Daily Topics - June 11th 2020
By thomhartmann
Hour One: "Brunch With Bernie" Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) spends the hour with Thom discussing the issues and answering listener questions www.sanders.senate.gov
The Firesign Theater will be here today and they are playing Friday and Saturday at The Portland Center of the Arts Winningstad Theater. Portland, OR 730p (Sunday night in Eugene)
Comments
#2
Did anyone here catch the Discovery Channels hour long advertisement for Blown Prevention? It was called "Disaster In The Gulf", and tried to pass itself off as an unbiased documentary on the BP act of negligence.
If you didn't see it, trust me, it was backed chock full of BS. If you did see it, I hope you didn't strain you're middle fingers and throat as you instictively yelled "BULLL SHIIIIT!!!!" as I did.
N
#3
Corporations are artificial constructs designed as liability mitigation devices . . . Is it irony to hold one responsible?
Besides British Petroleum: Blackwater/Xe, Halliburton, the five major national banks all need to be thrown on this pyre . . . A pyre lit with the bones of ACORN whose only sin was getting the practice of red-lining blocked in the 1970s.
#4
The Senate is mostly like 8th grade with money.
#5
re: #4: yeah, but the drugs arent as good...
#6
Speaking of red-lining . . . The practice of banking and real estate corporations discriminating against poor (black) folk by zip code . . . Just like Republican ‘caging operations’ . . . Perhaps we stumbled upon another question for Sherry Angle & Rand Paul.
#7
Sorry if I offended any 8th graders. (#4)
#8
Vote Summary
Question: On the Motion to Proceed (Motion to Proceed to S.J. Res. 26 ) - (Murkowski (R-AK)’s attempt to gut the EPA)
Vote Number: 184 - Vote Date: June 10, 2010, 03:52 PM - Required For Majority: ½ - Vote Result: Motion to Proceed Rejected
Vote Counts: YEAs - 47 & NAYs - 53
DemonCrats voting to gut the EPA:
Bayh (D-IN)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Republicants voting to support the EPA doing its actual job:
(Cricket, cricket.)
#9
WRONG! Oil prices are fixed by CARTEL.
#10
One feature of a recession is more shifting of wealth to the already rich.
#11
Our dependency on oil is cancer. The pipelines are the cancers intervation of veins keeping both our oil dependent society functioning and the cancer alive. The oil companies, wells and refineries are tumors, and the oil spill in the gulf a bleeding open infection. Greed and ignorance is metastasis.
We can treat cancer, we do it for people and we can do it for the earth. Ultimately one will be the victor.
#12
@lorne, by your reasoning, I guess dispersants are chemotherapy.
N
#13
Conflict of Interest Alert -
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/10/jim-sensenbrenner-bp-inve_n_608...
Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) is the second-ranked minority member of the House Judiciary Committee, andalso said committee's former chairman. He is also the owner of more than 3600 shares of BP plc., and is not even considering recusing himself from the oil spill hearings.
Yes, friends, we DO have the best Democracy money can buy! :(
#14
I fear that nothing's going to change in Congress as long as our election systems can be flooded with loot that attracts sociopaths.
#15
Bernie . . . Bernie . . . Bernie . . . Sigh. Your crazy-McWonky ideology is showing . . . Ensuring that teachers have jobs, means that future voters might possibly be more likely to be smarter in their electoral choices AND the Republicans wouldn’t be able to be elected. We are ‘Mericans, dagmabit! We can’t have crap like this that makes sense . . .
Think about the corporations! What would corporations do without electoral fodder?
#16
@Gene, actually I fear a lot of things are going to change in Congress because our election systems are being flooded with loot.
A lot of horrible things are on the horizon, brace yourself people, and pray for lube. :-(
N
#17
Gotta TOTALLY love the broadcasted “Arco has 10¢ price advantage” commercial on the KTLK 11550 AM web-stream right after Bernie & Thom answered the dude with the gasoline pricing trend ramble . . . CLASSIC!
#18
Thom get your self a good speech to text software, Dragon Naturally Speaking works fine. You may have to still do some typing to make corrections, but far less.
N
#19
70% of Americans are progressive.
#20
Tim Pawlenty is a who-wore . . . with the sole philosophy that he NEEDS to remain on the public dole.
#21
Can a State call for impeachment and send it to Congress?
#22
Sorry . . . What I meant to type was:
“Tim Pawlenty is a whore whose sole philosophy that he NEEDS to remain on the public dole FOREVER and FOREVER.”
#23
THOM: It is not about figuring out that the Republicans crossed-over; the DEMS know that is what happened. The DEMs are afraid to admit that they were cross-overed by the REPs . . . because reality is scary.
#24
@Savory RE Impeachment: Not in the Constitution of the United States of America.
#25
Liberal Republicans and their predecessors, the Progressive Republicans, existed before Republicans had to take a stupidity pledge.
#26
States and even cities can pass referendums for impeachment. Thomas Jefferson was involved in writing rules.
http://www.impeachbush.tv/impeach/bystate.html
Ten states were calling for impeachment of G. W. Bush.
The House can ignore the states on this.
#27
Clarence Thomas proved you can ignore an obvious conflict of interest by not recusing himself in Bush v. Gore. Thomas's wife was on the Bush transition committee.
#28
Regarding John Yoo's belief that you can torture till organ failure (which means that you are only telling the truth if you don't tell your torturers what they want to hear, although you could very well wind up being tortured to death): this reminds me of interrogating witches hundreds of years ago. They'd be thrown in water and if they sunk, then they would be believed that they weren't actually witches. But they'd be dead too. So really, John Yoo isn't much more intellectually advanced than torturers in the Middle Ages.
#29
The Military Commissions Act, Repeal of Posse Comitatus and Revision of the 1807 Insurrection Act
http://alaskafreepress.com/news/557
#30
Thom,
Your doctors are nuts!!! I was diagnosed with Frozen Shoulder for the same reason, a lot of typing. I was given some exercises to do but the one that really worked was the following. I put a pulley on the ceiling, tied a rope to my wrist and ran the rope up through the pulley and down so I could pull it with my other hand. Without having to exert any effort on the side with the frozen shoulder, I pulled my arm up over my head and lowered it back down. I did this for about 15 to 30 minutes a day for about 2 or 3 weeks and it was cured. I still type a lot and have had no recurrance. No shots or drugs, and cheap to do. It's always scary to me to recommend anything medical since it's so easy to do more harm than good, but I really think this makes so much sense and it certainly worked in my case.
Good luck, stay healthy, we need you..........................
#31
re: #27 - True enough, Gene, but one has to wonder whether a committee chairman can insist, or at the very least request, that a committee member, with an such an OBVIOUS conflict of interest, should be disallowed from voting on any issue that would directly affect his income.
By the same token, though, one fears that in the topsy-turvy political world of the 21st century (and in keeping with recent Supreme Court decisions), the exact opposite might apply, i. e., the ONLY people allowed to vote on any given issue would be those with a financial interest in the outcome.
#32
If a state, county, or city passes a resolution for impeachment, that state's representative (think just one) will introduice the resolution in the House. The House must suspend all other activity and take up the resolution.
#33
Obama may not be perfect but he's better than the alternative. When I wake up at night with bad dreams of Newt Gingrich peeking in my window or Larry Craig waving his fingers under my door, I look over at my paint by the number, blackvelvet, glow in the dark picture of Obama I can roll over and get right back to sleep with visions of him kicking Mitch McConnel in the gnads while he's looking for some ass to kick.
#34
From Justin DeVore’s website: http://www.devoreforcongress.com/solutions.html
“The federal budget is growing out of control and the Republican Party is as much at fault as the Democratic Party. We have to reduce the out of control spending.”
File under wackadoo . . .
#35
Is Justin DeVore related to the insane-evil California Conservative Republican Chuck DeVore?
#36
Take the position that Labor is wealth or creates wealth, then the Illegal Employer problem is proved.
I've argued with conservatives who are so clueless that they believe that banks create wealth. It's a futile effort at times.
A bank creates wealth in the same sense that a supermarket creates food.
#37
This caller is repeating the same mantra, we just need the right candidates...no, no, its the system, not the candidates. She's looking in vain for a savior.
#38
YO Lindy! http://www.actblue.com/ . . . Already EXISTS!
#39
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Why-Are-Jews-Organizing-a-by-Rabbi-Michael-Lern-100611-82.html
Rabbi Michael Lerner is a humanitarian.
#40
The Jackboots want to enslave Americans.
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/06/10/the-war-is-making-you-poor/
#41
The great & grand oily philo-soaper ARCO-medies strikes again . . . White washing the destruction of our economy and ecology. Oh boy is ARCO (B.P.) smurfy!
#42
JOHN BONER, a Republican from Ohio, wants the American taxpayer to pay for the oil companies crimes in the Gulf. We have socialism for the rich but not for the poor and the Middle Class.
#43
Progressive media pioneers Frank Morrow and Doug Kellner of Alternative Views say: "socialism for the rich...capitalism for the poor."
#44
The Boner backed down: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/boehner-says-bp-on-hook-for-all-oil-spill-costs.php
Pelosi smacked him around a bit: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/pelosi-whacks-boehner-over-oil-spill-damages-controversy.php
Now, the Chamber now has jumped on the Boner’s new position: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/chamber-no-taxpayer-money-for-oil-spill-recovery-video.php
#45
Help with water cooler wars needed by me. My discussions (fights) with the other side seems to always lead to their concerns about slackers. It seems that conservative philosophy always leads to an increase in predators in a positive feedback way i.e. an uncontrollable increase in predators. The reich seems to think that liberal philosophy will lead to an increase in slackers. A idea which bothers them more than the increase in slackers. My only defense is that slackers have no power so who cares. Any suggestions?
#46
re #45 It's my belief that many if not most "slackers" like myself, suffer from chronic depression. I think depression is much more prevalent than we want to acknowledge. I think if we had real mental health care in this country, there would be a lot fewer "slackers". Im a lot luckier than most; i can afford a visit 4 times a year to a consulting psychiatrist for my medication, but, even though I have Medicaid part D, (Rx coverage), it costs me $70 per month.
#47
@chuckle8, if your adversaries are truly convinced about slackers increasing in number then they should consider that it will give hard working son-of-bitches like them to get ahead because the competion will be sleeping. Second when it comes down to it, worrying about other peoples lifestyle is no excuse for being an ass.
N
#48
re #47: worrying about other peoples' life styles is what parents, co-dependents and fundamentalist christians do.
#49
@chuckle8 - Yes, I've heard that arguement, too - and do we need to ask exactly WHO it is that they are afraid will become the slackers? I've never heard a conservobot complain about them damn lazy white folk! So, one tactic you can take is to see if you can back them into the race corner. This, however, can lead to some very uncomfortable relations in the future - closet racists DO NOT LIKE being outed!
So, how else can you combat this notion? Simple - BOREDOM! People NEED something to occupy their time. Do you REALLY know anybody (who is not seriously, clinically depressed - and they need medical attention ... see below) who can simply sit around for weeks at a time and NOT get bored out of their mind? I certainly can't, and I'm not aware of anyone who can. Boredom is a WONDERFUL motivator. My wife has been out of work for about a year now, and she's beside herself with boredom. She's even considering a supermarket job - quite a step down from her last position (director of a progressive private school), but there you have it!
As far as the depressed folk are concerned (and I can count myself among thjeir number - yesterday was the 9th anniversary of my son's death, and I've been on anti-depressents almost constantly since then) get them the meds they need to adjust their brain chemistry, and they'll stop being such slackers.
So there's a couple of ideas. Good luck at the water cooler!
#50
Thanks for the input. I do not think it is racist for one of the water coolers, as much as, a prejudice against "white trash". The other water cooler is more philosophical (except the voting part is down to earth). They are along the lines of Greenspan when he says we need to keep unemployment high so workers will not be willing to strike for higher wages. Greenspan also says (per Thom) that highly skilled workers make too much so we need more H1B visas. Since the second water cooler consists mostly of highly paid engineers, I probably do not need much help with them except to convince them that what Greenspan says applies to the entire Republican party.
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
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Hello All
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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
Thom & Louise at a "private audience" with His Holiness Pope John Paul II at his summer palace, Castle Gandolfo, Italy
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 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 Screwed:
"The powers that be are running roughshod over the powers that OUGHT to be. Hartmann tells us what went wrong — and what you and I can do to help set American right again."
Alvin Greene appears to be a well-meaning (and unfortunately inarticulate – Check out last nights Olbermann show) slub. I don't think he meant to cause problems. All things considered, it is doubtful that he was his registered Party’s choice. This is the reason we need to re-initiate exit polls in America.
The Republicans voting cross party lines were supporting their candidate by pooching the other side's best candidate. There is a long history of similar Republican malfeasance going back to the 1960s. Republican dirty tricks don’t end with caging and purging voter rolls and spurious immigration laws and . . .