Recent comments

  • Daily Topics - Wednesday March 30th, 2011   14 years 13 weeks ago

    Tax The Super Rich Now! Or Face a Revolution

    Very straightforward article

    http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tax-the-super-rich-now-or-face-a-revolu...

  • One-party Republican rule in America   14 years 13 weeks ago

    Teamsters: The New Civil Rights Movement: Video ~ Check it out >> http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2011/03/teamsters-new-civil-rights-movement.html

  • Are the Koch Bros and their Tea Party followers shutting down the Government now?   14 years 13 weeks ago

    Wow! You mean Clarence Thomas took his nose out of his porm mag long enough to write an opinion? Gotta mark the calendar!

    How many years are we going to have to put up with this activist Supreme Corp? Can I wish a plague on these agents of evil?

    Thank goodness there's still a few lefties in the Supremes

  • Ohio Republicans have a problem with Democracy   14 years 13 weeks ago

    Amen to that sentiment fellow Ohioan. I didn't vote for the jerk. I cannot see why anyone else would have. I just can't wait for the Ohio Jobs (Rip-off Ohio) plan to get started; I watched entire the house debate on the bill (HB 1) and watched all reasonable requests for transparency and accountability from the dems voted down along party lines. We'll see how many of these jokers get jobs or campaign contributions (kick-backs/rewards) from all the new industry that comes to Ohio.

    I say we recall the jerk since he doesn't expect to win the next election. I say that he, and other rethuglican govs, were put in office to get rid of unions and regulations for business. Why else does he not care if he wins again--maybe he has presidential aspirations--another "w" clone--god help us. Why else was there a rethuglicans govenor's group putting out campaign ads during the election. That's the plan.

  • Are the Koch Bros and their Tea Party followers shutting down the Government now?   14 years 13 weeks ago

    The Tea Party and their funders are Economic Terrorists!

  • Daily Topics - Wednesday March 30th, 2011   14 years 13 weeks ago

    All governments are liars and should not be believed I. F.'Izzy' Stone as an American citizen it is my responsability to always question my government. Regarding foreign policy we must let our congress people know our opinions. the Potus the other night mentioned that we must protect our foreign interests . i want to know what are those foreign interest. do our foreign interest harm the people of other nations

  • Daily Topics - Wednesday March 30th, 2011   14 years 13 weeks ago

    I am also an Independent. I am very progressive, which is a hard thing to be in East Cobb County GA, but we are slowly coming out in the open.

    I don't undestand the latest meme about Independents not being up on current politics. Most of the willfully ignorant voters I know are registered Republicans; They don't need to think to make a decision, they just vote the party ticket and listen to Rush and Hannity and Boortz.

    Both parties drive me crazy so I refuse to choose!

  • Daily Topics - Wednesday March 30th, 2011   14 years 13 weeks ago

    I think Thom meant that 'margarine' is naturally white. Butter from grassfed cows has a natural yellow color which varies according to season (factory-farm butter is pale). The summer months when cows are eating a lot of grass (beta-carotene) is what gives the butter color. Margerine, on the other hand, is white and at one time in the US it was illegal to artificially color margerine, but companies got around the laws by including a packet of coloring to mix with the margerine after purchase (google "E-Z Color Pack").

    However, color is added to butter to keep the color consistant throughout the year, but it is not 'naturally' white.

    cheers!

  • Daily Topics - Wednesday March 30th, 2011   14 years 13 weeks ago

    There's a difference between independent (i.e. unaffiliated) voters and undecided voters. The undecided are the ones that are just not paying attention--politically stupid. I'm actually affiliated and would like to see a new party come about. One that would be better than the Democratic Party. I've even written a charter for it.

  • Daily Topics - Wednesday March 30th, 2011   14 years 13 weeks ago

    Most people have already figured out that Scott Walker was not just trying to balance the budget.

    It is said that it was about “Union Busting” Let me tell you that it goes way, way beyond that.

    So think that unions are the problem? That unions drive up the prices of American made goods and services? If you believe that I guess you think that American workers should compete with Chinese workers who make $104.00 per month !? With the cost of living in the USA this is not possible; or is it?

    I believe that the “400 Club” (you know the 400 or so billionaires that own 50% of the nations wealth) actually wants the unthinkable. They want the economy to crash; and they are actively making it happen. They don't view this as an economic crisis. They view this as an opportunity. An opportunity to re-set the economy at a much, much lower level. The uber-wealthy will come out of the crash just fine. They already own almost everything. After the crash they will not only still own everything they will have a totally subservient population that needs work for whatever pay they can get. Real estate prices will topple as well as wages; re-setting the economy at a level that is competitive with 3rd world countries. This is what they want. A total corporate take over of the USA. Is that what you want?

    They are doing this by convincing the conservatives that if they have everything that they want then everyone will benefit. This is trickle down economics on steroids; which is exactly what got us into this mess. So the conservatives are selling us all on this by these tactics. First they are saying that the progressives / liberals want to take away our freedoms. Second is the old hang the carrot in front of the rabbit trick; someday you to might hit the jackpot and be in the same position. In reality the opportunity to “hit the jack pot” is evaporating quickly.

    Liberals are not trying to take away anyone's freedoms. They just want to level the playing field; regulate the economy so that it works for everyone, including the working class and the rich. The uber wealthy/conservatives want to make you more free. It's true! Free to die because you can't afford proper health care. Free to a second tier education because you can't afford the privatized education system that only the rich can afford. Not so free to marry who you love. Not so free to have control over your own body. In the future; not so free to choose your religion? How far will they take this?

    Conservatives view you as an expendable commodity. Liberals view you as another brilliant expression of life that deserves a fair chance and deserves to have the opportunity to live a happy and productive life.

    Don't be duped by this destructive conservative agenda. We are all in this together. Yes even the uber rich are included. I have no problem with the rich. I just think that we all need to look out for each other. We are all here on Earth to share this experience. Let's make it great. Not for a few but for all.

  • Tuesday 29 March '11 show notes   14 years 13 weeks ago

    The Tea Party must be rebranded as Economic Terrorists which they are.

  • Daily Topics - Wednesday March 30th, 2011   14 years 13 weeks ago

    When the subject of Gaddafi comes up, good bumper music might be "Cult of Personality" by Living Colour. Just make sure to skip the guitar solo; it's very off-putting.

  • Daily Topics - Wednesday March 30th, 2011   14 years 13 weeks ago

    Just want to tell Thom A big thank you for his humanistic qualities by being concern for others. through his actions of putting people before profit. One of his actions is the sharing of two books that Thom feels are important for people to read, Rebooting the American Dream And Unequal Protection. That can be read at Truthout. Also Thom's Publisher of those books Berett- Koehler Publishers, Inc is the most humanistic publishing firms to be found. To make enough to lived comfortably and to lived with a purpose to create a society that leaves no one behind.

  • Daily Topics - Wednesday March 30th, 2011   14 years 13 weeks ago

    I have been listening to Thom for close to 10 years now, and I think he is great. But, does anybody else get tired of hearing the same self promotional stories again and again? Thom, all of us loyal listeners know that you have written several books. Please let your guests have more air time instead of repeating a story that I have already heard. You don't have to prove yourself all of the time. We know you are smart...please don't be a know-it-all...there is a difference.

  • Are the Koch Bros and their Tea Party followers shutting down the Government now?   14 years 13 weeks ago

    Let's face it. A vote for a republican is a vote for cancer, war, poverty and ignorance! period.

  • Are the Koch Bros and their Tea Party followers shutting down the Government now?   14 years 13 weeks ago

    wonder if Soylent Green is one of the Koch brothers favorite movies. they are doing everything possible to kill the middle class and poor

  • Are the Koch Bros and their Tea Party followers shutting down the Government now?   14 years 13 weeks ago

    Our current deficit is roughly a Fukushima every two months. (http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/03/how_big_is_the_federal_budge...) :

    "The $309 billion price tag would make Japan's earthquake the costliest on record, surpassing the $125 billion that the Insurance Information Institute estimates Hurricane Katrina cost the Gulf coast in 2005. It would also top the $100 billion in damage caused by the 1995 Kobe quake in Japan.

    Uh... hold on a minute. Something seems wrong with these numbers. Do I understand this correctly; all those coastal cities and towns that were leveled, the tens of thousands of cars and homes that were pulverized, all the stores, shops, factories, warehouses, schools, freeways, roads, ships, aircraft, trains, port facilities and infrastructure reduced to rubble and it will only cost as much as US Federal deficit for a couple of months?"So, something, a LOT of things, simply must be cut. You cannot solve the problem by raising taxes - there just isn't enough money (http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/03/higher_taxes_cant_solve_the_...):

    "In 2008 there were 4,359,000 tax returns filed with modified taxable income (MTI) of $200,000 or above. The total amount of MTI above $200,000 was $1.189 Trillion."
    In other words, we are currently getting $1.189T X 35% = $416 billion a year from the portion of incomes over $200,000, leaving $773 billion. We've got a deficit this year of 1.5 Trillion (http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/120xx/doc12039/SummaryforWeb.pdf). There isn't enough money, not by half. This wanton destruction of our country is one reason for my sig:Atlas Shrugged was supposed to be a warning, NOT a newspaper!

  • Are the Koch Bros and their Tea Party followers shutting down the Government now?   14 years 13 weeks ago

    Every Republican official and Democrat too has been compromised by the Koch underground, which is really a front for the Harriman underground, which is really a veil for the 37th Congress which gave itself the nation in 1863 during the Civil War. So what do you expect? The leopard cannot change its spots. Each generation it gets a little worse, the further we get from the scene of the crime.

    XXXXX

  • The Thom Hartmann Radio Program   14 years 13 weeks ago

    The original inventors of radio, such as Nikola Tesla and Guglielmo Marconi, expected it to be used for one-on-one communication tasks where telephones and telegraphs could not be used because of the problems involved in stringing wires from one point to another, such as in ship-to-shore communications. Those inventors had no expectations whatever that radio would become a major mass entertainment and information medium earning many millions of dollars in revenues annually through commercial sponsorship. Job Finder

  • Are the Koch Bros and their Tea Party followers shutting down the Government now?   14 years 13 weeks ago

    It was stated “One of the main obstacles in the budget negotiations are demands by Republicans to defund Planned Parenthood and “Obamacare”. In other words – Republicans are arguing that if disadvantaged women and more than 52 million people nationwide are allowed to have access to critical healthcare services – then they’ll shut down the government!”

    Every American must remain astutely aware that defunding the “Affordable Health Care Act” of 2010 would have monumental dire consequences as measured in human lives.

    A Harvard Medical School research study, released Sept. 2009, and appearing in the Dec. 2009 The American Journal of Public Health, analyzed participants aged 64 years and younger, and found a 40% higher risk of death among uninsured, compared with privately insured adults. See http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE58G6W520090917, and http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/6-health-care-restrictions-cost-thousands-of-lives-in-us/. It was stated:

    · Lack of health insurance causes 44,798 deaths each year among the 46 million uninsured Americans.

    · “These unnecessary deaths will continue under the new health care reform legislation. The bill would do virtually nothing for the uninsured until 2013, and leave at least 17 million uninsured over the long run.”

    · According to the Congressional Budget Office, 23 million Americans will remain uninsured in 2019, when the law is fully implemented. This will translate into about 23,000 unnecessary deaths annually.

    · Unfortunately, Congress bowed to pressures from the insurance and drug industry, and refused to consider the reform that would have comprehensively covered all Americans – single-payer national health insurance.

    From Sept. 2009 until 2011, the numbers of the uninsured evidently has swollen from 46 million to 52 million, which revised would translate from 44,798 to 50,641 deaths each year. That is an average of 139 unnecessary deaths each day.

    Among the uninsured, it is equivalent to having a special “early death” lottery ticket, compliments of the health insurance industry and lobby via their Republican proxies. Every day, 139 uninsured Americans will have a winning ticket, meaning that they prematurely will lose their life. Unfortunately, the odds of “winning” are significantly better than with a regular lottery ticket, plus we’re playing every day.

    For perspective, there were 2,977 victims from the 9/11/01 attacks. We as Americans still remain incensed by the barbaric assault by the Saudi nationals at the behest of Al Qaeda. Yet, a needless and avoidable loss of 50,641 American lives each year would be equivalent in numbers to a 9/11 catastrophe every 17 days, an ongoing human cataclysm far greater in magnitude.

    A national memorial for the 9/11 victims is held each year with much solemn fanfare. Yet there is no such national memorial for the uninsured victims, ostensibly at the hands of the Republicans and their benefactors. What does this say about our respect and reverence for human lives needlessly lost, absent the horrifying spectacle?

    The Republicans in the Senate and in the majority controlled House remain obsessed with defunding the Affordable Care Act, and to obstruct any further health care reforms. The consequences, as measured in human lives, can no longer be ignored or minimized.

    Why is there not a daily memorial or daily moment of silence for the 139 unfortunate Americans who each lost their life today, and each and every yesterday and tomorrow? How many funerals have you attend for those uninsured friends who perhaps many months ago had been denied essential life saving health care intervention? What are the faces and obituaries of these victims? Who else do you know has an “early death lottery ticket”, and whose number will be next? Most importantly, why is there no outrage?

    President Obama has intervened to avert the inevitable slaughter of tens of thousands of Libyans at the ruthless unrepentant hands of Muammar Gaddafi. Why has no one successfully intervened to avert the inevitable avoidable deaths of tens of thousands of uninsured Americans, at the ruthless unrepentant hands of Congressional Republicans? Why is there no uprising among the masses here, as we’re seeing throughout the Middle East and North Africa?

    Would it not be fair to characterize those who would be party to the dismantling of the Affordable Care Act as akin to sitting in judgment on a Death Panel? Who would be of such moral and ethical repute to knowingly obstruct and deny essential medical access that assuredly and predictably will result in continued widespread and needless premature loss of American lives and untold suffering? What Congressional Republicans would relegate American lives as of lesser importance than to the penchant of their health care insurance industry reelection contributors?

    Lastly, any Republican loyalist who touts the party line, lambasting health care insurance for the public while brazenly enjoying their own public health care insurance, must be held to account for their hypocrisy. Each of them should be singled out and challenged to either support the funding of the Affordable Health Care Act, or to voluntarily drop their Federal health care coverage, and perhaps join the 52 million other uninsured Americans having a “lottery ticket”.

    Please comment.

  • Are the Koch Bros and their Tea Party followers shutting down the Government now?   14 years 13 weeks ago

    The whole Govt. shut down issue revolving around inept Republicans and their dysfunctional Tea Party counterparts will only speed up the inevitable spotlight on truth. A shutdown would finally jolt the general public into paying attention to the dynamics playing out here. It's not rocket science understanding the real motivations and forces behind the Tea Party madness. A few wealthy concerns, like the Koch brothers have, manipulated a rightfully angry and frustrated segment into voting against their own best interests. The promise that tiny Govt. without regulatory constraints leads to a DON'T TREAD ON ME NIRVANA is the biggest fairy tale I've ever heard. This lie leads to tax breaks for the super rich, unaffordable healthcare; the dismantling of social security, low wages, and the list is endless. The only people benefiting are the super rich, the wealthy puppet masters, and, to a lame extent, their political stooges. The realization that the vast majority of us are getting screwed will just happen sooner in light of a shutdown. What a twisted silver lining to a tragic movement that large numbers might wake up and realize the Tea doesn’t smell like DEMOCRACY.

  • Are the Koch Bros and their Tea Party followers shutting down the Government now?   14 years 13 weeks ago

    As to the meo-cons wanting to shutting down the government - Yes! They actually believe that this will be beneficial to them. Unfortunatelly for the rest of us 335 million Americans it will not be so beneficial!

  • Are the Koch Bros and their Tea Party followers shutting down the Government now?   14 years 13 weeks ago

    As I told my wife this morning - there are 5 Catholic Judges on the Supreme court - 4 who are men. Can you guess what the decision will be? I know it will be 5-4. I give it 75% chance it will be against. Any takers?

  • 500,000 were in the streets of London to protest $130 billion cuts in spending and 500,000 public workers - did you hear it in the US news?   14 years 13 weeks ago

    MSNBC - Yes they covered it on that station. And I did see it.

    Minor or none on other conglomerate media! Wonder why?

  • Our nation is at war today, once again without the Constitutionally-mandated debate in Congress leading to a declaration of war   14 years 13 weeks ago

    So now WE all know that "War Monger" is NOT solely a Democrate Vice!

    And for the record: Whenever you are debating a certain issue, you know you are Right when sleezy ad hominems are being slung at you: when the debate turns from the issue at hand to insults being leveled at you!

    My argument stills stands: not all Democratic Presidents are/were War Mongers: They just clean the mess that Repubublicans have left behind. Though a war is going on while a Democrat sits in office, it does not follow that a Democrat started it because he/she likes war, or is a War Monger! This is what is called in logic a non sequitur.

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