Thom Hartmann: Greetings my friends, patriots, lovers of democracy, truth and justice, believers in peace, freedom and the American way. Thom Hartmann here with you. Well we’re discovering that the oligarchy, the plutocracy is real. It’s not some wacky conspiracy theory, it’s not some strange notion from outer space, it’s not related to robotic pigeons. It’s a bunch of actual people who actually get together and it’s not the Bilderbergers, and it’s not the Jewish conspiracy to take over the world that we’re constantly hearing about from right wing tea party folks.

Thom Hartmann: In New Jersey, just recently, a few days ago, a CVS pharmacy, pharmacist, or pharmacy employee, nearly allowed a woman to die in their store when she denied her the use of an inhaler as this woman was suffering from an asthma attack right in front of her. Her boyfriend was there, as Katherine O'Connor was on the floor desperately trying to catch her breath.

Thom Hartmann: So what, you know what do you think? Cully Stimson says marijuana is not good for you, it should not be decriminalized. I say alcohol is not good for you and we allow the sale of that. And frankly what happened to the idea of just letting people you know, like freedom? Letting people do what they want? A guy who would really know, Judge Jim Gray, he’s a former presiding judge of the Orange County California Superior Court and author of numerous books. He’s with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.

Thom Hartmann: And welcome back, Thom Hartmann here with you. And the future of marijuana in the United States? This is going to be an interesting one. Cully Stimson is with us. And Cully Stimson is the senior legal fellow at the center for legal and judicial studies at the Heritage Foundation. Heritage.org the website. Charles “Cully” Stimson. Cully, welcome to the program.

Cully Stimson: Hey Thom, thanks for having me.

Thom Hartmann: And welcome back, Thom Hartmann here with you and there’s a, Terrence McNally wrote a great interview piece with Thom Geoghegan who has been on this program a couple of times, who has this new book out called, “Were You Born On The Wrong Continent?” that’s Thom Geoghegan’s book.

Thom Hartmann: And greetings my friends, patriots, lovers of democracy, truth and justice, believers in peace, freedom and the American way. Thom Hartmann here with you. Broadcasting live from Washington DC and today a special treat for Thursday. Typically on Friday we have Senator Sanders on but he’s on with us today. Tomorrow I’ll be in New York, whole long story, Carl Wolfson is going to be filling in for me. And so it’s our Brunch with Bernie hour, our first hour here. Senator Sanders, welcome.

Thom Hartmann: So what would you do if your house was on fire, the kitchen, you know, you’ve got something on the stove and it bursts into flames and it starts catching one of the counters next to it or the curtains on fire and you grab a fire extinguisher, it doesn’t put it out or maybe you don’t have a fire extinguisher, whatever.

Thom Hartmann: So this Paycheck Fairness Act is you know out and about, shall we say. And women who face inequality have to confront their employers. To do that they need to know the score, they need to know if indeed they are more poorly paid than the guy next to them. Keep in mind, the reason why Lily Ledbetter got knocked down by the Supreme Court when, after 15, 20 years she discovered that all the men who had been promoted around her into similar positions were being paid much more than her and the only reason was because she was a female.

Thom Hartmann: Ohio’s governor Ted Strickland signed an executive order banning the outsource of government IT functions. These are government purchases. Why can’s we do this at the federal level? Why can’t president Obama sign an executive order that says anything that has, anything that’s paid for with federal dollars, which is a hell of a lot of stuff, right? About a third of the entire economy is directly or indirectly paid for with federal dollars.

Thom Hartmann: So what’s the real threat to American democracy? Who are the real fundamentalist crazies? Who are the people who actually have the power to change US policy, to change our laws, to change our foreign policy? To lobby other foreign governments and get them to do things that cause their citizens for example their gay citizens or their AIDS infected citizens of their maybe going to be AIDS infected citizens now with the probability going up dramatically, lose their rights, lose their lives. What is the real terrorist group in the United States?

Thom Hartmann: Yep, it’s all about the money when it comes to conservatives and republicans. They’ll say oh no we’re really concerned about immigration, we’re concerned about jobs, we’re concerned about the environment. NO they’re concerned about rich people’s money. That’s the bottom line, that’s what it’s all about. Doug Cunningham with Labor Radio News on the line with us. He is the producer, reporter of Workers Independent News. LaborRadio.org the website. Doug, welcome back to the program.

Thom Hartmann: So what kind of impact do taxes have on the United States? We had over 3.3 % growth in every single decade, in the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s. We haven’t quite hit that since then. What could have done it? I don’t know. Curtis Dubay is with us, he’s a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation specializing in tax issues. Heritage.org, of course, the website. Curtis, welcome.

Curtis Dubay: Thanks for having me.

David Cay Johnston is on the line with us. He is an investigative journalist and author. His most recent book, “Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense and Stick You With The Bill.” His website, DavidCayJohnston.com and David welcome to the program.

David Cay Johnston: Well thanks for having me on again, Thom.

Okay quantitative easing. I told you I’m going to tell you about this. The Fed says that they're going to do what’s called quantitative easing. This has been, there’s been this big fight going on inside the fed about whether or not to increase the money supply.

Thom Hartmann: What kills more children than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined? Former Swedish ambassador Jan Eliasson is with us. Am I pronouncing that right, sir?

Jan Eliasson: Yes, you did indeed, thank you very much.

Thom Hartmann: Oh wonderful. And by the way, today our program is now being carried in and I know I’m going to mangle this, Öppna Kanalen Skövde located in Skövde, Sweden.