Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Renewed Civil Rights Coalition Targets 'Ghostwriters' of 'License to Kill' Laws | The Nation
Renewed Civil Rights Coalition Targets 'Ghostwriters' of 'License to Kill' Laws | The Nation
The killing of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin has raised old concerns about everything from racial profiling to gun violence. That's frustrating, as so many Americans had hoped that their country might have bent the arc of history a bit more toward progress.
But the shooting in Sanford, Florida, has done something else. It has focused new attention on the structural supports for legislating on behalf of special-interest, and on the way in which the American Legislative Exchange Council turns bad ideas into bad law.
That has created a new clarity with regard to the need for a pushback against ALEC and its corporate sponsors. And that clarity has renewed a civil rights coalition that will be needed if there is to be any hope for breaking the grip of one-size-fits-all lawmaking and renewing small "d" democracy and sound governance in the states.
The focus of the moment is, of course, on the "Kill at Will" laws—known variously as "Castle Doctrine" and "Stand Your Ground" measures, referred to by former Florida US Attorney Kendall Coffey as "License-to-Kill" laws—that ALEC has been promoting nationally since 2005 in cooperation with the National Rifle Association, the gun manufacturing industry and gun retailers. These laws, which afford immunity to gunmen who shoot unarmed individuals they presume to be threatening, go far beyond the traditional self-defense protections that have been afforded Americans from the founding of the republic. They tie the hands of responsible politice officers and prosecutors. And they create openings for abuses like those that have been highlighted in the aftermath of the Trayvon Martin shooting. Read Full Article Here | The Nation
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Tell AT&T to Stop Funding ALEC | The Nation
Tell AT&T to Stop Funding ALEC | The Nation
TO DOThe Nation is asking readers to join the CMD's call and implore one of the ALEC corporations with which many Nation readers may do business, AT&T, to refrain from giving ALEC any more money. Email senior executives in charge of "Corporate Citizenship" Channing Barringer (cbarringer@att.com) and Mark Siegel (mark.a.siegel@att.com) and/or call the executive charged with legislative and regulatory issues Walt Sharp (210-821-4105) and politely tell them that it's not helpful to their business to fund an organization that has worked to suppress voter turnout, privatize public schools, Medicare and Social Security, hand out tax breaks for new tobacco products, promote concealed gun laws, harass immigrants and gut minimum wage laws. After making your voice heard, share this info with friends, family, Facebook friends and Twitter followers.
TO DO
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Exposed: The Corporations Behind the Law That May Let Trayvon Martin's Killer Go Free | The Nation
Exposed: The Corporations Behind the Law That May Let Trayvon Martin's Killer Go Free | The Nation
According to the Center for Media and Democracy, 98 percent of ALEC’s revenues come from corporations, corporate trade groups, and corporate foundations. Each member pays annual fees of between $7,000 and $25,000. ALEC is also supplemented by direct grants. We don’t know all the details about all of ALEC’s funders and members. Here’s a partial list of what we do know about the corporations and foundations who helped fund the group that drafted the law that keeps Trayvon Martin’s killer free — and put more guns on our streets:
ALEC received $1.4 million in grants from ExxonMobil from 1998-2009.
It has also received grants from two Koch family-backed foundations: Charles G. Koch Foundation, the Claude R. Lambe Foundation.
ALEC has received grant money from the billionaire conservative and American Spectator publisher Richard Mellon Scaife‘s Allegheny Foundation and the Coors family’s Castle Rock Foundation.
ALEC’s Private Enterprise Board members include executives from Bayer Corp., GlaxoSmithKline, Centerpoint360, Reynolds American, Wal-Mart Stores, Johnson & Johnson, PhRMA, American Bail Coalition, Kraft Foods, Inc., Pfizer Inc., DIAGEO, AT&T, Reed Elsevier, Inc., Peabody Energy, UPS, Koch Companies Public Sector, LLC, Altria Client Services, ExxonMobil, Salt River Project, and State Farm Insurance Co. Coca Cola also recently had an executive on ALEC’s board.
According to reporting by my colleague, Lee Fang, ALEC’s 38th Annual Meeting was funded by corporations including BP, Takeda Pharmaceutical, Allergan, Altria, Bayer, Chevron, Peabody, Shell, UnitedHealthcare, Visa, FedEx, Louisiana Seafood, UPS, Amazon.com, Chesapeake Energy, ConocoPhillips, Dow, Gulf States Toyota, International Paper, TimeWarner, Wellpoint, HP, Lilly, Merck, USAA, and Walgreens (the full list available here). Read More Here | The Nation
Monday, March 26, 2012
Madison360: Doctors behind bars? Another splendid GOP idea
Madison360: Doctors behind bars? Another splendid GOP idea
"That this bill was shoved down the throats of doctors, would interfere with their work and threaten them with jail, makes it the foremost outrage among 14 months of outrageous government actions.
In the big picture, it’s fascinating to watch whom these Republicans choose to meddle with.
Doctors regularly appear at or near the top in rankings of the nation’s most respected job categories. But then teachers, firefighters and police officers also rank at or near the top, and the GOP went after their benefits and, in the case of teachers at least, the power of their unions.
Scientists also rank high, yet the GOP inflicted draconian cuts to the University of Wisconsin-Madison budget even though its scientists attract massive grants and make UW-Madison a world-class research university."
"That this bill was shoved down the throats of doctors, would interfere with their work and threaten them with jail, makes it the foremost outrage among 14 months of outrageous government actions.
In the big picture, it’s fascinating to watch whom these Republicans choose to meddle with.
Doctors regularly appear at or near the top in rankings of the nation’s most respected job categories. But then teachers, firefighters and police officers also rank at or near the top, and the GOP went after their benefits and, in the case of teachers at least, the power of their unions.
Scientists also rank high, yet the GOP inflicted draconian cuts to the University of Wisconsin-Madison budget even though its scientists attract massive grants and make UW-Madison a world-class research university."
An Evening With Cornel West - Democracy in Crisis
An Evening With Cornel West - Democracy in Crisis
- Monday, April 2, 2012
- 7:00pm until 9:00pm
- Milwaukee SDS will host Dr. Cornel West for "Democracy in Crisis: From Economic Austerity to Racism" in the UWM Union Wisconsin Room at 7pm April 2nd.
-- FREE TICKETS are available to the public for pickup or will-call from the UWM Bookstore. --
Scholar and activist Cor...nel West will share his insight on Wisconsin’s struggle against the austerity agenda of the 1%, the Occupy movement, and global struggles against racism and inequality.
Sponsored by: SDS, Occupy Milwaukee, Black Student Union, Committee to Stop FBI Repression, Union Programming, Union Sociocultural Programming, Campus Activities Board, Cultures and Communities, Department of History. Read More Here | Democracy in Crisis
How ALEC Took Florida's 'License to Kill' Law National | The Nation
How ALEC Took Florida's 'License to Kill' Law National | The Nation
Protest in New York City's Union Square against the killing of Trayvon Martin. Francis Reynolds/The Nation
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush endorsed Mitt Romney Wednesday, earning national headlines as an elder statesman of a Grand Old Party that is still trying to wrap its head around the concept of Romney as a presidential nominee.
It is a measure of the extent to which media and political players absolve those who make laws from any responsibility for the impact of the legislation they enact and sign that Romney—who has so meticulously avoided discussing the Trayvon Martin killing in Florida—would casually accept the backing of the signer of the “Stand Your Ground” law that so many reasonable observers believe played a role in Trayvon’s death.
The 17-year-old Florida youth was apparently hunted down and shot by a “neighborhood watch” gunman while Trayvon was returning from a trip to a nearby 7-11 store. The gunman, George Zimmerman, was reportedly of the belief that he had been given what was effectively a license to kill by Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law. Police in Sanford, Florida, apparently shared that view, as they decided against arresting and charging the shooter. Read More Here | The Nation
How ALEC Took Florida's 'License to Kill' Law National
Protest in New York City's Union Square against the killing of Trayvon Martin. Francis Reynolds/The Nation
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush endorsed Mitt Romney Wednesday, earning national headlines as an elder statesman of a Grand Old Party that is still trying to wrap its head around the concept of Romney as a presidential nominee.
It is a measure of the extent to which media and political players absolve those who make laws from any responsibility for the impact of the legislation they enact and sign that Romney—who has so meticulously avoided discussing the Trayvon Martin killing in Florida—would casually accept the backing of the signer of the “Stand Your Ground” law that so many reasonable observers believe played a role in Trayvon’s death.
The 17-year-old Florida youth was apparently hunted down and shot by a “neighborhood watch” gunman while Trayvon was returning from a trip to a nearby 7-11 store. The gunman, George Zimmerman, was reportedly of the belief that he had been given what was effectively a license to kill by Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law. Police in Sanford, Florida, apparently shared that view, as they decided against arresting and charging the shooter. Read More Here | The Nation
How ALEC Is Creating Florida-Style Messes In Other States | John Nichols | The Nation
How ALEC Is Creating Florida-Style Messes In Other States | The Nation
" The Florida Department of Law Enforcement suggests that killings that have gotten a "justifiable homicide" pass have tripled since Jeb Bush signed that state's law. And as Representative Taylor noted after the Washington County prosecutor deferred to the "Castle Doctrine" in the Slinger, Wisconsin, case, “Now a young man, like in Florida, has been killed, and a family mourns the loss of a son. What a senseless tragedy.”
Florida may have been the pioneer. But thanks to the American Legislative Exchange Council, it is now just one of many states, including Wisconsin, that have enacted variations on the "Castle Doctrine." These laws are not products of the political or legislative processes of sovereign American states, nor are they smart extensions of necessary protections for gun ownership. They are one-size-fits-all legislative "fixes" for problems that never existed -- imposed upon states that now must deal with the messes that ALEC creates." John Nichols
Read Full Article Here | The Nation
" The Florida Department of Law Enforcement suggests that killings that have gotten a "justifiable homicide" pass have tripled since Jeb Bush signed that state's law. And as Representative Taylor noted after the Washington County prosecutor deferred to the "Castle Doctrine" in the Slinger, Wisconsin, case, “Now a young man, like in Florida, has been killed, and a family mourns the loss of a son. What a senseless tragedy.”
Florida may have been the pioneer. But thanks to the American Legislative Exchange Council, it is now just one of many states, including Wisconsin, that have enacted variations on the "Castle Doctrine." These laws are not products of the political or legislative processes of sovereign American states, nor are they smart extensions of necessary protections for gun ownership. They are one-size-fits-all legislative "fixes" for problems that never existed -- imposed upon states that now must deal with the messes that ALEC creates." John Nichols
Read Full Article Here | The Nation
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