Thom Hartmann: Without the government protecting us from industry....

The largest online protest in the history of the Internet may have derailed SOPA and PIPA earlier this year - but major entertainment corporations like the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America are still coming after you. With the help of Internet Service Providers like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T - tabs are being kept right now on people who are sharing copyrighted material online.

And on July 12th, Internet providers will begin putting in a place a new anti-piracy plan - warning internet users that they could face penalties of up to $150,000 if they continue to file-share. Providers will begin cutting down - or eliminating altogether - bandwidth for so-called offenders - until said offender agree to take an education course on piracy. Providers may also restrict access to only major websites like Google and Facebook. And most disturbingly - providers may share your information with other Internet providers to effectively create a blacklist of people who won't be allowed to sign online.

This is the corporate lock-down of the Internet that we've feared - and it's the reason why Libertarians and Free Marketeers are wrong. Without the government protecting us from industry - be it Wall Street, dangers in the workplace, or the Internet - corporate power always creeps in to strangle consumers.

-Thom

(What do you think can be done? Tell us here.)

Randi Rhodes: Pump Politics

You can tell how good the unemployment numbers are starting to look by the fact that the only numbers Fox News wants to talk about are gas prices. When Bush was president, Fox News blamed high gas prices on everything except Bush. The only surprising thing is that Fox News even mentioned high gas prices when Bush was president. Back around 2008, high gas prices were this uncontrollable thing that a heroic president was doing his best to contain. In 2012 high gas prices are part of an evil president’s plan to turn us all into Volt-driving pinkos. Now that Barack Obama is president, Fox News thinks that there’s a button the president can push to control gas prices—and Obama just refuses to push the button.

Greg Gutfeld on Fox News says that “feminists should be outraged” over high gas prices because they limit women’s access to birth control. High gas prices aren’t the problem—the problem is that some women have to drive hundreds of miles to get to a women’s health clinic. Gas prices do become a problem—when rightwing nutcases in state government shut down most of the women’s clinics in a state… and gut the funding for public transportation on top of it. This isn’t a case of gas prices limiting women’s access to birth control—the thing that limits women’s access to birth control is a perfect storm of intentional Republican policies.

Mitt Romney just can’t seem to wash away the story of him putting his poor dog on the roof of his car. Look on the bright side, Mitt—at least it’s a break from all these stories about how ridiculously rich you are. It would have been worse if the story also reinforced the “rich guy” theme, like if the car had been one of Ann’s Cadillacs.

A senior Santorum campaign strategist mentioned the dog story on CNN. They should be careful—Rick Santorum has at least one rather embarrassing dog quote of his own. Rick compared gay marriage to “man on dog sex.” It’s a toss-up whether “Man on dog” is more disturbing than “dog on roof.” Word to Mitt—if a guy like Rick Santorum has any leeway at all to call you weird, then your campaign has some serious problems.

Today’s Homework | Discuss

Release the Biden! Vice President Joe Biden officially hit the campaign trail today, addressing auto workers in Ohio...

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Thom Hartmann: More setbacks in the decade-long Afghanistan War

After a U.S. soldier snapped, and massacred 16 Afghan civilians - including nine children - Afghan President Hamid Karzai called for all NATO troops to be pulled out of rural areas. That could throw a wrench in the US exit strategy, which depends on handing Afghanistan over to NATO and Afghan Security Forces by 2014.

Another blow to the US exit strategy came when the Taliban suspend negotiations with US diplomats. In order to end the civil war in Afghanistan - a power-sharing deal with the Taliban must be worked out - but Taliban leaders walked away from the table, claiming that the US keeps changing the terms of the negotiations.

Clearly - after a decade of war - the Afghans want us out of their country. And recent polls show that the American people - who are watching this nation go bankrupt from war and our young soldiers deteriorate mentally and physically - want the war to end as well. In fact - 50% of Americans want the United States to speed up its withdrawal from Afghanistan. Time to pull a Saigon - and just get the hell out of there.

-Thom

(Why is the U.S. still there? Tell us here.)

Randi Rhodes: Frothy Ricky Wins

Mississippi and Alabama have spoken. And it’s pretty clear what they said, despite the missing teeth. Voters in Mississippi and Alabama rejected both Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich—which is the first sign of intelligence we’ve seen from voters in Mississippi and Alabama. Then they went and blew it all by voting for Rick Santorum. In his victory speech, Rich Santorum said “We did it again.” Somehow, when Rick Santorum says that, it sounds like he spilled something. That’s OK, Rick. We’ll get a mop.

Today, Mitt Romney is left with the taste of bitter grits. Mitt finished third place in both Mississippi and Alabama. And Ron Paul’s numbers are so pathetic at this point that there essentially is no fourth place. So after another stinging rebuke, Mitt Romney is left to argue delegate math. At least Mitt’s delegate math arguments are remotely connected to real math, which is more than you can say for his economic numbers. And anything is better than listening to him recite the lyrics to “America the Beautiful.” But Mitt’s delegate math argument essentially boils down to him saying “I’ll be the pick—even if nobody wants me.”

Republican voters last night thought that Mitt Romney was the most electable, but that he was not conservative enough. Has it occurred to you geniuses that being electable and being radically conservative might be mutually exclusive properties?

After last night, Newt Gingrich is running on $2.50 gas fumes. After his defeat, Newt delivered yet another victory speech. Newt tried to make the point that Mitt Romney was not inevitable. Newt, Mitt might not be inevitable, but you’re impossible. Newt Gingrich’s entire campaign is based on promising voters that he will deliver gas prices of $2.50 a gallon. He’s one step away from sending out emails promising a way to enlarge your penis... if you just make him president. Newt thinks he can command the laws of supply and demand. I have news for you, Newt—the laws of economics aren’t as easy to break as, say, the ethics rules in Congress. Newt must think that the voters are a bunch of idiots. Actually, that might not be such a bad assumption when your whole campaign is based on a Southern strategy.

Today’s Homework | Discuss

Stephen Colbert on the Southern-fried anti-science pandering from the GOP candidates...

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Thom Hartmann: Goldman Sachs thinks you're a "Muppet"

Former Goldman Sachs Executive Director Greg Smith recently resigned from the banking giant, and today in a New York Times op-ed blew the whistle on what he called a "toxic and destructive" environment within the bank. Smith writes, "I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it."

Smith went on to write that banksters at the firm "callously" rip their clients off - and routinely refer to their customers as "muppets." Most shocking, Smith reveals that the most common question he gets from fellow banksters is, "How much money did we make off the client?"

The dangerous part of this is that banksters like Goldman Sachs now make up more than a quarter of our economy when they used to make up less than a tenth. That means one-fourth of all the money in the United States comes from banksters on Wall Street preying on their customers with things like exploding mortgages and fees, jacking up oil and food prices by gambling on them, and making a profit crashing entire nations economies.

This is called financialization - and if it's not reined in - it will destroy our nation and much of the developed world.

-Thom

(Can it be reined in? Tell us here.)

LIST: Obama’s Top 50 Accomplishments You've been asking for a list of what the President has accomplished for some time - so here it is.

Everyone has one of ʻthoseʼ kinds of friends, either on the left or the right - people who keep complaining that no matter what President Obama has done, they still don't seem to believe he's done anything at all.

Now, thanks to the hard-working and talented team at one of our favorite sources, Washington Monthly, there's a list of President Obama's Top 50 accomplishments you can helpufully show to the doubters. Team Randi hopes this is just a starting list from Mr. Obama's first term - what Paul Glastris at Washington Monthly calls 'President Clinton's third term'.

Read Paul's cover story, and check out a few of our favorites from Obama's 'Top 50' list, below.

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Obama’s Top 50 Accomplishments
By Paul Glastris, Ryan Cooper, and Siyu Hu - Washington Monthly

1. Passed Health Care Reform: After five presidents over a century failed to create universal health insurance, signed the Affordable Care Act (2010). It will cover 32 million uninsured Americans beginning in 2014 and mandates a suite of experimental measures to cut health care cost growth, the number one cause of America’s long-term fiscal problems.

4. Ended the War in Iraq: Ordered all U.S. military forces out of the country. Last troops left on December 18, 2011.

7. Turned Around U.S. Auto Industry: In 2009, injected $62 billion in federal money (on top of $13.4 billion in loans from the Bush administration) into ailing GM and Chrysler in return for equity stakes and agreements for massive restructuring. Since bottoming out in 2009, the auto industry has added more than 100,000 jobs. In 2011, the Big Three automakers all gained market share for the first time in two decades. The government expects to lose $16 billion of its investment, less if the price of the GM stock it still owns increases.

9. Repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”: Ended 1990s-era restriction and formalized new policy allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military for the first time.

Check out the full list of 50 HERE.

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KEEP IT IN YOUR POCKET...
If you love the full list and you'd like to have a handy reminder, for the times you're having one of THOSE discussions?

Click on the stack of wallet cards and you can download your own prinatable, wallet-sized folding card listing all 50 of President Obama's first term accomplishments.

Print them as you need, laminate them, even give them away.

Just remember what Randi says: When they show you who they are? Believe them.

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Randi Rhodes: Hot Damn!

If you’re voting in the Republican primary in Mississippi or Alabama today, I would urge you to make the right choice, but there is no right choice. Of course, if you’re voting in the Republican primary in Mississippi or Alabama today, you’ve already made a few wrong choices somewhere down the line. Also, Hawaii holds its Republican caucuses today. Boy, there’s a jarring juxtaposition! You’re in paradise... and you’re at a Republican caucus. That’s like getting a root canal while you’re sitting in a Jacuzzi.

Well, Mitt Romney did it again. Talking about football on an Alabama radio show, Mitt said “I’ve got a lot of good friends, the owner of the Miami Dolphins and the New York Jets, both owners are friends of mine.” Yeesh. Back when Mitt said that his friends owned NASCAR crews, people used the example of Mitt saying his buddies owned football teams as an absurd “what’s next” premise. Turns out, that really was next. You can’t out-absurd Mitt. I would say “what’s next” now, but I can’t think of anything more ridiculous, and if I could, Mitt would actually say it. There’s one more “rich guy” gaffe for Mitt... and in the Deep South, no less. For shame, Mitt! Go wash your mouth out with cheesy grits.

If you thought Mitt Romney looked ridiculous trying to appeal to regular people, you should see him try to appeal to Southerners. That’s even more of a stretch. He’s trying to appeal to people in mobile homes when he’s got multiple homes. Rick Santorum mocked Mitt Romney for having previously warned about the dangers of carbon dioxide. Santorum actually said “Tell that to a plant – how dangerous carbon dioxide is!” Uh Rick, just because something is good for a plant doesn’t mean it’s good for people. Otherwise, we could eat dirt. One more time, Rick—plants consume carbon dioxide. We consume oxygen. So having more carbon dioxide and less oxygen is not good for us... unless by “us,” you mean hydrangeas.

Chuck Norris has recorded a robo call for Newt Gingrich. The ad’s title is “Chuck Norris doesn’t endorse. He makes reality.” In the call, Chuck talks about gas costing $2.50 a gallon under President Newt Gingrich. If that’s not making your own reality, what is.

Today’s Homework | Discuss

Jon Stewart on Mitt's 2012 Southern Strategy...

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The Daily Show
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Thom Hartmann: Are Wall Street Speculators Inflating The Cost of Food?

Food prices have increased 4.4% in the last year - nearly twice as much as all other consumer goods. And a new study out of the New England Complex Systems Institute argues that Wall Street speculators are the ones driving up the price this year - just like they did in 2008 - when a billion people around the planet were pushed to the brink of starvation, and unrest and food riots swept the globe.

The new study forecasts another food bubble to be inflated by 2013 - that could once again create turmoil around the world. From the ongoing debt crisis in Europe - to rising gas prices in the United States - to increasing food costs around the world - Wall Street is destabilizing the entire global economy - and making huge profits by doing it. Just like they did when they crashed the world in 2008.

-Thom

(Do you think speculators are to blame? Tell us here.)

Randi Rhodes: Stranger Than Fiction

Did you see the movie “Game Change”? Julianne Moore was very realistic as Sarah Palin—quite a challenge when you consider that Sarah Palin herself is far from realistic. All in all, it was the best job of an actor “playing dumb” since Forrest Gump. Julianne Moore was so good as Sarah Palin that Fox News should think about hiring her as an analyst. She can look and talk exactly like Sarah Palin, and unlike Sarah, I bet she’s able to speak in complete sentences. On top of that, I’m sure that Julianne Moore knows a lot more about the issues than Sarah Palin does. But when you think about it, that completely disqualifies her from being an analyst for Fox News. And Ed Harris was great as John McCain. Oddly, Ed Harris playing John McCain was a more convincing candidate than John McCain was. And he’s miles better than Mitt Romney. I don’t see why John McCain is annoyed about the movie. He came out of this movie looking better than he did coming out of the actual 2008 campaign.

Of course, Sarah Palin doesn’t like the movie. Weird—Sarah always thinks that everything should all be about her. Well, here’s a movie that actually is all about her—and she doesn’t like it. McCain and Palin have to quit fighting this. McCain should just admit that he made a mistake. And Palin should just admit that she was that mistake.

GOP strategist Mary Matalin says Mitt Romney has “the heart and soul” of an average American. Mary, it’s not clear that Mitt Romney has a heart and soul at all, let alone one of an average American. The two words I would least associate with Mitt Romney are “heart” and “soul.” Do I have to keep it to two? It’s hard to leave “funky” off the list

Finally, Bill Maher sent a camera crew to Mississippi to see why people vote against their own best interests (video below). It’s probably the same reason they say stuff that makes them look like idiots on camera—they’re idiots.

Today’s Homework | Discuss

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March 9, 2012 Clip: Alexandra Pelosi

Thom Hartmann: Afghanistan should serve as a warning to those who call for war with Iran

The dogs of war were released in Afghanistan more than a decade ago - and are now out of our control. News broke this week of a murder spree in Afghanistan's Kandahar province committed by at least one US soldier against Afghan civilians. Reuters reports that as many as 3 American soldiers, who appeared to be drunk, opened fire in a small village at around 2am Sunday morning - shooting dead 16 civilians - including nine children.

One soldier has surrendered in connection with the attacks, which President Obama referred to as "tragic and shocking." This latest incident is sure to spark another episode of violence in that unstable, war-torn nation - just as the Quran burning incident did a few weeks ago. The Taliban has vowed to avenge the killings, calling them a "blood-soaked and inhumane crime."

Meanwhile, 60% of Americans now believe this war is not worth fighting. Let Afghanistan serve as a lesson to all those who are calling for more war with Iran - because it's very easy to release the dogs of war - and much, much harder to bring them back.

-Thom

(Will the warning be heeded? Tell us here.)

Thom Hartmann: Chamber of Commerce investing in Republican politicians

Our democracy is screwed. The largest corporate lobbying organization in the nation - the Chamber of Commerce - is ramping up its election spending - targeting two Democrats - including progressive Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown - with millions of dollars in negative ads.

This is just a sign of things to come as the Chamber plans to spend $50 million this election year to defeat Democrats in at least a dozen Senate seats and more than 30 House seats.

Despite Republicans giving the nation a case of voter's remorse after just two years in power in the House - the oligarchs want to make sure their lapdogs survive the next vote. Consider the Chamber's contributions as investments to keep taxpayer oil subsidies and tax cuts for banksters in place.

-Thom

(Will they achieve their goal? Tell us here.)

Randi Rhodes: Grits Y'All

It's Friday, ya bastids!

Mitt Romney is campaigning in Alabama and Mississippi. Mitt actually told a crowd in Mississippi “I am learning to say ‘y'all’ and I like grits and things.” I hope your staff briefed you about the grits, Mitt. You can put butter on them. You can put cheese on them. But don’t put truffles, pate, or arugula on them. “Yes, I’ll have the grits with foie gras and balsamico, some braised squab, and a side of Tuscan greens... y’all.”

There’s more good news on the economy—this month’s jobs report looks excellent. I know, I said that last month. And the month before that. If it sounds like I’m repeating myself, that’s because the good news on the economy is repeating itself. Payrolls have now grown by more than 200,000 for three months in a row. Of course, you knew that from the fact that the Republicans have spent the last three months talking about things like contraception.

Sarah Palin has accused President Obama of “bringing us back to the days before the Civil War.” Really! That’s the stupidest thing I’ve heard in weeks—and we’re in the middle of a Republican Primary! Palin thinks President Obama needs to learn that “Here in America we are equal and we all have equal opportunities, not based on the color of your skin.” Sarah, President Obama doesn’t have to learn that. He embodies that. Sarah Palin is a paid political commentator on Fox News. She gets money for giving her opinion. That would be like paying Betty White to help you move a piano.

Joe the Plumber said that a question from CNN about his prior remarks on gays was a “gotcha” question. Joe, the problem is that when you’re as dumb as you are, any question can “getcha.”

And Pat Robertson has come out for legalizing marijuana. For the record, marijuana is the only thing Pat Robertson thinks should be legal. Is it possible that Pat Roberstson is a closet stoner? It would explain a lot of the stuff he says. Pat, you gotta get some mellower buds—that stuff you’re smoking is making you paranoid. I haven’t been stoned for ages, but I was never so wasted that I thought a hurricane was punishment for homosexuality.

Today’s Homework | Discuss

President Obama on today's jobs report...

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Randi Rhodes: Swing & A Miss

Breitbart’s supposedly shocking 1991 video of Obama has been unleashed. It turns out that there’s no need for a leash. This little puppy isn’t going to bite anybody. In the video, Obama is seen speaking on behalf of granting tenure to more minority and female professors at Harvard. Anybody who could be even remotely disturbed by this video is already severely disturbed. Unfortunately, that includes a sizeable chunk of the rightwing.

There is absolutely nothing in this video of a young Barack Obama that is embarrassing to Obama. Nothing! Even his clothing and haircut are tasteful. How many of us can say that about pictures of ourselves at that age? I mean really, it was the early 90’s. Most of the kids in America were wearing Nirvana-inspired flannel shirts, and the other ones were wearing harem pants like MC Hammer. This tape is an embarrassment, alright—it’s an embarrassment to anyone who would think this kind of thing would be an embarrassment. If this is Andrew Breitbart’s posthumous legacy, it’s almost as pathetic as the stuff he did when he was alive.

Mitt Romney’s campaign says it would take “an act of God” for anyone else to get the nomination at this point. Mitt! Don’t tempt Him! God has already called Michelle Bachmann, Herman Cain, and Rick Perry to run this election. It seems like He’s willing to do anything for a laugh. And an act of God to make Rick Santorum the nominee is not out of the question. The recent storms in the Midwest show that sometimes acts of God can be terribly destructive.

Mitt Romney is saying that his budget plan “can’t be scored” while still insisting that it will balance the budget. In other words, nobody can tell what it will do, so Mitt will tell you what it will do—trust him. Mitt said “I think it’s kind of interesting for the groups who try and score it because, frankly, it can’t be scored.” Well isn’t that what everyone looks for in an economic plan—something that can’t be scrutinized! Mitt, just because you wouldn’t let anyone see what you were really doing at Bain all those years doesn’t mean that we’re going to let you run the country that way. Word to Mitt—if you have a budget plan that can’t be scored... you don’t have a budget plan. You have a budget scheme.

Today’s Homework | Discuss

Soledad O'Brian schools Breitbart-spawn Joel Pollak regarding his pathetic (and very racial) attack on President Obama...

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