December 21 - Eric Cantor's Reckless Power Play; Syria on the Brink; Obama Poised to Sign Away the Bill of Rights

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Part 1	We begin with the standoff in Washington as the House refuses to go along with a Senate compromise that will extend the payroll tax cut for 160 million working Americans as well as unemployment insurance for millions out of work. With Republican leaders worried this fiasco could help re-elect President Obama, Craig Holman the legislative representative for Public Citizen joins us to talk about House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s role in this latest legislative intransigence and his efforts to block the Stock Act that would prevent the Congress from engaging in lucrative insider trading.
Part 2	Then we examine the latest massacres in Syria and the regime’s acceptance of the Arab League observers that the Syrian opposition considers a ploy by the ruling Assad clan. Dr David Lesch, an expert on Syria who has interviewed many top Syrian officials including Bashar al-Assad, joins us to discuss how a civil war can be avoided without the removal of the Assads who promise reform while they ruthlessly murder their own citizens
Part 3	Then finally we analyze the threats to civil liberties in the National Defense Authorization Act the President is about to sign into law. Human Rights First’s Daphne Eviatar, who investigates and reports on U.S. national security programs and practices and their human rights implications, joins us to discuss the militarization of our judiciary as a result of this new law. Senior officials in the national security community, along with civil libertarians opposed it, yet in spite of the bill’s dire threat to the Bill of Rights, the NDAA is about to become the law of the land.
	MUSIC: Fionn Regan - Lord Help My Poor Soul; Fugazi - The Argument; Titus Andronicus - ..And Ever; Leftover Crack - So You Wanna be a Cop?