ThinkProgress » FLASHBACK: Ronald Reagan Called Union Membership ‘One Of The Most Elemental Human Rights’

Yet conservatives may be shocked to learn that their idol Reagan was once a union boss himself. Reagan was the only president in American history to have belonged to a union, the AFL-CIO affiliated Screen Actors Guild. And he even served six terms as president of the organized labor group. Additionally, Reagan was a staunch advocate for the collective bargaining rights of one of the world’s most famous and most influential trade unions, Poland’s Solidarity movement.

ThinkProgress » FLASHBACK: Ronald Reagan Called Union Membership ‘One Of The Most Elemental Human Rights’

Shock Doctrine, U.S.A. – NYTimes.com

From Chile in the 1970s onward, she suggested, right-wing ideologues have exploited crises to push through an agenda that has nothing to do with resolving those crises, and everything to do with imposing their vision of a harsher, more unequal, less democratic society.

Which brings us to Wisconsin 2011, where the shock doctrine is on full display.

Shock Doctrine, U.S.A. – NYTimes.com

“I have one dollar in my wallet. That’s more than the combined income tax liability of GE, ExxonMobil, Citibank, and the Bank of America. That means somebody is gaming the system.” — Carl Gibson, the founder of US Uncut, which is organizing some of today’s UK-inspired massive demonstrations against tax dodgers

Indeed, as politicians are asking ordinary Americans to sacrifice their education, their health, their labor rights, and their wellbeing to tackle budget deficits, some of the world’s richest multinational corporations are getting away with shirking their responsibility and paying nothing. ThinkProgress has assembled a short but far from comprehensive list of these tax dodgers — corporations which have rigged the tax system to their advantage so they can reap huge profits and avoid paying taxes: [follow the link]

ThinkProgress » REPORT: You Have More Money In Your Wallet Than Bank Of America Pays In Federal Taxes

Mad yet? Ignore the Radical Wrong’s eternal whine about class warfare. The Rich can buy all the defense they need.

ThinkProgress » Broun’s Vitriol Spawns Hate As Constituent Asks Congressman, ‘Who’s Going To Shoot President Obama?’

This past Tuesday Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) held a town hall meeting in Oglethorpe County, Georgia. During the question and answer session, one constituent asked a particularly outlandish question. As the Athens Banner Herald reports, the questioner asked, “Who’s going to shoot Obama?” The question apparently evoked laughter from the town hall meeting.

Rather than outright condemning the suggestion of violence, Broun tried to show empathy for the questioner by saying that he knows “there’s a lot of frustration with this president” and that he hopes we can “elect somebody who’s going to be a conservative” next year…

ThinkProgress » Broun’s Vitriol Spawns Hate As Constituent Asks Congressman, ‘Who’s Going To Shoot President Obama?’

I sympathize with Michael Madore [ABQJOURNAL OPINION/GUEST_COLUMNS: Get Government Out of TV, Radio], who resents his tax dollars going to NPR, PBS, and other services with an “offensive liberal slant.” However, he errs in comparing NPR, etc, to Fox. I resent a single penny of my money going to the War Department. Perhaps, Madore would be willing to imagine every penny of his taxes going to kill people overseas, while I imagine all my contributions going toward people enjoying and learning about nature and culture. I’m even willing to overlook the disparity between the billions spent destroying and the mere millions spent airing “liberal” (?) views like those of the McLaughlin Group.

Leave aside the madness of every citizen earmarking his tax money, which would surely result in no money at all for things we don’t know we need until it’s too late (you know, like Public Health). Leave aside that conservatives resent every penny of tax, while liberals accept there is a cost to having a nation. The electromagnetic spectrum is a public property. We, the People, lease portions of that spectrum to private industry, which uses those resources to sell you things that are ultimately bad for you, including philosophies that pour money into the pockets of a relatively few people. Here’s where FOX enters the picture: “my” airwaves are used to poison the minds of citizens against the commonwealth and the notion that we all must compromise, contribute, and get along. Pull the funding on NPR, etc, but pull the plug on FOX at the same time. Stop drinking the kool-aid sold by a foreign dictator.

ThinkProgress » Is Scott Walker Cutting Off Internet Access To Thwart Protesters?

According to pro-labor protesters in Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker (R) may be taking a page from former Egyptian Dictator Hosni Mubarak and cutting off internet access to key protest organizers within the state Capitol building.

If you are in the Capitol attempting to access the internet from a free wifi connection labeled “guest,” you cannot access the site defendwisconsin.org. The site has been used to provide updates on what is happening, where you can volunteer, and where supplies and goods are needed to support protesters. Administrators of the website were notified on Monday that the page is being blocked. Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate says that the site was put on a blacklist typically used to filter out pornography sites so that protestors inside the Capitol could not access this key site.

Former Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General Charles Hoornstra said that, if Walker is blocking the website, it could be a violation of state and federal laws concerning free speech laws.

ThinkProgress » Is Scott Walker Cutting Off Internet Access To Thwart Protesters?

ThinkProgress » The Last Time Scott Walker Went Union Busting, He Was Overruled And Wasted Taxpayer Dollars

The last time Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) went after public sector unions it had “disastrous results” for him and for taxpayers. As Milwaukee County Executive in 2009, Walker tried to get rid of the unionized security guards at the county courthouse and replace them with contractors, which he promised would save the county money.

ThinkProgress » The Last Time Scott Walker Went Union Busting, He Was Overruled And Wasted Taxpayer Dollars

ThinkProgress » Koch Industries Front Group Americans For Prosperity Launches Ad To Support Walker’s Union Busting

As ThinkProgress has reported, the global conglomerate Koch Industries not only helped elect Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI), but is the leading force orchestrating his union-busting campaign. Koch gave Walker over $43,000 in direct donations and its allies aired millions of dollars worth of attack ads against his Democratic opponent. Then, Koch political operatives pressured Walker to crush labor unions as one of his first priorities. Tim Phillips, a former lobbying partner to Jack Abramoff and current president of Americans for Prosperity, a front financed by David Koch, told the New York Times that Koch operatives “had worked behind the scenes to try to encourage a union showdown.” A Koch-financed front group, the American Legislative Exchange Council, has prepped Wisconsin GOP lawmakers with anti-labor legislative ideas.

Today, the Koch group Americans for Prosperity announced that it will air an ad smearing the protesters in Madison and calling on the state to support Walker’s power grab.

ThinkProgress » Koch Industries Front Group Americans For Prosperity Launches Ad To Support Walker’s Union Busting

ABQJOURNAL OPINION/SPEAK: Speak Up!

WHAT’S THIS? A people can topple their government without having any Second Amendment rights? Strange how we did not see protesters in the streets of Cairo with guns. The protesters were peaceful and not threatening to kill anyone in order to be heard. — C.E.

ABQJOURNAL OPINION/SPEAK: Speak Up!

I created the NADA category on my blog during the darkest days of Duhbya’s Reign of Error: New American Dark Ages. I still find new items to add to NADA almost daily thanks to the frightened, angry, and willfully-ignorant ranting of the Radical Right Wrong. If politics are all that interest you … you may have a problem, but here’s your link: mjh’s blog — NADA. However, I recommend frequent breaks from the biliousness, so see the whole blog for photos, poetry, movies, etc. Thanks for reading. Let me know what you think (in comments or via email, if you’re civil).