Daily Topics - Thursday June 16th, 2011
By shawnt56
Get the new IPhone App for Thom Hartmann
Thom is live on radio row from Netroots Nation in Minneapolis, MN today and tomorrow with guests...Markos Moulitsas, John Nichols, USW President Leo Gerard, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, Dr. Jared Bernstein and more!
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:
"Thom Hartmann channels the best of the American Founders with voice and pen. His deep attachment to a democratic civil society is just the medicine America needs."
From Cracking the Code:
"No one communicates more thoughtfully or effectively on the radio airwaves than Thom Hartmann. He gets inside the arguments and helps people to think them through—to understand how to respond when they’re talking about public issues with coworkers, neighbors, and friends. This book explores some of the key perspectives behind his approach, teaching us not just how to find the facts, but to talk about what they mean in a way that people will hear."
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"Thom Hartmann is a creative thinker and committed small-d democrat. He has dealt with a wide range of topics throughout his life, and this book provides an excellent cross section. The Thom Hartmann Reader will make people both angry and motivated to act."
I like these conference episodes. It's great to hear a string of real liberals talking about the underlying issues of how our political process works. I missed the first 45 minutes, so I don't know if it was mentioned that Lizz Winstead is one of the co-creators of The Daily Show, nor did I catch what she's working on now ,though I heard a while ago she was doing some show about Planned Parenthood.
As for the workings of politics, I think we need to have a separation of duties in the Democratic Party (really, every party) so that the politicians can be just policy makers and the party would take care of campaign funding. Sure, you'll have banquets to show off the "product", but the politicians wouldn't have to whore themselves out. To help enforce this, the party charter should institute a wall between public office and party office. Not that you couldn't go from one to the other eventually, but you shouldn't be allowed to be one while being a nominee or candidate for the other.
This certainly would have helped Anthony Weiner, who was abandoned by his party because he didn't raise enough money for them.