No elections in Vermont today, but there are a couple of important ones elsewhere.
In Ohio, voters have overwhelmingly voted to throw out the anti-union law that right-wing governor John Kasich pushed through the legislature this year. You may recall that this is the race that Mitt Romney got his fingers burned in recently because of jumping into the fight without clearly picking a side. Another profile in courage for the Mittster, but more importantly, the voters of Ohio have come out to support the rights of public sector workers.
In Mississippi voters have rejected a constitutional amendment that would have counted zygotes and embryos as complete human beings from the moment of conception, immediately outlawing all abortions and some forms of birth control, while at the same time forcing pregnant women to pay double admission to the movies and allowing them to drive in the car pool lane. This was considered a risk to pass, particularly since both gubernatorial candidates supported it.
In Maine the voters have approved a proposal for same-day voter registration, even though the Republicans used scare tactics against it, including ads claiming that the measure was supported by “the gays”.
And on a more personal note, in the town I grew up in, voters in Glen Rock, New Jersey stayed true to a pattern established back in 1896, rejecting a Democratic candidate with new ideas for mayor in favor of the Republican establishment. The candidate was my brother Mark, running for the same office that our father ran unsuccessfully for forty-five years ago. Consistency isn't always a good thing, but the family tradition of working for Democratic ideals remains strong. Congratulations on the effort, Mark!
It’s often a thankless job being an agent for change in the midst of a long established “old boys club;” but sooner or later, we have to believe good sense and perseverence will prevail. Lots of us know exactly what it’s like to wait for that day to dawn in our own little town.
Loved this bit, Jack:
There were some elections in VT. In Fletcher and Fairfax, voters turned out to decide on whether to merge educational districts. If both towns voted Yes, we would establish the 1st Regional Education District in the state under Act 153.
I don’t have the numbers yet, but I’m going to the Town Offices later this AM…
my birth state of ohio started voting in their better interest. have never figured out how that state could keep shooting itself in the foot, leg, arm, chest, with the history of manufacturing, labor, and unions that it has…
While the rest of the world is over throwing their governments, we here in the states still believe we have some sort of system that functions and is no where near as ruthless. Our state owned press keeps us informed only to the point of being pissed off.
Today I came across an article on some obscure web site (www.globalresearch.ca) to fined out from an obscure political figure (Prof. Noam Chomsky, I use the word political figure loosely just like I use the word TV entertainer for Obama) that the US is building a Navel Base on Jeju Island in South Korea. The name of the article is “US Military Base in South Korea Threatens China: The Threat of Warships on an “Island of World Peace”. It afforded the name “Island of World Peace” by Korean President Roh Moo-hyun in 2005. Roh apologized after Korean forces killed 30,000 people on the island during the lead up to the Korean war. This makes perfect sense to build a military base here since Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Oh yeah. The island is also home to three UNESCO world heritage sites.
While Obama talked in Honolulu yesterday, about protecting our intellectual property from China, it made me wonder if he was referring to his own trade mark form of dictatorship or if he was talking about the riots at Penn State. It’s possible he could be concerned about China taking the world leading position in prison population. Maybe we could work this into some sort of trade agreement.
Even though Obama failed to keep the troops in Iraq, it will look favorably on re-election. I have know doubt his super committee will put together a convincing argument as to why it would be in the the people’s best interest to continue to give their tax dollar to the banks, military contractors, and propaganda machine. Although there still is the fact Obama is killing American citizens at will. As writer for solon.com Glenn Greenwald stated, “One of the most incredible things is to watch the President of the United States seize the power to target American citizens for death, far away from any battlefield, with no due process whatsoever. If you were to say during the Bush years, what’s the most radical possible power that you could imagine the Bush-Cheney administration seizing? It would be exactly that.” He goes on to say, “And when political leaders believe themselves to be enlightened and progressive, oftentimes there’s even greater danger that power will be abused, because they find ways to justify what it is that they do and believe that there’s no transparency and accountability necessary.”
If there is one thing that the president and I share, it is that we are both concerned about intellectual property.