Thom Hartmann on The News - January 21, 2014

I'm jim DeMint ski here for Thom Hartmann on the news you need to know this congress can't find the willpower to raise taxes on the rich but that hasn't stopped them from chipping away at our retirement and slashing our social safety net for decades now we've seen billion Scott from vital programs like food stamps unemployment insurance and cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security but closing corporate tax loopholes or making Wall Street pay more to gamble is simply off the table but the passing of the 2014 budget congress cut the cost of living increases for military retirees by one percent may not sound like a lot but it could add up to as much as eighty thousand dollars less for a veteran over their lifetime Republican lawmakers are calling for even more cuts from programs like disability insurance in exchange for extending long-term unemployment if had decades a poor and working-class Americans being forced to bear the burden of the spending cuts all taxes on the wealthy and corporations have continued to decline even many of our democratic lawmakers support ideas like chain CP I but very few have the courage to stand up and call for taxing the rich or eliminating subsidies to giant corporations these cuts do nothing to help hard-working Americans and they actually do serious harm to our national economy it's time to change this pattern in congress support lawmakers who stand up for the little guy and to stop slashing these programs before there's nothing left to be got in screwed news radiation levels have reached a record high in the well underneath the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant according to the japanese media TEPCO measured the amount to obey to rate the meeting radio activity on Thursday found that it was substantially higher than the readings from days before make matters worse while that oh well is becoming more dangerous it still leaking radioactive fluid into the soil and groundwater and that water is making its way into the pacific ocean problems at Fukushima are too big for one country let alone one company to be handling alone the world must act together to deal with the disaster to prevent the next one by eliminating the use up nuclear energy in the best to the restive the news to oncologists are calling on their peers to support single-payer latest journal of oncology doctor raid Raska and doctor lawrence I'm *** Road a feature article laying out in evidence-based appeal for a national health insurance these doctors say that what the that the Affordable Care act won't do enough to solve the health care crisis for cancer patients doctor craske a said with the cost of cancer care skyrocketing out of control most americans with cancer are burdened not only physically but also financially they delay or do not receive care due to their inability to pay Obamacare is a good start but we need to do more to ensure that everyone gets life-saving care when they need it answer care shouldn't be about how much you can afford it should be focused on how much you need to stay alive wearing a red cast out or radiation levels are spiking extremely high and many areas triggering readcasts alert they say to try to avoid being outside in these areas and to remember to wash off your pets when you bring them inside Robbinsville New Jersey is reporting levels of 45 counts per minute but spikes up 190 3-port louisiana averaging 32 with highs above 147 counts per minute Spearfish South Dakota is sitting at 48 counts per minute spikes up 109 Colorado Springs is hovering at 60 with Iza ninety nine counts per minute Tucson Arizona is averaging 50 counts per minute but spikes a 154 in San Leandro Calif is sitting at 45 with highs a 129 counts per minute adcast Edwards alert level is 100 counts per minute but they remind us there is no such thing as a safe level a radiation the majority of Americans do not approve of government spying programs according to a new poll by Pew Research in USA today seventy percent of Americans say that they should not have to give up their privacy and freedom in order to be safe from terrorism even more those surveyed seventy-three percent say that the president's recent proposals for the NSA won't make any difference in protecting our privacy or the president talked about possible changes to the way our private meta data is stored americans are angry that this information is being collected to begin with our president to lawmakers want to give people more confidence about government surveillance programs they should simply require agencies to get a warrant before collecting our private communications data and finally these days college students have to get creative when it comes to paying down their student debt one University of Michigan student is doing just that Alex bender will soon be graduating any selling of ad space on his graduation cap Alex divided up the top of his capital 100 squares with yeah which he is selling for three hundred dollars each to pay off his thirty thousand dollars to debt bender said it's scary to think I'm about to go out into the economy try to find a job and have all this dead I'll have to start paying start thinking do I have anything available that I could sell no student should ever have to resort to this to get an education but you have to hand it Alex for his creativity that's the way it is today Tuesday January 21st 2014 and ginger in skin for Thom Hartmann on the news I'm