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.
I've always thought that we elect politicians to make our country and our lives better. Since the time of Reagan and Thatcher, this is no longer true. We no longer have a choice from either major party of politicians whose intentions are to govern for the country or its people. Now we only have a choice between Tweedle-Corporates, or Tweedle-Oligarchs. None of the politicians serve other than their sponsors or themselves. The process that was started by Reagan and Thatcher has been turbo-supercharged by the partisan supreme court via the ironically named "Citizens United" case. A case that had absolutely NOTHING to do with citizens and everything to do with entrenching corporate rule in our country. A pox on SCOTUS and all of our grasping politicians.
We want our Democracy back.
I'm a Viet Nam Vet that has watched the slow ruin of this country that has been accomplished on purpose. I've watched the dumbing of education that at current levels renders civil idiots as HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES that have no idea of history or evan the form of our Government never mind voting. All our Federal Law enforcers have been captured by industries that operate with open impunity or responsibility for their frauds. So now our Politicians want to turn this country into Mexico and our infrastructure is starting to look like it!
Well track failure cannot be a reason. Those tracks were in perfect condition the last time they were inspected, in 1953.
Roland
Chuckles,
You are a funny guy....I have no idea how you would interpret the data to make the assumption you make. Are you smoking the hemp instead of generating electricity with It? By the way, you never gave me the name of one nation, who use hemp as their source of electricity generating energy. Surely, if hemp is such a great source of renewable energy, someone MUST use it.
Thom, I just read that Congress has cut 250 million dollars from Amtraks budget; Amtraks problems are going to skyrocket, given the lawsuits they're about to be hit with. It suks to be a railroad these days.
An example of crumbling infrastructure can be found right here in Indiana. The section of I-65 between Lafayette and Lebanon, particularly the southbound lanes, are so torn up there have been several accidents in the past year as a result of people losing control of their vehicles on rough pavement; I personally nearly flipped my pick-up truck about a year ago and I wasn't even driving upto the speed limit. The big trucks are warned to stay out of the right hand lane, or slow down, when going under bridges or risk their trailers bouncing high enough to hit the overpasses (which has also happened). And now the state is going to three-lane that section in both directions, but not by rebuilding and adding on to the existing lanes, but rather by adding one lane in each direction to the existing pavement. And their doing this to save money.
I personally no longer use that section of I-65; I use US52, as do many truckers who know about the problems with I-65. Its safer, and, amazingly, its faster.
Today vote showed that not going to happen!
Ou812 -- The AGEB reference Mr Wilson provides only goes to the year 2013. I assume for 2014 he uses BP numbers.
I thought after the Fukushima disaster Germany shut down all the nuclear power plants.
I am finished analyzing that pie chart from the nuclear industry and still no check from Mr. Steyer.
I thought I heard on the radio that the train was traveling over 100 mph in a 50 or 55 mph zone on that area of track. The engineer came out of some meeting with an attourney and made no comment. Going too fast on out dated tracks, thanks Reagan.
I wish the Republicans and other conservatives would realize that the economy is like a building, with the rich people at the top, and the poor people at the bottom...the foundation.
And if you destroy, or even just damage, the foundation, the building falls down...all of it.
Destroying poor people will cause the collapse of the economy, and with it, eventually, the rich people at the top. Why can't they see this? They're hurting themselves.
Only We the People were killed or injured - so no changes. Now IF someone from Congress had actually been injured....different story.
I don't think our lawmakers are going to come to realize anything other than their bank statements. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the difference between a good investment and a free giveaway to wealthy campaign donors. The only way our lawmakers are ever going to start thinking clearly again is when we remove all the bribery going on in Washington with Campaign Finance Reform; and, a Constitutional Amendment striking down Citizen's United. Our railway, highway, and bridges could all collapse and crumble into dust tomorrow; and, unless it does so when a Congressman is riding across it, they will never so much as bat an eye or give it a second thought.
At least Hillary admitted voting for the Iraq war was a mistake.
All the comments here, I think are right on. My only complaint is no one is pointing the absurdity of the right wing defense of these policies.
I am guessing that one of their defenses would be we cannot afford helping the poor. I think too many people on the left respond by saying we are giving too big of tax breaks to the rich (I agree). I implore everyone not to use that line of reasoning. We should help the poor now, and not wait for some future congress to increase taxes on the rich. The left also brags about how Obama is cutting the deficit. My question is how is cutting the deficit any different than using austerity measures. You know, austerity measures, that are being used throughout the world and that never work. Why do we on the left brag about Obama cutting the deficit?
I always say, increase the deficit to lower the debt. The way this works is invest government expenditures go towards investing in education, infrastructure etc. Do not wait to make these investments until we raise taxes on the rich. These government investments will create an economic machine that will devour the debt.
The federal government owns so much of Nevada because it owned that land (in consequence of the Mexican cession of 1848) before NV was made a state and so little of the land has been sold since, mainly because so little of it is livable. Additionally, the pastures like that used by Cliven Bundy are shared areas, so privatizing them is not workable.
It drives me nuts when a Republican says the reason someone got into college was Affirmative Action. AA just gives a bonus in a rating system. At worst, a prospective student has to be close to qualifying without it.
It's a common human failing to think qualitatively rather than quantitatively. We all need to guard against that instinct. In this case, Ann Coulter believes that everyone that benefits from AA to get into college is nowhere near qualifying without it (you're either good enough or not good enough--period--in her mind).
stecoop01, I don't think they consciously want to kill off poor people; they need the oversupply of labor to keep it cheap. Their selfishness pushes them to disregard the health and safety of the labor they rely on, but they're too simple-minded to realize the detriment to the quality of labor that causes.
Right-wingers typically think in simple, black-and-white terms. They can't understand the law of unintended consequences. Compare abstinence-only sex education, which leads to teen pregnancy and chlamydia outbreaks, and anti-birth control laws, which increase abortions.
The name "Wisconsin" comes to mind to me relative to the way that Workfare program was implement in Israel. it was a utter failure, and cost lives and the health of many people in that program. People were "taught" employability skills, as well as other stuff in a class room setting, as well as others sent off to contract labor that payed just under minimum at sweatshop conditions. In my town, and some others people with serious medical issues where it specified limitatons on what they could and could not do were ignored and ... In addition there were cases where people in the program were abused by the staff. Eventually, "Wisconsin", as it was called was dropped, and the company that was hired on to put it in place was set off to where it belonged.
Luckily, Israel is a democracy, and sometimes it acually listens to the what the citizens say about what it does, sometimes.
It has been 26 years since the Exxon-Valdez hit a reef and sent 10.6 million barrels of oil into Prince William Sound and on into the Gulf of Alaska yet remnants of oil still persists and wildlife still has not returned. For some species, it will never return. In that spill, a 500-million birds were killed in the spill, including more than 150 bald eagles and as many as 4,500 sea otters died.
A study done in 2007 shows oil persists 4 to 10 inches below the sands around Prince William Sound. Populations of mollusks still have not returned. It is estimated it will take decades before all the oil will have dissipated from the Exxon-Valdez spill.
Prince William Sound is a lot warmer than the Chukchi and Beaufort seas in the Arctic. A spill in those waters would be devastating. Not only that, but the Shell drill site where Kulluk was drilling, is offshore of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge which is the breeding ground for 132 species of the World's birds. Polar bears, seals, and sea lions swim these waters as do migrating whales.
Yes, an oil spill in the frigid Arctic waters where weather is unpredictable would be a catastrophe of enormous proportions. The entire Arctic Ocean should have had the same protection provided to Antarctica....a preserve where cold water wildlife would be forever protected.
Provide corporate welfare and tax breaks for the rich and you stimulate offshore bank accounts. Provide things like food stamps, a living wage, and affordable education, and you stimulate the entire economy, lift all boats, and make for a safe and happy society....kind of like the society citizens who are lucky enough to reside in countries that practice various degrees of democratic socialism experience.
Put money in the pockets of those who will spend it, not those who lie about creating jobs with it. Demand for a product, along with the money to buy that product, creates jobs...as opposed to give the rich guy another tax break and watch him hire. Watch him stash money and ship jobs overseas.
Destroy the middleclass with free trade and a 40 year wage freeze and expect the new concentration/redistribution of wealth will grow the economy and benefit all......only in a madman's world!
Barking mad!
USA is barking mad!
This is enough to make me lose my lunch.
IN FACT! There is no technology in existance that can plug an oil well 100% effective ! They will ALL LEAK!!! So it is insane at the beginning!
Is it not yet obvious? Republicans want to KILL OFF poor people. I thought they made that pretty clear at the teabagger debates. They're only a few steps from sending out death squads. (Hmmm, maybe they already are).
Deny the poor spaghetti sauce? Do they dare wish to incur the wrath of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and his delicious tentacles of torturous torment? Any politician who wants to have any say in how a welfare recipient spends their stipend should first be required to live a year on welfare--and nothing else. Let's just see how much shrimp, crab, and lobster that buys them.
Seriously though, I've never seen such a disgusting bunch of corrupt, soulless, callous, and ineffective lawmakers in all my life. Corporate welfare robs everyone, at the benefit of the rich. Common welfare picks up the slack caused by poor corporate and public management of our economy. Do any of these charlatans realize that by simply raising the minimum wage it would be possible to bump millions of people off both welfare and medicaid without causing any human hardship? Do they even care? I think not!
The only real solution to our welfare state is to end free trade by heavily taxing imports and FORCING "the job makers" to actually MAKE SOME JOBS WHERE THEY ARE NEEDED--IN THE USA. We've tried handing over our hard earned tax dollars in the form of tax breaks and subsidies now for over 30 years and all we've gotten in return is blamed for being poor. Until We the People stand up and start demanding and insisting on the real solution to our problems, our problems will continue to be mocked, circumnavigated, exploited, and multiplied by the wealthy few; who, in turn, trickle down nothing more for the masses than false accusations for the hardships that their greedy political policies have inflicted upon this once great nation.
Thom: This is truly depressing. What's wrong with these people? It seems ideology has made them lose sight of right and wrong. It sure sounds like they're on the road to Nazism, if not already there.