Conservative columnist David Brooks turned some heads yesterday with a blistering piece lashing out against the Republican Party's behavior in debt-ceiling negotiations. Brooks weighs in on this deal by writing, "If the Republican Party were a normal party, it would take advantage of this amazing moment. It is being offered the deal of the century: trillions of dollars in spending cuts in exchange for a few hundred million dollars of revenue increases...This, as I say, is the mother of all no-brainers" But as well all know - the Republican Party is NOT a normal Party - and Brooks comes to this conclusion as well writing, "The Republican Party...has been infected by a faction that is more of a psychological protest than a practical, governing alternative...The members of this movement do not accept the logic of compromise, no matter how seet the terms." Brooks goes on to write, "The members of this movement do not accept the legitimacy of scholars and intellectual authorities...The members of this movement have no sense of moral decency...The members of this movement have no economic theory worthy of the name." Tell us how you really feel, eh? So how can Republicans continue to get away with this behavior - that even those in their own Party are growing disgusted by? Let's reverse the table here for a moment....here's the part of the story no one will talk about.

Thom begins the top of the show with a solo rant on how Republicans created trillions of debt and have no intentions of paying the balance, and examines if the economic damage happened under a Democratic presidency, would the GOP react in the same manner. Later in the second half, he debates the issue of capital punishment with attorney, Bruce Fein.

The carnage of 9/11 is also the last remnants of American manufactured steel - a dying industry in our nation today. Those mangled steels beams sticking out of the pile of rubble that used to be the World Trade Center were made right here in America at a 100-year-old steel plant in Allentown, Pennsylvania known as Allentown Metal Works. Today though - ten years after 9/11 - that steel plant is the poster child of an America in decline. It was at that plant back in 2009 - President Obama used the plant to tout his economic stimulus program. The plant was supposed to be a symbol of the American economy roaring back. Unfortunately - one year later - Allentown Metal Works shut down. And now - it's being used as a symbol of the failure of President Obama's polices by one of the lead Republican candidates for President - Mitt Romney. So what REALLY happened in Allentown - why is the American steel manufacturing industry collapsing?

Conversations with Great Minds - Tonight's very special guest is Michelle Goldberg, author of The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power and the Future of the World.

Conversations with Great Minds - Tonight's very special guest is Michelle Goldberg, author of The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power and the Future of the World

New York Times bestselling author and senior contributing writer for The Daily Beast, Michelle Goldberg joins Thom in the first half hour for "Conversations with Great Minds". Later the show, Thom talks about Congress' approaching debt limit deadline, Republican's version of spending cuts in comparison to the Democrat's plan and more with his expert guest panelists in the Weekly Rumble.

Phil Kerpen w/Americans for Prosperity joins Thom Hartmann. Maybe getting rid of the minimum wage IS actually Michele Bachmann's idea of a jobs program. After all - if she kills the minimum wage, then who knows how many foreign transnational corporations will set up shop in America - as they do in Bangladesh now - looking for cheap labor. Michele Bachmann's America - a nation of serfs and peons...Ronald Reagan would be proud.

So if the Republicans REALLY want to play hardball on the debt-limit - then President Obama should hold them accountable and put their favorite programs on the chopping block first. That could mean cutting off payments to John Boehner's F-35 pet project, no payments to the bomb-making factory in Oklahoma, no welfare payments to the Oil, Coal, and Natural Gas industries, and close all federal buildings named after Ronald Reagan, whose policies brought us this disaster. Once folks in Eric Cantor's Virginia district - home to the headquarters of most of our nation's defense contractors - see their payments cut off - you can bet Cantor will have a new interest in raising the damn debt ceiling. So let's put the real consequences of their obstructionism in their face - and watch the Republicans blink. And in the meantime - we can sit back and watch people's heads explode in the Republican echo-chamber.

San Francisco, Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Marcus Bachmann.

Stephen Webster, Raw Story, Joins Thom Hartmann. Next time you're at the airport and you're forced to either walk through the x-ray scanner or take the "groin check"...go ahead and get groped. And while you're doing it - be sure to stand as far away from the X-Ray machine as you can. The Electronic Privacy Information Center - EPIC - has released a slew of letters obtained through a Freedom of Information Act Request that shows growing concern among TSA employees about the risk of cancer from the Michael Chertoff X-Ray porno scanners. According to letters obtained by EPIC - some TSA agents who work with the radiation machines daily are falling ill with cancer clusters.

Cliff Schecter, Progressive Strategist joins Thom Hartmann. Republicans in Ohio really stepped in it this time. Only three months after Governor John Kasich and his Republican gang in the state legislature passed a harsh anti-union law stripping public employees of their rights to collectively bargain - over a million Ohioans signed a petition to repeal the new anti-union law. The group "We Are Ohio" neded 231000 signatures from Ohio voters to put repeal of Senate Bill 5 on the ballot in a November election. But the group got more than FIVE TIMES that amount - turning in close to 1.3 million signatures to Ohio's Secretary of State to verify the names.

Thom breaks down the negative effects the economy could endure if the Republicans refuse to compromise on raising the debt ceiling. Later in the show, Thom debates Fox News correspondent, Catherine Herridge on America's mission concerning the wars in the middle east.

As The Florida Independent is reporting - Governor Scott is telling his state's Department of Environmental Protection to draw up plans to sell off huge chunks of 56 Florida state parks to private corporations. The Scott administration wants to privatize camping in state parks. Isn't it our obligation to leave the commons that we've enjoyed in our lives intact so future generations can enjoy them as well? Let's leave the strip malls and fast food joints on Main Street - and keep our commons - especially our state parks - free from corporate take-over.

Priorities USA Action, Tim Pawlenty and Iowa Select Farms.

It's time for the Lone Liberal Rumble - when Thom Hartmann debates two expert conservatives on some of the big issues of the week. Joining Thom is Jamie Weinstein, Deputy Editor-Daily Caller & Daniel Halper, The Weekly Standard.