Election Day 2011
It's an off-year election but there is a lot riding on the outcome at the polls tomorrow.
In Ohio, voters will decide whether public workers have rights to band together to negotiate contracts with their employers, but, in the end, it is not just the rights of public employees that are being determined, it is the right of all workers. It's the whole concept of collective bargaining that is at stake here, for that is what the Republican governor and legislature of Ohio are seeking to curtail. If they are successful in getting the voters to approve the law that they passed earlier this year - and millions and millions of dollars have poured into the state from the usual suspects to try to make sure it is passed - then even more draconian laws more punitive to labor unions can be expected in coming legislative sessions. If, on the other hands, the opponents of the law can manage to stop this movement in its tracks, then it may prove to be a bellwether for the fate of other such laws around the country.
In Mississippi tomorrow, voters will decide whether a fertilized egg will have all the rights of a person. Yes, you read that right. Under the radicals' proposed amendment to the Mississippi constitution, a fertilized egg would be defined as a person. If the amendment is approved, it will be interesting to see how or if they plan to allow the eggs to vote. I guess we should just be glad that they didn't go so far as declare each and every sperm a person. Maybe that's the next step in this process to take us back to the 16th century. Monty Python saw it coming long ago. (For "Roman Catholic" in the song, just substitute "Mississippian.")
"Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote." - Andrew Lack
One could add that bad policies are allowed to stand because citizens are too lazy or ill-informed to take a stand against them. Tomorrow will be another test of that statement.
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In Ohio, voters will decide whether public workers have rights to band together to negotiate contracts with their employers, but, in the end, it is not just the rights of public employees that are being determined, it is the right of all workers. It's the whole concept of collective bargaining that is at stake here, for that is what the Republican governor and legislature of Ohio are seeking to curtail. If they are successful in getting the voters to approve the law that they passed earlier this year - and millions and millions of dollars have poured into the state from the usual suspects to try to make sure it is passed - then even more draconian laws more punitive to labor unions can be expected in coming legislative sessions. If, on the other hands, the opponents of the law can manage to stop this movement in its tracks, then it may prove to be a bellwether for the fate of other such laws around the country.
In Mississippi tomorrow, voters will decide whether a fertilized egg will have all the rights of a person. Yes, you read that right. Under the radicals' proposed amendment to the Mississippi constitution, a fertilized egg would be defined as a person. If the amendment is approved, it will be interesting to see how or if they plan to allow the eggs to vote. I guess we should just be glad that they didn't go so far as declare each and every sperm a person. Maybe that's the next step in this process to take us back to the 16th century. Monty Python saw it coming long ago. (For "Roman Catholic" in the song, just substitute "Mississippian.")
"Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote." - Andrew Lack
One could add that bad policies are allowed to stand because citizens are too lazy or ill-informed to take a stand against them. Tomorrow will be another test of that statement.
.
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