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Mandatory Monday Malloy Truthseekers check in!! Balance of Power! & a new Kittehs gif
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Balance of Power
3rd November 2014MalloyProducer2 Comments
While the pundits debate the control of Congress after tomorrow’s election, the real human significance of tomorrow’s vote might lie in several state ballot initiatives. If the Republicans do gain a majority in the Senate, it will be by a slim margin. It will make them capable of continuing their obstructionist tactics, to be sure, but would not give them a super-majority needed to stop a filibuster or over-ride the President’s veto. So at worst, Congress would be slightly more irritating and useless than at present. And there are 36 gubernatorial races to consider as well, which might have more of an impact on the 2016 Presidential race than anything that happens tomorrow.
But the juicy stuff on the ballots has less to do with individual candidates and more to do with social policies. PBS News Hour suggests 11 issues that are worthy of your attention:
1. Minimum Wage. A fascinating combination of five states — from north and south, of red and blue stripe — are proposing increases in their minimum wage. Arkansas, South Dakota and Nebraska would raise their minimum wage, over various lengths of time, from the $6- or $7-an-hour range to at or above $8. Alaska would push the lowest wage rate from $8.75 to $9.75. And Illinois would move minimum wage workers to $10 an hour.
2. Ending prohibition. Arkansas voters will decide whether to roll back prohibition in the state’s many dry counties. The Natural State has one of the largest number of dry counties, where alcohol sales are prohibited, in the nation. The measure on the ballot would legalize alcohol across the state.
3. Guns. One of the most interesting ballot battles in the nation happens in Washington state. Voters there face two contrasting measures: one that would require background checks for guns purchased privately or at gun shows and another that would prohibit such background checks from being enacted. The NRA and gun-control groups are going head-to-head. (Sidenote: Alabama is also voting on guns — with a so-called “strict scrutiny” measure to make it harder to pass restrictions on gun ownership.)
4. Abortion. Colorado voters will decide on whether to define a fetus as a person. In North Dakota, the language on the ballot would state that life begins at conception. And in Tennessee, voters will decide whether to state that there is no assumed right to an abortion, in any situation.
5. Energy vs. Environment. Some big, expensive and overlooked battles are underway in this area. North Dakotans will decide whether to set aside 5 percent of their energy tax windfall (only $2 billion — yes, with a “B” — a year in taxes) for land and water conservation.
Alaskans will vote on whether to help a mining operation or protect a Bristol Bay salmon fishery. And in Colorado, voters will decide whether to make it more difficult for oil and gas drillers, particularly those engaged in “fracking”.
6. Keep judges longer. Hawaii will decide whether to increase the mandatory retirement for judges from 70 years old to 80 years old. Louisiana would remove its mandatory retirement age for judges altogether.
7. Hunting. A fiercely-contested ballot measure in Maine would ban the use of dogs or bait in bear hunting. Alabama and Mississippi would both pass measures stating that hunting is a right.
8. Voting. Connecticut, where many New York commuters face colossal traffic jams, is asking voters if they want the chance to vote before the day of the election. Missouri’s voters will decide on a potential six-day early voting window. In Montana, it’s not the timing for voting, but when you can register that’s on the ballot. Voter there will decide whether to end registration the Friday before an election.
9. Food. Wonder if your food is genetically modified? So do some legislators in Oregon and Colorado. Both states will vote on measure to require some kind of “genetically modified” label on such foods.
10. Marijuana. Three states and the District of Columbia are considering easing up on marijuana regulations. Ballot initiatives in Alaska, Oregon and Washington, D.C., would allow adults to possess small amounts of pot for private use. Florida’s voters will decide whether to allow medical marijuana use.
11. Prison time. Two decades after passing one of the most strict “three-strikes-and-you’re-out” laws in the country, California voters will decide whether to roll back penalties on a series of non-violent felonies, making them misdemeanors instead.
Of all these issues, marijuana legalization is getting the most press. And if you examine each issue independently you will notice that most are aimed at making the state laws more progressive. Increasing minimum wage, rolling back severe mandatory prison sentences, stricter gun control, expanding voting rights, and of course – legalizing marijuana.
Then there is abortion. And yet again, there is an attempt to control women’s reproductive systems. These (mostly white male) lawmakers just can’t stop peeking up their constituents’ skirts. So three states – Colorado, Tennessee, and North Dakota will attempt – yet again – to overturn the privacy guarantees of Roe v. Wade with three draconian ballot measures. And in Oregon there is a proposal to ban state funds for abortions unless the mother is in “grave physical danger.” That sounds purposefully vague. Huffington Post offers more details:
Colorado: Amendment 67
What It Says: The measure states that, “In the interest of the protection of pregnant mothers and their unborn children from criminal offenses and neglect and wrongful acts, the words ‘person’ and ‘child’ in the Colorado Criminal Code and the Colorado Wrongful Death Act must include unborn human beings.”
What Proponents Claim It’s For: In August, Mason told The Washington Post: “Amendment 67 corrects the loophole in Colorado law and ensures that those criminals can be charged with killing a child in many different scenarios, whereas previous personhood amendments didn’t address the criminal code.”
What Opponents Say It Could Mean For Women:Those who oppose the bill say that by changing the definition of personhood in Colorado’s criminal code, the amendment could effectively criminalize abortion. It could also call into question the legality of certain types of birth control, including the pill, intrauterine devices and emergency contraception.
Opponents also worry that the amendment could have even further-reaching consequences for women who miscarry or deliver a stillborn child, as well as their doctors. “The language of Amendment 67 is so broad and far-reaching that it would make pregnant women and their doctors criminally liable for any pregnancy that does not result in a live birth, regardless of the stage of pregnancy,” reads the FAQ section on the website of NO67, a campaign that opposes the measure.
North Dakota: Measure 1
What It Says: The measure would add the following to Article 1 of the North Dakota state constitution: “The inalienable right to life of every human being at any stage of development must be recognized and protected.”
What Proponents Claim It’s For
ersonhood USA’s website says that the measure is meant to “ensure that mother and baby are both treated as medical patients.” And in February 2013, Republican state Sen. Margaret Sitte, the sponsor of the personhood initiative, told HuffPost’s Laura Bassett: “We are intending that it be a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, since Scalia said that the Supreme Court is waiting for states to raise a case.”
What Opponents Say It Could Mean For Women: West said that the North Dakota measure, like the Colorado amendment, could lead to an abortion ban and have negative implications for the legality of certain types of birth control and IVF procedures. Other opponents of Measure 1 point to its confusing language. “Because Measure 1 is so vague and poorly-worded, it will lead to so many legal battles,” Karla Rose Hanson, spokesperson for North Dakotans Against Measure 1, told Cosmopolitan in September.
“It could lead to court battles on a variety of fronts — how it applies to end-of-life situations, how it applies to IVF, how it applies to abortion.”
Tennessee: Amendment 1
What It Says: The amendment would add the following language to Tennessee’s constitution: “Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion. The people retain the right through their elected state representatives and state senators to enact, amend, or repeal statutes regarding abortion, including, but not limited to, circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest or when necessary to save the life of the mother.”
What Proponents Claim It’s For: The group Yes On 1 says that Amendment 1 would pave the way for the Tennessee legislature to “enforce common sense protections for abortion-vulnerable women or unborn children.” Since a 2000 state Supreme Court ruling that a woman’s constitutional right to privacy included the right to terminate a pregnancy, the Tennessee legislature has not been able to pass broad anti-abortion legislation.
What Opponents Say It Could Mean For Women: If the amendment passes, it will effectively invalidate the earlier state Supreme Court ruling, and allow Tennessee’s Congress to pursue — and pass — more aggressive anti-abortion legislation. According to West, the amendment would allow the legislature “to appeal every measure that protects abortion rights.”
So let’s recap – if Colorado’s Amendment 67 passes, then a woman could be held criminally liable for the miscarriage of a wanted child. If Measure 1 succeeds in North Dakota, that could prevent people from seeking IVF as a measure to begin a pregnancy, as well as prevent physicians and family members from carrying out end-of-life advance directives for their sick and elderly patients or relatives. And a “yes” vote on Amendment 1 in Tennessee would eliminate all constitutional language protecting the right to abortion. Nice.
So when you’re watching the election results dribble in tomorrow night (hopefully while listening to this program), see if the talking heads pay any attention to these crucial votes, or if they just keep their cameras fixed on the various Senatorial campaign headquarters for the usual victory parties and concession speeches.
-KBM
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Hi ralps. Hello Everyone.
I'm a little late. I was out for a walk. So, how's everyone?
I want one!
I can has kitteh plz kthx.
Plus… you know… the 3rd hour!