Posts tagged ‘Royalist’

Four Democrats Sit Out Critical Vote



When California‘s SB 810 — Single Payer Health Care for California passed through the California Senate‘s Appropriations Committee by a 6-2 vote last week, activists thought they had an excellent chance to get the “Medicare for All” bill passed by the full Senate.

Yesterday, however, four Democrats sat out the critical vote, leaving the bill short 2 votes of the 21 votes needed for passage. 19 Democrats voted yes, 15 Republicans and 1 Democrat voted no. And the key remaining four Democrats abstained.

SB 810 can be brought up again under “Reconsideration” next Tuesday, January 31, 2012.

Single Payer Now is urging that pressure be put on the 4 Democrats who didn’t vote:

The following 4 Senators abstained from even casting a vote on this extremely important piece of legislation.

Senator Alex Padilla (Pacoima/LA area)
Email: Senator.Padilla@sen.ca.gov
Phone: (916) 651?4020

Senator Juan Vargas (San Diego area)
Email: Juan.Vargas@sen.ca.gov
Phone: (916) 651?4040

Senator Michael Rubio (Fresno/Bakersfield area)
Email: Michael.Rubio@sen.ca.gov
Phone: (916) 651?4016

Senator Rod Wright (Los Angeles area)
Email: Senator.Wright@sen.ca.gov
Phone: (916) 651?4025

Check here to see if you are represented by these senators.

* * *

The Los Angeles Times
reports:

State lawmakers deadlocked Thursday over a controversial measure that would provide universal healthcare in California.

In a vote in which some Democrats did not participate, the measure received only 19 of the 21 votes needed for passage in the Senate, but it was put over for another possible vote next week. […]

Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) noted that some people have argued there is no need for state legislation because the federal government has already approved an affordable healthcare system to begin in 2014.

But Leno said states are allowed to provide greater healthcare under that system, and that California should act because the courts are considering lawsuits to overturn the federal plan.

Leno said SB 810 is needed because healthcare premiums have increased five times the rate of inflation in the last decade and 12 million Californians went without coverage during some time last year.

“Clearly, the current system is not working for businesses, for employers, for employees, for families,” he said.

Link to original article from Common Dreams


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  • Sunnsea

    The point is to get the privates out of basic health care insurance.  The Federal law actually reinforces their position, making them even stronger, though they will deny it.  SB810 is vital to reducing costs of insurance to all Californians.

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Message from Senator Leno – SB 810


Most of you have likely heard the disappointing news that our bill, SB 810, the California Universal Health Care Act, failed to move off the Senate Floor by January 31st, meaning it cannot advance further in the legislative process this year. Despite our unwavering advocacy, too few members were willing to cast votes in favor of SB 810 this year, including several members who had voted for the legislation before. Unfortunately this means that Californians will continue to have a broken health care system in dire need of change,…

Senator Mark Leno 31 Jan 2012 Hits:110 California

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A Story from Occupy Irvine


In December, on a cold Thursday afternoon, Trang Che appeared at Occupy Irvine with her neighbor and dear friend, Elaine Quillian, an octogenarian who calls her “little Sister.” Elaine is an active member of both MoveOn and Occupy OC. Trang was imminently facing eviction from her condo in 3 days and had heard that other Occupy communities had been able to help people in her same situation. She spoke elequently at GA about her plight–she told us how she came to this country…

Kate Fitch Frankel Nikolenko 30 Jan 2012 Hits:99 California

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URGENT – Help California Pass Single Payer on Tuesday


The California Senate is just 2 votes short to pass its single payer health care bill, SB 810 – the California Universal Healthcare Act, before the end of this legislative session on Tuesday. Four Democratic Senators have not voted either way on this bill.  Its author, Senator Mark Leno, can bring the bill up for reconsideration, as long as he knows that he has two more votes!! Most of us have family or friends in California. Many of these Californians may not know how important it is to call and email these…

Judy Hess | PDA Fresno 27 Jan 2012 Hits:736 California

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Single Payer Falls 2 Votes Short In California Senate


Four Democrats Sit Out Critical Vote When California’s SB 810 — Single Payer Health Care for California passed through the California Senate’s Appropriations Committee by a 6-2 vote last week, activists thought they had an excellent chance to get the “Medicare for All” bill passed by the full Senate. Yesterday, however, four Democrats sat out the critical vote, leaving the bill short 2 votes of the 21 votes needed for passage. 19 Democrats voted yes, 15 Republicans and 1 Democrat voted no. And the key remaining four…

Common Dreams 27 Jan 2012 Hits:429 California

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Stung by Bad PR, City Officials Adopting New Tactics to Suppress Occupy Oakland


“The government can always articulate rationales for why they’re prosecuting one person and not another.” Oakland officials have shifted tactics since conducting a series of violent assaults on Occupy Oakland in October and November in the glare of the national media. Oakland officials have taken a new tack in their suppression of the Occupy movement, one that seems addressed to the city’s public relations problems. Gone are the mass arrests, “less-lethal” weaponry and tear gas, replaced with a kind of “lawfare” on the few protesters who…

Susie Cagle | AlterNet 27 Jan 2012 Hits:158 California

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BBLV Letter to Rep. Capps


The Progressive Democrats of Santa Barbara visit your office today to ask you to join the members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus to support some important bills that are moving through the House. There is a growing crisis in the country that needs your immediate action. Income inequality is at an all-time high, with working Americans struggling to make ends meet. Are you going to support the millions of people who need help to survive or are you going to support the richest corporations and Wall…

Lois Hamilton | PDA Santa Barbara 20 Jan 2012 Hits:132 California

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Senator Leno’s Single-Payer Health Care Bill Clears Senate Appropriations


SACRAMENTO – The Senate Appropriations Committee today approved the California Universal Health Care Act, authored by Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco). Senate Bill 810 guarantees all Californians comprehensive, universal health care …

Office of CA Senator Mark Leno 19 Jan 2012 Hits:594 California

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States Take On Citizens United


Montana legal ruling a possible game-changer for states; California lawmakers introduce legislation to overturn Citizens United Montana is proving to be a potential catalyst for change in the potential challenge to Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. As Roll Call reports: The Montana Supreme Court last week rejected a constitutional challenge to the state’s century-old prohibition on independent corporate campaign expenditures. That Montana statute was technically nullified when the U.S. Supreme Court threw out federal limits on independent corporate and union political spending in 2010. But unlike…

Common Dreams 07 Jan 2012 Hits:241 California

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Nurses to Join Call for Healthcare for the 99% On Monday


Rallies in Sacramento, Los Angeles to Challenge Insurance Giants, Seek Passage of Bill to Extend Guaranteed Care to All Californians A broad coalition of activists – including registered nurses, student nurses, medical students, seniors, physicians, members of the Occupy movement, and the recently formed Campaign for a Health California (CHC) – will hold marches and rallies Monday, January 9 in Sacramento and Los Angeles to step up the campaign to extend guaranteed healthcare coverage to all Californians. The actions will also promote passage of SB 810, which would establish a Medicare for…

National Nurses United 06 Jan 2012 Hits:508 California

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Occupy’s Rose Parade float: 70-foot octopus of corporate greed


Occupy protesters are busy finishing their float that will run at the end of the Rose Parade: a 70-by-40-foot octopus made of recycled plastic bags. The octopus, said activist Mark Lipman of Los Angeles, represents Wall Street’s stranglehold on political, cultural and social life, with tentacles “that reach into your pocket to get your money and a tentacle to get your house.” “This is the real Rose Parade, and the other is the Rose Charade,” said Pete Thottam, 40, an…

Hailey Branson-Potts | LA Times 30 Dec 2011 Hits:753 California

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Occupy Oakland protesters arrested at foreclosed home


OAKLAND — A dozen people linked to the Occupy Oakland movement were arrested Thursday at a foreclosed property in West Oakland. The property, located at 1415 and 1417 10th St., is listed as a foreclosed property for sale on the website indexpost.com, which lists foreclosures by state. The home, built in 1890, was occupied by activists from Causa Justa (Just Cause) and Occupy Oakland. It was not clear how long people have been living in the home. One report said people had been staying there since…

Kristin J. Bender | Oakland Tribune 30 Dec 2011 Hits:246 California

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Small Occupy Movements Across the Country Accumulate Victories


In a recent San Francisco Chronicle piece, “Occupy movement must move toward the center,” Tony Fels, associate professor of history at the University of San Francisco, writes that the Occupy “movement has reached a tactical dead end.” Demonstrators don’t have nicely packaged sound bites; there’s no go-to spokesperson; Occupy DC is one of the last camps standing. But the movement is far from dead. Here in California, the movement is exploding. In a recent study called “Diffusion of the Occupy Movement in California,” UC Riverside …

Rose Aguilar, Truthout | Report 27 Dec 2011 Hits:250 California

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Occupy Long Beach Stages Hospital “Die-In” in Support of Striking Nurses


The California Nurses Association and National Nurses United in Los Angeles and San Francisco have been battling with Sutter Health hospital management for three months over basic worker’s rights: they want better health care, staffing, and sick leave. On Thursday, they staged a one-day strike—their second—which reportedly attracted over 6000 nurses from nine hospitals, with a majority of workers striking. And on Friday, management announced that nurses who joined the strike on Thursday would not be allowed to return to work that…

Julianne Escobedo Shepherd | Sourced from AlterNet 24 Dec 2011 Hits:394 California

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Occupy Protesters Take Aim at Rose Parade


Pasadena police and Tournament of Roses officials have been negotiating with Occupy leaders for several weeks to prevent problems. Protesters will be allowed to march after all the floats have gone. The Rose Parade has long been a magnet for protesters looking for global attention for their causes and grievances. Native Americans once threw a balloon filled with red paint onto the parade route to represent the spilling of Indian blood. AIDS activists interrupted the parade by staging a sit-in. One year, a Pasadena mayor wore…

Catherine Saillant and Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times 24 Dec 2011 Hits:254 California

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Vice Chair, North Area of the San Diego County Democratic Party Tenders Her Resignation


Greetings of a rainy Monday, all! I have tendered my resignation as Vice Chair, North Area for the San Diego County Democratic Party. I will remain a member of the San Diego County Democratic Central Committee and a delegate therefrom to the California Democratic Party. I have done this because I cannot stay neutral during the coming Primary races, which being an Area Vice Chair requires. Many of you know that I have been very active in the local Occupy Wall Street movement, Occupy San…

Martha Sullivan | Ocean Beach Rag 16 Dec 2011 Hits:246 California

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  • This is how we celebrate Bill of Rights Day in Fresno – the 220th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights. Today, the homeless in Fresno experienced some of…

  • By a vote of 8 to 3, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors today (December 13, 2011) adopted a strong resolution calling on Congress to adopt a new set…

  • The Occupy Oakland action at the Port of Oakland this morning came off without incident.  It was successful in achieving its primary objective at two terminals where ships were waiting…

  •  LOS ANGELES — It took Los Angeles police less than 30 minutes last night to take down the Occupy Wall Street encampment that had spent the past two…

  • LOS ANGELES — Wall Street protesters declared a minor victory Monday when they defied a midnight deadline to leave their tent city encampment around City Hall and police…

  • Dear Frank, I have been involved with Occupy LA since its inception almost two months ago. Being there and partaking in creating a far reaching vision via participatory direct democracy has…

  • SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Two University of California, Davis police officers involved in the pepper spraying of seated protesters were placed on administrative leave Sunday, as the school’s…

  • Apart from the updates that a variety of readers sent yesterday about the affectless sadism of a UC Davis policemen, let me mention a few more links and resources: 1) Notice…

  • OAKLAND, Calif.— Riot-clad law enforcement officers cleared out a weeks-old anti-Wall Street encampment in Oakland just before dawn Monday, arresting dozens of Occupy demonstrators and clearing out tents…

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 February 1, 2012  Armando Olmos   Comments Off on Four Democrats Sit Out Critical Vote
Categories: Healthcare, Healthcare Reform, Immigration, Medicare, Politics Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

California still has second-highest unemployment in U.S.


 

California’s unemployment rate fell to 11.1% in December from 11.3% the previous month, but the state didn’t budge from second place for the worst joblessness in the nation.

Only the neighboring state of Nevada posted a higher rate with 12.6%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday.

Other states in the worst five were Rhode Island with 10.8%, Michigan with 10.5% and the District of Columbia with 10.4%.

North Dakota posted the lowest unemployment rate at 3.3%, followed by Nebraska at 4.1%, South Dakota at 4.1%, Minnesota at 5.7% and Utah at 6%.

In all, unemployment decreased in 37 states and the District of Columbia, three states had increases and 10 remained unchanged, the bureau said.

The largest month-over-month hike in the number of jobs created in December was in Texas with 20,200 and California with 10,700.

RELATED:

Unemployment rate falls to 8.5%, lowest in nearly four years

California unemployment falls to 11.1% as payrolls grow

Jobless claims hit lowest point in nearly four years

Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times

 January 24, 2012  Armando Olmos   Comments Off on California still has second-highest unemployment in U.S.
Categories: Economy, Politics Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

When Will We See Our First Trillionaire



In recent years, even at a time of global recession, the world’s wealthiest people have been getting wealthier and wealthier. In fact, the wealthiest 5 percent of American households received 81.7 percent of the total wealth gain in America between 1983 and 2009, according to a study from the Economic Policy Institute.

The wealthiest person in the world, according to Forbes, is Mexican businessman Carlos Slim with a total fortune of $74 billion. Number two and number three on the list of world’s wealthiest people are Americans Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, with $56 billion and $50 billion respectively.

With billionaires continuing to see their wealth appreciate at a rapid pace, the question has been asked: “When will we see the world’s first trillionaire?”

A trillion dollars is a big number – here it is with all the zeroes included:


one-trillion

For comparison’s sake, the entire size of the U.S. economy was approximately $14.7 trillion as of 2010 and the entire U.S. federal budget is approximately $3.7 trillion.

There are several factors that affect how rapidly someone’s wealth can grow: tax laws, the overall growth of the economy and inflation.

Using Bill Gates as an example, starting from today with a net worth of $56 billion, if Bill Gates’ wealth were to continue to grow by 3 percent per year, he would achieve trillionaire status in 98 years. Of course, Bill Gates is already 56 years old, so he’s probably not going to be around at the age of 154. (No offense to Mr. Gates, and I don’t mean to sound morbid; it’s just a fact. Although if anyone could figure out how to live to 154, it would probably be Bill Gates.)

So let’s consider a younger billionaire. How about Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who is currently 27 years old?

If Mark Zuckerberg were to cash in on his Facebook stock (currently valued at approximately $8 billion) and invest it aggressively, and achieved an amazing 20 percent return on investment, he would become a trillionaire within 50 years. Not a bad 77 th birthday present!

Even though today’s group of billionaires are gaining wealth at a rapid pace, they’re still nowhere near that trillion dollar mark. There have been other wealthy figures in past eras who were closer to becoming trillionaires than Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are today – for example, John D. Rockefeller was the wealthiest American in history (and often estimated to be the wealthiest person who has ever lived). Rockefeller died in 1937 at the age of 97, with a net worth of $663 billion (in present-day dollars, adjusted for inflation – although the actual nominal value of his fortune was “only” $1.4 billion in 1937).

If John D. Rockefeller had lived for another 14 years, with an annual net worth gain of 3 percent, he would have reached “trillionaire” status (in 2011 dollars).

Despite America’s fascination with wealth and our pride as a home to innovators and inventors and entrepreneurs, the world’s first trillionaire is probably not going to be an American. For starters, the world’s richest man, Carlos Slim, is Mexican. The world’s wealthiest family is the Al Nahyan family of Abu Dhabi (worth $150 billion). Some of the fastest growing economies (and fastest growing fortunes) in the world are in the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China. The world’s first trillionaire is more likely to be a commodities trader from Nigeria or an oil tycoon from Russia than an American tech entrepreneur.

It’s interesting to reflect on the very remoteness of the concept of a “trillionaire” – the numbers become so big as to be mind-boggling. And it’s comforting, in a way, to know that no matter how much money someone earns, they will still be far away from that elusive trillion-dollar goal. It looks like we’ll be describing our wealthiest people as “billionaires” for some time to come.

 January 19, 2012  Armando Olmos   1 Comment
Categories: Bush Tax Cuts, Economy, Education, Healthcare, Healthcare Reform, Medicare, National Debt, Police Power, Politics, Tax Cuts, Teachers Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Fascism The New Face Of The USA


In 1981 President Ronald Reagan began his assault on organized labor. He believed in no control on Capitalism what we refer to as: “The Free Markets” that by freeing up the markets that workers would be better off. That corporate profits would trickle down to workers in terms of better wages, better benefit packages, and that society would be off. Reagan became the spoke person for corporations and the super rich. Reagan and the Republican Party were convinced by corporate executive officers throughout the world that the so-called “Free Markets” would give the Republican Party control of America. He had this thirst for power, money, and he surrounded himself with the super rich; he became part of the makers, the shakers, and the breakers of who’s, who’s in the world.
This was the beginning of corporate deregulation freeing assets and increasing profits at the expense of society. It allowed corporations the opportunity to privatize its profit’s, and the opportunity to socialize its losses’. They stole the “American Dream” destroying the middle class, destroying democracy, and they turned the United States into a banana republic because the super rich knew what was best for society; that the 1 percent were the chosen people by GOD to rule the planet. In 1993 The North Free Trade Agreement was passed and 2005 The Central Free Trade Agreement was passed by a single vote in the United State Senate. This destroying organized labor pushing wages down for workers, and allowing corporations the opportunity to make obscene profits like never seen before. Thus, widening the gap between the rich and the working class this has created massive amount of poverty in America.
 

 

 January 14, 2012  Armando Olmos   Comments Off on Fascism The New Face Of The USA
Categories: Bush Tax Cuts, Economy, Politics Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ron Paul’s Eye-Opening Ad on our Wars. This Ad Needs to go Viral.


The ad is brutally effective in fixing many of our misconceptions about the current so called war on terror. And I think it absolutely needs to go viral. It needs to be posted on forums, political blogs (both republican and democratic blogs alike) and Facebook pages everywhere. This is not about getting Ron Paul elected, because republicans absolutely hate him and will never give him the nomination. This is about opening as many eyes to the truth of what we’re doing, as possible before 2012.

In reply to the comments below, I want to reiterate, this is about the message, not the messenger. The message in the ad resonates and just because this message comes from someone we disagree with on several issues, doesn’t make it any less valid or any less important to get out there.

Ignoring this ad just because you disagree with the messenger on other issues, would be akin to ignoring Barack Obama’s message on the plight of the middle class just because you disagree with his stance on marijuana.

 January 9, 2012  Armando Olmos   Comments Off on Ron Paul’s Eye-Opening Ad on our Wars. This Ad Needs to go Viral.
Categories: Politics Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

ALEC – Government for the Corporations


Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom— and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.  (Abraham Lincoln – The Gettysburg Address)

What is ALEC?
With nearly 2,000 members, ALEC is the nation’s largest
nonpartisan, individual membership association of state
legislators. Well over 100 ALEC members hold senior
leadership positions in their state legislatures. ALEC’s alumni
include almost 80 current members of Congress and sitting
or former governors.ALEC’s goal is to ensure that each of its legislative members
is fully armed with the information, research, and ideas they
need to be an ally of the free-market system.

Over the course of the past thirty-eight years The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) corporate sector members and the legislative active members and alumni members have successfully redefined our government as “government of the corporations, by the corporations, for the corporations”.

Government of the corporations, by the corporations
While no corporations actively sit in our state and federal legislatures, these ALEC member corporations are faithfully represented in the state and federal legislatures by the over 2700 active and alumni members of ALEC.

At about this time, the state chairs of ALEC are sending out letters to legislators in your state, telling them that ALEC will reimburse them for up to $1,900 to attend the ALEC annual meeting to be held in New Orleans in August.

This $1,900 is donated by corporations to be spent on “tuition fees” to the annual meeting so that the corporations can be assured that they will be able to talk with our state legislators to influence corporate-focused legislation to be passed at our state legislatures.

The corporations that attend the ALEC meeting sit with our legislators, talk with our legislators, discuss new “Model Legislation” with our  legislators and VOTE on “Model legislation” that they want implemented in our government, as new legislation.

This is what ALEC refers to as a dynamic partnership in its latest corporate member brochure

A DYNAMIC PARTNERSHIP
One of ALEC’s greatest strengths is the public-private
partnership. ALEC provides the private sector with an
unparalleled opportunity to have its voice heard, and its
perspective appreciated, by the legislative members.

Unfortunately, for “we the people”, the representatives that we elected to office, who have chosen to become ALEC members no longer believe in representative government “of the people” – they now serve the corporations.

For a corporate donation of $1,900 per legislator, the corporations get our legislators undivided attention for up to four meetings every year – to write, vote on and approve – “Model Legislation” that promotes ALEC “free-market” philosophy – which is specifically written for the corporations.

Government for the corporations
It is important to remember that ALEC exists for the sole purpose of promoting a “free-market” philosophy.  Free market has absolutely NOTHING to do with representation “for the people” and has EVERYTHING to do with representation “for the corporations”.

Based on the research I have done on ALEC – the end result of all the “ALEC Model Legislation” is more profits for corporations and that’s all ALEC is concerned with – providing more business opportunties and/or more profit for their corporate sector members.  You and I, the citizens of this great country do not, repeat do not, have anything to do with their purpose and mission, unless, ALEC can use us to further corporate profits.

What does government “for the corporation” look like?  How are your legislators, who are ALEC members, providing corporations with more business opportunties and more corporate profits, at the expense of the rights of the people?  Well, let’s take a look at just a few examples.

Privatization
ALEC believes that government services provide an unfair competitive advantage to private sector companies and because of that the government sector is a major impediment to the ability for private sector companies to make more profit.  ALEC’s  solution to this is legislation that promotes privatization of government services.  We see this in the news almost every day with the introduction of voucher systems to private schools, proposed voucher systems for Medicare, or legislation that promotes privatization of government services through the use of competitive bidding for government services.  These are ALL ALEC initiatives.

The problem with this model is that when you have private industry supplying government services, their customer is no longer you or me – the citizen who pays for those services.  When government services are privatized, the customer then becomes the government entity that contracted the service and you and I are left without a voice regarding government services provided to us – just ask the folks in Benton Harbor.  Private industry is not held responsible to “we the people”.

De-Regulation
ALEC has been at the forefront of fighting for “de-regulation”. ANY type of regulation – labor, environmental, health is open game for ALEC.  The one and only reason ALEC so vehemently opposes health, labor and environmental regulations is because their corporate members see reduced profits due to regulations.  In 1997, the then National Chair of ALEC, Bonnie Cooper wrote a letter to ALEC members referring to these types of legislation as “heart-strings legislation” – “written as a result of an emotional appeal rather than sound reasoning”.

When deregulation is allowed to occur or when funding for these agencies is allowed to be reduced – who loses?  We the people.  Legislation by ALEC members at the state and federal level that focuses on corporate profit above the appeals of their citizenry – is just plain wrong!

Over the past thirty eight years we have assumed that our government was a representative “government of the people, by the people, for the people” we can no longer make that assumption.  Legislators at the state and federal level who are or have been ALEC members have changed all that.

It has become extremely clear to me over the last few months that the democratic leaders of this country and the news media want nothing to do with this issue.  They would rather spend hours talking about divorces and sex scandals, than spend more than 10 minutes exposing ALEC.

Because of that – this is our issue to handle.  This is our responsibility to clean up.
Action must be taken by “we the people.”

There is only one way that we can ensure that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”

Over the course of the next several elections, we MUST do everything we can to identify ALEC members at the state and federal level.  ALEC does not release their full membership list – they only release enough to keep the media off their back – We must identify every one of the over 2,700 legislative (state and federal) members.  See this diary and see this google doc

Once ALEC members have been identified, we MUST make sure that they are not re-elected in the upcoming elections.  The only way to stop this subversion of our democracy is to remove these representatives from office.  ALEC legislators are no longer representing the people – they are representing the corporations.

It is at times like this that remembering the past can be of benefit to us, to motivate us.

“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom— and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

We must be

dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion

Since the time my grandparents immigrated to the United States, multiple family members of each successive generation have served in the US Forces.  I write this diary in their honor and in hopes that their service was not in vain.

If you don’t know what ALEC is you should –
please read this, or this, or this, or this, or this.

Originally posted to MNDem999 on Sun May 29, 2011 at 10:23 AM PDT.

Also republished by Exposing ALEC and Community Spotlight.

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 May 29, 2011  Armando Olmos   1 Comment
Categories: Politics Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,