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Thom's Blog Is On the Move
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Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
Monday is a regular day off for me, but it was an utterly useless day; the banks, the post office, the library—even the Laundromat was closed. Even Thom took the day off; the website was slow in getting organized and I wound-up placing two posts in an entirely inappropriate place. The NY Times reported that the Tea Party movement has more in common with far-right fringe groups like the Patriot movement, but that didn’t stop Thom’s fill-in hosts insisting upon the “necessity” of smooching the fundaments of teabaggers; I subsequently made a right turn on the radio dial (where else is there to go?) and discovered that Rush Limbaugh occupies the same time slot as Thom, on a different station. Limbaugh was talking about how New Jersey was going bankrupt because of the union pension fund for government employees; a typical retiree puts in $124,000 into the pension over their lifetime, and gets $3.8 million out of it in retirement pay and benefits (if they live long enough). That’s not a little bit of change; if someone retires at 65, that’s about $100,000 a year in pay and benefits if they live to 100. Obviously Limbaugh is being disingenuous when he throws around big numbers like that, but that’s the kind of thing the average listener is exposed to when Thom plays hooky (since he claims to be the number one progressive radio host, posting-up against the number one right-wing host). At any rate, I know how Thom tends to resent being contradicted, so I’m reposting the posts that were mislaid:
Well, that's all pretty heavy stuff. Here's a music video about the Declaration of Independence to entertain you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZfRaWAtBVg
That got away from me...more:
GO:P Grabbed Our Prosperity
On Drugs--PCP---Paid Corporate Pawns
let's kick it back to the repubs with things like:
GOP: Gone Over Precipice
GOP:
Links are given in the newsletter. It's http://blog.healthcareforamericanow.org/2010/02/11/insurers-enjoy-record...
Can someone provide the web site mentioned on the air where the insurance companies' record profits are listed? Thanks!
I agree with Mark K.
To understand how thick headed teabaggers are, one need go no further than Thom's message board. There are 3-4 of them over there that can barely put a sentence together, but they're certainty that what they heard on FOX is so pervasive that they will tie themselves in knots to justify any facts to the contrary that they encounter.
Just refer to conservatives as "cons". Like "democrat", it is a shortening of the proper name.
It has negative conotations: con, as in convict, con-artist, confidence scammer, etc.
What Anthem Blue Cross shows us is the free-market principles are not at play in the insurance industry. By continually raising rates as policyholders flee, Anthem is heading down a path to ruin for short-term gain. Sadly, Anthem is not alone on this route. Other insurers have or will undoubtedly follow suit. What we cannot do is stand by and wait for the free-market to correct itself.
I heard Thom’s fill-in hosts talk about how we needed to bring teabaggers “into the fold.” How many times do progressive talk show hosts need to be disappointed in these useless efforts? All they have to do is check-out their websites, blogs, the people they invite to their gatherings and what they say themselves. Except for a few hangers-on who just want to check-out the scene, they are all right-wing and/or Republican. There may be agreement on one or two issues like bank bailouts and immigrant bashing, but they approach issues from a 180 degree different set of “values.” Forget these people; they can’t be swayed. These are the same people who come out of the woodwork every time they feel “threatened” by what they perceive as left-wing policies. The people who need to be “convinced” are the so-called “independents” who abandoned the Democrats in Massachusetts a few weeks ago. They want to see if Obama and the Democrats can govern, and not behave as if they are afraid to do so.
Love these two when they fill in for Thom. I'm partial to repukes as the tag for the party that veers further right daily.
I 100% agree with Carl and Christine that we need to really call out these thugs, these corporate leaning criminals.
Obama and the whole party indeed does need to go back to their liberal, progressive roots. In doing so they need to tap into their inner Harry Truman and call these corporatists out.. Pelosi has shown some signs but Harry Reid is hopeless with that weak milquetoast voice. I don't doubt that he's a very nice man but we'd be far better off with someone like Barbara Boxer as the Senate Leader.
It's time to veer left and save our country. There is a lot of angst out there and it's there for the taking. If we don't tap it someone nefarious will.
I've always referred to the Rs as republicanderthals. So far no insulted neanderthals have returned from extinction to take me to task.
I've always referred to the Rs at republicanderthals. So far no insulted neanderthals have returned from extinction to take me to task.
Tories
Republican't Party
Replicant Party (for Bladerunner fans)
Grand Obstructionist Party
Publican Party
Repub Party
If the Texas School Board is successful in striking "liberals" such as George Washington and Cesar Chavez from their textbooks in favor of Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich, Mr Kenneth C Davis is going to have a whole new set of books to write, debunking misinformation and filling-in the gaps of history textbooks all over the country.
In fact, from what I've heard, he may have that opportunity open to him right now.
Anthem Blue Cross Demonstrates Flaw of For-Profit Healthcare
Anthem Blue Cross has been getting beaten up lately for its decision to raise the rates of individual policy holders by as much as 39%. The increase is 10 times the projected growth in healthcare spending. Anthem asserted the average increase would be only 25%, far outpacing projected spending increases. Anthem’s contention that the rate increases are justified highlights the flaw of for-profit healthcare.
Anthem attributes the hike to the exodus of healthy customers. The economic downturn has caused policyholders to re-evaluate their insurance needs. Many have reduced coverage in favor of lower premiums while others have decided to forgo insurance altogether. The net result is less revenue coming in to support the unhealthy customers. In fact, Anthem has stated that it lost money last year while its parent company, WellPoint, posted profits of $2.7 billion in the last quarter of 2009. The smaller pool of policyholders will have to pay more to make up for the losses.
The for-profit insurance company (FPIC) takes in funds through premiums. These premiums are pooled to offset the cost of healthcare to the policyholder. The FPIC is required to retain a level of funds to insure that it can make payments to claims. The reserve amount varies by state. After claims and expenses, the FPIC pays leftover funds to its shareholders on a quarterly basis. This is the flaw in private healthcare.
Because of its for-profit status, corporations are not inclined to establish “rainy-day funds”. In fact, most shareholders and analysts would frown on such behavior. Corporations, by nature, are not suited to prepare for downturns. Most rely on contraction and layoffs to weather the storm. Insurance companies do not have this luxury as they are contractually bound to continue to provide service even when financial constraints exist. People do not stop getting sick during hard times, it’s a well held belief that the opposite happens as preventative care declines. The only recourse the insurance company has is to raise rates, setting in motion a chain of events that favor neither the policyholder nor the shareholder.
Rising premiums have already had a negative impact on customers. The healthy and young policyholder either reduces or drops coverage, leaving a pool of sick customers. Those hovering on the margins, so ill that they cannot go without insurance, are making grave choices to maintain their coverage. This next round of hikes will push the cost out of range for many of these people. These newly uninsured will join the ever growing multitude of uninsured putting more pressure on an already strained healthcare system.
As policyholders continue to abandon their coverage, the losses for the FPIC will continue to mount. Shareholders will begin to see their dividends erode. Analysts will declare the company at risk, resulting in declining stock value. This inevitably will lead to a merger or takeover and eventual job losses.
Only 39 percent? When I was on an individual plan, my premiums went up from $170 to $400 in a three year span, even though I never had a medical issue during that time. Insurance companies don't want to deal with individuals, and want to price them out. The question is why don't they deal with individuals as if they represent one large private company?
According to a story in an eastern Washington newspaper, the work force of local apple growers were subject to an audit by the ICE; one of the larger companies was given a list of 550 names that they had determined did not have the proper papers, and had to be fired—about a quarter of its workforce, with more to come. The local Minutemen are ecstatic, although they apparently have no interest in working in the orchards themselves. Local growers say they don’t want to hire undocumented workers, but they say that the current guest worker program is cumbersome and expensive, and altogether inadequate for their needs. Despite 10 percent unemployment, they don’t see any white Americans banging on their doors for jobs. Many people wonder why the bigots even care who’s doing the picking, if these hypocrites don’t feel like doing the work themselves.
The question is why is the ICE wasting time raiding orchards instead of investing in a practical guest-worker program grounded in reality and not racist fantasy, particularly since growers have to compete with cheap imported produce from other countries. Since eastern Washington is Republican territory, and at least one Republican member in the House representing the area agrees with growers on the need for reform, perhaps this is the Obama administration playing “chess” to see if enough Republicans whose districts are affected by the nonsensical immigration policy will support immigration reform.
According to a progressive website called ProgressivePunch (“Leading with the Left—Pow!”) The number one progressive member of the U.S. Senate is not Bernie Sanders. It’s, it’s…drum roll…it’s Roland Burris! Progressive Punch gives Burris a “lifetime” progressive voting score of 99.32 percent. Cynics might say that Burris has been a reliable Democratic vote because he “owes” Harry Reid for letting him join the club without too much fuss; on the other hand, why should we be surprised that an African-American Democratic senator who is not half-Caucasian vote more progressively than his white counterparts?
Burris’ principle “crime” in the eyes of white leftists is that he was shoe-horned in by the embarrassing former governor of Illinois, and didn’t have the “good manners” to refuse the job. But what if the lieutenant governor was a Republican? I somehow doubt they’d be making as big a stink about it. You think that the Republicans weren’t laughing while the left (but not all of us) was gleefully slaughtering one of their own? You think the white “progressives” on the radio and MSNBC who belittled Burris—who are in my mind often arrogant, insufferable and sometimes even a little dumb (I’ll refrain from the “R” word)—have no responsibility in his approval rating in the teens, which in the end may wind-up hurting the Democratic senatorial candidate in 2010, whoever that may be?
Be careful for what you wish for, Thom—you might just get someone far worse than Burris (like a Republican), since you won’t get anyone better on the progressive vote.
Thank God that most people don't adopt Gerald's example. Being "Chicken Little", running around screaming that the sky is falling will insure defeat by the very sources who he despises. Take your Prozac Gerald. Patriots don't lament, they organize and suit up.
And, WHAT do you think America is with her 750 military bases around the world AND her eye on 1,000 military bases.
Hillary is saying that Iran is a military dictatorship. Hillary shut up. And, do you think America is with her 750 military bases around the world wnd her eye on 1,000 military bases. Hillary, why don't you speak out against our policies and practices of mass murders and war crimes? America cannot always be right because we are an evil country.
@Donald, I do not know much about N14D so I cannot comment. I would need more information on Mike Gavel.
The repugs do wonders with words. For example, Reagan would say trickle down economics. Trickle was a buzz word for peeing on average American heads and telling us that it is raining.
I am new to this community, so I hope the placement of my message is appropriate.
I would very much like to hear the National Initiative for Democracy (NI4D) discussed on the program. And a discussion with former Senator Mike Gravel would also be appreciated. He is the founder of NI4D.
I very strongly believe that the National Initiative is our only way out of this mountain of political corruption we have found ourselves in. It has campaign finance reform built in. Therefore, we can make that happen now! NI4D just needs the votes and the support to spread the word and educate voters. I posted a message in the forum also. Let's empower voters rather than corporations!
The three articles that I am sharing with you are not long but they are packed with information.
Please avoid what I did as I read these articles! I cried like a baby.
I have heard as I have listened to the Thom Hartmann Show that he does a good job of educating us. I agree with those comments.
There is one area that I cannot shake. It has to do with Thom's optimism. He continues to see light at the end of the tunnel regarding America's future. Personally, I do not see such a light.
I truly believe that we are finished nation. We are now a banana republic. America will never lose a nuclear war because America has an accepted pre-emptive strike doctrine that means we will strike first any nation who tries to challenge us or who wants to improve their country's people for a better living.
America is out to enslave the world population and the ninety percent Americans who still believe that we are a good, holy, and saintly nation. And, that we are a Christian nation.
People, America is the most evil nation that has come to being in the history of the universe. Our evil is unparalled in history.
Along with being a banana republic we are now wallowing in the abyss of hell.
As a side note, any House or Senate member who is in office and is a licensed physician and opposes health care for all Americans has broken his or her vow of "do no harm." They are not complicit in the murder of God's children; they are actual murderers.