We can expect to see more of the kind of letters and misinformation like the one that appeared in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus today from Jay Drick, a member of the Livingston County Republican Party's executive committee and a former Republican District Court Judge candidate, as Bush's tax cuts for the rich are set to expire.
This propaganda piece from Drick throws figures around like 100 million Americans will pay an extra $1,716 a year in taxes a year if they expire, and, of course, there is not one reference or attribution as to where these figures came from. However, a good guess would be the state or national Republic parties
He also used the Bush catch phrase the "death tax" in place of the more accurate estate tax. This is a tax that not one single family in Livingston County will be effected by. It will affect families and people like Paris Hilton and Dick "The Amway Guy" Devos, and God knows those people need all the financial breaks they can get. In fact, more than 99 percent of estates pay no estate tax at all. A better name for the tax is the inheritance tax, and an even better name is the "Paris Hilton tax cut."
These taxes will only affect the richest 1 percent of the taxpayers at a time when the gap between the rich and the non-rich is growing and the middle class is under assault and disappearing. According to the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, making the tax cuts permanent would increase the national budget deficit and thereby add to the national debt.
"The interest payments needed to service this higher level of debt would amount to about $500 billion over the next ten years. Thus, the total cost of making these tax cuts permanent, including the related interest costs, would be $3.5 trillion over the ten-year period Once the tax cuts are fully in effect, their annual cost (not including debt service) will amount to about $400 billion per year. In 2006 terms, that amount is more than 7 times what the federal government spent last year on K-12 and vocational education and almost 10 times what it spent on hospital and medical care for veterans. In today's terms, that amount also exceeds the combined 2006 budgets of the Departments of Education, Homeland Security, Veterans' Affairs, State, and Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency."
Watch for these GOP talking point inspired letters in your local newspaper today.
Vote No on Joe explains how Joe Knollenberg is using taxpayer dollars to fund his re-election campaign. Check out Blogging for Michigan's story on the Raging Grannies and Joe's very bad weekend.
Marking the 40th anniversary of the riots in Detroit, the Livingston Press & Argus asks local residents for their stories, setting off the Livingston County Democrats. The Freep's opinion page offers a stark "get over it" message while the Detroit News starts out strong but ends up with the usual anti-Detroit, anti-urban, pro-Kwame rhetoric. The Michigan Interfaith Trust Fund (nonprofit housing and development organization), meanwhile, talks about what good nonprofits in Detroit are doing to remember the riots but even better, how to work in neighborhoods to make Detroit better for everyone.
Speaking of Detroit, official talks between the automakers and unions begins today. For coverage, check out the Freep and the Detroit News. Jack Lessenbery also weighs in with an historical perspective on Walter Reuther.
Media Mouse sounds a warning siren about an upcoming White Supremacist gathering in Kalamzoo. Anyone up for a protest?
This weekend, we bid farewell to Fred Trost, longtime host of several Michigan outdoor hunting and fishing series on public television. MLive has a nice article as does Absolute Michigan.
If you haven't seen this video, I would encourage it, especially if you like science fiction about totalitarian societies. But mind you, this isn't science fiction.
I'd heard some of Blackwater before seeing this video, but the video really made it hit home.
The following is what I wrote to Stabenow, Levin, and Walberg (with a couple of tiny cosmetic/grammatical edits):
(This is excellent, I hope to see more like this from other members of our MichLib community! - promoted by LiberalLucy)
The following video blog was originally published as a viewpoint in the Kalamazoo Gazette on Tuesday July 10, 2007 under the title "End stinginess, see taxes as a patriotic duty." Anonymous hate-mail I received afterwards accused me of being a "socialist" and engaging in "class warfare" and told me to "ask John Edwards about $400 haircuts."
Hey Michigan, let's be patriotic about something other than tax cuts!
In what can only be described as a Terri Schiavo-like law that will apply to just one, single company Rep. Joe Hune, R-Hamburg Township, introduced a bill last week that will do little but earn him some brownie points with property owners opposed to overhead transmission lines being built in Livingston County.
Hune introduced House Bill 5030 last week that will requite Novi-based International Transmission Company (ITC) to bury transmission lines that stretch more than five miles in townships with populations between 10,000 and 15,000. According to the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus, ITC - which owns the transmission lines once owned by Detroit Edison - plans to put 21 miles of lines on poles nearly 100 feet tall in Milford, Brighton, Hartland, Oceola and Genoa townships, and it has won approval from the Michigan Public Service Commission (MSPC). Rep. Chris Ward, R-Brighton, who represents Brighton, Milford, Oceola and Genoa Townships did not join in co-sponsoring the bill. Why not if it is such a good bill?
The attorneys at the nonpartisan Legislative Service Bureau that drafted the bill are very professional and know that they are doing, but a bill that singles out one company hardly seems legal. The bill's title says it amends "certain installation requirements of international transmission company utility lines. There is also the question of if the Legislature even has jurisdiction over the independent MSPC, and if this violates the separation of powers because the MSPC is part of the executive branch of government.
The mission of the Michigan Public Service Commission is to grow Michigan's economy and enhance the quality of life of its communities by assuring safe and reliable energy, telecommunications, and transportation services at reasonable prices. The commission is composed of three members appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. It remains to be seen if the Legislature can overturn a decision by the MPSC. Most effective Legislators would use their influence behind the scenes to get a satisfactory solution, but this piece of narrow, showboating legislation demonstrates the apparent lack of influence. This bill seems more about campaigning for Hune's next election after he is term-limited in a year that getting anything accomplished. The bill was referred to the House Energy Technology Committee.
Critics of the transmission lines argue it will lower property values, but that's the same, familiar argument used when any new construction project is proposed that people oppose. It's a familiar argument used by the Not-In-My-Backyard (NIMBY) group, but actual cases of lowered property vales are as rare as snow in September.
Here's a pretty simple question for Rep. Chris Ward, R-Brighton, and his supporters: With no voter fraud in Michigan to speak of and an anemic voter turnout of less than 30 percent for most elections, why do we want to throw up another barrier to get people out to the polls to exercise their most basic and honored right as a citizen?
On Wednesday, the Michigan Supreme Court voted 5-2 to disenfranchise a large number of voters when it upheld a 1996 law passed by Republicans that requires voters to show photo identification before casting their ballots. The Supreme Court was acting on House Resolution 199 that was sponsored by Ward in February of 2006 and co-sponsored by just about every Republican in the House that asked the "Michigan Supreme Court to issue an opinion on the constitutionality of the provisions of 2005 PA 71 that require voters to provide photo identification in order to obtain a ballot."
Like everything else Ward, a former township clerk, touches you can bet it is solely intended to benefit the GOP and keep him and his cronies in power, and this ridiculous move does just that. Three Michigan Attorney Generals - two Democrats and one Republican - have held that this violated the Constitution. The law was struck down shortly after it was signed into law in 1995 by an opinion by former Michigan Attorney General and Eternal General Frank Kelley. Current AG Mike Cox, A Republican, held the same opinion, and Ward and then Speaker Craig DeRoche went to work to disenfranchise voters.
Generally, legislation is introduced to correct a problem, but what problems are Ward and the Republicans trying to correct? What voter fraud are they trying to correct? When was the last time you heard of voter fraud in Michigan? The answer to all of those questions is there is no problem with voter fraud in Michigan. Of course, what we do have are voter turnouts of less than 30 percent in most areas, and that's a problem we as citizens should be addressing. This aggravates that problem, but that's what Ward intended. Plus, that's 30 percent of the people who actually registered to vote, not 30 percent of the population of voting age. Why are we so willing to give up the most cherished right that thousands of soldiers, Marines, sailors and airman have died to preserve. Instead, the GOP wants to depress voter turnout even more by throwing up a roadblock to voters. Not coincidentally, it's minority and the poor who tend to vote Democratic that will be disenfranchised.
Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer had it right when he said in a written statement, "These photo identification laws are nothing more than a poll tax and are part of an ongoing strategy by Michigan Republicans to disenfranchise minority and older voters. There is no problem with voter fraud or voter misrepresentation in Michigan which could justify this disenfranchisement of voters."
We can expect to see even more voter intimidation by Republicans at the polls in urban areas and polling places with predominately minority population when and if this is implemented.
I'm no attorney, but this looks like a clear violation of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that was adopted in 1868 to protect the rights of freed slaves in the south that says, "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States."
This also raises the question that was brought out in an Aug. 2, 2006 editorial in the Detroit Free Press that asked what this does to the power of the AG's office. Some eight years ago, "Republicans in the Legislature tried to enact a law erasing much of the authority of the state attorney general, at the time a Democrat named Jennifer Granholm. The effort died, and deservedly so, amid a political mini-tempest over taking power away from the elected lawyer of the people."
Does this decision throw out the long-held legal principle that an attorney general's opinion has the effect of law unless challenged and overturned in court?
"Such is the fate, evidently, of attorneys general who dare to issue opinions that certain legislators don't like. Power plays such as this actually underscore the need to retain the Attorney General's Office as an independent arbiter for state and local governments. Actually, attorney general's opinions often issued on an advisory basis and sometimes suggesting a legal course to follow, keep a lot of things from becoming costly legal battles for the state or the many local governments that make inquiries. And when the opinions have been challenged in court, they have been upheld more than 90 percent of the time, which underscores the way the office, at least on opinions, hews to the law rather than to politics.
The people of Michigan elect an attorney general statewide to serve as their chief law enforcement officer, not as a lackey to the Legislature. The framers of the current state Constitution, which was enacted in 1963, even referred to the attorney general as the "watchdog" of state government, on behalf of taxpayers, consumers and public officials. "
This week's quote of the week from the queen of hate is just a couple of run-of-the-mill examples of how Coulter is going to earn her $30,000 and meet Cleary University's mission of raising the bar of public discourse in the community.
The real news is how U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers tried to reward CU for their rightwing loyalty to the tune of $2.15 million in pork and earmarks. I guess it was hoped with pork like that those $30,000 payouts to right-wingers would not be a problem. But, without further ado, here is a few examples of the gems AC will give the Republican Party faithful at Cleary University's Economic Club Speakers Luncheon Series in Howell this fall.
"Women like Pamela Harriman and Patricia Duff are basically Anna Nicole Smith from the waist down. Let's just call it for what it is. They're whores."---Salon.com 11/16/00
"Clinton is in love with the erect penis."---This Evening with Judith Regan, Fox News Channel 2/6/00
The Livingston County Republican Party is making a pitch for more free front-page publicity by collecting donated items to "ship to troops originally from Livingston County" in a token show of supporting the troops. It's a great gesture, but if you really want to show your support for the troops get them out of the middle of a deadly civil war where whet they are targets and are fighting and dying for a success that cannot even be defined.
You will recall last December that the majority party in the county anted up a whopping $500 for Toys-For-Tots from the $42 million it spent trying to buy the governorship, and it earned them a front-page story from the so-called "liberal media." I'm sure that's what's behind this effort.
A better way to show support for the troops is to support the "Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Act" that will be debated tonight in the U.S. Senate. The bill has already been approved by the House, and it requires President Bush to begin troop withdrawal within 120 days, with most coming home by April 2008.
The Republicans have threatened to filibuster it to block a vote, but Senate Majority Henry Senator Reid is calling their bluff and forcing them to stay in session all night long in an old fashioned filibuster. To support the first real filibuster and all-night session in more than two years, peace supporters we'll be holding a citizen's response-a counter- filibuster-all over the country, including in nearby Milford. It will be held at 6 p.m. at 213 W Huron street, just a block west of Main Street, and it is hosted by Laural Tondreau.
This is a war based on handpicked evidence to mislead the American people. It has killed more than 4,000 U.S. service members and wounded, some horribly, more than 25,000 service members. No one really knows how many Iraqi civilians have died since the conflict began, but estimates put them in the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands. The United Nations estimates that 35,000 civilians were killed in Iraq during 2006 alone. According to the Center for American Progress, the Middle East is facing its largest refugee crisis in a generation. More than 2 million Iraqis have fled Iraq and another 2 million are internally displaced.
Sectarian violence and civil war between Sunnis and Shi'a is rising. Shi'a militias and death squads are fighting Sunni extremists. The fighting has led to ethnic cleansing, the displacement of civilians on both sides, and infiltration of government security forces. Sectarian violence has remained constant despite the "surge."
Instead of addressing this and bring the troops home, supporting them when they actually come home or even changing the failed polices that have caused this mess, we get public relations efforts from the Republicans. There is a backdoor draft with troops being involuntary extended, individuals being involuntarily recalled to active duty and multiple tours, but still all we get from the GOP is a PR effort.
I'm not really sure what the troops need. After the efforts of anti-war protestors brought to light the fact troops were sent to war without the proper equipment that oversight has been addressed, for the most part. I don't know if troops still need lip balm, baby wipes or AA batteries. This looks exactly like the list provided by Family Readiness for the 1462nd Transportation Company in Howell when it deployed some three years ago when the conflict first began. But I urge everyone to donate the requested items even if it is a PR effort by the LIVCO reopubs.
Donations can be dropped off at the GOP's booth at the Grandstand at the Fowlerville Fair - off Grand River Avenue in Handy Township just west of downtown Fowlerville -
during regular fair hours. Items requested include new or used DVDs (action or comedy), books, lip balm, baby wipes, AA batteries, gum, sports magazines, hard candy, Gatorade (powder form is best), cards or card games, facial cleansing cloths, cough drops and pump lotion. Items that cannot be shipped include bug spray and aerosol sprays. The donation and shipments to the troops are part of an increased community outreach program developed by Livingston County GOP Chairman Alan Filip. If you have any questions, call Filip at (810) 656-5099 or community outreach coordinator Debi Drick at (517) 819-1988.
On Sunday an all-too-common-occurrence took place on the lawn of the historic Livingston County Courthouse with the addition of two more names from among the growing list of Livingston County soldiers and Marines killed in Iraq etched onto the Veterans Memorial that honors those killed in battle from World War I to the present.
In a small ceremony Sunday afternoon the names of Army Spc. Andrew Daul of Brighton Township and Army Pfc. Wilson A. Algrim of Marion Township were added to the memorial. Both men were killed late last year at age 21. Daul was killed on Dec. 19 after an IED exploded near his tank. Just four days later on Dec. 23 Algrim was one of three Michigan soldiers who were killed when an IED exploded near their vehicle during combat operations in Iraq. More than 4,000 service members have been killed in action since combat operations began in 2003, and on Friday the 150th Michigan solider was killed when Army Sgt. Allen A. Greka, 29, of Alpena, was killed.
Any death is too much to pay in this misguided civil war/occupation that has done nothing but made this country less secure, but it seems Livingston County has paid far too high a price with the deaths of nine servicemen in Iraq so far who have ties to the county.
In the entire 16 years shots were fired in anger in the Vietnam conflict only seven servicemen with Livingston County ties died in that conflict. Combat casualties began in 1959 when two U.S. military advisors were killed in an ambush and concluded with two servicemen who were killed in 1975 when their helicopter crashed during the evacuation of Saigon.
This news comes less than a week after the Iraq progress report was released that said there has not been satisfactory progress in Iraq on 10 of the 18 benchmarks set by Congress, and a recent military intelligence report concluded that al Qaeda - the people actually responsible for the 9/11 attacks - has largely restored itself to pre- 9/11 strength. Last week also saw the return of sanity to the U.S. House of Representatives when it voted 223 to 201 to bring troops home from Iraq by April of next year.
With more than 4,000 U.S. service members dead, countless thousands of civilian Iraqi deaths and a monetary cost of $10 billion a month it makers you wonder what more will it take for people like U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers to see the tragic mistake the occupation is.
The turnout at the ceremony was not as large as it should have been, but there was almost no publicity on it at all. Just a three-paragraph brief on it ran in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus that only in the print edition and only the day of the event. No other media outlets ran it that I am aware of. I certainly hope it was because the family did not want a lot of publicity because both Daul and Algrim and their families deserved recognition for their sacrifice.
The Livingston County Honor Roll
Iraq
Pfc. Jason Meyer, 23, 4/17/2003
Staff Sgt. Paul J. Johnson, 29, 10/20/2003
Staff Sgt. Thomas Christensen, 42, 12/25/2003
Lance Cpl. Michael W. Hanks, 22, 11/17/2004
Lance Cpl. Andrew Kilpela, 22, 6/10/2005
Marine Maj. Gerald M. Bloomfield, 38, 11/2/2005.
Staff Sgt. Gregory McCoy, 26, 11/9/2006
Army Spc. Andrew P. Daul, 21, 12/19/2006
Army Spc. Wilson Algrim, 21, 12/23/2006
Vietnam
Pfc. Maurice J. Biehn, 20, 10/9/1967
Army Spc. William F. Diggs, 22, 9/15/1969
Pfc. John M. Donohue, 18, 9/16/1968
Sgt. William M. Light, 24, 4/5/1969
Pfc. James M. Loso, 23, 6/10/1967
Army Spc. Brent B. Nauss, 21, 9/2/1969
Staff Sgt. Robert V. Simons, 32, 8/15/1968
The one industry that paid little tax under the old Single Business Tax (SBT) is threatening to leave the state now that the new Michigan Business Tax (MBT) is finally making them pay their fair share.
William F. Woodbury, assistant vice president and associate general counsel of Lansing-based Auto-Owners Insurance Co., had a column in the Lansing State Journal last week complaining that "this tax increase makes it more expensive to do business in Michigan and it will have a direct impact on consumers, who ultimately will pay the price for the decisions made in Lansing." Meaning: we are going to raise your premiums so we can still rake in record profits.
According to a story in the Detroit News last month, a recent study by Missouri's insurance commissioner from 1993-98 concludes that Michigan's auto insurance companies have been piling up huge record profits and excessive surplus funds.
AAA of Michigan was used as a focal point in the study, because most of its business is done within the state. AAA's profit more than doubled to $104.2 million last year from $50.9 million in 2002. AAA's surplus -- money set aside to pay for future claims payments -- swelled by 68 percent during that period, increasing to $1.53 billion from $915 million.
Apparently doubling its profits is not enough, and Woodbury plays his trump card: threatening to go where the tax is lower and move out of Michigan.
Make no mistake; other states are lining up to handpick Michigan's most profitable companies. Their aim is clear: They want the jobs and tax revenues that go with growing companies. Many states, like our neighbor Indiana, are looking at lowering taxes on insurance companies to lure them across the border. The MBT makes it easier for them to do that.
I say good luck with that. According to the Lansing Chamber of Commerce, insurance companies have not been paying their fair tax share for years.
Insurance companies in Michigan have long enjoyed preferential tax treatment - Michigan's tax on insurers is the fourth lowest in the country. This legislation will create a 2 percent premiums tax that will make our tax system similar to other states and bring insurance taxation in line with the national average.
Not only that, but Michigan insurance companies have been allowed to legally discriminate against Detroit drivers and other urban drivers for years in the form of Redlining. Redlining is the practice where an insurance company refuses to insure an auto or home based solely on the geographic area where the person lives or provides an inferior product based on geography or at a higher price. Sen. Martha Scott, D-Highland Park, has been fighting the practice of charging Detroit drivers as much as 365 percent more than people in other Michigan urban areas.
It's hard to feel sorry for insurance companies. I have been paying auto insurance premiums for some 30 years and have never had a claim. That adds up to a lot of cash in their pocket. Michigan's no-fault insurance law even gives them an unfair advantage, in my opinion. In what business do you have a law that requires you buy their product, and we have law enforcement ensuring you do buy it? If you don't buy it you face a heavy fine. I think there should be a law that says you have to subscribe to a newspaper to insure you know what's going on in the world, or you should buy a gym or swimming pool membership to insure you are healthy.
It's time other businesses and companies in Michigan stopped subsidizing insurance companies, and they are now required to pay their fair share.
House Republicans are beginning to show their frustration over being in the minority for a scant six months. A recent AP story said "A frustrated group of state House Republicans" plan to tour the state and host a series of public task force meetings.
Are they kidding? The only thing they are frustrated over is losing control of the House in November after ruling it with an iron fist for a decade. Instead of addressing the projected $1.8 million budget deficit they took a two-week vacation this month. Apparently, they spent the vacation plotting for political gain instead of addressing the state's problems. This has to be the PR move of PR moves from a party that's all show and no substance.
House Republicans will form panels to travel the state and talk about government restructuring, small business development, tourism, child protection and border security issues including immigration. The group's public task force meetings will begin this month.
Another obvious question is what do Republicans know about child protection, and since when is immigration a state issue? Another question is will these alleged town hall meetings follow the tradition of Bush Republicans town hall meetings where the audience is carefully screened, and if anyone exhibits any tendency of sanity and non-support of Republicans they will be rudely escorted out? Will they be put in "free speech zones" where they can't bother anyone? Only time will tell.
This has to be the most absurd quote of the entire short article.
"Lansing is dysfunctional," House Republican Leader Craig DeRoche said in a statement. DeRoche has been critical of the Democratic-run House for inaction. Democrats gained control in the House after last November's elections.
Let's talk about that alleged inaction. They balanced the current budget that had a deficit of $800 million, adopted the Single Business Tax (SBT) that Republicans irresponsibly ended early in a move to look good on the campaign trail, ended immunity for drug companies if their drugs kill or maim the people who take them, slowed down the glut of Canadian and out-of-state trash by banning landfills from expanding until 2011 and raised the absurdly low tipping fees and adopted some lobbying and campaign finance reform.
You also need to remember how the Republicans oppressively ruled the House when they controlled it just six months ago. They were so heavy-handed and so soured the relations between the two parties that they refused Democrats even the commons courtesy of giving Democrats a daily agenda of House actions, they completely shut out Democrats from the process, especially ones in seats they targeted.
Democrats gave the minority a voice again by bringing back actual debate on the House floor, and the Speaker has given both sides of the aisle the same allotment of money to each member to maintain their offices and provide office staff. If this crap from the Republicans keeps up the Democrats might as well treat the Republicans like the Democrats were treated when they were in the minority if they are going to be accused of it.
There's no schedule - at least publicly - of where and when these "town hall" meetings will be held, but by guessing what these campaign events are really about, I'll bet they will be held only in House districts where the Republicans have targeted that seat, proving this is just a PR, campaign appearance just like Bush's staged town hall meetings at taxpayer expense. Anyone want to take that bet?
An editorial on the need for lobbying reform in Lansing that ran in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus speaks more for the problem with newspaper consolidation than it does for the need for checks on lobbying.
The editorial was picked up from the Lansing State Journal, which is owned by the same company that owns the P & A. The editorial laments the need for lobbying reform and takes some easy shots at the Legislature, but it does not even mention why there has been no action addressing lobbying reform or any meaningful ethics measures. It ignored the fact that the Republicans have controlled both the state House and Senate for more than a decade, and up until five years ago the GOP also had a veto-proof edge with a Republican governor as well. Why no reform then?
The editorial does hint at the real problem with any ethics reform, but it never comes out and says what the reason is.
In late March, Sen. John Pappageorge, R-Troy, filed Senate Bill 380, which would prohibit public officials from accepting out-of-state travel paid for by lobbyists. The bill's gone nowhere.
Earlier in March, the House actually passed an ethics measure, House Bill 4313. This bill would force ex-elected officials to wait one year before lobbying state government. It passed the House 99-6 and moved to the Senate, where it has vanished.
What's the one thing that's common to both of those bills? The answer is the lack of action in the Republican-controlled, obstructionist Senate. Vanished is a good word, but ignore is a better word. Even a fellow Republican can't get a bill through that addresses lobbying. HB 4313 was introduced by Rep. Marc Corriveau, D-Northville, and passed with bipartisan support, and it has sat in the Senate since March 1 with no action. It's also kind of ironic that the editorial mentions who introduced the Senate bill that the only action it has seen is being filed with the Senate bill clerk, but it neglects to mention the sponsor of a bill that has actually been approved.
There was actually a bill overwhelmingly approved in the last session by a vote of 104-2 on Sept. 13 in the House that would prohibit "a public officer from accepting a gift or reimbursement of out-of-state travel expenses from a person required to be registered as a lobbyist agent." What do you think happened to that bill? You guessed it; it went where all ethics bills go to die, in the GOP-controlled Senate.
Livingston County voters will recall that this was part of an ethics and so-called "election campaign finance reform" package of five bills being pushed by Rep. Chris Ward, R-Brighton, then the House Majority Floor Leader. All but the bills passed, and the only one that received any opposition was the one sponsored by Ward. All five bills were then sent on to the Senate where they - you guessed it - died in the Senate. In fact, Ward's bill only passed by five votes because it really benefits his party. Rich Robinson, Director of the non-partisan Michigan Campaign Finance Network, said in published reports in June of last year that the bill favors Republicans, but the Senate still let it die.
Obviously, the budget has taken up the lion's share of the House's time, but they kept some important campaign promises in the short six months they have been in control by replacing the Single Business Tax (SBT), ended immunity for drug companies if their drugs kill or maim the people who take them and slowed down the glut of Canadian and out-of-state trash by banning landfills from expanding until 2011 and raising the absurdly low tipping fees. They accomplished this while bringing actual debate back to the House floor that had been absent for many years and addressing perhaps the worst structural budget deficit in the state's history.
The House still managed to address some ethics issues. Majority Floor Leader Steve Tobocman, D-Detroit, introduced House Bill 4285 that will require "candidates for state office or judge, state department heads and current office holders to file personal financial disclosure statements that include the names of all family members; his or her employer; the source and amount of earned income and other or her spouse; a list of assets including real and personal property, stocks, bonds; a record of transactions involving the previous items; a list of liabilities over $10,000 of the candidate or a family member; any business ownership; any trustee, director, etc. positions held by the individual in a business, union, non-profit, educational or other institution; any future employment agreement, including leave-of-absence agreements; any honoraria received by the office holder or spouse; and more." That also received bipartisan support, winning approval 89-19 on March 15. It is now in the Senate where no action has been taken, and something tells me it will receive none in the future.
The obvious question that needs to be asked is why take up any ethics bills with the pressing budget issues when you know it will just be ignored by Mike Bishop and his cronies in the Senate? That's the question that should have been asked and answered by the editorial, as well as why "lobbying restrictions go nowhere at the Capitol."
This is the 16th straight week of the Ann Coulter quote of the week, and we never seem to run out of quotes from the blond hatemonger sticking her foot her mouth, saying something racist and offensive or just illustrating how worthless she is.
The good news is we only have 11 more to go before queen of hate makes her appearance at Cleary University's Economic Club Speakers Luncheon Series in Howell. So just 11 more weeks before Cleary antes up $30,000 for Coulter to spew her venom for 90 minutes. This week focuses on her great skills as a political pundit because, after all, that's why Cleary is throwing money at her for, right?
Actually, that can't be it because as the quote shows, she has no idea what she's talking about. To make up for that, she says the most hateful, outrageous things she can, and people like Cleary and the Livingston County Republican Party enable her and make her richer.
"My track record is pretty good on predictions."---Rivera Live 12/8/98
"I think [Whitewater]'s going to prevent the First Lady from running for Senate."---Rivera Live 3/12/99
"You want to be careful not to become just a blowhard."---Washington Post 10/16/98
Spartanburg County Republican Committee Chair Rick Beltram pulled a Saul Anuzis when he tried to exclude Republican Presidential Candidate Ron Paul from all party functions in the South Carolina county, and, like Anuzis, Beltram was forced last week to extend a personal invitation to the conservative candidate.
What was Paul's crime that he was excluded from the small, narrow tent known as the Republic Party? He dared to question the government, its foreign policy and its failed policies in the deadly occupation and civil war in Iraq. Funny, I always thought that's what the Founding Fathers based the Constitution and government on.
According to the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, Congressman Paul said at the GOP debate in Columbia this year that American intervention in foreign affairs as far back as 1953 was, in part, a catalyst for the 9/11 attacks. Again, it's funny that any criticism of the government translates to hating and blaming America for Republicans. Saying it was a reason or contributed to it in no way means it was correct, it was the proper response or the innocent people who died in the attack asked for it. Beltram, apparently, decided to boycott Paul from any future county party events. "He can stay home," Beltram told the Herald-Journal, who for months held that this county would welcome all Republican candidates. "Well, the door's closed for him."
According to Ron Paul's campaign blog, Paul supporters flooded Beltram's phone lines (864-542-1992) and email inbox (rick.beltram@intedge.com) with protests, and that led Beltram to extend a personal invitation with a very condescending and snotty note. The note invited him to a question and answer forum and a meet and greet before Aug. 15 "to convince us that have incorrect information about Dr. Paul's political platform." I have no idea why Paul has to convince or prove anything to Beltram. It seems to me Paul has plenty of supporters without Beltram's help, and isn't the job of any party chair at any level during a primary simply to allow members the most access to candidates and get their views out to as many party members as possible so the best candidate can be chosen by the party members?
Following the same debate in May, Anuzis said he would circulate a petition among Republican National Committee members to ban Paul from more debates. However, the response was so overwhelming negative against Anuzis trying to censor Paul that it shut down his web site and email. Published reports said "party outcry was so great that it took a visit to Detroit by RNC chairman Mike Duncan to convince Michigan Republicans that Anuzis was still cut out to be their leader." It also led Anuzis to issue a contrite but insincere letter on his unblog
The Michigan Senate is apparently not waiting around for a Freedom of Information request from the Lansing State Journal for salary information on Senate employees and has established a web site with that information, according to an unnamed source in the Senate.
Last month the LSJ posted the public information on 53,000 non-exempt public employees that includes name, title, department, county of the workplace and salary, and it caused an outcry from state employees calling it a callous invasion of privacy. The timing, just days after Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop falsely claimed state employees were overpaid and demanded the governor rescind a previously negotiated pay raise, so angered state employees that some are talking about a misguided boycott of the LSJ.
Last week the House Business Office that maintains salary for all Legislative staff members, as well as partisan central staff, received a FOIA request from the LSJ requesting salary information. The Senate has not yet received a FOIA request, so it decided to take a proactive approach and publish the salary information but omit individual names.
The web site lists salary by job title - and it differs from Senate office to Senate office - and then by where the person works. The web page also states that Senate employees are paid a fair and competitive wage for the work they perform. Unionized state employees gave up $300 million in concessions in the last contract.
However, sources said although the Senate has not officially received a FOIA request, the web site does not prelude them from receiving one, supply salary information with the individual's name and having the LSJ - or any newspaper or blog - publish the public information.
Michigan Legislators will be even harder to find until July 17 after the House officially canceled session that was to begin Tuesday of next week.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm said late last month that lawmakers should not go on their two-week vacation that was to last until July 17 without resolving big pieces of state government's budget that starts Oct. 1. There was speculation that the governor could try to call a special session of the Legislature if legislators left without addressing a potential $1.6 billion shortfall. Although the budget year does not start until Oct. 1, there are only some 11 session days left this year, and Michigan public schools have already started their fiscal years.
As a compromise, the Legislature agreed to only a one-week break, but this latest news breaks that promise. There was no reason given for canceling next weeks sessions, but apparently Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop's promise to meet over the break to discuss the budget situation was just more lip service and there was no budget or tax deal to vote on. Bishop's only motivation seems to make the Governor look bad in his quest for the seat that will be open in three years.
I have not heard any word from the Senate on if they plan to cancel next week's sessions, and they had next week marked as tentative session days. However, there did not appear to be any serious chance the Republican-controlled Senate would actually meet. Just before the break the Senate passed Senate Resolution 81 that made sure they would not have to come back before the two weeks were over.
According to the Associated Press, SR 81 changed a mechanism known as a call of the Senate, in which legislative leaders can lock lawmakers in the chamber and dispatch state troopers to arrest absent legislators.
Majority Republicans worried that Democratic senators might show up for session during the break and try to order them into session. So they enacted a change Wednesday - along a 20-17 party-line vote - requiring that a majority of all elected senators vote to issue a call of the Senate. Previously, only a majority of senators voting had to support such a move, regardless of whether a quorum of senators was present. The change effectively ensures Democrats will not have enough votes to force their GOP colleagues into session. Senate Minority Leader Mark Schauer, a Democrat from Battle Creek, criticized the rule change as penalizing Democrats that are "here to do the business of this body, such as balancing the state budget." Schauer says lawmakers should finish work on the budget - including raising taxes - by Saturday.
Perhaps Michigan Liberal will now extend the deadline for its "Michigan Legislature Summer Break Photo Contest." The contest offers a $50 prize to the best photo of your local obstructionist legislator enjoying his or her vacation instead of working in Lansing to solve our state's budget crisis. The original deadline was 5 p.m. July 10, but finding them has been harder than trying to find a Republican that cares about working people. Perhaps the deadline will be extended now.
The salaries of legislative staff members in the Michigan House of Representatives will soon be added to the searchable list of public employee salaries maintained by the Lansing State Journal.
A memo from the House Business Office informing the member offices, as well as partisan central staff, went to the member offices Friday informing them that it had received a Freedom of Information Request from the LSJ requesting the public record information. The Secretary of the Senate maintains the salary of those staffers in the Senate, but I do not have a source there. However, I am assuming the same thing happened there.
The 110 Members in the House are allowed two full-time employees, and their salaries are paid out of their annul office allotment, which is set by the Speaker of the House. The Business Office sets the salaries at a minimum of $20,000 annually and a maximum of $60,000.
Last month the LSJ posted the public information on 53,000 non-exempt public employees that includes name, title, department, county of the workplace and salary.
There was an immediate backlash, and according to the Lansing City Pulse there is a misguided boycott afoot against the LSJ.
The Coalition of State Employee Unions told state employees the unions were coordinating efforts to address the problem, pledging to pursue legal action and urging members to reconsider their Journal subscriptions.
This is perhaps the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. The newspaper is fulfilling one of its most important and cherished public functions: serving as a public watchdog. I have nothing but respect for public employees, and I was once one and plan to be one again. However, when your salary is paid by pubic taxpayer dollars you give up a bit of privacy.
I really don't know a whole lot of people who enter public service with the top goal of making a lot of money. Certainly, decent pay is one important consideration, but all most people really want is a decent, living wage. Public employees are not overpaid, and they are hard-working, dedicate professionals.
I, and many other people, question the timing of this, and my only question is why it took so long to do it. In a story in the LSJ talking about the anger of public employees, Executive Editor Mickey Hirten said, "he acknowledged that this is upsetting to workers, especially since this sort of public service journalism hasn't been done in mid-Michigan." He then went on to cite examples of other newspapers that publish public salaries like The Asbury Park Press in New Jersey and The Boston Herald. The former statement is simply not true.
For the past 20 years the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus in Howell in mid-Michigan has annually published a special section called the "Public Payroll" listing the name, title and salary of every person in the county, that they are aware of, that receives compensation from tax dollars: from U.S. Rep Mike Rogers to the constable in little Conway Township.
The P& A is owned by the same company as the LSJ, Gannett, so it seems a little odd that Hirten would overlook that example. The section is popular, at least with readers. That example kind of blunts some of the outrage and anger over the LSJ publication.
"Roberto Mosqueda, president of the Michigan State Employees Association, said the newspaper went too far when it published the county in which the state employee worked. None of the other eight newspapers publish this information and only Iowa includes it on its official salary database. That basic form of identification could put a conservation officer or any other regulatory agent in jeopardy of retaliatory attack from an angered member of the public, he argued. Corrections officers, for example, could be harassed."
Obviously, in the example of the P & A the county where they are employed is identified, and no one has ever suffered an attack from an angry citizen or a has a public employee in hiding has ever been tracked down by an angry spouse. There have been, however, some angry citizens upset over the amount of money some public school administrators are making, and that's the entire point of this.
I want to see the information for all people paid with tax dollars, and there should be no exception to FOIA.
Conservative Republicans, as well as all Michigan taxpayers, lost a truly class guy with the passing of former Livingston County Commissioner David Hamilton, 66, who passed away on July 1.
Dave was a Commissioner for 16 years, but the conservative Republican was perhaps more well known for his role as the chair of the Livingston County Taxpayers Association. Now, I have to point out that I never met any other members of this organization, but Dave took his role as the watchdog of the public funds very, very seriously.
I know my blog is dedicated to pointing out the faults, misinformation and hypocrisy of the Republic Party, and it can get pretty insulting and rough. But often when you personally get to know someone from the other side, it gives you a better perspective. I rarely agreed with Dave on his pet issues - which was any tax increase, and I still do not understand how anyone can say they love their country but do not want to pay their fair share to support it. But, I respected Dave's role as a watchdog, and I never, ever doubted his sincerity or his love of country and community.
I first met David Hamilton in May of 2000 when I was a reporter for the daily newspaper in the county, and I had the county beat. All nine members of the board were Republicans, and often the votes were 8-1 with Dave casting the lone no vote.
It was nice to have some there just to say, "hey, wait a minute; let's take another look at this." It has been said that David Hamilton never met a tax increase he supported. I don't know if that's true, but I can't recall him ever supporting one. That position at times brought him into conflict with a lot of people, but I never met anybody who did not respect him, although it may have been grudging respect.
I appreciated him because, as any reporter will tell you, it's hard to get a meeting story written when there's no discussion on an issue and no one to quote. He would also approach me after the meeting to explain why he voted against the majority, and more often than not he provided documentation to support his position.
Even after he left the board I could always call him at home, and he would patiently explain a complex tax issue to me. Numbers tend to make my head swim, so I appreciated the patience.
The last time I saw him was around this time last year when he showed up at a Hamburg Township Board meeting to voice his disapproval of a request by Livingston County to increase the surcharge on telephones to fund 911 Central Dispatch. His former colleague on the Board of Commissioners was there to take the opposite position, but it was a very civil debate.
The Livingston County Daily Press & Argus did a wonderful editorial memorializing him, but I do have to disagree with at least one point in the editorial.
"He was particularly confounded as to why Livingston County taxing units - such as cities, townships and the county - needed to increase tax rates at a time when their tax base was increasing at a record rate."
That ignores the effects of proposal A, the Headlee amendment of 1978 and constant cuts to local revenue sharing. The Headlee amendment included a provision that a community's total tax base should not increase faster than the inflation rate. In other words, Headlee kept the amount of money a local municipality collected from property taxes about the same every despite population growth by rolling back or reducing the millage rate each year, so local governments are serving more people with less money.
But that does not dampen or lessen the public service of a man like David Hamilton. I agree with the P & A: Livingston County taxpayers - and reporters - lost a good friend.
A gathering in David Hamilton's honor will take place from 1-5 p.m. Sunday at Borek Jennings Funeral Home, Hamburg Chapel, 7425 E. M-36 in Hamburg Township. The Memorial Service will be held on Monday, July 9 at 3:00 P.M. at the Shalom Lutheran Church with Pastor Kurt Hutchens officiating, with a reception at the church to follow. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the family and envelopes will be available at Borek Jennings Funeral Home, Hamburg Chapel.
In addition to celebrating the 231st birthday of the United States of America with cook-outs, fireworks, parades and other things today, I suggest something that really celebrates what this country stands for and do something to actually strengthen those freedoms we take for granted: join the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan.
I could not agree more with the ACLU's Independence Day message, and they ring much more true that empty rhetoric and waving a piece of cloth made in the largest Communist country in the world with slave wages: "True American patriotism is more than the love of one's country; it is the abiding respect for our country's values of freedom, fairness and equality. It is the willingness to stand up to a government that abuses its power and treats the Constitution as if it were a meaningless scrap of paper. Freedom is only as strong as the people who are willing to stand up for it. Will you stand up?"
Those values of freedom, fairness and equality are not just liberal or conservative values, they are American values that made men and women risk everything for 231 years ago. The mission of the ACLU of Michigan - and in general - is to enforce the Bill of Rights and advance its principles.
I am a member of the ACLU of Michigan, and although I don't always agree with everything they do - who agrees with everything all of the time - I believe in and respect what they do and stand for. If the government tried to stop a racist hatemonger like Ann Coulter from speaking the ACLU would be the first to defend her. They even defended Rush Blowhard in his doctor shopping case for prescription drugs.
The ACLU stands up for freedom 365 days a year, not just on July 4. From fighting to restore due process, stopping warrant less wiretapping, ending profiling based on race or ethnicity and much more, the ACLU has been a force for democracy since 1920.
The ACLU was founded by Roger Baldwin, Crystal Eastman, Albert DeSilver and others in 1920. It's nonprofit and nonpartisan and it has grown from a roomful of civil liberties activists to an organization of more than 500,000 members and supporters. The ACLU handles nearly 6,000 court cases annually from offices in almost every state.
If you were like me this weekend, the few hours you spent indoors away from the wonderful weather we are enjoying you could not have failed to see TV news reports of the attack on Glasgow's airport terminal on Saturday between innings of the Tigers game.
The thing that stuck me immediately when I tuned into MSNBC, CNN, CNBC and even Faux "News" was, where was that little colorful terror alert graph we saw constantly in 2003 and 2004 leading up to the 2004 Presidential Election? I don't think I have seen it since Bush was re-elected in his "if you don't vote for me the terrorists will kill you" campaign theme.
You recall that the Homeland Security Advisory System in the Department of Homeland Security was created by Presidential Directive six months after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, to provide a "comprehensive and effective means to disseminate information regarding the risk of terrorist acts to Federal, State, and local authorities and to the American people."
The pretty little color-coded system has five colors as follows:
Severe (red): severe risk
High (orange): high risk
Elevated (yellow): significant risk
Guarded (blue): general risk
Low (green): low risk
The little graph was seen on all the cable news networks as part of their rolling scrawl at the bottom of the screen, especially dug the campaign.
With each perceived threat, former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge ratcheted-up the Homeland Security Advisory System in an attempt to sustain public anxiety and fear even if subsequent information proved the threat was over-hyped. Do you remember the near-panic response caused by the Duct Tape & Plastic Sheeting Advisory in 2003? We had Dick Cheney out there making the ridiculous claim that if a Democrat was elected "we would be hit." The alert system has never been lowered to the bottom two colors, blue and green.
The perceived "war on terror" was the centerpiece of Bush's campaign. But the real meat of the campaign was fear-mongering with the same, constant drum-beat statement rolled out at every campaign stop where only Bush supporters were allowed in: "We are fighting the terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan and in other parts of the world so we do not have to fight them in the streets of our own cities."
The fear mongering really went into high gear from Memorial Day 2004 through July 4, and Homeland Security cranked out a series of terror alerts. Shortly after that, they warned us that Al Qaeda could disrupt the November elections.
Apparently, Bush dos not need that graph anymore. However, the system is still in place, but Bush does not need to scare us as much anymore. It appears the little graph-that-could will enter nostalgic status to take its place among pet rocks, 8-track tapes and lava lamps.
Based on the attack in Scotland, airports in the U.S. are orange, and the current national threat level is yellow, where it has been for a long time.
