How JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY Extremism Never Dies: FORTUNE BEHIND Scott Walker’s UNION-BUSTING Campaign

[Segami]

:smoke: :smoke: :smoke:


" Over 68,000 people have mobilized in Madison and progressive organizers are planning solidarity efforts across the country to denounce Gov. Scott Walker’s (R-WI) radical attempt to bust Wisconsin’s public sector unions. So far, Walker has refused to compromise, even though Wisconsin labor leaders are already coming to the table with large concessions. How can Walker press on, even with public opinion beginning to turn against him? Much of Walker’s critical political support can be credited to a network of right-wing fronts and astroturf groups in Wisconsin supported largely by a single foundation in Milwaukee: the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, a $460 million conservative honey pot dedicated to crushing the labor movement.



Walker has deeply entwined his administration with the Bradley Foundation. The Bradley Foundation’s CEO, former state GOP chairman Michele Grebe, chaired Walker’s campaign and headed his transition. But more importantly, the organizations lining up to support Walker are financed by Bradley cash:



– The MacIver Institute is a conservative nonprofit that has provided rapid-response attacks on those opposed to Walker’s power grab. MacIver staffers produced a series of videos attacking anti-Walker protesters, including one mocking children. Naturally, the videos have become grist for Fox News and conservative bloggers. In addition, MacIver created studies claiming that Wisconsin teachers and nurses are paid too “generously” and other reports claiming that collective bargaining rights hurt taxpayers. The Bradley Foundation has supported MacIver with over $300,000 in grants over the last three years alone.



– The Wisconsin Policy Research Institute is a major conservative think tank helping Walker win support from the media. The Institute has funded polls to bolster Walker’s position, and like MacIver, produced a flurry of attack videos against Walker’s political adversaries and a series of pieces supporting his drive against the state’s labor movement. Over the weekend, the Institute secured a pro-Walker item in the New York Times. The Wisconsin Policy Research Institute is supported with over $10 million in grants from the Bradley Foundation



cont'




http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/21/zombie-johnbirch-walker/




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[drm604]

1. K&R

I think the conservative propaganda machines may not be working as well as they used to. The people have new ways of getting the truth out.

[Segami]

3. The question is ' Are people listening '?

[drm604]

5. It seems like they are starting to. n/t

[rgbecker]

2. Oh.....I'm beginning to see a pattern here.

K&R

[Agony]

4. That this is happening in Wisconsin should be no surprise...John Birch Society wet dream!

given the local money and power play arrayed against unions. This goes much deeper than "mere" anti-unionism... we are talking "anti-affirmative action scholars, anti-multiculturalism books (the Bradley Foundation underwrote the notoriously racist book The Bell Curve), anti-welfare campaigns, privatization efforts, neoconservative fronts, and tens of millions for groups opposed to public and private sector unions, particular in the field of education."

that is from the thinkprogress link... "Gov. Scott Walker’s current fight to crush labor rights in Wisconsin is the fulfillment of Harry Bradley’s John Birch Society dream."


do we any more incentive to fight like hell! The national Democratic Party should be ALL over this.

[Segami]

6. " The national Democratic Party should be ALL over this."

Yes they should!!....when they find their balls!

[Starry Messenger]

7. k&r

Bradley foundation are big charter school funders too. Wisconsin was ground zero for the "school choice" movement, interestingly. Whenever teachers here try to point out how problematic these foundations are in their drive for social engineering, we get shouted down by people who say we complain too much about rich people and what they do with their money. :crazy:

[Agony]

8. kick for "the commie labor organizers"

"It should be no surprise that Walker’s radicalism is boosted by Bradley money. Today, the Bradley Foundation is controlled by a group of establishment Republicans, along with Washington Post columnist George Will. However, the Foundation’s agenda still reflects the extremist views of its founder, Harry Bradley. Although he passed away in 1965, Harry, a member of one Wisconsin’s most powerful families and a key financier of nationalist hate groups, would have eagerly applauded Walker’s union-busting agenda.

Harry, along with his older brother Lynde, started the Allen-Bradley company, a major manufacturer of electronics and engine parts. After a bitter strike in 1939, Harry became increasingly political. Although his company boomed because of World War 2-era contracts from the government, Harry abhorred any intrusions into his business: especially labor organizers (who he termed “communists” in his memoirs), as well as pressure to hire women and minorities in his plants, a move he resisted until his death."

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/21/zombie-johnbirch-walker