With Daniel Halper, Weekly Standard & Heather Cirmo, Conservative Strategist. It's the "Lone Liberal" where Thom Hartmann takes on two expert conservative commentators to debate the week's biggest stories.

There's a bad taste in the collective mouth of Democrats around the country - one day after the Republican-written debt-limit deal that slashes away at programs assisting working and middle class families around the country became law. And to make matters worse - with this Republican-manufactured debt crisis resolved...for now at least - and Democrats finally able to get back to work doing what Americans worry most about: - stimulating the economy and creating jobs - Republicans decided to shut down the House of Representative and go on a five-week vacation. Once again - putting the economy on the back burner. So what happens next? What can Democrats do now to make job creation the top priority again - and how can this Tea Party Republican momentum in Congress to harm our economy be reversed?

Thom speaks with renowned economist and author, Richard Wolff about the economic effects from the debt deal reached between the House and the Senate. Later in the show, Kevin Kamps discusses the latest detection of the highest levels of radiation at the Fukushima plant in Japan.

If a plane falls out of the sky this month - blame Speaker of the House John Boehner and His little buddy, Eric Cantor. Within hours of passing their job-killing - economy-destroying - Ayn Rand-loving debt-limit deal - Republicans shut down the House of Representatives and flew back home to enjoy a five-week long vacation. Unfortunately - they left some unfinished businesses behind in Washington - namely - funding the Federal Aviation Administration. And less than an hour ago - Senate negotiators also gave up trying to end a stalemate over temporary funding for the FAA until Congress gets back from its recess in the fall

"Your Take - My Take" is YOUR chance to send in your questions, comments, rants and observations about anything we talk about here on The Big Picture or during my radio show. And it's my chance to give you my take on it one more time.

Nearly five months after the earthquake and tsunami - Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant is still spewing radiation. Yesterday - Tokyo Electric Power Company said it detected the highest radiation levels to date at the crippled nuclear facility - recording ten thousand milliSieverts an hour - the maximum level the devices can even measure. The measures were taken just outside ventilation stacks in reactors one and two - reactors we saw explode in the weeks after the quake and tsunami. So what's going on here? Could the nuclear crisis in Japan ACTUALLY be worsening after 5 months? Here to shed some light on this issue is Kevin Kamps - Nuclear Waste Watchdog at Beyond Nuclear

The billionaire Koch brothers have moved in and are attacking democracy in the state. With recall elections against Republican state senators just around the corner - the Koch-funded Astroturf group Americans for Prosperity is reaching into their bag of dirty tricks to keep their buddies in power at any cost. The group is sending what look like absentee ballots - but with late return dates written on them - to trick Democratic voters in two districts where Republicans are facing recall. The fliers urge Democrats to turn in their ballots by August 11th - even though the election is August 9th. Very clever...But besides blatant - and possibly illegal - voter suppression - Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity is also spending the big bucks on slanted TV ads - purchasing $150000 in television ad time in Milwaukee. Wisconsin Democrats have filed a complaint against Americans For Prosperity demanding they stop the voter suppression tactics. For more on this - Thom is joined by the State Representative Jennifer Shilling, one of the six Democrats running to unseat incumbent Republicans in the Wisconsin recall elections next Tuesday.

Unfortunately - adding jobs is the LAST thing this debt-deal will do. As the non-partisan Economic Policy Institute estimated - thanks to deep spending cuts - this deal will cost America 1.8 million jobs - and suck $241 billion out of our GDP. Unlike Obamacare - this debt-limit deal IS ACTUALLY a "job-killer." And it was passed on the same day that we learned growth in our manufacturing sector hit a brick wall. Manufacturing fell 5% in July - down to its lowest levels in 2 years - signaling a double-dip recession is just around the corner. So did President Obama just hand Republicans what they wanted in this debt-deal - a bill that will crash the US economy before the 2012 elections? Here to offer some answers is economist Richard Wolffe - Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts - and Author of Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It.

If the President is planning to fight for balance in the next phase of this process - he's already losing. Not only will it be an uphill battle to peel off just one Republican in this "Super Congress" gang of twelve to support raising taxes on billionaires - he will then need to get a majority of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to support raising taxes on billionaires - something that as we've learned now is virtually impossible. So IF - and that's a big IF - revenue rasiers make it out of the Gang of Twelve - they will die in the House - which will then set off the automatic deficit reduction triggers that guess what...have no revenue raisers in them! The triggers will cut $1.5 trillion more dollars - including $750 billion from programs that mostly help working and middle class families. So it's reasonable to assume that the next phase of this debt-limit deal will be just like the first phase - spending cuts only. So does the President REALLY think this debt-deal will be balanced - and if so - why didn't he include revenue raisers in the automatic trigger? Joining Thom Hartmann is Tommy Christopher - media correspondent and White House reporter at Mediaite.com

Thom talks about the potential economic backlash and later effects of the last minute debt deal with economist Susan Feinberg. Later in the show, he debates the issue of Governor Rick Scott's decision to fund private charter schools instead of applying the much needed funds to Florida's public school systems.

The reason why Republicans won this debt-limit debate - is the same reason that they've won nearly every single economics debate for the last 30 years in America. And that reason is...we've all forgotten the America of the middle 20th Century - a time when government worked. And if we don't remember it soon - if the Tea Party zombies and Ron Paul worshippers don't wake up from this coolective amnesia - then the corporations WILL take full control of America. And I can promise you whatever problems you may have with Uncle Sam today - will pale in comparison to the institutionalized crimes of a United States of Goldman Sachs

"Your Take - My Take" is YOUR chance to send in your questions, comments, rants and observations about anything we talk about here on The Big Picture or during my radio show. Todays comments and Qs are about party ideology, shared sacrifice from wealthy corporations, and the difference between selfishness and sharing.

Elizabeth Warren, Steve Doocy & Pamela Geller join - The Good, the Bad, and the very very veneniferously Ugly.

David Selig, Conservative Commentator joins Thom. Our public education system is under attack. Down in Florida - Governor Rick Scott and his Republican cohorts in the state legislature are starving public schools. $55 million dollars intended to go to repairing aging public school facilities - was instead redirected to exclusively fund for-profit charter schools. In total - about 350 for-profit schools will share the $55 million - leaving over 3000 public schools that desperately need money left holding an empty bag. Not only that - President Obama's Secretary of Education - Arne Duncan - just announced $49 million in federal education grants that will also go exclusively to New York and Florida for-profit charter schools. And President Obama's 2012 budget calls for $372 million to go to for-profit charter schools all around the nation. So here we are outsourcing the education of our children to corporate CEOs and religious leaders - neither of whom care about ACTUALLY preparing our kids for the jobs of the 21st century and competing with China - but instead only care about profits. So is this really the sort of education policy we should be pursuing in America?

President Obama said this nation was birthed in compromise - not so - says Thom Hartmann.