Daily Topics - Thursday - April 22 2010
By louisehartmann
It's Earth Day!
Hour One - How gullible does the oil industry think we are? H. Leighton Steward http://plantsneedco2.com
Hour Two - Obama's speech and have we become - "Can I see your papers...Please?"
Hour Three - It's a rumble! - Does Earth Day Movement Pushes Painful Policies...American Families Hurt By Higher Costs and TaxesMike Carey www.ACAREnow.org
Plus...Manny Howard Writer/Editor...author of "My Empire of Dirt" From suburbanite to back yard farmer in his big city backyard
Comments
#2
Gerald,
Your post reminds me of a fascinating conversation Jon Stewart had last night with Fred Pearce, who says the world population will stabilize soon because women are having fewer children.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-april-21-2010/fred-pearce
#3
Foodfascist,
I think we might be surprised at the people who are influenced by Thom (and who also read this blog!)
#4
Forcing the governments hand by attacking those that can not defend themselves . . . Instead of busting corporate bad actors = STUPIDITY and ASS-BACKWARDS.
#5
@Nels - You had me expecting a paraphrase of "It's a Wonderful Life" -
Every time a Republican is elected, an Angel loses it's wings. :-(
Seems like this could make for a good thread in here - Complete the sentence -
"Every time a Republican is elected ... "
#6
Thank you, Manny for sharing your experience. Will look for the book.
There is another family that's been doing this for years - the Dervaes family of Pasadena CA.
Check them out at http://urbanhomestead.org/
#7
rladlof,
Money talks...
#8
The Yellow Peril, NINA, Jim Crow Laws, Segregation, Japanese Concentration Camps, Alien Sedition Law... the more things change the more they stay the same it seems.
#9
mstaggerlee and Nels,
I had the same thought!
#10
@mstaggerlee:
Every time a Republican is elected...
...school quality goes down.
...racism rises.
...corporations celebrate.
...my stomache turns.
N
#11
Everytime a Republican is elected...
...a Democrat probably tried to be a centerist.
#12
My Empire of Dirt
"Hurt" --- one of my favorite Johnny Cash (and 9 Inch Nails) songs:
#13
OK, sorry for that last post --- I was experimenting with the "Edit" button!
#14
Quark, the edit button is one of the best new addtions to this blog (IHMO). I wish the reply button would put the replied post under the original post though.
#15
Obama's book he touted was "Team of Rivals"
#16
I was born at Our Lady Queen of Angels in East LA. If I showed my birth certificate, would that get me deported because it is suspicious that I was born in East LA?
#17
All my papers are in a safe deposit box in Burbank . . . Should my 'cracker' looking backside be carrying my passport?
#18
I think I want to Join the Arizona Police force... so I can stop everyone I suspect of being Canadjun, and locking them up when they can't produce their Grandma's Birth Certificate.
N
#19
Anyone complaining about the heat in Arizona would be reasonably suspicious to me as being a damn Canuck!!!
N
#20
If you read this article, you will know why the coming Great American Depression will last for generations. We do not have the good paying manufacturing jobs to help us out of the Great Depression.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/We-Moved-from-a-Manufactur-by-Thom-Hartmann-100420-573.html
#21
Yet we can't stop folk and ask them to produce their "carry' permits . . .
#22
This is a total disgrace and the article only solidifies my belief that the United States of Hell is an evil, vile, and wicked nation.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Pentagon-Cheating-Vets-Out-by-Sherwood-Ross-100420-876.html
#23
Yet we can’t stop every idiot with a Confederate Flag and a gun-rack in their pickup truck and as them for their papers?!? All Southerners are foreigners.
#24
A newspaper is trying yo do the impossible. This soul cannot be saved.
#25
@rladlof, well all Southerners wanted to be foreigners (at least the white ones did). But why can't you stop anyone you choose to (in Arizona at least), you can claim you thought they were from France, England, Russia, Switzerland, Sweden. Think about it, hey you, blondie, yeah the one with the double D rack, come here, let me see your papers... don't have them, OK I'll escort you home, see if'n we can't find where you belong.
The law says if there's reasonable suspicion that they're illegal they can be stopped... who's to say what country you thought they might be from? Wonder if it allows for citizen arrests?
#26
rladlof,
Re: "Southerners are foreigners."
Sometimes it certainly feels that way. Yet I have to remember the influence of the relatively few "plantation royalists" and later, the carpetbaggers, both groups having the guiding principles/goals of money and control. Then, as usual, poor suckers (NOT the wealthy/ruling class) were co-opted to fight against their own best interests.
Simplistic explanation, I know, but it gets the conversation started, I guess...
#27
@Quark, when discussing Southerners, "Simplistic" is quite appropriate.
N
#28
Are the cops, Police and Sheriffs in Arizona Native Americans?
#29
@rladlof, nah, just Stupid Americans
#30
Side Note: I had my car serviced last week at the dealer . . .
When I told them that I would never buy another Toyota because of Toyota's decision to stop making cars in Fremont, California, I would have preferred at they got on the phone and tell management that screwing Americans does not engender warm and fuzzy among American folk that buy their cars. They stood there and looked sheepish instead . . .
#31
@rladlof, baa baaa baaad news boss, we lost another customer.
#32
Quark, Thom mentioned on his show that since Reagen wages have flattened and in fact we are $2000 less in earning since Reagan took office.
The goose-stepping GOP wants us to have children but why won't they stop the outsourcing of jobs or called for wage and salary increases or proecute the owner of Massey Mining for mass murders?
Here is a fact. To raise a child parents must spend $180,000 by the time the child is eighteen. To complete an undergraduate degree is another $100,000. On Catholic radio a good Catholic family has six children. Parents must raise from wages $1,680,000 to raise six children. If the household income averages $45,000 per year, it would take 38 years to raise the $1.68 million for a family of six children. This is without paying any taxes at any level. Do you honestly expect our goose-stepping government will give you a pass from paying any taxes?
I said to wife a couple years back that if we had the money, I would have loved to have more children. My wife responded to me that's because you do not give birth to a child.
#33
Cool Gene! Yes on that!
"Free" needs to be replaced with "FAIR" when it comes to markets - the word "Free" gets so misinterpreted like it's a great American Privelidge our fore-fathers fought to keep America "Free" like free from religious tyranny, free to dissent about opinions, but for mega-corps to be "Free" to destroy any competition to serve a bottom line - although the mega-corps jump on that kind "free market" like flies on poop -
"Free" was an easy sale to middle-class America because it "sounds" patriotic ( as in 'Free Trade Agreement' ) - the big corporations hear a completely different drummer when they hear the word "free" -
If the "corporate personhood" is a part of this "freedom" they should have the same risks as well - like when a person gets sent to jail for crimes - especially when they cause so much grief amoung hard working, honest and real contributers to daily American life.
These people - us - deserve some protection from being consumed by any corporate entity's plan to eat us alive financially - If you are a carpenter, truck driver, waitrerss or whatever - you can't be expected to defend against obscure legal "freedoms" like collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps - it would be easier to fight enemy soldiers in the streets that you could see coming.
... thanks for allowing my 2 cents :)
Nelson
#34
Bingo!
#35
Rallying for new taxes. The 15,000 in Illinois aren't the only taxpayers who have demonstrated at their State Capitol demanding to be taxed and not getting much media notice. 6,000 gathered in Olympia, Washington on the Capitol steps chanting for New Revenue. We followed about 3000 "tea party" people who were chanting for No New Taxes. It was a cold overcast day in February 2010 and only a couple local papers mentioned us. We were protesting the proposed drastic cuts to the State budget and demanding that new taxes and revenue be identified in order to bridge the gap for low-income health care and K12 thru college education, among other things. I think it made a big difference. The Legislature listened. New taxes were identified and tax loopholes were closed. The cuts were not so draconian in the final budget. Yes, we still have cuts, but the important programs were saved: community health centers, Planned Parenthood, K12 ed., etc. This time the threats and shrieking of the "teabaggers" didn't win, but we still have hesitant "Democrats" in embattled districts who need extraordinary support and encouragement in order to win their elections and do the right thing. (And, of course, a republican Attorney General who needs a major intervention.)
http://www.theolympian.com/2010/02/16/1139130/back-to-back-tax-rallies.html
http://www.socialistalternative.org/news/article12.php?id=1257
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
From Screwed:
"If we are going to live in a Democracy, we need to have a healthy middle class. Thom Hartmann shows us how the ‘cons’ have wronged this country, and tells us what needs to be done to reclaim what it is to be American."
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"With the ever-growing influence of corporate CEOs and their right-wing allies in all aspects of American life, Hartmann’s work is more relevant than ever. Throughout his career, Hartmann has spoken compellingly about the value of people-centered democracy and the challenges that millions of ordinary Americans face today as a result of a dogma dedicated to putting profit above all else. This collection is a rousing call for Americans to work together and put people first again."
From Screwed:
"I think many of us recognize that for all but the wealthiest, life in America is getting increasingly hard. Screwed explores why, showing how this is no accidental process, but rather the product of conscious political choices, choices we can change with enough courage and commitment. Like all of Thom’s great work, it helps show us the way forward."
I wear a kippah (yarmulke, skull cap) and not a somberaro AND the hair is standing up on the back of my neck.