Back in 2003, a few years before he died, Studs Terkel was on my show and made this comment about "hope dying last": "Without hope - what's the alternative to it? It's despair. And despair means your head in the oven. Hope is what made this country be what it is. It was hope that made the abolitionists fight slavery, you see, against terrible odds.... I picked up that title [of my book] from a Mexican farmworker, her name was Jesse De La Cruz...She said when times are bleak and bewildering we have saying in Spanish...it means 'hope dies last.'"

 

As Terkel later pointed out, it's useful to face reality, and then go from there without despair. In some ways it's like a cancer diagnoses: most people handle tough news better than they think they will, and everybody should have the right to know what reality truly is. This brings us to the discussion around the realities of climate change.

 

Last week on my radio show, I had Guy McPherson on as a guest, and he had some terrifying things to say about the future of the planet. He said we are experiencing such a rapidly warming planet that it was difficult for him to imagine a habitat for human beings in the not too distant future. McPherson went on to say that it's over, that humanity as a species will largely die out, probably within our lifetimes. His message is that it's too late to do anything about it, so we should do everything we can now to make life better before it all ends.

 

On the other hand, Michael Mann, the famous climate scientist who came up with the "hockey stick" graph to show how carbon dioxide has been exploding as the result of industrial activity, says there's still time to do something to stop the climate freight train heading toward us. During an appearance on my TV show earlier this week, he said that we have about two decades before things really start to hit the fan.

 

Read more here.

 

-Thom

 

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 9pm... Proof! Outsourcing makes inequality worse... (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)

 

Get your copy of Thom's new book, The Crash of 2016, today and click here for tour dates & events!

 

Watch the video 'Last Hours' narrated by Thom Hartmann about the "time bomb" that is ticking underground, underwater and under ice... frozen methane that is now escaping and could trigger runaway climate change. www.lasthours.org

 

Have a question or comment for Thom? Grab your phone, hit record and send your video to YourTakeMyTake@gmail.com and we may air it on "The Big Picture."

 

 

Lone Liberal Rumble:
- Kris Ullman, Conservative Commentator/Activist.
- Horace Cooper, National Center for Public Policy Research  

 

 

BP, not Exxon, caused the Exxon Valdez disaster
- Greg Palast, Truthdig / Vulture's Picnic / Vultures and Vote Rustlers        

 

PLUS, NSA reform...or is it?
- Kathleen McClellan, Government Accountability Project    

 

  

Community Square  

 "The surprising story of medical marijuana and pediatric epilepsy; Josh Stanley at TEDxBoulder"  

       

Tuesday's Daily Stack 

Hour One: "White Girl Bleed a Lot"...WHAT?
- Colin Flaherty, World Net Daily  

Book: White Girl Bleed a Lot: the Return of Racial Violence to America by Colin Flaherty.

Article: "Copycat behavior follows shootings at Virginia Tech" by Bob Stuart and Michael L. Owens.

Article: "Roving black mobs too many to ignore" by Colin Flaherty.

Article: "10-day bloodbath for 'nonexistent' Knockout Game" by Colin Flaherty.

Site: White Girl Bleed a Lot.

Article: "Emmett Till" by Wikipedia.

 

The Big Picture
- Nate Sweet, The Big Picture producer

Article: "100 People Who Are Screwing Up America" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Ruling Could Have Reach Beyond Issue of Contraception" by Adam Liptak.

Article: "What's the difference between CVS and Hobby Lobby?" by Ashley E. McGuire.

Article: "The Hobby Lobby Slippery Slope" by Franklin Forum.

Article: "Charlie Savage" by Obama to call for ending NSA phone data collection.

Article: "New York Times Reporter: Obama Administration Is 'Greatest Enemy Of Press Freedom' In A Generation" by Katherine Fung.

Article: "Report: Taxpayers Subsidize Anti-Science Curriculum In 14 States" by Catherine Thompson.

Article: "Democrats have votes to release CIA report" by Burgess Everett.

 

Video: I Have a Politician in my Vagina! (Lizz Winstead).

Article: "Exclusive: Lee Atwater's Infamous 1981 Interview on the Southern Strategy" by Rick Perlstein.

Article: "Active U.S. Hate Groups" by Southern Poverty Law Center.

Article: "Hatfield-McCoy feud" by Wikipedia.

Article: "43 Trillion dollar lawsuit awaits Obama White House and banks".

Article: "Is Rick Scott Guilty of Murder?" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Charlene Dill was murdered by Rick Scott, FL republicans RE Medicaid funding ("donut hole" death)" by nashville_brook.

Article: "Study: Thousands Of People Will Die In States That Don't Expand Medicaid" by Dylan Scott.

Bible: "Matthew 25:31-46 (New International Version)".

 

Article: "Handcuffed teenager shot HIMSELF in the head in back of police car, insist North Carolina police amid outrage".

Article: "Karla Faye Tucker" by Wikipedia.

 

The Hobby Lobby case heard at the Supreme Court
- Shane Farnan, Talk Radio News Service 

Article: "Supreme Court Divided on Corporations' Religious Right to Deny Contraceptive Coverage" by Shane Farnan.

Case: "Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission" (2010).

 

The good: "Jimmy Carter: Drones Create More Terrorists" by Chris Gentilviso.

The bad: Tracey Byrnes: "WTF? Fox reporter says oil spills are just 'distractions' - like 'Oreos' when you're on diet" by David Edwards.

The very, very ugly: Caprock Academy: "Colorado girl barred from school for shaving her head to support friend battling cancer" by Arturo Garcia.

Article: "Nate Silver: GOP Ahead In Race For Senate" by Eliana Dockterman.

Clip: "Paul Weyrich - "I don't want everybody to vote" (Goo Goo)".

 

Talk Radio News Segment:
- Bob Ney 

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Article: "TRNS News Notes - 3/26/14" by Victoria Jones.

Article: "TRNS News Notes - 3/25/14" by Victoria Jones.

Book: "Sideswiped: Lessons Learned Courtesy of the Hit Men of Capitol Hill" by Robert Ney.

Article: "Rep. LaTourette retires, says partisan 'toll' growing too heavy" by Russell Berman and Cameron Joseph.

Article: "Jimmy Carter sticks to 'snail mail' in missives to world leaders" by Reuters.

Article: "NSA Chief Denies Reading Carter's Emails" by TRNS.

Case: "Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius".

Hour Three: Who in the Ukraine will benefit from an IMF bailout?
- Stephen Cohen, The Nation Magazine 

Article: "Distorting Russia" by Stephen F. Cohen.

Book: Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives: From Stalinism to the New Cold War by Stephen F. Cohen.

Article: "US won't use force to return Crimea to Ukraine: Obama" by PressTV.

Article: "Crimea crisis: Russian President Putin's speech annotated" by BBC.

Article: "John McCain Went To Ukraine And Stood On Stage With A Man Accused Of Being An Anti-Semitic Neo-Nazi" by Adam Taylor.

Article: "Ukraine signs $10 billion shale gas deal with Chevron" by Pavel Polityuk and Richard Balmforth.

 

Article: "Hobby Lobby Wants to Stop Doctors From Talking to Its Employees About Contraception" by Amanda Marcotte.

Quote: "I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends... that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them." - Adlai Stevenson.

Quote: "I don't give them Hell. I just tell the truth about them and they think it's Hell -- Harry S. Truman".

Case: "Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission" (2010).

Site: Move to Amend

Article: "First Amendment to the United States Constitution".

Article: "14th Amendment

Video: Richard Haass, Thomas Graham & Kimberly Marten on the Ukraine - Charlie Rose, March 20 2014.

Article: "How Cold War-Hungry Neocons Stage Managed RT Anchor Liz Wahl's Resignation" by Max Blumenthal and Rania Khalek.

Article: "We Are All Aboard the Pequod" by Chris Hedges.

Wednesday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 3-6pm ET 

Hour One: Shouldn't there be a separation of corporations and religion?
- Andrew Abela PhD, A Catechism for Business 

 

 

Hour Three: How to resurrect the dead 101
- Tyler Johnson, Dead Raising Team.

 

PLUS, Exxon Valdez disaster...25 years later
- Shannyn Moore 

 

And, the best of the rest of the news and your calls right here on...

 

The Thom Hartmann Program...your media support group for "we the people"...

Thursday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 3-6pm ET 

We'll have the best of the rest of the news...all the news & information you won't hear from the corporate owned news media...

 

Plus, I'll be talking about the issues of the day with "America's lawyer" Mike Papantonio, host of Ring of Fire Radio...

 

And, my favorite segment of the week, Geeky Science! Together with your calls...right here on...

 

The Thom Hartmann Program...Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week" for "we the people"...

 

And remember...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...

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Thank you for being part of our ever growing community for News, Debate and Opinion on the Thom Hartmann Program.

 

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Sincerely,

Buy Thom's newest book now!
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"Crash of 2016" website

Watch Thom on: - MSNBC's The Cycle
- CNN's Crossfire
- Democracy Now!

Should corporations be entitled to "religious freedom?"

Vote here!

Rick Scott is guilty of murder & Charlene Dill is his victim

Politics Panel - What could go wrong w/guns at school?

Politics Panel - Corporations never will be people

Why we should oppose the Common Core Standards?

It's TEDx time for Thom Hartmann

What God does Hobby Lobby pray to?

Full Show 3/25/14: Hobby Lobby Case Goes Before Supreme Court

Thom talks today's Hobby Lobby Supreme Court case with The Catholic Association's Ashley McGuire and the Common Core education program with the American Federation of Teachers' President Randi Weingarten. Tonight's "Politics Panel" discusses whether Obama will actually end the NSA's bulk phone metadata collection program, whether the Obama administration is the "greatest enemy of press freedom" in history and whether Georgia's governor will sign a bill to allow its citizens to carry guns in bars, airports and churches. In tonight's "Daily Take" Thom discusses how Florida Governor Rick Scott killed Charlene Dill, a mother of three.

Thom Hartmann on Economic and Labor News - March 24, 2014

Is Rick Scott Guilty of Murder?

'Black on White' Crime is Bogus!

Caller: We Live With 'Black on White' Crime

"White Girl Bleed a Lot"...WHAT?

The Thom Hartmann Program - March 25, 2014

Who in the Ukraine will Benefit from an IMF Bailout?

SCOTUS: Hobby Lobby Birth Control Case