Afghanistan massacre, Game Change, pink slime

I've got to go to the River Festival. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the weekly wrap-up. This is Ken August. I am joined by Drew Marks. How are you, buddy? I'm doing well. We will check in on the movie Game Change. Obviously, election politics. I want to talk about Game Change. That was enjoyable. We will talk about Leaving with an Exit, Goldman Sachs. That was, what, Leaving with an Exit? What does that mean? Leaving with a bang. Yeah. Leaving with an Exit doesn't mean, does that mean anything? He wrote a letter. Yeah, he wrote a letter. All right. Plus, we'll talk sports. We will get a little Dwight Howard, a little Peyton Manning. NCAA is going on. I know that means nothing to you, but the Ohio Bobcats, by the way, I will mention. Go Ohio Bobcats knocking out Michigan. Go Ohio Bobcats. My alma mater. Fantastic. Fantastic. You couldn't care less. Good news for you. Yeah, I'm just giving you that blank stare. No, no. I know it well. I used to live with a woman. Thank you. Oh. But first, we will check in on some of the horrible shit going on around the world. The alleged shooter of 16 Afghan civilians, including nine children and three women. A man who was accused of leaving the base, putting on his night vision goggles, breaking in home after home, and murdering people in cold blood, shooting a number of them assassination style in the head, then in some cases accused of burning their bodies before returning to his base where he was detained and is now not yet charged, but accused in this. Afghanistan ran into yet more trouble today. Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced he wants American forces to pull back to their bases after mass killings last weekend. Karzai's call was the most direct fallout from Sunday's massacre of 16 Afghans, allegedly by an American soldier stationed at a small outpost near Kandahar. So, that's happening. That's a great time. Great time. First of all, they did release the guy's name, Staff Sergeant Robert Bales. Yes. And this is horrible. I mean, it's horrible. It's horrible on so many levels. And then it affects politics as well, which you can't always make decisions that you want to make. Obviously, they want that guy to stay there and face justice. They've already flown him back to Fort Leavenworth. Zero chance of that ever happening. No. If you want to talk one quick way for Obama to have zero chance of re-election, just let that guy be tried in Afghanistan. Well, yeah, there's no way that's going to happen anyway. Although, ironically, I'm sure we would want the same thing if the roles were reversed. No doubt. We'd insist on it. Yes. But, that being said, I agree. I mean, you can't do that. Especially the way justice seems to be dealt out in the Middle East quite often. Yeah, it would go over real well to have that guy's head cut off. You know, just... Stoning. Stoning usually goes over very well. Karzai wants a pullback. Originally wanted a pullout, but Santorum said that sounds too much like birth control still. So, he went for a pullback. Thank you very much. And I will be at the Kandahar Starbucks all week. So, I'm going to go to the Kandahar Starbucks. I'm going to go to the Kandahar Starbucks. I'm going to go to the Kandahar Starbucks. I'm going to go to the Kandahar Starbucks. So, there is a... He wants a pullback, meaning that he wants the NATO forces to all go back and the American forces all back to just the bases. Right. Now, here's the thing, and I can understand that. And it brings up an interesting question of, before we get to the actual guy who did this act himself, before we get to Robert Bales, if you have a strategy, I mean, basically, now you have to fight the urge of everyone saying, get the hell out. That country doesn't want you there anymore. Most people here don't want you there anymore. Why are you still there? Well, yeah, you're absolutely right. It comes down to what do you think you're going to accomplish anyway, though? I mean, we were talking about having the troops out, what, by 2014? Yes. That's what they're saying. It's just my opinion, but I don't see how we're going to affect that much change. That place has been at war forever. Well, now, what if the answer is this? To properly pull out our people safely. And setting up whatever safeguards need to be set up on the way out, it will take between now and 2014. What if that is the answer to that question? Okay, but you're still, the goal, at least as I understand it, is you're training the Afghani police force and army to take care of themselves. Yes. That's what they're saying. I don't personally believe they're going to accomplish that, even by the end of 2014. You're not going to have that country ready to take care of itself. Because they're not, they haven't decided for themselves what they want to be. Do they ask your opinion? Well, I haven't checked all my messages. Because, I mean, if you don't think it's going to happen, I don't know what else they need. But, I mean, here's the thing is, I can't sit here, look at you with a straight face. I can probably stop there, but I can't continue to look at you with a straight face. It's a clown feat. And tell you that I think we will accomplish a lot more by the end of 2014. I mean, what do I know? But I can't pretend that I think we're going to accomplish, you know, what else would I say that we would do there in that time frame. But, if you had a plan, and you've put this much time, money, resources, and effort into it, and you now have an outdate, and you say this is the outdate we need, this is the earliest we can get out. Now, whether that's true or not, I can't argue. It may not be, but I can't argue it. But, if that's the outdate, do you change that outdate? Do you change that outdate? If that's what you thought your best plan was because one, not one, but because of this specific horrible incident and public relations incident and tragic. I don't know that it's as simple as that. If the place where we are, you know, you're in Afghanistan. If their government, if Karzai is calling, you know, if the country is calling for you to get out sooner, what are you going to do? Say, ah, you know, nah, we chose not to. Yes. You're fighting, yeah, but then your goal. I mean, we did go to war with Afghanistan. I know Afghanistan wants us out, but we went to war with Afghanistan. We're in Afghanistan. And like I say, I would like our troops to come home. My question is, is the question really is just if you honestly believe, not you in particular, but if they, if the general, yes, if those people, the generals and whoever else makes those decisions, believe that the earliest and safest and best time to get out is 2014. Would you get out earlier? Because Karzai says, Yeah, I would. And only because there you reach a tipping point where you just can't accomplish your goals. If we may, we may already be at that point. If the people you're trying to train are fighting you, it's time to go. We may already be at that point. I agree. Now, what about Staff Sergeant Robert Bales? Now, here's the thing is, I mean, a horrible, horrible incident. The more you hear about this, this actual person, though. I mean, it depends which depends which story you're hearing. Like, I mean, you hear one story where they start talking about legal problems he had in marital trouble or financial trouble or, you know, He passed over for promotion. Yeah. Reasons he might have. Yeah. Things along those lines. And then you also hear, you know, about his last tour in Iraq and how he had talked about saving civilians and he and his people saved civilians and how proud they were of that. Could you consider what he did? A treasonous act. For it undermining what your war effort is. Based on the conversation we just had on would you have to change your whole strategy because of all this? Could what he did be considered a treasonous act or some version of? I can see in theory where you could say something like that. But in practicality, no, I don't think you can. One, because what war does to people. You have to defend for that. His defense is different because here's the thing is I think it can be argued some version of a treasonous act had been committed because one man's atrocious act, which goes against what these soldiers are supposed to be doing. Undermines everything. Undermines, yes, undermines our whole goal and possibly the whole plan and our relationship with the country that we're trying to help establish. However, on the other hand, I would also plead defense, plead the defense of insanity. And if this happened two weeks ago. Sure. They also have. Thank you. But I have the whole thing, the traumatic brain injury that they're claiming he suffered. Yes, which they apparently didn't feel was too traumatic to put sent him back out. But let's take the brain injury out for a moment. And and I don't know that you really can because it may have been that alone. But let's take that out for a moment. He was sent into Iraq. He did three separate tours of Iraq and then was told that he was done. He wasn't going to have to go back. And then they sent him into Afghanistan. But three tours in Iraq. And then going back for a fourth tour into the Middle East. That can break a person. If I had to watch Three Kings three times, it would break me. You are fair enough. Fair enough. But no. But the thing is, when I say the whole reality of it is you can't try that guy for treason because there's no way politically you can support headlines of a U.S. soldier being. Politically, I understand. Drag down politically. I understand. Happening politically. I understand it can't happen. But logically, could it happen? Yes, logically. But things don't work that way. No politics and logic rarely. Exactly. They're not going hand in hand. So more it's more more of a moral question than a political question. Yeah, I just for me, I guess I have a hard time putting like the whole moral and we're in a war killing people in the same sentence. You know, it's. It is the whole thing is not based too much on. I think I think. Yeah, well, I think the insanity defense is an easy defense to make. I think the treason argument is a harder argument to make, but morally more on just doing something counter to what our objective is and undermining the whole war effort with one specific action. Yeah, but it's. That being said, if you're insane at that point in time because of what we did or how many times we've sent you in. And wouldn't it also depend greatly on the position he takes? In other words. If you're going to say treason, you're talking about intent. No, not necessarily. You don't. I really. I don't necessarily think so. No. See, for me, I think it would be I. I mean, a horrible accident. I understand different, but this is not a horrible accident. No, I'm not saying an accident. I'm saying if his intent was his buddies, you just seen his buddies killed. And that was one of the things I read. Yes. One. Yes. And so one of his good friends he saw killed. So if that was his motivation. As opposed to I'm making a political statement. You're in war. If you see one of your friends being killed, even if it's not a political statement, if your reaction to that is I'm going to sneak in and kill nine women and children and another and another seven people, you know, assassination style and then light their bodies on fire. Nobody's saying there wasn't a reason for him to be upset enough or, you know, to lose his mind. But that doesn't change that. That specific action, which was not an accident. Undermine the whole situation. The whole war effort. So I don't think necessarily I mean, I think an accident is different, but I don't think you your intent has to be treasoned in order for it to be treasoned. I wouldn't think so. That being said, I wouldn't try him for that, but I certainly would claim an insanity defense moving over slightly in the world over to Syria. I would say, you know, an outside chance of a truce, but I'm not necessarily buying it. Apparently, the Syrian government sent a letter over to the. International envoy Kofi Annan. I like to say Kofi Annan sent him a letter that said, quote, the Syrian government is, quote, keen to end violence, end quote. But they insist the armed opposition groups give up their weapons first. Well, the article in the paper today, that shouldn't be too much of a problem. They're running out of weapons. Yeah. Well, first of all, I think the fact that they said they're keen to end violence shows that Syria is currently getting our 50s slang, which means they should be enjoying the Dick Van Dyke show in a few years. It's a groovy war. It is. It is not. That groovy. But that is a good word. You know, I don't I would say I don't know how after a year of getting slaughtered, you can accept, OK, we'll put our arms down and then how could they assume that they'd be safe? He really has not shown any clue that he would just stop if they stop fighting. He's pretty aggressively going to wipe them out. And like I said in the paper today, they were just saying they're having a hard time getting weapons. Apparently, when this thing started, they could get. An RPG for $300 and they're no longer available to them. Well, at that price, they're going to go like hotcakes. Hey, absolutely. You kidding? If I was in Costco and I can get an RPG for 300, count me in. Tell you what, you wouldn't wait on line on the way out. That's for sure. That's a dude. $300. But here's the thing. You you you look good with an RPG. There is no way I would not get an RPG. In fact, if I could find over 300, I'll get you one. I appreciate that very much. I will tell you what, though. I've been to your house. And you would be so heavily outmanned and out armed in your neighborhood. You would still you would still be the laughing gringo with one with one. I only have one RPG. What an idiot that that ain't going to do it, dude. That ain't going to do it at all. I'm willing to give it a shot. This literally the rum pum. The letter, the letter to an on said, quote, to provide guarantees to the Syrian government that they want them to provide guarantees to the Syrian government that the armed groups will cease all armed aggressions and give up their weapons to the dedicated authorities in exchange of a full pardon. Do you buy it? Do you buy that? No. And how could I don't think they're going to give up is the thing. No. After a year. I mean, first of all, how can they think they would do it? Actually get a full pardon when, you know, Red Cross has been kept out so they can get slaughtered a little while longer? I don't know. I don't even know how that would be possible. Well, the next question is, though, do you they're still talking. Do you think other countries are going to send start sending weapons? Because if they don't, they're going to be like, oh, we're going to send weapons. Because if they don't arm the rebels, they're done anyway. That's a good question. I mean, there have been people that have asked for that have been asking for it already. And, you know, I mean, I'm sure there's been some stuff smuggled in, but, you know, none of the big countries are doing it because they don't want to. You know, they already have opposition from people they deal with. They have opposition from Russia. They have opposition from China. And then they don't want to piss off Iran too much yet. Well, I mean, we got sanctions, but they want to piss them off for different reasons. So. You know, I don't I don't foresee it happening. I mean, if we've been able to turn if we've been I don't want to say turn a blind eye, but if you've been able to not react for the first 7500 deaths. Yeah. Are we getting in now? I don't know. There can't be that many left. No, no. That is you think they can wait it out. You know, it's it's a fucked up part of the world, dude. Yeah. Which which sadly is going to bring me to you heard about the Morocco thing. Oh, that's OK. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. For those really tough to defend. Yeah. No, this is bad for those for those that haven't heard this story. It's a horrible story. A girl named Amina, I believe, is is her name. She's a rallying cry for Moroccan feminists, which also can't be a high number of people. But she is a 16 year old girl who committed suicide because she was reportedly forced to marry her rapist. Yeah. She drank rat poison. Is that how she did it? Yes. That's terrible. That's terrible. They there was there's actually an organization in the Moroccan city of I don't even know how to pronounce it robot. And they have a union, a feminist action movement union, which once again, I'm assuming probably keeps semi-low profile compared to what they would in this country. And they were talking to her. There was a protest because finally you don't say finally because it took a tragic incident. But finally, the women's rights is getting some sort of recognition or talk over there, over there because when a 16-year-old girl kills herself, it draws a little bit of attention. And she was saying the government has been, they've been urging the government to ban Article 475 in the penal code, which basically says a perpetrator such as a rapist who would be punished, but instead of going to jail, he can marry the girl. Right. But the part that you, you know, I don't think you purposely left it out or anything, but the whole thing behind it is they forced these women to marry the rapist so the family saves honor. Yeah, I'm not sure how that happens. I don't see that connection. The government's still debating it. Yeah, but I mean, that's the, but that was the driving force behind it. It's not even about the woman. It's about the honor of the family. I mean, how does it, yeah, it's horrible. I mean, I don't understand. It's ridiculous. How does that not, how does that not make a difference? How does that not entice some crazy person to be like, oh, that chick's hot. If I rape her, I can marry her. I don't know. I mean, that, that is shocking. The woman said the government's still debating it. Some people interpret this, are still interpreting this as a religious, you know, this law on a religious basis, which is why they're still debating it, which is shocking to me. Shocking. They say there's, in 2007, you can still, the legal age in that country is still 18. But. For consent? Yes, for consent. However, there, there are. That surprises me. Well, a judge is allowed to contract a marriage still in that country, even if they're under 18. And so, yes, the legal age of consent is 18. But in 2007 and in 2008, they allowed 37,000 marriages of underage girls before. I mean, in each year, both in 2007, 37,000. And then again in 2008. So just a few rare exceptions. Yes. Yes. So legal age is 18. But if you're under 18, we'll just let this guy say it's okay for you. So that's, that's nice. Now, I mean, what blows my mind about this, and I mean, people can look at stuff like this. They look at people when people get stoned and things like that, not the good way. You know, they say, oh, that's a crazy religion. That's, you know, that's, that religion's nuts. And you're like, yeah, but you know what? Kind of hard to argue. Well, it is. It is hard to argue, but look in the mirror. I mean, it's most religious books. Not just the ones over there have all sorts of crazy shit in it. I mean, stonings, like I said, not the good ones. We got, we got slavery is all over. And yet, you know, eventually, and I mean, the reason for that, obviously, in my mind is because those books were written by normal human beings thousands of years ago. Right. Now, you know, fortunately, there's certain things that are not. It's a fairy tale of the times. Yes. And now certain people are not, you know, I mean, certain things are not acceptable socially. So you don't talk about the slavery yet, which is great. You know, you don't talk about people getting stoned, which is fantastic. But, well, at least not in this country. However, somehow still the stuff that you, the other stuff is still God's word. Ignore the stuff that's not socially acceptable. The other stuff still, that should be interpreted literally. I don't, I mean, I don't, I don't get it. I don't get it at all. I don't, I don't think you're going to explain it to me either, but I don't. No, I don't think anyone of rational thinking is going to sit here and be able to justify that argument. No, no, no. Well, certainly not. Not the Moroccan, certainly not the Moroccan argument. But I mean, I mean, that is an extreme case. But what I am saying is, is it is an extreme case. Yes. But it's, it's still based on religious beliefs that are taken to an extreme. Yes. But taken to less of an extreme and, you know, not that hard to find around here either. Right. Well, I think we look at a lot of the laws, you know, under the Sharia law or whatever that when we see what's going on over there, we look at it and go, that is just insane. Now, I'm sure that some people look at religious practices in this country and go, yeah, that's just, you know, that's fucked up too. Yeah. But not to that degree. No, no, no. It's hard. Well, yeah. And like I said, I've said it numerous times. It's hard to argue with, well, this is what my God wants. But, you know, let's, let's move on because we can get into a religious discussion forever. Let's, did you see Game Change? Absolutely. So the movie Game Change came out, came out this past week. The look at Sarah Palin. If you are going to seriously consider the governor of Alaska, you have to call her now. This is Sarah. American one. No, they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull. Lipstick. CNN has an even with Obama. You can really win this thing. I'm not sure how much she knows about foreign policy. You can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska. Oh my God. What have we done? Nice. Yeah. Nice. Obviously, probably not a, not a big movie among Republicans, but, but entertaining. Better movie than I thought it would be. Yeah. I was really enjoying the movie because I was curious how it ended. I mean, so much of that has already been leaked. And we already know a whole lot of the Sarah Palin. I'm sorry. Obviously, obviously she denied it. Let's let's hear what she had to say. See, these reporters were not there. And I think that these are the political establishment reporters who love to gin up controversy and spin up gossip. The rest of America doesn't care about that kind of crap. They're going to gin up controversy. Wait a minute. I don't understand that whole thing. They weren't there. It was a public campaign. You were on TV. You were on radio. There was videotape of you saying these things. What do you mean we weren't there? Everyone was there. But not, you know, those backroom conversations in the movie, I believe she is referring to. But yes, I mean, some of the most shocking shit that they had, they could just use the actual quotes from her. That was, yes, I agree with you. Making her look stupid was not anyone else's invention. No, and I don't. It wasn't a smear campaign. I don't know if this guy was the source behind the story or if, I mean, but a lot of this seemed to be told from his point of view. The actual, the guy in charge of the campaign, Steve Schmidt. Jeremy, can we hear what Steve Schmidt had to say about this whole story? Steve Schmidt. Game Change premiered on Saturday. A, what did you think of it? B, was it accurate? It was very accurate. I think for all of us who were in the campaign, it really rang true. I think it showed a process of vetting that was debilitated by secrecy, that was compartmentalized, that failed. And led to a result that was reckless for the country. You see this person who's just so phenomenally talented at so many levels, an ability to connect, but also someone who had a lot of flaws as someone running, you know, to be in the National Command Authority, who clearly wasn't prepared. Someone was nominated to the vice presidency who was manifestly unprepared to take the oath of office should it become necessary. And as it has become necessary many times. That's the guy. That is the actual man who basically kind of took responsibility for being the driving force behind that decision. And here he is coming ridiculously clean with all the garbage and saying, man, did I make a bad choice? And people still argue it. Yeah, I agree completely. But I have a question. Yeah. This guy has now, you know, they've got the story. He's out there. He's doing the interviews. Has he ever at any point said, listen, America... America, I am sorry. Has he ever just... Because he was the guy behind it. Well, I believe he's still a Republican. So I don't know if those words come in. It doesn't matter, though. Well, tell me the last Republican you heard say those words. Thank you. All right, good point. Thank you. But still... And this woman that the movie is about is a great example of that. This is the... Oh, you know what? Hey, I mean, that whole Katie Couric thing, and let me say this briefly, is because I've heard people that defend her. And I still don't understand how they defend her. But they defend her. Not Katie Couric, Sarah Palin. And say the whole gotcha argument. That was all bull crap. And it's like that... You can see Russia from land comment was said before the Katie Couric interview. Right. If you watch that interview, Katie Couric basically gave her an opportunity, brought it up to say, no, that's ridiculous. That's not what I meant. It was a joke. It was taken out of proportion. It was, you know, it was taken out of context. I mean, whatever it was. But instead, she doubles down on it. Right. No, you can. Where do you think Putin's going to go? In a rear of his head. You're like, wow, are you stupid? Yeah. You know, her behavior, ridiculous, indefensible. I just feel like the guy, Steve Schmidt, he's out there. To his credit, he goes, yeah, you know, it was bad. But you were the guy who tried to give this country that person in charge. Yes. But what he is saying is because of the decision they had to make with the limited time in order to try to win the campaign. His argument. His argument was this was I feel being him. He said he felt John McCain would have done great things for the country. He would have been a great leader in order to get him into office because he wasn't going to win. They had to do something to something drastic. And the drastic thing was find a woman who may be able to stir up the base. And so they looked. And when he found her, he thought this is what they wanted. He thought, OK, there may be this and there may be that. But and since we don't have time. To fully vet. I think she's going to be good for us. So, I mean, to his defense, he was, you know, he's not saying I knew she was a mess when we got her. He was saying we did the best we could in the limited amount of time to find out that it wasn't this. I agree with all that. I'm saying after the fact, now that it's all over, it's all done. I just would like to go. All right. Look, man, I instead of saying she was bad, it's like, yeah, you know, I got a personal responsibility. You know, we screwed up. We. We tried to do a bad thing and we should make sure we never do something this stupid again. I don't I don't know. Well, I don't know if you can do. I don't know if you can do much more than what he just did, which is let a movie come out, basically showing all the ridiculousness of her and then saying, yes, I stand by this 100 percent. That's as much as I can ask from any person who still has a career. Do you think he really has a career in the Republican Party anymore? Well, he has. I think he's a guy on MSNBC. I think that's a career. Yeah. I think, hey, the guy who'll speak for the Republican Party on MSNBC, it's a role. Somebody has to come in and get beaten up a little bit. And Michael Steele. I was going to say we already have the Michael Steele Muppet puppet. Oh, he's awesome. That is awesome. I miss him. I love him. But I mean, you know, here's the thing is, like I said, we have the guy who helped basically pick Palin. People still argue. So in hindsight, politics has become so, so, so derisive that basically you can't even even in hindsight when you go, whoa, we made a bad decision. People still go. No, I disagree. It was a great decision. Like, wait, no. But so you're just waiting for even if Palin herself came out and said, you know what? I was completely unprepared. People go, no, you were not unprepared. Obama's unprepared. Like, what? What are you talking about? We can agree on certain shit in hindsight. You should be able to. But, you know, I mean, the other argument is people say, well, people are allowed to believe whatever they want to believe, which is true. But brings me to the Mississippi, Alabama poll before the. Tuesday, they we will get to the the results, which basically Santorum took both Mississippi and Alabama. But when we're talking about people having the right to believe what they want. Yes. But when they're believing incorrect shit, you can't force people to believe the correct shit. True. But when you purposely put bad shit out there and then don't correct them and then say, oh, well, they have the right to believe incorrect shit. That is bizarre to me. I mean, it's a tactic. It's an obvious tactic. But they going into the Republican Republican primaries in Mississippi and Alabama this week, they did a couple of polls. One was Mississippi. Twelve percent of the people in Mississippi believe Obama is a Christian. Now, obviously, me personally, and I'm sure you as well. His religion shouldn't matter anyway, but it does to these people. And the fact that he is a Christian, which would make these people happy, doesn't help them because only 12 percent. Good one. No, apparently not to them. Apparently, 88 percent of the people don't believe he's one at all. Fifty two percent believe he's a Muslim, despite the fact that he's continued to say he's not. And so he wouldn't be a good Muslim either because he's apparently a closeted Muslim. And 36 percent are not sure. Nice. Nice to be on the fence. Way to commit to your racism. But you also got 66 percent of Mississippians don't believe in evolution. They it's which, you know, a lot of people, you know, will argue with me as well. But but yet. 66 percent of the people say because scientists haven't fully figured it out yet. All that genome and DNA stuff that they're talking about, all that. That's all. You know, who gives a shit about that? There was a tree of knowledge and there was an apple and the snake used to be able to talk until he fucked everything up. Right. Well, I think they also did a poll and the numbers were, I believe, about the same, which I think is very telling. It was over 50 percent that I believe. I believe that interracial marriage should be illegal. Fifty four percent believe it should be legal. So they pass the halfway point. OK. Forty six. Forty six percent are either. Twenty six. Twenty nine do not. So basically a total of 46 percent either do not or they're on the fence on whether blacks and whites should be allowed to get married. If they're on the fence, that just means I'd rather not say this publicly. Yes, that's exactly what it is. There's no gray area. If you're not sure, you're not for it. I'm not sure whether I want to publicly. Admittedly admit I'm racist. Right. Fifty. Yes. So they just. So that brings it right on up to 50 percent. Yes. And now. Um, so if you compare that to Alabama, Alabama, who is way more progressive, obviously they're almost at 70 percent. Sixty seven percent of the people there we are now up to feel that blacks and whites should be allowed to get married. Isn't that nice? Yeah, that's good. Twenty one percent believe it should be illegal. Twelve percent. I don't know. I don't know. I'm still on the fence on that whole interbreeding. Thingy. That's good. That's good. Yeah. Apparently they just want to keep it in the family. Yeah, that's nice. That is nice. Um, in Alabama, 14 percent before they're married. Alabama went up from 12 to 14 percent from Mississippi to believe Obama is a Christian. Um, so in a 86 percent believe he is either a Muslim or he is neither. Um, 60 percent do not believe in evolution. Nice. But these people, it's not like they. When you say he says he's a Christian. These people are not getting their news sources from anything of it. If they're listening to anything at all, it's Rush Limbaugh or Fox. Yeah. I'm not sure a lot of these people have cable, but yes. Yeah. I mean, it's, you know, the AM radio in the truck, whatever, but they're not. So the only people that would even expose them to the idea that he's not a Muslim, the people they're hearing are the ones that as far as they go in support of the president would be like, well. He said. He says he's not. So I don't know. I guess maybe we should believe him. And that's the most positive. Right. Well, they're getting right. That that's the problem is they purposely put it out there to make these people who they, you know, then continue to say the president's a horrible person. Let's put out this this bit of confusion. Confusion or is this this misleading fact? And then we will not defend it really at any point in time. And then go, well, they have a right to believe it. Yes. Stupid people do have rights, but it doesn't hurt to tell them the truth at some point in time. Um, but. Now we were talking about the Alabama, Mississippi, both won by Rick Santorum, despite being heavily outspent by Mitt Romney. So kind of leaving it as a Mitt versus Rick. Puerto Rico is happening today. Makes you wonder why Nude is still in it. But Mitt went to Fox News and Rick headed over to Puerto Rico. Let's see how two front runners are doing. Are you backed away from mandates on a national basis? Oh, no, I like mandates. Here's my view. If somebody if somebody can afford insurance and decides not to buy it. And then they get sick. They ought to pay their own way as opposed to expect the government to pay their way. And that's that's an American principle. That's a principle of personal responsibility. So Charlie Gibson said that you had backed away from mandates on a national basis. And you said, no, no, I like mandates. You know, as you said, as you introduced this topic, people have looked at this topic a hundred times, more than a hundred times. I have allowed and agree that a state should have the capacity if it wants to have a health care mandate. We had that in my state. Why did you say that? You know, you know, the time and again, I pointed out, I'm not in favor of a health care plan that includes a national mandate. I do not include that. And we can we can go through all of the clips from all of the debates. I look this thing. If you want to, if you want to go back. All right. The answer is, I believe that we should get rid of the latest battlefield for the Republican presidential candidates with 20 delegates at stake in this Sunday's primary. But the campaign there has been suddenly. Tracked by a language controversy sparked by Rick Santorum, who says English must be a condition for possible statehood. It's a hot button issue in the sizzling Puerto Rican sun. The Rick Santorum is standing by his comments that Puerto Rico must adopt English as an official language as a condition for statehood. The GOP contender seems willing to take the heat. Santorum noted the territory has already designated English and Spanish as its official languages, but he went a step further when he told a Puerto Rican newspaper English should be a. Condition for admission to the US. The island votes on whether to become a state later this year. That would be a requirement. It's a requirement that we put on other states. It's a condition for entering the Union. But Santorum got that wrong. Former executive employee at Goldman Sachs made his exit memorable. Goldman Sachs former executive employee. We don't need that yet. Goldman Sachs wanted to get in on the action. Goldman Sachs wanted to get in right on the action right there. Did he speak English in Goldman Sachs? Yes. I'm certain. They do. So right off the bat, you had MIT stammering for a little while. Then of course, when she tells him he has 10 seconds, he just wraps it up with we have to repeal Obamacare. That's that's nobody. He couldn't get an answer out on his home turf of Fox News. And yet when after 30 seconds of stammering, that's what he can come with his Obamacare is bad. Yeah, I love that. He supports mandates, but can't they can't get married? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, dating. That's okay. Well, Rick Rick does not. Like man dating. He does not like that. Puerto Rico. So Rick Santorum goes to Puerto Rico. Nice. When you're going to speak about rules for statehood to be nice to know the rules for statehood. Can no official language. Speaking of stupid people have some rights, but that's nice. That's nice to go in there and say as long as you, you know, as long as you guys start speaking English, make it an official language. And then it'll fulfill that requirement that we don't have. I've toured all around the country. I got news for you in parts of the south. They don't speak English that well either. That is very true. That is very true. But I mean, you know, those are the two frontrunners just stepping off stepping all over themselves. Scary. Yeah, I don't know. We can talk about why Newt still in it, but I'm not really sure why. So I don't know how much time he really deserves. He seems to be dropping but talking about these two the two frontrunners stepping in Mitt Romney barely says anything, you know, strings together two good statements that someone doesn't rip apart. But Santorum, dude, can you can you stay away? I understand. That the social issues he revs up his base, but now he wants to get rid of he wants to get rid of hardcore porn. That's is that really a fight you need to pick now while running for office? Yeah, you're going to lose the man and the woman vote now. Natural crisis, a housing crisis. Let's go for the porn. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Let's do that. The world's falling apart, but we better stop production on Sperminator six. That is I mean, what? What the hell? Dude. Now there's no man vote. There's no woman vote for him. It's going to be Santorum and his family. Good luck with that. That's not that's not a whole lot of delegates. That's going to get you but you I mean that they can't he can't stay away from that stuff and it's doing well. He did it that that shit probably runs well in Arizona. In Arizona, you think? In Arizona where they're all about telling a woman what to do with herself. Well, that that part's true. Yeah. I'm just thinking I you know, Arizona likes their porn. I like Arizona's porn too. I'm sure I am sure you know what? Yeah, it's a dry porn. That's horribly gross. Wrong. I'm so horribly gross. You know what? He probably should do is he should probably splash the Moroccan girl story over. So yeah, you see I'm not so bad. I'm not so bad. Well, except you're talking about the same guy who says, you know, if a woman gets pregnant via rape, it's not. The gift you want, but it's the one you have. You should don't return it. She ate it. Don't return it. Return it or regift. You can't regift. You cannot regift that. Well, I mean, it's shocking shocking Arizona, you know, the two laws that they're that are fighting their way through right now getting close to passing. Although I will be shocked if they both get signed by the governor eventually, but the force ultrasound on a woman so she can be informed and then and the one that Doc's can lie to you. What the the ultrasound one is already law. That's already law. The two the two new ones are the doc can lie to you or not inform you or lie to you about possible birth defects. And then the other one now that that they're trying to get through is that if you want your contraceptive care covered by by your work, then you basically have to explain to your boss that the contraceptive care you're getting is not for birth control. Not just explain. You have to show him proof. You have to. Convince him. It's for something other than just contraception. Here's a here's my vagina. Here's my vagina on contraceptives. All right. It's amazing. Is that the campaign now? Was it was it in Arizona? Is that where the mayor they had him doing an interview where he was saying, you know, because the woman is forced to see the pictures of the ultrasound. He goes, you can't make a person look. They can just close their eyes. That was his defense. Really? Yes. Like they don't have to watch. They can just close their eyes. As you were as you insert this large probe inside them. Just don't look. No. Well, yeah, that's that's good. Although they would probably pass a law of too many people close their eyes anyway, but it blows my mind that they feel they can they should be able to force the ultrasound law because they say they the woman should the woman should be forced to be informed or at least so the woman can be informed when making such a decision. However, the doctor should be allowed to not inform you about birth defects. Because that may get the person to choose something. They don't want to be if he is if he has a moral problem with it. Is that if he has a more? Yes. Yes, he can tell you but he doesn't have to if he doesn't want you to know about certain possible birth defects because he feels that may get you to consider abortion. He doesn't have to tell you that and they don't want him to be legally responsible. He could lie and go. Hey, it's all good. Yeah. And then yeah. Yeah, you have no recourse afterwards. Yeah. Then you tell you tell. Tell the baby to walk it off afterwards because doctor didn't want to didn't want to tell you. So the woman has to be informed because when pregnant she apparently they feel she may not know that when you're pregnant that that's a baby inside of you. You don't know that yet. However, you don't need to be informed when knowing what shape at the baby may be in. That's nice. So I believe the people right there is a war a religious war going on in this country, but I kind of think now religion is the aggressor. Yeah. Yeah. I mean who's infringing on who with these laws is my question. There's no question. There is a question. I just asked it. I'm saying as far as who's doing the infringing. It's like it just baffles me that they can be all about no government. Keep the government out of people's lives. You know, the government, you know, shouldn't intrude and stop telling people what they need to do. Yeah. Amazing. Absolutely. Absolutely amazing. Texas loses. Texas loses Medicare. They lose Medicaid. I'm sorry, Medicaid funding for family planning because they passed a law in Texas, a new law preventing Planned Parenthood from from getting any of those funds. In which case the law is then you don't get any funds. You can't make the choice for the women which services are going to use. Texas tried to get around that, you know, and it's what annoys me is that it's another it's just another it's just like acorn. It's just like any of those things where it's basically. Here is it's Obama being a Muslim. It's Obama not really having a birth certificate. It's hey, here's a fake issue. We can distract you with and let's fight this and you like as opposed to saying we just want you to protect the rich at all costs. It is hey, here's something that needs to be stopped. Planned Parenthood. First of all doesn't use federal or state funding is not allowed for abortions and less than 3% of what they do is abortions. Yeah, but that never gets talked about they act. They act like there's just a dude with a hanger. Sitting outside a drive-through and that's basically what it is ridiculous and yet women suffer. It really is amazing how many people are willing to hurt. Because that's what their God wants. Well, that's what they're saying. That's what they're saying. I'm pretty sure of God and that becomes a question of what you believe in. Yes, which I don't but if if God were to come down, I'm pretty sure he would have a problem with a lot of this. Yeah. No, I'm pretty sure you're right. I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty sure you're right. You know, no real there's no real transition from God to these people. However, you know, the Goldman Sachs story. We still have the Goldman Sachs story. Jeremy Jeremy, a former executive employee at Goldman Sachs made his exit memorable in a very public way. ABC's Good Morning America reports one day after stocks reach a new high here comes a bombshell Greg Smith who heads the firm's derivatives business tells the New York Times and I quote. the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it, but it didn't stop there. He charges that top officials at the company callously talk about ripping their clients off and says he has seen five different managing directors over the past 12 months referred to their own clients as Muppets. First of all, I've been called way worse than a Muppet. I was going to say, I got no problem with that. Yeah, but it's meant to be stupid easily manipulated. And I don't even know if it's necessarily an American slang term. But still, can anybody be surprised? Is anybody surprised that people in the financial world are ripping other people off? Yeah, that's how the money's made. I mean, I don't even know how this can be a shock. The only thing that shocks me is how you still afterwards go, we need no regulations. Let it all work itself out. You can trust the rich people. Yeah, but it's the ones calling for the no regulation are the people who are making that money. Right. Yes. And let me rephrase it because when I say it's not that I don't think rich people are any less trustworthy than poor people. But when you have access to the money and you can make your own rules or you're not in check, you have no check. The power eventually corrupts enough people where they're not looking out for everybody's best interest. So I don't know how this could shock anybody. I have no. I have no idea how any of this could be a surprise. I mean, I don't make enough money to get ripped off by these guys, but it's hard to feel too bad for the people that did. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't think we'll ever really understand, at least me, how exactly they did it. I mean, I guess they're just trusting them with investments. And what was it? They were encouraging them to buy things that they knew were bad. At times, yes. If they would represent one thing, they may get something. If they would represent somebody, another client to buy something, so that guy would have somebody buy their stuff. And yes, I mean, basically, I don't even know how specific this guy got in his letter. It just sounds like he's basically saying the client is not the best interest. Our interests are the best interest, are the number one interest. And then the clients come after that. All right. But then it just sounds like they were just bad at their job. In other words, you can hire any business or any contractor. And they may do the job well, or they can be a shitty contractor. Goldman Sachs was being greedy and crappy at their job. Well, yes, but people don't necessarily know that until someone blows the whistle. Because people are putting in so much money, they may still make money. Maybe not nearly as much as they would have because Goldman Sachs is making themselves more money. But until somebody blows the whistle, you never have any idea. And then when somebody does, you go, oh, my God, we should do some regulations. Go with someone else. Nothing binding. Yeah, sure. No, that's my question. After this happened, you've got Lloyd Blankenfeld? I have no idea who that is. The boss. Oh, sure. Yeah, I think Lloyd was the guy. But have the clients left is the question. That I haven't heard anything about. Probably not. Bloomberg stopped by to support them because they need support. He stopped by the next day to support them. Like, hey, Bloomberg's here, everybody. Bring out the party. Bring out the party hats and the pinatas. Wow. Because, yeah, support them. But if these guys aren't slimy enough, by the way, if you didn't get your slime, you're going to love this transition. You can look to your meat. Oh, lovely. Pink slime. From Wall Street slime to pink slime. It is gross. So just this past Thursday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced starting this fall, schools will be able to choose whether or not they buy hamburger that contains leanly fine textured beef known as pink slime. Pink slime. Pink slime. First of all, how could you be the school that says, yes, we opt in for the pink slime? I don't know how that happens. Quote, it kind of looks like Play-Doh. It's pink and it's frozen and it's not what the typical person would consider meat, says the guy who basically used to work for the company. And then when he left, he started complaining about, similar to the Goldman Sachs guy, by the way, when he left, he started complaining about, hey, we've been putting this gross stuff in there. It's like a gelatin that basically catches all the other crap that would fall out. Yeah. That it was just in the paper today. Here's the thing. I didn't know what pink slime contained, but it's in here. And to quote this person, pink slime contains things such as head meat, cheek meat, edible lean organ meats, which include the heart and other internal organs. Oh, yeah. And don't forget the raw esophagus. I like I like a little cheek meat. I like a little cheek meat. Cheek meat sounds nice. Look at the cute little baby. Let's pinch its cheek meat. The guy. He said it's a sustainable product because it recovers lean meat that would otherwise be wasted. You know, I don't know if just saving stuff that would have been wasted makes me want to eat it. Oh, yeah. But look at the bright side. They do spray it with an ammonia gas to make it. Edible. To make it edible. Yes. That's pleasant. To disinfect it to make it edible. Here's the thing is I've seen Fear Factor and and Bowles testicles are edible, but I don't want them on my burger. Right. So I don't know if that's the I don't know if that's the qualification. But. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's gross. And I don't want to talk about that anymore because I eat enough beef where I feel that's gross. But I will say this. I will. I may never have it again. Yeah. I will say this. FDA. I'm assuming that qualifies as regulations. It would be nice, first of all, to have regulations. And if we're going to have that organization or that department, can they at least do something and make sure there's no pink slime in my burger? It just amazes me that they've had this stuff in there. And because they gave it that other name. You know, like the meat byproduct. Yeah. Just by calling it a byproduct, you don't actually have to say what it is. No. Because people are going to react very differently. Yeah. Well, in this town, people just assume that means you'll sleep with both sexes. But everywhere else, it probably means something. But it's gross. Yeah. It's gross. As long as you call it pink slime, you'll get it. You'll get it out of the kids foods. Let's. I want to talk sports before we run completely out of time. I only had about three, four minutes for sports. But too. Too enormous. Free agents. Or one was a possible trade and then the other is a free agent. Let's hear this. Dwight Howard stays put. Peyton Manning gets the offer of a lifetime. Ending months of speculation and showing team loyalty uncommon in the NBA these days, Dwight Howard will not opt out of his contract with the Orlando Magic and will play with the team through next season. The humbled Howard even addressed fans after stating, I apologize for this circus I have caused to the fans of our city. Translation? Let's definitely do this all again at the end of next year when I threaten to leave. In a move of genius or just desperation, the Tennessee Titans are reportedly offering Peyton Manning a lifetime contract. As in until Manning is no longer with us? Peyton is a grizzled vet in NFL years, but at 35, a pretty young guy as far as the rest of his life goes. So that's a long time to be hanging around on the Tennessee payroll. In one of the weirdest sports deals ever, Manning would have to sign two contracts. One for football and one for a real job after he retires. First of all, what the hell is a real job after he retires? The guy's going to make millions and millions and millions of dollars. Like, what's the real job? Yeah, and does it have to be in Tennessee? I don't know if he has to live in Tennessee, but it would be with the team. I don't think they're going to sign him to the football contract and be like, hey, we'll sign you to work for KFC somewhere else. I've never heard of that. A lifetime contract with a football team. As if he can't get out of that. As if he says, I don't want to work. And we're like, okay, we have to kill you. Yeah, exactly. Peyton Manning, the day he comes, he has to fake his own death just so he can leave Tennessee. I believe that is basically saying, look, if you come here and play, you will have a job always when you leave. Which, you know, is nice to hear. Somebody should say that to me. But now the question of, now Dwight Howard, he ended up staying where he was. Now Dwight Howard, I know you don't follow the NBA all that closely, but Dwight Howard was the biggest, basically the biggest free agent to be at the end of the year. Could have forced his own trade. He didn't necessarily want to stay. He was staying in Orlando. And everyone figured he was going to get traded. Looks like we got a caller. Hello. Can't hear him? Are you in a tunnel? Are you signing stuff to me? We have a mime caller. A mime caller is fantastic. Until we get him, caller, when we join you, when you can get us, come on in in the meantime. Drew, so Howard, they were talking about Dwight Howard and whether or not he could, you know, they're trying to convince him, and they said they would give him the option of basically deciding the fate of the GM and the coach. The player? Yes. Is that too much power to give a player who is the face of your franchise? I think so. It's always been the coach's responsibility and the GM to pick the players, not the other way around. Yes, but now they're saying, look, if we lose this player, we're screwed. This is one of those type of players where if you lose him, you're screwed. And they're saying, we haven't made this player happy. Yet, if letting him decide whether we replace these two people would get him to sign a big contract, that would be fantastic. Should we do that? I don't think so, only because I think the coach and GM are responsible for a lot more than just the one player. They're responsible for all the players. Yes, but now what if those other players... He's not winning alone. No, but what if a LeBron James, for instance? You take a LeBron James. He left, Cleveland sucked. He changes the franchise. He doesn't win alone, but you can replace the other players. You can't get a top five player in the league all the time. So if you have that opportunity, do you give him that player? Do you give that player that power? Or are you shooting yourself in the foot? I mean, I think you've already made your position clear. And it's hard to argue with that. I think that's tough, because then how do you pull back from that point in time? Yeah, once you start doing that, then you're giving away all the power. Yeah, that would be tough. And then you have... Is it Carlos? Is Carlos with us? Carlos is not with us yet. So we have... I believe we have some technical difficulties. Please stand by. So we have, by the way, let me say this real quick. 22 days until Major League Baseball opening day, which means 23 to 24 days until the Mets are mathematically eliminated. NCAA is going on. Oh, God, it bums me out. It bums me out so much. New York market, and they pay like 90 bucks. Just keep saying to yourself, Giants, Giants, Giants. That's all I got. My Mets are brutal. My Mets are brutal. My Islanders are brutal. Yeah, Giants, Giants, Giants is all I got. NFL free agents, Manning. Looks like it's down to three teams. Tennessee, Denver, and the 49ers. I think the 49ers are... It's going to be hard to... I mean, here's the thing. It seems like he wants to stay in the AFC. So I kept leaning towards the Titans. I don't know. I don't see the weapons in Denver. I think he likes John Elway, but I don't see the weapons. The Titans have some weapons. Have a great... They have a great running back. And so does... You know, basically, San Fran was right there last year. And now if you upgrade from Alex Smith to Peyton Manning, and they already upgraded the wide receiver position. And it's a beautiful city. And it's a beautiful city, which is definitely true. I don't know how they could wave that off, but that's where I think he's going. I think Peyton is going to... I definitely think Peyton is going to San Francisco. But if he wants to stay in the AFC, I would assume he's going to end up in Tennessee. I think Denver just seems fun because he's friends with Elway. And you know how much I know about that. I got all the inside knowledge. All the inside knowledge. And who knows? Maybe he hates Jesus. Well, he would be gone. I think Tebow would be gone if he gets him. All right, let's go to headlines real quick. You heard about the Coney 2012 filmmaker, Jason Russell? Oh, yeah. He was recently detained by police for running, quote, running through the street in his underwear, interfering with traffic, banging his hands on the sidewalk, and behaving irrationally, as if the other parts didn't explain behaving irrationally already. Wasn't he also masturbating in public? I heard that originally. That is not in this article, so I don't know whether that was true or not. It could have just been an added little bonus. Let's assume he was. It could have just been a rumor I was starting. That's a good one. The Invisible Children organization released a statement saying he has been hospitalized, suffering from exhaustion, dehydration, and malnutrition, and he's receiving medical care. Look, I've been exhausted. I've been dehydrated. I've dropped from dehydration. At no point in time during that, have I been so tired that I said I need to masturbate publicly. Or run around in traffic. What I think is great is Martin Lawrence has gone from doing fat mama movies to saving the children. Whatever pays, baby. Whatever pays. In high school, high school students in Iowa, Dunkerton, by the way, Iowa, were expecting an assembly about bullying and making good choices when what they got instead was a Christian rap slash hard rock band, which I'm not going to give the name of, who came out and basically delivered an anti-gay and anti-abortion rant. They split up the boys and girls and teachers into groups and told the girls they were going to have mutter in their wedding dresses if they weren't virgins. They showed pictures of overdosed musicians, criticized Elton John and Lady Gaga. Yeah, didn't they also show pictures of fetuses? Well, they told one, they told, yes, they showed someone a picture of a fetus in a jar, which is not bad if you're running for Republican nominee. And they told them that anyone who was gay was going to die at the age of 42. They're very specific. I find that when you're making outrageous predictions, don't be that specific. That only comes back to haunt you. And the show Luck has just canceled, has just canceled after the third horse died. Rumored this one was suicide. They ran out of luck. I believe the third horse didn't leave a note, but they believe it might have been suicide. I am not sure. The show was about, it says, the seedier side of racing. I didn't know there was another side. Real quick, time for what the hell is wrong with people? Who's your guy? Oh, I'm going with the nation of Morocco. It's hard not to. Seriously, you really need to get your act together. Come on, Morocco, join us in the modern day. Yeah, and see if you can't grab a couple of neighboring countries with you and bring them along. On a slightly lighter note, because it's hard to get much darker than what Morocco allowed, I will go with Rick Santorum. Say, dude, it's hard enough for me to get a date. Don't take my hardcore porn, please. That's all I'm asking. You got a good point. I may have to switch.