Please remember our rally and march against ALEC in Cincinnati on April 28-29. If you can attend and take part it will help us all to expose this corporate/lawmaker(s) relationship that is driving most of the harsh legislation in the U.S. in search of corporate profits....
Lots of things have been developing, expanding or changing in regard to the use of prisoners as a labor force for private corporations this month. In addition I have found links to documents that form the Treatise of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Also a report about Republican governor's continuing efforts of eliminating collective bargaining, breaking up Unions and developing more non-traditional sources for labor to feed the manufacturing needs of their corporate supporters and funders.
Let's begin with the latter: In Maine, Governor LePage is in support of the Republican controlled house presentation of House Bill LD 1346 which loosens child labor laws that the community fought hard to put into place. We already know LePage's position on labor, after he ordered a mural depicting labor in America removed recently. That action sparked the anger of the union community by ordering a mural depicting workers throughout the state's history removed from the Department of Labor.
Now Maine is attempting to create this new law impacting upon child labor to make 16 and 17 year olds available for work until 11:00 pm at night and withhold the requirement for paying them minimum wage, supplanting that now required rate with a rate of $5.25 per hour.
"The minimum wage in Maine is $7.50 an hour, and there is no training or subminimum wage for students. But under a new piece of legislation introduced in the state's House of Representatives, employers would be able to pay anyone under the age of 20 as little as $5.25 an hour for their first 180 days on the job.
"The bill, LD 1346, also eliminates the maximum number of hours a minor 16 years of age or older can work on a school day and allows a minor under the age of 16 to work up to four hours on a school day during hours when school is not in session."
The Maine Senate is considering a companion bill LD 516;
"The state Senate is also currently considering a bill (LD 516) that would allow 16- and 17-year-old students to work until 11:00 p.m. on school nights. Currently, they're allowed to work until 10:00 p.m. It would also allow students to work for a total of 24 hours per week, four more than current law allows. Senators on the Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee are split along party lines on the bill, but it's likely to pass when the full body votes on it--the Senate, like the House, is controlled by Republicans."
"The sponsor of LD 1346, Rep. David Burns (R), did not return a request for comment. But co-sponsor Rep. Bruce Bickford (R) said that the government should stop standing in the way on child labor issues.
"This is in no way an attempt to abuse child labor, which some may look at and say, 'We've fought hard for kids and we've done this or that,'" he said. "Kids have parents. Let the parents be responsible for the kids. It's not up to the government to regulate everybody's life and lifestyle. Take the government away. Let the parents take care of their kids."
So okay...now Republicants are advocating that the government should butt out of regulating child labor laws. Wonder why they want to do this in the midst of the tough and raucous battles ongoing nationwide over labor, Unions and wages? This would create another advantage to businesses, manufacturers and corporations by developing another "legal" workforce available to them for cheap labor. They are already outsourcing many of our jobs, Insourcing more of the remaining jobs to prisoners for minimum wage or less...now they want to offer up our underage children and teens as a viable -and legal - alternative to employing adult workers at fair wages.
I didn't see this coming, and expect most of you didn't either. Is there no limit to the Tea Party and overall Republicant's despicable efforts of reducing wages to be paid by their corporate masters? No end to putting more and more of us in prison to serve as their slave laborers? They keep wanting to pass laws to eliminate jobs available to America's adult public and private sector workers, while also driving down the wages to be paid by companies for those who are hanging desperately onto their jobs and provide a workforce comprised of state prisoners and children to serve as an alternative source to keep wages down. They have put laws into place to continuously place more and more of us in prison, created laws to allow for privately
At a time when the Republicants are cutting education funding at state and federal levels, they want to now pass laws to allow young workers to work longer, for less money. An obvious result of this would be distracting students from their studying by increasing the work hours and by doing that, reducing the time available for students in the workforce to study. This kind of two prong attack upon education and our children is simply diabolical and clearly informs corporations that they are on their side and working to reduce wages across the board - at all levels.
Another murder has taken place within a state prison industry. Not surprisingly it involved two inmates working in Pheasantland Industries in South Dakota that were serving lengthy sentences for horrendous and violent crimes - attempted 1st degree murder, rape, kidnapping, etc. Again we have violent inmates put in close proximity to tools that could be used as weapons or to fabricate materials to assist an escape. This time the victim murdered was a 23 year veteran of the state's DOC. He just recently transferred to the prison industry job for better wages and to have more time with his children, grand and great grand children. He was murdered on his 63rd birthday.
In 2003 at the Florida prison, Charlotte CI, officer Darla Latherm was assigned to supervise several inmates working on a night construction detail. Latherm was alone overseeing the inmate detail. Among the workers were several convicted of murder and serving long or life sentences. Latherm was beaten to death with hammers and other tools provided to the work detail in an effort of escape by three of the inmates. Another inmate who tried to assist the officer as she was being attacked, was also injured and died within a couple of days. The inmates responsible are now on Florida's death row, awaiting execution.
In 2008 an FDOC 14 year veteran Officer, Donna Fitzgerald was murdered while supervising a work detail at a prison industry owned, operated and managed by PRIDE Enterprises near Orlando, Florida. She was working a shift for a fellow officer that had been assigned to the station but had a family matter to attend to. The second officer that was assigned to assist with supervision, was off sick. The FDOC had authorized up to 8 inmates to work the night shift at Tomoka CI but no later than 7:00 pm. The authorization also included provisions that required two officers to supervise this overtime project.
All of the rules and regulations were ignored and this negligence resulted in the murder of Officer Fitzgerald by inmate Enoch Hall, already serving two life sentences yet assigned to the "training" program run by PRIDE. An hour after her murder officers finally noticed Ms. Fitzgerald had not turned in her keys or reported in. Officers sent to look for her, found her body draped over a hand-truck with her pants and underwear pulled down around her ankles. She had been stabbed 22 times by Hall, who never really provided a reason for the killing. He has joined the other three men who killed Officer Latherm on Florida's death row, and awaits the same fate as they.
In 2006 I appeared at PRIDE's three separate Board meetings and gave presentations to the Board of Directors. One of the key issues I harped upon was the use of lifers in their training programs. I argued it not only eliminated a training position to an inmate who should be given that opportunity, it also presented a danger to other inmates and staff. In December 2007 I presented an Independent Investigative Report on the PIECP program and PRIDE Enterprises to the BJA, NCIA, PRIDE and the Florida Legislature as well as the FDOC. In that report (page 24, I believe - click on PIECP 2008 Report doc) I noticed all concerned that the continued policy of placing lifers and those with excessive sentences in close proximity to tools and materials that could be used as weapons or to assist with escapes, placed fellow inmates, industry and DOC staffers in physical danger. On the day of the murder of Officer Fitzgerald I was contacted by the FDOC Secretary, Walt McNeil and we discussed issues involving PRIDE. Again, the key issue was the use of lifers in the prison industry.
Now, 3 years later two more officers have been needlessly killed by inmates serving such long sentences and assigned to prison industries for "training" purposes. A truly sad part of this cannot be ignored. When I provided this report to the NCIA the response from them was: "Mr. Sloan, please remove our email from your mailing list. We are a private Association and have absolutely no interest in this report or other information about the PIECP program."
Today I have to quote and pass on a statement provided by Paul Wright, Editor of Prison Legal News, related to the recent murder of the Officer in Dakota..."
"These prison industry murders are a regular occurrence but the price prison officials are happy to pay to maintain the prison slavery boondoggle at taxpayer expense."
Even those working on their behalf are not safe from the politics of slave labor. As an aside to this issue, in the Latherm case the FDOC was glorious in praise for Officer Latherm - but in fighting the wrongful death suit filed by her family, the FDOC took the unprecedented step of threatening to expose personal information concerning Latherm's "sexual preferences" if the family pursued litigation. In the Fitzgerald case, the FDOC has refused to pay the death benefits to her family and is fighting a wrongful death suit. They claim that since Fitzgerald was supervising inmates at the PRIDE facility, she was actually "moonlighting" and working for PRIDE at the time of her murder. PRIDE is also avoiding paying anything to the murdered officer's family, claiming Sovereign Immunity - as has the FDOC - as a quas-state agency. If nothing else demonstrates the cheap price of humanity - inmate and staff - and human life by prison industries and state prison authorities, these incidents clearly do.
Let's now take a look at the "Treatise" of ALEC and their members. ALEC has removed this document from the internet to the extent it is difficult to find now. Google is Great! Here is a link to: "The Integration of Theory and Practice: A Program for the New Traditionalist Movement" It was an "essay" written in 2000-01 by Eric Heubeck. I urge all with concern as to the goals, agenda and machinations used by ALEC, Conservatives and the Tea Party, this is a must read. Somebody, I can't remember who off the top of my head, once said: "Know your enemy..." This is a case where that statement is not only necessary, but required reading. Here are a few excerpts from their Treatise:
"The Problem--An Overreliance on Political Activism
A New Direction
Still Engaged--But Outside of Politics
Remaining Importance of Defensive Politics
New Traditionalists and Libertarians
Movement Must Serve as a Force of Social Intimidation in Its Intermediate Stage
Some Basic Premises
The Movement Must Understand What Motivates Human Beings
Good Results More Important than Good Intentions--Naiveté Not Excusable
Support of an Elite More Valuable than Support of the Masses
Value of Art and Images
Value of the Tangible Versus the Abstract
Movement Must Be Based on the Transmission of Ideas, Not Their Creation
New Traditionalists Must Be More Culturally Sophisticated
It Is in the Movement's Self-Interest to Improve the Quality of Its Membership
New Traditionalists Must Concentrate on Students and Young Adults
The Movement Must Be Willing to Appear Obnoxious
Ground Zero of the New Traditionalist Movement: The Study Group (Think Tanks)
What Are Study Groups?
Study Groups Will Cultivate Civilized Values
Study Groups Will Provide a Communal Experience
Book Clubs Lay the Groundwork for Study Groups
Acceptance by Fellow New Traditionalists More Important than Acceptance by Wider Society
Final Thoughts
Even if We Lose, We Still Win
Discussion Lists Have Little Value--Action Is More Important
The Next Step
"This essay is based on the belief that the truth of an idea is not the primary reason for its acceptance. Far more important is the energy and dedication of the idea's promoters--in other words, the individuals composing a social or political movement...
We must, as Mr. Weyrich has suggested, develop a network of parallel cultural institutions existing side-by-side with the dominant leftist cultural institutions. The building and promotion of these institutions will require the development of a movement that will not merely reform the existing post-war conservative movement, but will in fact be forced to supersede it--if it is to succeed at all--because it will pursue a very different strategy and be premised on a very different view of its role in society....
There will be three main stages in the unfolding of this movement. The first stage will be devoted to the development of a highly motivated elite able to coordinate future activities. The second stage will be devoted to the development of institutions designed to make an impact on the wider elite and a relatively small minority of the masses. The third stage will involve changing the overall character of American popular culture....
Our movement will be entirely destructive, and entirely constructive. We will not try to reform the existing institutions. We only intend to weaken them, and eventually destroy them. We will endeavor to knock our opponents off-balance and unsettle them at every opportunity. All of our constructive energies will be dedicated to the creation of our own institutions....
We will maintain a constant barrage of criticism against the Left. We will attack the very legitimacy of the Left. We will not give them a moment's rest. We will endeavor to prove that the Left does not deserve to hold sway over the heart and mind of a single American. We will offer constant reminders that there is an alternative, there is a better way. When people have had enough of the sickness and decay of today's American culture, they will be embraced by and welcomed into the New Traditionalist movement. The rejection of the existing society by the people will thus be accomplished by pushing them and pulling them simultaneously.
We will use guerrilla tactics to undermine the legitimacy of the dominant regime...
We must create a countervailing force that is just as adept as the Left at intimidating people and institutions that are used as tools of left-wing activism but are not ideologically committed, such as Hollywood celebrities, multinational corporations, and university administrators. We must be feared, so that they will think twice before opening their mouths...
We will be results-oriented rather than good intentions-oriented. Making a good-faith effort and being ideologically sound will be less important than advancing the goals of the movement...
There is no medium more conducive to propagandistic purposes than the moving image, and our movement must learn to make use of this medium. A skillfully produced motion picture or television documentary has tremendous persuasive power...Rational arguments simply do not have this power, and all arguments made in print tend to appeal to the rational, critical faculties of the mind to a greater or lesser degree...
The visual image allows us to illustrate our beliefs and arguments to our members and others in highly compelling terms--we will be able to show all the examples of cultural decadence, irrationality and disingenuousness in public debate, combined with our commentary, selectively edited and arranged for maximum impact...
We need more people with fire in the belly, and we need a message that attracts those kinds of people....We must reframe this struggle as a moral struggle, as a transcendent struggle, as a struggle between good and evil. And we must be prepared to explain why this is so. We must provide the evidence needed to prove this using images and simple terms....
Some will argue that “conservatives” do not believe in apocalyptic fervor. The reader should simply ask himself, is he happy with the state of cultural conservatism in this country? If not, does he think it likely that conditions will improve in the future by operating according to the current rules? And if not, is he willing to witness the death of true civilization in this country so that conservatism will not suffer the ungentlemanly taint of "fervor"? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, this movement will not appeal to the reader."
The foregoing doctrine is what the libertarian corporations have tied their efforts to; pursuit of profits and dominion over government and society. If the excerpts scare you, then you need to read the entire Treatise.
Hereand hereis more on ALEC and Koch Industries and the Koch Brother's involvement in buying lawmakers. And more on Koch "Charities" and their funded "Foundations". Here is an article on prison reforms in Ohio by ALEC Alum Governor Kasich.
Here is more info on Corrections Corporation of America, and check out this link to "The Best Kept Secret in Outsourcing," Correctional Industries Services. "Capitalism leads to exploitation of inmates", by Dr. Boyce Watkins.
Wonder if all the Progressive press is causing ALEC to pay attention to our objections? Yes it r! Here is a link to a recent press release by ALEC addressing the bad press they have been receiving. Take note that in this misinforming document, ALEC claims: "Our policies and initiatives are public and we are proud to support our legislators as they carry out ALEC principles." Oh really? Well how about unlocking access to your Model Legislation? The issues and pursuits of your Task Force Initiatives? If you want to claim your policies and initiatives are public - live up to that claim...I mean what has ALEC got to hide, hmmm?
New York's efforts of using inmate populations to draw new districts: found here. This is the latest in this pursuit of redistricting and using inmates as a way to shift political representation from Urban to Rural areas.
More on all of this next week. In the meantime I'm working on my presentation and work for the upcoming Cincy event on the 28th and 29th. Hope to see you there.