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
G. K. Chesterton has said that workers are given slave wages.
You can believe it or not. There are times when we have to say to God that His back is strong enough to lift us up.
I have said that many our problems may be God's will to test us. Personally, America and Americans have failed all of God's tests since 1981. We are a dry rot and a rat infected nation.
#3
And in sweden, they have swedish ladies. There's a reason to live there, but the won't allow immigration :..(
N
#4
Hey Gerald I have a prayer posted at #27.
You can meditate on it or not.
N
#5
Re Swedish ladies: Huh! Winchester on M*A*S*H* said Swedish women "get so lumpy"....
#6
Here is a fact that my wife has said to me!!! If I was a multimillionaire like her twin sisters and their husbands, I would be just like them. My wife is probably right but I will never know whether or not my wife is right or wrong. Personally, I believe that I would still be a caring person. I would still oppose wars; I would still practice the Golden Rule; I would still pray for God's guidance; and I would still believe in God's words from the Holy Bible.
#7
re: web streaming outage: I heard a brief, high-pitched signal before the outage. There are major solar flares expected before 2013. See the article I posted on the message board, under "environment". http://www.thomhartmann.com/forum/2010/06/disaster-due-december-21-2012
#8
Gerald,
While some of believe in a transcendent and immanent deity . . . Others of us believe he/she/it is busy watching his/her/its soap operas (telenovelas) and can’t be bothered at this time.
#9
Re: The president asked us to pray
Sounds like Obama (being the politician he is) is trying to enlist the support of the religious right. How do you think that will "work" for him
#10
@Maxrot, amen brother!!! Thank you for the prayer on #27!
There is a saying, "If God has given us lemons, let us make lemonade."
#11
Seriously, OBAMA is who he said is was and most of us voted for him cuz he was a crap-load less crappy than McInsane and the Twitter Quitter. There are few folk who voted for him for who he said he was.
#12
Here's one more of my prayers:
Oh Lord please deliver us from people who tell us that their candidate would have never let this or that happen if only they had won.
I'm sorry, but there is no way I'm convinced that Gore, Kerry, H. Clinton, would have successfully fought and beat the corporate backed conservative machine. In fact I doubt seriously that any of them would have really tried.
N
#13
@rladlof, I believe God cares for us but we should let Him know that we also care for ourselves and for our brothers and sisters who are His children.
#14
Thom keeps mentioning when Reagan challenged G.H.W. Bush ... does he mean Gerald Ford?
#16
Gerald,
I belong to a group of folk that prayed to an empty room.
#17
@Maxrot, I thought I read that Hillary was on the Board for Monsanto. Monsanto seems to be doing its part in killing off the world population so the Project for a New American Century's dream may come true to bring down our population to a sustainable level of 500 million people on planet, Earth. That means about 6.5 billion human beings must be exterminated.
#18
Screw the concept of toughness . . . JUST ENFORCE THE LAW. The main job of the Executive Branch is to enforce Justice.
#19
@rladlof, maybe many of us are praying to God to help Americans with an empty brain.
#20
@rladlof, you are right. We must enforce the law but who in this hell-hole country has a spine to enforce our laws?
#21
Sadly, this may or may not be Obama's Katrina, but it certainly could have been his 911, he could have rallied the American people behind him and made it political suicide not to support alternative energy.
Way to fumble the ball Mr. President.
N
#22
@Gerald: not necessarily extermination, but failure to reproduce will achieve the same objective. Failure to reproduce due to obesity and endocrine-disruptive toxins could bring world pop down to 500 million.
#23
@harry ashburn, whatever method is being used to reduce our population, it will be used to exterminate 6.5 billion human beings. Endless wars are tried and true methods as well. Americans are truly glorified by wars. Wars warm the cockles of American hearts.
#24
gerald, failing to reproduce isnt the same thing as extermination, esp. no bodies to bury...or eat.
#25
Soylent Green is people. YUM!
#26
Huh! I thought it was Kermit!
#27
Obama Pigeon Alert: Pres. Obama's speech reminded me of one of my favorite Abraham Lincoln quotes: The speech wasn't "as thin as the homeopathic soup that was made by boiling the shadow of a pigeon that had starved to death," but it was pretty darned close.
#28
"Spot" on!
#29
Wars are a completely useless in terms of controlling population. World populations don't go down from war, not even in WWI or WWII. The world population grew by approx 200 million between 1900 and 1920, and it grew by the same amount between 1940 and 1950. War just doesn't control population growth, nor do genocides or pandemics. The only thing that changes population growth is cultural changes.
Also it is estimated that the world can handle somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 Billion people, and its also estimated that around 2050 we will be at our peak population of 9 Billion before our population declines through natural changes in culture. Read up on Population Pyramids if you want to know more about what I'm talking about.
N
#30
Correction! I believe that the actual saying is, “When life gives us lemons, we should try and make lemonade.”
Here is a prayer that will bind us to God.
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended You. I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell. But, most of all, because they have offended You, my God, Who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Your Grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin. Amen.
#31
Gerald that's just the Act of Contrition said in the confessional. It doesn't bind us to God, its just another prayer enforced upon the kneeling supplicant to further humble themselves after confessing internal perceptions of their own sins.
Prayers like that, were the type of prayers that encouraged me to no longer bother with the Church.
N
#32
@harry ashburn, yes, there are many ways to reduce our population. I sense that more people are choosing not to have children for a variety of reasons. I understand that it takes $180,000 to raise a child from birth to 18 years of age. And, another $100,000 to have that child pursue an undergraduate degree. That adds up to $280,000 per child. Catholic television and radio say that a good Catholic couple will have six children. If you multiply $280,000 by six, a couple must earn $1,680,000 in their lifetime. This figure is a net income. The Diocese of Albany, New york says to the parishioners that unless you tied (sp) 10% of your gross income, you cannot be a member of a parish. I guess money will always be my Church's prime objective. It is sad, very sad. And, people wonder why Catholicism is losing membership. If I recall correctly, my Jesus has never asked for money in ministering to His people.
#33
@Maxrot, as you will recall, I have said frequently that I am a sinner. Faith is something we can neither prove nor disprove. I try every day to say an Act of Contrition, the Holy Rosary, and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Jesus has inspired St. Faustina to develop the prayers for the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Jesus had said to St. Faustina that even the most harden sinner will have Him stand before God and the sinner in asking the Father to forgive the sinner. I recall a college professor saying to the class, "I do not know if there is a heaven but I pray that there is no hell."
#34
The only lawyer I want with me when I go before God in judgment is Jesus. I cannot give Jesus money but I can pray to Him at the hour of my death.
#35
I cannot describe how disappointed I was to turn on your program and hear you give airtime for a reality show on Nevada brothels. Do you really think the sexual exploitation of women and children is funny? Perhaps you are smart enough to realize the convenient argument that “it is their choice” has no meaning in the context of 10,000 years of patriarchy. Oppressed people always replicate the conditions of their oppression. You have given legitimacy to a culture that has mainstreamed prostitution and is essentially attempting to groom all girls.
Shame on you. I expected more from a man who touts himself as a progressive and an intellectual. We need the decent men in this world, and I believe you may be one of them, to stand up and say no to sexual exploitation whereever you see it. I suggest you read Melissa Farley’s work on Prostitution and Trafficking in Nevada. Exactly who did you intend to benefit from this mindless segment on your program? Well, your website is not even safe is it, with a link to the Bunny Ranch? How do you think women feel going to a political website and seeing their images exploited? What a sad day.
http://www.seattle.gov/humanservices/domesticviolence/Report_YouthInProstitution.pdf
http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/prostitution_research/000168.html
#36
Dear deboyer re: give airtime for a reality show on Nevada brothels.: see 1st amendment. :)
#37
I believe that women are God's greatest creation. They have been exploited for centuries. Men believe that women are here for their pleasure. Let us stop using women as slabs of meat and as tools to be used for man's pleasure. I also believe that women are like precious gems and they need to be seen as precious gems. Let us hold them; let us hug them; and let us kiss them with affection and warmth!!!
#38
Re: The BP issue, Googling Minamata will reveal what Japan did when a chemical company poisoned Minamata Bay with methyl mercury. The Japanese Government did it's utmost to get the company to stay afloat long enough to clean up the bay and care for the people it damaged for at least a generation.
Ron
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:
"Hartmann combines a remarkable piece of historical research with a brilliant literary style to tell the grand story of corporate corruption and its consequences for society with the force and readability of a great novel."
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"Right through the worst of the Bush years and into the present, Thom Hartmann has been one of the very few voices constantly willing to tell the truth. Rank him up there with Jon Stewart, Bill Moyers, and Paul Krugman for having the sheer persistent courage of his convictions."
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"Thom Hartmann is a literary descendent of Ben Franklin and Tom Paine. His unflinching observations and deep passion inspire us to explore contemporary culture, politics, and economics; challenge us to face the facts of the societies we are creating; and empower us to demand a better world for our children and grandchildren."
Thank you for the web-stream crash. Any time the authoritarian spewings of Arthur Brooks can be squelched happiness is increased.