Circumspice, 8/23/06

by: matt

Wed Aug 23, 2006 at 14:44:40 PM EDT

• Daniel Howes' column in the DN today: "Top GOP leaders sending message to Big 3: Drop dead." READ IT.
  
  
• Looks like Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick may be ready to make nice. He and the Guv have a "unification rally" scheduled for 2PM tomorrow at the Campus Martius (translated "Field of Mars" - according to legend the original campus martius was once a field of wheat that was burned during the formation of the Roman Republic). The rally sounds interesting - and I may be in Detroit tomorrow, so I may stop in to observe. Kwame seems lately to be especially outspoken about his commitment to Governor Granholm and the Democratic Party. Good. Hopefully it continues and this rally tomorrow is more than just a photo-op. And...no more fundraisers for the Oakland Republicans, eh?
  
  
• Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land's (R) office says traveling Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson DID break the law when he used county resources to help a signature drive to enact the $1.9 billion business tax cut in Michigan. Land's office, however, has opted against making Brooks pay a fine for his recent illegal activities.
  
  
• The Flint Journal - who endorsed George Bush in 2000, but saw the light in the 2004 - has today's word of wisdom on the Republicans' $1.9 billion business tax cut:

  SLASHING TAXES NO SOLUTION: If more evidence was needed that business tax cuts - specifically elimination of the Single Business Tax - are not Michigan's ticket to prosperity, a new study supports that thinking. Dumping the SBT, which the Legislature has voted to do at the end of next year, would not help the state's economy if this results in cutting services, says the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Kalamazoo. While most economists agree the SBT is a hindrance to business growth, Michigan needs the $1.9 billion it raises, according to the institute's analysis. For instance, does anyone think it would be helpful to reduce university funding so tuitions rise higher? What about aid to local government, already reeling from previous cuts? Or health care for the poor, which hospitals and doctors subsidize enormously? Michigan doesn't need to lower its business tax burden as much as it must reshape it to encourage cutting-edge ventures that would compensate for the domestic auto industry's contraction. Slashing taxes and vital state spending would only shrink Michigan's prospects. (emphasis added)
  

• Unfortunately, the age of reason has yet to dawn in the editorial room of the Grand Rapids Press. Another knee-jerk "more tax cuts, pay later" editorial awaits anyone in the furniture city who is short of T.P. today.
  
  
• Meanwhile, the GRP's Ed Golder has a good article on the latest attack on the latest anti-union ad blitz by the so-called "Center for Union Facts." BTW, as Progressive States reports on dKos, the "Center for Union Facts" just happens to be targeting the same states that have "Taxpayers Bill of Rights" (in our case "SOS Michigan" or "drown government in a bathtub") proposals on the ballot.
  
  
• Soon-to-be Senate MAJORITY Leader Mark Schauer (D-Battle Creek) had a wonderful letter Monday in the Jackson Cit-Pat about Rep. Rick Baxter's (R-Hanover) recent (and thwarted) attempt to illegally grab federal money for The Cascades - a major park in his district. In this letter, the normally warm-and-fuzzy Schauer (who represents Jackson in the Senate), rips Baxter's position apart, limb-by-limb. The best line is this:

  "His misstatements may just represent the honest mistakes of a rookie legislator, not yet familiar with how the state budget and federal LWCF processes work."

  Hell yeah!
  
  

Circumspice, 8/10/06

by: matt

Thu Aug 10, 2006 at 15:42:25 PM EDT

• In case you missed it, Standard & Poors lowered Michigan's general obligation bond outlook to "negative" only hours after Republicans rammed through the Amway Guy-Patterson $1.9 billion business tax cut (nearly a quarter of the general fund budget). This fact has been picked up by the DFP, AP and other sources. The Guv apparently talked about it on Mitch Albom's show on WJR too. Not exactly the choir of angels Amway Guy, the chambers of commerce, and the legislative Republicans probably expected to hear when they first came up with this idea. BTW, S&P's announcement isn't the first Wall Street firm to call attention to the lack of sense in Amway Guy-Patterson's $1.9 billion business tax cut. Last year, Fitch Ratings described it as a threat to our state's credit outlook.
  

• I stopped over at Townsend Street today today to catch a glimpse of the new Joe Slade MDP ad. It's entitled "fiscal hawk." Brewer says the Legislature's mischief happened too late to reflect anything about the new $1.9 billion UNPAID-FOR business tax cut. But he says it may very well be mentioned in future ads. I still dig the fiscal responsibility message behind the ad, though - and it does dovetail nicely with the coverage making its way through the papers. View the ad here.
  

• The Flint Journal does not think highly of the Legislature's decision yesterday to strip out $1.9 billion from the state budget without saying where the money will come from. "Republican lawmakers were no profiles in courage", they say.
  
  
• Add State Rep. Rick Baxter (R-Concord) to the list of anti-government fanatics who don't favor replacing any of the $1.9 billion lost thanks to the Patterson-Amway Guy business tax cut. Mayor Griffin, we're countin' on you, buddy! (Jackson Mayor Marty Griffin is the Democratic challenger against Baxter).
  

• Soon-to-be U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid points to Michigan's CD07 as an example of why Bush is poison. Quite candidly, I don't recall ever hearing Walberg actually campaign against Bush as Sen. Reid suggests - but I do think Schwarz jumping in bed with Bush hurt him among Dem crossovers. So his larger point is correct: Republicans would be well-advised to run as far from Bush as possible. Maybe that's why his cute little face no longer adorns the Michigan Republican Party website. Ya think?
  
  
• Might Joe Schwarz endorse Sharon Renier? Maybe farfetched, but comments about Sharon are much nicer than about Walberg in this Battle Creek Enquirer story.
  
  
• As reported on Michlib over a week ago, Bill Clinton will be coming in-state to raise some bread for Sen. Stabenow and Gov. Granholm. Apparently, "The Decider" and the Vice President who shot a guy have been invited to stump for unnamed (surprise!) Republican candidates. Wonder who it was who thought this would be helpful? Also, more speculation about the million-dollar minister becoming the Amway billionaire's running mate. The DFP's Kathy Gray has more.
  
  
• Republican House Speaker Craig DeRoche and Republican Attorney General Mike Cox take their pissing match to the editorial page of the DN today.
  
  
• Current State Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema (R-Grandville) appears ready to talk seriously about a deal on fixing the Republicans' overtime screwup. Sounds nice, but soon-to-be-ex-Senator Sikkema is the more rational one. What does Mr. Speaker of the House, Craig DeRoche have to say?
  
  
• Sen. Jason Allen's (R-Traverse City) Democratic challenger, social worker Sharon Unger comes across very well in this writeup from the Petsokey News-Review. Yes, I know Kerry only got 41% here. But today, the TC Record-Eagle has yet another story that cites Allen's involvment in the local parking deck-gate scandal. Time to sit up and take notice (as well as hope the local Republican establishment isn't successful with their campaign to get the TCRE's editor fired for having a set).
  
  
• I posted this Holland Sentinel column by former(?) Christian Reformed pastor Case Van Kempen on the news ticker the other day, but it does merit special mention. Hmm...if a CRC pastor in Holland who once got a ride in Amway Guy's Ferrari is now having doubts, well...

• Hang onto this one to add to the list of EPIC-MRA's Fast Eddie Sarpolus' goofs:

"The Democrats have an opportunity to pick up seats but no realistic chance at picking up control," Sarpolus said.


Tack this quote above your desk for inspiration.

• Yesterday, I bemoaned the fact that well-qualified HD004 candidate Maureen Stapleton was spurned by voters in favor of 23-year old Coleman Young, Jr. Well, based on this clip from Desiree Cooper, there may be some hope for the guy:

  "I ran because I was tired of seeing people in a fetal position on Lafayette," he said. "I'm tired of seeing men and women not working. I want to make sure there's funding from the state to address these problems."

  Keep up that spirit, young Mr. Young, and you will quickly prove naysayers like me wrong. I hope you do.

• Off the Record is Bill Ballenger, Kathy Hoffman, Kyle Melinn, Larry Lee and no guest.
  
  
• After a hot start, the Tigers were dealt the second in a pair of losses to the Twins yesterday. We're still 8.5 games in first.
  

Circumspice, 7/17/06

by: matt

Mon Jul 17, 2006 at 20:08:09 PM EDT

• The DFP - in their unholy alliance with WDIV-TV - has released a poll conducted by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines Iowa (!?!). It shows Amway Guy up a few points. Before we start the next round of self-flagellation, note that the poll does not yet account for the very good and well-received recent news from Google. How about all of those rosy editorials, eh?  BTW, my condolences to the DFP's Chris Christoff. It's painfully apparent the Gannett policy of injecting an artificial Greek chorus of Joe Six-Packs into every blasted story is now in full effect at the ADHD-targeted DFP. Oh well, no need for real news anymore. Just find some uninformed and ignorant people on the street and have them say what you think everyone is thinking. And you guys refer to us as "boogers"? Take a look in the mirror!
  
  
• The same aforementioned Iowa poll of the Michigan U.S. Senate race shows Sen. Debbie Stabenow with a 20-point lead over Bouchard. Even more over Butler. Groovy.
  
  
• From the subscription-only Gongwer News Service comes news that the Amway Guy campaign is now following up the infamous Hitler ad by going door-to-door in Detroit.
  
  
• The Livingston DP&A's Phil Power gets right to the heart of the so-called "Drown Government in a Bathtub" (SOS Michigan) proposal.
  
  
• A week before he openly denounced the Bathtub proposal. Now Tim Skubick is urging people to take note of the benefits won for them by organized labor. Hey, maybe we can recruit him to become a front page blogger for Michiganliberal?
  
  
• Whether it's keeping black and white children from going to school together, advocating for the death penalty, driving on the railroad tracks, or leading the effort to rip open a nearly $2 billion hole in the state budget, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson is always good for a few laughs. His latest cause célèbre? A jingoistic boycott of the old gray lady herself, The New York Times. Even the DN says get off it.
  
  

Circumspice, 6/30/06

by: matt

Fri Jun 30, 2006 at 14:53:58 PM EDT

• Remember LeCar? It was made by the French car company Renault back in the late 70'. Fast forward to today, where we have news that Renault - along with Nissan (formerly Datsun) - wants to buy a "significant minority interest" in General Motors, our state's largest private employer. Perhaps one day soon it'll be LeGM.
  
  
• The DFP's Brian Dickerson doesn't like the China strategy. We've been over this many times before here, so I'll just restate my belief that focusing on the Amway pyramid scheme is the best way to go - and that we ought not to do things that puff up Amway Guy's image as some sort of legitimate corporate executive - which he isn't. Let's be clear: DeVos is a phony. Amway is one of the world's biggest scams. It exists solely to prey upon people who are down on their luck and is no different than a shell game on a New York City subway - only everyone looks like Jim & Tammy and the odds of success are significantly worse.
  
  
• Grover Norquist's Michigan front group will turn in petitions for their so-called "Stop-Overspending" ballot proposal. Never mind that Michigan state government is smaller today than in 1974 and with over a million more people now living in-state. This sneaky little plan puts Michigan on a formula that would perpetually shrink state government (so it could be drowned in the bathtub). Kurt O'Keefe of SOS Michigan is the guest this week on WKAR-TV's Off the Record. Watch it here.
  
  
• Following the lead of the Traverse City Record-Eagle, the Petoskey News-Review goes in-depth on State Sen. and prospective MINORITY leader Jason Allen's (R-Traverse City) cozy relationship with corporate contributors.
  
  
• Not only are the Canadians sending us their garbage, they're dumping human sewage on our shores. Rep. Gary McDowell (D-Rudyard) is on the problem. From the Soo Evening News.
  
  
• Here's an interesting "where-are-they-now" story. Remember Nanette Bowler? She was director of the state Family Independence Agency (now the Department of Human Services) in the waning days of the John Mathias Engler administration. (see comments-MF) Well, according to the GRP,  Ms. Bowler is now hawking a thing called the "Conception Cap." How does it work? (or does it work?) Read here.
  
  
• Another excellent column from the Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun's Eric Baerren - this time dealing with the flag-burning non-issue.
  
  
• Tim Skubick asks: will the Detroit Tigers' success influence the governor's race? From the LSJ.
  
  
• You probably already know from the avalanche of e-mails appearing in your inbox from candidates for the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, but it's the final day of the FEC reporting cycle. Give generously before midnight and help give our candidates something to brag about.


• Speaking of the Tigs, they are to begin their series against the Pirates tonight at 7.

Circumspice, 6/29/06

by: matt

Thu Jun 29, 2006 at 16:33:03 PM EDT

• Thanks to Governor Granholm, 200,000 low-income women will now have access to family planning services.
  
  
• Medieval State Representative John Moolenaar (R-Midland) continues his assault on science and reason. This week, Moolenaar failed to convince education committee members to join his crusade to teach creationism and deny global warming in public schools. However,  Booth's Judy Putnam suggests he may still be able to win in the full House. Read more here.
  
  
• Speaking of wacky Republican state representatives...
  Current wacky Rep. Jack Hoogendyk is rushing to the aid of former wacky Rep. Tim Walberg. Hoogendyk is upset about a new Joe Schwarz ad in the CD07 contest that deals with Walberg's support for a national sales tax and says: "A fair fight is a good fight, but to stoop to these lows, I think, is unconscionable." Hoogendyk, you will recall, is the guy who mysteriously appeared recently in his primary opponent's living room, prompting a police investigation.
  
  
• The State Senate wants single-sex schools. The House wants them, but only in Detroit. More from the DFP.
  
  
• More Michigan-based firms are doing business with the state.
  
  
• Dude! Dave Jaye now has blond hair! If you don't know who defrocked State Sen. Dave Jaye is, consider yourself blessed. The DFP's Dawson Bell has the story. Dave Jaye's website can be seen here.
  
  
• Groan...Bill Ford isn't going to build 250,000 hybrid automobiles after all.
  
  
• Meanwhile, Ford's credit rating has sunk lower into junk status. Tick, tick, tick...
  
  
• Department of Community Health Janet Olszewski rebuts criticism of the Governor's Michigan First health plan in the DN today. I like this line about Health Savings Accounts: "If you're healthy and wealthy, and have almost no health care costs, these accounts might make sense." Right-o.
  
  
• The bright lights on the OP editorial board think The Amway Guy should receive high praises for spreading the word about how terrible things are.
  
  
• A nice piece in the Livingston Daily Press & Argus about former Ambassador Joe Wilson's visit on behalf of up-and-coming (see earlier post) CD08 challenger Jim Marcinkowski (D-Lake Orion).
  
  
• Meanwhile, the LDP&A's Phil Power issues a mea culpa for supporting term limits and ruminates about a scheme that would trade a part time legislature for repeal of term limits. Much as I hate term limits, I don't care for the idea of a part-time legislature either. And if the SBT repeal, SOS Michigan, and K-16 proposals go through, we may quickly find the best alternative at that point is to start preparing for an early Constitutional Convention (this would have to be amended first). Nuke it and start over. We can deal with term limits then - along with all of the other batshit crazy stuff that's been added to our governing document over the years.
  
  
• Sen. Stabenow has a jobs plan out.
  
  
• Tigers 5, Astros 0. A clean sweep!

The same-sex schools idea moves forward, and new commercials in the race for governor. The guest is Kurt O'keefe, from the Stop Over-Spending petition drive, who will turn in those petition signatures next week.

Kurt O'Keefe is treasurer of the Stop Over-Spending petition drive. He is a bankruptcy lawyer in Detroit. The SOS drive seeks to limit the growth of the state budget by linking it to the rate of inflation and population growth. A similar plan was enacted in Colorado but later modified.

With Chris Christoff, Kathy Barks Hoffman and Bill Ballenger.

Circumspice, 6/28/06

by: matt

Wed Jun 28, 2006 at 14:53:56 PM EDT

• Outgoing Grand Valley State University president, former Engler-era state treasurer, and incoming Meijer, Inc. president Mark Murray argues in the DN that Michigan's tax burden isn't really that high and that quality government services are nessecary for Michigan to be competitive. Murray is wrong when he suggests replacing the Single Business Tax by raising our regressive sales tax. But the bulk of his column is remarkably clear-eyed and worth reading.
  
  
• Generous Motors' U.S. market share continued its slide downward in June. On the news, GM stock exeperienced its biggest one-day drop since last fall yesterday. Up in Flint (remember Roger & Me?) 4,638 GM and Delphi workers have accepted buyouts. Long term, suffice it to say this will not be helpful for the economy in greater Genesee County. But, UM-Flint Associate Finance professor Mark J. Perry echoes my prediction yesterday that the buyouts may create a brief short-term boost in spending.
  
  
• The DN tries to excuse the Michigan Supreme Court's recent and ludicrous ruling that enables people with a tiny trace of the active ingredient of marijuana in the body (even if it was from pot smoked a month ago, or inhaled unwillingly secondhand) to be carted off on DWI charges. But, to their credit, the DN says the situation is unacceptable and needs to be rectified by revising the law.
  
  
• Are people eating contaminated fish in Saginaw to keep from starving? The SN wonders.
  
  
• Over at the Metro Times, Jack Lessenberry delves into speculation that the 2004 election was stolen in Ohio. He also praises (!) Governor Granholm for vetoing the repeal of the motorcycle law.
  
  
• The right-wing Kalamazoo Gazette is against the (now-defeated) flag burning amendment!
  
  
• Ticket sales for Michael Moore's Traverse City Film Festival have been pushed back a week. Read more about the festival here. Of special interest to me is the 50th anniversary tribute to Stanley Kubrick.
  
  
• Tigers 4, Astros 0. Detroit has won their last 5 games, with a season W-L record of 53-25. One more game against Houston tonight before taking on the Pirates of Pittsburgh Friday.

Circumspice, 6/27/06

by: matt

Tue Jun 27, 2006 at 16:41:20 PM EDT

• The deadline for GM & Delphi buyouts has now passed and nearly a quarter of all of GM's approximately 64,000 Michigan employees will be leaving. From the DFP's rundown, I count 13,507 Michigan jobs lost. By itself, that's almost as many manufacturing jobs as Michigan lost during all of last year. Nevertheless, I'm curious to see if we'll at least get a short-term bump in the state economy as a result of all of that money changing hands - one would think so. If so, hopefully it will occur before November. Long term, though, losing 13,507 paychecks funded largely by cars sold in other states and countries would sure seem to be a pretty bitter pill to swallow. But hey, this is America! We don't actually have to MAKE any of the crap we use! We'll all just get jobs at Arby's or Wal-Mart while we have other countries with lax environmental and labor regs do our factory work for us. What a marvelous concept. Anway, health insurance and pensions are for sissies. Bush be praised! BTW, if you want to buy a car with your buyout check, GM now has a new 0% financing offer.
  
  
• On a party-line vote, the Republican-led state Senate has approved legislation that would keep truck drivers, salespeople and others from getting mandatory overtime pay. (See Jon's post on this below. Welcome back, Jon! We missed you!) It now goes back to the House for final approval, before heading to Governor Granholm, who "doesn't see a need for it." The whole issue arose in the first place because of some sloppy work by Republican bill-drafters when they pushed through their compromise minimum wage bill. The Governor appears to be giving herself some wiggle room - presumably so she could use the issue as a bargaining chip to achieve progress on some other issue. If that's the case, hopefully she'll be sure to get DeRoche & Sikkema to sign their names in blood and demand payment up front (not to mention something pretty good in return).
  
  
• In another sign that people in Michigan are making too much money (see item above), childhood poverty in our state continues to get worse. According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Kids Count report, child poverty in Michigan rose 29% from 2000 to 2004. It went up 6% nationally over the same period. Infant mortality is also higher than the national average. Kids Count research associate Jan Zehnder Merrell attributes the depressing statistics to cuts in programs that help families and children.
  
  
• Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman is coming to Flint again (Flint, Township, anyway). Last summer, Mehlman went to Flint to "welcome the Michigan black community to the GOP."  It was all part of a nationwide effort targeting African-American voters which culminated a month later with a really, really big "welcome to the GOP" rooftop celebration for the black communities of New Orleans and Mississippi. No word on what the capstone of this year's events will be, but African-Americans everywhere might want to stock up on provisions and buy a boat.
  
  
• In yet another sign that U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has gone over to "crazy base land"  (apologies to The Daily Show's Jon Stewart), the Arizona senator was hobnobbing it with The Amway Guy in Rochester Hills yesterday. McCain was the subject of criticism recently for delivering the commencement speech at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. This, after calling Falwell an "agent of intolerance" in the 2000 campaign.
  
  
• Sen. Stabenow has a new health care plan out. Personally, I'd like to see something bolder (especially since I know from experience that Debbie is deep in her element when she talks about health care), but I'm happy any time the Dems put the health care issue in front.


• Dick DeVos proposes to cut a tax that doesn't even exist in the first place?!? From the MDP.
  
  
• Tigers 10, Astros 4. Too bad it's interleague play and doesn't really count.

Circumspice, 6/22/06

by: matt

Thu Jun 22, 2006 at 15:33:05 PM EDT

• For the third time, the President of the United States, George W. Bush, has stood up the CEOs of the Big 3 automakers. Guess Daniel Howes wasn't kidding yesterday.
  
  
• Amway Guy stooge Adolph Mongo is ripped a new one in the DN today by none other than United States Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-Detroit). Props to the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee!
  
  
• The so-called "Stop Overspending" proposal is too wacky even for the Oakland Press!
  
  
• What the hell is U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Holland) thinking - hooking up with soon-to-be ex-Senator Rick Santorum (RRRRR-PA) and spewing utter nonsense about finding weapons of mass destruction? Even the Department of Defense, as reported by Fox News, says this is crap.
  
  
• Some civil rights groups (that is, REAL civil rights groups - not fake ones) are filing federal suit to stop the anti-affirmative action ballot proposal.
  
  
• Tip of the hat to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, which put the brakes on a proposed new Wal-Mart in Marine City. You can be sure Engler DEQ chief Russ Harding never would've have allowed that! Details from the Port Huron Times-Herald.
  
  
• Brewers 4, Tigers 3. Can't win 'em all.