The mayor of Troy is facing a recall after a petition calling for her ouster was turned in.
In the segment, Daniels discounted the legitimacy of the recall.
"They're based upon my positions that I take, my votes that I take, and that is hardly reason to recall someone. A recall should be used if someone commits a crime and I have committed no crime."
That's not true, as a press release from Recall Janice Daniels quoted in The Oakland Press article about the story points out.
"This assertion has no basis in fact. Michigan's Constitution and subsequent legislation ... permits recall for any objectionable conduct during the elected official's term in office. In contrast, when an elected official has committed an illegal act, the officer can be removed ... (in) a completely separate and distinct procedure."
In The Oakland Press article, Daniels also cited the example of Scott Walker in Wisconsin.
"I'm proud of the results in Wisconsin, where Scott Walker's team proved the people don't like recalls," she said.
That same article also linked to Janice Daniels' website and concluded by quoting the Mayor's appeal for donations and volunteers to fight the recall. They didn't link to the website of the pro-recall group, so I will.
On May 22, 2012, the Michigan House Redistricting and Elections Committee voted to approve Senate bills 751, 754 and 803, which would make it harder for people to vote. The proposed laws would require registered voters to provide two forms of identification (or birth certificate) when hitting the ballot box. It would also create all types of loopholes for organizations who hold voter registration drives.
As a result, more than 622,000 voters could miss their chance to let their voices be heard come November 6. These measures were created by Republican lawmakers who claim it's a way to combat voter fraud. However, research has shown that voter fraud is a rare instance. Instead of combating a problem, it's only creating one. In fact, these measures only disenfranchises Michigan's minorities, seniors and young adults.
This is all driven by politics, not the people, which makes this all the more unjust. It is a clear tactic by Michigan's Republican party to prevent President Obama from being re-elected. It is a political attack on America's working and middle-class, who want the rich to pay their fair share. It is a fight they will not win. When one voice is silenced, we are ALL silenced.
As you know, the 2012 elections are less than six months from now and the stakes are higher than ever. Whoever wins this election will determine whether our nation will continue to move to a new tune or rewind the same old song.
We need leaders who can relate to and implement measures that will benefit the 99%. We need good-paying jobs, corporations to pay their fair share in taxes, access to affordable health care and other services and a pathway for working immigrants to be granted citizenship.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and Republican Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra have both made it clear that they are not for Michigan's or the rest of the country's working and middle-class. Take action and sign our petition against Hoekstra and Romney:
Mitt Romney supports everything that has crippled America economically and socially including huge tax breaks for corporations, privatization of unemployment benefits and Social Security, cutting federally-funded programs and promise to repeal Healthcare Reform. While governor of Massachusetts, the state ranked 47th in job growth, he vetoed $11 million in job training funds and insurance costs rose more than 20 percent. He claims to be "a son of Detroit," but suggested to "let Detroit go bankrupt" and was did not support the auto bailout, which ultimately saved thousands of jobs and revitalized Michigan's economy. Like many of the big-time corporations who make mega profits at the expense of tax payer dollars, Romney doesn't pay his fair share in taxes. If he had to pay his fair share, Romney would owe the 99% $3.95 million.
Pete Hoekstra is running against current Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow. The former US Representative for Michigan's 2nd district, recently referred to the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act as "a nuisance." Voting against a measure that provides channels for women to receive equal pay for equal work not only continues the culture of gender discrimination, but hurts our economy. It's a nuisance that Hoekstra voted against a bill that closed $14 billion in tax loopholes for companies that shipped job overseas. It's a nuisance that Hoekstra allowed CEOs of bailed-out banks to receive bonuses.
Hoekstra and Romney are both out of touch with the reality of the 99 percent. If you don't want these two leading our state and nation in the wrong direction,sign our petition here.
Today’s the day! The day you get to choose who is going to represent you and your party in the upcoming Presidential election. And oh, what a choice you have to make!
On one hand, there’s Mitt Romney, the guy who’s still trying to convince us his “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt” statement somehow showed us what a proud Michigander he really is. The guy who emotionally told a crowd about his fond memories of attending the Golden Jubilee celebration in Detroit, an event that unfortunately took place almost a year before he was even born. The guy who thinks that government bailouts are a direct threat to our democracy, unless they benefit the organizations he represents.
But hey, at least we learned that he’s a guy that knows the correct height of a tree when he sees one.
On the other hand, there’s Rick Santorum, the guy who apparently thinks the we're all a bunch of snobs because we had the audacity to go to college. The guy who said the separation of church and state, a key tenant of the foundation of our country, made him sick. The guy who’s election strategy today hinges on convincing Democrats to cross over and vote for him as a joke.
But again, at least we know he’s a guy that has women’s best interests in mind when he gives them such expert medical advice like: "Birth control is bad for you."
As for Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, I guess I don’t even have to bother mentioning them because clearly they don’t meet the high standards set by your distinguished party to be seriously considered as candidates like those other two do.
And so, in the end, I hope you’re fired up about whichever of these candidates winds up being your presidential nominee, because I know I will be!
The Grand Rapids Activist Calendar went “live” online about a year and a half ago with the simple goal of connecting folks to all of the grassroots organizing efforts happening in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Since launching, the Calendar has collected hundreds of events displaying them both online and sending out a regular mailing to hundreds of subscribers via email and Facebook.
We’ve recently rolled out a new website with some improved features. It is now easier to add events to the calendar – which is a critical component of our work. We rely on folks in the community – both those doing “organizing” work and those sympathetic to such ideas – to let us know about what is going on in the community. Additionally, we have launched a blog to highlight organizing efforts going on that aren’t “event” based. For example, there is a strong campaign going on right now to boycott businesses in Holland, Michigan that don’t support LGBT folks after the City Council there voted against expanding their anti-discrimination ordinance. In the past, there would have been nowhere to highlight this important and vital activism.
This hasn't been a good day for my blood pressure. I began listenint to Public Radio's "Ask the Guv" and was totally amazed at Snyder's chutzpah.
"Schools don't deserve funding because they haven't produced..."
"Larger public agencies should be able to get out of their collective bargaining agreements by consolidating services with smaller ones..."
"We all have to sacrifice...by taking away tax credits for poor folks..."
Then the minority leader comes on and admits that she and the Democrats have no plan for future solvency, except perhaps to beg the GOP not to completely decimate the schools.
And the Democrats refuse to support a recall because people might be "disappointed." Disappointed isn't half of it--Democrats!
There have been many unlikely things that have happened this past month or so: some of them appearing as legislation, some of them appearing in the form of Republicans who set new records for running away from the words they used to get elected-and some of them appearing in the markets, where, believe it or not, many Europeans finds themselves wishing for our economic situation right about now.
There are even improbable sports stories: our frequently hapless Seattle Seahawks, the only team to ever make the NFL Playoffs with a losing record, are today preparing to knock the Chicago Bears out of their bid to play in the Super Bowl, having crushed the defending holders of the Lombardi Trophy just last week before the 12th Man in Seattle.
But as improbable as all that is, the one thing I never thought I would see is Barack Obama getting into a political argument with himself over Social Security-and then losing the argument.
Even more improbably, it looks like there's just about a week left for him to come to a decision...and it looks like you're going to have to help him make up his mind.
If you were with us on Christmas Day you heard the story of Betsie Gallardo, who, unless something changes quickly, is going to be intentionally starved to death in a Florida prison after being convicted of spitting on a cop.
In fairness, the State did not decide simply to starve her; instead, the Department of Corrections (DOC) first chose to withhold any further treatment for her inoperable cancer...and then they decided to starve her to death.
Her adopted mother is trying to get her released on humanitarian grounds; the DOC recommended in October that she be allowed to go home and die, the Florida Parole Commission refused.
Governor Charlie Crist chairs the Executive Clemency Board, who could also agree to let her go...and so far, they've also refused to take action.
Funny thing is, the Governor and his Board have been more than willing to step in when other Floridians requested pardons and commutations, even in situations that seemed a lot less dire.
Today, we're going to look at that history-and to be honest, as with many things in the Sunshine State, from the outside...it all looks a bit bizarre.
There are many gifts to be given and received this holiday season; some that you can wrap and put under a tree, and some so intangible and ethereal that they cannot be held within the boundaries of paper and ribbon.
Instead, they exist within the boundaries of our hearts.
Among those intangible presents, few matter more than the chance to be with those we love-and at the time of our death, it's the most important thing of all.
We have a chance to bring all of this to a dying woman and her family-but the only way it can happen is if we convince the Florida Department of Corrections not to kill her first.
It's not a tale of light and joy-but if we get lucky, there could still be a happy ending.
As I was draining some woodchips I had been soaking for a barbeque, and placing a few extra briquettes on my Weber, I saw a man walking up my driveway. He asked if I'd heard about the Koran desecration that took place at the Lansing Islamic Center, about a block and a half southeast from my house.
I was dumbfounded. "Here? In East Lansing?"
"Yes. I'm from the Lansing State Journal, and I'm trying to find some people who found pages in the neighborhood."
Okay, leave aside for the moment the allegedly spurious Tea Party with all those petition signatures. Let's talk about the grassroots, homespun, unorganized and entirely unofficial mad-as-hell Real American Tea Partiers. Would you be surprised to hear they are bankrolled by the rich-as-hell Koch brothers and (of course you're not surprised to hear this one) Rupert Murdoch? With some help from Jane Mayer in the New Yorker, Frank Rich lays it out in the New York Times for us in all its hideous predictability.
All three tycoons are the latest incarnation of what the historian Kim Phillips-Fein labeled “Invisible Hands” in her prescient 2009 book of that title: those corporate players who have financed the far right ever since the du Pont brothers spawned the American Liberty League in 1934 to bring down F.D.R. You can draw a straight line from the Liberty League’s crusade against the New Deal “socialism” of Social Security, the Securities and Exchange Commission and child labor laws to the John Birch Society-Barry Goldwater assault on J.F.K. and Medicare to the Koch-Murdoch-backed juggernaut against our “socialist” president.
Alright, I'm sure your next door neighbor who's been campaigning for Justin Amash or Bill Cooper probably isn't getting any cash from News Corp or the Kochs. But surely you didn't think Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck were flying around on their own dimes just because they believe in the cause, right? And would your next door neighbor be working so hard if he or she knew the agenda wasn't about the Constitution but the corporation?
Lansing Associated Press writer KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN today posted a report, which NPR picked up, that underlines the reasons we may still be on the path to a second great depression.
And unless President Obama and Congress develop a quick and aggressive response to this economic reality in Michigan and many other states, he (and we) will be following the path of Herbert Hoover rather than F.D. Roosevelt.
It's become increasingly clear that a transition to a low-carbon, clean energy economy promises to be a huge boon to our beleaguered state (not to mention our national security and the future of the planet). The only missing piece is decisive action by the Senate to pass comprehensive legislation to protect the climate and move us into a clean energy future.
Drug Immunity Vote Pushed Back Again
Once again, the Republican-led Senate delayed a vote on the so-called drug immunity package that would make it easier for victims to win in-court damages for faulty drugs from pharmaceutical companies. Senate Majority Leader Alan Cropsey (R-DeWitt) moved to postpone taking up HB 4316, 4317, 4318 until Nov. 30. Democrats objected.
"The motion is on the table right now," said Sen. Hansen Clarke(D-Detroit). "Let's do it."
But the motion succeeded on a party-line 21-13 vote. One Republican insider told MIRS the action was payback for the Michigan Democratic Party's Justice Caucus' call for both Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop(R-Rochester) and House Speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford Twp.) to be tossed from leadership.
The Justice Caucus consists of trial lawyers.
Wake up Bishop/Dillon the MDP Justice Caucus IS NOT the trial lawyers fighting for their clients. MDP Justice Caucus is a progressive group focused on social and economic justice, civil rights and fairness with over 2000 members made up of just about every profession including your colleagues in Lansing, doctors, teachers, labor, etc.
Michigan citizens remain the ONLY folks in the nation that cannot hold drug companies accountable for faulty drugs that maime and kill. This is putting petty partisan politics before human lives and holding the drug industry accountable like they do in EVERY other state.
What the radical right is doing right now in America is just plain wrong. They've launched a scorched-earth crusade against the President and his agenda. Their aim is not just to express their disagreement, but to defeat him by dragging the democratic process and our country through the mud. Fox TV's Glenn Beck is one of the loudest and most offensive of their crusaders.
In today's News Herald we saw a full page ad from some group calling itself the "U.S. Citizens Association". It's an outrageous ad made to look like an article.
There is an absurd anonymous PAID ADVERTISEMENT by a lobbying group with no sources for their putrid propaganda and no footnotes. It is by a group going under the new name U. S. Citizens Association. This originally appeared by The Better Government Association who were forced to rebrand by court order. The putrid ADVERTISEMENT now appears with author listed as U. S. Citizens Association as a PDF.
Here is the FULL content of their site used under their former name, the Better Government Association, only changed with the past few days.
(Always a pleasure to have you here, Rep. Byrum! - promoted by ScottyUrb)
In an instant, Kecia Milliner's life changed forever. She watched helplessly as a speeding car struck her 5-year-old daughter, dragging her to the next driveway and leaving her clinging for life.
As the doctors worked, they found that in addition to the broken legs, bumps and bruises, Kecia's daughter had suffered a traumatic brain injury that would require years of expensive treatment to help her reach her full potential.
Like so many of us who suffer a tragedy, Kecia called her insurance company, and was told that they would honor their promise and pay for her daughter's medical bills. With a huge weight off her mind, Kecia began to prepare for the work of putting her family's life back together.
But unfortunately, this story does not have a happy ending because what the insurance company said and what the insurance company did were two different things. They delayed benefits saying Kecia's daughter had to see multiple doctors who had to recommend the same treatment before they would even pay the minimum benefits. In the end, they stopped paying entirely.
(Jeremy's got an excellent point - promoted by LiberalLucy)
I was asked a few weeks ago to do a bit of blogging for Concentrate Media, a news magazine in Ann Arbor. One of the posts I wrote, while intended for the Ann Arbor community, had more of a statewide tinge to it.
Essentially, what I'm trying to argue here is that in order to help turn around Michigan's economy, we need to consider investing in the arts and culture of our state, and that the rewards we'll see as a state, in keeping residents & in increasing our tax base will highly outpace any investment the state would put in. I have been reading here for a while, but only now am getting around to posting, as I thought it might be something this community might be interested in seeing (I'll admit I'm a newbie here).
Caveat emptor: In choosing my initial wording, however, it comes off like I'm attacking our Governor and Lt. Governor's budget. One of the comments there, from a Mr. Larry Krieg says it best though. "The statement "easy ways to balance a bloated budget" implies that you think Michigan's state budget is bloated - but perhaps you are just attributing these terms to others. Nothing could be further from the truth about our skeletal state budget, but nothing comes forth more easily from the lips of certain politicians."
I'm not out to attack the Granholm/Cherry budget in the least, but the wording comes off like that, so I wanted to be sure to point this out at least before I post the entire thing verbatim (in the interest of trying to be open). I know they are doing what they can faced with hardline MI GOP members who want to do what they can to cut arts funding - and who won't support budget resolutions that include investments in our culture.
In any case, I think the state needs to highlight and focus on our culture - it'll only bring rewards back to the state!
Here's the original post, unedited, for your reading pleasure...
The Grand Rapids Activist Calendar
