Monday 20 December '10 show notes

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Monday 20 December '10 show notes

Dec. 23, 2010 12:29 pm

By SueN

Has our desire for bigger and better nests crushed the American Dream?
Mark Henkel, National Polygamy Advocate. Should polygamy be legal or is it harmful to women and girls?
John Devlin, 9/11 first responder; Operating Engineer with Local 15 in NYC. Remember 9/11? How about starting with the first responders?
Lee Fang, Reporter/Blogger for Think Progress.org. You won't believe who pushed the GOP to kill the bill to provide health care to our nation's first responders
Bumper Music:
- Winter Wonderland, The Disney Holiday Chorus.
- Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Dean Martin.
- You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch, Dr. Seuss, Thurl Ravenscroft.
- Wreck the Malls, Bob Rivers.
- Feliz Navidad, José Feliciano.
- The Twelve Pains Of Christmas, Bob Rivers.
- Jingle Bell Rock, Bobby Helms.
- Grand Canyon, Dmitriy Lukyanov (you need to search for it) (with additional sounds by Jacob).
- Democracy, Leonard Cohen.

Thom's blog

Is President Obama on the verge of handing Republicans yet another victory?

According to sources within the White House – the President is planning on announcing deep cuts to Social Security in his State of the Union address next month. Hoping to preempt Republican calls to cut the social safety net and show some seriousness about trimming the deficit – President Obama will once again shirk his progressive base and embrace Republican ideology. If he thought the left was angry over the tax cut capitulation – just wait until he sees the outrage from progressives over cutting Social Security less than a month after extending a budget-busting, deficit spending tax cut for millionaires and billionaires.

-Thom

(What do you think will happen to if Obama cuts Social Security? Tell us here.)

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 9pm and 11pm... Time to kick the US Chamber out of Commerce? (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT, and catch past shows on Youtube)

Need to Know: Time to kick the US Chamber out of Commerce? The ‘U.S.’ Chamber Of Commerce Lobbied To Help GOP Kill Bill To Provide Health Care To 9/11 First Responders. With Lee Fang, Reporter/Blogger-Think Progress.org.

Screwed: First tax cuts, now Social Security?! With Robert Kuttner, co-founder/co-editor-The American Prospect magazine/Distinguished Senior Fellow Demos.

DADT Senate Passes DADT Repeal, Sending Bill To Obama For His Signature. With Dr. Nathaniel Frank, Professor at NY University/former Sr. Fellow with the Palm Center/author of "Unfriendly Fire: How the Gay Ban Undermines the Military and Weakens America".

The Best of the Rest of the News...

Somebody's watching you... With Shahid Buttar, Civil Rights Attorney/Executive Director Bill of Rights Defense Committee.

Et tu i-phone??? Your aps are watching you. With Erica Newland, Policy Analyst at the Center for Democracy & Technology.

Green report Don't drink the water... with LeeAnn Brown, Press Secretary - Environmental Working Group.

Crazy Alert! St. Nick.

Daily Take: CBS.

Read Thom's Book for Free!

Now you can read all of Thom Hartmann's "Rebooting the American Dream: 11 Ways to Rebuild Our Country" for free online. Truthout is publishing weekly installments over 12 weeks.

Read Chapter Six: Make Members of Congress Wear NASCAR Patches today.

The Daily Stack

Quote: "A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer" -- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882).

Hour One: Has our desire for bigger and better nests crushed the American Dream?

Article: "Monitoring America" by Dana Priest and WIlliam M. Arken.

Article: "Leading Republican Senators Voice Opposition to START Treaty" by William Ide.

Movie: "Miracle on 34th Street".

Article: "Germany's Economy Shows Government "Interference" Works" by Dave Johnson.

Article: "‘Hope Is Action’: Hedges and Ellsberg Arrested at White House Protest".

Article: "The FCC's Threat to Internet Freedom" by Robert M. Mcdowell.

Grinch alert: "'Santa Claus' robs Rhode Island yacht club bar" by AP.

Site: callcongress.org.

Hour Two: Should polygamy be legal or is it harmful to women and girls? Thom confronts Mark Henkel, National Polygamy Advocate.

Article: "Polygamy harms women, kids: Prof: Lives in multiple marriages suffer, judge told" by Keith Fraser.

Article: "FLDS: Jeffs still without an attorney Sect leader says he’ll have one next week" by Matthew Waller.

Article: "Barbara Lee, Bobby Scott Introduce Bill For 99ers" by Arthur Delaney.

Article: "In France, Civil Unions Gain Favor Over Marriage" by Scott Sayare and Maïa De La Baume.

Article: "Bill Richardson Brokers North Korea Diplomatic Deal" by David Dayen.

Article: "‘Muslims for Bush’ Founder Who Abandoned GOP For Its ‘Marriage’ With Bigotry: Reagan Would Be ‘Disappointed’" by Alex Seitz-Wald.

Talk Radio News Segment: Ellen Ratner, Bureau Chief.

Article: "Senate Votes To Repeal DADT" by Justin Duckham.

Article: "Senate reviews START treaty behind closed doors" by CNN.

Article: "Obama to sign 'don't ask' repeal this week -- may hold news conference" by David Jackson.

Article: "Food-Safety Bill Clears Senate in Wake of 2010's Massive Recalls" by Patricia Murphy.

Article: "Bill to fund government up for key vote" by UPI.

Article: "Virginian: Bar gays from National Guard" by Seth McLaughlin.

Article: "Obama to blink first on Social Security" by Robert Kuttner.

Hour Three: Remember 9/11? How about starting with the first responders? John Devlin, 9/11 first responder; Operating Engineer with Local 15 in NYC, describes what happened and how it has effected responders.

Article: "Jon Stewart Urges Senate To Quickly Pass 9/11 Healthcare Bill" by Kyle LaFleur.

Article: "9/11 Responder & Clean Up Heroes Snubbed By GOP" by Michael Scotty.

Article: "Kyl Denies Health Care For 9/11 Rescue Workers Because He Doesn’t Want To ‘Hurry’" by Tanya Somanader.

You won't believe who pushed the GOP to kill the bill to provide health care to our nation's first responders Thom talks with Lee Fang, Reporter/Blogger for Think Progress.org.

Article: "‘U.S.’ Chamber Of Commerce Lobbied To Help GOP Kill Bill To Provide Health Care To 9/11 First Responders" by Lee Fang.

The good: "Fox's unbalancing act: A memo to reporters on climate science suggests an unacceptable level of bias." by LA Times.

The bad: "Sarah Palin Jabs Michelle Obama's Anti-Obesity Campaign With S'mores" by Nick Wing.

The very, very ugly: "Peter King: ‘I’m Willing To’ Be Called A Bigot If That’s What It Takes To Target Muslim Community" by Tanya Somanader.

Article: "South Carolina's Secession at 150" by Manisha Sinha.

Book: "What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam" by John L. Esposito.

Coming up Tuesday on The Thom Hartmann Program

Hour Three: What is does a "quality education" mean? Is it basic skills as Microsoft Founder Bill Gates has been championing? What is does a "quality education" mean? Is it basic skills as Microsoft Founder Bill Gates has been championing? Thom speaks with NYU education historian/Professor of Education, Dr. Diane Ravitch.

And, the best of the rest of the news and your calls right here on...

The Thom Hartmann Program... your media support group for we the people.

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Move To Amend

There are only three ways to undo a bad Supreme Court decision. All three have been used at various times.

he first is to wait until the composition of the Court changes – one or more of the bad judges retires or dies and is replaced by others more competent. (It’s worth noting that even former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, a Ronald Reagan appointee and longtime Republican activist, condemned the Citizens United ruling.) Then the Court takes on a case that involves the same issues, and like with Brown v. Board or Roe v. Wade decisions, pushes the court forward in time.

The second is for the American people, the President, and Congress to understand the horror of the consequences of such a decision, and break with the Court.

Arguably this happened with the Dred Scott decision in 1857, which ruled that black persons were actually property, and thus led us directly into the Civil War. That Supreme Court decision led to Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the passage of legislation clarifying the rights of African Americans, although it ultimately took a war and the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to purge slavery from our laws and our Constitution.

Ironically, the Citizens United case is the mirror of Dred Scott in that it ruled that a property – a corporation – is now a person.

The third way to undo – or supersede – a Supreme Court decision is to amend the Constitution itself so the Court can no longer play word games with ambiguous or broadly-worded language. We did this, for example, to both institute and then to repeal the prohibition, manufacture and sale of alcohol.

The Constitutional amendment route seems the most practical and long lasting, even though it may be the most challenging.

We must be very careful that any amendment put forth isn’t just limited to giving Congress the power to regulate campaign spending; to do so would leave a wide swath of other Bill of Rights powers in the hands of corporations. Instead, an amendment must explicitly overturn the headnote to the Santa Clara County 1886 decision that asserted corporations are the same as natural persons in terms of constitutional protections.

By doing this, we can begin the transition back from a corporate oligarchic state to the constitutionally limited representative democratic republic our Founders envisioned.

Learn more about the reasons for dissenting to the Supreme Court Citizens United ruling in chapter ten, "Wal-Mart Is Not A Person!", of "Rebooting the American Dream".(On Kindle too)

Thom and Louise Hartmann founded the New England Salem Children's Village in New Hampshire in 1979. With states delaying payment for the children they entrust to the village, they need help with cash flow urgently. Please help if you can.

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