Tag Archives: Law

Georgia Legislators with ALEC Ties —Thomas Kirkpatrick

Received 25 April 2012 on ALEC covers the spectrum in terms of bad policy for people. -jsq

To answer your closing question, which you most likely asked rhetorically, I offer the following list:

Georgia Legislators with ALEC Ties

House of Representatives

  • Rep. Calvin Hill, Jr. (R-21), State Chairman,[19][21] Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force and International Relations Task Force member[28] and recipient of ALEC’s 2011 State Chair of the Year Award[1]
  • Rep. Don L. Parsons (R-42); Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force
  • Rep. David S. Casas (R-103); Education Task Force
  • Rep. Doug Collins (R-27); Civil Justice Task Force
  • Rep. Edward H. Lindsey, Jr. (R-54); Civil Justice Task Force
  • Rep. Ed Setzler (R-35); Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force
  • Rep. Larry E. O’Neal (R-146); Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force
  • Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-41)[19]; Health and Human Services Task Force
  • Rep. Ben L. Harbin (R-118); International Relations Task Force
  • Rep. Gerald E. Greene (R-149); International Relations Task Force
  • Rep. Josh S. Clark (R-98); International Relations Task Force
  • Rep. Jack Murphy (R-27); Public Safety and Elections Task Force
  • Rep. Mark D. Hamilton (R-23); Public Safety and Elections Task Force
  • Rep. Tom R. Rice (R-51)[19]; Public Safety and Elections Task Force
  • Rep. Donna Sheldon (R-105)[19]; Health and Human Services Task Force
  • Rep. Judy Manning (R-32); Health and Human Services Task Force
  • Rep. Lynn Smith (R-70); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
  • Rep. Michael Harden (R-28); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
  • Rep. Charlice Byrd (R-20)[19]; Health and Human Services Task Force
  • Rep. Howard R. Maxwell (R-17); Education Task Force
  • Rep. Jan Jones (R-46); Education Task Force
  • Rep. Charles E. Martin, Jr. (R-47); Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force
  • Rep. Kip Smith (R-129); Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force
  • Rep. James W. Mills (R-25)[19]; Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force
  • Rep. Mike Dudgeon (R-24); Education Task Force
  • Rep. Carl Rogers (R-26); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
  • Rep. Terry England (R-108); Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force
  • Rep. Paulette Rakestraw-Braddock (R-19); International Relations Task Force
  • Rep. Billy S. Horne (R-71); Public Safety and Elections Task Force
  • Rep. Kevin Cooke (R-18); Public Safety and Elections Task Force
  • Rep. Lynne Riley (R-50); Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force
  • Rep. Buzz Brockway (R-101); Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force
  • Rep. Barry D. Loudermilk (R-14); Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force
  • Rep. Amos Amerson (R-9)[19]
  • Rep. John Meadows (R-5)[19]
  • Rep. James Mills (R-25)[19]

Senate

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ALEC, bills to ditch renewable energy, and the Southern Company

Got caught promoting laws that encourage people to kill people? Double down on laws to kill people through pollution! That’s what ALEC is doing. And look who’s apparently a member of ALEC: the Southern Company, parent of Georgia Power, and proprieter of several of the largest and dirtiest coal plants in the country.

Brian Merchant wrote for Treehugger Tuesday, Two ALEC Campaigns Exposed: One Kills Renewables, One Boosts Fracking,

After major corporations like Pepsi, Kraft, Proctor & Gamble, and Coke all ditched the rightwing group, ALEC announced that it would Plant Scherer abandon its drive to enact gun and voter ID laws. The group’s decision came after a couple high profile campaigns were launched decrying ALEC’s involvement in passing the ‘stand your ground’ laws.

But the group is actually stepping up its efforts in other arenas, as I noted last week. And two new reports, one from ProPublica, the other from DeSmogBlog, outline its new aims: dismantle legislation that incentivizes renewable energy generation, and preserve loopholes that allow natural gas companies to keep the chemical cocktails in their fracking fluids secret from the public.

This is the same ALEC that promotes laws like Georgia’s HB 87 that lock up more people to benefit private prison companies like CCA, which wanted to build a private prison on Lowndes County, Georgia. Traficking in human beings is not too sordid for ALEC, so poisoning people through polution doesn’t seem surprising.

Hm, let’s look at the corporate membership of ALEC, as collected by Sourcewatch’s ALEC Exposed. Why there’s The Southern Company, parent of Georgia Power! I’m frankly a little surprised Continue reading →

ALEC “covers the spectrum in terms of bad policy for people” –FL news

ALEC will no doubt try to tar WCTV as “liberal media.” That will be amusing!

Troy Kinsey wrote for WCTV Monday, themselves as members of ALEC. Damien filer with ‘progress florida’ says its time for them to break their ties with a group that’s taking national heat over ‘Stand Your Ground’.

“This is not just about ‘shoot first’ laws; this is about everything from the so-called ‘parent trigger’ law that we saw during the last legislative session, the prison privatization schemes that we’ve seen crop up. It really covers the spectrum in terms of bad policy for people, and policy that’s really aimed at padding the pockets of the corporations that fund this organization.”

Hm, I wonder who in the Georgia statehouse are ALEC members?

-jsq

NDAA does not protect US citizens from detention without due process –Barbara Stratton

Received today on What about NDAA? Questions for Austin Scott in Tift County. -jsq

I did not stay for the luncheon with Austin Scott because I’ve had conversations with him already. The question in this video on NDAA does need to be addressed. Every legislator who voted for the bill that included sections 1021 & 1022 needs to either encourage legislation to repeal or correct these sections or be replaced.

However the Ron Paul supporters do not have a corner on dissatisfation with NDAA. Ron Paul has stated that he will fix everything wrong with the country. I would be more trusting of his statements if they allowed that he will have to work with Congress to fix problems instead of inferring he can totally accomplish change on his own. Gary Johnson is running on the Libertarian platform also. Neither of them can win the GOP nomination without upstaging the delegate voting process and both are running on almost identical platforms. Are they both going to vie for the GOP spot over Romney or will one or both pull off to run as a third party candidate?

Back to the NDAA question—KrisAnne Hall is a constitutional lawyer who has detailed sections 1021 and 1022 and verified the same conclusion I did when I asked Saxby Chambliss why he voted for the bill back in December. It does not protect US citizens from detention without due process and she details why. She will be speaking at the Valdosta Tea Party meeting Thursday night, April 26, 7:00 at the Holiday Inn on Hwy 84. Hopefully she will also have updates on what is being done to correct this injustice. We do need to let our senators and representatives know we are expecting an amendment to correct this travesty against us or we will fight to see they are defeated for their crimes against the Constitution.

-Barbara Stratton

Hey, I’m a Democrat, and I’ve been opposed to NDAA, FISAA, for many years now. -jsq

Prisoners as cheap labor

Quite likely you thought massive prison populations used as cheap labor were some sort of medieval tradition. Nope. Here’s an article that debunks that misconception and informs you about many other things I (and perhaps you) didn’t know about prisoners as cheap labor.

Locking Down an American Workforce Steve Fraser and Joshua B. Freeman wrote for TomDispatch 19 April 2012, Prison Labor as the Past — and Future — of American “Free-Market” Capitalism,

Penal servitude now strikes us as a barbaric throwback to some long-lost moment that preceded the industrial revolution, but in that we’re wrong. From its first appearance in this country, it has been associated with modern capitalist industry and large-scale agriculture.

So where and when did it come from?

As it happens, penal servitude — the leasing out of prisoners to private enterprise, either within prison walls or in outside workshops, factories, and fields — was originally known as a “Yankee invention.”

First used at Auburn prison in New York State in the 1820s, the system spread widely and quickly throughout the North, the Midwest, and later the West. It developed alongside state-run prison workshops that produced goods for the public sector and sometimes the open market.

A few Southern states also used it. Prisoners there, as elsewhere, however, were mainly white men, since slave masters, with a free hand to deal with the “infractions” of their chattel, had little need for prison. The Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery would, in fact, make an exception for penal servitude precisely because it had become the dominant form of punishment throughout the free states.

In case you’ve never read it or have forgotten, here is the Thirteenth Amendment (emphasis added):

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Got a population you don’t like? Continue reading →

Let’s Be Blunt: It’s Time to End the Drug War

Don’t believe Latin American presidents (former and current) or a global commission including captains of industry or historic statesmen such as Jimmy Carter or major newspapers or Judge Napolitano or law enforcement professionals like Frank Serpico? Ask an economist who spells it out: the War on Drugs is an economic, public safety, and civil rights disaster, and legalization is needed right now.

Economist Art Carden wrote for Forbes yesterday, Let’s Be Blunt: It’s Time to End the Drug War,

April 20 is the counter-culture “holiday” on which lots and lots of people come together to advocate marijuana legalization (or just get high). Should drugs—especially marijuana—be legal? The answer is “yes.” Immediately. Without hesitation. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200 seized in a civil asset forfeiture. The war on drugs has been a dismal failure. It’s high time to end prohibition. Even if you aren’t willing to go whole-hog and legalize all drugs, at the very least we should legalize marijuana.

OK, why?

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Dr. Sidney Smith speaks about solar tonight in Savannah

Received Tuesday. -jsq

Savannah, Ga.— The Coastal Group Sierra Club is sponsoring a presentation by Dr. Sydney Smith, owner of a solar farm in Bulloch County and co-founder of Lower Rates for Customers, which is currently providing solar power to a business in Savannah and looking to expand, selling its solar power below Georgia Power’s rates.

Although Georgia’s solar potential is enormous, Georgia is one of four states that does not allow energy to be purchased from private suppliers. Learn how Smith is challenging the law and Georgia Power to pave the way for lower rates and green energy.

The presentation begins at 7 p.m., Thursday, April 19 at the First Presbyterian Church, 520 Washington Ave., in Savannah.

LOST again in Hahira 9AM 2 May 2012

The local cities want more LOST money from the county. Imagine if they and the county spent this much effort bringing in new industry such as solar to increase the pie!

David Rodock wrote for the VDT 17 April 2012, County’s LOST proposal declined: Cities want more money; negotiations to begin in May. Well, that about sums it up. Looks like this is going to end up in another round of litigation after a lot of talking past each other.

So there will be LOST again, this time in Hahira, 9AM 2 May 2012 at the Hahira Community Center, 215 Randall Street.

They could spend their time talking together more productively.

-jsq

We’re just ripe for solar power –Cobb EMC

We already saw that private investment is funding a 100 acre 10 MW solar farm with Cobb EMC as a customer. What does that mean for Cobb EMC’s direction? How big is Cobb EMC, anyway? And what does all this mean for Georgia Power, and for solar power in Georgia and all the jobs it can produce? What does it mean for everyone running for the Georgia legislature?

Chip Nelson, CEO of Cobb EMCKristi E. Swartz wrote for the AJC 16 April 2012, Solar project could be a catalyst for more if policies allow it,

“I always thought solar power was something further out for Georgia. We just weren’t in the right time,” said Chip Nelson, chief executive officer of Cobb EMC. “The way things have been moving in the utility industry, particularly the last two or three years, I find that we’re just ripe for it.”

Ripe indeed! Coal is dead. Nuclear is going down. 30 MW solar farm near Austin Solar will eat the lunch of utilities that don’t start generating it. It’s time for utilities to get out in front and generate their own solar power. Austin Energy continues to show the way in Texas with a 30 MW solar farm. Now Cobb EMC can do the same for Georgia.

Nelson isn’t some fresh outsider: he’s a Cobb EMC lifer. According to Patty Rasmussen in Georgia Trend February 2012, Power Players: Taking Over At Cobb EMC,

Nelson worked for Cobb EMC for 37 years, most recently serving as chief operations officer. He stepped in as interim CEO in February 2010 and decided to apply for the full-time position.

And Cobb EMC is not small. According to Kim Isaza in MDJonline.com 20 July 2011 New Cobb EMC chief Nelson ready to ‘turn page’ on past costly litigation, divisiveness,

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Videos of Rally for HOPE @ LCDP 2012 03 24

Rain kept the numbers down, but the enthusiasm was strong in Lakeland at the Rally for HOPE, 24 March 2012.

The announcement said:

This will be a Rally for the Hope Scholarship and a Voter Registration. Everyone concerned about HOPE is invited. We will have guest speakers and will hear from those students and families affected by the current status of HOPE.

The featured speaker was Janice Barrocas of HOPE for Georgia, which is running a three year nonpartisan campaign to save HOPE scholarships.

Bikram Mohanty explained that there will be a shortfall of $270 million for the HOPE scholarships in 2012. Janice Barrocas pointed out there were really two HOPEs now: the other one being the Zell Miller scholarships. Bikram showed a map that illustrates that very few Zell Miller Scholarships go to south Georgia.

Janice Barrocas and Bikram Mohanty discussed that HOPE is funded by a lottery, and lottery funds are down in the recession. The blue line on the chart is deposits from the lottery into the HOPE program, the red line is expenditures, and the green line, dropping rapidly, is reserves at the end of the year.

Janice Barrocas noted that

The end users of this program were not at the table

when the recent HOPE changes were passed. Especially students mostly found out when they got stuck with bigger bills they had to pay. Students and their families may still be too polite to mention they have financial troubles, but it’s time to break the culture of silence when it’s a choice between the family eating or the student going to school. Betty Marini pointed out students loans add up to $1 trillion dollars, which is a huge drag on the economy.

Matt Flumerfelt observed that there is a push for divestiture and privatization these days, and he wondered if the silence around the quick passage of the recent HOPE changes wasn’t because it was a money grab for the lottery funds.

Tech school HOPE is grants, and most tech school students get them. If HOPE went away, the lottery would Continue reading →