Thom debates the Republicans' refusal of providing victims of natural disasters the necessary amount of government funds for recovery. He also explores Republicans' and Democrats' definition of freedom in America.

Elizabeth Warren is running for the United States Senate from Massachusetts against incumbent Republican Scott Brown & according to a new poll from Public Policy Polling - she's winning. And THIS is the reason why she's winning. She cut right through the poll-tested BS about job creators - and class warfare - and got right to the heart of what's going on in America - where our social contract has been broken by greed - and the middle class is dying.

Your Take/My Take is your chance to have your questions, opinions and criticism heard, here on the Big Picture. Tonight - Ed tweeted to say:"Should murderers suffer the 'maximum the law allows'? Speak out, Mr. Hartmann, please." Plus Thom reacts to Bill who posted on Facebook......"My mom says I can't listen to you anymore. I'm learning too many 'bad' words."

The Good! Congressman Phil Roe. While I may disagree with the Republican from Tennessee on practically EVERYTHING - he did save a man's life yesterday - and that deserves recognition. The Bad! South Carolina Republicans. Even though President Obama released his birth certificate back in April - birtherism is still alive and well in the Palmetto State. And the very, very Ugly...Rick Santorum. In an interview yesterday with Politico - Santorum went after Google - accusing the internet giant of having an agenda against him and negatively impacting the country....

On Cloud 9. Space icon Buzz Aldrin has somehow stepped into a sex scandal. The 81-year-old former astronaut who was the second man ever to step foot on the moon - recently started a new fling with a woman 30 years his junior. The only problem is - Buzz has been married to a different woman for more than 20 years. Despite that - Buzz has been seen "making out like teenagers" with his new woman - and his wife is giving interviews claiming that Buzz is just having a mid-life crisis...at the age of 81. Unclear what really prompted Buzz's infidelities - but I'd guess he just wants to join the 250000 mile high club.

Sarah Anderson, Global Economy Project, Institute for Policy Studies joins Thom. Ron Suskind's book "Confidence Men" hit shelves yesterday - and the nation is catching wind of just how many of President Obama's progressive policies were sabotaged by his closest economic advisors. One of those policies was a financial transaction tax. According to Suskind's book - President Obama wanted to push for a new financial transaction tax - basically a small tax on every stock or derivative - or whatever financial thingamabob - is traded. Not only would a financial transaction tax - or FTT - curb excessive speculation in the markets - and discourage robots from making millions of trades a day as they do now - but it would also raise some much needed revenue for the government which was dealing with a deficit problem. But one of the President's top economic advisors - Lawrence Summers - nixed the idea entirely. In fact - Lawrence Summers' name comes up repeatedly in Suskind's book - as a person who was not only disrespectful to the President - but also kneecapped most of what the President wanted to do in those first few months in office as the White House tried to deal with a crisis on Wall Street.

Jamie Weinstein, Daily Caller & Brian Darling, Human Events. Are Republicans taking victims of Hurricane Irene hostage just to shut down the government? My panel of experts in tonight's Lone Liberal Rumble will weigh in on this issue - as well as another very important question that needs to be discussed more in America...What is freedom?

Renowned civil rights leader, Reverend Jesse Jackson talks about Troy Davis' pending execution for September 21st and the measures him and other organizations are taking to claim justice for Davis. Later in the show, David Stockman, author, former congressman and former budget director for President Reagan joins Thom for a special edition of "Conversations with Great Minds".

On Fox-so-called-News a young 20 something David Lewis who is has announced his intention to run against John Boehner stated in a rebuttal to Neil Cavuto said, "Well, John Boehner is a socialist. I'm not calling him names. Here is someone that refuses to phase out Social Security." There's a whole segment of young people just now coming of age to vote - who have no idea where they came from - where they are - and seem to just barely remember their own name - just like Jason Bourne. Just like Jason Bourne doesn't remember his earlier life - David Lewis doesn't remember America's earlier life - under the New Deal years of the 1940s, fifties, sixties, seventies, and early eighties - when the middle class thrived - and our social safety nets allowed more and more Americans to pursue the American Dream. Without that memory - Lewis believes in a fantasy - a fantasy about the power of this magical thing called the "free-market" - a fantasy that societies can function just fine without a government - a fantasy that if we all act selfishly, then we'll all prosper. It's a fantasy, because it's never, ever worked in the history of the world anywhere it's ever been tried...just look at Somalia. In the movies - Jason Bourne slowly recovered his lost memory - and it helped him discover where he came from - and where he needs to go. But we can't just wait and hope that people like David Lewis suddenly recover from the "Great Forgetting"

Ian Millhiser, Center for American Progress joins Thom Hartmann. In our "How Republicans are rigging the 2012 election" news...the Department of Justice smacked down Texas yesterday - claiming that Governor Rick Perry is in violation of the Voting Rights Act - with his approval of the Lone Star state's redistricting plan. Every ten years - state legislatures carve up congressional districts in their states based on the latest census data information. And in Texas this year - Republican lawmakers deliberately carved up the state to marginalize and weaken Latino voters by splitting up minority communities - and making sure they were included in districts with overwhelming majorities of Republican voters. The DOJ argues Rick Perry's new redistricting plan violates section 5 of the Voting Rights Act - which forces lawmakers to "maintain or increase the ability of minority voters to elect their candidate of choice in each district." Under normal procedures - state legislatures have to seek prior approval by the DOJ for new redistricting - but Texas skipped that step. Now - a hearing is scheduled for Wednesday where a 3-judge panel will issue a final ruling. But Republicans in Texas aren't alone - there are efforts all around the nation - in places like Pennsylvania and Nebraska - to rig next year's election - even before any candidates have been selected

Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rainbow PUSH Coalition joins Thom Hartmann. The clock is ticking on Troy Davis. This morning - in a last ditch effort to save him from lethal injection scheduled for less than 22 hours from now - Davis was denied clemency by a Georgia paroles board. Davis was convicted of murdering a police officer in 1989 - but today - nearly all of the witnesses who implicated him have recanted their testimony and are now claiming someone else committed the murder. Not only that - there has never been any hard evidence - be it a murder weapon or DNA - to tie Davis to the murder. If there was such a thing as "reasonable doubt" then this is it - yet, as of right now - he's still slated to die. Over a million people have signed petitions to save Davis's life - and former President Jimmy Carter - as well as the Pope have come forward to call for a stop to the execution. So far - nothing has worked

Tonight we have a special edition of Conversations with Great Minds is David Stockman. He is a former United States congressman - representing the state of Michigan - who was elected to three terms before stepping down to head up the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan in 1981. He is credited with writing the Reagan Budget - and continued his work on federal budgeting through 1985. After leaving politics, David Stockman pursued a career in investment banking and joined Blackstone Group as one of its earliest partners. He is the author of the book, "Triumph of Politics: How the Reagan Revolution Failed" and his new book - tentatively titled "The Triumph of Crony Capitalism" - will explore how crony capitalism reached a peak during the recent financial meltdown. David talk to Thom about Reagan would be raising taxes right now, the republican party has gone crazy and we need to get control of the Fed.

Tonight we have a special edition of Conversations with Great Minds is David Stockman. He is a former United States congressman - representing the state of Michigan - who was elected to three terms before stepping down to head up the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan in 1981. He is credited with writing the Reagan Budget - and continued his work on federal budgeting through 1985. After leaving politics, David Stockman pursued a career in investment banking and joined Blackstone Group as one of its earliest partners. He is the author of the book, "Triumph of Politics: How the Reagan Revolution Failed" and his new book - tentatively titled "The Triumph of Crony Capitalism" - will explore how crony capitalism reached a peak during the recent financial meltdown. David talk to Thom about Reagan would be raising taxes right now, the Republican party has gone crazy and we need to get control of the Fed.

Thom discusses President Obama's "Buffett Rule" and the Republicans' objection to the proposed tax plan. Later in the show, a panelist of nuclear experts updates the latest developments involving the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Who's the latest victim of the right-wing spin machine? The entire news media itself. From Fukushima to class warfare - It's the media! Stupid.