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So much for all of that rhetoric about small businesses being the engine of our economy and job growth. After the news this week that Wal-Mart has decided to pull back its efforts to open a store in Brooklyn, New York amidst protests and political pressure, the talking heads on Fox's "business block" decided this was a perfect opportunity for another round of union bashing -- which is pretty much their favorite thing to do on Saturday mornings. However, panel member Dagen McDowell may have let one slip when she decided to attack "mom and pa" stores as well.

When it was pointed out by her fellow guest, Adam Lashinsky on Fox' Cavuto on Business this Saturday, that how many small businesses are going to end up being shut down if Wal-Mart is allowed in ought to be part of the debate, McDowell wound up the segment by saying that "mom and pa need to get over it."

And of course even though all of them had plenty of time to complain about how terrible those evil union thugs were for keeping that wonderful "job creator" Wal-Mart out of Brooklyn and for stomping on the hopes of all of those poor people out there just dying to get one of those minimum wage jobs, the true cost of the way Wal-Mart does business with shoving their costs onto the taxpayers never came up.

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A gun owner in Florida was arrested on Wednesday after he opened fire at a suspected Walmart shoplifter because he said he felt threatened and wanted to "mark" the man's car for police.

As unarmed 42-year-old Eddie McKee allegedly ran from an Orange City Walmart with stolen merchandise, 35-year-old Jose Martinez pulled out his gun and fired at least five bullets, according to WKMG.

"I saw one black gentleman running from the parking lot, he dove in his car," a caller told 911. "And there were two older gentlemen chasing him down. One drew a gun, ripped open the guys car door and screamed, 'Freeze, freeze, don't move!' And then fired shots."

Bullets riddled McKee's vehicle, hitting the trunk and shattering the back window. Two other cars were also hit by gunfire.

Martinez told WKMG that he was shocked that police arrested him because he thought no one other than the shoplifter was in danger. He said he just wanted to mark the man's car for police.

Orange City police argued that surveillance video showed that the gun owner was never in danger because McKee was in the process of fleeing when the shooting occurred.

Martinez has permit to carry a concealed weapon in Florida, but was charged with aggravated assault and shooting into an occupied vehicle, both felonies.

McKee faced a misdemeanor charge after police caught up with him in DeLand.

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New Mexico authorities announced on Tuesday that a 15-year-old boy who killed his family with several weapons including an AR-15 military-style assault rifle enjoyed playing "violent" video games and had planned to go to a local Walmart to shoot random people.

Bernalillo County Sheriff Dan Houston told reporters at a press conference that Nehemiah Griego eventually admitted to the murders of his mother, father and three siblings after initially saying that he had come home to find them dead, according to KRQE.

Houston said that Griego had waited for his mother to fall asleep before gaining access to her unlocked bedroom closet to obtain an AR-15, a .22 rifle and two 12-gauge shotguns. Some of the weapons had been purchased by the father through private sales, the investigation found.

"The teen told authorities after killing his family he reloaded his weapons so that he could 'drive to populated area to murder more people,'" KRQE reported. "He expressed a desire to shoot people at random and eventually be killed while exchanging gunfire with law enforcement."

But the teen instead decided to spend time with his 12-year-old girlfriend before driving to Calvary Church, where his father had once been a pastor. A church security guard eventually called police, who discovered the bodies at the home.

Houston also said that Griego told investigators that he regularly played "violent" video games like "Grand Theft Auto" and "Modern Warfare." The teen said that he had been taught to shoot by his father.

Griego was charged with two counts of murder and three counts of child abuse resulting in death.

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Tea party-backed Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) on Wednesday excused Walmart's decision to decline an invitation to the White House to discuss gun violence because "they are trying to grow the economy."

The nation's largest seller of munitions told The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that it refused to participate in Vice President Joe Biden's task force because of a scheduling conflict.

Walmart also explained to CNN's Christine Romans that the company had already scheduled month sales meetings in Bentonville, Arkansas and none of its 2.2 million employees could make it to Washington.

CNN host Soledad O'Brien on Thursday told Johnson that "when people tell me they have a scheduling snafu, I just don't believe them."

"They're probably out there trying to grow the economy," the Wisconsin Republican shrugged. "You know, they're concentrating on their business and I'll take them at their word."

"I think the concern is -- from people who actually do want to protect gun rights -- is that this is a fast-moving train to try and restrict those gun rights," Johnson added. "So, people are suspicious of that."

"From my standpoint, if they've got sales meetings, those things are probably pretty important. They are trying to grow our economy and that's a good thing."

New Yorker magazine Washington Correspondent Ryan Lizza pointed out that Walmart had a fleet of corporate jets in Bentonville and could easily send someone to D.C. for meetings.

"It's just a slap in the face to publicly say you've been invited to the White House and you're not going," he explained. "Whenever someone in politics says it's a scheduling issue it means they don't want to be there."

During his appearance on CNN's Starting Point panel on Wednesday, Lizza also asked Johnson to respond conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, who recently asserted that liberals were trying to "normalize pedophilia" by legalizing same sex marriage.

"Senator, Rush Limbaugh and pedophilia?" Lizza pressed. "What do you got?"

"Not gonna happen," Johnson replied.

UPDATE (2:15 p.m. ET): A Walmart spokesperson on Wednesday said that the company had "underestimated the expectation to attend the meeting on Thursday in person, so we are sending an appropriate representative to participate."

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From this Tuesday's The Daily Show, Jon Stewart let Fox's Charles Payne have it for his defense of Wal-Mart and their role in the fire at the Bangladesh garment factory, along with his attacks on labor unions in the United States. He also let Fox and the right wing have it for using the Hostess bankruptcy as another excuse to trash unions, while ignoring the other reasons the company went bankrupt.

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After the tragic fire this week which killed well over 100 employees of a Bangladesh garment factory, Fox "news" took the opportunity to, what else, bash labor unions in the United States, and to excuse Wal-Mart of any responsibility for the incident.

Fox Host: People Who Died In Walmart Factory Fire Were Thankful For Their Jobs:

The 129 Bangladeshis who died in a fire caused by poor fire safety conditions in their garment factory should be thankful for their jobs, according to Fox Business host Charles Payne. Speaking with Neil Cavuto on Fox News this Monday, Payne excused this Sunday’s fire as a rare event and labelled all critics of the unsafe conditions that contributed to the tragedy as anti-Capitalist:

PAYNE: It is tragic. I don’t think something like this will happen again. Don’t think that the people in Bangladesh who perished didn’t want or need those jobs, as well. I know we like to victimize everyone in this country, particularly when it comes to for-profit motivation, which is being assaulted. But, you know, it is a tragedy but I think it is a stretch, an amazing stretch, to sort of try to pin this on Walmart but, of course, the unions in this country are desperate.

[...] Some believe companies like Walmart — whose brands were found in the burnt factory — would move if production at the faculty were more expensive; that is, if things like basic safety precautions were implemented.

During his defense of the factory, Payne referred to himself as “a spokesman for capitalism and the American Dream” and said “for a lot of people, this [Walmart business practice] is a step in the right direction.”

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DeKalb County police are investigating the death of a man suspected of shoplifting after three Walmart employee reportedly wrestled him to the ground and placed him in a choke hold.

WSB-TV obtained a police report that indicated that that two employees and a security guard attempted to physically detain a man in the parking lot of a Walmart in Lithonia, Georgia because he was seen leaving the store early Sunday morning without paying for two DVD players.

"When police arrived, they found the employees on top of the man," according to the station. "The officer put the man in handcuffs and said he noticed there was no resistance from him."

"The officer had the employees get off the man, and noticed the man was unresponsive and bleeding from his nose and mouth."

The suspect was taken to DeKalb Medical-Hillandale Hospital and later pronounced dead. An autopsy will attempt to determine if a choke hold allegedly performed by one employee contributed to his death.

WXIA reported that the two Walmart employees had been place on paid leave and the security guard was no longer working for the company.

"This is truly a sad situation," Walmart spokesperson Dianna Gee said in a statement. "Our associates are trained that the safety of our customers and our associates is our first priority. No amount of merchandise is worth someone’s life. Associates are trained to disengage from situations that would put themselves or others at risk."

Gee promised that Walmart would take the "appropriate action at the appropriate time" if an investigation determined the employees did not follow company policy.

[Photo: Shutterstock.com]

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It wouldn't be a Saturday morning on Fox "news" if they didn't have at least five or ten of these type of segments their so-called "business block," bashing unions and blaming workers for the problems with our economy. And as always on these shows, they have one Fox "Democrat" on there, who agrees to come on and be ganged up on five to one with very little chance to speak.

Host Brenda Buttner opened up the show asking if the protests against Wal-Mart and the airlines are a bigger threat to a jobs recovery than this "fiscal cliff" which is usually their favorite topic to fearmonger over and push for cuts to our social safety nets and austerity.

Naturally, most of them agreed and did their best to portray unions as the big, bad bullies, even though unionization in the United States is at an all time low and the companies as the poor, aggrieved parties who are being "kicked around" by those union thugs. And the unions are now going to get Congress to allow for easier unionization because President Obama won reelection, never mind the fact that Republicans are still controlling the House and that they couldn't get that passed when the Democrats did have both houses of Congress and the presidency.

I will give their lonely "Democratic consultant" Steve Murphy credit for at least pointing out that it's a good thing for the economy for workers to have money in their pockets and that wages are at all time low right now. He also pointed out that there are economies in northern Europe doing very well with high levels of unionization and that the United States' economy was doing better when we had higher levels of unionization as well, which of course was met by jeers and sneers from the rest of the panel members.

And of course the notion that we should be able to do anything about outsourcing, states competing against each other with a race to the bottom on wages was treated as an impossibility. And naturally, the topic of CEO pay, hedge funds and the Romney/Bain model of extracting wealth from companies, and the increasing income disparity we've seen for decades now never came up.

Another day on Fox, another day of divide and conquer and attack workers as being overpaid, or unreasonable for wanting to earn a living wage and maybe retire with some dignity before they drop dead. I'm sure their wingnut welfare from Uncle Rupert for spreading this anti-worker propaganda pays a whole lot better than those people out there working in the Walmart stores, or for the auto companies or for the airlines.

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Anyone who thinks Alan Grayson is going back to congress neutered after his loss in 2010 would be sadly mistaken. If anything his activities over Thanksgiving seem to indicate he's more ready to fight than ever.

Video and text by WKMG, Orlando.

ORLANDO, Fla. -U.S. Rep.-elect Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) joined a Walmart worker as she walked off her job in St. Cloud as part of a nationwide protest against the country's largest employer.

Grayson joined Walmart associate Lisa Lopez on Thanksgiving night to protest what employees says is the store's retaliation against workers who speak out for better job conditions.

On "Black Friday," Grayson also joined a walkout at a Walmart in Orlando.

Union-backed groups OUR Walmart and Making Change at Wal-Mart, along with watchdog group Corporate Action Network, are calling on the retailer to end what they call retaliation against employees who speak out for better pay, fair schedules and affordable health care.

Photo of @alangrayson with #WalmartStriker Lisa as she walked out of the store in Orlando, FL tonight. twitter.com/ForRespect/sta…

— ForRespect (@ForRespect) November 23, 2012

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Yes, there is a storm a brewin' out there.

via CBS58.

SOMERS, KENOSHA COUNTY-About 40 protestors walked a picket line outside the Walmart here just as the store opened for Black Friday shoppers.

They are objecting to working conditions and the earlier and earlier hours for Black Friday shopping, which started at 8 p.m. Thursday.

Walmart is not the only retailer to launch Thursday night sales, but its workers have been the most vocal and active in protesting.

CBS 58's John Cuoco said the protestors were not stopping people from entering the store, and the demonstration was aimed at creating awareness over work rules, more than anything else.