Daily Topics - Monday - February 22 2010
By Louise
Quote: "The best political community is formed by citizens of the middle class." -- Aristotle, Politics
Hour One - Obama Healthcare?
Hour Two - What does privacy mean to you and is Orwell's 1984 here?
Hour Three - Bob King UAW Vice President www.uaw.org When is organized labor going to get serious about demanding protectionism like China and Japan?
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Comments
#2
Protecting jobs hurts U.S. workers, just like having a minimum wage or unions hurts workers. This is an ironclad truth that has been proven over and over and liberals never understand. The last 30 years have been a shining example of this in action and the last couple of years prove how great voodoo economics really is.
#3
I don't know why Thom is SO OPPOSED to strikes. They work elsewhere in the world. So what if the GOP tries to co-opt them, they can't if the progressive leaders step up and support such a strike.
I'm also glad that Thom mentioned that Joe Stack seemed to be a frustrated American. We have a tax system resembling something medieval. It plays games of fear on the citizens. It is an abomination and needs to be fixed.
And I'm glad he's brought up the "big brother" spying on computers. This too is an abomination and needs to nipped in the bud.
#4
Thom: It is irresponsible for the news network to not investigate what other countries are reporting on Toyota problems--unless, of course, the car is NOT being driven in countries other than the U.S. Thank you for reporting on the incident in Japan (China?) regarding the unfortunate incarceration of a man involved in a fatal accident with his Toyota. Those Toyota weasels are trying to keep a lid on their corporate greed that put profits above the "general welfare" and their customers' safety.
#5
re: 4th amendment: It seems the whole tenet of "probable cause" is gone.
#6
The difference between Glenn Beck on FUAX News and the character, Howard Beales, from the movie Network (1976) is Reagan’s War of Education worked. Rather than the masses figuring out that Beck is a insane, dry-drunk, they continue to idolize his stupidity.
#7
@Scott: re: "Scott February 22
Protecting jobs hurts U.S. workers, just like having a minimum wage or unions hurts workers. This is an ironclad truth that has been proven over and over and liberals never understand. The last 30 years have been a shining example of this in action and the last couple of years prove how great voodoo economics really is."
No, Scott, you don't understand. Today is Washington's birthday, not April Fool's Day.
#8
Why aren't we saying to the populace that buying Chinese goods is supporting Communism? They are Communists, therefore supporting them is supporting Communism. Why are we saying that loud and clear? And blaming the Republicans for supporting Communism?
Is Vietnam also Communist? Or just a dictatorship?
#9
I meant "why aren't we saying that..."
#10
@kim. This is the 21st century. The boogey man is now the terrorist, not the commie.
#11
@Harry
The fourth amendment has long had a drug war exception. Since no one was willing to stand up for the rights of those who choose to self-medicate, it was only a matter of time until those rights were stripped from increasing members of the population.
#12
Scott do you sometimes pronounce your name SCOTUS?
#13
@Kim
The Chinese are Communist in name only. They are an authoritarian dictatorship, with a growing market economy. There is little that Marx would recognize as his.
#14
@kim - Communism is no longer a threat since we defeated the communism. I guess you didn't get the announcement from the Ministry that we are now fighting muslim extremists.
#15
Thanks Thom, and thanks Jim Hightower, as well!
#16
@Zero G: you're right, and I'm guilty of the same. I still dont have the nerve to show up and light up at a NORML protest.
#17
@ Captain Bebops: THOM is not anti-strikes. He has continually expressed that targeted strikes are effective within specific individual workplaces. THOM correctly notes that national strikes and boycotts in America have historically been ineffective as any gains made are lost within two years.
#18
re: Singer Vacuum cleaner. I bought one, brought it home, plugged it in, and, you know what? It REALLY sucks.
#19
@Scott: Everywhere there is a Living Wage Ordinance proves you incorrect.
#20
@NELS: It is spelled, "S-C-R-O-T-U-S."
#21
Hi guys -- You and I know that the bugaboo of Communism is passe', but the run of the mill right-winger doesn't. They are still afraid of commies under the bed -- and terrorists too. I meant to say it for their sake -- to get the vast majority of Walmart shoppers to think about what they are doing.
they are still calling Obama a commie to say he's bad, so they still think commie is bad....
#22
Was Scott kidding?
#23
The heart of the witness!
#24
Since I love our younger people, I want the best for them.
http://original.antiwar.com/don-robertson/2010/02/21/before-you-enlist/
#25
Surely, Scott was kidding. The last two years have been horrific (except for the election of Obama).
#26
Thom, have you had the "Cost of War" counter on your web-page that shows a running total of the wars? It's at least $3000 per second.
"How do you find the Bush Ranch? Easy. Just head toward Waco and follow the slime trail." -harry ashburn
#27
@Adlof -- It's Thom "opinion" that national strikes are ineffective and I don't recall much of any in the US at all so how can one say they are ineffective if we've never had one. It just might be this time.
#28
It struck me, after a
#29
(didn't mean to hit post, but anyway)
glass of wine and perhaps a bit of something else that two corrections are in order.
A) In a post above I said Gordon Brown when I meant Michael Gordon.
B) I thanked Thom and Jim Hightower, I should also thank Shawn (sp?) Taylor and Louise Hartmann, and the rest of the crew that puts on the show.
#30
@Captain Bebops: The UPS strike of about 5-7 years ago was successful; that's the only one i remember. Jim Hightower, however, probably has record of many of them.
#31
@harry
I guess you didn't have the experience of David Peel with and in the Lower East Side...
#32
I love Thom, but he's a typical Liberal who wears democracy on his sleeve, yet seemingly supports an anti-democratic system.
Today he was saying he was in favor of "democracy" in the Senate as if 51% of votes in the Senate was “democratic”. In reality because the Senate represents states not people, that 51% majority can represent as little as 18% of the US population.
Here are some other numbers. Depending on the stars line up the following is possible:
Senators representing a mere 11% of the population can block any legislation in the Senate using the filibuster.
Senators representing a mere 24% of the population can break any filibuster.
Senators representing about 30% of the population can ratify treaties.
If Thom TRULY believed in democracy he’d be calling for sweeping reforms of ALL anti-democratic features of our Constitution… the Senate, the EC, the amendment process, and judicial and treaty ratification.
Reforming the Senate is improbable given the reform-proof nature of our Constitution. But perhaps there’s a back door… using Senate rules to weight the vote of any senator to ½ of the population of their state. Read more here:
http://reinventing-america.blogspot.com/2010/02/reforming-anti-democrati...
Of course this would do nothing to bring other needed reforms to our system… such as proportional representation that could break up our dysfunctional if not braindead two-party system. As a Progressive I can vote FOREVER and never be represented for my beliefs in Washington.
#33
I should clarify my remarks about Thom. While I consider him a genuine Progressive on economic matters... willing to take on the basic assumptions of our market system, he seems to be caught in the middle of wanting to support democracy and talking favorably about social democracies in Europe... but he can't seem to challenge the assumptions of our political system. Maybe this has little to do with his REAL beliefs about democracy and more to do with his running a successful radio program and afraid of losing sponsors. After all, to question the assumptions that underlie our federal government is to question the moral legitimacy of our system.
#34
Perhaps God provided a series of divine Revelations to the animal kingdom.
They just didn’t write it down and instead passed it from generation to generation using an oral tradition.
God’s main warning? Beware of crazed humans who believe they have a right and a duty to subjugate the earth.
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Beck is right. If liberals get their way, there will be an "economic holocaust" for the top 1%.