citizens united

Thom talks to author and attorney Jeff Clements on his latest book, "Corporations are Not People." Tonight's Big Picture Rumble panel discusses last night's GOP debate, the backlash against conservatism and the Wisconsin recall effort.

"What has translated into a change in price for oil and gas has simply been a result of the greed of the oil industry," says author and GRITtv oil correspondent, Antonia Juhasz of rising oil prices and pain at the pump. Antonia is the director of the Energy Program at Global Exchange, and author of the newly released book, Black Tide: The Devastating Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill. With prices two times higher than they were when President Obama took office, and up 37% just this year, Americans are feeling an additional squeeze at the pumps. The White House's plan to reduce fuel costs may be a step in the right direction, says Antonia. However, as we continue to navigate issues like speculative trading and a lack of regulation in the Intercontinental Oil Exchange, true progress may be difficult. Is there a responsible way forward? And, more importantly, is the Obama administration ready to set us on that path? "People actually want to believe in heroes, so they'll believe in Glenn Beck, they'll believe in Barack Obama, they choose individuals to believe in but won't believe in politics itself," says Walter Mosley, author and activist. Obama may have been pressured into releasing his "long form" birth certificate this week, but that won't heal the hurt in our politics, Mosley says, until Americans stop trusting heroes and experts and start trusting each other. Mosley joins us for part one of a two-part conversation on his vision for a truly people-powered America. Finally, the media is more obsessed with the British royal wedding than the US people actually are, but why should we bother with British royals at all when we have our own royals right here? They're called corporations. Distributed by Tubemogul.

"We need to be able to laugh about issues but we also need to know that aside from the comedy that we find in the series when cultures collide, there is a very real issue of displacement in many urban communities," says Julia Ahumada Grob, the co-creator and lead actor of the web TV series East WillyB. The show is set in Bushwick a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, and it addresses the problems of gentrification and displacement of communities of color through humor, and brings high-quality TV production values to the 'net. Julia and actor Flaco Navaja join Laura in studio to discuss dealing with pressing social issues through humor, addressing the "new generation Latino" and why they moved to create their own media. The job of the journalist is not to give people a voice, filmmaker Miki Chakarova explains to her students: "People have a voice," she says, "It's just that they don't have an outlet." In her recent film, The Price of Sex, Chakarova went to great lengths to provide that outlet by embedding herself in the world of Eastern European sex trafficking. The resulting film is an intimate portrait of the individuals that comprise an industry, and the way that corruption thrives in the context of poverty. The film is playing around the country at select venues and will have its NYC premiere this summer at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival. Budget cuts are everywhere we look these days, but they often come right along with giveaways and moves to further enrich those at the top. In San Francisco, students and teachers came out to protest massive budget cuts in the California State University system, express outrage over the obscene salaries of the dean of students and voice their concern about their financially debt ridden future. This video comes courtesy of Davey D and OpenLine media. Finally, a new story in The Nation shows that the Supreme Court's also made it a lot easier for companies to pressure their employees directly about voting. Laura has some thoughts on the way Citizens United is changing the workplace as well as the ballot box. Distributed by Tubemogul.

Paul Krugman called it “The War on Elizabeth Warren.” Yves Smith wrote about “The Elizabeth Warren Rorschach Test.” There's no doubt that the insightful Harvard professor turned administration official, tapped first to chair the Congressional Oversight Panel into the bank bailouts drives conservatives a little wild. And nothing drives them wilder than the prospect of her heading up a Consumer Finanacial Protection Agency that might actually protect consumers. Distributed by Tubemogul.