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In the News segment airing online, Thom is incorrect. South Park did, indeed, air the second controversial episode (#201 - airing April 21). South Park submitted the episode to Comedy Central and they severely censored it, bleeping out all mentions of Mohammed and putting a black box saying CENSORED over where Mohammed's image was supposed to air.
The anger was that the first episode (#200 - airing April 14) depicted all the celebrities South Park has made fun of (too numerous) trying to find a way to be immune from satire, hence how Mohammed is immune. At the end of the first episode the gingers and celebrities, trying to get their hands on the "goo" inside Mohammed so they, too, could be immune from being satirized, South Park showed a Bear suit, suggesting Mohammed was in the suit. Apparently, it was this depiction the extremists had a problem with.
@Lore:jim hightower with a powdered wig?
this is great - http://www.jeffersonhour.org/ - he had a great show on texas schoolbooks - show 814. this is a show where a man (scholar on Jefferson) speaks as though he is Jefferson and discusses various topics. informative, enjoyable and fun!
He mentioned how IRRESPONSIBLE Reagan was in his comments -- essentially fueling fires rather then being a leader too!
On Voter Suppression
I recently heard a local black activist say that a recent study shows that 1-in-8 African-Americans can't vote due to felony disenfranchisement.
There's an interesting twist to this felony disenfranchisement, as Michelle Alexander and others have noted. Many of the prisons, maybe most, are located in more rural and largely white communities. The prisoners are counted as residents of the communities where the prisons are rather than the communities that they had lived in previously. Therefore, the black communities get less representation because significant numbers of their residents are shipped away to prisons in rural white communities (where they aren't allowed to vote). But the rural white areas get greater representation (do to census counts) than they should have. As we know, the rural white areas tend to vote Republican.
Clarity First, Not Just Transparency
French Economy and Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said this morning that clarity is essential to financial reform, that transparency alone is only a partial answer. Interesting conversation from a European point of view (video):
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/ns/msnbc_tv-morning_joe#36777631
Thom
You're comment about how efficient this country has been in the war on drugs shows a lack of understanding of the several issues. So I'm going to have to suggest another book to you today and this one isn't so much fun.
"The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" by Michelle Alexander. In it she shows that the war on drugs and other tough law and order policies have mainly targeted communities of color. This has led to this country having the largest prison population in the world, both in raw numbers and as a percentage of our population. Around half of those prisoners are African-Americans although they are only about 13-14% of the population. This despite the fact that African-Americans and Latinos are no more likely than whites to use or sell drugs.
Alexander has a wealth of facts and statistics that cast a light on the ugly truth about racism in this country. There's a two part interview with Professor Alexander on March 11 and 12 on Democracy Now. There's also a 68 minute YouTube video of her. Alexander has a very impressive resume.
Doh!
@Gerald Dragon Naturally Speaking is a program that will type for you as you speak into a head set. I am thinking about running to get the latest version myself. Had an old version on my old computer, but not enough ram to run it. Make sure you have far more ram than it says to have on the package.
Meet John Doh!
The music makes me want to dance!
Many of my typo-errors are surfacing from a person who picks and pecks on the keyboard and my thoughts do not keep pace with the printed word.
Harry Ashburn,
I guess it can't be done. Thanks for trying!
@quark well I clicked on my name, it lit up but as far as I can tell nothing happened. sorry.
Told Elton I loved him.
Staffer was classic uptight righty and it was fun how we worked together to type how much a lefty like myself was going to shower the internet with praise for Congressman Elton Gallegly http://www.house.gov/gallegly/contact/contact.htm
Harry Ashburn,
I may be wrong about you being able to upload your CD to your I.D. page. Maybe someone with more technical knowledge could help...
Oh well, your thought was awfully nice!
@Meet John Doh, 2040 is the more acceptable year for our minority status. I have also read that 2025 maybe our bencmark yeat for a minority status. With the MSM being controlled by goose-stepping conservatives we have a difficult time for having the correct information. I use "whitey" to emphasize a specific group and it is not met to be a slur. Jesus would not slur anyone. I am on a continuous journey to follow my Lord and Savior. The problem I have is that with the sins on my back I fall many times in trying to emulate Jesus. Many whites voted for Obama because Bush II had been a total disaster. With Obama in office we are coming to realize that many of his policies are similar to Bush II's policies. If I seem to be in a hurry, it is because my health issues is affecting more and I would love to leave America a better place. Candidly, I am too much of an idealist even though some of my posts may seem to be from a realist.
@Quark i did. what next?
I just took some Gabba to calm my thoughts down- the dam broke for me learnign more about the crush films- that made it hard to sleep last evening. The blatant breaking out and legalization of a fiery hell on the planet.
You know what? I am going to call that Republican sponsor's office and tell him I love him for taking on the Supreme Courts Decsion.
Harry Ashburn,
Click on your name.
It's always something! This finanacial mess has more tentacles (aspects) than an octopus. Paul Krugman talked about the enabling behavior of the ratings companies:
Berating the Raters
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/26/opinion/26krugman.html?hp
Excerpts:
The bill now before the Senate tries to do something about the rating agencies, but all in all it’s pretty weak on the subject. The only provision that might have teeth is one that would make it easier to sue rating agencies if they engaged in “knowing or reckless failure” to do the right thing. But that surely isn’t enough, given the money at stake — and the fact that Wall Street can afford to hire very, very good lawyers.
What we really need is a fundamental change in the raters’ incentives. We can’t go back to the days when rating agencies made their money by selling big books of statistics; information flows too freely in the Internet age, so nobody would buy the books. Yet something must be done to end the fundamentally corrupt nature of the the issuer-pays system.
An example of what might work is a proposal by Matthew Richardson and Lawrence White of New York University. They suggest a system in which firms issuing bonds continue paying rating agencies to assess those bonds — but in which the Securities and Exchange Commission, not the issuing firm, determines which rating agency gets the business.
I’m not wedded to that particular proposal. But doing nothing isn’t an option. It’s comforting to pretend that the financial crisis was caused by nothing more than honest errors. But it wasn’t; it was, in large part, the result of a corrupt system. And the rating agencies were a big part of that corruption.
@Quark, even if I could figure out how to do that, the CD is old and scratched and i have to nurse it thru the song, even after scrubbing it with toothpaste. besides, going thru all that...sorry, I just dont love you enough. : )
@Quark: I have an I.D. page?
Harry Ashburn,
Maybe you could upload it to your I.D. page on the Thom Hartmann Community site. ?
@Foodfascist Yo tambien. Its like 911 conspiracy. Theres a lot of smoke but... maybe its just one too many conspiracies. I just cant handle any more after 8 years of GWB.
Meet John Doh!
Thanks for the link. I listened to the music at your previous link. It was lovely. I will listen to your new link during the next break. :-)
Arizona would not have had the opportunity to be accused of all kinds of horrific actions against illegal immigrants if Congress and the President were taking care of the people's business. However, they are busy taking care of corporate business, for which they are being paid. If the people want their elected representatives to take care of the people's business, they must get with the program and begin bribing their elected representatives with campaign contributions and perks.
Meanwhile, the borders remain open, not only to illegal immigrants, but to drug trafficking and collaborative crimes, and, of course, to any terrorist that wants to pay a transport fee for assistance in crossing the border illegally.
Give credit where credit is due, Thom--to the Federal elected officials. Unfortunately you've taken advantage of the pissed off Arizona folks to beat up conservatives and scare folks with the horrific possibilities inherent in the Arizona law. Focus on the Feds.
@Harry
Regarding the oil spill. Jesus, it is one thing after the other. I have yet to even have the consciousness to include the oil spill into my awareness funnel. It seems there is so much happening, I numb on something for a week and then I awaken like a mighty monster.