Daily Topics - Wednesday June 16th, 2010 - The Bunny Ranch is here!
By shawnt56
Hour One: Did the President's speech last night represent change we can believe in?
Hour Two: Should lawmakers and CEO's be barred from owning stock in the businesses they oversee? Thom confronts CNBC's John Carney www.cnbc.com; Plus, Everything You Know is Wrong About...the Full Monty! Dennis Hof, CEO of the Moonlight Bunny Ranch talks to Thom www.bunnyranch.com
Hour Three: Should we have any hope for real financial reform and if so how can we make it happen? Thom talks with Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren, Chair of the COngressional Oversight Panel on TARP www.cop.senate.gov; Plus, Are nations happier with freedom or equality? Thom has "The Battle" with Arthur Brooks of the American Enterprise Institute www.arthurbrooks.net; And, On this anniversary of Watergate is there any hope we'll again begin to prosecute our criminal presidents? Former Nixon White House Counsel John Dean talks to Thom www.findlaw.com
Comments
#2
I was surprised as all get-out that President Obama did not beat the nuclear drum . . . again.
All-in-all, President Obama gave a speech that could have only inspired BP's attorneys and the disloyal opposition. It was in line with his on-going refusal to rise to our nation's needs and do the things that would fix shit.
To sum it all up: “Heckuva Job, Obama . . . “
#3
Did the President's speech last night represent change we can believe in?
Heck no!!! What I saw last night was essentially a pep-talk - lotsa sound, VERY little substance.
Moreover, most of what I read this morning seems to state that there's essentially NO momentum in the Senate for anything that smells remotely like Cap & Trade, and that we're more likely to get an Energy-Only bill from them, rather than a comprehensive Energy and Climate bill.
There's at least a tiny bit of good news on that front, though. One of Thom's Senators, Jeff Merkley (D, Oregon) has proposed a truly progressive energy bill. details at the links below.
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-06-14-energy-politics-in-the-senate-wh...
http://merkley.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Senator%20Merkley%20-%20America%...
#4
The ONE thing President Obama said that almost worked was when he pointed out that for the last thirty years, America had pursued an energy policy that leads to this and USA owning 2% of the oil and using a quarter of it . . .
What he shoulda said was:
For the last 30 years since President Ronald Reagan pulled the solar panels off the roof of the White House and triggered the disastrous policy America has fervently pursued . . .
My kingdom for a leader in the White House.
#5
In an article she titled, "Oil Good; Democrats Bad" in October 2000, Ann Coulter said, "The ethic of conservation is the explicit abnegation of man's dominion over the Earth. The lower species are here for our use. God said so: Go forth, be fruitful, multiply, and rape the planet -- it's yours. That's our job: drilling, mining and stripping. Sweaters are the anti-Biblical view. Big gas-guzzling cars with phones and CD players and wet bars -- that's the Biblical view."
What does she think now? I hope someone asks her.
(abnegation = denial and rejection of a doctrine)
http://townhall.com/columnists/AnnCoulter/2000/10/12/oil_good;_democrats_bad?page=full&comments=true
#6
Obama is campaigning still. He was very careful to avoid any binding obligation to anyone, BP, Congress, the American People, Alternative Energy, Conservatives, Conserva-Dems, Progressives, corporations, foreign countries ("like China"), small business, and especially HIMSELF and HIS ADMINISTRATION!!!!
I understand that he can't make it all go away, nor sweep it under the rug (no matter how many dispersants are used). I understand that for the foreseeable future the Gulf Coast is Toast.
How he can sit there and talk about the paltry efforts being made with alternative energy is unacceptable. He has to do more than suggest we need an alternative plan, he has to actually outline an overall strategy, implement tactics and demand incorporation immediately.
N
(Sorry for preaching to the choir)
#7
Yes Obama is a 1000x better than Bush, Clinton, Bush and Reagan. But that's not saying much. He's not better than Carter, even if his image seems better!
N
#8
President Obama is a Reagan Republican . . . Reagan wanted to wipe out the DEMs and Obama signed up for the dearth dealing.
#9
YAY Thom! Love the passionate tough talk today!
ENOUGH of placating the Repubs!
President Obama could learn something from you! He's repeating the same mistakes that Al Gore made.
#10
@MAXROT:
Being 1000 times better than Baby Bush and McInsane and yada-yada is NOT a ringing endorsement . . . AND President Obama is to the right of Willy Clinton.
#11
My father used to say, "Truman was the last president with balls." Unfortunately, after his veto of Taft-Hartley was overridden, Truman used the power that he had railed against as an "attempt to bring back slavery."
I don't know what Obama could to other than forget who owns the politicians and act like every day is his last day. Sing as if nobody was listening and dance as if nobody was watching.
#12
@Gene, I don't think Truman was the last President with balls, just the last Democratic one with a set. The Republican't Presidents have more than enough nuts to do whatever they want.
N
#13
Note that for health and life, the King is prayed for more than anyone else, but it appears that he isn't any healtier than anyone else.
#14
@rladlof, AGREED, INDEED!!!
N
#15
Thom I started showing up at my local Green Party meeting, because of you... Thank you and you're welcome.
N
#16
Support Obama?!? WTF is he doing to support?
#17
@Gene, re: #11 -
In other words ... "Forget about a 2nd term!"
Maybe not such a bad idea - we haven't had an incumbent decide against a re-election campaign since LBJ in '68, and I believe he did some of his most important work while Hubert Humphrey campaigned.
Of course, that also gave us Nixon ... the Lawd giveth with the left hand, and taketh away with the right!
#18
@Maxrot : Kennedy and Johnson were also forceful and effective in many ways. The point I focus on is that Obama will not succeed by trying to please everybody, especially the 8th graders (Boehner, et al).
#19
Re: Ann Coulter "and God said so"
No, Ann, a middle eastern tribal people said so aprox 6000 years ago
#20
@mstaggerlee:
Obama is acting like a ship with propellers pointed in all directions, powered by engines that run on money. If he would consider the people of the United States and their needs, he could be successful.
Wanting to be in power should disqualify anybody who wants the office.
#21
re: #5 and #10: 1000x 0 is still 0.
#22
re: Green Party and getting involved: Here's a call to action for anyone who can get to local beaches on June 26 at 12:00pm (local time). (Made aware of this by both my fellow Greens and Change.org).
http://environment.change.org/blog/view/join_hands_at_the_beach_in_a_nat...
I hereby invite all bloggers here to join in this demostration.
Thank you,
Nels
#23
@harry ashburn: New bubbly math says that 1000 * 0 = 2000
#24
Oh yeah, FDR did have Japanese interment camps... hmmm well I might be ok with Corporate Executive interment camps. Not bad, thank you caller for mentioning it.
N
#25
I would settle for President Obama to even show the limp backbone that the namby-pamby Woodrow Wilson showed.
#26
@rladlof, get out of my mind, I was just thinking about the Wilson - Obama similarities yesterday. Both were too damned Professorial for our country's own good. So convinced that they knew better than everyone else.
N
#27
Obama wants us to pray, so here's my prayer:
Oh lord please deliver our country from inadequate leadership. Please send us someone who will shepherd your flock in good faith, instead of someone who desires to be the lead lemming.
N
#28
@Maxrot We found out that Mrs. Wilson was ther one with the balls.
#29
THOM:
P-R-E-Y not p-r-a-y . . .
#30
How can we make BP pay for the damged it has caused, when the damage it has caused is beyond monetary value?
N
#31
@Gene, re:Wanting to be in power should disqualify anybody who wants the office.
Wasn't that the plot of an Issac Asimov story? The presidency becomes an appointed position, and the only way to avoid the job if you've been appointed is for someone to prove that you actually WANT the job! :D
#32
Instead of "E Pluribus Unum" we should use "I got mine"
#33
The Chicago motto: "Urbs in horta" was changed to "Ubi est mea"
Mike Royko. "city in a garden" becomes "where's mine?"
#34
Thom...I wish that I could agree with you in regards to Obama being on our side. Unfortunately, the evidence is slanted heavily against you. It was obvious 2 weeks out on the oil volcano that this was a world changing event. He blew control of the challenge then and is continuing to do so now....the Gulf is lost....maybe we can save the United States Coastal Atlantic, but who knows. The millions of lives and ocean ecology that will be adversely affected is immeasurable. A 20 Billion dollar escrow is ridiculous.......as we both know.
Furthermore, let's look at the actions of this President.......not only his actions, but the results of any legislation which has either been passed or in progress is heavily corporately advantaged---this includes health care, carbon tax and the upcoming financial legislation. His closest advisors are corporate hacks, he allows or supports over 10 Trillion dollars in bailouts for corporations, yet the alternative energy program that could pull us out of our depression is nowhere to be found....in fact, this President supports dangerous, costly nuclear plants and even coal. No....this man is a corporate shill and we got fooled...sorry Thom. Please wake up.
#35
John Kass had a contest for a new Illinois motto. One was "The Closest Thing to a Third World Country North of New Orleans." That was too long.
The winner was, "Will The Defendant Please Rise?"
#36
@mstaggerlee
I don't know about Asimov. My Persian friend, Akbar, suggested government posts be filled via draft, with desire and ambition being disqualifiers. I don't know if he read the book.
#37
I was and am serious about President Obama being a Reagan Republican fervently committed to the destruction of the Democratic Party. President Obama is DLC not DNC. The Democratic Party IS the DNC. The DNC was purged from the Democratic Party when OBAMA kicked Dean to the curb and anointed Kaine.
There is no Democrat in the White House.
#38
re: 37: I would say "There is no democrat in the White House."
lower case d
#39
Martin Mull said he was doing his bit for the environment by burning pets. "If everyone would burn just one small Spaniel ..."
#40
re: Martin Mull:
What say you and I get normal, we don't need to be so formal;
we'll sit and watch TV like others do.
We'll eat meat and mashed potatoes, cut our hair so folks don't hate us;
Life is nuts enough just livin' here with you.
#41
@harry Ashburn
Life is nuts enough just livin' here with you;
"Livin' here with you and Bobby Magoo!"
#42
re: "Normal"...
Oh, its gonna change us honey, sexually; from now on we're just once-a-weekers.
Oh, its gonna change us musically; we'll get our records thru the mail, buy a set of lousy speakers!
#43
Dear Thom, I am amazed at how great people and organizations are in the fight for justice and peace. They continue to fight even with me being so discouraged at the United States of Hell’s future. We have the answers for our problems but our country lacks the leadership in our three branches of government. We cannot survive without leadership and a vision. Thom, you offer good information and points to resolve our many problems. There should always be a back-up plan in case a problem surfaces like oil spillage, a nuclear power plant leak, and the unintended consequences in wars, deregulation of our financial institutions, and the lack of health care for all Americans. Americans seem to have a love affair with wasting away our natural resources such as water, oil, national parks, and our environment to name several resources. Thom has finally ripped Obama.
God helps them who helps themselves. Prayer is important but praying alone will not resolve our many problems. We must put forth some effort on resolving our many problems. We must work with God in cleaning up the filth and garbage that the United States of is noted for around the world.
A $20 billion fund is an insult because BP has had a $170 billion tax break. Give me a break!!!
#44
@gerald re: "God helps them who helps themselves."
"I seen my opportunities and I took 'em." -- George Washington Plunkitt of Tammany Hall fame
Praying is just another way to give up.
#45
@Gerald: "give you a break?" - may I see your articles of incorporation and your last quarterly report?
#46
@Harry Ashburn:
The names of political parties and affiliations are capitalized. If you want to switch to a lower case “d” in this case you would have to use:
There is no democracy in the White House.
That statement is correct, also.
#47
@Gene Savory, I have had many of my prayers answered. You can believe me or not.
#48
@harry ashburn, here is a fact!!! My wife and I live from month to month on our social security checks and our small pensions. We have not saved any money since my wife retired. You can believe me or not.
If employers want Americans to invest in our country, they should give their workers a decent salaries with decent cost of living increases. Our social security checks no longer give us cost of living increases. This is a fact!!!
#49
THERE IS NO BIG GOVERNMENT.
THERE IS NO BIG GOVERNMENT.
THERE IS NO BIG GOVERNMENT.
THERE IS NO BIG GOVERNMENT.
THERE IS NO BIG GOVERNMENT.
Jack_hole.
#50
@rladlof, why do I get a feeling you're wearing ruby slippers?
N
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
At Mondragon - both the mountain and the cooperative city - in Spain (written about in "Threshold" book)
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:
"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."
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."
Alvin Greene Fun Facts:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38433.html
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/crew_investigate_alvin_greene.php#comments#_login#comment-3973860