Daily Topics - Tuesday February 15th, 2011
By shawnt56
Hour One: Is there no room for an anti-war candidate in the Republican Party? Jordan Marks, Young Americans for Freedom - www.yaf.com
Hour Two: What is Obama's New Plan to Destroy America?! Wayne Root - www.root4america.com
Hour Three: The Obama budget...is it challenging or appeasing the GOP? Ari Berman, The Nation Magazine - www.thenation.com
Comments
#2
@cmoore, oh if only Progressives actually held the House, we probably would already have a flurry of investigations into not only Thomas, but Scalia and Roberts too!
What a sham we have going on in our Government.
N
#3
How much longer will this Supreme Court allow FOIA to exist?
#4
"rootforamerica dot com" - isn't that what pigs do?
#5
Thank you Thom -- for telling the truth. (re: Root)
These predators, sadists, bullies and madmen that have no regard for their own communities, their own country have paraded under the banner of normalcy, common sense, righteous indignation -- and it is a mask. A mask that hides real, deep, and dangerous evil. That is the threat from within. And we can reason with them all we want to -- but the time is here to remove the mask.
#6
Nevada Economic Status as of February :
Unemployment Rate: 14.6%, 50% higher than the national average. Up from 12.8% a year ago.
Taxable sales, gasoline sales and visitor volume are all down from previous month. Not a good indicator for a state that relies on sales tax to generate revenue.
To top it all off, the 2011-2013 budget has a $2.3 billion deficit which is 29% of the total budget. Things are great in Nevada.
#7
February 15, 2011
Thom is an interesting study. He tries to be optimistic and yet he is predicting a tsunami depression in 2012. Of course he is right about the tsunami depression in 2012.
The Defense Department says that there can be cuts in the defense budget but Boner and Cantor say no because the cuts in defense would take away the pork for their districts. The United States of Mortal Sin is a wasteful country. Waste is a grave sin on the souls of the American people.
Kyl’s retirement is $140,000 per year, plus his social security and He will match or surpass his senate pay. He has worked for 18 years. Kyl, a conservative crazy, is willing to screw public employees with their pensions. Hypocrisy reigns in the halls of D.C. politicians.
Joan Walsh is one of my favorite column writers. Here is a recent article from her.
What I cannot understand, “how any American can vote for a politician who out shores jobs to another country?” People, our country is doomed! We are an evil, vile, and a wicked nation.
Thom appears frustrated with the direction of our country. He even wishes hell for many of the sociopaths who control our nation. Let me say to you! I pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. God has promised to St. Faustina, “Even the most hardened sinner will be saved if the person prays the Chaplet at the hour of death or if someone prays the Chaplet for a person at the hour of death will be saved.” God does not want any person condemned to hell. I do believe that there are many sociopaths working hard to end up in hell. Most of our politicians, Supreme Court justices, American corporations, and the American rich are sociopaths.
I worked with a person who said to me, "PEOPLE GET WHAT THEY DESERVE." The people of Wisconsin are getting from the person they elected what they deserve. The United States of Mortal Sin is alive on life support. Let us remove the misery in our lives and pull the plug so we can die with what little respect we have left.
#8
Think of Taxes as being Dues. Union Dues, Lodge Dues, any group's Dues. To be a member of such groups you have to pay dues, to be a citizen of a country you have to pay taxes. If you want your group to be strong and provide you the benefits of belonging it needs a healthy treasury.
If you don't want to pay, then you shouldn't be allowed stay.
I don't enjoy paying taxes, but I enjoy clean water, I enjoy maintained roads, I enjoy having fire and police departments, I enjoy public libraries, I enjoy living in a country that has a strong defensive force (though I'd be happier if that one wasn't the majority of my tax dollar), I enjoy the public school system, I enjoy the postal service, etc.... we have good governmental services, and yes some can and should be improved, but that can't be done without taxes.
N
#9
I am a believer in taxes as an investment!!!
I attended a Catholic Caucus meeting and the speaker said something interesting to us. Why should taxes be considered a tax relief to reduce taxes, especially for the multi-millionaire? Maybe we should see taxes as an investment for present and future generations. The taxes would be an investment in education, roads, environment, services in law enforcement, firefighters, libraries, health care, affordable prescription drugs, etc. Taxes can be considered a positive life experience and not a negative experience, especially if the taxes are progressive and fairly applied to the poor, middle class, and the rich. The federal government does not receive $300 billion in taxes per year that she should receive and 90% of this money should come from the rich who pay little or no taxes since they have all the tax loopholes and tax shelters. The rich need to pay their fair share in taxes in order to help America. Are the rich really Americans?
The use of the word, liberal, is out and the use of the word progressive is in. There are two myths that tax cuts means more jobs and increase in the minimum wages means loss of jobs.
We need to talk about ethics and not moral values. Progressives are moral people and most definitely they are more ethical in comparison to the conservatives. Progressives stand for community and cooperation and the conservatives stand for selfishness and greed. Progressives are nurturing and sensitive and the conservatives are authoritative and deceitful.
Conservatives are working together to destroy America but the progressives are split in terms of how to best help America.
Appearances are not reality. Church going and Bible carrying people are not necessarily good people.
In order for public policies to reflect gospel values we need to hear more about Matthew 25:31-46.
#10
Thom, I heard you read the letter from the man who committed suicide. I was so impacted by that letter. Can you make it available. I think it should become a rallying flag for change.What a better way to honor his death. How can I get a copy of it. Must go because a client just arrived. Please let me know how to get copy of that powerful letter.
#11
"People die in China --
--people died in Russia" -- You heard it. That's what "Root" said when you asked him about the fact that people are dying here (how many uncounted?). These people believe that they are part of a sweeping historical event in which the strong will conquer the weak. Might makes right, Purify the nation. Praise to the Powerful. Was this what Jesus came to correct? Blessed are the meek. Blessed are the poor. Blessed are the humble of Spirit? So, how do the humble protect themselves from the predators? God works in mysterious ways. There are more kind people than cruel. As soon as we realize that -- we win. Not for ourselves -- but for each other. For our families. For our friends -- our neighbors -- the man alone in his apartment dying unseen. The single mom alone in her room, terrified of the morning and the calls and bills it will bring. The father who has to explain to his daughter what a homeless shelter is and why she has to go there. The greedy will not be allowed to demonize the citizens of this country. They will not be allowed to make us become as cold and ignorant as they have chosen to become, their hearts poisoned by greed and fear. We will become, as this nation was intended to be, a land where the common man might live in dignity, free from fear -- "One nation, united under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
#12
Corporations and Persons
I watched Television Ontario (TVO). The program title was “The Corporation – The Pathology of Commerce”. The program mentioned that the Supreme Court ruled that a corporation is a person than surely a person is a person. The program highlighted a checklist for mental disorders. Since a corporation can be considered a person, the mental disorder checklist can be applied to people as well.
Here is the checklist.
1. Callousness toward people
2. Impersonal relationships with people
3. Disregard for the safety of others
4. Deceitfulness
5. Incapacity to experience guilt
6. Failure to comply toward social norms to benefit people
From the checklist corporations displayed a psychopathic mental disorder. If we use the same checklist for our two highest leaders, then we would have to conclude that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney display a mental disorder. It would be my perception that the above two men are unfit to be president and vice-president, respectively. They hold too much power for men who have a possible mental disorder.
#13
I think Thom forgot to get to this, but the reason we have a two-party system is that we have single-member districts. Thom's favorite remedy for that is to employ instant runoff voting. The trouble with this is it still leaves a large minority of the population without a direct representative.
If we had multi-member districts, nearly everyone would have geographical and ideological representation in the same official. I have a blog post about it here.
#14
@gerald, you do know that Bush and Cheney are no longer PResident and VP any more, right?
Good point about the equivalency of sociopaths to corporations though, so what's the legal construct you're trying to build with it?
N
#15
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Here-Comes-Another-Bubble-by-Richard-Clark-110214-231.html There will be wailing at the Wailing Wall.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Americans-Are-Being-Lied-T-by-Timothy-Gatto-110215-185.html Lies and more lies for lying!
#16
@Maxrot, you are right about Bush and Cheney. I had this comment since the time when Bush and Cheney were in power with their sociopathic ideas. I do come back to Bush and Cheney because they are mass murderers and war criminals who must indicted, prosecuted, and convicted in the International Criminal Court. I see Bush and Cheney as two cloned Adolph Hitlers
#17
As I understand it, it was a street vendor who immolated himself that set off the Tunisia protests which in turn set off the Egypt protests... makes one think, will there be some sort of similar incident here that sets of the crushed middle class? Somehow I doubt it, many Americans don't seem to pay attention to their neighbors.
N
#18
Obama and the other pols seem to favor manipulation over education. It seems to be the easier way to deal with a public that has been stripped of its ability to think through a generations long manipulation of the public education system.
#19
hmmm with Egypt going through a regime change, and Yemen now beginning to go down the same road, has anyone here looked at a map of the Red Sea? Egypt on the North end of it controls the Suez, and Yemen at the South overlooks a less than 20 mile wide choke point of the Red Sea. In between is Saudi Arabia on the Eastern Shore. I'm beginning to wonder if its all just coincidental that Egypt and Yemen are in turmoil, as well as the grumblings Saudi Arabia made in regards to US interference?
I don't know, to me sometimes maps speak volumes more about politics then the actual events on the ground.... am I just crazy?
N
#20
I too was almost driven to tears. I would like to share that letter with all americans. Where can we copy it?
Sad.
#21
If Thom answers our requests for a copy of the letter, how will we know, and where will it be?
#22
@Maxrot
Actually it took years of networking and grass-roots organizing to be able to put together the protests. The man who killed himself only supplied a triggering event for the people to respond to. I strongly believe that it could happen here, but we have to plan not only to topple the corporatists, but also plan for what would take their place. Plus we should start now, before we become a third-world country. I really hope that the people in Egypt and Tunisia do it right, and don't allow another tyrant to take over in a couple of years.
#24
Juan Cole
From Informed Comment, September 23, 2005, “The first reason to get the ground troops out now is that they are being fatally brutalized by their own treatment of Iraqi prisoners. The brutalization of the US military and of its prisoners is a brutalization of the entire American public. It is an undermining of the foundational values of the Republic. We cannot remain Americans and continue to behave in this way routinely. The some 15,000 Iraqis in American custody are all by now undying enemies of the United States. Some proportion of them started out that way but perhaps could have been won over.”
Each day we, Americans, are committing crimes against humanity. We have given our bodies and souls to evil. We are destroying our humanness and we will forever be a terrorist nation devoted to hatred, killing, torture, and wars.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/fear_not_the_muslim_brotherhood_boogeyman_20110215 Fear is the problem in the Middle East and not the Muslims.
#25
You can get links to stories in the show by signing up for the free newsletter, which comes out a few hours after the show. And if you can't wait that long and you don't see what you are looking for on the message board, then pop in to the free chat room and see if anyone has whichever link you are looking for.
#26
Thanks.
#27
if you find the letter drop me a line please so i may share it with other people
#28
Thom got it wrong when he said, Thimothy McVeigh was an atheist. It is easy to understand with all the Christian blogs and websites pushing McVeigh into the atheist camp. But he said that he believed in a creator somewhere in the background of all this. A perfect clock maker who has left the world up to us. Today that is called Deism. His statement was ..."my religion is science." It is this snippet of a longer statement that Christians (or the Right) have used to descibe Mcveigh as an atheist - furthering their attack on people who believe that you can be ..."Good without God."
The last minister Mcveigh documented to have seen before the bombing was the minister at Elohim CIty. - part of the Christian Identity Movemement. ---a truely scary bunch
I hope Thom corrects his error on this.
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 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 Screwed:
"Once again, Thom Hartmann hits the bull’s eye with a much needed exposé of the so-called ‘free market.’ Anyone concerned about the future of our nation needs to read Screwed now."
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."
Thom,
Can you update on Clarence Thomas and Koch brothers. Reported last night that Thomas's office misrepresented his involvement with the brothers' 2008 strategy session. The "official" story was Thomas only made a drop-in appearance to the gathering; however, those pesky financial disclosure statements indicate the Koch brothers reimbursed him for travel and four days of lodging and food. Couple this with his wife's lobbying activities and his blatant failure to disclose her income, recusal by Thomas is not sufficient. Impeach this man!