• Guest: Richard E. Ralston, Americans for Free Choice in Medicine. Is mandatory health insurance a crime?
• Guest: Congressman Chris Van Hollen. SCHIP.
• Al Gore on the melting Arctic, the USA's obstructionism.
• Guest: Berkeley Lewis,, Addiction Recovery Professionals Inc.
• Guest: Scott Horton, Harper's magazine. The Don Siegelman case.
• Guest: Jane Hamshire, FireDogLake.
• Guest: Christy Harvey, Director of Strategic Communications, Center for American Progress.

Topics, guests, upcoming events, quotes, links to articles, audio clips, books & bumper music.

Thursday 13 December '07 National show

• Republicans Senators Specter and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and 10 Democrats voted in committee to cite Rove and Bolten for contempt.
• Guest: Richard E. Ralston, Americans for Free Choice in Medicine. Is mandatory health insurance a crime? Mandating something that people cannot afford doesn't work. Comparison with mandatory car insurance. Obama wants mandatory health insurance for kids. Medicare. SCHIP. He gets no funding from insurance or health care. He disagrees that the government is us - says public health unions would get the profits. Larisa Alexandrova's research.
• Bumper Music: Dreams, Stevie Nicks, Fleetwood Mac.
• Insurance rant.
• Bumper Music: Thank You, John Mellencamp.
• Thom's flying to Minnesota after the show.
• Upcoming Event: Dec 14, Minneapolis MN. University of Minnesota Bookstore 7p - at Coffman Memorial Union. Show live from AM950.
• Cracking the Code is number one in Amazon's elections and civics bestselling lists. Screwed is number 2 in civics. Several of Thom's other books are still in the top 5 of their categories.
• "Dear fellow conservative. The Washington Hollywood Left is out of control. Their agenda threatens to damage our freedom, security, principles and values", emailed the Heritage Foundation, asking for a tax deductible gift. "Learn more and help fight back at stopliberalsnow.com. In recent weeks the left, including judges, legislators, celebrities and others have stepped up its actions to lose the war in Iraq by cutting funding for our troops and demanding an immediate withdrawal, hurt our ability to win the war on radical Islamic terrorism, stop our nation from protecting its borders and curbing illegal immigration, teach inappropriate defensive sex education to kids even in lower elementary school. And that's just the beginning! As conservatives, you and I must take a stand against this. The liberals are out of control and we must firmly respond by giving our elected leaders, the American people, the best research..."
• Bumper Music: Tap Three Times, Capitol Steps. (video)
• Question for Republican candidates: "which way would you prefer to croak - starvation or drowning?"
• Article: Suspected Army suicides set mark.
• Guest: Congressman Chris Van Hollen, Maryland 8th district. The SCHIP veto. There will be a problem overriding it in Senate, they need 16 more Republicans. Call Congress (callcongress.org) Over 90% of those covered will be under 18 from families earning 100-200% poverty income. We paid for this, but Bush is asking for more for war. Why not choose a better name for SCHIP? January 23 date of veto override.
• Bumper Music: I can See for Miles, The Who.
• Clip:
  "Just this week, new evidence has been presented. I remember years ago, listening to the scientists who specialize in the study of ice and snow, express concern sometime toward the end of the 21st century, we might even face the possibility of losing the entire North polar ice cap. I remember only three years ago, when they revised their estimates to say it could happen halfway through the century, by 2050. I remember at the beginning of this year, when I was shocked, along with others, to hear them say it could happen in as little as 34 years. And now, this week, they tell us it could completely disappear in as little as 5-7 years.

  One of the victims of the horrors of the Third Reich in Europe during World War II, wrote a famous passage about the beginnings of the killings and he said, “First they came for the Jews, and I was not a Jew, so I said nothing. Then they came for the gypsies, and I was not a gypsy, and I said nothing.” And he listed several other groups, and with each one, he said nothing. And then he said, “And then they came for me.”

  For those who have believed this climate crisis was going to affect their grandchildren, and still said nothing, and who were shaken a bit to admit that it would affect their children, still did and said nothing. It is affecting us, in the present generation...

  My own country the United States is principally responsible for obstructing progress in Bali.

  "
  Gore draws ‘rapturous’ ‘ovation’ at U.N. climate meeting.
• Article: New Evidence That Hayden Lied: Former Prisoner Claims His Torture Was Taped In 2003.
• Article: Steep heating costs hit neediest.
• Article: Bankers Face Grim Truth: Worst Is Yet to Come.
• Bumper Music: Talk, Coldplay.
• Article: Democrats Blaming Each Other For Failures.
• Guest: Berkeley Lewis,, Addiction Recovery Professionals Inc. Local sponsor in Minneapolis.
• Article: The Theft of Your Vote Is Just a Chip Away, Thom Hartmann, July 30, 2003.
• Article: Media Alert. Harper’s legal affairs contributor Scott Horton will be on MSNBC’s “Live with Dan Abrams” today as well as on Thom's show to discuss the politically motivated prosecution and conviction of former Alabama Governor Don E. Siegelman.
• Guest: Scott Horton, who has been following the Don Siegelman case for Harper's magazine.
• Bumper Music: I'm free, Rolling Stones (video).
• Guest: Jane Hamshire, FireDogLake. Obama, drugs. Hillary Clinton appeared with Lieberman. Edwards. A fight between the House and the Senate over appropriations. Obey wants the pork out, Harry Reid wants it in. Immunity battle tomorrow or Monday in the Senate. Writer's Guild of America strike.
• Pop quiz - how many times did the candidates mention George Bush during yesterday's Republican "debate"?
• Bumper Music: That's What I Like About You, the Kinks.
• Guest: Christy Harvey, Director of Strategic Communications at the Center for American Progress, MicCheckradio.org. The Pentagon has been throwing away nearly half a million pieces of Christmas mail a year that is addressed, for example, "to a wounded soldier". This only came to light last week. They say it is too risky, because people could write about how they do not support the war, or could send anthrax, or it is too expensive or too much trouble. These are people we send to war, and the conservatives don't believe in a nanny state! Energy bill. It's depressing, the Washington Post reported yesterday that the Republicans intend to block everything; they even started to block one they liked. We need to call the Democrats and say we have their backs. Gonzales is on the cover of the American Bar Association's magazine as lawyer of year, much as Hitler was on the cover of Time, i.e. not because he was good but because he had the highest profile. California on emissions; a federal judge upheld a California law yesterday letting them regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks.
• Bumper Music: With God on Our Side, Us the Band.
• Article: A Wal-Mart Christmas Brought to you from a Sweatshop in China.
• Ellen Ratner of Talk Radio News. They voted 12-7 in committee for contempt for Bolten and Rove, including Republicans Specter and Grassley. Specter said, "I vote for the contempt citations knowing that it's highly likely to be a meaningless act. In this context we have no alternative".Even if they get full vote, the Bush Administration would fight it in court, and then they would be out of office. Dan Siegelman. Tomorrow 60 minutes will be focusing on Don't Ask, Don't Tell and Cholene Espinoza of Talk Radio News will be on. SCHIP; Pelosi today said they will do a short term extension, and try to override on Jan 23 - so call Congress, particularly Republicans; the numbers are at callcongress.org. Sen. Byron Dorgan, study from the National Labor Committee showing that most of Wal-Mart's Christmas decorations are made in sweatshops in China employing kids. The NOAA said that 2007 will likely be one of the top ten warmest years since records began in 1895. Al Gore speaking about the Arctic. Fuel efficiency, population.
• Pop quiz answer: none.