Friday, July 15, 2011

Thom Hartmann: Does anyone else hear the fiddle playing as the nation burns?

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Another day - another credit rating agency warning about our debt. On the heels of Moody's threatening to downgrade our nation's debt rating on Wednesday - the S&P rating agency fired a warning shot too - putting our nation's triple AAA rating on negative watch. In a statement released yesterday - S&P said, "owing to the dynamics of the political debate on the debt ceiling, there is at least a one-in-two likelihood that we could lower the long-term rating on the U.S. within the next 90 days."

That's right - there's a 50-50 chance the United State will be downgraded to a nation with a spotty record of paying our bills. Even if a deal is made - S&P warns - our credit rating could still be downgraded if the agency doesn't feel enough has been done to solve the problem for the long term which puts Republicans short-term solutions off the table. Meanwhile - another round of talks at the White House pushed the President into laying down a deadline for a deal. "It's decision time," the President said issuing a 24 to 36 hour deadline for Congress to make a deal on the debt-limit. The house of cards that our economy is built on thanks to 30 years of Reaganomics and so-called Free Trade is now starting to crumble. And last night - lawmakers took to the diamond to play their annual Congressional softball game.

Does anyone else hear the fiddle playing as the nation burns?

-Thom

(And what tune is it playing? Tell us here.)

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Thursday, July 14, 2011

Randi Rhodes: Boo Hoo

Yesterday at the debt ceiling talks, President Obama and Eric Cantor had a big fight. Or judging from the conflicting accounts, they had two completely different big fights. Republicans claim that President Obama yelled at Eric Cantor and then walked out. Democrats claim the meeting ended with Eric Cantor being dressed down while sitting in silence. Both scenarios have Eric Cantor getting wimp-slapped, and that’s the best part of the story anyway. The difference is whether President Obama was losing his cool or not. I tend to think not. Yelling at Eric Cantor is the most logical thing to do in that situation. Who wouldn’t want to yell at Eric Cantor? He should open a booth at the State fair where people could yell at him for a dollar a minute. There goes your debt crisis right there.

INTERACTIVE: If there is no increase of the debt ceiling, how would you prioritize?

Obama said “This may bring my presidency down, but I will not yield on this.” Well at least the first part of that finally got the Republicans’ full attention for the only time during these talks. Obama reportedly asked the leaders “Would Ronald Reagan be sitting here?” Well, if he was, he would be napping. With all due respect, President Obama, you are no Ronald Reagan. And I mean that as the highest compliment possible.

The Daily Show has a great take on Marcus Bachmann’s anti-gay crusading (video below). Marcus Bachmann offers gay conversion therapy? My first question would be, does Dr. Bachmann do a house call to my closet, or do I have to go his closet for the treatments? I’m sorry, but listen to the guy. Marcus Bachmann may have actually found a way to be openly gay while denying that he’s gay the entire time. So it seems Marcus Bachmann’s anti-gay agenda is like the approach of one of those militant anti-smoking ex-smokers. Except I’m not sure that poor Marcus Bachmann ever even allowed himself to enjoy a cigarette. Oh, I’m sure that somewhere down the line, he had a cigarette. I’m just saying he never allowed himself to enjoy it.

Finally, thanks to the efforts of the pharmaceutical industry, antipsychotics are now the biggest selling therapeutic class of prescription drugs in the United States. If you find that upsetting, do try to avoid the temptation to take a pill to deal with it.

Today’s Homework | Discuss


Thom Hartmann: Moody's Investors Service turned its sights on the United States

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One day after downgrading Ireland's credit rating to junk status - Moody's Investors Service turned its sights on the United States. In an announcement released yesterday - Moody's said the United States is in danger of losing its "AAA" credit rating - and has put our nation under review for a credit downgrade. A credit downgrade for the United States could be the first step toward other nations dropping the dollar as their reserve currency - pushing our nation toward collapse - just like what happened to the British Empire after World War 2 when global confidence in the pound was lost.

And with financial calamity around the corner - Republicans now have no argument whatsoever in stopping a debt-limit deal as a new poll by Gallup shows that 74% of REPUBLICANS agree that a good debt-limit deal includes both spending cuts and tax hikes - just like what President Obama has proposed. Yet - after more "testy" negotiations last night at the White House - Republicans still won't play ball. And President Obama seems to be losing his patience with the Republican's dangerous game - reportedly telling Congressional leaders on the Right - "I've reached my limit. This may bring my presidency down, but I will not yield on this."

Not only will a default bring down the presidency - but it will also bring down the nation. And unfortunately, it appears Republicans are willing to accept that trade-off.

-Thom

(What credit rating would you give the US? Tell us here.)

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Thom Hartmann: The Banksters are back to business as usual...

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Homeowners are screwed again. Banksters are laying the groundwork for a second financial crisis. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that private investment firms are once again giving out subprime mortgages to interested homeowners who normally wouldn't qualify for a home loan. It was these exact subprime mortgages that inflated the housing bubble and crashed the economy 3 years ago.

But since Congress failed to pass meaningful Wall Street reform - and Republicans are defunding Wall Street watchdogs - the banksters are back to business as usual - turning the housing market back into a high-stakes casino to gamble with America's economic future.

-Thom

(Do you want the housing bubble reinflated? Tell us here.)

Randi Rhodes:Mitch Blinks & Rupert Caves

Mitch McConnell has a plan to deal with the debt ceiling crisis Link(video below). Of course, the first problem with any plan from Mitch McConnell is that it’s a plan from Mitch McConnell. McConnell’s plan effectively lets Congress empower President Obama to raise the government’s borrowing limit on his own without prior Congressional approval. Yes, no Congressional approval is needed. Mitch just wants more chances to express Congressional disapproval. Republicans refuse to raise the debt limit. They don’t have any problem allowing somebody else to raise the debt limit, however—as long as they can continuously blame them. It’s not exactly kicking the can down the road. It’s more like kicking the can to somebody else and then to start yelling “Hey that guy’s kicking a filthy can around!”

McConnell’s plan would allow the president to demand up to $2.4 trillion in new borrowing authority over the next year in three separate submissions. Well, not so much “borrowing authority” as “borrowing liability.” That’s three times in an election year that Republicans could say “Look what Obama is doing with spending!” ... after they authorized him to do it. In a sense, in this standoff, Mitch McConnell blinked, which is odd, if only because Mitch McConnell never seems to blink in real life. He looks like a parrot that needs a Heimlich maneuver.

Meanwhile, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation today announced they were dropping their bid for complete control of Britain’s main satellite television broadcaster. Maybe Rupert has decided it’s easier and cheaper to hack his way in. In Britain, Murdoch’s News of the World tabloid has hacked thousands of people, from politicians and celebrities, to murdered children. In fact, if our NSA really wanted to illegally spy on the most people possible, they could hardly do better than to find a way to crack into Rupert Murdoch’s cavern of secrets. Murdoch’s minions hacked into the cell phone of a 13-year old girl who had been murdered in Britain, looking for exclusives. Murdoch may have even hacked into the cell phones of 9/11 victims as well, which is the technological equivalent of going around the bodies and rifling through their pockets. And all this time you thought that the worst thing Rupert Murdoch was responsible for was Glenn Beck.

HOUR TWO GUEST: Ring of Fire's Mike Papantonio will join Randi to discuss MurdochGate.

Today’s Homework | Discuss


Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Randi Rhodes: He`s Baaaaack!

Alan Grayson is back in the game! He announced his intention to run for congress again last night and will join us live in today’s second hour.

Alan Grayson's official site

Proving that they are 1) simply unfit to govern and 2) only able to sell their talking points to complete rubes that have no idea how government works, both John Boehner and Eric Cantor are now saying that raising the debt ceiling period IS the GOP’s compromise. When even the US Chamber of Commerce starts sounding the alarm over the GOP holding the nation hostage, it’s pretty clear that they guys have absolutely no intention of seeing the economy turn around before the next election.

While the House GOP engages in economic treason, 2012 presidential wannabe Michele Bachmann’s bigotry-for-profit ‘Christian Counseling’ enterprise is finally getting some media scrutiny. A hidden camera exposé shows that despite repeated denials, Bachmann & Associates does in fact engage in universally discredited pray-the-gay-away therapy. This revelation comes on the heels of Bachmann signing on to The Family Leader’s bizarre, highly-bigoted, slavery and Sharia Law invoking marriage pledge.

Meanwhile, it’s election day in Wisconsin as real Dems take on fake Dem GOP plants in the recall primary and in Southern California it’s the infamous “striper ad election” to fill Rep. Jane Harman’s seat. Also, an Arizona lawmaker points a loaded gun at a reporter, the tea-freaks go to war against energy saving light bulbs, and pizza guy/Muslim-hater Herman Cain’s 15-year old gospel album goes viral.

Today’s Homework | Discuss

Whoopi Goldberg goes off on The Family Leader’s marriage pledge on yesterday’s The View...


Thom Hartmann: The race to the bottom in the labor force is killing the American middle-class...

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A new report by Brookings shows how corporations are forcing Americans to work to the bone for meager wages.

Today - the typical two-parent family has to work 26% longer than back in 1975. And since 1975 - wages have failed to keep up with the longer working hours.

In other words - fat cat CEOs are getting a lot more "bang for the buck" out of their workers today. Which is to be expected now that Americans have to compete for jobs with slave labor in the developing world thanks to so-called Free Trade.

The race to the bottom in the labor force is killing the American middle-class - it's time to ditch so-called Free Trade.

-Thom

(Are you working harder than in 1975? Tell us here.)

Monday, July 11, 2011

Randi Rhodes: Dealing With Children

On the heals of Speaker Agent Orange bailing out on the idea of a ‘grand bargain’ to deal with the nation’s debt, President Obama again blasted the GOP today asking rhetorically, “if not now, when?” Obama said that he would not sign a short-term deal and burned Repubs for their all-talk/no-action approach to dealing with the debt/deficit saying it’s time for us to “pull off the band aid” and “eat our peas” – an apt response to the childish temper tantrum he’s been dealing with. For further evidence of GOP deficit hawk hypocrisy, one need only look at the bloated defense spending bill that the House passed on Friday – they wouldn’t even cut Pentagon NASCAR sponsorships.

Now, understanding the GOP hypocrisy at play here is as easy as understanding the wholly inaccurate twisted myth of Ronald Reagan that they’ve created for themselves. They have no basis in fact or history to back up their philosophies, so they just make up their own facts and history – and there should be no surprise to learn that tea-stained mythology doesn’t lend itself to actual governing. Couple that with half of US social program recipients believing they "have not used a government social program" and you have a perfect storm idiocy and denial that passes for today’s Republican Party.

And It’s been a big weekend for Michele Bachmann: she now leads the pack in Iowa, Tim Pawlenty took a swipe at her “non-existent” record of accomplishment on Meet The Press, and it’s been confirmed that her and husband’s ‘mental health’ clinics do in fact practice ‘ex-gay’ therapy.

Today’s Homework | Discuss

Bill Maher proudly equates the Casey Anthony jury’s thinking to working class Americans who vote against their own best interests...


Thom Hartmann: The Disease of Inequality that's Infecting America

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Our unequal society is killing off hundreds of thousands of Americans every year. A new study by the American Journal of Public Health takes a look at how certain social factors contribute to early deaths. Looking at just the year 2000 - the study found that 245,000 Americans died because they didn't receive a quality education.

More than 160,000 Americans died because of a lack of social support. And - nearly 120,000 people died because of income inequality. Yet - Republicans are worsening the education system by gutting public schools - worsening our social supports by pushing for cuts to the social safety net - and worsening wealth inequality with their massive tax cuts for the rich.

We're not talking about political differences anymore - we're talking about life and death - and the disease of inequality that's infecting America.

-Thom

(What do you think will stop inequality rising? Tell us here.)

Friday, July 8, 2011

Randi Rhodes: So Be It Continues

It's Friday, ya bastids!

In the warped alternate reality that is today’s Republican Party, there is great cause for celebration today: another 39,000 teachers, firefighters, police officers, etc. lost their jobs last month. In fact, over 500,000 public-sector workers have lost their jobs since President Obama took office – as John Boehner would say, “so be it.” No matter what you think of government jobs, 500K fewer paychecks circulating through local communities in a fragile economy means everybody loses. Well, maybe not everybody... CEOs are doing better than ever and Michele Bachmann sees job losses for us as political gains for her. And based on the zero job bills that have come out of the GOP House, Bachmann’s is a view shared by many of her colleagues.

Republican senator Orrin Hatch has had it with those fat-cat poor people not pulling their weight. Unbelievable! Hatch seized on a very misleading report that states 51% of households pay no federal income tax. Of course, the facts behind that statistic tell a very different story. But don’t expect facts to get in Orrin Hatch’s way – if they did, the fact that he is a wholly owned subsidiary of Big Pharma (for which his own son lobbies) would probably keep him from drawing any attention to himself over anything, ever.

Meanwhile, the latest Rupert Murdoch scandal has turned out to be quite a doozy; a Florida sheriff shrugs his shoulders over a mortgage company ordering a man’s home to be burgled and trashed; and God’s speed, Atlantis…

Today’s Homework | Discuss


Thom Hartmann: Could this be the end of "Big Media"?

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Media moguls like Rupert Murdoch suffered a blow yesterday in their bid to take over the nation's news media. The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit struck down an FCC rule that allowed companies to own both a newspaper and a broadcast station in the same market. Back in 1997 - the FCC relaxed laws regarding cross-ownership in the media.

But the court said yesterday that rule change by the FCC was done improperly without giving the public enough time to weigh in on the matter. Corie Wright - policy council for the group "Free Press" - said after the ruling, "the court wisely concluded that competition in the media - not more concentration - will provide Americans with the local news and information they need and want."

Could this be the end of "Big Media"?

Up next is the Supreme Court.

-Thom

(Does it look like the end to you? Tell us here.)

Norman Goldman: Justice is Served, Week in Review July 4-8th 2011

Friday, July 08, 2011

Today, justice is served on the Democratic Party. Serious damage is being done to the party BY the party. How to stop the rift? The jobs numbers out and they are BAD. Of course, the 'Cons use them to say "no new revenue". And, the head of the...

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Thursday, July 07, 2011

Today, justice must be served on the President! Word is that Social Security and Medicare cuts are on the table in the debt ceiling hostage talks. The Democratic wing of the Democratic Party is not happy. How about you? Rupert Murdoch takes a radical step to combat a...

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Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Today, justice is served on many topics! We have almost too much show today! The debt ceiling issues keep multiplying - is the President playing chess, or have the Republicons already declared checkmate? The President did a Twitter Town Hall - did anyone notice? The Casey Anthony murder trial fallout...

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Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Today progressive talk radio veteran Peter B. Collins takes the helm from the San Francisco Bay Area! There is plenty to catch up on after the long holiday weekend! I am taking one more day to finish my book - so please bear with me - I will...

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Monday, July 04, 2011

I and the crew wish you a safe, peaceful and dare I say - restful - Fourth of July! I like to give the crew the same three day weekends that many other folks enjoy - they work hard and an extra day helps, don't you think? To that end, we have...

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