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NFIB Exposed...They are not who we think they are

Lisa Graves, Media & Democracy, joins Thom Hartmann. The National Federation of Independent Business is supposed to look out for the little guys - the mom and pop shops on Main Street. So why is the group doing the bidding of large corporations instead?

Does Romney want to Harvest the Middle Class for Profits?

Do you remember what the American Dream used to mean? I do. It used to mean working hard - keeping your nose clean - and getting enough of a paycheck so that you can raise a family - meet all the essentials you need - and be able to take a vacation every now and then and afford a quality retirement. And if you wanted to be really successful - climb to the highest rungs of the American Dream - it used to mean coming up with an idea or starting a small business. Whether it was a local shoe store - or appliance store - or repair shop. It used to mean hiring local members of your community to build up that business - and eventually passing that business on to your kids. Remember the Main Streets in cities across America before Reagan? They all looked completely different - full of their own unique shops and boutiques - all employing local workers - making good paychecks so that they could spend money at other local stores and keep the local economy thriving. That used to be an essential part of the American Dream. And then something happened. That something was Reaganomics - and specifically - changes to our anti-trust laws and our tax code that opened the way for corporate predators like Bain Capital. That gave way to transnational corporations that devoured local shops on Main Street by undercutting them with cheap labor abroad - tax loopholes - and massive government subsidies. Look around at Main Streets across America today. They all look exactly the same. They all have ...

Full Show 9/27/12: Rage Against Austerity

Thom talks with economist Richard Wolff about the unrest and violence in Spain and Greece stemming from their country's austerity policies. Also discussed: the resurfacing of old Romney gaffes, voter fraud in Florida and why people with a poor sense of smell may be psychopaths. In tonight's "Daily Take" Thom details why the US government fears Julian Assange and new journalism.

Conversations w/Great Minds - Kurt Eichenwald - Secrets & Lies in the Terror Wars P2

Kurt Eichenwald, Vanity Fair, former reporter-NY Times. His new book is 500 Days: Secrets and Lies in the Terror Wars. Over the last 11 years - it's been a question asked hundreds of times: Could 9/11 have been prevented if the Bush Adminstration had acted on the intelligence they had at the time. Of course - 9/11 did happen - and Bush took us to war with Iraq shortly thereafter. What was the planning for the Iraq war really like inside the White House - and what roles did the United States' closest allies play in it? We'll ask investigative journalist Kurt Eichenwald in a special edition of Conversations with Great Minds

How Can You Plan a Revolution when Big Brother is Watching?

It's increasingly looking like the United States is one generation away from completely forgetting what privacy means. And the consequences of this Great Forgetting will be tragic for our nation. Why? Because without privacy - without the ability to be anonymous - America can't even plan a peaceful revolution or non-violent progressive social change movements - because if big corporations or Big Brother are watching, watching, they can block efforts before they even become public. In recent years - we've learned about the massive surveillance systems being built by the corporate state. For example, we now know about the warrantless wiretapping of American citizens post-9/11. We now know of Trapwire - a law enforcement tool that keeps track of our movements in major cities across the nation through closed circuit cameras, facial recognition software, and license plate readers. And We know of the enormous spy center being built by the NSA in Utah - that will house all the data collected by the NSA since 9/11 - including emails, phone calls, text messages, and more - all of it in one source so that it's easily analyzed. The NSA can how hold the digital version of 500 quintillion pages of text. What's worse - Americans are increasingly willing to give the surveillance state - and snoopy corporations - everything they want. Today - we're sacrificing privacy for convenience and interconnection. We enthusiastically post our locations, our pictures, our personal information on ...

Conversations w/Great Minds - Kurt Eichenwald - Secrets & Lies in the Terror Wars P1

Kurt Eichenwald, Vanity Fair, former reporter-NY Times. His new book is 500 Days: Secrets and Lies in the Terror Wars. Over the last 11 years - it's been a question asked hundreds of times: Could 9/11 have been prevented if the Bush Adminstration had acted on the intelligence they had at the time. Of course - 9/11 did happen - and Bush took us to war with Iraq shortly thereafter. What was the planning for the Iraq war really like inside the White House - and what roles did the United States' closest allies play in it? We'll ask investigative journalist Kurt Eichenwald in a special edition of Conversations with Great Minds

Full Show 9/26/12: Could Bush have Prevented 9/11?

Thom talks with Libertarian Party Vice Presidential Candidate Jim Gray about whether Gary Johnson should be allowed to debate Obama and Romney. In tonight's special edition of "Conversations with Great Minds" Thom talks with journalist and author Kurt Eichenwald about his latest book, "500 Days: Secrets and Lies in the Terror Wars." In tonight's "Daily Take" Thom looks at how the US needs to follow the lead of Europe and protect its citizens' privacy.

Lone Liberal Rumble - Drudge Reporting Prez Race is Dead Heat - Why?

Judson Phillips, Attorney, TheTeaParty.net & Marc Harrold, Libertarian Commentator join Thom Hartmann. Despite multiple national polls showing President Obama pulling away from Mitt Romney in the swing states - and overall - the Romney camp says they're not concerned. Is that blind optimism - or do they know something the rest of America doesn't? We'll ask the panel in tonight's Lone Liberal Rumble

Lone Liberal Rumble - Should 3rd Parties be Allowed?

Judson Phillips, Attorney, TheTeaParty.net & Marc Harrold, Libertarian Commentator join Thom Hartmann. For more on how to get third party voices in our debates - let's get to tonight's Lone Liberal Rumble We'll ask the panel in tonight's Lone Liberal Rumble

The Presidential Debate - Should 3rd Parties be Allowed?

Next Wednesday is the first Presidential Debate - and as of now - it's a duel between Obama and Romney. But Libertarian Candidate for President Gary Johnson is trying to show them three is NOT a crowd. I'll talk to Johnson's running mate Judge Jim Gray.

1st they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win...

Congratulations to Sheldon Adelson - the casino mogul who's made a fortune in China - and is now the new record-holder for the most money spent in an election here in the United States - at least that we know about. According to Politico - Adelson has funneled $70 million to the Republican Party so far this election - more than tripling the previous record of campaign spending by any single individual. And while Adelson hasn't shied away from the spotlight - and is, in fact, proud of his attempts to buy the election for Mitt Romney - there are a lot of other right-wing millionaires and billionaires in the shadows also spending huge amounts of money. You won't hear their names - you won't see their faces - but they're sure to have a profound effect in November - if not on the White House, then on the congressional and Senate races across the nation. And we can thanks the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision in 2010 for making all of this possible. According to a new report by the sunlight foundation - more than three-quarters of the $465 million in outside spending so far this election would have been a crime for which people could go to prison before five right-wingers on the Supreme Court, in their lopsided 5-4 Citizens United decision, decided that billionaires and corporations - including those that make their money in other countries - should be able to buy American elections. SuperPACs - those political creatures spawned by the Supreme Court's five to four ...

Is the NFL showing Americans the importance of unions?

Sarah Jaffe, Labor Editor AlterNet & Alison Omens, Media Director, AFL-CIO joins Thom Hartmann. The National Football League is one of the most storied icons of American culture - and a favorite pastime of millions of Americans. But suddenly - with NFL referees locked out - the game is quickly losing it's credibility - and it's respect. Is this ongoing debacle showing all of Americans the importance of unions?

The Good, The Bad and the Very Very Pythogenicously Ugly!

The Good! *New Yorkers* Last week - the American Freedom Defense Initiative - an anti-Muslim group - began putting up Islamaphobic ads in New York City subway stations. While New York City transit officials tried to block the ads - they lost their lawsuit against AFDI. The hateful and ignorant ads read, "In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man." Seeing the obvious hatred in the ads - New Yorkers have now begun to cover the ads with stickers reading "racist" and "hate speech". AFDI's efforts are promoting more animosity towards the US in the Middle East - and among the Muslim community. Kudos to the people of New York for standing up to the latest byproduct of Islamaphobia in America

Terminator trading should be banned

Guest: Tanya Marchiol, Founder & President - Team Invesments Inc. joins Thom Hartmann. Remember in the Terminator movies - how an evil computer program was going to take over the world? Well - that's kind of happening right now on Wall Street. Why is the government allowing machines to do most of the trading at the big banks - and isn't it time we shut them down?

Massive protest in Spain - Hell No! on austerity to Spain's Parliament

Max Wolff, Economist / Instructor-Graduate Program in International Affairs, joins Thom Hartmann. Scenes of chaos and violence erupted today in Madrid - as anti-austerity protestors clashed with riot police in the Spanish capital. How much more violence and brutality is it going to take before world leaders finally wake up and realize that austerity is not the answer?

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