Gays and taxes

I'm going to handle several legislators at once here: The first and most prominent is:

Rep. Phil Cressey (R-District 99)

Followed by:

Rep. Ron Collins (R-District 147)
Bill Gates....oh I'm sorry, Rep. Robert Daigle (R-District 140)
Rep. Sarah Lewin (R-District 148)
A guest buffoon (just because I couldn't resist poking fun at him) Rep. Brian Duprey (R-District 39)

Cressey introduced, and the other representatives cosponsored, LD 1235: RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine To Require That a Citizen-initiated Measure That Imposes a New or Increased Tax or Fee Be Approved by the Legislature and Signed by the Governor. Now just to clear up any confusion, this doesn't mean that, before the measure goes on the ballot, it has to be approved by both the legislature and the governor; this is after the measure has been voted in.

Remember how back when LD 1196 was up for debate, numerous Republicans were arguing against the bill because it failed when it was up for referendum in 1997 and 2000? Also, remember that some Republicans argued that the bill should go to the voters? Even now, here's an excerpt from the "Coalition for Marriage" website about a rally they're planning:

"...Paul Madore and Mike Heath will lead the crowd in a chant of "The People's Veto, the People's Voice." The crowd will be split down the middle and one side will shout, "The People's Veto." The other side will echo, "The People's Voice." Our symbol for this Rally is a bullhorn. Bring one if you can find one. Let's have some good citizenship fun on Thursday!

(Bold and italics added by yours truly for emphasis)

So, by some twist of logic more warped than well, Paul Madore and Mike Heath, the voters are competent enough to decide whether to extend civil rights to GLBT's, but they shouldn't be able to raise taxes or impose new ones without the approval of the legislature and governor.

Pass the toilet paper Part 2: There's something smelly in the Kennebec...

As you all know, there's a group allied with the Un-Christian Civic League called the "Coalition for Marriage" collecting signatures for a People's Veto on LD 1196. This page lists some affinity groups allied with the UCCL (such as "Lobstermen for Marriage", etc.)

In Chapter 2 of his book Downsize This!, Michael Moore talks about how he donated to all the candidates in the 1996 presidential elections under the names "Pedophiles for Free Trade", "Hemp Growers of America", "The John Wayne Gacy Fan Club", "Satan Worshippers for Dole", and "Abortionists for Buchanan"

Who wants to start up Adulterers for Marriage? C'mon, we could have Prince Charles as our celebrity spokesman!

Also, anyone interested in testifying against LD 682: An Act to Create a 5-year Statute of Limitations for Environmental Regulations should know that there will be a work session on it April 29th, 11 AM, Room 214 Cross Building.

"Mammon led them on...By him first
Men also, and by his suggestion taught,
Ransacked the centre, and with impious hands
Rifled the bowels of their mother Earth
For treasures better hid."

John Milton, Paradise Lost

She's a flip-flopper...

Today's buffoon is Rep. Joan Nass (R-District 144). Here's an excerpt from an interview leading up to the 2004 elections which included the Representative:

"Q: Gov. John Baldacci said he will introduce legislation in 2005 to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Please explain why you would support or oppose such a bill.

Nass: There should be no discrimination, period."

That's interesting, because she sided with the only subtly homophobic position of the state GOP establishment that it should go to the voters, then, again in spite of the above quote, she voted against the bill. Apparently she actually supported LD 1196, before she opposed it.

What Rep. Nass fails to realize is that the gay rights debate is not about whether it should go to referendum, or gay marriage, or transgender dress codes, it's about what John Griffin meant in his book Black Like Me when he wrote:

"...For so long as we condone injustice by a small but powerful group, we condone the destruction of all social stability, all real peace, all trust in man's good intentions toward his fellow man."

Somewhat off topic post today...

Can anyone point me to a program that transcribes MP3s to text? I have about 120 Megs of testimony for and against LD 1196, some of which is priceless audio of Rep. Brian Duprey (R- Hampden) making a fool of himself.

Next entry: A video obtained exclusively by Western York County Politics of Jon Courtney doing the Numa Numa. (I wish)

*rips a page out of Ann Coulter's playbook*

Today's America-hating reactionary is Rep. Phillip Cressey (R-District 99), who's listed as a cosponsor on LD 506: An Act To Abolish the Maine Clean Election Act, which would have prevented God-fearing America-loving working people like Rep. Rick Burns (D-District 145) from running for office.

"It's alright, Montel, we all want to oppress the underclass sometimes. It's only natural" - Unnamed Character, South Park Episode 206: The Mexican Staring Frog of Southern Sri Lanka, paraphrase.

The suspect is described as a black male...

It turns out that Jon Courtney's death penalty bill has been scheduled for a public hearing, anyone interested in testifying against it should know that the hearing will be Apr. 27th, 9:30 am, Room 438 State House. It's suprising to note that, of all the lunatics who are nearly in charge of the asylum, the Senator couldn't get one cosponsor for this bill.

Today's buffoon: Sen. Mary Andrews

Here's a quote from the Kennebec Journal:

"On Monday, Sen. Mary Black Andrews, R-York, will present Maine's version of the Taxpayers' Bill of Rights, a measure put in place in Colorado a decade ago that puts tight controls on the government's ability to spend money. The Taxation Committee will hold a public hearing at 10 a.m. Monday in room 127 of the Statehouse on 'An Act to Establish the Maine Taxpayers' Bill of Rights.'"

The article later goes on to say:

"The bill puts limits on spending for state, county, municipal and school budgets, and ties increases to population and inflation, or population and student enrollment."

And as a result, rural school districts will get shortchanged, including these in western and central York County:

Acton School Department

MSADs 6 (Buxton, Hollis, and Limington), 55 (Cornish and Parsonsfield), 57 (Alfred, Limerick, Lyman, Newfield, Shapleigh, and Waterboro), and 60 (Lebanon, Berwick, and North Berwick)

It should be interesting to see how some of the right-leaning legislators in those districts will vote on that.

I have one question left about this bill, however, does this mean they'll cut the Sexual Harassment Panda?

For the greater glory of Mammon...

Today's buffoon, Sen. Richard Nass (R-District 2), has cosponsored a lot of the bills already mentioned (including LD's 147, 150, and 436, links below). He also cosponsored LD 72, with its Orwellian title "An Act to Promote Sound Science in Climate Change Policy" Here, however, is an excerpt from the summary:

"...the department [of Environmental Protection] must issue an estimate of the amount of
global warming that will be prevented and the costs that will
result from the rules requiring reduction in greenhouse gas
emissions."

So that if the department tried to adopt global warming regulations, it would be required to issue a report that the big business interests can use as ammunition, all for the greater glory of Mammon. Fortunately, the bill appears to have died in committee.

Pass the toilet paper

Our next profile is of House Minority Leader David Bowles (R-District 142). In addition to voting against the governor's gay rights bill, he cosponsored LD 682: An Act to Create a 5-year Statute of Limitations for Environmental Violations. Perhaps this is why some of my sources in and around Sanford call him "David Bowels", because some messes take more than 5 years to clean up.

One other note, if you look at the margins of victory in the last election, it appears that Bowels is the weakest member of the House leadership. Here's the statistics:

Minority Leader David Bowels: 78 votes (1.8% margin)

Asst. Minority Leader Joshua Tardy: unopposed

Speaker John Richardson: 1093 (23%)

Majority Leader Glenn Cummings: 2224 (48.6%)

Asst. Majority Leader Bob Duplessie: 286 (6%)

Now I don't know the particulars of the other 4 races, but I did observe that, despite numerous errors on the part of Bowels' Democratic challenger, Andrea Boland, well, the numbers speak for themselves.

Not sure what to say here except...

Welcome to the first entry of West York County Politics, a liberal blog highlighting the buffoonery of the local conservative legislators in western and central York County, Maine. I'll start this with profiles of some of the local buffoons, the first being State Sen. Jon Courtney (R-Senate District 3), some of the bills he has sponsored or cosponsored are:

LD 1501
An Act To *cough* Prevent Domestic Abuse *cough* by Reinstating the Death Penalty for Persons Who Murder Family or Household Members

LD 87
An Act To Phase Out the Corporate Income Tax over a 5-year Period (Cosponsor)

LD 147
RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine To Revoke the Voting Privileges of Persons Convicted of Certain Crimes (Sponsor)

LD 150
RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine To Require a 2/3 Vote of the Legislature To Enact or Increase a Tax (Cosponsor)

LD 270
An Act To Prohibit Same-day Voter Registration (Sponsor)

LD 436
An Act To Eliminate Estate Taxes on Family-owned Businesses (Cosponsor)

LD 632
An Act To Lower the Tax Burden for Small Businesses (Cosponsor) (Anyone interested can attend the work session on April 6, 1pm, Room 127 at the State House)