2008 Presedential Election and Colorado Issues

It's that time of year once again. The election is coming up soon and I want to take this opportunity to express my opinions to anyone who is interested.

First, the Colorado issues...

Amendments and Referendums

Amendment 46 – Vote No
Discrimination and Preferential Treatment by Governments

This amendment seems aimed at undoing the Affirmative Action programs that were designed to level the playing field for women and minorities who have discriminated against for centuries. Although I believe major gains have been made in equality for all, I am not yet convinced that our society doesn’t still need incentives to be fair. Until women and minorities are equally represented in both pay and position in our society, I feel at least some of these programs need to stay in place.

Amendment 47 – Vote No
Prohibition on Mandatory Labor Union Membership and Dues

So...after further research, it turns out that this is part of a big war between labor and business. There is a pretty good resource at http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Colorado_Right_to_Work_Initiative_(2008) for reference. Make sure to read the section titled, "Business leaders join unions to oppose Amendment 47"

I am leaving my initial thinking on the issue below, but I have changed my initial vote due to the new information. It turns out that labor struck a deal with businesses in the area. Labor withdrew several amendments (labeled as withdrawn) below. They were withdrawn too late to be removed from the ballots, but any votes on the amendments labeled as withdrawn below will not count. In exchange for withdrawing the amendments, many businesses agreed to work to get Amendment 47 defeated. I will honor this behind-the-scenes work that has gone on...especially since I was ready to vote yes to several of the other amendments that were withdrawn. It seems pretty important to maintain the fragile balance that currently exists. I will vote NO on this amendment.

This amendment seeks to stop the practice of unions forcing all employees of a given company or in a given field to pay union dues, even if they don’t want to join the union. The argument is that the union negotiates for all employees, therefore, all employees should pay for the benefits received.

I disagree with this philosophy. If workers want a union and care enough about the work the union is doing, they will pay for it. If there are not enough employees willing to pay union dues, then that says to me that they do not want the union representing them.

Amendment 48 – Vote No
Definition of Person

This is a thinly disguised attempt to nullify Roe vs. Wade and ban all abortions. I’m a firm believer in choice and this goes completely against those beliefs.

Amendment 49 – Vote No
Allowable Government Paycheck Deductions

This amendment seeks to prohibit automatic payroll deductions, but only for public employees. This is inherently unfair to public employees. It also doesn’t make sense to me. Employees can opt out of automatic deductions in many cases, which allows the employees to choose. This amendment would no longer provide any public employee choice.

Amendment 50 – Vote No
Limited Gaming in Central City, Black Hawk, and Cripple Creek

This one is almost a toss-up for me, but I’m not sure that I like the expansion of gambling and the increased gambling limits. Selfishly, I like going to Blackhawk and being able to play $5 Blackjack all night. Also, I disagree with the specificity of where the funds will be spent. I would prefer to allow the legislature some discretion of where to spend new revenues.

Amendment 51 – Vote Yes
State Sales Tax Increase for Services for People with Developmental Disabilities

It seems to me that this is much like Amendment 23 that passed a few years back. For too long, the legislature has ignored this high need area to provide more services for the developmentally disabled. This bill focuses money where money is desperately needed and helps out a segment of population often overlooked.

Amendment 52 – Vote No
Use of Severance Tax Revenue for Highways

Shifting money away from water projects, wildlife conservation, and low-income energy assistance and putting it towards highway maintenance doesn’t seem to add up to me. Aren’t we building lightrail along the I-70 corridor? Those concerned with traffic congestion will soon be able to ride public transportation to avoid it, right?

Amendment 53 – Vote No (Withdrawn from ballot - See Red Text Above)
Criminal Accountability of Business Executives

I’m not sure about this one. However the wording concerns me. How will it be determined if an executive “[was] aware of their business's failure to perform a legal duty?” Any amendment that I’m unsure about I will lean towards voting no on.

Amendment 54 – Vote No
Campaign Contributions from Certain Government Contractors

To me, this issue comes down to the credibility of the candidate. If you don't trust your elected officials to be ethical and conduct business fairly, then why did you elect them?

Amendment 55 – Vote No(Withdrawn from ballot - See Red Text Above)
Allowable Reasons for Employee Discharge or Suspension

Having been a public school teacher, I am very aware of the problems with a "just-cause" workplace like this amendment proposes. Although it sounds good, in practice it makes it extremely difficult to fire anyone, even if they are truly bad employees.

Amendment 56 – Vote No (Withdrawn from ballot - See Red Text Above)
Employer Responsibility for Health Insurance

If I interview for a job, and they don't offer health insurance, then I'm not going to take that job. I believe this would severely cripple smaller businesses who will not be able to afford to stay in business if required to pay health care costs. Besides, it seems to me that the real issue here is the exorbitant cost of health care. This is not the employers' fault, this issue needs to be addressed with the health care community.

Amendment 57 – Vote Yes (Withdrawn from ballot - See Red Text Above)
Additional Remedies for Injured Employees

Despite the potential costs for the state, and the potential lost business, I believe this is the right thing to do. If an employer is unethical and ignores safety concerns, they should penalized more, then a company who is concerned about safety, but has an honest accident.

Amendment 58 – Vote Yes
Severance Taxes on the Oil and Natural Gas Industry

Although I can see both sides of this issue, I think eliminating rebates to oil and gas companies makes the most sense.

Amendment 59 – Vote No
Education Funding and TABOR Rebates

I am all for providing proper funding for education. However, we passed Amendment 23 several years ago to ensure that P-12 education will always receive the funding it deserves. This amendment undoes the guarantees in Amendment 23 while at the same time taking away all Tabor rebates in the future. I don't think that's the right way to go.

Referendum L - Vote Yes
Qualifications for Serving in the State Legislature

Colorado is one of 3 states with a 25 year old age limit for the state House of Representatives. All other states have a lower minimum age...some as low as 18. I think lowering the legal age to serve is a good idea and is consistent with the tapered responsibility approach set up in the U.S. Constitution. In the U.S. Constitution, to be a senator (and serve a 6-year term), you must be 30. To be a representative (and serve a 2-year term), you must be 25. It seems like a U.S. House of representatives member would have more responsibility and pressure than a state House member, so I think the age threshold should be lower.

Referendum M - Vote Yes
Obsolete Constitutional Provision Relating to Land Value Increases

I don't see any reason not to clean up the language since the law is invalid.

Referendum N - Vote Yes
Obsolete Constitutional Provisions Relating to Alcohol Beverages

I don't see any reason not to clean up the language since the laws are outdated.

Referendum O - Vote Yes
Citizen-Initiated State Laws

I don't see any reason not to clean up the language since the laws are outdated.

Denver - Referred Issue 3A - Vote Yes
DPS School Funding

All of the projects supported by this measure are desperately needed and there were no arguments filed against this.

The Candidates and Races

President - Barack Obama

This one isn't even close (Although I was tempted to vote for the candidates of the Boston Tea Party because of their creativity). After 8 years of a Republican White House, our economy is in shambles, we're in a war without an end in sight and we are definitely not better off than we were 8 years ago.

If the Dems had put up a lame candidate like they did 4 years ago, I probably still would have voted Dem. However, Barack Obama is a strong candidate with clear ideas that I support. When John McCain began his run, I was hopeful that I would really be okay with either candidate in the White House. As I have watched the campaigns however, I have become more and more disillusioned with McCain's negativity and his further right leaning on the issues. I thought John McCain was a more moderate republican, but he has not come across that way at all. Is Barack Obama more left than middle, absolutely. We need someone more to the left to repair all of the damage done in the last 8 years.

State Senator - Mark Udall

I have always been a supporter of Udall's, and this is a fantastic opportunity to replace one of Colorado's most conservative senators, Wayne Allard, with a forward thinking Dem. After hearing Bob Schaffer speak in the debate, it became even more clear to me that Mark Udall is the only choice for senate.

Other Races

I don't always do this, but for the reasons mentioned above, I will be voting straight Democrat in all races in my district this year. There aren't any Republicans who have impressed me and none of the Dems (in my district) seem bad for the country/state.

Thoughts on Denver Election (11/7/2006)

Amendment 38 – No

Amendment 39 – No (see previous Blog entry)

Amendment 40 – No
I would be in favor of 4-6 year retention votes, but not of term limits.

Amendment 41 – No
I am in favor of campaign finance, but this bill goes too far in my opinion. If you don’t like the gifts that a person is receiving (they are required to disclose this information), vote against them.

Amendment 42 – No
It is abhorrent that the minimum wage in the country and the state has not been raised for nearly 10 years. It is equally bad that state law forbids individual cities from setting their own minimum wage. However, an amendment to the constitution that immediately raises the minimum wage significantly and then guarantees raises every year seems too much, too fast. If it was one or the other of these proposals, I would vote for it. However, I think that trying to do both at the same time, in the constitution is a bad idea.

Amendment 43 – No
Colorado statutes already define marriage as between one man and one woman. I don’t understand why this is such a critical thing to protect. There is no evidence that I have seen or heard that suggests “normal” marriages will be diminished if we allow same-sex marriages. If anything, it seems to me that by allowing same-sex marriages, we may promote family values of togetherness, love and compassion. I will not vote for an amendment to the constitution that prohibits someone from expressing their love and commitment for another human being through marriage.

Amendment 44 – No
Although I can see the relevance of the arguments claiming that legalizing marijuana would allow courts to focus on more “important” offenses, I can’t vote for this amendment. This amendment would make it legal for anyone to “give” marijuana to teenagers (15 years and older). Also, although I don’t believe marijuana to be a severely dangerous drug on its own, it is commonly a gateway drug that leads users into much more serious drug use.

Referendum e – No
While I am definitely appreciative of the sacrifice that most disabled veterans have made to help defend our country, I don’t believe that a property tax break is the way to “thank” them for their service. We are already suffering from a budget shortfall that has taken money away from schools, roads and other very important issues in the state. This tax break would financially hurt our state and I think we should find other ways of showing our appreciation.

Referendum f – No
Recalls are rare in our state and I have not seen evidence in the past that there is an issue with the current deadlines.

Referendum g – Yes
Cleaning up outdated provisions and language is a good thing to help keep the constitution current. It should not affect historical research as I’m sure there will be archived copies of the constitution available.

Referendum h – No
This is another one that sounds good in principle, however it doesn’t make sense to me how it will be enforced. We currently have laws making it illegal for businesses to hire illegal aliens. So...if a business is currently claiming an illegal alien in their tax deductions, then they have already broken the law. We could pass 100 more laws and it still would not change the fact that it is impossible to enforce.

Referendum i – Yes
I haven’t found an argument against this that makes sense to me. One argument is that same-sex couples can already legally obtain all of the rights of married couples. That simply isn’t true. There are many things such as wrongful death claims, child support, etc. that cannot be legally obtained by same-sex couples. Another argument claims that this will “diminish the significance of marriage.” There is nothing in referendum I that takes any rights, responsibilities or privileges away from any married people. I don’t understand how this will diminish the significance. Perhaps they are concerned that same-sex couples will form domestic partnerships just for the benefits. Well, opposite sex couples can get married for the benefits just as easily. Again, I don’t see how this would “diminish” marriage. Another argument claims that the benefits given to married couples are intended to help support child rearing by “one man and one woman.” If this were truly the case, then only married couples with children would get the benefits, which is obviously not the case. Finally, the most absurd argument I’ve read is “domestic partnerships exetend benefits to same-sex couples that are not extended to any other two unmarried people.” Colorado law already recognizes “common-law” marriages. Any man and woman who live together and “hold themselves out publicly as husband and wife” qualify for the exact same privileges and rights of married couples. These unmarried couples, unwilling to make a legal commitment, for whatever reasons, are still guaranteed the rights and privileges of marriage. It is time for our country to get over our fear of homosexuality. The only arguments against allowing homosexuals equal rights with heterosexuals are spawned by fear and ignorance.

Referendum j – No
This amendment seems to be an attempt to confuse voters about amendment 39. There is no need to pass any law that prescribes specifics of how local school districts decide to spend their money. If people don’t like how schools are spending their money, do the same thing you do to congress...vote out the school board and replace them with people you support.

Referendum k – No
This is another ridiculous bill. If you want the federal government to enforce current immigration policy, then VOTE for federal government representatives that will do it. Don’t force the state to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in an effort to sue the federal government that has already failed in so many other states. There are reasons why current immigration laws are not enforced. Address the issues by electing representatives that agree with you...obviously a lot of people that voted for George W. are upset that he hasn’t helped them with this issue...too bad! If you voted for him, deal with it!

Is USPS stamp honoring Islamic holiday EID a bad idea?

(NOTE: This posting is a reaction to an email. See the original email at the bottom of the posting.)

First, the email states that the post office is creating a "Christmas stamp" to honor Islam. This is not true. EID is an Islamic holiday that happens to fall around the same time as Christmas.

Second, posting the 10 commandments on federal property has nothing to do with stamps. There have been Christmas and Hannukah stamps around for years. To say that giving Islam a stamp is in some way favoring the Islamic religion over Christianity doesn't seem to make sense.

Now, a series of my own "Remembers..."

Remember
The holiday EID is about giving thanks to God for helping Islamics in their expression of spiritual devotion after a month of fasting. To show their thanks to God, many muslims offer food to those in need.

Remember:
In the year following the 9/11 attacks, the FBI director launched 360 separate investigations into threats and attacks against Muslim, Sikh and Arab Americans.

Remember:
In the year following 9/11 there were 1,717 hate crimes reported against Muslims.

Remember:
Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in this country and around the world.

Remember:
There are already an estimated 7 million Muslims in America.

Remember:
There are 10's of thousands of Muslims serving in the American military fighting against terrorism.

Remember:
President Bush said, "Islam is peace, and the United States is not against the religion of Islam."

Remember:
It was not so long ago that people who called themselves "Christians" carried out the atrocities during the crusades.

"The Crusaders cut open the stomachs of the dead because someone said that the Muslims sometimes swallowed their gold to hide it. Later, when the corpses were burned, Crusaders kept watch for the melted gold that they expected to see flowing onto the ground. While the slaughter was still going on, many churchmen and princes assembled for a holy procession. Barefoot, chanting and singing, they walked to the shrine of the Holy Sepulchre through the blood flowing around their feet." excerpted from an article on HistoryNet.com

I suspect that most Christians at the time, and certainly today would not have agreed with actions taken in the crusade. Just as it is unfair to judge all or even most Christians by these actions, it is equally unfair and unjust to judge all Muslims by the actions of a few on 9/11 or the continuing actions of radicalists that happen to subscribe to the religion of Islam.

In summary:
If we are going to honor some religions in our country by using postal stamps, there is no reason why Islam should not be included.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Snopes.com says it is true!!!!

CHRISTMAS STAMP

How ironic is this??!! They don't even believe in Christ and they're getting their own Christmas stamp, but don't dream of posting the ten commandments on federal property?

USPS New Stamp

This one is impossible to believe. Scroll down for the text.

If there is only one thing you forward today.....let it

be this!

ð¤â€

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of PanAm

Flight 103!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the World

Trade Center in 1993!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the Marine

barracks in Lebanon!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the military barracks in Saudi Arabia!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the American Embassies in Africa!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the USS COLE!

REMEMBER the MUSLIM attack on 9/11/2001!

REMEMBER all the AMERICAN lives that were lost in those vicious MUSLIM attacks!

Now the United States Postal Service REMEMBERS and HONORS the EID MUSLIM holiday season with a commemorative first class

holiday postage stamp.

REMEMBER to adamantly and vocally BOYCOTT this stamp when purchasing your stamps at the post office.

To use this stamp would be a slap in the face to all those AMERICANS who died at the hands of those whom this stamp honors.

REMEMBER to pass this along to every patriotic AMERICAN you know!!

Amendment 39 - Colorado

Most of you know that I am very passionate about education. I feel that Amendment 39 will have severe repercussions that will damage our educational system well into the future.

Great Education is a coalition organization that is trying to raise education in Colorado to the forefront of the political debate. I recently attended one of their community meetings they held where they asked people to come and discuss what they felt was needed in schools in Colorado. The meeting was enlightening and I believe it gathered input from the people who matter most...local parents, teachers, board members and principals. I trust this organization because they are working with local communities to find out what the real issues are. That is why I chose to forward their email below.

When a bill is opposed by Superintendants, Teachers, Unions and School Boards, that should send a strong message to everyone. As a former teacher, I can tell you that education is a very complex, complicated issue and unless you have worked or been intimitely involved with a school in the last 10 years, it is hard to comprehend all of the challenges. It is so important that we listen to the people who understand those challenges the best...the teachers, principals and school boards that are in the trenches of education.

Amendment 39 not only hurts education by forcing many schools to pull money away from critical support positions like counselors, parapros (teacher's aides), janitors, security, etc. but I think it also sets a very dangerous precedent of allowing people outside of education to dictate what to spend educational dollars on. If this amendment passes, I'm sure that in coming years we will see new assaults on classroom funding from people who, I believe, really have no concept of the challenges faced in schools. If we let this one pass, it will become open season on education and everyone will suffer. Take it from someone who has been there, done that...this amendment is bad news.

If the supporters of this bill really wanted to help classroom funding, a more sensible bill would be to raise school funding AND guarantee that more/all money from the new funding went into the classroom. This would get more money to the classroom (a goal that everyone in education believes is good and necessary) without eliminating critical support that would ultimately hurt what happens in the classroom.

I would be happy to discuss my position further with any of you, but felt strongly enough about this issue to forward the information below.

Thanks and I hope you all are doing well!
Nathan

Great Education wrote: From: "Great Education"
To: "nrkaret@yahoo.com"
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2006 12:04:14 -0700
Subject: Important Election Information: Amendment 39

Great Education Colorado urges you to vote NO on Amendment 39.

Protect our schools by spreading the word.

Dear Nathan:

You might expect that, as an organization that advocates for better public school funding, Great Education Colorado would support a ballot initiative that is supposed to increase classroom funding. You might expect that the PTA and teachers would support it, too.

But not if that initiative is Amendment 39. Great Education Colorado, the Colorado PTA and just about every education and teacher group in Colorado opposes Amendment 39.

Why? Because Amendment 39 pretends to help schools, but in reality it would mandate cuts in such critical support services as school safety, transportation, counseling, school nurses, and nutrition.

And it won't add a dime to overall K-12 funding in Colorado. [To learn more, link here.]

Right now, Amendment 39 is doing well in the polls, because it sounds good. That's why we need you to take just 30 seconds to help defeat this deceptive initiative by forwarding this message to friends, family, neighbors and colleagues.

You probably won't see a lot of commercials opposing Amendment 39 on TV. It's word of mouth that is going to defeat this "65% deception," a ballot initiative that cynicallly preys on the public's desire to see more spending in the classroom. You can help by forwarding this message right now.

Need to hear more? Think about this: if Amendment 39 were currently the law, most school districts would not be able to spend additional money on school safety and security, even if their local communities believed that to be a high priority. Amendment 39 requires that 65% of all operating dollars be spent "in the classroom." That excludes all the services that keep kids safe, warm, fed, healthy and supported in the classroom. It even excludes what it takes to get them to the classroom.

Great Education Colorado exists to bring about better funding in the classroom -- but not at the cost of the health, safety and well-being of our kids. For the sake of Colorado's kids, please vote NO on Amendment 39 -- and please tell others to do the same. Forward this message to other public schools supporters right away to help expose the 65% deception.

Together, we can protect our children from this very bad idea.

Sincerely,


The Great Education Team