Northeast Assembly Thread

[tpfkaw]

The Sponsor, wormyguy, introduces a motion to begin an immediate vote.

Aye.

[tpfkaw]

Yea on Dallas' motion, Nay on RowanBrandon's.

[tpfkaw]

Shortening: Aye
Extension: Nay

[tpfkaw]

AYE!

[tpfkaw]

NAY

Sorry, changed my mind at the last minute. Took me a while to grasp the exact extent of what this would mean.

It doesn't mean anything!

[tpfkaw]

Because it would irritate you.

[tpfkaw]

Not in favor of abolishing "right-to-work," I see?

[tpfkaw]

Weren't some of those passed during my governorship of fail?

The last two, I think.

[tpfkaw]

I take it you approve of the Republicans voting against the DREAM Act and DADT repeal because they were added to the Defense Appropriations bill.

[tpfkaw]

So, do you actually have an argument you wish to make, or do you just have pointless mudslinging to offer?

[tpfkaw]

There are certain things in the bill that I would support if they were standalone. But I will be voting no if we just throw all of these things together.

I strongly encourage you guys to amend this, or pass/not pass piece by piece.

No, they'd just find some other lame excuse to oppose it then.

[tpfkaw]

write in: Jesus Christ

[tpfkaw]

Aye

[tpfkaw]

Motion to strike all clauses and replace with the following (motion to amend):

1. a. The Northeast government grants free-of-charge perpetual leases of the submerged continental shelf to the individual municipalities along the coastline.  The leases shall be apportioned as if each municipality were an independent country under the Law of the Sea treaty.

b. Municipalities which consolidate or secede also consolidate or split the leases to the continental shelf.

2. a. Municipalities may auction or license construction (as of wind farms), fishing, mining or other rights to all or portions of their leases.

b. Municipalities may place any restrictions on these rights as they see fit, but may not abrogate contracts with the purchasers or licensees of the the rights ex post facto without full compensation.

3 a. Any sale or licensing of rights to the continental shelf in a municipality must be approved by a majority of the voters in that municipality in a prompt (within 2 months) referendum.

b. The proceeds from any sale or licensing of rights to the continental shelf in a municipality shall be wholly and equally distributed among the persons residing in the municipality at the time of voting on the referendum.

c. If a person can prove a substantial (greater than $4000 within a 3-year period) loss of livelihood due to the sale or licensing of continental shelf rights, he or she may file to receive additional compensation from the proceeds, equal to the loss of livelihood.

[tpfkaw]

Call me just a crazy sentimentalist, but if we're talking about something which is highly disruptive, such as a shallow-water wind farm, that could turn places dependent on the fishing or tourism industries (for example) into ghost towns, it might be best to consult the people who will be affected first, for the same reason that it would be wrong to turn a public park into a landfill without first consulting the surrounding population.  If that requires a "beaureacratic" nightmare, then so be it.  My proposal does not create a single new regional agency - in fact it reduces bureaucracy by partially ending regional administration over our shallow territorial waters.  I'm not exactly sure how someone who's proposing the partial nationalization of the entire power generation and transmission industry is complaining about supposed bureaucracy, but that's the way it goes.  I also like stating that you oppose my amendment before even having read it.  Mind reminding us who's supposed to be the "adult" here, Polnut?

In any case, Han says he will veto this bill without my amendment.

[tpfkaw]

You have to vote on the amendment first.

[tpfkaw]

Yea

[tpfkaw]

Nay

[tpfkaw]

I support this bill.

[tpfkaw]

Aye

[tpfkaw]

Thank you, speaker.

As I am sure everyone is well aware, there is an acute shortage of organ donors, and waiting lists can be months long.  However, if only a miniscule percentage of the population chose to donate nonessential organs, such as a kidney or a lobe of their liver, the waiting list for those organs could be totally eliminated.

Now, there are several ways one could go about doing that.  One would be to choose people by random lottery and force them to donate their nonessential organs.  That would be an unethical, Orwellian nightmare.  Another is to simply acknowledge that people are the owners of their own bodies, and let them do with their bodies as they please, including selling their nonessential organs.  It is for the same reason that people are allowed to obtain body piercings or tattoos (including if they are being paid to have "PartyPoker.com" written on them) - because there is no more fitting custodian of a person's body that that self-same person.  Every argument that I have ever seen advocating for legalized abortion has rested on this notion of self-ownership - that a woman has the right to do with what is inside her own body as she pleases.  This bill relies on the same concept, except that nothing is being killed.  Indeed, it saves lives.

I suspect there will be two major objections made to this bill.  The first will be that it will result in the poor being "taken advantage" of.  One must think of the types of people who would sell their nonessential organs.  The first might be simply persons who are looking to make a quick buck.  These are the sorts of people who agree to be paid to be guinea pigs for drug trials (potentially far more dangerous than this).  The second is people who are doing so out of desperation.  This second group, if they are denied this opportunity, will turn to something even more degrading, such as prostitution, or a life of crime.  Who are we as an assembly to tell that person "no?"  To tell them to become a prostitute.  Become a drug dealer.  Become a bank robber.  Perhaps it is better to simply let each individual person decide what is best to do for themselves, especially when we are discussing something which ought to be considered theirs in the first place, their own bodies.

The second will be the somewhat populist-tinged objection that "it will only benefit the rich."  I would ask:  Are the rich less human, or less deserving?  Do they not have the right to do everything in their power to save the lives of themselves and their loved ones?  Furthermore, I must make two rather obvious points; as the supply of organs increases, so too will the cost decrease, and also that this proposal would greatly cut down on the length of waiting lists for uncompensated organ donations, so every recipient would benefit, even those unable to purchase one directly.

As for the tax credit, I doubt that's controversial, but I am open to discussing or modifying it.

[tpfkaw]

Hmm...

6. A surgeon may, at his or her own discretion, declare a person mentally incompetent for the purposes of selling his or her bodily organs.

In the future, you may want to read the bill first.

[tpfkaw]

Aye

[tpfkaw]

As was reported by the media, when Jared Lee Loughner bought the gun that he used in the Tucson, AZ shooting, the gun shop that sold it to him did not actually want to sell him the gun (noticing his erratic behavior), but were required to by a state law mandating that guns be sold to anyone who passes the federal background check.  This bill would have prevented that tragedy, and has as its aim preventing future ones, by removing all such restrictions on firearms retailers so that they may deny a sale to anyone their good judgment tells them not to sell to.

[tpfkaw]

If we include any exceptions in this law, then it becomes pointless, as firearms dealers will continue to sell to clearly unstable people because they're afraid of being sued.  If a person truly feels that he or she has been treated unfairly, they might alert the media, or organize boycotts or protests or any manner of things.  Achieving a world free of racial discrimination is an admirable goal, but it must come second to ensuring that innocent people are not murdered by homicidal maniacs.