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FreedomWorks, a right-wing group bankrolling the Tea Party , has a new advertisement it is planning to run in Ohio supporting Gov. John Kasich’s union-busting efforts. The advertisement tries to paint union protesters in Ohio as violent thugs. One problem: the ad uses footage from an old union protest in California. How do we know? This is the same footage from California, which features palm trees, that was used by Bill O’Reilly just days ago. He used it to argue that the protesters in Wisconsin were violent thugs. Here’s the video evidence produced by TP’s Jeff Spross: Freedom Works Doen't Have Their Facts Rights

ThinkProgress » Fox News Sees ‘Violent’ ‘Union Thugs’ Attacking State Senator, But Senator Saw ‘A Lot Of Courteous People’ "Fox has been breathlessly hyping a video from Madison, WI supposedly showing “union thugs” attacking GOP state Sen. Glenn Grothman outside the Statehouse. In the video, protesters yell “shame” at Grothman as he enters the building, aided by Democratic State Rep. Brett Hulsey, who escorts Grothman through the crowd and reminds the protesters to be respectful of political opponents. The video is dramatic, but to Fox News, it’s downright terrifying. Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade saw a “violent” “angry mob,” while fellow Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy found the footage “absolutely scary.” Fox host Sean Hannity said while watching the “frightening” video that he was “concerned for this guy’s safety.” And contributor Michelle Malkin agreed, viewing the video as proof that “the rule of law has been supplanted by the rule of the mob.” But one key player ...

ThinkProgress » ExxonMobil paid no federal income tax in 2009. (Updated) "Last week, Forbes magazine published what the top U.S. corporations paid in taxes last year. “Most egregious,” Forbes notes, is General Electric, which “generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up owing nothing to Uncle Sam. In fact, it recorded a tax benefit of $1.1 billion.” Big Oil giant Exxon Mobil, which last year reported a record $45.2 billion profit, paid the most taxes of any corporation, but none of it went to the IRS: - Sent using Google Toolbar"

ThinkProgress » Will The Sunday Shows Ignore Labor For The Second Week In A Row? "For the last two weeks, working people have joined with students and sympathetic lawmakers as part of a Main Street Movement to protest efforts in multiple states to strip workers of their collective bargaining rights. While the protests against Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) have garnered the most attention, protests have also taken place in Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Washington, Montana, and Idaho. The protests have caused Republican governors in multiple states to back down from their anti-worker stances. - Sent using Google Toolbar"

ThinkProgress » Priorities? GOP Governors Shift Burden To Poor, Middle Class To Pay For Tax Breaks For Rich, Corporations "State budgets across the country are in disarray as a weak economy, the end of tens of billions in Recovery Act funds, and a GOP-led House that is pushing for deep cuts to many programs that benefit state and local governments set the stage for massive in shortfalls over the next two years. Instead of making the tough choices necessary to help their states weather the current crisis with some semblance of the social safety net and basic government services intact, Republican governors are instead using it as an opportunity to advance several longtime GOP projects: union busting, draconian cuts to social programs, and massive corporate tax breaks. These misplaced priorities mean that the poor and middle class will shoulder the burden of fiscal austerity, even as the rich and corporations are asked to contribute even less. Here’s a detailed look at how the GOP’...

Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin is not an honest broker; what happened to the 200 million dollar surplus that he inherited when he took the job as Governor. He immediatel ­y gave tax breaks to his RICH FRIENDS who helped get elected of nearly 400 million in tax breaks. This is about union busting, to strip workers of political power, and to have a one party system. The Republican ­s want to be in charge of the political process. They want to re-write history, to change all the laws, and to call all the shots. They want to create elite rule system giving the Super Rich all the political might. They want to privatize government services and give the money to Wall Street. Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Who Lost Egypt: Not Obama for Sure - By Aaron David Miller | Foreign Policy "If we're lucky this time around, we'll avoid the who-lost-Egypt debate. Mubarak's decision to step down has pre-empted a catastrophic crisis for Egypt and for American interests. We may not be adept at manipulating Middle Eastern politics; but we're sure experts at beating ourselves up. Commentators and analysts have argued forcefully that Barack Obama's administration failed to anticipate the current crisis, blew an opportunity by failing to push President Hosni Mubarak to make significant reforms during the early days of the upheaval, and risks being on the wrong side of history by not being assertive in trying to force Mubarak's removal. But the administration was smart to keep its distance from this crisis. - Sent using Google Toolbar"

As Long-Term Unemployment Deepens, 99ers Look for Answers | The Washington Independent "For 23 years, 58-year-old Cindy Paoletti of Salina, N.Y., worked in the corporate accounting division of J.P. Morgan Chase, balancing payroll accounts in an upstate office of the Wall Street bank. In December 2007, Paoletti was let go in a wave of layoffs that eventually shuttered the entire Syracuse operations center. “My job went to India,” she sighs. [Economy1] Soon after, she started collecting unemployment benefits and severance while searching for a job in earnest. “I apply for everything out there,” she says, estimating she has applied to hundreds of positions over the past 30 months. “But 95 percent of the time, the company you send your resume to does not even acknowledge that they’ve received it. The majority of the time, if you do get an interview, they tell you that you are overqualified. It seems like as soon as they find out your age, everything goes down after there. The age disc...

Riot Police Guard Against Anti-Billionaire Protesters in Rancho Mirage. John Amato is on the scene | Crooks and Liars : "This is live video sent back from the Quarantine the Kochs rally in Rancho Mirage about an hour and a half ago. John Amato is on the scene and has called me a couple of times with updates. There are about 1500 people or so there, peacefully protesting the convocation of billionaires at the Rancho Las Palmas resort. The purpose of the meeting is to figure out how to impeach Obama and take over our government in order to preserve their wealth, justice, and liberty at the expense of ours. Glenn Beck was the keynote speaker last night, and Eric Cantor was also on the guest list. (Full list here (PDF)) - Sent using Google Toolbar"

ThinkProgress » California Lawmaker Receives Racist Death Threat Warning ‘Rush Limbaugh Will Kick Your Ch-nk Ass’ "Yee’s call for civility did not sit well with one Limbaugh fan, who responded by sending several racist death threats to Yee’s office this week. “Rush Limbaugh will kick your chink ass and expose you for the fool you are,” the faxes read, threatening him with “death” (warning, contains racial expletives): - Sent using Google Toolbar"

Obama, You Had Me At 'Doubling Our Exports by 2014' | The Nation "The biggest problem, at least for liberals and close listeners, was the logical holes in Obama’s tax talk. He mentioned “tax cuts” twice: Once to claim credit for fattening paychecks with the tax compromise, and once to criticize the thought of making that same tax plan permanent. He vowed to eliminate the 'billions' of tax benefits that oil companies currently receive, and then, after bemoaning the deficit, called for cutting 'the corporate tax rate for the first time in 25 years.' Two of the three biggest corporations in America are oil companies, by the way, so those reforms might cancel each other out a bit. Now guess which one the Republicans will act on first. - Sent using Google Toolbar"

MetroPCS sues to block FCC's net neutrality rules - FierceWireless "MetroPCS (NASDAQ:PCS) followed Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) and filed a lawsuit to block the FCC's recently approved net neutrality regulations for wireless and wired networks. The suit comes on the heels of criticism from consumer groups that MetroPCS' LTE data plans violate the rules. The flat-rate carrier filed its suit with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which is where Verizon filed its lawsuit. It's also the same court that in April struck down the FCC's authority to sanction Comcast for blocking subscribers from using a file-sharing service. - Sent using Google Toolbar"

An Overview of Social Inequality : "EXPLORATIONS IN SOCIAL INEQUALITY An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics. --Plutarch Edward N. Wolff's Recent Trends in Wealth Ownership 1983-1998 A 1979 Carnegie study ('Small Futures: Children, Inequality, and the Limits of Liberal Reform', Richard de Lone principal investigator) found that a child's future to be largely determined by social status, not brains. Consider Bobby and Jimmy, two second-graders, who both pay attention in the classroom, do well, and have nearly identical I.Q.s. Yet Bobby is the son of a successful lawyer; Jimmy's works infrequently as custodial assistant. Despite their similarities, the difference in the circumstances to which they were born makes it 27 times more likely that Bobby will get a job that by time he is in late 40s will pay him an income in the top tenth of all incomes in this country. Jimmy had about one chance in eight of earning...

theGrio | African American Breaking News and Opinion : "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

MLK Was a Working-Class Hero : "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Robert Kennedy Quotes - Page 2 - BrainyQuote : "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

China terms Obama-Dalai Lama meeting a gross violation of international relations : "Beijing, Feb.19 (ANI): China on Friday described Thursday’s meeting between US President Barack Obama and Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in the Map Room of the White House as a “gross violation” of international relations and called for the United States to “stop conniving and supporting anti-Chinese forces”. “The US act grossly violated the norms governing international relations and ran counter to the principles,” The Telegraph quoted Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu, as saying.”It also went against the repeated commitments by the US government that the US recognises Tibet as part of China and gives no support to ‘Tibet independence’,” he added. - Sent using Google Toolbar"

ThinkProgress » After Promising To ‘Repeal And Replace’ Obama’s Health Law, Republicans Have No Replacement : "As the first major legislative act with their new majority, Republicans are planning to hold a futile vote next week to repeal President Obama’s health care law. The laughably named “Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act” has an equally laughable chance of becoming law, as the Democratic majority in the Senate will inevitably block it. President Obama has also confirmed that he’ll veto it. Nonetheless, House Republicans are rushing headlong into inevitable defeat, insisting that their efforts aren’t doomed, and promising to “replace” Obama’s law with their own, better one. “Repeal and replace” has been a mantra for Republicans and their conservative allies since March of last year, though the repealers have been hazy on with what they would “replace” it with. - Sent using Google Toolbar"

Today in America 50% of the White have $67,000 in total assets, the Hispanic $8,000 in total assets, and the Blacks $5,000; while 1% of the population owns 90% of all the wealth in America. How can America prosper with such inequality. The Oil Industry Is Gauging Us

The current rules that govern the Senate are hurting our democracy.Obscure rules like secret holds and filibusters allow individual Senators to hold the nation's work hostage while cutting backroom deals. They give preference to the special interests that fund and further their careers.In order for our legislative branch to once again become part of a functioning democracy, the Senate’s rules must be updated. Let the Senate know that national interest comes before self-interest. Join us and sign the petition to Fix the Senate Now. Fix the Senate Now | Sign the Petition Now Blogged with the Flock Browser