text:
ALEC's Christmas Gift to All…
Below are links to many articles related to ALEC's pursuit of oppressing votes, grabbing up all the public education dollars they can and in general advancing the conservative agenda through continuing meme…also included are letters and article opposing this agenda. Many are letters to editors, opinion pieces by citizens now alerted to the presence and pursuits of ALEC and the SPN cabal…
Just let the sun shine on in
Now the Koch brothers are coming after my solar panels.
I had solar panels installed on the roof of our Washington, D.C. home this year. My household took advantage of a generous tax incentive from the District government and a creative leasing deal offered by the solar panel seller.
Our electric bills fell by at least a third. When people make this choice, the regional electric company grows less pressured to spend money to expand generating capacity and the installation business creates good local jobs. Customers who use solar energy also reduce carbon emissions.
According to the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative network better known as ALEC, our solar panels make us "free riders." What?
ALEC Members won't support democracy
It is fair to assume that America is host to an incredibly ignorant population who know very little about their government and how it affects their daily lives. That sad fact was exposed in a brilliant 2008 book revealing that only 20% of the population can name the three branches of government and 49% think a president has the authority to suspend the Constitution. However, the population's ignorance of their government aside, it is highly probable that every American supports democracy; unless they are members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). To Americans aware of ALEC and its intent to create a corporate oligarchy and privatized government, it is not surprising that if ALEC members were asked to sign a pledge to support democracy, they would refuse, and that is precisely what happened in a little-reported story last week.
Last Thursday while ALEC was holding its annual meeting in Washington D.C., a group of working family activists, AFSCME, the Postal Workers union (APWU), AFT, and Jobs with Justice appeared at the meeting and asked ALEC members to sign a pledge "upholding the will of the people and support democracy, or leave their states." The people at ALEC's meeting did not sign the pledge and corporate-controlled media did not report the event because a revelation that an organization dedicated to serving corporate interests represented by the Republican Party refusing to support democracy would not play well with the public. In fact, for about 30 years ALEC has quietly been dismantling America's democracy while hiding in the shadows, and it is just recently that a very tiny minority of the population even know ALEC exists.
(In the following article ALEC acolyte, Sterling Beard accuses Michigan's AFL-CIO President, Karla Swift of plagiarizing material in an anti-ALEC op-ed. As most know "Tool kits" are a standard ALEC tool used to put out information to their supporters and encouraging those individuals and organizations to use the material to advance the agenda on specific issues. Now that the same tactic is being used by their adversaries, ALEC and the RW crowd want to cry foul and accuse folks of plagiarism.
Here is one current example of ALEC's use of a "Tool Kit"… "State Budget Reform Toolkit"which has been used and promoted by the Reason Foundation, Heartland Institute, promoted by various SPN or conservative sites such as "State Budget Solutions" and circulated in conservative media outlets such as Louisiana's "Pelican Post". The PP article was written by Fergus Hodgson who is the capitol bureau reporter with the Pelican Institute for Public Policy. which is a state think tank member of SPN, which is a private sector member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The Pelican Institute also has ties to ALEC through its annual Policy Orientation for the Louisiana Legislature of which ALEC is a sponsor.[2] ALEC members have also sat on policy panels at the event.[3]
Though this "State Budget Reform Toolkit" was written by and for ALEC, I've yet to see any claims that the Pelican Institute, Heartland or Reason have been accused of plagiarizing ALEC's materials. This allegation is simply the "Pot calling the Kettle"…)
Michigan AFL-CIO President Plagiarizes Anti-ALEC Op-Ed from Left-Wing Group's Materials
Michigan AFL-CIO president Karla Swift heavily plagiarized her recent op-ed against the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), lifting entire paragraphs from a "toolkit" created and distributed by the Center for Media and Democracy, a liberal nonprofit group that runs a website entirely devoted to trashing the group…
…Swift's editorial lifts content from multiple sections of the anti-ALEC toolkit, copying several paragraphs verbatim. We have posted a copy of the toolkit here, with the plagiarized sections highlighted. In all, seven of the editorial's twelve paragraphs are found in the toolkit. The editorial is part of the Detroit News's "Labor Voices" feature, which has published pieces by Swift and three other labor leaders, including Teamsters president James Hoffa. The toolkit, dated December 2013, runs for 16 pages and encourages readers to "expose" the groups.
Campaign finance: Support disclosure so we can follow the money
Yes, Montana Supreme Court Justice Mike McGrath, we need public disclosure of personal financial interest and those of their families.
Montana Supreme Court Justice James A. Rice, while a member of the Montana House of Representatives, was a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC is a corporate bill mill; it is not just a lobby or a front group. It is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wish list to benefit their bottom line.
A new study by the Center for Public Integrity shows that outside spending groups, including nonprofits that do not disclose their donors and state-level super PACs, are funneling more and more money into state Supreme Court races. Out-of-state influence likely helped decide recent races in North Carolina, Iowa and Mississippi.
Our View: Things go worse with Koch
Isaiah J. Poole, the author of an op-ed in Thursday's Standard-Times, brought attention to a well-financed movement that aims to remove economic incentives to put solar panels on a homeowner's roof. ("National View: Let the solar shine in.")
It makes reference to a report from a British newspaper, The Guardian, which was covering a Washington, D.C., policy summit of the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, in early December.
ALEC — which cleverly gets around lobbying rules by including right-wing members of Congress in its membership — "specializes in getting the right-wing agenda written into state laws," according to Poole.
And according to The Guardian: "The group sponsored at least 77 energy bills in 34 states last year. The measures were aimed at opposing renewable energy standards, pushing through the Keystone XL pipeline project and barring oversight on fracking."
Is Carbon Pricing a Diversion From the Real Story?
"One of the more solid tenets of Big Oil dogma has always been that carbon pricing, whether a straightforward tax or a market-based cap-and-trade system, is terrible and conservatives must stand in unison against it. Daily Caller reporter Michael Bastach, a former Koch Institute Intern, confirmed this recently: 'This vote against a carbon tax in the (American Legislative Exchange Council) ALEC meeting in Chicago… comes after Republicans in both the House and the Senate voted unanimously against a carbon tax earlier this year'."
Why Are the Franklin Center's "Wisconsin Reporter" and "Watchdog.org" Attacking the John Doe?
The Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity (through its Wisconsin Reporter and Watchdog.org websites) has aggressively attacked the "John Doe" probe into possible campaign finance violations during Wisconsin's 2011 and 2012 recall elections. Its outlets have also published new information about the apparent targets of the investigation, but they have omitted an important detail: Franklin Center has close ties to individuals and groups that may be caught up in the John Doe.
The only name associated with the investigation, Eric O'Keefe, helped launch the Franklin Center's operations in 2009, and his Sam Adams Alliance group provided the majority of its startup budget; O'Keefe has spoken publicly about being subpoenaed in his capacity as director of Wisconsin Club for Growth. Franklin Center'sDirector of Special Projects John Connors, and the Executive Assistant to the President Claire Milbrandt, also have close ties to a group reportedly involved in the John Doe probe. Its former Director of Operations and General Counsel, James Skyles, worked with another group active in the Wisconsin recalls…
…Wisconsin Reporter launched its "Wisconsin's Secret War" series in October, citing unnamed sources to reveal that Wisconsin Club for Growth, Americans for Prosperity, and Republican Governors Association had received subpoenas, and describing details about "after-hours visits to homes and offices" and prosecutors' "demands for phone, email and other records." Thanks to those unnamed sources, Wisconsin Reporter had a new platform, and used it to recast the John Doe investigation as "an abuse of prosecutorial powers" with "the apparent goal of bringing down Gov. Scott Walker." The Walker campaign and 28 other groups also reportedly received subpoenas.
Paid via Card, Workers Feel Sting of Fees
A growing number of American workers are confronting a frustrating predicament on payday: to get their wages, they must first pay a fee.
For these largely hourly workers, paper paychecks and even direct deposit have been replaced by prepaid cards issued by their employers. Employees can use these cards, which work like debit cards, at an A.T.M. to withdraw their pay…
…But in the overwhelming majority of cases, using the card involves a fee. And those fees can quickly add up: one provider, for example, charges $1.75 to make a withdrawal from most A.T.M.'s, $2.95 for a paper statement and $6 to replace a card. Some users even have to pay $7 inactivity fees for not using their cards.
These fees can take such a big bite out of paychecks that some employees end up making less than the minimum wage once the charges are taken into account, according to interviews with consumer lawyers, employees, and state and federal regulators.
This comes full circle to ALEC and it's member, VISA. As documents acquired and published by Common Cause show, ALEC "untabled" their model legislation titled "Electronic Pay Choice Act" in 2010 at the request of VISA representative, Paul Russinoff. This legislation allows banks and credit card companies to realize huge profits off of fees generated by workers using these payroll debit cards….thus the reason VISA rushed to untable this potential model legislation at ALEC's December 2010 meeting. As the Times' article demonstrates, the legislation is making its way across the country through the efforts of ALEC and their SPN partners in crime.
Once adopted by ALEC the bill passed the private sector unanimously, and passed the public sector with two dissenting votes. Visa also paid to sponsor a workshop at that meeting. Similar legislation has become law in around a dozen states, according to some estimates.
ALEC's payroll card legislation, Big banks attack low income workers
A growing number of American workers are no longer given paper paychecks, instead are receiving prepaid cards issued by their employers. Employees can use these cards at an A.T.M. or merchant to withdraw pay. This may sound convenient but the workers must pay fees to access their pay, and those fees can add up and be very hard on people who earn minimum wage or just above. Here is an example of such a payroll card in this case a "Citi Payroll card" offered byHome Depot, (https://corporate.homedepot.com/Associates/Pay/Documents/CitiPayrollCard.pdf)…
Burton (IN-ALEC) – Conflict of interest, Nah!
STATEHOUSE (Indianapolis) — The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has appointed State Representative Woody Burton (R-Whiteland) as co-chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee. This subcommittee is an advisory body to the larger Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force.
ALEC works at the state level to advance the fundamental principles of free-market enterprise, limited government and federalism. This is done through a nonpartisan public-private partnership of America's state legislators, members of the private sector and the general public.
"I feel honored to have been appointed to this position and I look forward to working with Paul Russinoff of Visa, who serves as the private sector co-chair," said Rep. Burton. "This subcommittee is open to all members of the larger task force but typically, the members who are most interested and knowledgeable will attend."
The Financial Services Subcommittee deals with matters related to the financial industry and insurance with the intent to design national legislation.Some of the issues they have covered in the past include the Dodd-Frank Act, homeowners' insurance and mortgage licensing reciprocity.
Rep. Burton is Chairman of the Financial Institutions Committee in the Indiana House of Representatives. He also serves on the Insurance Committee. He introduces and sponsors the model legislation and another ALEC member moves to propose a resolution in support of "Payroll Cards:"
"Resolution in Support of Payroll Cards" – by Ms. Kate Viar, VISA
Motion to adopt the model resolution as amended; passed the public sector unanimously; passed the private sector unanimously; Resolution Passed.
and the model bill is adopted by the full ALEC membership and sent out to state after state…
Shortly after ALEC's adoption of the Electronic Pay Choice Act we had it in Indiana. One of the more insidious uses of this legislation in Indiana is that it has been applied to citizens receiving unemployment and similar state benefits. Already receiving less than 70% of their former salaries, those on unemployment receive their benefits via VISA cards, with accounts set up through PNC bank. Those without checking accounts must take their benefits via these cards – and pay the additional ATM and withdrawal fees to the bank and in many cases to the state for "transaction fees".
After a political setback in NC, ALEC retools assault on renewable energy
After turning back a political assault on its groundbreaking renewable energy law, North Carolina could soon be a proving ground for a new strategy in the corporate-led war on clean energy — this one targeting the fast-growing number of homeowners installing solar panels.
Like the last attack on the state's renewables program, this one is led by the American Legislative Exchange Council, an influential group that brings together corporations and mostly Republican state lawmakers to advocate for business-friendly legislation — activity that has drawn charges of illegal lobbyingby the nonprofit. ALEC, whose corporate members include major coal and electric companies, has long fought environmental regulations and initiatives that encourage a shift to cleaner energy sources.
Nowhere has its efforts been more concerted in recent years than in North Carolina, which in 2007 became the first state in the coal-dependent Southeast to require investor-owned electric utilities to purchase or generate an increasing amount of energy from renewable sources…
PSC Again Hikes Georgia Power Rates, Declines on Solar Tax
ATLANTA — The Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) voted unanimously Tuesday, December 17, 2013, to approve a compromise agreement between Georgia Power and the PSC staff.
As previously reported by Atlanta Progressive News, Georgia Power's original request was for a rate increase of 1.46 billion dollars. The original request also included a newly proposed "solar tax," a special tax on customers who have solar panels; as well as an increase in the guaranteed profit to Georgia Power.
The PSC agreement cut the amount of the increase by 573 million dollars. Now, Georgia's 2.4 million residential and business ratepayers will pay an increase of 873 million dollars over the next three years.
Enchanted Ad Outpaces FedEx's Adoption of Eco-Friendly Vehicles (NOTE: Fed Ex, UPS and Verizon are longtime members of ALEC…)
The shipping giant's "Enchanted Forest" ad came out at the end of 2011, a playful episode about its aspirational seamlessness with nature. How close are those cartoon images to the real world? Judging by the actual adoption of alternative fuel transportation, less than idyllic.
FedEx drew widespread praise a decade ago when it unveiled a hybrid electric delivery truck and said it could replace its 30,000 diesel-burning vehicles in 10 years. In its most recent annual report, the delivery giant said its fleet includes 360 hybrid-electric and 165 full-electric trucks, or less than 1 percent of the now-54,100 ground vehicles in its FedEx Express division.
Other major fleet operators, from UPS to Verizon, have slowed their hybrid-vehicle deployments as well. Total sales of medium- and heavy-duty trucks in North America powered by hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery electric technologies are projected to grow modestly from 1,800 vehicles in 2013 to nearly 13,000 in 2020, according to a report due out next month from Navigant Research…
League of Women voters to present program on ALEC, policy-making
The League of Women Voters of Central Yavapai County will present an educational opportunity on the American Legislative Exchange Council and Common Cause and their approaches to public policy making from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 4, at Las Fuentes Resort Village, 1035 Scott Drive in Prescott…
Southern Republicans Drag the Rest of the Nation Down by Doing the Kochs' Bidding
Even though conservatives and right-wing extremists tout America as an exceptional nation, it is fairly common knowledge there is nothing about this country that is exceptional except it has more guns and gun deaths, highest incarceration rate, food insecurity on par with Indonesia, highest first day infant mortality rate, infrastructure behind every developed country in the world, 33rd in life expectancy, highest percentage of adult-onset diabetes, 2nd highest child poverty rate, and the highest proportion of low-wage workers in the developed world. It is true America is the richest nation on Earth, but by every other measure America is a third-world nation…
…This is the nation Republicans built with money from the Koch brothers' and Americans for Prosperity, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, Club for Growth, and Wall Street that have spent the better part of two decades achieving the Koch brothers' "vision of a transformed America." The result of their transformation is increasing millions of Americans either wallowing in poverty or stuck in a downward spiral with no expectation of ever achieving anything more than "working poor" status with no more hope than not dying homeless. Sadly, a segment of the population, those most likely drowning in poverty and living in the Southern United States expedited the conservative's plan by voting for Republicans because they promise to fight for religious freedom, guns, and preserving their European ancestors' dream of a Christian wonderland…
Quest to restrict union fees targets three additional states
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Buoyed by recent successes in the Midwest, conservatives and business groups are targeting at least three additional states for new efforts that could weaken labor unions by ending their ability to collect mandatory bargaining fees.
The latest efforts are focused on Missouri, Ohio and Oregon and — in a new twist — could put the issue before voters in 2014 instead of relying on potentially reluctant governors to enact laws passed by state legislators…
…Supporters of such laws contend employees shouldn't be forced to pay fees to a union to get or keep a job. But unions contend the fees are fair because federal law requires them to represent all employees in a bargaining unit regardless of whether they join the union.
Most state right-to-work laws were enacted in the 1940s and 1950s. But businesses and conservative lawmakers, working through groups such as the American Legislative Exchange Council, have mounted a new push as union membership has dwindled and the competition for jobs has intensified among states.
Indiana in 2012 became the first state in more than a decade to enact a right-to-work law. The movement's biggest victory came later that year, when Republicans in the traditional union stronghold of Michigan followed suit even though thousands of union protesters thronged the Capitol…
The State Policy Network's Cozy Relationship With Big Tobacco
The State Policy Network (SPN), a web of right-wing "think tanks" in every state across the country, has close ties with the tobacco industry. When tobacco companies like Reynolds American or Altria/Philip Morris want to avoid tobacco taxes and health regulations, reports by SPN groups in many states can help inspire local resistance.
SPN, its member affiliates, and SPN-related entities such as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the Heritage Foundation, and the Cato Institute, continued to receive funding from the tobacco industry that has continued through at least 2012, according to Altria/Phillip Morris documents. The Nation journalist Lee Fang previously reported that SPN relied on funding from the tobacco industry throughout the 1990s, and in return assisted the tobacco industry "in packaging its resistance to tobacco taxes and health regulations as part of a 'freedom agenda' for conservatives."
During SPN President Tracie Sharp's tenure at the Cascade Policy Institute (CPI, anSPN affiliate) from 1991 to 1999, Philip Morris state lobbyists worked hand-in-handwith CPI to oppose tobacco taxes…
By Bob Sloan ALEC, ALEC Corporate Members, Center for Media and Democracy, civil rights, coal, Conservative Dogma, conservative think tanks, Consumer exploitation, corporate behavior, dark money, Education, Environment, Environment, Ethics in Government, exploitation and manipulation, Heartland Institute, Indiana, Jobs, Koch brothers, Labor, Legislators with ALEC Ties, lobbying, Michigan, Occupy, organized labor, Privatized Education System, Privatized Utilities, PRWatch, Public Educaion, Public Utilities, tax policy, The Cabal, Unions, Voter Restrictions, Wisconsin No comments Tags: ALEC, ALEC alumni, American Legislative Exchange Council, Americans For Prosperity, Big Tobacco, Center for Media and Democracy, Charles and David Koch, Citizens United, common cause, dirty energy, Disenfranchisement, Education, electronic pay choice act, environment, FedEx, Greenpeace, Koch, Koch Brothers, michigan, Model Legislation, Occupy, privatization, renewable energy, State Policy Network, transparency, Voter ID Legislation, voter suppression
Doc's Leaked by The Guardian and Visa Quits ALEC As Members Meet in DC
Lots of reassuring news for those pursuing transparency in legislation AND the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) this week. As ALEC met in DC this past week for their annual States and Nation Policy Summit, the Guardian released a scathing expose on that organization, using more leaked ALEC documents. In addition VISA announced they were quitting ALEC…after Visa's Vice President of State Relations, Paul Russinoff, received ALEC's "Private Sector Member of the Year" award in 2012.
Documents acquired and made public by the Guardian in the ALEC article; "ALEC facing funding crisis from donor exodus in wake of Trayvon Martin row" revealed just how badly publicity and activism has hurt ALEC over the past three years since the Center for Media and Democracy first released all of ALEC's model legislation and other documents on July 13, 2011. At every ALEC meeting, "Summit" and conference since then, protesters have demonstrated and others have provided public teach-ins or community action seminars to inform the public about ALEC and their activities.
Last week the ALEC Summit in DC was also protested by activists and informed citizens working to abolish ALEC and stop their interference with writing and proposing state laws designed to enrich corporations and their elite owners. Union workers, food service workers, teachers and postal workers showed up Thursday and marched from Franklin Park to the Hyatt in Northwest DC where ALEC's meeting was taking place.
While working Americans marched in the streets of DC, Keynote GOP speakers such as Ted Cruz and Indiana Governor Mike Pence took to the stage at the ALEC convention, applauding ALEC and their efforts of lowering taxes for the rich, privatizing education and making private scholastic corporations unbelievably rich…for holding down wages for working Americans to further enrich the 1%. Cruz actually advised ALEC to "Stand Your Ground" (@4:12) in the face of the increasing pressure to abolish them.
As usual, ALEC refused entry to legitimate media; reporters, journalists and refused to allow any cameras or video equipment or crews into the hotel during their "Summit".
Labor representatives were ejected when they attempted to get legislators attending the conference to sign a pledge to put the needs of their constituents first. John Williams, Head of the Washington DC Central Labor Council, was thrown out of the Hyatt lobby when he tried to get legislators to sign what he called a "Rights Priority Pledge." "Nobody wanted to sign the pledge because they said it did not apply to them," he said.
Washington Post reporter, Dana Milbank was excited to be attending an ALEC meeting last week, anticipating learning about the initiatives presented by ALEC that would be discussed in task force meetings and working groups…
"I descended the escalators at the Grand Hyatt downtown, two floors below street level, excited by the possibilities listed on the ALEC agenda: "The environment and energy task force, led by private-sector American Electric Power. The tax and fiscal policy task force, headed by Altria. The international relations task force, run by Philip Morris. The commerce and insurance task force, by State Farm. And the health and human services task force, by Guarantee Trust Life Insurance."
However, like journalists and reporters from as far away as Toronto previously discovered, entrance to an ALEC function was not possible unless reporting for a "friendly" Right Wing outlet – as reported by CMD:
"Select media have been allowed to hear keynote addresses from politicians and to attend "workshops," but ALEC has denied press credentials to news outlets including Al Jazeera, The Nation, and Think Progress. Hotel security has even accosted and questioned credentialed press speaking to other reporters without credentials or interviewing protestors, such as the Toronto Star and the Arizona Republic."
Like dozens of other credentialed journalists over the past three years, Mr. Milbank was refused entry to any of the functions – except a luncheon…which ALEC's security advised he could attend only if he did not record it:
"Alas, I was quickly regurgitated from the belly of the beast. Outside the meeting rooms, a D.C. police officer, stationed to keep out the riffraff, turned me away. "Our business meetings are not open, and so the subcommittee meetings and task force meetings are not open," explained Bill Meierling, an ALEC spokesman. I could wait a few hours and then attend a luncheon and some workshops, as long as I promised not to record them."
ALEC has promised critics that they will provide "transparency" about their activities, lobbying, model bills and about legislative actions taken at their 3 annual events. But to date, the organization has worked overtime to bury any semblance of transparency behind a facade built upon new layers of secrecy. They have gone so far as to now claim that any communications between ALEC and state lawmakers is privileged and thus exempt from disclosure through responses to FOIA requests.
An even darker development is a draft agreement prepared for the Summit proposing that Alec's chairs in each of the 50 states, who are drawn from senior legislators, should be required to put the interests of ALEC first before the interests of their constituents, thus setting up a possible conflict of interest with the voters who elected them.
Under multiple IRS complaints by whisteleblowers claiming ALEC has been abusing, misusing or hiding their lobbying activities and expenditures as a 501 (c)(3) tax exempt "charity", ALEC has offered up a new program designed to circumvent such IRS tax prohibitions and restrictions: "The Jeffersonian Project" (@pg. 15) which will be a 501 (c)(4) with much more lenience in performing lobbying activities. A Memorandum (provided below) from ALEC's counsel, Alan P. Dye admits that activities performed heretofore by ALEC could indeed be considered "lobbying" by IRS definitions – as could activities of this "Jeffersonian Project". It also advises that "it is possible that at some point the IRS will audit ALEC"…
document obtained from Guardian document trove
In concert with ALEC's 40th States and Nation meeting last week, dozens of news articles, blog posts and reports have hit the media. Each reporting on one or more of ALEC's initiatives relating to; voter ID, voter suppression, environmental deregulation, criminal justice, immigration, healthcare, worker's rights, wages, anti-union and similar "model legislation" efforts. Each of these are/were critical of ALEC efforts and written to inform and warn voters about upcoming legislation proposed and now being pushed by ALEC nationwide. Below examples of some of the articles about ALEC this week and a video of the DC protest march against ALEC and corporate greed:
Daily Kos: ALEC's trouble continues as Visa leaves
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/12/07/4523002/alec-documents-show-strong-ties.html#.UqN94vRO58E
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/12/06/stink-tanks/
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/03/alec-funding-crisis-big-donors-trayvon-martin?CMP=twt_fd&CMP=SOCxx2I2
http://www.dcmediagroup.us/2013/12/05/corporate-interests-come-first-alec-convention/
U.S. Republicans shift health care fight to state level – The Globe and Mail
Conservative Group ALEC in 1985: S&M Accidents Cause 10 Percent of San Francisco's Homicides | Mother Jones
Your daily jolt: 38 percent of state lawmakers are ALEC members | Political Insider | www.ajc.com
Senator, farmer, rabbi speak on climate change | CJOnline.com
ALEC Opposed Divestment From South Africa's Apartheid Regime | The Nation
Don't Fund Evil: 230,000+ Americans Tell Google To Quit ALEC
ALEC calls for penalties on 'freerider' homeowners in assault on clean energy | World news | theguardian.com
State conservative groups plan US-wide assault on education, health and tax | World news | theguardian.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sHiDahO16I&feature=c4-overview&list=UU_tkppmH9q7WYNKtnMQOJLQ
This mass reporting about ALEC is a welcome development. As recent as 2010 few were aware of ALEC and any media reference to their activities were usually found only in articles written and published by Conservative leaning outlets – and were published to applaud ALEC's work to that faction.
Late last month it was an expose by CMD linking the State Policy Network (SPN) and their dozens of affiliates to ALEC and their cabal funded by the likes of the Koch brothers that helped many understand precisely how dangerous this huge cabal has become to our democracy. Through these organizations with members and acolytes throughout our U.S. Congress, state legislatures and former ALEC members holding key positions within many state and federal agencies this minority made up of Conservatives and ultra-Conservatives have been able to obstruct our entire government and defeat the will of the majority of Americans. They have become so powerful and influential over the past 4 decades that today ALEC has dozens of foreign elected officials on their membership roles…foreign conservatives who come here on travel paid for by ALEC to help them and the SPN/Koch cabal set policies for Americans to live and abide by.
VLTP applauds the work of CMD, PFAW, ProgressNow, Color of Change, Common Cause, the AFL-CIO, American Postal Worker's Union, Daily Kos Bloggers and the other organizations that have joined forces to keep exposing ALEC, the SPN and all of Koch's cabal for their lack of transparency and pursuit of anti-democratic activities. Through the work of these dedicated groups, organizations and individuals our democratic heritage and rights are beginning to win out. Hopefully through these efforts ALEC will soon become a thing of the past – as will corporate corruption and control of our elected officials.
By Bob Sloan ALEC, ALEC Corporate Members, ALEC International, Center for Media and Democracy, civil rights, conservative think tanks, Consumer exploitation, corporate behavior, dark money, Education, Environment, Ethics in Government, exploitation and manipulation, Immigration, International Relations, Jobs, Labor, Legislators with ALEC Ties, lobbying, North Carolina, organized labor, Privatized Education System, Privatized Utilities, PRWatch, Public Educaion, The Cabal, Trayvon Martin - "Stand Your Ground" Laws, Unions No comments Tags: ALEC, ALEC alumni, ALEC insurgency, American Legislative Exchange Council, Americans For Prosperity, Center for Media and Democracy, Charles and David Koch, Color of Change, common cause, Disenfranchisement, Education, environment, Greenpeace, Koch Brothers, Model Legislation, PFAW, postal service, privatization, ProgressNiow, stand your ground, transparency, Voter ID Legislation, voter suppression
Koch Bros Retainer to PRWatch: "Bring It!"
by Mary Bottari at PRWatch
"Some interesting emails were released as part of theMilwaukee Journal Sentinel's ongoing investigation of a $500,000 taxpayer grant awarded to the Koch-tied United Sportsmen's group. The grant was tailor-made for United Sportsmen and slipped into the budget by State Representative Scott Suder as one of his last acts as a state legislator. (Suder, who also served as ALEC's Wisconsin State Chair, was given a new job at the Public Utilities Commission and a $45,000 pay raise by Governor Scott Walker.)
"United Sportsmen of Wisconsin (USW) is a relatively new group that spent more money defending Scott Walker in the recall election than on deer licenses, and more money lobbying for a four mile, open-pit iron ore mine that threatens to shut down a large swath of state forest, than educating people about hunting.
"After the Journal Sentinel reported on the sweetheart deal for this little-known group, CMD/PRwatch uncovered the organization's deep ties to David Koch's Americans for Prosperity and the Tea Party. United Sportsmen's website was registered by an AFP staffer, the group coordinated with AFP to send misleading mailers in advance of the 2011 recall elections, and AFP and United Sportsmen co-sponsored a "Freedom Fest" party in advance of the 2012 elections featuring Republican politicians and right-wing personalities. Luke Hilgemann, Suder's former Chief of Staff, until recently headed the Wisconsin chapter of AFP and now is #2 at the national organization. CMD also uncovered how the United Sportsmen Board was populated by right-wing apparatchicks, including John Keegan, head of the Sauk County Tea Party, and Annette Olson, the Americans for Prosperity "Activist of the Year" for 2012 and leader of the Tea Party groups Women United for Liberty and Uninfringed Liberty.
"The Journal Sentinel also reported that the group "misled" law makers about its non-profit charitable status. The ensuing outrage over the blatant cronyism prompted Walker to rescind the grant September 5th, but Suder still has his plum job…"
Read the full PRWatch article -> HERE <-
By Bob Sloan ALEC, ALEC Corporate Members, Conservative Dogma, conservative think tanks, corporate behavior, Environment, Ethics in Government, exploitation and manipulation, Koch brothers, lobbying, Wisconsin No comments Tags: American Legislative Exchange Council, Americans For Prosperity, Center for Media and Democracy, Charles and David Koch, CMD, Koch, Koch Brothers, Mary Bottari, PRWatch, transparency, United Sportsman Group
Latest ALEC Articles, Posts and Materials – For July 1-7
ALEC and their supporters have been busy of late. Click on the article headline to visit and read the entire article…
I apologize for the lapse of reporting on ALEC, but my health has been interfering with my work of late. Will try and keep all our readers better informed going forward.
ALEC seeking new "Directors" for key positions as Director of Nonprofit and Corporate Relations and Director of Nonprofit and Corporate Alliances.
CMD Calls for Nebraska Ethics Investigation over ALEC Keystone "Academy" Junket
— by Nick Surgey and Brendan Fischer
The Center for Media and Democracy filed a complaint yesterday with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission alleging that Nebraska Senator Jim Smith, a major proponent of the Keystone XL pipeline, failed to disclose significant travel expenses paid for by the Government of Alberta, Canada during Smith's participation in an "Oil Sands Academy" organized by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The trip was sponsored by the operator of the Keystone XL pipeline, TransCanada, which may raise additional concerns under the ethics and lobbying code.
Smith and nine other ALEC legislators participated in the "academy" sponsored by TransCanada in Alberta, Canada last October, where they were shepherded around oil extraction facilities and rubbed shoulders with oil industry lobbyists. The Government of Alberta even chartered a flight during the tour to fly the participants to tar sand operations, which reportedly cost around $1,500 per legislator.
Fire Island Erupts Over Verizon's Wireless Voice Link: New York AG Claims Verizon Violated Agreement
The future of telecommunications in the U.S. is being played out on the sandy beaches of Fire Island, NY. Forget about not being upgraded to fiber optic services. Customers are "extremely disappointed," "horrified," "very frustrated," with "grave distress and dissatisfaction" about Verizon's plan to stop fixing their phone lines and giving them an inferior wireless replacement, Voice Link, which can't handle basic plain old telephone service, "POTs" services like fax, DSL or even reliable e911 service…
…In our previous article we highlighted how Verizon Voice Link's deployment ties to Verizon and ATT's plan to abandon whole areas of the U.S. and decline to repair the copper wiring, even after a storm. The phone companies and a group called the American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC, created 'model' legislation that has been burning through the states, removing basic obligations, from quality of service requirements, state commission oversight to even removing "carrier of last resort," where the company no longer has to provide basic services.
On Independence Day, Fight for the Voting Rights That Secure Our Freedoms
This is our first Fourth of July in a generation where we are officially without the heart of the Voting Rights Act. When the U.S. Supreme Court gutted section 4 of the law, throwing out protections ranging from voter suppression tactics like gerrymandering maps to unduly burdensome ID laws to restrictions on early and absentee voting, the Court immediately disenfranchised Americans from sea to shining sea….
…North Carolina is not merely, as Rachel Maddow said, "conservatives gone wild" — it is no coincidence that the Supreme Court gutted the voting rights act and the North Carolina legislature moved to restrict human rights just days later:
It is no coincidence that those blocking voting rights are also blocking reproductive freedoms.
It is no coincidence that those blocking voting rights are also blocking same sex marriages.
It is no coincidence that those blocking voting rights are also blocking immigrants' rights.
It is no coincidence that those blocking voting rights are also blocking workers' rights.
It is no coincidence that those blocking voting rights are also blocking living wages.
It is no coincidence that those blocking voting rights are also blocking guns safety laws.
It is no coincidence that those blocking voting rights are also blocking polluter pay laws.
It is no coincidence that those blocking voting rights are also blocking consumer protections.
And it is definitely no coincidence that those blocking voting rights are also blocking Citizens United repeal. There is a clear line — drawn by conservatives at the Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council with a literal "wish list" and dozens of allies determined to limit voting rights in order to advance narrow interests.
LETTER: No way is Wisdom High a 'D'
Most of us in Maine know that ideological beliefs drive Gov. LePage and his administration; one is the idea that public schools are failing our children and therefore must be eliminated. Public schools are failing our children and we now have the "proof" via these grades that that is the case.
Gov. LePage and Mr. Bowen take their guidance from a right wing conservative think tank called American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC has one agenda on education: Get rid of public schools so they can introduce their favorite agendas; privatize schools through school vouchers; create more charter schools; water down teacher licensing; support private schools using taxpayer funds; erode local control; create more home school regulations; encourage virtual schooling …
Under the influence of ALEC
It seems that daily, we are provided with glimpses of how inane politics and policymaking can be. We need to look no further than our own legislators for amazing examples. While North Carolina faces real problems, state lawmakers have spent the time necessary to craft a bill that will protect food suppliers from lawsuits. Furthermore, these lawmakers have included a provision in the same bill that restricts municipalities from limiting the size of soft drinks.
In fact, the News and Observer of Raleigh reported on Friday that a Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a bill that would prevent people from suing food suppliers for making them fat. The same bill ensures that municipalities cannot limit the size of soda pop for sale. Known as the "Big Gulp" bill, this type of "oversight" clearly belies the ruling party's claims of being opposed to big government intrusion.
Even worse, this bill makes our state legislature look like a pawn being directed to and fro by the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC claims that it provides model legislation for lawmakers nationwide as way to promote free market and conservative ideals. By several accounts, though, ALEC exists merely to serve the Republican Party and large corporations and their interests, often at the expense of the consumer. As details on the organization have come to light in recent months, it has lost some key financial backers, Coke and Pepsi among them – ironically.
ALEC, for those who may not be aware, is the group that has provided and promoted voter registration legislation that aims to restrict voter turnout. It also helped write Florida's Stand Your Ground law.
According to Sen. Bob Rucho, a Mecklenburg County Republican, this "Big Gulp" legislation (put together by ALEC) would prevent "legal extortion." Sadly, this piece of legislation appears to do nothing more than distract the state's elected officials from governance, and distraction is something at which they have proved to be quite adept.
For the party that decries big government, this action is truly laughable. This is big government at its worst: It thwarts the public to the benefit of fat cat donors.
State legislators not asking for ALEC membership reimbursement
Remember that controversy from a few months ago, when the Legislature's Executive Board decided to pay for membership dues of lawmakers belonging to the strongly business-oriented American Legislative Exchange Council?
At the time, Democratic legislators made clear they didn't want memberships purchased for them. Democrats also paid for newspaper ads denouncing the use of public funds for ALEC dues because of the organization's political stances and financial supporters.
Now another policy is in place. Maher directed the Legislative Research Council to pay for ALEC memberships only if legislators submit vouchers requesting reimbursement. The membership cost is $100 for a two-year term.
Here's the kicker. So far, no legislator has requested ALEC membership reimbursement. That's according to Jim Fry, executive director for the LRC, which is the Legislature's professional, non-partisan staff.
When a Democratic legislator, Rep. Kathy Tyler of Big Stone City, said travel payments should be restricted to the organizations in which the Legislature is a member, a Republican legislator, Rep. Betty Olson of Prairie City, called for ALEC memberships to be provided for all legislators.
The board's Republican majority adopted the policy to pay ALEC dues. That was the board's April 23 meeting. The ALEC matter didn't come up again at the two subsequent meetings May 13 and June 10. The board's next meeting is set for Aug. 19.
The Court's Ambivalence
As others observe elsewhere in this issue, our nation's policy is advancing by degrees not just into a different future, but, it would seem, into two different futures, mutually exclusive in their intent.
The most obvious case in point resides with the Supreme Court, which in consecutive days in the last fortnight has laid waste to pretty much everybody's conventional stereotypes. Was the court "conservative" or even reactionary when it cast into the litter bin of history Sections 4 and 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act? Was it "liberal" when, the very next day, it found in favor of plaintiffs in cases challenging Proposition 8 in California and the Defense of Marriage Act nationally?
The fact is that both judgments were 5-4 decisions which, taken together, say something about the essential ambivalence of the time. But let us do some hair-splitting of our own, by way of making sense of it all. The point of the voting rights decision, on the face of what the decision both said and implied, was that in those deep South states where the franchise was at issue for African Americans, there is no longer any problem worth taking advance precautions over.
Really? Then the court is agreeing with the American Legislative Exchange Council, the right-wing pressure group which has churned out a one-size-fits-all law requiring photo IDs for voting and sold it to the conservative legislatures in a growing number of states. So it's "fraud" that's being targeted and not poor folks, black folks, and older folks, the groups most likely to be without photo IDs. Sure.
Take it back from corporations
Anyone who has been paying any attention at all knows that nation-less corporations and mega-wealthy individuals are destroying our democracy and killing our country. They choose our elected official of both parties by anointing candidates with money to buy expensive deceptive TV ads. They inundate our legislatures with slick lobbyists. They own and control our news resources. They write our laws through the corporate funded American Legislative Exchange Council. They exempt themselves from reasonable taxation and regulation. Rather than creating jobs they create their right to export our jobs. They intentionally screw government up and then call for everything to be privatized so they can make more money. It's time for us to declare our independence from nation-less corporations and the mega-wealthy.
A constitutional amendment is required to keep wealth from dominating our democracy. Sixteen states have called for such an amendment. An initiative, a real people's initiative, will be held in Washington state next year. Visit WAMEND.org and washclean.org for information about how you can help. We'll need signature gatherers.
The ultra-wealthy and their nation-less, mindlessly profit-driven corporations are eating our democracy and our future. They are anything but patriotic. On Independence Day let's, "Let 'em eat cake."
ALEC related support and/or propaganda from Right Wing outlets:
Nixon failing to bolster Missouri's economy
According to a recently released report by the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Show-Me state ranked 42nd in economic performance — over the past 10 years! We are ranked 47th in state gross domestic product, meaning we aren't producing many goods.
As a result, we aren't creating many jobs — that's why our unemployment rate remains stagnant at 6.8 percent, nearly double Nebraska's unemployment rate and substantially higher than many of our neighbors like Kansas, Iowa and Oklahoma.
This may explain why over the past three years, Missouri has suffered a net loss in migration as people leave for stronger economies.
Why are we in this mess? Gov. Jay Nixon refuses to lead and has taken zero initiative to grow the Show-Me State.
EPA Growth Knows No Limits
Simply put, the president is using Congressional inaction as a pretext for a climate policy power grab, and that is very troubling. Alas, it is only the latest development in a worrying accumulation of authority at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A new American Legislative Exchange Council report, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Assault on State Sovereignty, reveals that the agency has been systematically centralizing environmental protection by seizing rightful control from the states and replacing local community input with extreme environmental activists.
By Bob Sloan ALEC, ALEC Corporate Members, Campaign Finance, Citizens United, civil rights, Conservative Dogma, conservative think tanks, Consumer exploitation, corporate behavior, dark money, Education, Ethics in Government, exploitation and manipulation, Judiciary - inc. SCOTUS, Koch brothers, Labor, Legislators with ALEC Ties, lobbying, North Carolina, Privatized Education System, PRWatch, Public Educaion, The Cabal, Wisconsin No comments Tags: ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, Americans For Prosperity, Center for Media and Democracy, Charles and David Koch, Citizens United, dirty energy, Disenfranchisement, Greenpeace, Koch Brothers, Model Legislation, privatization, transparency, Voter ID Legislation, voter suppression


If you have to be guilt tripped, it might as well be done by these experts. Check out below why Moruya Business Chamber has brought out the big guns – with the biggest grins – in its bid for a plastic-free Christmas. Other grinners today were University of Wollongong graduates. Who was capped and gowned? The grins in the picture below don't signal victory in our FIX IT NOW campaign – yet. They do signal a significant bi-partisan statement taking us a step closer to a safer Princes Highway. Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack and Shadow Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese met Fairfax editors John Hanscombe and Kerrie O'Connor – and accepted our summer road trip invitation. While we have the pollies' ears, which stretch of highway do you most want fixed?
If you have to be guilt tripped, it might as well be done by these experts.
Check out below why Moruya Business Chamber has brought out the big guns – with the biggest grins – in its bid for a plastic-free Christmas.
Other grinners today were University of Wollongong graduates. Who was capped and gowned?
The grins in the picture below don't signal victory in our FIX IT NOW campaign – yet.
They do signal a significant bi-partisan statement taking us a step closer to a safer Princes Highway. Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack and Shadow Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese met Fairfax editors John Hanscombe and Kerrie O'Connor – and accepted our summer road trip invitation.
While we have the pollies' ears, which stretch of highway do you most want fixed?


Ever increasing velocity and variety of data is posing newer and bigger threats to the deadbeat old knowledge frameworks. Creative Dashboards are the least of the worries of the modern data scientist. Python has replaced Scala, and Hadoop, while still being at the forefront, is no longer the only weapon a data scientist needs in his arsenal. With all this and more, what will the Big Data employment climate be in 2017? Will the doomsayers have their day? Or will Data Scientists keep scaling new heights in global compensation packages, outperforming all other functions? Download to know all this and more in this exhaustive FactsBox!


A locally inspired and styled Kolsch from inside our Krater Rim here in Lyttelton.
Pure Canterbury grown Ale and Wheat malts giving pale golden hues and light malt tones. Qulaity NZ hops asserting themselves with Southern Cross driving a crisp bitterness and a touch of Wakatu finishing off the fresh flavour.


20 South Clark Street is located in the heart of Chicago's central business district near the Richard J. Daley Center. The building is situated between Madison Street and Monroe Street on the west side of Clark Street and facing Chase Tower Plaza.
he most convenient and cheapest parking garage to our office is at Block 37 located at 108 N. State.Use the Spot Hero App and you can park all day for $19.The nearest parking garage is at 172 W. Madison Street.Parking over and hour there is $40.$16 after 4:00 p.m.
Take the Blue or Red line and exit at Monroe.


A very important party of planning a thanksgiving party is to think of party decorations. Your party will be a complete party if you decorate the party in a way to create best atmosphere. Best decorations will impress your guests and make then remember your party forever. You need to think of different aspects to make your decorations perfect. Here we some ideas to decorate a thanksgiving party that will make your party environment attractive and beautiful.
Theme Based: The best option to decorate a thanksgiving party venue is to decorate your venue with a theme. You can use different party themes to make all party decorations like pilgrim theme, turkey theme, autumn harvesting theme etc.
Formal Decorations: This is another way to decorate your party; formal decorations. This option will work if you are planning to celebrate thanksgiving party with your colleagues as a formal dinner party or a dance party with dinner.
Informal Decorations: If you are planning a thanksgiving party as family dinner, buffet etc then this informal party decoration idea will best for you.
Semiformal Decorations: A blend of informal and formal thanksgiving party will be decorated using this decoration idea. All decorations will be made accordingly.
Space: Consider space available for party where you will make all decorations. You need to consider its size, shape and location to make all decorations and decide will you need to remove furniture from party venue, will the space be enough to seat all your guests properly.
Guests: Are your guests your colleagues only, family members, kids, adults etc so that you make decorations accordingly. If children are also coming to attend your party then you will have to decorate another room for kids only.
Furniture: Think about the furniture. Will you need to remove furniture from room or bring more furniture to seat up all guests properly?
Entrance: Are you going to decorate entrance of your home according to a specific party theme or you will decorate the room only. Whatever the theme you select to make decorations, you must decorate the entrance using welcome banner, balloons or flowers.
Exterior: Some parties will require you to decorate your exterior also but if you are planning thanksgiving party then it is at your option whether you decorate exterior of your party venue or not. If you want then lighting in different styles is an option to decorate the exterior of your home or apartment.
Lighting: Another very important element of decoration to be considered is to decorate the party venue with lighting. It is a must if you are planning your thanksgiving party in the evening or at night and most of the parties are arranged as dinner parties so be very creative to make lighting arrangement and decorations.
These were some ideas that will help you to plan party decorations.


A crushing 9-1 victory over Barys kept SKA way out ahead of the rest, while Eastern Conference leader Ak Bars earned a 3-1 win at Sochi as Alexander Svitov got his 100th KHL goal. The day's other games were tight: Amur won in overtime at Vityaz, Slovan did the same at home to Kunlun, Dynamo edged Avangard 2-1 and Neftekhimik beat Salavat Yulaev 3-2.
The pressure on Salavat Yulaev intensified after losing for the fifth time in six games. The Ufa team is now down to eighth in the Eastern Conference, remaining in the playoff places only by virtue of having more regulation wins than ninth placed Sibir.
In Monday's game, 17 seconds of action summed up the team's problems. Salavat Yulaev had only just celebrated Joonas Kemppainen's tying goal when Dan Sexton went up the other end and delivered something special to reinstate the home lead. On the one hand, the American's finish, looping the puck over … even as he was chopped down by Zakhar Arzamastsev's despairing hook, was a spectacular play. On the other hand, there was evidence of a lack of concentration from the visitor's D as Neftekhimik turned defense into attack and quickly demolished the foundations that Salavat had laid in this game.
The third period saw Linus Omark add to his earlier assist with a power play goal to tie the scores once again, but Oleg Piganovich got his second of the night to win it when he put away the rebound from an Erik Gustafsson shot with six minutes to play.
It's not SKA's first big win this season. It's not even SKA's first nine-goal haul of the season. But this one was something special. This time, Oleg Znarok's team went up against one of the more successful outfits in the league and obliterated a Barys team that has been riding high in the Eastern Conference.
The home team quickly took control. In the fifth minute, Nikolai Prokhorkin stuffed home the rebound from Dinar Khafizullin's shot, and a minute later Evgeny Ketov converted a Patrik Hersley pass to make it 2-0. Barys fought back, and Linden Vey thought he'd halved the deficit only to be denied by a video review. For visiting head coach Evgeny Koreshkov, that was the turning point of the game. Yegor Yakovlev and Sergei Plotnikov added two more for SKA before the first intermission, and the outcome was already more or less assured.
Then came a pause, with Barys goalie Sergei Kudryavtsev keeping SKA at bay throughout the second period. The home team still dominated play, firing in 11 shots against two, but could not add to its score. That all changed in the third: Sergei Kalinin potted a fifth during a 4-on-3 power play, then Plotnikov and Prokhorkin got their second goals of the game to push the lead out to 7-0. Nigel Dawes scored his 30th of the season as Barys finally got on the board with eight minutes left, but Vadim Shipachyov responded with an eighth in the 57th minute. Even then, SKA wasn't done. With six seconds left, Ilya Kovalchuk lifted a wrist shot over the glove to complete the rout as the league leader made it six wins in a row.
Avangard went down to a third successive defeat as the Omsk offense continues to misfire. Up against a Dynamo team battling for a playoff place in the West, the Hawks were blasted as 'toothless' by head coach Andrei Skabelka.
Only in the final session did Skabelka see anything to encourage him, with defenseman Evgeny Medvedev pulling a goal back 10 minutes from the end in a period that Avangard dominated. By that time, Dynamo had scored twice: Igor Ignatushkin and Daniil Tarasov on target in the second period. Alexander Yeryomenko pulled off 29 saves to preserve that advantage.
Vyacheslav Litovchenko's overtime goal was enough for Amur after an entertaining game in Podolsk.
Despite a goalless first period, the teams began trading goals in earnest from the opening seconds of the middle frame. Alexei Byvaltsev and Vitaly Atyushov put the Tigers two goals up before Maxim Afinogenov replied for the host.
A flurry of goals early in the third saw Roman Horak briefly draw Vityaz level before Alexandre Picard reinstated Amur's advantage. However, Stanislav Romanov fired in the 3-3 goal almost immediately: three goals in 46 seconds left the game poised. Neither team could find a winner in regulation, though, and Litovchenko gave Amur the points off an Atyushkov assist.
Eastern Conference leader Ak Bars came from behind to take the win at Sochi as captain Alexander Svitov got his 100th KHL goal.
The home team had the better of the first period, and got its reward in the 12th minute when Vadim Shchegolkov set up Evgeny Lapenkov for the opening goal. But Ak Bars did not panic, and turned the game around with two goals early in the middle frame.
Rob Klinkhammer got the tying goal, shooting home Andrei Markov's pass from behind the net as the visitor enjoyed a power play. Then Vasily Tokranov finished off a well-worked play to make it 2-1. Svitov's big moment came five minutes from the end to bring up his landmark and secure the win.
After winning just one game in 11 during a long home stand in Shanghai, Red Star headed west to Slovakia hoping for a new beginning. But China's hockey pioneers found life on the road no more comfortable than playing at home, slipping to a 15th loss in 17 outings.
There wasn't much between the teams in a goalless opening frame, but Jan Buchtele broke the deadlock in the 24th minute to put Slovan ahead. The host looked to be getting on top, but Gilbert Brule tied the scores in the 35th minute and it stayed that way until overtime.
Once into the extras, Zach Boychuk needed just 27 seconds to win it. His interception in center ice set him clear, his finish to the blocker side gave Magnus Hellberg no chance as the Canadian scored his sixth in four games.


With this in mind, Natalie had to stop work since then, nonetheless, regardless of her condition, she never stops dreaming. Her concern is about surviving herself and likewise her family via additional revenue now that her bodily situation makes it impossible to go to work daily into the workplace.
In case you are selling it are you selling it to the workers, an worker, a stranger or competitor? Are you keen to finance the sale? If you're accepting payment over time it's much more vital that you create methods to succeed. If giving it to your offspring are they capable? Do they even need it? Will there be friction in the household that make a sale to outdoors parties extra preferable? Second era businesses typically fail because the new operators do not have the ambition and hunger that the previous technology had.
When girls change into brides, it's the turning point of their lives. Marriage opens many new doorways for his or her lives. She is anticipated to look elegant and beautiful and also look after the house affairs. When she is expecting, her physique requires utmost care and rest. That is one period in her life that takes her towards the pleasure of being a mother. Normally, a nursing mom is pressured to remain at residence and handle the new child. But at the same time, she also needs to pursue her career and stay impartial. At the moment, a woman can try varied options and be a part of some women's groups and become a work from home mum. Steadily, the women turn into very busy mums. They can juggle between totally different roles of home-makers, profession girl, enterprise woman, wives, mates, moms, and daughters on the identical time.
Simple Dwelling Based Enterprise – Are you lazy like? "Too many people are focused on the present or issues created from the past and so miss the chance that the future is delivering at their doorstep" Then acknowledge fee in with the intention of foreign foreign money and perform the surplus of the transaction.
A diving escape. If you have enough cash on hand, send your dad on a diving a trip. It doesn't have to be a faraway vacation spot. Take a look at neighboring diving websites that is protected even for the oldies. Ship mum along too to make the experience much more pleasurable.
"Probably the most practical of all methods for controlling the mind is the habit of maintaining it busy with a particular function, backed by a particular plan." – Napoleon Hill A short research on derivatives has revealed that these financial instruments are quite just like electrical energy which if utilized in the correct manner, can benefit us tremendously but if abused, can value us heavily.
In case you are in search of a better service supplier then you can go surfing. At the net, you possibly can come across many experienced companies and Entrepreneurs in India having internet presence. There's the meet and greet, where previous mates and relations meet, trade pleasantries, and discuss about the various things that have occurred since they final met. Being the matchmaker, the company connects the employer with the appropriate candidate.
26 yr old Mixed Crop Farmer Gottwald from Owen Sound, has several interests including water skiing, Business and casino gambling. Plans to give up work and take the family to most of the noteworthy heritage listed destinations on the globe including Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen.


text:
\section{Introduction}
Exclusive decays of $B$ mesons can be used to study the heavy flavour sector of the Standard Model. The magnitude of one of the least well known CKM matrix elements, $V_{ub}$, can be extracted from measurements of the decay $B\rightarrow \pi\ell\nu$. In addition, rare processes such as $B\rightarrow K^*\gamma$ and $B\rightarrow K^{(*)}\ell\ell$ provide an excellent opportunity to constrain new physics models. Recently, the experimental uncertainties in these processes have been reduced to below the $5\%$ level \cite{Nakao:2004th,Aubert:2008cy,Barberio:2008fa}.
Theoretical predictions of comparable precision are necessary to extract fundamental Standard Model parameters and to test new physics models.

The calculation of hadronic heavy-light form factors involves several challenges: on currently available lattices, the Compton wavelength of the heavy quark is smaller than the lattice spacing and the relativistic quark action can not be used directly. Instead we work with a nonrelativistic effective heavy quark action; discretization errors are under control and can be reduced systematically by improving the action. If \mbox{$q=p_B-p_F$} is the momentum transfer between the initial and final state mesons then $q^2$ can be very small. For $B\rightarrow \pi\ell\nu$ most experimental data \cite{Athar:2003yg,Aubert:2006px,Hokuue:2006nr} comes from the large recoil region, and $q^2$ is zero for the radiative rare decay $B\rightarrow K^*\gamma$. This leads to substantial discretization errors in the final state meson due to its large momentum. These can be reduced by discretizing the nonrelativistic action in a moving frame of reference. The resulting formalism is known as m(oving)NRQCD \cite{Sloan:1997fc,Horgan:2009ti}.

The heavy quark action used in this work is correct up to $\mathcal{O}(1/m^2,v_{\mathrm{rel}}^4)$, where $v_{\mathrm{rel}}$ is the relative velocity between the two quarks in a heavy-heavy meson. One source of systematic errors is the mismatch between the ultraviolet modes in the continuum and lattice mNRQCD. In heavy-heavy spectrum calculations radiative corrections are of comparable size to relativistic corrections \cite{Gray:2005ur}. Typical loop momenta are of the order of the heavy quark mass, where the strong coupling constant is small. In this work we calculate radiative corrections to the mNRQCD action and heavy-light operators. The calculations are carried out at one loop in mean field improved diagrammatic perturbation theory. Due to the complexity of the action the Feynman rules are generated using an automated expansion algorithm \cite{Luscher:1985wf,Hart:2004bd,Hart:2009nr}
and phase space integrals are solved numerically with the adaptive Monte Carlo integrator \textsc{Vegas}\ \cite{Lepage:1977sw}.

In addition, fundamental parameters of the Standard Model, such as the heavy quark mass in the $\overline{MS}$ scheme, $m_b^{\overline{MS}}$, can be extracted from lattice calculations if their perturbative expansion is known to high orders both in the continuum and on the lattice.
In this work we use a mixed strategy for calculating higher order loop corrections to the heavy quark self-energy: by simulating the quenched theory in the weak coupling regime (corresponding to large values of the inverse coupling $\beta$) and fitting the results to an expansion in $\alpha_s$, the gluonic higher order loop corrections can be obtained \cite{Dimm:1994fy}. This has to be supplemented with the calculation of the fermionic contribution in diagrammatic perturbation theory. At one loop order the fermionic vacuum polarisation does not contribute and we compare results from diagrammatic perturbation theory and high-$\beta$ simulations.

\subsection{Effective theories for heavy quarks on the lattice}
After integrating out fluctuations at the $b$ quark scale, the Lagrangian of the nonrelativistic heavy quark theory can be written as an expansion in the inverse heavy quark mass. A mNRQCD action which is correct to $\mathcal{O}(1/m^2,v_{\mathrm{rel}}^4)$ is derived in detail in \cite{Horgan:2009ti}. On the lattice it can be written as

\begin{equation}
  S = \sum_{\vec{x},\tau}\psi^+(\vec{x},\tau)\Big[
  \psi(\vec{x},\tau) - \left(
    1-\frac{\delta H}{2}
  \right)
  \left(
  	1-\frac{H_0}{2n}
  \right)^n
  U_4^\dagger
    \left(
  	1-\frac{H_0}{2n}
  \right)^n
  \left(
    1-\frac{\delta H}{2}
  \right)\psi(\vec{x},\tau-1)\Big].
\end{equation}
The lowest order kinetic term is
$H_0 = - i \vec{v}\cdot\vec{\Delta}^\pm
    -\left(\Delta^{(2)}-\Delta_v^{(2)}\right)/(2\gamma m)$
where $\vec{v}$ is the frame velocity and
$\Delta_j^\pm$, $\Delta^{(2)}$ and $\Delta_v^{(2)}$ are first and second order covariant finite difference operators.
$\delta H$ contains higher order corrections in $1/m$ and operators which reduce discretization artifacts.
\section{Perturbative renormalization of m(oving)NRQCD}
Renormalization constants of kinetic terms in the mNRQCD action can be obtained from the heavy quark self-energy, which at one loop is given by the two diagrams in Fig. \ref{fig:selfenergy_diagrams}. We include mean field corrections by dividing each link in the action by its mean value \mbox{$u_0=1-\alpha_s u_0^{(2)} + \dots$}.
\begin{figure}
 \begin{center}
   \includegraphics[width=0.5\linewidth]{selfenergy.eps}
   \caption{One loop corrections to the heavy quark self-energy.}
   \label{fig:selfenergy_diagrams}
 \end{center}
\end{figure}
\subsection{Renormalization parameters}
We calculate the one loop corrections to the zero point energy $E_0$, wavefunction renormalization\footnote{We only show the infrared finite part without the logarithmic divergence $-2/(3\pi)\log a^2\lambda^2$.} $\delta \overline{Z}_\psi$, heavy quark mass $\delta Z_m$, frame velocity $\delta Z_v$ and the energy shift between lattice mNRQCD and continuum QCD $\delta C_v$ for a range of frame velocities, see Fig. \ref{fig:ren_parm}. The calculation is performed in an infinite volume with a small gluon mass $\lambda$ as an infrared regulator. All renormalization parameters are obtained from the self-energy by taking appropriate derivatives with respect to the external quark momentum \cite{vonHippel:2005dh,vonHippel:2007xd}. Of particular interest is the renormalization of the external momentum $\delta Z_p$, which in the continuum is protected by reparametrization invariance. On the lattice, it is small for not too large frame velocities. The gluon action is Symanzik improved in all calculations presented here.
\begin{figure}
\begin{center}
  \includegraphics[angle=270,width=0.7\linewidth]{plot_ren_parm_full.eps}
  \caption{One loop corrections to heavy quark renormalization parameters. Mean field corrections are included. The heavy quark mass is $m=2.8$ and the stability parameter $n=2$.}
  \label{fig:ren_parm}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
After including mean field corrections, the magnitude of the one loop corrections is of order one and smaller, as expected for a well behaved perturbative expansion.

\subsection{High-beta simulations}
Calculation of higher order loop corrections becomes increasingly difficult due to the large number of diagrams and the complicated structure of vertices with a large number of gluons. Instead we can calculate radiative corrections by measuring the heavy quark two point function at large values of $\beta$, extract the renormalization parameters and fit them to a polynomial in $\alpha_s$ \cite{Dimm:1994fy}. Nonperturbative contributions are suppressed by using twisted boundary conditions \cite{Luscher:1985wf,'tHooft:1979uj}. As the inclusion of fermionic vacuum polarisation effects makes the generation of configurations computationally expensive, the configurations used in our calculation are quenched. The missing fermionic corrections can be included relatively easily as they require the evaluation of a small number of diagrams.
In addition, the quality of the polynomial fit can be improved if the one loop coefficient is constrained to the value calculated in diagrammatic perturbation theory.

In Tab. \ref{tab:ren_parm_finitevolumeE0} we show the results of a polynomial fit in $\alpha_s$. In the first case, the one loop coefficient was unconstrained, whereas in the second case it was constrained to the value from diagrammatic perturbation theory. For all but the highest frame velocity the  one loop coefficients agree within statistical errors.

\begin{table}
 \begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{ccp{2.0cm}p{2.0cm}p{2.0cm}p{2.0cm}}
\hline
 fit & & $v=0.0$  & $v=0.2$  & $v=0.4$  & $v=0.8$ \\ \hline\hline
unconstrained & 1 loop
  & $-2.6321(69)$ & $-2.5797(67)$ & $-2.4146(64)$ & $-1.812(16)$ \\[0ex]
  & 2 loops
  & $-0.24(36)$ & $-0.33(36)$ & $-0.93(34)$ & $-0.01(67)$ \\
  & 3 loops
  & $-15.1\pm3.3$ & $-14.8\pm3.3$ & $-8.9\pm3.3$ & $-20.0\pm5.2$
  \\\hline
constrained
  & 1 loop
  & $-2.6254$ & $-2.5732$ & $-2.4140$ & $-1.7284$ \\
  & 2 loops
  & $-0.55(17)$ & $-0.63(17)$ & $-0.96(15)$ & $3.06(59)$ \\
  & 3 loops
  & $-12.7\pm 2.1$ & $-12.4\pm 2.3$ & $-8.6\pm 2.1$ & $0.3\pm 5.9$
  \\\hline
\end{tabular}
  \caption{Coefficients of the perturbative expansion of the zero point energy shift $E_0$ for a simple mNRQCD action with $\delta H=0$. The calculation was carried out on a $18\times 6^3$ lattice and results are shown both for unconstrained and constrained one loop coefficients. Mean field corrections are not included. The heavy quark mass is $m=2.0$ and the stability parameter $n=2$. All results are preliminary.}
  \label{tab:ren_parm_finitevolumeE0}
 \end{center}
\end{table}

\subsection{Higher order kinetic terms}
We also investigate the breaking of rotational invariance by higher order kinetic terms in the NRQCD Lagrangian. Energy splittings between mesons with the same $\vec{p}^2$ but different $\sum_j p_j^4$ have been calculated nonperturbatively in NRQCD.
Although these splittings are small compared to the
total kinetic energy, they are not compatible with zero within errors. They can be removed by tuning the coefficient of the rotationally noninvariant term $\Delta^{(4)}/(24m)$ to $c_5=2.6$, which has to be compared to the tree level value of $c_5^{\mathrm{tree}}=1$.

In Fig. \ref{fig:higher_order_kinetic} the one loop corrections in the perturbative calculation are shown, together with the corresponding corrections to the coefficient $\tilde{c}_1$ which multiplies the operator $-\left(\Delta^{(2)}\right)^2/(8m^3)$.
\begin{figure}
\begin{center}
  \includegraphics[angle=270,width=0.6\linewidth]{plot_c11_c51_beijing.eps}
  \caption{One loop renormalization parameters of higher order kinetic terms in the NRQCD action. Mean field corrections are included. The stability parameter is $n=4$.

}
  \label{fig:higher_order_kinetic}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
As can be seen from this plot, the smallness of the one loop corrections is not compatible with the nonperturbative calculation. Effects of higher order derivative operators in the action and the size of discretization errors in the nonperturbative simulations are currently being explored.
\section{Radiative corrections to heavy-light currents}
We calculate the one loop correction to the vector $(V)$ and tensor $(T)$ current.
\begin{equation}
  Q^{(V)\mu} = \overline{q} \gamma^\mu\Psi,\qquad
  Q^{(T)\mu\nu} = \frac{e}{16\pi^2}m\overline{q} \sigma^{\mu\nu}\Psi.
\end{equation}
The branching ratio of the decay $B\rightarrow\pi\ell\nu$ can be calculated if the form factor of the vector current is known. The local contributions to the rare decays $B\rightarrow K^*\gamma$ and $B\rightarrow K^{(*)}\ell\ell$ are given by the tensor and vector current respectively.

The QCD field $\Psi$ has to be expressed in terms of fields in the effective theory in the moving frame. At leading order in the $1/m$ expansion two operators $Q_\pm^{(\Gamma)}$ contribute on the lattice for each Dirac structure $\Gamma$. From these a lattice operator $Q^{(\Gamma)}_{\mathrm{lat}}$ can be constructed as
\begin{equation}
Q^{(\Gamma)}_{\mathrm{lat}} = (1+\alpha_s c_+^{(\Gamma)})
    Q_+^{(\Gamma)} + \alpha_s c_-^{(\Gamma)} Q_-^{(\Gamma)}.
\end{equation}
The matching coefficients $c_{\pm}^{(\Gamma)}$ are adjusted such that matrix elements in lattice mNRQCD and continuum QCD agree at one loop,
$\langle s |Q^{(\Gamma)}| b\rangle_{\mathrm{QCD}}
    = \langle s |Q^{(\Gamma)}_{\mathrm{lat}}| b\rangle_{\mathrm{lat}} + \mathcal{O}(\alpha_s^2,1/m)$. This implies
\begin{equation}
    c_+^{(\Gamma)}(am,\mu/m) = \delta Z^{(\Gamma)}(\mu/m) - \delta \tilde{Z}^{(\Gamma)}_{++}(am),\qquad\qquad    c_-^{(\Gamma)}(am) = - \delta \tilde{Z}^{(\Gamma)}_{+-}(am).
\end{equation}
$\delta Z^{(\Gamma)}(\mu/m)$ is the one loop correction to the continuum operator $Q^{(\Gamma)}$ whereas the one loop mixing matrix between the operators $Q^{(\Gamma)}_\pm$ on the lattice is $\delta\tilde{Z}^{(\Gamma)}(am)$.

Numerical results for the matching coefficients of the vector and tensor current are shown in Fig. \ref{fig:matchingcoefficients}. The light quark is discretized using the \textsc{ASQtad}\ action and its mass is set to zero in the matching calculation.
\begin{figure}
 \begin{center}
  \begin{minipage}{0.49\linewidth}
    \begin{center}
      \includegraphics[angle=270,width=\linewidth]{plot_match_full_vector.eps}
    \end{center}
  \end{minipage} \hfill
  \begin{minipage}{0.49\linewidth}
    \begin{center}
      \includegraphics[angle=270,width=\linewidth]{plot_match_full_tensor.eps}
    \end{center}
  \end{minipage}
  \caption{One loop matching coefficients for the vector (left) and tensor (right) current. The Lorentz indices can be timelike ($0$), parallel ($\parallel$) or perpendicular ($\perp$) to the frame velocity. Mean field corrections are included, the massless light quark is discretized in the \textsc{ASQtad}\ action. The heavy quark mass is $m=2.8$ and the stability parameter $n=2$; the renormalization scale for the tensor current is $\mu=m$.}
  \label{fig:matchingcoefficients}
 \end{center}
\end{figure}
Nonperturbative form factors of these currents have been calculated for a simple mNRQCD action \cite{Meinel:2008th}. This calculation is currently repeated with the full $\mathcal{O}(1/m^2,v_{\mathrm{rel}}^4)$ mNRQCD action used in this work \cite{Liu:2009PoS}, including $1/m$ corrections to the currents at tree level.
\section{Conclusion and Outlook}

We calculated radiative corrections to leading order kinetic terms in the mNRQCD action on the lattice in diagrammatic perturbation theory both in an infinite volume and on a finite lattice with twisted boundary conditions. The one loop coefficients are compared to those from high-$\beta$ simulations and used to stabilise the polynomial fit in the strong coupling constant. We find good agreement between the two methods for a reasonable range of frame velocities.

Radiative corrections to rotationally noninvariant higher order kinetic terms are calculated in NRQCD. Further work is necessary to reduce the mismatch of one loop results and nonperturbative calculations of the matching coefficients. Results for the one loop corrections to the leading order operators of the heavy-light vector and tensor currents in mNRQCD are presented. These will be combined with the nonperturbative calculation of the form factors which is currently being carried out with the full $\mathcal{O}(1/m^2,v_{\mathrm{rel}}^4)$ action used in perturbative calculations.

A two loop calculation of the fermionic contribution to the heavy quark self-energy is currently being carried out and will complement the gluonic contributions from quenched high-$\beta$ simulations. Other terms in the action, most importantly the $\vec{\sigma}\cdot\vec{B}/(2m)$ chromomagnetic term which affects the hyperfine splitting, need to be renormalized. Our approach for evaluating Feynman diagrams is flexible enough to extend it to other actions; so far we have repeated the current matching calculation with the \textsc{HISQ}\ light quark action but other combinations such as static heavy quarks decaying to domain wall fermions could be investigated as well.
\acknowledgments
We would like to thank Lew Khomskii, Zhaofeng Liu and Junko Shigemitsu for useful discussions.
This work has made use of the resources provided by the Edinburgh Compute and Data Facility (ECDF) and the Cambridge High Performance Computing Service. The ECDF is partially supported by the eDIKT initiative.
We also acknowledge support from the DEISA Extreme Computing Initiative (DECI).

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
Portsmouth moves to banning smoking on beaches
Ordinance may go into effect next year
Portsmouth may soon become the latest Rhode Island town to ban smoking on public beaches and other public spaces.At the request of Councilman David Gleason, the Town Council on Monday voted unanimously to ask a town lawyer to draft an ordinance that would ban smoking on beaches and in public parks and recreational areas.The ordinance will not be considered by the council until September, meaning it likely would go into effect next year if approved.Earlier this year, Newport and Middletown enacted smoking bans on public beaches and in public parks.Gleason tells The Newport Daily News a smoking ban would increase the quality of air at the beaches and cut down on litter.
PORTSMOUTH, R.I. —
Portsmouth may soon become the latest Rhode Island town to ban smoking on public beaches and other public spaces.
At the request of Councilman David Gleason, the Town Council on Monday voted unanimously to ask a town lawyer to draft an ordinance that would ban smoking on beaches and in public parks and recreational areas.
The ordinance will not be considered by the council until September, meaning it likely would go into effect next year if approved.
Earlier this year, Newport and Middletown enacted smoking bans on public beaches and in public parks.
Gleason tells The Newport Daily News a smoking ban would increase the quality of air at the beaches and cut down on litter.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Accra, March 13, GNA – Mr Jonathan Pace, an official the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), says promoting ocean management is central to Ghana's development in an environment characterized by technological progress and globalisation.
He recounted that in 2008, Ghana adopted a National Transport Policy (NTP 2008), which was currently under review to take stock of development in the transport sector and enhance its scope.
Mr Pace, the Acting Chief, Subdivision for Programme Management and Coordination Technical Corporation, IMO, said the NTP was the main policy document that prescribed the policy direction of the transport sector as a whole.
As such, its maritime related goals and objectives should provide the basis for a National Maritime Transport Policy (NMTP) and any related strategy.
Mr Pace said this on Wednesday at the opening of a three-day National Maritime Transport Policy Workshop in Accra.
It was organised by the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA), in collaboration with the IMO.
It is to raise awareness on the importance of the NMTP as a good governance practice by engaging the various stakeholders in a meaningful dialogue with a view to laying the basis for developing the policy.
"A sustainable maritime transport system reflecting and balancing the interest of stakeholders can only be achieved by a carefully devised and executed maritime transport policy," he said.
Mr Pace said Ghana, an IMO Member State since 1959, was not only an active Member State in the workings of the Organization but also an active participant in the Integrated Technical Cooperation Programme (ITCP).
He said whilst primarily aimed at building the capacities of the country to sustainably manage the maritime sector, IMO's technical cooperation assistance to Ghana, inter alia, aimed at ensuring safety, security and environmental protection.
The IMO, in cooperation with the World Maritime University (WMU), its premier global maritime training institution, had embarked on an initiative to assist IMO Member States to develop the policies.
Mr Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, the Minister of Transport, in a speech read on his behalf, said the maritime sector had been a major contributor to Ghana's development agenda, and its international trade relations.
He said Ghana had recently reviewed her National Transport Policy developed in 2008, which includes the National Maritime Law; adding that the Policy had been reviewed in line with international best practices.


The 4AGE ECU is a pretty incredible unit and not something most people give due credit to. I've been trying to learn as much as I can about it regarding it's "intelligence" and I thought I'd share what my good friend Nitin has been telling me. Nitin has been working towards getting his mechanics certificate for a while now, and he's one of the few guys that seems to really take to the electronics side of the business as well as the usual pulling wrenches bit.
The 4AGE ECU is an adaptive or "learning" unit. The ECU will take the information from the many sensors in the car, match that to the way the car is being driven, and work out the best way for everything to work/fire/run to keep everything as efficient and smooth as possible.Whenever any engine electrical work is done (moving sensors, making adjustments, etc.) it's always a good idea to reset the ECU. You can do this by either disconnecting the negative terminal from the battery post for a couple minutes (or more depending on how cold the car is), or removing and reinstalling a fuse in the kick panel near the driver's feet. Doing this gives the ECU a chance to forget what it's learned in the past so to speak, and start with a clean slate. If you do this it will seek out fresh readings from all those sensors and use those to make the engine run smoothly, instead of piling the new readings on top of the old bad ones and trying to get a good working operation from the combination.
So that's the engine/sensor side of teaching the ECU. You adjust all the sensors and stuff within spec, then the ECU learns what it needs to automatically. Pretty easy.
When the ECU learns the answers to these questions, it's hoping that YOU the driver will know how to properly train it, which is something I've understood for quite sometime, but never knew exactly HOW I should drive the car so it learns what it needs to in a proper way.
Find a nice, long, and hopefully deserted road. After getting the car up to normal operating temperature, and after resetting the ECU, drive the car up to 60km/h and then let the car slow down to 30km/h WITHOUT touching the brakes. I assume you should leave the car in gear. Once you hit 30km/h, take the car up to 70km/h and then once again let it slow to 30km/h. Repeat this procedure for 80, 90, and 100km/h. Doing this should give the proper and consistent readings it needs in order to decide how to run the engine in the most efficient way, and apparently this works for most EFI systems used by pre-96 vehicles.
Does it works for other cars ECU too? I mean the learning part for the ECU..
Yes. It will works for other ECU.


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