Daily Topics - Tuesday March 20th, 2012
By shawnt56
Catch The Thom Hartmann Program LIVE at our new time, 3-6pm Eastern!
Hour One: The American Dream is only made possible by "Big Government" / Plus, Ryan budget plan - Nancy Altman, Social Security Works
Hour Two: Nader Proposes $10 Minimum Wage - wouldn't this help the economy? Trey Kovacs, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Hour Three: Why is it legal to shoot a black teenager in FL but illegal to shoot a dog?
Comments
#2
Randi Rhodes is saying that the Florida law simply requires that you claim that you were afraid of the person you killed. And that encourages you to kill all witnesses too, since they might be able to claim that you weren't acting afraid. She also says that it has been used successfully to defend gang violence in court.
The Stand Your Ground Law needs to be repealed immediately.
#3
I just wanted to thank you, Thom!
I got a long distance call letting me know that you read part of my Mudflats blog piece on the air: http://www.themudflats.net/2012/03/19/will-alaska-be-at-risk-for-a-trayvon-martin-shooting/
While our "stand your ground" bill, HB 80 is still in committee, there is a ton of pressure being exerted by the NRA to get it through. They have been contacting their Alaska members, feeding them talking points and many of them have been emailing their legislators while The rest of us didn't even know about this particular bill (even those of us activist types because we've been focusing on the bills that are starving our schools, etc...) until an Anchorage prosecutor bucked his boss and testified at a AK Senate Judiciary hearing. That made the news.
My heart bleeds for Trayvon Martin's family. My14-yr-old daughter curled up next to me on couch last night and told me the whole thing made her want to cry...and then she told me how scared the bill made her (she's black) though the bigger danger up here would be victims of "Walking While Native." All I could do is tell her that it scared me too and I was going to do everything I could to let everyone know how bad this could be.
In many ways, the death of Trayvon Martin could end up saving the lives of many other minority youth and folks in general who would be out-fire-powered in a disagreement.
Thanks again, Thom, for calling attention to our issues in Alaska!
Linda Kellen Biegel (Oh, and it's pronounced "Beegal" like the dog! :-) )
P.S. The reason it took a long-distance call to let me know about this is because we no longer get your show in Alaska. The only Progressive Radio show we have left up here is Shannyn Moore and I sure hope we don't lose her!
#4
Perhaps the American Dream is having a home, education etc... But I think that's what the dream was interpreted to be by time of the New Deal. I think the real American Dream, the foundation of it is iterated in the Declaration of Independence with the line Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. On top of that, I believe that that Dream wasn't meant to be a Dream for America only, but for all people across the world.
I can see how having a home and a job could seem like the Dream, but that's only a Dream when you're reality is a Nightmare of impoverishment. Having a home shouldn't be a Dream, it should be a given in a free society. If you're dreaming of obtaining a home, I think you have that dream as a result of living in a Capitalist reality in which having anything is a trade off of either working slavishly or figuring out a way to con others out of money, maybe both. Something about it seems wrong to me, not sure what, but somehow it shouldn't be considered communism or socialism to provide for the least of us Water, Food and Shelter.
If we need to pay for necessities we may as well justify paying a charge to breathe air. I find it ironic that if one steals a product they will be provided shelter, food and water; however if you abide by the law, but don't have a job, you can live out on the street and hope you can find something to eat.
N
#5
Valetudinariously ugly. A valetudinarian is either someone that is very sick or someone too concerned with his health.
#6
Aaron is right, you cannot change anything by pretending/ignoring one side of the same coin Thom. People are screaming for you to stop being as one sided as Cluster Fux is. It is not helpful to shut up those saying this is not one sided. The Dem party will NEVER stop their leaning to the right on every issue. Please, we KNOW what the GOP is doing, but they wouldn't be doing it without the Dems steppiing aside, and the POTUS cutting deals whereby we the people lose.
Obama just put through three more trade deals, but Thom did not mention one of them. Come on Thom.
#7
Maxrot, the dream involves owning a home, rather than renting.
Oldcrone, the Democrats could stop leaning right if they had better PR. They need to learn how to get their message across to conservatives.
#8
Mathboy, who mentioned renting?
N
#9
Thank you mathboy, but one reaches a point where you have to accept as the truth, the right controls the agenda when they are IN power, as well as when they are NOT in power, as in majorities.
How many decades do we let the Dem leadership continue these behaviors, without demanding anything from them? They are participants in the same game guys. My heart breaks for my country, and for my grandchildrens' lives. Look at what we have wrought upon them. It is not helpful for progressives to ignore the participation in this broken government by the Democratic leadership. Rahm was right, " F the left, they'll always be there", but it's changing, it will take time, but ignoring the wrongs done by one side is not going to change the future.
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I just tuned in and Thom is discussing the Florida gun bill. Thom just said he remembered a time when this was unthinkable.
I feel the same way about the POTUS taking the mantle of assassin of US citizens.
And it was unthinkable before Obama, wasn't it?
Is it progressive to accept the POTUS asasassinating his own people?
I think it is unthinkable right now.