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Thom's Blog Is On the Move
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Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
You may be 100% in favor of tracking down terrorists; I'm 100% in favor of creating friends.
If we have any form of a real republic left it will be overturned but for the sake of justice they should be impeached. Will our corporate media talk about this?..
I am not a Fox News zombie. Yet, I believe that Fox News is the poster news of America and Americans. Fox News with their trillions of dollars from their donors will never let Fox News go down. Fox News IS AMERICA!!!
Hey Thom, don't forget that the English enslaved Indians from New England to become Caribbean slaves.
So yesterday the unrecusable 5 supremes decided that "meat" people who work for government contractors effectively have no right to privacy. Who wants to bet that the same 5 will rule that ATT "as a person" does have a right to privacy?
@Radlof #9: Great! The second punch in the two-fisted attack that goes along with the Militia Act of 1792, and any other thing that falls under taxation, excises, duties to pay for defence and the general welfare under Article 1 Section 8 of that most rigid of documents, the Constitution of The USA.
Of course there are those who refuse to use libraries, regardless of their form whether signs, stones, shouts, scrimshaw, scrolls, so on. The person who does not read has no advantage over someone who cannot read.
Comedy Central's Daily Show: "The Mistrusted Name In News" should be a part of everyone's day.
Our politicians with their policies and practices are committing murder!!!
http://news.antiwar.com/2011/01/19/national-guard-reserve-suicides-soar/
January 20, 2011
There are SECRET GOVERNMENT BAILOUTS. Domino Pizza received a $12 million government bailout to serve process cheese and not the real cheese. Secret Government Bailouts are now part of American life to screw the middle class. But, we only hear about the General Motors bailout. Domino Pizza is owned by a conservative crazy. Our conservative crazy media protects only their conservative crazy bed partners. What a country!!!
What drives me up a wall are the constant lies of the conservative crazies and the fact that Americans believe these lies. These incessant lies have been part of the conservative crazies trademark since the 1880s. They are masters after 130 years of lying to the American people.
http://shatterlimits.com/dominos-pizza-receives-12-million-government-bailout-while-experts-warn-of-global-food-riots/
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/01/18/seymour_hersh_unleashed
http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works/index.html?story=/tech/htww/2011/01/18/why_the_united_states_is_exceptionally_bad_at_job_creation&source=newsletter&utm_source=contactology&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Salon_Daily%2520Newsletter%2520%2528Not%2520Premium%2529_7_30_110
http://www.opednews.com/articles/A-Memo-to-Sarah-Palin-by-Kurt-Stone-110119-407.html
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Tunisia-and-Us-by-Karen-Kwiatkowski-110118-344.html
Be the Change
by Stephen Shick
Spirit of life, God of love, my heart is moved by the passions
Of those who crafted dreams of democracy and the rule of
law out of chaos. While still clinging to slavery and the spe-
cial rights of men and of property, they looked deeply into
the well of wisdom and saw that humanity was one and pro-
claimed, "we the people." Today fear, greed, and the asser-
tion that "might makes right" threaten to divide the people
of this planet.
I pray for the courage to let my life bear witness to the
power of "we"- the people of this nation and this earth.
When I am afraid to speak or act for the benefit of all, show
me the beauty and power of courage. When I am tempted
to abandon the common good for the glory and enrichment
of myself, show me the virtue of selfless generosity and hos-
pitality. And when by sure power or will I would claim the
right to diminish the worth and dignity of others, grant me
the wisdom of humility.
The Citizens United decision WILL NEVER BE OVERTURNED!!!
Man behind the scene. If you want to follow the money and have a look at the power brokers check out Bill Liedtke. Look at his relationship with the Bush family going back to the late 1950's and the family funding of campaigns from then right on through to Sarah Palin today.
Let's support any size government as long as it is a responsibly acting one.
Let's foster rational discussions and not inflamatory rhetoric.
For Thom: Obama Plan Aims to Ease Mexican Trucking Ban,
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration offered a proposal on Thursday to allow long-haul Mexican trucks to move cargo in the United States.
The proposal, which the Mexican government greeted as a positive step, was the latest sign of a new willingness by the Obama administration to support free-trade measures backed by Republicans and by businesses despite objections from labor unions and other liberal constituencies.
The United States has effectively barred Mexican trucks from operating on American roads since March 2009. Mexico said the ban violated the North American Free Trade Agreement, which took effect in 1994, and retaliated by imposing $2.4 billion in punitive tariffs on a wide range of American agricultural and other products imported to Mexico.
On Thursday, the United States transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, offered a “concept document” that could help resolve the dispute.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/business/07trade.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
The Congress composed of our Founding Fathers passed ‘socialized medicine’ and mandated the purchase of health insurance coverage in 1798:
The law directed the Department of the Treasury to "provide for the relief and maintenance of disabled seamen" by establishing the Marine Hospital Service. NOTE: Private employees; not Federal government employees . . . The Service was created by an act of the 5th United States Congress, which was signed into law on 16 July 1798 by President John Adams. It was the first pre-paid medical program in the United States. Sailors then paid 20 cents a month for their health coverage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Hospital_Service
http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/01/17/congress-passes-socialized-medicine-and-mandates-health-insurance-in-1798
What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Of course Representatives who vote against health care for ordinary citizens should automatically forfit their government sponsered insurance.
terry
@Pretzelogic, not sure what you're getting at, seems either you feel that I wish Health Care to be a privilege or you don't know that in fact Health Care isn't a right. I would prefer it to be a right, but nowhere in our constitution is Health Care stated as right. Either way, stating a fact on national law isn't something I can apply only to myself, by default it affects all in the nation. ;-)
N
28% of Americans are idiocrats that mindlessly support the political party of their corporate overlords . . . They vote like a cattle stampede. Over the last thirty years, the only thing that put a Republican in the White House is less than 28% of sane and sober Americans showing up. How else do you explain our present President?
@Maxrot - "Health Care is a privilege not a right"? Um, speak for yourself there, friend...
:-)
Rick Santorum demands that all 'right-thinking' Americans Google his last name and click on the top URL produced to better understand his intended effect his Presidency would have upon America and her peoples.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/01/santorum-on-obamas-abortion-views-its-remarkable-for-a-black-man-to-say-we-can-decide-whos-a-person.php
While no sane American would contest the strongest displayed proficiency of Republican Representatives is jingoistic propaganda intended to forward the cause of actual fascism, relating this skillset to certain other able liars from the past can be less than helpful . . . Especially when they expressly proud of the comparison.
Cohen's languaging is counterproductive and wrong-headed.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/01/steve-cohen-i-meant-what-i-said-about-gopers-and-nazis-lying.php
Pathetic human rights in other countries... geez Thom lets worry about our own back yard first. Health Care is a privilege not a right, traveling by air is likely to get you groped, expectations of privacy are just about nil, jobs are being exported (a necessitous man is not a free man), etc, etc, etc.... Human rights in America is becoming more and more of an abstract, and idea that we seem to be losing more and more of, no matter what party is in charge. The world round, the wealthy and powerful are getting more wealth and power, at the expense of the common human. America's beacon of hope is being dimmed.
N
It's "Jintao", not "Hintao". It doesn't work like "Navajo".
Meanwhile, I have a good analogy. Jared Loughner is Jaws, Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck are Sheriff Brody keeping the beach open. It makes perfect sense in the movie when the grieving mother slaps Brody in the face and says, "My son is dead."
I note that a select group of fascist idiocrats voted to demand that Americans spend their hard earned money of buying their healthcare THEN voted to strip those selfsame Americans of the right to buy health insurance from insurance companies . . . AND 30% of Americans cheered!!!
Actually Twisted, if corporations weren't allowed to corrupt our government with money and thereby write the legislation themselves, then we might actually have real legislation which all companies would have to comply with. Furthermore, the regulators themselves have all to often shown to be former industry shills who turn the other cheeck in return of monetary favors. If we could rid ourselves of corporate influence in our government (ie, the BS concept of corporate personhood) and rid DC of lobbyists and the revolving door they create between elected officials, regulators, industry execs, etc, then, and only then, will we have proper legislation which is enforced by non-corrupt individuals. Its really not a hard reality to see, and your attitude that people need to forget about regulations is absurd, ignorant, and downright condescending. Do a little more thinking on the topic my friend; your assumptions and assertations are only logical so long as we ignore the real problem our country faces: a growing corporatocracy.
Regulation favors large, bureaucratic machines. Period.
The idea people have that somehow more regulation will benefit "the little guy" is an absurd one that should be smashed with the Hammer of Thor.
To address your statement, no, it doesn't matter who is writing the regulation. The larger the bureaucracy/corporation/organization, the easier it will be for them to adapt, comply or circumvent said regulation. Conversely, the smaller an organization or company is, the tougher it will be for them to do the same.
This is a fundamental truth that somehow escapes a large number of our population. Yet it is still a fundamental truth.
Accept the fact that any proposed regulation will become so convoluted that only lawyers can understand it and, as a result, only those who can hire said lawyers will have an advantage.
Politicians and legislators are not your friends. Having them make laws for the "betterment of society" is in no way beneficial to the common man. The sooner people get that through their head, the better off we will be. Sadly, that will never happen on a large scale. People will continue to say "if we just passed this legislation, it would even things out/make things better/prevent this evil that just happened." And then they will complain when the "big corporations" somehow manage to circumvent the law. It is the same every time.
I would say that we are but not yet a dictatorship. The oligarchs have not yet figured out a way to control 300,000,000 people. I think they are working on it in the classical way of obtaining compliance with bread and circuses. It is a new situation since the oligarchs in Athens did not need the constant turnover of specie to maintain their status and our oligarchs do need that turnover.