Thom Hartmann: Like Hosni Mubarak - These Bankster governments are now losing their consent to govern

First the Arab Spring - now the European Summer? Violent riots continued for the third straight day across London and a number of other British cities - leaving buildings ablaze - cars torched and turned over - and storefronts vandalized and looted. The riots began in Tottenham after police shot a man to death - but it quickly became clear that the unrest was less about police brutality - and more about Conservative austerity.

Some of the cities hit hardest by Conservative government's deep spending cuts - are now fueling the worst riots the UK has seen since the 1980's - prompting the man responsible for those cuts - Prime Minister David Cameron to rush back from a trip to Italy for a meeting with his national crisis committee. He's also recalled Parliament from its summer recess - and tripled the number of police on the streets. First Greece - now the UK - what we're seeing unfold in Europe today is the harsh backlash of poor and working people against governments that bailed out banksters, cut taxes for billionaires, and are now cutting services to average working people and the poor.

And like Hosni Mubarak - these bankster governments are now losing their consent to govern. Is Washington paying attention?

-Thom

(What next? Tell us here.)

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Randi Rhodes: Teaconomy

Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's has downgraded the United States from its former AAA rating for the first time in history. It seems that Standard and Poor considers the creditworthiness of the USA to be substandard and poor. S&P’s explanation of the reasons for the downgrade was five pages long, but it boiled down to three letters—G O P. It’s not like credit ratings agencies are in the habit of criticizing Republicans. But they must feel compelled to say something when the Republicans stop being tools of big business and start being just tools, period. S&P’s explanation said that “The statutory debt ceiling and the threat of default have become political bargaining chips…” Worse than bargaining chips, really—they’ve become gambling chips. And Republicans are willing to gamble everything. S&P also criticized the intransigence about revenue enhancement. S&P said “new revenues have dropped down on the menu of policy options.” No, actually new revenues have dropped right off that menu. There are no new revenues on the Tea Party menu. You can have one item from column A… and that’s it. There is no column B.

By the way, the original draft press release from Standard & Poor's included projections that overestimated US debt by $2 trillion. Boy, don’t you hate it when you put the decimal point in the wrong place? Or on the wrong page? Nice going, S&P. Next time you deliver a lecture to somebody about them getting their act together, try not to include any $2 trillion errors in it.

On Meet the Press, John Kerry referred to the S&P downgrade as the “Tea Party downgrade.” “Tea Party downgrade” sounds like a warning sign that the road to the future should have—“Caution: Steep Tea Party Downgrade, Next 10 Miles.” You’ve got to give the Tea Party credit—they’ve certainly had an impact. But then so did the iceberg that sank the Titanic.

Finally, at a Tea Party rally in Wisconsin, the 'baggers actually cheered the downgrading of America’s credit rating! They didn’t bust out the champagne—that was only to be touched in the event of a total default.

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A message of thanks for the Tea Party (slightly NSFW)...

Thom Hartmann: Mainstream Media Ignores S&P Attack On Republicans

Have you seen, anywhere, in any media, or even heard reported or repeated on NPR, the following sentence? "We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act."

It's right there on Page 4 of the official Standard & Poors "Research Update" - the actual report on what they did and why - published on August 5th as the explanation for why they believe Congress - and even the Gang of Twelve - will be unable to actually deal with the US debt crisis.

Read more and tell us what you think here.

-Thom

Randi Rhodes: Good Day for America, Bad Day for GOP

It's Friday, ya bastids!

The jobs numbers for July were a welcome slice of positive news. Last month, nonfarm payrolls jumped by 117,000 (+154K private sector / -37K gov’t). The numbers help dampen fears of a double-dip recession. Or if you’re a Republican, the numbers dampen hopes of a double-dip recession. The Republican agenda is not about job creation, it’s about job elimination—specifically, they want to eliminate President Obama’s job. Thanks to Republicans, extended unemployment benefits will soon run out, so a lot of people who are currently classified as jobless will be reclassified as hopeless. Bottom line, the Republicans aren’t targeting joblessness, they’re targeting the jobless. The only thing the Republicans have done to reduce the number of people on unemployment is to reduce the number of people who are eligible to receive unemployment.

The Republican approach to unemployment comes down to three words—John Boehner’s “so be it.” “So be it!” That phrase has a nice “Egyptian pharaoh” ring to it, which is appropriate, because John Boehner’s face looks mummified. Really, wouldn’t you like to see them do one of those scientific reconstructions on John Boehner’s face, so they could show you what he looked like when he was alive?

Conservatives are big on the homeschooling. The irony is that the most ignorant and uninformed parents are the ones most likely to insist on homeschooling their children. It’s not that these homeschooled conservative kids don’t know anything; it’s that everything they know is wrong. What happens when these kids have to deal with the real world? They have to develop the ability to totally shut out the real world, while appearing to be part of it. If you wonder how that’s done, watch Michele Bachmann try and answer a question some time. Or should I say, watch her try and NOT answer a question.

Can you imagine being homeschooled by someone like Michele Bachmann? They’re just preparing a generation of uninformed, ignorant, paranoid freaks—people who don’t have the skills to do anything except run for Congress as a Tea Party candidate.

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GOP Gov. Chris Christie threw every slack-jawed anti-Muslim bigot in his party the under the bus this week with his defense of appointing Sohail Mohammed to the NJ superior court bench...

Thom Hartmann: Constitution doesn't say, "We the millionaires..."

It's good to be a millionaire in America. A new report from the Center for American progress shows that millionaires are paying - as a share of their income - 25% less in taxes than they were in the mid 1990's - 25% less! But that's not all - according to data from the IRS - in 2009 - 1,400 millionaires paid absolutely no taxes at all. So just like some of the biggest transnational corporations in the world like GE and Exxon Mobile - 1,400 millionaires were off the hook and didn't have to pitch in one penny to Uncle Sam.

In fact - the average federal income tax rate for millionaires in America is around 22% - far less than what your typical schoolteacher in Wisconsin is paying. And despite the fact that a majority of Americans support tax hikes on millionaires - our millionaires - as well as billionaires - and transnational corporations - once again escaped without having to make one sacrifice in the name of deficit reduction like the rest of us.

Last time I checked - the Constitution doesn't say, "We the millionaires..."

-Thom

(What do you think? Tell us here.)

Thom Hartmann; Can you afford food tasters to make sure what we're about to eat is actually safe?

People who eat food are screwed. Giant, transnational agribusiness corporation Cargill announced yesterday that it is recalling 36 million pounds of contaminated ground turkey - that has killed at least one person and sickened 76 others across 26 states. Cargill is just now announcing the recall even though the outbreak started back in March. Coincidentally - back in June - House Republicans passed legislation that gutted the federal food safety budget - slashing $87 million from the FDA - and another $35 million from the USDA's food safety inspection programs.

As Republican Congressman Jack Kingston said in defending the bill, "the food supply in America is very safe because the private sector polices itself." Right - go tell that to the family of the person who died or the scores sickened from Cargill's contaminated turkey. Or tell it to the other 50 MILLION Americans who get sick from food-borne illness every year - or the 3,000 other Americans who die every year because of contaminated food.

Unlike millionaires and billionaires who fund the Republican Party and push for libertarian legislation that does away with food safety - the rest of us can't afford food tasters to make sure what we're about to eat is actually safe.

-Thom

(What do you think? Tell us here.)

Randi Rhodes: Job Killing & Dog Whistling

Well, the debt ceiling crisis is behind us. It’s time to go from grand Republican actions to destroy everything to petty Republican actions to annoy everyone. Yes, the Republicans failed to shut down the entire economy of the United States of America, but while we were busy fighting them on that, they did take the opportunity to partially shut down the FAA. Republicans have shut down part of the Federal Aviation Administration as part of a bid on their part to make it harder for aviation and other transportation workers to unionize. To accomplish that, they’re willing to make the entire country into a “no-fly” zone. Thanks to this partial shutdown, thousands of employees have be furloughed and the government has been unable to collect taxes on airline tickets—a loss of about $200 million in the first week of the shutdown alone. Great—yet another Republican stand on spending that ends up costing us money.

Oh That Pat! Yesterday on Al Sharpton’s show, Pat Buchanan described President Obama to Sharpton as “your boy, Barack Obama.” Al Sharpton was clearly shocked. He must have forgotten he was talking to Pat Buchanan. The pathetic thing is that, given Congressman Doug Lamborn’s “tar baby” comments, Pat’s epithet wasn’t even the worst one of this week. People are calling for Pat Buchanan to be fired or suspended from his job at MSNBC. I don’t think they realize that saying things like that is Pat Buchanan’s job at MSNBC.

Meanwhile, Congressman Steve King of Iowa says that birth control will destroy America. At least there was no racial epithet in this latest burst of Republican stupidity. King said that a requirement that new health insurance plans pay for birth control will make America “a dying civilization.” Really? I can’t pinpoint exactly why Rome fell, but I don’t think it was the availability of condoms. King literally said “If we let our birth rate get down below replacement rate we’re a dying civilization.” OK. America faces a lot of problems. Depopulation is not one of them. Besides, Congressman King, even if Americans completely stop having babies, we could make up the difference easily with new immigrants. Oh, I forgot, immigrants aren’t part of what you consider “civilization.” And “the replacement rate”? This country would be a lot better off if certain people were not replaced, and Congressman Steve King is one of them.

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Leave it Fox to give airtime to a freak that makes even Rep. Steve King seem sane - the fun starts around the 1:20 mark and just keeps going...

Thom Hartmann: Republicans are filibustering while they're sitting by the pool with their billionaire donors...

Like the House - the Senate is now on vacation too - but not before Republicans could latch on to a procedural gimmick to keep President Obama from making a recess appointment of Richard Cordray to head up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Over the next month - a series of "pro forma" sessions will be held that technically keep the Senate in session even though no Senators are in town and no business is being done - just so Republicans can keep up their opposition to the new consumer rights agency that would stop big banks from screwing over the rest of us.

Leave it up to Republicans to figure out a way to filibuster while they're sitting by the pool with their billionaire donors.

-Thom

(What can be done about this? Tell us here.)

Randi Rhodes: Gabby Returns, Racist Exposed

Well, the bill to raise the debt ceiling has finally passed both houses of Congress—and with almost 12 hours to spare! Really, guys, what was the rush? The past few days have not been pretty, but at least there was one upbeat moment. Yesterday, with about 2 minutes left in the voting on the bill in the House, Gabrielle Giffords returned to the House floor for the first time since being shot in January, and voted for the bill. Now she has an excuse for doing this at the last minute. It was good to see Giffords return, but if part of recuperating is to avoid stress, the floor of the US House of Representatives is probably the last place on earth she would want to be. You have less stress being on the streets of Pamplona during the running of the bulls.

Much of the Left is up in arms over the debt deal, but I'm having a hard time making sense of all the outrage. First of all, next to nothing happens until 2013. The triggers scare Repubs much more than Dems. Anything evil that comes out of the 'super committee' still needs to pass congress (including a Dem senate) and be signed by Obama. Beyond that, the winners of the next election will ultimately be the budget-setters, as they always are. SO VOTE!

Incidentally, the House vote on the debt ceiling bill broke the Republicans’ own “Pledge to America” saying they would post the text of bills online “for at least three days” before bringing them up for a vote. That’s what happens when Republican pledges collide with Republican reality. The “Pledge to America” says “Legislation should be understood by all interested parties before it is voted on.” I’m not sure this bill was understood by the parties that wrote it.

A Republican Congressman has used the term “tar baby” in reference to President Obama. Congressman Doug Lamborn of Colorado said of the President “I don’t even want to be associated with him, it's like touching a tar baby…” Wow. The only way that statement isn’t racist is if it was read phonetically by a person who does not speak English. Using the term “tar baby” is like dog whistle racism, except you replace the dog whistle with a police siren. All I know is, right now, there are probably some rightwing nutbags on Wikipedia, rewriting the entry for “Tar Baby.”

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Thom Hartmann: If a plane goes down this month - call Speaker Boehner

FAA workers are screwed. With the debt-limit deal out of the way - it's time for Congress to resolve the FAA funding impasse right? No. Instead of figuring out a way to restore full funding to the agency in charge of making sure our airplanes don't fall out of the sky - and also figuring out a way to get 4,000 furloughed FAA employees back to work - Republicans are going on vacation.

That's right - they're taking 5 weeks off - meaning the FAA will be sputtering along through Labor Day while Republicans yuck it up in their home districts. With the FAA shutdown - airline safety inspectors are working extended hours without pay - and $2.5 billion in transportation projects are on hold - meaning another 100,000 construction workers are out of a job too. Not only that - as Republicans scream about deficits - our government is losing out on $200 million a week in uncollected airline ticket taxes.

Let's hope it never happens - but if a plane goes down this month - call Speaker Boehner.

-Thom

(What do you think will happen to the Republican Party now? Tell us here.)

Thom Hartmann: Republicans should be Dancing in the Streets

Republicans should be dancing in the streets. So says Democratic Congressman Emmanuel Cleaver after an 11th hour debt-limit deal was struck yesterday between President Obama and Congressional leaders to avoid our nation from defaulting. Unfortunately - once again - the President let right-wings take the American people hostage and then gave in to the hostage-takers. The deal - which still needs to be approved by lawmakers today - extends the debt-limit through the 2012 elections and calls for $1 trillion in spending cuts targeting mostly working families over the next decade - plus an addition $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction through revenue raisers and entitlement reforms to be determined by a six-member "Super Congress" comprised of Democrats and Republicans from both chambers of Congress.

If the Super Congress can't agree to a deal - then automatically - $750 billion will be cut from both the Pentagon and from Medicare doctor reimbursements. But still - not one single penny from hedge fund managers - subsidized oil corporations - or subsidized corporate jets - will be contributed to deficit reduction. Also not in the deal - no stimulus measures to address the real crisis in America - jobs! In fact - economists estimate that the spending cuts will actually stifle economic growth - making our REAL CRISIS - a lack of jobs - even worse and almost guaranteeing a double-dip recession. There's nothing balanced about this deal - Republicans essentially got everything they wanted - yet the Tea Party STILL will likely not vote for it. As Paul Krugman noted - the President surrendered. And President Obama will learn the hard way that the truly transformational presidents of the 20th century did not govern by compromise - they instead held their ground.

Once this deal goes through - President Obama will be viewed as even weaker than the Republican caricature of Jimmy Carter - and his presidency ruined.

-Thom

(How do you think President Obama's presidency will be viewed? Tell us here.)

Randi Rhodes: Debt Deal

Well, at least we finally have a deal with these morons. But then I have a feeling that’s how the Lenape Indians of Manhattan felt when they struck their deal to sell the island to the Dutch. Of course, the Dutch were probably pretty relieved too. It remains to be seen who are the Lenape and who are the Dutch in this deal. But most of all, it should be noted that neither the Indians nor the Dutch ended up with Manhattan. Ironically, the people who own Manhattan now are also the only ones likely to profit from this latest situation, if only because they find a way to profit from every situation.

Political deals are like Christmas gifts—in general, the longer you put off getting one, the crappier it’s going to be. And if this deal were a Christmas gift, it would be one that was purchased Christmas morning from the convenience store down the street. Which is not to say it’s necessarily bad. There are some Christmases when I could really have enjoyed a Slurpee and some beef jerky.

Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver said of the deal “on the surface it looks like a Satan sandwich.” Actually, more like the foot-long Satan sandwich, with free chips and a refillable large drink. Well, if we’re stuck with a Satan sandwich, let’s just make the best of it. Pick out the gross parts and see what’s left. If nothing else, maybe the pickle is good. Incidentally, how much does the Satan sandwich cost? It costs you and me about $2.4 trillion dollars. But it doesn’t cost corporations or billionaires a dime.

It might not be the “balanced approach” that Obama wanted, but this is about as balanced a deal as you get when you’re dealing with people who are completely unbalanced. As Tom Brokaw pointed out, this isn’t the end of the process, this is the beginning. That’s good news in that nobody wants it to end this way, but bad news in that nobody really wants this process to continue, at least in the way it has been. As much as I despise the phrase, essentially, the can has been kicked down the road. So it’s up to us to elect people who will do the right thing with that stupid can once we get further on down the road.

Today’s Homework | Discuss