Daily Topics - Monday August 2nd, 2010
By shawnt56
Quote of the Day: What a country calls its vital economic interests are not the things which enable its citizens to live, but the things which enable it to make war. Gasoline is much more likely than wheat to be a cause of international conflict. -- Simone Weil (1909-1943)
Hour One: How do we live in America after the American Dream has died?
Hour Two: As global warming consumes the world with heat, fires and floods...how can the shills for the fossil fuel industry to sew doubt and confusion? Thom has a rumble with denier William Yeatman of the Competitive Enterprise Institute www.cei.org; Plus, The Big Green Buy: How Obama can use the government's purchasing power to spark the clean-energy revolution - Christian Parenti of The Nation Magazine will be here www.thenation.com
Hour Two: "Give Me Your Papers" law is in effect...do you want big government involved in our interaction with labor? Thom confronts Jim Gilchrist, co-founder of The Minuteman Project www.minutemanproject.com
Comments
#2
The Evidence
This video was narrated by Alex Jones. He shared with us numerous articles on 9-11. Most articles pointed to the evidence that Bush II and his cabal knew in advance that there would be a terrorist attack around 9-11. He chose to do nothing in order to tale away American freedoms and rights through fear. Some articles stressed that 9-11 was an inside job. Whether it was an inside job or not the objective was completed to gain more control over the people.
Throughout history the use of fear has been used to control the minions. The elites declared war on Americans and their freedoms. They are also carrying out nasty deeds. Our federal government is the master of terrorizing the Americans. Terrorize Americans through fear and blame another country or group. The study of American history has been very painful. A mountain of evidence reveals that Bush II had prior knowledge and information of an attack. FDR knew in advance that the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor. We let the terrorists escape. Bush II was complicit in the attack and murder of over three thousand people and he is guilty of treason. Our empire can attack anyone because the United States of Hell is above the law. The power elite have been gearing up for wars to last at least one hundred years because war is a profitable venture.
Why would Bush II lie? Bin Laden is CIA asset. America is a terrorist government. The NSA also had prior knowledge of an attack. Our Police State has total control of federal, state, and local governments. One in ten Americans spies on Americans for the Police State. FEMA is building more prisons to be used as slave camps against Americans. Americans who are smart are having their freedoms taken away. Any American can be declared an enemy combatant by the Police State. To speak your mind is a terrorist act. The FBI now rejects the Constitution. We will be given a national ID card. A total spy network is here. By 2020 chips will be implanted in every American brain. Forced drugging of Americans has been granted by the Courts. The immigration bill offers foreign felons a second chance to be American citizens by joining the military establishment. These foreign felons will already have a mind set to kill Americans and other people in the world. The American militia in other states is considered a terrorist group. Our American troops openly admit to torturing God’s children. Our children through video games are being conditioned to kill and torture God’s children. Americans have lost their country. Our children will grow up to live in a high tech Police State. Globalists in America are the real terrorists.
#3
The Obama Deception
This video disk is two hours and fifteen minutes. Politics is show business. I have sensed for sometime that it’s a game for the politicians. They are all working together. Obama ran on change. He is breaking his promises. America and the United Kingdom is working together for a New World Order. Wall Street has killed Main Street. America’s aim is to destroy the world as we know it. The military-industrial complex and the oligarchs killed Kennedy. What I did not know was that Kennedy was planning to leave Vietnam. He was the last true president. Our presidents after Kennedy have been puppets to our shadow government. The public is unaware of America’s true rulers. World Government is here with the United States expanding her military bases around the world. Whenever the Bildenberg Group (125 strong) meets, they demand a media blackout. Obama and Hillary Clinton were at the last meeting. Bill Clinton is a regular at these meetings. Barry Goldwater was not elected president because he was a sharp person who saw the true intentions of the Bildenberg Group’s intentions. The bakers and Wall Street are the rulers. The ruling elite are poor leaders but they fantasize well and they are criminals. Wall Street has hijacked Washington. Presidents come and go but our shadow government remains the same.
Obama is a hoax. He is also a liar. He has voted to keep the Patriot Act that has eliminated our freedoms. Obama is a deceiver and a liar. He favors torture and renditions. He is a great actor and a master of deceit. Obama was chosen by the shadow government to be president and to follow the plan for a New World Oder that has been with America since Johnson became president.
The Federal Reserve is not part of the United States government. It sets the financial agenda and it is a private agency that has never been audited. The Federal Reserve is beyond and above the law. It probably takes from the middle and working classes in order to give to the rich, the corporatists, and the elite. Derivatives are hurting the people. Derivatives are phony money. Banks build us up and than they sheer us.
The world elite sells Americans on a savior and Obama has been bought and sold to us as the savior. The people and our freedoms are on one side versus the New World Order. America has been used for world destruction that is one reason why our military budgets continue to rise. In 1947 the National Security Act was passed to control America and the world. The globalists are currently destroying America and the world. Nine point seven trillion dollars have been stolen from Americans and no one knows who has stolen the money. The money is headed for secret accounts. The Depression of 2008 was planned to take from the middle and working classes and given to the rich, the corporatists, and the elite. The power elite manipulate the financial markets in order to control the middle and working classes. Derivatives are the cause of many problems. Congress has given the banks and Wall Street a blank check to steal from average Americans.
Banks have been hording the money and Obama is considered a gangster. Depression by Design is the United States plan to destroy the middle and working classes. Obama has suckered the public with his rhetorical skills.
Obama has been chosen to sell the American people in the United States’ program of tyranny. He has expanded his control and power. More taxes upon the people have been passed. These taxes are to enslave Americans and put them directly under the control of the federal government. The video had a list of the taxes that we pay aside from our federal income taxes. We are being taxed more and with less to show for our tax dollars.
Obama has set aside twenty thousand military troops to patrol our streets. He is also working to ban the purchase of guns. FEMA is building more prisons to imprison Americans. Under the Patriot Act or some other act the president is a dictator with dictatorial powers. Men can be drafted into the military up to the age of sixty-five. A domestic civilian military of one million will be directly under the control of the president. Obama and our shadow government are working in tandem to curtail free speech. Obama is worse than Bush II and let us not forget that he was chosen to be the peoples’ savior. Obama is the front man for the power elite. All of Africa will be a battlefield for American control. The shadow government wants their natural resources and to quietly, if it is possible, to exterminate as many Africans as necessary. Obama is a Madison Avenue created minion for the power elite. In about three years the police grid will have been completed. Obama is the perfect Trojan horse for the power elite. Obama is actually a cult movement within the United States.
It is probably too late but Americans must rediscover their shattered Constitution. A free people must say no to the globalists and the power elite. We must say no to the destroying of our country. We must be the “one” who stops American tyranny and we must decide our destiny.
#4
I watched with some interest the interview Christiane Amanpour conducted with Nancy Pelosi on Sunday. While it was amusing to watch the speaker dance around the issue of the war - with Amanpour noting that she had excercized the Speaker's perogative to not vote on the issue, "How would you have voted?" went unanswered - the real telling moment came when Amanpour pulled out the Time Magazine cover of a young Afghan women with her nose and ears cut off by the Taliban. Paraphrasing, she said, "Surely we cannot abandon the Afghan Women to such as these."
Not shown, of course, were the photos of the mounting numbers of civilian Afghan casualties, dead and wounded by NATO coalition forces. Also not shown were the photos of dead and wounded American and NATO forces.
Not mentioned was the fact that the Taliban had been supported and funded previously by US CIA and Pakistani ISI by proxy in the Soviet era. Nor was the Taliban vs Nothern Alliance conflict prior to 9/11/01 ever mentioned, Shah Massoud being murdered just days before the Day that Changed History Forever...maybe.
Next up was Robert Gates who was, of course, given time to say that we will not be leaving when Obama said we'd be starting to withdraw in 2011, and backing away from that date as being of much signifigance, "If the Taliban are waiting for September 2011, I welcome that, we'll be there in force." (paraphrase) And, of course, Gates took the opportunity to attack WikiLeaks and Julian Assange blaming them for the blood of US collaborators who might be retailiated against by Taliban. No mention of the blood on the hands of the American/NATO forces.
Bradley Manning sits in jail, we owe it to him to pay attention. While the blood on our collective hands is washed off by the framing of the debate (out damn spot!) as Lady Macbeth discovers, the stain remains. The Collatoral Murder video is vivid illustration why Manning deserves our support and attention. The video has prompted members of Bravo Company 2-16 to come forward...
One by one, soldiers just arriving in Baghdad were taken into a room and questioned by their commanding officers. "All questions led up to the big question," explains former Army Spc. Josh Stieber. "If someone were to pull out a weapon in a marketplace full of unarmed civilians, would you open fire on that person, even if you knew you would hurt a lot of innocent people in the process?"
It was a trick question. "Not only did you have to say yes, but you had to say yes without hesitating," explains Stieber. "In refusing to go along with the crowd, it was not irregular for somebody to get beat up," he adds. "They'll take you in a room, close the door and knock you around if they didn't like your answer," says former Army Spc. Ray Corcoles, who deployed with Stieber.
According to these former soldiers, this was a typical moment of training for Bravo Company 2-16 (2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment), the ground unit involved in the infamous "Collateral Murder" video, which captured global headlines when it was released in April by WikiLeaks, the online clearinghouse for anonymous leaks. [...]
The graphic video from Baghdad shows a July 2007 attack in which US forces, firing from helicopter gunships, wounded two children and killed more than a dozen Iraqis, including two Reuters employees and the father of those children. The video quickly became an international symbol of the brutality and callousness of the US military in Iraq. What the world did not see is the months of training that led up to the incident, in which soldiers were taught to respond to threats with a barrage of fire-a "wall of steel," in Army parlance-even if it put civilians at risk. [...] http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/08/01-0
Out Damn Spot!
#5
Had some strange problems logging in today. Hope someone isn't trying to hack the site.
N
#6
I don't think the quesiton is "Will we get out of Reagan's economic black hole?" no the question is "Will we pull ourselves out of Reagan's economic wasteland?"
Nothing just happens, we have to make it happen.
N
#7
"News performer David Gregory". Exactly.
#8
Dave Ramsey should talk- he claimed bankruptcy himself.
#9
Oftentimes, rent can be similar to a mortgage. Unless you want to rent a tiny shoebox. I'll keep my house, thank you. As long as you don't get a house that is way more than you can afford, I think a house is a good investment.
#10
President Barack Obama on the Thom Hartmann Show?
Join my cause by including any interaction you have with the Whitehouse that the President needs to come and value his progressive base by coming on the Thom Hartmann Show. We can do it!
#11
Another issue about our loss of manufacturing, that understandably we don't talk about, isn't just the manufacturing jobs that are being lost, its the skills that go with the jobs. Even if we could bring the manufacturing jobs home, less and less people here are even capable of doing the jobs. In another 15 - 20 years, how many people will even be able to fill the industrial positions we had 30 years ago? The longer we go with out bringing the jobs home, the more difficult its going to be to re-build our industrial infrastructure. In another 30 years, we won't even be able to provide the working class that could compete in a global market. I wonder if this point has escaped the Global Corporate Dominion? If it hasn't (which I don't believe it has) then I would say that they're counting on it.
N
#12
@Jeanie- Home vs Rent yes, I read an intellectually honest assessment of who should own a home and why or why not. It was an incredible analysis. In the final assessment, the numbers worked out better for me to rent. To boot, they over built in the town where I live so I get a rad place to live that I write off for my business while the landscapers do all the work and keep the pool and hot tub all clean and ready for me to enjoy. An expense homeowners often fail to accurately factor is the maintenence and cost of up- keep.
#13
Another thought occurs to me in regards to Thoms earlier comments about labor proceeding capital. A stick on the ground has no intrisic value until labor is applied to it turning it into something of value, ie an axe handle. I would go a step further though, that stick does have a lot of intrisinic value, in so much as it can be turned into almost anything that applied labor and the limits of its physical properties can allow it to be made into something else, in other words that stick can become a lever handle, paper from wood pulp, etc... Basically in my mind the source of a countrys' wealth is its Raw Materials, and we are not only shipping our jobs offshore, we are shipping our Raw Materials offshore, cheap! I mean come on Thom talks about the commons all the time, but he rarely makes the connection that Raw Materials and the Commons are the same.
That oil BP is pumping from our ground, we're subsidizing them to retreive it, sell it on the open market, than buy it back. It doesn't stop there, but I don't think we need a list of our Commons that are being sold off below value, and then being returned as finished goods that have cost us our jobs, skills, and base wealth. Were is the outrage, where is the rant about how we are giving away our sticks so we can't even make axe handles?
N
#14
@Foodfacist, apparently if you want Obama to be on Thom's show, it helps to convince his wife to be an avid listener.
N
#15
Love how Thom's right wing guests spend the first portion of their discussion flailing about contesting that they aren't really schills.
"The lady doth protest too much, me thinks" -Shakespere
N
#16
Foodfascist, you said you can write it off!! You probably could not write off a house, but you could write off a room. It just seems to me that eventually you will own your home, while if you rent, it's forever. Isn't it better for older people to have no mortgage and then to be able to sell their home and downsize if they like? How does a 70 year old pay $700 or more a month in rent? Also, it seems that investment value should count for more. But I haven't done any research.
#17
The banks always forclose on the most vulnerable and hence most profitable. They did the same thing in the '30s.
#18
who wants to be a homeownersexual?
#19
"What's the harm in a 2-degree rise in temp? Do a quick Google search and see what you find.
"Two Degree Temperature Rise could Flood Wide Areas of Planet, Study Says"
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/12/17-7
Greenpeace says, "Avoiding the most catastrophic impacts of climate change demands that global temperature increase is kept as far below 2°C as possible."
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/publications/reports/staying-...
Note that when they talk about 2 degree, it's Centrigrade, not Fahrenheit. So the effects are larger.
#20
right. Thom just said 2 degrees farenheit would be a disaster
#21
i think he meant centigrade
#22
@Foodfacist and Jeanie, the housing market is just absolutely nutty. I believe this, if you own a house, stay in it, but don't expect it to appreciate in value anytime soon, if your renting continue to do so, because by all indications, the home you buy today will most likely be worth less tomorrow.
The overpriced housing market of the late '90's and '00's is going to take quite a while to correct, if for no other reason than people who bought, or borrowed on their over valued house, are going to artificially hold the value of their homes higher than what the market will bare. Not to mention, that the unemployment rate is pretty much stagnant, so few are able even if willing to invest in the unstable reality market.
The poor souls that got conned into this crazy ponzy scheme called the housing bubble, I feel sorry for. However, the house flipping bastards that would buy a house, fix it up a bit and re-sell it to make a lot of money, then bought another more expensive house to flip it, over and over again til eventually they got caught in the midst of the bursting bubble... I don't feel sorry for them at all. Just my personal rant on this subject.
N
#23
I agree with you, Maxrot. Plus, there are things that people did that didn't make too much sense, like buying an overpriced house in an area that wasn't worth it. Our house is still worth a lot more than we bought it for, but not as much as it was a few years ago. But we bought in Scottsdale. One lesson is that things don't go up in value forever. And for a large investment, like a house, you need to really be sure that you're getting your money's worth. Where is it located, what are the schools like, etc. Is it really worth the price? So maybe renting is the answer for some people.
But I also feel sorry for those caught in the downturn of housing prices. It makes me sick to hear stories of people who owe more than a house is worth. it's horrible. And really unfair.
#24
So to summarize Thom's rant, Republicans are morons.
#25
DemocraticUndergound.com - Joey Liberal - March 29, 2010:
Republicans didn't get mad when.......
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8044493
#26
Thank you, rladlof. I needed Thom's rant. FYI, I can't look at your picture too long without feeling like I'm being hypnotized.
#27
re: #24: Republicans
idiots: 23%
rich 31%
ignorant 27%
in denial 11%
other 3%
#28
@harry, on your breakdown, if the person is in the rich category are they immediately dropped from the other categories? or vice versa?
Is sociopath represented in one of these categories (I don't think it can be part of the 3%, doesn't seem enough of a percentage to me)?
N
#29
re: #28: since there is an error factor of +- 16 %, that more than covers any overlap
#30
Expanded presidential powers!
http://www.opednews.com/articles/There-Is-a-Time-bomb-Threa-by-Sandy-Shanks-100728-558.html
#31
The republicans didn't get mad when new orleans drowned, and they didn't get embarassed either when barbara bush said the people were better off for it because they were poor anyway.....because they have no soul.
there is no way to use reason or logic when dealing with them . when will we wake up and take our contry back?
#32
If its law for Corporations to take actions that are most profitable for their organization, then it makes perfect sense that our Government should be doing everything it can to make decisions that are most profitable to this country. Doesn't seem to be happening that way.
N
#33
@harry
this only adds up to 95%
the final 5% = other rich ignorant idiots in denial
#34
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/opinion/01rich.html?_r=2&ref=frankrich
Kiss this war goodbye!!!
#35
While Global Warming is somewhat debateable as to the cause being contributed to by Humans I feel the more pressing issue is GLOBAL POISONING where there is no doubt as to the contributions that humans have made. With the amount of poison that we as humans spew into the air, water, and ground we will all be dead long before global warming reaches its peak of devestation. I think the warming issue is being used to divert us from the real threat, the POISON. It wouldn't surprise me if this was a ruse promoted by the polluters. Did Frank Luntz come up with the name "Global Warming"? It sounds almost inviting on a cold winter night.
There can be no debate that humans have poisoned most all of our water, you can't even eat the fish caught in most of our rivers, you can't see most of the stars at night through the pollution in our air, and the ground within the footprint of most smokestack industries is no longer suitable for food production due to excess heavy metal contamination.
GLOBAL POISONING sounds bad no matter how you say it and it is something everyone can relate to in a negative way
#36
@babasaurus, perhaps there are only 95 Republicans, but since they control everything we think their numbers are far more?
N
#37
There ain’t no stinking tax cuts . . . There are only Bush Deficit Enhancements:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/08/cantor-admits-bush-tax-cuts-will-add-to-deficits.php
File under "No Sh**, Sherlock":
Why are Black Caucus Democrats being beaten up while a plethora of Republican evils go unlooked like:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/08/reports_rep_waters_will_also_face_ethics_trial.php
Sadness:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/08/rnc-nixes-event-with-breitbart.php
#39
no doubt, they are in the minority, but seem to hold all the cards.
the cards that give them health care, but cause rage when we attempt to get health care for all
the cards that let them control the media, while whining that the "mainstream liberal media" is in charge
the cards they use to convince the masses that trickle down economics works
etc etc it is frustrating
#40
re:#33: 5% no response.
#41
#42
Even at seventy-one I have decided to return to college and renew my glory days.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/02/the-top-party-schools-pho_n_667554.html#s121603
#43
My Glory Days
I am going to share with you an experience from college. For a brief time the guys sat around and talked about how many co-eds they could see in one day. This was during my senior year. I listened and I tried to see how many different co-eds I would be able to see in one day.
Here is what happened. It was on a Sunday. Co-ed one and I attended Mass. I dropped her back at the dorm. I pick up co-ed two for breakfast. I went to the library to study with co-ed three. I had lunch with co-ed four. I saw a movie with co-ed five. I had a relaxing dinner with co-ed six. And, I strolled the campus with co-ed seven.
Fortunately, it was my senior year because some co-eds heard of my venture and I was placed on the Co-ed S-list. So, I ended my college career on an infamous note.
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)
At Mondragon - both the mountain and the cooperative city - in Spain (written about in "Threshold" book)
From Screwed:
"I think many of us recognize that for all but the wealthiest, life in America is getting increasingly hard. Screwed explores why, showing how this is no accidental process, but rather the product of conscious political choices, choices we can change with enough courage and commitment. Like all of Thom’s great work, it helps show us the way forward."
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."
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."
Homily on Greed
On August 1, I heard a Homily on greed. Father Ray does a good job with his homilies. We have evil people in office and out of office. These people want more and more money. They have little use for average Americans who struggle daily to survive. When these evil people die, they will go before God in judgment without their money and possessions. They will go in judgment empty. If God was not the center of their lives, they will not be God in heaven. They will enter eternity without their money and possessions like the rest of us. If God is the center of our lives, we must do what we can to help His children who are our brothers and sisters.
Our federal government and politicians are evil. They have programmed Americans to be greedy and selfish. Mortal sin consumes their daily lives and damning their souls for eternity. America and Americans are damned for being Satan’s disciples.
Here are some side notes. Avoid greed in all its forms! If you hear His voice, harden not your hearts. An optimist thinks this is the best possible world. The pessimist fears this is true.
I must be a pessimist but I prefer the word, realist. I am a realist and I hold many of the policies and practices of the United States of Hell with contempt.
In 2009 Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Peace Prize Committee who awarded Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize has defamed and degraded the Nobel Peace Prize because Barack Obama is a mass murderer and a war criminal. Obama as the Grand Illusion has been successful in his evil deeds but Obama as a Grand Experiment has been a total failure.
Thom has mentioned that when he was in public school, he qualified for the gifted program. I have personally known gifted people. It is amazing how quickly they learn. For some reason Thom has been slow to learn that Obama’s DNA is closely linked to the DNA of Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II. He is the same anti-American president with a different color. Obama gravitates eagerly to the rich, the corporatists, the conservative crazies, the sociopaths, and the control freaks. The United States of Sodom and Gomorrah has fallen into the abyss of hell.