Daily Topics - Friday March 11th, 2011

This week, Truthout proudly begins publishing weekly installments of Thom Hartmann's much-lauded book, "Unequal Protection: How Corporations Became 'People' and How You Can Fight Back." Click here to see Thom's video and to read chapter one
Hour One: "Brunch With Bernie" - Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) takes your calls
Hour Two: Latest from the trenches...war on Labor - John Nichols, The Nation Magazine / Plus, Scott Schultz, Wisconsin Farmer's Union
Hour Three: War on Labor...Labor responds - Doug Cunningham, Worker's Independent News
Comments


Scott Walker on CBS Early Show said that "BarackObamaFederalEmployees" had no constitutional right to collective bargaining. Said it quick and under his breath, as one word.

No such thing as safe nuclear energy -- US forces rush coolant to overheating Nuke plant in Japan as plant fails to cool when shut down during quake/tsunami. When will we learn. Barack in press conference at very same time talking about opening up more offshore drilling, more gas (fracking?) production. The Sun is here. The wind is here. The technology has been suppressed for decades. Organize our own cooperatives. Pull money from old energy, put it in new, just do it

The caller that talked about how the economy starts with the dirt had a great point. The stock market provides no real value. I used to work for a company with offices all over the world (they once offered me a contractor position in Iraq!). That company is still privately owned, not publicly traded on any stock market. I think we can live without Wall Street.
P.S. I like the style update on the website.

I will be away from the computer for about four weeks.
Please remember if we vote for a scoundrel, we will have put a scoundrel in an elective office. PEOPLE GET WHAT THEY DESERVE!!!
I do not favor Rick Snyder’s idea in Michigan to place local governments in receivership to correct financial problems but his idea that can be good for our country. I would love to have Obama place the U.S Congress, the U.S Supreme Court, the banks, the financial institutions, and the Federal Reserve in receiverships for their poor work in having the American corporations and the American rich fall in line to pay more in taxes that will balance our budget and have our country to be more fiscally responsible in serving all Americans.

Texas Budget Bomb was planted in 2006 when tax law was changed. The Republicans in charge (including Perry) proclaimed the change was revenue nutral. However at the time the comptroller, who was running for Perry's job, stated that there would be a $23 billion shortfall within 5 years ( http://www.window.state.tx.us/comptrol/monthly/). Last year, the Dallas Morning News stated there would be a shortfall of nearly $5 billion/year (http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/texas-legislature/headlines/2010...).
Meanwhile the governor, the Republican legislature and the Republican comptroller were doing their damnest to hide this information. Now of course the reason for the shortfall is those lazy overpaid state workers.

Is the fish kill on Redondo Beach a prelude to American kill on the streets of our cities?

The problem with the war power in the Constitution is that it only has the force of defining war, not restricting actual warfare. We need a restriction of what the President can do when no declaration of war is in effect. I suggest that he not be allowed to put soldiers onto foreign land without either 1) a declaration of war against that territory's sovereign government or 2) permission from that territory's sovereign government.

Corporate takeover!
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Michigan-Fascism-Old-News-by-David-Swanson-110310-813.html
Fascism is here!

The Republicans really need to destroy unions and public broadcasting, because those things are evidence that the "free" market doesn't provide everything the consumers want.
The labor bumper music has been a great feature. The Foremen have a pro-public-broadcasting song called "Privateers of the Public Airwaves".

China this morning reported 4.9% price inflation for the month of February, exceeding analyst expectations of 4.8%. With China now mimicking the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and taking steps to artificially manipulate their consumer price index (CPI) numbers as low as possible, it is likely that real price inflation in China is now closer to 10%. China was at least smart enough to raise interest rates last month by 25 basis points to 6.06%, while the Federal Reserve continues to leave interest rates near zero with there being absolutely no talk of the Federal Reserve ever raising interest rates again. China will be successful at containing inflation, as U.S. inflation spirals out of control and becomes the greatest economic crisis in American history.

Thom, don't forget the horrible expense of refining the nuclear material used in the rods. The only useful option is to take nuclear materials from weapons and reduce it to generate power.
The laws of thermodynamics pretty much corral us into modes of reality.

What no afternoon comments?

Bernie Sanders is probably a pro at speaking into microphones. I think the problem is more likely those who control the electronics. LiveStream, I believe, may be part of the problem. It is a very common occurrence to suffer having to watch video and listen to audio problems like Thom Hartmann twitching neurotically due to a video problem and to hear him stutter incessantly also due to the audio problem. The sound quality, in my opinion, suffers sometimes as well. Sometimes the audio volume, when compared to adjacent channels, is not as loud. Sometimes the video and audio just freeze up solid for a few seconds.

Japan nuclear disasters...and we are downwind! Should we now stay indoors and tape up our doors and windows? No box weilding Arab terrorists now! Just the biggest terrorist of all....Mother Nature (combined with the man-made potential disasters of deadly nuclear radiation). Just be sure to inhale deeply now! It will all be over soon!

Obama's failure to openly speak out in support of the brave and patriotic Wisconsin workers is either an act of cowardice or an act of complicity with the right wing wealthy cockroaches who have infested America. I don't buy the argument that Thom Hartmann seems to be making...that if Obama takes sides...it will all be about him. It should be about him and what he campaigned on...all the fluffy sounding words he used to get us to vote for him. Obama deserves to lose the support of his base because he has continually shafted his base. He is either with us or he is against us and his actions have shown that he is against us and for the rich. He won't get better after a reelection...he is bought off and controlled by the rich just like most other politicians: All Republicans and many of the Democrats. We are having our own nuclear meltdown right here in America. Maybe it's time to roll out the guillotines and, figuratively, lop off a few heads of corporations and fraudsters who have committed treason and economic fraud against us. Voting won't work because our voting system is a fraud.
Bernie sounded like he was spitting into the microphone -- really breaking up. Can you tell him to back off so we can get some audio/voice quality?