Recent comments
ADHD: Hunter in a Farmer's World
Thom Hartmann has written a dozen books covering ADD / ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder.
Join Thom for his new twice-weekly email newsletters on ADHD, whether it affects you or a member of your family.
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
By webmaster
Hello All
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.
But "we" are the "mob" and we SHOULD rule....not the "mobsters"...the few elite criminals who have stolen democracy in America. It may not seem like a big deal for someone who has a lot of money...but the mobs, the masses, the people are being threatened with their very lives. Life and death are at stake here! Just as in any war! But one exception to that model is that the only people that will be losing their lives will be the masses without jobs and without food and without access to medical attention and not the few at the top hoarding all the money. This war against the masses has sought, for over 30 years, to reduce wages, remove health benefits, and destroy Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. They have purposely run up the budget of wasteful Pentagon spending and even outright thievery ($2.3b missing from Pentagon Budget, Billions more missing in Iraq, Bankster bailouts, etc) just so they could destroy the social programs. And now they are about to do just that....and not a peep about touching Pentagon spending.
Mark you are kidding right
Ken W I would lIke to correct you on a few things. The oil that would be sent in the Keystone pipeline is from the Oil Sands in Fort McMurray, Alberta. It is not oil "shale oil" it is mostly mined google it. It is very interesting and is the largest engineering project in the world. it takes four years to get a permit up there and the land returned to its natural state. It is the second largest oil reserve in the world. Canada moves over a billion barrels of energy a year through Our pipelines very safely. Please don't get us confused with what is done down there they have different safety standards.
You also give me a hard time about getting in your business down there our Federal government just passed a law to stop all the US lobby groups from interfering with our business here. The Rockerfeller Foundation spent 7 million dollars on lobbyist in Canada against our pipelines in Canada. Rockerfellers the ones who made there money in oil go figure
I guess you must be referring to my post, currently at #78, I don't know...it doesn't seem to fit what I said in that post about Max Headroom. Anyway, I'll respond: Could we have even won WW2 without a certain amount of covert and deceptive actions...secrecy? How well would we have done had we told our enemy where all of our strategic points were, what our armaments were, etc? When you are fighting a war (especially one WE didn't start in the first place...ie: we are on the defensive) the least amount of strategic data you give the enemy is best. And the war is not being waged just from the economic hegemonic front but from a whole lot of wackos and weirdos that could do us great damage personally. It's one thing to express your ideas and beliefs but another thing to reveal personal data about yourself that could be used against you. It's tough enough trying to maintain a certain amount of anonymity on the internet when there are so many tools and hackers that can find out...even one's bank account numbers and balances...not to mention where you live and everything else about you. But if you help them out by providing details about yourself then you are greatly aiding the enemy (whoever they may be). Those who would benefit from a laxity in others security don't like it that their potential victims might become cautious and put up barriers to their potential exploits. Criminals love an easy prey. All I am saying is by all means express your ideas, resist, but try to keep anything that would make it easy for someone else to take advantage of you secret.
Our prying government, spy agencies, and the real sock puppets or shills, paid by them, wouldn't take this stance...they want you to be open and an easy mark for them...they want you to be totally open and revealing of your identities and your ideas and beliefs. But, obviously, the government, at least, can force Blog sites to reveal the email addresses and real names of the participants. But hackers can also, illegally, hack into the data bases and get the same information.
Whoah! Be afrai! Be very, VERY afraid!
This all may be true but we have to be open and honest, We can't be cowards or WE are sock puppets. There is no resistance or defiance itf we run and hide. It's at a point early in its progression where that maybe all we have to do, boldly andloudly enough, to succeed in stopping it.
Mark, I take back what I said about you as well, you do have some good intelect and ability to think outside the box. I will look into the philosophy of Noam Chomsky. It may sound good on the surface but the ability to put into practice with the society we have established is an overwhelming task. As you know and we all have become painfully aware is that we live in a world where most people do not care about government or philosophy and have been dumbed down by pop culture media and distracted by the flavor of the day. And I like Palidometry do not trust government and the tools and power they have to manipulate the sheep in what ever direction they want. I think we as a people have allowed the big government to have way too much authority and that will be our demise. We must not be lazy and allow mob rule to dictate our futures.
I remember Max Headroom...watched a few episodes..and I am often reminded of Max Headroom when I watch Thom Hartmann's shows. Remember the image of Max Headroom breaking up momentarily at times (which is an attempt to remind the viewer that Max Headroom is an artificial intelligence)....that's what seems to happen occasionally during Thom's shows. Although, no, I don't think Thom's intelligence is artificial...very real and very intelligent for sure...but maybe it is just the result of low budget snafus...like there is never any captioning...which I would greatly desire. Oops! there I go giving away more information about me...but I think I let that one go some time ago.
ken ware: I believe we are way more alike than in our differences...that we disagree on a few issues is not a problem nor would it be if we disagreed on all issues. But, I usually always agree with most everything you have said. But you are way more fearless than I am for sure.
I just believe that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure...ie: don't give some potential wacko information about who you are or where you live especially if you are going to express ideas that might set someone off. And it is also a good idea not to use the same name (even the same false ones) on other blogs because clues expressed in those blogs could be tied in with all the other blogs. Of course, if you use your real name and/or photo everywhere it would be so much easier for someone to locate you.
It's really fantastic that you have weapons yourself that you can use if you ever need to...but it is better to never put yourself in a situation where that might be possible.
Here is an interesting short story from exShill: "I was a paid internet shill."...of course, it may be fact or fiction...but from all the other things I've read on the subject...it sounds to me to be more fact than fiction.
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread826545/pg1
And here:
"Revealed: US spy operation that manipulates social media
Military's 'sock puppet' software creates fake online identities to spread pro-American propaganda."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social...
This article mentions that it is supposed to be illegal for the Pentagon or other spy agencies to do this in the U.S.against U.S. citizens. And so they do it overseas against foreigners. But just like Echelon, that uses foreign partners to gather information on us in the U.S then trades that information with the partner countries....they can, and probably do, use paid sock puppets or shills from other countries...like Australia or Canada (for example) to skirt or circumvent U.S. law...not that that has much meaning anymore since 911. And, I highly suspect that Israel is well into practicing this in the U.S. as well. Say anything against Israel and they will gang up on you with their sock puppets.
If someone is supporting right wing ideas, they are very likely shills being paid to do it. But, you also have to watch out for some people who may sound like they are on your side but who will use their faux personae to gather information about you that they (or their covert organizations) may someday be able to use against you. And you may never even suspect who it was that got you to say things that would work against you.
We all probably say way too much about ourselves on the internet and that could come back to bite us. Using any little bit of information that you have given up in blog sites, it is possible (so I've read) for people to find out exactly where you live, who your family members are, where you work, your email and phone numbers, and with the help of Google Earth, zoom right down and "walk" through your neighborhood and view and identify your house or apartment building. And all of this done without using any hacker tools at all ..and you don't even need to pay the "people search" web sites..they give up tidbits in their teaser examples to be useful. But, beware, because those "people search" web sites are actually spying on you..tying you in with the people you are searching for..even if you don't pay for their services.
And if it is easy for anyone to do this...it is a great deal easier for anyone more sinister to do this..especially if they do use hacker tools..that are all freely available to any script kiddie who desires to download and use them.
And I'd say that quasi-government organizations, or the secretive spy agencies, are very sinister...they are not really out to protect us from "terrorists" but are in existence to keep the wealthiest individuals in control of all the rest of us while they continue to squeeze us into our coffins. This means they will use any means possible. Resorting, at first, to using psychological methods (like the use of shills or sock puppets); and eventually, to using force.
And, yes, I am quite aware that I have just given up way too much about me just writing this post. ;-{
Kend - I know you are intelligent. But to actually state that the people who are sending shale crude oil are doing so to make sure other countries will have sufficient fuel to benefit their citizens? They could care less about the people their goal is to amass even more wealth for themselves. We were told that shipping crude oil in super tankers was very safe. As long as a human is in charge things can go wrong. The Valdez oil spill destroyed the habitat in Alaska for decades. B.P. sworn drilling in the gulf was completely ego friendly with all the technology involved nothing could go wrong. They lied and were responsible for another disaster for the ego system and the people who relied on the ego system to supply a means for their financial survival were devastated by a blowout that could have been prevented if they (B.P.) invested money into assuring this accident would not happen or could be contained easily. Now you think and believe this pipeline exporting the dirtiest type of oil from Canadian shale crude oil and if spilled into the environment it will cause a major disaster for the environment, people, farms and the aqua that it passes over. Yes, I have heard someone comment that it will not cross over any areas that have water stored underground that people need for survival. That has been disputed and proven to be wrong. It does cross over precious water reserves.
As far as producing high paying jobs, that is not correct. This crude oil will be stored on super tankers and shipped to other nations for refining. This pipeline will not produce jobs for Americans on any significant level. So basically the Canadian people will have jobs drilling the crude for transportation and the Americans will take the risk of a major disaster with very little compensation in the number of jobs created. The people who will make the money will be the wealthy corporations that will be in charge of drilling and transporting this oil. No thank you. I apologize if my comments seemed harsh when commenting about conservatives and Republicans. The stakes are high for poor and middleclass Americans and I see the opposition as a real enemy, not just some political party that would sink the economy before raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans. They will not flee this country because they would find the same type of tax structure in most countries in Europe and therefore it will be like spitting into the wind, the results would not be beneficial. Also, I firmly believe it is time Americans took to the streets in massive protests across our nation. Hopefully this would create a sense of reality in those who think they are untouchable by the citizens of this country. But that will not happen until the citizens see their taxes go up and programs slashed once we go over the fiscal cliff.
No Fraud:
The (reply to #xx) is not reliable (editing and re-submissions only causes confusion to this Blog site).
Perhaps you should not click on the "Reply" button on the bottom of a post and just enter the person's name or handle at the top of your reply along with the hint of what you are replying to in quotes. Or, with a little more effort use the built in formatting options:
http://www.thomhartmann.com/filter/tips
This also eliminates readers from having to roll back to the post you are trying to reference or trying to guess just what, or who you are referring to. You don't have to quote the entire post...just what is important to get the idea across.
Almost -- since 82% of the wealth is in the hands of 2% of the people -- there abouts anyway.
Hugo's oil is ethical, why isn't Hugo's oil ethical? Pipelines are environmentally unsound.
There actually was a case where one individual told TH all about it and thanked Thom for putting him through school as he got paid for every post he put on the forum and every call he made to the show. But there have been, also, many other more or less documented cases where that was discovered to have been taking place.
I don't know if or how much the same thing happens from the left. I am pretty active on the left and I've never seen or heard of it , although, I'm more with the grass roots, community organizing part of the left than the bureaucratic unionist left. If it does happen on the left it doesn't nearly as much, if for no other reason, because there's just not nearly as much money on the left and right wing talk radio has always been censorious to the point of strict control. The screeners of right wing talk radio have always ensured that no effective callers from the left could ever get on their programs. So I doubt it happens much if at all.
Global the fact that Americans would rather get that 900 million barrels from Hugo in Venezuela, that is shipped by tanker through the Gulf to Texas than Canada's ethical oil moved safetly by pipeline like we have done for fifty years is insulting.
I don't think your perspective is dismissive but that that of popular culture - hence, their "pop definitions" - is. You do seem to be interested in getting the whole story. i didn't mean "you" personally, I meant the generic "you".
And as far as these shills I have heard Hartmann mention before I think it is probably another strawman he creates so you can hate them. If there is such a thing, sign me up I could use some easy money.
Okay, okay Mark, apology accepted. Carry on..
I apologize for my boorish, piggish behaviour toward Global. I take back what I said to him and about him. He's an alright dude, not a shill at all, in my opinion. We only disagree.
I wouldn't say "pop definitions" are dismissive...They are certainly worth the conversation we just had; which I do agree with what you are saying in regards to "pure communism" and "liberatarian socialist" and the responsiblity of "genuine Anarcist".
Maybe I should further educate myself, and I always am, but I don't agree that my perspective is dismissive.
Pop definitions of those terms are just means to dismiss them. Real definitions are only found in researching the subject.. Anarchism is the belief that people should live without government in a tightly knit community. You are right that it can easily become dictatorial ossified and anarchists must - and genuine anarchists do - guard against it. Marxist theoryy envisioned a state of "pure communism" that society would evolve to after the revolution abolition of private property. With no more private property and thus a strengthening community there would be less and less greed in society and less and less need for the courts, police and prisons, or the state. Thus the state would atrophy from disuse and "wither away" and people would then live in a stateless, classless society of "pure communism".
Some think that Marx borrowed many ideas from the anarchists he was living among and discussing and debating with in Paris in the 1850s. It was not Marx but Lenin that saw the need to establish an iron dictatorship that wouldn't bend or yield or allow dissent. Lenin was a revisionist Marxist and tried to pull off the revolution in a society that was not yet industrialized and thus not yet ready, according to Marx, for revolution. Marx believed communist revolution could not come from dark, superstitious peasants but from the informed, urban proletariat. The Russian peasants were not revolutionary. They had a strong suprstitious belief in the divine right of the czar and the feudal aristocracy and could not be moved toward revolution. Thus Lenin effected a palace revolution, essentially a coup de tat with his vanguard of professional revolutionaries, established a dictatorship and forced his ideological will upon Russia and the peasantry. It was a "palace revolution" not a popular revolution.
There were instances where very nice anarchist, anarcho-communist societies were established. One was in Spain in the1930s during the Spanish Civil War. One of my favorite writers, George Orwell, was very enamoured with them when he visited them after being wounded in battle fighting for the Republicans (not U.S. Republicans, the coalition of coommunists, socialists, anarchist and others fighting the fascists of Franco who wanted a republic, or democracy, as opposed to the fascist dictatorship they were fighting against). He had become disillusioned with the Soviet Stalinists and became a more libertarian socialist after witnessing the Spanish syndicallist community.
Eventually, that community was brutally eradicated not by the fascists but by the Stalinists, their ostensible allies in their fight against the fascists. Orwell returned to England and became what he called a "pragmatic patriot" supporting England's fight against the Nazis but he remained a Libertarian Socialist and very critical of capitalism untilil the end of his life.
Sorry for putting my post at the end all the time. I keep editing, fixing typos and so on.
Will the real Job Creator please stand up...
The rich are not job creators...They are merely reactors to the economy. Consumerism is what stimulates the economy. Therefore Consumers are the real job creators...It's simple supply and demand. The more consumers there are the more demand; the more demand the more good paying jobs are needed to keep up the supply. Consumers only exist when there are an abundance of high paying middle class jobs. Unfortunatly Business Owners have no loyalty to the American middle class worker as an asset. Instead of increasing wages to keep up with a consumer cost of living...As Henry Ford said; "A good wage is one that allows people to pay the bills and buy my product" ...they have traded good wages for cheap labor and poor quality, just to put even more profit in their pockets.
A strong* jobs market and affordable education is the only way to stimulate the economy. [*Strong meaning large quantity of high paying skilled career jobs with good bennefits.]
As you point out the private sector is hording their accorns, as well they want to dismantle collective bargaining, forcing people to accept lower wages and no benefits...Creating here what they have been doing overseas for over 30 years.
This is not going to create consumer spending.
My wife and I earn a combined gross annual income of 45k. Though we make more than 2 times the poverty level we still struggle to make ends meet. We don't have credit debt nor do we own luxury items and our bills are not above our means; more the problem is inflation...We can not afford to be healthy consumers while keeping up with inflation and the high cost of basic necesseties. Put it another way...We are not helping stimulate the economy as consumers.
Post 58 was ment for post 20 by Mark Sauly
You ain't kidd'en.
Some get it.
Some don't.
Those that do, suffer by those that don't.
Those that don't, are Patriotic Capitalist, swear their allegence to a corrupt system that justifies violence and rewards deceit, just as long as it increases profits.
...and the truth shall set you free!