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Leighmf, Just curious: What is your concept of "truth, justice and the American way"?
No, we're in this mess because of the middle class. Think about it: We looked at the policies and programs implemented from FDR until Reagan, which took the US to its height of wealth and productivity, and chose to reverse course, doing the exact opposite. This isn't the first time we've been in an economic hole. Each time in the past (Great Depression, etc.), the poor and middle class, workers and the jobless, ultimately united to push back -- to everyone's benefit. That can't happen this time. Liberals contnuew to wave the Middle Class Only banner, and the middle class told the poor to "go die."
leighmf, you are quite harsh and unkind and........ stupid, really. Here's why....
That's because you don't think about........ the FACT that many people reading Thom's blogs (or listening to him) are "fairly" (pun intended) new to his articles and radio teachings. Also, even if not new, they may have missed some of his articles or radio shows. Also, it is VERY common for people to at least partly forget the details of Right versus Left political minutiae and/or to integrate it into both their subconcious and conciousness. Also, each person has at least a bit of a different "take" on a subject, even if someone with similar political opinions has already written on a subject.
And, last but not least, leighmf, if Thom's writings tick you off, please leave. Who's holding a gun to your head? Thom doesn't deserve this. Rush Limbaugh would be very happy to have you.
Please leave.
I've always been a fan of big government. The alternative is privatization of services, and we all know how big business likes to run things. Seen enough! No thank you. (Like we have a choice.) Money is speech, and that leaves us pretty much speechless.
I strongly agree with Mr. Hartmann. The tragedy of this generation is that they disregarded the lessons of our own history, and liberals and Democrats continue to wave the Middle Class Only banner, deeply alienating the poor (working poor and those far worse off). The US shipped out a huge chunk of our working class jobs since the 1980s, and ended welfare aid in the 1990s, creating a poverty crisis. Not a middle class crisis, but a poverty crisis, which the media marketed to middle class libs has largely ignored. Reality is, it's impossible to save (much less, rebuild!) the middle class without shoring up the poor. We won't do that.
If you read the newspaper archives you will see this is rehashed news at least as old as the eldest readable newspapers. Republicans hate big government, specifically government interference, and Democrats see the need for more regulation. So what else is new under the sun?
My friends in Doctors without Borders were talking about the Danish and Swedish systems 20 years ago.
Everyday this blog starts out with some negative headline and resolves in a few paragraphs that if we do such and such, America will be happy.
Personally, I don't think this does anything to advance the cause of Truth, Justice, and the American Way. It just comes off like a lot of belly-aching followed by profanities and squabbling.
Considering what the Woodstock generation accomplished, this powerful tool, Thom Hartmann's Blog, is as effective as a Tonka Toy for winning the battle.
"Put two under it," the Voice Teacher said to his male students.
That means if you're going to sing, it has to have balls.
PAL -- The American revolution accomplished a lot. Other than lopping off of heads (which may be enough) did not accomplish much. As a matter of fact they had a second French revolution a few years latter (the subject of Les Miserables) and it also had little effect. I should point out that I know nothing, and I heard all this from Thom.
PAL -- Thanks and what is EPB fiber?
mrbrannon68 -- I think it is unconstitutional. I think what SCOTUS thinks is unconstitutional is whatever they see when they're on LSD. They have a 200 ft buffer zone around their building, but do not think they should have a buffer zone of 85 ft around female care center in MA.
You should visit the chat room while Thom is on the air. Thom seems to actually interface with the people in the chat room (even more so than the callers into his show).
I am sick and tired of these moron libertarians. Screw them all and the horses they rode in on. Rand paul, his father, the Cock Brothers and all the rest of the moron libertarian assholes in this country need to be removed. How dare they presume to know what's best for America. They couldn't find their assholes if they were staring them in the face.
The Cock Brothers and their blood money top my list of asshole libertarians who need to be removed from our country by force if necessary. Separate them from their blood money.
I want the old 3 hour show back!
A Former Subscriber-
Errol McCarthy
I had a question for Thom on todays show, (8/18) but was unable to get it on the air. I will try again tomorrow. What is happening in Ferguson, Mi takes me back to the 1960's and the Vietnam War Protest and the Civil Rights Movement. It has bothered me for all these years that we have not had a law suits on the ever increasing control over a fundimental Constitutional right contained within the First amendment; " the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for redress of grieveances". Isn't the control of peaceable assembly by law enforcements, that restrict where and how people may gather to petition their governments Constitutional? What do you think?
I am always entertained by your post on the blog. Once again, you make it clear and concise what you feel and believe. I stopped watching any network or cable news programs, including PBS, who has sold its soul to oligarchs in the name of survival. I used to contribute to PBS, but have stopped the monthly payments when they continually ignored my emails and calls asking why their News Hour program had evolved into another right wing spin machine. I get all my news from Progressive programs; such as Thom Hartman and the internet. I am 70 years old and a History/Political Science major who has continued to inform myself by constant reading of these subjects. Keep up your involvement by telling it like it is!!
Despair may not be an option, but more important is that apathy is not an option.
Is there a single source for the info on Ferguson that were just described?
Those cigars were hardly a loaf of bread. (re: Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables") Besides, anyone dumb enough to assault a police officer like that is just asking for trouble. It was hardly a Trevon Martin equivalent case. It was hardly an Oscar Grant equivalent case. Brown was a big and strong guy who beat up the officer and tried to get his gun causing it to go off in the car.
If you are using Firefox, you might try an add-on called NoScript. It tends to keep the ads away...as well as a lot of other junk (malware). There are other add-ons as well and even the other browsers have add-ons that can keep ads away.
And here is a website that you might find interesting if you are using Firefox. It tells you how you can make changes in "about:config" to make your browsing more secure.
https://www.bestvpn.com/blog/8499/make-firefox-secure-using-aboutconfig/
Yes, thank goodness for Maj-Gen Smedley Butler. Today, we have people like Edward Snowden to show us that the Emperor is wearing no clothes.
PAL -- I went to the links you provided. Now I am getting ads for internet providers. I have no problem with this; however I was surprised how quickly the ads appeared.
PAL -- Back to the FDR thing. Threat of revolution seems to be effective. Actual revolution seems to feel good and accomplish very little.
FDR was threatened by the veterans on the national mall and on the other side he was threatened by a military coup (thanks Smedley Butler for saving us). I think there was a significant possibility that if the 99% had mustered a violent revolution, the military coup people would have used that as an excuse to carry out their plans.
Interestingly, in the words of today's dicussion those military coup people would be Blackwater.
PAL -- Thanks for the info. What is EPB fiber?
I was hoping that the local govt in Chattanooga owned the cable, but I guess not.
To take them down we have to build a movement. The right wing lie machine, the PR business, is so effective they got 70% of Americans believing Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11 in 2003. Similarly, right after the crash most Americans blamed themselves for it not the banksters. They believed that they, average Americans, caused it with their own financial irresponsibility and credit card overspending.
The truth never gets out anymore with the siloization of American opinions. There's no mass media anymore. Everything's "subscriber only" now so you can only reach people who already agree with you. The conservatives only hear the conservative talking points and lefties the lefty points. The conservative media dominates because it is the more monied and thus the more obiquitous in American life and culture.
Most Americans, thanks to the PR machine, confuse the class privilege of billionaires with (good 'ol American) "freedom" for the people and the average person - when actually, it's freedom for the billionaires and slavery (to those billionaires) for everybody else..
Affordable (or free) healthcare, free quality education and many other social functions and social programs of government don't take away people's freedom as the PR industry so absurdly claims. Rather, they give common people (non billionaires) more freedom and enable them to pursue their dreams rather than be preoccuppied with matters of basic survival.
They don't take away freedom from billionaires either they just, maybe, don't let billionaires get everything they want or abate their privilege, i.e., their disproportionate freedom or their freedom to deny others theirs, somewhat.
I understand that Chattanooga's EPB Fiber is providing 1Gbps both upload and download speeds. Their price has come down from $300 to $65 because of Google's Fiber in other places around the country...like Utah's Utopia
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/EPB-Fiber-in-Chattanooga-Now-Offers-1...
Google Fiber is currently in Austin, TX; Provo, UT; Kansas City, KS
But not yet in Tennessee.
They are coming to Portland, San Jose, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, San Antonio, Nashville, Atlanta, Charlotte, and Raleigh-Durham.
https://fiber.google.com/newcities/
An organization called "Million Veteran Program", from the Department of Veteran Affairs is mailing out a "Baseline Survey" to all Veterans. I have done a search to see if this is legit and found a whitehouse.gov site that talks about it. Problem is that any time anyone, even the government, tries to collect sensitive personal information about people, it may not always be in the best interest of any of us to let them have it. Hitler bought IBM tabulating machines to keep personal information on people...especially, the Jews. So much of our personal data is already known about us and stored in repositories. How will this information be used either for us or against us one day in the future? Their color photos and marketing propaganda, at the whitehouse.gov website, to sell this to the people may sound like it is for our benefit. But, is it really? Do we trust a government that has sold most of us out to the finance companies and banks and corporations?
The letter says, in part, that "By completing all or some of these question, you 1) voluntarily consenting to participate in this survey and 2) agreeing to have a one-time MVP study visit scheduled.
During this one-time study visit, MVP study staff will discuss participation in MVP and ask you to provide a blood sample. This blood sample will be stored and used for future research on health, disease, illness, or condition.
The survey asks you, among other things, Demographics: how much money you make, how many in your household, race, marital status, education, etc. Physical features: eyes and hair color, skin color, etc. Military Experience:....
Activities and habits:...Health Status:....Medical history:...
It says that the information will be kept confidential and secure according to VA policy. It says that the survey has a "study code" instead of "your name" to maintain confidentiality. But, of course, the survey is addressed to your name and address and the "study code" is connected to your name and address so they know exactly who and where you are. Oh, and they also want your phone number.
One thing they will have, if you participate and go to those "study visits", is your DNA. I suppose, those of us who have gone to the VA clinic's labs for blood tests already have our DNA anyway. But, this looks to me like it is just a massive collection of DNA that can be used to identify people...that will, one day, possibly be used against you. One day, the Fascists may be looking for us for committing the crime of peaceful demonstrations.
Taft-Hartley, the National Labor Relations Act and McCarthy Era purges took a lot of democracy and fight out of the unions but even when union members are disatisfied with their own union that doesn't mean they prefer no union or no union representation at all. Even a crummy union is better than none and I think virtually all working people would agree.