It sure hasn't been cold here in southwestern Oregon! This winter we've had very little rain compared to most winters. Sorta like psuedo spring. I love the nice weather but I worry about drought. The same thing seems to be happening in California.

Meanwhile the fossil fuel shills just won't shut up. Any time I see an article on Der Spiegel about climate-related topics, those damn fools are on it like brown on poop, filling the accompanying blog with their science-bashing crap. Corporate propaganda never takes a vacation! We get it all the time, from every imaginable source, and we must condition ourselves to ignore it. After all, the only people worth hearing on this issue are the scientists. I never cease to be amazed by the arrogance of industry shills who have the bloody audacity to be arguing with actual experts on this subject. It really is outrageous, how those who've spent their lives studying climate science should have to come up against this sort of stridentl, aggressive, willful ignorance.

Fifty years ago, who could have anticipated the tyranny that the fossil fuel industry would come to represent? The bloated price we pay at the pump is the least of it, folks. Just think of the wars we keep fighting over oil! Think of the millions of deaths, worldwide: not only from all the innocents massacred in those wars, but from the pollution of cancer-causing chemicals contaminating our air and water! Think of the "eminant domain" property owners suddenly find themselves up against, with these industry hacks determined to steal their land! Think of the oil spills, the disasters, the earthquakes caused by fracking.... where does it end?!

And let's not forget another major culprit behind global warming: corporate farming! Both these industries pose a threat to our very existence. Our way of life is long overdue for an overhaul. - Aliceinwonderland

Regarding my reply #5...... I got thinking more about the taxes we working class citzens here in the U.S. pay and how that amount stacks up against how much citzens in the democratic socialist countries pay in.. In addition to income tax, property tax, gas and sales tax, city tax, village tax, fees of all kinds,etc....... I totally forgot about the huge amount of money we pay for health insurance. That's a huge expense already covered by the enlightened countries. So most of us actually contribute more as a percentage to the public coffers than our happy foreign counterparts. Like I said, they get healthcare in return and we get drones.

I became 'Independent' (away from the 'dumb-o-crats') many years ago. The only thing the democratic party can do is propose legislation and try to move that legislation forward. And they HAVE been doing that. The republicans HAVE been blocking EVERYTHING!
There are 'talk show hosts' for the old conservative party they DO NOT REALIZE that the last 'real conservative ideology' was back in the 'Eisenhower era'. I listened to a (radio) speech (via Thom Hartman) by the republican candidate (forget his name) running against FDRs' third term. He bragged about that conservatives were all for strengthening social security; about supporting labor unions; and about increasing the minimum wage. If that man and Eisenhower were alive today, the gop/tea party would destroy them. The point being is that "the conservative party" disappeared, when that radical creep, Reagan came on the scene. Reagan began the war on the American middle class and they (the gop/tea party creeps) have seriously hurt the American people.
What I propose is an "American National Congress". In our national congress, each representative represents about 750,000 people. We need a representative for every 250,000 people. This 'ANC' would be an internet organization and be inclusive of all political parties. The national census could be used to draw demographic districts to elect (with run off voting) an 'internet representative' in the ANC. The job of the ANC representative would be to read and vote on every piece of legislation brought before our national congress. Via the internet, the people in each district could see how and why (with a 1 or 2 paragraph explanation as to why they voted the way they did) they cast their (internet) vote.
The 'ANC' would be about 1500 representatives. The American people could compare the 'ANC' votes with a regular congressional representatives' votes. It would bee a simple matter to replace a "bought-and-paid-for" regular congressional representative by having three 250,000 member districts select a candidate from the ANC to replace the regular congressional member by placing the ANC name on the ballots. All three 250,000 members of the 'internet' ANC would know that name and vote for that person. No amount of advertising or corporate money could defeat the ANC candidate. We could then have a congress composed of representatives "of the people", and FOR the American people.

Dr. Michael Brown: Christians, Atheists and...Satanists?! Oh My! Ona Porter, Prosperity Works: Prosperity works for poverty now. watch online movies

The 'Crash of 2016' by Thom Hartman outlines it all. 'The Power Elite,' by C. Wright Mills was written in 1956. These two books, one written in 1956, the other in 2013 tell the whole story. The Military-Industrial-Congressional complex has been with us at least since World War II. It will take a separation of the state (Congress) from corporations by voting out Congressmen who only represent those corporate entities that line their pockets. Changing the 14th Amendment is a great idea, but it has to be prefaced by the vote. The state must pry the hands of corporations off the military by enforcing laws that serve the public domain. The Founding Fathers did not intend the state to serve corporations; and it certainly did not intend the military to serve corporations. The military is very used to the idea that corporations run the show and not Congress. Church, family and schools have been sidelined by this interlocking directorate. Why do we now ask whether the Pope is aligned with Republicans or Democrats? Why is marraige an issue? Why is the student debt so high? We have become 'the masses' with no worthy opinion. We the People, we the public, have an opinion about war, poverty, education, health care and the food we eat. Feudalism is here. Feudalism has been our reality for decades. Private property? What is private about it when corporations extract profit from what we the people own: the public domain. The power elite: the revolving door of politicians and military generals and corporate executives are an Interlocking Directorate that govern everyday life in America.

Like all ideologues (left and right) the Republicans see a one-dimensional world & mistake it for reality. Their world is not a very pleasant one & the utopia of free markets & bath-tub sized government they strive to establish has no semblance of humanity to it. Will they wake up? I doubt it. We have come to a point where a profound catastrophe is quickly coming upon us. The Democratic party hides behind "pragmatism", which is no more than a cloak for going along with the oligarchic powers while spouting worn out phrases from the New Deal. People are left with little or no choice in the electoral realm, where reactionaries are touted as revolutionaries.

In 1876, Walt Whitman published an essay, :Democratic Vistas", in which he, sadly I think, suggested that if nothing is done to counter the commercial materialism that was refashioning the country around him, then "we are on the road to a destiny, a status, equivalent, in its real world, to that of the fabled damned."

Government employees like Rand Paul insist on more cuts to working class programs before passing an extension on unemployment insurance...and the corpse media has no problem trumpeting his marginal extremist views.

One populous truth the same media won't mention is the fact that as a percentage of GDP our public spending is far less than the countries that have polled as the happiest in the world. As a percentage of GDP, our spending has been flat for decades with the exception of the 2008 billionaire bailouts.

While citizens in the happiest countries in the world have cradle to grave non profit healthcare, financial safety nets, affordable higher education, four times more vacation time, good wages, good retirement benefits, etc.......we in the United States spend most of our money on the military industrial complex. When you add all taxes and fees, most of us working people pay as a percentage of our income the same amount the happy citizens in the Democratic Socialist countries spend. We get bombs and drones they get things like healthcare and career education.

So Rand Paul and his Teabillionaires are just plain whip silly wrong, spending is not out of control. We are simply spending on the wrong things....a military industrial spy complex and a military industrial oil war complex. What is out of control though is revenue loss. With tax loopholes, off shore bank accounts, and the Reagan/Bush rich man tax cuts, it's in the trillions. Meet the Republican Press will never mention facts like these, facts that would make a positive difference to 99.9% of us.

I am so tired of hearing of People and there children going hungery. For what ? This is not what this country stands for around the world but it's okay here at home. Blows my mind this is not what the people think we are made of we are much beeter than this. Time for a change has come and gone. Hope the voters wake up. Sure could use a change!

The 60 Minutes hit job on clean energy is no surprise. Exxon Mobil has been sponsoring 60 Minutes' tweets for weeks.

Well said, Richinfolsom! I suppose one of the reasons why I am so averse to marketing hype is that I rarely watch TV channels that hype all that psychological garbage. That and my keen awareness as to what they are trying to do.

And when I go to the movies, I often just tune out the advertizements on the big screen...taking a quick nap...or just rest my eyes. I wonder if they ever do surveys at these theaters to see if anyone is paying attention to the ads on the big screen? Actually, I think they might...I often see theater people, with clip boards, standing off to the side constantly monitoring the seated people. And I didn't even think of this possibility (ie: paying attention to ads) until just now.

I could delay getting to the theater until after most of the ads but then I wouldn't get a good seat.

I try to keep most ads off my computer and email and tune out that which gets through.

I have been able to screen out the phone pests by using caller ID and just not answering the phone when I don't recognize the numbers (but I usually investigate them on the internet to see who they are..and they are always scammers). I keep a list of good numbers and a list of scammers by my phone.

By never answering those scammer calls..my phone has become much quieter...hardly ever get them anymore..certainly not as frequently as before when I answered them. If I ever made a mistake and didn't answer a call that turned out to be someone I did want to talk to, I have their number from caller ID and can call them right back. If everyone got caller ID and never answered phone numbers they didn't recognize, we would drive these pests out of business.

Some more sophisticated telephones with caller ID will actually not even ring if the calling number is not in the list of approved phone numbers you set up.

Message recorders still answer the call and it tells the scammers that they've reached a valid number and will continue to call back using their robocallers. They are pretty much assured that someone will hear their message, even if it is a recording. So they will keep calling.

They count on the fact that people have been psyched, like Pavlov's dogs, into automatically answering their phones. No one will ever call you telling you you won millions of dollars unless it is a scam caller. But some people just don't get it.

Even those religious nuts (you know, the well dressed ones that canvas the neighborhoods) avoid knocking at my door now. Thank Zod! I watched them just today on my security cameras..hesitating on the sidewalk, glancing at my address..then..continuing down the sidewalk. I used to always argue against their stupid beliefs at the door. I suppose when they start burning heretics again I'll be the first to go!

I used to get any number of people at my door, usually with some paraphernalia, like a clipboard, that is supposed to impress their intended victims of their validity or authority. But they don't come around anymore either. I got to the point where I would watch them, with my security cameras, standing at the front door and I would just let them get tired and frustrated then they'd walk off.

The DoNotCall list doesn't seem to work...so neither the Government nor the Telephone company will be proactive in stopping these scam callers so we have to be proactive and just not answer those scam callers by using caller ID.

I include pollster, charity, religious and political calls as scammer calls as well. I don't want to hear from them either! And those categories are excluded from the DoNotCall list, I believe.

Hey Thom. After listening to the January2, 2014 show I was challenged to think through some of the commentary. During the last hour you shared a personal experience with a person in need. I thought the focus you brought to verses in Matthew 25 was curious.

It seems this passage holds all kinds of weight for many socially conscious people for it’s often quoted in the public square. The focus tends to be on the person doing the responsible and loving acts. However, the cited verses (usually 37-41) seem consistently to leave out two salient contextual matters. One, the person who said it and two, the rest of the book and its place in the Gospel account.

First, Jesus said this in the broader context of doing kind and gracious things for others. Clearly Jesus believed all people embody the image of God and are, like he was, a sacred child of God. The book of Matthew is replete with admonitions to treat others as though they are children of the creator. The verses fall in line with requests to do gracious things for everyone. Christ’s requests ask followers to see the world from Christ’s eyes, to embrace an entire life approach to the poor, but also to all people, no matter their socio-economic status. Followers do these things because they actively participate in the creation of a good God and live faithfully and graciously to all people.

The book of Matthew seems to be concerned with an existential belief that makes no sense apart from the belief in the Christian story. This matter goes to the second part, the larger context of the Gospels.

Looking for good reasons to help those in need, Matthew 25 seems to be the go-to passage. Yet it seems to be done without the deeper intent within, specifically the call for a redemptive, sacrificial faith in Christ. Of course we all can be kind and giving without any faith in Christ or for that matter any faith in any transcendent being. However, to quote Matthew without a full and responsible faith in the greater story from which Matthew draws his conclusions seems to take all kinds of things in vain.

I suppose biblical quotes can be used any way one decides but when people do so, the quotes lose their coherence and fall to mere sentiment. It simply and conveniently separates Christ from his messages. Used in this way Matthew 25 simply asks people to do good to others for goodness sake. Nothing wrong with that I suppose but it appears entirely irresponsible to the history of the faith and to Christ in the context the story of Gospel.

I understand why the quote gets used despite the deeper intent. It’s easy to believe all a God might want is for us to be “good” people. Yet if one takes seriously the context in which Matthew 25 was recorded an entire change in behavior and language would be order. We would have to put all our castigating weapons down. We’d be compelled to be kind and gracious to everyone including our opponents and those with whom we disagree. It would require us to stop condemning others, cease from judging them and assigning motives. And it would call us all to stop assigning our opponents a place in hell. It would displace the powers we demand for our subjective and ideological moral superiority. It would mean the believers in what Matthew said would find many creative ways to be constructive and encourage all those living in the polis at large.

The message of Matthew in its historical context requires a radical change of heart for all people and essentially asks them to stop demonizing all those with whom we disagree. The book of Matthew asks believers of the Christ story for an entire change of behavior toward the people of the world; a behavior known by a love for the poor, a desire to bring light to the spiritually forlorn and extraordinary kindness to all people.

But I suppose it’s much easier to read Matthew 25 out of context and believe Jesus was simply talking about helping those less fortunate. Giving people money or buying them lunch is simple. However, reading Matthew 25 without embodying the more holistic message seems to be exactly the thing Christ condemns, namely, doing things in the name of a contrived morality.

The Book of Matthew calls for a radical change of heart as the way to profound, sacrificial, gracious and loving hearts for all people, rich or poor. But it’s a complete change and one that shows overwhelming love and grace to all people even those with whom we disagree. That is, Jesus’ admonition in Matthew 25 extends to all people no matter their economic condition or political ideology.

Sorry for the sermonizing. I guess what I’m trying to say is the message of Matthew 25 in context seems so much more than merely helping poor people because it’s “good” to do good things. I’m afraid that misses the point of Matthew 25: 31-46 altogether.

DAnneMarc: Old Saint Carlin was quite a funny guy! And I certainly heard some of the ideas he had that sounded very familiar.