Elms Progressive Media

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

ThinkProgress » Wisconsin Gov. Walker Reiterates That The ‘National Guard’ Will Be Used Against A Worker ‘Walk-Off "ThinkProgress has been following both Gov. Scott Walker’s (R-WI) recent “budget repair bill,” which would effectively eliminate state workers’ right to collectively bargain, and his coinciding threat to deploy the National Guard to stop a walkout. Yesterday, the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers criticized Walker, saying that collective bargaining is “fundamental” to the middle class. Approximately 13,000 peaceful protesters flooded the state Capitol yesterday, including nearly 800 Madison East High School students who left school to protest Walker’s bill. Democratic lawmakers listened to testimonies from citizens for more than 20 hours, stretching into the early morning. Many people who hadn’t yet gotten to speak pulled out sleeping bags. Responding to his inappropriate threat to use the National Guard against resisting workers, Walker said last night on Greta V...

The Human Cost of Failed Revolutions | Solidarity "appened Ernest Mandel In November/December 1918 and in March 1920, a Germany governed by workers councils was on the agenda. The defeat of both the workers uprising of 1918-19 and of the beginning revolution in 1920, however, was brought about by two factors: 1) the collaboration of the Social Democracy (which represented a majority political party within the working class) with the military and bourgeois elites, and 2) the immature and weak leadership of the revolution itself. The German working class paid a high price for this missed opportunity, as did a large portion of the world’s population. One cannot, of course, substitute an imaginary “What would have happened if” for the real historical process which did occur. But it is possible to empirically demonstrate that alternative outcomes were objectively possible. Revolutionary and counterrevolutionary classes, along with significant layers of these classes and their represen...

Union Protest: Wisconsin Teachers Calling in Sick en Masse - Teachers Union - Fox Nation "The protests against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's (R) proposals to roll back public employee unions rights are continuing Wednesday, with schools in the state capital Madison closing as the result of teachers calling in sick en masse. Under Walker's plan, as TPM has previously posted, most state workers would no longer be able to negotiate for better pensions or health benefits or anything other than higher salaries, which couldn't rise at a quicker pace than the Consumer Price Index. Walker and state Republican leaders have said the plan is necessary to deal with the state's budget shortfall. - Sent using Google Toolbar"

Union Leader: Governor's Budget is "An Attack on Labor" - WBAY-TV Green Bay-Fox Cities-Northeast Wisconsin News "Local unions representing public employees are speaking out against Governor Scott Walker's budget repair proposal, saying it undermines all the rights of a union. The bill would strip unions of all collective bargaining power except wages, ending more than 50 years of municipal employee bargaining rights. 'Employees will not have justice. They will not have a say in the workplace. That's anti-American,' Danny McGowan, business representative of Teamsters Local 662, said. Local union leaders are up in arms over the proposal. 'It's nothing more than an attack on labor,' McGowan said. 'We can't fix the states budget woes off the backs of public employees. It's not fair, because it's not their fault.' The president of Local 662, which represents about 9,500 public employees, says he believes the move is about co...

Middle East unrest: Middle Eastern nations scramble to contain unrest - latimes.com "Reporting from Amman, Jordan — To track the growing political movements gaining strength from the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia across North Africa and the Middle East, one would be well advised to get a planner. There were Saturday's clashes between demonstrators and police in Algeria, now referred to as #feb12 on Twitter, much as Egypt's uprising shall forever be known as #jan25. New popular protests are scheduled Monday in Bahrain (#feb14) and Iran (#25Bahman). Libya comes next on #feb17, followed by Algeria again on #feb19, Morocco #feb20, Cameroon #feb23 and Kuwait #mar8. - Sent using Google Toolbar"

Democracy Under Attack "Egypt has always been a strong ally of the United States. The country is now in a situation of near anarchy. Doing nothing is not an option, but improper intervention by the US could be destructive with extremely negative long-term consequences to its position in the Middle East, the proliferation of Radical Islam, and the stability of the entire region. Wise and well calculated decisions and actions are essential to the solution of the current disaster in Egypt. The US has several options that can help to diffuse the situation in Egypt. These include: - Sent using Google Toolbar"

Democracy under attack - by the U.S.A. | Examiner Editorial | Editorials | Washington Examiner Editorials Democracy under attack - by the U.S.A. * TAGS: * washington examiner Comments (0) 'BookmarkShare PrintPrint By: Examiner Editorial 09/10/09 11:00 PM America might refuse to honor the upcoming election results of another democratic nation. But our State Department has taken this hostile posture not toward Venezuela or Iran -- where dictatorships thrive through doubtful and fraudulent elections -- but toward Honduras, which removed a usurping president this summer in an action supported by the letter of its own constitution. Nothing has changed about the upcoming election in Honduras. The candidates are the same ones who were running before President Manuel Zelaya was ousted, with the approval of the nation's Congress and Supreme Court. The only difference now is the United States is demanding that the rapacious Zelaya be returned to power. This would punish self-govern...

Federal Eye - 2011 Budget: Spending cuts and reductions "President Obama's 2011 budget proposes more than 120 cuts totaling roughly $20 billion in savings. Here's a look at some of the more interesting proposed cuts and spending reductions. Leave your thoughts on the budget in the comments section below: - Sent using Google Toolbar"

The U.S. Department of Labor Home Page "Browse By: Topic * Compliance Assistance * Disability Resources * Doing Business with DOL * elaws — Employment Law Advisors * Equal Employment Opportunity * Funding Opportunities * Health Plans & Benefits * Hiring * Job Opportunities at DOL * Labor Relations * Leave Benefits * Retirement Plans, Benefits & Savings * Regulations * Small Business Resources * Spanish Language Resources * Statistics * Termination * Training * Unemployment Insurance * Veterans Employment * Wages * Work Hours * Workers' Compensation * Workplace Safety & Health * Youth & Labor You can browse by Audience or Location - Sent using Google Toolbar"

Media Matters for America : "UPDATED REPORT: Fox News' $55 Million Presidential Donation Beck Palin, Gingrich, Huckabee, Santorum, And Bolton Have All Hinted At 2012 Presidential Runs ... These Fox News Candidates Appeared On The Network For More Than 85 Hours In 2010 ... Potential Candidates' 2010 Appearances Were Worth Approximately $54.7 Million Boehlert: After AZ, Fox And Right-Wing Media Have 'Doubled Down' On Violent Rhetoric Beck Beck's Rhetoric Inspires More Death Threats ... NY Times Reports On Death Threats To Frequent Beck Target Piven ... FLASHBACK: 'You're Going To Have To Shoot Them In The Head' ... Beck Explains His 'You're Going To Have To Shoot Them In Head' Comments Republicans Admit Congress Members Avoid Contradicting Conservative Media Beck GOPers 'Privately Admitted Members Carefully Monitor What's Being Said On Conservative Airwaves To Make Sure They Aren't Contradicting It Or Enraging Talkers' ......

John G. Roberts Jr. was originally nominated by President George W. Bush in 2005 to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court succeeding Sandra Day O'Connor, who was retiring. But the sudden death of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist that September prompted the president to name Mr. Roberts to the chief justice's position. He was confirmed by a vote of 78 to 22 after an uneventful confirmation hearing, in which Mr. Roberts stressed his philosophy of judicial modesty and respect for precedent. John G. Roberts Jr. News - The New York Times Blogged with the Flock Browser

Following the first election since the Supreme Court has struck down limits on election-related advertising, a new poll finds that 9 in 10 voters said that in the 2010 election they encountered information they believed was misleading or false, with 56% saying this occurred frequently. Fifty-four percent said that it had been more frequent than usual, while just three percent said it was less frequent than usual, according to the poll conducted by WorldPublicOpinion.org, based at the University of Maryland, and Knowledge Networks. Voters Say Election Full of Misleading and False Information - World Public Opinion Blogged with the Flock Browser

What will the senior and disabled eat, and how are they going to pay their bills; they’ll need to move-in with relatives to share the facilities and the living expenses in order to survive. Senior and the disabled will need to (Eat Cat Food) to survive. They will need to live with their children because they won’t be able to afford rent. It will like it used to be when senior and the disabled lived in closets, and they were invisible. Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

I am totally opposed to tax breaks to millionair ­es and billionair ­es; please stand with Senator Bernie Sanders to filibuster the President’ ­s deal with the Republican ­s. This is a bad deal and this will widen the gap between “THE RICH And THE POOR“, this will increase the national debt by 1 Trillion, and some states could go bankrupt. We’ll need to borrow 400 Billion from China who already own us. We’ll need to cut the safety net to pay for this welfare to millionair ­es and billionair ­es this will kill jobs. I am done with Obama; and I am done with any Democrat who votes yes on this irresponsi ­ble tax deal. Finally, cutting Social Security Taxes by 2% is unacceptab ­le. What’s next privatizin ­g Social Security? Where does this end up? Killing this program altogether ­. Read the Article at HuffingtonPost