Daily Topics - Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Monday April 7th-12th 2010 - Thom is traveling to Germany
By louisehartmann
Wednesday - Carl & Christine from KPOJ are filling in as Thom flies to Germany. Lamar Waldron will drop by to talk about how the division of the 60s is back.
Thursday - Thom is live from Germany with Matt Taibbi on the show - Looting Main Street.
On Friday - It's Anything Goes! Peter B. Collins is hosting & Senator Bernie Sanders is here.
On Monday Carl & Christine host once more as Thom flies home. Thom is back on Tuesday.
Comments
#2
radlof,
Thanks so much for the reference info. I really appreciate it! :-)
#3
In short, President Obama is a good Reagan Republican . . .
#4
re: palin: "Joe's biden his time but Sarah's palin' in comparison." -harry ashburn
"Sarah Palin?...well...she's no Dan Quayle!" -harry ashburn
#5
radlof,
How do we stop this trajectory in U.S. politics?
#6
@mstaggerlee: Sorry . . . I was shackled to RADlof for years so in the 80s, I inserted my middle initial "L".
Respectfully,
Richard Lawrence Adlof
#7
@Harry Ashburn -
Picture this if you can ... Dan Quayle and Sarah Palin as contestants on "Celebrity Jeopardy"! :-D
The only problem with the above ... where do we find someone dumb enough to occupy the 3rd contestant's chair? ;-)
#8
@mstaggerlee... said what?
#9
@Staggerlee: what else do you find in the middle?...bush!
#10
@rladlof - Hmmm - apparently I've been overlooking the "L". - I'm sorry about that, as well.
Sincerely,
Marc Alan Lee
:-{)>
The above, btw, is supposed to be a smiley w/ moustache & goatee.
#11
@mstagger; loooks more like a "love brush" than a goatee. but good one!
#12
We have gotta work from ground up. ACT LOCALLY, first. Use local enterprise as a default . . . Avoid the chain and MNE if possible. Protect Unions and Union Jobs. Restore the teaching of Humanities in High School and College/Universities. BUY AMERICAN.
Join groups like Drinking Literately & the Coffee Party. Use free public media like Facebook MySpace et al. Pressure on the Liberal/Progressives to stay the course. Go after Corporate money being spent on policy.
Go after funding of pro-corporatists politicians. PUBLIC funding of elections.
#13
@Nels - you may need to go back to page 2 to see the post where Richard referred to me as Ms. Tagger Lee. :-(
@Harry - GWB? - yeah, I guess that was kinda obvious. Where has MY head been?
Has Jeopardy ever ended with the winner having the least NEGATIVE score? :-D
#14
@rladlof ,
I've been overlooking the "L", too. I'm sorry, too.
#15
@quark, How do we stop the trajectory? I think the fist step is clean up the voting standards, start using instant run-off voting, and perhaps this should go first, tough finance campaign reforms. We may never be able to get all the corruption out of politics, but it would be wise to remove the most pervasive and identifiable whenever confronted by it.
#16
The "L" ain't no big deal . . . I've been living in the middle for years and answering to "Yo! Jack_Hole!!!" for decades . .
#17
Now for something completely different:
For no particular reason, here's one of my favorite bits from The Young Ones: "University Challenge:"
#18
Maxrot,
Those are good suggestions. We can do a lot locally (in our states)...
#19
I remember the days when right wing kooks like Wally George were on late at night on the public channels. Such shows had more of a cult status back then, more like watching a train wreck in slow motion then actually taking the host seriously.
#20
@Quark, it would also be wise to break up the media monopolies (I fantasize about taxing the opinion shows out of existence)
#21
@mstaggerlee, keep yer head in the middle, thats where it is.
#22
DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER DANGER!!!!
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/04/vote-Suppression_guru_spakovsky_is_back_at_it.php
#23
Mark K: Newsweek’s cover story is about “What Would Mary Do?” to save the Catholic Church. The author of the article inside, Lisa Miller, naturally misses the salient issue. Instead of making the expected political points, it should be pointed out that in a world that is less spiritual than commercialized pap--and where people prefer that church dogma adhere to their own personal "morality"--the priesthood has become a less attractive occupation to men, especially for those who cannot contain their nautral (especially heterosexual) impulses. So long as celibacy is the rule, the priesthood will continue to attract a certain small percentage of men who find it an occupation in which to conceal what they don’t want to reveal (and we may well ask what kind of women would be attracted to the priesthood if it were allowed). But eventually they do, as we have seen. Although bishops in the Eastern Orthodox Church are required to be celibate (most are drawn from the monastic orders), priests are allowed to be married, and we are not hearing about the eastern churches having the same abuse issues that the Latin church is having. It is probably time for the Catholic Church to stop denying nature and enter the adult world.
#24
After a January and February that were spring-like here in Washington state, March and April have been decidedly winter-like, which has caused my mind to go completely discombobulated. Since on Tuesday I posted my observations on the men’s NCAA basketball finals, for free-for-all Friday I want to comment on the women’s final. I have to confess that I find women’s basketball excruciating to watch, and since I didn’t feel like going to the grocery store to buy a whole bottle of aspirin, I refused to put myself through that experience. However, yesterday I came across Wednesday’s sports page, and in it contained the box score of the Connecticut-Stanford game. The final score made it seem like an interesting game, 53-47; however, despite the fact that Stanford had an eight-point lead at the half, once the second half started Connecticut had an eleven point lead before you could say “Jack Daniels,” and it was never a contest after that. The fact that Connecticut out-scored its opponents by an average of 47 points per game entering the women’s final four says less about how good they are, but how thinly spread is the talent pool in the women’s game. Just how “bad” can bad be? Consider: These were supposed to be the two best teams in the women’s college game this year, with a combined record of 74-1 going into the championship game (Stanford’s only loss was in an earlier meeting with Connecticut). Combined, they shot 37 of 126 from the field, an anemic .294 field goal percentage. There were 98 total rebounds—nearly three times the number of field goals made. This is what you might expect from a bunch of out-of-shape guys playing a pick-up game in a driveway. Now, some might say that this game was an example of a defensive "struggle"--rather than just a struggle-- but these are just people playing politics. The numbers don’t lie—I know that if I had that bottle of aspirin, I probably wouldn’t be conscious now to talk about it.
#25
@constans, re:Newsweek -the initial question of the article reveals what I consider to be the main problem with today's Church. In the face of all these allegations of child abuse, the members of the heirarchy ask themselves "How can we save the Church (i. e., how do we cover our own butts)?" rather than "How can we save these (and future) victims?"
#26
The proxy votes for the CitiGroup Annual Meeting in NYC are out. None of it is a surprise — but it is breathtaking to see these banksters in action. Check out the Board of Director's voting recommendations:
The CitiGroup B.O.D. recommends share holders vote against:
#8. Stockholder proposal regarding political non-partisanship.
#9. Stockholder proposal requesting a report on political contributions
#10. Stockholder proposal requesting a report on collateral for over-the-counter derivatives trades
#11. Stockholder proposal requesting that stockholders holding 10% or above have the right to call special stockholder meetings
#12. Stockholder proposal requesting that executive officers retain 75% of the shares acquired through compensation plans for 2 years following termination of employment
#13. Stockholder proposal requesting reimbursement of expenses incurred by a stockholder in a contested election of directors.
BUT they recommend shareholders vote for:
#5. The proposal to approve Citi's 2009 executive compensation. (Approval of compensation during ANY period Citi is provided assistance under TARP.)
#27
@ nathnlee - how many will check the box forfeiting their vote over to the will of the BOD?
#28
@mstaggerlee,
Thanks for the reminder of that verse from FOTD, reminds me of the time I saw Mr. Hunter introducing Staggerlee, with "changes I copped from the New Lost City Ramblers," before the GD version came out.
#29
Probably a lot unfortunately. But this is the kind of thing Thom talks about. Get in there and vote your conscience. I'd like to see ALL the 'micro-shareholders' show up for the meeting to vote for B.O.D. confirmations. It'd be like watching the votes for Jr. High Band council. Vikram S. Pandit or Richard D. Parsons? Nah. I don't think so.
#30
@mstaggerlee
<i>Picture this if you can ... Dan Quayle and Sarah Palin as contestants on "Celebrity Jeopardy"! :-D</i>
<i>The only problem with the above ... where do we find someone dumb enough to occupy the 3rd contestant's chair? ;-)</i>
MMMmmmm.....Texas!
#31
I've lost confidence in the little guy having any reasonable influence at shareholder meetings. Ever since the advent of the 401k and the like, the potential voter pool has been reduced to the will of fund managers that are not always looking out for the best interest of the blue-collar investor.
#32
mstaggerlee:
I have to disagree with you in part. We know what the problem(s) are. How do you fix them? By firing all the male priests and replacing them with women, as the Newsweek article obliquely suggests? This is a cultural issue that the Church has to address. How do you make the church more "attractive" to those who want to live "normal" lives, like most other Christian denominations allow? By allowing marriage in the priesthood. You are not going to protect children from pedophiles by continuing to allow a "celibate" priesthood in a "don't ask, don't tell" world.
#33
Am I the only one who thinks Peter B. Collins sounds similar to the late Peter Jennings? The first time I heard him someone referred to him as, "Peter" and I was totally confused because I knew Jennings was gone yet I heard him discussing current events.
Or is this common knowledge? I live in a cave . . .
#34
Bush ‘knew Guantanamo prisoners were innocent’ By Agence France-Presse
Friday, April 9th, 2010 -- 6:48 am
Former US president George W. Bush and his top aides were accused Friday of covering up that many Guantanamo Bay detainees were innocent, amid fears releasing them could harm the 'war on terror'.
The allegations were made in a document by Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, once chief of staff to Bush's first secretary of state, Colin Powell, in a lawsuit filed by a former Guantanamo inmate and published by The Times in London.
Wilkerson alleged Bush's vice president, Dick Cheney, and defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld knew that most detainees held at the US detention camp in 2002 were innocent but believed it was "politically impossible to release them".
They were also keen to avoid revealing the "incredibly confused" detention operation, Wilkerson said, claiming prisoners were often rounded up by Afghan and Pakistani forces in return for cash, with little or no evidence as to why.
He alleged Cheney "had absolutely no concern that the vast majority of Guantanamo detainees were innocent... If hundreds of innocent individuals had to suffer in order to detain a handful of hardcore terrorists, so be it".
more: http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0409/bush-knew-guantanamo-prisoners-innocent/
This is so wrong, and this administration is only continuing the crimes of the previous. Until we hold to account those who would take a nation to aggressive and illegal wars on a pack of lies we are collectively responsible.
#35
I think he sounds like Peter Rabbit.
#36
Very, sadly, true.
Not only does this undermine the foundation of our justice system, it encouages other, likely more dangerous, criminals to join and take advantage of the system.
Does congress even hold hearings on such matters any more?
#37
The ease with which senators can switch parties only goes to point out the two sides of the same corporate coin of the two major parties.
I can respect Arlen Spector - Joe Sestak
I can't, he's taken more turns than a magic bullet...
#38
@Robert S.
re: FOTD - You're entirely welcome. :-)
re: this administration is only continuing the crimes of the previous -
Too true - This administration is deathly fearful of what will happen to themselves once they're out of office if they attempt to "settle the nation's score" with the previous acministration.
#39
Opium and the CIA: Can the US Triumph in the Drug-Addicted War in Afghanistan? by Prof Peter Dale ScottHoo-boy...I am at a loss to try to pick a tease paragraph to post here, just follow the link and read the whole article.Thanks to Peter B. for mentioning Robert Parry's work, I've often linked to it here.
#40
Can the Newspapers be Trusted?
Certainly not the ones owned by NewsCorp!
#41
Progressive Populist is on line and has been one of my favorites, tho I havent bookmarked it on my new computer.
#42
Get real, Peter B. Do you REALLY think that today's parents, who've demonstrated their lack of responsibility by mortgaging themselves to the hilt, are actually going to ACCEPT responsibility for their children's failures, when Teachers make such a convenient and nearly prefect scapegoat?
#43
Hey Robert S./Zero g: Did you hear the NPR piece this week on Oscar Romero? Update on the murder.
#44
re: when thom returns: Peter says Mon, web site says Tues.
#45
David Ray Griffin will also tell you that Bin Laden died in '03.
#46
@Harry,
I had missed it, but now have read it.
BLOCK: What else did he say in that article that shed any new light, do you think, for what was going on at the time?
Mr. THALE: What the story makes clear is that D'Aubuisson and a loose network of former military officers, former National Guard and security forces people, with support and connections to political actors and financing from Salvadorians abroad as well as people in the country carried out a wide set of politically targeted killings.
And the story keeps talking over and over again about, oh, you could complain about your dentist and you might find your dentist dead the next day. And so it's clear there's a network of these people, that they're organized, that they're active and that they conducted a lot of targeted assassinations.
BLOCK: What questions, for you, are the key ones that are still unanswered now, 30 years after this assassination?
Mr. THALE: The big questions really have to do with who was the power structure, who were the decision makers behind those who carried out these killings? There were a set of actors, primarily people from the military and wealthy families, who were the decision makers in that process.
So what is unmentioned? That Roberto D'Aubuisson was a graduate of the School of the Americas, and had extensive ties to US intelligence...
#47
@Robert yeah School of the Americas rep. got so bad they had to change their name like Blackwater. Theyre now known as WHISC Western Hemisphere Institute for Security and Cooperation, or something equally sinister.
#48
About the School of the Americas / Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation
The US Army School of Americas (SOA), based in Fort Benning, Georgia, trains Latin American security personnel in combat, counter-insurgency, and counter-narcotics. SOA graduates are responsible for some of the worst human rights abuses in Latin America. In 1996 the Pentagon was forced to release training manuals used at the school that advocated torture, extortion and execution. Among the SOA's nearly 60,000 graduates are notorious dictators Manuel Noriega and Omar Torrijos of Panama, Leopoldo Galtieri and Roberto Viola of Argentina, Juan Velasco Alvarado of Peru, Guillermo Rodriguez of Ecuador, and Hugo Banzer Suarez of Bolivia. Lower-level SOA graduates have participated in human rights abuses that include the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero and the El Mozote Massacre of 900 civilians. (See Grads in the News).
In an attempt to deflect public criticism and disassociate the school from its dubious reputation, the SOA was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) in 2001. The name change was a result of a Department of Defense proposal included in the Defense Authorization Bill for Fiscal 2001, at a time when SOA opponents were poised to win a congressional vote on legislation that would have dismantled the school. The name-change measure passed when the House of Representatives defeated a bi-partisan amendment to close the SOA and conduct a congressional investigation
by a narrow ten-vote margin.
More evidence of the national security state that has coopted the experiment in government of, by and for the people.
#49
I think Iran, just like Iraq wanted everybody to THINK they may have nuclear weapons to protect themselves from us and Israel.
#50
Somehow the second paragraph didn't come out italisized, despite trying to edit it to do so...the first paragraph worked.
Phunny, mentioning Cass Sunstein after having Richard Gage on the air:
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 Unequal Protection, 2nd Edition:
"Beneath the success and rise of American enterprise is an untold history that is antithetical to every value Americans hold dear. This is a seminal work, a godsend really, a clear message to every citizen about the need to reform our country, laws, and companies."
From Screwed:
"Once again, Thom Hartmann hits the bull’s eye with a much needed exposé of the so-called ‘free market.’ Anyone concerned about the future of our nation needs to read Screwed now."
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"Thom Hartmann seeks out interesting subjects from such disparate outposts of curiosity that you have to wonder whether or not he uncovered them or they selected him."
I think what the caller named Hamad or something was trying to imply was that the U.S.-Russian pact was just a smokescreen to provide political cover to deny Muslim countries like Iran the right to build nuclear weapons. Obviously, this caller is not completely "Americanized," given his lack of insight into the natives' fear of a nuclear-armed Iran--or any other fundamentalist Islamic nation that regards the U.S. as the "great Satan."