Senator Sanders: "The American people are angry"

Senator Bernard Sanders Floor Statement - June 27, 2012

excerpt
"I think what the American people are saying is enough is enough. This country, this great country, belongs to all of us. It cannot continue to be controlled by a handful of billionaires who apparently want it all. You know, I, for the love of me, I cannot understand why people who have billions of dollars are compulsively driven for more and how many people have got to die because they don'€™t go to a doctor because you want to avoid paying your taxes?€œ

"Well, that is not what America is about. That is not what people fought and died to create. With that, we have got a fight on our hands. The job of the United States national is to represent the middle-class families of this country, all of the people, and not just the super-rich. I hope we can begin to do that".



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We don't have emperors yet, but...

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The overdue prosecution of Rick Perry

1 February 2015
Last August, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry was indicted by a grand jury on felony charges of abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public official. Perry’s legal team has been trying to get the case dismissed, but has failed each time. The most recent denial came from Judge Bert Richardson, a Republican judge in San Antonio. After a second request made by Perry, a judge denied a motion to have a criminal case against the governor dismissed. America’s Lawyer, Mike Papantonio, appears on The Thom Hartmann Program to discuss Rick Perry’s claims of wearing his indictment as a 'badge of honor.' 

The Last Real Texas Blues Band

Bill Moyers: Fighting for FDR's Four Freedoms

April 11, 2014

If you believe America desperately needs a great surge of democracy in the face of fierce opposition from reactionary and corporate forces, then remembering and reviving the spirit of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who died 69 years ago this week, is in order.

In January 1941, FDR’s State of the Union address made it clear that a fight was inevitable, a fight to preserve, protect and defend four essential freedoms: freedom from fear and want and freedom of speech and religion.

This week, Bill speaks with historian Harvey J. Kaye, author of the new book, The Fight for the Four Freedoms: What Made FDR and the Greatest Generation Truly Great, about how FDR’s speech was a rallying cry to build the kind of progressive society that Roosevelt hoped for but did not live to see at war’s end.

Kaye says the president was able to mobilize Americans who created “the strongest and most prosperous country in human history.” How did they do it? By working toward the Four Freedoms and making America “freer, more equal and more democratic.”




Nine things people should understand about Lyndon Johnson

Julian E. Zelizer | www.vox.com
17 January 2015

For decades, Lyndon Johnson was reviled as one of the worst presidents in American history, the person who brought the nation into the disastrous war in Vietnam. More recently, there has been a revival of interest in Johnson's legendary ability to make Washington work.

During his presidency, Congress passed a huge agenda of domestic legislation — which he called the Great Society — that included Medicare and Medicaid, civil rights and voting rights, a War on Poverty, food stamps, immigration reform, federal aid to elementary and secondary schools, higher education funding, environmental regulations, and much more.

Americans have learned a great deal about the president through the wonderful work of writers such as Robert Dallek, Robert Caro, and Randall Woods. The White House presidential recordings, which are now available to the public online, have provided people with a seat inside the inner sanctum of the Oval Office to hear LBJ interacting with his friends and foes. Last year a Tony Award-winning play starring Bryan Cranston, 'All The Way', brought LBJ's frenetic energy to Broadway. Johnson is currently in the news as a result of a vigorous debate over how he is depicted in the film 'Selma'.

But much of our understanding about Johnson is still based on misunderstandings about who he was and how he got things done. My new book, 'The Fierce Urgency of Now', provides a narrative history of the Great Society that challenges some of the popular myths about LBJ. While writing the book, I learned a great deal from the archives about Lyndon Johnson.

Here are nine things I wish people knew about the 36th president.
NINE THINGS HERE:

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Jeff Healey at the Islington Academy (2007)

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from 'Couldn't Stand The Weather' (1984)

Elizabeth Warren on fighting back against Wall St. giants | Bill Moyers

September 5, 2014

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and her brothers grew up in “an America that invested in kids like us and helped build a future where we could flourish.” But, as she writes in her memoir, A Fighting Chance, “Today the game is rigged – rigged to work for those who have money and power… The optimism that defines us as a people has been beaten and bruised. It doesn’t have to be this way.”

Elizabeth Warren on Fighting Back Against Wall St. Giants from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo.

Gun sale time

Bill Moyers: The New Robber Barons

Washington continues to reward wealthy donors and Wall Street but what about everyday Americans? Author and historian Steve Fraser joins Bill to discuss.

The New Robber Barons from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo.

How Putin and his cronies stole Russia

Anne Applebaum | New York Times
18 Dec 2014

In her book Sale of the Century (2000), Chrystia Freeland memorably describes the moment when she realized that the confusing regulations and contradictory laws that hog-tied Russian business in the 1990s were not a temporary problem that would soon be cleaned up by some competent administrator. On the contrary, they existed for a purpose: the Russian elite wanted everybody to operate in violation of one law or another, because that meant that everybody was liable at any time to arrest. The contradictory regulations were not a mistake, they were a form of control.
READ IT HERE:

Stephen Colbert on Meet The Press

14 Oct 2012

21st Century Busy Town Jobs

Remembering the real Ronald Reagan – Michael Moore's 'Capitalism: A Love Story'

"The banks and the corporations had a simple plan: to remake America to serve them. But pulling it off would require electing a spokesmodel as president".

Remembering the Real Ronald Reagan -- Michael Moore's 'Capitalism: A Love Story' from MMFlint on Vimeo.