I get it - Americans want to have their guns. And I can understand a lot of the arguments in favor of gun ownership. You can build a case that someone has a right to a gun to protect him or herself and their family. You can build a case that someone has a right to a gun to go hunting. You can build a case that someone has a right to a gun for competitive shooting. You can build a case that someone has a right to a gun if they're in the business of protecting the nation - like the national guard or the reserves. In fact - that last one on the list was the real original reason the Founding Fathers wrote the Second Amendment...it was to protect the nation. Rewind back to the early days of America - even after the British were beaten back in the Revolutionary War there was still tremendous fear that American was vulnrable to attack. It could be the Spanish coming up from Florida. Or the French - or the British again - coming down through Canada. And most of our Founding Fathers also had an enormous fear of standing armies during times of peace - after all, thousands of years of history showed them that great nations that kept a standing army during times of peace were often taken down by that very army in a military coup. Jefferson wrote exhaustively on this - even threatening to blow up the Constitution since it didn't include protections from standing armies. As Jefferson wrote to James Madison in 1787: "I do not like [in the new Federal Constitution] the omission of a Bill ...

The Good! *Democratic National Committee* Yesterday - the DNC officially put language into it's party platform - that endorses marriage equality - and calls for the full repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act. The Bad! *Ralph Smeed Foundation* The libertarian group is sponoring a billboard in Idaho - that compares President Obama to the shooter in Colorado shooting massacre. and the Very Very Ugly! *First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs* Charles and Te'Andrea Wilson had "booked the church and distributed invitations" for their wedding ceremony which they expected to go off without a hitch.

A Koch brother-funded climate change skeptic has suddenly reversed course - and now proclaims that humans are "entirely the cause" of global climate change. Three years ago - this guy - physicist Richard Muller - was given $150000 from the Koch brothers to co-found the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Project to debunk climate change arguments. But on Sunday, after three years of intense research, Muller is biting the hand that feeds him by promoting genuine science and ringing the alarm bell that climate change is happening and humans are to blame. As Muller wrote on Sunday in the New York Times: "My total turnaround, in such a short time, is the result of careful and objective analysis... it appears likely that essentially all of this increase [in temperatures] results from the human emission of greenhouse gases." From unprecedented ice melting in Greenland - to unprecedented heat waves and droughts in America - to sudden die-offs of reefs and phytoplankton in the oceans - the world is changing rapidly. And even Koch-funded scientists can't deny it anymore. Unfortunately - it may now be too late. Centuries of hurling toxic greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere may have already pushed the world passed the climate change threshold. Meaning in the coming years, decades, centuries - our planet could be radically different than we are prepared to handle. For more on this - Bill McKibbon joins me - he's an environmental activist and founder of 350.org - as well as the ...

Thom Hartmann's crazy alert

According to an investigation led by Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings - for-profit colleges are paying executives massive salaries - not based on student achievement - but based solely on profitability. Looking at 13 different for-profit schools - the investigation found, "the single most significant measure for determining executive compensation at these schools is corporate profitability...rather than student achievement." For-profit colleges rely heavily on government funding, with many schools receiving as much as 90% of their revenue from federal student loan assistance programs. Yet, they're not producing good results. A quarter of all students who attend for-profit schools default after three years, while the default rate at public institutions is a mere 10%. Yet the for-profit school executives still get fat paychecks - like Strayer CEO Robert Silberman who made $41 million in 2009 alone. Educating the future American workforce used to be a part of the commons, because the economic security of the nation depends on well-educated workers. But now, the money-changers are in control - leaving students in debt, unprepared, and jobless.

Mitt Romney has tried to distance himself from Bain Capital's practice of outsourcing American jobs by insisting he retroactively retired from Bain before the outsourcing started. That claim is doubtful at best. But now Mitt Romney may have a chance to fix the record. If he really does have a problem with Bain outsourcing American jobs - then he should pay attention to what's going on in Freeport, Illinois right now. There, more than 170 workers who work at a factory owned by Sensata Technologies are about to lose their jobs. Sensata is closing the factory and shipping it off to China. And guess who owns Sensata Technologies and is responsible for closing down the factory to ship it to China? Bain Capital. Yep - the same Bain Capital that Romney still collects dividend checks from. And now - workers who are about to be out of job are calling on Romney to stand up on their behalf and protect American workers. In fact - Sign On.org has launched a petition garnering more than 2000 signatures calling on Romney to speak out and put an end to outsourcing. Thom Hartmann is joined by one of the workers at Sensata's Freeport factory - Cherly Randecker - who's joined the camapign calling on Mitt Romney to stand up for American jobs

For anyone familiar with the Occupy Movement - and the outrageous crackdowns by police in New York, Los Angeles, and Oakland - then what's happening in Anaheim shouldn't be too surprising. It's just the latest in a long line of cities to fully embrace all-out military-style suppression of peaceful citizens who are operating well within their first amendment rights. As a new report by several law school clinics found - NYPD officers have used excessive force on peaceful protestors 130 different times since September of 2011- when the Occupy Movement kicked off. Joining me is one of the authors of that report, and co-author of the book: Suppressing Protest: Human Rights Violations in the US Response to Occupy Wall Street - Human Rights Attorney Emi MacLean and John Knefel joins us us from our New York studios - John is an independent journalist, co-host of Radio Dispatch - and regular contributor to The Fast Times.

Amber Lyon, award-winning investigative journalist and filmmaker, joins Thom Hartmann. Something is happening in Anaheim, California - despite a complete blackout from the mainstreem media. Take a look at some of these pictures by award-winning investigative journalist Amber Lyons from Anaheim over the weekend. When we hear terms like militarized police - this is what comes to mind. Officers decked out in full military gear as though they're about to be deployed to Afghanistan. So what's behind this? Why are militarized police on patrol in Anaheim? Well - Sunday marked the ninth straight day that local citizens took to the streets to protest police brutality. Nine days after police shot an unarmed man - 25-year-old Manuel Diaz - in the back of the head killing him. Since that shooting...the streets of Anaheim have been the scene of mostly peaceful protests that have at times turned violent in response to heavy handed police crackdowns. Last week - this was the scene in Anaheim - as police in riot gear fired less lethal projectiles like bean bags and pepper balls indiscriminately into crowds of people. 24 people were arrested that night - storefront windows were smashed, and fires were started. And last night - as hundreds poured into the streets for a peaceful march and ceremony for Manuel Diaz - they were once again met with Anaheim police equipped with full military gear. Nine people were arrested on Sunday.

Thom talks with NSA Whistleblowers Thomas Drake and Kirk Wiebe in tonight's "Conversations with Great Minds." Tonight's "Big Picture Rumble" panel discusses the latest from spoiled rich kid Romney's trip abroad, Obama's call to strengthen our country's gun control laws and why cities are banning Chick-Fil-A restaurants. In tonight's "Daily Take" Thom discusses how voter fraud rarely happens, but when it does it's Republicans who are usually guilty.

Let me introduce you to David LaMotte: a singer, songwriter and activist based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and author of the children's book "White Flour," which deals with the issue of racism. David, thanks for joining us tonight. Here's his song "hope" off his album "hard earned smile."

We all know that Republicans around the country are passing Voter Suppression ID laws to kick millions of Democrats off the rolls before November. As Salon reporter Alex Seitz Wald broke today - former Florida Republican Party Chairman, Jim Greer, now admits that official in his party are engaging in voter Suppression efforts to "keep black from voting." But since Republicans can't come out and say that - they instead justify their efforts by arguing that voter fraud is rampant. In fact - I had a guest on my show argue that voter fraud is so outrageous that even pets - like dogs and cats...and maybe goldfish - are walking into voting booths and casting votes: The reason they're not in jail? - is because it didn't happen. Voter fraud is virtually non-existent, happening less often than people dying because their TVs fell on top of them. But in those few cases where voter fraud actually occurs - it tends to be Republicans committing it. Meet John Enright, Republican candidate for supervisor in Pinal County, Arizona. Enright just dropped out of the race after accusations surfaced that his companion - whom he lived with until her death in 2007 - has been voting from the grave for five years since her death. Enright claims he's dropping out of the race for other reasons - and denies any role in illegally voting on behalf of his former companion. Seems fishy, though. And then there's Ann Coulter - one of the most shrill, hateful Conservative voices on television. As reported by ...

Marc Harrold, Libertarian Commentator & Adam Bitely, NetRightDaily.com & Sam Sacks, Progressive Commentator join Thom Hartmann. Right about now Mitt Romney is probably re-thinking his decision to travel to London this week. What can we learn about the Republican presidential candidate based on his gaffe-laden trip abroad? Plus - Do Americans REALLY have a right to 25 firearms and AK-47s? Is it time to rethink the Second Amendment - created when you still had to load gun powder into your rifle?

Marc Harrold, Libertarian Commentator & Adam Bitely, NetRightDaily.com & Sam Sacks, Progressive Commentator join Thom Hartmann. Right about now Mitt Romney is probably re-thinking his decision to travel to London this week. What can we learn about the Republican presidential candidate based on his gaffe-laden trip abroad? Plus - Do Americans REALLY have a right to 25 firearms and AK-47s? Is it time to rethink the Second Amendment - created when you still had to load gun powder into your rifle?

For tonight's Conversations with Great Minds - I'm joined by NSA whistleblowers Thomas Drake and Kirk Wiebe. Both men were involved in exposing the NSA's massive, illegal, domestic spying program known as the Trailblazer project initiated in 2000. Despite not leaking any classified information - and exhaustively going through all the protocols required for members of the intelligence community to blow the whistle on wrongdoing - both men faced serious retributions for going public with what they knew about the NSA's surveillance program. In 2007 - after a reporter for the Baltimore Sun obtained information regarding waste, fraud, and abuse at the NSA - FBI agents raided the home Kirk Wiebe - confiscating computer hard drives and business records - and revoking security clearance that Wiebe - an NSA veteran - had held since 1964. Wiebe was not charged with any crime. However - Thomas Drake - whose home was also raided - was charged with multiple crimes including violation of the Espionage Act of 1917. Eventually those charges were dropped in 2011. Since then - Drake has gone on to win multiple awards for his courage in blowing the whistle on the NSA - including the Ridenour Prize for Truth Telling and the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence. And both he and Kirk Wiebe have done tremendous work to inform all of us on the growing American surveillance state. The National Security Agency is building a massive spy center in Utah. What for? And will Americans be ...

For tonight's Conversations with Great Minds - I'm joined by NSA whistleblowers Thomas Drake and Kirk Wiebe. Both men were involved in exposing the NSA's massive, illegal, domestic spying program known as the Trailblazer project initiated in 2000. Despite not leaking any classified information - and exhaustively going through all the protocols required for members of the intelligence community to blow the whistle on wrongdoing - both men faced serious retributions for going public with what they knew about the NSA's surveillance program. In 2007 - after a reporter for the Baltimore Sun obtained information regarding waste, fraud, and abuse at the NSA - FBI agents raided the home Kirk Wiebe - confiscating computer hard drives and business records - and revoking security clearance that Wiebe - an NSA veteran - had held since 1964. Wiebe was not charged with any crime. However - Thomas Drake - whose home was also raided - was charged with multiple crimes including violation of the Espionage Act of 1917. Eventually those charges were dropped in 2011. Since then - Drake has gone on to win multiple awards for his courage in blowing the whistle on the NSA - including the Ridenour Prize for Truth Telling and the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence. And both he and Kirk Wiebe have done tremendous work to inform all of us on the growing American surveillance state. The National Security Agency is building a massive spy center in Utah. What for? And will Americans be ...