Jim Hightower joins Thom Hartmann. "Lone Star State" Governor Rick Perry got real chummy with the billionaire Koch brothers this past weekend. So what exactly does he want from America's biggest oil barons - and what is Rick Perry trying to sell to the American people?

Congressman Jerrold Nadler, (D-NY, 8th District) joins Thom Hartmann. So with Republicans demanding trillions of dollars in spending cuts - and threatening to block any plan that includes even a nickel of tax increases on corporate jets, millionaires, or billionaires - what are the chances that a debt-limit deal can be reached that DOESN'T exclusively harm the middle-class and thus cripple our economy? And what IS the best way to both get our deficit under control in the future - and at the same time preserve economic growth and job creation for the middle class? The Congressional Progressive Caucus has an answer - and Members of the caucus are travelling around the country this month to pitch their job growth and economy-healing agenda to working people across America

Thom discusses the Supreme Court Conservative's 5-4 ruling which struck down an Arizona law that provides public financing of elections, which ultimately benefits Republican candidates. Later in the show, Thom debates retired United States Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton about America's mission in the Middle East.

America does not belong to Kings - she belongs to the people. It's time for Congress and our President to step up and put the Supreme Court back on equal footing with the rest of our branches of government. They need to pass a law ending Judicial Review - take that power away from the Supreme Court - and restore the vision that our founding fathers had of America - a nation where 5 unelected guys in black robes couldn't make or kill the laws of the land.

David Sirota, AM 760 Colorado's Progressive Talk joins Thom Hartmann. Our ship of state is headed toward another financial crisis iceberg - and Republicans are at the helm. Why? Because since the financial crisis of 2008 - little has been done to reform Wall Street of its bad behavior. And what little that HAS been done - Republicans are trying to undo. At the end of last week - the Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee passed legislation that cuts funding for the critical government watchdogs in charge of making sure the financial crash of 2008 doesn't happen again. That includes cutting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - and pledging to block anyone who President Obama nominates to run that agency. The Republican bill also includes holding flat the funding for the Securities and Exchange Commission - even though that agency has a lot more responsibility under the Wall Street Reform Act. So it's back to business as usual on Wall Street. Meanwhile - Canadian and European financial regulators are going gangbusters with new financial regulations - cracking down on their banksters to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. So why is it that we're not doing the same thing here in the United States? When it comes to regulating banksters - like the rest of the world is doing - why is America "exceptional"?

Proof that Bush & Republicans have gone to the Dark Side with the Devil stars.

Colonel Cedric Leighton, US Air Force (Intelligence Officer, retired) vs. Thom Hartmann. Last week - as President Obama pitched his Afghanistan withdraw plan to the American people - he mentioned the Iraq war as well - and the progress that's been made in that country - take a look: We have ended our combat mission in Iraq - except no one told the Iraqi insurgents that. On Sunday - 2 US soldiers were killed in an attack in Iraq. Earlier in the month - another 6 US soldiers were killed in an attack. And in total this month - 11 US soldiers have died fighting in Iraq. That's the most deaths in a single month in Iraq since May of 2009. Again - this is a war in which combat missions have supposedly ended. What's going on here? Back in 2002 - we had troops stationed in Afghanistan to fight the Taliban and find Osama Bin Laden. But then we sent those troops to Iraq in Bush's misguided and illegal war. And what happened in Afghanistan? It exploded. So in 2009. President Obama took troops out of Iraq and sent them into Afghanistan - and now Iraq is exploding. So has our foreign policy in the Middle East turned into a giant - and deadly - game of whack-a-mole? How can we sustain this - and when do we just cut our losses - declare victory and go home? Or, have we laid the groundwork for perpetual war?

Proof that Rich people aren't the job creators!

Mark Weisbrot, Center for Economic and Policy Research. Don't ride the bus in Greece. A 2-day strike has shut down the nation's public transportation system and riot police are now clashing with protestors in the streets of Athens today as the Greek Parliament is set to consider a $40 billion austerity package on Wednesday that targets working people with spending cuts and tax hikes. Passing these austerity measures is the last hurdle for Greece before they receive a bailout from the IMF and European Union. Previous spending cuts by the Greek government have already pushed unemployment in that nation to above 16% - and the public isn't taking too kindly to even more austerity. Doctors - ambulance drivers - public transit workers - and air traffic controllers - among others - have launched a 48-hour strike in protest of the austerity package being shoved down their throats by banksters at the IMF. But is austerity really the right way to in Greece? Leaders in Europe are worried that a Greek default could unleash a financial crisis across the entire continent - but is running that nation into the ground with forced austerity measures the best way to avoid fiscal calamity? And who has the upper an this negotiation anyway - the Greek Government - the leaders of the IMF and European Union - or thousands of Greeks in the streets of Athens?

Sean Parnell, President-Center for Competitive Politics vs. Thom Hartmann. Another day - another Supreme Court decision in favor of big money in our politics. Yesterday - in another 5-4 ruling - the right-wing of the Supreme Court struck down an Arizona law that provides public financing of elections. The law was intended to level the playing field between people with huge fortunes and rich friends - and just average folks running for office - by supplying matching public funds to candidates who are being outspent by private money. The law made sure that electoral politics in Arizona wasn't a "whoever has the most money wins" sort of game. But the high court ruled that any attempt by the government to "equalize electoral opportunities" - as in make sure both candidates are on a level playing field financially - is unconstitutional. But what IS constitutional to the Conservative Supreme Court nowadays? The corporate takeover of our democracy - as was decided last year in the Citizens United case. So how does this ruling make sense - isn't fewer - and not more - corruptive corporate dollars in our elections a good thing? And did the Supreme Court just kill public financing of elections?

Corporate CEOs have a secret they don't want you to know about...and that's how much money they're stealing from their workers. And Republicans are accomplices in the thievery. Last year - as part of the Wall Street reform bill passed by Congressional Democrats and signed by President Obama - there was a provision forcing corporations to disclose just how large the pay gap is between their CEOs and their average workers. As in how much more money the bigwig in the corporate office makes SITTING on his butt all year versus how much money the factory floor worker makes BUSTING his butt all year. The provision was included in hopes that if people knew just how gross the pay gap is between CEOs and workers - then maybe there would be more pressure to shrink it...as they say - sunlight is the best disinfectant. And today - outrageous corporate pay is infecting our economy. Consider that back in the 1970s - CEOs made about 30 times more than their average worker - as in what they did was 30 times more valuable to the company than what other workers did. But since then - the numbers have exploded - and today - CEOs make as much as 400 times their average worker and in some cases on Wall Street - as much as 2000 times the average worker. Can today's CEOs really justify that they are 2000 times more valuable to the company than their workers? They can't - and that's why they don't want you to know how much money they're taking from their corporate treasure chest to pad their ...

The Good, The Bad, and the Very, Very Dyslogistically Ugly... Chris Murphy, Chris Christie and TSA.

John Nichols, The Nation Magazine & Erikka Knuti, Democratic Strategist join Thom Hartmann. Students in Wisconsin can forget about a quality education. Yesterday - Koch brother lapdog Governor Scott Walker signed a new Republican budget bill to tackle the state's deficits caused by Governor Walker's tax breaks for corporations and millionaires and billionaires. And how does Walker's bill reduce the deficit? The Republican way of course - by cutting $800 million from public schools in the state - and directing those savings to even more corporate tax breaks. Another $250 million was cut from state universities - and $70 million slashed from tech schools. But Walker may have other problems on his hands beyond a backlash from students. Walker's right-hand man on the State Supreme Court - Justice David Prosser - is facing allegations that he choked-out another Supreme Court Justice - Ann Walsh Bradley - in her legal chambers two weeks ago. You may remember that Prosser is the guy who narrowly won re-election to the state's high court last month after 12000 votes mysteriously appeared in Waukesha County to put him over the top - and it was his decisive ruling that allowed Governor Walker's controversial anti-union law to survive a legal challenge earlier this month. So what will this latest controversy on the Wisconsin Supreme Court mean for Governor Walker's agenda - and those in Wisconsin who are fighting against it?

Eamonn Fingleton, Former editor-Forbes and the Financial Times joins Thom. Throughout this debate on our debt - Republicans often cite what's happening on the other side of the planet - in Japan - as a warning of what could happen if we don't get out debt under control. Currently - our debt is about 95% of GDP. Japan's debt on the other hand is about 225% of GDP - far worse than ours. And Republicans claim that because of their enormous debt - Japan has suffered from a lost decade of economic activity. That the once roaring Asian economic powerhouse of the 1980s - was badly wounded by out-of-control spending and has been limping along ever since. And that sad story could strike the US if we don't immediately cut spending. But one renowned economics writer - who happens to live in Japan - disagrees - and argues that Japan is doing just fine thank you very much. And he's willing to put his money where his mouth is. That man is Eamonn Fingleton - Former editor at Forbes and the Financial Times.

Kevin Kamps, Beyond Nuclear, joins Thom Hartmann. The impending nuclear disaster in Nebraska just got worse. Over the weekend - a floodwall protecting the nuclear plant from the overflowing Missouri River gave way - inundating the facility in floodwater. The plant is less than 20 miles away from Omaha - Nebraska's largest city - and is now cooling its reactors and spent fuel pools with back-up diesel powered generators. If those generators go - then only batteries with a few hours of life will stand between Omaha and nuclear catastrophe. It was a tsunami that triggered the world's worst nuclear meltdown at Japan's Fukushima plant a few months ago - and if floodwaters continue to rise and upstream dams can't hold them in Nebraska - then the same thing will happen here - and we might lose Omaha. But that's not all - wildfires in New Mexico are threatening to take out another nuclear facility - the Los Alamos facility. Last night - winds kept a 68-square-mile wildfire at bay - about a mile away from nuclear facility. But those winds could change direction at any moment - and put the facility back in the path of the fire. And as we all know - nuclear material and fire don't mix too well. So just how dangerous are these extreme weather threats against our nation's nuclear power plants?