WWRL Hosts Blog

 

The first casualties of going over the so-called “fiscal cliff” will be more than two million unemployed Americans who depend on extended emergency unemployment benefits. While most of the negative effects of going off the cliff, like the tax hikes and spending cuts, won’t be felt until further out into the future, the expiration of unemployment benefits will be an immediate shock to millions of Americans and the economy. And they are set to expire on Saturday, meaning Republicans in the House will already miss the deadline to extend them, since Speaker of the House Jon Boehner is waiting until Sunday to reconvene the House.

The unemployed in America have no lobbyists like the defense contractors, and have no interest groups like the billionaire banksters – so it’s no wonder why they will be the first casualties in the fiscal cliff showdown. The tragic irony here is these unemployed Americans, when they are receiving unemployment benefits and spending money in our economy, are the real job creators – and not rich guys like Mitt Romney who stash their money in offshore bank accounts and refuse to reinvest in the American economy.

Listen to The Thom Hartmann Program Monday thorugh Friday 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.

Secretary of Treasury Tim Geithner announced on Wednesday that in addition to the fiscal cliff deadline at the end of the year, the United States will also hit its borrowing limit on December 31st, meaning the debt-limit will have to be raised a lot sooner than previously believed. Unlike going over the fiscal cliff, which will have very little economic impact in the short-term, refusing to raise the debt-limit and forcing the United States to default, would have immediate and catastrophic effects. Not only would the US economy be impacted, but the entire world’s economy would as well. But that won’t stop Republicans from using the debt-limit as leverage to force the President to agree to steep spending cuts that target working families across America.

Between the manufactured “fiscal cliff” and the Republicans refusal to compromise over the debt-limit, never in our nation’s history has Congress been responsible for inflicting so many economic wounds on our nation. And we can blame the Tea Party for the chaos on Capitol Hill today, as they were elected by billionaires in 2010, they clearly have no interest in governing, and no knowledge of what the debt-limit even is. And in blaming the Tea Party, we also have to blame the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which allowed billionaires to spend unlimited money electing these retrograde politicians who are hell-bent on playing disaster capitalism to remake America into a billionaires’ paradise.

Listen to The Thom Hartmann Program Monday through Friday 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.

Speaker of the House John Boehner failed to get his members in line to vote on a plan to avert the so-called “fiscal cliff.” It was a bad idea to begin with – a plan to let the Bush tax cuts expire for millionaires – but let those same millionaires keep generous tax loopholes, while getting rid of many of the tax breaks used by the middle class. It was another huge giveaway to the rich, but the Republicans Party flew over the cuckoo’s nest and couldn't even stomach passing a very, very modest tax increase on billionaires like the Koch brothers.

In a statement late Tuesday night, Speaker Boehner said he didn't have enough votes within his own party to pass the measure. He then urged President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to come up with a plan while he sends his Republican House members Christmas vacation. Financial markets are not reacting well to the news. Yesterday’s events in the House made the President’s hand even stronger in negotiations.

A plan to avoid the “fiscal cliff” will not pass out of the House without Democratic support – and everybody knows it now. So it’s time to take cuts to Social Security Insurance benefits off the table, and come up with a deal that’s more in line with what the nation wants, which is for the rich to pay their fair share in taxes and no cuts to social insurance programs. If a few sensible Republicans in the House don’t join Democrats and take this sort of deal, then off the cliff we go, and President Obama’s hand will get even stronger.

Listen to The Thom Hartmann Program Monday through Friday 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.

All eyes are on Speaker of the House John Boehner to see if he has control of his Republican Party. Today, Boehner will try to bring his "Plan B" to the floor for a vote – a proposal that will extend the Bush tax cuts for all Americans who earn less than a million dollars a year, while allowing the tax cuts for millionaires to expire at the end of the year. Today’s vote is merely political theatre, since the Senate has promised to defeat the legislation. The White House, which has offered to keep the Bush tax cuts in place for Americans earning less than $400,000 a year, has also promised a veto.

The hypocrisy here is stunning, as Republicans for four years have argued that it would be disastrous to raise taxes on millionaires – who they call “job creators” – and now Republicans are planning to do just that – raise taxes on the rich. And even millionaire lobbyist Grover Norquist has signed off on the plan, saying it won’t violate his tax pledge. But secretly – Boehner’s plan is a giant tax hike on working Americans – and another tax cut for the super-rich. “Plan B” allows key tax credits for the middle class to expire, which will mean higher tax bills for 20 million Americans families.

At the same time, “Plan B” keeps in place huge tax breaks for the rich by permanently extending the Bush tax cuts on capital gains, dividends, and estates, which are only paid by the wealthiest Americans. But in the end, even this sweet deal for the oligarchs may not pass the Tea Party-controlled House as Boehner can only afford 24 Republicans defectors for the bill to pass. And already, at least a dozen Republicans have voiced their opposition to the plan. Keep an eye on this.

Listen to The Thom Hartmann Program Monday through Friday 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.

But he’s also making a run at capitulator of the year. Fallout continues one day after the White House proposed turning the austerity knives on Social Security Insurance in their latest “fiscal cliff” proposal. To make matters worse, Democratic leaders in the House signed on to the President’s proposal, while at the same time acknowledging there is “understandable resistance.” Founder of the DailyKos, Markos Moulitsas, weighed on the latest White House offer saying, “Capitulation is never a strength. A deal will obviously require concessions by the president, but you make those to FINISH the deal, not in the middle of negotiations, and not until after you've branded the opposition with the concessions they're demanding.”

But once again, another negotiation on Capitol Hill has been completely on Republican grounds. Our lawmakers are debating just how many wealthy people will get a tax cut, and how hard seniors and the poor will get hit with cuts to insurance programs like Medicare and Social Security. Yet, no one is talking about progressive reforms, like a financial transaction tax on Wall Street, a single-payer health care system to reduce healthcare spending and the deficit, breaking up the big banks, raising the minimum wage, and making hedgefund managers and vulture capitalists like Mitt Romney pay their fair share in taxes.

To see just how progressive institutions across America have been damaged by thirty years of Reaganomics and union-busting, one doesn’t have to look much farther than the current ludicrous debate on Capitol Hill. The progressive counter-balance in America has been damaged, and now all we have is center-right Republicans debating far-right Republicans – and neither side seems to give a damn about the Middle Class.

We have a lot of work left to do.

Listen to The Thom Hartmann Program Monday through Friday 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.

Not only does the gun lobby have no shame...

Following the Sandy Hook massacre of twenty first graders with an assault rifle, but the gun lobby is now threatening violent revolution. Appearing on MSNBC on Monday, the executive director of Gun Owners of America, Larry Pratt, argued that the right to bear arms is necessary to make our democratic government cower in fear of gun owners. Pratt said, “We have guns fundamentally protected by the Second Amendment to control the government.” He went on to say that he thinks it “bothers lawmakers” that armed Americans can attack them with assault weapons, a position Gabby Giffords probably agrees with.

This is the position the gun lobby is taking in response to the deafening calls around the nation for new gun safety laws, which would prohibit the sale of the very assault weapons and high capacity ammo clips that are routinely used in these deadly massacres. It’s a “pry my gun from my cold dead hands,” approach, which could have tragic consequences - stirring up secessionist crazies around the nation.

Our nation is again dealing with a tragedy that happens all too often, yet the corporate gun lobby, focused more on profits than on safety, is helping set up more and more mass shootings in the future. We know how to respond to danger here in America.  One shoe bomber, and we all take off our shoes at the airpirt.  One threat of binary liquids and we can't carry liquids on airplanes.  One underwear bomber, and we put in billions of dollars in porno x-ray scanners and grope granny.  There are more than twenty mass shootings every year in America and over a hundred people are shot every day...but we can't do something about guns?  

It's time to start pushing hard for laws that say that unless you can prove you NEED a gun, you can't have one.  And if you do have one, you have to prove proficiency and the gun - and you - must be licensed. To hell with the blood-soaked gun lobby and their toadies Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

Listen to The Thom Hartmann Program Monday through Friday 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.

In a memorial speech on Sunday for the 26 victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, President Obama called the nation out. He asked the question of whether or not we as a nation are doing enough to keep our children safe. And he answered that question with a solemn, “No.” Acknowledging that this is the fourth time in his presidency he’s had to console victims of a mass shooting, the President said, “We can’t tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change.”

Though the president did not mention any specifics about gun control, he did call on all of us to confront the difficult choices ahead. He asked, “Are we really prepared to say that we’re powerless in the face of such carnage, the politics are too hard?” And speaking directly to those who say that unregulated guns are an expression of freedom in America, the President asked, “Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year is somehow the price of freedom?”

Not since President Carter challenged the nation on our excessive use of energy, has a President challenged the nation to fundamentally change itself. There is no single silver-bullet solution to these massacres. But we can start by taking assault weapons, high-capacity ammo clips and other weapons of war off the streets. We can start by investing more in community mental health programs to give help to those in need before their madness consumes another town. And we can finally get down to addressing the underlying cause of much of the relationship between violence and mental illness, which is wealth inequality.

With twenty 1st graders set to be buried in the coming week, now is not the time for delayed debates and half-measures. Now is the time for leaders who will usher America out of this dark age of violence toward a new renaissance of peace and community.

Listen to The Thom Hartmann Program Monday through Friday 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.

Today we’re seeing pictures of tearful elementary school children being led away from the site of a horrific shooting. Your Second Amendment rights at work! Elementary school children slaughtered... what are the people at the NRA telling themselves right now? “It’s OK—the next mass shooting won’t be nearly this bad.” We can shrug our shoulders and say this is just the way things are going to be from now on, or we can finally get serious about our culture of guns and violence and tell the NRA we’ve had enough.

Yesterday the Michigan state house passed a bill that allows people to carry guns in schools and daycare centers. It’s nice to know Michigan Republicans don’t just want to endanger union jobs. They also want to endanger children. They passed the bill allowing guns in schools the day before today’s tragic shooting at a school in Connecticut. Of course, nowadays any day can be the day of a tragic shooting somewhere in America.

Susan Rice has withdrawn her name from consideration for Secretary of State. Now John McCain can relax. Well, John McCain is never going to relax—now he can go back to yelling at squirrels or passing cars or whatever sets him off. In a letter to President Obama, Susan Rice said she is withdrawing because “the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive, and costly,” or basically how everything is with Republicans. It’s hard to tell if the hounding of Susan Rice was part of a crazy personal vendetta against Obama, or an official policy of the Republican Party. It’s even harder to tell if there is any difference between those two things.

Andrea Mitchell pointed out “This is not going to help Republicans at all, the fact that a woman and a woman of color has been forced out.” That depends, are there any women or minority voters left for the Republicans to lose? The good news for Republicans is that by the 2014 elections, women voters will have forgotten this insult from the GOP. The bad news is that it will have been replaced by future GOP insults to women that just haven’t occurred yet.

Listen to The Randi Rhodes Show Monday through Friday 6 PM to 8 PM on WWRL 1600.

 

 

We all now know about Right-to-Work-for-less laws in Michigan, thanks to Republican Governor Rick Snyder and the corporate oligarchs. But, believe it or not, Right-to-Work-for-less may not even be the most radical, anti-democratic law that passed in Michigan this week. Late Wednesday, Republicans in the State House passed a new emergency financial managers law, which allows Rick Snyder to take over an entire city, appoint mini-dictators who can fire all the local elected officials, and take the reins of looting that city.

The new law will allow Governor Snyder to break union contracts, slash budgets, and sell off parts of the commons to for-profit corporations. This is a radically anti-democratic law and it’s already been put in place in mostly-minority, cash-strapped cities like Benton Harbor, Ecorse, Pontiac, and Flint. But what’s even more radical, is that just last month on Election Day, voters repealed Snyder’s emergency financial managers law. Voters said, “no way!” and the law was kaput. So in response, and in a huge slap in the face to voters, Republicans just passed the law again.

Governor Snyder claims the law is new-and-improved to address voter concerns. But the incoming Democratic House Minority Leader called the legislation a “mirror image” of the law that was repealed in November. Snyder thinks that by just changing the name of the law, he can send his mini-dictators back into the field, to take over more of Michigan’s cities against the will of the voters. The Republican overreach in Michigan is unprecedented. A movement of organized working men and women must respond and make sure Republicans are never given power again in the Wolverine State.

Listen to The Thom Hartmann Program Monday through Friday 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.

In the fiscal cliff negotiations, Republicans want food stamps to be on the table. And that could mean that a lot of families won’t have anything on the table. Watch out—everything that the Republicans want to put on the table is going to be taken off of somebody else’s table. Guys, if people are working, and don’t have enough money to eat, then we don’t have a problem with food stamps—we have a problem with wages.

Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama is taking the lead in the Republican assault on food stamps. Well, they had to pick someone who wasn’t at all overweight—a fat guy attacking food stamp recipients would have made for some very embarrassing visuals. Sessions says that the food stamp program is “out of control.” Odd, that the party that wants to allow guns anywhere and everywhere thinks that the thing that is “out of control” in this country is food! Sessions was on CNN with Soledad O’Brien, who pointed out that 61 percent of households in Alabama have children who are recipients of food programs. But if you’re thinking that Jeff Sessions is cutting a program his constituents need, you have to remember that, in Jeff Sessions’ mind, he doesn’t represent those 61 percent of Alabamans. Republicans may have contempt for 47 percent of Americans, but in poorer states like Alabama, they have to hike it up to having contempt for 61 percent of the people.

Speaking of states gone bad, what the hell is happening with Michigan, passing all of these crazy rightwing laws? Michigan is going Mississippi! This is a lame duck legislature, but the one that’s coming in will still be Republican controlled, just not by as much. So they don’t have to do all the crazy stuff now—just the really crazy stuff. Just when Detroit is coming back, Republicans want to send all of Michigan back... to the 1920’s.

After denying rights to workers, the next thing on the Michigan Republican’s “to do” list is to deny reproductive rights to women. So if you’re a woman and a worker in Michigan, that’s strike two. Some of the requirements are clearly meant just to punish the woman. After all, whenever there’s an unwanted pregnancy, the woman is the one who did it, right? One bill requires that remains of a fetus over 10 weeks old must be disposed of by burial, interment, or cremation. Who is behind this—the mausoleum builders lobby? Why don’t they just mandate a funeral service as well?

Listen to The Randi Rhodes Show Monday through Friday 6 PM to 8 PM on WWRL 1600.

Despite the objections of thousands of people who packed the capitol in Lansing, Mich., yesterday, Michigan's Republican Gov. Rick Snyder signed two bills into law which sharply limit labor rights. Amidst those chanting, "Shame on you!" from the gallery, the governor moved his pen in support of this passage, which narrowly won by seven votes in the Republican-led state legislature. The uproar is about a ban on workplace rules that makes union membership a condition of employment for government workers. A second bill was also passed, by six votes, which also covers private-sector workers. The new rules will most likely take effect in late March in what was one of the country's most union friendly states. It now will be No. 24 on the list of "right to work" states in the United States.

This move is unfair. And that is one of the reasons the President chimed in while in Michigan this week. President Obama is not only about the wealthy paying their fair share in taxes, but he is also of the same mindset as those in the union, and those who support unions, like myself: that is unfair for those workers who opt out of a union to gain from the many benefits that unions provide to it's workers (salary increases, safe working conditions, healthcare as just a few examples), without paying dues.

[See a collection of political cartoons on the economy.]

Governor Snyder has stated he was "pro-collective bargaining." Right. Believe that? He also said some workers in Michigan had no freedom of choice. Really? I don't agree. The auto industry, which largely supports the state of Michigan's economy, has bounced back very well. There are two main reasons for this: a) a government bailout and b) quality workers making quality products. So if Governor Snyder wants more people here and abroad to buy cars made by GM, Chrysler, Ford, etc., he just shot himself and his state in the foot. What Governor Snyder and the Republican state legislature in Michigan have done is just proven how far one will go when they have sour grapes after an election. After an election where the Democratic pro-union president was re-elected. After an election where their state went blue. After an election that sent more Democrats to both the House and the Senate, narrowing the Republican lead in the House and widening the Democratic lead in the Senate. And of course, the final nail in the coffin? Blame the unions, who backed those Democrats. As the president said, this is not about economics, this is about politics. And all you have to do is look at the numbers to see that. The auto industry has added thousands of jobs and the purchase of new American vehicles has helped not only the auto industry, but America's economy on the whole. And remember those on the right who said that union workers are paid more? Now they're saying the president's remark that Michigan wants to hire workers to do more for less isn't accurate. Now they're stating that union workers actually are paid less. So using the Republican argument, why wouldn't a company want a better employee for less money?! (Obviously the Republicans aren't looking at any of their former arguments and talking points)

[See a collection of political cartoons on the Republican Party.]

Job growth and consumerism are good for our economy and not just in the state of Michigan. The American voter knew that blaming the unions for the state of our economy was just (using the Vice President's term) "malarkey." So now, Americans in both Michigan and nationwide will go to the polls again in the next two years. And as consumers, they'll decide where they want to put their money. Do they want to put it into a state that spits on unions, which were established to protect workers from the big guys behind the big desks counting their money? So America and Michigan can thank the governor when more of it's own are put on the unemployment rolls while the governor makes a deal with the devil hoping that manufacturing plants will move north to Michigan to rebuild. Doubtful.

I will say this for the governor. Perhaps it is about economics after all. I mean, how much money will the governor pocket from signing such legislation into law? I guess job creation is only okay when it's a nonunion organization doing it, hmm?  It's sad. A state that has long been considered the heart of organized labor saw it's governor ignore the cries of over 10,000 people in the state's capitol. I guess he'll only care about their voices when he needs their votes. Too bad; most of them will most likely leave Michigan to find work now. Work in a state where they will be treated fairly as union employees. For as the governor has proven, no one watches out for the workers, their rights, and their working conditions, except for maybe the very organization he demonizes: the union.

Listen to The Leslie Marshall Show weeknights at Midnight on WWRL 1600.

 

You’ll end up dead in a drone strike or indefinitely detained in Gitmo. But, if you’re a big Wall Street bank and you finance terrorist activities, then guess what? You get a slap on the wrist fine and then…well…that’s it. This week – HSBC settled to pay $1.92 billion in criminal fines, for laundering money on behalf of Mexican drug cartels, and working with banks in the Middle East that are closely affiliated with terrorist organizations. The Chairman of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Senator Carl Levin, described HSBC’s culture as “pervasively polluted for a long time.”

So why aren’t any executives going to Gitmo? And why hasn't the bank become a pile of smoldering rubble from a drone strike? Because HSBC is too big to fail, and to quote one government source close to the investigation, bringing formal charges against HSBC would be a “death sentence” for the bank and the rest of the financial system. Given Wall Street’s rap sheet of crashing the economy, defrauding investors and homeowners, stealing trillions from taxpayers, ripping off markets by manipulating interest rates, and now assisting drug cartels and terrorist organizations – I’d say a corporate death sentence is long overdue for these bankster institutions.

Maybe with Senator-elect Elizabeth Warren nabbing a spot on the Senate Banking Committee, we’ll finally see some action.

Listen to The Thom Hartmann Program Monday through Friday 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder says that his states right-to-work law is not anti-union. Gee Rick, then maybe you can explain to virtually every union member and supporter in the world—they seem to have it backwards. Snyder said “I don’t believe this is actually anti-union. If you look at it, I believe this is pro-worker.” Have Republicans ever promoted a policy that they didn’t have to lie about? Or even one that they didn’t have to claim did the exact opposite of what it actually does!

Fox News is endlessly playing video of union demonstrators in Michigan supposedly tearing down a tent set up in the middle of the protests by the conservative group Americans for Progress. This tent is getting more Fox News airplay than anything since the new Black Panthers. But before the collapse of the tent, witnesses saw AFP members going around the tent and loosening the straps of the tent. That couldn’t have taken too long. They’re conservatives and Republicans—everybody knows they don’t have a big tent. If this video was eligible for an Oscar, it would give “The Hobbit” competition in the category of visual special effects. So AFP employees were out there, goading angry union protesters, and staging the collapse of a tent that some of them were inside of. That’s dangerous work. They’d have some safety standards, if that was a union shop.

Several prominent conservatives have recently leveled the charge that conservatism is a racket to make money. The people in the conservative entertainment complex aren’t concerned about filling Congress with conservatives. They’re concerned with filling their pockets with cash. They don’t care about elections—they care about ratings. And a lot of times those ratings are better when you lose elections.

One example is Dick Morris, who is sucking money out of conservatives with even more passion than he sucks the toes of hookers. This last election, Dick Morris used his Fox News media platform to fundraise for a Super PAC that funneled money to Morris through Newsmax for the rental of his mailing list. So Dick Morris might not be very good at predicting elections, but he’s absolutely brilliant at fleecing sheep.

Listen to The Randi Rhodes Show Monday through Friday 6 PM to 8 PM on WWRL 1600.

Into law in Michigan, the focus shifts to how working people can overturn the legislation. Unfortunately, Republicans purposefully designed the law to make this task more difficult. By attaching Right-to-Work-for-less to a budget appropriations bill, Republicans made it harder for Michigan voters to repeal the law down the road. According to the Michigan Constitution, voter referendums do not apply to budget appropriations bill. However, ballot initiatives do. And also according to the Michigan Constitution, voters have “the power to propose laws and to enact and reject laws, called the initiative.”

In other words, Michigan workers can restore any of their lost wages and collective bargaining power as a result of this law by gathering enough signatures for a ballot initiative. It would only require roughly 260,000 signatures to put Right-to-Work-for-less up for repeal through a ballot initiative.

So now it’s time to get to work. Let’s hope this was a “Todd Akin” moment, and that Governor Snyder and Republicans, who drastically overreached with this latest attack on unions, will eventually regret it. If working people stay organized, then the right wing’s assault on working people will end in Michigan, and organized labor in America can finally go on the offensive once again.

Listen to The Thom Hartmann Program Monday through Friday 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.

 

 

 

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is going to sign Michigan’s sleazy “right to work” law. There are going to be massive protests against the law at the Michigan capitol. Republicans managed to sneak the law through before anybody could stop them... but not before anybody noticed. It turns out that Republican legislators are the best organizers that Democrats have.

If you want to understand what right-to-work legislation is, just know that the phrase “right to work” was applied to it by Republicans. That right there tells you that it’s the opposite of what it says. Right-to-work laws are really about denying workers the right to organize… or at least denying them the means to organize. The laws allow freeloading workers in union shops to skip out on paying union dues. So they get all the benefits of union without contributing anything—the union is weakened, management crushes it, and next thing you know, nobody has any of the benefits of a union.
 

Republicans believe that they can use the debt ceiling as leverage in the next round of negotiations after the fiscal cliff is past. I have news for you guys—you guys can have your ass handed to you by Obama... and then have that same ass kicked by him later! When you raise the debt ceiling, you’re not doing anyone a favor. You’re just doing what needs to be done. Using the debt ceiling in budget negotiations is like going into talks over a divorce settlement and having one parent say “If I don’t get the deal I want, I will stop feeding the children.”
 

 

Allen West is saying he lost his race because his opponent cheated. Allen said “I’m not going away just because of a congressional race where he seems to have to cheat to beat me.” You’re wrong on two counts, Allen—nobody cheated, and you ARE going away. Bye bye!

Listen to The Randi Rhodes Show Monday through Friday 6 PM to 8 PM on WWRL 1600.

Last week, Michigan Republicans jammed through legislation making Michigan a “right to work” state. If you’re not familiar with “Right to Work” acts, they basically give workers the right to work for less. President Obama may have saved the jobs of Michigan autoworkers, but Michigan Republicans just found a way to make those jobs worth a lot less. The law includes a provision intended to make it harder to overturn it with a ballot referendum. At least Republicans learned something from Wisconsin and Ohio—if you you’re going to screw people, make sure they stay screwed.

There’s a new movement to get money out of politics. Take a look at what they’re proposing... before money finds out about this. It’s called the American Anti-Corruption Act. The Act closes the revolving door between Congress and K Street. That’s not even an accurate metaphor anymore—the door has been completely removed. As it stands now, Congressmen who leave office can take high paying jobs with organizations whose purpose is to influence Congress—a process we call “Jim DeMint-ing.” The Act also aims to stop the influence of secret money on elections. This Act is essentially trying to unite the citizens... to fight Citizens United.

GOP Congressman Bob Corker says that Republicans should agree to raising taxes on the rich... because later they can use the debt ceiling to slash Social Security and Medicare. So they’ll agree to one common sense idea, if we consent to one absolutely crazy idea. Corker said the debt ceiling limit gives Republicans “leverage.” Yes, if by “leverage” you mean “the ability to hold the American people hostage.”

Even if we go over the fiscal cliff and taxes on the middle class go up in January, there is a way that Obama can protect the middle class from the tax hike. That’s where we’re at—we need lifeboats to save us from Republicans. Even if the tax rates go up, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has the power to decide how much is actually withheld from paychecks. So just because Congress lets us go over the cliff, that doesn’t mean we have to fall. We would end up like the Coyote in the Roadrunner cartoons when he goes over the cliff—we’ll be suspended in midair. The problem with that—and with the paycheck withholding fix—is that it only works for a little while

Listen to The Randi Rhodes Show Monday through Friday 6 PM to 8 PM on WWRL 1600.

They’re going to use the debt ceiling to hold senior citizens on Medicare hostage. In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, prominent Senate Republican Bob Corker said Republicans plan to use the upcoming debt ceiling debate as leverage to force cuts to insurance programs like Medicare. Corker said, “The Republicans know they have the debt ceiling…The leverage is going to shift, to our side where hopefully we’ll do the same thing we did last time, and that is if the president wants to raise the debt limit by $2 trillion we get $2 trillion in spending reduction, and hopefully, this time it will be mostly oriented towards entitlement.”

Republicans have been purposefully misleading the American people about what the debt ceiling is – claiming that by raising it the President will have unlimited money to continue spending. In reality, raising the debt limit just gives the US Treasury the authority to pay off the debts that the nation has already racked up, like Bush’s two wars and his Medicare Part D prescription drug program, which were never paid for.

The debt-limit is about paying off the nation’s credit card; not spending more money on that credit card. By using the debt-limit as a political tool, Republicans are questioning the credit of the United States, and threatening to turn us into a dead-beat nation.

Listen to The Thom Hartmann Program Monday through Friday 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.

Mitch McConnell filibustered himself yesterday (video below). I’m impressed. His body must be a lot more flexible than it looks. OK, Mitch actually had to filibuster himself because a plan of his to embarrass Democrats ended up blowing up in his face. And if you filibuster yourself, don’t be surprised if something blows up in your face. McConnell demanded an up-or-down vote (with no filibuster) on a bill that would give the power to raise the debt ceiling to the President. He thought that some Democrats would vote no, showing disunity. But Democrats were unified in supporting a vote on the bill, meaning that Mitch then had to filibuster his own bill. It turns out that Mitch doesn’t maneuver very well... despite his well-known ability to filibuster himself.

New unemployment numbers are out. For the first time in well over a year we have a set of jobs figures that President Obama’s adversaries don’t have to twist around to attack him with. Note that I said “don’t have to twist around.” I’m sure they still will. The unemployment rate fell from 7.9 percent to 7.7 percent, or in terms conservatives can understand, from totally faked to completely preposterous.

This week Ann Coulter had to tell Sean Hannity “We lost the election, Sean!” You can tell she was getting frustrated. That’s not something they’re allowed to say on Fox News. For one tiny moment, it seemed that the truth was going to get to Sean’s brain... which is kind of like water getting to the Wicked Witch. You could almost see his brain screaming “I’m melting!”

In the aftermath of the Jovan Belcher murder/suicide, Fox News host Dana Perino said that women who are victims of violence should “make better decisions.” Two of Dana’s biggest life decisions have been to work for George Bush and for Fox News. ‘Nuff said.

Yesterday gay marriage became legal in Washington State. If any conservatives in Washington were upset by that, they were perfectly free to get baked—marijuana became legal too. Weirdly, it’s legal to possess marijuana, but it remains illegal for now to grow or buy it. So you can have it... you just can’t get it. That would be like if they said gay people can get married, but not fall in love.

 

Listen to The Randi Rhodes Show Monday through Friday 6 PM to 8 PM on WWRL 1600.

News flash: Tea freak Jim DeMint (R-SC) is quitting the Senate to head up the Heritage Foundation. Great, he’s leaving an organization that no longer functions to join one that really shouldn’t function. DeMint’s replacement will be appointed by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. So Republicans don’t have to worry about DeMint being replaced by anyone remotely sane.

The far right is going bonkers over John Boehner’s removal of several Tea Party conservatives from top congressional committees. They’re calling it a “purge.” Chill, people. They lost their committee assignments, not their heads. At heart, John Boehner is probably just a “get along” kind of guy who would just like to sit down with the opposition over a bottle of wine and... well, what happens after that doesn’t really matter.

Even in gridlocked Washington, the House did agree to a bill that eliminates the word “lunatic” from federal laws. To object to that you’d have to be some kind of... well, Louis Gohmert. Yes, Rep. Louis Gohmert voted against the bill. The vote was 397 to 1. OK, if you are the only person out of 400 who is voting against something... and it’s not the Iraq War... maybe you should take another look at the bill. It’s hard to believe that 397 people are completely wrong on something... even if they are members of Congress.

John Sununu is saying that Obama won because he gives his base handouts. Come on, John! There may have still been a handful of people who thought “He’s just the hatchet man for a desperate campaign. He’s not actually a racist.” Not anymore. And Obama gives his base handouts? Romney’s campaign was financed by a casino billionaire who just wanted to quash several investigations into his activities!

In his first post-election interview, Sheldon Adelson vowed to spend double the $150 million he threw at Mitt Romney last election. Sheldon, you can make billions by being ruthless and unscrupulous, but you can’t win elections that way. Wait a minute, you CAN win elections that way. OK, you must be an idiot.

Listen to The Randi Rhodes Show Monday through Friday 6 PM to 8 PM on WWRL 1600.

...bribe, bribe again!

The Republicans’ top oligarch, foreign casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, is already plotting how he can buy the next election and protect himself from criminal prosecution. Adelson spent $150 million on Republicans in the 2012 election, more than anyone in any American election in history. But he’s already promising to spend double that amount come the next election, and has already met with prospective 2016 Republican Presidential candidates like Governors Bobby Jindal, John Kasich, and Bob McDonnell.

Now, Adelson is looking out for his own butt. The Washington Post reports the he’s flying to Washington, DC to meet with Republican leaders in hopes of changing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Currently, President Obama’s Department of Justice is investigating Adelson for violating the Act, as he’s accused of bribing officials in China to get his casinos built. Which is, of course, why Adelson, who otherwise supports gay marriage and socialized medicine, spent so much money to defeat President Obama and thus get a new Justice Department that won’t prosecute him.

This is the life of the rich and powerful in America. When they get in trouble with the law, they just buy new politicians and get new laws to protect themselves. It used to be called bribery, but today, thanks to the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, now it’s just business as usual.

Listen to The Thom Hartmann Program Monday through Friday 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.

Yesterday the Senate rejected an international treaty to protect the rights of disabled people around the world—a treaty ratified by nations all over the planet. In case you ever wondered what “American exceptionalism” means, it evidently means that, alone among nations, we can reject common sense humane laws in order to maintain the paranoid fantasies of the craziest of our people.
 

Rick Santorum said the treaty could violate the rights of parents who homeschool disabled children. The treaty says that the disabled should have the same rights and freedoms as anyone else. I don’t know, but if there was an evil conspiracy to attack American homeschoolers, I think they would have chosen a different tactic to launch the assault. Republicans said the treaty could pose a threat to US sovereignty. If agreeing not to hassle disabled people poses a threat to US sovereignty, then all I can say is that US sovereignty must be hanging by a very thin thread. By the way, the treaty is modeled after our own “Americans with Disabilities Act.” So obviously, this was some backdoor way to try and introduce American law into America!

Bob Costas is standing by the comments he made about America’s obsession with guns. Costas stressed that he wasn’t calling for gun control, just for a candid conversation about guns. I can just see the gun nut bumper stickers now: “I’ll have a candid conversation about guns when they remove my cold, dead tongue from the buttocks of the NRA.” Costas said he was talking about “gun culture,” not gun control or the Second Amendment. Doesn’t he realize that the Founding Fathers wrote the Second Amendment specifically to foster a gun culture? Thomas Jefferson always envisioned a nation of yeoman farmers… armed to the teeth. How do you think that Benjamin Franklin ended up discovering electricity? He was trying to build a gun that shot lightning!

Costas asked for “one example of a professional athlete who by virtue of his having a gun, took a dangerous situation and turned it around for the better.” Well, Plaxico Burress accidentally shot himself in the thigh when his gun went off in his pocket at a nightclub. If Burress didn’t have that gun... his thigh would have gotten away.

Listen to The Randi Rhodes Show Monday through Friday 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.

On Tuesday as a group of Republican Senators blocked ratification of a UN treaty to help disabled people around the planet. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities requires signatory nations to provide for disabled populations in the same way the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act does. The treaty would require absolutely no changes to current U.S. law. It was originally signed by President George W. Bush in 2006, and then re-signed by President Obama in 2009. It was championed by former Republican Senator Bob Dole and supported by Republicans John McCain, Dick Lugar, and John Barrasso.

It received 61 votes in the Senate – a clear majority – however treaty ratification requires a two-thirds majority and 38 Republicans, including Senators Jim DeMint, Mike Lee, and Marco Rubio, joined together to block it out of fear that it threatens the sovereignty of the United States even though – again – the treaty would require no changes to U.S. law since our nation has already passed laws to assist the disabled. Rather than doing what’s right for the nation and the entire world, Republicans in the Senate used this treaty to scare the hell out of their base and warn of a nameless, faceless global government that is trying to take over the United States.

Nothing could be farther from the truth – or even more ironic as these same Republicans support free trade agreements like NAFTA, the WTO, and the TPP, which actually do threaten our sovereignty on the behalf of transnational corporations.

Listen to The Thom Hartmann Program Monday through Fridy 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.

The Republicans have come up with a counter-offer on solving the fiscal cliff. I’ll give them this—the GOP plan didn’t leave tax rates for the superrich untouched... it actually lowered them! What part of “everything you think or say is wrong” do you guys not understand? The American people have already given their opinion about taxing the rich... in November. That’s the reason you’re not negotiating with President-elect Romney. OK, if Romney were becoming president, you wouldn’t be negotiating with him... you would be scheming with him. Amazing—John Boehner cries at everything. How did he present this travesty without breaking into tears?

The Tea Party people absolutely despise John Boehner’s plan... but that doesn’t mean it’s any good. Poor John Boehner! His plan isn’t good enough for Obama, or bad enough for the Tea Party! I have news for the far right nutbags—this was Boehner’s opening offer. I don’t know if you’re familiar with how negotiations work, but from here, they actually move more to the center. To the people on the far right, negotiating just means insisting on what you want, and threatening harm if you don’t get it.

The folks at Fox & Friends have stepped up to protect the gun culture from attacks from people like Bob Costas. Do gun nuts really need pundits to protect them? I thought they relied on guns to do that. Steve Doocy said “Bob Costas actually used what happened in Kansas City as an excuse to call for gun control.” You mean the shooting? What kind of lunatic would try to link a shooting to guns? For the record, Bob Costas did not call for gun control, even remotely. He just pointed out there was something wrong with some people’s priorities. And then Fox & Friends stepped forward to prove him right. Gretchen Carlson jumped in with “When people, unfortunately, want to kill other people, there’s a lot of ways to do it.” Yes, Gretchen, there are “lots of ways” to kill someone. But few are as quick and irreversible as a gun.

Of course, Rush Limbaugh said that guns had nothing to do with the shooting. He blamed “decades of liberalism.” Got that? The person responsible for these deaths is George McGovern. Here’s a classic: Rush asked “Might there have been a better outcome if there had been a marriage involved?” Or several marriages... like yours, Rush?

Listen to The Randi Rhodes Show Monday thorugh Friday 6 PM to 8 PM on WWRL 1600.

Someone needs to remind Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner and his Party that they lost the election in November. On Monday, House Republicans presented their proposal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff and – as you’d expect – it’s a giant kick in the gut to working Americans. The Republican proposal extends the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% of Americans and reverses the automatic defense cuts, which could cut into the profits of war profiteers in Virginia.

But Republicans argue their plan still achieves trillions in savings over the next ten years by closing unspecified tax loopholes and by slashing spending on insurance programs like Social Security and Medicare as well as public healthcare programs and other social welfare programs for working people. The Republican proposal also raises the eligibility age for Medicare two years from 65 to 67, which poll after poll has shown a large majority of Americans opposing. Altogether, not a single dime is asked of the wealthy in America, while seniors, the sick, the poor, and the young are asked to make sacrifices.

The White House has already rejected the Republican proposal saying it, “does not meet the test of balance.” This issue should have been settled after the election, but Republicans still won’t budge and the American people know it. That’s why a new Washington Post poll shows that by a margin of 53% to 27%, the nation will blame Republicans more than President Obama if Congress takes us over the cliff.

Listen to The Thom Hartmann Program Monday through Friday 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner says that there simply can’t be a deal without tax rates on the wealthiest going up. We can’t fix things by raising taxes on the strapped middle class. In simple terms—we can’t balance the budget with blood from a bunch of turnips. Republicans want to reduce the deficit with painful budget cuts. But even more than that, they want President Obama to be the one who has to name those painful cuts. Republicans won’t stab you in the chest. They’ll only stab you from behind so that while they’re doing it they can yell “Look out! Obama has a knife!”

Mitch McConnell has hinted at a few specifics that the Republicans want. The first thing you learn from them is why Republicans don’t want to tell you what they want to cut. McConnell wants to raise the eligibility age for Medicare to 67. Republicans spent the campaign attacking Obama for cutting Medicare! No wonder they want him to be the one to propose their plan to cut Medicare!

John Boehner said he was “flabbergasted” by the White House proposal on the fiscal cliff. Flabbergasted? What are you, an 80-year old dowager now, John? The Speaker is flabbergasted! Someone get that poor dear some smelling salts before he swoons! I think he has the vapors! “Flabbergasted” is the kind of word used by rich little old ladies—the kind who live in apartments decorated like Rush Limbaugh’s old New York City pad.

Developing: John Boehner just released a fiscal cliff “plan” complete with magic no-rate-increase revenues and Ryan-budget healthcare cuts. Didn't we just vote on the crap?
 

In his weekly radio address, President Obama said it’s unacceptable for Congressional Republicans to “hold middle class tax cuts hostage.” That’s what they’re doing! I’m surprised the Republicans haven’t already cut off the ear of the middle class tax cuts and mailed it to Obama.

Grover Norquist claims that “Tea Party 2 is going to dwarf Tea Party 1 if Obama pushes us off the cliff.” Come on, Grover—everybody knows the sequel is never as good as the original. And that goes double when the original was bad. I don’t want to see “Tea Party 2!” I would rather watch “Lincoln 2: The Rise of Andrew Johnson.”

Listen to The Randi Rhodes Show Monday through Friday 6 PM to 8 PM.

Authors of a new report looked into 24 different case studies in six different states where hydraulic fracking is taking place, to find out why livestock is getting sick and dying. Their conclusion: it’s the fracking chemicals! For example in Louisiana, the study found 17 cows that died after being exposed to spilled fracking chemicals for only one hour. In central Pennsylvania, after 140 cattle were exposed to fracking chemicals, half died. And in western Pennsylvania, after a nearby pond used by pregnant cows was contaminated with fracking chemicals, half the calves born were dead. And if this is what fracking is doing to animals, what might it be doing to people?

As the study’s author says, “[Exposed livestock] are making their way into the food system, and it’s very worrisome…They live in areas that have tested positive for air, water and soil contamination. Some of these chemicals could appear in milk and meat products made from these animals.” Several nations in Europe have already banned fracking, including France and Bulgaria, while the UK has suspended the practice. It’s time for lawmakers to come to their senses in the U.S. and put an end to toxic fracking.

Listen to The Thom Hartmann Program Monday through Friday 3 PM to 6 PM on WWRL 1600.