ALEC - Building Nastiness for 40 Years

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Congress shall make no law
But sanctimonious ALEC members evidently think that they can.

The constitution was meant for the people.
ALEC repeatedly produces media crap stating they stand for the people.
BUT

When ALEC members talk about “people”

They are referring to the

“Corporations are people, my friend”

People

Not you – Not me – not any homosapien.

And the ALEC insistence that corporations need a voice and vote on legislation is a direct example of their belief that "corporations are people, my friend".  And ALEC members and legislators are doing everything they can to help "their people", my friend.

When you let an extremist organization like the American Legislative Exchange Council go unchecked and unmonitored for almost 40 years, nasty things begin to happen.  Incredible nastiness, has been building for decades - behind the secret curtain of ALEC meetings.

ALEC copy/paste legislation

Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act (AETA)

Approved by ALEC Board of Directors: September 1, 2003

Now affectionately known as the Ag-Gag bill.

As Mark Pocan noted in the Moyers expose’ on ALEC - - - ALEC copy/paste legislation is “profit driven legislation”.

 

The "Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act" legislation that pro-corporate ALEC distributed in 2003 was “profit driven legislation” to assist their corporate members in enhancing their revenue/profit by stopping those who would expose the wrong-doing of the ALEC corporations through activism.

In 2013, Pennsylvania legislators attempted to expand the wording of the 2003 ALEC copy/paste legislation to include activism at fracking operations.

In 2013 a woman got arrested and faced six months in jail - for taking a picture of an agri-business operation FROM ACROSS THE STREET. The fact that the charges were later dropped - IS NOT the point - the point is that ALEC copy/paste legislation led to her egregious arrest and persecution is the point.

With the distribution of the 2003 ALEC copy/paste legislation – ALEC also distributed a 24 page report , filled with extremist propaganda, to their ALEC members.

Animal & Ecological Terrorism in America

Copyright © September 4, 2003

That report specifically stated:

It is this wave of domestic terrorism that the American Legislative Exchange Council seeks to address through the state legislatures. Acts of terrorism occur locally, hence it is important that state governments ensure a legal structure is in place to prevent, contain, or investigate the terrorists who attempt to destroy our freedom and quality of life through violence rather than use the tools of democracy provided under the Constitution to promote a political cause.

And they aren’t talking about Timothy McVeigh.

They are talking about protesters and activists.

Protestors and activists, that focus mostly on the activities of corporations that are mostly all ALEC members and  fund ALEC operations and provide the funds needed for ALEC to write, produce and distribute pro-corporate copy/paste legislation..

Because we have allowed ALEC and ALEC legislators to go unchecked for the 40 year existence of the organization – the extremist policies held by ALEC and the members of ALEC are proliferating at warp speed.

The question I raise today is:

If we do not stop extremist pro-corporate organizations like ALEC – what will become of our CIVIL society and our CIVIL rights?

The corporations already have ALEC and ALEC legislators protecting their CORPORATE rights.

ALEC legislators, members and policy officials are becoming increasingly more dangerous as they implement intimidation tactics and practices that are becoming an extreme threat to our right to free speech and peaceful assembly.

May 2-3, 2013

ALEC Meeting in OKC
ALEC's Most Wanted

ALEC's Most Wanted
How does ALEC know who Surgey is?

CMD later obtained a document titled "OKC anti-ALEC photos" at the ALEC conference.

The page featured the pictures and names of eight people,

Reported on Daily Kos – in June 2013

Documents recently obtained by Bold Nebraska show that TransCanada - owner of the hotly-contested Keystone XL (KXL) tar sands pipeline - has colluded with an FBI/DHS Fusion Center in Nebraska, labeling non-violent activists as possible candidates for "terrorism" charges and other serious criminal charges.

Further, the language in some of the documents is so vague that it could also ensnare journalists, researchers and academics, as well.

TransCanada also built a roster of names and photos of specific individuals involved in organizing against the pipeline, including 350.org's Rae Breaux, Rainforest Action Network's Scott Parkin and Tar Sands Blockade's Ron Seifert. Further, every activist ever arrested protesting the pipeline's southern half is listed by name with their respective photo shown, along with the date of arrest

Transcanada is an ALEC member.

"has colluded with an FBI/DHS Fusion Center in Nebraska"
This is not small time stuff folks - 

Last week – in an attempt to squash Moral Monday protests in North Carolina – protest that in particular address ALEC extremist copy/paste legislation – the Civitas Institute has posted a “Most Wanted List” of protestors on their webpage.

Art Pope is the president and chairman of the John William Pope Foundation, which funds the Civitas Institute.

Art Pope is a verified ALECer.

As noted in a separate entry on the Civitas website - they irrationally question the actions of law enforcement in relation to the Moral Monday protests.  Nowhere in the web entry is there acknowledgement by Civitas that 1st amendment rights to peaceably assemble, need to be protected .  What the web entry appears to focus on is the need for more arrests, more limitations, more intimidation by law enforcement.

‘Moral Mondays’ Getting Murkier

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Civitas Staff

Let’s say you’re an ordinary citizen and you trespass on someone’s property.

The legal situation surrounding weekly protests at the Legislative Building in Raleigh is growing murkier.

Why have these people been allowed back into the General Assembly, when they’ve been previously trespassed?

So who in the criminal justice system is responsible for this special treatment?

Will someone please tell me how you can trespass on public property?

Public property paid for by the citizenry.

Public property made possible by the taxes of the citizenry.

But that is not the main point.

The point is that extremist right-wingers use this type of inflammatory language  to incite and provoke the general public and right-wing against the actions of those of us who choose to use their first amendment rights of free speech and peacable assembly.

  

It is the extremist actions guided by the pro-corporate values of the American Legislative Exchange Council that have begun to present a clear and present danger to our protected rights as citizens of the United States.

The question I raise today is:

If we do not stop extremist pro-corporate organizations like ALEC – what will become of our CIVIL society and our CIVIL rights.

Policies and actions of pro-corporate extremist American Legislative Exchange Council members are leading to the on-going evisceration of our first amendment right to free speech.

There are things you can do to stop this infringement of our rights.

Educate yourself

Bill Moyers exposed ALEC in his first expose’ in 2012

He update that broadcast this past week in 2013

And at the end of the current expose’ Moyers states:

Their cover has been blown

The protests are growing

And the story is not going away.

We will reporting on it in the months ahead.

Unless of course, ALEC financiers , the Koch brothers – have PBS remove Moyers from broadcasting – like they halted the airing of a PBS special on the Kochs.

Their cover has been blown
The protests are growing

And within every ALEC meeting - the ALEC  rhetoric against those protests will become more extreme and the actions of ALEC members will become more intolerant to "we the people"..

The question I raise today is:

If we do not stop extremist pro-corporate organizations like ALEC – what will become of our CIVIL society and our CIVIL rights.

Exercise your right to
freedom of speech, 

or of the press; 

or the right of the people peaceably to assemble
Chicago
August 7 - 9
ALEC Annual Meeting
ALEC 40th Anniversary
Palmer Hotel
PROTEST
PROTEST
PROTEST
PROTEST