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Thom's blog
Lame Duck roundup
You need to know this. Congress is feverishly working to finish up business before the end of the lame-duck session. The Senate is expected to pass President Obama’s tax cut deal in a vote today. And the House seems to be warming up as well – at least Blue Dog democrats are. Despite the package costing nearly $1 trillion – at least 27 members of the Blue Dog coalition sent a letter to Nancy Pelosi urging her to bring the bill to the floor for a vote. She needs 39 Democrats on board for the legislation to even have a chance at passing – there are 54 members of the Blue Dog coalition. So as more momentum builds in favor of the bill – the more it looks like progressives will lose this fight too. In other business – the House is expected to vote on a stand-alone “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” bill in hopes that it will have a better chance of passing the Senate than the current legislation which is attached to a defense spending measure. That too could be hopeless as Republican Senator Jim DeMint is threatening to force the reading of an entire 2,000-page omnibus spending bill – a procedural tactic that’s almost never employed - but could grind the entire chamber to a halt. In response – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid warned he would bring the Senate back into session after Christmas if Republicans continue to stall on addressing important legislation. Among the unresolved issues that could be tackled after Christmas: a START nuclear treaty – the DREAM Act – and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal. So – as the book starts to close on the 111th Congress in chaos – let's acknowledge how much good stuff did get done - and how much more could have been done if it weren't for Republicans being the Party of No for the past two years.
-Thom
(What do you think should be their highest priority? Tell us here.) |
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Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 9pm and 11pm... Fighting back against corporate greed (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT, and catch past shows on Youtube)
Need to Know: Lame Duck roundup with Lee Fang, Reporter/Blogger-Think Progress.com.
Screwed! Fighting back against corporate greed with Mike Elk, Labor Journalist and reporter for the American Prospect
The rich want to stay rich...? with Don Watkins, Analyst with the Ayn Rand Institute.
The Best of the Rest of the News...
Is Julian Assange too toxic for the mainstream media? with Sarah Seltzer, Associate Editor at Alternet.
Does Fox News make you stupid? "Study Confirms That Fox News Makes You Stupid" with Clay Ramsay, Research Director with the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland.
Crazy Alert: Postal carrier delivers mail nude. Police report that the mailman was not delivering a “big package”.
Daily Take: Grassroots activism intervention: re-energizing the Democratic base and what you can do to get and stay involved in 2011.
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Read Thom's Book for Free!
Now you can read all of Thom Hartmann's " Rebooting the American Dream: 11 Ways to Rebuild Our Country" for free online. Truthout is publishing weekly installments over 12 weeks. Read Chapter Five: Medicare “Part E”- for Everybody today. |
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The Daily Stack 
Quote: "Information is the currency of democracy." -- Thomas Jefferson.
Hour One: Anyone else starting to feel like they just don't care anymore?
Hour Two: Is it time to use the force of government to keep American companies in America? Find out how one community is fighting back. Mike Elk, Labor Journalist and reporter for the American Prospect.
Hour Three: The battle for freedom of information and speed of delivery on the internet continues...net neutrality and why the Comcast/NBC merger should die on the vine... I'll have a rumble with Seton Motley, President of Less Government.org...
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Coming up Thursday on The Thom Hartmann Program
Hour Two: "America on the Brink: The Next Added 100 Million Americans" Thom confronts author/anti-immigration activist Frosty Wooldridge about his new book...
Hour Three: "How to Have an Open Relationship" Thom will be challenging Jen Angel of Yes Magazine...
And, the best of the rest of the news and your calls right here on...
The Thom Hartmann Program... your media support group for we the people.
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Show Info
Call Thom on the show at 1-866-987-THOM (8466) (0870 974 9686 from the UK, +1 503 796 2324 from outside the US or UK).
Sign up for Thom's podcasts.
Come on over to the free chat room, where Thom hangs out during the show.
Join in the discussions on Thom's free message board.
Blog or upload videos or audios at Thom's community.
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Watch & Listen to Thom
The new McCarthyism
Faux News Performers caught in the Act!
Why does the FBI only entrap Muslims and not White Supremacists?
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The real meaning of the Tea Party
The conservative view that “We The People” now explicitly means “We The Citizens, Corporations and Churches” with a few of the richest humans who run them thrown in is antithetical to how our Framers viewed corporations.
The Founders of this nation were so wary of corporate power that when the British parliament voted to give a massive tax break – through the Tea Act of 1773 – to the East India Company on thousands of tons of tea they had in stock so the Company could wipe out small, entrepreneurial colonial competitors, the colonists staged the Boston Tea Party.
The British declared that the port of Boston would be closed to commerce until the city paid back the Company for its tea. The Framers of our Constitution intentionally chose not to even use the word “corporation” in that document, as they wanted business entities and churches to be legally established at the state level where local governments could keep an eye on them. Initially corporations were severely restricted. Then came the robber barons claiming that as “corporate persons” they should have “rights” under the Bill of Rights in the Constitution, and in 1886 came the Santa Clara County v Southern Pacific Railroad Company case, where the Supreme Court did not rule that corporations are persons, but the clerk claimed it had, which was erroneously used as precedent. Then came the “charter-mongering” era of the 1890s.
Learn more about how the Supreme Court used the Citizens United case to give corporations the “right” of a corporate “person” to heavily influence political campaigns, so expensive to democracy, in chapter ten, "Wal-Mart Is Not A Person!", of " Rebooting the American Dream". (On Kindle too) |
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 Would you like to help give a child with a very troubled background this feeling of peace? Thom and Louise Hartmann founded the New England Salem Children's Village (NESCV) in New Hampshire in 1979. With states delaying payment for the children they entrust to the village, they need help with cash flow. Can you help? |
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