TRANSCRIPT
Thom Hartmann here – on the news…
You need to know this. Another weekend – another surge in the
Occupy Wall Street movement – or as it is now referred to with
occupations taking place all around the nation – the 99% movement.
Thousands of demonstrations stretched across America in 25 different
cities once again over the weekend – but protestors might soon have a
problem on their hands – Conservatives trying to sabotage the 99%
movement. Over the weekend – an assistant editor with the right-wing
magazine "The American Spectator” – bragged that he infiltrated a group
of protestors as they marched to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum on
Saturday and that he was at the forefront of provoking the police to
respond violently. The group was protesting the museum’s unmanned
drone exhibition – and were pepper sprayed after a confrontation with
museum security. Patrick Howley – the right-wing editor whose only
intention was – as he put it in an article he published later - “to mock
and undermine” the movement, was one of the first to taunt and confront
the Museum's police. Now that it’s clear “Occupy Wall Street” isn’t
going away anytime soon – and it’s only going to get bigger – watch out
for other right-wing “agent provocateurs” to resort to desperate and
violent tactics to sabotage this truly grassroots movement.
Speaking of the 99 percent, there’s still no economic recovery in sight
for working people. According to a new New York Times report –
household incomes in the United States have fallen more in the two years
after the Bush recession was supposedly over – than during the
recession itself. From December of 2007 to June of 2009 – when the
housing bubble began to burst and Bush bailed out the banks – household
income dropped 3.2%. But in the two years after that – household income
fell twice as much – about 6.7%. But even though average wages are
sinking – corporate CEOs – especially those on Wall Street – are taking
home astronomically high paychecks just like they were before the
recession. It’s the tale of two Americas – or what happens when you
suck a few trillion dollars out of the middle class to bail out the
banksters. OR to put it in today’s terms – an economic recovery for the
1% at the expense of the 99%.
In the best of the rest of the news…
The Planet could be just weeks away froma global economic meltdown. Last
week – IMF adviser Robert Shapiro warned that the global banking system
is still under unbelievable stress and could collapse in a matter of
two to three weeks. Then yesterday – UK Prime Minister David Cameron
echoed similar concerns – telling European leaders they have just weeks
to act to avoid a financial catastrophe – suggesting Europe needs a “big
bazooka” approach to averting a disaster. Looks like we’re headed for
a repeat of 2008 – because governments around the world have embraced
the bankster economic model of booms for the banks and austerity for the
other 99 percent.
Just how out of touch are Republicans in the House of Representatives?
Consider what they plan to vote on this week. With 46 million people
living in poverty and unemployment above 9% - House Republicans are
planning to vote on 3 Free Trade Agreements this week that will lead to
even more job offshoring. They will also be voting on legislation to
gut the EPA – giving their corporate owners a free ticket to pollute.
And then, a vote to ban abortions – a little giveaway to the religious
right that sponsored the weekend Values Voters Summit. Oh – and don’t
forget – House Republicans also need to rename some post offices too.
As jobs bills on the Republican agenda this week? – that number is
zero. Speaker Boehner - WHERE ARE THE JOBS?!
Is our military under siege cyber warriors? According to a
report by “Wired” – our nation’s unmanned drone fleet has been infected
by a mysterious computer virus. The virus is logging all the
commands given to the drones – though military officials have yet to
determine if those commands are then being sent to an outside source.
Despite repeated attempts – military officials have yet to get rid of
the virus – as one unnamed source said, “We keep wiping it off, and it
keeps coming back…We think it’s benign, but we just don’t know.” Odds
are, though, SOMEBODY knows…
Even though the FBI closed the case on the 2001 anthrax attacks
– three scientists have come forward with an explosive new report
calling for the case to be reopened. In the months after 9/11 –
anthrax was mailed to several media outlets including NBC News and the
New York Post – as well as Democratic Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick
Leahy. As a result – 5 people were killed and 17 were sickened. The
FBI accused Bruce Ivins – an Army biodefense expert – of sending the
anthrax – but Ivins allegedly committed suicide in 2008 and was never
charged. Now, a new report suggests that Ivins may have been innocent
and there's no way he could have pulled them off. Not to mention the
curious circumstances surrounding the anthrax attacks and the passage of
the PATRIOT Act. Senators Leahy and Daschle were the two Senators who
could hold up the PATRIOT Act – but after they - and they alone, among
legislators - were targeted with anthrax, they both quickly pushed the
bill through Congress – and, in the process, handed over a trillion
dollars to the military-industrial complex. This case certainly
deserves a lot more attention.
And, finally, today is Columbus Day – when lots of
Americans get a day off work to commemorate the founding of the “New
World” even though it had already been found – and was settled for
thousands of years before Columbus showed up. And it’s also a day
commemorating a psychopath who arrived in Hispaniola in 1492 and set out
to rape, slaughter, and enslave thousands of indigenous people in a
manic hunt for treasure. Fifty years after Columbus landed in
Hispaniola – the region’s original 3 million people were completely
wiped out. Happy Genicide Day!
And that’s the way it is today – Monday, October 10th, 2011. I’m Thom Hartmann – on the news.
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