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.
The Citizen's United decision was correct. The 1st amendment says that "Congress shall make NO law". None, nothing, zip, zilch, nada. Congress has no authority to say anything about speech. It doesn't matter if I want to speak as a member of group - a neighborhood association, a member of a union or a shareholder in a corporation.
It doesn't matter if I want to say something anonymously. After the way the left went after Target for contributing $100K to MN Forward, I would say that the case for anonymity is as strong as it was when Publius was pamphleteering (that wasn't free either).
Atlas Shrugged was supposed to be a warning, NOT a newspaper!
They will adopt the Teaparty agenda. How else can they continue to attract some of the flood of corporate money.
Our only hope is a grass roots movement to undue Citizens United decision.
BLAME BUSH.....oh, yea...and Karl Rove, too.
I think you are too optimistic Thom. In Obama's speech this morning Obama looked beaten. He spoke about trying to work with business more and how America's economic power came from the (imaginary) "free market."
I believe what is going to happen is that the international corporate powers will increase it's purchasing of the Democratic party. The Republican party is completely owned so buying the Democrats is the next logical move and should not cost too much.
If only we could bring back the Tillman Act or find another modern day alternaive to achieve the same ends.
I think the right wing will be so extreme that they will turn off the electorate, and not just those of us who listen to Thom, and this could very well be the beginning of the end for them, and their Tea Party acolytes.
Or we end up with Dictator Rand Paul.
They are no longer a vehicle for democracy. If our democracy survives it will be because the people wake up, otherwise i hope my kids get a job in another country!
@Jeanie, excellent comment! Jeanie, there is a major flaw. Thom said it succinctly. "The Obama White House is incompetent."
Here are Rabbi Michael Lerner's Ten Commandments!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-michael-lerner/10-commandments-to-revive_b_777961.html
I suspect I am not the only one who fears history may possibly be repeating itself.
During the waning years of the Weimar Republic in post-WWI Germany, the democratic forces were dealt a blow by corporate power through the rise of the Nazi Party, which did not even enjoy a majority in the Reichstag. They depended on the support of other small parties.
As in the 30s and 40s in Weimar Germany, fascist, corporatist power is growing more powerful thanks to nativist and bigoted passions in our country, and corporations today, as they did in the later Weimar years, are taking advantage of it.
Similar fascistic and corporatist movements were occuring all over Europe and even in America.
What truly saddens me is that there are forces on the other side of the political spectrum who could eventually take advantage of corporatist overreach, promoting social revolution not just in America, but all over the world where corporations are abusing the middle class and wage-slave workers.
Tragically, and ironically, the revolution that hurts those most vulnerable in our society would also impact the elite, or at least force them to flee to their palatial safe havens, as they have done over the past two centuries. Most every revolution (the American revolution being the notable exception) eats its own children, and the ruling corporatist hierarchy and their stooges and their naive backers in the political trenches will, alas, be a part of the casualties and destruction.
All lose in such revolutions.
Add to this the need for a united world response to our increasingly international challenges ... this is no time for corporatist greed and self-interest to reign. The exact opposite is needed.
I thank you, Thom, for your frequent use of Franklin Roosevelt quotes in your radio program. It is a reminder that what was once beaten back in the 30s and 40s can be beaten back in these darkening days.
This great man helped our nation steer clear of Fascist and Bolshevist extremes. We need our current centrist president to stand up and be another progressive Franklin Roosevelt. Of course, I'm not the only one suggesting this. It's been mentioned on your radio program and in a number of newspaper columns.
We need to communicate this wisdom to our President, the man who, for at least two years, will stand between our version of the Weimar Republic and the abyss of either Fascism or social and political revolution.
We need to let him know that we stand behind him, if he does stand up to corporate interests. And we need to let him know that we are standing up as well inour own spheres of influence.
I suggest all centrists and social democrats and progressives and environmentalists and human rights advocates give our president our two cents' worth ...
... no, make that our ten cents's worth.
That is, I propose millions of Americans who've been disenfranchised and disempowered by corporatist political shenangians and propaganda -- the evil arts of manipulation perfected by Hitler, Goebbels, Mussolini, Pravda, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Murdoch, Atwater, Tompkins, Rove, et al -- should send a dime to President Obama.
Just a dime.
A coin featuring our nation's political savior in the 1930s and 1940s.
Send no written message. But send a powerful visual message of support ... and commitment of oneself. As you so often say, Thom, we cannot simply defer to our leaders. We must be leaders ourselves.
We need our President to be another Franklin Roosevelt. (Heck, I'd be happy if we had the other Roosevelt in our White House just now to break the corporate monopoly of resources and power.)
We also need to be Roosevelts in our own spheres.
I am sending my dime today.
Thank you for all you do, Thom.
P. Leonard Jarvis
Thom, you are 100% correct----> Obama needs to kick some ass. He is seen by many of his supporters as weak. The right knows how to fight, as they view this as a war. Obama seems to view this as a hobby.
Thom Hartman is a worthless lying pig
If members of the Obama administration are going to be subpoenaed by the Republicans, then can't we turn around and say, ok, if that's how you're going to be, we're going to start war crimes investigations into the Bush/Cheney administration and then do it? And then talk about 9/11. And bring up the secret energy meetings that Dick Cheney had and subpoena him. Why can't we fight fire with fire, especially when we have so much ammo and they have a box of matches?
The Phantom Left
By Chris Hedges
The American left is a phantom. It is conjured up by the right wing to tag Barack Obama as a socialist and used by the liberal class to justify its complacency and lethargy. It diverts attention from corporate power. It perpetuates the myth of a democratic system that is influenced by the votes of citizens, political platforms and the work of legislators. It keeps the world neatly divided into a left and a right. The phantom left functions as a convenient scapegoat. The right wing blames it for moral degeneration and fiscal chaos. The liberal class uses it to call for “moderation.” And while we waste our time talking nonsense, the engines of corporate power—masked, ruthless and unexamined—happily devour the state...
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_phantom_left_20101031/?ln
The trigger that got Jimmy Carter into politics: Carter voted in an election, and noticed that the first 100 voters voted in alphabetical order!
Proudly displayed on a neighbor's lawn: a campaign sign for a Congressional candidate who was running in a different district!
Yesterday, the rise of the "Tea Party" set back Democrats, yes, but it continues to register the demise of the old GOP. RINO "Tea Party" supporters appeal to occasional voters who lack long-term wisdom. In effect, government control now swings to people who got "C's" in history class 10, 20, 30 years ago.
What President Obama should do:
Announce: I have heard the "Tea Party" cry. I believe in representative government, and I shall approve their balanced budget— NOW, in the lame duck session of Congress! Before they even take office, caucus, write and present to the President--a balanced budget starting Jan. 1, 2011.
Instruct all departments to dismantle or implement the austerities, and force Boehner to approve it on day one of the new session. Task Mitch McConnell to pass it in the Senate. Dems cannot lose! It will drive a wedge between the Tea Partiers and the old GOP—exterminating the residual GOP and teaching American voters what danger lies in Tea Party policies.
Can we afford to run America on the mentality of "C" students in history? We need to find out.
Let them negotiate the Bush Tax Cut extensions. And justify them! Let them end 2 wars and surrender. Hold their philosophy accountable for 2 more years!
It is the money and the dumbing down of America thanks to the mainstream media. How people can sit and watch TV and base their voting decisions on a media that gave us such gems as "Gilligan's Island" and "The Price is Right"? I think this is a glimpse of the future of elections in this country, a future in which voters react to a two year "taste" of elected officials and then either accept them or reject them much in the way they choose consumer products based on TV advertising.
The view from over here? The left coast?
I woke up this morning and was happy and proud to be a Californian. Californians went to the polls yesterday and repudiated the big money campaigns of Whitman and Fiorina. My happines is tempered by the knowledge that there are still essentially only two parties represented in Congress. I will continue to pray and hope that someday we willl have a truly representative form of Govt where all parties are represented in proportion to the votes they receive. Where a disenting voice is still a voice and not just a vote that will never end up with a real voice in Congress. I was also happy to have voted on a real paper ballot that I marked and sealed and dropped in the ballot box.
NPR: Tea Party is "grassroots"....
Last night one of the NPR commentators reporting on the election results mentioned that the cool thing about the Tea Party movement was that they are a real grassroots movement, "from the bottom up -- no top management"..... I almost drove off the road. He failed to mention that the "management" of the Tea Party mob is thru propaganda and massive national brainwashing via FOX, Crossroads, and a multitude of other bought-and-paid for societal manipulators. All of which NPR might have saved us from, had they done any real investigative reporting.
The UStream viewer count is nearly 700. Generally, I'm used to seeing ~500. This program is being used as a tonic to cure an electile dysfunction hangover!
The view from up here?
Looks like the best democracy money could buy; grass roots genetically engineered by Monsanto.
On the bright side, look forward to a 3-party system, hopefully even a Tea Party candidate in 2012. The Republican Party will be attacked from within by the tea-bagger contingent. Here in Canada we have the dark side of that; a Conservative Minority government trying to rule with ~33% of the votes.. In your case, it's the right that bought itself some trouble.
One question; what happens if Pres. Obama has to replace one of the 5 right-wingers on the Supreme Bord of Directors? Can he make a recess appointment? I think it's time to work the system the same way Bush did.
Good luck,
Rick
It is clear - the republicans bought the house and voters sold the farm.
look for two years of vindictive bahavior from the house and two years of stagflation in the economy,
voters cut of their noses to spite their faces.
and gerald, are you dyslexic? do you mean return to dog? because it is to the dogs you are leading...
I shall not follow YOU.
peace & light (PAX & LUX)
Watch Collapse. Read Darwin, learn to survive on your land with a close knit collective of family and friends. Buy seeds, get a plan for fresh water and survival with no electricity or infrastructure. We are heading back to the basics. Those that can adapt survive, those that can't perish. Just like the Dinosaurs. Can't fool mother nature......
Dems, GOP, Progressives, Socialists, Islam, Jew, Christian, etc.....none can or will survive or be effective. Unions, Corps, Free Market, Protectionists, won't matter if there is no grid, oil, electricity, infrastructure. Who are they kidding, I just hope I am long gone when the collapse comes.
It is just simple evolution. Survival of the fit not the wealthy or poor. Can't drive a Rolls if there is no fuel! Can't cash a Gov't Check if there is no bank or atm....
After recently re-reading some of Eisenhower's speeches I thought it would be fun to take excerpts and print them out without citing the author. Some of my ultra-conservative coworkers, after reading them thought they were written by "some leftist kook"... That "leftist kook" was a five star General AND a two term Republican President! How far we've slidden... Even though I consider myself fairly conservative by 1960's standards, most people think that I'm a leftist. Far from it, but thanks to Fox News and such I sometimes wonder. Thanks to Thom for all the enlightening knowledge we recieve daily.