ALEC: The ultimate “smoke-filled room”

[Si modo]

As you haven't answered, I am forced to assume what you mean as outsiders.

I find it amazing when the fascists consider the persons not elected to government as the outsiders to a government by The People and for The People.


Once again, your fascism is showing like a cheap slip and you haven't even been here a month.

I fail to see why an accusation of ‘fascist’ is warranted.

I inferred ‘outsiders’ to mean those with undue influence in the political process beyond that of one’s franchise. This of course has been a problem since the advent of organized politics, the Koch Brothers merely the most recent incarnation.
....

I inferred something different, and that make her a fascist. Especially considering she wants to ship those citizens whom she doesn't like to a single state - Hawaii.


Yeah, she's a fascist, or at a minimum, an authoritarian whackjob.

And, who do you fancy will be making the decisions to determine who can or cannot have any influence on the politicians they elect to represent them? What exactly is "undue" influence? Who do you want deciding what "undue" influence is?

My interpretation of the Constitution is that every citizen gets representation. Apparently, the authoritarians find the citizens who agree with them are the only ones who are due any influence.

 

[Oddball]

I dare you to look askance at super rich dudes like Soros and Buffet the same way you do the Kochs.

I ain't holding my breath, though.

A deflection from the right, how unexpected.

No deflection at all...In fact you just proved my point.

Y'all pick and choose which of the super-rich are worthy and which are "the enemy" based upon the entirely capricious basis of political affiliation.

The American left are amongst the most intellectually shallow and sanctimonious people on the planet.

 

[Sallow]

ALEC is actually writing legislation and handing it off to state representatives and the right doesn't see a problem with this?

Oh gosh.

 

[Oddball]

Jeez...Lobbyists and other interested parties getting in on writing legislation?!?!?

Oh, the scandal!!

BTW....

Who wrote the failed economic succubus?

Who wrote Obolshevikcare?

Who wrote the financial services deform bill?

Where was all the righteous wailing and caterwauling from the left then?

Nope...Not a peep out of 'em.

 

[BDBoop]

OpEdNews - Article: Dirty Tricks in WI: Deceptive Absentee Ballot Mailers Appear to be Coordinated Hoaxes

More dirty tricks.

A coordinated disenfranchisement effort?

An examination of a nearly identical absentee ballot application mailer sent out by another Rightwing group, suggests that these mailings are very much coordinated and may be using the exact same printer which AFP blamed for their supposed "typo."

Compare the instruction form on the application from the other mailer, as sent out by "United Sportsmen of Wisconsin, Inc." (full mailer here [PDF]) to the nearly identical one sent out by AFP Wisconsin (full mailer here [PDF])

/snip

[Update: A reader sends in a link to this Google site page for USW, featuring scripts and instructions on how to make automated GOTV phone calls from your home phone in support of Republican recall races. The bare bones page claims "USW is a very unique group in contrast to other hunting or gun organizations because it will be the voice for sportsmen in Madison and stand up against legislation that threatens hunting, fishing and gun rights" and explains the system you will use to make these calls: "The impact dialer allows you to make phone calls efficiently without having to manual dial on your phone. The dialer is a predictive dialer so it will mostly deliver "live" people to your phone." Quite a sophisticated operation. A pretty tech savvy "gun group," eh?]

 

[BDBoop]

Holy fuck.

To keep that from happening the Koch funded Americans for Prosperity and Walker have been working overtime.

Governor Walker and Republicans legislators want to make it harder for those living in urban areas -- the poor, people of color, the indigent -- from voting. Earlier this year, they passed a law requiring voters to present a state issued identification card in order to cast a ballot.

Whom does such a law impact? Well, nearly one quarter of Wisconsin’s elderly have no photo identification. With African Americans, 55 percent of men and 49 percent of women have no such identification. Among Latino Americans the numbers are even more staggering with 46 percent of men and 69 percent of women lacking proper identification.

Adding insult to injury, Walker is now finalizing plans to close DMV’s around the state in primarily Democratic areas making it even harder for those seeking proper identification to comply with Walker’s own voter identification law.

It may not be a literacy test or poll tax, but it will get the job done impacting not only this month’s recall elections but the 2012 presidential contest as well.

The Party of Jim Crow - Bennington Banner

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

Governor Walker and Republicans legislators want to make it harder for those living in urban areas -- the poor, people of color, the indigent -- from voting. Earlier this year, they passed a law requiring voters to present a state issued identification card in order to cast a ballot.

Remember that per Federal law local election officials must allow voters to cast a provisional ballot if an ID is required and the voter has no ID. The problem is, are local election officials (‘poll workers’) aware of the law and might some voters be turned away inadvertently.

Needless to say civil and voting rights advocates need to monitor polling places that are potentially subject to adverse action, such as those noted in the article.

 

[BDBoop]

Not only that, but

Now, he has announced plans to close as many as 16 motor vehicle offices, every one of them in districts that favor Democrats. What’s more, Walker’s plan includes expanding hours at facilities where Republicans are more likely to obtain their driver’s license or photo ID.

Scott Walker Accused of Seeking to Rig 2012 Election | CafeSentido.com

I must go find out what happened to Boss Tweed, as comparisons are being made.

 

[BDBoop]

Wow! Trust a Minnesota group to hit the mother lode.

MinnPost - Parents United collection catalogs influence of secretive ALEC

I have one more thing to say before I commend you to Parents United, and that’s to convey my frustration that here in the Twin Cities we’re learning about ALEC largely thanks to a nonprofit with five staffers and an enormous watchdog agenda. Common Cause and the Minnesota chapter of the League of Women Voters have taken bites of this, but there’s been little from local media — including from me.

I’ve spent nearly three decades marinating in the First Amendment, and I can only speculate that a more robust journalistic community would never have overlooked a coordinated, multimillion-dollar effort being conducted on the fringes of accepted lobbying activity. Indeed, we have a First Amendment in order to be able to ride herd on elected officials who tiptoe up to the line.

Maybe it’s time to start thinking of democracy as a use it or lose it proposition.

 

[Oddball]

Here, I brought you some industrial sized rolls...Looks like you'll need 'em.

 

[BDBoop]

Is Koch Brothers Money Killing Nevada's Schools? | The Nevada View

Looky here at this piece . . . hmmmm. . . I think NPRI might have a problem? VERY INTERESTING! I would question whether they are following these IRS rules:

Although their IRS status prohibits SPN and its member organizations from engaging in electioneering and severely restricts their lobbying activity, both supporters and detractors of SPN have described the network and its member groups as having had significant influence on the political process and legislative action in the states.[2][4]

WHY WOULD A NATIONAL GROUP BE INTERESTED IN ESTABLISHING A BRANCH (aka NPRI) IN LITTLE OLD NEVADA?

If I visit a site that follows the donations to NON-PROFIT groups like NPRI . . . what do I find? Hmmmmm . . .

Castle Rock Foundation . . . $100,000
JM Foundation . . . . . . . . $60,000
Jaquelin Hume Foundation . . .$133,000
Roe Foundation . . . . . . . .$110,000

That’s a lot of money to kill education in Nevada isn’t it? That’s a lot of powerful rich people making it their business – AND it looks like it is a business now, to kill public education in Nevada. These people are a full-on national NON-PROFIT group that employs hundreds of people.

Things that make you go hmmm ....

 

[BDBoop]

The Koch Spider Web | Truthout

As it turns out, the [insert your state here].watchdog.org web sites are a franchise. Tailor the brand with a state, though not all states are represented, and a whole list of anti-union, anti-regulation, right-wing misinformation articles springs up in one's browser.

Plug in "newjersey.watchdog.org" and the web site will regale one with tales of greedy pensioners and the evils of the EPA. Type "washington.watchdog.org," and anti-union propaganda, helpfully tailored for the state of Washington, pop up.

According to the hub web site, watchdog.org is the brainchild of the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity, a 5o1(c)3 non-profit organization "dedicated to promoting new media journalism."

However, those "journalism" credentials have been called into question by groups like the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, which rates watchdog.org as being "highly ideological" and "somewhat transparent." The site has one editor, Steven Allen Adams, a stringer for Reuters and a contributor to a West Virginia entertainment news web site called Kanawha Valley Live that, sadly, closed operations in April.

The Franklin Center has well-established ties to right-wing groups, including the Sam Adams Alliance (SAA), which originally funded the organization. In addition to running partisan web sites, Franklin Center also funds partisan polls.

 

[BDBoop]

Politicians, Corporations Turn to ALEC to Find Policy Solutions

"ALEC will save us!!"

“Legislators are voting behind closed doors alongside corporations to change our rights,” Lisa Graves, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy, was quoted by Bloomberg. She says that the Center for Media and Democracy obtained copies of more than 800 model bills approved by corporations through ALEC meetings.

But even if a model bill is adopted by ALEC, it’s far from certain states will enact the bills. Legislators need to get them enacted in each of the states.

Some of the legislators attending the meeting disagreed with Graves, too. Mike Burgess, a Republican who has been in the Kansas state legislature for nine years, confirmed to Bloomberg corporations are “definitely here, but I’ve not been lobbied at all.”

Oh, sure; I believe you, Mr. Burgess!

 

[BDBoop]

Good thread on the subject.

http://www.usmessageboard.com/politics/177333-making-it-harder-to-get-ids-to-vote.html