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.
Ooops - I posted this on yesterday's board, sorry ... anyway ...
While I personally dislike the mandate, the constitutional issue is settled by the Militia Act of 1792 which REQUIRED all white males of a certain age to purchase or otherwise obtain certain items (gun, ammo, etc).
This is very parallel to the health care bill just passed which requires all adults to purchase or otherwise obtain health insurance – see http://www.constitution.org/mil/mil_act_1792.htm
And I'd like to see the militia types denounce the Militia Act of 1792!
On Being Taught to Hate ---
I saw the movie "South Pacific" in a theatre when I was 7. This short song has stayed with me for the rest of my life:
"(You've Got to Be) Carefully Taught"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHKzn8aHyXg
I suppose this is horrific to say, but I'm loving these disgusting right winger hate notes. Its like when I used to tease my sister when I was a kid, nothing was better then getting that outburst of anger, meant I struck a nerve.
THEY"RE MAD (as a hatter).
Bad News for America: U.S. CDS Now Wider Than Europe, Treasury Auctions Bomb
Three stories from the Wall Street Journal hint at bad news for the U.S.
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/
They're Heeeeeeeeere ---
First Corporate Campaign Ads Appear After Supreme Court's Citizens United Decision
Wouldn't you know it --- they came from Texas!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/23/campaign-ads-supreme-cour_n_510...
MESSAGE FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF IRONY:
While I personally dislike the mandate, the constitutional issue is settled by the Militia Act of 1792 which REQUIRED all white males of a certain age to purchase or otherwise obtain certain items (gun, ammo, etc), just as the health care bill just passed requires all adults to purchase or otherwise obtain health insurance - see http://www.constitution.org/mil/mil_act_1792.htm
Quark,
Voluminous recent studies from the field of ethology (animal behavior), show that all mammals, especially intelligent social ones, react very strongly to perceptions of un-fairness.
Without having read it, i suggest this other possible analysis of the study you cite: that as household market integration increases, the degree to which humans have evolved to replace this animal ethic with one of genuine love, tolerance, and mandatory mutual aid, may well regress to these original more animal urges of concern for fairness rather than humanity.
It is also possible that the rise of punishment with larger communities is the dominant operative involved. The more market integration, the larger the community, unless they meticulously controlled for this.
In other words, from the abstract you linked to it is impossible to say what value, or meaning this study may have.
I also wanted to express appreciation for calling it "insurance reform". Even Laura Flanders keeps calling it "care reform". It took me months to stop that when i decided to last year, and it really amazes me how many well educated people cannot see the importance of the distinction.
Such is the degree of confusion and malaise in this country that perfectly intelligent and well informed people can't actually think for themselves despite earnest attempts to do so.
Thanks also for the "stock market report"! At times like this i like to keep track of it, but often forget, like i did this week as i hold no stock myself. The story of Caterpillar stock was especially interesting, even though it is the insurance companies' fates that are much more relevant.
I totally agree that the "conventional wisdom" that the Repugs' behavior this past year will win them gains in Nov. 2010 is ridiculously wrong. This is not wisdom, and the conventions have changed.
The recent history on which this idea is based comes from before the popularity of Steven Colbert, and from before the coverage of those like Kieth, Rachel, and Thom. We are fed up with being lied to and having issues obfuscated. So. increasingly it is people to the left of the Dems, like yourself, that are setting the tone of real discourse.
While no one can predict what those who think they are in charge will do between now and then, besides try to pull out all the stops, we are not complete idiots. In the long run, the only people likely to be shortchanged by such blatant hypocrisy are those who practice it.
Kudos again, for being ahead of the curve Thom.
Coincidentally, I interviewed John Perkins today. And he brought up a point about China that I'd never considered. We were talking about Latin America and he pointed out that in that region, it's a lot more attractive to do business with China because they have no military presence there.
The sorrows of empire.
I'm not certain I'm following you. The poll numbers across the board are indicating just the exact opposite. Rather than moving Left, the pendulum has already begun to swing back towards the Right. Nancy Pelosi has the lowest poll rating in the history of House Speakers – and a few of those were thrown out of office. Obama is at 43 percent meaning that he has not only lost fence sitters, but he is now eroding his base. Not a good move. I suspect that once the bills start to come due for this legislation, that base will erode further. Since at present the only viable alternative is to look towards the Right, I suspect that most will move in that direction.
This isn’t Oz, you know. Just saying, “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home…” will take you home. Perhaps growing up and realizing that hard work is involved in creating and maintaining polite society should be in order.
There’s an old saying that I have found to be true. If at 20 years of age you are not a Liberal, you have no heart. If at 50 years of age if you are still a Liberal, you have no brain.
Probably too late for anyone to read but Thom is not looking at the stock market.
United Healthcare stock has gone down every day this week. Healthcare (not insurance) companies have gone up; e.g. Medrontic
Thom,
Related article in Science:
2) Fairness in Modern Society
"Experiments in psychology and economics have demonstrated that in industrialized societies all over the world, a substantial fraction of individuals will be fair in anonymous interactions and will punish unfairness (1, 2). However, it has not been clear whether this benevolent, prosocial behavior depends on innate human psychology or norms peculiar to industrialized societies. Henrich et al. explored the motivation for fairness in anonymous interactions across dramatically diverse societies and on page 1480 of this issue (3), they report that this behavior increases with the level of the society's market integration, measured as households' average percentage of calories that are purchased. "
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/sci;327/5972/1467
Thom,
Two recent articles of interest in Science last week:
1) Markets, Religion, Community Size, and the Evolution of Fairness and Punishment
"Large-scale societies in which strangers regularly engage in mutually beneficial transactions are puzzling. The evolutionary mechanisms associated with kinship and reciprocity, which underpin much of primate sociality, do not readily extend to large unrelated groups. Theory suggests that the evolution of such societies may have required norms and institutions that sustain fairness in ephemeral exchanges. If that is true, then engagement in larger-scale institutions, such as markets and world religions, should be associated with greater fairness, and larger communities should punish unfairness more."
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/327/5972/1480
@Zero G: re romero: I was a peace activist against the Central American wars in the '80's. I remember and revere Romero.
This might interest some, or maybe not...
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/3/24/headlines#15
Salvadoran President to Issue Formal State Apology on 30th Anniversary of Romero Murder
And today marks the thirtieth anniversary of the assassination of the Salvadoran Catholic Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero. Known as the “voice of the voiceless,” Romero was a prominent advocate for the poor and a leading critic of the US-backed Salvadoran military government. He was killed while delivering mass at a hospital chapel, reportedly on the orders of the US-backed death squad leader Roberto D’Aubuisson. Earlier this month, Romero was one of the historical figures deleted from Texas’s social studies curriculum as part of the sweeping changes approved by the state’s Republican-dominated board of education. The board voted to omit Romero from history lessons after deeming him to be “insignificant.” This year marks the first time the El Salvador government is commemorating Romero’s murder. President Mauricio Funes is expected to issue a formal apology today on behalf of the Salvadoran government.
http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/03/23/travel-agency-gives-rush-...
OK Charles, I see now. I didn't catch the "between 144% and 400%" qualifier.
Charles, what????
So if you have a family of 4 and make $31,752.00 / year ($15.27 / hour) you will receive up to $42.31 / hr for health care? Is that correct?
I'm not trying to through a monkey wrench in the issue, I'm just not getting the logic for the numbers. Nor is that what I'm hearing from some progressive talkers.
Nels,
It's another donut hole. Between 144% and 400% of poverty level will receive a subsidy to offset the cost. Below 144% qualifies for Medcaid while over 400% is responsible for full cost of private insurance.
Nels,
You will receive a subsidy up to $88K.
AcORN was the epitome of neighborhood empowerment. Anathma to control freaks.
Can someone explain this math to me:
If your required to purchase insurance if you make less than 144% of the poverty level, and 100% of poverty level is $22,050.00 for a family of 4. By my calculations 144% of $22,050.00 is $31,752.00 not $88,000.00, but I keep hearing $88,000.00 as the number for a family of 4 as the cutoff level. That's over $50,000.00 difference. Even if I double it to 288% of the poverty level, its still short over $23,000.00.
I tried to get Thom to challenge David Frum on torture, no dice. A mention of Archbishop Romero on the 30th anniversary of his murder, nope...
Well, for those here I leave you today with:
The Blindfold's Eyes
Sister Dianna Ortiz' story of torture and healing
http://www.grainofwheat.net/ortiz.html
She was an American nun teaching Mayan children in Guatemala when she was abducted by government security forces on November 2, 1989. Taken to a secret torture center in Guatemala City, she was subjected to a horrific ordeal that changed her life forever. She suffered more than 100 cigarette burns on her body while being interrogated. She was lowered into a rat-infested pit filled with decomposing bodies and victims not yet dead. Her hand was forcibly held to a knife as one of her torturers stabbed another female prisoner to death. She was brutally gang-raped by her torturers. But unlike most of the victims of the Guatemalan government's terror campaign, Sister Dianna lived to tell of what happened to her.
What makes her story especially disturbing is the complicity of her own government in her torture. The U.S. government funded, trained, and equipped the Guatemalan death squads responsible for torturing countless victims, including Sister Dianna. Her torturers answered to an American whom they called "Alejandro." Her ordeal ended when "Alejandro" removed her from the torture center, noting the international notoriety of her abduction, and drove her ostensibly to meet "a friend" at the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City. Having every reason not to trust "Alejandro," she escaped him, and with help from fellow missionaries, she made her way back to the U.S. And in spite of repeated efforts to obtain information from the U.S. government, "Alejandro" has never been identified.
Her abduction was an embarrassment to the U.S. government. Embassy officials, along with the Guatemalan government, tried to discredit her story. The U.S. Embassy circulated a rumor that her abduction was faked to cover up a lesbian affair that had turned sour. When a delegation headed by her religious order met with Embassy officials in Guatemala in March 1990, political affairs officer Lew Anselem was quoted as saying, "I'm tired of all these lesbian nuns coming down to Guatemala." Ambassador Thomas Stroock, who was present at the meeting when the comment was made, did not object to it. Later, in an unrelated investigation on clandestine activities, a former special agent for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency said he was at the U.S. embassy in Guatemala a week after the November 1989 incident, and he was jokingly asked by a group of agents and embassy officials "if Dianna Ortiz had been good at sex." He denied that he was the American who participated in her rape and torture. He also noted that those present seemed amused by Sister Dianna's ordeal.
Some points I meant to make, (sorry!! Between being ADD and having my neighbor who was being forcefully evicted from her apt right next door and, what sounded like, throwing glass at the deputies RIGHT when he took my call,..elaine got twisted around-kind of distracted to put it mildly!!) These are just "notes" I took.
FIRST though-understand, I live in a VERY Conservative SMALL town where folks would rather miss Church than Beck's show. In fact they are planning an "All-Day Celebration Of Freedom" at a local park on April 15th, "honoring" Glenn Beck.
Scary? You Betch'a!!
**********************************************
As far as your earlier caller and the suggestion to "get out there"-it's EXACTLY what Beck is predicting.
I was "graced", with yet another chance to watch the Cons primary "teacher" yesterday while awaiting transportation. I must say, I was almost as enraptured by the show as the others in the waiting room. He spent the first 50 minutes of the show, showing, of course, his "new revelation" he said he came to just yesterday AM. He'd "found" the "connection" of "EXACTLY" what Progressives are doing to destroy the Country. He made a triangle-with God at the bottom, (largest), then Morals, then
Social Justice, Marxism-turned it upside down to show how progressives are "distorting" & "corrupting" Faith, Charity & Justice & even brought Rev Wallis-"Obama's new religious & policy adviser", a "self-described Marxist...
Went on about all this being used to "get you" on subjects of education, health & global warming....
How, because of WHO Progressives REALLY are-->socialists/communists/marxists
AND how WE ALWAYS end up using VIOLENCE
THEN
Word for word from Becks newsletter, and then expounded on during his show:
"how Obama, his team, and cheerleaders in the media have done everything they can to marginalize, discredit and mock those who attend Tea Party rallies."
AND about how the "Progressives will pervert into Violence"
The last 5 minutes were talking about how THEY shouldn't be the first ones to use violence-it will be "the Progressives" who "strike first".
Too late-the teabaggers beat any of us to it. And considering Progressives are the "peacemakers"-WE have NO intentions of taking ourselves down to that level...