Thom's stack - July 2007

Occasionally I link to an article that covers a story even though Thom did not mention that article.

Tuesday 31 July '07 National show

• This is the anniversary of the birth of Milton Friedman, economist.
• Guest: Michael Chapman, Managing Editor, cnsnews.com, debating on if a minimum wage will hurt or help the economy. Friedman's "Free to Choose" has several pages on minimum wages; he said it priced out the lowest - blacks. Thom said there was no evidence for that.
• Bumper Music: The Americans, John Mellencamp.
• At the founding of America, the debate was about maximum not minimum wages. Middle class rant. It is now more subtle than the maximum wage laws that were in place in England, which were designed to prevent people from breaking out of poverty - the threat of outsourcing, surrender of US sovereignty to the WTO, NAFTA chapter 11 (corporations can sue the government). They say that minimum wages will hurt small businesses, but they are the first to benefit. They say it effects mostly teenagers, but over a third are trying to raise a family.They say it will result in job losses or discourage job creation. Oregon has a higher minimum wage and economic growth is very good - demand side economics works, unlike supply side economics, which leads to the rich getting richer the poor getting poorer, and the middle class getting wiped out. The big question should be, should we have regulated capitalism in the US, so that people can start businesses and get rich - we love free enterprise - but if you can't run your business and pay workers a decent wage, it is not a viable business.
• Bumper Music: Keep on the Sunny Side, Johnny Cash.
• Quote:
  " If any woman ever breathed a word I’ll make her pay so dearly that she’ll wish she’d never been born. I’ll rake her through the mud, bring up things in her life and make her so miserable she’ll be destroyed. And besides, she wouldn’t be able to afford the lawyers I can or endure it financially as long as I can. And nobody would believe her, it’d be her word against mine and who are they going to believe? ME or some unstable woman making outrageous accusations? They’d see her as some psycho, someone unstable. Besides, I’d never make the mistake of picking unstable crazy girls like that."
  Bill O'Reilly.
• The other day Bill O'Reilly sent a camera crew to the home of one of daily kos's sponsors. Now Mike Stark of Calling all Wingnuts has confronted O'Reilly at his home.
• Guest: Congressman Jay Inslee, who is introducing a resolution requiring the Judiciary Committee to investigate with a view to impeaching Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Transcript.
• Article: More in GOP want Iraq military limits.
• Guest: Tom Hayden, activist, former California state senator, co-founder of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), author, national co-director of "No More Sweatshops!". He was on the show for a full hour. The future of activism. Author, "Ending the War in Iraq". They had conversations on and off the air in Croatia. Insiders and outsiders, Machiavellians and movement. The scale of what the anti-war movement has done. Machiavelli and media integrated. New phase of war, General Petraeus, counterinsurgency war. Pacify the home front by getting the combat causalities down this year. Unlike Thom, he is not sure they will come down. The army is stressed to breaking point; April is the last date it can sustain escalation, which is in the middle of the presidential elections. "More in GOP want Iraq military limits" article.
  
  Once again we have an ongoing conflict and a president abusing power. If the war end or the violence reduces, will we stop talking about the constitution? Democracy v. Empire. Military Industrial Complex. Secrecy. There are reactions, for example from big law firms when Bush chastised them for doing pro bono work at Guantanamo. There will be another war soon enough if we don't do our jobs. Quote from his book: "I know therefore that we live on borrowed time. We can assume that somewhere in government plans are already prepared for moving our country in a more authoritarian direction at home and an even ore militaristic one abroad, should there be another September 11th scale attack." The Patriot Act is a massive document, it was ready before 9/11. They are ready for another attack. They won't show plans to Congressman DeFazio.
  
  War can be ended by people power pressing against the pillars of power. Cost/benefit analysis. We should work with the Iraqi government and people, most of whom want withdrawal. Lots of anti war demonstrations. The public views the war as a mistake.
• Bumper Music: Waiting On The World To Change, John Mayer.
• Thom will be attending several openings of Leonardo DiCaprio's feature-length environmental documentary titled "The 11th Hour", which Thom is in: August 17 in Los Angeles (show live from AM 1150 KTLK), August 20 in NYC (show live from AM 1600 WWRL), August 24 in San Francisco (show live from KQKE, 960AM The Quake), and others. Times and theaters to be announced.
• Bumper Music: Sometimes you can't make it on your own, U2.
• Pete called and suggested getting Thom's recent conservative guests to do PSAs that can be distributed.
• Bumper Music: Me And My Gang, Rascal Flatts.
• Article: Scandal-Wracked Weapons Manufacturer Big Spender on Capitol Hill, Jeff Golimowski.
• Guest: Jeff Golimowski, CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer - a journalist who is not a conservative, but a moderate to left liberal. BAE Systems (British defense company) lobbying and campaigning. Outsourcing defense contracts. Bribery is money first, positions second. Politicians can go to Congress and take positions first, and know that money will follow - not bribery, but corruption. Threats of businesses with local plants closing them if the politician does not vote the way they want.
• Article: BREAKING... Home Depot dumps O'Reilly: "We will not... advertise on the Bill O’Reilly show".
• Clip:
  "So, all those clowns at the liberal radio network, we could incarcerate them immediately. Will you have that done, please? Send over the FBI and just put them in chains, because they, you know, they're undermining everything and they don't care." Bill O'Reilly, June 20 broadcast of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly.
• Guest: Mike Stark of Calling all Wingnuts, who confronted O'Reilly at his home. Daily Kos diary. O'Reilly had suggested that his listeners turn up at Mike's home. Paul Krugman wrote about it 18-19 months ago. Why did Mike go after personal stuff rather than issues? It showed how morally amoral O'Reilly is. He is out to destroy us. Mike hopes to preview the video at the Yearly Kos convention.
• Bumper Music: Signs, Five Man Electrical Band.
• Article: Anxious Republicans fear another beating .
• Article: White House runs conference call on executive privilege for right-wing bloggers.
• Near the end of each show Thom's producer David Pool is selecting one of the blogs over at Thom's Air America blog to receive a copy of Thom's book "Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class and What We Can Do About It" each day. Today's winner was Wow by jwhisnant97.
• Quote:
  "We will lead an aggressive effort to enroll millions of poor children who are eligible but not signed up for the government's health insurance programmes."
  George W Bush's address to the 2004 Republican Party convention.
• Ellen Ratner of Talk Radio News. The White House missed the Alberto Gonzales deadline. She was at breakfast with Pelosi, who is not interested in impeachment, and who is meeting the president tonight at her own request; it took a while. Jay Inslee request for investigation; Hoyer and Pelosi won't commit. Pelosi is going to stay focused on her own agenda. Pelosi called Medicare Advantage a rip, designed to destroy medicare. SCHIP, today Stenny Hoyer quoted Bush promising an "aggressive effort to enroll". Now he will veto it. Hoyer said they would think about getting communication companies protected on privacy liability in the future. Energy bill one sentence line will give $10-50b to anyone building a nuclear power plant. There has been a recent application to build one, the first for years. The Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act. The nuclear power industry could not exist in a free market.

Monday 30 July '07 National show

• Article: Conservatives, Beware of Fred Thompson, Richard A. Viguerie.
• Guest: Richard Viguerie, author of "Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause". He's also a co-founder of the American Freedom Agenda, along with Bruce Fein, Bob Barr and David Keen. Republican presidential candidates. Thom asked him about the future of the Conservative movement. Reagan. Goldwater. He's not for impeachment, but says we should alert and inform the public how this administraton has seriously attacked rights and privileges. The ten points of the American Freedom Agenda pledge. Mitt Romney refused to sign; he and Bush are unfit to serve as president. Third force (not party) like environmental, other groups, pulling politicians in their direction. Transcript.
• Thom will be attending several openings of Leonardo DiCaprio's feature-length environmental documentary titled "The 11th Hour", which Thom is in: August 17 in Los Angeles (show live from AM 1150 KTLK), August 20 in NYC, August 24 in San Francisco (show live from KQKE, 960AM The Quake), and others. Times and theaters to be announced.
• Thom will be broadcasting live from NYC all next week.
• Bumper Music: Suddenly I See , KT Tunstall.
• Thom: "You know, it's really easy to go out there and find Democrats who are going to call for the impeachment of Bush. I mean, you know, throw a penny into a crowd, bang, you've got one. But what I want to do is try and get as many conservatives on this program that I can who are pushing back against this administration, because we're not hearing their voices. They're not being heard in the main stream media; they are being, by and large, locked out. They're not being heard in the conservative media, because the conservative media is marching lock step with the Bush administration. And they're not being heard on the liberal media because the liberal media generally doesn't talk to conservatives.
  
  And I think that it's really important that people realise that there is a kind of bicultural consensus emerging. You know, both sides; the old line liberals and progressives like myself and old line conservatives like Richard Viguerie, who are looking at the presidency of George W. Bush and saying, 'yes, this really and truly is the worst presidency in the history of the United States', and people like Bruce Fein and Paul Craig Roberts saying, 'and we should throw the guy out of office; we should impeach him'. Not just because he's done terrible things, but because he has set a precedent; he has torn our constitution asunder, he's ripped it into shreds, and it's a horrible thing for American democracy."
• Tax revenues are at an all time high, not because of tax cuts, but because of inflation and of the dramatically increasing population of the United States, and because the economy has been growing, albeit at half the speed it did under Clinton. Thom will look for a web site that takes that into account. There was an increase in tax revenies when FDR and Clinton raised the top tax rate.
• Nixon, Ford and Carter suffered because they had to pay out on the treasuries that were used to finance the Vietnam war.
• Bumper Music: Crazy, Gnarls Barkley.
• Article: US:Birth control to be used on Hollywood's pigeon population. Thom's 'pigeons are aliens' theory.
• Article: Martial Law Threat is Real. Bush has a loaded gun.
• Is financial armageddon on its way? The stock market fell several hundred points last week. It's bouncing back a bit. There's a lot of specualtion in the financial press about what all this means and whether there's a financial armageddon down the road. Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) - where countries like China are buying companies that own companies, like Blackstone.
• Quote:
  "Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."
  Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address March 4, 1933.
• Guest: Michael Panzer, author of "Financial Armageddon: Protecting Your Future from Four Impending Catastrophes". Subprime defaults, corporate bonds rates going up. Crisis in liquidity? The end of cheap and easy money. It's a confidence game and we are losing confidence. FDR on fear. There's a lot of complacency, saying that last week was a storm in a teacup. The Bush administration is no longer publishing M3. Debt, government guaranties (Fannie Mae etc), derivatives, Kevin Phillips - economy generating more money from generating money than from goods or services. What should we do for ourselves, and what we should get government to do. Live more prudently.
• Bumper Music: Every Breath You Take, Economics professor Dean Glenn Hubbard, Columbia Business School.
• Article: Funds that shake capitalist logic. Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) explnation and rant.
  "Governments are very different from other economic actors. Their investments should be governed by rules designed with that reality very clearly in mind."
• The hysteria over Rupert Murdoch buying the Wall Street Journal. Imagine if it was China buying it, or Saudi Arabia, how if one of them would only cooperate with the USA if their American companies get tax breaks, or if one threatened to shut their US companies down. "Governments are very different from other economic actors." Hedge funds.
• Bumper Music: This is such a Pity, Weezer.
• Article: Bush and Brown vow co-operation.
  "Mr Brown denounced terrorism as a crime".
• Victoria has US/UK dual citizenship. BBC article re bush and brown "Mr. Brown denounced terrorism as a crime". As prime minister, he does not refer to the war on terror or terrorism. Bush and Brown vow co-operation. Brown is trying to increase the time that terrorists can be held without charge to 56 days. A joint parliamentary committee will condemn it. Congress getting ready to go home. Apparent declassification by anonymous sources over the weekend that part of the illegal warrantless wiretapping went way beyond what was thought, to data mining for 3 years up to 2004/5. The Senate Judiciary Committee will look at it. Her instinct is that nobody is surprised at anything any more, and there's a feeling of powerlessness. If this doesn't lead to impeachment, what will? Thom is hopeful people will pressure their representatives over recess.
• Article: Iraqi sheiks convey message to Ellison.. He's the only Muslim in Congress.
• Article: State Vote Machines Lose Test to Hackers. If you are in california, contact Debra Bowen; she has to decide by Friday whether to decertify. Privatization of vote rant.
• Bumper Music: Working Man's Ph.D., Tippin Aaron.
• Guest: Terry O’Sullivan, General President of Laborers' International Union of North America. Labor issues. Washington Post/ABC poll. Approval ratings for Congress and the Bush Administration, but they are preventing congress.
• Clip:
  "I've always felt the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help'." Ronald W. Reagan.
• Bumper Music: Everything, Alanis Morissette.
• Article: Iraqi Soccer Team Wins Asian Cup - Team Captain Wants U.S. Out Of Iraq.
• Bumper Music: Acid Rain (Seattle), Seattle Twisted Tunes.

Friday 27 July '07 National show

• The Bush administration has served Michael Moore with a subpoena for going to Cuba.
• Article: The NYT Argues For Class Biased Trade Agreements.
• The first half hour of the show was devoted to "Brunch with Bernie" with Senator Bernie Sanders, Independent of Vermont. He was calling in to the show from a plane for the first time - an Air Force plane en route from Andrews AFB to Greenland to look at global warming, with 10 Senators including Barbara Boxer. Thom will be attending several openings of Leonardo DiCaprio's feature-length environmental documentary titled "The 11th Hour", which Thom is in: August 17 in Los Angeles (show live from AM 1150 KTLK), August 20 in NYC, August 24 in San Francisco (show live from KQKE, 960AM The Quake), and others. Barbara Boxer will be moderating a screening next Wednesday, and they want Bernie to go to the one in Washington too.
  
  Bernie thinks there is huge potential for moving to alternative energy and creating jobs, if there is the will. Congress has raised the minimum wage which just went into affect. Negative savings. There will be a lot of discussion in the next weeks about trade policy. Senator Dorgan hearing about trade agreements with China. Senate passed a Higher Education Act to increase Pell Grants. Veterans Administration funding increase. Next week children's health care initiative - SCHIP. Oversight. Karl Rove subpoenaed by Senate, and Congress has subpoenaed others about firing attorneys. The White House telling the Department of Justice not to take up any proceedings involving claims of executive privilege, perjury. It will end up in the courts. It is time to make Bush understand he is not a king. Trade agreements article - aimed against workers but protecting corporations. Some of those elected in the last election are more likely to stand up against trade agreements.
• Bumper Music: Not A Moment Too Soon, Tim McGraw.
• Alternative energy. Cap and trade. Incentives to install, retrofit homes, buy hybrids. Cheap illegal drugs coming into the country. The Solicitor General, independent prosecutor. Bernie agrees with Schumer that Alberto Gonzales should be investigated. Halliburton. Congress will look into war profiteering.
• Bumper Music: Once In A Lifetime, Keith Urban.
• Article: Meat is murder on the environment.
• Clip:
  LENO: "But a lot of celebrities go to Cuba. "
  
  MOORE: "Yeah, oh yeah. Leonardo DiCaprio has been there, Cameron Diaz."
  
  LENO: "Sure, a lot of people go. But what happened just an hour ago — "
  
  MOORE: "You want me to tell what happened –"
  
  LENO: "Sure, go ahead."
  
  MOORE: "Ok, well, I haven’t even told my own family this yet, so you’re asking me to do this on national television."
  
  LENO: "Yeah, but it’s NBC, so not that many people are watching. "
  
  MOORE: "Alright. Well, I was just informed while I was back there with Jay that the Bush administration has now issued a subpoena for me, going after me for helping these 9/11 rescue workers."
  
  LENO: "Well, no, for going to Cuba, it wasn’t for helping them –"
  
  MOORE: "Well, that’s why I went there. I didn’t go there like Cameron Diaz to get a tan. No offense, I’m all for her tan. I’m just sailing around on a pontoon there in Cuba, but that’s not why I was there. I was there to help them and now I’m going to face this further harassment from the Bush people. Aren’t they busy with something else?"
  Bush Administration Subpoenas Michael Moore.
  Go to see Sicko with friends.
• Bumper Music: Don't Bring Me Down, Electric Light Orchestra.
• Mike Papantonio of GoLeft TV called after being on the show yesterday. He's been on Hardball, Chris Matthews, MSNBC, CNN and other shows, and they never had as many hits as they had from Thom's show; the site crashed. They have increased its capacity now.
• Article: Was Tillman Murdered? AP Gets New Documents.
• Baghdad down to 1 hour of electricity a day, so the Bush Administration will no longer share information about it with Congress or the American people.
• Article: Greenspan urges cut in business tax rate.
• Bumper Music: Anything Goes, Harpers Bizarre.
• Bumper Music: I am the Decider, Paul Hipp.
• Bumper Music: Free Falling, Tom Petty.
• Victoria Jones of Talk Radio News. She asked simple questions, after the others complicated ones. She asked Tony if Alberto Gonzales and Comey were telling truth, and if they were talking about the same program. He waffled. She's not heard anything about what they are going to do next, or when we will know. Tony would say they were talking about different aspects of same program, at different times. David Gregory analogy; whether we were talking about a meal, or ingredients. Congress breaks in a week, Bush on vacation on 13th. She thinks it is unlikely that Reid will keep Congress going to stop recess appointments.
• The chat room was discussing flying the flag upside down.
• Thom