"Brunch with Bernie" with Senator Bernie Sanders, Independent of Vermont. His latest newsletter includes health care, Supreme Court, oil prices, solar energy, economy. They return to Congress Tuesday. Investigation of Wall Street, they will be appointing the chair and members soon. Credit card companies hiking rates on good payers. The economy. Health care reform. Bernie will be seeing Max Baucus and single payer supporters Wednesday. Town meeting Monday in Burlington featuring T.R. Reid of the "Frontline" documentary "Sick Around the World". 15,000 physicians believe that we should move to single payer.
Congress is on break at the moment. Veterans should pay attention to two new programs. One is the new GI educational bill - the most significant expansion since World War II, people should go to the VA web site, call up their Congressional office. Secondly, so-called priority 8 veterans with non-service-related disabilities whom Bush threw out of the VA, some will be able to get back in, if they are lower income. Larry Scott, founder and Editor of VA Watch Dog usually comes on the show, and has a lot of information on his site, but his wife is very ill. There is information on Bernie's site too.
The IF told a caller that the legal base for the Federal Reserve handing out money to AIG is contained in title 12 of the US code, section 343, paragraph 2. Bernie has been focusing on the Wall Street disaster, the Fed lent out over $2 trillion after the tax payers had given $700 billion in TARP funds. Bernanke would not tell Bernie who had received the money. He had language passed in the Senate, and Ron Paul in the House, to bring more transparency and accountability.
President Nixon was forced to resign for failure to perform his constitutional duty under article 2 section 3. President Obama has repeatedly said that waterboarding is a crime but he wants to move forward. There will be investigations, and move forward too. GM, Chrysler, we keep giving banks, etc., money, yet bondholders can say no we won't take reductions. Moving car manufacturing to China. A nation cannot be a great nation unless it makes products. It is also a national security issue, the military have to buy abroad. Environmental protections. Food production, diet, medical expenses.High fructose corn syrup, maybe if there was a national health care system you would not promote it via agricultural policy.
People are told fairy tales about America in school. Dividing, different health care for different groups, solution is to put everyone in the same pie. We should be in the same pension and health care system. Bernie is going for single payer health care. Rules and procedures, is there a way to get rid of riders like the gun amendment on the credit card bill? Bernie agrees, but does not know how to fix. Suspend the filibuster in the Senate while Al Franken is not seated? Republicans have been the party of no, many filibusters. The filibuster serves as protection for minority rights but has been overused. We should stand up to filibusters. Pressure on time, let them kill bills. The Employee Free Choice Act will be filibustered.
Bumper Music: Say What You Need To Say, John Mayer (video).
Article 2 Section 3 of the Constitution of the United States:
"He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States".
Bumper Music: Our Country, Jim Mellancamp.
Bumper Music: I've Been Everywhere, Johnny Cash.
'Anything Goes' Friday...
Don Siegelman's story.
Article: Obama Offers Prime Posts to Top Campaign Contributors.
If Don Siegelman should get 20 years, Obama should too?
Article: Tell Ben Nelson: TAKE ON THE SPECIAL INTERESTS!.
Ben Nelson, who is opposing public option on health care, received $2m from health and insurers. Senator Nelson's spokesman Jake Thompson issued this statement: "There's no doubt Senator Nelson understands the insurance industry's important role providing health care for millions of Americans. After all, he's been an insurance executive.".
Amendment XIII: Section 1.
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Obama has the same policies as Bush, started before he became president with FISA? List of what he has done and not done. ACLU or others should take on 13th amendment, the tortured detainees were there to provide valuable information without recompense. Cheney said it was a very valuable commodity.
Bumper Music: The Mail Must Go Through, Larry Groce & The Disneyland Children's Sing Along Chorus (clip).
Clip: From the Comment line - Lewis: “I Don’t Care!!!!!!!” He doesn't care what color the president is, but what he is doing wrong.
Who owns the Federal Reserve?.
"The Federal Reserve System is not "owned" by anyone and is not a private, profit-making institution. Instead, it is an independent entity within the government, having both public purposes and private aspects.
As the nation's central bank, the Federal Reserve derives its authority from the U.S. Congress. It is considered an independent central bank because its decisions do not have to be ratified by the President or anyone else in the executive or legislative branch of government, it does not receive funding appropriated by Congress, and the terms of the members of the Board of Governors span multiple presidential and congressional terms. However, the Federal Reserve is subject to oversight by Congress, which periodically reviews its activities and can alter its responsibilities by statute. Also, the Federal Reserve must work within the framework of the overall objectives of economic and financial policy established by the government. Therefore, the Federal Reserve can be more accurately described as "independent within the government."
The twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks, which were established by Congress as the operating arms of the nation's central banking system, are organized much like private corporations--possibly leading to some confusion about "ownership." For example, the Reserve Banks issue shares of stock to member banks. However, owning Reserve Bank stock is quite different from owning stock in a private company. The Reserve Banks are not operated for profit, and ownership of a certain amount of stock is, by law, a condition of membership in the System. The stock may not be sold, traded, or pledged as security for a loan; dividends are, by law, 6 percent per year.
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Tighten the general accounting principle standards, as companies are reporting gains to shareholders, losses to IRS. Bring in a financial crimes formula, so many years per $1,000 stolen.
Bumper Music: You can leave your hat on, Randy Newman.
Article: Climate conference sex boom.
Nobody owns Salem Childrens' Village, the Red Cross is not for profit, there is no stock, but the directors decide what it will do - they control not own. The Federal Reserve is a hybrid.
Don Siegelman is appealing his conviction. Could Obama not pardon him? Yes, so could Holder. Why have federal prosecutors not been changed by the incoming administration, as usual? The seven who would not go along with Bush were fired and replaced by toadies who are still there. go to Siegelman's site and see 60 minutes, letters from Attorneys General.
Bush joked "there are no weapons under here", after he had said that there was no question. Bush is on his legacy tour, he had to do a high school, now doing an event with Bill Clinton.
Article: . Shutting Detroit Down, John Rich.
Non profit health companies, tax advantages, are they switching to for profit and keeping the fund balance? It should be used for the purpose they were incorporated for. Large profitable not-for-profits like Pat Robertson's don't pay dividends and cannot cash out like stockholders, nut they get very high salaries. Libby Dole's salary working for the Red Cross.
Thom gets lots of grief for calling out democrats. Conditions are going down for workers. Thom sees it in friends and family, his is a blue collar family in Michigan.
Book: "Agenda For A New Economy: From Phantom Wealth To Real Wealth", David Korten.
Book: "When Corporations Rule the World", David Korten.
Book: "The Great Turning", David Korten.
Guest: Dr. David Korten in the studio. His latest book, "Agenda For A New Economy: From Phantom Wealth To Real Wealth" (published by Berrett-Koehler, Feb 2009). David is also the author of the international bestseller "When Corporations Rule the World" and "The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community". He is co-founder and board chair of Yes! Magazine, and a board member of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies. He's at the First Baptist Church tomorrow. Why Wall Street can't be fixed and how to replace it. Where's our economy at right now? Where's it going to go? And what are the consequences going to be of the types of intervention that we are seeing right now? How money is created. The Fed. The power of the banks, Wall Street. Start by starting the conversation - many people do not realize how banks, not the Treasury, create money through the fractional reserve system. On Obama, 'when you're up to your neck in alligators, it's hard to remember that you came to drain the swamp'. Transcript.
Bumper Music: Hand To Hold On To, John Mellencamp.
"That Night, December 3, 1984
Shortly after midnight poison gas leaked from a factory in Bhopal, India, owned by Union Carbide Corporation. There was no warning, none of the plant's safety systems were working. In the city people were sleeping. They woke in darkness to the sound of screams with the gases burning their eyes, noses and mouths. They began retching and coughing up froth streaked with blood. Whole neighborhoods fled in panic, some were trampled, others convulsed and fell dead. People lost control of their bowels and bladders as they ran. Within hours thousands of dead bodies lay in the streets.
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International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal.
Guests: Satinath Sarangi, Bhopal Group for Information and Action, who works in a Sambavna Trust clinic in Bhopal providing free health care to the survivors of the Bhopal disaster and those affected by contaminated water. Bhopal Medical Appeal. Also 16 year old Safreen "Rafat" Khan, a co-founder of "Children Against Dow Carbide". They spoke yesterday locally and are heading for Seattle next, 4:30 - 6:30 at the University. Ongoing court cases. The need to clean up the water. Dow Chemical owns Union Carbide. "The ICJB has issued an urgent call to all US-based supporters to contact their member of Congress and request that they sign-on to Congressman Frank Pallone's powerful letter to Dow demanding the company meet its legal and moral obligation to end the disaster in Bhopal." Congressman Henry Waxman is considering a hearing in the fall to ask why Dow is evading its liabilities. Contact Waxman. More than 8,000 died initially, and thousands since.
Bumper Music: You're the Voice, Heart (video).
The Federal Reserve, conflict of interest, they loan government money and get interest, and their chair influences the debt level? Banks are taking Fed money with no strings to pay off TARP money with strings, reinflating the bubble. The Fed is lending at a fraction over 0%, loaning it to the Treasury department for 6%.
Article: Is Larry Summers Taking Kickbacks From the Banks He’s Bailing Out?
Health care benefits. Michigan non profits. Have at least one non profit plan in every state.
Bumper Music: What a Wonderful World, Louis Armstrong. Thanks.
Member of the day is brian a. hayes who gets a signed, personalized copy of David Korten's new book and a copy of Yes! Magazine for posting...
as a progressives i stand up for truth and justice. this is what gives me such great joy and fortune in my life. i do not follow anyone blindly be it in my religous belief, my politics, and any thing else in my life. i live with total freedom on the side of truth and justice.
Clip:
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes."
Dwight D. Eisenhower, January 17, 1961, farewell radio and television address to the American people, Washington, D.C. (transcript)
Ellen Ratner of Talk Radio News. Thom saved her tail today, she was trying to get a book published, was going to get blown off, then somebody said they heard to her on Thom Hartmann every day, and the publisher started to pay attention. Former Congressman Bob Ney, Talk Radio News. PMA (a defense lobbying group disbanded earlier this year after the FBI raided it in November last year). They have subpoenaed Congressman Visclosky and an ally of John Murtha has been accused of fraud. They are focusing on defense contractors. Dwight Eisenhower's nightmare coming true. Defense, Halliburton, Cheney. They have an enormous amount of money. The Republicans are going to have a hard time taking Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor apart. One Republican senator has said that he will not vote for her. Pat Robertson said that if they don;t do this, the Republican Party is finished. She has the qualifications. Judging by people the New York Times interviewed who know her, she's no wilting violet. 95% of the time she votes with Republicans, or they vote with her.
