Show live from the TALKERS Convention. Thom and Stephanie are speaking tomorrow, Rush Limbaugh is getting the freedom of speech award.
"Brunch with Bernie" with Senator Bernie Sanders, Independent of Vermont. He helped break up the logjam, brought some leading single payer advocates to meet Max Baucus. Thom's conspiracy theory. There are two committees in senate, Baucus's Finance Committee looks at the financial aspects, Ted Kennedy's looks at policy and has been a bit slow because of Kennedy's illness, but now is on it. The public plan is not single payer, people need a choice including a public option similar to Medicare for all, if not single payer. If they offer the same benefits, the government scheme would win because of lower costs. Death by a thousand paper cuts? Terms like universal health care mean nothing, the devil is in the details, it has to be comprehensive, little or no copays. Wall Street, commission.
One caller was given 8 days notice by his employer that he would have no more health care. The president said he wanted something passed by July, but that is very fast. Cost of health care to companies. There has to be comprehensive, universal, affordable health care. Homeland Investment Act, multinationals could bring money back, were supposed to create jobs, but the money went to repurchasing stock and dividends. Cheney's ex company Halliburton went to Dubai. The issue will be in Senate. They won't raise cost of living for Medicare and Social Security for 2 years? How about the premium? The two years is a projection, not a fact. The way inflation is tabulated is unfair to older people, their purchasing needs focus on health care which is going up a lot faster. Inflation low. Congress should get involved. National health care. Workers comp has lots of lawyers.
Who owns the Senate and what can we do about it? We have made some progress, when he was in the House with DeFazio there was extreme right wing leadership in the House and Senate and President. We must have public funding of elections. A culture such that single payer is not on the table in spite of popular support. Medicare bill, donut hole, Medicare not being allowed to negotiate prescription prices, Bernie and others are looking into it. Lobbyists, insurance, drug companies, are politicians under too much pressure? $62m lobbying + contributions. Some of them are not indebted. Tell your members. What else can people do apart from call their representatives? There are strong grass roots movements. People getting triple pensions if they are in the army then the police then private security. Double dipping is a drop in ocean compared to what corporations do.
Article: How Tax Break for Overseas Profits Went Awry. Homeland Investment Act.
Bumper Music: Give a Little Bit, Supertramp.
Bumper Music: You Get What You Give, New Radicals.
Article: Inhofe Rips Obama As ‘Un-American,’ Suggests He’s On The Side Of Terrorists.
Article: Barrett: Why Don't MSNBCers Question "Morning Joe" About Abortion Doc Killings?.
Guest: Christy Harvey, Director of Strategic Communications at the Center for American Progress, MicCheckradio.org. She an Thom met in Alaska. According to the Census Bureau, Alaska is number one in the nation for public Internet access, lots of businesses offering free wi-fi. Senator Jim Inhofe off the deep end, not just on climate change, says Barack Obama is anti-American, because he said Iraq was a war of choice, saying "I just don't know what side that man is on". He should be censured, it is the sort of thing that leads to assassination. There is an understanding that you don't attack the president when he is outside of the country. It was not a major headline. Michael Steele, "God help you if you are a white male coming before her bench". Hal Turner, an ex radio host with ties to white supremacists and who was a regular on Hannity, was just arrested for trying to "incite violence" against two Connecticut lawmakers. Joe Scarborough was a new lawyer for Michael Griffin who killed an abortion doctor, and this triggered the first attack on Tiller. He got lots of PR from the case, got support for getting into Congress, yet has not been talking about the Tiller case. When the Sims video game the started in 2004 only heterosexuals could get married, with the new one Sim City allows legal gay marriage. Two gay penguins in a German zoo raising a chick. Movie "March of the Penguins", the Republicans said look how it takes males and females to raise chicks.
Article: This Saturday, Health Care Reform Starts in Your Town.
They are not going to let Conyers' HR 676, The United States National Health Insurance Act, or Bernie's bill out of committee, so nobody will get the chance to vote on single payer. At least Baucus is talking about reform, no Republicans are.
Obama's speech, moving towards clean energy, fossil fuel plants use a lot of water, only agriculture uses more. Solar panels use none. We need to cover buildings with solar panels. Thom said to do it like Germany, guarantee bank loans, and power companies must buy surplus electricity at a premium.
Thom was on Fox and Friends with Brian Jennings who says that Rush Limbaugh is the most important conservative voice since Reagan (video).
Health care. Drugs are cheaper in Canada because the government buys them in bulk, cheap. Congress have been in power since January and not undone the ban on negotiation. Bernie thinks they can sort it all at once, Thom is skeptical.
Book: "In the Jaws of the Dragon: America's Fate in the Coming Era of Chinese Hegemony", Eamonn Fingleton.
Tiananmen Square little reported. The Federalist Society is devoted to corporate personhood.
"I also support Congressional action that would allow the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate Medicare’s prescription drug prices. I introduced S. 273, which would authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate for lower Medicare prescription drug prices directly with prescription drug manufacturers. This could help Medicare beneficiaries dollars go further. I introduced a similar version of this bill in the 108th and the 109th Congresses, S. 2766 and S. 813, respectively."
Senator Arlen Specter.
Educating kids about politics.
Proposal to sit in front of the White House baking bread with solar ovens, petition, maybe Lafayette July 4. foodnotbombs.net new campaigns page. Food Not Bombs. Pelosi needs a 10 point program.
Bumper Music: You can leave your hat on, Randy Newman.
Article: Nev. brothel hopes male prostitutes boost business.
A caller said he would want separate showers for gay soldiers, but the other countries that have gays serving don't have separate but equal facilities.
Fairness doctrine. Commons. Joe Scarborough, Rush Limbaugh. Thom and Steph don't want metrics of the contents of shows, they want the Sherman Anti-Trust Act enforced. Ownership, local content. Free air time for candidate debates.
The last time the Democratic Party was in power, they introduced the assault weapons ban, went into wilderness. A caller predicted that if they roll over on health care, they will be out in the wilderness again. Tell your representatives, White House comment line.
Tiller case, christofascists.
A caller's mother was an activist, annoyed people, but she got a lot of people motivated, had letters from a lot of big politicians. What do we say about health care to politicians? Bernie is probably right that we won;t get single payer health care overnight. Thom:
I want to be able to buy into a public option where I am only paying to the single payer or the federal government; to Medicare or to a federal agency, that is administering, that is paying all my hospital bills and medical bills. And I don't want to have to buy any supplemental insurance from a for-profit insurance company at all.
The Internet is increasingly ineffective when contacting representatives in D.C. because it is so easy to create sock puppets for multiple emails. If an email has an impact of 1, a phone call = 500, a handwritten letter = 1,000, showing up at their local office = 10 - 20,000, showing up as a group = 100,000.
Bumper Music: Crazy, Gnarls Barkley.
Article: Woman allegedly places fake ads to boost salary.
Why don't we have the same coverage as our Congress people?
Alex Jones, "The Obama Deception". He and Thom did a simulcast hour. Some things were right in the book, Obama took a lot of money, but it is true of the entire system, virtually all of them. A few like Ron Paul or Dennis Kucinich who are so beloved that they don't have to raise $6 million per senator every 6 years or $1-2 million per Congressman every 2 years. That's what most of them have to do. He disagrees with Alex Jones' conclusions.
Bumper Music: It's Five O'Clock Somewhere, Alan Jackson (video).
Article: Ney challenges Gonzales: ‘Let’s see what you think of waterboarding — after you’ve tried it!’.
Book: "The Edison Gene", by Thom Hartmann.
Book: "ADD: A Different Perception", Thom Hartmann.
Excerpt: Hunters in Our Schools and Offices: The Origin of ADHD.
Excerpt: Normal People: The Origins of Agriculture.
Excerpt: Thom Hartmann’s Hunter and Farmer Approach to ADD/ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder: A Different Perception).
ADD. Thom has written 7 books. Thom and Louise started Salem Childrens' Village and the Hunter School in New Hampshire. Thom's son has Attention deficit Disorder (ADD). Thom probably qualifies for a diagnosis. A lot of adults only realize they have it when their kid gets diagnosed. ADD is characterized by distractibility, impulsivity, need for high stimulation. An inability to sit still, hyperactivity, makes it ADHD, though that may be due to other causes. The ADD part has a strong genetic component. "The Edison Gene" describes the research on dopamine transporter and dopamine receptor genes, alleles. Low levels of dopamine means high levels of ADHD.
"ADD: A Different Perception" describes Thom's hunter/farmer hypothesis (see excepts) that ADHD is an adaptive survival mechanism, with people with ADHD being hunters, and "normal" people being farmers. Behavior precedes decision. There are still hunter jobs for adults, such as private detective, talk show host, investigative news reporter, pilots, military guys on point, freelance writers, sales. If they are in suitable jobs they excel, in unsuitable jobs they crash and burn. Peoples' self esteem is badly battered. The problem for kids is that schools are not et up for hunters. There are 3 options: (1) medicate, (2) fins a private school that is ADD friendly, (3) home school. If they are in an ordinary school, get help, force schools to help because it is the law. Tell your kid he is not broken.
Bumper Music: What a Wonderful World, Louis Armstrong. Thanks.
Denise called Baucus's office, was told that he can do nothing, it is the capitol police. Thom thinks he can drop charges, will check with people who would know.
We gave a lot of money to Chase, they bought Washington Mutual, and are not paying the contractors who did the changeover.
Ben from Aloha, who promotes a regular peace vigil, called. Oil companies and speculators are preparing to rape the economy again. We need e-transport.
Victoria suggested the analogy that you trim the top of a plant, not the roots, or you stunt its growth.
Monday's show will be from San Francisco, Green 960 AM. Tuesday he will be home.
