Veto

Although medical marijuana use is still illegal on the federal level, the Obama administration said today that it won’t go after patients or their providers in states where it is legal.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed a bill to legalize marijuana for terminally ill patients late Friday evening, saying he sides with law enforcement opposition to the bill. Bill proponents say they will introduce a constitutional amendment to bypass the governor, noting overwhelming popular support in the state on the issue.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty told reporters on Tuesday afternoon that he will definitely veto a medical marijuana bill that passed the state Legislature on Monday. But, he added, “I have great empathy for the sick.”

For the first time in a decade of effort, medical marijuana bill is heading to the governor’s desk. Legislators added new restrictions to the final version of the bill in an attempt to assuage Gov. Palwenty’s concerns. But one legislator might have taken his opposition too far, as Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Delano, offered a series of amendments many in the House found offensive.

The word “veto” used to roll gleefully off Republican tongues, particularly “Governor Veto” Tim Pawlenty’s. Now, according to Republican state Rep. Pat Garofalo, the word is verboten.

The stem cell bill offered at the Minnesota Legislature this year, which would have allowed the University of Minnesota to use state funds to conduct research on embryonic stem cells, was authored by a Democrat and doctor of biophysics, Rep. Phyllis Kahn. It was vetoed by lawyer and evangelical Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Pawlenty’s veto message [...]

Undoubtedly over the next week, the DFL-controlled Minnesota Legislature will be sending Tim Pawlenty a series of spending bills that he promptly will veto.  He will do so with lines he’s used already, like “the buffet’s closed” and “the all-you-can-eat salad bar is out of croûtons” and “all of Inge Thorson’s tuna noodle hot dish [...]

It’s Time for ‘Governor Veto’ to Put Away His Supertogs
On these pages Joe Bodell suggested recently that “Progressive Organizations Need Some Work.” He laments that “movement building [is taking] a back seat to single-issue advocacy.”
I’m afraid that no matter how much “movement building” these organizations could have done, there is little hope when [...]

Because absent a critical media, they can get away with it

Like war, taxes are a hot-button issue. Any discussion of them seems to get the blood boiling, and when that happens logical discussion often takes a flier. Too bad.

It often seems that people who don’t want to pay taxes either A) want to be self-sufficient, [...]

State construction bonding bill first to fall to Pawlenty’s rapier pen Not even employing the line item veto, Gov. Tim Pawlenty threw the entire state construction projects bonding bill back to the Minnesota Legislature, saying, in essence, “Make it closer to my way or there ain’t gonna be any bucks for highways” and college buildings [...]