Details of ALEC's embarrassment

Yesterday, as you know, the book-burners from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) came to Cincinnati for one of their secret gatherings. This prompted a protest against ALEC on Fountain Square - right across the corner from the swanky hotel where ALEC was being housed.

As ALEC hashed out authoritarian right-wing "model legislation" that is sure to be introduced in a statehouse near you, I participated in the rally against ALEC that drew roughly 300 people. I was amazed at the turnout we got, considering our event received almost no prior mention by The Media (even though The Media covers every detail of the Tea Parties).

We attracted precisely one - count 'em, one - counterprotester. A hapless oaf wrote right-wing slogans on cooler lids, mostly supporting Ohio's union-busting S.B. 5. He spent the next half-hour skipping rope with a stupid smirk on his face. People mostly just ignored his idiotic display, and he left early.

Also, an operative wearing an ALEC lanyard and a suit and tie bipped along and started arguing with an anti-ALEC protester.

The best part of our demonstration though was when we marched around the block where ALEC's hotel was. We made about 4 or 5 marches around this block, loudly chanting and beating a drum throughout. Unlike the Tea Parties, however, we obeyed pedestrian crosswalk signals and didn't block traffic.

As we held our march, the guy who argued with us on Fountain Square was now standing at the hotel entrance with other ALEC peeps. I had a sign that said "GO HOME, ALEC" - but if you looked very closely, the "ALEC" portion said "tALECban." I waved the sign at the ALEC operatives each time I passed them. They were close enough to read it in full too.

This sign highlighted some important points. Firstly, ALEC had the nerve to come to Cincinnati where their brand of politics is no longer welcome. (They think it's still 1990.) Secondly, ALEC is truly representative of the American Taliban, as they support gobs of social engineering bills that clutter America's statehouses.

Does ALEC get the message yet that the public doesn't want their stupid ideas? Granted, we don't know exactly what their "model bills" say, because they're so secretive that the text of these bills is available only to members. But I can tell what some of these bills are just by the names. I've become well-versed in the misleading names right-wingers give to their ideas, so ALEC would have to work mighty hard to fool me. (If I had to guess, I would say their so-called Methamphetamine Reduction Act is the bill that would require a prescription to buy cold medicine.)

Now that ALEC has become familiar to me, I'm going to be keeping a lynx-like eye on what it does, and I will welcome attempts locally to fight these legislative terrorists.

So get ready, folks.