But we have to do a better job as americans in finding the things that we agree on that work and move forward on them. John the nra released a statement afterwards and of course i want to remind our viewers, youre not from the nra. Their Statement Read in part we were disappointed in how little this meeting had to do with keeping our children safe and how much it had to do with an agenda to attack the Second Amendment. We will not allow lawabiding gun owners to be blamed for the acts of criminals and mad men. Thats not what i got from your description the meeting. Do you agree with their statement . Do you feel that your Second Amendment liberties are at risk now . Well, that really all depends on what the proposals are and what happens to them. You know, we live in a democracy. The president , Vice President the administration, they have limitations. They can propose legislative ideas and the fight is going to shift on to capitol hill. Those ideas have to become legislation before they ever become law. John did anyone during this meeting mention conceivably confiscating any gun owners weapons at all . Never came up in this meeting today. But you know, lets talk about it for a moment. John please. If you really wanted to succeed in a magazine limitation, the only way you could succeed would be to confiscate the 100 million highcapacity magazines that already exist out there. Thats part of the problem. To ban the future sale is going to have no impact whatsoever. And its kind of a fools errand in my view. Instead of focusing on things that will prevent criminals from getting guns, were talking about the guns. Thats part of the problem in our national debate. The question should always be in whose hands are the guns . When we focus the question correctly, we find a lot of agreement. When we start dancing around the question gun control, what does that mean, well then its the quintessential two ships in the night talking right past even other. John sir, last summer, frank luntz who is not entirely a raging leftist did a poll of nra members. 74 support background checks in all gun sales including private sales between acquaintances. If thats what the majority of nra members believe, do you think the nra leadership and yourself, sir, would get behind regulations like that . Well, let me tell you what our organization our take on the gun show issue. We see a very important distinction between a private sale or transfer. When i sell a gun and i have, to four kinds of individuals and im not a dealer. Ive sold guns to my friends to my family, to my coworkers or to my neighbors. Not a lot but over the years here or there. I know who i sold the gun to. If im at a gun show, im basically in the same position a retail Firearms Dealer is in. I dont have a clue whos coming over to my table and we support background checks for the transfer of firearms at gun shows because you dont know who youre selling the gun to. John i applaud you for that sir. Gang members sell guns to their friends as well. You cant sell a car to a friend without letting the government know youve done it. Do you think it should be seizier to sell an automatic weapon to an acquaintance than a vehicle . Well, talk about a loaded question. Were not even talking about automatic weapons are we . Are we talking about class three firearms that have to go through an atf background check . John im talking about guns period, which 74 of nra members support having background checks for any sales. Well, you know, some people live in states like new york where thats already the law for handguns. But i wonder how many of your viewers think its an important idea and it would really contribute to the reduction in crime to put their spouse or their child through a background check before they transfer the gun to them. Its not going to happen. John if it saves one childs life, is it worth it . Let me ask you if it costs one childs life, was it worth it . John im not sure how more safety precautions would cost a childs life. Well, if you give your daughter a gun when shes been threatened that you couldnt give her because its the weekend and you cant have a background check run on your own daughter and she doesnt have the gun i mean this is the problem. John you cant wait until monday . You miss the opportunity to focus on the problem. Do you think that your daughter is a problem . You would know if your daughter is a problem, wouldnt you . In fact, lets look at the newtown situation. Adams mother knew her son was a problem. She violated one of the basic tenants of gun safety swit to always keep your guns secured when not in use. Had she had those guns in a gun safe that tragedy couldnt have occurred with those guns. John would you support legislation mandating all guns in American Homes be kept in gun safes to save american lives . Theres no one solution that solves everything. Different situations require different approaches. People have to be responsible. When i lived alone, i kept a number of loaded guns in different parts of my house. When i was married and i had kids around the house i kept them all in the gun safe when i wasnt around. Different situation different result. John ill take it then that you disagree with the 74 of nra members. I thank you so much for your time and sharing with your with us experience today during the Vice President s meeting. Pleasure to meet you richard feldman. I thank you and all responsible gun owners for being part of this dialogue. Thank you. John thank you. For more on the possibility of passing new gun control laws, despite the nra and its allies, im happy to be joined by tina dupuy, editor and chief of the contributor and political reporter joe williams. Welcome to both of you. Thank you for having me. John you just heard that. I want to thank mr. Feldman again but it is clear he is out of the mainstream of registered gun owners. Did have a couple of points. I agree with him on. I dont believe the atf has the budget to enforcer the laws on the books. It is a good point. Thats Common Ground that everyone can come together on and actually agree upon. The thing that was really interesting to me is he did this classic thing that everyone who just doesnt want to see anymore gun violence, not even doesnt like guns, doesnt like being shot, suddenly, with the has to get into what i call weaponese. We have to Start Talking about assault rifles versus semiauto versus things with scopes or whatever. John i cant give my daughter a gun on saturday because there is a background check on monday. Tell her to stay home for the weekend. It is high capacity. We want to get into definitions. It is really a booby trap set by gun enthusiasts. Weve taken the bait over and over again. John joe did the nra send a message there will be no concessions and were going to fight this to the death . Thats the message i heard. And mainly because if something that youve been doing that keeps working, youre going to keep doing it. The nra is one of the most well funded powerful lobbies in america. Certainly in american political history, theyve had their victories and they keep coming. Whats interesting however is the fact that were still talking about it some almost a month after the newtown connecticut, tragedy where before, the nras typical strategy, if you will, would be to sort of lay low, wait for the violence to succumb and then set about entrenching what is already in place and even furthering their ability to control the debate. Its also kind of staggering to me to hear nra people talk about the fact that more guns are going to solve the problem and that whole scenario about having a daughter whos been threatened. That only assumes a, the daughter can actually use the gun in a proper manner and can get the drop on whatever bad guy might be throughout and she wouldnt have the gun either stolen or taken and used against her to cause a tragedy there. So a lot of the arguments are kind of fallacious. They keep getting made over and over again. I think it is going to be really difficult to cut through the clatter and get something done that will actually do some good and save some lives. John i want to point out in that left wing frank. Luntz survey of nra members 74 of registered nra members support only giving permits to citizens after they pass gun safety training. Again, the nra is not in line with its members. We know that both parties are going to use this as a political football. Could this conceivably split the g. O. P. House the way the fiscal cliff vote did or will republicans line up lock step behind the nra . I think that House Republicans are going to have a very, very difficult time with this one. A split seems possible but to me the party and the coalition thats in congress right now that was willing to risk the full faith and credit of the United States and willing to risk it again probably, to my eye, doesnt seem like it will give very much ground on this issue. They know where the contributions come from. They know whats important to their members back home. Nevertheless, the fact that president obama is putting his weight behind this and has a commission headed by Vice President joe biden who the nra basically loathes, i think is a very good sign, at the very least, a fight if no substantive action gets done, at least the marker gets put down by the white house and by the people on the left that this issue is not going to go away and that theyre going to continue to try to push it to get some reasonable measures in place. John tina and joe will be back in the next segment. I look forward to continuing the conversation can with both of you. The right wing can make all the jokes they want about Global Warming but you dont see too many climate scientists buying beachfront property. Before the sneeze, help protect with a spray. Before the tissue, help defend with a wipe. Before the cold flu season help prevent with lysol. Because when you have 10 times more protection with each hand wash. And kill 99. 9 of germs around the house with each spray. Those Healthy Habits start to add up. This season, a good offense is the best defense and lysol has your family covered because thats our mission for health. John its not really the best time to be a Climate Change denier. Not only is the anecdotal evidence supporting global Climate Change, superstorm sandy, the disappearing ice slights at the north pole becoming ever harder to ignore but science and facts continue to demonstrate that yes Climate Change is real. So no one should really be surprised the last year was the hottest on record for north america, shattering the old record by one entire degree. That may not sound like a lot but keep in mind, if the worlds average temperature increases by 5 degrees scientists think sea levels could climb as much as 20 feet causing cities like miami new orleans, to go the route of atlantis. Skeptics keep on being skeptics. You are right. Climate change science is a sinister conspiracy by the entire World Scientific community to slightly reduce corporate profit by convincing people that air pollution is bad. That makes a lot more sense. Joining us now via skype is heroic environmentalist and founder of 350. Org the man whos become the leading face in the movement to raise awareness about Climate Change, bill mckickin. It is an honor to have you here on the program. Very good to be with you. John is it worst that we broke the record by one degree or the records have come within the last 15 years . Probably the latter because those are global figures. The whole planet is warming. This last year was off the charts for the u. S. It was pretty much off the wall. One degree, beating a temperature record by one degree is almost impossible. Statistically, an anomaly so enormous that scientists are scratching their heads. But the u. S. Is only 2 of the earths surface. The fact that really the most interesting fact, if you want a number is that there is nobody alive today nobody alive today over the age of 27, under the age of 27 who has seen a month colder than the 20th century average. Every single month for the last 27 years around this planet has been warmer than the last average for the 20th century. Thats the kind of world were building. As you say the temperature going up is bad. The effect of it is whats really bad. We lost the arctic ice sheet this past summer. We broke one of the physical features on the planet. Right now in australia were seeing temperature, heat wave fire like nobodys business. It was so hot yesterday in parts of australia this is a little ironic, that people couldnt pump gasoline because it was evaporating before it could get in their car. John what about our government . Do you think president obama has failed when it comes to dealing with Climate Change or are you optimistic he will be aggressive on this in the second term . Well find out if hes going to be more aggressive in the second term. Fairly soon. The purest, easiest test for him is this giant keystone pipeline. Our most important climatologist, jim hanson at nasa said if we burn the canadian tar sands with the pipeline comes from on top of Everything Else were burning it is game over for the climate. 20 top climate scientists in the u. S. Sent president obama a letter saying dont build that pipeline. If he approves it anyway, it will be a pretty strong sign that hes not willing to stand up to the richest industry on earth which afterall, is a powerful industry. Joe bill, you know what the response of that is. It means jobs, jobs, jobs, american oil and making our oil here so were not dependent on foreign oil. Even though most will be shipped over to asia. How do you respond to this relentils response we get from the right . If you want to find a way to back our economy, the best way is to heat up the planet really fast. Super stom sandy is going to cost us a hundred billion. The drought in the midwest 150 billion. The one great economist whos ever studied the total effects of Climate Change on the global economy, sir Nicholas Stern in the u. K. , estimated the total Economic Impact would be greater than world war i, world world war ii and the Great Depression combined. So i dont think theres much of an economic argument for heating up the earth. John i agree with you there. It proves Climate Change is real. Weve been through it here already. Some people are never going to be convinced no matter how many facts and figures you throw at them. We have friends who are addicted to fox news and they think it is a myth. How do you convince someone . I dont spend an enormous amount of time to convince the last holdouts. If you spent your life marinating in rush limbaugh, youre probably not able to take in actual science at this point. The good news is the polling data shows the huge increase in the percentage of americans who understand this is a problem thats what happens. When 80 of american counties have federal declared disasters in the last two years. It is now 74 of americans who are deeply concerned about Climate Change. Thats plenty to go to work with. Our work at 350. Org is more about mobilizing those people than trying to persuade the last holdouts. John i was thrilled to have you on the show tonight because over the last year be you sort of became the face of the Climate Change movement. The more high profile people like celebrities need to get involved and fast . We probably need some betterlooking faces than mine at work on this. That would be a help. But the good news is what we really need is lots of people and were starting to show up. We have divestment movements on 210 campuses where students are demanding their trustees sell their fossil fuel stock. This is the Biggest Movement in many years. Well be going to washington on president s day weekend. We think with 25,000 people, the biggest environmental demonstration in a generation in d. C. Its beginning to build a movement big enough to take on the fossil fuel industry. I dont know whether we can do it fast enough to catch up with the physics. The scientist science is tough here. But at 350. Org and a lot of other places, people are really trying. John weve got about ten seconds left. Does Vice President al gore have a future with the movement . Look, al gore may not be your guy anymore but hes our guy still. No one has done more to bring the news of Climate Change to the world than al gore. John i agree. Founder of 350. Org the great and brilliant bill mckibben, it is a pleasure having you here. Thank you very much. John for more, lets bring back etter in chief of the editor tina dupuy and joe williams. Thank you both for sticking around. Joe, i want to pick up on something bill just said. Hes not worried about convincing those who science cant convince. Should we try to convert our friends and neighbors and that coworker in the cubicle to believe in Climate Change or is it best to ignore the deniers . Well, if things continue at pace, we wont have to because all of the predictions that al gore and others have been making about Climate Change are coming true. Not the fact necessarily the earth is getting warmer and that well have 70 degree days in january but that the storms will occur more frequently. Theyll be more intense. Theyll do a lot more damage. I can guarantee you, you go up to new jersey and new york and the coastal areas rockaway beach, you ask people there if Climate Change is real. People who probably hadnt considered the issue would give you an absolute yes its real and it destroyed my home. So i think that the polling is going to continue to go up because a lot of people were talking about it in the aftermath of sandy. Theyre starting to get the message and almost like the gun issue, the people are almost ahead of the politicians in this one in that more people are starting to get the idea this is happening as we get more and more difficult storms, more and more damage and it hits them in the wallet than people straggling behind, still convinced this is not a factor. John tina, does president obama need to do more to raise awareness . It depends on what your cause is. He always needs to do more until he actually accomplishes it. John fair enough. The greatest advocate for Climate Change is not al gore. Its sandy. I think as we see it happening in front of us, its going to be selfevident. Go ahead. John if you would please. I agree with you on sandy and mayor bloomberg has been a real leader ever since. With the republican house, what can the president do to try to fight Climate Change . Well, i think that he needs to take on there is a Huge Industry that is actively campaigning against Climate Change and actively sowing the seeds of skepticism when it comes to climate denial. Theyre very effective at that. Those are people who pad their pockets with oil money. Every time that we have winter, that somehow shows were not having Global Warming right . Because look, it snowed. And not knowing that the weather is not actually what climate is and being able to educate people as to the difference, but when you have these superstorms that are coming it doesnt matter if there was a cold day you know, we almost lost our biggest city. John now were having the storm of the century every other year. Joe, last fall, al gore called on president obama to include a carbon tax in his fiscal cliff negotiations. That didnt happen. A lot of progressives were rooting for it. Do you think you jump in, tina, if you want, do you think theres any chance well see this president say the words carbon tax . Cap and trade was a republican idea they abandoned just like they abandoned their healthcare initiative. The individual mandate was something that nixon came out with. Basically, the formula is republican idea and obama says thats a great idea, suddenly it is no longer a good idea when youre a republican. Exactly. If it comes out of the president s mouth, chances are it is a nonstarter among a certain segment. Remember, we had a convention not too long ago in tampa where president obama was actually mocked by the republican nominee, mitt romney for suggesting that he would do something about the rising temperatures and rising oceans. I think it is incumbent upon president obama to do something. I think he will do something. Will it be a Sweeping Change . I highly doubt that because not only do you have a core segment of the Republican Coalition thats dead set against this but you also have several oil state democrats, Mary Landrieu comes to mind. Joe manchin of west virginia, who would be dead set against any kind of cap and trade. Any kind of carbon tax. Anything that they think would cost them jobs and therefore cost the election. But the counter argument to that, the evidence is impossible to ignore. If were talking about snow, were talking about snowpocalypse. Here in d. C. Were talking about superstorm sandy, the confluence of three different weather fronts that caused such destruction. Bill mckibben was right. It becomes an economic issue at its fundamental core. I think the public is starting to see that and i think theyre ahead of the politicians on this one. John fighting Climate Change is good capitalism. Tina you dont pew editor in chief of the contributor. Joe williamss, thank you both for joining me this evening. Thank you. John now that ultra conservatives have failed, well see their new strategy to fail again in the exact same way. Well try to figure out why they do that coming up next. John so i bet you thought this was as crazy as ted nugent could get. Im an extremely loving, passionate man and people who investigate me honestly without the baggage of Political Correctness ascertain the conclusion that im a damn nice guy and if you can find a screening process more powerful than that, [ bleep ] hows that sound . John thats a guy who does no drugs. Thats reserved compared to what sean hannity and mitt romneys bff said this week. Coming up, ted nugent moves sanity to back of the bus. John you know, one of the great things about the 2012 president ial election is that it presented issues to the American People where a clear contrast existed between president obama and governor romney. The issue of how women should be treated in our society while governor romney wanted them placed in binders only to be taken o down for special occasions, the president held the radical point of view they should all be treated equal toy men. The American People heard the two arguments and they seem to have made their choice but it does seem apparent not everyone has accepted said choice. One of those who chose to not listen to the American People, former g. O. P. Vice Vice President americas sweetheart, paul dont call me Eddie Munster ryan. Ryan is one of 17 congressmen cosponsoring the sanctity of human life act. A bill that believes all humans are sacred, sponsored by all pro Death Penalty politicians which gives a human zygote all of the privileges of personhood. The republicans who support the bills again support the Death Penalty so theyre pro some life. By the way, if life begins at conception and the drinking age should begin at 20 years three months. A similar personhood bail failed in 2011 and it has also failed in several states including mississippi. Yes, that mississippi did not pass this personhood bill. But failure does not deter the extreme right. Which also brings us to immigration. While the American People clearly voted against mitt romneys immigration policy featuring selfdeportation, something his great granddad did to keep winders full of wives some moved forward anyway. Kansas secretary of state kris kobach who is no stranger to some would say racist immigration policies. This is the fine patriot who wrote alabama and arizonas immigration laws and it doesnt get more backwards thinking than those. Now mr. Kobach is hoping kansass more conservative legislature will consider one of four antiimmigration bills despite several similar bills being stalled by the state last year. It is almost as if these guys dont realize that no means no. Joining me now to try to make sense of the senseless im so happy to welcome rachel sklar founder of the list, a hub for women in technology. Comedian pappas and mr. Jim david, comedian and author of youll be swell. Welcome. Happy new year to you all. John i look forward to reading it. Ill wait for my copy. Personhood bills are widely unpopular. The Oklahoma Supreme Court said theyre unconstitutional. Knowing it is never going to pass, isnt this a way to pander to the base to try to raise some Campaign Cash early in 2013 or does they seriously think theyll get a bill like this passed . I think it is a little bit of both. I think it is never a mistake for the far right to prove the bona fides by standing with the uber faithful and you know, like they just throw stuff against the wall and think that sometimes things will stick and sometimes they do. This is where the most conservative laws originate and you know, where sometimes they do get things to stick. I think thats what paul ryan is hoping for. Paul ryan has a soft spot for zygotes because he did run a marathon when he was a zygote. Hes just doing it because he aint got nothing else to do. I hope he keeps talking. John its not looking like theyre trying to create jobs or anything. Heres my theory on our republican friends. I have nothing against people who want to repeal abortion rights because of their beliefs. Go forward. It is a free country. I have something against that. John i have nothing against their right to fight for it. Even if i dont agree with them. It is a free country. However, the g. O. P. , if you have republican family or friends or if you have Christian Family or friends, you probably have seen g. O. P. Mailings where it is always about fundraising using abortion. Number one fundraising tool. If they ever outlawed abortion, that money would dry up. They had six years under president bush where they controlled the white house the house and the senate. They could have defunded planned parenthood before breakfast on day one. They didnt even try to do it. Arent they just hustling their prolife base for money . Am i being fair . Sounds like you got it. Sounds like you nailed it. John im not saying theyre secretly prochoice. It seems a bit disingenuous. They may be prochoice when it affects them and their own illicit relationships alleged. Im not talking about an actual person here. It never fails to amaze me that they keep doing the like we want the government out of our lives but in your vaginas and i do not want the government in my have have a vagina. S. John i want to bleach that imagery from my mind. Congressman paul broun has reduced the bill. Hes on the Science Committee despite saying that evolution is a myth from the pit of hell as opposed to talking snakes. By the way any offended christians evolution has nothing against jesus and creationism has nothing to do with what geezous stood for. So what happens to science and facts . Are these guys this myopic . They get no respect. We paid more respect to like the mayan rumor that the world was going to end because some mayan dude smoked a pipe. Someone got the date wrong and it is around the corner. I guess so. Scientists do research and studies and i dont know. Facts. I guess they need a little more charisma. Take charisma classes or something. They put guys on the Science Committee that dont believe in science. They put Michele Bachmann on the Intelligence Committee which is like putting monkeys in charge of personal hygiene. I love Michele Bachmann. I want her to stick around. John all comedians love her. The congresswoman from minnesota. Your love for Michele Bachmann not withstanding, it is very clear that theres a very specific agenda that has nothing to do with science. Nothing to do with observation fact, making decisions based on those things. It is very clearcut forwardlooking, unbreakable agenda which is why paul ryan keeps coming back with personhood bills. John i think youre right rachel. Some are determined to have less women vote g. O. P. Every year. I dont know how theyre going to get around that problem. Yan is, they were only warning us about the movie 2012. For a peek at whats coming up next on say anything with joy behar, please welcome the alpha omega, my future wife, joy behar. Joy thanks john. On tonights say anything, ill talk to Marlon Wayans about his movie haunted house. Are the ghosts in mrs. Muir old film about a ghost also white . White people going to live forever. Black people, when we die we dead. We sleepin. We work too hard. You know what . That white man have me working too hard. Joy Patrick Swayze in ghost was a white guy also. It is like the oscars. Joy speak of things that dont exist ill also talk about the nras attempt at rational discussion plus im sitting down with the smoothest man in comedy, j. B. Smoove. But first, more viewpoint. Guts. Glory. Ram. The new ram 1500. Motor trends 2013 truck of the year. Hersheys Simple Pleasures chocolate. 30 less fat, 100 delicious. John in a feat of upside political acrobatics, president obama stands accused of having a white house cabinet thats too male. Our first half black president who gave us our first hispanic Supreme Court justice and our first openly transgendered political appointee is being slammed by republicans and the republicans for only naming male secretaries. It has been tough on the president s image and in fact heres the image right now. This picture from the white house web site has been making obama and his senior advisers look like the 30year reunion of the omega Theta Pi Fraternity house. Theres Valerie Jarrett right there. Is this a hiccup in the advance of diversity and is it fair of republicans of all people to criticize president obama on a lack of diversity . Pot calling the kettle white. Let the man speak john rachel sklar Yannis Pappas and it is not fair that women have to wait to to be acknowledged when photos come out that are 100 white and women say hey just happened to let you know the ratio might be a bit off. People are like oh, what about this bean counting . I ran an organization so i may be familiar with this. It is a common phenomenon across all industries and you did expect a bit more from obama after 2012, after sort of the sea change in the electorate and particular emphasis on women that the cabinet would be a little bit more reflective of the electorate of the country. This panel is very white right now. I was expecting it to be more diverse. Im disappointed in you. Transgender person. It is hard to be a white guy these days. Let me tell you just how bad i feel for you. John in fairness, im confused. I thought about this. It really doesnt this whole thing doesnt bother me because we have a black president to. Me that, covers a lot. And we have he appointed women in the Supreme Court and he appointed women in the Supreme Court and so im just willing to give him the benefit of the doubt as to who he chooses. You dont need to worry about anybody else. Thats not true. I think it maybe is Charlie Rangel blowing its not diverse enough i can see how people would be upset about it. John im inclined to agree with both sides. Well played john let me explain why. Yes, we did expect more from this particular president. I will say that president bush had 24 women in his appointees. Obama is at 35 . Women are a 1 of the world world 51 of the world population. At the same time, i dont think fox news or most of the Corporate Media or the Republican Party have any right to criticize anyone for lack of diversity. Heres the thing. If mitt romney had been elected we all would have been john yes. Does it take away from the advances hes had. Two female Supreme Court justices. It doesnt take away at all. I think the mistake is holding those things up that are corrective saying hooray, were done. If theyre corrective, were still ending up baseline at a position where we need to improve on. I think when youre talking about the highest levels of leadership and these photographs that the world sees as representing leadership, theyre all men mostly white that does send a message. John i do think well see the Obama Administration responding to this responsibly. Hooray. John hilda solis is resigning. Well see if there is a female nominee for labor. I hope theyre going to get the message. You mentioned great leadership. I want to talk about Donald Rumsfeld. [ laughter ] john while we have time, speaking of americas sweetheart now Donald Rumsfeld is releasing a book called rumsfelds rules. I think it is about dont call the guy for three days after the date. It is his little witticisms, i think we have a few of them lined up here. But it is Donald Rumsfeld more or less got a second book deal. A sevenfigure deal on this. Phillip roth cant get a book deal. Snooki got a book deal. John it is really cute. Im sure guys will buy it for their dads if there are no new clancy books. Thats such a nuanced question. I think that thats like such a ridiculous spectrum. It is stunning. Im going to start with it is stunning to go to a 7figure book deal. I have no idea. It is going to be porn and hes going to call it 50 shades of denial. Hes going to have s m in it. Ill never be able to erase that image, thank you. John i think that 600,000 dead iraqi civilians might take issue with his popularity continuing. I like that we mix it up. Rachel sklar founder of the list. Comedian Yannis Pappas, thank you for joining us. Rosa parks refused to sit in the back of the bus. Ted nugent refused to sit in the back of a classroom or anyplace where he might learn stuff. Thats next. John ted nugent is in the news again. The motor city rocker, one of the mitt romneys most prominent celebrity supporters in the recent election is of course an outspoken amendment for the Second Amendment except for the well regulated part. The right wing who rocker who loves to compare people, decided to top himself in an interview with world net daily when he said there will come a time when the gun owners of america the lawabiding gun owners of america will be the rosa parks and well sit down on the front seat of the bus case closed. Really, ted . Are you sure you want to compare yourself and what youve done to rosa parks and what she did . Allow me to make the comparison for you. Rosa parks is one of our greatest equal rights activists in the u. S. Congress declared her the first lady of civil rights. Ted nugent likes to wear Confederate Flag tshirts and uses the n word in interviews. Rosa parks tried to clear the stench of discrimination from our country. Ted nugent admitted to soiling himself during his vietnam board physical and not clearing the stench so he could avoided serving his country. Rosa parks said each person must live their life as a model for others. Ted nugent wrote a song called wang dang sweet poon tang. Rosa parks received the congressional medal and ted nugent once told the Detroit Free Press apartheid isnt that cut and dry all men arent created equal. Rosa parks started a scholarship donation and donated most of her money to helping kids go to college