Salt City Sinner

posted 7/30/2012 by the Salt City Sinner Andrew Breitbart (1969 - 2012) was a professional @$$hole, "media provocateur," cheap shot artist, and generally repellent human being who was very, very good at being very, very bad. Breitbart was one of the   most influential and innovative   members of the new right wing media sphere elite. His contributions to conservative media include a stint at the Drudge Report, the establishment of Breitbart.com, BreitbartTV, the websites Big Government, Big Hollywood, and Big Journalism, and the mentoring of young, startlingly amoral mini-Breitbarts like   James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles  . Breitbart died on March 1, 2012, but his site - and his "values," such as they are - live on. For example: on April 17 of this year, ALEC spoke at the Heritage Foundation's "Bloggers Briefing," an outreach event for the right-wing blogosphere that was livestreamed by BreitbartTV (video   here  ). As the Center for M...

posted 7/25/2012 by the Salt City Sinner As I mentioned in my previous entries , this week marks the 29th convention of ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, a high-rolling gang of economic thugs who are meeting - right now, as we speak! - in Salt Lake City to buy themselves some legislators and see their "model legislation" passed into state law. An invaluable resource on this shady crew can be found   here  : ALEC Exposed! in conjunction with Common Cause, People for the American Way, ProgressNow and the Alliance for a Better Utah, has tallied the "model legislation" that ALEC is bringing to Utah, along with the resulting not-so-model legislation proposed, and a who's who of Utah sell-outs and plutocrats who are ALEC members. Seriously, give it a read - it is fascinating and chilling stuff. Today marked the third day of protests held by #OccupySLC's ALEC Welcoming Committee . I could only make it to a few events today, as some of t...

posted 7/24/2012, by the Salt City Sinner Happy Pioneer Day! Patriots of Utah, gather your passel of children close around the green Jell-O and give thanks for our proud antecedents, straining toward the great state of Zion with their overloaded handcarts filled with dreams. Despite the best efforts of various cabals of thieves and jackals, those dreams still persist. One such cabal goes by the name of ALEC, or the American Legislative Exchange Council . ALEC's 39th annual meeting convenes in Salt Lake City this year, and #OccupySLC's ALEC Welcoming Committee is here to greet them. Yesterday, #OccupySLC's ALECWC kicked off a week of protests, teach-ins and fun-packed events of various kinds (you can find the full schedule here ). Last night featured a pot-luck of delightful fruits, veggies, and various vegan treats (well, mostly delightful - say what you want about the merits of an animal-free lifestyle: vegan cheese is nasty as hell , and by extension vega...

posted 7/23/2012 by the Salt City Sinner Who is ALEC? That's a very good question with a very repulsive answer. The Center for Media and Democracy provides this summary of who the American Legislative Exchange Council is and how they operate: "ALEC" has long been a secretive collaboration between Big Business and "conservative" politicians. Behind closed doors, they ghostwrite "model" bills to be introduced in state capitols across the country. This agenda - underwritten by global corporations - includes major tax loopholes for big industries and the super rich, proposals to offshore U.S. jobs and gut the minimum wage, and efforts to weaken public health, safety, and environmental protections. Although many of these bills have become law, until now, their origin has been largely unknown. According to ALEC's FAQ : The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit [ HA! - ed. ] organization. It provides ...