Hundreds of demonstrators returned to Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan on Saturday to celebrate the six-month anniversary of the movement. But as the sun went down, the peaceful crowd was once again broken up by NYPD officers. In all – 74 people were arrested, and there were widespread allegations of police brutality against peaceful demonstrators. One woman was taken to the hospital after appearing to suffer a seizure.

So it looks like the grassroots activism that swept the nation last fall is set to bloom again in the spring. Unfortunately – so is the violent suppression of free speech, as the oligarchs and banksters desperately cling to power and to their enormous wealth, amid economic instability and social unrest.

-Thom

(What do you think will change? Tell us here.)

Hour One: Thom vs. Seton on privatizing the libraries
- Seton Motley, Less Government

Hour Three: What the GOP presidential campaign is really about
- George Lakoff, Linguistics Professor UC Berkeley/Author.

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"...TAG, YOU'RE IT!!!!!!!!! (OCCUPY SOMETHING!!!!!)

Friday's Daily Stack

Quote: "Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole of humanity. Those who clearly recognize the voice of their own conscience usually recognize also the voice of justice." -- Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

Hour One: If it's Friday, it's "Brunch With Bernie"... the honorable Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) joins Thom with all the news from our nation's capitol and as always he'll be spending the hour taking your calls and answering your questions too...
Follow Bernie: campaign site.

Article: "Speculation In Crude Oil Adds $23.39 To The Price Per Barrel" by Robert Lenzner.

Article: "Speculation in the Oil Market" by Luciana Juvenal and Ivan Petrella (St. Louis Fed).

Article: "The real way to hold down gas prices" by Gary Weiss.

Law: "Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act" (2010).

Article: "Senate approves $109 billion transportation bill" by Ashley Halsey III.

Article: "A Petition to Support the Saving American Democracy Amendment" by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Audio: "FDR "Let Me Warn You" (1936)" by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Speech: "Democratic National Convention Nomination Acceptance", Harry S. Truman, 15 July 1948, Philadelphia, PA.

Article: "Price Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act".

Article: "Obama Unveils Loan Guarantees for Nuclear Plant" by Henry J. Pulizzi and Christine Buurma.

Fireside Chat 15: "On National Defense (May 26, 1940)" by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Article: "Advocacy Group Targets Democratic Senators With Ad Featuring Pat Boone" by Karl Eisenhower.

Hour Two: Rising gas prices & oil speculators
- Congressman Peter Welch (D-VT).

Article: "Oil drops on reports UK, US to release reserves" by AP.

Article: "Bennington Banner: 'Welch: Tap the reserve'" by Neal Goswami.

Article: "In a first, gas and other fuels are top U.S. export" by AP.

Article: "Police Forcibly Evict Midwest Occupy Conference Participants; 14 Arrested In St. Louis" by Mark Taylor-Canfield.

Article: "Occupy conference continues with no new clashes" by Marlon A. Walker.

Article: "Rep. McGovern Arrested with George Clooney, Others During Protest" by Josh Gray.

Article: "ALEC’s Arizona Escort Service" by Beau Hodai (lists sponsors).

Article: "Diane Nash" by Wikipedia.

Article: "President Barack Obama Sits Down For Exclusive Interview With Sirius XM’s Joe Madison".

Video: "President Obama Roasts Donald Trump At White House Correspondents' Dinner!"

Article: "The Powell Memo or Powell Manifesto".

Site: "Corporations Are Not People".

The Big Picture
- Sam Sacks, The Big Picture producer, progressive commentator

Article: "Feds Begin Funding Cuts To Texas Women's Health Program".

Article: "Use Birth Control? You're Fired!" by ACLU.

Talk Radio News Segment:
- Victoria Jones, White House Correspondent

Book: "Self Empowerment: Nine Things the 19th Century Can Teach us About Living in the 21st " by B. Anne Gehman and Ellen Ratner.

Article: "Karzai says he's at 'end of the rope' with US over Afghanistan massacre" by MSNBC.

Article: "Afghans furious as US massacre suspect flown to Kuwait" by RT.

Article: "Afghan Attack Suspect Being Transferred To U.S." by TRNS.

Article: "Afghanistan Pol-I-Charki Prison Continues Body Cavity Searches For Female Visitors" by Heidi Vogt.

Article: "New Afghan code allows husbands to beat wives".

Article: "ANALYSIS: When a Congressman Becomes a Lobbyist, He Gets a 1,452% Raise (on Average)" by Lee Fang.

Site: "American Spring".

Article: "Pelosi to Bush: Direct CFTC to Curb Excessive Speculation in Energy Markets", June 25, 2008.

Speech: "Farewell Address", by Dwight David Eisenhower, January 17, 1961 (transcript).

Article: "Don’t Privatize Our Spies" by Patrick Radden Keefe, June 25, 2007.

Book: "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins.

Article: "Maps and Charts of Iraqi Oil Fields" by Judicial Watch.

The good: "Americans aren’t buying the right’s crazy theory about Obama and gas prices" by Greg Sargent.

The bad: "TX Sen Candidate Ted Cruz Spouts Paranoid Fantasy About United Nations/George Soros Conspiracy To Eliminate Golf" by Ian Millhiser.

The very, very ugly: "Inhofe On The 97% Of Scientists Who Agree Global Warming Is Real: ‘That Doesn’t Mean Anything’" by Rebecca Leber.

Article: "American ISPs to launch massive copyright spying scheme on July 12" by Stephen C. Webster.

TED Talk: "The $8 billion iPod" by Rob Reid.

Article: "Keystone Oil Pipeline Seen Raising Gas Prices in Midwest: Energy" by Bradley Olson.

Article: "Merkley, DeFazio Introduce Bill to Ensure Americans Get Hired for Forest Work " by Rep. Peter DeFazio.

Site: "Creative Commons".

Article: "Giant Lasers at NIF" by Rich Donnelly.

Article: "Education Management Corp. Engages In 'Predatory Lending,' Whistleblower Claims" by Chris Kirkham.

Article: "Senators Attack Government's Use of Patriot Act" by Common Dreams.

Article: "America's Real War on Women" by Peggy Noonan.

Article: "Gov. Tom Corbett on pre-abortion ultrasounds: 'Close your eyes'" by David Zucchino.

Article: "U.S. indicts Wegelin bank for helping Americans avoid tax" by Lynnley Browning.

Article: "Why U.S. Tax Evaders Can No Longer Count on Swiss Secrecy" by Helena Bachmann.

Article: "NCAA Tournament 2012 means distracted workers. What's an employer to do?" by Ron Scherer.

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