Occupy KC - F29 ALEC Protest at AT&T - 2.29.12
Channel: OccupyKCtube
Date: 2012-03-06

Occupy Kansas City - F29 Shut Down The Corporations 
February 29, 2012 - Kansas City, MO

Occupy Kansas City in solidarity with Occupy Portland and 80 Cities Nationwide Stand up to Corporate Greed and ALEC - National Day of Action to Resist the Selling Out of the 99%

ALEC is an exclusive membership organization of global corporations and local legislators that meet privately to draft "model bills" intended to HIJACK OUR LAWS and INCREASE THEIR REVENUE.  ALEC-Approved "model bills" are passed along to cooperative politicians eager to push the corporate agenda of the 1%.  ALEC boasts that it has over 1,000 of these bills introduced by legislative members every year, with one in every five of them enacted into law.  Once legislators return to their state with corporate-sponsored ALEC legislation in hand, the legislators themselves become "super-lobbyists" for ALEC's corporate agenda, cutting out the middleman. Yet ALEC enjoys a 501(c)(3) classification, which allows it to keep its tax-exempt status while accepting grants from foundations, corporations, and other donors.

ALEC consists of 2,000 legislative members and 300 or more corporate members. The unelected corporate representatives (often registered lobbyists) sit as equals with our elected representatives on nine task forces where they have a "voice and a vote" on model legislation. More than 98% of ALEC's revenues come from sources other than legislative dues, such as corporations, corporate trade groups, and corporate foundations.

AT&T is one of ALEC's Private Enterprise Board members and a proud "Chairman" level sponsor of ALEC's 38th Annual Conference in 2011, paying in excess of $50,000 to support the conference. As an active member and financial supporter of ALEC, AT&T has continually promoted corporate oppression of its workers and the 99%.  AT&T and ALEC are responsible for crafting legislation for the 1% that is anti-democracy, anti-immigrant, and anti-worker.

The Missouri General Assembly currently has three of ALEC's "model bills" on the legislative agenda with even more being drafted. These bills and many others are direct attacks on the 99%, written and sponsored by AT&T and other global corporations, promoted by corrupt legislators to suppress our rights and increase their revenues. 

MO House Bill 1104 - Changes the laws regarding elections by requiring a voter to provide photo identification.  This is a clear case of voter suppression, fear-based on non-existent voter impersonation fraud.  According to the Missouri Secretary of State's Office, an estimated 250,000 legally registered Missouri voters don't have a government-issued photo ID.  The Missouri voter ID bill in conjunction with HB 1147, which requires driver's license exams only be given in English, would effectively revoke non-English speakers' right to vote regardless of their legal citizenship status. 

MO Senate Bill 590- Would require K-12 schools to verify the immigration status of all students, essentially turning already underfunded and overburdened school districts and police departments into immigration agents.  In a state where many districts are facing budget crises, SB 590 not only creates overwhelming requirements on administrators' time and energy, but similarly alienates Missouri's hard working immigrant families.  These unnecessary provisions are already an expensive nightmare of enforcement elsewhere (Alabama, Arizona), and currently the subject of intense litigation and efforts to repeal in those states. 

MO Senate Bill 592- Is a "simple" re-wording of a current anti-discrimination law that would effectively give employers a broader range of exemptions in terminating employees for questionable reasons.  The bill makes it substantially more difficult for employees to protect themselves against workplace discrimination based on their religion, race, or sexual identity.  SB 592 is yet another ALEC sponsored bill intended only to oppress the rights of the working class in Missouri.

By financially supporting ALEC's oppressive legislation, AT&T is directly oppressing the workers of Missouri with uncivil acts of aggression. On February 29,  Occupy Kansas City will be engaging in acts of Civil Disobedience to make AT&T and all ALEC corporations fully aware, THE PEOPLE ARE HERE TO TAKE OUR POWER BACK!

www.OccupyKC.net

www.ALECexposed.org
www.ProgressMissouri.org/ALEC
www.ShutDownTheCorporations.org