Friday 03 April '09 show

• Article: Bailed-out bank groups consider buying toxic assets from rivals.
  "US banks that have received government aid, including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase, are considering buying toxic assets to be sold by rivals under the Treasury’s $1,000bn (£680bn) plan to revive the financial system.The plans proved controversial, with critics charging that the government’s public-private partnership - which provide generous loans to investors - are intended to help banks sell, rather than acquire, troubled securities and loans."
• "Brunch with Bernie" with Senator Bernie Sanders, Independent of Vermont. Last night at midnight, the budget, he was on the floor with the other senators for 14 hours working on amendments. Two week break now, town hall meetings back home. They won a good victory (59-39) on the amendment for transparency at the Fed but lost Bernie's amendment. Congress approved a large bailout for the financial institutions, and so did the Fed in loans. Bernanke would not tell Bernie where the money went, in hearings. Banks buying toxic assets. Some are fighting for investigations and accountability. Around ten Democrats voted with the Republicans to give more tax breaks to the very richest, on estate tax. Harry Reid gave a very strong speech on the estate tax. They introduced another amendment on high interest rates, and only got 32 votes. Usury in the Bible. There is a bill with 4 co-sponsors. The Obama administration is releasing, as part of the stimulus package, billions of dollars for education. He'll be going to a meeting on health care right after the show. It's not enough to say we want universal health care, we need to know the details, how much we'll be paying, deductibles, coverage, the roles of the insurance companies. The function of a health insurance company is not to provide health care but to make as much money as they can.Ed Schultz just got a show on MSNBC.

  Tim Geithner. Globalization and the outsourcing of jobs. Senator Grassley and Bernie passed legislation said that if financial institutions received TARP money, they would not be able to hire foreign workers after laying off American workers. They have been attacked, immigration lawyers have organized it.

  Ask your senator to fight to put a cap on interest rates. Value Added Tax. Thom says it is a tax on the increase in value of a product at every step of manufacturing, which the conservatives say will be passed on to consumers, but Thom says they will not, to be competitive, but will reduce corporate profits instead. Many of the corporations do not pay tax anyway, and it would be charged on imported goods too. As a result of the stimulus package people should start seeing more money in their pay checks. Truth commission. Precedents. Obama, solar power.

  You can look up which Democrats voted with the Republicans online. On the estate tax it was Baucus, Bayh, Cantwell, Landrieu, Lincoln, Murray, Nelson, Nelson, Pryor, Tester. Right wing blaming Frank and Dodd. Al Franken will be seated sooner or later. Will Obama have to raid the social security lock box? Social Security will be able to pay out every benefit for the next 32 years. End the cap. Will Geithner's plan help mortgage holders if there is a second round of resetting?

• Bumper Music: Working On A Dream, Bruce Springsteen (video).
• Bumper Music: Who Do You Think You Are? Brett Dennen.
• Bumper Music: Big Yellow Taxi, Counting Crows. (video).
• There's social networking on Thom's web site now.
• Article: US part-time workers under pressure.
• Article: One in 10 Americans gets help to buy food.
• This is not a recession, which began with Ronald Reagan (apart for the very rich) with wages stagnant, but the leading edge of a depression. The estate tax was to prevent landed gentry, dynasties.
• Bumper Music: Dizzy, Tommy Roe.
• Article: Marijuana helps in battle against cancer: study.
  "WASHINGTON (AFP) — The main chemical in marijuana appears to aid in the destruction of brain cancer cells, offering hope for future anti-cancer therapies, researchers in Spain wrote in a study released Thursday.The authors from the Complutense University in Madrid, working with scientists from other universities, found that the active component of marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), causes cancer cells to undergo a process called autophagy -- the breakdown that occurs when the cell essentially self-digests."
• Article: Rise and Fall of a Car Town. Flint, Mich.
• After rounds of layoffs, those who are left are working long hours off the clock because they are scared of losing their jobs.
• Bumper Music: Answer the phone, Sugar Ray (video).
• Bumper Music: You can leave your hat on, Randy Newman.
• Article: Prostitute breaks down door, demands sex .
• Article: Police called to N.B. coffee shop after naked man places drive-thru order.
• Enron. On what basis can we keep Skilling in jail? The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, mark to market accounting rules were loosened yesterday. Chris Dodd. There should be investigations.
• Last Sunday John Conyers, Paul Tonko and the Physicians for a National Health Care Program ad a town hall meeting in Albany, New York. The doctor speaking thought Bernie's health care reform bill was detrimental to what they were trying to do, slowing the progress towards a national health care program. He likened it to the women's suffrage movement which started out as state by state and took 70 years to get the vote for women. Harry Truman introduced single payer to Congress in 1947, so we have been working on it for 62 years. Progressive Caucus. Make health care a right, not a privilege, like education. Bernie's plan would look similar to education. Health care systems in other countries. Basic health care should not be for profit. John Edwards, give everyone the option of buying into Medicare - for profits would not be able to compete.
• Article: Progressive Caucus Speaks Up for Single-Payer, Claims Unnamed Majority Won't Back Bill Lacking Public Option.
  "Dear Madam Speaker and Majority Leader,Regarding the upcoming health care reform debate, we believe it is important for you to know that virtually the entire 77-Member Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) prefers a single-payer approach to healthcare reform. Therefore, it will come as no surprise as you work to craft comprehensive health care reform legislation, that we urge the inclusion of a public plan option, at a minimum, in the final legislation. We have polled CPC Members and a strong majority will not support legislation that does not include a public plan option that is supported on a level playing field with private health insurance plans.

  We look forward to working with you to ensure inclusion of a public plan option and the successful passage of healthcare legislation that will provide a choice of quality healthcare for all Americans."

• Bumper Music: Road To Nowhere, Talking Heads.
• Guest: advertiser segment: Carey Lish , Floor Trends NW.
  "Floor Trends NW has been servicing the entire Portland Metro Area area with distinction. We offer quality products and honest, dependable craftsmanship.You will always find Floor Trends NW prompt and courteous." Includes green products.
• Food stamps.
• People who own their own businesses that tanked are not included in the unemployment statistics, or get benefits. Bankruptcy act.
• Clip:
  "Roosevelt is dead, his policies may live on, but we're in the process of doing something about that as well." Rush Limbaugh.
• Clip:
  "We've got some difficult days ahead. (Amen) But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. (Yeah) [applause] And I don't mind. [applause continues] Like anybody, I would like to live a long life-longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. (Yeah) And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. (Go ahead) And I've looked over (Yes sir), and I've seen the Promised Land. (Go ahead) I may not get there with you. (Go ahead) But I want you to know tonight, (Yes) that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. [applause] (Go ahead. Go ahead) And so I'm happy tonight; I'm not worried about anything; I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. [applause] "
  Martin Luther King "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech, 3 April 1968. Video. He was assassinated the following day.
• Book: "Legacy of Secrecy: The Long Shadow of the JFK Assassination", Lamar Waldron with Thom Hartmann.
• Book: Ultimate Sacrifice, Lamar Waldron with Thom Hartmann.
• Guest: Lamar Waldron, author, with Thom, of "Ultimate Sacrifice: John and Robert Kennedy, the Plan for a Coup in Cuba, and the Murder of JFK" and "Legacy of Secrecy: The Long Shadow of the JFK Assassination". Racist hate speech. Threats against Obama. Parallels to the 1960s. Fringe white supremacists. Barry Goldwater. The mainstream conservatives created the climate that encouraged the fringe. The same language is being now. Phyllis Shaffley. Calling anything they hated communist - now being called socialist. Assassination threats against Obama not reported on the main stream press, and they are real. Michael Chertoff said the biggest threat is a lone nut, but Lamar said a small well-organized conspiracy. Three people who confessed to involvement in JFK's murder were, because of government secrecy, able to kill MLK. Joseph Milteer. James Earl Ray. J. Edgar Hoover.
• Clip:
  "It's a bloodthirsty religion that's practiced over there by a bunch of throwbacks, and we're to kill 'em." Michael Savage.
• Bumper Music: Stand By Me, John Lennon.
• Quote: "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." Benjamin Franklin.
• Bumper Music: Riding with the King, Eric Clapton & B.B. King.
• Music: Ghost Chickens in the Sky, Sean Morey.
• Article: 10 Weirdest Inauguration Day Blunders.
  "Don't feed the pigeons
  On the day of Richard Nixon's 1973 inauguration, Pennsylvania Avenue was dotted with sick and dead pigeons. At the president's request, the inauguration committee spent $13,000 to spread a chemical bird repellent on the tree branches along the parade route to deter the pigeons. According to the Washington Post, the chemicals in Roost-No-More were supposed to cause the birds' feet to itch so they wouldn't roost in the trees. Unfortunately, the birds ate the repellent, causing them to get sick and die along the parade route." He was on IE America. The show is in its 7th year. Put a station on a good signal, program it well, have a good programme director and a dedicated sales force.
• The show has picked up several affiliates recently. Thom wrote the article that became the business plan for Air America.
• Article: Talking Back To Talk Radio - Fairness, Democracy, and Profits... Thom Hartmann, December 03 2002.
• An email doing the rounds about the top ten poverty cities in America points out that none have had a Republican mayor in the recent past. How have the Republicans ever supported the working class? History of the Republican party.
• Bumper Music: What a Wonderful World, Louis Armstrong. Thanks.
• Ellen Ratner of Talk Radio News. The right is going to turn up in Iowa because it has become the third state to legalize gay marriage. The president hit it out of the park, town hall meeting at Strasbourg, said we have to be honest with ourselves, we have let our alliance drift, failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world, there are times when America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, Afghanistan. The French are not going to send more troops. Unemployment up. In 15 months 5.1 million jobs have been lost. Newt Gingrich talking about a third party, trying to lean on Republicans? Attention-seeking? We have to make Obama move in the right direction.
• Article: Barack Obama: 'arrogant US has been dismissive' to allies.