ALEC - When you can't be upfront - You have to use the Back Door

BACK DOOR MONEY

Corporate Donations to Jindal Foundation Raise Ethical Questions

“While a spokesperson for the governor strongly denied suggestions that donations to the organization were intended to curry political favor, ethics watchdog groups have expressed concern.”

If you look at the donation partners page of the foundation   

A very quick web review of the top donors shows the following companies have documented association (past or present) with ALEC.

AT&T – ALEC Member

Marathon – ALEC Member

Blue Cross – ALEC Member

Dow – ALEC Member

Wal-Mart – ALEC Member

State Farm – ALEC Member

BACK DOOR MEMBERSHIPS

Steve Seale   (from his LinkedIn page)

"Steve Seale has a unique combination of experience as an attorney, as a Mississippi State Senator, Chief Counsel to the Majority Leader of the United States Senate

As a State Senator, Steve Seale was a leader in the civil justice reform movement, was Chairman of the Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)

As his chief legal advisor, Steve Seale advised Senator Lott regarding major policy issues including legal system reforms, such as product liability, bankruptcy and private property rights, as well as antitrust, intellectual property/patent/music licensing, nuclear energy and environmental protection/natural resources legislation. He was also Senator Lott’s representative to state and local government organizations, including ALEC..."

Why is the back door needed – if you are an upstanding organization with nothing to hide?

Why are legislative member lists not available to the public?

Why is “model legislation” not available to the public for review?

Only two little examples - found by coincidence

So many questions…

So many ALEC Libertarians in the State and US governments.

Please request the elimination of any and all state and federal funding for our legislators to belong to this organization or attend their events.

ALEC - 30+ years of stealth - stealing democracy from U.S.

 “Through ALEC, legislators and the private sector work in a dynamic partnership to develop public policies that harness the immense power of free markets and free enterprise to encourage economic growth and opportunities for all Americans.” (2001 Annual Report – American Legislative Exchange Council)

In their 2001 annual report ALEC claimed that “more than 2,400 legislative members that span the country”.  Today their influence is just as great.  Calculations show that based on ALEC’s claim “of 1/3 of all state legislators” currently belong to ALEC – their state legislator membership has stayed static at about 2,400 members.

What concerns me is the number of their past members that are now in the US House and Senate.  In the ALEC 2001 annual report the stated that “more than 80 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate are former ALEC members”.  On their current webpage they show a list of ALEC “Alumni” that were just added to the US House and Senate in 2010 only  – 3 additional US Senators and 27 US House members.  This is alarming because we really have no way of knowing how many former ALEC members are currently sitting in the US House and Senate - because their member logs are not public.

Realistically, we have a third political party that has been added to the US House and Senate – but no one is aware.  No one voted for these people based on their extreme libertarian philosophy – because they don’t advertise that they are Libertarians – they hide under the cloak of  “Republican” – but they are much more dangerous than any run-of-the-mill Republican, because their beliefs are so extreme that their philosophy leans more to an oligarchic plutocracy, rather than the tenants of democracy.

Statements like this from their 2001 annual report scare me to death:  “.Our members are committed to this organization and the principles for which it stands.”   (After all - their members are "alumni" - they have been educated, indoctrinated by ALEC.)

What are the principles?  Their mission on their webpage is “to advance the Jeffersonian principles of free markets, limited government, federalism, and individual liberty, through a nonpartisan public-private partnership of America's state legislators, members of the private sector, the federal government, and general public.”

The  2001 ALEC Annual report states:  “Through the combined effort and unique partnership of public and private sector members, model legislation is drafted, deliberated and approved by one of ALEC’s nine individual Task Forces.”

Below are examples of the “private sector members” who sit on the “individual Task Forces” and work with our legislators to draft, deliberate and approve “model legislation”.

2001  Officers	2011
Michael K. Morgan, Koch Industries Chairman	National Chairman  Mr. W. Preston Baldwin, Centerpoint360
Harry M.Winters, United Parcel Service
First Vice Chairman
Les Goldberg, American Express
Second Vice Chairman
Pete Poynter, BellSouth Corporation
Treasurer
Edward D. Failor, Sr., Iowans For Tax Relief
Secretary
Allan E. Auger, Coors Brewing Company
Immediate Past Chairman
Ronald F. Scheberle, Verizon
Chairman Emeritus
Board Members	Board Members
Richard H. Bagger, Pfizer Inc	Ms. Sano Blocker, Energy Future Holdings
Jane Cahill, PG&E National Energy Group	Mr. Don Bohn, Johnson & Johnson
Marie Chelli, Vivendi Corporation	Mr. Jeff Bond, PhRMA
John Del Giorno, GlaxoSmith Kline	Mr. Bill Carmichael, American Bail Coalition
Scott Fisher, Philip Morris Management Corporation	Mr. Derek Crawford, Kraft Foods, Inc.
C. T. Howlett, Chlorine Chemistry Council	Mr. John Del Giorno, GlaxoSmithKline
Jeffrey A. Lane , Procter & Gamble	Mr. Michael Hubert, Pfizer Inc
Kurt L. Malmgren, PhRMA	Ms. Teresa Jennings, Reed Elsvier
Bernard McKay, Intuit Inc.	Mr. Ken Lane , DIAGEO
Frank Messersmith, Metz, Hauser & Husband, P.A.	Mr. Bill Leahy, AT&T
Roger L. Mozingo, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company	Mr. Kelly Mader, Peabody Energy
J. Patrick Rooney, Golden Rule Insurance Company	Mr. Richard McKardle, UPS
Alan B. Smith, Nationwide Insurance Enterprise	Mr. Bernie McKay, Intuit, Inc.
Jerry Watson, American Bail Coalition	Mr. Mike Morgan, Koch Industries, Inc.
	Ms. Sandy Oliver, Bayer Healthcare
	Mr. David Powers, Reynolds American Inc.
	Mr. Gene Rackley, Coca-Cola Enterprises
	Ms. Maggie Sans, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
	Mr. Russell Smoldon, Salt River Project
	Mr. Toby Spangler, Altria Client Services, Inc.
	Mr. Roland Spies, State Farm Insurance Co.
	Mr. Jerry Watson, American Bail Coalition
	Ms. Sano Blocker, Energy Future Holdings

Is this truly how you want our democracy to be governed?

Are these the people you want drafting “model legislation”?

I don’t want these people writing legislation – not in 2001 and not in 2011.

We have to put a stop to this!

There are far too many ALEC members in the State and Federal governments right now for us to really do anything other than react. 

ALEC has done their job well – there are probably more ALEC Libertarians in the US House and Senate – than there are Democrats or Republicans – but we don’t know, because the ALEC members list is not public.

Based on this – please see my model letter and send it, so we can cut off state funding that is sending legislators to ALEC events to be educated, to become “alumni” of this organization – and to learn how to be representatives / senators / assemblymen and god only knows what else - for the private sector. 

It’s a small step – but a necessary step.  As citizens we should not be paying for legislators to participate in educational sessions with Coors, Koch, AT&T and Wal-Mart, sitting around together drafting, deliberating and approving model legislation for our states and our country.

Come on folks –

can’t you understand how inherently wrong this is?

Does anyone –

see how inherently wrong this is?

Why has this happened?

How did we let this happen?

Can we survive this as a country?

Koch - World Domination is Their Goal.

CURRENT INTERNATIONAL DELEGATES

The ALEC International Relations Task Force maintains relationships with legislators across the globe. Although currently most of our international members are from the European Union, we are seeking to expand our reach to the leaders in emerging economies who are aligned with the Jeffersonian principles of limited government and free markets. Below is a list of our current international delegates. Click on the name of the delegate for biographical information.

MEP Richard Ashworth, United Kingdom

Senator Cory Bernardi, Australia

MEP Adam Bielan, Poland

MEP Martin Callanan, United Kingdom

MEP Philip Claeys, Belgium

MP David Darchiashvili, Georgia

MEP Niranjan Deva, United Kingdom

MEP Cristofer Fjellner, Sweden

Dr. Liam Fox, United Kingdom

MEP Daniel Hannan, United Kingdom

MP Chris Heaton-Harris, United Kingdom

MEP Roger Helmer, United Kingdom

Assemblywoman Ayesha Javed, Pakistan

MEP Syed Kamall, United Kingdom

MEP Michal Kaminski, Poland

MEP Miroslaw Piotrowski, Poland

MEP Ivo Strejcek, Czech Republic

MEP Robert Sturdy, United Kingdom

MEP Konrad Szymanski, Poland

The Case for Expanding ALEC’s Role in International Affairs

Source:   ALEC Insider - July 2008

QUOTE

The common conservative mistrust of the United Nations is well-known. While there are many reservations one may have regarding the organization, two of the strongest and most often-cited are these: First, at its core, the UN exists fundamentally to forfeit the sovereignty of nations in favor of the consensus of the international community. The notion of handing U.S. sovereignty off to any other power is anathema to many of us, and rightly so. Second, the UN has demonstrated that it is often unable to efficiently implement the powers and regulations it has pursued. Even if one is concerned with the purpose of the organization, there is cause for even greater concern regarding whether the UN is capable of carrying out that purpose well and wisely.

This is why ALEC aims to apply for membership as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in consultative status with the UN. If successful, our voice would be added to a chorus of over 3,000 organizations, including the AARP, the American Psychological Association, Lawyers Without Borders, and the Salvation Army. Achieving consultative status with the UN would give ALEC a new and unique edge in its mission to defend itself and its clients against governments, policies, and global trends that continue to challenge our individual liberties and free market interests.

ALEC will gain the ability to craft an international agenda, publicly repudiate misinformation, and begin identifying and connecting with allies we have not yet even met. While both getting our message across and ensuring that it does not fall on deaf ears are labor-intensive tasks, both are also critical to the survival and expansion of our international outreach. We should jump at every opportunity to build new bridges. The future of Jeffersonian ideals requires a new medium and new ways of thinking about how to build relationships and communicate our message. The opportunities presented, and the benefits gained, by achieving consultative status imposes on ALEC the obligation to begin considering a dramatic expansion of our role in the international sphere.

END QUOTE

What's happening in the United States is just the tip of the iceberg -

Koch brothers are coming to a country near you  -

world control and domination is their goal.

Walker's Layoff Threat - He's a Jacka$$

Update:
March 9th
11:00pm (cst)

Scott Walker - you're a jackass!



Scott Walker is going to save $30 million dollars today by laying off 1500 people.

Hasn't some idiot out there done the math?  It's all about union busting - not saving money.

$30,000,000.00
divided by
1,500
average salary of person to be laid off
$20,000
and that's probably before
calculating cost savings for
         those cadillac expensive benefits these employees have
              that the State no longer will have to pay and
         the STATE and Federal taxes not collected from those laid off workers and
         the FICA not collected from those laid off workers.

         but probably includes the cost per person of
         WISCONSIN UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.

People losing their livelyhood -
politically motivated and instigated by the Koch Brothers and ALEC.
Disgusting - just disgusting.
This guy is a jackass. 
Scott Walker - you are a jack ass!
Scott Walker - you are on the top of my list of people that I pray burns in hell.

Gray - It’s Just a Different Hair Color

It’s really interesting when you find a topic that has a definite “line drawn in the sand”.  A topic so emotionally laden that everyone has a strong opinion about it.  It’s even more interesting when it’s a topic that you didn’t realize was or never imagined would be – a hot button.

All of you have friends who over the course of your lifetime have chosen not to tell you things that they thought you should hear and know.  Friends, who –in your best interests – have chosen not to say something about a certain topic or person in your life.  Maybe it’s a boyfriend that’s not right, a dress that doesn’t look the best on you, or a new hair style that is something different for you.  Sometimes friends just don’t give you their opinion.  This is pretty common – we’re use to it.

Well I found a topic that almost every friend has an opinion on.  The topic is really “a process” which takes time – and during that time almost everyone will probably have an opinion about it.  It surprised me what a “hot topic” this process/topic was.

A couple of months ago, I went out for the evening with a friend and her 24 year old daughter - a “girl’s night out”.  My friend is 8 years younger than me.  Her daughter told friends that she was going out with her Mom and her Mom’s “older” friend.  Do I care? Was I hurt? –Nah – I am the older friend.  It’s a necessary story that I will come back later in this entry.

I have been coloring my hair since I was 27.  My Mom was pure white by the time she was 25, my older sister was totally platinum by the time she was 32 and I was completely sterling silver mixed with pewter by the time I was 27.  Great hair genes.  My Mom colored her hair until she couldn’t anymore, my sister still colors her hair.  All of my friends (except one) close to my age – color their hair to hide the silvery gray hair.  I’ve decided to let my hair go silver.

For over 30 years, I have been putting chemicals on top of my head.  I’ve been sitting in the hair salon with chemicals soaking into my hair and head, for almost an hour – 4 to 5 times a year.  Chemicals soaking into my hair, my skin and traveling through my body.  Chemicals that I could smell for days, even after showering and (excuse me) would be present in my bodily excretions (I could smell the chemicals).  Well, no more hair coloring chemicals on my head or going through my body.  Lesson – hair coloring doesn’t just sit on your hair – it goes through your body (take a serious sniff sometime).

Over the course of the last 10 – 15 years, I have asked my stylists if the silver and pewter were coming in nice enough that I could quit coloring my hair and their response was always “You’re too young for gray hair.”  Why wouldn’t they say that?  Coloring hair is bringing megabucks into their salon every day.  Is a stylist going tell you that you have beautiful platinum, pewter or silver hair?  Is a stylist ever going to suggest that you let your amazing silver or snow white hair grow out?  NO.  Suggesting that people quit coloring their hair would be a major loss of revenue for hair salons.  Lesson - this is a decision you have to make on your own.

I finally found a stylist willing to work with me and I am on my way to gray.  Half-inch by half-inch I am cutting off the honey blonde and moving toward silver / pewter.  It’s a process and it takes time.  Ninety percent of my friends are against the change.  Why? Because “gray hair will make me look old”.  That statement in itself is a paradox, because according to my friend’s 24 year old daughter – I am “older” – even though she has only known me with honey blonde hair.  So the lesson to me was – it doesn’t matter what color your hair is – when you get older, you are older and honey blonde hair doesn’t fool anyone.

My major lessons through this decision process have been:

• Why am I spending all that time in the salon and all that money on coloring my hair? 
• What real purpose does coloring my hair serve at this point in my life?
• Do I have better uses for the time and money I spend coloring my hair?

Am I advocating that all women quit coloring their hair?  No, because I’ve seen the reaction – the reaction is immediate and definitive (it’s a hot issue).  I’ve heard too many women - with extremely strong emotion and conviction - say “I could NEVER let my hair go gray.”  It appears that gray hair is a demon of some type.  To many people gray hair is really disgusting (you can see it in their face when they talk about gray hair).  Generally, the majority of people seem to really hate gray hair and the “age” issue that they associate with gray hair - it’s just too distressing for them, and that’s okay.  Whereas for me, it’s just a different hair color.

So why the post?

For those of you sitting on the edge of the platinum, silver, pewter, or snow white hair volcano – ready to jump in - do I or don’t I?

• Take a second and question whether you really want those chemicals seeping into your head and through your body every six – eight weeks.
• Do you really, honestly think your hair color is fooling people and making them think you are substantially younger than you are?
• How much time and money are you really spending on hair coloring?
• And remember, you’re not alone.  There are a few of us (very few under age 90, but a few) out here who are on our way to gray and looking forward to it every day and we support you in your decision when others cannot – it’s just too distressing for some, and that’s okay.

I stopped coloring my hair.

I now get a cut / trim every 4 – 6 weeks that costs me $40 and takes less than 40 minutes.

If I do not color my hair for the next 25 years,

without factoring in inflation or price increases,

I will not spend

  an additional 220 hours at the salon,

  and over $18,000 - on hair coloring alone.

I definitely have better uses for that time and money.

UPDATE 8/31/2011
My hair is the most gorgeous shade of silver - I couldn't be happier about the way that my hair looks. 

The other day I ran into a woman in the grocery store whose hair was almost the exact same color as mine.  I told her - our hair color matches almost perfectly and I must say your hair is beautiful.  She came up to me in the grocery store about ten minutes later and told me her story.  She quit coloring her hair because she had to - the chemicals were making her go bald in the back and the crown of her head.  She quit coloring her hair - her hair grew back in and she now has this beautiful mane of silver hair - - - - - and her daughters want her to go back to blonde, to start coloring her hair again. 

Think about it - her daughters don't care about her health.  They don't care that coloring her hair almost made their mother go bald.  All they care about is themselves and the fact that - they don't want a mom with gray hair.  How sad it is that our society has come to a point where outward appearance is more important than the health and well-being of those we are suppose to love.

That's my update - I love my hair - it's gorgeous!

UPDATE 10/31/2011
I went to a new stylist last week to have my hair cut.  She commented more than once on what beautiful color I had.  In all the years I was putting dye on my head - no one ever told me I had beautiful hair color.

That's my update - I love my hair - it's gorgeous!  and a trained professional agrees.

UPDATE 09\18\2014
I went to a new stylist last night to have my hair cut.  She commented more than once on what beautiful hair color I have. No one ever told me I had beautiful hair color, while I was coloring my hair.

That's my update - I still love my silver hair - it's gorgeous!  and a trained professional agrees.

And I found a site called - Silver Sisters that has branches across the US and is holding the national Silver Sisters conference in San Diego in 2014.

People do not grow old no matter how long we live.

We never cease to stand like curious children

before the great Mystery into which we were born.   Albert Einstein

Tags:  Going gray, going grey, grey hair, gray hair

Cut-throat Scrabble– You Really Don’t Win Anything

C O M P E T E

13 points x 2 for the first word on the board and plus 50 points for emptying your deck = 76 points

Yippee! or Yuck!

When my son was about 8 years old I bought a Scrabble board.  He and I would play Scrabble in the evenings.  We never kept score and I was always complimenting him on the words that he used and the hooks he built.  We laughed and we had fun.  We quit playing after my husband decided he wanted to be part of the “fun” and came to the board with the sole intention of “scoring” and with the intention of using two letters words worth the most points that (in my words) constipate the board.

When I play Scrabble I love to see a bingo (when someone uses all 7 of their tiles to make a word); I look for unique hooks (building words off of other words) and I will sometimes use parallel words, but not very often as they “constipate the board”.

When I play Scrabble I do it for fun and I like to see the entire board filled with letters at the end of the game.  Yes, playing Scrabble is about strategy and scoring points – BUT to me it’s also about making sure that everyone gets a chance to play their letters and that everyone sitting at the board is having fun.  I’m not a cut-throat Scrabble player, to me it’s supposed to be “just a game” and fun for all the players.

On to the Story

To me cut-throat Scrabble is when the person you are playing with is only concerned with finding bonus squares and hot spots and they don’t care at all about the playability of the board.

I vacation with the same people almost every year over the holidays.    In the past we have spent hours having fun playing Scrabble and drinking wine, talking and laughing while we played Scrabble.  Not this year.   Last year I couldn’t go on vacation because of work commitments.  In the past two years, my Scrabble partners have learned how to play cut-throat Scrabble and when I left my vacation this year – I could care less if I ever played Scrabble again while I am vacation.  There was no fun, no talking and no laughing – only staring at the Board, looking for hot-spots and high scores using one letter.

The first two days of vacation, I pretty much sat back and tried to figure out what the hell had changed and then I got bored.  I would spend my time trying to “open up the board” so it was easier to play and they would block the word with a one letter high scoring hook and the board would get constipated.  Day three and four – I was really bored.  Days one through four I lost every game by at least 100 points - I absolutely did not care.  It didn’t matter – my worth is not based on my Scrabble score.  Day five, I put on my game face (even though I didn’t want to) and gave them a run for their money at cut-throat Scrabble – winning two games just before I came home.  None of it was fun.

On the plane trip back home and for the past two days I have thought about this experience and how I was going to write it up.  What did I learn from this experience?

• Was I traumatized playing cut-throat Scrabble when I was a kid – hell no – that’s not it.
• Is it about people knowing more two letter words than me – hell no.
• Is it about people being savvier about tile placement – hell no.
• Was I a sore loser – NOT!  (I consciously chose to not play their type of game.)

It all came down to my expectation (based on previous years) that Scrabble was about having fun.  Playing Scrabble was about spending time with other people - talking and laughing.  Playing Scrabble was about enjoying a glass of wine and the company of good friends.  Playing Scrabble was about connecting with people.

Cut-throat Scrabble is about connecting with the tiles in your deck and the hot spots on the board.  Cut-throat Scrabble has nothing to do with interaction with the people you are playing Scrabble with.  Cut-throat Scrabble is only about you and your score.

The moral of the story –

□        Please play cut-throat Scrabble only with other blood lust people.

□        Please play cut-throat Scrabble on line.

□        Don’t expect others to be amazed with your hot spot prowess and your ability to “constipate the board” if the other people at the board are looking for a friendly game of Scrabble.

□        If it’s all about “you and your score”, please play by yourself.

If you are into cut-throat Scrabble and the other people at the board are not – you really don’t win anything, even if your score is huge.

Life is about change – and sometimes your expectations have to change.  Sometimes it’s a good thing.  Sometimes is a sad thing.  Next year I’ll bring my Domino tiles and maybe we can forget about hardcore competition while on vacation and get back to wine, whining, talking and laughing.

Tags:  cut-throat Scrabble, cutthroat Scrabble