Thursday, April 12, 2007

Attention Missouri Voters

The current Missouri legislature thinks that you, Missouri Voters, don't know what the hell you're doing.

First, there was the stem-cell initiative that you approved back in November. You know, the one where you approved of funding stem-cell research? Well, the Republican legislature is working to repeal that initiative.

With one lawmaker absent, opponents of research on early stem cells on Tuesday rammed a proposal through a Missouri House committee that would override voters’ approval of Amendment 2.

...

The proposal would override much of Amendment 2, the initiative approved by 51 percent of Missouri voters in November. Amendment 2 prohibits political interference with any stem-cell research that is allowed by federal law.

The new proposal, House Joint Resolution 11, would allow the legislature to regulate or prohibit such research and would ban the cloning of human cells to search for medical treatments. If passed by the legislature, the resolution would go before voters in November 2008 as a proposed constitutional amendment. Amendment 2 already bans efforts to clone human cells that would initiate a pregnancy or produce an infant.
Don't think this is atrocious enough for you? Well...you know how you approved of a minimum wage hike back in November? Well, the Republican legislature decided you really don't know what you're doing.



Just months after Missourians overwhelmingly approved raising the minimum wage, House Republicans are pushing a measure to eliminate a yearly cost-of-living increase built into the new wage.

The effort by House Republicans also would strip away a pay hike just given to waiters and other tipped employees in Missouri after Gov. Matt Blunt’s office last month reversed a state Department of Labor ruling that tipped employees would not get the increase.

...

Voters in November approved boosting the state’s minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $6.50 an hour. The measure, which passed by 76 percent, also included a yearly cost-of-living increase in the minimum wage tied to the Consumer Price Index.

The ballot language referred to the cost-of-living increase.

It read: “Shall Missouri Statutes be amended to increase the state minimum wage rate to $6.50 per hour, or to the level of the federal minimum wage if that is higher, and thereafter adjust the state minimum wage annually based on changes in the Consumer Price Index?”

However, Cooper and other Republicans have concluded that voters didn’t understand what they were considering.
Yes, that must be why they didn't vote how you wanted. So you're doing them a favor by telling them their vote doesn't matter. Just leave the voting to you, right?


From Fired Up! Missouri...



Anyway, Missouri voters, I just thought I'd point this out. You might want to remember this the next time you find yourself in a voting booth. I don't know why they think they can get away with this, but they do. Don't let them.