It just goes to show how quickly our freedoms can be eroded – and how quickly we can all get used to it...
By louisehartmann
The highly sophisticated and complex Big Brother security apparatus known as the PATRIOT Act was extended for another 4 years – signed into law minutes before midnight last night by…a machine. At the authorization of the President who is currently in France – an autopen machine was used that holds a pen and signs the President’s exact signature. Hysterics in Congress said it was crucial to have the bill signed into law before midnight or else the PATRIOT Act would have expired – halting all the ongoing unconstitutional actions of our various police and spy agencies into your and my life.
Rand Paul – the one man standing in the way of an extension all week – gave up his fight after two of his amendments to reign in the power of the federal government were defeated on the Senate floor. At some point in the last 10 years since 9/11 – the PATRIOT Act has become a staple in America – with politicians on both sides of the aisle supporting it – as well as a plurality of Americans.
It just goes to show how quickly our freedoms can be eroded – and how quickly we can all get used to it. Somewhere – James Madison – the father of our constitution – must be horrified with the direction our nation is headed.
Comments
#2
It is interesting that these Ayn Rand-inspired Republicans can not see the forest for the trees in appreciating their dogma. They are proud of their Capitalism - but why? It's has resulted in the worlds largest concentration of wealth in known history. So then what makes Capitalism so great? They have accomplished the same outcome of every other empire, kingdom, Stalinist dictatoriship, or fascist dictatorship ever accomplished.
It's the concentration of wealth that is the sole indicator of how well we are promoting the general welfare. And my allegiance is not to GE or ADM. Its to the general welfare. My brothers and sisters - citizens.
#3
Who Are the Real Terrorists?
The Anti-Christ is the real terrorist! The Anti-Christ is comprised of our fascist-Nazi government, the American transnational corporations, the American rich, and the Anti-Life Party, aka Republican Party. These terrorist groups play on people’s fears, such as terrorism, immigration, college students, race, minorities, older people, and non-Christian religions.
The Anti-Christ’s history of her 236 years of incessant wars reveals our lust in the killing of God’s children. With the Anti-Christ’s ongoing research regarding advanced technology and weaponry that kills God’s children Satan’s disciples must commence ongoing wars in order to determine whether or not the money used in advanced technology and weaponry is used for the specific purpose it has been granted. That means more of God’s children must be killed in order to have the new technology and weaponry be given the military-industrial complex’s seal of approval. These wars help complete certain phases of the ongoing research.
#4
Excuse me, miss! We are from Homeland Security and we got some chatter that you have been selling lemonade without a license. You are going to have to come along with us now.
But, but, I am only 10 and I am trying to raise money for charity....I didn't know I was supposed to have a license!
Ignorance of the law is no excuse, miss! We cannot let these "terrorist" activities go on in this country....you'll put some major soft-drink corporation out of business....and that is terrorist activity!
But, where are you going to take me?
Have you ever been to Egypt?
#5
New faces are now petitioning in Malls for something that sounds like an alternative to the Republican/Democrat two party system which they hint will better represent "the people" rather than Wall Street. It initially sounded good and I got bit by signing the petition. After looking more into it I now see that just like the Koch brothers are financially backing the Tea Party, a wealthy Wall Streeter founded, and is chairman of "Americans Elect".
Another group calls itself "No Labels". "No Labels was created by a “Democratic powerhouse fundraiser Nancy Jacobson and Republican strategist Mark McKinnon, who were introduced to each other by Kevin Sheekey”, a political adviser of New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. The mayor’s disdain for the two major parties are well known, as are his presidential aspirations."
Interestingly, both organizations claim they are not political parties while acting like political parties. No Labels has published its platform online and is in the process of mobilizing an electoral base of disaffected voters through its website and Facebook page. Americans Elect, with initial financing by Wall Street veteran Peter Ackerman (Americans Elect chairman), is in the process of acquiring ballot access in all 50 states. Its goal is to place “presidential and vice presidential nominees . . . on the ballot . . . [who] will be a competitive alternative to candidates put forward by the Democratic and Republican parties”.
Both groups, "No Labels" and "American's Elect" could band together to form a third party and......
...its candidates will ignore voters’ needs and flout their will as soon as they are in office, following in the footsteps of the large majority of Democratic and Republican representatives.
If the No Labels and Americans Elect team up to create a major new third party that does not allow voters to set its agenda across the board transparently and democratically by choosing their preferences from all the well-established policy options open to them, and pick electoral candidates whose track records and commitments adhere to this agenda, than I predict that the nation is likely to end up with a far more fiscally conservative president and Congress in 2012 no more likely to adhere to the wishes of the electorate than the current president and Congress.
While I certainly think that both the Democrat and Republican parties should be dethrowned, at least long enough so that they come to their senses and start backing the people for a change rather than Banksters, Wall Streeters, and corporations, I also think that we have to watch out and not be fooled into backing these "faux the people" parties who pretend to be our friends but who are founded, backed, and funded by "the enemy".
http://my.firedoglake.com/nancy-bordier/2010/12/03/no-labelsamericans-el...
#6
I am horrified by and disappointed in Sen. Amy Klobuchar's vote in support of the patriot Act (I live in MN), the single worst piece of Federal legislation since the Alien and Sedition Acts. I've complained to her office and on FB. Coupled with her vote supporting extension of the Bush tax cuts, I'm losing confidence in her. I'd love for some progressive to primary her, but I doubt it will work.
I think we need to raise hell on votes like these. Democratic lawmakers need to know we're paying attention and not at all content with the status quo. We're tired of government of, for and by the corporations and their rich masters. We're tired of government policies based on or designed to promulgate fear.
#7
The irony in Thom's comments lie in that he talks of reigning in the power of the federal government, and how quickly our freedoms can be eroded when it comes to items of national security, but federal, state and local debt, as well as complete reliance on federal and state programs doesn't appear to impact his sense of government power and lost liberties.
#8
Americans must come to the new norm - unemployment!
http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/112786/unemployment-new-norm-fins
Whether the natural unemployment rate is 5.2% or much higher, the real unemployment rate is still 9%, meaning that there are more than four people on average competing for each job opening.
I believe the unemployment percentage will rise until it reaches at least forty percent. That percentage will be the new norm for our Anti-Christ nation.
#9
At the end of the day, when the corporations have won, they will sell the USA brand worldwide, make billions of dollars and screw the populace! Getting closer by the minute... that day.
#10
Thom, As you know Madison and Jefferson led the opposition against the "federalist tyranny" created by the alien and sedition acts, and they are most certainly "somewhere" shaking their heads in disbelief over the extension of the patriot act. Dolly is probably shaking her fist.
Last year I read a book by David O. Stewart, The Summer of 1787, and indeed Madison without question is father of the constitution, but I can't help but think all of the founders, given their monumental efforts at setting up the worlds first constitutional democracy, would be deeply disappointed with both the erosion of freedom , and the selling off of representative govt. to the highest bidder.To add more insult in many cases, the highest bidder gets "representation without taxation", that was a good one from one of your callers, if I heard right on my radio free america AM station.
We all have a lot to think about this memorial day weekend.
#11
Quote from ProVote America soliciting for petitioners: "ProVote America is helping organize a statewide petition for Americans Elect. This is good-paying and personally rewarding work to better our country. Like other companies, we are paying $1.25 per signature."
What is ProVote America?
"ProVote America describes itself on its LinkedIn profile as a company working “on behalf of conservative central committees” that refuses offer its services when that 'would compete with our other clients':"
http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/category/unity08/
#12
I personally believe that this has little to do with being able to counteract terrorism. Many years ago the FBI, CIA etc. were able to take down the entire organized crime syndicate and all without the benefit of "Warrentless" wiretaps or any of the modern day electronic tools current available. It is just another way to intimidate and control US citizens all without their knowledge or permission and to further erode our constitutional rights.
#13
I'll keep it simple... pressure the U.S. Congress and the President of the United States to GET RID of the "Patriot" Act!
It's time has come and gone.
#14
Let me refresh in your mind what is the Anti-Christ in our country - MONEY, NUCLEAR WEAPONS, AND FALSE PROPHETS!!!
http://original.antiwar.com/pilger/2011/05/27/welcome-to-the-violent-world-of-mr-hopey-changey/
A violent world compliments of the Anti-Christ!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/may/24/obama-cameron-break-addiction-to-war
Are the US and the UK addicted to war?
http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2011-05-26.asp
Bush and Obama have the same DNA in terms of war dictatorship!!!
War is a narcotic.
War is a narcotic. War gives certain people a high. Bush is a drug addict who says he has recovered but the Iraq war is an addictive narcotic that gives Bush his daily high. He says that he has recovered but you never recover from an addictive personality. The longer a war lasts the more power goes to the government.
We start hating through language and from language we start to want to kill people. War gives the addictive personality meaning. Bush cannot exist without war. The state begins to define our being. The state must control us in order for us to kill. We cannot look at another person as part of humanity. Friends do not want war. You must, in war, want to kill and a person cannot be a friend to a person whom he is out to kill. People become intoxicated in war toward killing. You lose yourself and your identity as a human person in war.
If you oppose war, you court physical violence to yourself by the nationalists who desire and crave killing and war. You need moral courage to oppose war in America, a land that is overrun by nationalists who want killing and war.
Human beings do not want to kill other human beings. Bush and Cheney are not human beings because they want to kill human beings. Bush and Cheney turned away from people who had empathy for us after 9/11. We had an opportunity to build friendships but we became racists.
The Republican Party possesses extremists who are doing great damage to our relations in the world. Once you become violent, you hang onto and remain violent because you cannot behave any other way. Violence comes back to haunt a country. Our violence to other countries will come back to haunt us. We do not have the right to control other people.
WHEN LEADERS FAIL TO CARRY ON DIALOGUE, SUCH AS IN DIPLOMACY, WAR WILL ALWAYS COMMENCE WAR IS A BREAKDOWN IN DIPLOMACY. WHEN MURDEROUS LEADERS GO BEFORE GOD IN JUDGMENT, THEY WILL RECEIVE A FIRST HAND EXAMPLE OF THEIR SINS IN REFUSING TO PROVIDE DIALOGUE THAT WILL AVOID WAR!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUjUvoynGMM&feature=related
#15
Hey, has anyone seen the KochBlocked.com- You Tube- "I'd like to buy the Kochs a world so they would leave ours alone ........" ? Check it out, it's really great! Let's put it this way, this Koch-a -Kola commercial will not be aired on Fox network!
www.youtube.com -"it's the evil thing" http//Kochblocked.com
#16
@2950-10K, thank you for the information on "It's the evil thing." The Kochs are so insulated and isolated from the real world that nothing will ever have an affect on them. The Kochs, like OBL, are the real terrorists in our world.
#17
At my confession my spiritual advisor said that America and Americans will continue to feel pain and suffering until they return to God. MAKE NO MISTAKE THE ANSWER FOR A BETTER WORLD IS OUR RETURNING TO GOD!!!
As my cousin said to me, "We came in at the right time and we are leaving at the right time."
Personally upon dying I will be leaving a country that is a hell-hole, a rat-hole, and a shit-hole.
#18
I have in-laws who hate government and socialism. They hate these institutions until they need them to accumulate more money. Government provides wealth for people through jobs and socialism bails out corrupt banks and Wall Street lenders. These subsidies help the investors but not the poor and the working class.
#19
Capitalism is not the bogerman. It worked just fine for eons until 1981 Reaganomics deregulated the ruling class, huge international Corps.,Wall St, banks, energy, airlines, trucking industries and more. Reagan Bush 1-2 , Cheeney, Greenspan & Goldman FED 's wealth favoring policies, 3 huge unfunded tax cuts & 2 long wars, con middle class hating judges, led us to disaster,edge of deep depression./ 2008 global crash 700 billion TARP with no safe guards for taxpayer money. Bushs man Hank Paulson pushed thru 4 pages that basically said ' Take the zero interest money and screw the taxpayers ' Our DOJ has NO guts . Does nothing to the real crooks on Wall St
#20
AGREED
#21
Remember that Bush "found Jesus" too...just like Constantine...who then went on to murder even his close family members. "Finding Jesus" didn't seem to be very good for them as it is often not very good for anyone else. It really amounts to a game of make believe and hypocrisy. And just like Homeland Security uses "terrorism" as a foothold and excuse to corrupt the meaning of the term as they use their power and funding (our tax dollars) to go after ordinary "criminals", or even after those whose politics tend to differ from the ruling elite, many religionists use their many variations of their beliefs in a mythical being and the surrounding "imagined" values of right and wrong and condemn others because they do not hold the same "just pretend" principles or values.
Think of all the times when people, who got sucked into the insidious vortex of believing in a mythical being, committed horrendous acts because they believed that their child was possessed and needed an exorcism...and died from it. Or people who thought the end of the world, as they believed was foretold in the Bible, was going to happen on a certain date and went on to murder their children. Religion, if it is not kept in moderation and kept in check with reality can be a very destructive and dangerous delusion. Or the "believers" of one bent or other were convinced that the other groups of people, also believers in a slightly different bent perhaps, were "disciples of satan" and set out to destroy them...war perhaps. What about the Christian persecution of various groups (even as they themselves had been persecuted one time)...like the Jews, or the polygamous Mormons, or any other group that has a "religion" ...a "belief system"..or a "value system"...that differs from the mainstream? Or even the Jews who, after being persecuted and even suffered a holocaust, turned right around after the war and set up their own prison camps where they beat, raped, and murdered many Germans and German sympathizers in Poland....and then the Jews stole Palestine from the Palestinians and kept pushing them off their lands.
#22
Sheesh, If only "your" POTUS would nominate SC(R)OTUS Justices to uphold this POS...yeah, that's the ticket.fer sure, also, too,
#23
And even today...the Christian hypocrisy and irrational hatreds of other people, who don't hold exactly the same beliefs as mainstream Christianity, is obvious. The convert them or kill them mentality is alive and well on planet Earth.
Bush's Freudian slips of the tongue were all too telling coming from "a Christian". It was, and is still, a Christian based Crusade against Muslims....no matter how much the Bush administration tried to deny it. And Christians can't even agree among each other. Christianity, once a sect..now mainstream, has fractured into hundreds or thousands of other "sects"....each one believing they hold the key to truth. Raping and pillaging of the "heathen hordes" who won't "come to Jesus".
There really is no God...not one...it is all pretend and those who get too close to the rabbit hole fall into a world where truth and justice gets mangled in the process...and one's ability to see reality diminishes. (Oh, gee, you've got 4 wives? That's not allowed....we can't have that...you have got to be sinning.) They begin to see little devils and demons and believe they communicate with otherworldly creatures. Isn't this what we call insanity?
#24
SC(R)OTUS: Supreme Court Republicans of the United States. Yup! that's what it has become alright!
#25
May 28, 2011
From the Church’s newsletter!
One of the teachings found in the Old Testament is called “tikkun olam.” The ideal of “tikkun olam” is to repair the world from injuries and harm caused by those who do not love God and His teachings. When we as a people destroy a child’s body by allowing him/her to live without food, shelter, or clothing, it is our call to fight for justice. We are called to be a friend of God. A friend of God is one who represents the interests of God in the world. Tikkun olam presupposes the world is broken and needs to be fixed by the care and application of people working with the guidance of God. In each act of decency there is a Divine stake. That’s why in the scriptures it is written: a beggar will solicit money with the phrase “acquire merit through me.” By giving to those in need we are credited with merit by God.
We must do what we can to fix our broken nation and our world!
It may be an Irish saying. May I be in heaven thirty minutes before the devil knows that I have died.
#26
Here is a song for God's children from one of my favorite singers.
#27
This is a case of the tragic ways of "follow the leader". Like the truckers who followed the leading truck off the collapsing bridge into the Arkansas River at Webber's Falls, OK on May 26, 2002. I'm still thanking God that my crossing of that bridge was 2 hours before it fell. It seems that the onslaughts to our existence as a democracy are at the falling off the edge time, with politicos unable to think out of the box. If there is even one politico who thinks critically and sees the upcoming tragedy and has the courage to lead, America could be mobilized into a positive track. Who knows. Watching and waiting as it happens is sickening.
I hope to be lucky enough to see past these travesties to a better, stronger democracy in America. Like - a new Constitution could provide. Times change, our founders tried to make the Constituion a dynamic, viable document but it can't be dynamic now because actions were not taken (such as closing the bridge on Arkansas River when the Army barge hit it would have done), when the time was right in Jimmy Carter's presidency. The stagnant powers of non-action and greed were and are too strong. A new Constitution could repair the ugly uprising of greed and death. A really positive new direction.
#28
These years are gone forever in America!
http://www.last.fm/music/Frank+Sinatra/+videos/+1-xwv-DxOPhSc
America's past is now only memories as her greatness diminishes with each passing second and more Americans are enslaved and impoverished.
#29
"Elizabeth Warren’s problem is not with the Republicans—though they have worked hard to demonize her. Her real problem is with the “boys” at the Treasury Department and Timothy Geithner, the head “boy” in charge of the president’s banking policies. Maybe she also has a problem with the “boys” at the White House."
"Geithner is a favorite of the president’s, perhaps because he is absolutely faithful to the financial establishment’s best interests."
"The question is whether this president has the nerve to include a smart, tough woman who thinks for herself on his governing team. If the answer is no, he will pay dearly for the cowardice."
from William Greider's article in The Nation:Why Is Obama Dragging His Heels on Appointing Elizabeth Warren to Head CFPB?
http://www.thenation.com/article/161006/why-obama-dragging-his-heels-app...
#30
I have heard - more religion, more crime and words against God. I want to say that we must be on guard against blasphemy. God is not the problem; people are the problem!
Blasphemy
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness and a person is guilty of an eternal sin. Blasphemy is showing contempt or lack of reverence for God. Since Jesus is the Son of God, a person who is showing contempt and lack of reverence for Jesus, commits an eternal sin and never has forgiveness. Irreverence to God damns a person’s soul.
#31
America may pose a greater threat to corporate ownership of this entire planet and everything and everyone on it and under it, than any other country. Why? Because we are a very young country- we don't have a thousand-year or ten thousand-year history of being ruled by despotic morons, so we are not culturally aclimatized to it. Ok, so we haven't done that well since Bush and friends engineered the 911 attacks, but in many parts of America we do have free speech, there are a few honestly informative magazines and radio stations, and enough rational people that our government can't stage a total nazi or fascist-style takeover of the country. Admittedly, we don't have the French thing going for us, where every so often they take to the streets and if things get rough enough they drag all the aristocrats out of their castles and behead them, which is why the French government is justifiably frightened of its own people, rather than our current situation in America where we are frightened of our government and it is not frightened of us because what have we ever done to it in response to all that it has done to us?
One thing the fascist governor of Michigan got right when he staged his takeover of the city of Benton Harbor, is that he found a black man to put in charge of selling off the city to the highest corporate bidder. It was very smart of the governor because with America's historical horrific treatment of black people, many white people are far less likely to come out full force against any black person even if that black person is a complete and utter traitor to the struggles of black people in America, a complete and utter traitor to democracy, and nothing more than a mindless slave (yes, I said it- that black man is a slave) to his rich white corporate masters. This "choose your servants carefully" technique worked very well for the nazis and fascists during world war two when they gained the cooperation of traitors in the countries they took over. But what that black corporate shill doesn't know is that his masters would throw him under the bus, sick the dogs on him, send him to a work farm in Alabama, or tie him to the whipping post in a half second if they thought it would increase their bottom line. That poor fool thinks he's gaming the system...
#32
@David Abbott, interesting comments! God did not put a hateful Michigan governor into office; it was the Michigan voters. Michigan voters will get what they truly desrve a total disaster.
#33
Soldiers, who believe in the Just War theory, are not free to apply this theory to the wars the United States prosecutes without severe penalty. They are not free to opt out of a war that they consider unjust. They are not free to choose to follow their conscience and take a noncombatant role without the likelihood of being put in prison. As John Paul II said in Evangelium Vitae, "To refuse to take part in committing an injustice is not only a moral duty; it is also a basic human right." Our government at this time refuses to recognize this right when it comes to our armed forces.
Vatican II proclaimed, "It seems right that laws make provisions for the case of those who for reasons of conscience refuse to bear arms, provided however, that they accept some other forms of service to human community." And the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has a long-standing statement supporting Selective Conscientious Objection.
As John F. Kennedy wrote in 1946, soon after returning from war:
"War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today."
Help bring that distant day closer by praying and acting in any, or all, the ways noted in this action alert during this Memorial Day weekend.
In Christ's peace,
#34
http://www.opednews.com/populum/linkframe.php?linkid=132379
Great Information!!!
#35
The time is now, oh God, to change our hearts for a better America!!!
#36
TRUE patriots, like Madison, Jefferson, Franklin, et al, aren't just rolling over in their graves; they are actively trying to claw their way out!
There is only one reason that the "government" is spying on ALL of us rather than trying to trace the "terrorists" to their likely hangouts. It is because they know, despite all they tell us, that globalization will NOT improve the lives of the majority of the people. Instead, it will drive us into abject poverty while a few all-powerful overlords proceed to (as Teddy Roosevelt put it) “skin” us of our natural resources for their exclusive profit. They know that this will make them tremendously unpopular, so they will monitor us closely to prevent and repress any “peasant revolts”.
Why else would the Patriot Act define people that “interfere with commerce” as terrorists? So they can suppress political activists, that’s why. This is already happening. Some activists who have picketed certain industries are harassed and threatened. At least one was arrested, labeled a terrorist, tried as a terrorist, and imprisoned in a “Communication Management Unit” where all his communication with family, visitors, the media, the mail, internet contact with like-minded individuals – essentially the rights guaranteed under the First Amendment. – was severely restricted. This kind of treatment may be what Bradley Manning is experiencing even now. There is a detailed interview on this topic at Democracy Now, http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/25/exclusive_animal_rights_activist_jailed
Fascism is here, people. Wake up.
#37
Rich Mullins before a concert spoke some words. He said that if you want a religion, Christianity is not for you. He is right. Our God came upon earth as a human being to die for our sins. What our awesome God did for you and me, He showed an undivided love for us. He died for our sins so that we could some day be with Him in heaven. He showed no greater love than to die for us. Yes, our God is an awesome God!!!
#38
Our Yo-Yo congress!!!
http://www.avnery-news.co.il/english/index.html
Believe it or not! Our Anti-Christ nation is an anti-life nation! Americans become glorified in the killing of God's children.
#39
Let's see, Dubya said, "they hate us for our freedom!" Then we respond by removing our freedoms that we suppose they envy. Kindly direct me to hell.
#40
"Michigan: Police Search Cell Phones During Traffic Stops"
"ACLU seeks information on Michigan program that allows cops to download information from smart phones belonging to stopped motorists.
The Michigan State Police have a high-tech mobile forensics device that can be used to extract information from cell phones belonging to motorists stopped for minor traffic violations."
"A US Department of Justice test of the CelleBrite UFED used by Michigan police found the device could grab all of the photos and video off of an iPhone within one-and-a-half minutes. The device works with 3000 different phone models and can even defeat password protections."
"Complete extraction of existing, hidden, and deleted phone data, including call history, text messages, contacts, images, and geotags," a CelleBrite brochure explains regarding the device's capabilities. "The Physical Analyzer allows visualization of both existing and deleted locations on Google Earth. In addition, location information from GPS devices and image geotags can be mapped on Google Maps."
#41
Capitalism is blight and a disease. The only thing that keeps Capitalism in check is the US Government. So what do the Capitalists want to do - get rid of Government!
And the American People are falling for this Capitalist lie! Same on them for their ignorance!
#42
You would do well to nurture and protect it - because the alternative - Corporate Fascists - certainly would love to see it disappear!
And then who would protect you from the Corporate Fascists?
And please, do not come out with that time worn rejoinder that both are the same! Pleeeaaaasee!
Save that for the fox noise ditto-heads!
#43
How can you blasphame and deny something that does not exist? If God exists and Jesus exists, then blue Martians also exist. Prove otherwise.
#44
Michigan voters will get what they deserve- a total disaster? And why is it that they "deserve" what is being done to them? Because republicans cheated their way into office? Using your same logic, someone could break into your house and steal your stuff, and then say, "Well, you got what you deserve."
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 Cracking the Code:
"In Cracking the Code, Thom Hartmann, America’s most popular, informed, and articulate progressive talk show host and political analyst, tells us what makes humans vulnerable to unscrupulous propagandists and what we can do about it. It is essential reading for all Americans who are fed up with right-wing extremists manipulating our minds and politics to promote agendas contrary to our core values and interests."
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:
"Through compelling personal stories, Hartmann presents a dramatic and deeply disturbing picture of humans as a profoundly troubled species. Hope lies in his inspiring vision of our enormous unrealized potential and his description of the path to its realization."
It is tragically ironic that Congress and Obama extended the Patriot Act right before we celebrate Memorial Day. It does our fallen servicemembers such a great disrespect to trample the constitution that they died to defend and protect. That we might be a little safer is not worth the sacrifice of liberties that they died for. Memorial Day only shows how unpatriotic the Patriot Act is.