Day: July 24, 2011

If You Don’t Know About ALEC, You Don’t Know What’s Really Going On

Trish

Whether you live where “Koch brothers schemes get turned into the bat-$#*@ crazy legislation that just happens to pop up, seemingly out of nowhere, in virtually identical form, in 15 states at once,” you’ll want to know about ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. This corporate-funded shadow group is transforming our country, and not in a good way. Watch the video for just one example: privatizing prisons. And remember, although it’s not pointed out in the video, private prisons only want the low-risk, high-profit population. As with health care and Social Security, they want to skim the profitable folks off the top and leave the sickest, the oldest, and, in case of private prisons, the baddest-assed to the government.

Scott’s Law is Likely to Increase Crime in Florida

Trish

3,406

Number of Florida non-violent felons who re-offended after their rights were automatically restored under a program instituted by former Gov. Charlie Crist. They represent about 11 percent of the 30,672 people whose rights, including the right to vote, were reinstated. Before Crist launched the initiative, about one-third of prisoners released were back in jail within three years. The results lead criminologists and others to conclude that encouraging offenders to reintegrate into society makes them less likely to commit further crimes. Gov. Rick Scott recently signed Republican-drafted legislation overturning this automatic process, and requiring felons who have served their time to wait five years before applying to have their rights restored.

U.S. Representative Tweets About ‘Islamic Terror’ in Norway

Trish

DennisRossTweet

The world is finding out about the man suspected of the worst terror attacks in Norway’s history, in which first a bomb killed at least 30 in Oslo, and then an additional 67 people were gunned down at a nearby youth camp. The suspect is 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik and it appears he is a rightwing Christian, anti-Muslim extremist who hates Marxists.

He is the very opposite of — as Florida Teapublican U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross tweeted when news broke of the bombing and mass shooting — forces aligned with “Islamic terror.”

It appears Ross wanted to phone in (or in this case, drop a 140-character line) a quick condemnation of the horror and get on with his weekend. His knee-jerk assumption that any act of terror must be perpetuated by Muslim extremists is embarrassing for both his party and his state.

Comments on Facebook, where Progress Florida posted the image of the tweet shown, are not kind to Ross:

  • When Rep. Ross departs the mortal coil, the average IQ of Floridians will skyrocket. How does someone with a Fallwell-Robertson understanding of the world get elected?
  • Dennis is MY Congessman and I cannot tell you how unhappy I am with him. He used to be a smart moderate until he embraced the tea party.
  • Sadly, this kind of crap resonates with a LOT of voters. Never underestimate the combination of stupid + xenophobia x fake patriotism.
  • Maybe he can re-tweet: “We stand with you against right-wing ultra-conservative Christians.”

No word on that last idea but we won’t hold our breath waiting for anyone to step up and condemn Christian violence.