June 24 2009 show notes

SueN's picture
Jun. 26, 2009 2:52 am
By SueN
  • Thom is in Los Angeles. Thanks to the people KTLK AM1150
  • Quote: "If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy". -- James Madison.
  • Health care. Obama yesterday was wishy washy, some saying he said would sign a bill without a public option.
  • Guest: Jay Richards, Ph.D.. Senior fellow at the Discovery Institute and author the "The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos Is Designed for Discovery". Topic: Why healthcare should work like the rest of the free market. The Discovery Institute. Intelligent design research. He's Libertarian. His book: "Money, Greed and God". The pitch that we should allow the so-called free market to deal with all things heath care. Wrong diagnosis of problem, solution of greater centralization would cause more problems. Free market definition, no coercion. Both perceive themselves as coming off well. Health care free market impossible. Supply is regulated, for example the AMA limiting the supply of doctors, and on the buyer's side no free market, sickness is coercion. He said need is not the same as coercion. He wants competition between providers. Examples of food, water. The commons. Food is something people can produce for themselves.
  • Bumper Music: Doctor, my eyes!, Jackson Brown (video).
  • Bumper Music: The Mail Must Go Through, Larry Groce & The Disneyland Children's Sing Along Chorus (clip).
  • Over at thomhartmann.com we have a free live video stream, a free live audio stream, message boards, our blog for the day, all kinds of cool stuff, all free.
  • Apparently Bingaman is saying he supports a public option.
  • A recent email from Maria Cantwell said she supported a public option.
  • Article: Emanuel: Obama 'Open To Alternatives' To Public Option, Brian Beutler.
    "After being pressed twice yesterday (once by USA Today's David Jackson, then again by ABC's Jake Tapper) at yesterday's press conference, President Obama declined to insist upon a public option. "[W]e are still early in this process," Obama said, "so we have not drawn lines in the sand other than that reform has to control costs and that it has to provide relief to people who don't have health insurance or are underinsured."...

    White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel met last night at the U.S. Capitol with Senate Democrats and told them Obama is "open to alternatives" to a new government insurance program in order to get legislation overhauling the health-care system to his desk, said Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota.

    "His message was, it's critical that you do this," Conrad said.

    Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana said Emanuel urged the senators to seek Republican support and didn't discourage them from pursuing the use of non-profit cooperatives, an idea Conrad has proposed.

    "
  • The "exchange" and co-operative suggestions blow a hole in the public option. It is weasel talk and it is wrong. Who do you want between you and your doctor, a bureaucrat working for a representative you can kick out or somebody like dollar bill McGuire? Picketing tomorrow. Representatives can't have you arrested for trespass and harassment. Call the White House comment line. Call Congress
  • Bumper Music: You can leave your hat on, Randy Newman.
  • Article: Canadian police search for naked french fry thief.
  • Article: Woman pleads no contest in chips-for-sex case.
  • A quote from I.P.: "Free markets exist only in textbooks. A free market has never been spotted in the wild."
  • 8 Democrats are not supporting a public option. United Steelworkers invited Arlen Specter to speak, the rank and file got him disinvited. Joe Sestek, who was on the show saying he would run against Specter, was introduced as our next senator and got a standing ovation.
  • Obama told the story of his mother's struggle with insurance companies. The same options for cable, but they collude.
  • Health care providers vs. payers. It would not centralize more, just provide another option. The public option means public choice - Thom got that in an email. Post stuff on thomhartmann.com rather than email.
  • The difference between food and healthcare - you know how much food you are going to eat, and can go for cheaper options.
  • Health sciences should be taught in school, so people can make healthy choices. Food Inc.
  • Article: Silvio Berlusconi: I have never paid a woman for sex. Italian PM says he cannot understand missing out on the 'conquest' element of seduction, in interview with magazine.
  • A caller said that Maria Cantwell is not for public option, but for the co-operative option which she says is public option.
  • A conservative called and said America's health care is the best in the world. Thom described other countries.
  • Guest: John Wasik. Financial columnist for Bloomberg News, author of several books including "The Merchant of Power: Samuel Insull, Thomas Edison and the Creation of the Modern Metropolis". Topic: his new book, "The Cul-de-Sac Syndrome: Turning Around the Unsustainable American Dream". His blog, "The Daily Wombat". How do we do transition to a car free society? Jefferson. America is more than 50% in urban. Urbanization changed politics, how we think. The example of Freiburg, Germany, part of it is now car-free. Williamsberg (Jefferson) is walkable, anything before 1900. New urbanism, traditional neighborhood design. Portland, Oregon has done a lot. Portland Metro Council President David Bragdon was in Anchorage when Thom was, they had dinner together and walked around, urban sprawl, little planning because of the frontier Libertarian attitude. Energy prices will be a huge driver. There's a transportation/highway bill coming up, tell them we do not want it to be highway, but to do do public transportation, light rail, alternative fuel buses. Sprawl is so overwhelming because of government subsidized highways. There's a window with the housing crisis, let's reinvent.
  • Bumper Music: Crazy, Gnarls Barkley.
  • Article: Man Caught Driving Drunk On Highway...In A Golfcart.
  • Why do we need big car in the city? Use a golf cart there plus trains. Electric cars are so important, over 95% of transport in the US is fueled by oil, it makes the US vulnerable to the Middle East etc. We could shift heating, industry, etc. to other technologies, it is transportation that fuels the oil addiction. Switch to home-produced hydrogen to fuel electric cars.
  • Article: In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars By Elisabeth Rosenthal. Vauban, Freiburg.
  • We can save the economy, we can save the planet, we can save the environment, we can reduce our expenses, we can live lighter on the Earth by doing what people in developed countries all over the world have been doing for a long, long time anyway, and that is basically re-urbanizing and doing so in a way that doesn't require cars, or at least doesn't require cars as we know them now. If we want to have transportation vehicles, the next generation of plug in hybrids which are on the drawing board is you plug the thing in and you charge it up and you can go 30, 40 miles on a charge and you never use any gasoline unless you're going to drive more than 30 or 40 miles.
  • Bumper Music: Drive My Car, Beatles (video).
  • Higgins Alert: Cat dropped in mailbox adopted _ by postal worker.
  • There's a hole in the Republican argument about a public option, they should be for more choices.
  • Millions worked for Hillary because she had the best plans, it would have competed and won. Rant. You can't just create a competing company, you need at least half a million subscribers to weather someone getting a major disease.
  • Many companies are self-insured, the insurance companies just do the administration. Why don't Democrats understand? They do, they are bought and paid for. Get rid of employer-based health insurance, they keep you as slaves to your employer. By the age of 40 most people have pre-existing conditions, they are rejected for the slightest reason. Get rid of this criminal practice. Rant. There would be a wave of entrepreneurial activity, reinventing suburbs. Hal and Shelly Cohen, who founded Orr Shalom, their son graduated, started a company in Vermont weatherizing houses and upgrading them, Thom is doing ads for him. He is doing well, hiring, building business.
  • Conservative alert: Mark Sanford in 10 minutes is meeting with the press to tell them why he packed his car for the trail, did not tell his family or state he would be away for a week including father's day, then caught a plane to Buenos Aires. Is he a secret spy for Chavez? Or asking Chavez for cheap oil for his state? There will be a girlfriend involved.
  • If the House passes single payer or the public option, but the Senate does not have the votes for them because of the blue dog Democrats and passes a version with little or no public option, and it comes out of conference and goes back to Senate with a good option, how many votes will be needed? Ask Bernie. Call Nancy Pelosi and thank her.
  • Quote: "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." Benjamin Franklin.
  • Quote: "When Rhode Island's Stephen Hopkins signed the document [Declaration of Independence], he remarked to his friend William Ellery that 'My hand trembles, but my heart does not'. But Virginia's Benjamin Harrison, who weighed nearly 300 pounds, commented to Massachusetts's Elbridge Gerry, a short, thin man, 'With me it [the hanging] will be all over a minute, but you will be dancing on air an hour after I am gone'." What Would Jefferson Do? page 53.
  • Everything you know is wrong segment: Guest: "Everything You Know is Wrong": Ken Davis, "Don't Know Much About" series, "America's Hidden History: Untold Tales of the First Pilgrims, Fighting Women, and Forgotten Founders Who Shaped a Nation". 4th July. Thom has been reading a history of the federalist papers. A lot of people are confused about the constitution and the declaration, and founders and framers. Most did not sign that day, only Hancock. They waited to prepare for the reaction. There will be one of two copies of the draft at New York public library from this weekend. The slavery paragraph that was taken out of it. Slavery. Only John Adams never had any slaves or connections to slavery. They signed their own death warrants. The last paragraph pledge was not to be taken lightly. The constitution meeting was overthrowing the existing government, people were against doing that. There were three leaders of the US, many presidents (of congress) before Washington. The articles of confederation. They were not supposed to write a new constitution, just fix the old. They wrote the federalist papers to sell it, close the deal.
  • Bumper Music: United We Stand, Brotherhood of Man (video).
  • Upcoming Event: June 28 11:00AM - 1:00PM, Reno, NV – Washoe County Democratic Party Brunch – Reno Ballroom, 50 East 4th St., Reno, NV 89501. "The Washoe County Democratic Party are featuring a lively forum including presumptive gubernatorial candidates Clark County Commissioner Rory Reid and Nevada State Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley as well as Thom Hartmann, "the nation's number one progressive talk show host." Emcee: Reno City Councilwoman Jessica Sferrazza." Tickets are $50, Table for Ten $500, Tickets are available online at washoedems.org, or call 775-323-8683.
  • Guest: Larry Scott, founder and Editor of VA Watch Dog. "The American Veteran's On-Line News Magazine". Veterans' issues. Condolences. His wife Marie was a real inspiration for him, the site, and is missed. Problems at the VA could be used as adverts against government run or associated health care systems. Some are using them already. What are the problems, what can we do, why not do away with the VA and give them public health insurance? The VA, veterans of war have the trauma of war, have special needs - a high rate of the habits of smoking, drinking, etc. Hi rates of diabetes 2 and cancers because of agent orange. The problem is underfunding, understaffing, poor or no care. Bush was cheap, but the VA was never adequately funded. The problem with contaminated equipment. These problems can be addressed with proper funding, staffing, training. It is not unique to the VA.
  • Bumper Music: Tommy Can You Hear Me? The Who.
  • Article: Oahu Firefighters Cause Blaze At Own Fire Station: Oahu Firefighters Leave Food Cooking On Stove, Causing Fire At Their Own Fire Station.
  • It is not clear what Maria Cantwell means by public option, it needs a reality check. People want a public option, why are lawmakers in our way?
  • Public health care cost cutting means fewer nurses, less trained staff, higher patient to nurse ration, nurse burnout, poorer safety for patients and nurses, nurses leaving for Canada where things are better, poorer patient outcomes. This is the death tax, you have to become poor, give everything to the for-profit medical industry, to qualify for Medicare.
  • Democrats are not speaking with one voice, because it is not what is best for the people, because the people don't pay their huge checks.
  • Bumper Music: Democracy is coming to the USA, Leonard Cohen.
  • Ellen Ratner of Talk Radio News. The White House briefing is on, but everyone is twittering about Sanford. He said his wife knew. What is it about Republican religious men having affairs? Repression? Thom thinks there are as many among Democrats, but for them it blows over. It is a big deal for Republicans because of hypocrisy. Huffington Post being able to ask a question at press conference. The IRS commissioner and the Education secretary are there, simplifying FASA form. Half a trillion dollars.

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