Activist Conservative Supreme Court Ends Union Free Speech.

Citizens United allowed both corporations and unions to contribute money to campaigns, part of their "free speech" rights. But they decided to change that. Unions now have some new conservative court barriers put in place. This just ended labors influence. That might sound good to those twisted enough to be against labor, those workers who spend money supporting our economy, but in the end they and the rest of us are screwed.

Rachel Maddow couldn't have said it better:

Ron Johnson Sputters, Stammers and Shakes to Death Threats, the Affordable Care Act and Unions.

The dumbest Senator is at it again! Let's face it, Ron Johnson's mind is clouded by imaginary threats to life and freedom. He's appears to be consumed by fear. The Don Quixote of all paranoid schizophrenics.

Which brings me to the three surreal and convoluted comments presented here.

A story you may have missed, and for good reason because it's crazy, is that every Republican state legislator a the Capitol received a death threat. Every one of them!! And forget about all those Walker thugs who threatened Democratic lawmakers and recall petition signers, they don't count because they didn't win the election. Johnson's comment here is grossly unprofessional and the ultimate in political fear mongering. It's Johnson unhinged:

  

In the next clip, Johnson is asked about a Republican replacement for the Affordable Care Act, just in case the Supreme Court strikes it down. Apparently, Johnson is unafraid of not having a plan...

Johnson: "I'd like to say that we absolutely have that nailed, um, but I'd say we don't. I think there are number...all kinds of alternatives, and there are some really good ideas from a number of different members of congress. Um, I'm not afraid that we're not gonna be able to come to a consensus, I just say that we haven't got that consensus yet."  

It's at this point Johnson goes into full panic attack mode, describing in his typically disjointed way, the health care mandate and holding onto that last shred of freedom:

Johnson: "We are collectively suffering from the Stockholm Syndrome here. Which I think you realize what that is, right. it's when a hostage...somebody who's been kidnapped...just, just thankful, grateful, for any ounce of mercy their captors shown, Well that's what's happening. We are begging to be allowed to maintain that last ounce, that last shred of freedom."

And finally Johnson whines about those unfortunate workers who applied for, and got, a union job with the state, where union dues are taken out of their paychecks. Correct me if I'm wrong, but we've been told over the decades by conservatives that if you don't like the job, pay or benefits, leave. So I'm wondering why anyone would apply for a union job with the state, if they hate unions and hate paying their dues? Just leave, right? Kind of blows their argument to protect workers, doesn't it?

Wisconsin Right to Life Political Action Money=Free Speech,

According to the federal appeals court, expenditures "do not pose a threat of actual or apparent quid pro quo corruption..." Amazingly, and intentionally, naive. As adults, we all know better than that. But Citizens United and the conservative activist Supreme Court Justices gave that very reason with a straight face, and now we're stuck with it. 

jsonline: A federal appeals court on Monday struck down a Wisconsin law that set limits on contributions to groups that independently spend on political speech. The appeal was brought by the political action committee of Wisconsin Right to Life, which earlier won a temporary injunction against enforcing the law in question during recall elections earlier this year.

"Citizens United held that independent expenditures do not pose a threat of actual or apparent quid pro quo corruption, which is the only governmental interest strong enough to justify restrictions on political speech," Judge Diane Sykes wrote for the panel. 

The Straight Talk Conservatives Don't Want to See, Sadly, from Thom Hartmann.

This is typical Thom Hartmann. The message in the following video is the same message he's been expressing for years, but never so precisely. If your conservative friend can be convinced to watch, I would be interested in their opinion on Thom's point of view, and how they differ.

This is the fundamental question about "freedom."

Right-wings MacIver Institute's petty focus on medical excuse notes for teachers begs the question; Is this all you've got?

After all the gut wrenching videos viewed by Wisconsinites during the past three month's of Capitol protesting, from the child protest sign arrest to the lock-out that saw a lawmaker tackled, conservatives found something even more important; those outrageous medical excuse notes to teachers.

In an example of amazingly pettiness, who could have imagined the video of doctors passing out medical excuses to the few teachers and random pedestrians, as an award winner?

It's true. What a stunning issue of international relevance!!

Wisconsin’s MacIver Institute … beat out international competition to win the Grand Prize in the  ‘Lights Camera, Liberty’  contest, which was presented at The Atlas Experience conference in Dallas, Texas last week. On Saturday, February 19, a group of men and women in lab coats purporting to be doctors were handing out medical excuse notes, without examining the ‘patients.’ Osmulski captured the event on camera and produced his award winning video that day.

For a story that had all the relevance of pure conservative eye candy, MacIver pretty much avoided the reason for the protests. Their sideshow video is seen by conservatives as proof that their paranoid misgivings aboutt doctors, teachers and public employees is a justifiable call to vilify anyone who breaks ranks with their ideology.

With that (video), MacIver broke a national news story and it continues to follow the disciplinary procedures against the doctors, teachers and other public employees involved in the scam.

It looks like the authoritarian “father figure’s” pursuit of discipline is first and foremost to the conservative orthodoxy, where punishment sends a stronger message than actionable solutions to our nations problems. 

If you're curious about Atlas, here's  their positioning statement;

For three decades, Atlas has connected Freedom Champions from all over the world. These individuals often face challenges in their home countries and travel to Atlas events to meet with other remarkable free-market advocates facing similar trials in their respective parts of the world.

What the doctors notes to teachers did to threaten freedom is anyones guess, but it does make Atlas and MacIver's vision of free-markets look perverse and cruel. What an ugly message.

What would George Washington Drive to Defeat the British?

Sorry tea partiers, the following Chrysler ad portrays one of our founding fathers more honestly than anything you guys have come up with yet:

My Conservative Friend thought I needed a Lesson on Socialism...by Glenn Beck!!!

I just received this email from my conservative friend:

Since you have no idea what Socialism is… let me hold your hand and I’ll draw you a picture. No, better yet let me show you.

It's at this point I'm supposed to click on the Glenn Beck video of his list of new big government entities. GLENN BECK!!! Good god.

Big Government is bad for the economy. Our founding fathers wanted limited Government. I’ll sight the Federica Papers as evidence.

MY RESPONSE:

I'll sight the Constitution. The founding fathers left government up to the people to decide how large or small.

Tenth Amendment –The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Pretty simple huh? The powers are left up "to the people." And since the constitution itself framed the kind of government we had structurally, the Bill of Rights were a GENERAL, non-specific, list of rights. Madison worried that listing the 10 rights would leave the impression that all other rights were not granted. Madison was right, because you are doing what he feared you would do.

Boy, don't you wish we could all live in a country the way you, the Republicans and tea party's see it? Living in servitude to God and one Constitutionally "pure" party. A party that will not tolerate opposition. I think the word is totalitarianism.

It's the same vision Gingrich had for the GOP, a permanent majority party in government. One party rule, something I believe you're against right now.

Instead of wondering why you're in the minority party, maybe like minded conservatives should retool and come up with a more workable plan. It beats whining incessantly that no one is listening to you.

Sen. Coburn Laments "Freedom and Liberty" 30 years Ago, Sen. Amy Klobuchar Snaps Back.

The health care mandate was a Republican idea in the early 90's, to stress the need for personal responsibility. Now the Republicans are portraying that streak of individualism as a loss of liberty and freedom. Because everyone lets them get away with this incredible hypocrisy, they're encouraged to go a little bit farther the next time. Enter Sen. Tom Coburn, who laments to Elena Kagan how free we once were 30 years ago. Below is a clip of Coburn's question to Kagan, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar's gutsy answer.

Slate: As he put it to Kagan: "Have you ever contemplated the idea of what your freedom was like 30 years ago and what it's like today?" She has not, Kagan said.
"A lot of Americans are losing confidence because they're losing freedom," Coburn explained. Coburn scored a huge win for Fox News by posing this hypothetical to Kagan: If Congress passed a law requiring Americans "to eat three vegetables and three fruits, every day, does that violate the Commerce Clause? That's on the front of a lot of people's minds, not vegetables, health care. The very fact that the government is going to have the ability to take away, mandate what I must buy or must not buy—a very large loss of freedom."

It fell to Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. … was so astonished by Coburn's claim that Americans are on the brink of tyranny in 2010 and determined that there were no women on the Supreme Court. She then asked Kagan whether maybe women, at least, are a bit more free now than they were 30 years ago. Kagan agreed.

Klobuchar probably could have added that more Americans are "more free" today because of Thurgood Marshall, too. And she could have added this partial list of congressional statutes and Supreme Court decisions that have arguably made a lot more Americans freer since 1980: the Civil Rights Restoration Act (1988), Hustler Magazine v. Falwell (1988), Texas v. Johnson (1989), the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990), the Civil Rights Act of 1991, National Voter Registration Act (1993), the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (1993), United States v. Lopez, (1995), Rosenberger v. University of Virginia (1995), United States v. Virginia (1996), Romer v. Evans (1996), Lawrence v. Texas (2003), Roper v. Simmons (2005), the Voting Rights Reauthorization and Amendments Act (2006), Georgia v. Randolph (2006), D.C. v. Heller (2008), the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (2009), Graham v. Florida (2010), and McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010).

Sen. Glenn Grothman: Racist and Anti-free Market Republican? We report, you decide!

Should governments have to buy from sweat shops? Should governments buy from terrorist organizations? Should government buy products made by the KKK? Should government buy from only conservative companies?

Sen. Glenn Grothman thinks so. Here’s Grothman’s bizarre press release:

Senator Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) told the Milwaukee Public School Board to focus on the quality of their schools and stop second guessing other states’ laws. The MSB is considering waging economic warfare against the State of Arizona because of their new immigration law by boycotting Arizona’s goods and services.

From the same party protesting the "unconstitutionality" of the government “forcing” people to buy insurance from private companies, Grothman now says it’s unconstitutional for the government NOT to buy school supplies from private companies.

Grothman said, “I hope more citizens, parents, and high school students would question this action as an unconstitutional interference with interstate commerce under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.”

Does Grothman understand that in a free market system, people, companies, governments…anyone, can decide where they will do business, based on any number of reasons. Grothman and his fellow Republicans are always telling us how unfriendly Wisconsin is for business, so why isn’t this the case for Arizona?

Businesses expect their elected officials to help them attract more business. And if the state does something to puts those companies’ financial futures at risk, they should hold those same elected officials accountable. Like in Arizona.

The free market is not guaranteed in the constitution, but governmental interstate commerce is. The freedom to buy from whoever we want, without government interference like the kind Grothman is suggesting, is a liberty I’m not willing to give up.

Grothman is a supporter of racism and a supporter of Arizona’s “Show me your Papers” law. Watch how he “projects” his intolerance of immigrants on sympathizers and reformers.

“After reading about MPS grand plan to boycott Arizona, I frankly would be scared to send any children into a school district run by such intolerant, mean-spirited radicals,” said Grothman.

This is one sick “mean spirited radical” lawmaker. But is he a racist? I'm just saying...

Sen. Brownback's "Office of the Repealer?" Wow, an Unelected Repealer Czar.

Remember the Republican mantra: "We don't need no unelected government bureaucrat making decisions for us. That's a job for the legislature (or congress)."

So imagine my surprise how hypocritical it was for Sen. Brownback to try and bypass our elected officials and do away with "needless, over-the-top regulations."

Sam Brownback, the Republican from Kansas who is hoping to become governor … he has proposed a new Kansas entity, the State Office of the Repealer, whose job it would be to start disposing of all the silly, needless, over-the-top regulations that state officials have dreamed up.

Imagine one guy making these decisions for us, whether recommending them for repeal, or having the power to do it on their own. Important decisions too, like superficial, feel good displays of patriotism.

Case in point, in Mr. Brownback’s telling: the rejoicing of residents in Saline County, Kan., when a strict fireworks ban was lifted there. Mr. Brownback recalled the mood: “It was kind of like, ‘I got a little piece of liberty back!’ ”

And that's what conservatives are talking about when they bring up liberty and freedom. Not the financial freedom of knowing you'll never lose your retirement savings on a unregulated Wall Street, or knowing you'll never go bankrupt due to a health care issue.

Conservatives aren't even talking about the freedom that comes with a stable economy that assures us all a regular paycheck and job security.

Liberty and freedom is getting your fireworks back.

He's not Politicizing Obamacare! Does AG Van Hollen also want us to believe in the tooth fairy too?

Did you hear the one... about Wisconsin's "Attorney General General J.B. Van Hollen (being) involved in e-mail exchanges about filing a lawsuit to block the new federal healthcare law…" for political purposes?

Of course he would have you believe that he is only thinking of protecting you from an unconstitutional mandate of buying our own health insurance.

It's just a coincidence that:

Madison.com: (campaign manager) Chirag Shah was copied on e-mails between staff members from attorney general offices in various states, a GOP political consultant who works with the Republican State Leadership Committee, and Ray Taffora, a deputy attorney general from Wisconsin. The e-mails, obtained by the Wisconsin State Journal discuss plans for states to join Florida in a lawsuit to block the healthcare law, and the deadline for being included on the complaint.

"I wanted to gather as much information as I could," Shah said.

That's all there is to it. It has nothing to do with firing up the base, making it a campaign issue or trying to get free health insurance for conservative freeloaders worried about their constitutional liberties.

It's like saying personal responsibility is one thing, but taking real personal responsibility is another.

While J.B. and other Republican ideologues complain that you shouldn't get something for nothing, they are now whining about not getting something for nothing. Hey, that's why we have charities and emergency rooms right, it's free? Will you take a chicken?

David Cay Johnston on Poor Paying No Federal Tax: "I would think the tax cuts promoted by Pres. Obama Would be Popular for her (Palin)."

In the video below, Lawrence O'Donnell clearly defines the tea party movement from the recent NY Times poll results. Journalist and author of "Free Lunch," David Cay Johnston, offers up a bunch of tea party criticisms, including the following:

"They (tea partiers) think they're pursuing their own interests...The reality is they would be much better off under a system that is truly progressive. They would see that they would have a lower burden, they would have fewer risks, and their families and their children would be better off and they could save more money to do what they wanted to do with their lives. Those are fundamental issues that are being ignored here, but you've got to remember, the news media has done a lousy job of explaining anything."

I received this reminder in an email from Mr. Johnston about the poor's actual tax burden:

"Subtle but important point -- the poor do not pay federal income tax, but they do pay plenty of federal taxes if they work. About 3/4ths of Americans pay mors in payroll taxes than income taxes."

Did you know Democrats are longing for Authoritarianism-Bill Whittle.

The following freedom and liberties rant, from PJ Afterburners Bill Whittle, is so over the top P.T. Barnum would be proud.

With meaningless references to "values of freedom" and the "blessings of liberty," Whittle claims Democrats are dreaming of authoritarianism. I wish someone had told me. Here's another liberal wish list of government dependence. Who knew?

Whittle: "They long for an escape from them, responsibilities, the responsibilities to feed and cloth, and house and care for ones own self...and simply do not see how abandoning their responsibilities means the abandonment of their freedom. And we can't let that happen."

He "can't let that happen?" I'm glad we have our authoritarian conservative masters watching out for us.