The US Conference of Mayors is jumping into the anti-war effort
By louisehartmann
The US Conference of Mayors is jumping into the anti-war effort. Tomorrow – the conference will introduce a resolution to call for a quicker end to US foreign wars around the world. If it passes – it will be the first anti-war resolution passed by the Conference of Mayors since Vietnam.
Even though the mayors have no power over the funding of these wars like lawmakers in Congress do – mayors around the country see first-hand the effects of this war – in particular the costs – as more and more cities in America are going broke while hundreds of billions are spent dropping bombs in the Middle East.
Comments
#2
Guest Suggestion
Thom - - I wanted to recommend that you have on the show as a guest a proponent of the Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) school of economics. I think that the MMT message is particularly relevant and important in this day and age of deficit hysteria and the consequent insane focus on deficit reduction rather than job creation. The MMT school of economics focuses on the opportunities the modern monetary system (since going off the gold standard in 1971) presents to the US government as the monopoly issuer of the US currency. Possible guests I would suggest would be Prof. Randall Wray (who was recently interviewed by your old friend, Peter Werbe) and Marshall Auerback (who has actually been on your show before but on another topic).
The significance of MMT was nicely summarized in a recent article by Michael Hennigan as follows:
“A new macroeconomic model has been developed by a pioneering community of heterodox economists based in the University of Missouri, Kansas City. Their Modern Money Theory (MMT) approach predicted the current crisis and so unsurprisingly, their analysis and economic solutions have attracted intense interest amongst economic commentators including Nobel Prize winning, Paul Krugman.”
“Under the MMT perspective, a central bank should not be concerned per se by the mounting sum in the sovereign government’s deficit account as it does not, despite ‘common sense’ claims to the contrary, represent a debt analogous to that of a household, business or bank debt. Instead the central bank should watch intently for signs of inflation – of which there are few at present in our struggling economies – as its overarching guide for money creation and taxation levels. Taxation both destroys money – by removing it from circulation – and gives it value – as only a national currency is ever accepted in payment of taxes. Once it is understood that money can be safely issued by a central bank without repayment of capital and interest and does not have to be first borrowed in the bond market or raised in taxes (yes, that means given free) new policy options open to tackle unemployment and inflation – not forgetting resource peak and climate change.
. . . . Even though a sovereign government does not have to sell bonds to raise money, MMT tells us it should still do so to a certain extent, in order to provide secure interest-bearing saving vehicles for its citizens.”
#3
Bravo to the US Conference of Mayors! True, their resolution will have little real effect on our foreign policy, but, hopefully, this action will serve as a harbinger of things to come. The more conferences, committees, agencies, churches, civic groups - any aggregation of people - protest the policy, the more likely politicians will sense the way the wind's blowing and work to end these senseless military escapades.
#4
Mayors have always been in league with each other, and the fact of the matter is that the expense of the wars is taking away from urban development. No development, no contracts, no kickbacks. A Mayor has to garner a lot of favors to further his or her political advancement.
So YES, it must pass! Let's stop starving and depriving our poor Mayors out of their due, by putting an end to all U.S. wars.
XXXXX
#5
Thank you JLC for mentioning Peter Werbe....I used to listen to his excellent "Night Call" podcasts and enjoyed them a lot. I listen to a lot of podcasts and somehow got sidetracked on Peter's podcast.
#6
New Rules; Republican debaters should be prohibited from using the words "tax cuts". This would limit the lenght of the debate to about 8 seconds, same as a bull ride. As per Biden, these people can not form a complete sentence without using this two words.
#7
We must speak out and demand a quicker end to Afgan war www.whitehouse.gov www.congress.gov www.senate.gov Pakistan is not our ally. They play both sides . We must get out of Libya & stay out of Yemen We can not police the world Those days are long gone USA needs much repair - healing we can not afford more lost lives and wasted trillions in far off lands where folks hate us. Instead GOP talks of cutting our kids education, disabled, old folks on medicaid, Pell Grants, school lunches, head start .We are headed for more severe problens IF we get another GOP Pres We are done for It will be even worse than Bush Cheney .This new GOP is even more greedy & determined to gut medicare, SS , EPA, FDA, all that safe guards our water air & medicines.. Corp run news media / Fox wil not give us all the facts . Read - fact check - use logic and reason
former REPUB voter
#8
I have my doubts that it would have any effect. I'm sure that the president and his handlers are aware that if they bought home the troops from the war zones and from our allies, there aren't jobs for them, it would swell the unemployment rolls and probably, as good an idea as it is, would diminish the presidents chance for re election, which probably hinges on the unemployment numbers at election time. It would be in our best interests to bring the soldiers home, but, to my mind, that's not the way politics works.
#9
Yes I think it has a clear effect: it demonstrates that not all politicians are hiding in the pockets of the war profiteers, and that is encouraging. And I have heard that mayors grow up to be governors, and governors grow up to be senators and representatives, and senators and representatives grow up to be presidents; obviously these mayors- as human beings who support human causes- are prime candidates for higher offices. And most of our current crop of legislators and sad to say Obama as well, are prime candidates for the trash heap of politicians who failed because they just didn't have the courage and patriotism to do what they said they would do. Unfortunately our political trash heap is so big that we are very aggressively exporting our problems to other countries, which is why it is so encouraging that at least some politicians on some level of government, are behaving like human beings.
#10
I'm guessing just about all of the Mayors supporting the resolution are Democrats, so this at least makes a clear statement regarding which party stands for majority representative rule, at this level anyway, as all polls indicate majority opposition to the war. These local Reps. are on the frontlines of being in touch with the economic pain and suffering going on in our own backyards. They understand war is immoral as well as the related spending priorities.
#11
Visiting Michigan
My wife and I had to drive to a medical center to remove staples from my procedure to change my generator for my pacemaker. Since we were close to Frankenmuth a city with a Bavarian motif, we had dinner at the Bavarian Inn and there world famous chicken dinners. We go to the Bavarian Inn. Zehnders Restaurant is across the street from the Bavarian Inn. Zehnders also have world famous chicken dinners and the restaurant is as good as the Bavarian Inn but the Bavarian Inn is our comfort zone.
If you ever visit Michigan, you must visit Mackinac Island. You can take a short ferry ride to the island from Mackinaw City or St. Ignace in the U.P, A second must visit is the drive along the western Michigan shore of Lake Michigan. Three cities on this drive are Petoskey, Charlevoix, and Traverse City. The beaches on the western shore are sandy. The beaches on the eastern shore along Lake Huron are rocky. Cities on the eastern shore are Cheboygan, Rogers City, Oscoda, and Tawas. If your stay in Michigan is a couple of weeks both drives are a pleasure. A one week visit in Michigan is Mackinaw Island and the western shore drive.
If you ever visit Solvang, California, you will see a city with a Danish motif.
#12
Here are two good articles.
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2011/06/16/the-persecution-of-juan-cole/
Bush was and remains an idiot!!!!! http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/16/eisenhower-fears-invent-enemies-buy-bombs?commentpage=2
Very true!!!
#13
Public School Education
I want to share with you my ideas and thoughts on public school education. We had three children go through public schools, K-12. They had contact with 120 teachers in a supposedly good school district. My wife had more contact with the teachers. She was a room mother before we needed a second income. My wife said to me that there were only about 10 teachers she would say are good teachers. As you can see that is a low percentage. I also had contact with teachers away from our home school district. The classroom teachers wanted to work with A and B students. They did not want to see C and D students. Most of the teachers seemed to lack motivation!!! They taught to the test to look good at evaluation time. Not one teacher wanted to work with special education students. The worst label for a special education student was learning impaired or disabled because it was the easiest label to qualify a student for special education classrooms. Of the students who really were learning impaired about 25% were truly learning impaired. 25% lacked motivation; 25% came from homes where the parents did not work with them; and 25% had poor teachers.
The teacher unions did not stress the teaching-learning environment and school principals were more into politics than educational change agents in creativity and innovation. Central administration wanted team development but when you lack trust in these administrators, there can be no team development.
Today, public school education has to compete with Catholic schools, Christian schools, Jewish schools, Islamic schools, private schools, charter schools, home schools, and virtual schools. These schools are a combination of home school, independent study, and educational consultation with a designated mentor. New ideas for a variety of schools will surface because public school education has failed many students.
I do not have the answers for our many educational problems. I am glad that our children are finished with K-12 environments. From my comment public school educators will have to come up with the answers. There are answers but the GOP (Guardians of Privilege) will fight public school educators all the way and with money talking public school educators are up a formidable wretch.
#14
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 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 Satan. 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.
Unless the citizens of our Anti-Christ nation start to receive correct and truthful information, we will continue to goose-step our country and our citizens into the abyss of hell for all eternity!!!
#15
Some Reading References
The Bible (God and Jesus)
National Catholic Reporter (a Catholic newspaper, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, Father John Dear, and Sister Joan Chittister write articles)
Non-Violent Jesus
Pax Christi USA
Commonweal (a Catholic magazine)
Haaretz (a Jewish newspaper)
Tikkun (a Jewish magazine and Rabbi Michael Lerner writes articles)
Network for Social Progressives (Co-founders are Rabbi Michael Lerner, Sister Joan Chittister, and Dr. Cornel West)
The Economist
The New Yorker
Antiwar.com
Common Dreams
Opednews
The Huffington Post
Democracy Now (Amy Goodman)
Informed Comment (Juan Cole)
Voices for Creative Nonviolence (Kathy Kelly)
Ravi Batra’s book, “Greenspan’s Fraud”
Stephen Lendman’s article, “A Culture of Violence”
Thom Hartmann’s articles, books, website, and Progressive Radio 1310 AM (Detroit) 12 Noon to 3 PM (Mon-Fri)
Mahatma Gandhi
Helen Thomas (a half century reporter in Washington, D.C.)
Greg Palast (an investigative reporter)
Paul Craig Roberts (an objective Republican)
Paul Krugman (an objective Republican)
Don Williams (a Southern columnist)
Uri Avnery (please take the time to read his articles)
Ray McGovern (a former CIA analyst writing articles)
Rachel Maddow has The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, weekdays at 9:00 PM.
Harper’s Magazine
The Atlantic Magazine
Ed Schultz has The Ed Schultz Show on MSNBC, weekdays at 10:00 PM.
Jesus gave us the Eleventh Commandment at the Last Supper.
LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU!
REAGANOMICS IS THE BIGGEST PONZI SCHEME THAT HAS EVER BEEN PERPETRATED AGAINST THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. – Gerald
#16
http://omg.yahoo.com/news/next-playboy-has-runaway-bride-sticker-on-cover/65192
WHAT BEAUTIFUL WOMAN WOULD MARRY AN EIGHTY-FIVE YEAR OLD MAN???
THE SUPREME OPTIMIST IS AN EIGHTY-FIVE YEAR OLD MAN WHO MARRIES A TWENTY-FIVE YEAR OLD WOMAN AND THEY BUY A HOME NEAR AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!!!
#17
Praying 24/7! Did you know that I pray 24/7? That's right!
I am proudest most of all because I pray 24/7. I know that you will find it difficult to believe but I do pray 24/7. With each breath that I inhale it is God’s gift to me. With each breath that I exhale it is my thank you to God.
#18
Bet You Smile
Most women live longer than their husbands because they have three closets full of clothes that they would not be caught dead in.
Why do bills travel through the mail at two and a half times the speed of checks?
I take my husband everywhere, but he keeps finding his way back.
Psychotherapy turned her life around. She used to have money.
He elected to skip coffee breaks altogether and it enabled him to retire three years early.
I won’t say what kind of student I was, but teachers used to give me extra credit for being absent.
It is better to be looked over than overlooked.
My homework is like a juicy steak – rarely done.
An unbreakable toy is useful for breaking other toys.
Falling in love is awfully simple. Falling out of love is simply awful.
I joined a health club last year, spent about 400 bucks. Haven’t lost a pound. Apparently, you have to show up.
You can only be young once, but you can be immature forever.
Only adults have difficulty with child-proof bottles.
On the Lighter Side
The sole purpose of a child’s middle name is so he can tell when he’s really in trouble.
I’ve learned that we are responsible for what we do, unless we are celebrities.
Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.
I’ve learned that money doesn’t buy class.
No one is perfect until you fall in love with them.
Opportunities are never lost; someone will take the ones you miss.
On the Lighter Side
You don’t stop laughing because you grow old; you grow old because you stopped laughing.
The Four Stages of Life:
- You believe in Santa Claus.
- You don’t believe in Santa Claus.
- You become Santa Claus.
- You start to look like Santa Claus.
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Never buy a car you can’t push.
#19
Hugs and Hugging
With WW III around the corner we must spend more time with hugs and hugging people. Let us go out of this world with hugs and hugging on our minds.
There is no such thing as a bad hug. There are only good hugs and great hugs.
Hug someone at least once a day and twice on a rainy day.
Hug with a smile; closed eyes are optional. A snuggle is the longish hug.
Bedtime hugs help chase away bad dreams. Never hug tomorrow someone you could hug today.
Hugging is healthy. It helps the body’s immune system; it keeps you healthier; it cures depression; it reduces stress; it induces sleep; it is invigorating; it is rejuvenating; it has no unpleasant side effects; and hugging is nothing less than a miracle drug.
Hugging is natural. It is organic, naturally sweet, no pesticides, no preservatives, no artificial ingredients, and 100 percent wholesome.
Hugging is practically perfect. There are no movable parts, no batteries to wear out, no periodic checkups, low energy consumption, high energy yield, inflation proof, non-fattening, no monthly payments, no insurance requirements, theft-proof, non-taxable, non-polluting, and, of course, fully returnable.
#20
Reply to June 15th #9...David I'm on board with the Ghandi approach unfortunately some of people I talk with are nearing a French Rev. boiling point. I think if Romney the "job killer" gets in the White house it will only exacerbate the situation. I gotta move....time for work, while I'm lucky enough to still have it!
#21
Gerald, Hope your feeling better, take care!
#22
@2950-10K, voicing some of my personal health issues may be of help to people who read Thom's blog. A new generator implant should last three to five years. I am 100% dependent on my pacemaker and so more energy is zapped from the generator. That means a new generator will last two to three, more like two years and nine months. Every new generator requires a new home monitor for the bedroom or living room or wherever a person feels comfortable. We have two sons living in other states and so we are less mobile according to timelines and the instillation of a new generator. We plan to see our eldest son in September and in April of 2012 we hope to see our youngest and our eldest sons. That will be the travelling until a new generator is required. When I received a call from the person who monitors my pacemaker, I was given a two week notice for an echogram, a blood test and a medical exam from my cardiologist. Scheduling can be a problem. I pray so everyone can have health care at adequate and affordable prices. PERSONALLY, THERE ARE SATAN'S DISCIPLES WHO WANT TO KILL OFF AMERICANS. THE HOPE IS TO BRING IN A COUPLE HUNDRED OF NEW IMMIGRANTS WITH PROGRAMMED BRAINS THAT THE ANTI-CHRIST IS A GREAT NATION. WE ARE THE MOST EVIL, VILE, AND WICKED NATION THAT OUR UNIVERSE HAS EVER PRODUCED. THE POWERBROKERS WANT COMPLETE CONTROL OVER SATAN'S MINIONS!!!!!
#23
What is upsetting? The west side of Michigan is conservative and impressive and so we hear that the conservatives are God’s chosen people and He has blessed the west side of Michigan with beauty and money. God loves everyone but not according to the evangelical kkkhristians and their inferior messages.
#24
Where the hell was the conference 9 yrs. ago?
It is way pass the time to impeach Obama san. America does not need such arrogance & defiance against the law of the land, breach of oath & fiduciary. The LHN works for the interest of the gringo people and not for the banksters, mulit-national elitists, UN, & whoever else runs him. The gringo people must make a choice, either they stand for autocratic rule or they themselves hold the reigns of power.
#25
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Why are the U.S. citizens dying and sacrificing themselves for the wants of another country and one which breaks all nationhood laws of the U.N.?
Breaking nationhood laws at the U.N. takes away the status of nationhood guaranteed by the U.N. which all other nations must obey and live up to in order to retain their own status of nationhood. Is the United States not also found in this category by way of treason of its own people and all those others (nations) whom it makes promises to, save that of one?
The United States is held hostage by a nation whose leader has full access to the Pentegon to come and go as he pleases without a word from the United States President Obama. Not one word from the press.
Someone sits on top of the 5 Judges or Kings of America. In whose interest is it?
The United States pays a tidy sum of 3 billion U.S. dollars to its ‘friend’ who holds the U.S. hostage, whilst the Amerian people die for want of healthcare and become stuplified for want of a decent education as schools are shut down for want of money.
The United States is held hostage by a nation who takes from all nations all it desires utilizing other militaries (NATO) to fight its homemade enemies.
To have a friend one must first be a friend and not a tyrant.
The United States has adequate resources and does not need for its own survival to take and conquer that which belongs to other nations and other peoples.
The United States has been found subservient to its ‘friend’ and because of that ‘friendship’ American sons and daughters have been sacrificed in wars, terrible wars, searing their own consciences due to unwarranted slaughter of other peoples of other nations. And for what end?
The United States has some of the finest minds beginning long ago with Nicola Tesla (American-Serbian genius) who would have free electricity for all citizens, and even now as in the past, fine and brilliant minds are developing non-pretroleum systems for vehicles of all descriptions. That takes care of the need for much of the gas and oil utilized today for vehicles. One point alone.
The greatest commodity the United States has for a good life for all, lies not in the money system, lies not in Wall Street, lies not in war but lies in the fine minds of its own citizens.
The U.S. also does not need to outsource jobs when Americans are out of work and losing their homes, vehicles, etc., and the fact the U.S. has cheap labour in the form of immigrants!
When those immigrants are U.S. citizens at last they also have the right to fair justice, fair wages, and the rest. But right now the American born citizen no matter the colour or race have NO RIGHTS ANYWHERE IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY!
As people begin to understand what is being done to them and to their country (America) they begin to rise up, and at the same time as they rise up they are arrested, jailed and treated as though they had the same rights as the prisoners in Guantanimo.
Is this the liberty promoted world wide or the biggest hypocritical scam of the last two centuries on its people and on the world?
The U.S. miliary need to protect their own country and not by attacking defenseless foreign and innocent nations, but by protecting the rights of the American citizen from all those (new) rules and regulations of the patriot act which of course are taken completely out of context and twisted beyond recognition.
THE MILITARYNEEDSTO STAND WITH THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES! THE PEACE LOVING, TRUE PATRIOTIC PEOPLE WHO HELP NATIONS – NOT BOMB THEM! NOT SPRAY THEM WITH WHITE PHOSPHOR AND EVEN WORSE ………until it comes back on their own heads, the heads of their own military sons and daughters!
THE MILITARY NEEDS TO STAND UP ‘FOR THE PEOPLE,
THE MILITARY NEEDS TO (STAND) BY THE PEOPLE, SO THE UNITED STATES CAN REGAIN ITS OWN NATIONHOOD OF THE PEOPLE!
AND THEN THE TRUE PEACE LOVING AMERICANS WILL RISE UP FOR THE PEOPLE,
THE TRUE AMERICA WILL THEN STAND BY THE PEOPLE;
AND THE NATION WILL RISE UP BEING OF THE PEOPLE AGAINST ALL THOSE WHO TRIUMPH AGAINST RIGHTEOUSNESS, DIGNITY, RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE AND PROTECTING AND PROMOTING THE NEVERENDING CONGLOMORATE BUSINESS OF WAR!
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Thom's Blog Is On the Move
By webmaster
Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
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Let's just use this duplicate post as today's topics: Thursday June 16th.
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.