Tag Archives: American Legislative Exchange Council

The Devil went down to Georgia… ALEC caught on tape wining and dining state legislators on behalf of corporate lobbyists in Savannah

Have you ever wondered how legislation gets written and passed into law at the state level? Did you think, as I once did, that ideas for new laws percolate up from local constituents who contact their elected representatives with legitimate concerns that need to be addressed for the good of society? Well, thanks to a […]

Posted in Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Charter schools are putting both our children and our democracy at risk, says former Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch

A few days ago, education historian Diane Ravitch, a former Assistant Secretary of Education under the first President Bush, was interviewed by Bill Moyers on the subject of school privatization. In the interview, Ravitch, who was once a staunch supporter of No Child Left Behind, talks of her ongoing research into the $500 billion K-12 […]

Posted in Detroit, Education, Michigan, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Agenda 21… Are America’s city planners in on the United Nations plot to enslave us, and force us onto bicycles?

There’s only one thing people on the far right hate more than the United Nations, and that’s the United Nations setting international guidelines for sustainable development. I learned this a few days ago, while listening to a special episode of Glenn Beck’s radio program about a secret UN initiative to deal with the looming threats […]

Posted in Environment, History, Observations, Other, Politics, Predictions, Rants, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 27 Comments

ALEC, the move to codify the extremist Republican agenda, and the Michigan connection

Reading a column by Paul Krugman just now on the role of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in pushing so-called “Stand Your Ground” legislation around the country, I was reminded by a recent article in Mother Jones about how ALEC, working through the Mackinac Center, played a role in passing Michigan’s Public Act 4, […]

Posted in Civil Liberties, Michigan, Politics | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Michigan’s prison industrial complex

I’ve been thinking about Michigan prisons quite a bit lately. It seems as though, all of a sudden, the subject is everywhere… The University of Michigan’s annual exhibition of art by Michigan prisoners opened today. There’s an article on the Daily Kos this evening about how, under Governor Snyder’s Emergency Financial Manager plan, non-elected officials […]

Posted in Art and Culture, Economics, Michigan, Politics | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 26 Comments

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