Monday November 2 2009
By Louise
Hour Two: "Climate Cover Up" Thom gets the explosive story from James Hoggan about the crusade to deny global warming hoggan.com
Hour Three: "America's most tumultuous decade?" Newsweek's Jonathan Alter talks to Thom www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience
Comments
#2
Mark,
I wonder if so much of the corruption and insanity that we see in our culture now is the result of the hands-off approach towards business and government put forth by Bush et al (or at least has been accelerated by them.) They have become part of the American ethos and seem very difficult to dispel (especially when the current administration has continued much of what the last administration began.) They have become the norm. The question is, how do we change that?
BTW, my late father, who made the living room (around the T.V.) a sacred and inviolable shrine while Lombardi and the Packers played, would wholeheartedly agree with you re: Favre.
#3
More of The Same
I'm sending this link to the White House and my representatives in Washington, along with other congressmen to whom it might apply. It's a concise summary of where we are now concerning financial reform. Excellent. (Video):
#4
Boing! Did someone say STUDENT LOANS BALL and CHAIN Hello - destroyed my emotional life these did. And everyone said, oh just keep working- hell why not put me on a slave ship in the rowing quarters...!
#5
THX for the link Quark - a good one to Twitter to the Whitehouse as well.
#6
Mind you Israel has single payer.............
#7
NOTHING is better than Joe Leiberman.
#8
The year I graduated from college, the law changed requiring me to work for another 5 years as an apprentice beneath a member of the good ole boy club. I got around it by selling and teaching however, my skills in my discipline suffer from lack of experience.
#9
Hi Thom!
The quote you butchered is actually from Upton Sinclair:
“If is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it”
Best,
Fab
#10
Thom, i heard you say this morning that the $180,000 per job figure bandied about by the Oregonian and (I might add) the Statesman Journal don't tell the whole story but there is much more to it than what you said... Actually the numbers reported in the articles are deceiving. When I see a calculation like $180,000 per job saved – that is just plain silly – so I always check: Go to: http://www.recovery.gov/Pages/default.aspx Oregon has received $437 million SO FAR. Divide that by 9653 jobs saved, and you get $45,313.37 per job created or saved. The “i-hate-everything-Obama-does” crowd should be willing to eat some crow. Remember how they howled that the Administration was not being transparent as promised? It should also be noted that the $45K per job figure includes the purchase of materials for construction projects. On a road repave construction project about 30% goes to payroll. On a building 18 to 24% goes to payroll. These projects: roads, educational facilities, energy efficiency improvements, waste-water treatment plants will have lasting benefits to Oregon’s people. And ARRA is only just now gearing up. By next summer we’ll see much more ARRA construction.
#11
Pearl Harbor
I had the opportunity to watch “Pearl Harbor”, a three hour movie. Toward the end of the movie I heard that America grows stronger. If our WW II veterans were here, they would not say that we are growing stronger but our fascist-Nazi America does grow stronger in hatred, corruption, and lies. Our nation does not follow the Golden Rule. We follow a warped rule, “Hate them before they hate you.” Yes, we do lust to kill God’s children. This is the American way.
Our lust for killing does not help our country to grow stronger. It makes us a weak nation. We are a nation that has sold its soul to the devil. Our country’s manifest destiny is etched in history to kill God’s children. This is the fascist-Nazi American way.
Our fascist-Nazi corporate America and our fascist-Nazi politicians lust to kill off our low middle class and our middle class to have a fascist-Nazi America filled with rich people and cannon fodder Americans to fight our endless wars, to satisfy our thirst for more and more human blood, and to continue our manifest destiny in killing off God’s children.
To be a true Christian a person’s heart must be filled with love, mercy, and forgiveness.
#12
Presidential lawbreaking!
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2009/11/01/state_secre...
#13
Modern History Sourcebook:
David Ricardo:
The Iron Law of Wages, 1817
#14
@LOUISE: Can we get this rant transcribed and up on the website?
#15
David Ricardo
An Essay on Profits
1815
http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/ricardo/profits.txt
#16
Thom
I heard an interview this weekend with Zachary Karabell about his latest book “Superfusion: How China and America Became One Economy and Why the World's Prosperity Depends on It”. Karabell is a pretty impressive and interesting guy. You might find this book interesting. I’m not recommending the book or his website and blog, but Bret Favre is.
Another interesting person is Elinor Ostrom who along with Oliver Williamson recently won the Nobel Prize for economics. This makes her the first woman to ever win the Nobel Prize in economics even though she’s a political scientist not an economist. Her work centers on the importance of “the commons”.
Excerpt from an article about her in the Guardian in the UK:
“The findings of her research have been striking, as the Nobel committee pointed out, because they have challenged the established assumption that common property is poorly managed unless it is either regulated by government or privatised. She has shown how disparate individuals can band together and form collectives that protect the resource at hand.”
Her work also shows how local communities can play an important role in fighting global warming by preserving the commons (i.e., nature).
Williamson won for his work on….
Excerpt from CNN article
“Williamson's work examines why large corporations tend to arise -- and why they do not -- based on the cost and complexity of transactions, according to the Nobel committee.”
and
"At some fundamental level, they are really both addressing the fundamental issue of how we create human cooperation through the design of appropriate institutions," committee member Tore Ellingsen said.”
#17
Thom called for a bill requiring Congress to wear NASCAR-like patches on their clothing representing their top campaign contributors. Apparently the movie company Pixar was thinking along the same lines with the animated movie "Cars". The antagonist, Chick Hicks, carries a sponsor on his hood called "HTB". Upon closer study, "HTB" is short for "Hostile Takeover Bank". Hilarious! Just Google Chick Hicks in Cars for an image.
#18
B Roll,
'Sounds fascinating --- I will investigate the people you mentioned.
#19
AMERICAN WINS NEW YORK CITY MARATHON FOR FIRST TIME IN OVER THREE DECADES
American marathoner Meb Keflezighi’s victory is being celebrated in the United States and in his native homeland of Eritrea.
Progressive talk radio show host Thom Hartmann says that since Keflezighi can run so far, he should run back to his homeland and leave marathoner jobs to real Americans.
#20
Thom....the notion that this nation was "not in any way founded upon the Christian religion" comes from the Treaty of Tripoli...the first Treaty this country signed with a foreign nation, in 1798. The Senate ratified the treat as well.
#21
Ron Paul tweaks Michael Moore on capitalism, still agrees with himhttp://rawstory.com/2009/11/ron-paul-corrects-michael-moore-capitalism-agrees/
#22
@Gerald Socha -
Evidently, you are unfamiliar with "Godwin's Law". This is essentially an observation, stating that the longer a conversation goes on in an internet venue, the more likely it is that someone will compare those with whom they disagree with Nazis or Hitler, and that this is essentially the end of most such discussions. It goes back to the pre-web Usenet days, but still seems to hold true.
The updated version is that the first one to use the Nazi comparison loses the arguement.
Comparing our nation to the Third Reich will NOT bring change, Gerald - but it will, most likely, get you dismissed as a crackpot. I'd suggest you find a better analogy.
#23
Franken Forces Truth on Healthcare Reform Hearing Witness
'Just thought this was a fun clip ('wish I could have said that):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgqqSHr0wVA&feature=player_embedded
#24
Quark
Zachary Karabell seems like a very interesting guy. He's also very much into the "green economy".
By the way, I looked at ratings of senators at progressive punch over the weekend and Franken was tied for #1. Of course his voting record is very short.
#25
mstaggerlee
DDay and I both raised this with Gerald. As I recall he described his posting philosophy as
1) To share information.
2) To shake people out of their comfort zones.
3) He says ranting like that is good therapy for him.
If that's the case #3 maybe the only one of his goals that he attains.
#26
mstaggerlee, there is a saying, "To thy own self be true." I must be true to me and not to a world where, like fascist-Nazi America, gravitates toward hatred, corruption and lies.
#27
Nazi America
Here are the fourteen characteristics that are necessary for a Nazi nation. America currently possesses all fourteen characteristics.
1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism
2. Disdain for the importance of human rights
3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause
4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism
5. Rampant sexism
6. A controlled mass media
7. Obsession with national security
8. Religion and ruling elite tied together
9. Power of corporations protected
10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated
11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts
12. Obsession with crime and punishment
13. Rampant cronyism and corruption
14. Fraudulent elections
There should be no doubt in anyway in the people’s minds that America is a fascist nation. Rapidly the self-implosion and destruction of America are starting to take hold. America is no longer America but she is now called Nazi America.
#28
Nazi American Preamble
It is right and just to commit murders and war crimes.
It is right and just to start wrong and immoral wars.
It is right and just to use nuclear weapons against humanity.
It is right and just to dismember human bodies.
It is right and just to use depleted uranium upon human populations.
It is right and just to dump white phosphorus on human beings.
It is right and just to rape people and their lands.
It is right and just to steal a country’s resources.
It is right and just to inflict misery, pain, and suffering upon the world’s populations.
It is right and just to adore, honor and worship false prophets.
#29
B Roll - thanks for the tip on superfusion! I've passed it along to Shawn to see if we can get the book and book the author...
Thom
#30
This is the American way.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20091102_opium_rape_and_the_american...
#31
This the first paragraph from the above article by Chris Hedges.
The warlords we champion in Afghanistan are as venal, as opposed to the rights of women and basic democratic freedoms, and as heavily involved in opium trafficking as the Taliban. The moral lines we draw between us and our adversaries are fictional. The uplifting narratives used to justify the war in Afghanistan are pathetic attempts to redeem acts of senseless brutality. War cannot be waged to instill any virtue, including democracy or the liberation of women. War always empowers those who have a penchant for violence and access to weapons. War turns the moral order upside down and abolishes all discussions of human rights. War banishes the just and the decent to the margins of society. And the weapons of war do not separate the innocent and the damned. An aerial drone is our version of an improvised explosive device. An iron fragmentation bomb is our answer to a suicide bomb. A burst from a belt-fed machine gun causes the same terror and bloodshed among civilians no matter who pulls the trigger.
#32
B Roll, thank you for sharing the information on Zachary Karbell and his book. I am going to link in his name for more information.
Andrew Klime, Thom's idea of NASCAR patches is a great idea.
#33
#34
Here is the last paragraph on the "Superfusion" article.
But for now and for many years to come, we are joined at the hip, China and the United States, and how that relationship is managed by both will determine whether the world ahead is one of increased prosperity or ever-more conflict between winners and losers, between haves and have-nots, and between powers on the rise and powers on the decline.
Do you at times feel that the world is changing very rapidly and at times out of control?
There is one constant in our life and that is our nation's ongoing hatred, corruption, and lies.
#35
More on the American way!!!
http://original.antiwar.com/buchanan/2009/11/02/the-american-way-of-aban...
#36
I am not a big fan of Patrick Buchanan but his last paragraph is on target.
And if we are going to abandon these people, as we have so many others in the past, let us at least tell them, and ourselves, the truth. We didn’t know what we were getting into. We don’t have the stomach for a long war. We’re sorry we got you into this. Your big mistake was in trusting us. You folks should have known better.
#37
And, there are people who refuse to believe when I say we are fascist-Nazi nation!!!
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/11/03/Senate-Bil...
#38
Thom,
I think you are close, but wrong, with your assertion that we need to bring back big government. Big government cures the symptom of the illness, but not the cause. The reason that you correctly say we need BG, is because we need a balance of power between us and the corporations, but if the corporations were not power then we would not need BG.
So I would LOVE to see very weak (political power wise) corporate body, and a small government.
#39
With all the talk about an issue of gay rights on Thursday's show, I have to wonder if Mark will feel compelled to respond with one of his homophobic posts. We'll find out on the Friday blog.
#40
This is a test
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.
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"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."
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"No one communicates more thoughtfully or effectively on the radio airwaves than Thom Hartmann. He gets inside the arguments and helps people to think them through—to understand how to respond when they’re talking about public issues with coworkers, neighbors, and friends. This book explores some of the key perspectives behind his approach, teaching us not just how to find the facts, but to talk about what they mean in a way that people will hear."
I’m about to start on a little rant here. I’m sure most people are under the impression that public employees are very often arrogant, unhelpful and have peculiar ideas of what makes “sense”—not to mention forgetting where the money that pays their salaries comes from, and who they are supposed to be working for. That assumption, just as often, has considerable merit. Take, for instance, King County Metro, which supplies bus service for Seattle and the surrounding environs. I work at the airport, and like all large metropolitan airports, it is open 24/7. Some people have to report to work at 4 am; others at 5 am. People who are forced to begin work at such hours are generally on the lower-end of wage scale, more likely than others to lack auto transport, which is why regional bus service to the airport begins between 3 and 3:30 am.
But like other public entities, Metro will use the flimsiest reed to get out of its obligations to conduct the services a tax-payer-subsidized entity is expected to. For example, during a daylight savings time change. Everyone has to adjust to the time change—except, apparently, employees of Metro. I work on Sunday, so I changed my clock before I hit the hay to make sure I was on time for work. It’s tough waking up at 2 am, but somebody has to do it. I managed to drag my fundament to my usual bus stop at 3:20 am to catch a bus that was supposed to arrive at 3:30. And I waited. And waited some more. At 4:30 I called Metro customer service to find out what the problem was. I was informed that the red-eye buses were running on Saturday’s schedule, and I was asked if I thought it was fair to force drivers to stay on an extra hour because of the time change. I told this individual that what really didn’t seem fair was that people who work Sunday have to adjust to the time change, so I didn’t see her point. The conversation continued in the following manner:
“The drivers made their usual stops in Kent at 3:24 and 3:54. That’s all they are required to do”
“Yeah, but that’s 2:24 and 2:54 if they didn’t turn their clocks back. How come you would run on that schedule if there is no one to pick-up?”
“You’d be surprised how many people are out waiting for buses that time of night.”
The problem with her theory is that this particular route does not run between 6:15 pm and 3:24 am. Why would anyone—let alone the everyday riders—who can read a schedule stand out in the rain waiting for a bus they knew would not arrive for another hour? But for arguments’ sake, let’s say this is what I had been expecting her say. The conversation would then go something like this:
“I figured your drivers wouldn’t adjust their times, so arrived at my stop an hour early, and I haven’t seen any bus.”
“Did you look at the schedule? There are no buses at 2:24 or 2:54.”
The “customer service” rep insisted that the reasons why the buses had run on a schedule opposed to the one everyone else was expecting on was perfectly sensible. I told her the only reason she thought it made sense was because she didn’t make any sense. Metro is tax-payer subsidized, and tax-payers have a right to expect proper service, such as providing bus service to the airport, especially for people who depend on it for the purposes of work. It also turned out that she lied about the buses running on their “regular” schedule; one rider who waited with a similar amount of futility informed me that he had forgotten about the time change and arrived at another stop an hour early; he never saw any bus for four hours. My theory, and it is probably correct, is that the drivers of this particular route knew there would be no one to pick-up at the regular time, and being too indolent to hang-around for another hour, they simply called it a day and went home—with customer service providing an excuse to fit any occasion to irate bus riders.
Anyways, last Friday, a right-wing radio host was insisting that it was fair and reasonable to ticket people for driving in this country without speaking English. Apparently this was in reference to several dozen Latinos ticketed by Dallas police recently for this particular offense. The problem that there is no state or municipal ordinance that makes this a crime, although there is a federal statute that requires truck drivers to be conversant in English. The Dallas police chief apologized, and promised that the $204 tickets would be refunded.
But here once again is Latinos being specifically targeted for abuse; no one is complaining about Asian or Eastern Europeans who do not speak English (or pretend not to). One caller on this show, not to be cowed by the "outrage" of the host about people driving on our roads who do not speak English, pointed out that he had driven on European roads, and he didn't speak a word of any of the languages in the countries he had been in, and didn't understand the problem; stop and go signs were perfectly understandable everywhere you go in the world. And why then should Americans who don't speak a word of Spanish be allowed to drive on Mexican roads?
And one more thing: having grown-up in Wisconsin, I'm a Packer fan who remembers the 25 year ice age between the Lombardi years and the Favre era, when the "frozen tundra" was a perjorative, and a place no decent football player wanted to play. I remember, and that's why I I'll cut Favre every break he deserves for putting the Packers back on the football map.