• Economy rant.
• Are Americans too lazy?
• Sen. Chris Dodd filibustering on FISA today.
• Yesterday was the 234th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party.
• Guest: Jay Inslee, co-author, "Apollo's Fire: Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy".
• Guest: Stewart Acuff, AFLCIO.

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

Monday 17 December '07 National show

• Thom went to Michigan to visit family over the weekend. He saw how house prices had dropped 30% in the past year. If many people get their house reassessed for tax, how will the state manage? It's due to deregulation. Reagan. Foreclosures. Who are they going to blame? The reason people are working fewer hours (per job) is because employers have cut their hours so they are no longer full time, and so people are working more than one job. Economy rant.
• Clip:
  "I've always felt the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help'." Ronald W. Reagan, Press conference, August 12, 1986.
• Article: Are Americans too lazy? "U.S. workers can't compete globally unless they work harder, writes Fortune's Geoff Colvin."
• Article: Santa's China sweatshop.
• Bumper Music: Piece of the Forest, Billionaires for Bush.
• Bumper Music: Crazy, Gnarls Barkley.
• Article: Hillary Accuses Obama of Bed-wetting.
• Ross Perot was right. Protecting farmers. Changing weather patterns.
• Article: Import tariffs slashed as food inflation bites.
• Article: Report Says That the Rich Are Getting Richer Faster, Much Faster.
• Article: Historical Effective Federal Tax Rates: 1979 to 2005.
• Bumper Music: Santa Claus is Coming by Ground, The Capitol Steps.
• Site: Not Made in China toys.
• Article: Sen. Chris Dodd’s First Speech On FISA Today. He was filibustering his own party, and the main stream media was not reporting it:
  

  So here we are—facing a final decision on whether the telecommunications companies will get off the hook for good. The president's allies are as intent as they ever were on making that happen. They want immunity back in this bill at all costs.

  But what they're truly offering is secrecy in place of openness. Fiat in place of law.

  And in place of the forthright argument and judicial deliberation that ought to be this country's pride, two simple words from our president's mouth: "Trust me."

• Thom is becoming so disappointed with Harry Reid. Somebody needs to take him on for the leadership.
• Article: "Summary view of the rights of British Americans" by Thomas Jefferson, 1774.
• Yesterday was the 234th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. Thom riffed on the subject, including some of the quotes that he used in his article America’s First Anti-Globalization Protest.
• Bumper Music: Can't Afford To Drive My Car, Bob Rivers.
• Amendment IV
  The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. Espionage Act.
  Constitution of the United States
• Bumper Music: Power Play, Steppenwolf.
• Book: Three Billion New Capitalists: The Great Shift of Wealth and Power to the East, Clyde Prestowitz.
• Persuade your paper to include David Sirota's column.
• Bumper Music: Twelve Days of Bushmas, The, Dave Lippman.
• Ellen Ratner of Talk Radio News. It is hard to believe that the President is winning on FISA. There were 2 versions of the bill. Senate bill 2248. How to we replace Harry Reid? He's very popular, but caving. The Democrats are not communicating. Republican Pete Hoekstra and Democrat Jane Harman, the ranking member and chair on the House Intelligence Committee, are to continue looking into the destruction of the CIA tapes even though the Department of Justice says they are investigating. There is likely to be a pro forma session over Christmas so that Bush cannot do recess appointments. Rove's book proposal may be up for bids this week.

  Cholene Espinoza of Talk Radio News was on "60 minutes" on Sunday. Thom said she was brilliant: "She spoke in sound bites and they were tight and pithy and right to the point, all about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and the destruction that it does. And she had incredible credibility. I mean, they introduced her as an Air Force pilot; somebody who had the experience and now a commercial pilot. And she said, you know, 'you spent 2 million dollars training me to be a pilot. You want to throw that away?' I mean it was brilliant. It was brilliant". (transcript).

• So what is our energy future? We are using ancient sunlight.
• Guest: Jay Inslee, co-author, "Apollo's Fire: Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy". The book is optimistic. The Energy Bill. Bali. New American renewable energy technologies. Jimmy Carter's energy policy. Transcript.
• Bumper Music: Mr. President (Have Pity on the Working Man), Randy Newman (Forrest Gump).
• Clip:
  Bush: "Yes, but nevertheless, there's a certain comfort to know that the promises made will be kept by the government."

  Ms. Mornin: "Yes."

  Bush: "And so thank you for asking that. You don't have to worry."

  Ms. Mornin: "That's good, because I work three jobs and I feel like I contribute."

  Bush: "You work three jobs?"

  Ms. Mornin: "Three jobs, yes."

  Bush: "Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that. Get any sleep?"
  President Discusses Strengthening Social Security in Nebraska, February 4, 2005.

• Guest: Stewart Acuff, AFLCIO. Their congress in DC. Decline of union density and collectives worldwide, led by the USA. Sarkozy is the Maggie Thatcher of France, but the Australians voted out their conservative. Harry Reid. Employee Free Choice Act.
• Bumper Music: Not A Moment Too Soon, Tim McGraw.
• Republican Senator Kit Bond responding to the filibuster. FiredogLake blogging. Obama is opposed.
• Book: "Greenspan's Fraud: How Two Decades of His Policies Have Undermined the Global Economy", Ravi Batra.
• Ralph Nader and the 2000 election.
• John Cornyn speaking during the filibuster.
• Bumper Music: The Holidays Are Here (and We’re Still at War), Brett Dennen.
• Quote: "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs."" Thomas Jefferson.