Thom discusses how the United States serves as a massive haven for international tax cheats. Later in the show, Thom leads the Lone Liberal Rumble with conservatives Heather Cirmo and Amanda Carey.

Senator Tom Coburn dropped out of the Gang - a group of 3 Republican and 3 Democratic Senators given the task of writing the 2012 Budget. Whatever happened to the old-fashioned idea of open debate - on the floor of the House and Senate with all of our elected representatives taking part - to determine the best path for America?

The "Lone Liberal" Rumble where Thom Hartmann takes on two of this city's most savvy Conservative political commentators to debate the week's biggest issues with Heather Cirmo,440 Group Public Relations & Amanda Carey, DailyCaller.com.

The House Amed Services Committee recently passed the National Defense Authorization Act - a bill that authorizes funding to the Department of Defense and the Constitution requires must be passed at least every two years. And buried deep within the bill - in Section 1034 - there's a provision that reads: "Congress affirms that - the United States is engaged in an armed conflict with al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated forces and that those entities continue to pose a threat to the United States and its citizens...the President has the authority to use all necessary and appropriate force during the current armed conflict...pursuant to the Authorization for Use of Military Force...until the termination of hostilities." In other words - it lets the President commit our nation to endless war until every single terrorist is dead. And if Obama doesn't want to take advantage of it, you can bet if we get another Bush into office, he will. The ACLU calls the provision: " single biggest hand-over of unchecked war authority from Congress to the executive branch in modern American history."

Thom discusses Indiana Supreme Court's decision to toss out the fourth amendment, which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures without probable cause.

Coming from mostly Conservative states - the Blue Dogs made a calculated political maneuver to sabotage the progressive agenda in the hopes of winning re-election in 2010. It wasn't about doing what's best for America - it was about bringing in the corporate campaign contributions to be re-elected in 2 years. So - just like the Republicans - the Blue Dogs opened their office doors to lobbyists from Wall Street - Big Oil - and the Health Insurance industry and said, "What would you like me to do for you?"

Coal Cares offers a line of customized inhalers for asthmatic kids including ones decorated with Elmo - Miley Cyrus - or diamond bling. It's their way to make using an inhaler cool - and Coal Cares is offering them free of charge to any kids living within 200 miles of a coal plant. If this site seems a little too unbelievable to be true...that's because it is...it's not real. It's a project created by the YES Lab and a group called "Coal is Killing Kids" to raise awareness about the effect of dirty coal's externalities - as in the diseases that hit communities thanks to pollution with Laurel Whitney, Environmental Consultant - Yes Lab

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid brought a bill to the floor of the Senate that cuts off taxpayer subsidies to the 5 most profitable oil companies. Unfortunately - it didn't receive enough votes to overcome a Republican filibuster. Meanwhile - the news of these subsidies is reverberating in Congressional districts around the country - where Republicans are catching flak from their constituents for handing over billions of dollars in taxpayer money to some of the most profitable corporations in the history of the world...while pretending to be concerned about the deficit. And what's the Republican strategy to deflect this criticism? Pretend like the oil subsidies don't even exist! with Jamie Weinstein - DailyCaller.com

Members of Indiana's Supreme Court are planning to scrap the 4th amendment... you know the one which protects people from unlawful entry or searches inside their homes. So if the high court get their way, who can the people of the Hoosier state trust? with Cliff Schecter, Progressive PR Strategist.

Thom discusses the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the potential negative effects his arrest could cause the financial climate of Europe. Later in the show, Thom dissects why America reached its debt ceiling and how the country can recover.

Could it be that Republicans REALLY DO wants us to default? That they want to bring about the next Great Depression to forever link President Obama and the Democrats with economic disaster - just like what happened to Herbert Hoover? Is this the "scorched earth policy" that Republicans talked about when Obama won the presidency - and they're doing it to destroy the Democrats for a generation, the way Hoover destroyed the Republicans? We'll find out - but something tells me that even they don't understand just how bad things could get if we do end up defaulting on our debt.

The Japanese Government widened the evacuation zone surrounding the melted down Fukushima nuclear plant. More than 5000 people left their homes on Sunday after being exposed to high levels of radiation. It is now known that a nuclear meltdown did occur inside 3 reactors at the plant. There are currently over 3000 tons of highly radioactive wastewater underneath reactor one that shouldn't be there - and Japanese officials are scrambling to figure out a way to get it out of there. So what do these new developments mean for Japanese officials who were hoping to have the disaster contained in the coming months? Joining Thom Hartmann is Paul Gunter, Reactor Oversight Project.

In the case of Senator Ensign - we learned how far a man of power is willing to go to make sure he gets the woman he wants. Using his power - and lots of money - he issued ultimatums to his mistress to keep her quiet - saying that her job hangs in the balance if she doesn't see him. And once the affair was found out - he again used his money and power to keep it from going public - before eventually firing both his mistress and her husband when she was no longer sleeping with him. Similarly - there are more allegations coming out against IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Khan. While women in America often face an uphill battle and feminists are under attack from right-wing groups like the Independent Women's Forum, funded by male oil oligarchs, other countries are taking the lead in making the world less hostile for women. Joining Thom Hartmann is Jeff Sharlet, The Family and Adele Stan, Washington Bureau Chief for Alternet.

Thom is joined by economist and author, Richard Wolff for "Conversations with Great Minds". In the first half hour, they discuss Wolff's latest book which highlights that deep economic structures—the relationship of wages to profits, of workers to boards of directors, and of debts to income—account for the economic crisis. Later in the show, Thom leads a panel discussing the week's hottest news topics in the "Weekly Rumble".

Last week - a slew of big oil executives were paraded in front of the Senate Finance Committee to defend why they need tens of billions of dollars in oil subsidies courtesy of you and me the taxpayer. And let's just say the Senators had a hard time understanding why this money is well spent. Based on that - you'd think that our lawmakers would get to work cutting off those subsidies immediately - wouldn't you? But the truth is...you're just watching a show.