Another day – another Supreme Court decision in favor of big money in our politics. Yesterday – in another 5-4 ruling – the right-wing of the Supreme Court struck down an Arizona law that provides public financing of elections. The law was intended to level the playing field between people with huge fortunes and rich friends – and just average folks running for office, by supplying matching public funds to candidates who are being outspent by private money.

The law made sure that electoral politics in Arizona wasn’t a “whoever has the most money wins” sort of game. But the high court ruled that any attempt by the government to “equalize electoral opportunities” – as in make sure both candidates are on a level playing field financially – is unconstitutional. But what is constitutional to the Conservative Supreme Court nowadays? The corporate takeover of our democracy – as was decided last year in the Citizens United case.

Thanks to this most recent ruling – look for even more corporate-owned candidates to spring up – as in more people who deny global warming – more war hawks – and more shills for Wall Street billionaires.

-Thom

(What do you think? Tell us here.)

The Daily Stack

Quote: "The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men." -- George Eliot.

Should a mentally ill killer be forcibly medicated to stand trial and face the death penalty? Dr. Arthur Caplan, Director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania

Book: "The Penn Center Guide to Bioethics" by Dr. Vardit Ravitsky PhD, Dr. Autumn Fiester PhD, Dr. Arthur L. Caplan PhD.

Article: "Should Jared Loughner be forcibly drugged? Alleged Ariz. shooter may be given antipsychotic medications so that he can stand trial" by Arthur Caplan, Ph.D.

Video: "Hartmann: A $10,000 challenge to Conservatives about economies in debt" with Eamonn Fingleton.

Article: "'Tau day' marked by opponents of maths constant".

Poll: "Which item on the radical socialist agenda do you believe registered Republicans are most thankful for when they need it?" by Daily Kos.

Book: "Man's Rise to Civilization: The Cultural Ascent of the Indians of North America" by Peter Farb.

Movie: "Papillon".

Hour Two: What is the Tea Party plan to take over the GOP? Mark Williams, Talk Radio host and Tea Party advocate

Book: "Taking Back America One Tea Party At A Time" by Mark Williams.

Article: "Tea Party must take over GOP" by Mark Williams.

Crazy alert: "Bachmann Confuses John Wayne With John Wayne Gacy (VIDEO)" by Eric Kleefeld.

Book: " What Would Jefferson Do?" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "How much will San Francisco's Chinese bridge really cost?" by Clyde Prestowitz.

Talk Radio News Segment: Ken Bazinet

Article: "Violence flares in Athens as Greek parliament debates painful austerity measures" by Anthee Carassava.

Article: "White House Hopeful About Striking Debt Limit Deal" by TRNS.

Article: "Los Alamos nuclear lab to remain closed as New Mexico wildfire nears" by Sarah Anne Hughes.

Article: "Three U.S. Nuke Plants At Risk To Wildfire And Floods" by Kenneth R. Bazinet.

Hour Three: can you pass "The Psychopath Test?" Jon Ronson, Journalist, documentary filmmaker, radio presenter, author

Book: "The Men Who Stare at Goats" by Jon Ronson.

Book: "The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry" by Jon Ronson.

Video: "The Psychopath Test".

Review: "The Psychopath Test, By Jon Ronson" by Nina Lakhani.

Article: "A Psychopath Walks Into A Room. Can You Tell?" by NPR.

Article: "Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The Bankers’" by James Mackintosh.

Book: "Threshold: The Progressive Plan to Pull America Back from the Brink" by Thom Hartmann - now in paperback!

Think the BP oil disaster in the Gulf was bad? An arctic oil spill may be impossible to deal with... Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director - Greenpeace International

Article: "Naidoo determined to scale rig again".

Article: "How I Became Arctic Prisoner Number 22" by Kumi Naidoo.

Article: "Greenpeace's Naidoo freed, then deported" by Nivashni Nair.

Article: "Kumi Naidoo, Greenpeace International Head, Arrested After Scaling Oil Rig In Arctic (VIDEO)".

Article: "UK govt documents reveal Arctic spill impossible to clean up" by Greenpeace.

The good: "Husted draws line against party over photo IDs at voting booths" by Joe Vardon.

The bad: "Texas Public Employee Rick Perry: ‘Government Doesn’t Create Any Jobs’" by Pat Garofalo.

The very, very ugly: "Pat Robertson claims God will destroy America like Sodom (Video)" by Ryan Witt.

Case: "First National Bank Of Boston V. Bellotti", 1978.

Crazy alert: "Olympic hopeful Claire Kelly sells tattoo space on body" by UPI.

Site: "Economy in Crisis".

Article: "Ceramic capacitor could store energy from wind and solar" by Paul Dvorak.

Article: "High Court Strikes Matching Funds For Publicly Financed Campaigns" by Jay Goodman Tamboli.

Article: "WI Gov. Scott Walker signs budget that cuts funding for Planned Parenthood" by Tina Korbe.

Article: "Two U.S. troops die in Iraq; 11 total this month" by AP.

Article: "Georgia court suspends anti-immigration law" by AFP.

Article: "$38bn cuts and tax hikes spark massive Greek strike" by AP.

Article: "Fox News Ignores New York’s Historic Same-Sex Marriage Law" by Igor Volsky.

Article: "On the News With Thom Hartmann: Supreme Court Strikes Down Public Finance Law, Obama Gives in to GOP on Bush Tax Cuts, and More".

Coming up Wednesday on The Thom Hartmann Program

Hour Two: Why do conservatives paint all of Islam with the same extremist paint brush? A.W.R. Hawkins, PhD, Columnist-Pajamas Media.

And, the best of the rest of the news and your calls right here on...

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Read an excerpt here, and buy the book!