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.
moonbat666,
Re: When I hear the whole song’ What a Wonderful World, my eyes moisten rather quickly. Great song…..good choice……..thank you for that.
Thom says that was his dad's favorite song.
I love it, too, though it always reminds me of the last scene in the original "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." LOL
--- 42 ---
When I hear the whole song' What a Wonderful World, my eyes moisten rather quickly. Great song.....good choice........thank you for that.
Zero G.,
LOL! I actually think that Jesse is QUITE predictable. He's a combination of pragmatism mixed with the willingness to look at controversy along with a touch of thin skin thrown in!
@ulTRAX, how do you feel about instant run off voting?
Pelosi: Public option ‘not in reconciliation’
By Sahil Kapur
Friday, March 12th, 2010 -- 12:11 pm
If there was any lingering doubt as to whether the public option would survive the final health care motion, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) ended it on Friday morning.
"We had it. We wanted it," Pelosi told reporters at a press briefing. "It's not in reconciliation... We're talking about something that is not going to be part of the legislation."
While Pelosi may be the purveyor of the bad news for progressives, she's certainly not the culprit. The House of Representatives passed the provision in its November bill, but it was removed from the Senate version at the last minute.
"It did not prevail," she said, while reaffirming her strong personal support for it. "What we will have in reconciliation will be something that is agreed upon, House and Senate."
http://rawstory.com/2010/03/pelosi-public-option-dead/
@ Mark K
I disagree. The United Mexican States is "taking" jobs from Americans. Their economic and environmental policies entice American corporations to relocate jobs to Mexico. Mexico is not unique to this but in no way should be exempted from finger pointing.
Charles in OH,
Re: 'The “rich” are far from slim and trim. Has the caller seen Bill Gates lately?'
My husband and I laughingly refer to the "fuller figure" that often comes with age as "Frank Sinatra disease (no disrepect to Frank intended.) The size of the "aging Frank" compared with his reed-slim "youthful Frank" is notable. LOL!
As an old geezer, I was thinking about starting my own radio show. Thom, you've ruined my dream.
Thom, does that mean you're going to retire and give a much youger guy your program slot. You could do a guest apperance once in a while when you're not busy writting. Great idea, you old geezer.
@Quark,
Jesse's behaviour exhibits a certain, how ishould I say, quantuum indeterminacy?
Thom earlier criticized politicians for promoting xenophobia, but apparently he has no problem with allowing callers to cloud their judgments with xenophobia. Mexico is not "taking" jobs from Americans; American companies are. And why are they doing this? Because they can't compete with cheap imports, and they want to stay in business. And why they can't compete with cheap imports--and where those imports are coming from--should be the focus of the discussion, not saying the word "Mexico" or "Mexican" as if it was a dirty word. For many Americans those words are meant to be slurs. Thom prides himself on being knowledgeable and imparting knowledge, but apparently some of his listeners are not getting the correct information. Whose fault is that? Thom's?
Campaign finance reform or any other tinkering with our electoral/political system will NOT solve our problems. We can have:
100% public financing
100% citizen participation in elections
100% vote count accuracy
And a candidate REJECTED by the People can still be imposed upon the nation as president... 18% of the population can still get a majority in the Senate, and 4.5% of the 12 smallest states can block any amendment.
The REAL reasons why our system is so unresponsive to the Will Of The People is our antiquated first-past-the-post election system which is incapable of measuring public opinion and the anti-democratic concept of state suffrage which gives some minorities too much power and can even permit minority rule.
If Thom REALLY believes in democracy as he claims, it's about time he stopped pussy-footing around this issue.
We have another wiener!!!
Thom’s blog
Thomas Jefferson on Student Lending….
Six Democrats have sided with banks, against the Landmark Student Lending Reform. Who are they? Bill Nelson (Fl.), Tom Carper (Del.), Blanche Lincoln (Ark.), Jim Webb (Va.), Mark Warner (Va.) and Ben Nelson (Neb.). The student lending industry has launched an “aggressive lobbying campaign” of senators representing states where big lenders are based, scaremongering about job losses resulting from passing SAFRA. Now, it appears that their lobbying is paying off. We’re a long way away from when Thomas Jefferson started the University of Virginia with the notion that part of building a middle class (necessary to a democracy, he said) would require people with some education, and advocated a national program of free education up to and including university levels, the last state to fall from that ideal was when Governor Ronald Reagan ended free enrollment in the University of California system. My question – how do these people sleep at night or look themselves in the mirror?
-Thom
Isn’t it so bad that your favorite bank along with your fascist promoter on your forum is against such propsals:
A Whole New World - US Banker Article
Bank of North Dakota makes about 70 percent of the student loans in its home state, but if the Obama Administration has its way, the $3.5 billion-asset bank would be out of the origination business by this time next year.
What d'ya think of "Moms Rising" as a way of framing healthcare.
Everyone has a mom. Many Americans ARE moms. And they know by experience how healthcare affects them ...
"When Ashley's son started going to child care, he started bringing home more than macaroni art and cute little scribble pictures. He also brought home colds, the flu, pink eye, and a weird unidentifiable rash -- all things that meant Ashley needed to miss work to care for him.
"I didn't realize that child care was such a petri dish! It's pretty ironic that my son goes to child care so I can work, but then he gets sick so often and I have to stay home with him anyhow (and then I get sick too)." Ashley explains. "It all starts with just one sick kid. I know that sick kids are coming to child care sometimes because their parents can't take time off work, but when they do, we all end up getting sick and missing work."
Today, according to a just released study, more than a third of working women in establishments with more than 15 employees have no paid sick leave. [1] That means they lose needed income, and could risk losing their jobs, if they stay home to keep a sick child out of child care or school, or for their own illness. But this problem isn't limited to just moms: Conservative estimates are that 40% of the entire private sector doesn't have any paid sick days.
But that could change! Right now, Congress is considering a bill called the Healthy Families Act, which would give 13.3 million women--for a total of over 30 million people--the ability to earn paid sick days at work. "
Tell Congress: Parents need paid sick days to keep everyone healthier!
http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/p/dia/action/public/?acti...
The "rich" are far from slim and trim. Has the caller seen Bill Gates lately? Or is he just looking at the starving models in the "health" magazine?
What the "rich" have is the funds to offset their bad habits.
Zero G.,
BTW, I didn't mean to imply that you were being critical. I think your post is fascinating.
Zero G.,
Jesse DOES have a way of taking his ball and going home if he gets push-back. We saw that when he was our MN governor.
That said, that doesn't automatically make him wrong...
Hey Thom. Since you already spammed me on the latest blog post then why not post it here?
Compassion for CEOs?
The International Brotherhood of Electric Workers has filed a lawsuit against Bankster Goldman Sachs for overpaying its top executives. The lawsuit “seeks to stop Goldman from allocating roughly 47 percent of 2009 net revenue as compensation, saying such allocations ‘vastly overcompensate management and constitute corporate waste.’” Apparently the IBEW and their electrician workers don’t realize how hard it is to find employees willing and able to buy and sell stocks and only be paid a few million dollars a year for this brutally hard work. After all, these guys have to buy suits and ties. They have to pay for limousines and thousand-dollar-a-bottle champagne. Being a Goldman Sachs executive is tough work, guys – cut them some slack! Have some compassion!
–Thom Same dribble as always.
What do you do that is “brutally hard work”??? How much do you get on a book sold?
What do you have to buy??? A computer? Notepad and pen??? See how illogical your positions are with regards to your own standings?
Carry on…
Huffington Post censors Jesse Ventura:
Ventura: ‘You’re not allowed to ask’ about 9/11
By Muriel Kane
Friday, March 12th, 2010 -- 11:52 am
http://rawstory.com/2010/03/ventura-youre-allowed-ask-911/
Former Minnesota governor and one-time professional wrestler Jesse Ventura has run afoul of the Huffington Post's no-conspiracy-theory policy, and he's not happy about it.
"I can't believe the Huffington Post today will practice censorship," Ventura says in astonishment. "I've got news for them. ... I won't ever write for 'em again."
Ventura had posted an item on Tuesday which took note of a recent conference at which "more than one thousand architects and engineers signed a petition demanding that Congress begin a new investigation into the destruction of the World Trade Center skyscrapers on 9/11." He also quoted a few paragraphs from his new book, American Conspiracies, to explain why some of those experts see signs of controlled demolition.
The item was featured on the front page of Huffington Post when it first went up, but after a few hours it vanished. All that appears now at its original location is an editor's note saying, "The Huffington Post's editorial policy, laid out in our blogger guidelines, prohibits the promotion and promulgation of conspiracy theories -- including those about 9/11. As such, we have removed this post."
@KMH, its an old Chinese Curse, "May you live in interesting times." I just giving credit to my source at the beginning of the line.
@KMH Chinese Curse:
May you live in interesting times.
Thom, not that "we shouldn't go to war" without being attacked, but that it is illegal to do so, and those who so initiate hostilities must be held to account.
Here Thom. This is a subject right up your ideological alley.
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Moorestown New Jersey Unions Highlight Union Arrogance
I just suspect that your attitude toward the politicians (more than likely middle class) and “living wages” would change drastically from your lead piece.
@Nels- when you say 'Chinese Curse' - what exactly do you mean, or are you using the term in a general way?
We can complain about the deals afterwards all we want. My point was that if approval ratings is a gage of productivity and their productivity is so low, why would we pay them so much???
How you going to force them to be better educated? Re-education camps? And yes, Thom is in the education business, although disinformation is more likely the outcome…