Sorry, Abe image did not paste to my comment.

I'm sorry Thom, but Newt is not interpreting Federalist #78 correctly. He is taking out of context the comments Madison makes about the Court's power. Madison states that without 'permanency of office' AND 'judical review' (the power to declare acts of Congress void), those powers that place the Court on a more equal footing, the Court would become too weak and be completely powerless and subject to the influence of the other branches. Have you forgotten about the 'supremacy clause' that declares the Constitution the law of the land? Would you really leave it up to Congress to correct itself? That is just completely naive and gives Congress too much power to 'substitute its will for the will of the people'.

In addition, I believe that power of judicial review is embedded into the Constitution and does not relate to its 'jurisdiction'. The Constitution clearly gives the Court the power to interpret the law. For what other purpose does the power to interpret the law relate to than to view the Constitution in light of other laws or acts of Congress, the Executive and the states? Whether a case is being heard under the Court's appellate or original jurisdiction is inconsequential. In either jurisdiction the Court still has the power to interpret law. In order to change this, Congress would have to amend the Constitution requiring a 2/3 vote of Congress and survive the ratification process. I don't see that happening any time soon.

History shows that strikes and movements have usually followed when big business, or the elite, get too big and too controlling. Not only strikes, but whole revolutions!!! "Those who do not learn from the mistakes of history are doomed to repeat them."

So did anyone else hear about the shooting of a young black man in Pasadena today? If they aren't careful, we will have a race war on our hands, maybe.

The police acted on a fake 911 call and shot this young black man because they "thought" he was armed and threatening them. He was unarmed. And threatening them...I don't know...was he wearing a hoodie? Now that would be threatening, huh?

The Pasadena police department said they were very sorry and they were going to charge the 911 caller with murder charges. Like these so-called highly trained professionals, unlike Zimmerman in Florida, who shot an unarmed young black man will likely not go through what Zimmerman is now going through. They will, maybe, get a slap on the wrist and sent on their way.

No doubt that the Repubs are worse than the Dems but not by all that much. And, remember, as the Repubs move to the right, so do the Dems. While most of what is said is true of the Repubs, failure to criticize Dems makes it all sound very disingenuous and like shills for the Dems and Obama. You should be pointing out that Obama is a Clinton corporatist and the Dems are a corporate party even as the Repubs are an uber-corporate party. The corporatization of America and The Second Gilded Age are the results of bipartisan efforts. And, now Obama is moving us ever closer to a police state. When that police state materializes and merges with our current level of corporatism, we have Mussolini-type fascism. It is happening here. We need democracy, not corporatocracy.

I hope enough Americans--mostly independents and moderate Republicans--can see through the Republican lies and propaganda and vote for candidates who will not take the country down the austerity path. I was at the Biden rally yesterday in Milwaukee where the VP told us, "Did you notice that the Republicans are not hiding the ball?" Of course, he meant that in the Republican debates, the GOP candidates are telling everyone in the nation exactly what they would do. It's only the low-information voters we have to fear. All I can hope id that more Americans will get educated to what the whacky Republicans are up to. Where have I heard that before?

I haven't seen or heard of a Democrat with a spine since JFK!!!

Do this HERE,NOW!!!!

Start the Socialist Revolution!!!!

I don't know when, but I certainly believe it could happen here! The US economy doesn't "operate" (or not operate as it were) in a vacuum. We need to remember that the Great Depression not only was a problem for the US, but for the world as a whole. The scary part is that it was the runaway inflation in Germany, irresponsible lending, investing and speculation in our country, and the sad state of the economies of other countries in what is now the EU, that put in a stewpot to boil and stew, gave us Hitler, impossible-to-fathom inflation in Germany, and unrest in the Soviet Union. Put it all together and we had a Great Depression that not only affected the U.S., but the rest of the world as well! And how did we get out of that mess? Well, many would say that it was simply the War, but others will agree that it was FDR's forward-thinking policies that put people back to work, putting money in their pockets, food on their table, and money in circulation again. And that was BEFORE we entered
WWII! (And as an aside, WWII was basically the "continuation" of WWI, the "War to End All Wars", which never had a "satisfying" end for many parties involved...) What we need are leaders and legislators who know their economics, and who realize that there are no such things as "band-aids" or "quick-fixes". And that's what the GOP would like to hound the Democrats about..."Where are the immediate plans?? There's a big lesson to be learned from the esteemed economist and UC Berkeley ("Cal") professor, Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administation, who left after the first term. He's the "go-to guy" for solutions to problems such as our (worse than) lackluster economy and economic growth. Basically, it's unconscionable to think that there are those who hate so much (and let's face it, it's the "hate-factor" the GOP candidates are using to pander to their followers. Can't we get past that at last? I can't get over the numbers of people who still think the Civil War is still being fought, or worse yet, that it is over, and the "Confederate States of America" actually won! They seem to forget that President Obama is not even totally "African-American"; he's 1/2 "Anglo-American" as well. And those who would not vote for him should think twice, and think good and hard about what they want for the future of the Supreme Court! I'm sure respected and esteemed justices such as Thurgood Marshall, Earl Warren (yep, even him...call him an "activist Chief Justice", but hell, what would you call Rhenquist or Roberts? People like justices Brennan, Potter, Stevens, Blackmun, and even O'Connor, who held her own in the center, were experienced jurists who were thoughtful, and believers in the Constitution and the values of precident. I'm sorry, but my eyes tear over when I think of what courts in the past have accomplished by way of interpreting the law!) So, what do you think the makeup of the court would be if Romney, Santorum, or any of the other GOP wannabe candidates, were to be the ones making appointments to fill what are to likely be at least two vacancies, and possibly more, during the next four years. Scary, eh?

We've had general strikes before, and in fact there was one when I lived in San Francisco, which almost brought the city to its knees, because there were so many people who were not able to get to their jobs, people who worked in public safety, transportation, and sanitation (not to mention the city government as well, under then-mayor Allioto.) It was a nasty business, but it didn't last for long!

I regret that Thom is no longer on our local progressive talk station in LA, KTLK AM 1150! I'm still trying to locate him on Time-Warner in our area, but to no avail!

Thom's books should be "required reading", for voters of all stripes! A voice of reason needs to be heard, and between Thom Hartmann and Bernie Sanders, they can't do all the work themselves! Out here in California, a (so far) "true blue" state, it seems that so many of our Democratic party leaders (including President Obama) come out here to raise money, but once that is done, we seem to be forgotten, with our votes taken for granted. Not a good idea. We can't afford for the progressives to sit out this general election because too much is at stake! So Thom, it's up to you to get the message out to a mass audience, and to stick to your guns (so to speak) and not be shoved around by the GOP "playground bullies", because that's exactly what they are.

Kudos to you, Thom!

But the Germans are all goddamn Marxists GRRRRRRR!

No, Frau Merkel is a Christian Conservative. Their whole Social Free Market System (auf Deutsch : sozial Marktwirtschaft) was founded under a guy named Konrad Adenauer, who also lead a Christian-Conservative government after WW2. No Marxists, just conservative Christians -- many of them decent Catholics, who care for order, justice and their poor neighbor.

American conservatives are mean, asocial and flat-out not civilized, that's all. JUST PRIMITIVE IDIOTS!!!!!

You are hard to contact via phone, but a couple of points I'd like you to address:

Trayvon Martin was chased down by George Zimmerman after being told by a 911 operator to AVOID contact. Therefore, there is no defense to Zimmerman's action because Zimmerman was NOT standing his ground; he chose to initiate a confrontation with Martin, who was trying to AVOID a standoff.

On a completely different topic that you did cover today, my mother was taken to a hospital in a coma when she was 42. The hospital noted that she had not paid for treatment of my broken arm, and had not paid for treatment for my brother's broken arm. She was delcared "stabilized" and shipped to a state hospital 20 miles away through city traffic. She died before she got there.

As an important note, the hospital, which mainly served psychological patients, was emptied during the Reagan (Raygun) administration, but was subsequently refilled when it was retitled a "correctional" institution; refilled with the previous patients who were then relabeled "criminals."

Hitler wasn't different from those of our 'fellow'-Americans who are the worst racists in our country. You actually find monsters like this in ANY country. But a guy like this wouldn't be successful here in the States. The German majority around 1930 really HATED democracy. It hadn't been their choice to give up their Kaiser Wilhelm after WW1 -- we, the free democratic world had forced them to become a democracy. Plus the Germans had to pay a much too high sum for having lost WW1. They were so desperate and angry, that the insanely raving Hitler was their ideal leader. It was extremely popular to blame the Jews for having lost WW1 as for the depression as well. There you have all the reasons why Germany went crazy -- actually paranoid. Hitler was the paranoid leader who absolutely matched that paranoid nation. They were yearning for a tough leader who was ready to go after their "enemies" -- the Jews in the country and the WW1-allies who frankly had been too merciless on the Germans. The Germans had slipped into WW1 because of their stupidity and they went on making insane mistakes, but they hadn't been the only country to blame for WW1. Since the middle-ages the Germans had been a pretty much peaceful people, threatened by the kings of France again and again, successfully defended bei their Kaiser and his friend (!) England -- but finally conquered by Napoleon. Under Bismarck and Wilhelm II. Germany defeated France, but of course went on mistrusting and fearing their neigbor -- awkwardly (the world was pretty much mocking and laughing) slipping into WW1.

This is why you can't compare the III. Reich to any other situation in the world. It sadly was an extreme accident of history. Even the Fascists in South Europe felt the Nazis were nuts, although they were together in a WW2 coalition. So if Hilter was president of the United States, he would just make himself a fool without a buck, because Congress would take away his budget.

My ideal Congress should actually pass a resolution to found a reliable (liberally minded) Special Congress Guard -- very modern equipped armed forces, which are much better armed than the regular U.S. Forces. I mean, Congress has the right and the possibility to decide something like that, to enforce the elimination of the present corporatoricy. You can't do this just with intelligent arguments; those banksters won't go away without being forced. And in case there're really fifth columns which might try to start a civil war, these Congress Forces would be able to arrest those who are responsible beforehand.

Personally I would NOT keep any of the southern states in the Union, if they absolutely should hate a progressive change like that. I would try to convince them to stay -- maybe let their citizens vote on it. Actually it should be possible to convince them it's better to live in a modern, just and peaceful America.

In a few things I feel like Congress should roll back state rights, wherever they are a threat to the Union. For example, the Federation should have the right to organize elections in a state, if there are severe cases of voter fraud. Any ballot should be watched and followed by members of all political parties anyway. Checked and balanced.

Wall Street would probably panic and many banksters try to leave the country. Because order and justice would be undoubtedly enforced. All this is possible, if the American people want it. It is! But not, if too many Americans make wrong decisions at the ballot. Actually very harmful, fatal decisions which can totally ruin all of us. On election day you have the power people! Use it and use it right.