Wednesday June 3 2009
By Louise
Hour One: Healthcare - What's a trigger?
Hour Two: "America's labor shortage...are revised immigration laws the answer?" Thom mixes it up with Dan Gainor of the Business and Media Institute www.businessandmedia.org
Hour Three: Melissa Etherage www.melissaetherage.com Topic: The court's decision on prop 8 hurts families
Guest: Lt. Dan Choi, Platoon leader/Army National Guard Topic: Don't Ask - Don't Tell
Comments
#2
Chris,
I sent info. about 3 MN progressive groups, but the message disappeared. I'll try it a little at a time:
1) DFL Progressive Caucus Update, May 26, 2009
Posted by: "dfl_pc_2005" messenger@progressivecaucus.net dfl_pc_2005
Tue May 26, 2009 7:44 pm (PDT)
DFL Progressive Caucus Update, May 26, 2009
http://www.progressivecaucus.net
messenger@progressivecaucus.net
651-251-6381
=================================
DFL PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS ALERTS!
SINGLE PAYER FUNDRAISER AND CELEBRATION, June 18
6:30 - 8:30 PM at the University Club in St. Paul
Reserve your seat now for the Minnesota Universal Health Care
Coalition's Single-Payer Fundraiser and Celebration on June 18 from 6:30
- 8:30 PM at the University Club in St. Paul. Speakers include Dr.
Oliver Fern, single-payer advocate to the White House Forum on health
care reform, and Senator John Marty, one of the first state legislators
to endorse national single-payer legislation. $50.
FFI: muhcc.org
DONATE TO THE DFL PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS FOR FREE IN 2009!
It's a new year and a new donation cycle! Donate $50 to the Progressive
Caucus, mail it to our Treasurer, he will process it it through the DFL,
you get a refund form to mail to the state for reimbursement. Everybody
wins! Do it today!
Make checks payable to Minnesota DFL, and be sure to write "DFL
Progressive Caucus" on the memo line. Mail checks to
Dave Moe, Treasurer
DFL Progressive Caucus
2825 28th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55406
FFI: "Political Contribution Refund Program" at http://dfl.org
*********************************
Encourage others to subscribe at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DFLProgressiveCaucus/join
#3
Chris, MN group #2:
Send Mn-prog-events mailing list submissions to
mn-prog-events@justcomm.org
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
http://lists.cohousing.org/mailman/listinfo/mn-prog-events
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
mn-prog-events-request@justcomm.org
You can reach the person managing the list at
mn-prog-events-owner@justcomm.org
When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of Mn-prog-events digest..."
#4
Chris, MN group #3:
#5
Chris, also MN group #4:
#6
Chris,
I sent info. about 4 MN progressive groups, but the message disappeared. I’ll try it a little at a time:
DFL Progressive Caucus Update, May 26, 2009
http://www.progressivecaucus.net
messenger@progressivecaucus.net
651-251-6381
=================================
DFL PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS ALERTS!
SINGLE PAYER FUNDRAISER AND CELEBRATION, June 18
6:30 - 8:30 PM at the University Club in St. Paul
Reserve your seat now for the Minnesota Universal Health Care
Coalition’s Single-Payer Fundraiser and Celebration on June 18 from 6:30
- 8:30 PM at the University Club in St. Paul. Speakers include Dr.
Oliver Fern, single-payer advocate to the White House Forum on health
care reform, and Senator John Marty, one of the first state legislators
to endorse national single-payer legislation. $50.
FFI: muhcc.org
DONATE TO THE DFL PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS FOR FREE IN 2009!
It’s a new year and a new donation cycle! Donate $50 to the Progressive
Caucus, mail it to our Treasurer, he will process it it through the DFL,
you get a refund form to mail to the state for reimbursement. Everybody
wins! Do it today!
Make checks payable to Minnesota DFL, and be sure to write “DFL
Progressive Caucus” on the memo line. Mail checks to
Dave Moe, Treasurer
DFL Progressive Caucus
2825 28th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55406
#7
Chris,
I sent info. about 4 MN progressive groups, but the message disappeared. I’ll try it a little at a time:
DFL Progressive Caucus Update, May 26, 2009
http://www.progressivecaucus.net
651-251-6381
=================================
DFL PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS ALERTS!
SINGLE PAYER FUNDRAISER AND CELEBRATION, June 18
6:30 - 8:30 PM at the University Club in St. Paul
Reserve your seat now for the Minnesota Universal Health Care
Coalition’s Single-Payer Fundraiser and Celebration on June 18 from 6:30
- 8:30 PM at the University Club in St. Paul. Speakers include Dr.
Oliver Fern, single-payer advocate to the White House Forum on health
care reform, and Senator John Marty, one of the first state legislators
to endorse national single-payer legislation. $50.
FFI: muhcc.org
DONATE TO THE DFL PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS FOR FREE IN 2009!
It’s a new year and a new donation cycle! Donate $50 to the Progressive
Caucus, mail it to our Treasurer, he will process it it through the DFL,
you get a refund form to mail to the state for reimbursement. Everybody
wins! Do it today!
Make checks payable to Minnesota DFL, and be sure to write “DFL
Progressive Caucus” on the memo line. Mail checks to
Dave Moe, Treasurer
DFL Progressive Caucus
2825 28th Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55406
#8
Chris, MN group #2:
Mn-prog-events (digest…)
#9
Awesome! Thanks Quark.
I will take the info and run. Keep on fighting the good fight everyone.
I'd post my email for future info, but I'm not to sure if I'd get hate mail or not:) JK
#10
I have to admit I'm curious to hear how Thom takes on Dan Gainor, right-wing fibber. The fact is the media can hardly be accused of being overly "liberal" in its disemination of information of anything in regard to Latinos, let alone illegal immigration.
Just to get this out of my system, on Monday someone reiterated something that Thom has said, which is that people like me have no right to an opinion on a certain subject. I will not, however, abstain. Like any other human being I was appalled and dismayed by the news concerning the doctor who was gunned down by an anti-abortion fanatic. However, after listening all Monday and Tuesday to emotional pundits, to the morally and ethically bankrupt hypocrisies of the NOW and NARL people—who seem to forget that it was a male who was killed—I have to voice an opinion. I have a right to an opinion even if I am a man, just like women have the right to their opinions (as far as they can be called) about what men do. And my opinion is this: How did this doctor, who was a churchgoer, square his conscience with the fact that he was one of the few doctors in the state who performed late-term abortions? I know I couldn’t.
There are reasonable rationales for late term abortion; if the child (or fetus if you prefer) is clearly showing evidence of major deformity, brain abnormality or some other defect that will render its life brief and agonizing; or if the mother is suffering from some underlying health issue that will render continuation of the pregnancy a life and death issue. However, these situations are the exception, not the rule; “mental distress,” or a desire to hurt the father are morally or ethically insufficient, and for women to think that they can get away without censor the arbitrary decision to end a life so near to term is reprehensible. All too often, when the activists claim it is a “choice” or their “life”; what they mean in reality is their careers or their personal pleasure. If that is their choice, it would have been a great deal more morally and ethically acceptable if they hadn’t waited until the fetus became viable outside the womb.
The abortion issue is so heated for some people because all they have to offer morally and ethically is hot air. I don’t oppose abortion as a matter of law and pointlessness, but I do have limits to the amount of vapid, self-serving, selfish rhetoric I can digest; more life is snuffed-out by abortion every year than all the Americans killed in all its wars. Abortions will occur whether it is legal or not, and better legal. But I will not stand aside in the face of the blatant corruption that is abortion at any cost.
#11
Thom,
One important comment - the Dr Tiller murder was a HATE crime. It was a murder intended to instill fear in a group of people, in this case pro-choice practicing doctors. Has anyone in the media called this what it is?
#12
One additional comment - Hate crime and terrorism. Osama Bin Laden didn't hijack the plane and slam it into the WTC towers. But he DID call for the death of americans. Randall Terry didn't SHOOT Dr George Tiller, but he did CALL FOR THE DEATH of abortion doctors.
In summary, shouldn't we be waterboarding Randall Terry?
#13
Chris,
I'd post my email, too, but have the same reservations. I wish there was some way to allow info. to go to designated people.
#14
In the healthcare debate, why hasn't anyone mentioned the compromise they have in New Zealand? As I understand it, the way they do it there is that the everyday medical care is just like ours: you get your own insurance or through your work, or you pay out of pocket. but for catastrophic care -- if you are in the hospital -- the government pays for it 100%. The hospitals are government owned, so I guess it's socialized medicine, but it means that no one goes bankrupt because of being in the hospital. It's not ideal, but it's a compromise that we should be considering if we can't get what we want.
#15
I'm organizing a health care reform meeting immediately following our county
Democratic Party meeting Saturday morning. And the speaker I invited is a strong advocate for national single-payer healthcare.
There's no reason we have to limit ourselves to what our clueless leaders on Capitol HIll have deemed the narrow parameters for debate.
I don't care how neatly the deck chairs are arranged on this ship, we need to change course.... and fast.
#16
I just got off the phone with a friend of mine from France. Two of our mutual friends there had breast cancer. Guess what NO WAITING! for surgery (ok a couple of weeks) and long term radiation and chemo. So far both are in remission. One is 45 and the other 75. The 75 year old woman wanted a private room and paid extra, and also extra for some testing, extra costs 1500 Euros or about $2000 everything else covered. 100% coverage for the 45 year old without the extras above. Also, my friend on the phone pays 80 Euros a month (about $110) for herself, her husband and her two children for 100% state provided coverage as above. That's it. No deductibles or co-pays unless you want the few extras as above and you get immediate attention, minimal waiting as you would have had here. End of story.
#17
Mark -- I think you should be more careful about where you get your statistics. I don't think you are right about "convenience" being the rule rather than the exception. I think the vast majority of late term abortions are for serious medical reasons. If a person just didn't want to have a baby, why wouldn't they get an earlier abortion? It's less life-threatening for the woman and easier on all concerned.
Also, I don't think it's the doctor making the final decision, it's the pregnant woman. If women don't have ethics up to your standards, maybe you need to work on them rather than the doctor? It isn't the medical community that is failing here, it is the religious community (or other places people acquire ethics) that is failing to teach good ethics. Perhaps you should pick on them for their failure?
Where do most people get their ethics these days? Arguably, people today get their ethics from media: from the news, from TV, from the movies, from commercials and ads, from songs and rap. Yes, yes, I know everyone says, "Not me! I don't take that stuff seriously, it's fiction and I know it." but that is not true -- if you watch TV and movies several times per week you cannot help but be influenced by the unspoken assumptions you see functioning repeatedly before you.
#18
Joe -- I hear the same kind of stories from my friend in Canada.
While here, where we supposedly have less waiting -- I once called my medical provider saying I was suicidal and wanted to talk to a therapist and they gave me an appointment for three weeks away. Were they hoping I'd kill myself so they wouldn't have to pay? Then, at the end of the appointment, the therapist recommended anti-depressants, but wasn't an M.D., so I would have to see someone else to get anti-depressants. So, another three weeks, and, again, at the end of the appointment, I got the same story. And, yes, it happened a third time too. So i gave up.
#19
Thom, you're wrong about boycotts. Both the Nestle boycott and the GE boycott produced results, and they were modeled on the knowledge the Farmworkers gained in their organizing campaigns, including the rule of thumb that it takes only about 5% of the population boycotting for it to create so much pressure that the boycotted company or industry has to deal with it. Boycotts have to include an education campaign or else people won't be persuaded to rearrange their lives to comply with a boycott, not to mention figure out what products not to buy. That education campaign is what creates the moral pressure to change, and the boycott creates the economic pressure to change.
#20
Health Care Organizing Kick-Off
On June 6th, thousands of people just like you are beginning to organize for health care reform by hosting or attending a Health Care Organizing Kickoff. No experience is required to host or attend--we’ll give you everything you need to make it a success. At these kickoffs, you’ll watch a special message from the President, meet like-minded supporters in your neighborhood, make plans for reaching out in your community--and start to put those plans in action. Together, we’ll win health care reform the same way we won the election: Building support one block, one neighbor, one conversation at a time. Please go to the following link to sign up to either attend or host a kick off meeting:
#21
Cambridge,
I know, I agree with you - and every time Thom says boycotts do not work I go bat crazy and need to take my Gabba to calm down. No doubt, if The Hartman show became boycott central, the laws of corporate karma might send the show off the air- but I just wish he would find another phrase rather than 'boycotts do not work.'
That said, we love and truly appreciate you Thom Hartman., You are our daily bread of inspiration and Community Archangel in Command.
#22
The other question that needs to be answered is whether under Canada's single payer are visits to doctors in the US covered. All this talk about Canadians visiting the US to get treatment here would be muted if single-payer covers visits and treatment here. Anyone who is not a Republicon paid poster out there know the anwer to this?
#23
The African Americans living in Montgomery might disagree with you regarding whether or not boycotts work. It takes a combination of education that CambridgeKnitter mentions, but it also takes the kind of righteous indignation that compels people to make the kind of changes in their lives that will force others to change.
#24
I'll give Thom credit for not wilting like a piece of straw in a bonfire like many of these left-wing talk show hosts do whenever someone says "illegal." But then again, he didn't have to, because Gainor was on his best behavior, and immigration reform wasn't even discussed. It's a good thing Thom didn't take any phone calls on the issue of immigration reform, because he'd discover (like I've known for a long time) that most people have negative attitudes toward Hispanics generally, usually based on selective information provided by the media. That the negative information diseminated by the right is usually opposed by silence on the left is the norm and not the exception. Take for example the claim that illegal immigrants are draining public services paid for by taxpayers. What pundits fail to mention is that illegal immigrants are also taxpayers. A recent report in the state of Washington revealed that illegal immigrants actually pay a higher proportion of their income in taxes. A CBO report a few years also stated that the Social Security taxes illegal immigrants pay would cover 15 percent of a potential shortfall in its funding. But people are not told of this, so all they kinow is that "those people" are parasites.
I have a few other comments on this topic. U.S. companies trying to compete with Chinese gulag labor can do so only by keeping costs down. They often involve industries that are not considered "high wage" and involve hard manual labor. These are the kind of jobs that have high-turnover, and these companies have a hard time keeping experienced people. Some people blame this on illegal immigrants taking those jobs and depressing wages, but that is a very simplistic way of looking at it. After the ICE raid at the Crider poultry plant in Stillmore, Georgia, the company experienced high turnover and low productivity despite the fact it tried to entice local "natives" to work there with higher wages. I also find it interesting to note that while the "natives" complain that the "Mexicans" are depressing wages, the flip side is that the "Mexicans" actually see a substantial increase in wages from what they would be earning (or not earning) in Mexico or whereever they hail from.
#25
Thom,
Your caller, Kim the angry loyal Democrat, at the end of the last hour said that you're the only one who speaks up for various issues. One of the issue she mentioned was Single Payer Health Care. She's wrong.
For the record, Ed Schultz is a Single Payer hawk on his TV show, even calling Barack Obama and the Democratic leadership on it. I would assume he does the same on his radio show. I believe that Ron Reagan Jr. is also a Single Payer supporter, he's just more low key than Schultz. Mike Malloy definitely calls for Single Payer, and I believe Randi Rhodes is as well, though I rarely can stand listening to her.
I'm pretty sure that Rachel Maddow is a supporter and I know that she and Keith Olbermann have criticized the Democrat leadership for trying to keep Single Payer off the table.
#26
Not only is Ed Schultz outspoken about the need for single-payer healthcare, but he just had Bernie Sanders on to talk about it earlier this hour.
#27
Lawyer Ted Olson who has JUMPED-IN to fight for same sex marriage via a suit is the same Ted Olson who LIED that his wife phoned him from a hijacked 9/11 airplane.
I don't trust this man. It is always difficult to trust these 'end justifies the means' people who served the goals of the Bush Usurpation of government.
Has he filed this suit in jump-the-gun in fkashy frontpage fashion to nullify the concerted efforts of the REAL LGBT legal efforts?
Or is he trying to do something decent to get on the good side of the those who might stick up for him when eventually there are responsible individuals succeed to the criminal prosecution of the Bush Cabal?
#28
Bobby Kennedy JR also interviewed Bernie Sanders this past Saturday on Health Care Reform on Ring of Fire Radio Saturdays at noon on green960.com - that slut! [just kidding, having a little very needed FUN]
#29
Congress suffers from a wife beaters complex. The insurance companies like a wife beater are making all kinds of promises to stay in the game of a for profit health insurance that they have NO intention on honoring. They think they can just ride out this administration and wait for a republican in the White House again.
#30
We could solve Medicare going broke and healthcare coverage all at once by having Medicare for all. They just need to increase the amount paid on payroll. Right now all W-2 workers pay 1.45% and it is matched by employers. These payroll taxes currently fund the Medicare coffers. If we got single pay administered by Medicare I would be happy to pay up to 5% on my Medicare portion of my paycheck.
#31
I call my Senators and Representatives, I send E-forms, I write letters, I campaign for progressives, and yet they still aren't listening.
#32
i would like to suggest that we need a law saying that any company that has lobbyists should have to show their books and their tax returns to the public.
#33
Re Medicare Part D - Wexler has introduced HR 1832 "to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower prescription drug prices on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries."
#34
Anthony,
That's GREAT news!
#35
Mark,
I have always believed that life begins at birth. As with increased understanding that comes from life experience (either ours or someone we know), wisdom and compassion frequently influence our initial opinions.
#36
Nancy Pelosi, according to this morning's reports, says the House will start publishing the expenses of all members on-line starting at the end of August. It's not the expenses that bother me and many others, it's the contributions that they receive from the corporations. Nancy, how about you and Harry publishing on-line the list of donors and the amounts to the campaigns of all House and Senate members?
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
By webmaster
Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
Images of Thom
With His Holiness The Dalai Lama, at His home in Dharamsala, India (Synthesis Dialogues - made into a movie narrated by Harrison Ford)
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"Never one to shy away from the truth, Thom Hartmann’s collected works are inspiring, wise, and compelling. His work lights the way to a better America."
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"In an age rife with media-inspired confusion and political cowardice, we yearn for a decent, caring, deeply human soul whose grasp of the problems confronting us provides a light by which we can make our way through the quagmire of lies, distortions, pandering, and hollow self-puffery that strips the American Dream of its promise. How lucky we are, then, to have access to the wit, wisdom, and willingness of Thom Hartmann, who shares with us here that very light, grown out of his own life experience."
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
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HOW DO WE START?
I was chatting with my wife the other night, and we were wondering if we missed the boat on this or if there is still hope to enact my idea.
I know we weren't alone in wondering during all of the Tea-Bagging hooplah "Gee, why don't we don a genuine, and real Grass roots gathering for Healthcare reform?"
If the polls we keep hearing about are correct, that would be an awful lot of Americans willing to fight for reform. It is necessary, and it needs to happen NOW! Congress is debating it now, Thom is right in promoting Single-Payer, it may not happen, but it would be easier if we start with a public option.
Can you imagine the media coverage, and how laughable the next tea-parties would be, if we could organize a nationwide event like this?
I am in 100% and will help in any way I can. The question is how,and where to begin?I am relatively new to this activism thing :)
Thom's listeners are intelligent, and willing to work, so I figured I'd start here. I will contact my reps tonight as well, but if we can work hard for 10+months to elect our President, we need to do as Thom says we can't relax now, we need to push and Remind President Obama now more than ever.
Love the show and keep fighting the good fight. Maybe Move On will help....