Recent comments
ADHD: Hunter in a Farmer's World
Thom Hartmann has written a dozen books covering ADD / ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder.
Join Thom for his new twice-weekly email newsletters on ADHD, whether it affects you or a member of your family.
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
By webmaster
Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
What was the name of the book that Thom quoted during the 4pm Central time hour? He read extensively from it--an excerpt where the author (Meyer?) interviewed 10 working class Germans, asking them how they could have sided with the Nazis? It was really powerful writing. Any help is appreciated.
Thanks.
I think it was on Friday's show that you read an excerpt from 'Mein Kampf', substituting the word 'Jew' with 'Democrat' and 'Germany' with 'the United States'. I searched online (probably on some watch list now) but could not find (or really remember) the excerpt. I was wondering if you could post it.
Thanks!
Kerry
Here is more info on Bob Ney's Radio show and how the first week went, I wish they would do a podcast .
the news story is at
http://www.wtov9.com/news/19211092/detail.html
along with links at the bottom to past Ney stories going back a few years
The radio station's website is
http://www.talkradio1370.com/
Yes Thom i would like to hear more about this Fed thing. I do not understand why we are supposedly paying interest on money that is just being created on Printing machines. The Fed is getting interest on this money as if they earned it through goods or services. Printing is not all that expensive so we must just be honoring this newly pressed money as real money. How can this be??? How can this work???
I thought that was what the Tea Parties were going to be about. I was surprised after the fact when it was really about other things. HuffingtonPost had a picture saying that a sign saying the Fed caused this Depression was one of the most inflammatory or whatever they called that article. When I wrote and said simply that I thought they did have something to do with it, they wouldn't even post it. Well I don't think the Fed caused the current Recession/Depression by themselves, but it seems kinda weird we are paying huge taxes to them just for a print job.
Yesterday (Thursday), Thom cut off a caller's 9/11 comment.
I believe the caller was making the point that the only justification (propagandistic excuse?) for Obama's continuing/building a troop presence in AFGHANISTAN is the 9/11 attacks and Al Qaida. This only works if a valid investigation of the events of 9/11 is ignored!
Thom's response was to the effect that, since there's been no further clarification of the events of 9/11 that differ with the conventional Bush Administration explanation, we are stuck with it.
Huh? That's a cave-in, Thom.
That's like saying any number of delusional explanations are justification for realworld actions. Truly.
The U.S. when it fomented the Russian presence in Afghanistan (thanks to Bzrezinski) is already responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Afghans. Are we now going to do more damage, destabliization and deathdealing there for the 9/11 Lie?
Look at this recent study finding the presence of nanotechnologized thermite (I think I'm reading this correctly, but check it out) in the dust samples from the 9/11 WTC collapse.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13049
Escalating U.S. presence in Afghanistan based on a HOAX is criminal. We must NOT accept being stuck with a HOAX. We must not.
Hi Susan-
I have a friend who consults for corporations and he cites a new form of organization as 'Chaos management.'- Seriously. This could be the best way to fight these SOBS. Then, we might also employ the Sparticus clause- where we are all just angry Americans and this is better than an organized movement, where all they have to do is to take out the top guy.
It took years of 'taking to the streets" to bring an end to the Vietnam War and force LBJ out of office. I don't think all the blogging, emails, phone calls, letter writing, etc. is going to make Obama "do it" until We the People take to the streets now. If we who object to Obama's complicity in what has been done in our name, don't March on Washington and into the offices of our representatives., they will continue to make excuses while they bring down this "Great Experiment" of America.
The Bush Administration and all of those who allowed him to get away with what they did are nothing short of traitors to this country and should be dealt with as such. We knew they were criminals, but Obama is supposed to be the "guy in the white hat". How can he face his own children and explain why he allowed those who committed the most horrendous crimes against humanity, go free and unpunished for their crimes. Is this how you raise children to be moral people and respectful citizens?
I was terrified of the Bush Administration, because I believed at the time, they might not give up their offices. My faith in the American People was restored when we elected Obama. Now I find myself even more terrified than I was before. If the man who was going bring us back to our true moral standing, is going to support the criminals, what chance do we have?
When are we going to take to the streets again? I'm 70 years old and participated in the marches and protests of the 60's & 70's and I can tell you I'd be ready to go out again, if someone with more strength and energy than I have today would organize it.
Truesue
Petaluma, CA
Woah! Where can we get a copy of that Mein Karmpf rant on Jews into which you substituted the word liberal? A book you wrote? An article? One for which you will write?
RE Waterboarding - Perhaps, an appropriate civil manifestation/demonstration would be for folks to gather with a short 1-2' stretch of hose and a five gallon bucket, using the bucket as a drum and the hose as a drumstick.
Voiceless. Beating once for every life lost or for every time we engaged in the behavior.
It would be loud. It would be orderly. It would be on point with the message.
Spain’s torture probe kept alive by judge
http://rawstory.com/08/blog/2009/04/17/spains-torture-probe-all-but-doom...
thomhartmann.....[b]REALNEWS has a video about the Georgian Ossetian conflict.....they do an interview where it's shown that this entire invasion was done to help John McCain in his presidential bid[/b]...... http://therealnews.com/t/
One more thing, the precedent being set here is not only the employee can always just scream "my boss told me to kill that girl" but the employer- can always say - my employee is just saying that and I, like Charles Manson, never did anything.
Would Charles Manson go to jail under the logic Barack Obama just used in letting these bastards off?
Make Me- said FDR Great call because I can remember working on the campaign and saying to myself that if my faith in Obama ever waivered it was because he was in trouble. The ambience of the campaign was that he was going to do the best he could, but would not be able to guarantee anything especially without our help. And that we go to work November 5th.. So thx for the comment line number!.
I just made my calls to my congress person and had to do a lot of education with the rep. My call to action was at least one year in jail for these bastards. Hopefully, Obama struck a deal with these monsters to get some goods on Bush.
The Peppermint Patty gal in the photo with the leash on the Iraqi was given how many years in prison. even a favorite local radio person here locally out of SF took a stance on saying torture was okay and was completely illiterate about how the results of this torture gave us the wrong information to go to an illegal war. And note- why is it the miliary that are against torture having done their own studies versus the masses of misinformed America.
Al Gore documents this false information based on torture in his book, Assault on Reason.
Again, hopefully Obama struck a deal with the little fish to give us the goods on the big fish.
Touching was the caller to Bernie - how do I tell my son to become a decent human being when our leaders are so unethical and go without consequences?
What about our founders views on torture....(from CommonDreams)
"In 1776," wrote historian David Hackett Fischer in "Washington's Crossing," "American leaders believed it was not enough to win the war. They also had to win in a way that was consistent with the values of their society and the principles of their cause. One of their greatest achievements … was to manage the war in a manner that was true to the expanding humanitarian ideals of the American Revolution."
How can ANYONE who reveres the American founders support torture???
Wakeup, America! I'm beggin you!
Senator Al Franken. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? It's only a matter of time! Let's all throw our shoulders against this boulder, and get it rolling down the hill!
7mins40secs into hour 2 podcast Roger Hedgecock was disingenuous in distancing himself from other conservative talkers. Roger Hedgecock has substituted for Rush Limbaugh (I call him Limberger because his politics stink like the kind of cheese) for 10 years.
Palestinians don't have a mindset that would support peace. All or a small minority that grows every time IDF tries to get security for Jews at Palestinian expense with disproportionate use of force?
A small but vocal and influential segment of Israelis don't have a mindset that would support peace either. Israeli West Bankers who attack Palestinians (some caught on digital cameras by B'Tselem 'shooting back' program documented on Dec 26, 2007 Democracy Now). Other radical Judaicist (analogous to radical Islamist) Israelis who put a pipe bomb in Zeev Sternhell's office is another example. Israelis who offer 1 million shekel rewards for killing Peace Now members is another example.
Violence by Israelis toward Palestinians is underreported in the USA because of Israel media lobby groups like camera.org, honestreporting.com, primer.org, eyeonthepost.org and their ilk who have twisted the idea of advocating for accurate, objective reporting into disputing reporting which could have an influence on future events that those disputing the reporting don't want. Reporters or editors like Philip Bennett, John W. Anderson, Molly Moore, Patrick Cox and Griff Witte and Scott Wilson, Greg Myre and Stephen Erlanger have lost jobs or been assigned to new beats after being made objects of 'biased reporting' controversies. Camera.org has an alphabetized list of reporters on their site (like campuswatch.org lists of college faculty who don't teach according to zionist, Judaicist narratives of modern Israeli history) who have mostly been the objects of their controversy start-ups for reporting which could have an influence on events camera doesn't want that camera twists into 'bias' complaints. I have only seen one reporter, Aaron Schacter of PRI/NPR, praised for his work on the site. Other reporters get intimidated by seeing their professional colleagues' reputations slandered.
Don't dispute this with the 'moral equivalence' construct. All the term 'moral equivalence' means in most public discourse about Israeli-Palestinian conflict is 'don't compare negative Israeli and Palestinian actions if Israel looks worse in the comparison.' David Bernstein, American Jewish Committee, got a column in Aug 10, 2006 Wash Post defending Israel's second killing of civilians at Qana, Lebanon in 10 years with the 'regrettable accident' defense. He compared it to USA accidental bombing of the China embassy in Belgrade, Serbia. I never heard anyone call that 'moral equivalence.'
I am curious to hear your viewpoint on a few issues if at all possible. I have a sister who is very right-wing and actually appears to be losing her sensibilities a little bit. She claims the original Boston Tea Party was actually a revolt partially against the Bank of England, and now England is in worse shape than the U.S. I don't follow her train of thought on that one at all, nor do I understand her claim that the revolt was against the Bank of England. Her big issue on our current economic situation is that The Fed caused the economic crisis, is unconstitutional because the responsibility to coin money is that of Congress and no one else, and the government should be coining our money and lending it to the taxpayers interest-free. I am so sick of hearing about this. Every time any issue comes up on the economy, she reverts to these claims and can see no practical solutions outside of this. Does anyone out there have any thoughts on this? It seems to be a fairly widespread belief amongst these people that it is all The Fed's fault, nothing to do with Bush's "Ownership Society" failure or anything actually relevant or practical. Has anyone else heard this from The Right recently? Is this another bit of propaganda Fox News is perpetuating or where is it coming from? Cheers, Thom and fans - love the show!
Tom: I was lucky enough to tune in yesterday, wanted to call in, but we're on a delayed feed. Some comments regarding the issues with Mr. Ibrahim Hooper:
There's good news and bad news in what Mr. Hooper said when you asked him about what Americans should do (engage or lay-off). The good news is that Hooper, like me (more later), states that he believes in fairness and making sure that all extremism is condemned wherever it comes from. The bad news is that most people, including those of groups like those Mr Hooper belong to, don't walk the talk.
But that's not totally their fault. We live in a sound-byte media age. CNN, MSNBC and FOX love confrontation for the sake of ratings boost ("great television"). Unfortunately, even PBS will play the game. I wish they would work toward the commonality of their views, ways to resolve issues, etc. rather than promoting the differences and the scapegoating that goes along with it.
I believe one way to marginalize the extremists such as Al-Qaida is to make them debate. Get them out from under their cover and face their philosophical opposition. I think they'll get their butt kicked. Best to do this (for Al-Qaida) in a Muslim country such as Pakistan with their equivalent of Tim Russert. Make sure the opposition has strong religious credentials so that religious texts can be quoted appropriately or that Bin-Laden/Zawahari quotes can be dismissed (Bhutto tried to do that before she was murdered).
In a letter to the editor of the NY Times back in September 2006 I tried to put in 150-words-or-less some of this philosophy, and I emailed expanded versions of this to several people. The letter was in response to a Tom Friedman article on Islam, but what he said applies to all religions and extreme nationalists.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06EEDF1430F931A35753C1A...
Any thoughts out there?
Alan
P.S. I noticed in another blog entry that Thom mentions Mr. Walid Shoebat, a Palestinian who was once a terrorist that converted to Christianity. I saw Mr. Shoebat speak. He believes that the Palestinains are "hopelessly poisoned" by the extremists, and the only hope Israel has is to fight them and win. If you believe in the possibility of dialogue I don't think you'll agree with Shoebat, because he thinks that the Palestinians do not have a mindset that would support peace.
The hitch pin of this whole situation is that the EITC had a full blown army, provided free of charge, to force the colonies to submit to their control of the market ,as well as, their ability to level dominance to the point of causing wide spread poverty. This is the same problem we have here in America. The huge corporations own our government through lobbing and entwined interests of our leaders . They continue to force trade laws on us that are causing poverty and destroying avenues of financial independence among us, the children of these same colonists.
However, in this century we do not have such a recourse as these early protesters. The US Army with modern war technology can not be gotten around. This army has been openly displayed to Americans in a message to intimidate them. The US army's allegiance is to the big corporations that control our government. The message has been clear with media lap dogs making sure we know all about homeland terrorists and how great tasars work and how many FEMA camps are ready to go. Lock and Load boys, Lock and Load.
Anyone destroying Walmart or Haliburton's property or standing in their way in any way would not escape death or imprisonment period. The modern day Tea-Party yesterday didn't cause any punitive actions on the aggressors as did the loss of the merchandise in the original tea party. Similarly, our disdain and the consequent detriment to our lives is of no interest to those in power and will simply be forgotten. I haven't even heard that anyone in power even had anything to say about it or what they thought it meant. It seems to be much to do about nothing in their view. What's new? Liberal media has set out to cast disparagement. Which was well earned in many instances. The racism ruined it.
Similarly, we are supposed to be being helped by tax relief. I can tell ya from most people's point of view this is just more of the same. What's so great about getting temporary tax cuts on wages that don't cover a minimum standard of life. Oh boy, and anyone who has been unemployed for a while probably won't be receiving any tax cuts because they had no income. The same people suffering the most will get zip. AGAIN. How many ways can one government say they don't give a damn and won't be doing anything.?? We need jobs with living wages. We need to be able to compete in the economy which we live in. It's simple. Is our government interested in this? Apparently not.
Andrew- I think you're reading a little bit too much into it and drawing conclusions that aren't really there. I could see the argument purporting free enterprise, but not free market, and there's quite a distinction to be noted between the two. Also, the protest was against a monopoly that just so happened to be helped into being by the government. It was a revolt against the colonies being unable to compete because of the size and advantage of the corporation. It wasn't simply an anti-government sentiment. I would hope that in light of the most recent economic events, you can see the need for regulation in various aspects of the market as a whole.
Yesterday, Huffington Post published an article detailing with how much the taxpayers of each state has to make up due to the the $100 billion dollars lost through corporate off shore tax shelters. The faux Tea Party yesterday certainly missed the point of the original as Thom's piece describes where they should be protesting these Corporations that are failing to pay.
http://tinyurl.com/ctaj69
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thenewswire/archive/taxes.html
Yes, just like the one caller said it. It's cultural. Back in the 7th century Arabs were looking for their own messiah. Their culture and lifestyle did not go well with the preachings of Jesus or any of the other. Many tried to show them the way, but it simply did not fit into how they wanted to live. When Mahammed came along, he was the closest thing to what the Arab nations were desperate to follow. They've always had the violent commonality in them. The way I see it the core of 3 majot religions, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism is love. Islam is the opposite, and I don't want to hear this 1% is the bad apple crap, 'cause if it was then the so called 99% who oppose it can get rid of the bad apple. Why not? because 50-60% support the cause. Rest of the non-Muslims don't have to do squat for them to find peace in themselves unless they start acting like civilized humans and stop demoralizing their women and cut people's heads off, to start off with.. again it's in their culture to do it, religion is something they want to hold and go by.
Just because OPIUM from Afghanistan may not end up in legal uses does NOT mean the PROFITS are not ending up in the pockets of the Rich oligarchs who also get rich on legal opium!
OPIUM history is a history of the Rich, the Oligarchy...Thom needs to read up on the "Boston Brahmins" and their source of wealth!
When slavery was outlawed, the Rich of Bostonians who dealt in slave trading/shipping needed a new commerce, and they found it in imitating the British (who dealt in opium with the Chinese), and the opiate trade picked up. Fine families of high 'breeding' got richer in the opium trader, and I suspect not much has changed!
I agree with Thom's caller who indicated that, like oil being the resource covetted in the Iraq 'War', opium (grown for centuries in Afghanistan) is the resource at the center of the desire to dominate Afghanistan. Thom should read up on the Boston Brahmins to check out the background of all-American drug-dealing.
Doing a segment on the history of drug-dealing (and these drugs were not illegal in the 1800s) would make a great show!
When the Dems are in power, the "extremists" are the Rightwing activists and /or crazies. When the Reps are in power, the "extremists" are the Leftwing activists and/or crazies.
At least three things to ask why about:
1. What the Hades does "extremist" MEAN anyway??? (Thom used the term today with authority, and I was surprised that he'd do that.) 'Extremist' is a totally relative term, determined by the so-called cultural 'norm' -- and WHO decides what that 'norm' is? Evidently the Dems do when they're in power and the Reps do when they're in power. The term is more than a little loose then, don't you think?
2. When the Reps tail and tap and demonize vegans and Quakers, you know there is a BIG problem. When Dems attempt to entrap and frame people (like at Ruby Ridge) and children get burned alive (like at Waco), you know there is a big problem. And when BOTH maintain a U.S. citizen "No-Fly List" of millions of names, you know there is a problem.
3. The creation of the demonized "extremist" class means the Oligarchy in control of government can then maneuver to have a ready demon with which to do its usual smoke and mirrors provocateur/false flag terror fake terrorist cells and events. This opens the door for the following HORRIBLE things:
a. It opens the door to the black heart of fear-mongering and bigtime propaganda
b. It permits the use of that propaganda to promote wars, war-profiteering
c.. AND it is used to justify the loss of civil liberties and the growth of oppressive, repressive government regimes!
4. Cultural growth/advancement can come from pressure exerted by activists, so this orchestrated, controlled marginalization of activists (lumping them together with crazies under the term 'extremist') is a dangerous thing for everybody with the exception of those in control (the Oligarchy).
Thom, very interesting article, thank you. But your description of the Tea Party actually confirms libertarian free-market beliefs. The Tea Party was protesting a GOVERMENT-created monopoly. That is exactly what libertarians today want to insure doesn't happen again and why they believe in the free market. That's why they don't want a nationalized economy. And that is why they don't want taxes used for government intervention in the market. As you say, the government used laws and regulations to bailout the East India Company and it created a morally hazardous power. As much as I enjoyed the article, I'm confused how it does anything except provide more evidence for free market arguments. Maybe you should try to get it published in Reason or Cato's blog. I think they would appreciate what a great pro free market argument it is.