Re: [xmca] election day

[Helena Worthen <helenaworthen@gmail.com>]

Andy, et al -

Here is a good summary of what happened overall. Biggest news for us in
California is passage of Prop 30, "The Millionaire's Tax."   -- Helena
Worthen

Rack `Em Up - Progressive Victories from Coast to Coast

By Think Progress War Room

November 7, 2012
Center for American Progress Action Fund

http://thinkprogress.org/election/issue/

Progressive Victories from Coast to Coast

While re-electing President Obama is obviously very good news
for progressives, so much more happened to bring progressive
change to communities across America. These victories are
further evidence of an emerging progressive majority in this
country that will help take us forward as we all fight for
change in ways large and small.

Here's the rundown of some of last night's winners and losers.

WINNERS

    * The Facts: Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan tried to run a
    post-truth campaign that was fact free, deceptive, and
    insulting to voters. They paid a heavy price for their
    false claims about the auto industry in Ohio. Nationally,
    voters affirmed that facts and a candidate's policy
    positions do matter.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/opinion/mitt-romney-versus-the-automakers
.html

    * The Middle Class: Voters supported a president who will
    make the investments in the middle class that we need to
    create jobs now and grow the economy over the long-term.
    President Obama will redouble his efforts to create an
    economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few.

    * Equality: For the first time in history, voters embraced
    marriage equality at the ballot box - and not just once.
    In Maryland, Maine, and Washington state, voters approved
    marriage equality referenda. In Minnesota, an effort to
    ban same sex marriage was defeated. Wisconsin Rep. Tammy
    Baldwin is also the first openly gay person elected to the
    Senate; the person who won the House seat she vacated is
    also openly gay. Nationally, voters rejected the most
    anti-immigrant presidential ticket in history. In
    Maryland, voters approved a state-level version of the
    DREAM Act.

    * Women: In addition to defeating a ticket that threatened
    women's health and economic security, a record number of
    women were voted into office. The Senate will have a
    record 20 women and the House will have at least 77, also
    a record.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/women-in-politics-break-records-20
12-election_n_2088954.html

    * Pot: Voters in Washington state and Colorado both
    legalized the recreational use of marijuana, though it
    remains a federal crime.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57546495/justice-department-drug-laws-r
emain-unchanged-following-passage-of-marijuana-ballot-initiatives/

    * New Hampshire: The state elected progressive champions
    Anne Kuster and Carol Shea Porter to the House and will be
    the first state to send an all-female House and Senate
    delegation to Washington. Democrats also seized control of
    the New Hampshire House back from the Tea Party extremists
    who seized control of it in 2010.

    * Maine: Democrats wrested control of both the Maine House
    and Senate back from extreme right-wing Republicans who
    spent the past two years pursuing attacks on voting and
    unions, among other things.

    * Minnesota: Democrats won back control of both the
    Minnesota House and Senate. Republicans forced a
    government shutdown last year because they refused to
    raise taxes on the wealthy to close a budget gap, even
    though Minnesota's wealthy pay a lower tax rate than
    everyone else in the state. The new majorities should be
    able to work with Gov. Mark Dayton (D) to create a more
    progressive budget.
http://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2011/03/study-finds-minnesotas-tax-
system-still-regressive

    Minnesotans also rejected a constitutional amendment that
    would have instituted Voter ID in the state. It had been
    expected to pass.
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Minnesota_Voter_Identification_Amendm
ent,_Amendment_2_(2012)

    * Michigan: The state's voters repealed an "Emergency
    Manager" law that allowed the governor to seize control of
    cities from their democratically-elected representatives
    and put an unelected emergency manager with sweeping
    powers in complete control. The law is most often applied
    to communities with high minority populations.
http://www.freep.com/article/20121107/NEWS06/121107011/Snyder-Voter-confusi
on-helped-defeat-emergency-manager-law
    Voters also rejected a measure that would've crippled the
    state legislature by requiring a 2/3 majority to raise
    taxes.
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Michigan_Taxation_Amendment,_Proposal
_5_(2012)

    * Iowa: Democrats maintained control of the Iowa State
    Senate, meaning they can continue to stop attacks on
    marriage equality, women's health, and unions from the the
    Republican-controlled House and Gov. Terry Branstad (R).
    Iowans also rejected the latest effort by anti-gay
    Christian conservatives to remove a justice from the Iowa
    Supreme Court merely because he had joined the court's
    unanimous decision in favor of marriage equality. Three
    other justices were successfully removed in 2010.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20121106/NEWS09/311070016/Voters-r
etain-Justice-David-Wiggins

    * Colorado: Democrats seized control of the Colorado State
    House and will install the first openly gay Speaker of the
    House. The current Republican Speaker blocked
    consideration of a civil unions bill even though it had
    the votes to pass.

    * California: Progressive change happened in a big way in
    one of the nation's most progressive states. Yesterday,
    voters:

        * Approved a tax increase on households making over
        $250,000 in order to fund education and help reduce
        the state's perpetual budget deficit.
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_30,_Sales_and_
Income_Tax_Increase_(2012)

        * Reformed the state's corporate tax code in order to
        create billions in new revenue for clean energy.
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_39,_Income_Tax
_Increase_for_Multistate_Businesses_(2012)

        * Modified the state's "Three Strikes" law so that
        most non-violent or non-serious third offenses don't
        automatically result in a life sentence. A similar
        initiative failed by almost six points in 2004, while
        yesterday's initiative passed by more than 35 points.
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_36,_Changes_in
_the_%22Three_Strikes%22_Law_(2012)

        * Rejected a right-wing effort to severely limit the
        political activities of labor unions. Just days before
        the election,
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_32,_the_%22Pay
check_Protection%22_Initiative_(2012)

        the initiative's backers revealed that they broke the
        law by laundering $11 MILLION in contributions through
        out-of-state groups linked to the Koch Brothers.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/171055/could-attorney-general-kamala-harris-t
urn-tide-dark-money

        * Gave Democrats a supermajority in both the
        California Assembly and Senate, meaning Democrats can
        finally overcome the 2/3 vote requirement needed to
        raise taxes and make California governable and
        solvent. Republicans have consistently blocked tax
        increases, forcing governors to put any tax increase
        before voters.
http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Democrats-get-supermajority-in-Legis
lature-4015861.php

LOSERS

    * Tea Party Extremists: Voters tossed out some of the most
    extreme voices in the U.S. House, including Joe Walsh,
    Allen West, and Chip Cravaack. Michele Bachmann very
    narrowly avoided defeat in her heavily-Republican
    district.

    * GOP Candidates Who Made Offensive Comments About Rape:
    From Todd Akin to Richard Mourdock to Linda McMahon, all
    of the Republican candidates who made outrageous comments
    about rape in recent weeks lost.
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/11/07/1155211/rape-gaffes-lose-electio
ns/

    * Grover Norquist: Signing the Washington lobbyist's
    infamous pledge to never raise taxes became an anchor for
    many candidates.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/11/07/1159241/grover-norquist-pledge-
albatross-vulnerable-candidates/

    * GOP Donors: They donated billions, much of it to Super
    PACs and secret money groups, in order to defeat President
    Obama and Democratic Senate candidates. Polluter-backed
    groups alone dumped $270 MILLION in TV ads during just the
    final 8 weeks of the election. It didn't work.
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/green/news/2012/11/07/44116/bi
g-polluters-big-ad-spending-in-the-2012-elections/

    * Our Voting System: Voters across the country faced
    almost unprecedented obstacles to casting a ballot.
    Conservatives did nearly anything possible - legal and
    otherwise - to keep people, particularly young people and
    minorities, from voting. Early voting was curtailed,
    onerous photo ID requirements were put in place, voter
    registration was made more difficult, technical changes
    meant to disqualify more ballots were implemented, dirty
    tricks were employed, and the list goes on. The net result
    was that tens of millions of Americans faced long lines
    and other hurdles when attempting to exercise one of their
    most basic rights. Millions more who might otherwise have
    voted didn't vote at all.

    * Ending Medicare, Slashing Taxes on the Wealthy: By
    selecting Rep. Paul Ryan (R) as his running mate, Mitt
    Romney put the GOP plan to end Medicare as we know it in
    order to slash taxes on the wealthy front and center on
    the ballot. Voters rejected these plans and the GOP should
    drop them once and for all.

    * The Residents of Michigan's 11th Congressional District:
    They elected a man who actually believes he is Santa Claus
    to represent them in Congress.
http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/10/15/1017371/michigan-congressional
-candidate-thinks-he-is-santa-claus/

THINKPROGRESS - Center for American Progress Action Fund
1333 H Street NW, 10th Floor | Washington, DC 20005
http://thinkprogress.org <http://thinkprogress.org/>

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On 11/7/12 5:44 PM, "Andy Blunden" <ablunden@mira.net> wrote:

>Yes, in Australia we get blanket coverage of the US *Presidential*
>Elections. Day in and day out we are lectured on the subtleties of the
>Electoral College system, the practice of eliminating voters from the
>register, the negative advertisements, etc., but there is precious
>little coverage of the myriad of other posts being filled and
>plebiscites being decided. We heard about the two advocates of God's
>work losing their seats, and a couple of notable new Congress-people
>(the first openly gay woman elected to Congress I believe?) but
>absolutely nothing of the issues which affect Americans such as you
>mention.
>
>Andy
>
>mike cole wrote:
>> Peg is one of those who put the rest of her life on hold and walked the
>> walk in the "battleground" states, Andy. California was not in play
>> nationally. But locally, the University and education system in general
>>was
>> saved a terrible blood bath by a slim margin vote on a state-wide
>> initiative, so you can be sure there is relief all around.
>>
>> But yes, the popular vote is split and the problems have not been
>>solved.
>>
>> mike
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Nov 7, 2012 at 8:02 AM, Peg Griffin <peg.griffin@att.net> wrote:
>>
>>   
>>> I keep learning that we have a country that's full of people worth the
>>> work that we all keep trying to do over and over again until we
>>>finally get
>>> it a little closer to right!
>>>
>>> Let's internationally join virtual hands of of "arguers," workers,
>>> canvassers, phone bankers, celebrators so we can pick each other up and
>>> figure out  "forward."  Remember, we've only been at it for a couple of
>>> hundred years in our country -- we can use the help!
>>> Peg
>>>
>>> --- On Wed, 11/7/12, Leif Strandberg <leifstrandberg.ab@telia.com>
>>>wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> From: Leif Strandberg <leifstrandberg.ab@telia.com>
>>> Subject: Re: [xmca] election day
>>> To: ablunden@mira.net, "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <
>>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
>>> Date: Wednesday, November 7, 2012, 2:52 AM
>>>
>>>
>>> Congratulations to the people of UNITED States of America
>>>
>>> and... FORWARD
>>>
>>> Leif
>>> Sweden
>>> 7 nov 2012 kl. 05.54 skrev Andy Blunden:
>>>
>>>     
>>>> You did a fantastic job getting those votes out Mike.
>>>> Andy
>>>>
>>>> mike cole wrote:
>>>>       
>>>>> For those of you in the US but busy during work hours.
>>>>>
>>>>> A major need on election day is for volunteers to go around to check
>>>>>on
>>>>> people who have not voted by about 4pm, knock on doors, take them to
>>>>>         
>>> polls if
>>>     
>>>>> necessary. The Cole family is planning to do this and it occurred to
>>>>>me
>>>>>         
>>> that perhaps some of you would want to contact your local campaign
>>>office
>>> which will be very glad to hear from you. The outcome, methinks,
>>>matters to
>>> my children and grandchildren.
>>>     
>>>>> mike
>>>>> __________________________________________
>>>>> _____
>>>>> xmca mailing list
>>>>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>>>>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>         
>>>>       
>>> 
>>>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>--
>>>     
>>>> *Andy Blunden*
>>>> Home Page: http://home.mira.net/~andy/
>>>> Book: http://www.brill.nl/concepts
>>>> http://ucsd.academia.edu/AndyBlunden
>>>>
>>>> __________________________________________
>>>> _____
>>>> xmca mailing list
>>>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>>>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>>>>       
>>> __________________________________________
>>> _____
>>> xmca mailing list
>>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>>> __________________________________________
>>> _____
>>> xmca mailing list
>>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>>>
>>>     
>> __________________________________________
>> _____
>> xmca mailing list
>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>>
>>   
>
>-- 
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>*Andy Blunden*
>Home Page: http://home.mira.net/~andy/
>Book: http://www.brill.nl/concepts
>http://ucsd.academia.edu/AndyBlunden
>
>__________________________________________
>_____
>xmca mailing list
>xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca


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