• Pennsylvania primary.
• Hitting below the belt line.
• Would you vote for the other candidate if your favorite lost? Could you give an elevator speech for them?
• Guest: Richard North. Co-author, "Scared to Death: From BSE to Global Warming: Why Scares are Costing Us the Earth".
• Should the rules be changed and the popular vote be counted?
• Guest: Ambassador of Finland to the United States Pekka Lintu.
• What is Hillary Clinton's strategy?
• Guest: Jim Hightower, "Swim Against the Current: Even a Dead Fish Can Go With the Flow".
• Guest: U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). Earth Day.

Topics, guests, upcoming events, quotes, links to articles, audio clips, books & bumper music.

Tuesday 22 April '08 show

• Article: UK offers to acquire mortgage securities.
• Article: Singapore fund in recession warning.
• Article: Mandelson raps Tokyo on trade barriers.
  "For every dollar Japan invested in the UK and the Netherlands alone, European companies were able to invest a net total of only three cents in Japan".
• Article: Machines Malfunctioning
  "Readers and Inquirer reporters attempting to cast ballots this morning found long lines across the region created by broken machines".
• Book: The Intimate Enemy: How to Fight Fair in Love and Marriage.
• Thom:
  

  We all have what you could call a "belt line" below which if you kick somebody, or hurt somebody, they are really, really hurting. I mean the obvious physical metaphor is, you know, you kick somebody below the belt line. You know, ouch! Whereas, you know, you punch them in the chest or something, hit them in the arm, or something like that, it's OK, you know, so I've been hit, what's the big deal. And what happens in relationships, here's the relationship part of it, what happens in relationships is that in fairly short order, typically within a matter of a few months, certainly within a year or two of a relationship becoming significant and meaningful, not only do you discover the things that the other person likes and all the quirks about their personality, etcetera, etcetera, you also discover where their belt line is.

  That is, you discover the things that uniquely will wound them if you say them or if you do them. I mean, there are things that I know that I can say to Louise that will really and truly hurt her. And she knows things that she can say to me that will really and truly hurt me. We both know each other's weaknesses. We've been married 35 years. You learn this stuff. And therefore neither one of us ever says those things. You fight, you argue, you debate, you get passionate, you put out your position, but you never go back to the, "oh, you're just like your mother" or whatever it may be. You know, what ever the person's belt. And it could be something very trivial. It could be making fun of a person's nose, or something. I mean, whatever it is, we all have a belt line. We all have an area where we can be wounded. And in an intimate relationship you never hit below the belt line.

  So here's the question. Have the Clinton or Obama campaigns hit below the belt line?

• Bumper Music: The Joker, Steve Miller Band.
• Article: Two medical marijuana bills introduced in House. Congressman Barney Frank.
• Carter, Kennedy, convention, Reagan. Hillary also wanting to change the rules at the convention?
• The Pennsylvania primary.
• Thom asked callers if they would vote for the other candidate if their preferred candidate lost.
• It's Earth Day.
• Thom's Buzzflash "Book" of the Month: The 11th Hour (DVD).
• Guest: Richard North. Co-author, "Scared to Death: From BSE to Global Warming: Why Scares are Costing Us the Earth".
  "Formerly a local authority official and then private consultant and journalist, Richard spent four years in the European Parliament as research director for a political group and now works as a political researcher for Westminster MPs."
  Tobacco. Osama bin Laden. Carbon dioxide. People use fear to get their agenda at front. Quotes Fred Singer. Asbestos. Thom's dad died of mesothelioma. BSE. Al Gore saying the global warming debate is over means that he must be using the fear agenda.
• Get out there and vote in Pennsylvania. And voting is not enough.
• Bumper Music: Just What I Needed, The Cars.
• Article: FORTUNE 500: Our annual ranking of America's largest corporations. 1. Wal-Mart Stores, profit £12,731 million. 2. Exxon Mobil, profit $40,610 million.
• Changing the rules for Hillary and counting the popular vote means you are ignoring the caucus states.
• The Democratic Leadership Council's current chairman is former Representative Harold Ford, Jr. of Tennessee, who was the target of an RNC ad with a blonde woman referring to the Playboy Club and saying, "Harold, call me".
• There are a lot of pro-corporate Democrats in the DLC and the Democratic Party. It's not just enough to vote; get active, infiltrate and take the party back. There are examples in the last chapter of
  

  

• Article: Hamas would accept Israel, says Carter.
• Article: Hillary Clinton threatens to 'obliterate' Iran if Israel attacked.
• Article: Exposure to ozone in smog linked to premature death: study.
• Ellen Ratner of Talk Radio News. Pennsylvania primary. Economic news. The National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales fell 2% in March. Pelosi press release. Secretary Rice with reporters, Iraq conference, the State Department specifically warned Carter not to meet with Hamas as it could confuse the issue. Financial Times article. Carter said he was not necessarily hopeful. Reaching out to enemies. We have a long history of talking with our enemies. Today Hillary was on ABC, asked re massive retaliation, she said if Iran carried out a nuclear attack on Israel, we would obliterate them. The president doesn't have right? Congress declares war. A National Research Council report says that smog leads to premature death. House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming chair Ed Markey and others say cap and trade pollution credits should be sold, not given away. Darfur pictures from Darfur on Thom's web site here and here and also videos, etc. over at Talk Radio News.
• How do you build a country that works?
• "Over the last 40 years, Finland has evolved into a true Nordic welfare state providing comprehensive and expansive services to its citizens. Apart from excellent public hospitals, the largest expenditure is the extensive family support system. Parents of newborns are entitled to almost a full year of parental leave, and all children under school age are entitled to public day care services."
  "A caring democracy"
• Guest: Ambassador of Finland to the United States Pekka Lintu. Economic issues, what factors make Finland more livable? It has a woman as president, who was re-elected. Welfare is not a pejorative there. It's what people want. It's top economically, in innovation, research and development. There are three major parties and several others. Proportional representation. Virtually free health care. The three parties understand to keep the welfare state, though there are differences as to which direction to develop it. Municipalities and the state can outsource the health care. It is difficult to compare. They pay 6-7% of GDP for health care, the US 10-14%. They are happy with the basic model. They pay higher taxes but they get more: health, day care, school, university. People know they won't get big economic surprises in their lives. People say the US is different, a lot bigger. Finland is not federal. The population is more homogenous.
• Book: Cracking The Code: How to Win Hearts, Change Minds, & Restore America’s Original Vision.
• Caller Mike said the Clintons have a strategy to win, but that is not a strategy to govern. You cannot govern if you tear people down to the point where they will not join hands with you.
• Bumper Music: Let Me Take You There, Plain White Ts.
• Thom has received a pile of emails about ballots without Obama's name on - it's an advertisement, not a real ballot.
• Guest: Jim Hightower. His new book, "Swim Against the Current: Even a Dead Fish Can Go With the Flow". Plucky spirit of the USA, we're not followers, but mutts and mavericks. Example of a pharmacist who was doing well or himself in a chain, people could not afford the chain's prices and he could not help, bureaucracy. So he left and formed Medsavers, a model pharmacy catering for people with no health insurance. It charges a lot less and still makes a profit. Opportunity, same as Thom and Jim. Public financing of elections. Democrats are not supporting it. Greens. Oregon bus project.
• Guest: U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). Earth Day commemoration. He's a member of the new Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. chaired by Ed Markey. The choice of Republicans. Focus. Vehicle standards increase. Budget, Ways and Means committee. Bush talking about beginning reducing emissions in 2025. It's truly embarrassing. Over 830 communities decided to comply with Kyoto, even though Bush won't. Arnie. There's a sea change among Republicans. Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) talks on the floor about peak oil, and Republican governors. The EPA is in the way of California and several other states having higher emission standards. Some businesses know they can make money from going green.