Daily Topics - Friday June 4th 2010
By louisehartmann
Thom is "live" from the United Nations...in NYC
Senator Bernie Sanders is here "Brunch with Bernie" http//sanders.senate.gov
Comments
#2
In a Truly Free Market, BP Would Be Toast
Sometimes it's wise to read what the "opposition" has to say in better to understand them, and the Republicans and the Democrats who oppose them.
#3
I don't know whether you think of c4ss as opposition or ally. I have mixed feelings about them, myself. I'm more sympathetic to the decidedly 'communist' element of the anarchist movement, but I try, hard, to keep an open mind and read the writings of people who can use the term <i>laissez faire</i> without retching.
#4
I am shocked by my favorite senator's comment regarding "clogging the constitution with amendments", refering to a constitutional amendment regarding corporate personhood. I think this is the most important issue of our time. From this, everything else can begin to change back to we the people. If Bernie isn't on board with this, I doubt any other senator would be. This is not like progressives want an amendment for frivolous issues.
#5
The powerful take advantage of ambiguities in the Constitution to shift law to their benefit. Amendments to the Constitution are the necessary evil.
#6
Many progressives, including myself, are leery of a constitutional convention because of the possibility of more authoritarian amendments being ratified.
#7
re: caller's request for people to see the live video feeds. This page has the 12 feeds (though most are blank (probably intentionally) but one or two view are adequate anyway.
http://globalwarming.house.gov/spillcam
Have it sitting on a corner of my monitor.
N
#8
or->of
#9
Hmm must have pressed preview instead of save. Oh, well.
#10
Jesus Saves, Microsoft resets.
#11
A COPY OF THE LETTER I JUST SENT TO MY COMPANY’S HEALTH INSURANCE AGENTS THIS MORNING FOR PERUSALBY YOU GOOD FOLK:
Mr. XXXXX and Ms XXXXX,
Please begin reviewing alternate health insurance providers for @@@@@ as it appears that Blue Shield of California may no longer value our company’s business.
@@@@@ received the attached letter from Blue Shield, dated 05/28/10, notifying the company that Cedars-Sinai Health Associates/Cedars-Sinai Medical Group will no longer be a provider for Blue Shield. As Cedar-Sinai is one of the finest and largest medical providers in the entire country, it causes concern that Blue Shield appears intent on blockading staff members of our company from seeking the best quality healthcare available in the local region. @@@@@ is left wondering what it says about worthiness of Blue Shield as a vendor that their reimbursement rates are unacceptable to such a quality institution. Frankly, @@@@@ paid $81,997.86 in 2009 and has paid $35,867.94 in premiums this year to date and we are questioning if our premium dollars can be more wisely spent. You may wish to express our concerns to your contacts within Blue Shield.
In short, this situation is wholly unacceptable and definitely figures into the discussion of whether Blue Shield will continue as @@@@@’s health insurance provider in the future.
On a personal note: My family has received letters from both Blue Shield and Cedars Sinai describing the impasse in their negotiations. The letter from Blue Shield states that they will be transferring my family to Prospect Medical Group on 08/01/10. Everyone I know locally in the healthcare industry (including my wife and mother-in-law) describe this as an extremely poor provider choice. I, personally, have less than zero interest ensuring the salary and bonuses of Blue Shield’s Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bruce Bodaken, at the expense of providing adequate healthcare for my beloved family.
Additionally, I request that you provide me the direct contact information of the specific individual within Blue Shield of California who I can adequately express my personal discontent as I am sure that calling Customer Service will not allow me to efficiently and effectively communicate my personal views regarding the situation.
Respectfully,
Richard L. Adlof
Comptroller
@@@@@
#12
Does Firefox run on Jesus?
#13
re: #12, yeah, but you have to buy the app.
#14
the app costs 21 Sheckles
#15
@n8chz, I believe Firefox does run on Jesus, both are open source projects.
N
#16
Jesus is still subject to a lot of "hang-ups" :)
#17
Firefox runs on Cheeses?!?
#18
When Firefox dies, it comes back to life after 3 days.
#19
re: #17: kosher cheeses only.
#20
Golly! Now, I wish I had magical powers like the Firefox and was as tasty as the Cheeses . . .
#21
Cheeses love me this I know...
'cause "Joy of Cooking" tells me so...
Its so rich and I'm so so.....
Cheeses love me this I know.
#22
well Cheeses better be careful, Mickey Mouse will eat it all up...
#23
ya mean "Pontius Pilate Mouse"?
#24
Caught the end of show on the Weather Channel last night that showed some research into reducing the damage caused by Hurricanes. Small scale bench tests were completed to test the effectiveness of the proposed technology to starve the energy source for the storm. Believe it or not, one of the technologies that was mentioned was spreading a one molecule layer of OIL on the water surface. The brief segment did not opine as to what would happen to the oil as it was spread by the storm. With early forecasts of a strong Hurricane season, maybe they will get their real world test.
Did the NOAA head really say the underwater plumes of oil reported by other scientists are really blooms of plankton? She sounds like BP’s (Beyond Prosecution) CEO saying the workers are getting food poisoning.
#25
Oh I just had a wicked thought. What if the oil slick does get around to the east coast of Florida, gets caught in a hurricane and Disney World gets oiled. What oh what will BP do then, because they wouldn't have the political or monetary power to give the Mouse the kiss off.
The Clash of those Titans, would be fun to watch from the sidelines.
N
#26
So, how did the small-scale benches work?
#27
Blessed are the cheesemakers
#28
Blessed are the Cheesemakers, for they shall work for the GRATER good..
#29
I wouldn't assume out of hand that BP has less clout than Mickey.
#30
I wish I could remember the name of the Weather Channel show, but the announcer said it worked well and cut off the heat flow to fuel the storm. I thought it was surreal with what is going on now. There was another method that seeded clouds with super absorbent material to break the circulation pattern and thus reduce the energy in the storm.
#31
@n8chz, BP probably has more clout, but I seriously doubt enough to hold of a civil case brought by the Mouse. But its a moot point until something like that happens anyway.
N
#32
@MAXROT RE the Clash of those Titans:
Disney would frag BP. . . Did you see the South Park episode ‘The Ring’? The RAT would eat them and fly back up to Valhalla to rest . . .
#33
this ruined my day. everyone knew this kinda stuff was going on, but out of sight out of mind right?
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/caught_in_the_oil.html
#34
I suppose that those oil soaked birds are paying for their lack of intelligence and motivation to build boats.
Nothing to see here, just move along.
#35
All I know is someone needs to punish those photographers for taking those pictures. Damn them; its all their fault...
just ask BP.
N
#36
BP = Blown Prevention
N
#37
GO, FLYERS!!
#38
As President gerald I am closing the American Embassy in Israel for killing an American at sea. We are breaking off all ties because of Israel's holocaust against the Palestinians. We will no longer give Israel $4 billion as a yearly gift. This money will go to pay for American health care.
We live in a hell-hole country with 25% of children or 31 mllion children requiring food programs at school on a daily basis.
Comcast to buy NBC and MSNBC! There goes great progressive shows out the door. Ameircan minds will be filled with garbage.
Thom, I have a suggesstion. Play one Louis Armstrong's songs on your show to its completion. I like Louis Aemstrong. My father was a big fan of Jimmy Durante and Edward G. Robinson. What make these three personalities so unique were their voices.
Thom, I want to express to you a BIG thank you for cutting back on your belief that the United States of Hell has a future. The above few sentences just continue to re-enforce my belief that our country has no future. Here is a prediction - the middle class in the United States of Hell is history.
#39
America is unfolding.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Terror-Of-The-Situatio-by-Mike-Samu-100603-708.html
#40
Is Obama a criminal?
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Yes-Obama-is-Engaged---by-Glen-Ford-100603-568.html
#41
Obama needs to declare BP a terrorist enemy combatant and all of BP's bank accounts seized or frozen until BP sets aside $30 billion dollars in a bank account controlled by the U.S. government. This money will be used for cleanup and compensation to all victims of this environmental disaster. Better yet, seize all of BP's assets and liquidate the corporation and start nationalizing the oil industry. The oil resources of the U.S.A. belong to its citizens and not to some foreign multinational corporations. The oil profits belong to the U.S.A. citizens and should be used to develop alternative renewable energy resources, universal single payer health care, free universal college education for every citizen and reinvigorate strategic industries to provide more decent jobs to U.S.A. citizens.
All of BP's top executives should also be declared enemy combatants, tried for their crimes against Earth and all of its living creatures including humans and thrown in jail for life with no possibility of parole. Earth's inhabitants will be suffering the consequences of this oil disaster for at least the next 100 years.
This BP oil disaster is a terrorist act that makes Osama Bin Laden envious. It will be hard for anyone to surpass this terrorist act.
#42
We have many to blame.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/BP-Is-Not-The-Only-One-To-by-Donn-Kurtz-100603-354.html
#43
We are watching the death of America. May America RIP!!!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/why-were-falling-into-a-d_b_600571.html
Militarily, we are a superpower and second to no one. Economically, we are a banana republic and a cesspool for garbage dumping.
#44
Don't you just love this hell-hole we call the United States of Hell?
#45
I am working up to another terrential puke!!!
#46
Here are the true faces of America and Americans.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/03/gulf-oil-spill-photos-ani_n_560813.html
#47
Here are the faces of seven wacky energy villains.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/28/7-energy-villains-in-your_n_591016.html
#48
n8CHZ
Re: I don't know whether you think of c4ss as opposition or ally.
I really don't know what I am, as I am still searching for a "political home". I do wonder why both the Democratic & Republican parties are against the Libertarians. Perhaps it is because the Libertarians are not sponsored by the corporations as the two party system is? So instead of just listening to the Democrats and the Republicans saying that the Libertarians are bad, bad, bad; I try to read what some of them are actually saying.
It's really a challenge to discern what truth really is.
#49
Torrential is the correct spelling for torrential puke!!!
#50
When will America and Americans experience the wrath of God?
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 Unequal Protection, 2nd Edition:
"If you wonder why and when giant corporations got the power to reign supreme over us, here’s the story."
From Cracking the Code:
"Thom Hartmann ought to be bronzed. His new book sets off from the same high plane as the last and offers explicit tools and how-to advice that will allow you to see, hear, and feel propaganda when it's directed at you and use the same techniques to refute it. His book would make a deaf-mute a better communicator. I want him on my reading table every day, and if you try one of his books, so will you."
From Screwed:
"Thom Hartmann’s book explains in simple language and with concrete research the details of the Neo-con’s war against the American middle class. It proves what many have intuited and serves to remind us that without a healthy, employed, and vital middle class, America is no more than the richest Third World country on the planet."
To Thom,
Just wanted to let you know (and I'm proud to let all on this blog know too), last night my wife and two children attended our first Green Party meeting!!!! Yes sir we're getting active (though our children are just observers at this time).
Your absolutely right though, local political meetings are small, my wife and I made up 2/5 of the attendance, though I don't think there is any need for us to attempt a takeover, this small core of party faithful are already on top of local issues as well as national. Let this be a lesson to all bloggers here, get to your political party meeting, get informed and get active. I bet you dollars to donuts you'll leave your first local meeting feeling like there is something you can do.
(I so wanted to annouce that I was planning on doing this earlier this week, but I didn't want to talk the talk until I walked the walk.)
N