Protests at her funeral here.
On the Mirror site, someone commented that they should put her in a black bag and put her out with the rest of the trash. Okay, that’s a little harsh. But spending 10 million is too, too much, especially for someone who promoted austerity.
Funny how people who advocate austerity measures never include themselves as recipients.
PR Watch has this press release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 4, 2013
CONTACT: Nikolina Lazic, nikolina@prwatch.org, (608) 260-9713
A REPORTERS’ GUIDE TO THE “STATE POLICY NETWORK:” THE RIGHT-WING THINK TANKS SPINNING DISINFORMATION AND PUSHING THE ALEC AGENDA IN STATES
New Resource Details “Think Tanks” Tanking Americans’ Rights
MADISON, WI — The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), the publisher of the award-winning ALECexposed.org investigation, is releasing a new web resource, http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:State_Policy_Network for reporters and citizens about the activities of Tracie Sharp’s State Policy Network (SPN) and its state “think tank” members. Although the funding of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is approximately $7 million a year, funding for SPN, its 59 state operations and the controversial Heartland Institute — an SPN ally like ALEC that tries to change both state and federal law — has topped $80 million in recent years. And these SPN operations often function like an echo chamber of the corporate-funded ALEC agenda.
CMD’s three-month investigation, http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/04/11909/reporters%E2%80%99-guide-%E2%80%9Cstate-policy-network%E2%80%9D-right-wing-think-tanks-spinning-disinform uncloaks some of the major funders of SPN’s expanding operations in the states and raises major concerns over whose agenda these groups are advancing in the state:
1. Mystery Funds. This investigation identifies hundreds of thousands of dollars, and perhaps much more than that, which Sharp distributes to these organizations but that is not disclosed to the IRS as passing through SPN’s books. It is possible that Sharp is distributing or designating funds made available via the Koch-connected “DonorsTrust” and “Donors Capital Fund” or some other stream of cash for the state operations she helps grow. However, some of the big bucks at her disposal did not show up in SPN’s 990 form in the same year it was distributed to an SPN group. See the SourceWatch article on SPN Funding for more.
2. Even More Koch Money Than Previously Known. This guide also flags that substantial funding for some SPN state operations has come from Koch Industries itself and not only the Koch family foundations. That is, hundreds of thousands of dollars, at least, hav been spent by the privately held energy conglomerate controlled by two of the richest billionaires in the world, Charles and David Koch. The total amount is secret because it is not passing through the Koch foundations, which are required to disclose their disbursements. The total amount of Koch money spent on SPN-related efforts to change state laws and spin the news is understated by analysis of their foundation spending alone. See the SourceWatch article on SPN Funding for more.
3. Trying to Change the Law, but Reporting Little or No Lobbying. Like ALEC, SPN and its affiliates seek to change state laws, but report little or no lobbying. That means that corporations and individuals (like Koch Industries and others) that fund their operations can get a tax write-off for funding SPN efforts. See the SourceWatch article on the SPN Agenda for more.
4. SPN Funders Help Some Interests Get Multiple Votes on ALEC Bills. The relationship between SPN affiliates and ALEC is strong and is funded by some of the same donors. That means that some corporate interests like the Kochs get, in effect, multiple votes to change the law on ALEC task forces, where corporate lobbyists and special interest groups like SPN operations vote as equals with elected officials behind closed doors. A particular ALEC task force may have multiple Koch-funded operations — including a lobbyist from Koch Companies Public Sector, a special interest representative from an SPN operation like the Goldwater Institute, and reps from national Koch-controlled or fueled groups like David Koch’s Americans for Prosperity (AFP) and the Charles Koch-founded Cato Institute, along with the Heritage Foundation, a long-time ally of the Koch agenda. Through ALEC, SPN helps write templates to change state laws; then ALEC members vote in secret for those bills; and then SPN supports the introduction or adoption of those bills as law, sometimes with help from David Koch’s AFP echo chamber in a state.
5. SPN Funders Have Included Some of the Richest and Most Ideological Families in the Country. Fueling SPN-related efforts is a bevy of right-wing billionaires and foundations beyond the Koch brothers and including the Bradley Foundation, DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund (large donor-directed funds), the Olin Foundation, the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation (the Amway fortune), the Coors-related Castle Rock Foundation and the Adolph Coors Foundation, the McCamish Foundation, the JM Foundation, and the Smith Richardson Foundation. SPN-related activities are also funded by the Roe Foundation, the charitable arm that is part of the legacy of Thomas Roe, the man who helped launch SPN over two decades ago, after telling one of his allies, “I’m going to capture the states,” just like Ronald Reagan was going to capture the U.S.S.R.
6. SPN’s Legislative Agenda Is Frequently Buttressed by Its Forays as “Press” and the Echoes of Its Allies in the Growing Right-Wing State “Press” Corps. As CMD was one of the first to document, SPN groups like the Goldwater Institute are hiring people to act as reporters, and the legislative agenda of SPN is increasingly echoed by the growing right-wing infrastructure of groups that pose as press. Some even get their stories or “reports” picked up as news and delivered to state newspapers as a “wire” service like the Associated Press, as with the Franklin Center’s Watchdog.org groups and the Ryun brothers-allied “American Majority” and “Media Trackers” operations.
This Reporters’ Guide details how SPN works, who funds it, what the network’s groups do, and looks at some of their legislative goals, including undermining workers’ rights and weakening unions as well as undoing renewable energy laws and expanding ways in which tax dollars are redirected to the private sector, for example through funding so-called “virtual schools.”
Key resources include:
1. PRwatch Special Report with Key Findings: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/04/11909/reporters%E2%80%99-guide-%E2%80%9Cstate-policy-network%E2%80%9D-right-wing-think-tanks-spinning-disinform
2. State Policy Network Main Portal: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:State_Policy_Network
3. SPN Funding: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SPN_Funding
4. SPN Ties to ALEC: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SPN_Ties_to_ALEC
5. SPN Members: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SPN_Members
6. SPN Agenda; http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SPN_Agenda
7. SPN_Founders,_History,_and_Staff: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/
As Susie Madrak says, just when you think WalMart can’t get any lower…they provide you with even more reasons to loathe them….
As a side note, here is a list of the companies paying the least in taxes. (hat tip to huffington post)
Note that Verizon is on the list–Verizon in recent years was sending their sales folks out on the street (door to door) to sell their product. They paid them nothing. Not one cent. Meanwhile, the poor sap employee used their gas/vehicle to get to the assigned area….only getting a paycheck if they signed someone up–low pay that maybe, just maybe covered their gas expenses…or not.
Here’s another post on companies that pay employees the least. Note Walmart on here, too. Shock. Surprise. /snark
More here on employees not being paid. More here.
And here.
And this on Walmart doing what it does best–using the law for its own purposes to avoid paying health insurance: forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/12/09/walmart-bails-on-obamacare-sticks-taxpayers-with-employee-healthcare-costs/
Same here: gawker.com/5950331/olive-garden-red-lobster-scale-back-employee-work-hours-to-avoid-paying-for-health-insurance
(A note here–when I did my search, page after page came up with links for business owners and helping them with legal questions of not paying their employees. I’m thinking WTH?)
And given the golden parachute….um, yeah, paying one or a handful of people millions of dollars as they leave a company…paying someone for not working versus not paying folks who do work…makes no sense at all….
Well, the good feelings towards Christie for his actions during the storm crises is evaporating rapidly…with the news of him continuing to destroy public education for private profiteers.
Looking at the comments, Amitola mentions how the town has gone the way of most in the U.S.–jobs dry up, people move or the ones that stay are scraping by–not able to support a robust economy. And the schools follow–poverty is the number one reason for school’s poor performance. It’s hard to concentrate on school work when you’re hungry, dirty, and your folks are stressed out because you’re *this close* to being out on the street. (or worse, you’re already out on the street, living in a shelter, with noise all night long and no privacy and no life).
Another poignant comment is by John Randolph: the 1% bring the city to its knees and then profit off of the carcass.
Disaster capitalism, folks….(speaking of unions, they announced on the news the other day that Indiana has now lost more union members than gained, thanks to “Right to Work” law. Also, they are airing commercials promoting a tax break…yes, a tax break in this economy…for Hoosiers—Gov. Mike Pence, an APEC toadie, first spouted this hairbrained idea right after election. Legislature said no. Now *cough* Americans for Prosperity are taking it to the airwaves trying to get people to call their representatives.)
Unfortunately, charter school takeover is not just here in the U.S., but now in Haiti. (insert a few choice expletives here). Note that Bill Gates has his filthy little fingers in this, too. Like I said before, he is not the philanthropist he tries to imitate.
See previous posts here. And here. And here.
And here.
PRWatch has this up on the Fix the Debt faux “concern group” led by Pete Peterson.
More on Peterson here. Another “Romney” who makes his living off of looting firms and destroying jobs.
(A side note~listening to Limbaugh today–a wife of a gov’t employee of the defense dept was saying that they had been sent a letter that they had to mind their finances because their paycheck was going to be cut by one day per week. She was going on and on in a nearly hysterical voice saying how her husband had worked his butt off for the U.S. and he deserved his pay. I thought that she sounded….um….entitled.… 🙂
Creating the artificial crisis. Creating a hysteria, much like War of the Worlds. and keep repeating the lie over and over until people believe it.
Attaturk has this up on the reasons behind the income inequality in this country. Note that Clinton first lowered the 28% tax on capital gains…down from Reagan….while he was signing away the jobs with NAFTA….and there you have a huge contribution to the mess that we’re in.
Yeah, I think it’s about time that those capital gains are taxed at 35%.
Once again, the rightwingers are trying to confuse the public about capital gains tax and how the poor widdle rich guys like Mitt Romney are being unfairly “double” taxed….Ha.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I used to have money and paid Capital Gains taxes.
Capital gains is an investment profit. Let’s say you put $20,000 in stocks. You make a profit of $10,000. You’re only taxed on the profit, NOT the entire $30,000!! Here’s the IRS guidelines on Capital Gains.
Here’s a break down of who will be paying what as far as Capital Gains taxes. Note that you don’t pay anything if you’re in the 10-15% tax brackets. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
It’s only when you’re comfortably wealthy that you have to start paying your fair share.
I don’t have time to read other than the first page, but if I read something later that intrigues me, I’ll be back.
…because we’d much rather go after computer wizzes who have legal access to files and download them for the public so that the public knows what their government is doing…
link here.
bgrothus has this link in the comments section. Remember, folks, the derivatives were the cause of the meltdown. They were betting on people losing their mortgages….these scumbags were betting on people like me losing their houses.
…and not only betting on people losing their houses, but on people dying. It’s amazing how they can make it seem….normal. Just coldly predict how long someone lives and apply a monetary value to it, i.e., insurance $$.
(crap, I have to go, and I wanted to explore this more….argh)
I found this interesting post on Aaron Swartz, which raises more questions than it answers…
I found another post on this site Saturday, but couldn’t find it again looking today. It mentioned a post by Marcy Wheeler on what was going on with Aaron Swartz and his suicide after being hounded by authorities. (Be sure to click on the NY Times link, which explains a little better.) More here.
This chills one to the bone. And what exactly was he downloading that caused such concern? The articles dance around it. Anyway, Aaron Swartz believed that the information out there that was paid for by taxpayers deserved to be easily accessed–that is, without paying high $$ to join JSTOR or any other program to gain access. It was noted that many documents are being electronically copied with limited access to the public. This is incredibly disturbing, as everyone knows that Information is Power. And knowledge can inform the American citizen what their government is doing. (This is why stuff like Kindle worry me–taking information off of physical books and putting them in electronic gadgets that require a battery and software to view is dangerous in that if either of those fail to work, the information is inaccessible. One can easily see how this can turn into denial of information–book burning a la the information age.)
The thing is…Swartz had legal access to the information, via Harvard! He had the legal right to access. He was trying to make a point that the copyright laws protected electronic information that the taxpayers paid for, but were denied access to. Now, think of the library books one checks out…they are copyrighted materials, but one can still access the information via a library card. I think Swartz was applying those same principles to his providing this information. Note that JSTOR refused to prosecute him once they learned he had legal access.
Common dreams has a post up here on a Taco place in South Carolina with racist T-Shirts.
I have no words.
Eagle 
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