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Dear Thom Blog Listeners,
Anyone can criticize but too many people will criticize without offering any constructive resolutions for problems. The goose-stepping Republicans are great for criticizing and obstructing the efforts of the progressives. The reason why people do not offer resolutions for problems is because they can come under fire for their criticism and resolutions for problem and so they will not stick their necks out for anyone or anything.
Bryan Fischer, like other neocons, won’t answer questions. He kept talking about gays in the military. Since Fischer and many neocons are straight, let them serve in the military and keep our military straight.
Obama is gutless. All he needs to do as commander-in-chief is to sign an executive order and say that gays are now part of the military services.
I predict that gays will become part of our military services. It is an issue now because it is a voting wedge issue to elect the goose-stepping neocons.
BP stands for Bubba Pumps Shrimp Co. We made it into a t-shirt with $2 from everyone sold going to "Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary" for their clean up efforts.Hre's the link http://www.opinionapparel.com/blowups/bubba_pumps.html
Have an AWESOME day!
(The question/issue being re whether or not Big Oil operating in the US enjoys legal exeption from anti-trust laws.) TBill;-))
The person to ask is Antonia Juhasz-- if anyone knows the definitive answer to this question/issue it would be her. http://www.tyrannyofoil.org/ She also does a great job of outlining the history of US big oil companies earliest origins and how they came to evolve into this sickening symbiosis with globalized Arab kingdoms in her earlier book "The Bush Agenda: Invading the World One Economy at a Time"-- an oft overlooked must-read for ANYONE who wants to understand WHY the US ("we") is/are at war in Iraq and Afghanistan... Sad. ( http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-0060846879-0 ) ps. No, I have no vested interest in selling books, just a big fan of Ms. Juhasz-- She'd be a great guest for the show, Thom, Sue, all... Love y'all, TriangleBill ;-)
- sorry for the delay I was in the chat room today...
I think that BP should lose the well and the lease too but that is a different issue.
The cleanup involves over 1/4 of the US federalized Gulf Of Mexiconow closed to fishing and all the inshore areas next to that open ocean. BP has contracted with other parties to do clean up under the Oil Pollution Act = OPA. What the govt can do is replace BP as the manager/holder of those contracts - the US can then pass contracts on to states to empower them to get equipment and manpower to defend/clean their shores and empower the states to expand those contracts and bill it all back to BP. If BP denies the subsurface oil plumes they will Never Do Anything about the ocean pollution. Really no one can clean the ocean but after Hayward's statement there is no excuse for pretending that deniers like BP will even just look at/study/measure the problem.
Listening to Thom on time delay ...
The ACLU is actually two separate corporations, the ACLU Foundation - which is tax exempt and does not engage in political activities, and the American Civil Liberties Union, whis is not tax exempt and engages in political activities like lobbying which tax-exempt "Religious" organizations like the AFA also engage in despite their tax exempt status.
Thom:
I have to urge a little caution about blaming all the right-wing male anti-homosexual hate on closeted gay men. While that is sometimes true, the vast majority of men who hate gays are straight and just hateful. Blaming it on gays rather unfortunately makes it gays' own fault that they are dealing with this hate, and that's not fair. It removes the responsibility of straight men for their own hate. It's a bit of what I"m sure is unintentional victim blaming, so maybe you'll want to think a bit more about that theory.
- Heather
A straight female who doesn't have a dog in this fight, but has heard a lot of similar arguments about women
Miranda and the Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court has made yet another decision against the rights of individuals, and for the rights of institutions.
When does continued questioning become coercion? After three hours? Twenty four? Forty eight? When does it become sleep deprivation?
How many hours of questioning does it take, while a suspect remains silent, before the courts appoint him a lawyer, another constitutional right? At what point is a suspect's right to remain silent become declared implicitly?
Do an individual's constitutional rights evaporate simply because they don't utter a few words? By their ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court has declared that we are no longer a society ruled by law, but a society ruled by men. If our constitution is so meaningless that the utterance of a few words by a single individual changes it, then we are truly a nation in dire trouble.
We are living George W. Bush's third term.
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175135
This is the American way.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Wonders-of-the-America-by-David-Swanson-100531-792.html
The History Channel's mission is to sanitize American History. I've watched several programs in regards to WWI and WWII that just present the events as though America was justified every step of the way.
I've read enough books on WWI that I can call out some of the statements I've seen in their programs as out and out lies, whether their repeating the lie, or make it up as they go I'm not certain. The point being, the History Channel is more the White Wash channel. (Don't get me started on their recent turn to multiple reality TV shows, can't even make a decent argument as to how the shows apply to history).
N
re #38 - Kinky Friedman AND his band!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6b-OdfboLE
I would get scrubbed as if I had been exposed to radiation after talking to John Bolton...
I agree with Thom. Everyone and every institutions should be taxed. This also includes religions and religious institutions.
Monastic property and its way of life should not be taxed.
@babasaurus, I understand, and I can only assume you were looking for the opposition literature when you found it.
The left is really going to have to figure out a way to communicate effectively to its base, all too often it seems as though the base has to seek out what it's progressive leadership is recommending.
Any ideas? Anyone?
N
Dear Thom Blog Listeners,
I want to share some information with you and maybe Thom can recall what I will convey to you. About fifty years ago Detroit added Channel 50 to their other channels. Channel 50 was to be a sports channel. That is how it was sold to the public. The channel incorporated many programs.
Lou Gordon was a very popular talk show host. He criticized everyone and everything. At first I would listen to him but soon I began to realize that he offered no resolutions to the problems facing Michigan and Detroit.
Thom is very popular but he does offer some resolutions for our many problems. I do not oppose people criticize but along with their criticism they should offer constructive resolutions for our many problems. Thom does offer constructive resolutions for our problems.
@ maxrot
I'm glad you see the light on prop 16
I'm just worried that the way PG &E has framed the issue: "don't let those politicians take over the energy contracts without your vote" may gain some traction. that and how the airways are saturated with yes on prop 16 ads. the only opposition I have seen is one or 2 letters on the editorial pages.
Oil Antitrust Exemption ProposedCommercial Trades Would Be Included in Emergency Policy
http://articles.latimes.com/1985-07-01/business/fi-10109_1
July 01, 1985|KATHLEEN DAY, Times Staff Writer.
After years of lobbying by the petroleum industry, the Reagan Administration has quietly proposed a significant broadening of the antitrust relief granted to oil companies in the event of an energy crisis.
The proposed policy to include commercial oil trades in the exemption permitted under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 has angered some members of Congress as well as some federal regulators. The proposal still requires final approval by top Administration officials. A few details are left to be worked worked out and the proposal must be published in the Federal Register before it can take effect.
At stake are policy issues that pit the nation's ability to provide emergency oil supplies to friendly nations against the checks and balances necessary to protect consumers from price-gouging at the gasoline pump.
Those who favor broadening the antitrust exemption say the change is necessary to insure unfettered cooperation of oil companies in times of emergency. Those who oppose the proposal say it would, in the words of one federal antitrust lawyer, "give the oil industry carte blanche " to manipulate the market.
'Price-Fixing Act'
After a report critical of the draft proposal was released last week by the General Accounting Office, Sen. Howard Metzenbaum (D-Ohio) denounced the plan on the Senate floor as one that would transform the 1975 law into "the energy price-fixing and cartel act."
Passed in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis and renewed last week for at least three more years, the Energy Policy and Conservation Act established the $17-billion Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a federal stockpile of petroleum intended to buffer the effects of an oil shortage. It also sanctioned U.S. participation in the Paris-based International Energy Agency, a consortium of 21 countries that would coordinate an oil-sharing plan should the world's supply--or that of any member country--fall short 7% or more of a specified level. No antitrust exemption could take effect unless the IEA decided that such an emergency had occurred.
The IEA would act as a clearinghouse for information about the supplies and shortages of each member nation. The agency then would match the haves with the have-nots so that all would share the hardship--and the available oil. Full cooperation from each IEA member--especially the United States, which is home to many of the world's largest oil companies--is essential for the system to work.
Of course, this is back in 1985
re: #39, it might have been "Kentucy Fried Movie".
re: #37: remember the comedy skit where Israel and the US state of Georgia change places? It was in a comedy movie who's name I cant remember right now.
re:#37 -
Yeah, and I bet the Jews in Texas would really support that idea ...
... BOTH of them! :)
Re: Israel & the Palestinians & the Iranians & the ...
It seems to me that the solution would be to give Israel the state of Texas. Israel would have plenty of room to grow, and it would create a buffer zone between the US & Mexico ;)
@babasaurus, I'm only voting yes on Prop 15, all others I'm flatly voting no on. I completely agree with you; this is yet another corporate grab for more of the commons. I'm glad to hear that they are feeling behind the curve on this.
It would be nice if the progressive talk show hosts could just devote a small portion of their shows every day a week before an election and state what propositions progressive organizations specifically support or want blocked, for every state in the union. However, I'm not sure if that really violates any laws, especially from state to state.
N
re: #34: when I was a kid ('50's), we used to sing:
Whistle while you work,
Hitler was a jerk;
Mussolini bit his weenie,
Now it doesn't work (or squrt)
re: #18 - It comes from an old song that British troops used to march to during WWII... (to the tune of Bridge on the River Kwai) -
Hitler
He's only got one ball
Goering
Has two but very small
Himmler
Has something sim'lar
But poor old Goebels
Has no balls at all.