Federal PIECP and Program Violations

Koch/ALEC Cabal - a Smoking Gun for financial connections and control...

2011-11-03T00:01:00.000-07:00

Many have fought long and hard to prove connections between Charles and David Koch and the various Conservative Right Wing groups, organizations, foundations and Main Stream Media outlets. Hours and in some instances months of deep research has come away with bits and pieces of the involvement of Koch with the various suspect groups. The most that is usually found is a trace of periodic or sporadic funding from one of the numerous Koch held "Foundations" to the individual entities suspected of deeper connections to Koch.

The question of ties between the Conservative Right Wing think tanks, "grass root" activism and Koch money resulted in my coming at the subject from a different angle altogether. I was looking for not only some form of monetary support but control as well - a way in which Koch money not only funded activities of specific entities, but was able to maintain some form of controlling those activities and "keeping an eye" on their investments.

I believe I found the answers to these two key questions.Many wonder how Davy Boy and Ol' Chucky ensure that they get their money's worth out of the organizations they fund and support. How do they control the work or dissemination of Conservative "messages"? I found their operation is much simpler and more effective than many would believe and done through a system that has virtually been ignored by media and most researchers. Going at it the way I did I also uncovered how they are able to have additional control over what is printed about them in corporate controlled media outlets - print, TV and other formats.

It begins with Koch's "Institute For Humane Studies". IHS describes their mission as:

"MissionThe mission of IHS is to support the achievement of a freer society by discovering and facilitating the development of talented students, scholars, and other intellectuals who share an interest in liberty and in advancing the principles and practice of freedom."Each year IHS awards over $750,000 in scholarships to students from universities around the world. IHS also sponsors the attendance of hundreds of students at its summer seminars and provides various forms of career assistance, including sponsored internships, to students and recent graduates pursuing careers in academia, journalism, and public policy. Through its programs, the Institute promotes the study of liberty across a broad range of disciplines, encouraging understanding, open inquiry, rigorous scholarship, and creative problem-solving."

IHS lists 96 - that's right - 96! organizations that Koch provides "internships" to. They pay these interns $10.00 per hour each and that helps keep the payroll costs down for the organizations where they're placed. It also allows Koch to have direct inside information about the ongoing activities and efforts being conducted in each of those organizations, foundations and "charities".

The list begins here. You'll notice that all the usual suspects we've come to know and expect listed here - plus a few that have so far slipped under everyone's radar. Fourth on the list is ALEC:

"American Legislative Exchange Council(Washington, DC) The mission of the American Legislative Exchange Council 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 council works with state legislators from all parties and members of the private sector who share ALEC's mission. The council conducts a policy making program that unites members of the public and private sectors in a dynamic partnership to support research, policy development, and dissemination activities. The council also prepares the next generation of political leadership through educational programs that promote the principles of Jeffersonian democracy. alec.org"

There are page after page of these "affiliates" Koch provides intern staffing to annually. This is bad enough - but as with so much else, it gets so much worse...

Many - including myself - have complained for years about our main stream media refusing to report on Koch activities, ALEC's pro-corporate legislation and in general ignoring anything negative to the Conservative far right groups. Perhaps the second "Scholarship" program of the IHS helps shed some well needed sunlight on why this problem with the MSM exists. IHS scholarships include placement in newspaper, broadcast, digital and investigative media outlets.

IHS also funds "scholarships" (there's the same term used by ALEC to excuse their funding of travel and meeting attendance expenses for legislators, indicating "education" rather than programming) for what they term their "Journalism Internship Program". Have you ever written a letter to the editor, sent a query about ALEC to your local newspaper or TV affiliate? And when you got no response or were ignored and wondered if your letter got to the Editor, producer or other executive, did you ever wonder who actually opened your email or letter? That's right, interns. Journalism interns receive an additional $3,000 + stipend along with per travel and other expenses.

Realizing that this is not some intern program that just began...was started last year, or in 2000...but rather has been ongoing through IHS since 1961 when it was founded, helps explain how conservatives have been able to work their way through the media and insinuate themselves throughout our media. Graduates of the internship program also now have jobs as legislative assistants, aides to lawmakers, hold key positions throughout the U.S. and state government agencies and departments. These men and women have been trained, indoctrinated and groomed to go out and take their places as the next - and next - generations of Conservative Right Wingers.

At first blush, some may think how widespread could such influence possibly be? How can a simple "intern" program be used to disseminate a Conservative Right Wing agenda across the country and throughout various businesses, organizations, and our media? When researching IHS on Muckety I found their description of IHS as:

Muckety metrics:Connections: Institute for Humane Studies has direct or once-removed relationships with 51 people, organizations or other entities in our database of the most influential people in America. Under a scoring system that gives more weight to direct links, this score is higher than 62% of all entries.People related to Institute for Humane Studies:Richard H. Fink - directorOther current Institute for Humane Studies relationships:Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation - funderGeorge Mason University - programMuckety connection score: 62

Here is a link to the basic view of the IHS chart:

An extended or exploded view of the connections to everyone and every organization affiliated with IHS through Charles G. Koch:

At the Muckety map link you can scroll down and all the individuals, organizations, foundations and connections are listed. Mouse over each entry on this huge list of connections and it will provide the affiliations for that person, group, foundation etc. This is a HUGE data base compiled just from the Koch affiliations through the Institute for Humane Studies.

Many will be surprised to see the links and named individuals connected.Lots of connections through Ol' Chucky and his foundations. Let's take a closer look at how widespread his influence is. Again using the Muckety data base I clicked on Charles Koch Charitable foundation and got this return:

Muckety metrics:Connections: Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation has direct or once-removed relationships with 398 people, organizations or other entities in our database of the most influential people in America. Under a scoring system that gives more weight to direct links, this score is higher than 98% of all entries.Muckety connection score: 98

Those interested can follow this link and click on the interactive map and become overwhelmed - I did that and the expanded map with named affiliations won't fit on this page. I did do some one by one:CATO Institute (Muckety rating 97%):

Federalist Society (Muckety rating 99%!!):

So far the connections demonstrate a vast wealth of business, corporate and legislative affiliations and influence - from think tanks, to media and wealthy and powerful individuals within society and business. This is the circle within which the interns selected by IHS begin to become acclimated. First they work for these organizations and individuals, then many go on to become clerks for legislators, judges and aides to others. As IHS advertises, the careers and career path of many chosen as interns begin with that internship. Many possibly find their way to invitations to the various groups and organizations affiliated with Koch - such as the Federalist Society.

The Federalist Society - where all the big boys of Conservativism meet, hang out and discuss advancing their ideologies and agenda. Koch supported and funded. Of late we've read several articles about the membership of SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas in the Federalist Society:

Charlottesville - Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas spoke at a banquet last night sponsored by the conservative Federalist Society lambasting critics who accuse him of impartiality because of his attendance at a meeting with the Koch brothers."

Thomas' membership in the Federalist Society is confirmed by Wikipedia. At Muckety the chart shows no direct link between Thomas and the FS, but provides his relationship rating as 96% and his influence rating as 92%. Here is his basic chart:

But when you expand the chart through his current and ongoing relationship with Clerks and his good friend, Harlan R. Crow, that changes dramatically. For instance several of his clerks shown in the above chart were also George Mason University Professors and/or Federalist Society members like Steven G. Bradbury (FS member), Michael E. O'Neill (GMU Law Professor) and Neomi Rao (GMU Law Professor) was a Republican witness against Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing for Supreme Court Justice.Here is Ms. Rao's Muckety chart:

When I looked at the Harlan R. Crow chart from Muckety I had an OMG moment. Knowing Thomas' wife worked for the Heritage Foundation, was heavily funded by Conservatives and especially Harlan Crow,

I began to get a more complete, and truly frightening picture. There at the center surrounding Harlan Crow and Clarence Thomas were all the foundations: Castle Rock, Charles Koch, Scaife, Searle and Bradley. Most of the Conservative think tanks and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (remember what the did to Kerry?), American Enterprise Institute, National Center for Policy Analysis and Progress for America Voter Fund! Alongside the funders were all the names associated with Conservative influence in America - and some internationally.

Additionally, we have SCOTUS Justice Antonin Scalia who is also a member of the Federalist Society along with Samuel Alito .

Who would believe that this trail from lowly interns would lead all the way to our Supreme Court and into the heart of the Conservative Cabal like never before.For those who have not seen or don't remember the ALEC connections to all this, here it is expanded and found at Muckety.

ALEC is the "legislative" arm of the cabal, writing the pro-corporate pro-conservative legislation that become the law of our states and nation. George Mason University is the center of influence upon our Judiciary; seminars, internship programs such as the IHS and their Law Education Center used to "educate" judges. Kansas University named in the IHS chart has a "Shook, Hardy & Bacon Center for Excellence in Advocacy". Most who have studied ALEC know that Shook, Hardy and Bacon's two top lobbyists and partners, Victor Schwartz and Mark Behrens represent ALEC in the filing of briefs, Schwartz is the Chairman of the Civil Justice Task Force and Behrens serves as the "Advisor" on that same ALEC task force. Behrens is one of two SHB lobbyists who got caught lobbying for ALEC in ND in 2009 on Asbestos legislation proposed by ALEC and under consideration in that state at the time.

So we have an intricately and well organized web stretching from the Koch brothers HQ in Kansas all the way through our state legislators, to the U.S. Congress and beyond that right into the halls of the U.S. Supreme Court...and to add insult to injury that influential web crosses the Atlantic in the form of the recently closed Atlantic Bridge Charity operated by/with ALEC. This "Charity" was just closed down and the UK with the Minister of Defense resigning in the midst of a scandal that continues to widen and encompass more of Britain's top government officials, ALEC and some of their corporate members.

The foregoing is why I and many others have tried to convince Democrats - and especially Progessives in the Party to put aside their differences and pool resources and organize a defense against the cabal. As this shows, they are anything but disorganized or under funded in their activities. They may prevail unless we stop beating on them with twigs and begin finding 2" x 4"'s to hit back with. To continue to battle them separately on teachers fighting over their education legislation, unions fighting on collective bargaining, students fighting back over voter suppression is to fight their fight. This is what they anticipate and are prepared to overcome. This cabal has the money, influence and power all concentrated in the hands of Ol' Chucky and Davy Boy. They have gathered the major Conservative family foundations to their side to fund, have used that money to buy further influence within each state, our Congress, the state/federal judiciary and the Supreme Court.

To rebut our identifying all this power and influence the Conservatives rebut that by using George Soros' name as doing the same thing for the Liberals and Progressives...I only frigging wish he would!If/when we come together and unify and take it to them on a national platform, that will be something they will have never anticipated - because Progressives can never quit quibbling amongst themselves and unify. If this is done, they will be caught flat footed and have to develop other initiatives and plans to prevail. Let's not fight their fight any longer...

If you are a Progressive, Koch-Cain & ALEC should be illegal | Al Jazeera Video

2011-11-02T22:37:00.000-07:00

Way back in April at the Anti-ALEC Protest and March in Cincinnati, Al Jazeera Producer, Bob Abeshouse was working on a documentary about ALEC, Koch and what I have termed (over and over) as the "Cabal". He followed us to New Orleans in August and interviewed many of us for the production. Though much of the interviews he provided did not make the cut, our Marching and demonstrating did.On October 27th, Mr. Abeshouse's Documentary was finally published by Al Jazeera America and uploaded to YouTube: . I have embedded the entire 27 minute piece below the fold for all to watch.This is one of the most informative media presentations yet on Koch and their funded organizations - including ALEC - to be put before the public. I urge readers to take time and watch the video and please pass this diary and the link on to others so they may understand the issue, the problem and many of the facts surrounding this battle over democracy. Since our U.S. MSM continues to be in denial about the Cabal, I'm glad to see that SOMEONE is doing their job.

DK's Exposing ALEC & Protest ALEC efforts pay off big time this week!

2011-07-18T08:40:00.000-07:00

As most Progressives are now aware there has been a huge development this week concerning the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). On Monday In These Times (ITT) published an in-depth and well written article by Beau Hodai on ALEC - "Publicopoly Exposed". There were links provided by Hodai to some of the Model Legislation ALEC had developed over the years.

While readers were still devouring this expose, The Nation announced a full court media blitz upon ALEC on Wednesday with a series of articles by their top political journalists such as John Nichols, their Washington Correspondent. A simultaneous announcement from the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) that they had launched an "ALEC Exposed" site consisting of research, facts, articles and links to The Nation's ALEC articles, various other sites and materials all about ALEC. The announcement provided that the site was dedicated for the use by professional journalists, progressive writers, bloggers and every citizen interested in democracy. CMD sponsored a webinar for journalists and those who were already involved in the articles and document dump as their ALEC Exposed site when active. On Thursday's show, Ed Schultz had Lisa Graves from CMD and John Nichols of The Nation on and talked at length about ALEC and their Model legislation (no video file available yet). Yesterday DBA Press released: “Legislative Laundry:” Investigative report on the mechanics of the ALEC scholarship fund" and hundreds of articles were similarly spun off into the WebSphere from all of the above.

At the core of the "ALEC Exposed" site is a section filled entirely with more than 800 of ALEC's Model Legislation, mostly with innocuous sounding titles, described as "Acts" and "Resolutions" and bearing "copyright by ALEC" somewhere within each document. What most are unaware of is that members of "Exposing ALEC" - formed right here on Daily Kos - were responsible for acquisition of the complete ALEC Model Legislation library.

For reasons of security and concerns about push-back from ALEC and their members, the name of the two groups involved - Exposing ALEC and Protest Alec.org - were not released or mentioned prominently in the articles. The Nation and CMD referred to their acquisition of the documents as having come from a whistleblower through "an Activist Group." In this situation - as in most instances involving the release of high profile and damaging materials showing corruption - the name(s) of whistleblowers need to be kept secret when the information they provided becomes public. Because of this necessary protective need, the names of everyone involved in acquisition of the ALEC materials has been kept low profile in the news.

What I can say, without identifying any one person, is that great courage was shown by the whistleblower that contacted one of our protesters (A Kossack) in Cincy with a willingness to turn over everything to those of us marching and trying to bring ALEC into the light of day. The whistleblower saw the speeches, a march and "Teach-Ins" where anyone could stop by and learn about ALEC and their impact upon our democracy and specifically manipulation of the laws implemented there in Ohio and elsewhere. I'm told by a source that once others were seen to be speaking out and trying to stop this madness of boilerplate legislation to advance ideology, the decision was made to step up and help us save democracy...and the wealth of documents were the outcome.

Rumors abounded since the Cincy rally about these important documents from ALEC and whether they existed or not. We now know they did but were kept under wraps while stories were written, the documents studied one by one by media and political experts, looking and comparing these legislative documents from ALEC against current and past state proposed legislation and actual laws that have been passed in states such as Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida, Michigan and Indiana.

The comparisons revealed that much of the anti-union and voter disenfranchisement legislation ongoing now in many states tracks back to ALEC and their corporate members. In addition research found many corporate funded or linked outfits like Heritage Foundation, CATO Institute, Heartland Institute and their founders or funders of those entities like Charles and David Koch are also members of ALEC and their representatives hold seats upon ALEC's Private Enterprise Board.

As most know, I have been working on issues involving prison industries, exploitation of prison labor, privatization and immigration legislation for more than 8 years now and counting. Once I discovered the money trail on exploitation of prisoner's labor led to and then through ALEC, I began to crunch my research, expanding it from the limited scope of prison related issues and looking at the wide assortment of other issues ALEC was also involved in. When I had a firm grasp of what was going on and how insidious this "organization" is, I began trying to expose them to the public through my website, a blog on Blogger and couldn't generate the interest I wanted on these important issues. I contacted Maddow, Olbermann AG Holder, President Obama and wrote and sent in an article to The Nation. None of these efforts paid off, no one it seemed knew about ALEC, their involvement in increasing prison populations, or issuing their Model legislation state by state to allow corporate members and affiliated companies access to those prisoners as a slave labor workforce.

So I brought the issues here to DK back in November of last year in the first segment of my Corporatocracy series. I immediately began to receive questions from other Kossacks about these corporations and ALEC. Since that day I posted no less than 83 subsequent diaries on these issues and most of them referred to ALEC and their activities involving prison issues. I was not the first to raise the flag of warning about ALEC, there have been others. The first ALEC "tag" was in 2006, though they weren't mentioned in the diary. In the 4 years between that original use of the ALEC tag here at DK and my first use of it in Corporatocracy, there were a total of 9 other uses of the tag. Today I checked and the count for ALEC tags on DK now stands at 483! This is not my trying to be egotistical, rather pointing out - as you'll see below - the power of Daily Kos when Progressives pay attention to important issues and begin to spread the word across the vast internet. I had been writing and blowing whistles, horns, throwing rocks at my Representative and others every chance I got from 2003 through my first posting to DK in 2010 mentioned above. Seven years passed as ALEC continued to eat away at our democracy from the inside, unnoticed and without challenge or question as state by state enacted their corporate friendly legislation.

Once the word - and call for attention to and help on exposing ALEC - came to DK last year Kossacks reacted! You came together and analyzed the issues and problems. We looked for ways to spread the word about their existence, their agenda, their ideology, their members, their Model bills and in general every aspect of ALEC was put under a microscope by one Kossack or another. All the time this analysis was going on more and more came together and began lending their insight and assistance, helping dissect ALEC and how to stop them, while we looked we kept writing and waving to others to come and take a look at what we'd found...urging them to take part and write about them also and help spread the word. MNDem999 put hours into compiling a list of corporations, legislative members - past and present - alumni and other information about ALEC and posted it here for others to use as a reference.

In my diaries in March I began asking others in the comment section if they thought a protest against ALEC at their Spring Summit in Cincy was a good idea. Many Kossacks responded with responses of "Hell yes!" and "I'll be there!" and before I knew it others joined their voices to ours and by the end of March students and others in Ohio put their time and effort into organizing and the thought grew into reality as more and more joined us and agreed to come to Cincy from other states and take part in "Exposing ALEC". One of the Organizers (and possibly more) ManfromMiddletown put together a group here on DK with that title and on April 29th all of us involved here at DK and union members, students from Ohio, Indiana, Louisiana and possibly more showed up. A Huff Post documentary producer sent a cameraman down to interview activists, film the march, teach-ins and Rally on the Square. Many from all walks of life, social and work classes attended and helped us make the rally a success.

April 29th, 2011 is going to have to be a date that will be remembered as an historic event - not only for it being the first public acknowledgment of ALEC's existence and open protest against them - but because though it was the first protest...it also produced the environment that allowed the whistleblower to come forward, hand extended - with all of ALEC's secret materials handed over! So it was not simply the first protest - historic enough - it was the beginning of the end for ALEC.

This week another truly historic event in the history of American politics, that will be remembered as a part of American history occurred with the release of the full "menu" of right wing ideology and agenda to the public. This historic release providing us a look into the dark recesses of a corrupt right wing organization with an agenda of despoiling legislation as we know it, will probably be written and heretofore referred to as "ALEC-gate" in future conversations and publications.

This past week and the eruption of material being released, the viral spread of that information across the country by progressives and others of different political affiliations, has kept myself and most of the Exposing ALEC Group busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest (and you know who that ass belongs to) so this is the first opportunity I've had to report about the events since Cincy and upon the ALEC Exposed site set up by CMD and The Nation. There is so much more news, but much of it still is being kept under wraps for the time being. This is not going to be a one-time flash upon the political landscape that draws attention which wanes as the brightness dissipates...this is going to stay in the headlines possibly through the 2012 election. It has to when we realize that two of the Republican candidates in that election for President of the United States are affiliated with ALEC. Newt Gingrich is an ALEC Alumni and Herman Caine a bobble-headed lackey who has spoken on behalf of ALEC and at some of their event activities - and proudly uploaded by ALEC to YouTube (if you have the stomach to watch them, they're available there). So not only is ALEC deeply involved in thoroughly corrupting the General Assemblies of each and every state in the country, they have two of their most powerful Alumni sitting at the head of the U.S. House of Representatives. Republican Majority Leader, Eric Cantor (you know, the one who stands to make tens of millions of dollars if the American economy collapses by his investment in betting that will happen) and House Speaker, John Boehner who continues to refuse to budge on repealing any tax loopholes for the rich.

I have to put that into proper context so everyone understands how important it is to abolish this cabal now that it has been exposed: 2,000 plus Legislators - fully one third of all U.S. state lawmakers - are members of ALEC. The top Republicans in our U.S. Congress are Alumni of ALEC and two of the Presidential Republican Candidates are either ALEC Alum or are closely affiliated with ALEC. To me this demonstrates that ALEC and the corporate elite see themselves on the cusp of realizing total control of the White House, U.S. Congress and control of a majority of state General Assemblies and state Governorship. This is simply too damn important to downplay or ignore and pass of as not possible, as Gingrich and Caine don't have a chance of winning. My answer to those with that attitude is that in every national election cycle the front runners going into the primaries are usually not those who come out as a clear winner. If Gingrich or Caine manage to prevail at that level...ALEC will be only one step away from realizing their dream. Just think about that for a moment as you read through the vast documents at ALEC Exposed.

We at Exposing ALEC and other Kossacks have done our part and will continue to work overtime to put an end to ALEC and their aspirations to control us and our country. Now we need you to step-up and lend us your voice and and assistance. Spread the word and keep doing so, until the MSM is forced to pick this up and report on it, join us in New Orleans or donate to the Protest Alec event we're holding on August 5th in New Orleans. Many of us are traveling down there and will need housing, travel and other assistance with organizing, permits, posters, protest signs, handouts and much more. We are going up against the most powerful and influential in this country and we're doing it on a shoestring against those with Koch money and influence behind them. Help us make our voices and message as loud as theirs. There is a "Donate" button right there on the right at the Protest webpage...please click on it and help us stop this vile feces in their tracks - once and for all.

Stay tuned for further updates and again accept my apologies for keeping a couple of hundred followers hanging without a diary for so long. As this diary indicates, we have all been very, very busy on making this happen and working toward the August Protest. There is more news available, but simply no time or security issues prevent it from being put out here. Just stay with us as this moves along and I promise, the prison issues on imprisonment, prison labor and privatization that led me to ALEC and the exposure of ALEC this week is in the works and you'll be able to read about it soon in a national forum.

4:27 PM PT: Here is a link to the Ed Schultz segment on ALEC, provided by shantysue. Kudos:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

8:17 PM PT: You know since this has become public ALEC continues to say they take no part in state or national legislation. You have to see this video about ALEC's proposed Healthcare initiative legislation in CO:

Exposing ALEC - ALEC Exposed Democracy Now Video Exposes Koch Influence upon AMERICA!

2011-07-18T08:36:00.000-07:00

This is a short diary but of utmost importance as Lisa Graves, Executive Director for Center for Media and Democracy diagrams the involvement of the Koch brother's impact upon all facets of American industry, education, health, jobs, unions and resources - through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

There is little I can add to what you'll learn from Lisa in this video interview. It is also important that this interview by Democracy Now was an interview given by Lisa from Madison Wisconsin, where this exposure of ALEC exploded through the manipulations of ALEC Alum, Governor Scott Walker earlier this year when he pushed the Koch agenda through Model Legislation introduced and passed by other ALEC members within the Wisconsin General Assembly. Now all of us can understand the impact of the walkout by the Wisconsin Democrats - and why it was so important for them to do so in an attempt to stifle this stranglehold upon us by ALEC and their Koch corporate masters.

Kudos to those brave legislators in Wisconsin and Indiana who fled their states to prevent the implementation of the Koch agenda upon their constituents. If not for their courageous actions back then, it could be far worse and possibly the whistleblower who turned over the ALEC documents to members of Exposing ALEC in April might not have come forward. As I said in my last diary, the Anti-ALEC Protest in Cincinnati on April 29th, 2011 will forever be a moment in our country's history that will be remembered as the day Americans began to wrest their country and government away from the likes of Charles and David Koch and their huge insidious empire. The real power behind ALEC...

Watch, save and spread this video across the nation and the world, Kossacks. This is what you helped expose and bring to the light of day. Make this the mark of what Progressives can do when they put their mind to it and come together to say, "Hell no, you can't!"

If that doesn't describe a clear picture of a democracy on the edge, I'll kiss Ol' Chucky and Davy Boy's asses! What is described in this interview by Lisa Graves has been seen in world history before in countries such as Italy, Spain, Germany just to name those not associated with S. America. None of those events of the past turned out well, and now we're faced with it here at home - eating away at America and democracy from within, like some unstoppable terminal disease.

Many have asked how you can help or become involved in assisting us to clean the political landscape of this vermin and their ilk. We at Exposing ALEC have a couple of suggestions: 1) send an email to or pick up the phone and call your state Representatives. Ask them point blank, "Are you a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council? If they are not, ask them to please help us call out those who are. Keep in mind that there are some Dem's who are also members of ALEC, such as Rep. Peggy Welch here in my home state of Indiana. Just because your Rep is a Dem does not mean they are not an ALEC member.

If the Rep responds with a "Yes" answer - regardless if it's followed by disclaimers like, "I'm an affiliate"...or "I'm a member but not active," tell them they should be ashamed for introducing ALEC's pro-corporate model legislation. Call them out and then pass along the information to us here at Exposing ALEC so we can add them to our list.

2) Write or call your local paper about ALEC and their secretive agenda. Ask them to look closely at any legislation proposed by ALEC Representatives in your state to see if oppressive laws proposed by those members are possibly cut and paste Model Legislation supplied to lawmakers by ALEC. Ask your local media to examine the use of public and private funding used to pay for membership of ALEC members, their travel and expenses to and from ALEC events.

3) When you go shopping, avoid buying products made by Coca-Cola, Kraft Foods or Georgia Pacific (Koch). Each of these companies have seats on ALEC's Private Enterprise Board and are responsible for voting "Yea" on Voter ID, privatization, healthcare, ending collective bargaining and other initiatives harmful to our society and the communities where we live and work. Send them the same message: "Hell no, You CAN'T!"

4) Help make the Protest against ALEC in New Orleans on August 5th a huge success and trap ALEC's members inside a self-imposed jail at the Marriott! Continue to donate to the event, add your moral support to those making huge time and personal contributions to this effort. You can help! Visit Protestalec.org and see what you can do to assist us.

It really is that simple and from your home or office you can assist in bringing this horrid chapter in American democracy to an end. Knowledge is what we continue to seek to stop this cabal in it's tracks. For you readers who wonder why I continuously refer to ALEC and their members, corporate benefactors and major contributors as a "Cabal", please read this definition of a Cabal from Wikipedia - that pretty much says it all after watching the Lisa Graves video above:

"A cabal is a group of people united in some close design together, usually to promote their private views and/or interests in a church, state, or other community, often by intrigue. Cabals are sometimes secret societies composed of a few designing persons, and at other times are manifestations of emergent behavior in society or governance on the part of a community of persons who have well established public affiliation or kinship. The term can also be used to refer to the designs of such persons or to the practical consequences of their emergent behavior, and also holds a general meaning of intrigue and conspiracy. The use of this term usually carries strong connotations of shadowy corners, back rooms and insidious influence; a cabal is more evil and selective than, say, a faction, which is simply selfish; because of this negative connotation, few organizations use the term to refer to themselves or their internal subdivisions. Amongst the exceptions is Discordianism, in which the term is used to refer to an identifiable group within the Discordian religion."

Stay tuned as this story continues to evolve and ALEC begins to crumble. They are already scrubbing their site of any reference to the Koch name...legislative members are beginning to deny membership and more and more stories about ALEC's nefarious legislation being passed off as citizen beneficial laws are being discovered. Here is but one story from Tennessee: "Lawmaker used lobbyist template Bill clearing way for online school based on model"

In closing remember what was revealed about Koch and ALEC in the video above and take another look at these charts - depicting merely 1/10th of the "relationships" involving this cabal - (click on the chart to see it at Flikr full size)

This is a chart showing David H. Koch's relationships to conservative organizations, think tanks, individuals and groups:

This last chart is composed of simply one of David H. Koch's "Foundations" (Heritage) and the relationships it has to others...a truly insidious and cancerous blight on America and Democracy itself.

More later as this story continues to wind it's way throughout our society and the political arena...

ALEC, Koch and the Conservative led "War on the Middle Class"...

2011-06-26T12:37:00.000-07:00

I've written extensively about the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the likes of Charles and David Koch, the Council for National Policy, the Heritage Foundation, Reason Foundation, CATO Institute, Freedom Works...etc, etc., and their involvement in starting, funding and advancing similar agendas targeting legislation beneficial to their corporate interests.

Usually I write about involvement of this core group related to incarceration, prison privatization and prison industries. I know to many this is simply not considered a "Hot Topic" - either in personal, business or political terms. This diary is published to show why it should be a hot topic and how the mechanics employed in this one ALEC led initiative is demonstrative of their agenda regarding pursuit of even more important issues facing us today.

I'll begin by saying that over the past decade we have been involved in a huge class war here in the U.S. It has been mostly ignored by many, because the skirmishes have been small scale when compared to larger issues that dominate our media and thus our minds. However, each of these tiny battles have led us to the situation today where the entire middle class is in a battle for it's very existence. The battle is brought upon us by the corporate elite representing the wealthiest segment of our society.

Criminal justice is but one of those "skirmishes" in this war. It is an important one though, for several reasons. The most important aspect is the huge financial windfall realized by these corporatists from our state and federal budgets for incarceration. The billions spent by the middle class on incarceration, is siphoned off through prison privatization of those incarcerated and by companies profiting off of incarceration in general; privatized health, food services, canteen operations, transportation, banking services, phone contracts and of huge importance - privatized prison industries.

Reports by independent and informed sources, provide statistics that as of 2007, American taxpayers spent $74 billion annually on incarceration, an increase of 72% since 1997 (Tracey Kyckelhahn, Justice Expenditure and Employment Extracts 2007, Table 1(Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2010) as reported by the Justice Policy Institute this week. Out of this huge sum of tax dollars, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and Geo Group (Geo) jointly reported $2.9 billion in revenue for 2010 alone (Corrections Corporation of America, 2010 Annual Report, 2011; The GEO Group, 2010 Annual Report (Boca Raton, FL): The GEO Group, 2011).

In addition to these "earned" profits by CCA and Geo, another $2.4 billion was taken in by companies through the sale of prisoner made goods in 2009. Together the private companies involved in private prison operations and prison industries are realizing more than $5 billion in income per year. This amount does not include peripheral income such as the profits made by Bail bond agents and insurers, medical, food service, banking or sale of products used in prison; chemical sprays, security equipment, construction of new prisons and expansion of existing ones. Altogether an estimated $11 billion dollars changes hands annually from U.S. incarceration and prison industries.

To anyone suffering through the economic situation over the past two or three years, this is a HUGE sum of money - and most of it paid out of state and federal appropriations set aside for correctional services and operations. Conservatives would have us believe that all these incarceration costs are because we as a society demand that we be made safe by locking up every possible individual that commits an offense against us - personally or upon our property. We're told it is because of these demands that so many are imprisoned and the cost of that imprisonment so expensive. These arguments have been used by Republicans since 1980 to increase incarceration by more than 650%, while putting into place legislation that allows their corporate masters and benefactors to realize the most profits possible from locking up everyone and throwing away the key.

Now lets take a close look at how this was done, why and the "mechanics". By doing this I'll demonstrate how these same manipulations and tactics are being used in a similar manner to win the "skirmishes" and ultimately this Class War - that is not even recognized as happening by many Americans...

From 1980 ALEC has been involved in writing model legislation involving criminal justice at the state level (lauding such efforts at their web site). Simultaneously through their huge number of Alumni who have gone on to posts within the federal government, or have been elected to the U.S. Congress, they also have pushed for federal legislation that comports with their state efforts; three strike laws, minimum mandatory drug and gun laws, truth in sentencing laws, replacement of government programs to provide bonding for those charged with, abolishing parole and similar legislation. These efforts have resulted today in more than 2.4 million of us incarcerated.

Also from 1980 on, ALEC developed and pushed their Model Legislation to expand privatization of state and federal prison facilities. Their Model Legislation's such as:

Targeted Contracting for Certain Correctional Facilities and Services Act
Resolution on Prison Expenditures
Inmate Labor Disclosure Act
Housing Out-of-State Prisoners in a Private Prison Act

have all been designed to benefit their long time members, CCA and Geo Group.
From 1993 ALEC has also been actively pursuing involvement in prison industry legislation. Their model legislation titled the "Prison Industries Act" is based upon exploiting the federal Prison Industries Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP) to allow private sector corporations, businesses and companies access to and use of prisoner labor as a cheap workforce and a means of increasing profits.

Through their legislative efforts, ALEC helped create our huge prison population of today. They were able to implement their model legislation on privatization of prisons in many states and on the federal level, creating a huge business niche with substantial profits for CCA and Geo. ALEC's efforts of privatization of prison industries - or allowance of the use of prisoners for corporate labor were equally successful, again resulting in huge profits to manufacturers and other member companies.

Now let's look at how they accomplished all of this so easily...

The criminal justice legislation mentioned above created the "workforce" for their prison industry initiatives. What needed to be done next was to expand prison industry operations state by state to create cheap jobs for inmates and high profits for their corporate membership.

Along came Ray Allen. Allen was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1993. As a "freshman" Conservative Republican lawmaker Allen was attracted to ALEC and joined their ranks. In 1993, legislation sponsored by Allen offered tax credits to corporations, encouraging them to engage in prison industries. In1997 he introduced ALEC's Model Prison Industries Act as proposed legislation in Texas and it became law. In 1999 he introduced more legislation on the state prison industry program and subsequent legislation amendments to his original legislation. While Allen was working so diligently on behalf of ALEC and prison industries, he became Chairman of the House Corrections Committee and ALEC's Criminal Justice and Homeland Security Task Force Chairman. In those capacities he assisted prison privatization efforts on behalf of ALEC members CCA and Geo side by side with his prison industry work.

In 1998 Allen participated in a meeting in Washington, D.C. titled: "Policies and Programs In Prison Industries". Key Note speaker was AG Janet Reno and other speakers included Pam Davis, PRIDE CEO and Chairman of the NCIA, FL. U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Crime (that just months before chaired a hearing on expansion of the federal prison industries). Also present as moderator was Warren Cikins, a representative of the Brookings Institution, another Koch and ALEC affiliate. Allen was also secretly lobbying on behalf of the National Correctional Industries Association (NCIA). As you can see from the articles and links, ALEC, the NCIA, Ray Allen and Koch affiliated Brookings Institution all came together at that meeting to promote expanding the PIECP program so that more corporations could take advantage of prison labor.

The U.S.Department of Justice issued the PIECP final guideline within 6 months of this "workshop meeting" attended by all of the above. Once the federal law was in place, prison industry in the U.S. exploded exponentially - along with the access to that labor by private corporations, many of which were members of ALEC or affiliated with Koch, Heritage or similar Conservative organizations and individuals. The results of the coordinated legislative and lobbying efforts of these lawmakers, corporations, individuals and organizations such as ALEC is today's estimated $2.5 billion dollar prison industry operation.

Just last October Attorney General Holder issued a memo applauding the continued growth of the federal prison population, and urged all federal procurement officers to "open their UNICOR" catalogs and buy - buy - buy products from them so they could expand the prison industries and put more inmates to work. With first Janet Reno and now Holder supporting this exploitation of prisoners as a workforce, the corruption has escalated to the highest office of law enforcement in the U.S. Such is the pervasive nature of this beast - fed by ALEC.

From the profits garnered from prison industries, and privatization, corporate members of ALEC contributed huge sums back to ALEC and affiliated right wing PAC's and political organizations. Conservatives have used both of these "Initiatives" to enrich themselves and to help fund other political efforts of ALEC and the likes of Koch through the Heritage and Reason foundations, etc. In plain terms, this money is being used to promote today's Republican initiatives: repealing healthcare, voter disenfranchisement, privatization of more jails, prisons and state operated facilities. Privatization and prison industry of the past is fueling ALEC and Koch's efforts against the middle class today.

Until this past year many of us had no idea there was even a "war" ongoing against the middle class. We perceived the machinations of the Bush administration and Republicans as simply more of the same political rhetoric between the parties that had been continuing for decades, and chose to ignore it and we did it at our own peril. By our ignorance we allowed this cabal to amass a huge - almost insurmountable - financial war chest, which they used in 2010 to push many Democrats and moderate Republicans from office. With a majority in state governors, state assemblies and ALEC Alumni (Boehner, Cantor, Kasich, Walker and others) holding U.S. and state positions of power and influence they believe they are now in a position of minority strength. They're using that influence to push ALEC's agenda over the top.

If you look at what's been happening on the front lines in Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio - to name just the top three states - and compare what's happening today to what has transpired in privatization and prison industry efforts in the past, we can easily discern the same pattern. ALEC member, the American Bail Coalition has used ALEC lawmaker members in Wisconsin to slip through a budget amendment to make way for a return of commercial bail bonding in that state. Previous legislative efforts to do that failed, so this time Rep. Robin Vos instead squeezed a last-minute provision into the state budget to enable the ABC to regain commercial bonding in Wisconsin. Of Course, Vos also serves as ALEC's Wisconsin State Chair.

A similar budget manipulation in Florida resulted in more than $100 million being slid to ALEC member GEO Group to build an unnecessary private prison facility in that state in 2008-09. This was accomplished by then ALEC member (and Alumni) Marcos Rubio and FL. House Speaker, Ray Sansom who has already resigned due to corruption and faces indictment for:

Perhaps the most notable individual charged to date is former Rep. Ray Sansom (R-Destin), who while serving as Rubio's budget chief inserted language into the Florida's 2008-2009 budget for what was to become Blackwater CF.

The FBI just issued subpoenas and is fully investigating that entire incident, looking particularly at the campaign contributions and lobbyist payments by Geo Group and to Rubio and Sansom. The fact that Florida has been forced to close up to five state run prisons to accommodate Geo's thirst for more prisoners in their beds, has been ignored by Governor Scott - another corporate hawk looking to fatten his own pocket. In fact Scott just supported legislation to privatize 18 counties in South Florida (home to Geo Group's headquarters) that will put another 15,000 state inmates in Geo's control at the taxpayer expense - a move even some Republicans oppose.

This, I think, clearly demonstrates the vast money being funneled into the pockets of legislators by corporations determined to have their way regarding access to taxpayer money. Today the President is faced with the challenge of repulsing the Republican's demands for no tax increases (actually rescinding the tax breaks given by Bush) while they go after Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other safety nets important to the middle class. President Obama must be made to see that he has to draw the line on cutting important programs for the middle class and stand firm on repealing the tax breaks that he extended just last year. We have to begin to slow the until now uncontrolled flow of money into the corporate coffers and from there into the campaigns and special interest projects of ALEC's alumni serving as U.S. lawmakers or Conservatives. Repealing these corporate tax breaks to corporations and the wealthy will begin to diminish that flow. Repealing the PIECP laws - or even just enforcing the mandatory laws of the program - will turn that tap another full turn and lessen access to the $2.5 billion prison industry by private companies and ALEC's corporate members. Doing both would severely limit the funding of the Conservative efforts in their unstated open war against the middle class.

Make no doubt, we are in fact under attack from all angles by these efforts. The media owned primarily by conglomerates and corporate masters such as Fox, Bloomberg and Gannett won't report on this war or the battles being fought on all these fronts. Instead they fill their shows, papers and radio reports with inane topics and when something surfaces that points to this war, they downplay the incident, and convince their readers, watchers and listeners that the story is simply more left wing rhetoric that should be ignored...

...and it has been ignored and for far too long. The future of our country and society hangs in the balance today. If we continue to wring our hands and do nothing that future is bleak indeed. Instead we should be taking part in the many demonstrations and protests taking place across the country. Since the exploitation began months ago in Wisconsin and spread like a Republican fueled wildfire across the Midwest, thousands have been speaking out, protesting, demonstrating and fighting for worker's rights, defending voter rights, fighting to stop defunding or our education and similar issues.

Collectively we must come together and for once present a united front against these attacks and the war itself. Join us in Protesting ALEC in August in New Orleans. If you can't come, donate to the effort. You can join or donate here: http://protestalec.org/. You can also join the Brave New Foundation in their efforts of exposing the Koch influence, opposing prison privatization and incarcerating immigrants for profits by Geo and CCA.

Please take a few seconds and sign my petition that will be sent to your state legislative members and Governor, asking that ALEC legislation be identified and their state members exposed.

I'll be in New Orleans in August and hope to see some of you there joining arms with us in this ongoing war against the middle class. If our President continues to capitulate to the demands of the minority over the needs and demands of the middle class, we must stand up and speak out for ourselves and our neighbors...just sayin'...

Democracy Stands Up to ALEC and the theft of America by Kochroaches in Cincy!

2011-05-02T13:59:00.000-07:00

As most know, many Kossacks traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio this past week to attend the first ever Anti-American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) Protest there at that organization's scheduled Spring Summit. The entire month in the run-up to the event and the actual event were reminiscent to me of the: Civil Rights, draft, Anti-War, government and abortion protests Americans participated in throughout the 60's and 70's across the wide expanses of America. Those were important times and necessary demonstrations in the history of our country. Those who participated nearly a half century ago were trying and succeeding to some extent in changing the course of the U.S. on many matters. As in earlier times when those fighting for fair wages and treatment by employers, the turmoil of the 60's and 70's spilled blood, but in time we prevailed.

This week in Cincy was a reminder to everyone there and even the passers-by, that Democracy is once again under attack and involvement is desperately needed to alter the course our country is being taken - through corporatocracy and corruption driven by greed. The generation of today - those now entrusted with the future of themselves, their children and those rights many of us fought for in the past - has taken the helm and begun to attempt to change the course we've been put upon by corporate interests.

We really are standing perched upon a precipice, collectively as a society and more importantly, as Americans. A terrible void is at our backs and from the front we're being pressured from all points, a steady - and until Friday - unresisted force against our democratic way of life as Americans. Though this force is multi-faceted and comes from different directions, applied by what appears to be groups, organizations, PAC's, think tanks and corporations - these are not attacks by totally independent entities who individually oppose Progressive views. No, this is all coordinated by the power, influence and financing of Charles and David Koch.

Using money generously provided them from the ultra-rich Koch "Monopoly", Right Wing Think Tanks, PAC's, 527's and Conservative groups (Mackinac Center, American Enterprise Institute, American Life League, The Cato Institute, The Heritage Foundation and dozens of other groups and organizations found here) are the ones applying this force pushing us toward the abyss. I accurately and without equivocation call this all a Koch Monopoly - not because they own so much of America's wealth now...or because they have managed to monopolize one particular industry, product or company. No I call them this because today they have a genuine monopoly upon nearly all U.S.legislation proposed and beneficial to corporations, business and of interest to conservatives. Legislation that once enacted further weakens us and enriches the corporations.

What only a handful of us know and understand, is that even if the lawmakers within ALEC come up with legislation they wish to propose in their states that will benefit their constituents - they are prohibited from proposing or introducing that legislation in their state General Assemblies unless the legislation is approved by the Corporate members of the task force or any committee! Really, this is how ALEC works...

"ALEC's task forces craft the organization's public-policy agenda,its "model" legislation and issue positions. On each task force, the private-sector representatives have an equal vote with the state legislators'and effective veto power over the task force's activities and legislative recommendations. Nothing can move out of the task force without agreement from its private-sector representatives."

Because of this single but controlling provision, no laws discussed or supported by any ALEC lawmaker can ever become law anywhere in the U.S. unless the Corporate membership gives their blessing. Think about this aspect for just a moment and consider that by their own admission; ALEC's legislative membership is compromised by 2,400 state lawmakers - fully 1/3 of the total number of duly elected state Senate and Congressional members in this country. Indeed, the state legislators who attend ALEC meetings are joined by the platoons of lobbyists, corporate executives, and representatives of assorted trade and professional associations who pay to have these 2,400 lawmakers as their captive audience...and are prohibited from proposing anything that is not authorized by these corporate interests. To me this indicates that through ALEC, no legislation beneficial to the public will ever reach state assemblies unless it benefits the corporations in some form or manner. Also it means that certain legislation proposed by the corporate arm of ALEC to purportedly protect the public and has become actual state laws, were enacted to enrich the corporate members of ALEC:

"For ALEC's corporate sponsors, "a seat at the table" "on one or more of its "task forces" is the ideal mechanism for pushing "model" legislation favorable to their interests. Consider, as just one example, ALEC's recent work in the criminaljustice arena. "ALEC developed model criminal justice policies that kept criminals off of our streets for longer periods of time,"one of its recent publications notes, "and allowed private industry to use its expertise to help states meet their growing incarceration needs." The publication goes on to point out that twenty-eight states have authorized the use of private prisons to house inmates. Is it any surprise that ALEC's Task Force on Criminal Justice has been cochaired by a representative of Corrections Corporation of America, the nation's largest operator of private prisons?

Another active private-sector participant in ALEC's Task Force on Criminal Justice is the National Association of Bail Insurance Companies, whose membership consists of the ten companies that write the great majority of court-appearance bonds in the United States. In a recent brochure, the association touts "the ALEC connection" as "an essential ingredient" of NABIC's legislative strategy."

This alone generates a lot of income from CCA and Geo Group for ALEC. The old "one hand washes the other", syndrome.

The money and influence guiding each of the cold fingers prodding us toward the precipice I mentioned above, is primarily coming from the Koch family and their Family Foundations through a core group that coordinates them all - the American Legislative Exchange Council Koch money funds everything and Koch influence and real power is exerted through their membership in ALEC and their position upon ALEC's Private Enterprise Board and more than one of the nine (9) ALEC Task Forces.

If I was comfortable in how to produce charts I would have one with Koch Industries at the top and below that: Charles Koch Foundation, the David Koch Foundation, the Koch Family Foundation (that includes the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation). Below these I'd have a list of "Influenced by the above" with lines running to; the Heritage Foundation, Reason Foundation, American's for Prosperity, Club for Growth, Cato Institute, Castle Rock Foundation, Eagle Forum, Mercatus Center, Institute for Humane Studies, Citizens for a Sound Economy, Institute for Justice, Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, Institute for Energy Research, Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment, The Manhattan Institute, the George C. Marshall Institute, American Enterprise Institute, Citizens for a Sound Economy and...I could go on but I'd run out of space to fit the little boxes in.

From there I'd run lines through Mainstream media and Fox News, through to the American Legislative Exchange Council. Under ALEC would be lines to the Nine Task Forces and from those would be lines to the top 350 U.S. Corporations on one side and to 2400 Conservative state Lawmakers on the other. From the Corporations and State lawmaker boxes the lines would move inward to a single box that reads "Legislation in the 50 United States of America"...or to be more factual and realistic, the final box would be labeled: "How the Koch brothers Intend to Rule the U.S."

But, like I said I have no proficiency for charts and graphs, so I'll leave that up to a bright University student or grad to accept as a challenge. He or she will no doubt create it in a few moments and post it so all could see graphically what is perhaps today, the worst thing that has ever happened to the U.S. population - from within.

While we are distracted by the marital plans of the British Royalty, and the question of our President's place of birth, covered 24/7 by the mainstream media, ALEC members - certainly including those representing the Koch's interests - hoped to quietly meet in Cincinnati to plan their legislative agenda for 2011. There in the Hilton Hotel they hoped to decide which laws and issues they will present to the entire membership and propose implementing to the individual state legislatures over the next several months. These are laws and legislation intended to be put into place that we, as a society will be told to abide by (properly sanctioned and blessed by the corporate arm of ALEC). They anticipated that as in years past, this would all be done quietly, in secret with no one knowing that those laws would have been written, developed and worded by ALEC - and ALEC alone. We were not to know that those laws were created with specific input from the corporations and owners of those companies so that they could acquire more profits and influence - or a greater market share in their particular fields. This was their intention...

...We, however had an entirely different agenda; to expose their corrupt methods of implementing laws upon Americans that are written and funded by their corporate masters and lobbyists! We few Americans decided enough is enough already. We'd become tired of funding cuts to education, healthcare, necessary and critical social programs, environmental programs and deregulation of all things governmental to keep corporations in check.

Once word got out in Ohio about the choice of Cincy as the Spring Summit location for ALEC's meeting, the students of Ohio, Indiana, Louisiana and other states put together a protest, rally and educational "Teach-Ins." (As an aside, and a proud one, this protest suggestion was proposed and started right here on D Kos)! The purpose of the protest was to awaken more Americans to the pursuits of Koch funded and influenced legislation that would; allow more arrests; increase incarceration and long sentences served in prison where the prisoners would serve as a slave workforce for those corporations affiliated with or members of ALEC; cut funding for education at all grades and levels; reduce wages for public sector workers; end collective bargaining; break up Unions; repeal universal healthcare; eliminate abortion, deregulate important government programs and oversight, and; repeal child labor laws.

These young and highly motivated and intelligent "whipper-snappers" kicked ALEC and their Corporate master's collective asses - and by the looks of some of those CEO's in attendance, many of those backsides were indeed unbelievably HUGE...from living the high life and feeding freely at the trough that is constantly flowing with our tax dollars.

The seeyouincincinnati organizers made me proud to be a Progressive American. Watching them put this protest together, coordinate those to speak, crowd control, housing for those of us from out of state, garner Union supporters, secure permits and space for the protest and march...finally provided me with a sense that just maybe there was hope for us as a democratic society...that Koch and ALEC could be stopped. Oh, not immediately and just because of a grass roots campaign expertly and smoothly operated by college students and supported by a group of us old farts...no, because this protest has sounded the alarm and awakened other students and old Dems in many other states. Plans, preparations and strategy is now underway for the next round that will take place in New Orleans from August 3rd through August 6th. This time the students - fighting desperately for an education promised them by the laws and Constitution of this great nation - have become alerted to the legislation intended to deprive scholarships and state and federal funding. Their education and thus their future is in jeopardy if ALEC and the corporations prevail. They have not only become aware about the legislation, they now know the enemy. They met them face to face in Cincy at the Hilton and in Fountain Square as Corporate CEO's , corporate representatives and state lawmakers smiled, snickered and in some instances openly laughed at protesters. But as an old timer at this kind of demonstrating, I and many others looked past the smirks, laughter and smug attitude filled rhetoric. We looked into the eyes of the CEO's and lawmakers...we studied the body language as they laughed...and we saw the signs of nervousness and real unease.

During the march we found a small group of state lawmakers standing outside the Hotel, huddled in the entryway - 3 or four of them with a couple of others that appeared to be staffers. I listened attentively as one of them spoke with one of the organizers wearing a "Marshal"shirt, claiming that he and the other lawmakers standing with him were opposed to the SB 1070 styled legislation other members were pushing for in every state. He described ALEC's membership as being one of diversity and he and the others standing with him strongly opposed such discriminatory legislation. As I listened it dawned on me that what we were witnessing was not simply an attempt to dis-inform, rather it was the first signs of a tiny crack within ALEC. The lawmakers standing nervously around the one speaking (A short man, grey haired, wearing glasses with a name tag identifying him as an ALEC member, named Ralph - couldn't see his last name on the badge) were actually trying to identify with the protesters and separate themselves from the ALEC agenda - at least on the immigration initiative. They weren't trying to justify the ALEC initiatives, they were in fact declaring that at least some of the ALEC and corporate controlled and proposed legislation was wrong. They were anxious to not be included in the group supporting SB 1070.

Just as the march, protest and Teach-Ins were a first in the history of ALEC - so was this crack in the ALEC membership. Lawmakers were starting to realize with the eyes of the public looking intently at them, their political future could be in jeopardy due to membership in ALEC. Seeing this I was actually inspired that with more pressure and a larger turnout in New Orleans later this year, we can create more cracks and widen smaller ones that could develop between now and then due to the document dump many are speaking about.

Wisconsin, Indiana, Maine, Florida, Ohio and many other states are on the ropes financially right now. They are cutting everything beneficial to the public and to workers as they fight to continue funding massive incarceration and the prison industry program that serves as a cash cow to the companies using that labor. Profit from the slave labor is then reinvested in lobbying and campaign contributions to keep the Conservative agenda alive and well, funding even more beneficial corporate initiatives.

I think the cabal is beginning to waiver slightly due to the Protest and confrontations that took place on the 29th. In New Orleans in August we hope to drive a solid, heavy wedge into those cracks, over and over until the whole begins to crumble. It won't happen all at once, but I'm confident that another round or two and some lawmakers will begin to drop their memberships to ALEC. I think others will find that when legislation is proposed by corporate interests that would anger the public, they will be less willing to simply sign on and go along. 'Course, as DM used to proclaim, "That's just my opinion, and I could be wrong..."

Below I've posted some pictures we took at the Protest Friday.

An important message indeed. Some may think this protester missed breakfast before attending, but I think he wants to take a bite out of ALEC...

Protest organizers found my wife, Jean and I a place to stay the night before the Rally. We stayed with Flequer Vera (I hope I've spelled his name correctly):

Jean and Flequer in front of the Fountain in Cincy:

Here's the wife and I holding a sign that we think says it all:

"

Prepping for the Teach-In the night before the Rally. Of course I got caught chewing on a scone when the pic was taken:

Some Kabuki(?) and Organizer staff signing Petitions against SB 5 in Ohio at the Rally:

Bad picture of a SEIU Union member and sign at the Rally. Several Unions were present and active in protesting several anti-Union and worker legislation initiatives there in Ohio:

One of the Protest organizers speaking to the crowd of a couple of hundred protesters:

Another shot of the crowd with a Union member in the foreground:

My video camera malfunctioned and all of the footage I took of the Protest, Rally and March was not captured. This is why I only have the stills the wife and I took during the event. Wish I had more, but I've seen dozens of others posted in several diaries, so the event was covered from all angles.

My greatest thanks to all the students, grads and others who organized, showed up and took part in the march and more importantly attended the Teach-Ins to find a common purpose and the tools necessary to wage this war against education and American workers. I would have given this praise and written a diary sooner than Sunday night, but I have been inundated with calls, emails and faxes requesting more information, interviews and requests for appearances - all this from the opportunities provided by the SeeyouinCincinnati organizers, students and neighborhood associations and groups that made the spreading of the word and networking really work...

...because of your efforts I am thankful and emboldened to do even more. To Aliya, Ben, Alan and others whose name I unfortunately have forgotten or didn't get in the first place (I've gotten old and remembering names is harder than understanding encryption), congratulations and a heartfelt thanks. If you read this count us in for New Orleans. We wouldn't miss that opportunity, even if Koch gets ALEC to propose legislation making NO off limits to Progressives! I'll just put on my red hat in August and go as a faux Conservative. I'll just have to keep my big mouth shut most of the time :)

Important concept, wouldn't you say?

2011-05-01T12:11:00.001-07:00

Important concept, wouldn't you say?, a photo by Bob Sloan1 on Flickr.

Slave Labor - In the trenches comparing treatment between the Haves and Have-Nots...

2011-03-09T13:27:00.000-08:00

I think we should all step back for a moment and take a closer look at the manipulations that have occurred over the past two years involving our collapsing economy, corporate involvement and how that relates to the current tensions in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and elsewhere. Today there is no doubts left in anyone's mind that corporations such as JP Morgan, Bank of America, Leahman Brothers and other financial institutions were responsible for the collapse of the housing bubble, and the economy in general. Many of us lost our retirement savings, 401K's and other investments due to these machinations that collapsed everything.

The Government bailed all of these corporations out, feeling that unless they did - with our money - the financial sector would completely dissolve bankrupting the rest of our economy and creating a financial chaos in the U.S. of previously unknown proportions.

Now I have to admit I'm no economist and this is probably an amateurish description of how all this came about and resulted in where we are today. That being said, please follow this train of thought a moment of two longer before hitting the back button...

We bailed out these banks and investment corporations to the tune of more than 3/4 of a trillion dollars. This was money belonging to the taxpayers. Much of it has been transferred to our children and their children and this will be paid for by them in the future. Instead of loaning that money out to those in need of loans, the banks and investment firms used the money to acquire other financial companies or corporations that were floundering. At the same time they rewarded themselves with huge bonuses paid to top executives out of the "bail-out money" the government made available to them.

I believe that another use of the billions we've provided to these corporations has been used to fund lobbying and many campaigns of predominantly conservative Republican politicians that advance the agendas of these corporations at the state and national level(s). As I wrote earlier this week, Koch Industries had an unusual and cozy relationship with Kathleen Sebilius in Kansas when she was Governor, going so far as to "loan" her an economist to provide advice on cutting government spending in that state. As that diary also reported, Sebilius as our Secretary of the U.S. Health and Human Services subsequently approved an application submitted by Koch Industries for a cut of the $5 billion set aside for the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program offered under President Obama's Healthcare initiative. After fighting against the healthcare program from the start, Koch was one of the first in line with their hands out to take money available from that very program. At the same time they continued to fund conservative efforts of repealing the program altogether through direct individual political donations, lobbying and support of candidates that share the same conservative ideology as the Koch brothers.

Throughout it appears that our money provided to these corporate interests (such as Koch Industries) in the bail-out and other initiatives, is being used to further the goals of those corporations against us. Where Republicans have taken office - swept into Governorships, Senate and House seats in 2010, there has been a concerted effort of furthering the goals and agenda of the likes of these corporate elite. One of the more important parts of that agenda is the elimination of Unions and collective bargaining. Another is the matter of abortion and freedom of choice issues. Conservatives have continued battles on these issues for years now. They refuse to accept the opinions of the Court in actions such as Row V. Wade and those involving Unions and collective bargaining and right to work initiatives. They have managed to keep their views and arguments before the public for many decades now as they pursue a reversal of the laws pertaining to both.

In the run-up to the election last year, and even today, both of these key issues remain at the core of the Conservative agenda. Now some may ask how can the issue of fair wages and collective bargaining be related to prison privatization and prison industries - and my least favorite topic, Slave Labor? It is connected in a couple of ways that may not be immediately apparent to most.

First, since the mid 1990's corporations have been using federal laws to merge their production and manufacturing with prison industry operations. Under the PIE program they have been allowed to "partner" with those various state prison industries to use cheap inmate labor to manufacture their products. As these partnerships increased, more and more operations were moved out of the private sector and into the prison environment. This removed jobs from the private sector and put them in the hands of inmates. The prison setting prohibits unionizing, collective bargaining and striking for better or even fair wages by the inmate work force. They are paid no benefits; health insurance, unemployment protection, paid vacations or paid time off. In many states OSHA is not allowed to inspect or become involved in work-place safety or investigate accidents. Inmate workers hurt on the job are treated by the prison medical staff - not by outside work comp physicians or facilities (at the expense of the state taxpayer). In short, all of those things sought by corporate employers and fought for on their behalf by conservatives were found in the prison industries. This was recognized by companies as the nirvana sought by them; low wages, no unions, no benefit or retirement packages and responsibility for worker injuries and upkeep subsidized by the taxpayer. Does all this not sound exactly like what their end goals are for American workers?

How good are the products produced by prisoners in these industries? Are their products efficient and of the same quality as those produced in the private sector? Should we be afraid to fly on aircraft manufactured by Boeing that has dozens of sensitive electronic and cabling products made by prisoners? I say no to the quality and yes to the question of safety. Let's take a look at one example of why I answer these questions as I have.

Republicans - and in general, all politicians and the general public proudly profess that we support our troops fighting in Afghanistan and Irag. As I wrote in a previous diary, many - in fact most - of the equipment and materials being used by our troops today are made in prison. The Federal Prison Industries (UNICOR) has a near monopoly on armed forces gear and materials. Many of these products are manufactured in the prisons, wholesaled to Halliburton (or similar companies) and then retailed to the Department of Defense. One of those products made by the prisoners and distributed to the military serving overseas now, is helmets. Of course helmets have been a necessary part of any armed force, army or military body since the first World War.

Recently a private manufacturer received a government contract to manufacture some of those products for the Army and nearly all of them for the Marines. The contract called for this private manufacturer to utilize UNICOR to manufacture part of the orders (obviously to reduce costs) and it did so, using one of the factories owned by UNICOR in Texas. When many of the helmets made by the prison industry were inspected they immediately failed ballistics testing. Forty-four thousand of more than 600,000 such helmets were immediately recalled. Then it was learned that in 2007-08 UNICOR was awarded non-competitive contracts by the government to manufacture all of the helmets for the U.S. Army and Marines. Questions of safety were raised - along with those of using inmate labor at a time when our economy is in the tank, and millions of American workers were out of jobs and needed employment. Here is a quote taken from an article written by Derek Gilna that came out today in Prison Legal News:

"It is not widely known that UNICOR utilizes poorly paid and often indifferently supervised prisoners to manufacture not only goods for use in the federal prison system, but also products that are in direct competition with private-sector businesses. In the past UNICOR has obtained multiple contracts to make ballistic helmets for the U.S. military, and in 2007 it was awarded a non-competitive Army contract pursuant to a provision in federal procurement regulations.

"UNICOR was awarded another non-competitive contract in 2008, which comprised 100% of the helmet needs for the U.S. Marine Corps and effectively shut out private industry. According to Rep. Carney’s office, in both cases UNICOR’s products failed to pass first article testing – the process that is designed to ensure the equipment meets specifications – and after an 18-month delay, not a single acceptable helmet had been delivered.

“Because the inmates were making the helmets, the cost was down, but the main concern was the product being substandard,” said Rep. Carney. He also was critical of the fact that UNICOR was awarded the contracts during a time when the industrial and manufacturing sections of the U.S. economy were shedding private-sector jobs. “At a time when our economy is rebounding, there are other private firms eager and able to take on this important work, which will lead to the creation of crucial jobs in the United States,” Rep. Carney noted."

Even in the face of issues such as safety for our military personnel, the government is comfortable with awarding such non-competitive contracts for the manufacture of such important and critical equipment as helmets, necessary to keep our troops safe - to prison inmates. This is the federal prison side of the slave labor topic. The PIE program is the state side of the same subject and the government - specifically the Department of Justice is bullish on using state prison inmates to manufacture private sector products that all of us use daily. As I've done previously, here again is the link to the recruiting video used by the National Correctional Industries Association, the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the DOJ to recruit and encourage more private sector manufacturers to move their operations into a "nearby prison industry" to take advantage of highly skilled and willing prisoners...

This PIE Program allows private U.S. corporations to gain access to the vast number of prison inmates as a labor source. It not only allows it, the DOJ and the prison industries encourage it by informing companies that they don't have to outsource jobs overseas where shipping of their products back to the states cut into their profits. Instead they tell them to simply move entire operations into prison industries in the U.S. to take advantage of cheap but skilled labor and allow them to continue to use "Made in the U.S.A." labeling. At the same time the DOJ works hard to hide the use of prison labor by these participating corporations by not enforcing requirements that prison made goods be clearly marked as "Made in Prison by Prison Labor" labels on packaging.

By being allowed access to this captive work force, more and more jobs in the private sector have been steadily lost over the past 15 years. Private sector companies and businesses competing against those using slave labor have slowly been disappearing from the job and sales markets as pricing for their products were underbid or undercut time and again. Another example of this is occurring in Montana as I write this.

Because these same corporations that are using foreign labor to make their products are tiring of paying for shipment of those products back to the U.S., they moved operations into the high profit arena of prison industries to eliminate those costs. At the same time they are supporting an agenda to lower wages and eliminate any form of collective bargaining - public and private - in the U.S. so they can move their operations from inside our prisons and back from China and elsewhere. The obvious purpose of eliminating any form of unionized labor in America is to implement the same wages and conditions they enjoy from those other sources of labor. Just today MSNBC had a report on jobs in the U.S. and reported that jobs are available now, but the wages are much lower and the good paying jobs will never return. This clearly shows how effective this conservative agenda on behalf of their corporate sponsors has been.

As Conservative Republicans win governorships, senate and house seats across the U.S., this agenda I'm speaking of, has been promoted by the likes of ALEC and the Koch brothers and introduced in each state where they prevailed. No need to discuss Wisconsin here, we already know the agenda is in place there and that a phone call from a "Koch" will be quickly answered by Governor Walker as demonstrated yesterday. Down in Florida, Rick Scott won the gubernatorial election there last year and is calling for privatizing most/all of the prison system in that state - even with 8,000 empty beds in state run facilities - and privatization of education and other state programs. Same thing is happening in Indiana and Ohio regarding right to work legislation, union busting and privatization. In these states, conservative leaning media trumpet the benefits of passing such legislation with articles filled with statistics, facts and statements from supporters. Many of these facts and statistics are questionable and avoid informing us of the impact upon wages and employment is such legislation becomes law.

This site provides much information on the progress of privatization of state assets and programs, and the problems that followed. The truth is we have been involved in a war over wages and privatization for more than two decades now but the public has been blissfully unaware of the actual implications of what the issues mean to them as taxpayers and workers. With the explosion of protesting and demonstrating across the Midwest, many have finally been awakened and realize what is being jeopardized by the privatization and right to work initiatives advanced by the Conservative factions in their states.

What many still do not realize though, is that the assets owned by the states are the property of the taxpayers. This includes prisons and prison industries. Once an asset belonging to the citizens is sold, it is gone. It now becomes the property of the buyer to do with as they please. With prisons that cost millions of tax dollars to build, the transfer of those facilities to corporate ownership removes that asset from state ownership, but the taxpayers continue to pay the costs of imprisonment of inmates, but the money goes to the owners of the prison. Once they have control of the facilities it's a done deal and from there on out, the state and taxpayers are held captive to calls for increased spending to continue to house and provide care for the state inmates. While in this time of corporate driven economical downturn, the last thing we should be doing is giving/selling/transferring more and more taxpayer owned assets over to these corporations. We've already given them more than they deserve and they continue to stand before us with their hands outstretched, not satisfied until we also relinquish all right to our jobs and fair wages.

Now Louisiana is proposing to turn two of the state's prison facilities over to county Sheriff's to reduce state costs of incarceration while two more are about to be sold to private prison corporations that already run them under contract. A Google search about privatization efforts of state prisons returns numerous articles informing that this trend is widespread. There is no benefit to these privatizations to either the state or their taxpayers. Many articles, reports and other studies reveal time and again that there is no real savings through privatization and recidivism is not reduced by using private prison operations. Additionally, most states are now suffering serious financial and budgetary shortfalls and as many now realize the first cuts that are made are within the prisons themselves followed quickly by cuts in education, health programs and finally senior programs. Colorado is no exception and as this article informs, at the top of the list are cuts to prison programs.

At the same time these budgetary measures are being made, reducing private sector jobs along with rehabilitation programs to the inmates, each state is increasing their corrections budgets, led by Arizona. Governor Brewer turns every spare penny available in that state over to the DOC and the private prisons operated in that state. Even as lawmakers and Governors promise reducing their prison costs, they increase the budgets more each year. Today Corrections is one of the largest line item expenditures in most state's budgets, yet the "return" on the money spent is negligible as recidivism continues to climb. We're just not getting the bang for our buck that is necessary to impact upon reducing incarceration. We've already decreased arrests and crime in the U.S. since 1990, but can't get a grip on incarceration. The number one reason why is the involvement of corporations and profits derived by keeping prison populations at an all time high. There is absolutely no incentive for corporations to want to reduce the rates of incarceration and put themselves out of business. Why can't our Democratic lawmakers and the public see this?

In conclusion it boils down to simple terms. To drive down wages, companies have moved their operations overseas and into prisons. As the jobs disappeared, more and more Americans have been put upon unemployment and other social programs. This is all driven by the top 1% in the U.S. who hold all the wealth. They use the funds generated from profits to pay lobbyists to buy our legislative members to further their goals. Their bought lawmakers - mostly conservative - use ALEC (funded in part by Koch Industries and their foundations) to propose and enact legislation favorable to the corporations. These legislative efforts include(d): increased criminal laws, truth in sentencing, mandatory minimums, abolishing parole, and expansion of prison industries among others. Using the inmates those laws incarcerate, the companies move operations into the prison industries to take advantage of that large workforce to avoid having to pay standard wages to American workers. Conservatives have worked overtime to put their corporate masters in the cat-bird seat regarding imprisonment and profiting from that incarceration through privatization of prisons.

Now, again using the profits generated from a captive work force, the same companies fund conservative efforts of stifling private sector wages through initiatives proposed by the same lawmakers they always rely upon. They are funding the current legislation to increase privatization, eliminate Unions and collective bargaining rights. In the place of those they are promoting right to work legislation to now make it possible to have access to civilian labor at far reduced wages. All of this is in pursuit of more profits to make themselves richer and richer...and us poorer and poorer to the point we will be willing to work in skilled jobs for minimum wage. But wait, they're even pushing for the elimination of minimum wages in many states. So even that safety net is in jeopardy to workers. Now they believe the time is right to take over for our governments - state and federal - on most issues, believing there is no real need for government involvement in our society, as corporations can run it better.

Somehow we must realize that giving this cabal more and more tax dollars and the power and influence they purchase with those dollars is self-defeating. We should never have bailed out the banks and Wall Street as they brought the entire thing down around their own necks. We now see the kind of reward they have for our bailing them out - enslavement.

We have to wake up to the threats to our freedoms, jobs, livelihood, wages and fundamental rights before we're all working as slave laborers at wages comparable to China...for that's what these insidious bastards want for all of us. In the current fight...as the Unions go, so go we. Hate 'em or love 'em, without 'em we lose all voice in opposition to the course planned for us by the likes of Charles and David Koch, ALEC and their conservative lawmakers serving as lackeys...

Slave Labor-Gerrymandering, Redistricting, ALEC, Koch Brothers and their Conservative Agenda...

2011-03-09T13:24:00.000-08:00

I recently read an informative article about Arizona's private prison industry and the impact upon communities by the way the political districts are drawn to allow small rural, communities with predominantly white populations to enjoy financial benefits of having large inmate populations counted in their census. This also allows small communities to appear to have populations that represent African-American and Hispanic ethnicities, where that representation is all behind bars.

The impact of all this is a drain of financial money away from the large urban areas of Arizona when those funds are redirected to the smaller rural communities. In addition this system allows for an increase of representation from those small communities, based on populations inflated by the inclusion of thousands of prisoners, many that come from other states as far away as Hawaii.

This Article in the Phoenix Magazine shines a light on how small, mostly conservative white communities receive their political and financial clout in Arizona. A sad fact of this is that many other states do the same thing. With almost 2.5 million of us in prisons today, redistricting based on the inclusion of inmate populations, enables rural prison communities to appear to have much larger and more diverse populations and to receive millions in state and federal tax dollars because of that. Former Arizona state Representative Pete Rios says it better than I:

"Today, the town (Florence) and its neighbor, Eloy, are Arizona’s major prison towns. There are two large state prisons and eight private prisons in the area that, together, house more than 24,000 prisoners. They are bused in from the Valley and throughout Arizona or imported from other states, including Hawaii and Alaska.

"Those prisoners aren’t really Eloy or Florence residents or constituents of Pinal County in any sense of the words. They can’t vote, and they may never step foot in the county beyond the prison walls. Most of them will be released in a few years and will return to homes elsewhere. But when the U.S. Census Bureau counted Arizona’s population last year, all those prisoners were counted as if Pinal County were home. That means millions of dollars in additional tax revenue sent from the state to governments in Pinal County. It also could mean a louder voice for local residents in state elections.

"This year Arizona and every other state will redraw political boundaries. The redistricting process is tedious but hugely important. It occurs every 10 years and guarantees the fundamental principle of “one person, one vote” in our representative democracy.

"But as that process kicks off, some experts are warning that the sheer abundance of prisoners in Pinal County and in large prisons throughout the state could impact the basic tenet of equal representation. How prisoners behind the walls are counted when Arizona redraws the lines could distort political power in the state, enhance the clout of the controversial private-prison industry and dilute the voice of Phoenix residents in state politics in favor of other areas with prison “residents” who aren’t really residents at all.

Peter Wagner, executive director of the Massachusetts-based Prison Policy Initiative, which helped push recent reforms in New York, Maryland and Delaware, says:

"The impact of prisoners on Arizona’s political landscape could be among the most dramatic anywhere in the nation. “We have enough people in prison in this country and enough people in prison in Arizona to change how our democracy works, to change the decisions that the Legislature makes.”

This situation in Arizona is also replicated in many other states, coast to coast and represents another way in which prison inmates are used by Republicans to impact upon tax dollars and political issues and influence. With this kind of system used to falsely increase true populations of small, White communities that are predominantly conservative provides them with more tax dollars, representation and allows the larger urban cities to lose both in the process.

As this article reports, prisoners from large cities are sent to prison facilities in distant rural settings - far from where they lived and their families remain. Gerrymandering allows these prisoners to count toward tax subsidies - state and federal - in amounts disproportionate to their actual ethnic makeup and true population(s).

If nothing else this clearly demonstrates that the Conservatives have all issues involving prisoners, prison industries using those prisoners and private prisons mapped out. In Pinal County, Arizona, the largest employer is Corrections Corporation of American that operates no less than six private prisons in that county alone.

If we think or believe that CCA is not a dominant presence in Arizona and get their way through the community's reliance upon the increased tax dollars from incarceration and tax subsidies, one has only to look at this article about Eloy, Arizona's recent council meeting concerning three agreements presented by CCA. In the face of facts and figures presented by those attending with knowledge and experience in prison issues, informing the council that using private prisons did not reduce costs and the impact upon community infrastructures (water consumption, roads, etc.) the city council unanimously passed everything CCA wanted (of course it didn't hurt CCA's position that they had already awarded a lucrative landscaping contract at the prison to the city Mayor). In many similar small communities where CCA and Geo Group have a presence the outcomes are usually preordained. In Arizona, Governor Brewer's repeated statements of support for CCA and other private prison corporations - along with her propensity to funnel every spare dollar the state treasury has to corrections and private prison operations - leads to such unanimous approval of everything CCA and prison.

Take a quick look at the 15 or so prison industries located at or near the city of Florence here. Also the prison industries have a retail outlet store - where anyone can buy goods if they don't inform the staff that items purchased will not be removed from Arizona. Right.

Florence Arizona is representative of what's wrong with prison privatization, prison labor, gerrymandering and the overall conservative agenda to capitalize off of all three. As I've written in the past, CCA and the number two private prison company, Geo Group are both members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and sit across from conservative legislative members in each of the nine (9) "Task Forces" of ALEC. There they jointly determine new laws or amendments to existing laws that benefit corporate interests. One corporation above all others has great influence upon both the agendas of these task forces and the 2,400 state conservative lawmakers involved in the manipulations of law - and that is Koch Industries, represented by their director of public and government affairs, Mike Morgan.

ALEC, Koch and CCA's interests, influence and intentions were clearly represented last year in the implementation of SB 1070 there in AZ. We've all been made aware of the involvement of all three in the illegal alien and immigration issues in that state by reports by such as NPR, compiled by Laura Sullivan and others, that informed us about the money to be made off of detention of those apprehended by CCA. Today we are once again faced with the involvement of ALEC and the Koch brothers in issues also involving corporate interests in wages and other labor issues all across the U.S. I believe the latest debacle unfolding in Wisconsin, Ohio, Virginia, New Jersey, Montana and Indiana are happening because Koch brothers, ALEC and other corporations profiting off the exploitation of inmates to eliminate civilian jobs and depress wages, were emboldened by the quick passage of SB 1070 last year. The conservatives led by Koch and ALEC are doing exactly what PRIDE Enterprises did in Florida - overwhelming the public and government resources by forcing both into a battle over issues important to corporations. More of their divide and conquer initiative.

In this economy, with individuals fighting to put food on their tables, states seeking ways to reduce their deficits and the federal government being attacked on all sides about spending, the situation is rife for those with unlimited capital reserves to wage a war of attrition against labor, government and wages. With the exception of corporations, big businesses, banking and investment firms the rest of the country and state governments are hovering on bankruptcy. In that environment, rich business owners find they can use their money to influence the passage of legislation favorable to them. It is now relatively easy to understand that in the run up to the 2010 elections we heard all about the influence of the Koch influences upon campaigns in key states across the country and their funding of the Tea Party. In Wisconsin alone, they contributed $43,000.00 to Walker's gubernatorial run, money to Kasich in Ohio, possibly Snyder in Michigan and to the campaigns of numerous conservative legislative candidates in many states. The end result was that through the use of vast reserves of cash, the Koch brothers were able to "buy" political slots across the country. The Tea Party successes were not so much about the issues and "values" they presented, but rather the amount of money and influence used to buy them a position within our government. Only in those campaigns such as O'Donnel's in the Northeast and Angle's in Nevada was the money simply not enough to overcome the candidates ludicrous platforms.

Once January rolled around and the Koch funded "winners" were sworn in, Koch and fellow conservatives in ALEC began to immediately advance their attacks on labor and wages in several key states where they won big. Governor Walker is so indebted to the Koch money that he was willing to use violence by introducing "troublemakers" into the demonstrations in Wisconsin in an attempt to prevail at passing legislation to end collective bargaining and implementing right to work laws. Both of these are within the conservative agenda pressed by Koch and ALEC's membership.

Senator John Ensign (R) of Nevada introduced a bill last month to require all low-security prisoners to work 50 hours a week. Creating a national prison labor force has been a goal since he went to Congress in 1995. Wonder what the position of ALEC and the Koch's are regarding this legislation?

Check out this statement made in the article linked to above:

"Technology has made it easier to coordinate. In Hunterdon County, N.J., nonprofit organizations and government agencies can view prisoners’ work schedules online and reserve them for a specific task on a free day. (Coming tasks include cleaning up after a Fire Department fish fry and maintaining a public park.)"

I have to wonder if all these indicators here - and in previous diary posts - have served to awaken all of us to the fact that we are definitely in a class war here in the U.S.? It is no longer Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and other far away countries that are suffering from - and protesting against - the rule of the rich through depressing citizen's wages, education and incarcerating those who object. Many of us now know if we merely stand up and look around us with critical vision, we can see the same machinations ongoing all around us. Instead of dictators with their pictures splashed all over every flat surface to remind us of their omniscience, we find billboards for AT&T, Boeing, Victoria's Secret, Shelby Muscle Cars, Burger King, Wendy's, McDonalds, and hundreds of other corporate advertisements for the corporations making huge profits from incarceration and prison slave labor. The pictures are different, but the concept and agenda is the same.

We have to give credit where credit is due - whether we want to or not - by acknowledging that the Koch family empire has thought all of this out well, doing their homework and putting their influences within ALEC to good use. They rub elbows with the two top private prison corporations in the world as well as three hundred or more other influential corporate members all belonging to ALEC. Together Koch and ALEC's corporate and conservative lawmakers are now holding the steering wheel representing our nation as it moves forward in history. Their hands grip the wheel so tightly it is nearly impossible to tear it from their grip as they firmly turn the wheel and head our country toward the roadside ditch - a deep, dark hole from which we will have great difficulty extricating ourselves. Time is running out and we are steadily approaching that abyss at their hands.

As this diary and the links provided demonstrate, conservatives led by General's such as David and Charles Koch, with officers comprised of the likes of ALEC's Public Board of Directors led by LA. Representative Noble Ellington lead an army of Conservatives in this class war. The soldiers led by these capable officers are the likes of Governors Walker, Daniels, Kasich, Snyder, Scott, Christie and the conservative heavy legislatures of those and other states. In this battle we are led by...well, our President has chosen to sit on the sidelines and let the workers and the unions that represent them fight this battle without his guidance or assistance. In his place Americans are now led by Unions such as the AFLCIO, UAW, SEIU, and dozens more who are fighting alongside Democratic Senators from Indiana, Wisconsin and elsewhere. So far they have only been able to forestall the inevitable money funded outcome, fighting the Kochs and others to a temporary standstill. How one leads when their citizens are faced with nearly insurmountable attacks upon them on important issues, is part of the legacy left by world leaders. President Obama's standing silent as our country is attacked from within, while professing to be a world leader and involving us in the protests and demonstrations ongoing world wide is puzzling to me. I voted for him and the changes he promised. I've continued to support him as others began to throw up their hands and turn their backs on him, but it's becoming harder and harder to continue that support as our jobs disappear into prisons and the likes of the Koch brothers and their cabal tear at the fabric of democracy with the long knives of insurgency and their actions are ignored by him.

How much longer will this go on with President Obama remaining silent on the sidelines, offering neither guidance or getting up and actually standing with them in this all-out assault upon American workers? I don't know and can't speak for our President but I can make a prediction as to the outcome if he doesn't weigh in on these issues - and soon: we'll all be working for these Kochsuckers...for pennies on the dollar, whether in prison or out. There really will be no difference if these bastards prevail. America is now in the same position of "Middle Earth" (for those J.R.R. Tolkien fans) and Mordor and Sauron are nearly upon us - where in the hell is our Gandalf?

Slave Labor - Koch Links to Greenberg Traurig, Palin and the theft of our jobs!

2011-03-09T13:20:00.000-08:00

With the tanking economy of late, many municipal, county and state authorities are looking for ways to reduce their budgets. At the top of the list of ways to save money is the replacement of civil service workers and contractors that traditionally maintain public buildings, facilities and grounds. While corporations try and hide their use of prison labor from their customers and consumers in general, politicians are trumpeting their reliance upon cheap slave labor provided by prisoners to reduce taxpayer funded jobs.

Today we have a situation where the new "slavery" is in fact the "old slavery" under a new name and with a diverse ethnic makeup. Before and during our civil war, slavery was the major cause of the secession of the Confederate states from the Union. Southern states wanted to continue to use humans as chattel and slave to work their fields, small industries and for other cheap labor. It is funded and supported by many within the Tea ("Traitors Enslaving Americans" thanks to the wife for this definition) Party and their funders.

Our nation fought a war over this concept that resulted in the loss of millions of American lives. Sadly slavery is still alive and well in the U.S. but it has had it's name changed since that dark time. Now it's called "prison labor" and has its roots in using prisoners to provide cheap - and in many instances, free - labor in many public sector areas. The use of this new form of slave labor is so profitable that in 1979 the U.S. Congress was swayed to enact legislation to allow private companies to use inmates in the manufacture of products or to provide their services. This is the Prison Industries Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP) and simply stated it exists to allow for the "training" of prisoners while incarcerated to make them more employable upon release back to their communities.

While this is a genuinely necessary and needed tool in reducing recidivism, as with most other programs or laws that have attracted the attention of corporate entrepreneurs and CEO's, those interested about this program began finding ways to participate and get free or cheap prison labor. They weren't satisfied with the mandatory requirements of the legislation, so they formed the National Correctional Industries Association (NCIA, sort of their "union") to represent the themselves, participating corporations, prison industries and the vendors and suppliers involved in the PIE program. Then they managed to get the NCIA "chosen" as the enforcement and compliance arm of the program. Part of the compliance aspect is the "policy advisory" position, whereby the NCIA suggests amendments to or new policy initiatives to the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the DOJ who actually have responsibility for the program.

Using their policy advisor position, participants have been able to overcome many of the mandatory sections of 18 USC 1761(c); reducing prevailing wages to minimum wage rates, prohibition of using training programs and setting "entry level" wages at below prevailing wages, worker's compensation and the requirement that packaging have clear markings identifying the shipper, consignee and the prison industry where the products were manufactured. In addition the corporations saw no reason why allowed deductions taken for room and board should be given to the states to offset the costs of incarceration paid for by taxpayers. They lobbied for and received state laws or regulations that allowed all that money to be retained by the prison industry that deducted the money from inmate wages, to use those funds to offset the costs of running the PIE program operations.

Today PIECP and prison labor bears no real resemblance to the program as it was enacted and the legislative intent behind the law. It has been so manipulated that any company wishing to make use of free or cheap prison labor can do so with little effort or public notoriety. I wrote last week about a situation in Montana whereby this program is being used to provide a financial advantage of one company over another by the use of prisoners paid between $2.00 and $7.00 per day. I now have a copy of the legislation proposed by Montana Congressman Ed Greef to address this situation there in Montana. Of course the Bill died after being tabled in the Judiciary Committee. Rep Greef (R) has probably drawn the ire from fellow Republicans by his presentation of this legislation that brought attention to the contract he wanted stopped and PIECP.

Also today we are faced with the situation in Wisconsin about right to work and union busting legislation offered up by the Republican majority and Governor Walker (a puppet with one or both of the Koch brother's hands up his ass). Wisconsin also enjoys a place within the PIECP program, having been certified in 1993 and currently certified as participating in the program. Many are not aware that the Junior Senator from Wisconsin, Ron Johnson (a Tea Party supported candidate) who beat Russ Feingold in the last election, himself uses prisoners in his privately owned and run businesses; Pacur Inc. and Dynamic Drinkware LLC, two companies run by Johnson. These companies employ up to nine inmates at a time through a state Corrections Department jobs program.

John McCain benefited from the use of prisoner labor during his campaign appearances in Alabama during the 2008 Presidential campaign.

Maybe now it is becoming clearer that many states and their politicians are actively pursuing replacing civilian workers with prison labor. Let's take a quick look at the evidence of this:

1) Georgia - Atlanta, Gwinnet and Clayton Counties.

"Clayton prison already sends about 180 prisoners per day out on work details, saving the county roughly $2.8 million a year – after housing and other costs are factored in – that it would otherwise spend on county payroll.

“It helps offset the costs of county government,” the warden said.

About a dozen inmates work for the Clayton County Water Authority, doing everything from grounds maintenance to equipment repair and maintenance, general manager Michael Thomas said.

The authority isn’t a county department, so it pays the county prison $30 a day for each inmate. Thomas said there are additional costs to supervise the inmates (none have escaped in the last five years said Smith), but it’s still worth it.

Each inmate costs half as much as a regular employee when such things as medical benefits are considered, Thomas estimated.

“Obviously, they’re a lot cheaper than hiring somebody,” Thomas said. “We’re always trying to squeeze a nickel. So it helps.”

2) New Jersey

"The Division of Corrections utilizes inmate labor in various work details to defray their cost of incarceration. Inmates are utilized in the jail laundry, kitchen and internal maintenance jobs. Inmates who are not security risks are also utilized on outside details such as mowing lawns, painting and other outside details as necessary.

"On May 13, 2008 the Division of Corrections instituted the Labor Assistance Program as an alternative sentencing option for qualified individuals. This program was designed to divert low risk offenders sentenced for motor vehicle violations, disorderly person’s offenses and non-violent crimes from the jail. All participants must undergo and pass a background clearance to be accepted into the program.

"Offenders sentenced to the Labor Assistance Program pay an application fee that defrays the cost of processing and a background check. In addition, participants are required to pay a per diem fee for each day of sentence.

"The Labor Assistance Program operates on Saturdays and Sundays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The program participants are required to report to the jail property at 7:45 am to prepare for the day's work and are returned by 3:30 pm to clean and put away any equipment used. All work details are supervised by an officer who directs the inmate work and insures compliance with all rules and regulations.

"Request for Labor Assistance are accepted for County Departments, Courts, Schools, Municipalities and their respective agencies as well as non-profit organizations within Hunterdon County.

"An online calendar has been set up from which you may view the types of work currently being done by the inmate work programs and request a work detail. All requests for work details must be scheduled through the online calendar using the “REQUEST WORK DETAIL” button located beneath Division’s Logo. You may access the calendar at the following web address:

http://www.calendarwiz.com/laborassistance

3) Kansas -

"The Kansas Department of Corrections is considering putting inmates to work constructing low-income housing.

"He added that the type of housing inmates would build is not the kind being built by construction companies in Kansas right now. Instead, inmates would work on manufacturing homes inside the prison gates that would be sent out after completion.

“What has been under discussion previously has been building small, single family housing units,” Miskell said. “I’m not aware of anyone in Kansas in the private sector who is building these houses.”

"But Martha Smith, with the Kansas Manufactured Housing Association said they favor employing prisoners in work release programs while they serve their terms. A work release program would employ inmates within private industry instead of producing homes within prison walls.

“At this point in time with jobs so scare, there really isn’t a need for that kind of a program,” Smith said. “The work release program is a better program for everyone because it doesn’t take jobs away, it still provides training and if it works out, the prisoners have a job after they’re released,” Smith said.

"Last year, through a partnership with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, inmates constructed small cabins that were placed at Scott Lake and Prairie Dog State Park. The program is looking to expand this year and build five cabins.

“It’s a solid structure with bedrooms, kitchen and dining room but it’s a relatively small structure and they have been transported for placement at one or more of the state parks,” Miskell said.

The benefit of using inmate labor is two-fold, he said.

“It is helping teach extremely marketable skills for when they are released and it is designed to fill a niche for housing that doesn’t currently exist in communities that need this kind of housing,” Miskell said."

4) Maryland -

"Something like this is bound to make Lou Dobbs' head explode: A shortage of foreign crab-pickers in Maryland is forcing the seafood industry there to consider using state prisoners to do the hard, nasty, low-paying work.

"At issue is finding workers willing to spend their days picking the meat from pile after pile of steamed crabs so the product can be packaged for sale in little plastic tubs," writes the Baltimore Sun's Stephanie Desmon."

5) Nevada -

"CARSON CITY -- The Division of Forestry could save hundreds of thousands of dollars on approved and pending construction projects if it used more prison inmate labor, an audit released Tuesday said.

The Division of Internal Audits said a conservative estimate puts the savings at $620,000 if selected portions of the work on several proposed projects, from nursery renovations to dispatch center repairs, was done by inmates at state conservation camps."

6) New York -

"Two busloads of prisoners from Rikers Island — wearing matching red- and white-striped jumpsuits — have been setting up and breaking for Borough President Markowitz’s controversial concerts in Coney Island’s Asser Levy Park.

The inmates aren’t a threat to public safety, according to the city — but they are a heck of a bargain for Markowitz.

“It saves me money, that’s the motivation for having them!” said Debra Garcia, who is in charge of the Beep’s concerts. “It saves about a few thousand dollars a week.”

"Under the “Cool Hand Luke”-style program, the inmates set up 2,000 seats at the front of the park’s bandshell near Surf Avenue and West Fifth Street hours before the show. The next morning, the inmates are returned to the spot to collect the chairs.

"The work detail for prisoners — which also takes place at Wingate Field in Crown Heights as part of Markowitz’s Martin Luther King Jr. concert series — appears to be the only one of its kind in Brooklyn.

"A Department of Correction official said that there are only two other chain gang-style work crews in the city — both near Rikers Island.

7) WA. State

The foregoing represents only a small number of articles on this issue and the loss of thousands of public sector jobs to inmate workers. It's been happening all over American for several years now, but has become a plague of late. This is simply part and parcel of those with an agenda of cutting employment in the private sector markets by replacing workers with prisoners to save money and drive down wages and eliminate Unions and that terrible term "collective bargaining."

During the 2010 elections we all heard about Meg Whitman's use of illegal aliens at her residence. Of course, she later claimed no knowledge of the illegal status of her "maid" or housekeeper. Time and again Conservatives like Whitman and Ron Johnson in Wisconsin have been caught exploiting prison labor...then there's Texas state lawmakers. This article is from the Dallas Morning News. The link is no longer accessible from their archives (wonder why) but I have it and a link to where part of it is found. Here is an excerpt from it:

"Perk of public office: discount furniture
Critics fault officials' exclusive deal with prisons"

10:10 PM CST on Tuesday, February 7, 2006By DAVE MICHAELS / The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN – When Sen. Eddie Lucio built his South Texas dream home in 2003, he chose an unusual place to shop for furniture: Texas prisons.

For the dining room, inmates fashioned a table with the state seal on it, 10 chairs and six bar stools. For a private chapel, they constructed four kneelers, 12 chairs, a holy water font and two altar chairs. Total cost: $6,319.

"I liked the idea of getting things done handcrafted and by prisoners," said Mr. Lucio, a Democrat. "That is unique. It is a subject of conversation when people come visit me. I say, 'I ordered it from our own prisoners here.' "

"Mr. Lucio is one of dozens of lawmakers to buy items over the last three years from Texas Correctional Industries, a division of the state prison system that manufactures, among other things, furniture, signs and clothing. It gives inmates a chance to develop a trade or skill and saves state agencies money because, with no labor costs, items sell for far less than those from private businesses.

"And for lawmakers, buying the discounted goods is a perk of office.
Mr. Lucio is one of dozens of lawmakers to buy items over the last three years from Texas Correctional Industries, a division of the state prison system that manufactures, among other things, furniture, signs and clothing. It gives inmates a chance to develop a trade or skill and saves state agencies money because, with no labor costs, items sell for far less than those from private businesses.

"Allowing lawmakers to take advantage of not having to pay what they would pay at a retail store, and using it strictly for personal use, does not look good," Ms. Woodford said.

"Rep. Tony Goolsby, a Dallas Republican who is close to Mr. Lucio, said there's nothing wrong with personal purchases. Mr. Goolsby has an $1,100 replica of a historic desk from the Texas Capitol in his apartment in Austin.

"We're all born the same way, but we're not equal," he said. "Everybody gets perks."

"Many of his colleagues used campaign funds to buy items such as barbecue grills and bedroom furniture at prices far below retail.

"Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, had a bed frame, a dresser and a nightstand refinished in November for $219. Mr. Williams did not return phone calls seeking comment.

"Nate Crain, whose wife leads the criminal justice department's board, placed three orders together worth about $1,000 from Texas Correctional Industries in 2004 and 2005. Mr. Crain, a former Dallas County Republican Party chairman who is exploring a run for the chairmanship of the statewide party, reported in campaign records that he bought items as gifts for his volunteers and a Republican women's group.

"Board Chairman Christina Melton Crain said it was acceptable for her to order the items for her husband.

"I am allowed to order them and, as my spouse, he is allowed to pay for them," Ms. Crain said."

It isn't just the private sector that is experiencing these job losses, the Federal Prison Industries had to close several prison factories last year and lay off civilian supervisors and thousands of inmates. I have no sympathy for them because they brought about the collapse by undermining our wages and taking our jobs at every turn since 1995. However the FPI have a very influential "lawmaker" on their side and since the closings they have managed to re-open some of the closed plants and put many of the inmates back to work. This is because of the efforts of getting all federal purchasing agents to rededicate their efforts of purchasing every possible product from FPI under a "request" from U.S. Attorney General Holder.

Now some have called me crazy for implying that slave labor can be taking place under the Administration of our first African-American President. I have to say I wish that were the case but several factors just keep that from being factual. First the above memo from AG Holder in October of last year. Secondly there is the connections between the Koch Industries and Secretary Sebilius going back to Kansas when she served as Governor and the Kochsuckers loaned her an analyst to help her cut government spending - and just last year when she approved their application for a large chunk of Early Retiree Reinsurance Program after fighting President Obama's healthcare initiative before and after that approval. When we factor in that this attack on wages and unionization is being conducted by those capitalizing off of using inmate labor for profits while wanting to reduce our wages and Union busting and the President's refusal to become involved in the discussion, the situation becomes darker with implication. The fact that many of us have written to the President requesting a review of PIECP and how it is being used to take civilian jobs - without an acknowledgement or response from him or his administration, one has to question why he is refusing to join in the battle as he said he would do when campaigning? Now he has picked a Daley for his staff after making many statements that he would not have lobbyists in "his" administration. Now after more than two years of office, D.C. and the Obama Administration is top heavy with lobbyists and those who clearly support and lobby for corporations and laws such as the ones being attempted in Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida and elsewhere.

Sebilius made known the involvement of Koch Industries and Wal-Mart in donating to bringing some Kansas troops home for the holidays in 2007 and since then we see more and more indications that both Kochsuckers and Wal-Mart are involved in Conservative politics and their agenda. In Florida new Governor Scott chose a Wal-Mart executive, Bryan W. Koon as part of his staff (Emergency Management Chief). In addition Scott also chose a member of a high profile law firm as his Special Counsel to the Governor. Hayden Dempsey from the firm of Greenberg Traurig (Jack Abramoff's old lobbying firm) was chosen for this important position. Greenberg represents PRIDE Enterprises (the non-profit corporation that runs Florida's prison industries), lobbies for PRIDE and also lobbies on behalf of Koch Industries. How about this connection between John McCain, Koch Industries and Greenberg Traurig? It goes on and on with the Kochsuckers and their ilk such as Greenberg Traurig and Wal-Mart all interrelated and interconnected on a conservative agenda, with all of their names appearing linked to today's legislation, our lawmakers and of late...Wisconsin and the Union busting and RTW laws. Here's a Google Search that returned Koch Industries and Greenberg Traurig results (4,980 results).

Just what kind of law firm is Greenberg Traurig? Check out these links: Wikipedia (see controversies), Chicago Lawyer (GT) arrested for stealing $1 million. Then there's this about a Greenberg Partner under SEC investigation, just published last month.

How about connections to the Tea Party's favorite, Sarah Palin? Here's one link that says her career has been helped by a Greenberg Traurig partner and this one shows the involvement of GT in oil and gas issues on Alaska's north slope supported by Palin. This one reports the Koch brothers hiring Palin to help with PR after the Wisconsin demonstrations began. Here she spoke at an Americans for Prosperity event in April 2010, sponsored and funded by Kochsuckers.
______________

As can be seen from the foregoing, many states and municipalities are now replacing civilian workers with inmates. There are dozens of articles out there exposing this new concept and those implementing programs such as outlined above. A dozen here, a couple of dozen there...fifty or so here, a few private contracts there, they all add up to more and more jobs going away from the private sector and into prison. At the core of most of this are those I mentioned or linked to above. Some like GT and the Kochsuckers are the biggest names in their particular field or arena and have combined their efforts to reduce wages, expand use of prison labor and bust unions, as shown.

While corporations and companies exploiting prison labor make every effort to hide the fact that their labor or work force is made up of inmates from the public, those municipal, county and state agencies replacing civilian workers with inmates are quick to advertise this fact. They want the public to see them as being frugal with tax dollars and wisely spending only those dollars they have to on wages.

This ties in grandly with the ongoing demonstrations from coast to coast as conservatives push for more and more cuts to budgets, right to work legislation and an end to collective bargaining and unions. As my previous diaries - and those of other DK bloggers reveal - the Koch brothers (Kochsuckers) are funding most of these conservative wage and labor efforts through their foundations, along with other sympathetic PAC's and groups such as ALEC.

Conservative lawmakers belonging to ALEC and in the pockets of the Kochsuckers or others just like them, eagerly propose and support state legislation that benefits both their corporation and conservative agendas. Once these laws are put in place, they all profit from it - lawmaker and corporation alike - either through actual use of prison labor, lowered wages or from the dollars put in their pockets by lobbyists.

When all of this is put together we can see that slavery never vanished from the landscape of the U.S. The 13th Amendment left a loophole large enough to fly an Airbus 300 through it with plenty of clearance for each wingtip. It has simply been re-branded. Now it is no longer called slavery - its called "training." It still impacts upon African-Americans and other minorities especially. This training still allows the exploitation of other humans for the profit of individuals, companies, corporations and lawmakers nationwide. Our elections now have candidates taking advantage of "free" slave labor as John McCain did in Alabama in the '08 election cycle and New York's borough President Markowitz has more recently.

It is - as I've said numerous times - class warfare that is occurring and the "Haves" now have access to all the free or cheap slave labor they can use to increase the already substantial gap between the middle and upper classes in the U.S. Unless you're connected with the likes of the Kochsuckers you have no access to that free labor and the jobs some of us still have are in jeopardy of following those that have already disappeared inside prisons or overseas. Unless we as a working class society allow the Republicants and Kochsuckers to depress our wages and turn back the labor clock by 100 years, they're saying they'll take their ball and leave the game.

Those of you who have civil service jobs are in the most danger of being replaced with prisoners or being forced to accept substantial pay cuts. You and your jobs are the ones on the cusp of the abyss. You have to continue to fight for yourselves and the others in your community, while not as vulnerable as you, are still in jeopardy.

Those aligned against us have all the money and influence on their side. We have our dignity, desire to work for a living and fair wage, the ability to collectively bargain and to cast our votes as we see fit. I believe the latter is what is needed to replace the lawmakers who serve as paid servants of the likes of Koch, GT and other large corporations to steal our jobs, way of life and fair wages. Democrats this is your sign to come together and form a united front against the exploitation - of politics and prison labor - to steal America's legacy and meaning from us. Time's a wasting folks. The GOP funded agenda is in high gear and already planning "big things" for the rest of us after the 2012 election cycle. We outnumber them in registered voters and American principals. It's time for the first to fight for the latter or all of us will have to polish up our Chinese so we will be able to communicate with the Kochroaches...

Slave Labor-R's start replacing public workers & critical technical positions with prisoners!

2011-03-09T13:17:00.000-08:00

Over the past couple of weeks there has been a substantial - but quiet - push by Conservatives. While they are loudly yelling to reduce wages, eliminate collective bargaining and replace them with right to work laws, they have been working to replace public sector workers with prisoners at the local levels; city, county and state.

A recent article in the NY Times reports that "Enlisting Prison Labor to Close Budget Gaps" is now on the agenda in Red states.

The article says in part:

"Prison labor — making license plates, picking up litter — is nothing new, and nearly all states have such programs. But these days, officials are expanding the practice to combat cuts in federal financing and dwindling tax revenue, using prisoners to paint vehicles, clean courthouses, sweep campsites and perform many other services done before the recession by private contractors or government employees.

"In New Jersey, inmates on roadkill patrol clean deer carcasses from highways. Georgia inmates tend municipal graveyards. In Ohio, they paint their own cells. In California, prison officials hope to expand existing programs, including one in which wet-suit-clad inmates repair leaky public water tanks. There are no figures on how many prisoners have been enrolled in new or expanded programs nationwide, but experts in criminal justice have taken note of the increase."

The reason why there are no figures to tell us how many prisoners are now being used, is because they don't want the public to realize just how many jobs are being farmed out to inmates, to replace public workers.

In New Jersey you can even look up the schedules of inmates and pick a day to use the inmates and schedule for their use! I don't know about you folks, but doesn't it seem too damn coincidental for this kind of effort to be happening at the same time the Conservatives are also pushing for right to work laws and elimination of collective bargaining for public sector workers? A little too coincidental for my liking.

Yesterday the Executive Director of the Correctional Association of New York, Robert Gangi wrote a letter to the editor opposing this use of prison labor to replace public sector workers. Gangi opened his letter with:

“Enlisting Prison Labor to Close Budget Gaps doesn't touch on the serious relevant concern that using prison workers to defray government costs represents a form of modern-day indentured servitude."

and he's right. As I wrote last week, banks are being allowed to use prisoners to ready foreclosed homes for sale and to cut the grass and do the landscaping to keep the property looking lived in. This is being done in Georgia and Texas now - and may be going on elsewhere. How the banks managed to get in on the use of inmate labor to fix up the properties they've stolen from hard working civilians who fell on hard times, but after what they did to our economy, the last thing they should have access to is free or cheap slave labor to offset more of their costs.

There are more prison labor issues on the radar today. In Oklahoma state lawmakers are getting set to take $5.3 million dollars from the prison industry fund set aside for running the industries, paying inmates and ordering materials. The need for this money? To pay prison guards so they won't have to be furloughed! Guard's payroll...so while the rest of us are struggling to even find a job, the staff at Oklahoma's state prison facilities won't have to cut back more than one day a month via unpaid furloughs. As expected, officials warn that they have to have this money to keep the staff in place to control the inmates, as programs for the prisoners have already been cut way back and they have less to do, so need more supervision. This is always at the crux of their arguments for more tax dollars for incarceration - but it always goes to pay for staffers. Simply a continued unnecessary waste of tax dollars and reliance of incarceration to solve all the woes of our society.

How about remodeling Courthouses and other government buildings? Or Prisoners as "early responders" in community emergencies? Constructing low income housing in Kansas? How about Utility service positions in Florida? Or how about prisoners doing maintenance work at U.S. military bases as "Civilian Inmate Laborers"? And speaking of military...

...let's take a look at some corroborating information that has just come to light concerning the Federal Prison Industries - UNICOR - and the use of prisoners to manufacture missile and aircraft components. I've written about this previously but here are the facts from another independent source. Of course it calls into question the"safety" of using inmates to manufacture such parts...but it does not address the loss of such high-paying technical jobs to the civilian sector.

Here are some troubling yet informative words taken from the article:

"Right now, federal prison inmates in correctional institutions across America are making parts for Patriot missiles.

"They are paid $0.23 an hour to start, and can work their way up to a maximum of $1.15 to manufacture electronics that go into the propulsion, guidance, and targeting systems of Lockheed Martin’s (LMT) PAC-3 guided missile, originally made famous in the first Persian Gulf conflict."

I've been saying this for years now, but can't seem to get the right individuals in the right position to take notice. Here's more from the article:

"For the record, federal prisoners are making more than missile components. Inmates also make cable assemblies for the McDonnell Douglas/Boeing (BA) F-15, the General Dynamics/Lockheed Martin F-16, Bell/Textron’s (TXT) Cobra helicopter, as well as electro-optical equipment for the BAE Systems Bradley Fighting Vehicle’s laser rangefinder.

"Despite repeated requests, Unicor would not disclose how many inmates are currently assigned to such defense-related jobs, but public records show Unicor electronics factories located at no fewer than 14 federal correctional institutions."

Of Course, the ultra conservative Heritage Foundation was interviewed for this article and their policy "expert", Mackenzie Eaglen responded; "Building one piece of one part of one missile is not going to give away the nation’s crown jewels"..."My assumption is, this program is confined to basic manufacturing. There’s a big difference between a highly-skilled worker and someone who inserts a widget." Okay...is it just me, or is this being deliberately downplayed (the skill necessary for manufacturing aircraft and missile components)? The DoD keeps saying they have such a large budget that increases year by year partly because they need to have a highly-trained, highly-skilled workforce “warm” and ready to gear up on a moment's notice - like we did in WW II, Korea and Viet Nam.

If having a highly trained and highly skilled workforce is necessary for the safety of this country, why isn't that workforce comprised of working Americans who have not broken laws and are in dire need of employment? I'll tell you why - just as this article explains; The prison workers are paid $0.23 an hour to start with a maximum wage possible of $1.15 an hour! How many of us are going to volunteer to do such a job for pennies an hour? Not very damn many, because we have families to support and want a fair wage for our labor. This is just more glorified bullshit spewing out of the mouths of our Conservative lawmakers on behalf of large corporations such as Boeing, McDonnell Douglas and others like Koch Industries, AT&T, etc.

This is the hidden issue that demonstrators across the U.S. at each and every statehouse and town hall meeting need to be shouting about. It is becoming more critical by the day as more and more public and private jobs are being taken from them and put in the hands of prisoners - oh, year for valuable and necessary "training!" It's valuable and necessary because they do the work for next to nothing, have no voice, cannot complain, strike or collectively bargain. They are the true slave labor of the new millennium...and those supporting this are coming for YOUR JOB NEXT.

Even Canadians are now being placed in jeopardy regarding the use of prison labor. At least in that country they're civil enough to allow the inmates to form a labor union to address worker issues in their prison industries.

How is all this "training thingy" (as Palin would ask) working out for us? Not very damn well. Released offenders are having more and more difficulties trying to land jobs once released. They can't find work, housing or community support programs and assistance, and wind up back in prison and back to work for the corporations. Incarceration and prison industry for profit is tearing our nation apart - even as the Conservatives work nationwide to decrease wages and destroy Unions.

This issue is not about training inmates, reducing recidivism, criminal justice or incarceration. Not at all. What it is about is the dollar and how many $$$'s governments can save and put into the pockets of their corporate partners. Unless and until we realize and understand this, nothing is going to change.

Slave Labor & Privatization on increase, Driven by Conservative corporations and lawmakers

2011-02-16T13:26:00.000-08:00

A few weeks back I wrote about Rick Scott's ascendancy to the Governorship of Florida, asking whether or not he would actually follow the advice of his Transition Team's recommendations. I voiced concerns over what he would do to address the high incarceration rate of Florida and whether he would push for criminal justice reforms that included doing away with PRIDE, one of the worst abusers of prison labor in the nation.

Over the weeks between those posts and today, Scott and other Republican state Governors have shown that their visions for criminal justice reform is to increase corporate influence and participation in all things prison and prison related. The polls I included in the diaries on Scott were answered with a high percentage of voters believing Scott would fall in with the corruption already rampant in Florida and capitalize upon the vast amounts of money being made in that state off of incarceration. I have to now agree with the voters that he has done just that - as have several other state's authorities.

Recent articles on Scott's vision for addressing Florida's burgeoning prisoner population and the costs associated with housing over 102,000 inmates, expose that his efforts of reducing that population and the costs associated with it, by increasing privatization of everything to do with jails, prisons and prison operations.

He has taken Florida back to the 80's when Corrections Corporation of America sought to privatize the entire prison system in Tennessee. This is now what he is suggesting for Florida - turn everything over to those corporations that helped fund his successful 2010 campaign run. Scott decided, "Why stop with privatizing just prison operations? Let's also privatize the three remaining mental health facilities, veteran's and programs for those disabled in the state as well."

Privatization is nothing new in Florida, as a solution to wasteful government spending this was the "solution" vigorously pursued by former Governor Jeb Bush. Most privatizing efforts by Bush resulted in more expenditure of tax dollars than anticipated and increased the corruption, investigations and convictions of those involved in turning over the operation of state programs and facilities to private corporations. The "Corrections Privatization Commission" set up by Bush to oversee the operations of Florida's privately run prisons resulted in both "Directors" of that agency being removed for improprieties involving their relationship with the private prison corporations running the three privatized facilities. In the case of the first Director, Marcus Hodges, he was fined $10,000.00 for ethics violations and resigned. His successor, Alan Duffee was also accused of being too friendly with the same companies and during an investigation into his personal relationship with CCA and Geo Group, it was discovered Duffee had embezzled $224,000.00 from his agency's private facility maintenance account. He was later sentenced to 33 months in prison.

As was the case under former governors Charlie Crist and Jeb Bush, privatization resulted in huge campaign "contributions" from those corporations involved in pursuing the lucrative contracts. That hasn't changed and Scott's willingness to not only continue privatization but to privatize the entire prison system and other state programs, agencies and operations led to substantial support and financial contributions from lobbyists and corporations looking to profit from negotiated contracts to take over those state responsibilities.

How lucrative are these contracts Scott wants to issue? Millions of tax dollars are involved and companies like Geo and CCA have actively been "chumming" the political waters to succeed in securing Scott's favoritism. This article explains the amount of money donated - or raised - by them during the last election cycle on behalf of Scott.

"Privatization in Florida is nothing new; the first three private prisons opened in Florida in 1995, according to the Department of Corrections.

Three companies with lobbyists in Tallahassee have reaped lucrative contracts by taking over state prisons and mental hospitals. One Boca Raton company, GEO Group, manages two of the state's seven private prisons and four of its seven mental-health facilities.

Corrections Corp. of America, headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., runs four prisons, and Management Training Corp., based in Utah, runs one.

Those three companies are prime financiers of the Republican Party. GEO Group alone gave more than $400,000 to the party in the past election cycle and another $25,000 to Scott's inaugural bash.

Geo Group's lobbyist, Brian Ballard, hosted Scott at his Tallahassee home to watch the Super Bowl. He also helped raise $3 million for Scott's inaugural.

By law private prisons are to be operated to save the taxpayers 7% per year, per facility but that has never happened. The financial records and expenditures are simply too difficult to track with any accuracy.

"While some privately run prisons in Florida appear to do that, it is a murky calculation because no two facilities are exactly the same," legislative policy analyst Byron Brown told the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice last week.

The article goes on to report that the largest savings to the state are the 10% reductions in pension funding for correctional officers.

This entire mess is turning into a huge brouhaha in Florida - and many other red states as well. Ohio , is another state wanting to privatize their prisons. Newly elected Governor Kasich's long time advisor and chief of staff, Don Thibaut is now a lobbyist for CCA and Kasich’s new prisons director, Gary Mohr, also spent five years as a consultant at CCA.

In 2006 New Mexico's Governor Richardson was seen as being in the pocket of Geo Group and though a Democrat receiving money from Geo, they spent more in contributions to republicans:

"If political donations are any measure, economically challenged and poverty-stricken states like New Mexico are a great target. In this campaign cycle, Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson has already received more contributions from a private prison company than any other politician campaigning for state office in the United States. The Institute of Money in State Politics, which traced the donations, reported that GEO has contributed $42,750 to Richardson since 2005—and another $8,000 to his running mate, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish.

Another $30,000 went from GEO to the Richardson-headed Democratic Governors Association this past March. Richardson’s PAC, Moving America Forward, was another prominent recipient of GEO donations. Now, its former head, prominent state capitol lobbyist Joe Velasquez, is a registered lobbyist for GEO Care Inc., a healthcare subsidiary that runs a hospital in New Mexico.

But don’t get the idea that GEO has any particular love for Democrats: $95,000 from the corporation went to the Republican Governors Association last year alone. What companies like GEO do love are the millions of dollars rolling in from lucrative New Mexico contracts to run the Lea County Correctional Facility (operating budget: $25 million/year), and the Guadalupe County Correctional Facility ($13 million/year), among others. CCA also owns and operates the state’s only women’s facility in Grants ($11 million per year).

To make sure that those dollars keep flowing, GEO and CCA have perfected the art of the “very tight revolving door,” says Bender, which involves snapping up former corrections administrators, PAC lobbyists and state officials to serve as consultants to private prison companies.

In fact, the current New Mexico Corrections Department Secretary Joe Williams was once on GEO’s payroll as their warden of the Lea County Correctional Facility. Earlier this year, Williams was placed on unpaid administrative leave after accusations surfaced that he spent state travel and phone funds to pursue a very close relationship with Ann Casey. Casey is a registered lobbyist in New Mexico for Wexford Health Sources, which provides health care for prisoners at Grants, and Aramark, which provides most of the state’s inmate meals. In her non-lobbying hours, it turns out that Casey is also an assistant warden at a state prison in Centralia, Ill.

According to Edwin Bender, executive director of the Institute on Money in State Politics , private prison companies strongly favor giving to states with the toughest sentencing laws—in essence, the ones that are more likely to come up with the bodies to fill prison beds. Those states, adds Bender, are also the ones most likely to have passed “three-strikes” laws. Those laws, first passed by Washington state voters in 1993 and then California voters in 1994, quickly swept the nation. They were largely based on “cookie-cutter legislation” pushed by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), some of whose members come from the ranks of private prison companies.

There's the ever-frequent mention of ALEC's role in prisons, privatization and the use of prisoner slave labor. A quick look at those who belong to and/or fund ALEC's conservative initiatives reveals that many of the same companies, individuals and corporations involved with them are also supporting and funding the efforts of the Reason Foundation (Reason). Chief among these supporters (and Board members) are the Koch brothers and their foundations along with CCA and Geo Group. What is the connection I'm trying to make between the issue and both ALEC and Reason? The growing Conservative push for "criminal justice reforms" on a national basis is why. While they continue to inform all of us just how efficient privatization - and prison privatization especially - is, they hide their agendas from public view.

It has long been recognized that ALEC is/was deeply involved in implementing and supporting laws that increased arrests, incarceration and abolished parole from the 1980's through now. ALEC boasts of their ability to develop and propose such harsh criminal laws and get them passed into law in most states. They wear that fact as a cloak of their influence and abilities. They don't however, inform that the corporate members of their board and general membership profit from those efforts and laws, or say just how much that profit is in real dollars.

The Reason Foundation has similar goals and an agenda that parallels and in some cases enhances those of ALEC and another conservative organization few know about - Florida Tax Watch (FTW). Today FTW and Reason have joined forces to persuade the Florida taxpayer that by privatizing two of the four prison regions containing half of the state's prisons, they will save millions in tax dollars. Again, they continue to beat the same drum chanting over and over that privatization saves money while developing fancy charts, algorithmic formulas and slight of hand to put forth convincing arguments in support.

What isn't being said is that since 1990 and more recently just from 2008 to the present, crime and incarceration rates have been declining. In Florida they now have an estimated 8,000 empty beds in the state run facilities. In the face of empty state prison beds and declining populations, FTW, Reason and others are advocating an increase in privatization of prisons and prison duties:

"Current government correctional systems can be characterized as a fragmented collection of facilities and services—including prisons, halfway houses, probation systems, home monitoring, programming and rehabilitation—and offenders move between these facilities and services with little continuity of knowledge of their particular history and rehabilitation progress, leading to little accountability and poor results for the successful return of these individuals to society. Further, the facilities and services that comprise current systems are usually the legacy of policy decisions made years—even decades—ago and may not comport with the facility and service mix needed to improve performance of the system today and into the future. Given the disjointed nature of the current system, it should come as no surprise that recidivism is a persistent challenge, with offenders in most states more likely to return to prison than remain in free society upon release.

Corrections needs a new paradigm. This paper outlines a concept designed to target recidivism and drive cost reduction via a bold, new approach: a continuum of care through public-private partnerships (PPPs). PPPs are simply government contracts with private sector prison operators or service vendors to provide a range of correctional services—from financing, building and operating prisons to delivering a range of inmate services (e.g., health care, food, rehabilitation services) and administrative/operational support functions (e.g., facility maintenance, transportation and information technology)."

In 2008 as this reduction in prison populations began to become of concern to those companies earning large profits from incarceration and other "ranges of inmate services" began looking for ways to maintain their profit margins. Through ALEC and Reason they found an alternative to housing state and federal prisoners: Illegal immigration. As many now know, CCA and Geo through ALEC's Public Safety Task Force pushed for the implementation of SB 1070 in Arizona. That state has long been a bastion of privatization related to prison operations. In fact the same presenter of SB 1070, Senator Russell Pearce, also presented legislation in 2009 to overhaul the state's prison system by privatizing all of it. There were objections to this proposal from the DOC Director and in swift and typical fashion the objections voiced were responded to by the Reason Foundation.

Earlier this year a study was taken by the state of Arizona on the costs of privatized incarceration. It found that it costs the state more to house inmates in private prisons than it does in state run facilities. For medium custody inmates, privatization cost is 15% higher than the costs to house the same inmate in a state facility. Regardless of this kind of information Governor Brewer continues to push the agenda of more privatization which is favorable to her campaign contributors, CCA. Remember two lobbyists for CCA were discovered to be working as Brewer's Campaign Manager/Policy Advisor and her deputy chief of staff last year - and to my knowledge remain on her staff in the face of strong public objection to the ties between Brewer's office and CCA.

Unfortunately the tactics by ALEC, Reason and others prevailed last year with the passage of SB 1070. Now it is on the agenda's of 22 more U.S. states, put there by ALEC public lawmaker members and funded with campaign contributions and advertising paid for by ALEC supporters, CCA and Geo Group. No doubt these efforts of privatization are hugely profitable to those companies receiving the contracts and providing the services. They want the contracts to keep coming and money rolling in. In the face of informative and investigative articles, reports and studies warning about privatization and the true costs being downplayed, ALEC and the others continue to falsely claim money savings and reductions in recidivism. This is simply untrue and lies told by those wishing to continue making their money off of prisoners.

In support of the efforts of ALEC, Reason, FTW and other similar groups, the right wing conservatives have seen the handwriting on the wall with prison costs bankrupting states one by one and have now begun to loudly call for criminal justice and prison reforms. Right on Crime , led by Gingrich and other influential Republicans are pushing for these reforms, but their "solutions" are to let private companies take over entirely. This is simply another format to expand corporatocracy through taking over government responsibilities and duties - for profit.

How does this pertain to slave labor? Because 93,000+ current state and federal prisoners are being used by those funding, supporting and belonging to ALEC and Reason. As many know large corporate profits are being made by using the inmates in production and service industries that pay paltry wages of between $.25 and $.50 an hour for jobs once held by civilian workers for a fair and decent wage. These inmate workers are prohibited from forming unions, pursuing collective bargaining, striking for better wages and of late, are even being prohibited from bringing litigation about their living and working conditions before the state and federal courts. Such litigation is now deemed "frivolous" by judges, who have been lobbied by lawmakers and officials siding with prison authorities and industry officials to restrain the inmate's access to court intervention on conditions in prison.

As the December prison worker strike in Georgia demonstrated, there are many issues involving incarceration that are withheld from the public and any attempt to bring those living and working conditions to the attention of the public results in immediate response by prison officials. Many of those involved in that prison strike were brutally beaten for demonstrating. I have no doubt that this violent response by Georgia prison authorities was initiated as a demonstration of their own: that such "striking" will be dealt with quickly and in a physically harmful manner, to deter others from taking the same actions to draw attention to their plight.

For prison officials - public and private - inmates must be controlled at all times and prevented from informing the public what goes on behind those high fences and walls. Most believe that if the public is kept in the dark as to conditions within prisons, they will gladly continue to willingly spend their tax dollars on incarceration, believing they're getting a good return for those expenditures. They are not receiving near what they're paying for.

As I've also written previously, the U.S. Department of Justice oversees all of the federal prison industries and all state prison industries involved in the Prison Industries Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP). The Bureau of Justice Assistance has control over that program and outsourced most of their duties to the National Correctional Industries Association (NCIA) in 1995 (the same year all this privatization of prisons and the explosion in prison industry operations happened). Many of the corporations involved in one form or another with ALEC and Reason are also members or or support the NCIA. Take a quick tour of the " Buyer's Guide " at the NCIA site. Or if you like, check out the same kind of guide at the American Correctional Association's Buyer's Guide. The ACA and UNICOR (Federal Prison Industries) are now represented upon the NCIA's Board of Directors. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize how interwoven and interconnected all of this is from the DOJ all the way down to individual industries and prisons. With more than $2 billion (conservative estimate) of prison made products being sold a year and the $75 billion in tax dollars being spent per year on incarceration and the other billions expected to be made from the detention of illegal immigrants, many corporations stand in line at their banks, waiting to deposit the billions made off of prisons and prison labor.

Truth is inmates in the U.S. are now seen as nothing more than commodities to be bargained and fought over in the same way markets fight over commercial products. The more inmate "commodities" you have in your inventory, is reduced to bottom line income figures. They are assets to the likes of CCA, Geo Group, Aramark, Trinity Food Service, Prison Health Services, Keefe Commissary Network, Wexford Health Sources and hundreds of other companies.

Where will it stop? And more importantly, who will stop it? With the DOJ involved operating prison industry and privatization at the federal level and much of the state levels, how can we expect that agency to actually perform the duties assigned to them on behalf of us as citizens, tax payers and more frequently, workers displaced by prison labor? We can't. This is the problematic situation we find ourselves in. Today corporations have wormed insidiously into every government agency and department from the lowest county operations through state and into federal ones. Their lobbyists and influence are found everywhere. In DC you can find a lobbyist on every street corner and office radiating outward from the Capitol. This same situation is found in each state capitol around the country. For every state lawmaker there are ten lobbyists flocking around them, flinging handfuls of money their way in exchange for favorable support and votes. As former Illinois Governor, Rod blagojevich said in defense of his actions prior to his corruption trial, "It's just politics, that's how it's done now," seems to be the new "accepted" standard of politics in the U.S. today. Truth is our government has become rife with corruption involving corporate intervention and influence. Today most U.S. Agencies and department cater to the wants and desires of corporations, handing our tax dollars over to those corporations in exchange for promised support on issues and favorable legislation. When it comes to the point that the expected support is to be given, reasons are found by the corporate interests to no longer have any desire to give their support. Most of the problems has been driven by Conservative Republicans and the PAC's operating on their behalf. We've seen the Chamber of Commerce now supporting outsourcing of our jobs overseas and fighting the government's efforts to stem that flow of our jobs. It truly is now a situation of the haves versus the have-nots in the U.S. and 98% of us are on the losing end of that battle.

This situation with privatization has been an ongoing battle since the mid 1980's and has worn us down as a society. Corporations and their lawmaker mistresses have sold our jobs, our dignity and our national presence to the highest bidder. As they've prevailed in their efforts, our reputation overseas has diminished greatly and our society has suffered numerous financial disasters - all as a result of corporate influence and pursuit of higher profits. Now that we as a society and nation have discovered the way incarceration and criminal justice laws have been twisted and used to enrich others - at our expense - lawmakers and their corporate sponsors are saying oh how terrible it is that incarceration is bankrupting us...we should immediately implement reforms! and those reforms should be us turning all government operations and duties over to their corporate supporters to run. If we do this, what is there left to be done by our state and federal governments? What will we need them for if the corporations run everything from prisons to mental hospitals, transportation, toll roads and mercenary armies? And if we succumbed ourselves and allowed what amounts to a corporate take over of our governments...who will be left to speak on our behalf? Nobody and that's just the way the likes of ALEC, Reason and other Conservative groups, PAC's and organizations want it. If we continue along this path, our future is more than bleak, it is doomed to be the many working away for the few...

Now that DKos4 is up and running, I am considering forming a group to address prison and criminal justice reform issues and topics. If interested in joining such a group here on DK4 please let me know in the comments below. If enough have such an interest I'll work to get that up and running.

Slave Labor - A Calm Revolt in Georgia Brings This Issue to the National Spotlight

2011-01-19T22:04:00.000-08:00

From my Dkos Diary post on 1/19/11

Last month a few inmates in several Georgia prisons stood up against being used as slaves by the state and private corporations involved in prison industry. Mainstream media mostly ignored the "strike" by prison inmates - as they so often do, being owned and run by large corporate interests that may or may not be involved in prison labor themselves.

Corporate interests saw this quiet protest as a challenge to the established order of prison for profits that have ruled for the past two or more decades now. If this protest was allowed to continue there was a possibility it would spread to other Georgia prisons - as well as a real likelihood that prisoners in other states working under the same conditions might see this as an opportunity to join in the protest.

This action in Georgia by inmates of all classes, race and ethnicity demonstrated two important points. First that inmates overcame the race separation that prison staffers have long encouraged and fostered, and; a willingness of prison and non-prison state authorities to use violence to enforce the slave-like conditions under which inmates are forced to live and work to produce profits for corporate interests.

The strike began on December 9, 2010. In the days leading up to the planned target date, quiet discussions via cell phones were made among those involved. Their main concern was that the demonstration be multi-racial and involve whites, blacks and Latinos and that the demonstration remain peaceful and non-violent.

What was the purpose of this "strike" by inmates in Georgia? They were calling for decent wages, better social services and respect for their civil liberties. The prisoners also were protesting the quality of the food and the lack of fruits and vegetables, the quality of medical care, the availability of education and job training programs, parole decisions and overall conditions including having to pay for medical treatment and care while not being paid for their work. Many of the things the rest of us take for granted but are being denied to 2.3 million of us incarcerated - mostly for drug and drug related crimes.

It was a demonstration planned for a single day but continued for six anxious and tense days until called off by the inmates themselves as more and more oppressive tactics were applied by their captors. Hot water was turned off, all phones in the cell block were switched off and prison guards began searches - apparently looking for the cell phones being used to coordinate the strike - and taking "contraband" they found in the prisoner's cells.

The strike ended on December 15th but during those tense 6 days the inmates - many who were not involved in planning or setting up the strike - paid a heavy price for being an inmate in the Georgia prison system:

"Though the protest has reportedly remained non-violent, guards have allegedly used violent measures to force the men back to work. Prisoners report that at the Augusta State Prison, several inmates were ripped from their cells by CERT Team guards and beaten, resulting in broken ribs.

‘At Telfair, the Tactical Squad roughed up prisoners and destroyed all their property. At Macon and Hays State Prisons, Tactical Squads have menaced the men for days, removing some to the “hole,” and the wardens turned off heat and hot water.'

Other reports came in naming some of the participating inmates and describing what had happened to them because of their "peaceful participation" in the strike:

"Like thousands of inmates scattered in prisons across the state of Georgia, Terrance Bryant Dean participated in an eight-day peaceful protest to highlight inhumane conditions in the prisons.

"Days later he was brutally beaten by guards at Macon State Prison, his family and a coalition of supporters charge.

"When his mother, Willie Maude Dean, and members of the Concerned Coalition to Respect Prisoners’ Rights attempted to visit him at the Atlanta Medical Center on Dec. 31, the hospital claimed her son was no longer there and the corrections department claimed he was moved to Jackson State Prison the night before, according to an alert The Final Call received from coalition co-chair Elaine Brown.

"Ms. Brown said the coalition found out about the beating during its second fact-finding visit to Smith State Prison on Dec. 30. Its first prison visit was to Macon on Dec. 20.The coalition asserts the beating was in retaliation for the protest, which began in early December.

"In addition, Ms. Dean said the Georgia Department of Corrections has given no information about her son’s condition or his whereabouts.

"The mother told coalition leaders after their latest visit that Macon State Warden Gregory McLaughlin told her that Terrance was in an isolation cell, but the mother believes he was already in the hospital.

"The family of a second inmate, Miguel Jackson, alleges he was severely beaten by upwards of 20 guards Dec. 31 during what is called a “shakedown” at Smith State Prison near Glennville, Ga. in which corrections officers search prisoners’ cells. Upon finding nothing, said Mrs. Delma Jackson, Miguel’s wife, the officers accused Mr. Jackson of having “something.” Mr. Jackson was pepper sprayed, handcuffed and beaten repeatedly with hammers resulting in a fractured nose and 50 stitches to his face, said Mrs. Jackson. Guards also attempted to throw him over the railing from the second floor, she said.

"And because the family has not been allowed to see him, his wife said they worry whether or not he may have a concussion or internal injuries. Upon seeing pictures of her husband, Mrs. Jackson said she and other family members drove New Year’s Day three and a half hours from Atlanta to check on his status.

"Their visit was denied by corrections personnel, she said. This was after the family waited 90 minutes to be given a sheet to fill out, requesting a visit. “We didn’t even want to sit there and visit, we just wanted to see that he was okay and they denied us that right,” Mrs. Jackson told The Final Call.

"When she asked prison officials why visitation was denied, all officials said was that there was an “incident” and the only one authorized to approve a visit would be the warden, who was not there, Mrs. Jackson continued. Mrs. Jackson said her husband’s fractured nose as of Jan. 3 still had not been reset and she worried the violent encounter will affect him psychologically.

"Coalition spokespersons said that beating occurred around the same time it was negotiating access to certain prisons to investigate conditions. And even as the delegation visited Macon State, the corrections department was apparently covering up the inmate’s reported retaliatory beating by several CERT (Correctional Emergency Response Team) members.

"Witnesses reported to the coalition that CERT officers restrained Terrance Dean after an alleged dispute with a guard, dragged him from his cell in handcuffs and leg irons, removed him to the prison gym and beat him unconscious.

"The beating remained unreported by corrections officials even though the coalition specifically raised questions about reports of retaliatory beatings, said the group. Questions were also asked about the status and whereabouts of 37 – or more – men the corrections department identified as strike “conspirators,” the coalition said."

The response by Georgia Corrections officials was the standard action taken when riots or other violent events take place. In the instant case, there was no violence by the inmates, merely a refusal to work for nothing, receive inadequate medical care (and forced to pay for it), a parole program that actually did what it was supposed to and proper amount and quality of food provided.

By planning this strike and making their intentions known to those on the outside, prison officials learned about the impending activity and they also began planning their response. Prison facilities were placed on lock-down to keep inmates confined to their housing units. Staffing was increased and the prison CERT teams put on standby. This team of officers Corrections Emergency Response Team are trained to handle most situations encountered in the prison environment - except response to non-violent protests. The standard response? Violent and immediate action to maintain control. In this instance it resulted in unnecessary brutality at more than one facility.

I write about this for many reasons; the racial disparity in prison populations, the real lack of adequate medical treatment, parole boards who receive huge salaries without actually granting more than a handful of paroles a year, poor food given to the inmates and for a dozen more reasons.

Chief among those remaining reasons is the basis for the strike in the first place - the slave labor atmosphere created by making those incarcerated labor for free or pennies on the dollar. They labor daily to manufacture products we use daily. Sure, many work to keep the prisons running; maintenance, food service, laundry, cleaning and other daily work that allows prisons to function. But a large segment of those imprisoned who have the skills needed by prison industries, are put to work making money for those industries and many corporations they're partnered with.

As I've written previously, hundreds of corporations are involved in prison industries, prison privatization and peripheral profits garnered from canteen sales, clothing sales to inmates, healthcare contracts to provide "adequate" healthcare to inmates, food service, chemical spray agents, tasers, chairs to immobilize, pharmaceuticals, prisoner transport, data capture...and dozens more.

Because 40% of those incarcerated are African-American, they are the ones who are most adversely affected. Some say they've even been targeted by one of our political parties - Republicans. However the color or race of an inmate, though of important note, is not the issue. Rather it is the way in which all inmates are treated through imprisonment and from the attitude and actions of those who "guard" them:

"This mass incarceration comes out of racial politics stirred up by the Republican Party, attorney Alexander argued. Essentially, she said, the GOP exploited the fears and anxieties of poor working class Whites by launching a movement promising to “get tough” on “those people” and built a campaign around crime and welfare to mobilize poor and working class White voters to defect from the Democratic Party and join the Republican Party in droves.

“But now that the war on drugs and mass incarceration has gained such steam, there’s a whole range of interests that has found that they can profit from caging human beings. And it’s not just the private prison companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange, but it’s a whole range of corporate interests,” she said.

“You know, taser gun manufacturers, phone companies that gouge prisoners and their families, the private health care providers that provide typically abysmal health care to prisoners, and prison guard unions,” all of whom now lobby for harsh criminal justice policies to try to ensure their profits and jobs will continue for a foreseeable future, attorney Alexander said."

The Prison Industrial Complex (PIC)is a huge conglomerate comprised of industries, private prisons, food service, healthcare, commissary and other services related to and profiting off of prisons and the inmates they house. It has grown to such size in great part due to the labor they extract from those inmates they profit off of. As I've written previously, there are billions generated in sales of products made by these men and women we've imprisoned. Because of these profits those involved in exploiting prisoners to the fullest extent possible, were threatened by the actions taken in Georgia by the inmates.

This kind of an "uprising" by those working to ensure money is made for the corporate interests can not be allowed to happen! This was a direct threat to the corporate "way of life" they've grown used to. Thus it had to not only be put down, but quelled in such a manner that it set an example to inmates in Georgia and all other states. Profits and stock prices were put in jeopardy by this brief demonstration last month.

Because many corporations involved in prison industries, and peripheral operations are publicly traded, stocks are impacted by the smallest ripple affecting prison operations and privatization. One aspect most of us are not cognizant of is this; prison workers, staff, administrators, industry personnel and even the lowest guard working in prison, all have the benefit of employee stock options. Many buy stocks or receive stocks in CCA, Geo Group, Aramark, GE, Microsoft,and hundreds of other corporate stocks that are involved in profiting off of inmate labor and prison privatization. Guards who reduce food given to inmates, or deny necessary healthcare are not simply being hostile or vicious, he is protecting his stock prices. Sometimes it is not simply a matter of abuse, its a matter of profit that causes abusive behavior.

An inmate represents a number and expected profits for the length of his/her sentence to those profiting from incarceration. It is important to those playing this game to know precisely how long an inmate is expected to remain in prison and represent the potential for profits. This is why the "Truth in Sentencing" (TIS) laws developed by ALEC and proposed by their members to state legislatures was so important to ALEC corporate members such as Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and Geo Group. They wanted to be able to calculate the "life" term of the sentence of those they house for states. Truth in Sentencing made it mandatory that every prisoner serve "at least 85% of the sentence imposed" upon conviction of a crime.

Many also are unaware that in 1994 a federal law was passed that provides federal funding and grants to states that enact and enforce TIS laws. Thus we see the influence of ALEC and their lobbyists upon our federal lawmakers to get this kind of oppressive laws spread throughout the country. Currently 35 of the fifty states took advantage of and participate in TIS laws and receive grant funding.

"Follow the money trail" as I've been told over and over again has led me down many paths - from courts through prisons to the corporate interests involved from beginning to end. One of those paths led me to a site that claims prisoners are assigned product numbers and traded as individual stocks:

"Now that corporations with the help of the federal government had successfully converted prisoners into commodities to be traded globally, prisons saw an almost immediate end to actual punishment as prisoner labor was now sold to profit the corporation. Because the corporations owning and running prisons have only one duty, to make a profit, it is not uncommon for these prisons to be understaffed and for security to be less than desirable to keep costs down. Medical treatment is in short supply.

"Corporations have perpetuated a growth industry which must be profitable. To be profitable requires a continuously new population of prisoners sentenced to lengthy terms. In many cases these terms are drug related, or consist of other non-violent crime. With the extended sentences the prison population of the US has grown from 225,000 in the early 80’s to more than 2.5 million currently.

"Prisoners now answer phones for corporations, make 36% of all appliances sold in the US, license plates, road construction, and various other jobs, all performed for the profits of the corporation. The corporations also collect from the states and federal governments while at the same time profiting from the contracting out of prison labor. The higher the prison population the greater the number of prisoner bonds sold on Wall Street. This is organized crime perpetuated by private corporations who treat the prisoners as commodities.

"C.J.T.S. is a corporation dedicated to the tracking and coding of prisoners and provides the software to do it. Using this system and one called CUSIP:

'a nine digit number (called Ordnance Number) is issued for the Certificate of Stocks going internationally to ANNA (Lynn’s note: see link for ANNA which is in Brussels, Belgium at www.cusip.com ). These Securities are sold through the Commodity and Security Exchange. The bottom line is they are selling stocks in the prison system. The jails are referred to as Warehouses and the prisoners are called Goods.'

'From the moment a person is arrested for any reason, the prisoner cash register starts ringing. This can be for something as simple as a traffic ticket. The law enforcement department making the arrest assigns a pre-defined code to the charges being made. This code has a monetary value and the money starts rolling from this point on all the way through the system. Publicly traded prisoner stocks, took a tumble in 2008, but look as if they will rebound as the Obama Administration along with Senators McCain and Lieberman, and others such as Graham and Shumer devise plans to increase ever greater numbers of US citizens under the false flag of national security.'

Are U.S. Prisoners now being traded as public stocks? Are they being assigned a nomenclature number to identify them and to use in trading among stock brokers and investors? I haven't been able to completely research this claim, but from what I've discovered about corporate involvement in prison privatization, I would not dismiss this claim as not worthy of more investigation.

As all of the foregoing demonstrate, prison is big business in America. It has grown and spread as a disease while our attention was focused on other matters. Those involved in the PIC have purposely kept as much of their activities of manipulating our laws under the radar as possible, to avoid our objections and refusal to support such a system of abuse. From Microsoft and McDonald's to CCA and Geo Group,none of the corporate executives and their investors want any of this made public. God forbid...it would forever tarnish their image among the classes.

If inmates ceased to work behind those prison walls, this nation would be brought to a near standstill. Many of you find that hard to believe, I know but you have to understand the depth of the involvement of prisoners in our everyday lives. Millions of products sold on the open markets today are made by tens of thousands of inmates working for hundreds of profitable U.S. and foreign corporations. If inmates simply decided to quit working and stay in their cells...what would happen? Food would have to be brought to them by the corporation providing food service. Canteen sales would cease, production would grind to a halt. Trucking companies hauling the products from prison industries would stop running and commodities we buy for our homes and businesses would increase in price as they became more scarce.

In addition to all that described above...corporations would scramble to locate manufacturing facilities in the civilian markets and hire more civilian workers to replace the inmates they've used for years. Jobs would be created, money made and our economy - the economy of the people would grow exponentially as the corporate profits shrank due to the necessity to pay higher wages, benefits, vacation packages. In the end, our economy and some of the wealth that has handed over to the corporate elite would return to the working and middle classes of America.

How would this be a bad thing to all concerned - except of course those who have profited off slave labor for more than 30 years? For one single voice, I say we should encourage all inmates to cease working in the prison industries for pennies. If they do this it will cease to be profitable and force lawmakers and Courts away from incarceration, in favor of alternative programs, probation etc. The biggest winner would be us, as taxpayers who would gain our jobs and dignity back from those profiteers who have ruled for far too long.

2010-12-24T17:48:00.000-08:00

INSOURCING - Will Florida's new Gov. Scott fall in with the crooks...or clean them out?
ShareNew 0
by Bob Sloan

Thu Dec 23, 2010 at 05:22:44 PM PST

Here are links to the last 4 segments in the INSOURCING series:
INSOURCING - Florida Gov. Elect trashes PRIDE for prison industry operations

INSOURCING - Stimulus funds go to Prisons - their Lobbyists accompany new lawmakers to Washington

INSOURCING - Has the main enabler to job losses and slave labor in Prison Industries been caught?

INSOURCING - How your government does not protect your jobs or prosecute PIECP Violations

Yesterday I wrote about the advice given to Florida's Governor-Elect, Rick Scott by his transition team regarding the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) and Florida's prison industries operated by the non-profit corporation, Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises (PRIDE of Florida). Today I'd like to continue the discussion by better explaining PRIDE's activities and business practices that have resulted in such harsh language about them by the transition team - as well as others.

In simple terms it's because this corporation once served a necessary and important service for the state. They took over a state run prison industries that was floundering and costing the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to fund and turned those industries around within 4 short years. From 1980 through 1990 PRIDE was held out to all other state prison operations as a glowing and shining example of how private enterprise could work hand in hand with states to address recidivism through training and hard work.

In 1999 PRIDE participated before the U.S. House of Representatives' hearing: "OPTIONS TO IMPROVE AND EXPAND FEDERAL PRISON INDUSTRIES HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES". PRIDE's General Manager of New Business Development, Michael N. Harrell (Keep Michael Harrell and Pamela Davis' name in mind as you read the rest of this segment) spoke to the committee that was chaired by Bill McCollum (R) of Florida. In that Committee hearing McCollum and others were attempting to "improve and expand the Federal Prison Industries." In fact McCollum was so proud of "his" state's prison industry operator, PRIDE, that he wanted to use PRIDE's business format as a basis for "improving" the federal prison industry. But I lost track again...PRIDE was being heralded as the pioneer in using inmate labor to produce products and lower costs for private sector manufacturers during the 1990's.

Other states began to integrate PRIDE's business plan into their own state run industries. This was the corporation that was drug store magnate Jack Eckerd's brainchild. He worked throughout the late 70's and early 1980 working with Florida's Governor and Legislature to get their approval to try his innovative approach to combining prison industry with training and a reduction in recidivism. He was successful and so was PRIDE through 1990.

During those early years Eckerd saw to it that PRIDE kept on track with the mission goals of the program he'd put into place: training of inmates in prison to reduce idleness and provide released offenders with the skills necessary to allow them to gain employment and avoid a return to prison. Eckerd also made sure PRIDE maintained an employment service for released inmates that worked with local businesses and manufacturers willing to hire ex-offenders. In addition PRIDE provided reentry assistance to those released: vouchers for tools, housing assistance, resume writing assistance. In other words back then PRIDE was totally dedicated to the mission goals set by the Legislature.

In 1990 Eckerd stepped down as Chairman of PRIDE's Board. At the same time J. Floyd Glisson also resigned from his post as President of PRIDE. At the time they both voiced opinions that they were concerned with the direction new PRIDE Administrators were taking the corporation - away from training and concentrating on profits. Both Eckerd and Glisson went on to other projects, most of which had to do with public service duties on behalf of the people of Florida.

Pam Davis succeeded Glisson and eventually took over as CEO of PRIDE. SHe was PRIDE's CEO at the time of the above-mentioned House Committee hearing. This was the pre-2000 PRIDE.

From 1999 through the present both PRIDE and the FDOC have become what can only be termed corrupt. PRIDE turned it's corporate efforts to illegal acquisitions in pursuit of more and more profits while the FDOC began a period of total anarchy. Secretary's of the FDOC from 1999 through early 2006 ran the FDOC in a manner that became openly called the "Dixie Mafia". Steroid and drug sales rings operated within the institutions, run by senior officials of the FDOC. Inmate abuse frequency escalated, staff began raping female staff members and lavish orgies were held at the state owned homes of top DOC officials. Kickbacks brought down Secretary James Crosby in February 2006 - along with his number one "road dog" A.C. Clark.

While the FDOC was busy finding ways to skim as much money as they could from taxpayers and through lucrative contracts that provided kickbacks to the top officials, PRIDE was busy doing damn near the same thing. Davis formed a number of spin-off corporations to use to launder PRIDE funds through to the benefit of she and other members of the PRIDE Board and executives involved. Davis also implemented a policy of partnering with private sector corporations under PIECP to allow the FDOC inmates to be used as laborers for those corporations. Even that wasn't enough though, and Davis and PRIDE began a plan of partnering with then stealing entire companies - literally taking every piece of equipment of her "partners", products, materials and technologies they had developed. Davis was assisted in this by her favorite cohort, legal counsel, resident agent and lobbyist, Wilbur Brewton (mentioned in yesterday's segment and named prominently in the Transition Team Report of Rick Scott). The plan worked by PRIDE having the "partners" move all equipment and supplies into one of the prison industry facilities upon prison property. Once PRIDE staff learned the production process completely, PRIDE would accuse the partner of owing them money, kick them off the property and Wilbur Brewton would then file suit against the former partners and inundate them with motions, discovery demands and stall long enough until the former partners spent all the money they had to file counter suits and prosecute those and defend PRIDE's false charges. This was a good plan, as without equipment, materials or supplies to keep their operation going, these businesses quickly ran out of money to fight the takeover and theft. End result; PRIDE kept everything and continued operations on their own.

The connection between PRIDE and FDOC were not just the inmates kept by one and worked by the other...Crosby as Secretary of the prison system also sat upon the Board of PRIDE - alongside Pam Davis. In that capacity he had the authority to remove all of PRIDE's partners from the state prison property and the staff to keep them from ever gaining access again - to the prison property or their equipment, materials or supplies.

In 1999 Davis served upon or within PRIDE and all of the spin-offs she'd helped fund and form. She also sat on the boards of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Florida Tax Watch and had served as a director of the NCIA and that year she was serving as the Treasurer of that organization. She was also named to the Florida Council of 100 by Governor Bush.

From 1999 through 2005 the situation in Florida was that crooks were being guarded by crooks and being worked by other crooks - Crooks Crooks and Crooks? sounds like a law firm PRIDE had at one time before switching to Greenberg Traurig, or as I prefer to say, "Do, We Cheat'em and How". How the hell does that kind of thing work!? I mean what is up with that?

In 2005 the Governor's IG issued a report critical of PRIDE about the spin-offs and no-bid contracts between both. This resulted in the resignation of CEO Davis, President Bruells, CFO Robert Smith and several other PRIDE executive staff. After the report came out Governor Bush demanded the entire Board of Directors (appointed by the Governor) resign. Guess what? They had enough pull with the Legislature and at the Executive level through lobbyist Brewton that PRIDE and the Board thumbed their nose at Bush and told him in essence, to pound salt.

In 2006 the indictments of Crosby and Clark were issued and they were arrested, later accepting reduced prison sentences in exchange for guilty pleas. Davis and the rest of PRIDE avoided any prosecution by the state and were still able to avoid public exposure about their thefts of the 5 Florida businesses under the PIECP partnerships.

James McDonough was appointed by Governor Bush to take Crosby's position as Secretary of the FDOC. The Governor also replaced 5 of the PRIDE Board in January of 06, when their terms expired. Jack Edgemon was chosen from within PRIDE as the new President. The CEO position was left open. McDonough was expected to clean up the corruption in the FDOC and Edgemon was supposed to do the same thing with PRIDE. One succeeded too well and the other chose instead to cut himself - and his family - in on the money flowing through PRIDE.

McDonough went through the FDOC like a whirlwind; 20+ senior and many more mid-level staffers were given the boot. From 2006 through early 2008 James McDonough gained many supporters and accolades from the Legislature and public for cleaning up the FDOC. He believed the corruption had been eradicated from the Department within months of taking over and he turned his eye toward PRIDE where he also held a seat upon the Board.

PRIDE's President Edgemon took the low road. He upped his salary and instead of cleaning up PRIDE's situation involving the theft of the companies they stole, he approved the funding by his son-in-law of two for profit corporations - Century Meats and Circle A Brands - to be run by another former PRIDE employee. These companies took the place as PRIDE's business partner in the food processing industry operation, replacing ATL Industries (who they stole the business from). In addition, PRIDE worked closely with former ATL customers to help Century meats and Circle A to take over the federal and private contracts held by ATL. This effectively put ATL out of business and money to continue to battle them in Court.

In 2006 McDonough ordered his Inspector General to open an investigation into allegations I had provided to him concerning PRIDE. McDonough is a non-nonsense kind of guy and in responding to my allegations he asked for documentation and input as to what I thought needed to be done to fulfill PRIDE's role in training and reentry since that was their mission goal.

I provided the documents I had along with a plan that outlined my suggestions of replacing the entire PRIDE Board or the FDOC taking over the prison industries entirely. I told him the one thing that needed to be done was taking the PIECP certificate back from PRIDE.

Twice in 06 I met with Secretary McDonough at the PRIDE Board meetings and in between we corresponded about our concerns regarding PRIDE. In September 2007 the FDOC IG completed the PRIDE investigation and submitted it to McDonough. He resigned that same month from the PRIDE Board. In October he openly called upon the Governor and Legislature to abolish PRIDE and turn the prison industries and the PIECP certificate over to the FDOC. In addition McDonough demanded several million dollars in room and board deductions from PRIDE that they had taken out of the wages of inmates under PIECP and were supposed to turn over to the FDOC. The Governor agreed with McDonough and the Legislature threw a fit. When the dust settled, Secretary McDonough retired, the PIE Certificate was ordered turned back over to the FDOC and legislation was enacted on the issue of allowing the FDOC to operate the prison industries.

From 2007 to 2009 many things occurred that reinforced the concerns demonstrated by myself and Secretary McDonough: One of the companies stolen by PRIDE received a judgment against PRIDE's spin-off, Global Outsourcing (Pam Davis was the President of that one, Brewton was the attorney and resident agent of Global) for $31 million. Named in the suit? Davis and Mr. Mike Harrell (who gave testimony about PRIDE's successes at the House Sub-Comittee hearing in 1999). PRIDE hired Greenberg Traurig as their representative in one of the stolen business cases. Secretary McNeil that replaced McDonough has defied Governor Crist's demand that the FDOC take back the PIE Certificate, citing Departmental financial restraints (lest we forget, McNeil also holds McDonough's old seat on the Board of PRIDE and following his refusal to take back the certificate, PRIDE's Board in 2009 voted him the "best Secretary the FDOC has ever had").

So the important Certificate remains with and under the control of, PRIDE. Some wonder why this Certificate is worth fighting over when PRIDE only "trains" 2% or less of the inmates in FDOC and they're a "non-profit" corporation. Why put up such a battle over less than 2% of the inmates? Well because that certificate can only be held by one entity in the state issued and whoever holds it has control over which industries fall under PIECP and also over PIE industries being operated by private prison industries. The certificate allows PRIDE to sell their products upon the open markets of Florida and the holder of that certificate controls all PIECP operations in the state. Power, money and influence is attached to that piece of paper issued by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Complaints and documents I sent to Florida's Attorney General, Bill McCollum (yeah, that's right the same McCollum who chaired the House Sub-Committee Hearing back in '99) were forwarded by him to PRIDE's General Counsel, Ron LaFace (of Greenberg Traurig fame). Named in those documents were LaFace and PRIDE's long time spokesman and legislative liaison, Foster Harbin. I accused both of illegal or improper lobbying for PRIDE to amend a Florida statute to the benefit of PRIDE. Within days of receiving my complaint and the documents from McCollum, both LaFace and Harbin resigned their positions with PRIDE. And the crème de la crème? PRIDE hired Brewton back as their General Counsel. Now he is their resident agent, general counsel, lobbyists and sits on PRIDE's Board of Directors!

As I quoted from the Transition Team report yesterday, none of that legislation has made it out of committee, through "obstruction" provided by PRIDE's lobbyists in Tallahassee.

McDonough was able to clean up a huge state department rife with all classes of corruption, 28,000 employees and 100,000 inmates...but when he tried to clean up PRIDE - he ran into a brick wall and ultimately became another victim to their influence and power in the state capitol.

Now several years later, the F.B.I. and the Bureau of Justice Assistance are both investigating PRIDE and I certainly hope their findings result in mandatory prosecutions and a disbanding of the entire corporation.

So in the end all the important and influential players have taken up their positions within PRIDE and the FDOC. The incoming Governor's transition team is calling for reform of the FDOC and PRIDE and that the FDOC or state take back the PIECP certificate. This looks like it could become a nasty fight in the upcoming Florida Assembly - or will it? Scott is already known as purportedly being corrupt for defrauding Medicare through his business, so will he clean up both the department and PRIDE...or will he fall in with them?

Why should any of this matter to you? Because if you live in Florida thousands of your jobs have already been lost to or because of prison labor. If you live in any of the other 41 states operating under PIECP...you may have already lost one of the other thousands of jobs that have gone to prisoners...

Answer the poll and let me know

Poll
Will Rick Scott abolish PRIDE and clean up the FDOC? Or will he join them in further scamming Florida taxpayers?

Scott will clean up FDOC and PRIDE.
Scott will try, but fail because of PRIDE's influence with the legislature
Scott will ignore the advise of his transition team and leave both FDOC and PRIDE alone
Scott will cut himself into the corruption and money made from it.
Scott will resurrect and become the new head of the "Dixie Mafia".
I don't know
None of the above
| 29 votes | Results
COMMENTS to DK diary below

Tip Jar (15+ / 0-)
"Inmates should be reformed...not recycled"

by Bob Sloan on Thu Dec 23, 2010 at 05:22:42 PM PST
[ Reply to This ]
What an amazing diary. (8+ / 0-)
I am left wondering if one of the companies PRIDE 'installed' was yours?

I call insourcing OnShoring Labor.

The issue of private prisons and prison labor for profit and being the country with the highest percentage of incarcerated is really, really chilling.

You might enjoy this diary with a list of states and what their prisoners make:

Onshore Manufacturing - Cheap Prison Labor

by War on Error [Unsubscribe] [Edit Diary]

Sun Dec 21, 2008 at 08:53:06 AM PST

It's difficult to be happy knowing so many suffer. We must unite.

by War on Error on Thu Dec 23, 2010 at 06:03:55 PM PST
[ Reply to This | RecommendHide ]
Thanks and I read your diary linked above (5+ / 0-)
I read it and have to ask some of the same questions myself over and over again. Still haven't gotten a realistic answer to most.

This is why I didn't go near Onshoring when I began the series. These folks are busily trying to hook up small private sector companies with prison industries closest to their operation, so prison labor can replace their labor need.

They're prison labor brokers! Hard to believe anyone would choose that for an occupation, huh?

"Inmates should be reformed...not recycled"

by Bob Sloan on Thu Dec 23, 2010 at 06:20:50 PM PST
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]
Absolutely sick. (2+ / 0-)
Wonder what they're business card say on it...probably something stupid like

John Smith
Labor Infrastructure Analyst
US Prisons

You know what would be cool Bob....setting journalism students all across America on this story. Have them go to local area prisons and confront wardens regarding stories of prison labor. Then post the videos on facebook and youtube and political blogs, or maybe even send it in to their local television stations.

Hmmm...wonder if Mike Stark is still around. That dude is pretty aggressive with the confronting.

Sigh. Just thinking outside the box.

Hope you're doing well tonight Bob.

Bob Sloan: INSOURCING Slavery in the land of the free

by cosbo on Thu Dec 23, 2010 at 09:13:17 PM PST
[ Parent | Reply to This | RecommendHide ]
Thanks for stopping by and dropping (1+ / 0-)
such a neat suggestion. I wish I were able to coordinate something like that - journalism students.

However, it takes the mainstream media outlets with the most viewers to help get the work out, and they're mostly held by a few and won't say anything to upset owners - who may just have money invested in the likes of CCA.

Trying to get Christmas stuff done so Sunday I can put that behind - one more time, sigh...

"Inmates should be reformed...not recycled"

by Bob Sloan on Fri Dec 24, 2010 at 08:35:44 AM PST
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]
I wonder if the goal (0+ / 0-)
is to create a 'kinetic' system.

If prisons continue, and then succeed in bringing all the services needed to run/maintain the prison inside the prisons, they become a sort of "independent nation' operating within the communities they reside.

What is clear and impossible to defend is the reality, which your diary clearly points out, is that the US has created a huge Prison Industry.

Think about this. Robber Barons created/amassed great wealth with 'resources' that are freely provided by the earth, less the cost of extracting the resources.

Prisoners are a 'freely provided resource' for those morally bankrupt enough to profit from them.

Via poverty and neglect, the US 'manufactures' a 'cradle to prison' resource.

When will we the people be willing to push back against all that enables this travesty?

It's difficult to be happy knowing so many suffer. We must unite.

by War on Error on Fri Dec 24, 2010 at 08:31:47 AM PST
[ Parent | Reply to This | RecommendHide ]
We're pushing War on Error...we're pushing (1+ / 0-)
hard but it's all uphill right now. Many states have come to the conclusion that putting more and more in prison and using them for slave labor is not as cost efficient as previously. Some states have come to understand the real cost of prison labor is still borne by the taxpayers. I know they claim "prison industries are self sufficient, we take no tax dollars to fun our operations", etc. But...we taxpayers pay for the housing, clothing, feeding, medical and every other need inmates have. Once they walk out the cell door and go to work in the prison, the money they earn goes right back into the industry as profits...with their meager checks going into accounts so they can go to the stores and buy commissary that is sold by another corporation.

So we are paying for the total upkeep of the prison labor force with our funding. We keep their workers fed and ready to work.

"Inmates should be reformed...not recycled"

by Bob Sloan on Fri Dec 24, 2010 at 08:41:02 AM PST
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]
Why do images of... (3+ / 0-)
"Brubaker" and "Shawshank Redemption" spring to mind after reading this?!

In an insane society, the sane man would appear insane

by TampaCPA on Thu Dec 23, 2010 at 06:15:22 PM PST
[ Reply to This | RecommendHide ]
Hmmmm maybe because all of the players (3+ / 0-)
named in the diary watched both and that's where they got their ideas from? ;)

"Inmates should be reformed...not recycled"

by Bob Sloan on Thu Dec 23, 2010 at 06:22:05 PM PST
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]
Shouldn't this be done by the state? (2+ / 0-)
Why can't the states be in charge of their own prison systems? The whole community has a stake in this so it should administered by the state with auditors to make sure the goals of humane incarceration w/ rehabilitation takes place.
I find it hard to believe that the state could be as corrupt as these for profit scum suckers.

What do we want? Universal health care! When do we want it? Now!

by cagernant on Thu Dec 23, 2010 at 09:41:23 PM PST
[ Reply to This | RecommendHide ]
As I said in a response to GUGA below (0+ / 0-)
Scott just chose someone from the most corrupt of legal firms involved in assisting PRIDE - Greenberg Traurig - as his "Special Counsel" to oversee the Governor's Legislative agenda.

So the arguments put forth by his transition team appears to have gone up his nose rather than into his ear...the GT firm represents the very prison industry corporation that is causing all the problems (PRIDE) and he picks from that group? PRIDE is on safe ground, me thinks. So cleaning up the FDOC is nothing compared to what needs to be done with PRIDE and if he doesn't clean up both one will just feed off of the other.

"Inmates should be reformed...not recycled"

by Bob Sloan on Fri Dec 24, 2010 at 08:50:40 AM PST
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]
He was fined for fraud (1+ / 0-)
he stole money from Medicare. Instead of being in jail he is the governor.

Who do you think he will side with? The taxpayers of the crooks?

by GUGA on Fri Dec 24, 2010 at 05:15:01 AM PST
[ Reply to This | RecommendHide ]
Well I was holding out hope for his cleaning (0+ / 0-)
up the corruption...but sadly a news article was just released saying he has chosen a lobbyist from Greenberg Traurig as Special counsel :(.

"Scott appointed Hayden Dempsey, the former Bush aide, as special counsel to the governor who will also oversee Scott's legislative agenda. Dempsey is a lawyer and lobbyist at Greenberg Traurig and represented 13 clients before the legislature last year, including many health care concerns."So it looks to me that he wants to cut himself in on the free flow of tax money in Florida.

Such a shame, I really was hoping he would be different. Should have know by his brand (R)...

"Inmates should be reformed...not recycled"

INSOURCING - Fighting for reform - can cost you your job.

2010-12-03T06:16:00.000-08:00

Bob Sloan (C)2010

Fri Dec 3, 2010

For those visitors who may have missed my Corporatocracy series involving corporations, private prisons and prison labor, below are links to the series.

Corporatocracy
Corporatocracy-II
Corporatocracy-III
Corporatocracy-IV
Corporatocracy-V
Corporatocracy-Conclusion

Bob Sloan's diary :: ::
From 2003 through 2006 the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) was suffering from a severe case of corruption. James Crosby, former Warden at Florida State Prison (FSP-Death Row) had been chosen by Governor Jeb Bush in January 2003 to serve as the new Secretary of the FDOC (a Cabinet poistion). He replaced Michael Moore (no relation) who was leaving under a cloud of controversy and allegations of corruption. The Secretary's position included a permanent seat upon the Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises (PRIDE) Board.

There were many other choices for the Governor to pick from, but he knew Crosby. During both elections where Bush prevailed, Crosby had been a loyal supporter. He held or sponsored many meetings, dinners, parties and fund raisers for his friend Jeb. In addition to Crosby's support, Bush also had the support of another FDOC employee - A.C. Clark. Later Crosby and Clark were often referred to within the FDOC as heads of the "Good Ol' Boy's Club" or collectively, "The Big Boys".

Together Clark and Crosby twisted arms, threatened loss of prime shifts or overtime in efforts to "get out the vote" for Jeb and suggest others within the FDOC make "contributions" to Bush's campaign. In both instances a lot of support and money was garnered from among FDOC staff (22,000+) in support of Jeb Bush. Later many of those FDOC employees voiced complaints that their attendance at fund raisers, contributions and votes were coerced by Clark and Crosby through fear of losing jobs, having their shifts changed or being transferred from one institution to another, if they did not do as "suggested" by the Good Ol' Boys.

So Crosby's selection to head the state's entire Department of Corrections appears to have been based - at least in part - as a reward to Crosby for his political activities related to both Bush campaigns in Florida. Of course Crosby was only too happy to carry A.C. Clark along with him - from within the ranks of FDOC to the very top rung of the department's ladder.

As Governor, Bush later appointed A.C. Clark to the 8th Circuit Judicial Nominations Committee (JNC Appointment). Later, Bush would be unable to recall why he appointed Clark to a four year term on the Committee in response to questions as to why he would appoint a high school drop-out to such a position.

Clark had been with FDOC for years - as had Crosby - and worked at several institutions. During his tenure with DOC he made rank, only to lose it on more than one occasion. Once Crosby took office as Secretary, Clark quickly rose from Sergeant...to Major...then Colonel...to Assistant Warden...to FDOC Regional I Director (NW Florida). He rose through all those ranks from 2003 to 2006. Other "pals" of Crosby and Clark were also promoted over others with more time and rank. Clark was provided a huge home (described as a "Mansion") located on prison property and owned by the State of Florida.

Together Crosby and Clark raised hell in and around Tallahassee, within the FDOC and community. They threw lavish parties and orgies for FDOC officials and politicians on DOC property. Some turned into brawls, with attendees throwing punches at one another. When the media would try to follow up on the rumors they heard, most kept quiet, referring all to interview Crosby. He tried to keep it out of the media but was unsuccessful and several FDOC staff were arrested for the bar fights.

Crosby recruited semi-pro ball players to play for the FDOC softball team. They were hired to work as prison staff, worked no shifts but received paychecks like the rest, for playing ball.

A steroid ring was begun among staff working in the DOC. The tendrils of the drug ring ran from North Florida across the state to many institutions and originated in Egypt.

Clark was at the center of many rumors: that he used money out of an FDOC recycling fund to open a limousine service, that he was strong-arming other staff members to cover his shifts with threats of termination, covering-up

In mid-November, 2005 Crosby had to address the poor behavior of his men and women staff:

"Effective in mid November, Crosby told his top staff to begin spreading the word that employees arrested for an "act of aggression" would automatically be placed on leave while the department investigates the arrest. Crosby also told reporters in mid-November that additional policy changes will be issued soon that will cover other areas of employee misconduct on and off the job."

Crosby should have taken his own words to heart. He didn't know it then, but he and the others were already under intense FDLE and F.B.I. joint investigations for corruption, taking kickbacks and embezzling funds from the recycling program and misuse of inmate labor. It was later learned that the investigations were begun in 2003.

It is inconceivable that anyone committing such rampant corruption and abuses of power was without knowledge of the corruption ongoing within PRIDE, when he held a seat on the Board. He ignored all of the information I and others provided him with about PRIDE's state and federal violations, complaints of the formation of the spin-offs used for money laundering, wages and reduced wages of inmates, that also reduced the money taken in by the FDOC for room and board deductions from those wages. He ignored all of our requests and complaints...yet in 2005 when the IG's Audit on PRIDE was released, Crosby publicly stated that from the time he became Secretary and became a member of PRIDE's Board, he had reservations about the business practices, formation of the spin-offs and accounting procedures employed by PRIDE. He further alleged that he brought all of that to the attention of the Governor and Legislators. He knew how to "spin" the facts, for sure.

Throughout the scandals, investigations and a multitude of calls for Governor Bush to fire Crosby, he refused and instead had Crosby's back right up until February 2006. The formal investigations involving all of the corruption in FDOC were completed after the first of the year and A.C. Clark was arrested and Bush could no longer keep the lid on and ordered Crosby to Resign.

On February 10, 2006 Governor Bush appointed James R. McDonough as interim Secretary to replace Crosby. McDonough had been with Bush's Administration for the full length of his Governorship, serving as director of the Governor's Office of Drug Control. McDonough is a West Point Graduate, Author of "Platoon Leader" - later made into a popular film - and served proudly in the military, serving last in the European theater where he wrote the manuals on strategy and tactics that are still in use today.

McDonough took over with Bush's instructions to weed out the corruption and reform the prison system. He accepted his orders and went to work as always. Within weeks of taking over, McDonough fired many top officials, demoted those who had been promoted due to crony-ism and promoted those who had the skills to perform the duties assigned and had been passed over under Crosby and Moore. He charged department staff to remember their oaths and abide by them in dealing with other staff and inmates.

McDonough made a lot of enemies in his reform efforts. Most of those were the remainder of the "Good Ol' Boys" who had survived but were keeping their heads down.

I contacted Secretary McDonough shortly after he became Interim-Secretary, providing him with documents and information alleging corruption and violations of the PIECP program within PRIDE. I advised that I had provided the information previously to Secretary Crosby, to no avail. He refused to look into or investigate the allegations - even as a Board Member. Secretary McDonough replied immediately, asking if I was sure of my allegations, did I have documentation in support and did I have any suggestions on how the prison industries should be run by PRIDE, knowing what their Mission Goals were: training and job placement of inmates?

In response I forwarded several confidential documents outlining the corruption and efforts that had been made by myself and a prison advocacy group I belong to: (Little Ol' Ladies In Tennis Shoes - Florida LOLITS) and Kay Lee of Making The Walls Transparent (MTWT) to bring corruption in FDOC and PRIDE to the attention of Governor Bush and the media. I also included an independent plan for the revamping of PRIDE that would return the corporation to the Mission Goals. I advised that the Board had to be replaced with members appointed from both the commercial corporate and public activist arena's.

McDonough responded that he appreciated the input and documents and that he had ordered an investigation to be conducted by the department's IG and as soon as the report was completed he would provide a copy. As I awaited the report, I asked the Secretary if he planned on being at the upcoming (April 2006) PRIDE Board meeting and would I be allowed to attend? He promptly replied that yes, he intended to be there and as a member of the public I could attend.

I made the meeting, flying down from Indiana. Secretary McDonough could not make it to the meeting as he was in the midst of several near crises within the FDOC, but his General Counsel did attend. She spoke on his behalf and asked if I was present. Finding me there, she advised the Board that Secretary McDonough asked that the Board allow me to make a presentation to the Board as I had several grave concerns as to the PIECP program and PRIDE's business operations an practices in that program and those same concerns were mirrored by Secretary McDonough.

At the conclusion, I was given the courtesy of giving a presentation. I raised the issues of underpaid wages, use of inventoried products to fill PIECP orders, the contaminated foods coming out of their food processing plant, ethics violations by PRIDE President Edgemon and his son-in-law also working for PRIDE at the food processing plant involving the theft of ATL's equipment and materials and the formation of two for-profit corporations by his son-in-law that took the place of ATL's contracts and profits.

In addition I spoke to the use of inmates in the training program who were serving life or other sentences in excess of 20 years - voicing concerns of safety to both staff and inmates (allowing those inmates access to dangerous tools) and issues of avoiding overtime by adjusting inmate hours by removing some hours from one pay period and putting them on subsequent periods and the sale of prison made goods upon open markets without paying any PIE wages at all.

The Board thanked me and advised they would address my concerns and answer the questions at the next meeting in July. However, the Board was not aware of the situation involving ATL and the food processing facility and wanted Edgemon to explain the circumstances. Edgemon declined, stating that they were currently in litigation with ATL and he was unable to speak to the issues until the litigation was completed.

I attended the July meeting also and the Board had their internal auditor present to give a report on PIECP and how it was operated by PRIDE. In that presentation she stated that PRIDE had been reviewed numerous times by the NCIA and had been found in compliance. In answer to the wages paid to inmates, she answered that currently "all inmates working on PIECP orders/projects are paid the Florida minimum wage of $6.40 per hour." Again, she reiterated that under PIECP law, that was sufficient to meet the wage requirements of 18 USC 1761(c)(2).

I was allowed to respond to her presentation and again, pointed out that upon their website they claim to pay inmates "prevailing wages" as required by the law:

"The PIE Certification Program was created by Congress in 1979 to encourage states and units of local government to establish employment opportunities for prisoners that approximate private sector work opportunities. The program is designed to place inmates in a realistic working environment, pay them the local prevailing wage for similar work, and enable them to acquire marketable skills to increase their potential for successful rehabilitation and meaningful employment upon release."

The Board said they would further investigate my argument and address the issues in the next meeting in November. I attended that one also and PRIDE's "PIE Coordinator, Brian Connet was brought in and gave a presentation on PIECP. He gave a glowing number of statistics alleging that their training program through PIECP was turning recidivism rates around and reported many individual success rates. He again, mentioned that the inmate workers were paid minimum wage and that was in compliance with the requirements of the "1999 Final PIECP Guidelines". Mr. Connett was unable to stay and answer any questions posed by myself or the Board members. He was followed by a presentation given by Ms. Carol Tortarelli, then serving as PRIDE's Program Director for Mission Programs. She added more glowing reports to those provided by Connett about successful reentries by former offenders, but did not futher address PIECP.

At the conclusion I again gave a presentation that challenged the legality of the minimum wages paid by PRIDE when they were supposed to be paying prevailing wages - a substantial difference. The Chairman of the Board and two othr members turned to President Edgemon and asked," Jack are we in compliance on PIECP requirements by paying minimum wages?" His reply was a nod yes. When I again advised they were not only in non-compliance, but the failure to pay the proper wage rendered each product shipped across state lines a federal felony, Edgemon was asked again; "Jack are we or are we not in compliance by paying minimum wages to the workers?" His response that time was a verbal, "Yes."

(I traveled several more times to Florida to attend the meetings but was unable to convince the Board that the inmates were being cheated by paying them less than required...and by doing that, they were reducing their tax requirement of matching deductions for S.S. as employers and it also reduced the amount of room and board taken from inmate wages and turned over to the FDOC. I was talking and my words fell upon 12 sets of deaf ears).

In July 2006 Crosby and Clark both plead guilty to receiving kickbacks under an FDOC canteen contract involving Keefe Commissary Network and American Institutional Services (Earlier this year the owners of AIS were indicted, arrested and are awaiting trial for their parts in the kickback scheme. Keefe has not been mentioned after the original stories broke, and there has been no indication they will also face prosecution for their involvement in furthering the bribery scandal).

When Governor Crist took over from Bush, he kept McDonough on, citing his great work at reforming the huge FDOC.

From my initial contact with Secretary McDonough we exchanged many emails and had lunch at one of the 06 Board meetings in Orlando, discussing the issues surrounding PRIDE and their business practices. I told him I had learned that ATL was not the first private business "stolen" by PRIDE through PIECP and provided him with the names of the companies and facts as I knew them. In September 2007 the investigation he had ordered into PRIDE's operations was completed and turned over to him and McDonough resigned his position on the PRIDE Board (I didn't get a copy of that report until late 2009). In October 2009 McDonough called for Governor Crist to abolish PRIDE and return the operations of the prison industries back to the FDOC and in November he cited the fact that PRIDE 'had lost their way" in pursuing their mission goals and statement. In addition he demanded that PRIDE turn over more than $1 million deducted from inmate wages for room and board deductions, but PRIDE refused, saying state law allowed them use of those funds and McDonough countered that federal law says it rightfully belonged to his department and superseded state law.

A Senate Appropriations hearing was scheduled for January 8, 2008 to hear the proposals presented by McDonough and the FDOC on PRIDE. On January 7, 2008 James McDonough submitted an unexpected announcement that he was "retiring" from the FDOC as Secretary. I had traveled to Floria to be present at the hearing in support of the FDOC and heard the news sitting in my hotel room. I immediately emailed the Secretary and questioned if his retirement was a result of his battle over PRIDE. He stated it was his decision and the PRIDE fight had no effect upon his decision. However, since that time McDonough has been involved in several efforts to change the laws surrounding incarceration, to reduce incarceration and remove some inmates from prison and place them in facilities to address their addictions or mental problems. He has also called for sentencing alternatives to prison. So McDonough remains active in trying to change Florida's dependence upon mass incarceration and the costs in tax dollars that results in.

Throughout my conversations and communications with James McDonough he was always truthful - regardless of any personal costs to him for voicing those truths - and demonstrated a huge amount of integrity and concern. While Secretary he eliminated wasteful contracts, reduced the cost of canteen items for the inmates - state wide - and re-negotiated the inmate phone access contracts, reducing the cost of collect calls to family and friends from within the FDOC. He made many changes to professionalize the FDOC and return it to a department that was again respected - a hard task after all the corruption in the nation's third largest correctional system.

His ability to understand and realize the actions of PRIDE were violative and hampering rather than assisting a reduction in prison recidivism made him respond as he had always done, by correcting the situation and addressing the corruption that lurked within PRIDE.

Unfortunately the Governor and Legislators were willing to support McDonough's efforts of ridding the FDOC of corruption and crony-ism - but not PRIDE. When his attention turned to PRIDE (Legislator's cash cow) he had to be stopped. Inmates and most corrupt officers do not contribute to campaign funds - PRIDE and their lobbyists do - so reforming the FDOC was okay. He had been so effective at rooting out all forms of corruption within FDOC that he simply could not be allowed to pursue the same attack upon the source of most Florida politician's lobby funding through PRIDE...and in his absence corruption and huge sums of money made off of inmate labor, continues as before; growing more insidious and being exported to other states every day.

In the next segment we'll discuss the NCIA and their impact upon the violations within PIECP.

Some have asked that I provide links to the other segments in this series. Below you will find them.

INSOURCING - A new concept about private sector job losses
INSOURCING-II-The Wheel of Money and Sorrow...
INSOURCING-III - Corporate Wheel of Profit Rolls On...
INSOURCING-IV - More Profits Through Monopolies...-
INSOURCING - The Real Reason your jobs MUST go to prison and what they do with the money saved...
INSOURCING - Why this Investigative series began...
INSOURCING - Florida Corruption Exposed
INSOURCING- Violations-under-PIECP

Insourcing - Why this Investigative series began...

2010-12-03T05:52:00.000-08:00

by Bob Sloan

Sun Nov 21, 2010 at 04:13:31 PM PST

I have been exposed to both prison and prison industry over my lifetime. I personally experienced what it's like to be falsely arrested and behind those fences and working in prison industries. Because of that I was open to questions posed by inmates working where I had once been. What I discovered is not only unbelievable, it is shocking and hard to stomach.

In 2002 I was unfortunate enough to have to return to Florida in response to an old probation case I had there in 1981. My attorney said no problem we'll go down and straighten this out and get you right back to Indiana. Well that fiasco lasted nearly two years and I was finally able to resolve the case and return to my home. I won't go into large detail on this, as it isn't important to the issues involved in this series.

What is important is that during my stay in the Florida correctional system waiting on the court to rule, I was assigned to work in the PRIDE prison industry at Union Correctional Institution. Thankfully I was only there for a brief few months before coming home, but that was enough time to be dumbfounded as to the products made, the private sector customers purchasing the products and other disquieting observances.

Bob Sloan's diary :: ::
Due to numerous requests here are links to the previous segments of Insourcing:

INSOURCING - A new concept about private sector job losses
INSOURCING-II-The Wheel of Money and Sorrow...
INSOURCING-III - Corporate Wheel of Profit Rolls On...
INSOURCING-IV - More Profits Through Monopolies...-
INSOURCING - The Real Reason your jobs MUST go to prison and what they do with the money saved...
INSOURCING - Why this Investigative series began...
INSOURCING - Florida Corruption Exposed
INSOURCING- Violations-under-PIECP

While there I began to ask questions about the industry and how they could sell prisoner made products to the public? My questions were not well received and the answers provided did nothing to dispel an uneasiness about the legality of what was going on.

The court finally ruled, the case ended and I was released and sent home. I immediately filed a civil case in Indiana's federal court for my false arrest (outdated and expired warrant) in '02 here in Indy on the Florida case. Due to the legal mix-up I had lost two businesses and we were out more than $35,000.00 in attorney fees - not to mention two years of my life wasted on a "mistake".

In mid 2004 while I was in the midst of litigating the false arrest case, I received letters from some of the inmates working in the PRIDE industry where I had briefly been. They were posing questions about the prison industry's PIE program. They were still being worked to manufacture goods for the private sector under the program and asked what the program was, knowing I had asked these same questions when I was among them. They also wanted to know if their work was legal and if it affected work on the outside.

These were good questions and as a prison rights activist (yes, I was that before and after my trip back to Florida), I began to research this PIE program and found it is actually the Prison Industries Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP) run by the federal government. That was easy enough to find out.

I discovered the program was run by the Bureau of Justice Assistance from within the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs. I copied down the contact information for the Bureau of Justice Assistance and sent off a cursory email, asking about the particulars of the program and information on products manufactured and possible impact upon private sector jobs. In response I got a brief email answer advising me that I would have to contact the National Correctional Industries Association (NCIA) for information on the program.

The foregoing response left me scratching my head, wondering why I needed to contact a non-profit corporation for information on a government run program. Once I'd become nearly bald - from the scratching - I sent off a similar request to the NCIA. At the same time I visited the website operated by the NCIA and tracked down the actual PIECP program Overview and read it. That left me with more questions so I read the entire 1999 Final PIECP Guidelines and finally downloaded it to try and understand it. The formatting was all screwed up and it was difficult to determine where one topic ended and another began.

More confused by my reading and lack of comprehension about this PIECP I made copies of the guidelines and sent them to the prisoners who had contacted me. I explained what I knew about the program and that the information they had related to me in their letters was not exactly the way the program read. I asked them to provide more information and I'd find the time to look into it.

The next letter I got from these inmates in Floria advised that they had been "caught" in possession of the PIECP Guidelines by industry supervisors. Two of them were terminated for possession of contraband and a third had been suspended without pay for a week. The guidelines I'd sent were confiscated and destroyed.

Then I was really confused trying to understand how a federal program guideline used to work inmates could be considered "contraband" by prison authorities when found in possession of the workers. I contacted Florida authorities and was informed contraband was just about any item not issued by the state or on an approved list of items inmates were allowed to have in their possession.

I contacted PRIDE headquarters in Clearwater, Florida and asked them about the program. Again I was referred to the NCIA for answers to my questions. Okay, I was starting to get really uneasy as well as peeved at the difficulty I was having just getting reasonable questions answered.

Before contacting the NCIA a second time, I sat down and read the PIECP guidelines through and through - three times. From what I could determine there were nine mandatory criteria that had to be met prior to the start-up of any prison industry program. The state department of Corrections had to apply for "certification" in the program to participate and one factor that jumped off the page was the requirement that any inmate working for a prison industry under PIECP must be paid the prevailing wage for his/her labor! Okay...that was just not happening in PRIDE's industries. So I had a valid question of non-compliance. My wife and I both contacted the NCIA and explained that our reading of the document provided at their site informed that inmates in the program were to be paid the prevailing wage for their work. We explained that this was not happening in Florida and asked them to initiate a review of the program's operation in that state.

We received immediate and short responses. We were informed that a completed review of PRIDE's industries by the NCIA was performed in 2004 and they were in full compliance and paying the inmates the proper wage.

Before I could study on this disparity between the "official" finding and what I knew was going on - having been there for a brief period of time and seeing it first hand, I received a phone call from a businessman in Atlanta, Georgia. He had read some of the articles my wife had published about PRIDE on one of the activist sites and wanted to talk to her about a situation he was involved in with PRIDE. She turned the phone over to me and from that moment on, my life was completely changed - as well as all my preconceived knowledge about corporations and the U.S. prison situation in Toto.

The man who called me was the owner of a food processing business in Atlanta (ATL Industries). He had been approached by PRIDE marketing personnel in 2001 and informed he could double or triple his profits by partnering with PRIDE under the PIECP program and using inmate labor and PRIDE's facilities to process his bulk meat products. As a business owner, the prospect of increasing profits so substantially attracted ATL to further discuss the use of inmates in food processing. ATL was told that using inmates was legal under the PIECP laws and to participate they needed to transfer all of ATL's equipment to the Florida Food Industry location in Raiford, Florida. They would be required to provide the raw bulk meats, recipes, procedures and provide personnel to train the inmates and prison industry staff on the proper preparation and disclose company proprietary technology to PRIDE so the finished products would remain the same as those previously made in the private sector. In addition PRIDE needed a complete list of ATL's customers for purposes of shipping the finished goods.

PRIDE negotiated and in 2002 ATL moved all of their equipment to Florida and began operations under a contract with PRIDE. There were minor problems from the beginning, but that's to be expected when new partnerships were getting off the ground. ATL provided a supervisor to oversee the operations in Florida and for a while business progressed smoothly. ATL's gross sales of goods was approximately $20 million annually during this period.

After two years of the three year contract, ATL discovered several bookkeeping discrepancies and when they approached PRIDE about the matter, asking for an independent audit, ATL was thrown off the industry and prison property. PRIDE filed suit against ATLand claimed theyowed them money.

PRIDE seized all ATL equipment to offset their claim of money owed, they hired ATL's onsite supervisor away from ATL and continued to manufacture their products under ATL label and sold them to ATL's customer and client list as if the business was operating normally.

Trying to keep ATL open and liquid, the owner paid what amounted to extortion to get some of ATL's products released. At the same time he offered to post a non-refundable surety bond to guarantee PRIDE that if they were correct and ATL owed them money, they would get it. In the meantime he wanted his products to continue being made and shipped. PRIDE took the money he sent, refused to allow an audit or to accept the surety bond and instead went after the owner personally.

PRIDE's President, Jack Edgemon's son-in-law was involved with the food processing facility and once ATL was refused entry to the plant, he financed the formation of two for-profit corporations in Florida and picked the former ATL supervisor to head them both as President. The companies took the place of ATL and continued to operate and realize the profits that should have gone to ATL under the existing contract. They used the materials, raw bulk meats, packing and dry ingredients as well as the equipment belonging to ATL and kept the profits made.

I became aware of this in 2004 and went to work researching the situation, reading some of the court files available (PRIDE had secured a "gag order" in the civil case, so much of the information was unavailable.

In 2005 my research revealed that ATL was not the first private sector company to be taken over by PRIDE in the same manner. There was Fresh Nectar (a company partnered with PRIDE to process and ship citrus and fruit juices and citrus products), Man-Trans, llc (a company that refurbished transmissions and engines), Custom Converter Sales, Inc. (CCA refurbished transmission torque converters) and a second company that was also owned by the CCS, Valueline Converter, Inc. In each case PRIDE had done the same thing; partnered with the companies, requiring them to provide all of their equipment, stock, materials and unfinished products and technology to PRIDE and relocate behind prison fences. Once this was accomplished, within months PRIDE would throw the company owners off the property and instruct FDOC to not allow them back onto prison property, keeping the equipment, materials unfinished and finished products. PRIDE then continued the operations, selling the products to the customers of the private partners. PRIDE's attorney then filed suit alleging money owed and tied the companies up in court until the owners ran out of money to fight the legal battle (they all had no way of generating income as PRIDE had all of their equipment and stock).

I advised ATL and their attorney of the other companies and sent them documents demonstrating that this appeared to be a normal business practice of PRIDE.

During this same period 2004-2005, PRIDE came under investigation by the Florida Governor's IG office. The state wanted to audit PRIDE's books and PRIDE refused, arguing that as a private corporation they had no duty to open their books. After a long battle PRIDE was forced to allow the audit and in 2005 the IG issued a report that was scathing (Audit #2004-4). PRIDE had created nine illegal spin-off companies that was owned and operated by PRIDE Board members and/or PRIDE's CEO, Pam Davis, CFO Robert Smith or family members of the Board members. Money from these spin-offs was being dumped into a single account mixed in with the non-profit income of PRIDE. PRIDE's Board met and passed resolutions to loan these spin-offs as much as $37 million dollars (to themselves, really) with no loan repayment schedule or clauses. They then went to their spin-offs and received the money and paid themselves huge salaries, bonuses and in general used the money as they saw fit.

PRIDE then handed out no bid contracts to the spin-offs to do PRIDE's work and issued huge checks to the corporations for the "work". In the end, the CEO, President and several other PRIDE personnel were forced to resign their positions. The state of Florida did not pursue criminal action or inform the IRS of the manipulations by a registered 501 (C)(3) exempt corporation. PRIDE was forced to sever all ties to the spin-offs and reclaim the money paid out to those spin-offs. Of course, the money was gone, spent or otherwise dispersed prior to the report being issued. In the end PRIDE was able to recover less than $500K of the multi-millions it had loaned out.

In the next segment Friday, I will include links to the previous series and segments that preceded this one and will conclude the PRIDE saga and turn to the multiple violations occurring under PIECP and how the program participants are so easily able to take our jobs - and get away with it.

Happy Thanksgiving to all Americans. Enjoy your Holiday and I would ask that you add a little something in your saying of grace this year to include those who are away from friends and family overseas in our military - and sitting behind bars making the equipment the military uses. Thanks

Insourcing - The Real Reason your jobs MUST go to prison and what they do with the money saved...

2010-11-28T08:22:00.000-08:00

Monopoly is defined thus in the Miriam Webster dictionary: mo·nop·o·ly noun \mə-ˈnä-p(ə-)lē\
plural mo·nop·o·lies
Definition of MONOPOLY

exclusive ownership through legal privilege, command of supply, or concerted action
exclusive possession or control
a commodity controlled by one party
one that has a monopoly
While it would appear that no one corporation enjoys a monopoly, some are getting close.

Hundreds of thousands of prison beds are now privatized. Many of those beds are owned and operates by Corrections Corporations of America and Geo Group (formerly Wackenhut). They lease these beds to numerous states and the federal Bureau of Prisons.

Between these two corporations - CCA and Geo, respectively - they "own" or "lease" 169,000 prison beds in the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC). As this is written they are seeking more beds while still more are coming online every quarter from new prison construction and leasing of existing, outdated or unused state facilities.

Every year they "merge" of "acquire" smaller private prison corporations and accumulate the beds "owned" by those entities, the contracts held by the smaller company and the taxpayer income received through those existing contracts. In addition, title to the bodies filling those beds transfers from one to the other adding to the bottom line or the purchaser.

CCA is the nation's largest owner and operator of partnership correction and detention facilities and one of the largest prison operators in the United States, behind only the federal government and three states. They currently operate 66 facilities, including 45 company-owned facilities, with a total design capacity of approximately 90,000 beds in 19 states and the District of Columbia.

Geo Group now has 79,000 beds at 116 correctional, residential and treatment facilities. They just "merged" with Cornell Corrections, another major player in private prison operations.Projected annualized revenues are projected to be $1.5 billion.

In addition to the beds owned by these two corporations, they also have diversified their services to include providing all phases of healthcare, food service (like Aramark and Trinity), work (prison industries) and educational services. The quote blow is directly from CCA's current 3rd quarter 2010 financial report:

"CCA is the nation's largest owner and operator of partnership correction and detention facilities and one of the largest prison operators in the United States, behind only the federal government and three states. We currently operate 66 facilities, including 45 company-owned facilities, with a total design capacity of approximately 90,000 beds in 19 states and the District of Columbia. We specialize in owning, operating and managing prisons and other correctional facilities and providing inmate residential and prisoner transportation services for governmental agencies. In addition to providing the fundamental residential services relating to inmates, our facilities offer a variety of rehabilitation and educational programs, including basic education, religious services, life skills and employment training and substance abuse treatment. These services are intended to reduce recidivism and to prepare inmates for their successful re-entry into society upon their release. We also provide health care (including medical, dental and psychiatric services), food services and work and recreational programs."

From Geo's 3rd quarter 2010 financial report we learn about their Cornell merger and that their diversification now includes "Geo Care", institutions and facilities for youth offenders and more acquisitions of smaller companies and facilities:

"GEO Care
For the third quarter of 2010, GEO Care revenue increased by approximately $30.3 million year-over-year. This revenue increase was primarily driven by GEO’s merger with Cornell Companies, which added approximately $23.8 million in revenues from the integration of Cornell’s Community Based and Youth Services facilities under GEO Care, and by the acquisition of the 354-bed Columbia Regional Care Center in South Carolina in the fourth quarter of 2009.

International Services
For the third quarter of 2010, International Services revenue increased by approximately $10.9 million year-over-year driven by the activation of the Parklea Correctional Centre in Australia; the opening of a 360-bed expansion at the Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre in the United Kingdom; and positive foreign exchange rate fluctuations.

GEO represents government clients in the United States, Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. GEO’s worldwide operations include the management and/or ownership of approximately 79,000 beds at 116 correctional, detention and residential treatment facilities, including projects under development."

In 2008 when the information below was provided, there were approximately 18 U.S. Corporations involved in running, leasing or operating private prisons in the U.S. I dispute the total number of prisoners the article identifies as being privately guarded, but the concept, regardless of numbers is the same.

"Private prisons are the biggest business in the prison industry complex. About 18 corporations guard 10,000 prisoners in 27 states. The two largest are Correctional Corporation of America (CCA) and Wackenhut, which together control 75%. Private prisons receive a guaranteed amount of money for each prisoner, independent of what it costs to maintain each one. According to Russell Boraas, a private prison administrator in Virginia, "the secret to low operating costs is having a minimal number of guards for the maximum number of prisoners." The CCA has an ultra-modern prison in Lawrenceville, Virginia, where five guards on dayshift and two at night watch over 750 prisoners. In these prisons, inmates may get their sentences reduced for "good behavior," but for any infraction, they get 30 days added - which means more profits for CCA. According to a study of New Mexico prisons, it was found that CCA inmates lost "good behavior time" at a rate eight times higher than those in state prisons." Source: "The prison industry in the United States: big business or a new form of slavery?"

Now in 2010, as I've just shown directly from Geo and CCA's most current financial reports, they have space for 169,000 prisoners, detainees, youthful offenders and offenders in treatment facilities worldwide.

The information obtained indicates that the concept of privately run government prison operations in the U.S. is now being "outsourced" to many other nations: Australia, the U.K., New Zealand and many others. It is bad enough that we have this kind of manipulation of laws and contracts to allow for the incarceration of more and more of us - for longer periods of time - so corporate interests can earn huge profits, but the export of such a system to other countries will result in more and more incarceration world wide. This is being done not for protecting our societies but rather to increase profits, and consolidate more power and influence wielded by the corporations involved - worldwide.

If we as U.S. citizens are unable to stop this migration of privately run prison operations to other countries, our reputation and standing within the world arena is going to be worse than it already is after 8 years of President Bush - who allowed this concept to come to fruition in the first place. Once these other countries realize that the disinformation they were provided by CCA, Geo and others, that encouraged them to allow the corporations to privatize their prisons, was just that disinformation, we will be looked upon as responsible for what happened to their countries.

It is not only private prison companies involved. Indeed, there are all those peripheral corporations - akin to the relationship between sharks and the parasite sucking pilot fish that congregate around sharks and other carnivorous fish species. These corporate "pilot fish" include corporations such as Aramark, Trinity, PHS, AT&T, Boeing and other corporations and manufacturers who realize a profit from feeding, treating or working the increasing number of prisoners available to them through prison privatization. Not to be left in the dust, we now have many religious groups, organizations and associations clamoring for more of the scraps that fall from the prison tables. These religious and church run groups offer up privately run drug rehab, alcohol rehab, reentry and other programs designed to take advantage of prisoners. All the programs operated by these "spiritual" groups are operated not out of faith or a desire to improve the lives of the prisoners, rather for profit. They receive tax dollars through federal grants to operate their programs. In addition media articles chronicling their activities allow them to receive private donations to further increase profits and expand their programs.

This narrowing of the distance between government and religion through prison and prisoner programs has started to impact our society in other ways. In particular many among our population now find it is their right to question the faith and beliefs of those who run for office. Religion has no place in our electoral processes, yet over the past two decades it has come to play a major role in how some of us vote in the elections. This is allowed to continue and become more involved with each election because questions of faith and religion of the candidates is funded and encouraged by the corporate interests that are also trying to guide our political processes. Diversions from key issues created by the religious involvement in our elections is funded by the corporations interested in using the issues raised by them to confuse the electorate and further their objectives of putting those in office who will best serve the corporate interests.

This blending of corporate and religious interests in determining the path of our nation is one of the most dangerous elements to come out of this entire corporate/legislative/faith relationship. These key groups represent the money, power and "principles" behind a course they have charted for the direction of our democracy. Worse, they are now taking this road-map to other countries...countries that are without the political safeguards our democracy "had" and has lost to this powerful cabal. Successful operations in those countries will go much more quickly and enable corporate interests and profits to increase much faster.

It appears that the goal - besides profits - is to incarcerate a large percentage of every population and through that act, leverage more and more influence within the individual state societies.

My claim may appear to be far-fetched to some readers, but you only have to look to New Zealand over the past year. There some of our biggest proponents of the 3 strike laws, truth in sentencing and other laws that today are causing us such problems, have been presented to the government of New Zealand and were to be implemented this year.

Think there is no connection between ALEC and our lawmakers with the enhanced criminal laws such as 3 strike, truth in sentencing and other companion laws overseas? You would be wrong. Germany, New Zealand, Australia and the U.K. have/are all considering implementing their own form of these oppressive and harsh laws. These countries are all trying to implement such laws in the face of what it has done to our country financially and as a society. Why would they take such dangerous steps when it has cost us and the country so much? Corporations and ALEC.

ALEC is proud that they are now "International" with members from those countries named above. They welcome members from overseas who have the same conservative views as those expressed by ALEC and their members and supporters.

"During a roundtable conference with key European legislators, ALEC members were recently told that despite resounding â€œNoâ€ votes in referendums in France and Holland, the EU was still proceeding with the draft European Constitution by continually introducing sections of the draft by piece-meal legislation".

"Throughout 2009—2010, the Task Force has worked tirelessly on behalf of its members, presenting conference testimony on contraband tobacco legislation in the US Congress, and submitting a letter to the Australian Senate which was used to oppose a plain packaging bill. Also, our model legislation supporting final ratification of the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement is being used by the Colombian Embassy in D.C. as promotional material.

"ALEC continues to build strategic partnerships across the globe, while maintaining our public-private sector model. With international legislative members and decision makers from three continents, the IRTF is expanding its reach to further Jeffersonian principles. We are consistently adding new international partners in order to maximize our impact—both in the United States and abroad!"

Check out this picture with the caption: "ALEC briefing with representatives from the People’s Republic of China’s Commerce Ministry on December 7, 2009." and on the same page: "Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat and ALEC Executive Director Ron Scheberle discuss business opportunities in Moldova at a roundtable at ALEC on January 21, 2010.

And lest your are left with any doubts as to the influence of ALEC and their corporate member's influence and manipulations overseas:

"The members of the International Relations Task Force (IRTF) believe in the power of free markets and limited government to propel economic growth not just in the United States but around the globe. To that end, the IRTF promotes both bilateral and multilateral free trade frameworks, initiatives and partnerships that strengthen the intellectual property rights of our members worldwide and other policies that create and sustain prosperous societies. This is increasingly important as more and more American companies expand their operations overseas and as states recognize that robust international trade programs are an effective way to grow their economies. Along with the support of ALEC's traditional public and private sector members, the IRTF has cultivated relationships with legislators and other officials and organizations around the world that can serve as partners on a wide range of issues. ALEC's international policy work is persuasive abroad precisely because our policy directives are backed by our public and private sector members -- American state legislators from all 50 states and some of the world's largest corporations."Found here.

I believe the foregoing quote from the ALEC website says it all in a nutshell. They and their corporate members such as CCA, Geo, AT&T, GlaxoSmithKline, PhRMA and the hundreds of other corporations are directly and deliberately carrying their principles and business practices to other countries even as this is written. The money saved by replacing your jobs with prisoners has become profits to the corporations. This money is being put to use furthering their interests in pursuing the same agenda in other countries. More prisoners here, more prison industry, increased profits allowing for the funding of efforts elsewhere.

The steady loss of jobs in the U.S. is putting more and more of us at risk of losing homes, cars, education for our children, etc. A side effect is that as we concentrate on putting food on the table and trying to land some kind of job, our efforts are so difficult, we have no time to address social issues and participate in the current arguments on important issues. Our important issues is feeding our family and keeping a roof over our heads. Those who own corporations are not so distracted and therefore able to apply full force and support in advancing their side of issues in the public arena. This allows important issues to be less argued by those of us not participating in the discussion, and this skews the argument in favor of the corporations.

There is no doubt what their motives or objectives are. They have begun installing corporations in those countries abroad, they are promoting their conservative goals over there and they have the help of the U.S. Lawmakers to assist them in their endeavors.The most frightening aspect of the foregoing information supplied directly from ALEC's site, is the connections established between ALEC and China. What is that going to lead to? I mean CHina is already the worlds leader in the use of prisoner labor in manufacturing...

Join me tomorrow as we further explore these issues and discuss how to put a stop to this group dedicated to spreading their agenda worldwide.

INSOURCING IV – More Profits Through Monopolies...

2010-11-20T14:18:00.000-08:00

So to take up where Segment III left off, our prisoner is now incarcerated safely away from society in a state prison that is privatized. Food provided to the inmate is provided by a private food service contractor such as Aramark or Trinity Food Service Group. These corporations receive large chunks of tax dollars to provide food to inmates and are often fined for non-compliance with contract terms.

On the first day of assigned work at the prison industry, the inmate is presented documents to sign. One of the documents is a “voluntary participation document” for PIECP. When asked what this program is, our inmate is informed that if they want to earn as much as minimum wage on some of the products they make, they have to volunteer for this program. That is usually all the information provided to new hires and they sign it.

During the course of employment within the prison industry the inmate works diligently at his assigned tasks, making a myriad assortment of products for a corporation partnered with the prison industry; Boeing, Microsoft, Victoria’s Secret, Starbucks or any one of the hundreds of other corporations operating under the PIECP program.

During the prison term the inmate visits the infirmary on several occasions and his/her account is debited with a $4.00 fee for each visit. Actual medical care and treatment was paid for with tax dollars due under the contract. Medication is provided to the inmate for ailments. The private prison physician orders pills in for the inmate in a dosage that are less than that manufactured by the pharmaceutical provider, so the pills are split under a separate private contract issued by the DOC to another company – such as TYA - to cut the pills in half. This contract is worth about $12 million annually, and paid for with tax dollars.

Successfully completing 85% of the imposed sentence, the inmate prepares to leave prison and return to the community. At this time he is introduced to Prison Fellowship Ministries (PFM). PFM is the largest prisoner reentry program provider in the U.S. They are the recipients of numerous state and federal tax payer grants for reentry assistance and are privately funded through donations. Our inmate is moved to a pre-release dormitory where he will meet with PFM representatives and be “counseled” through a program that is designed to indoctrinate inmates into the Evangelical Christian belief system. In addition the inmate is instructed to secure a surety bond guaranteeing the state that he/she will not violate the terms of post-release supervision he/she will be on until the 15% remainder of sentence (gain time) is finished. The bond will be issued through the American Bail Coalition (mentioned in the previous segment) or one of their agents who will receive from $2,500.00 to $5,000.00 up front from the inmate or his/her family for issuing the bond.

If our inmate is able to provide the money for the bond he/she will be released back to the community. If not, the gain time earned can be revoked and the inmate stay in prison until the sentence is completed in full – day for day.

In the foregoing scenario, our inmate has made thousands of dollars for all of the various corporations involved directly or indirectly with criminal justice. Private U.S. corporations providing food, housing, medical, banking, phone services, commissary, prison industry, bonding - pre-trial and post-release and reentry assistance have all profited from this one inmate’s term of incarceration. In addition other corporations profited; chemical spray manufacturers, construction companies building new prisons, prison staff unions made money from dues paid by the guards, taser manufacturers profited from sales.

The numbers of private corporate hands in the prison industrial complex are staggering. What is more alarming is the fact that many of those corporations and individuals involved are all affiliated with the American Legislative Exchange Council. They sit upon the board of ALEC’s nine Task Forces and “assist our lawmakers” in developing new laws and to increase the penalties for existing criminal violations. They work diligently to increase privatization of anything governmental – especially those duties involving incarceration.

One side effect of all this is the impact upon private sector jobs displaced by more and more manufacturing moving into prison industries. State correctional authorities that operate prison industries openly advertise the benefits of partnerships between private companies and prison industries by advising prospective partners that using prison labor allows them to label their products as “Made In The U.S.A.” and provides a workforce that requires no payment of benefits, are always on time and do not miss work due to family problems.

ALEC and their corporate benefactors and members receive invaluable assistance in their efforts of taking jobs from the private sector and replacing those positions with prisoners. One of the tools that assist them is the Correctional Industries Association. This Association is similar to the National Correctional Industries Association. A brief look at their Resolution on the Fair Labor Standards Act demonstrates their goal of reducing prison labor wages to benefit corporate profits and eliminate any inmate attempts of being considered employees or receiving fair wages for their work. You might wonder who is behind an Association such as this – well many of the same ones behind the NCIA:

• AMERICAN JAIL ASSOCIATION /JAIL INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION,
• CORRECTIONAL INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION /BUREAU OF JUSTICE ASSISTANCE PIE CLEARINGHOUSE,
• NATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFERENCE SERVICE,
• NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE,
• BUREAU OF JUSTICE ASSISTANCE (BJA),
• INSTITUTE FOR LAW AND JUSTICE,
• NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CORRECTIONS INFORMATION CENTER,
• CO OFFICE OF CORRECTIONAL JOB TRAINING AND PLACEMENT,
• BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS,
• JAIL INDUSTRIES CENTER (BJA),
• NIC NATIONAL ACADEMY OF CORRECTIONS,
• PIE COORDINATOR CORRECTIONAL INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION.

The only names missing from the foregoing list are ALEC and their members; Prison Fellowship Ministries and the American Bail Coalition to make the picture complete.

With the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s authority to operate and oversee PIECP and prison industry operations and their involvement with the CIA and NCIA that make every effort to avoid paying inmates prevailing wages as required by PIECP, corporations make more money. Incentive is provided for even more corporations to choose to join them and avoid paying private sector wages when they can use inmate labor and save as much as 80% of the typical private sector hourly wage. The situation is made worse by the fact the BJA outsourced all oversight and operational duties assigned to them by the DOJ, to the NCIA.

As demonstrated by this series, Insourcing, we have been made aware of the vast amount of public funding that is being paid to private corporations involved in every phase of our judicial system – state and federal. From arrest through release these corporate interests are represented and rewarded with your tax dollars. To increase profits, they also have worked out a system whereby inmate families and friends contribute to their bottom line by sending money to inmates that is used to pay for banking, phone calls, medical and dental treatments, purchase of personal items by the inmate and finally, bonding to assure state authorities that inmate will not reoffend (this has become law in two U.S. states) and is being introduced in as many as 32 others this year.

Religious groups have discovered the tax dollars available for programs related to incarceration and have found ways to profit from incarceration (Prison Fellowship Ministries) and now want to further profit by establishing Christian prisons in Texas and again in Oklahoma and again in Oklahoma, staffed by Christians only and with inmates who “volunteer” to be housed there and ministered to daily in Evangelical theories and matters. These Christian facilities will also have prison industries upon the grounds where the Christian inmates will work for federal minimum wage. Of course these Christian prisons will be funded with our tax dollars and because the facilities will be operated by a Church organization, their income will be tax exempt – as are existing operations like those operated by Prison Fellowship. If/when these Evangelical Christian groups manage to establish and build these prison facilities, the first side effect will be an immediate drop in private sector jobs that will then be given to the inmates for minimum wage scale.

If you think this kind of Christian involvement in prison operation is not possible, you have only to look back to 2001 when one of the first Presidential Executive Orders issued by President Bush in January, 2001 was the establishment of the “White House Offices Of Faith-Based Community Initiatives” (WHOFBCI) in U.S. Government agencies and departments with instructions that staffers of each agency were to assist faith-based groups to cut through red tape and get access to federal tax dollars for community projects – especially ones related to prison incarceration and reentry. There are sites out there now providing instructions to faith-based groups on how to get the most federal tax money for their projects.

All of the acts committed and issues presented by this series have been initiated and helped along by our lawmakers. Without them corporate interests and manipulations of our state and federal laws would not be possible. We would still have many of our private sector jobs, our mortgage “industry” would not have been able to manipulate markets that would eventually collapse from those manipulations. Safeguards and regulations would not have been eliminated or watered down to allow for more profits and less government “interference” in many corporate interests such as banking, investments and insurance rates. All of these contributed to the economic picture we face today and were accomplished by our representatives succumbing to the large contributions provided by the corporations who now own most of them.

The way forward to stop the loss of jobs and more corporate influence in our life and government is to de-elect corporate enablers now in office. Those who vote against the will of their constituents to side with corporate interests have to be voted out of office. In selecting those who would replace the enablers, we must start asking important questions and firmly inform candidates that we are willing to risk one term of office on them and if they also fall under the spell of powerful corporations and special interest organizations such as ALEC, one term is all they’ll get. We all have to ignore the disinformation and mudslinging that accompanies every election cycle now. We must push for truth in campaign runs on the issues important to us and not fall into the trap of arguing about inconsequential issues devised to distract us from genuine positions of the candidates. Nothing will change unless we initiate the changes ourselves.

Political party or affiliations doesn’t matter; if your elected representative demonstrates support for corporate interests over the community’s with his/her voting, replace them until you elect one who votes for your community. Only in this way are we going to bring about reform to replace corporate control with public interests and put our country back in order.
Another action we can take is to force a change in existing prison industry legislation at the state and federal levels that will bring jobs back to our communities and neighbors. PIECP is the current controlling federal law but is being so mismanaged by the Department of Justice that all regulation has disappeared, transferred to the private sector through the NCIA. Letters have to be written to the DOJ demanding that PIECP Guidelines be enforced. Legislative intent of creating a level playing field for private sector and prison industry competition has been circumvented through deregulation and outsourcing of the program to corporate interests. The majority of citizens have been totally unaware of PIECP until recently. They had no idea the program existed and was contributing to their job losses over the past several years. We all have to make others aware of the program and how it is contributing to our lost jobs and income. In this way more pressure can be exerted by the public to reform this program so it no longer represents a cash cow to corporations and ALEC members and lawmakers who profit from it.

If PIECP is run as intended, the advantages now available to corporations would cease. They would have to pay prevailing wages to inmate workers; pay workers comp insurance premiums and would be unable to sell their products on the open markets in the state of manufacture without paying inmate workers even minimum wages. Additionally state prison facilities are funded with your dollars – even if privately operated. The prison industries operated from those prisons are offering their corporate partners cheap leases of as little as a dollar a year for entire manufacturing facilities. These are your facilities, bought and paid for with tax dollars. Every dollar saved by a corporation on these leases are a dollar paid for in subsidy by you and I.

If these modifications to the program are removed, there will be much less incentive for corporations to partner with prison industries and private sector job losses will diminish and some that have been taken will return.

This won’t affect outsourcing, but stopping insourcing is a good first step.

INSOURCING III - Corporate Wheel of Profit Rolls On...

2010-11-16T15:00:00.000-08:00

Corporations depend upon labor for their manufacturing and service industry needs. To keep the labor pool full to the rim, they develop ideas for new laws that benefit them and contribute to access to more and more individuals, some of which are highly educated and well trained with skills that will benefit prison industry operations. To this end they partner with organizations and politicians sympathetic to their needs and desires.

The machinations in the foregoing paragraph are accomplished over and over again through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and their corporate membership. Corporate representatives meet with ALEC's conservative lawmaker membership and write "model Legislation" that is then taken back to states where the member lawmakers attempt to attract sponsorship and eventually pass the legislation into law. One a law is enacted and put in place, other machinery awakens and goes to work.

A violation of the new law is discovered, the person committing the "crime" is arrested and the actual "Wheel of Sorrow and Money" begins to turn and generate profits for the corporate interests. First, the arrestee is provided an opportunity to be released pending trial by posting a surety bond to get out of jail.

ALEC's corporate member, the American Bail Coalition (ABC - it's Executive Director serving upon ALEC's Public Safety and Elections Task Force) is there to provide bonding and of course, profit from the "service" provided to the arrestee. Many state's and the federal government have implemented a pre-trial release program allowing pre-trial release of defendants, but ALEC vigorously fights against these programs to keep private sector bonding intact and making money. This is a a very important arena for ALEC, as can be seen at their Model Legislation page on Public Safety page. ALEC has no less than 13 proposed legislative bills dedicated to bail and bail recovery issues. No mis-understanding of the influence wielded by ABC within the Public Safety Task Force. Of course reading about any of this soon to be proposed legislation is not possible, due to the secretive nature of ALEC. You must be a member to access their model legislation pages.

However there is a way to discover some of what they propose by access to proposed legislation through other sources. For instance here is a two part clip on a presentation given by the ABC to ALEC lawmakers on Model bail bond legislation proposed by ALEC (second part here). For those who watch these video presentation and wonder what the document contained in the "package" given to lawmakers was, here it is. "A Plan to Reduce Prison Overcrowding and Violent Crime - “Conditional Post-Conviction Release Bond Act”. Earlier and detailed proposed legislation on this issue is found here.

For those too busy to watch the video or read the proposed legislation, here it is in a nutshell: the American Bail Coalition makes millions off of pretrial bonding. Now they want to make millions more off the same pretrial defendants - who were convicted and sent to prison - once they are up for early release. How? The ABC is promoting legislation that would allow states to require those up for release to get their family or friends to post a post-release surety bond, guaranteeing the state that they won't re-offend if released early. Of course the surety bonds issued would require a minimum 10% "fee" paid to the bonding company for the posting of the bond. The ABC Executive Director Dennis Bartlett suggested at one of the legislative presentation that lawmakers should first check to see if their state could implement this bonding system through administrative means, saying legislation takes longer and may not be as successful as just issuing and edict to allow bonding of released offenders.

So ALEC corporate members make money immediately on bonds issued to release pretrial defendants and they wish to make more on the back end through more bonding initiatives. Following arrest and bonding a trial is held - or pretrial deals made - and an offender is found guilty. Once that occurs, the sentencing guidelines enacted by ALEC model legislation kicks in and the offender is often times sentenced to the harshest sentence allowed under the guidelines, and returns to jail to await transfer to the state prison. Many jails are now privately run facilities outsourced to the likes of ALEC members Geo Group and CCA. The state or county pays these corporations a per diem for each day the convicted offender is housed there. Corporations providing food and canteen products to the inmates also make profits. Any phone calls made by the offender are handled by AT&T or other telecom providers, and the costs of these collect calls are as much as 300% higher from jail facilities than they are when made from pay phones. The convicted offender's family and friends pay these outrageous fees. The jail facility receives a "commission" from the telecom provider for allowing the placement of their equipment within the jail. Within many states county and municipal jails now charge inmates for their room and board, assessing a daily fee for incarceration. This charge is taken out of the offender's account and if he/she has no money, a lien is placed upon the account and any money received into the account is then debited first to pay for the charges and remaining funds can then be used by the offender.

Once bed space is available at the prison for the offender, he is put on a bus and transported from the jail to the prison. Often times this transfer is made using private transportation companies that contract to move prisoners around the state and country. More corporate profit from the prisoner.

Once at the prison the offender - now called an inmate - is put through orientation and medical screening. The medical department is also operated by a private corporation such as Prison Health Services, now called PHS Correctional Health out of Tennessee. Your tax dollars pay for this medical screening and any subsequent use of medical care or treatment needed by the inmate. Inmates are usually charged a co-pay of from $4.00 to $6.00 and this is turned over to the private contractor.

Following orientation the inmate is moved in the "general population" area of the prison for permanent housing. Once there he/she is put through another screening process to determine what job will be assigned to the inmate. IF he/she has skills particularly needed by the prison industry located at the prison, the inmate is assigned to the prison industry. Otherwise he/she is assigned to another job within the prison.

Again, phone calls are handled by the same or another telecom provider that is contracted with the prison operator to handle communications. The fees are usually higher from prisons than they were from jails (security is quoted as causing the increased rates) and again, paid for by the person or family called by the inmate.

The prison authority establishes an account for the new inmate. Banking has also been outsourced and privatized and the corporation with the contract is allowed to charge a monthly fee of between $4.00 and $6.00 for handling the account - regardless of whether or not the inmate has money in the account or not. Money sent in to the inmate can no longer be sent as money orders, personal checks or cash through the mail directly to the inmate or prison where he/she is housed. The inmate is provided "deposit slips" that he/she must send to friends and family who wish to send them money. They have to enclose a money order and send it with the deposit slip to the address established by the bank and prison authority. Once received it is deposited in the inmate's account - after a fee of from $.50 to $2.00 is taken out for "handling" by the bank.

Money that is left after paying the above fees is available to the inmate to purchase clothing, hygiene and other items he/she desires: food, snacks, tobacco, etc. The commissary where these items are purchased are owned and operated under contract between the prison authority and a private corporation such as Keefe Commissary Network. The only items available to an inmate must come from this provider. Family and friends can no longer send food, clothing, hygiene or other items to an inmate - everything an inmate buys or is allowed to have in his/her possession is purchased through the commissary provider.

Tomorrow I will continue this sad tale about the corporate profits from inmates - both as inmates and as a source of cheap labor.

INSOURCING II - The Wheel of Money and Sorrow...

2010-11-16T11:04:00.000-08:00

Previously I discussed PIECP and how it is being used to increase prison labor while eliminating private sector jobs to reduce labor costs, overhead and increase profits. In this and the following segments I'll discuss the entire length of the money chain from arrest through bonding and incarceration to release. I'll provide the names of the corporations, organizations, and private businesses who make large profits off of arrests and incarceration and those who profit after release from reentry program funding and donations from you.

Today I want to explain the machination that make insourcing possible and who is involved, how they're involved and who funds these efforts. To understand the concept I need for you to form a mental image of a wagon wheel. This wheel is composed of: an outer iron rim, spokes that radiate and carry the weight and pressure from the rim equally to the outer hub that holds it all together. At the center of the hub is an inner hub that fits the entire wheel to an axle.

Without any one of those four necessary components, a wheel will not function: no spokes it collapses, no rim and the spokes will collapse without something to hold it together at the outer end. No outer hub, and the spokes dangle uselessly from the rim and no inner hub for an axle and the entire wheel has no purpose and could not function at all.

These mental images demonstrate that for a wheel to work properly there must be a way for several parts to work cohesively to perform a particular task, in this case roll while distributing weight evenly. This is also an apt description of how insourcing works.

For insourcing to work correctly for corporations, lawmakers and prison industries, everything must work together toward one goal: using inmate labor to produce products or provide services to consumers and other companies. When this is done properly, corporations and prison industries make lots of money and thousands of private sector jobs are eliminated.

In this case - back to the wheel - the "axle" represents the U.S. Government's Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program - 18USC 1761(c). It fits nicely into the inner hub which in our wheel represents the National Correctional Industries Association (NCIA). NCIA is the connector between government program and prison industries and compliance with that program's laws and mandatory requirements.

The solid space between inner and outer hub represents the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The Outer hub represents lobbyists, donors and affiliated sponsors who fund and support corporate and key legislative interests. The spokes radiating away from the hub are the U.S. Corporations and state lawmakers represented by the lobbyists and sponsors. The rim represents companies, associations and organizations that profit from arrests and incarceration (other than housing, care and labor) and serve as magnets that directs individuals to the wheel and transforms them into inmates. With all parts working in unison and smoothly the wheel rolls along the ground, accumulating inmates.

Attached to the axle (PIECP) is the authority and weight of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and the Surface Transportation Board housed under the Department of Transportation that enforces the Interstate Commerce Act (this is important since PIECP statutes were created under the Interstate Transportation Act addressing interstate commerce involving prison made goods).

As the foregoing demonstration shows, the full weight of several United States Agencies and Departments - from the Secretary of Commerce through the DOJ, OJP to the BJA - bear authority for the PIECP program, that connects to our wheel. In reality this is the relationship between the highest level of our government, through a federal program to prisoners - state and federal. Interspersed within that link are private corporations, lobbyists, lawmakers, ALEC and the NCIA...all with a financial interest involving inmates (housing, banking, phone rates, medical services, food service and labor).

Tomorrow I will explain how our "wheel" operates in a most efficient manner to generate corporate profits from initial arrest through eventual release from prison. You won't have thought about the connections before and will be surprised - and angered to learn just who all profits and how.

INSOURCING- A new concept about private sector job losses

2010-11-10T13:19:00.000-08:00

As I wrote earlier in my Corporatocracy series, Webster is continually having to update their dictionary to keep up with trends and vocabulary indigenous to our new millennium.

Corporatocracy can best be described as: "A type of government in which huge corporations, through bribes, gifts, and the funding of ad campaigns that oppose candidates they don't like, become the driving force behind the executive, judicial and legislative branches".

Alongside this descriptive word and concept, another has come along - Insourcing . There is no current definition for this word in our Urban Dictionary or Websters. I plan to change that by defining in detail the concept of insourcing and who is responsible for the practice of it. First we must compare the word to it's cousin, Outsourcing.

Outsourcing has come to mean the transfer of jobs from one country to another country. The jobs are "outsourced" by corporate interests seeking higher profits through cheaper wages and other factors such as no EPA regulations in the country chosen by the corporation to replace the U.S. jobs.

Insourcing describes the process used by corporations to remove jobs from private sector labor markets and "Insource" them to prison industry operations here in the U.S. This allows for profits more in line with outsourcing, but eliminates the necessity for expensive transportation costs to return the finished goods to the U.S. for sale to consumers. It also allows manufacturers to attach lables to their goods marked "Made In The U.S.A." This is an important matter in today's markets. Americans want to buy American made products. This desire for patriotic purchasing has been around for a few decades now and was introduced by American manufacturers objecting to our purchasing of imported goods made in Japan, China, Taiwan, etc.

Insourcing of jobs is the "quiet" elimination of private sector jobs. Corporations wishing to participate in using prison labor, partner with prison industry operations under the federal Prison Industries Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP). 18 USC 1761(c) is the controlling federal statute of PIECP. Though private sector corporations are prohibited from closing private sector operations in favor of prison operations, they do so without consequence. There are other mandatory requirements that must be followed in order to participate in PIECP, but those also are rarely enforced.

The way these prison partnerships typically work is that a manufacturer wanting to increase profits moves their equipment, technology, materials and unfinished goods to a factory setting within a prison industry facility. Once up and running, the same products come off the assembly lines and are shipped as before. The difference is this, private sector employees of the company have been terminated or laid off. A handful of employees are usually kept on long enough to train inmates and prison supervisors in the manufacturing used to make the products. Once that is accomplished, they are also eliminated and their positions taken over by a prison industry supervisor.

This insourcing of labor creates quite a number of unemployed citizens. Burdens are placed on state and community social help programs, unemployment compensation, etc. So while the corporation saves lots of money in labor costs - no more unemployment insurance premiums, less expenses in lease of facilities (usually leased by the prison operators at $1.00 per year), and no more employee benefits such as medical insurance, vacations or paid time off - the communities they vacated are left to fund the unemployed left in their wake. In addition the local government loses taxes that were paid by the corporation, previous landlords of the facilities once leased to the corporations are left with vacant property and local shops and other businesses suffer a drop in sales due to the newly unemployed workers left behind.

Insourcing was never a very important topic to most - until 2008 when our economy began to collapse and unemployment grew by leaps and bounds. Only then did people begin to turn an eye toward the use of prison labor instead of private sector employees. Some of us questioned what could be done to stop the practice of losing jobs to prisoners. What we discovered was depressing; lawmakers had been hard at work enlarging this program and eliminating most regulatory measures and transferring actual oversight of the program to the very corporations and prison industries to be overseen. Corporations had just as actively been contributing campaign donations to lawmakers to ensure PIECP continued as modified without interference or regulation. Why is this such a big deal?

Most people are not aware that today prison industries are a booming business with gross sales in excess of $3 billion annually. Less than two decades ago their gross sales were less than $400 million. Prior to the early 1990's most prison industries limited sales to state agencies, departments or non-profit institutions like colleges and public schools, etc. Once corporate interests discovered PIECP that came to a screeching halt. Today prison made good are found on shelves in most major grocery stores, appliance outlets, designer clothing stores, wal-mart, kmart and many others. Prisoner made goods are now found in most homes in the U.S. Due to loop holes in the PIECP legislation, state prison industries are now able to manufacture and sell their products upon open markets in the state of manufacture without paying inmates much more than pennies on the hour for their labor. This has eliminated many small businesses, competitive private sector manufacturers and thousands of jobs nationwide. Today anyone can buy products made in prison with cheap prison labor.

To fully understand the subject of insourcing you need to also understand the basis for PIECP. A reading of the PIECP Final Guidelines at http://www.nationalcia.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/pie-final-guideline.pdf will inform that it was the intent of the lawmakers to implement this program with the basic goal of training inmates in job skills and technologies that would allow them to exit prison with the ability of becoming employed upon release and thus avoid a return to prison. That's the concept and reason for PIECP.

The program was never intended to serve as a cheap labor source for corporations but that is what it has become. This was accomplished through manipulations and lobbying by the corporations involved to change PIECP into what it is today. In order to succeed in this transformation it was necessary to reduce or eliminate altogether all oversight of the program. That is exactly what happened in the mid '90's.

The U.S. Department of Justice's, Office of Justice Programs (OJP) and Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) was given authority to oversee PIECP and enforce compliance with the mandated requirements put in place by Congress. In '95 this oversight and authority over the program was "outsourced" by the BJA to a private non-profit group - the National Correctional Industries Association (NCIA). The DOJ provided a nice healthy taxpayer grant to the NCIA for performing these oversight "duties" on behalf of the U.S. government.

Since 1995 the program has been so abused lawmakers back in 1979 would no longer recognize PIECP as the legislation they enacted that year. This abuse has come about because the NCIA is an organization made up entirely of prison industry administrators, employees of prison industries and their vendors and suppliers. All are actively involved in PIECP within their industries. Thus from 1995 through today, the entire program is being run and overseen by the same group of individuals and corporations. They have become the foxes guarding the hen-house. Through these manipulations more and more corporations have been attracted to the use of prisoners as their "labor pool".

Private prison operators such as Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and Geo Group - yes, the same ones involved in the SB 1070 corruption fiasco in Arizona - own and operate dozens of prisons across the U.S. Many of those facilities have complete manufacturing facilities attached and are operated as prison industries. CCA had a contract through 2003 with U.S. Technologies, Inc. that allowed UST to operate any prison industry under CCA's control at privately run prisons. (UST's stock was delisted by the SEC and they quietly ceased to operate after the CEO of UST was charged with corruption and bilking investors out of $13 million in 2004). Prior to their closure, UST was actively involved in attempting to corner the prison labor market. They intended to use inmate labor in every manner imaginable for profit.

Efforts to involve Union officials, management and labor leaders in rectifying this issue have been unsuccessful for some reason. Politicians and Union leaders are too busy arguing about outsourcing of our jobs overseas and seem to not have any interest in eliminating or addressing insourcing. The next time you or your neighbor loses your/their job; before looking toward China or India to see if you can see your job making it's way there, look the other way and see if perhaps some criminal that stole your car has just as easily stolen your job and income as well.

Through "Insourcing" of your jobs to inmates, those jobs have been lost permanently. Sadly, the reason for PIECP in the first place - inmate training - has been replaced with corporate profits as the goal. Lifers are being used nationwide in PIECP - men and women who will never be able to use their learned skills in the free markets. In addition the jobs and skills being taught to prisoners today no longer exist in the free markets...they've already been insourced to prison. To land such a job, the released prisoner has to return to his old cell, bunk and assigned prison industry job, exactly as planned and anticipated by prison industries and their corporate partners who are the only "winners" in this scheme.

Corporatocracy - Conclusion

2010-10-21T15:11:00.000-07:00

"Merchants never have nor ever will honor boundries, they owe no aliegence to country. Profit is their ruler driven by out and out greed for power," is a recent quote from James "JD" Hall. JD has a dislike for government and politicians in particular, for what both have done to sell our rights and freedoms to the highest bidder. We disagree on some topics, but agree on the issue that most U.S. Corporations lack loyalty to the country that made them wealthy and have a lack of concern about what their greed is costing us as citizens.

The taking of one's freedom is an act America has always fought against in wars on other continents in every era - including the current one. Our neighbors are fighting and giving their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan as this is written, battling for populations of those country's freedom from tyranny and oppression. We have always expressed views that such battles are just, proper and necessary to protect human rights and promote our values and democratic principles on the world stage.

In World War II as the world fought for just such causes in the European theater, many corporations - U.S. and international - fought alongside the Allies. Some fought on both sides in the interest of amassing huge profits, either not caring who won or hedging their bets by supporting both sides. Some of these corporations include IBM, Coca-Cola, Standard Oil and even General Motors and Ford (See footnote). In spite of the atrocities committed against all classes by the likes of Hitler, these corporations were willing to provide their products and services to this horrible regime. Their willingness to do this assisted in the extermination of minorities and other people Hitler had decreed were sub-human and thus had no place in any society. Products made by these corporations helped the German people live comfortably while they waged war against the rest of the world.

This "assistance" by such corporations enabled Hitler's Regime to succeed far longer than it would have in their absence. German workers built Opel cars for GM and others for Ford that helped Germany's economy during the war years. IBM developed and leased the "punch card" system used by Hitler to organize and keep track of prisoners in concentration camps. Following the end of the Third Reich, most German owned and held companies and corporations were prosecuted for war crimes because they had assisted Germany throughout the war. Those U.S. and International corporations that participated and also assisted Hitler were never prosecuted - or their duplicity addressed or discussed.

In light of the foregoing the quote from JD Hall is corroborated - corporations don't honor any boundary and have no allegiance to citizens or governments. They exist and operate on one simple principal: satisfy the greed demanded by owners, CEO's and investors. If public harm is committed by those pursuits, it is simply considered collateral damage in a war for profits. When public harm occurs, individuals who made the decisions or committed the acts that caused death or injury, are allowed to hide behind the corporate veil to avoid prosecution; "it wasn't me that did it, it was the business...and businesses and corporations that own or operate them can't be put behind bars and are instead "fined". The human or humans responsible for any illegal acts committed by their corporations or companies are allowed to remain free to do it all over again.

U.S. Corporate evolution has only been controlled by government rules, regulations and federal laws over the years. More and more companies have been able to manipulate all three to the point that they now dictate their own rules, regulations and challenge any law that remains to restrict their actions through litigation against the very government that sanctions their existence. Authority and oversight has been transfered from government and it's agencies to corporations through such litigation. Think about the meltdown of our economy, the travails of Enron, the ponzi scheme by Madoff. All of these acts that harmed many of our investments, retirement accounts or 401(k)'s were supposed to have been prevented by government regulation or oversight. It didn't work because corporations involved and the lawmakers they bought along the way weakened all controls until there was virtually no regulation left in place. They knew there would be an eventual collapse or bankruptcy in the future that would impact our society's workers and individual investors and create housing and mortgage chaos, but again that would simply be collateral damage. As long as the participating lawmakers and corporate interests made money until then, they were satisfied.

Enron and the collapse of giant banks, investment and mortgage companies is the reason privatization of government duties and responsibilities should never have been allowed in the first place. We have to realize that with a dwindling consumer base - that is, we all have less money to spend on trivialities, comfort items, vacations, luxury items - corporate sales have decreased markedly. With an ever increasing number of jobs in prison or overseas more of us are without employment and less money to spend. Simple economics of supply and demand apply, and we have less demand for certain items. In response to this dilemma, corporations have looked around to find another source of income to offset the loss of sales. In the mid 90's they found that source: tax dollars. The way to get their hands on that endless supply of money was to promote privatization of government duties. They instituted a campaign - that continues today - of advertising corporate abilities to perform the duties of government in a more efficient and cost effective manner. We were/are informed they can do it better for less. Many were taken in by those promises and supported privatization across the nation.

Since then reports, studies and reviews have consistently shown that the promises made have not resulted in substantial savings to taxpayers. Privately run government has not lived up to the expectations of savings we were promised. This is true of prison operations, recidivism, prison food service, healthcare or banking. What did happen was the transfer of money paid into state coffers from taxpayers went to corporations. Prison staff wages declined as did the qualifications of those hired for those duties. Corporations cut corners where governments dared not make such cuts. Though those cuts would be prohibited by government run programs, the government allowed and condoned just that when done by corporations. Because prison privatization involves housing and care of those individuals guilty of the commission of crimes, the public simply shrug and wonder why others in society care. "I mean, Duh...they're criminals!" The result of this attitude and the attendant oversight because of it has serious side effects.

Florida is one of the leading states in privatization of government programs. This past week an example of how this attitude impacts upon another segment of our society: Juvenile detention, surfaced. Staff at the Thompson Academy were accused of brutalizing the children in their care. Thompson and other private corporations are funded by the state of Florida to the tune of $74 million a year for housing juvenile offenders. This story is literally horrific and beyond belief. It demonstrates exactly why privatization is dangerous and how profits are "earned" by cutting corners. The children affected will live the rest of their lives with terrible memories. When we consider that Florida incarcerates juveniles at nearly twice the rate of other states and 80% of those children are housed and cared for by private corporations, we begin to realize the impact upon our society from privatization. If nothing else you should read this story and understand the plight of both children and adults subjected to the will of private corporations in the name of the state.

Allowing corporations to partner with lawmakers to propose and enact legislation that makes the punishment for a harmful act more severe or to impose a longer sentence so that a profit can be made over the length of a sentence imposed by a government court, is in a word, wrong. Today private prison corporations like Corrections Corporation of America, Geo Group and Cornell Corrections have their hands in every phase of corrections - from proposing stiffer laws, longer sentences, reduction in paroles granted, to housing of state and federal prisoners. All for a profit. Other corporations, though not as powerful as CCA and Geo, operate on the prison operations periphery, capitalizing on providing food service, healthcare, commissary and transportation involving prisoners. None of these "services" are provided by a sense of civic duty or responsibility, rather they are provided to make money for the private interests of those companies or corporations.

One example of the manipulation of laws and legislation to benefit corporate interests related to imprisonment, is the subject of financial contracts; loans, credit card debt and mortgages. Currently there is a nationwide push by financial corporations to change long standing laws against debtor imprisonment. Before we became a country we were a collection of immigrants who came here to escape oppression of religion and imprisonment and forced labor for debts owed to influential land-owners and barons of Europe. Here in the U.S. debtor's prison continued until abolished in the 1800's.

Today thoughts of those terrible times and issues that brought our founding fathers here have been all but forgotten. With the financial melt down that is ongoing, corporations are proposing a return to imprisonment for unpaid debts. Debt collection agencies and corporations have pushed for laws allowing them to seek incarceration of indebted individuals to make them pay up. Most of us are struggling to keep up with our debt today. This means less and less money available to pay debts we owe that aren't directly related to keeping food in our mouths and a roof over our heads. Credit card, medical and in some instances mortgage payments. This results in more losses to corporations and they've begun reverting to the use of government courts to in effect resurrect debtor's prisons as a means of collecting. Again we see a correlation of prisons and profits sought by corporations and, government involvement in helping the corporations to recover lost profits. Bankruptcy replaced debtor's prison in the 19th Century but no longer suffices for corporations that want their money.

Governments should not shirk their responsibilities where prisons and prisoners are concerned. Those incarcerated are there because they broke laws imposed by the government that sent them to prison in the first place. Transferring state responsibility for housing, health, feeding and caring for those incarcerated to private interests is a way for a government to avoid liability. If/when problems arise involving healthcare, food illnesses, injury or death that may result from improper acts of others, the government can point to the contract they have with private corporations providing those services, and claim no public responsibility, putting the onus upon the corporations. In that way if a court case ensues, no "human" goes on trial, only the corporation involved. Liability falls upon the private entity and any adverse decision results in a fine rather than imprisonment of the perpetrator - regardless of the circumstances of the case.

Enter the private sector partnerships between prison industries and private corporations and the present landscape that allows private corporations to own prison and detention facilities across our country. The taking of a citizen's freedom for acts they have committed is the responsibility of the government that created and enforces the laws that were broken. Corporate interests of profit making should never be involved in determining, proposing or enacting laws that the government applies to it's citizenry. Laws are to be enacted and enforced to provide an acceptable course of behavior by the population to protect the well being and safety of the population from those who would cause them harm.

As I previously wrote, ALEC, CCA, Geo Group and others that share similar interests and goals have/are directly involved in manipulating our laws to increase profits while pursuing the parallel goal of usurping the authority of governments under which they operate. Witness SB 1070 in Arizona - as discussed in a previous segment. Corporate manipulations in that case impact upon our elections (campaign funding, funding of election ads by hidden corporations and willing participation by government paid staffers to lobby for special interests. These staffers receive government pay and increased personal wealth from those they lobby for simultaneously), prisoner housing, use of increased taxpayer funding for incarceration and detention. The unspoken issue underneath it all is the use of prison labor to also increase profits for those making the huge campaign contributions. As discussed previously, the use of prisoners to manufacture goods, products and provide services for private corporations results in the loss of private sector jobs, and we all know who that hurts.

The current situation within the U.S. mirrors a similar time in our history - the 1930's when we were experiencing the "great depression". Then President Roosevelt proposed the WPA to put men and women to work on government projects and to improve infrastructure in the U.S. Few people are aware that there was an attempt by the U.S. corporate elite involving corporations such as Goodyear Tire, J.P. Morgan and Dupont in 1934 to take over our government. These corporate conspirators sought out a former Marine Corp General that had been used by our own government to secure foreign markets for corporate interest - despotism in it's truest form - to assist in their fascist take over of the U.S. General Butler turned out not to be their "man" for the job. He refused and testified before a Congressional Committee about the conspiracy, putting an end to the attempt. Of course, these corporations paid no price for their attempt at corporate tyranny, all of them are still around and part of today's problems involving corporate greed.

Today we face problems similar to those faced by Roosevelt and our ancestors of the 1930's: we're experiencing a recession bordering on another depression, our President is proposing the funding of infrastructure improvements to put people to work, unemployment is at record highs, state and local governments across the country are having to make tough budget decisions and corporations are again looking for ways to keep their profits increasing annually. Instead of assisting President Obama's efforts, those of the conservative right are fighting those suggestions vigorously. They are holding up every measure to help those on unemployment and while arguing for jobs they hold up voting on any proposed legislation to create jobs. This alone exemplifies the crossroads we have come to in America. We are clearly divided on this and other important matters and issues, where we should all be unifying behind government efforts of recovery instead of infighting on each side of the issues. One side wants improvement and the other wants us distracted, so no improvement will be had and they can then "blame" the other side for such failures. In the simplest of terms it boils down to this: One segment of our government and we as citizens are now aligned against another segment of our government aligned with big corporations in a giant social tug-o-war. While this goes on, very little is being accomplished. In the meantime the rest of the world passes us by in education, healthcare, global warming and other technologies. This class battle has brought us to a stagnating standstill. Corporations have the benefit of being able to diversify and expand their operations overseas and keep business going, while here we're mired in BS created by them. ALEC joined suit and they now have many international members from England and other countries who share their conservative views. As citizens we nor our government have that option and remain here fighting the battle begun by corporations and their partnered lawmakers.

Instead of privately conspiring to take over our government, huge corporations such as Koch Industries with the assistance of PAC's such as ALEC are funding a "grass roots" attempt to convince all of us that we'd be better off with corporations running everything. They label their effort as a return to "conservative values" - since we Americans are big on labels.

These efforts on part of corporate interests fail to also inform us that the use of prison labor and outsourcing of our jobs to foreign countries were their ideas in the first place. That the unemployment rates of today are directly attributable to them. While we try and put ourselves and our neighbors back to work, these corporations are busy moving every job out of reach, while professing their concepts will put people back on payrolls. Most of what they profess and the ads they fund that inundate our advertising is nothing but disinformation designed to make us believe they have our best interests at heart while they reach into our pockets and extract more and more of what money we have left. I urge all of us to not be taken in by this hyperbole. Nothing these corporations and their affiliated conservative lawmakers do is in our best interests. It is in the interests of making the most money possible off the dwindling amount of funds left in our pockets. Sales are down everywhere, jobs are non-existent and corporate owners and investors are looking for ways to continue their past expensive lifestyles in those markets marked by dwindling sales. With the loss of sales and income, corporations see a genuine threat to their control of lawmakers through huge campaign and lobbying contributions. Less sales means less money to throw around at politicians to keep them under their umbrella of influence. They see an end to their control of Congress and state legislatures and are doing everything possible to forestall that loss of power.

Let none of us be taken in by the rhetoric about keeping tax breaks for the richest among us in place - deep down we all know who that benefits, and it definitely is not us as workers or consumers. These tax breaks have been in place for a decade now and no real jobs were created during that period. What makes any of us believe that if we leave these tax rates in place it'll be different this time around? Nothing. The middle class is disappearing, more quickly with every passing year and is a direct result of these corporate giants taking more and more from us and keeping it. The richest among us already have everything they want and spend less on personal, household and other merchandise now than the typical middle class household does. Unless that money the upper class has is used to increase manufacturing, production and thus sales, we will cease to be a competitive industrial country. This is already happening at an alarming rate. Businesses crying for money to expand and hire new workers are pleading with financial institutions owned by those I've listed throughout this series. Those that have the money refuse to loan it for such expansions because they fear it will be lost in these economic times. So we are at a standstill and giving these despots more of what we have left should be unthinkable.

So, in conclusion...we've learned that corporations have the will, desire and ability to take the place of government. They truly believe their need and pursuit of profits far outweighs the needs of society. That through fear we can be manipulated to sacrifice our comfort, money and representation to support their objectives and that those objectives can be accomplished through media manipulated disinformation. Through contributions to lawmakers susceptible to campaign "bribes", legislation and laws can be created that help to impoverish and control us.

We've also learned that those involved in assisting corporations to invoke "corporate law" to replace existing laws authorized by our government, are willing to suggest modifications to our Constitution to accomplish their will. Candidates who represent themselves as "conservative" now challenge the separation of church and state provision of the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Religion, especially that identified as the conservative right, have sought and gained much headway in participating in our electoral process. Many candidates are identified by this group as not qualified to hold elected office because of their religion or beliefs. Think those with these beliefs are somehow not related to corporations? You'd be wrong. Corporations are funding their challenges and encouraging them to ask similar questions and challenge other Constitutional Amendments, such as that which pertains to citizenship for all born in the U.S. Many conservatives - again supported by corporate contributions and funding - now suggest that the 14th Amendment also needs to be changed to disallow the children of illegal immigrants from being considered U.S. citizens if born here.

The same cabal and their corporate supporters want changes or Amendments to the Constitution regarding sexual preferences and marriage. I won't go into those arguments here, that would be too demeaning and serve no real purpose - similar to the arguments presented against gay marriage and gay rights.

We must understand that there is a force out there that is pushing for serious changes to our democracy, way of life and societal concepts. It is funded and supported entirely by corporate funding and contributions to those lawmakers sympathetic to the goals of the corporations. After all, if there's anything we've learned and most of us understand, corporations do not throw their money away. No, they are very frugal and spend their money in ways that it returns to them with little brothers and sisters in tow. They are not investing in America, they are investing in imposing their will upon us. The recent "Citizens United" U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing the funding of political ads, PAC's and other electoral machinations by corporations, without any transparency is a clear indicator of where we are heading as a nation. A clear representation of how this decision is used politically is before us in this election cycle. Ads against our current administration are prevalent on TV, radio and across the internet. They are paid for with corporate funds that are virtually untraceable (as they're meant to be by those placing them). Citizens United is responsible for the ongoing scandal involving the US Chamber of Commerce's use of foreign corporate funds in our election campaigning. Again, corporate funding, but from across the water this time and given by foreign interests to ensure our continued corporate outsourcing of U.S. jobs to their countries and corporations.

We're at an important crossroads in our history. If we continue along the path we've been taking over the past two or three decades, this series shows us where we will be heading. We have the choice of avoiding that by simply looking at the choices offered and making a genuine decision to avoid that choice offered by corporations and their political partners. To do otherwise may well turn us all into laborers for corporate profiteers. Free thinking and everything we believe in is on the line. We're suffering with lost jobs and less money to spend where needed and that makes us angry and provides us with a bleak outlook for the future. The answer is to not give in to the urgings of those who would take advantage of our current situation for their profit. The answer is to hunker down and deal with our problems as we've done in the past. It is also not an answer to turn to corporations with the expectation that they have our best interests at heart. They exist to make a profit and I truly believe we've given all the profit we can - only to have it used in efforts to try and take what we have left away from us.

(Note: link to "The Corporation" shareware version on YouTube, a 23 part documentary on corporations. All segments are available on YouTube by following the links provided above. some are provided below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pin8fbdGV9Y&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SuUzmqBewg&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkygXc9IM5U&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCGTD5Bn1m0&feature=channel)

Corporatocracy V

2010-10-19T10:48:00.000-07:00

ALECWATCH Is a Corporate Watch Dog Group. Their site provides an article entitled, "Corporate America's Trojan Horse in the States - The Untold Story Behind the American Legislative Exchange Council"

A review of ALEC's publications, tax returns and news accounts show that ALEC's major benefactors have included:

Alcoholic Beverages
Coors Brewing Company
Distilled Spirits Council of the United States
Miller Brewing Company
Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, Inc.
Seagram North America

Automobiles
Avis Rent a Car
DaimlerChrysler Corporation
Ford Motor Company
General Motors Corporation

Banks/Financial Services
American General Financial Group
American Express Company
Bank of America
Community Financial Services Corporation
Credit Card Coalition
Credit Union National Association, Inc.
Fidelity Investments
Harris Trust & Savings Bank
Household International
LaSalle National Bank
J.P. Morgan & Company
Non-Bank Funds Transmitters Group

Criminal Justice
American Bail Corporation
Corrections Corporation of America
National Association of Bail Insurance Companies
Wackenhut Corrections

Energy Producers/Oil
American Petroleum Institute
Amoco Corporation
ARCO
BP America, Inc.
Caltex Petroleum
Chevron Corporation
ExxonMobil Corporation
Mobil Oil Corporation
Phillips Petroleum Company

Energy Producers/Other
American Electric Power Association
American Gas Association
Center for Energy and Economic Development
Commonwealth Edison Company
Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.
Edison Electric Institute
Enron Corporation
Independent Power Producers of New York
Koch Industries, Inc.
Mid-American Energy Company
Natural Gas Supply Association
PG&E Corporation/PG&E National Energy Group
U.S. Generating Company

Health Care
American Physical Therapy Association
Baxter Healthcare Corporation

Insurance
Alliance of American Insurers
Allstate Insurance Company
American Council of Life Insurance
American Insurance Association
Blue Cross and Blue Shield Corporation
Coalition for Asbestos Justice. (This organization
was formed in October 2000 to "explore new
judicial approaches to asbestos litigation." Its
members include ACE-USA, Chubb & Son,
CNA service mark companies, Fireman's
Fund Insurance Company, Hartford
Financial Services Group, Inc., Kemper
Insurance Companies, Liberty Mutual
Insurance Group, and St. Paul Fire and
Marine Insurance Company. Counsel to the
coalition is Victor E. Schwartz of the law
firm of Crowell & Moring in Washington,
D.C., a longtime ALEC ally.)
Fortis Health
GEICO
Golden Rule Insurance Company
Guarantee Trust Life Insurance
MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company
National Association of Independent Insurers
Nationwide Insurance/National Financial
State Farm Insurance Companies
Wausau Insurance Companies
Zurich Insurance

Law/Lobbying
Skelding, Labasky, Corry, Hauser, Metz & Daws
Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker

Manufacturing
American Plastics Council
Archer Daniels Midland Corporation
AutoZone, Inc. (aftermarket automotive parts)
Cargill, Inc.
Caterpillar, Inc.
Chlorine Chemistry Council
Deere & Company
Fruit of the Loom
Grocery Manufacturers of America
Inland Steel Industries, Inc.
International Game Technology
International Paper
Johnson & Johnson
Keystone Automotive Industries
Motorola, Inc.
Procter & Gamble
Sara Lee Corporation

Media
American Lawyer Media, Inc.
R.R. Donnelly & Sons Company
Primedia, Inc.
The Washington Times

Pharmaceuticals
Abbott Laboratories
Aventis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Bayer Corporation
Eli Lilly & Company
GlaxoSmithKline
Glaxo Wellcome, Inc.
Hoffman-LaRoche, Inc.
Merck & Company, Inc.
Pfizer, Inc.
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of
America (PhRMA)
Pharmacia Corporation
Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, Inc.
Schering-Plough Corporation
Smith, Kline & French
WYETH, a division of American Home
Products Corporation

Restaurants
McDonald's Corporation
Wendy's International, Inc.

Technology
America Online
Americans for Technology Leadership
Intel Corporation
KeySpan
Microsoft Corporation
TechCentralStation.com

Telecommunications
AT&T
Ameritech
BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc.
GTE Corporation
MCI
National Cable and Telecommunications Association
SBC Communications, Inc.
Sprint
UST Public Affairs, Inc.
Verizon Communications, Inc.

Tobacco
Cigar Association of America, Inc.
Lorillard Tobacco Company
Philip Morris Management Corporation
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
Smokeless Tobacco Council

Transportation
Air Transport Association of America
American Trucking Association
The Boeing Company
United Airlines
United Parcel Service

Other
Amway Corporation
Cabot Sedgewick
Cendant Corporation
Corrections Corporation of America
Dresser Industries
Federated Department Stores
International Gold Corporation
Mary Kay Cosmetics
Microsoft Corporation
Newmont Mining Corporation
Quaker Oats
Sears, Roebuck & Company
Service Corporation International
Taxpayers Network, Inc.
Turner Construction
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Organizations/Foundations
Adolph Coors Foundation
Ameritech Foundation
Bell & Howell Foundation
Carthage Foundation
Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation
ELW Foundation
Grocery Manufacturers of America
Heartland Institute of Chicago
The Heritage Foundation
Iowans for Tax Relief
Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation of Milwaukee
National Pork Producers Association
National Rifle Association
Olin Foundation
Roe Foundation
Scaiffe Foundation
Shell Oil Company Foundation
Smith Richardson Foundation
Steel Recycling Institute
Tax Education Support Organization
Texas Educational Foundation
UPS Foundation

The foregoing corporations, organizations, associations and foundations are the backbone of American jobs. If they don't employ us they finance, oversee or in other ways enable associated companies to do so. They also represent the top 2-3% of wealth in the U.S. and wield as much as 97-98% of influence upon our society and government - state and federal. Prior to the forming of PAC's such as ALEC in 1973, they did not enjoy this amount of influence upon either.

Slowly they have purchased more and more influence over all of us by lobbying for changes in our laws that directly impact upon them. They have worked diligently to limit government regulation of their manufacturing, lending, investing, insurance provisions, healthcare, refining, food stuff and products, retail sales, mortgage financing, outsourcing of jobs, privatization of government programs and responsibilities and of utmost importance, education.

We must all keep in mind that government run programs are non-profit. Prisons, juvenile detention and immigrant detention facilities should all be for the safety of citizens and those incarcerated/detained at no profit. Privatizing such programs and turning them over to corporations to operate invites problems due to their for-profit goals. How safe are all of us if keeping us safe is a corporate responsibility, done for profit?

A brief look at ALEC's website reveals some of the most important legislative accomplishments they boast of: tort reform (placing caps on the amount of money that can be awarded to plaintiffs in cases against corporations), truth in sentencing laws (making it mandatory that offenders serve a minimum of 85% of any sentence imposed), mandatory minimum drug sentencing, privatization of state prisons and housing of prisoners and laws limiting government oversight.

The fact that ALEC claims it's organization is nonpartisan is refuted by the fact that of all their chair positions, every seat but one is held by a Republican. ALEC's mission is stated as:

"Our Mission
The mission of the American Legislative Exchange Council 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.

...to promote these principles by developing policies that ensure the powers of government are derived from, and assigned to, first the People, then the States, and finally, the Federal Government.

...to enlist state legislators from all parties and members of the private sector who share ALEC's mission.

...to conduct a policy making program that unites members of the public and private sectors in a dynamic partnership to support research, policy development, and dissemination activities.

...to prepare the next generation of political leadership through educational programs that promote the principles of Jeffersonian democracy, which are necessary for a free society."

As idealistic as the foregoing sounds, their actual "Mission" is to remove authority over corporations from both state and federal governments and in doing so to supplant that authority with corporate interests - as recently demonstrated in Arizona. They are willing to take whatever steps necessary to accomplish this mission, regardless of the impact upon our jobs, our safety, health and lives. The goal is profits at all costs and the manner in which to accomplish this without interference is privatization. ALEC expresses their desire to reduce government "interference" in all things corporate. Look at the Wall Street fiasco, Enron scandal, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the sub-prime lending scams in light of this series and you can clearly see the result of such privatization and deregulation. Not only did we lose equity in our homes and employment, we also have been forced to bail out the corporations that acted criminally and caused the financial collapse. This was all accomplished because corporations have powerful lobbyists and the support of thousands of our lawmakers with their hands in corporate pockets.

ALEC is not the only player in this Corporatocracy but they are the largest and most influential player. Insurance companies have spread their wealth from ALEC to other PAC's in an attempt to deflect national healthcare reform. Now that it passed (weaker than we wanted) they are working to repeal the legislation altogether. ALEC alone has 25 Insurance corporations and 16 pharmaceutical companies supporting them by providing funding. Is it now clear why Medicare is not allowed to negotiate for lower prices on drugs for Medicare participants? Or why a doctor can commit malpractice upon you or a loved one and you are limited in the amount of award due to "caps" set by legislation by our Courts? It's because of the influence through lobbying our lawmakers by the likes of ALEC and health and pharmaceutical corporations, as well as lobbying by lawmakers upon fellow lawmakers on behalf of their corporate supporters.

On the issue of prison labor and the Prison Industries Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP), corporations are using the program as a cash cow. Through head turning from the DOJ, OJP and BJA, corporations are using inmate labor to manufacture a myriad assortment of everyday, specialty, warfare and defense products. Jobs manufacturing these and other products used to belong to you and other private sector employees. Through lobbying for reductions in government oversight of the program, corporations are able to use PIECP as their "labor pool" and thus eliminate private sector jobs and wages. Those jobs that haven't gone to prisoners have gone overseas where wages are much lower than those corporations would have to pay workers here in the U.S. Have they been punished for removing these jobs from us? No, in fact they lobbied for and got government approval to take the jobs away and got a tax credit as a reward for taking your jobs.

Regarding prison labor, CCA and Geo Group are major players. They hold state and federal contracts to house prisoners. In most of their privately run prisons industrial facilities are attached and prisoners work in those facilities for less than the minimum wage in most cases. These corporations realize a profit from housing state and federal offenders on one hand and a profit from corporate run industries on the other.

The concluding segment on Corporatocracy (VI) will discuss the history behind the use of fear to control our society. Where it was started by our government and how and why it has been adopted by corporations to use against us and the government itself. I will also discuss the migration of ALEC concepts across the Atlantic to England and the involvement of foreign corporate interests in American politics and upon our society.

Corporatocracy IV

2010-10-19T08:41:00.000-07:00

I've discussed the manner in which ALEC and others involved in prison industry and labor are exploiting taxpayers, private sector workers and inmates. Let's take a look at how their manipulations are accomplished.

Create the Problem

First: determine what the corporate interests/needs are; say, rate increases for telecom companies, or deregulation of EPA standards for manufacturing corporations, or tax breaks for outsourcing our jobs to third world countries. Develop an imaginary problem then propose legislation to "fix" that perceived problem and have it in the wings.

Instill Fear

Second: corporations and lawmakers determine what laws must be enacted to the benefit of corporate interests. They devise a way in which to encourage the state voters to support the proposed legislation. This is usually accomplished through disinformation instilling fear into the minds of the public. This is nothing new - and has worked for decades for organizations like ALEC - and is accomplished through the media (Fox News is especially cooperative with this kind of fear campaign).

In example we only have to look to the now-current situation in Arizona. The fact is that illegal immigration has declined markedly from 2004 through 2010 (Migration Policy Institute). Apprehensions of such illegals has declined by 2/3 (1.5 million detained in 2004 and only 537,000 detained in 2009)

CCA and Geo Group - the number one and two corporations of the private prison industry that hold numerous state and federal contracts for housing prisoners and detainees - were losing money due to vacancies in their prison and detention facilities. Crime and immigration rates were declining as mentioned above. Even with ALEC influenced and enacted laws lengthening sentences and introducing new "crimes" to be prosecuted, incarcerated felons and detained immigrants were being released in numbers that exceeded the numbers of incoming felons and detainees. This created a huge number of vacant bed space. Each vacancy cost CCA and Geo Group between $30,000.00 annually (state prisoners) and $60,000.00 (immigrant detainees). Private prison corporations were experiencing a slump in "products". There was a definite need to somehow increase intake at these facilities and they sought a solution from ALEC, the PAC they belonged to and supported through membership fees, task force chair purchases and donations. First they had to create the pretense of a "problem". Illegal immigration was chosen to be that problem.

A fear campaign was needed and begun in 2009 informing the public that illegal immigration was rampant all along the border between Mexico and the U.S. We were told violence was pouring across the border into Arizona: citizens were reported killed (later debunked), be-headings were taking place (also later debunked) and the federal government was doing nothing to protect us from this uncontrolled flow of dangerous immigrants sneaking across our border into Arizona (after the current administration ordered troops to the border to assist ICE and Border Patrol Agents, a huge increase in federal funding for more agents and in spite of the use of drones to patrol the border). These articles of unenforced illegal immigration urged citizens to contact their representatives and voice their anxiety about this issue. We were urged to request those representatives to support legislation to protect us (as planned by ALEC). In an election year, the support of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) was recruited and added to the voices of Arizona Citizens, increasing pressure on other Arizona lawmakers hesitant to enact state legislation to protect Arizona's citizens.

So, the "problem" had been created, the public's "fear" had been aroused and it was then time to move to the third phase

Provide the Solution

Third: in stepped Arizona Senator Pearce (R)(executive member of ALEC’s Public Safety and Elections Task Force). The private-sector executive members of this task force include CCA, the American Bail Coalition (which is comprised of nine of the nation’s top bail bond insurer/bounty hunter associations), the National Beer Wholesalers Association, the Wine and Spirit Wholesalers Association, the National Pawn Brokers Association and Prison Fellowship Ministries. The private-sector chair of the Public Safety Task Force is the National Rifle Association (NRA).

Pearce had "submitted" his proposed SB1070 to ALEC members a full month and a half prior to introducing it to the Arizona Senate (and a full two months prior to a reading of it in the Arizona House). Pearce and 36 other Arizona Legislators belonging to ALEC, took the bill back to Arizona and proposed it in response to the public clamoring for laws to protect them from the hordes of illegals pouring over the border with drugs, killing ranchers and beheading innocent Arizona citizens.

Voting

Fellow AZ. lawmakers not up to date on immigration or aware that the furor over illegal aliens was fabricated by ALEC and 36 of their fellow legislative members, were inundated by citizen's calls. Phone calls and emails demanded safety and a solution to the immigration "problem". These lawmakers were taken by surprise by the pressure from Pearce and his cohorts and cries from constituents caused these uninformed legislators to fully support SB1070 without any real research on the issue. Again this is typical when dealing with corporate interests put forth from ALEC and their ilk. The issue always is made to appear immediate, demanding quick responses before rational minds can fully research the "issue" presented and make an informed decision. Once a law is created and enacted, repealing it is difficult.

Result

In a perfect world the outcome would have been that of other such campaigns by corporations and ALEC; Arizona's citizens would relax, safe from murdering illegals, Senator Pearce (and his 36 fellow ALEC lawmakers) would be hailed as heros for proposing legislation that saved Arizona, the federal government under the Obama Administration would be remembered as having failed American by refusing to take affirmative action to protect it's citizens from illegal immigration, CCA and Geo Group would realize increased profits from housing all those new illegal immigrants and ALEC would have another law they could take credit for. This is exactly how it had worked numerous times in the past when put into action by ALEC or other PAC's on issues such as crime, sentencing, deregulation and other issues important to corporate interests. This time however, there was a problem...

Corporate and Legislative Conspiracy exposed

After SB1070 passed both houses, Arizona Governor Brewer signed it into state law. Before the new law could fully take effect, the federal government sued Arizona over the law. The controversy surrounding SB1070 - that already had appeared in nationwide headlines - began to be fully researched. Media articles started to hint at connections between CCA, Geo Group and Governor Brewers immediate staff. It was soon discovered that two lobbyists for CCA were important members of Brewer's staff. One was a policy advisor and campaign manager to Brewer (Chuck Coughlin) and the other was her deputy chief of staff and communications director (Paul Senseman). Coughlin owns a lobbying firm that lobbies for CCA and Senseman had previously worked for a similar firm that lobbied for CCA. He had left that firm but his wife continues to work there, lobbying for CCA.

It was further discovered that CCA and Geo Group were both big contributors to Brewer's campaign and CCA's political action committee and its lobbyists contributed another $60,000 to Brewer's top legislative priority, Proposition 100, a sales tax to help avoid budget cuts to education.

Arizona Senator Pearce's links and relationship to ALEC was exposed as were campaign contributions paid to him by CCA. His "submission" of the text and content of SB1070 to ALEC's Public Safety and Election task force prior to his actual presentation of the bill to Arizona Lawmakers was also exposed. The involvement of 36 other Arizona Lawmakers. In addition to the contributions by CCA to Brewer's campaign and legislative priorities they were identified as holders of the federal immigration detention contracts with the federal government and confirmed that they and Geo Group are both members in good standing with ALEC. It was further reported that CCA was the Chair of the Public Enterprise Board of ALEC as far back as 1999.

The full scale of the manipulations by CCA, Geo Group, Brewer, ALEC, Coughlin, Senseman, Pearce and 36 of his fellow lawmakers who were ALEC members were exposed. Americans finally realized corporations would stop at nothing to increase profits while expanding their power and wielding influence.

ALEC can now be seen for what they are: a cabal of private interest corporations partnering with 1/3 of all U.S. Lawmakers to impose their will over our government and it's citizens. Some of us looked to the past through research and discovered the many other manipulations practiced upon all of us by this "clique": Tort reform legislation, sentencing laws, deregulation of government oversight authority of everything from prison industries to EPA standards and enforcement, introduction of Faith Based Community Initiative programs (begun under President George Bush to provide federal funding for religious groups on community issues), telecommunication legislation beneficial to the likes of AT&T and insurance legislation beneficial to healthcare, life, auto and other insurance corporations. I also found the close relationship between ALEC and their members and Fox News and their media outlets.

ALEC's Annual Meeting events include speeches from notable and influential politicians and supporters. In 2007 the Annual Meeting was held in Philadelphia. Speakers and guests included: President George Bush, Presidential candidates Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee, Fox News' Neil Cavuto, Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey. All of these speakers are big supporters of corporations and have voiced a desire to limit government influence in America.

To understand the limiting government argument fully, one must realize the basic difference between corporations and government. Government operated programs, agencies and departments are "non-profit". Corporate operations are always "for-profit". Their classification may be as a non-profit LLC, corporation, 501(c)(3) or 501 (c)(6) but profit is always the ultimate goal. With the paid support of lobbyists and organizations like ALEC, corporate interests always have the upper hand in this battle. Government does not have the money or authority to "lobby" for government programs or on public issues. If they tried to do that, these corporations would scream loudly that the government is trying to unfairly use it's power to influence issues in the private sector.

Bottom line is we now know exactly how corporations and their lobbyists and organizations such as ALEC have changed the face of our country and government. We have learned just how unimportant private sector jobs are to them. They have always fought against organized labor or fair wages and in that fight they have been willing to move operations overseas or behind prison fences - out of the reach of American workers who purchase their products and use their services. It's okay for us to buy from them, but not work for them at a fair wage.

In the next segment I've identified companies and corporations who support the corporate take over of America. Once identified I hope my readers will consider avoiding any purchase of their products or services. The only way to stop this Corporatocracy is to limit the ability of corporations to fund lobbying and campaign contributions to influence beneficial corporate legislation. The quickest way to do this is to reduce their earnings through a loss of sales or services.

Corporatocracy III

2010-10-15T23:49:00.000-07:00

Before 1981, a hierarchy existed in America that set the "order" within our society that can simply be described as: citizens, workers/labor, Government, corporations then small business. As members of our society we chose jobs and occupations that fit our education and interests. We elected those we trusted to political office. Once there they were responsible for the smooth operation of government. These individuals from our communities enacted legislation that set our laws (Legislative), enforced those laws (Judicial) and administrated our government (Executive). This is a simplistic description as to how our society worked.

Beginning in the mid 80's things began to change. As I stated earlier, those changes were subtle, hardly noticeable at first. Little things were "fixed", taxes were manipulated and our lawmakers began to listen more and more to large corporations that "donated" contributions to election campaigns. Following a successful run for office, those who had been assisted by corporate donors and supporters, began voting favorably on Legislation that benefited those donors. Instead of voting their consciences or the will of their constituents these men and women ignored both in favor of the "money" that put them in office.

Sure there was some of that going on prior to 1981 and none of us liked it. There was no organization to it then, just a few Legislators looking out for themselves over the wishes of their district or state. That changed also. Laws were passed that began to change things like environmental protection. In response to "smog" from factories in places like Los Angeles and other large urban manufacturing cities, society began to seek laws to protect them from contaminants in our air and water. Other laws were passed to protect our resources, change tax codes, reduce government regulations and oversight of important agencies and departments run by our government. At the center of most of these changes sat a new group of elected officials side by side with their corporate sponsors, donors and supporters.

This was the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC was formed back in 1973 but it took them seven years to become fully empowered under the Reagan administration. Original members included: Illinois State Rep. Henry Hyde, conservative activist Paul Weyrich, and Lou Barnett, a veteran of then Gov. Ronald Reagan's 1968 presidential campaign, together with a handful of other state legislators. In 1981 President Reagan formed a national Task Force on Federalism, which was headed by U.S. Senator Paul Laxalt of Nevada. Also on the President's Task Force was ALEC National Chairman Tom Stivers of Idaho. Reagan's Task Force on Federalism would come to rely heavily upon members of ALEC. State Senator John Kasich of Ohio and Senate President Robert Monier of New Hampshire regularly met in front of the committee. As a result of the interaction between ALEC members and Reagan Administration officials, ALEC established seven first-generation Task Forces, then called Cabinet Task Forces, which worked directly with the administration on policy development issues.

In 1981, ALEC published and distributed 10,000 copies of Reagan and the States, detailing methods for decentralizing government from the federal to the state level. In 1982, ALEC began developing its first health care initiatives. In 1983, ALEC responded to the Reagan Administration's landmark study, "A Nation at Risk", with a two-part report on Education which placed blame for our nation's educational decline on centralization, declining values, and a liberal social agenda that had infected schools since the 1960s. ALEC's report proposed radical ideas like the voucher system, merit pay for teachers and increased academic and behavioral standards for students as possible solutions to the problems.

Following the end of the Reagan Administration, the Task Forces began to change from submission of ideas into think tanks that proposed model legislative bills. They started to actively seek more and more input from their private sector corporate membership, following ALEC's original philosophy that their private sector "partners" should be an ally rather than an adversary in developing sound public policy.

From that time, ALEC's Task Forces have proposed, written and approved thousands of model legislation on important issues. These model "bills" resulted in moving corporations from below that of citizens and workers in the hierarchy mentioned above. Each year, of the 1,000+ bills proposed as ALEC Model Legislation, an average of 20 percent become law.

ALEC has nine of these "Task Forces" devoted to developing model legislation beneficial to their Private Enterprise Board (consisting of corporate representatives) and their conservative "values". Huge corporations are members of ALEC and the way in which ALEC is set up, no proposed or "model legislation" can leave a task force without the explicit approval of those corporate members of individual task forces. This is a very important aspect of their PAC.

Due to the foregoing policy of disallowing any proposed legislation from leaving a task force without the approval of the corporations sitting on those committees, model legislation cannot move forward to be proposed at the state level unless it has corporate support. Thus, it doesn't matter whether legislation is beneficial to conservatives, liberals, moderates or we as a society, it goes no where unless allowed and approved by the corporations!

Tomorrow I'll discuss some of the historic laws ALEC claims responsibility for. Laws that increase sentences, disallow parole, reduce gain time, provide mandatory minimum sentencing and or course, truth in sentencing that calls for a prisoner to complete 85% of his/her imposed sentence. All of this was explained to us as "protecting" us from crime and hardened criminals, but in actuality they are designed to provide a labor force for ALEC's corporate partners and other corporations, that work for pennies on the dollar to make the products you use today.

In addition we'll look at the impact these laws - proposed and sold to other state legislators by ALEC legislative members - have had upon us and our society. I'll trace the laws ALEC is responsible for that have brought us to where we are today.

Corporatocracy II

2010-10-15T13:06:00.000-07:00

In my last post I provided two key words: fascism and Corporatocracy . I also provided definitions of both as found in the Urban Dictionary. I believe both words and the concepts they give us are important in today's social environment - not only in America, but also on the world stage.

As I stated before, I have had an opportunity to revisit the years of my youth and compare them to the years of late. As adults all of us have similar memories of growing up; games, friends, school, injuries, lost loves, good times and bad ones. All of these are "personal" memories important to us as individuals and define how we've grown and matured with age.

What we have less memories of are social issues that were important to us through our years of reaching our maturity. With age some of those issues have faded from memory and history itself. There are fewer and fewer of us born immediately after the last World War who grew up during the period known as the "Cold War" era. I grew up during that time and remember being provided with instructions of what to do in case of a "nuclear" attack - you know, under the desk, cover my head and wait for the all clear. Now I realize just how damn stupid and useless those instructions were. Nobody would live through such an event. It was all BS put out by our government to make us believe our safety was important to "them".

There were other issues and events that transpired during that terrible era that have somehow been forgotten by us - left by the wayside as technology and our "advanced" civilization evolved - and others that have stayed with us, providing continued controversy and discussion into this new millennium; abortion, homosexuality, gun rights, immigration and death penalty and human rights to name a few.

While we continue to grapple with these social issues that haunt us as Americans, the rest of the world has not been burdened with the foregoing topics. Nations "conquered" by the US and our allies in WWII have made great strides in technology, manufacturing and education, rising above us in all those categories.

Manufacturing in the US exploded during and immediately following WWII. Jobs were available for everyone and as a country we were envied by the rest of the world. Our technical schooling, public education and insistence upon human rights and the rights of our population were pointed to as the way to the future. This was all true and continued into the 1980's. Then something happened that changed the entire course of events.

Corporate influence is what happened. Corporations that made huge sums of money over the 30 year period following the end of WWII, used their profits to begin to dabble in politics. They learned that if they were willing to contribute sums to the campaigns of lawmakers, those they backed who won would be in a position to use their political positions to influence legislation sympathetic to their corporate backer's needs.

Over the past quarter century that's exactly what has transpired. Corporations realized minor then huge, tax breaks through lobbying. They have been able to change such laws as truth in lending and truth in advertising. Where prior to 1985 there were usury laws to protect all of us from predatory lending and excessive interest rates, they legislated for changes in the law that now allow financial and lending companies to impose interest rates of as much as 200% on short term payday loans and vehicle title loans. It used to be if you saw an ad on TV or heard one on the radio, the information provided to you was honest, correct and forbidden to be misleading. That has gone the way of our manufacturing capabilities.

Insurance has always been an integral and necessary part of our society. Without it we fear we'll be bankrupted due to health or medical treatment needs. Without auto insurance we can be sued and lose everything...if our homes are destroyed by fire, hurricane, flood or tornado we'd be homeless and without the funds necessary to rebuild, without insurance. So we've all maintained insurance for peace of mind and to comply with government mandates that force us to have such insurance policies for home, auto and medical. Government mandated? Yep. In most states if you own a vehicle you must have minimum coverages. If your car is financed those coverages increase to protect the lender. If your home is financed, then you are required to maintain a certain amount of insurance to, once again protect the lender. In both of these cases the government mandate protects the corporation, bank or finance company that lent you the money. It does not mandate that you be protected, only the corporate intersts involved.

Now we are bombarded with corporate advertising every few minutes while watching TV or listening to the radio. We cannot believe most of what is said by the actors or announcers and every ad has "fine print" or disclaimers in those ads that warn or inform us that what we've just been told are not necessarily true. Have any of you seen the ad for AARP's Medicare Supplement Insurance on TV? United Healthcare Insurance Company runs the ads and provides us with a warm fuzzy feeling that the AARP endorses this insurance program. AARP is splashed all over the screen throughout the commercial. Take the time to read the print at the bottom of the screen that informs: "AARP does not recommend health related products, services insurance or programs. You are strongly encouraged to evaluate your needs".

Now it's not good enough for pharmaceutical manufacturers to advertise their products to doctors through conventions and office visits by reps, they also have managed to lobby for legalizing their advertising of products directly to the consumer - you and I - through the mass media. Again these ads promise us immediate and continued relief from ailments and conditions if we use their medications. Each one of these ads are accompanied by disclaimers that you should discuss the product with your doctor, and of course there are always critical and life threatening side effects caused by most of these drugs and by law they have to advise us of that. I don't know about you, but I leave all that medication crap up to my doctors. I pay little attention to those ads, but others do and inundate their physicians with requests to change their medication due to the advertising they've seen on TV.

Increased incarceration is another example of corporate interests. Many companies now make huge profits from housing, providing medical "care" or treatment, feeding or clothing inmates. They also profit from selling commissary goods to inmates and their visitors Another source of vast income is from prison labor, using inmates to manufacture some of the very products you use in your homes and businesses. Think that's not true? Do you have a Computer? Do you have a Microsoft operating system - Windows or Vista? Yep, you have products that have been through the hands of state or federal prison inmates.

These are but a few of the changes in laws benefiting corporations and there are many more. I'll discuss those in my next post and go into greater detail on how corporations have grown to the point they now influence our everyday lives through manipulation of laws and our governments.

Corporatocracy

2010-10-14T23:02:00.000-07:00

Language In Our Evolving Society

As we move firmly into the 21st. century, Webster's Dictionary has had to update and re-publish their volumes on an evermore frequent schedule. This is due to new and creative words such as "twitter", Blogger", "Google", Skype and other similar words that define or adequately describe the ever changing world we live in.

As yet one new word that's being used more and more frequently remains without official definition. No, it's not "refudiate" that's circulating across the internet like a ping-pong ball on meth-amphetamine. The word is Corporatocracy. More and more of us find this word in our vocabulary. There's even a definition or two of this word found on the "Urban Dictionary" web site. Here they are:

Corporatocracy

1. "A social and economic class of rulers, defined by their involvement in the ownership and management of large corporations. 2. The social and economic structures that empower and protect such rulers. 3. The political culture that serves such rulers.

2. "Rule by an oligarchy of corporate elites through the manipulation of a formal democracy.

3. "A type of government in which huge corporations, through bribes, gifts, and the funding of ad campaigns that oppose candidates they don't like, become the driving force behind the executive, judicial and legislative branches."

Corporatocracy is an important word for our generation and the social environment we find ourselves in here at the close of the first decade of this century. We already have oligarchy and fascism and both words evoke denials and sometimes nervous laughter when mentioned in the same sentence with America or United States. Individuals who research such things as language tell me there are subtle differences between these three words, but those differences are narrowing as we approach 2011.

One might ask what is the real meaning of "Fascism" in the 21st Century? Are corporatocracy and fascism similar in meaning or definition? Again, we must look to the Urban Dictionary for the current "Version" of fascism. Here it is - all 14 points:

Powerful and Continuing Nationalism:

Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottoes, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights:

Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause:

The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

Supremacy of the Military:

Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

Rampant Sexism:

The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.

Controlled Mass Media:

Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

Obsession with National Security:

Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

Religion and Government are Intertwined:

Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

Corporate Power is Protected:

The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

Labor Power is Suppressed:

Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed .

Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts:

Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.

Obsession with Crime and Punishment:

Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

Rampant Cronyism and Corruption:

Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

Fraudulent Elections:

Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

"14 identifying characteristics of Fascism by Political scientist Dr. Lawrence Britt. ("Fascism Anyone?," Free Inquiry, Spring 2003, page 20)."

I'm college educated but not a scholar by any stretch of imagination or definition. But as I look around me I've begun to notice that there are changes that have been taking place for the past 25 years. These changes have always been subtle, hardly noticeable and cause no immediate concern or sound an alarm. At 62 I find myself yearning for the "good 'ol days" as most of us do as we approach our "golden years". This has allowed me to relive some experiences and compare today's way of life, government, relationships to the years of my youth.

Suddenly I am concerned and several alarms have begun sounding between my ears; klaxons, sirens, bells and whistles. Tomorrow I'll continue these thoughts and demonstrate why concern is sometimes not a strong enough word - or emotion