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Thom's Blog Is On the Move
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Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
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Loretta, while I dispute the official story of 9/11, I strongly agree with your opinion of the 9/11 Truth movement. It has become more like a religion and like a religion requires near complete fealty to it. I've had to pull back a bit from it, because I'm think I'm seeing the movement being co-opted into movements against health care reform and against protection of the environment, especially related to global warming.
Loretta,
Fear is such a "great" motivator. Unfortunately, it so often warps people instead of inspiring them in a positive way. (My parents were abusive because THEY were each severely abused as children by significant people in THEIR lives.)
I keep thinking of the passage from the Bible that says something like "the sins of the father will be visited upon the children of the 6th and 7th generations (or something similar to that)."
To me, there is a lot of healing the human race needs to go through...
Prayer from me too! Funny T-shirt idea Richard. That's great. Damn, I wish you would have been inspired yesterday. It may be too late:-)
DDay,
Prayer said and additional prayers on the way. I hope you were wearing a
Palin - Bachmann 2012
T-shirt so they called on you . . .
Loretta,
I agree that intentional evil is scarier than incompetence. It's easy to make mistakes.
It seems that there is so much theory one way or the other. I always ask, "who stands to benefit and why?" That allows me to take a step back, out of the immediate fear through which others may try to manipulate us.
Quark,
That is a beautiful, powerful letter. I am sorry that you had to experience such pain. I think that is exactly what terror does, whether is was dealt out by offshore terrorists or by terrible people within our own culture. It stirs up deep insecurities in everyone it touches. You have such a strong point in your letter about the terrible misuse of power in child abuse is similar to the misuse of power by the Republican party. I hope he's smart enough to understand your beautiful letter!
I disagree with the David Aaronovitchis' theory that it's scarier to believe the government is incompetent rather than intentionally evil.
Several years ago I attended a 911 Truth Group meeting that explained that cell phone calls couldn't be made from the altitude the planes were flying. The speaker claimed that although cell phone technology wasn't capable of making high altitude calls yet, what was available was voice technology where voices could be copied and cell phone calls manufactured. He implied that all of those phone calls from the air had been shamelessly staged.
That thought scared me so badly I had to leave the packed auditorium and go walking for three hours. I don't have any idea if that is possible. I can't even figure out whether or not to advise my daughter to get a flu vaccination or not. The whole thing is mind boggling, but it sure is fascinating! The 911 Truth groupers feel almost like a religious group. The speaker I heard was a pastor and sounded like an evangelist as he lifted the crowd to nearly speaking in tongues over 911.
What a freaking brilliant idea! And I'm not just saying that because I am 55 and completely burned out from working for corporate greed monkeys.
In order for this economy to ever come back, working people need more disposable income. High unemployment (which is expected for years by most economists) will allow corporations to continue to reduce benefits and stiffle wage increases. Where as, low unemployment will cause compitition for employees, which will increase both benefits and wages.
Of course, this makes too much sense to ever happen and because it benefits real people instead of corporations, there will be no lobbyists supporting it and endless lobbyists and cash to defeat it.
Still, at least mentally, I am sailing in the Keys instead of leaving in fear of my job being outsourced, and I thank you for that.
The caller makes a wonderful point about how healthcare is captured by a giant insurance cartel. Is there some way to get the meme out that the insurance companies are doing for healthcare what Enron did for the energy industry in this country?
THOM!!!!
Thank you for making Tanner choke at the end of the segment.
How Soon They Forget (or Don't Care To Remember) ---
I sent Joe Scarborough an email this a.m. and just wanted to share it with you. Please forgive repetition of the parts I have already mentioned on this blog plus the fact that it is probably more about me than anything else. Maybe I will never find peace with my past OR the Republican Party. I just wanted Scarborough to know, in human terms, what destruction his fellows have wraught and why we don't eulogize them the same way:
"Joe, this morning I heard you complain about something to the effect that the Kennedys get so much more credit (and did you also mean admiration?) than the Bushes. You were clearly irritated by this. Joe, the Kennedys (especially Teddy) actually tried to HELP people. The Bushes (especially "W") were all about themselves, as is any Republican. To understand this, read John Dean's book, The Conscience of a Conservative. There is a clear pathology to this kind of behavior. I should know. I was adopted by very conservative, very politically active Republican parents with VERY authoritarian mindsets. I spent my entire childhood living in fear of their brutality (and I spent much of my adulthood trying to work through the physical and mental abuse I suffered as a child.)
As a child, I couldn't understand how people who are supposed to love and care for their children's well being could be so frightening and cruel.
Later, I saw that same disregard for people's welfare played out in the Republican congress' refusal to pass legislation after 9/11 that would hire additional airport security people unless they were not permitted to join a union. I had a physical and mental breakdown at that refusal to protect our country (unless it was without a union!)
I ended up in the mental health wing of a local hospital. When a doctor asked me, "when was the last time you felt this way," I blurted out, "when I was a child. I should have been protected and cared for by my parents. Instead, I was afraid all the time and ran away from home several times."
Somehow my mind subconsciously made that connection. I could never understand my parents' treatment of me until I read John Dean's aforementioned book. I saw and understood the same cruelty and self-centeredness that plays out in the Republican Party.
Read it for yourself, Joe. I doubt you will recognize it, though. You are too much a part of it."
How can legal tender be illegal?
Robert Kahre is facing up to 296 years in prison. His crime? He hired workers on mutually-agreed terms, and paid them in gold and silver dollars rather than in Federal Reserve dollars.
First, some background . . .
* The face value of the U.S. Mint's gold and silver coins are legal tender, meaning they must be accepted in payment of debt
* But a Gold Eagle coin that has "$50" printed on it is legal tender only up to $50, while its gold content is worth about $1,000 in Federal Reserve notes
* No law or IRS regulation requires that receivers of Gold Eagles and other U.S. Mint coins must report the market value of the coins instead of the legal tender value
After extensively researching the issue, Kahre . . .
* hired workers as independent contractors, so he would not pay the payroll tax for their labor
* paid them in gold and silver coins, whose face value - that is, legal tender value - was so low that the workers legally didn't have to report it as income to the IRS
For instance, if a worker was annually paid in gold coins with a legal tender face value of $2,000, the market value of the gold content in those coins could be $40,000, but only the legal tender face value of $2,000 would theoretically count as taxable income. That face value of $2,000 is low enough to be non-reportable to the IRS. But . . .
Even though the coins Kahre used were legal tender, the Justice Department alleged that Kahre's system was a fraudulent, tax-evading scam.
We agree with Jacob Hornberger who asserts that the federal government's prosecution of Kahre is self-contradictory . . .
http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-08-17.asp
* if you owe $100 in taxes and pay with gold coins with face values totalling $100, the IRS will accept the payment as $100; it could then sell the coins on the market for twenty times that amount and keep the difference. The government will accept your payment as "legal tender."
* but if YOU receive gold coins from someone else in a private transaction, the IRS says you must report the market value of the coins, not the face value. That is, YOU CANNOT TREAT THE COINS AS LEGAL TENDER.
http://www.DownsizeDC.org
New president, same old war against press freedom in Iraq
Is it audacious to hope that a new president promising change might at least put an end to America's unwarranted and indefinite jailing of journalists without charges in the Iraq war zone?
Apparently so.
While President Obama came to office promising the world that America would once again respect the rule of law and the cause human rights, with a high-profile (and not yet fulfilled) promise to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, a new commander-in-chief has meanwhile done nothing to halt the U.S. miltary's abhorrent practice of jailing journalists without trials, evidence, habeas corpus...
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/
Following the troll seems to be my unhappy lot today. Speaking of following trolls...I'll be missing the show today in order to attend a Michele Bachmann town hall on health care. I will be armed with a few interesting questions for the hyperbolic congresswoman. Who knows if I'll get an opportunity to pose them. I'll report back tomorrow about what I see and hear. Someone please say a prayer for me.
It is easy, Gerald, to blame Kennedy for losing in 1980, but you're off base. Carter was reluctant to take on health care in his first term and Ted was tired of waiting. Jimmy Carter had all the right ideas, but little notion of how to accomplish them. This was the basis of Kennedy's oppossition and he dared to oppose a sitting president just as his brother had with Johnson over Viet-Nam. To blame Ted for Reagan is like blaming Bobby for Nixon. Chappaquiddick had more to do with Teddy losing and the hostages had more to do with Reagan winning.
There has been much praise given to Ted Kennedy. I have a different take on Ted Kennedy. Yes, Thom is right that we must be more Christian in our assessment of Mr. Kennedy. I have a problem because my perceptual opinion remembers his pettiness in his run to unseat a sitting president from his same party. He helped to divide the election that gave Reagan the win. From Reagan to even the present administration we have had poor leadership. Reagan opened the door to the biggest Ponzi scheme in American history - REAGANOMICS. This is the buzz word for tinkle down economic policies that have hurt the American people.
What about creating incentives for one parent to stay home to care for kids? That would tighten the labor market and we'd get the advantages of a fulltime parent.
Another idea for lowering unemployment would be to institute a required minimum vacation time, just like the countries in Europe. If you work in the US, then employers would not only be required give you 4 weeks off a year, but be penalized if you do not actually use it. All that time off would require employers to hire more people to cover the vacation time. It would pump more money into the economy from people going on vacation and spending. Further, it would not require one cent in government money to institute.
Really excellent idea. Not sure I would go all the way to 55, but certainly 60 would be a good start. In addition, I'd like to see Vietnam era veterans who served either 2, 3 or 4 years during the war get additional credit, perhaps another 2 years.
I haven't done the math, but I suspect that eliminating the current cap on Social Security taxes would more than pay for the changes. We need more people like Thom in Congress!!
Bob
WOULDN'T "REAL NEWS" BE SURPRISED TO LEARN THAT THE PERSON THEY JUST RECENTLY INTERVIEWED IS A RABID PALESTINIAN EXTERMINATION ADVOCATE?
THOM HARTMANN IS DESPERATE TO KEEP HIS VILE ALLEGIANCES UNDER WRAPS AS WELL AS LAUGH AWAY (as fake and uncomfortable as that comes across on the air waves) ANY ALLEGATIONS.....AS GLARINGLY EVIDENT AS IT HAS BECOME.
Israelis restrict Palestinians' water supply
World Bank report: Israelis have access to four times as much water as Palestinians due to restrictions
http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&It...
More of the effects of Israeli apartheid and those, like Thom Hartmann, who are allied to inhuman rights, injustice and zionist supremacy.
Israel seizes Palestinian radio transmitters
International media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders has condemned the Israeli Defense Forces’ decision to seize the radio transmitters of a popular West Bank radio station, saying the move “constitutes outright censorship.”
Popular Palestinian radio station Bethlehem 2000 said on Wednesday it went off the air after the Israeli army seized its transmitters.
The private radio station said in a statement that Israeli soldiers dismantled and took away the transmitters during a raid on Tuesday night in Beit Jala, just outside Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank.
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/08/26/israel-seizes-radio/
I wish Thom would point out to these right-wing doctors that having "the finest health care in the world" is meaningless to those who are financially beyond its reach. And does anyone think that health insurance industry cares about the patient as much as the doctor claims to? What the doctor deems necessary is not necessarily compatible with what the insurance company considers so, and that incompatibility may cost the patient his or her house, or force them into bankruptcy. So in fact the insurance companies stand in the way of the patient receiving what the doctor considers "the finest health care in the world"--even primary care. The doctor is either a fool, naive or a hopeless ideologue to see this. If one digs deeper, you might even find his ultimate consideration is the money he may or may not lose from health care reform.
Yes, people who don't use their health coverage, or those who can afford the best coverage, are quite happy with their insurance, while those on government-run Medicare who need care the most are also generally happy with it. It is everyone in the middle who need what health care reform offers. And why do we need reform, again?
According to the National Coalition on Health Care, insurance coverage is decreasing while medical costs are going up. Over the last decade, employer-based insurance has more than doubled in cost. 62 percent of all bankruptcies are linked to health costs. 1.5 million families lose their homes every year in part due to health care bills. Workers wages stagnate or decrease because of the cost of health insurance to employers; in some lower wage jobs, employer-based premiums for coverage for a family nearly exceeds what they are paying a worker. Within the next ten years, health care costs will again double, particularly troubling if GDP stagnates.
This is the situation the good right-wing doctor wants to continue. Today, private insurance covers about 60 percent of medical costs for those privately insured. But increasingly higher premiums, higher deductibles, higher co-pays and higher out-of-pocket expense can be expected to change that equation for the worse. Higher deductibles are particularly insidious, since insurance companies will not honor coverage unless that is paid first. Meanwhile, as baby-boomers reach Medicare age, by 2018 it is expected that over half of people in this country will be covered by a "public option" by default. And it has to be paid for.
Some conservative say that spiraling costs are due to government interference in "market-oriented" solutions. These people have no idea of what they are talking about. If they are referring to the Republican-passed Plan D, they are certainly right about that, but they otherwise seem to be extraordinarily naive about everything else. The insurance and drug cabals are nothing more or less than trusts which have no interest in reigning in costs, because they hold all the cards; employers and individuals must pay, or else. The reality is that the health insurance industry has a stake in increasing costs, just as oil companies have a stake in high oil costs. For oil companies, the inevitability of running out of oil heightens their desire to get as much profit as they can now; for health insurance companies, the decreasing percentage of the population that is not Medicare eligible makes future profitability a concern.
A significant reason for those runaway costs, reported by Business Week, is that expensive new technology is driving up costs, although they may have only "modest" benefit to patients. Doctors who like to play with this new technology certainly do not have cost in mind (except how much they will be paid), or the patient's ability to pay. According to the story, "Price insensitivity on behalf of customers, lack of competition, technological complexity—they all add up to immense inflationary pressures on health-care costs." This medical price inflation accounts for 51 percent of the rise in medical costs. Although an older population's access to expensive technology that prolongs life has been a major contributor to costs, this does not explain the CBO's finding that more than half of all medical treatments have not been supported by evidence that they actually work; tried and true treatments which are less expensive have been set aside for questionable new toys. Furthermore, the Week notes that the cost of the "learning curve" to acquire proficiency in new technology has been prohibitive.
Health care reform means more than just enacting a public option, since it will be sooner rather than later that half of us will be on government-run Medicare. Reeling-in costs will require government "interference," because market-oriented "solutions" have proven to be disastrous for this country.
Just say No to flu shots
The caller is right about the flue vaccines. Its not a right wing scare. They are not tested enough, most contain mercury, and are not proven to work. The only thing proven is that they are dangerous. The drug companies would love to have manditory vaccinations, and seeing Obama's love of the drug companies, I wouldn't be surprised if he goes for it. Gary Null is on our side. He is one of the nations leading progressives, an an expert on health and nutrition. We should all go to his web site and sign the petition against manditory vaccines. This is no joke. Thank you
The H1N1 Swine Flu Pandemic: Manipulating the Data to Justify a Worldwide Public Health Emergency
By Michel Chossudovsky
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14901