Parents and educators share a "sense of urgency" when it comes to improving schools and providing the best education possible for children, says AFT President Randi Weingarten. But teachers and their unions are part of the solution, not the problem, despite what the soon-to-be-released film, “Won’t Back Down,” says.

Weingarten rebutted the portrayal of teachers and teachers’ unions in “Won’t Back Down.” She writes:

Many people who see this film will be moved by the story and will feel this same sense of urgency. But the film uses blatant stereotypes and caricatures to blame teachers and their unions for all of the problems facing our schools. These stereotypes and caricatures are even worse than those in “Waiting for ‘Superman.’”

Thirteen more Texas legislators, including 10 Republicans, have severed their ties with the extremist American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Earlier this year, another dozen Lone Star State lawmakers said goodbye to ALEC. Matt Glazer, executive director of Progress Texas, the group that has helped expose ALEC’s influence in the state legislature, says:

These legislators have shown the courage of their convictions by standing up to a corporate bill factory and declaring their support for the people of Texas above all else. 

A Pennsylvania state judge yesterday refused to block the voter suppression law that Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R) said “is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania.” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says the Pennsylvania law and other similar voter ID laws

are being pushed for partisan reasons to disenfranchise particular groups of voters.  They are cynical and wrong, and they undermine our democracy.

While Pennsylvania’s new voter ID law is under federal investigation and on trial in a state court, new figures show that more than 1.6 million Pennsylvanians might not have the photo identification necessary to vote this November, including 43 percent (437,000) of Philadelphia’s voters.

The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a formal investigation into Pennsylvania’s new voter ID law that, by some estimates, could disenfranchise nearly one in 10 eligible voters—mostly people of color, students, seniors and low-income voters. The bill mirrors other voter suppression laws Republican-controlled state legislatures have passed in recent years based on model legislation from the extremist American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

A second Wisconsin judge has found that the state's voter ID restriction—built on a template from the extremist American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)—creates a “substantial impairment of the right to vote” and violates the state’s constitution.  

Dane County Circuit Judge David Flanagan wrote the law:

tells more than 300,000 Wisconsin voters who do not now have an acceptable form of photo identification that they cannot vote.

Five more major corporations severed their ties with the extremist American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Their exit brings the number of big corporations to 25—plus four major non-profit groups and 55 lawmakers—that have recently left ALEC and its agenda of voter suppression, union-busting and immigrant bashing. The five latest companies, according to Reuters, are Hewlett-Packard, CVS Caremark, Deere & Co., MillerCoors and Best Buy.

A recent report dismantles claims by private prison industry and its backers—including the extremist American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)—that private prisons are a better deal than publicly run facilities. The report also explores the influence private prison companies exert over criminal justice policymaking and the industry’s overall lack of transparency. Two of ALEC’s major sponsors are Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the GEO Group (formerly Wackenhut Security), the largest private prison firms in the country.

For those of us keeping score, 19 major corporations and 54 state legislators have cut their ties with the extremist American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Now pressure is mounting for other major corporations to join the exodus from ALEC and its agenda of voter suppression, union-busting and immigrant bashing.

WI

Why should Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) lose his job in next week’s recall election against Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett? Here are 11 good reasons:

1. Scott Walker eliminated the collective bargaining rights of 380,000 public employees.
2. Scott Walker has led Wisconsin to last place in the nation in job creation.
3. Scott Walker has disenfranchised tens of thousands of young voters, senior citizens and minority voters with voter suppression and voter ID laws.