Our nation’s infrastructure is crumbling. The Sherman Minton Bridge that spans the Ohio River in Louisville, Kentucky was shut down last Friday due to safety concerns after cracks were discovered in the bridge’s load-bearing parts. The Sherman Minton Bridge is just one of several bridges in danger of collapsing –- As the American Society of Civil Engineers points out, 34% of all the bridges in Kentucky are considered “structurally deficient.” Of course – Kentucky is the home state of Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell – who opposed increased infrastructure spending in the 2009 stimulus bill – opposed it again when Republicans blocked a jobs bill in 2010 – and threw cold water last week on President Obama’s “American Jobs Act” that includes billions in transportation infrastructure products. According to a study by the Urban Land Institute – our nation’s infrastructure needs $2 trillion worth of repairs.

And America’s infrastructure now ranks 16th in the world according to the World Economic Forum. Yet another consequence of 30 years of Ronald Reagan’s “starve the beast” economics.

-Thom

(Do you think the infrastructure will get fixed? Tell us here.)

The Daily Stack

Quote: "Probably, no nation is rich enough to pay for both war and civilization. We must make our choice; we cannot have both." -- Abraham Flexner (1866-1959, American educator).

Book: "Rebooting the American Dream: 11 Ways to Rebuild Our Country" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Bush rejects Taliban offer to surrender bin Laden" by Andrew Buncombe, 15 October 2001.

Video: "Condoleezza Rice asserts 'Bin Laden Determined To Attack' wasn't a warning.".

Article: "Pawlenty endorses Romney" by Alexander Burns.

Article: "REPORT: $42 Million From Seven Foundations Helped Fuel The Rise Of Islamophobia In America" by Faiz Shakir.

Site: "Conversations With Great Minds ... with Thom Hartmann".

Video: "Conversations with Great Minds - Edward Girardet , P1".

Video: "Conversations with Great Minds - Edward Girardet , P2".

Cheesy news alert: "‘Credible Threats’ Made to US Government" by Andy Borowitz.

Article: "Rick Perry Softens Social Security Rhetoric Before Florida Debate" by Jon Ward.

Article: "Bill in hand, Obama presses Congress on jobs plan" by Peter Nicholas.

Article: "GOP grumbles about jobs plan" by Marin Cogan & Jake Sherman.

Article: "Project for the New American Century", June 3, 1997.

Article: "Bin Laden: Goal is to bankrupt U.S." by CNN.

Article: "Transcript: Bin Laden determined to strike in US" by CNN.

Article: "For Lawmaker Examining Terror, a Pro-I.R.A. Past" by Scott Shane.

Hour Two: Legacy of 9/11 and the "business of hate" Pam Geller about her new book, "Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance"

Book: "Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance" by Pam Geller.

Article: "Anti-Muslim Blogger Pamela Geller Lashes Out At Islamophobia Report: ‘Pile Of Dung Masquerading As Research’" by Eli Clifton.

Article: "Terrorism Expert: Since 9/11, Only 33 Deaths From Muslim Terrorism Vs. 150,000 Deaths From Murders" by Faiz Shakir.

Article: "Battle plan for resisting Shariah" by Joseph Farah.

Article: "GOP Legislator: Homosexuality Is ‘More Dangerous’ Than Terrorist Attacks Because We Have To Deal With It Every Day" by Marie Diamond.

Article: "Terrorism Expert: Since 9/11, Only 33 Deaths From Muslim Terrorism Vs. 150,000 Deaths From Murders" by Faiz Shakir.

Book: "The Autobiography of Ben Franklin" by Ben Franklin.

Article: "Joshua 1 (New International Version)".

Article: "Fear, Inc. The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America" by Wajahat Ali, Eli Clifton, Matthew Duss, Lee Fang , Scott Keyes, Faiz Shakir.

Article: "The $1.2 Trillion Trap: What America Gave Up For 10 Years Of War Since 9/11" by Zaid Jilani.

Article: "The price we paid for the war on terror" by Anne Applebaum.

Site: "The Equality Trust".

Book: "The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger" by Richard Wilkinson, Kate Pickett.

Because I got high alert: "Stoner Avenue name to stay, despite sign thefts".

Article: "CNN, Tea Party Express Host Tea Party Debate Tonight".

Talk Radio News Segment: Victoria Jones, White House Correspondent

Article: "Obama On Jobs Bill: No Games, No Politics, No Delays" by Benny Martinez.

Article: "Obama Chooses Republicans' Words Carefully To Say They're Playing Politics" by Mark Memmott.

Article: "Boehner: GOP will 'immediately request' that CBO score Obama jobs plan" by Daniel Strauss.

Article: "GOP To Obama: Sorry, We're Going To Change Your Jobs Plan" by Zeke Miller.

Article: "Obama proposing tax hikes to pay for jobs bill" by Reuters.

Article: "Obama's Jobs Plan is Just Stimulus Part 2".

Article: "White House proposes $467-billion plan to pay for jobs bill" by Michael Muskal.

Article: "Obama to Send Congress $447B Jobs Package" by Bloomberg.

Article: "Pressure Builds on Deficit Panel to ‘Go Big,’ Beyond Its Mandate, in Cuts" by Jackie Calmes.

Hour Three: "War Costs"...exposing America's war profiteers Robert Greenwald, Brave New Foundation

Article: "The War Budget Is Burning Down Our Economy" by Robert Greenwald.

Article: "The $1.2 Trillion Trap: What America Gave Up For 10 Years Of War Since 9/11" by Zaid Jilani.

Article: "Cut Defense And I'll Quit Super Committee: Kyl" by Colin Clark.

Site: "Rethink Afghanistan"

The good: "Kerry vows to avoid lobbyists, fund-raising while on ‘supercommittee’" by Glen Johnson.

The bad: "Luntz: “9/11 allows us to celebrate Bush/Cheney for keeping us safe”" by Andrew Jones.

The very, very ugly: Bob Turner "New York GOP Exploits 9/11 Anniversary, Sends Islamophobic Mailer To Voters In NY Special Election" by Tanya Somanader.

Article: "Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline" (TAPI).

Article: "Jimmy Carter: 'We never dropped a bomb. We never fired a bullet. We never went to war'" by Carole Cadwalladr.

Article: "Did Speculation Fuel Oil Price Swings?" by CBSNews.

Article: "Bridge Closure Causes Hours Of Traffic Delays" by Marissa Alter.

Article: "‘Structurally deficient’" by Steve Benen.

Article: "While McConnell Opposes Infrastructure Investment, Major Kentucky Bridge Shuts Down Over Safety Concerns" by Travis Waldron.

Article: "Urban Land Institute Estimates $2 Trillion Needed for Infrastructure" by ASCE.

Article: "U.S. infrastructure woes: A roadblock to growth" by Jason Lange.

Article: "Explosion Rocks French Plutonium Plant: Leak risk after France nuclear site blast" by Agence France-Presse.

Article: "Sea Radiation from Fukushima Seen Triple of Prior Estimate" by Reuters.

Article: "President Obama's jobs speech: GOP Rep. Jeff Landry of Louisiana holds sign 'drilling equals jobs'" by Aliyah Shahid.

Article: "Big Oil Kills Jobs For Profits" by Brad Johnson.

Article: "Top Seven Progressive Policies That Strengthen The National Football League" by Scott Keyes.

Hour Three: Mobilizing the world to confront the reality of the climate crisis Maggie Fox, Al Gore's Climate Reality Project

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.

Read an excerpt here, and buy the book!