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John McCain was just unreal on "Meet the Press" yesterday. He stated very clearly that water-boarding was torture, that the US was guilty of it and that the orders came from the top circles, but of course there should be no investigation.
The Pretzel Logic makes my head hurt.
Why is Thom talking to a bible thumping psychopath about hate crime laws? How is that jackass any kind of authority on the subject? Guess Thom is looking for an easy win.
Is there any chance Thom Hartmann will speak at a location near me? Unfortunately, that would be this backwater called Memphis, TN.
Jack,
That's heart-wrenching in so many ways and reminds us how very important it is that we elected Barack Obama. Of-course he isn't a perfect liberal, and we must keep pushing him to make the changes he has promised, even while he is undergoing constant attempts to neutralize his passionate liberalism, but it's so incredibly cool that African Americans feel more empowered, after our country has been unconscionable in its behavior toward so many.
The increase in self esteem that effects so many areas is really really cool, even though it's a horrible reminder of just how unfair things have been. If I were in that test, I would be so very angry about all of the tests I hadn't done as well on, because of outside forces.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07102009/watch3.html
The "stakeholders" in health care reform in this case do not include the rabble.
Please watch Bill Moyers 4 minute editorial. It's a good one. Here's a quote:
It's not about compromise. It's not about what the public wants. It's about money, the golden ticket to "the select few who actually get it done." And nothing will change. Nothing. Until the money-lenders are tossed out of the temple, and we tear down the sign they've placed on government — the one that reads: "For sale."
America’s political candidates are basically getting elected to America’s political offices by being in high-enough-spending extremely unjustifiably-high-spending political campaigns (including by being as far from the left as the candidates have to genuinely be for their campaigns to get enough funding from the monied interests) instead of getting elected to America’s political offices by being qualified-enough for them; so, America’s government is always a centrist or right wing government. Right now America needs campaign spending limits—limits on how much each of America’s political campaigns spends in its election race—more than it needs anything else (including more than it needs social reform, economic reform, media reform, military reform, campaign contribution reform, proportional representation, and everything else it needs); and, the problem with the world right now is basically that there aren’t adequate campaign spending limits in enough of its election races.
Thom,
Check out radiolab.org. It's a science podcast. The one is particular is the Obama effect. It talks about testing, racial bias and how we perceive our ability when taking a test and how that affects our performance. It turns out that when we perceive ourselves as competent in a given area then we relax and do well on a test, and when we have any doubt or anxiety we do poorly. African American were given identitcal tests before during and after Barack Obama's acendancy and their scores controlled for other things went up. It was as if their perception of what they were capable of influenced their testing outcomes.
"The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks." - Lord Acton
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Acton
If a single-payer health care system were in place and was funded by an increase in our income tax, does anyone know what the average increase would be? I've been following the subject on TH's show but haven't heard any figures mentioned (I could have missed it, too).
B Roll,
You are so mysterious --- 'wish you'd tell us more...
The url for the story about private education from the Economist is: http://video.economist.com/linking/index.jsp?skin=oneclip&ehv=http://audiovideo.economist.com/&fr_story=e92caddd670a113468e0b796961231e261df2196&rf=ev&hl=true' width=402 height=336 scrolling='no' frameborder=0 marginwidth=0 marginheight=0
There is a very interesting podcast from the Economist regarding private education in America. They interview a person who helps the rich get the best private school for their child. This person states that: public education is grossly underfunded; that it has become much worse over the past 30 years.
The film maker somebody asked about on the show was T.R. Reid and the program was "Sick Around America". http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/
There's an article about it, "Something is Rotten at PBS" by Russell Mokhiber at http://www.singlepayeraction.org/blog/?p=351 .
ProgressiveMews,
Whatever!
I'll put my sense of humor up against yours any day.
By the way, Thom has read several of my humorous posts over the air and his producer Shawn selected me as "member of the day" for one of them back in January. Nancy Skinner used to read my "humorous" emails over the air on a daily basis (between 1 and 3 a day) when she had her show. And the hosts of a local show on my local progressive station once wrote to me that they hoped that I was a writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I could go on, but who cares.
Take care.
Re: "More on Cheney’s hit squad"
Video of same:
http://www.cce.umn.edu/media/greatconversations/hersh_jacobs_mondale/pla...
More on Cheney's hit squad (old news, but the original sound):
http://www.minnpost.com/ericblackblog/2009/03/11/7310/investigative_repo...
lol
brian a. hayes,
Re: "is rasta looking for some attention?"
He certainly got it, didn't he? LOL
is rasta looking for some attention? im cofused
Rasta -
Fascinating - I don't think I can ever recall seeing the words Zionist and Nazi in the same sentence.
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong regarding any of the following statements -
1) Zionists are, by and large, jewish (BTW - so am I, by birth, at least)
2) The attempted extermination of Europe's jewish people by the Nazis was the reason for the founding of the state of Israel.
3) NONE of the existing Islamic nations in the region at the end of WWII were at all willing to accept their displaced "brethren" when the British decided to hand Palestine over to the Jews to create the state of Israel.
The state of Israel desires nothing more than to exist on the land they were given (leagally or not - that point, I believe, is past debate). Many, if not most, of the nations that surround Israel want that state destroyed. The ONLY permanent expansion that Israel has ever attempted was re-claiming the western half of the city of Jerusalem, which, when under Islamic control, was off-limits to non-Muslims.
So, Rasta, can you please explain to me why you feel that the agressor nation in the region is Israel.
Richard Adlof,
Yes, both sides are to blame, but I think there is no trust there.
Act 2 of Pickens' plan begins... he's cancelled the windfarm: http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jul2009/db2009078_35... and is talking up natural gas:
http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20090710/NEWS/907099959/1008/NONE&...
http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_12787175
Act 3 will be the drilling for the water under the windfarm land.
B Roll
You made that rope comment to somebody that was asking about hemp, who clearly didn't know enough about it to understand it was untrue. Speaking truth is not a "curse" nor bad karma.
I have to hand it to mstaggerlee though, as they (unlike you) seem to have NOT lost their sense of humor as a result!
Quark,
rasta has a history of SPAMming such content . . . and yes . . . the selective hearing is engaged here.
While simple solutions exist to the situation NEITHER side displays interest in pursuing them and I find myself seriously ticked at both sides . . .
I'm not a fan of the concept of the Faith Based Initiative, but people seem to misunderstand Obama's take on it. Obama. The Obama Administration replaced the Bush Administration’s language of “White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives” with “President's Advisory Council For Faith-Based And Neighborhood Partnerships” and changed the emphasis from being a way to payoff the religious right to being a way to help neighborhood organizations provide aid to the poor.
You can read the executive order at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/AmendmentstoExecutiveOrder131...