In less than a week, we got a crash course on how the ballot initiative process works. We will take lessons learned here and use that to get things right, right out of the gate in the future. Thank you for all of your hard work. You stepped outside of your comfort zone. You sacrificed time with your family. You sacrificed your office supplies and your money. For all that you have done I cannot thank you enough!
I would also like to thank Senator Gordon Howie for starting this ballot initiative on our behalf. He has been tirelessly fighting for the SD Health Care Freedom Act. He twice introduced SB 137 this legislative session, the second time requesting a suspension of parliamentary rules. The language on our petition was the same basic language as was on his bill. Our senators voted 2 to 1 (66%) AGAINST IT! It is time we paid very close attention what side our senators are on! [Jason Bjorklund, "As You May Have Heard...," Facebook page for health reform nullification petition drive, 2010.04.07]
Bjorklund sagely provides links to the bill and the vote that gave SB 137 its first killing (for those of you still counting, we're up to three deaths). Let's see: 14 Dems in the Senate, 24 nays... that's 10 Republicans who voted down Howie's Harrumph. Sounds like our secessionist petitioneers have some bipartisan housecleaning to do in November.
Two numbers to consider:
- Number of signatures required to form a new political party in South Dakota: 8388.
- Number of signatures gathered by Howie's Hectors for their failed petition drive: between 8000 and 8400.
Howie's Harrumph is a great line.
ReplyDeleteHow many times can a bad idea die? Lets hope this is the last time.
ReplyDeleteMore than likely it is, with the health care law a mere 2 weeks old, the air is leaking from the balloon.
Fox noise is already back to car chases and important celebrity news, to sooth the tea party masses and get them ready for the big tax day protest. Watch for lots of talk about the next "constitutional crisis" the VAT. Time for Fox to move on and take their tea party creation with them. Get your Gadsden's flags ready and tune up your shouting voices tea baggers . There's rhetoric coming and Fox is counting on you.
Barry, isn't a VAT regressive in nature?
ReplyDeleteI really can't see instituting yet another tax without eliminating others.
Yes, Michael, a VAT is generally regressive in nature, because people buying goods and services at retail experience it as a sales tax.
ReplyDeleteIt would therefore strike hardest at the poor -- the very people the Obama administration and the Democrats in general profess a desire to help.
This problem might be mitigated to some extent by exempting food, prescription medications, and perhaps health care services.
I oppose this tax; in my opinion it would do a lot more harm than good to our economy and the general well-being of the people.
The whining and snorting and hollering will come from a lot of people besides Tea Baggers, when and if this poo-poo hits the propeller.
Don't look now, but I think Stan may just have made an argument for a State income tax.
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ReplyDeleteGordon Howie's continued attempt to beat his own drum reminds me of another local politician who has spent the past umpteen years tapping out pa-rum-pa-pum-pum on the personal and corporate income tax drum. Politicians like Gerry Lange and Gordon Howie provide entertainment and great fodder for bloggers, but live their lives walking backward on an escalator. They get nowhere clinging to their own personal agendas.
ReplyDeleteMike yes Mr. Gibilisco is right , it is a regressive tax unless heavily exempted. However it does belong in an honest debate about taxation, I was only using it as an example of how Fox is already moving the sheep to new pastures.
ReplyDeleteA VAT doesn't have to be regressive. In British Columbia (maybe in other Canadian provinces, too--BC is the one I know of for sure), people with low incomes qualify for a VAT refund. They have to pay it up front, but they can get that money back.
ReplyDeleteThe best way to refund money to poor people for a VAT would be to drastically increase the exemption for the income tax -- say, to the poverty level.
ReplyDeleteI'd still be ag'in' it.
Bill, how have I made an argument for a state income tax? Am I fooling around with my own head in some way that escapes me? (Wouldn't be the first time.) ;-)
What to do? How about stop listening to Glenn Beck. Finally a little truth from the guy (this from a Forbes interview):
ReplyDeleteWith a deadpan, Beck insists that he is not political: "I could give a flying crap about the political process." Making money, on the other hand, is to be taken very seriously, and controversy is its own coinage. "We're an entertainment company," Beck says.
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0426/entertainment-fox-news-simon-schuster-glenn-beck-inc.html
Does anyone really believe Glenn Beck has any sincerity? Grow up Teabaggers!
I stopped listening to Glen Beck after I discovered a strong correlation between afternoons when I watched his show on Fox and evenings when I suffered from intestinal distress.
ReplyDeleteEven a broken clock tells the truth twice a day. With Beck, however, space and time, matter and energy, yin and yang, seem to lose all meaning. A Zen master would doubtless roll on the floor and laugh endlessly at him, which, I guess, is what he must want.