Randomness

[Alelou]

You could always post it.

Check out your state's League of Women Voters. They usually take some pains to translate this stuff. Or if there's a respectable newspaper in your state, check their website. They may have already done this.

[CX]

That'd be a negative on all of those. The student paper did for the last one, but I guess it isn't considered as important this time or something...

Anyway, here goes:

Constitutional Measure No. 1 (House Concurrent Resolution No. 3045, 2007 Session Laws, Ch. 584)

This constitutional measure would add a new section to Article X of the North Dakota Constitution.

This measure would establish a permanent oil tax trust fund from oil and gas tax revenue exceeding one hundred million dollars per biennium, adjusted for inflation; interest earnings on the trust fund would be transferred to the general fund each year; and no more than twenty percent of the principal of the trust fund could be spent each biennium, if approved by three-fourths of the members of both houses of the legislature.

I think this is something about hording money earned from either the tax we pay at the pump, or tax collected from the companies that are actually out here drilling for oil and natural gas, but I'm not sure.

Initiated Statutory Measure No. 2

This initiated statutory measure would amend sections 57-38-30 and 57-38-30.3 of the North Dakota Century Code.

This initiated measure would amend sections 57-38-30 and 57-38-30.3 of the North Dakota Century Code for tax years beginning after December 31, 2008 by lowering the state corporate income tax rates by fifteen percent and the adjusted state income tax rates by fifty percent, except for one taxpayer bracket where the reduction would be forty-five percent and for two other brackets where some income would not be taxed.

Is my state actually thinking about lowering taxes here, or is this just for businesses?

Initiated Statutory Measure No. 3

This one was clear enough for me as being "tobacco prevention" and a waste of tax dollars.

Initiated Statutory Measure No. 4

This initiated statutory measure would add two new sections to the Title 65 of the North Dakota Century Code.

This measure would provide for the appointment by the Governor of the Director for the Workforce Safety and Insurance agency, the placement of its employees into the state personnel system, and for the appointment of independent administrative law judges to conduct hearings and make final decisions.

This one seems clear enough, but I have a few questions about the implications of it. First, would these positions normally be elected ones? Second, you have to understand that the ND Workman's Comp. is probably one of the most corrupt in the country. They routinely screw people out of compensation for injury on the job, including my mother a few years back. They managed to get evidence found by doctors out of state which proved she had carpel tunnel by claiming the documents were hearsay, and demanding that my parents put up the money to have the doctors travel up all the way from Denver to testify at this hearing. So would the changes listed above make it possible to rid ND Workman's Comp. of at least some of its corruption?

[justTripn]

Here is what I do with those type of propositions. I follow the recommendations of the editorial board of my husband's newspaper, unless something jumps out at me as wrong.

[Alelou]

The first measure sounds like an attempt to create a lasting source of income for the state from the current windfall gas tax revenues, either at the pump or from oil companies if you have them locally. This is not necessarily a bad idea although it seems rather bizarre since most states have a pay-as-you-go budgeting process.

The second sounds like it's definitely a huge tax cut, though parts of it are so completely vague as to scare me. Is this something that got up there by petition? It sounds like a fiscal disaster, unless perhaps it is PAIRED with the resolution above, in which case they should have been in the same resolution. You can tell who really wants it by who advertises for it.

The last one I would be cautious of, even it it's well-intended. New York State is riddled with these authorities, which have fewer controls on them than regular parts of the state business, and seem to be primarily a way of rewarding cushy jobs with bigger salaries than usual state government jobs get to one's political allies. It's one of the reasons our taxes are so ridiculously high and our state government is ridiculously corrupt.

[CX]

All the commercials I've seen are for elected positions, so I don't know if any of these were brought forward by a petition. The first one looks like a referendum though.

[blacknblue]

I am suspecting that the first one is more of a budgeting balancing measure than anything else. You know that government budgets are not balanced with real money like normal people do, they are balanced with estimated numbers based on how much the government can get away with telling people that they THINK they will probably have available IF all the factors fall into place and the taxes come in on schedule. Having a trust fund like that available to pad the general fund would be handy in cases of fiscal emergency. Just my guess though.

The second one sounds like a tax reduction for somebody, but you are right. It is vaguely written and hard to be sure whether normal people are also getting a cut or not. It is so vague that it sounds like it might have been written that way deliberately to me, but I am paranoid as you know. Maybe whoever wrote it is just lousy at it.

The last one is obviously establishing some new political patronage jobs, IMO.

[Alelou]

Keep an eye out. Usually these things get covered in more detail in the last week before the election.

[blacknblue]

Fried green tomatoes. My mom cleared the last of her garden vines and presented me with a platter full of them. Oh my! Oh joy! Oh greasy bliss!

[Asso]

Fried green tomatoes. My mom cleared the last of her garden vines and presented me with a platter full of them. Oh my! Oh joy! Oh greasy bliss!

Is it not only a movie?

[Distracted]

Where do you think the movie came from, Asso? Yummy.

[Escriba]

I'm curious: are they sweet or sour?

[Distracted]

Tart and a bit astringent, but crunchy and salty. Like fried dill pickles only not so sour.

[Asso]

Now I'm hungry.

[Alelou]

They're breaded, right?

Jaime has always wanted me to make them for him, but he's still on Atkins, and I don't find the idea of green tomatoes at all appealing. (Fried pickles either!) But if they're not breaded, it's not like I'm lacking for green tomatoes at the moment.

Personally I think if you're going to fry something it ought to be plaintains or yucca. Ahhhh.

But if they're not breaded, how do you do it?

[Distracted]

They're breaded...and tomatoes aren't on Atkins induction since they're a fruit. You can get low carb soy flour breading mix, though, and fry julienned turnips or onions or peppers or mushrooms if you really want to fry something. Personally, I don't like to fry much when I cook low carb. Sort of defeats the purpose, you know? I mean, you're trying to lose weight and you're gonna soak something in oil, which automatically at least doubles the calories? Doesn't really make sense to me.