Tuesday, June 19, 2012

I am sincerely uncomfortable with moderates and republicans who vote their fiscal conservatism while trying to take the rational and moral high ground of being socially liberal. The Michigan State government is a prime example of why this is the case.

In the last year alone, the Republican Governor and Republican majority in the Michigan Government has:

Denied Democratic representatives the right to speak or vote, thus denying their constituents representation in state government.
And how they've done this is remarkable. These "immediate effect" laws are supposed to get a two-thirds majority. That's numerically impossible in the House, because Republicans don't have two-thirds majority and Democrats have remained united as a bloc against them. The House Republicans simply ignore the two-thirds part of the law. They hold a separate "immediate effect" vote after voting in a bill, and rather than doing a roll call vote, just simply eyeball the assembly and call it two-thirds.
Invalidated local elections by allowing the governor to replace local candidates with political appointees, er... emergency managers. Literally, your vote does not count anymore.
Public Act 4, the Local Government and School District Fiscal Accountability Act. Signed into law in March 2011, it granted unprecedented new powers to the state’s emergency managers (EMs), including breaking union contracts, taking over pension systems, setting school curriculums and even dissolving or disincorporating municipalitie
Voted to shut down reproductive counseling offices by mandating increased licensing and insurance. My representative, Margaret O'Brien, pitched this bill to me as "protecting women" although the right-to-life-article I linked clearly seems to think that over-regulation of reproductive health care establishments is a good idea. This is interesting to me because Governor Snyder insists that we should be de-regulating industries,
including in medical fields such as: Acupuncturist, Dieticians, Nutritionists, Ocularist, Respiratory Care, Speech Pathologist.

I was particularly interested to note that included in de-regulation are: Consumer Finance Services, Forensic Polygraph Examiner, Security Alarm Contractors, which I assume is to better allow (SMEAR ALERT FOR THE EASILY OFFENDED) wealthy republican business-folk to cheat, lie to, and steal from the Michigan electorate more easily.

Sanctioned lawmakers for using medically correct words. "What she said was offensive. It was so offensive, I don't even want to say it in front of women. I would not say that in mixed company." Srsly, Mike Callton? So, how do you refer to a vagina in front of women?

Voted to allow professional to deny service based on their religious beliefs.
A public degree or certificate granting college, university, junior college, or community college of this state shall not discipline or discriminate against a student in a counseling, social work, or psychology program because the student refuses to counsel or serve a client as to goals, outcomes, or behaviors that conflict with a sincerely held religious belief of the student, if the student refers the client to a counselor who will provide the counseling or services.
I'm especially fascinated, as an atheist, by that last bill. Imagine going into a library looking for any book on faith and being told that I could:
Refuse to supply religious books that conflict with my sincerely held rational beliefs that religion is a cultural hoax, if the librarian refers the client to a library who will provide religious books.

1 comment:

Frank Verita said...

I especially always love Republican politicians' faux outrage at trivial matters, in order to distract from the issue itself.

Let's keep reminding everyone how appalled we are at the use of the word "vagina," or else we may have to rebut her argument and answer for the terrible legislation we're trying to push.