By KIMBERLY HEFLING, Associated Press Writer Kimberly Hefling, Associated Press Writer – 39 mins ago
WASHINGTON – Outside the Veterans Affairs Department, severely wounded veterans have faced financial hardship waiting for their first disability payment. Inside, money has been flowing in the form of $24 million in bonuses.
In scathing reports this week, the VA's inspector general said thousands of technology office employees at the VA received the bonuses over a two-year period, some under questionable circumstances. It also detailed abuses ranging from nepotism to an inappropriate relationship between two VA employees.
The inspector general accused one recently retired VA official of acting "as if she was given a blank checkbook" as awards and bonuses were distributed to employees of the Office of Information and Technology in 2007 and 2008. In some cases the justification for the bonuses was inadequate or questionable, the IG said..... Click here for more.
Among the most powerful psephological tools available to political strategists and commentators is the well-known Upchuck Factor. Never heard of it? I'm surprised.
The Upchuck Factor is, quite simply, the length of time it takes the US voter to decide that s/he's "had enough" of the Democrats. And it looks like this year it is hitting a new record.
You may have been taught in school, for instance, that the American people loved Franklin Delano Roosevelt so much that they would have gone on voting for him forever. In fact the American people demonstrated in the mid-term election of 1938 that they were ready to upchuck him and all his works. The 1938 elections featured an 81-seat gain in the House of Representatives for the Republicans. Figure that FDR's Upchuck Factor was 6..... Click here to read more.
In what can only be described as Soviet-style intimidation of the free market, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Ca), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, along with Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich), Chairman of House Energy and Commerce investigations and oversight subcommittee, have sent letters to 52 of nation's largest health insurance companies demanding to see these companies detailed financial records.
Is this just good congressional oversight or something more sinister? FOXNews reports:
Nick Choate, a spokesman for Stupak, said 52 letters were sent late Monday to the nation's largest health insurers, those with $2 billion or more in annual premiums. He said letters were not sent to other industry groups, some of which have been airing television advertising in support of Obama's call for legislation. (Emphasis added)
These Stalinist punitive measures should be aggressively opposed by these 52 companies and the GOP needs to publicly castigate the Democrats for these Chicago-style gangster tactics. I cannot imagine anything more intimidating to a businessman than the fear of congressional oversight into your private enterprise if you decide to oppose invasive legislation..... Click here to read more.
In an August interview with the Detroit News, Debbie Stabenow said she sees the actions of Global Warming in storms and said, "I can feel it in flying."
This is good news, we can get rid of all the extraneous scientific data, instruments, and PhD's- all we need is Debbie flying twice a week. (At our expense)
We are very lucky to have this mental giant representing Michigan until 2014!
She also commented that weather volatility is why we have more hurricanes- oblivious to the FACT we are in a 30 year low on the Accumulated Cyclone Energy index (ACE), and researchers at Florida State University see a tremendous drop in cyclone energy for the globe as a whole. The Pacific is cooling under the effect of La Nina . Even Al Gore has dropped the hurricane slide from his prize winning snake oil pitch.
Senator Stabenow was recently appointed to the Senate Energy Committee — and made clear that fighting the climate crisis is her top priority.
The Detroit News article included the following paragraph:
Michigan just experienced its coldest July on record; global temperatures haven't risen in more than a decade; Great Lakes water levels have resumed their 30-year cyclical rise (contrary to a decade of media scare stories that they were drying up due to global warming), and polls show that climate change doesn't even make a list of Michigan voters' top-ten concerns.
I wrote her twice over two years about the harm that Cap and Trade could do to our economy- I received two form letters about the benefits of new technology and jobs that will fight Global Warming.
Cap and Trade is just part of the scam and power grab being imposed on the United States under the name of Global Warming. You can't get these politicians to do any reading or thinking other than their party's agenda.
Too bad we can't direct this energy and money toward more useful and constructive projects- rail systems, atomic energy , education, health, feeding hungry folks. Our government is bound to spend trillions on an arrogant and useless attempt to change our climate.
John Hager
John (J.C.) Hager, author of, "Hunter's Choice." "A powerful and intelligent thriller." -Steve Hamilton . "Superbly crafted... attention to detail insures the reader's rapt attention from beginning to end." - 2008 Midwest Book Review.
MICHIGAN RESIDENTS FIGHTING BACK AGAINST LEAKED OBAMA PLAN TO BRING TERRORISTS TO THEIR COMMUNITY
In Standish, Mich., site of a nearly vacant prison, residents are beginning to realize that the Obama Administration is serious about bringing terrorists to the United States, where they will quickly achieve the rights that should be reserved ONLY for Americans and those legally here.
Jennifer Granholm, the governor of Michigan, fears for her political life. She has been desperately seeking an alternative to the Obama plan, such as California or Pennsylvania sending prisoners to the Standish correctional facility. With recent news that California can’t afford to pay the costs of housing their inmates in Michigan, the governor is running out of ideas.
Fortunately, residents of Standish are starting to recognize that it isn’t worth the risk of bringing more than 230 of the most dangerous Islamic radicals in the world to a small town that could be potentially vulnerable. Not only will these Islamic extremists try to recruit from within the prison population, think of the undesirable elements that will come to town to be close to these murderous cut-throats. ... Click here to read more.
"Cash for Clunkers"
....and these socialists want control of our health care! NO THANKS!
Dozens Say They Can't Afford to Front Money to Buyers While Awaiting Reimbursement
By Dana Hedgpeth / Washington Post Staff Writer / Thursday, August 20, 2009
Dozens of auto dealers in the New York area and at least one in Maryland are pulling out of the U.S. government's popular "Cash for Clunkers" program because of problems in getting reimbursed.
The general manager at Toyota of Bowie said the dealership stopped participating earlier this week because it cannot afford to advance the money for more rebates while waiting on the government to pay. And about half of the 425 members in the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association have also left the program, according to the group's president.
"We're sitting with $1 million out," said Jim Bee, general manager of the Toyota of Bowie dealership. He said he has taken in between 150 and 160 clunkers and has not been paid a dime from the government..... Click here for much more.
Under a proposal by Granholm and some state legislators, the state cigarette tax would rise by 12.5% to $2.25 per pack and the tax on beer would double to 3.8-cents per bottle. The additional revenue would be used partially cover Michigan’s $2.7 billion overspending problem (aka “budget shortfall”) for the next fiscal year.
On Wednesday, the “Coalition for the Needy” came out in public support of the Granholm plan arguing that higher taxes will ensure that government services are not cut for the poor in the current budget. However, the logic behind this argument is completely backwards: low-income residents are the primary consumers of tobacco and alcohol products. For example, smokers have a median income of a little less than $36,000, which is about 30% less than non-smokers. How is taking money out of low-income residents’ pockets, routing it through an inefficient government bureaucracy, and returning it in the form of subpar government services supposed to help anyone?
Over the past months, there has also been much discussion in Michigan – albeit unlikely – about switching to a graduated tax structure from the state’s current flat 4.35% personal income tax (see here and here). However, 81% of Michigan businesses are small businesses and well over two-thirds of these employers pay taxes under the personal income tax. This means higher taxes for small businesses and less money to expand, hire more employees, or raise wages. All while Michigan has the highest unemployment in the nation at 15.2%..... Click here for much more and to post a comment.
LANSING, Mich. (WJBK) - Will it soon cost more for an ice cold brew? A coalition is urging lawmakers to hike the beer and tobacco tax to raise money for the needy.
Most of the hands went up when the Coalition for the Needy was asked if it supported a beer and cigarette tax hike, which is now on the table.
27 groups from the Catholic church to the Michigan Federation of Children are telling lawmakers to stop cutting the social safety net. The advocates argue that children will die if more of these services are terminated.... Click here for more.
ASSOCIATED PRESS / Posted: 7:09 p.m. Aug. 20, 2009
A state lawmaker wants to let Michigan residents who have permits to carry concealed weapons take them on university campuses.
Legislation announced today by Republican state Sen. Randy Richardville of Monroe would remove college campuses from the list of places where Michigan law does not allow permit holders to carry guns.
Richardville says crimes occur on college campuses just like in other places. He argues people with the proper training and background checks to get a permit should be allowed to carry guns for their protection while on campus.
The bill will face opposition from groups including the President's Council. The organization representing the presidents of Michigan's public universities says the measure won't make campuses safer.
Michigan Democrats recently unveiled their new economic development plan for Michigan: turning the state into a penal colony for federal prisoners, the detainees currently held at Guantanamo Bay and even part of California´s inmate population.
In a rush to fulfill an ill-advised campaign promise to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, press reports indicate that President Barack Obama is considering transferring terrorists currently housed there to a prison in Standish, Mich. It is a plan apparently supported by Michigan´s Democratic Senator Carl Levin and U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee.
The reports follow a letter sent to California by Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm that Michigan is willing to accept its prisoners as an effort to maintain and create jobs in Michigan.
I only wish that Michigan´s Democrats could channel their enthusiasm into efforts to attract business investment and job creation through means such as tourism, agriculture and manufacturing, all of which don´t endanger the lives of Michigan´s families.... Click here to read more.
The Obama Joker posters are still spreading virally across the country and the world as the authorities panic at the power of the grass roots to reach the masses almost in an instant, flying in the face of an establishment media which is controlled by a handful of powerful corporations.
The success of the Obama Joker poster campaign, started anonymously in Los Angeles and amplified after it was incorporated into an Infowars contest, can be measured against the achievements of America’s foremost contemporary street artist, Shepard Fairey, who was responsible for designing the Obama “HOPE” flyers that were posted in public places before the 2008 presidential election, an image labeled “the most efficacious American political illustration since ‘Uncle Sam Wants You’” by New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl.... Click here to read more.
WASHINGTON (AP) — About 60,000 senior citizens have quit AARP since July 1 due to the group's support for a health care overhaul, a spokesman for the organization said Monday.
The membership loss suggests dissatisfaction on the part of AARP members at a time when many senior citizens are concerned about proposed cuts to Medicare providers to help pay for making health care available for all. But spokesman Drew Nannis said it wasn't unusual for the powerful, 40 million-strong senior citizens' lobby to shed members in droves when it's advocating on a controversial issue.
AARP is strongly backing a health care overhaul, running ads to support it and hosting President Obama at an online forum recently to promote his agenda to AARP members. However, the group has not endorsed a specific bill and says it won't support a plan that reduces Medicare benefits.
"We take stands on issues that are contentious, it's part of what we do," Nannis said. "And because we have so many members we'll always have a small percentage that disagree with us so strongly they feel they need to cancel membership."
The approximately 60,000 number represents members who specifically cited AARP's stance on the health overhaul debate in canceling their membership between July 1 and mid-August, Nannis said. He said that on average AARP loses some 300,000 members a month, but he couldn't say how many more members had quit for other reasons in that time period.
He said AARP gained some 400,000 new members during the same period and that 1.5 million members renewed their membership.
The membership loss figure was first reported Monday by CBS News.
President Obama addresses a town hall-style health care event in Washington on July 28, as AARP's president, Jennie Chin Hansen, listens. A spokesman for AARP said Monday the group had lost 60,000 members for its support of health care overhaul
Barack Obama has chipped in $2 billion in loans to exploit offshore oil resources in hopes of extracting a major new source of petroleum…in South America.
Is it a coincidence that Obama backer George Soros repositioned himself in Petrobras to get dividends just a few days before Obama committed $2 billion in loans and guarantees for Petrobras’ offshore operations? Hmmmmmmmmmm.
Waiting for enviro-nitwits to chain themselves to gas pumps near the White House.
Posted by Henry Payne (The Detroit News) on Tue, Aug 11, 2009 at 12:17 AM
Detroit, Mich. - Michigan just experienced its coldest July on record; global temperatures haven't risen in more than a decade; Great Lakes water levels have resumed their 30-year cyclical rise (contrary to a decade of media scare stories that they were drying up due to global warming), and polls show that climate change doesn't even make a list of Michigan voters' top-ten concerns.
Yet in an interview with the Detroit News Monday, Senator Debbie Stabenow (D., Mich.) - recently appointed to the Senate Energy Committee - made clear that fighting the climate crisis is her top priority.
"Climate change is very real," she confessed as she embraced cap and trade's massive tax increase on Michigan industry - at the same time claiming, against all the evidence, that it would not lead to an increase in manufacturing costs or energy prices. "Global warming creates volatility. I feel it when I'm flying. The storms are more volatile. We are paying the price in more hurricanes and tornadoes."
And there are sea monsters in Lake Michigan. I can feel them when I'm boating.
Read Parts 2 and 3 of Payne's Stabenow interview coverage at his blog here.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) announces September 15th and 16th as the dates for its annual Hold Their Feet to the Fire radio rally in Washington, D.C. Hold Their Feet to the Fire is an annual immigration media event for participating radio and television stations.
Currently nearly 50 radio hosts are confirmed to broadcast live from "Radio Row" on Capitol Hill. View our video from our 2008 event. Click here to learn more.
Under a proposal by Granholm and some state legislators, the state cigarette tax would rise by 12.5% to $2.25 per pack and the tax on beer would double to 3.8-cents per bottle. The additional revenue would be used partially cover Michigan’s $2.7 billion overspending problem (aka “budget shortfall”) for the next fiscal year.
On Wednesday, the “Coalition for the Needy” came out in public support of the Granholm plan arguing that higher taxes will ensure that government services are not cut for the poor in the current budget. However, the logic behind this argument is completely backwards: low-income residents are the primary consumers of tobacco and alcohol products. For example, smokers have a..... Click here for more.
DETROIT (AP) - Michigan's Supreme Court has ruled that a state judge accused of drawing sexually explicit doodles and living outside his district won't be kicked off the bench.
In a split decision released late Friday, the court ruled to give Rockford District Judge Steven Servaas a public censure.
The Judicial Tenure Commission, which investigates state judges, had recommended that Servaas be removed in part for "vacating" his office by living outside his judicial division.
But the ruling said that only Michigan's attorney general could consider whether he vacated the office.
Servaas also was accused of making an inappropriate sexual comment to a court worker. The ruling said that while "unquestionably inappropriate," the doodles and comment don't merit removing Servaas from the bench.
UP judge jailed for drunk driving
Alger and Schoolcraft County Probate Judge Charles Nebel was stopped Friday night around 9:00.
Monday, July 27, 2009 at 3:58 p.m.
SCHOOLCRAFT COUNTY -- An Upper Michigan judge was in jail over the weekend, after being arrested for operating a motor while intoxicated.
Alger and Schoolcraft County Probate
Judge Charles Nebel was stopped Friday night around 9:00.
Michigan State Police from the Newberry Post were in pursuit of Nebel, who was traveling at speeds in excess of 100 miles an hour through Luce County.
Troopers finally caught Judge Nebel in Schoolcraft County.
Nebel was arrested after showing a blood alcohol content above .08.
That's above the legal limit for being drunk.
Nebel was taken to the Schoolcraft County Jail Friday night.
Schoolcraft County officials are asking the attorney general's office to handle their portion of the case, since Nebel is a sitting judge there.
There's no word on any court appearances at this time.
This summer's weather has Cassandra Gardner ready to pack up and head out to warmer climes.
"It's just been too cold," said Gardner, 38, of Mount Clemens. "I've been thinking of moving south forever because of the cold winters. But this summer? It's telling me, 'It's time to go.' "
Since summer's official start June 22, Michiganians such as Gardner who love the hot weather haven't had much to celebrate as 2009 shapes up to be the year of the lost summer. Several areas of the state -- Flint, Saginaw, the southwestern portions, such as Benton Harbor -- set records for the coldest July on record. Saginaw averaged a cool 65.9 degrees, besting the 1992 record by three-tenths of a degree. Flint was even cooler, averaging only 65.6 degrees in July. That temperature shattered the 66.9 degree average, also set in 1992. Benton Harbor averaged 68.2 degrees -- nearly 5 degrees colder than normal.
Metro Detroit could experience its coolest summer in more than a century if August is anything like July.
The cooler temps have played havoc with the state's $60 billion agricultural industries, delaying the crop growth from apples to zucchini. Locally, hot-weather meccas such as water parks have seen attendance drop by 25 percent over past year. But on the bright side, outdoor recreational venues such as golf courses -- where attendance thrives when it's comfortable instead of stifling -- appear to be holding their own or showing modest improvements, according to industry estimates..... More.
MANISTIQUE - A 20-year-old Manistique man was recently arrested for allegedly stealing vehicles involved in several property damage incidents, according to officials in Schoolcraft County.
Jacob Gage was arrested earlier this week in connection with the theft of three vehicles recently taken from area homes, damaged property, and a camp break-in.
On Wednesday, Gage was arraigned in district court and officially charged with one count of unlawfully driving away an automobile, a felony carrying a maximum punishment of five years in prison, said a court official.
The prosecution amended the charges Thursday and added two other counts to Gage's court file: breaking and entering a building with intent; and malicious damage to personal property totaling $1,000-$20,000...... More here.
Washington -- President Barack Obama's Tuesday visit to Warren -- his first since his election -- will not be open to the public, the White House said today.
Obama will deliver an afternoon speech to an invitation-only audience at Macomb Community College, the White House said in an announcement. He will spend just a few hours in Michigan, leaving Washington in the afternoon and departing after his speech for a visit to Major League Baseball's All Star Game in St. Louis on Tuesday night.
A White House official said students and faculty at the community college will be eligible for a lottery to get tickets to the event.
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The White House did not reveal any details on the subject of Obama's speech, but Democratic officials have said it was likely to touch on worker retraining, a key issue for Michigan as it seeks to prepare thousands of workers for new jobs after losses in the auto industry and other manufacturing sectors.
Michigan Attorney General Signs Amicus Brief Supporting Second Amendment Incorporation Please Thank Attorney General Mike Cox!
Two-thirds of the nation’s attorneys general have filed an amicus brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to grant certiorari in the case of NRA v. Chicago and hold that the Second Amendment applies to state and local governments through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This bi-partisan group of 33 attorneys general, along with the Attorney General of California in a separate filing, agrees with the NRA’s position that the Second Amendment protects a fundamental individual right to keep and bear arms, disagreeing with the decision recently issued by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Attorney General Cox was one of the many who agrees that the Second Amendment is a fundamental individual right and signed the amicus brief. Please call Attorney General Cox at (517) 373-1110 and thank him for standing up in support of the Second Amendment. You may also e-mail him at miag@michigan.gov.
The State Attorneys General Amicus Brief can be found by clicking here.
Report: Michigan to lose more than 300k jobs this year
Louis Aguilar / The Detroit News / July 6, 2009
Michigan's long series of job losses will cease in 2010, marking a 10-year slide that will have cost the state 950,000 jobs, or 20 percent of its work force, according to a mid-year forecast by a two influential University of Michigan economists.
But job losses remain fierce until then.
The state will lose about 311,000 jobs this year -- the most in a single year since at least the 1950s. Non-manufacturing jobs, 71 percent of the state's labor market, will account for more than half of the job losses this year, the report predicts.
"The light at the end of Michigan's long economic tunnel ... eludes us still as we encounter yet another bend in the track," economists Joan Crary and George Fulton wrote. The two are with U-M's Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics.... More.
Contact: Brian Roell 906-228-6561 Agency: Natural Resources
July 1, 2009
A recent decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to return the Great Lakes population of gray wolves to the federal endangered species list will result in several significant changes to the management of wolves in Michigan, the Department of Natural Resources said today.
When wolves were removed from the endangered species list in early May, the DNR gained the authority to manage wolves under the state's wolf management plan, which allows for lethal control in cases where nonlethal methods, such as noisemaking devices and barrier fencing, are not successful or viable. Additionally, two state laws, allowing livestock and pet owners to take lethal control against wolves in the act of preying upon domestic animals, went into effect.
However, the federal decision to return wolves to the endangered species list means the new lethal control laws and the state's wolf management plan are no longer valid, said Department of Natural Resources wolf program coordinator Brian Roell.
"With wolves back on the endangered species list, DNR staff can no longer authorize the use of lethal control against problem wolves, and livestock and pet owners cannot kill a wolf to stop it from preying upon their animals," Roell said. "Wolf management and monitoring will now revert to the parameters set out by the federal government."
The DNR will continue to work with the USFWS and the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture to manage and monitor the state's wolf population, as it has done since 1989 when the recent wolf population was first detected, Roell explained. Livestock or pet owners with a wolf depredation concern should call the DNR's RAP Line immediately at 800-292-7800 for assistance. Wolf complaints or observation can be filed by calling your local DNR office.
The federal decision to return wolves to the endangered species list was made in response to a lawsuit filed in June by the Humane Society of the United States and several other animal rights groups against the U.S. Dept. of Interior and the USFWS, asking that the original decision to delist wolves in April be reversed.
The lawsuit pointed out that the federal government had not taken public comment on the Great Lakes wolf delisting, and the USFWS responded by choosing to voluntarily relist the Great Lakes wolf population.
"As biologists who study the science behind wolf management, we are disappointed with the change in status," Roell said. "With nearly 580 wolves in the state, Michigan's wolf population is fully recovered and we hope the topic of delisting will be revisited again in the near future."
For more information on wolves in Michigan, contact Roell at (906) 228-6561 or go online to www.michigan.gov/wolves.
Walmart Stores Inc. is backing President Barack Obama’s push to require that large employers offer health insurance to their workers. Walmart (NYSE: WMT) joined the Service Employees International Union and the Center for American Progress (CAP) economic think tank in voicing support for mandated health coverage. The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer's largest store is in Albany, N.Y. The chain has come under criticism in the past for the quality of benefits offered to some workers. Walmart has expanded benefits in recent years and supports federal health care reform that would include requirements that employers offer at least some coverage. “We are for shared responsibility. Not every business can make the same contribution but everyone must make some contribution,” said a letter to Obama signed by Walmart CEO Mike Duke, SEIU President Andy Stern and CAP CEO John Podesta. “We are for an employer mandate which is fair and broad in its coverage, but any alternative to an employer mandate should not create barriers to hiring entry-level workers.” Obama and Congress are working on health care reforms aimed at providing health insurance and controlling costs for 46 million Americans.
Wal-Mart, in what The Wall Street Journalcalls a "major break" with other large companies, says it backs President Obama's bid for an employer mandate requiring companies to provide employees health insurance. The Journal notes that while large corporations have opposed the idea by arguing that it would mean job cubs and lower wages, the big retailer says providing insurance will level the playing field with those companies who don't. Wal-Mart outlined its position in a letter to President Obama that was also signed by the Service Employees International and the Center for American Progress The newspaper quotes the National Retail Federation, the industry's main lobby, as saying it is "flabbergasted" by Wal-Mart's move. A Wal-Mart top executive is quoted as saying that the retailer "felt it needed to shape the debate" as the White House and Congress begin floating health reform ideas, the paper says. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, meanwhile, says most of its members still oppose an employer mandate and doesn't think Wal-Mart stance will change that, TheJournal says. Click here to read the letter. Contact Wal-Mart:
702 SW 8th Street Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Bentonville, Arkansas 72716-8611
President Barack Obama walked into the Oval Office with a veritable halo over his head. In the eyes of his backers, he could say or do no wrong because he had evidently descended directly from heaven to return celestial order to our fallen world. Oprah declared his tongue to be "dipped in the unvarnished truth." Newsweek editor Evan Thomas averred that Obama "stands above the country and above the world as a sort of a God." But when it comes to health care reform, with every passing day, Obama seems less God and more demagogue, uttering not transcendental truths, but bald-faced lies. Here are the top five lies that His Awesomeness has told--the first two for no reason other than to get elected and the next three to sell socialized medicine to a wary nation. Lie One: No one will be compelled to buy coverage. During the campaign, Obama insisted that he would not resort to an individual mandate to achieve universal coverage. In fact, he repeatedly ripped Hillary Clinton's plan for proposing one. "To force people to buy coverage," he insisted, "you've got to have a very harsh penalty." What will this penalty be, he demanded? "Are you going to garnish their wages?" he asked Hillary in one debate. Yet now, Obama is behaving as if he said never a hostile word about the mandate. Earlier this month, in a letter to Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., he blithely declared that he was all for "making every American responsible for having health insurance coverage, and making employers share in the cost."
But just like Hillary, he is refusing to say precisely what he will do to those who want to forgo insurance. There is a name for such a health care approach: It is called TonySopranoCare. Lie Two: No new taxes on employer benefits. Obama took his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain, to the mat for suggesting that it might be better to remove the existing health care tax break that individuals get on their employer-sponsored coverage, but return the vast bulk--if not all--of the resulting revenues in the form of health care tax credits. This would theoretically have made coverage both more affordable and portable for everyone. Obama, however, would have none of it, portraying this idea simply as the removal of a tax break. "For the first time in history, he wants to tax your health benefits," he thundered. "Apparently, Sen. McCain doesn't think it's enough that your health premiums have doubled. He thinks you should have to pay taxes on them too."Yet now Obama is signaling his willingness to go along with a far worse scheme to tax employer-sponsored benefits to fund the $1.6 trillion or so it will cost to provide universal coverage. Contrary to Obama's allegations, McCain's plan did not ultimately entail a net tax increase because he intended to return to individuals whatever money was raised by scrapping the tax deduction. Not so with Obama. He apparently told Sen. Baucus that he would consider the senator's plan for rolling back the tax exclusion that expensive, Cadillac-style employer-sponsored plans enjoy, in order to pay for universal coverage. But, unlike McCain, he has said nothing about putting offsetting deductions or credits in the hands of individuals. In other words, Obama might well end up doing what McCain never set out to do: Impose a net tax increase on health benefits for the first time in history. Lie Three: Government can control rising health care costs better than the private sector. Ignoring the reality that Medicare--the government-funded program for the elderly--has put the country on the path to fiscal ruin, Obama wants to model a government insurance plan--the so-called "public option"--after Medicare in order to control the country's rising health care costs. Why? Because, he repeatedly claims, Medicare has far lower administrative costs and overhead than private plans--to wit, 3% for Medicare compared to 10% to 20% for private plans. Hence, he says, subjecting private plans to competition against an entity delivering such superior efficiency will release health care dollars for universal coverage. But lower administrative costs do not necessarily mean greater efficiency. Indeed, the Congressional Budget Office analysis last year chastised Medicare's lax attitude on this front. "The traditional fee-for-service Medicare program does relatively little to manage benefits, which tends to reduce its administrative costs but may raise its overall spending relative to a more tightly managed approach," it noted on page 93. In short, extending the Medicare model will further ruin--not improve--even the functioning aspects of private plans. Lie Four: A public plan won't be a Trojan horse for a single-payer monopoly. Obama has repeatedly claimed that forcing private plans to compete with a public plan will simply "keep them honest" and give patients more options--not lead to a full-blown, Canadian-style, single-payer monopoly. As I argued in my previous column, this is wishful thinking given that government programs such as Medicare have a history of controlling costs by underpaying providers, who make up the losses by charging private plans more. Any public plan modeled after Medicare will greatly increase this forced subsidy, eventually driving private plans out of business, even if that weren't Obama's intention. But, as it turns out, it very much is his intention. Before he decided to run for office--and even during the initial days of his campaign--Obama repeatedly said that he was in favor of a single-payer system. What's more, University of California, Berkeley Professor Jacob Hacker, who is a key influence on the Obama administration, is on tape explicitly boasting that a public plan is a means for creating a single-payer system. "It's not a Trojan horse," he quips, "it's just right there." But even if Obama wanted to, it is simply impossible to design a public plan that could compete with private insurers on a level playing field and without "feeding off the public trough" as Obama claims. At the very least, such a plan would always carry an implicit government guarantee that, should it go bust, no one in the plan would lose coverage. This guarantee would artificially lower the plan's capital reserve requirements, giving it an unfair edge over private plans. What's more, it is simply not plausible to expect that the plan wouldn't receive any start-up subsidies or use the government's muscle to negotiate lower rates with providers. If it eschewed all these things, there would be no reason for it to exist--because it would be just like any other private plan. Lie Five: Patients don't have to fear rationing. Obama has been insisting, including during his ABC Town Hall event last week, that the rationing patients would face under a government-run system wouldn't be any more draconian than what they currently confront under private plans. This is complete nonsense. The left has been trying to address fears of rationing by trotting out an old and tired trope, namely, that rationing is an inescapable fact of life because every system rations whether by price or fiat. But there is a big difference between the two. If I can't afford caviar and champagne every night, any rationing involved is metaphoric, not real. Genuine rationing occurs when someone else controls access--how much of a particular good I can consume. By that token, Obama's stimulus bill has set in motion rationing on a scale unimaginable in the land of the free. Indeed, the bill commits over $1 billion to conduct comparative effectiveness research that will evaluate the relative merits of various treatments. That in itself wouldn't be so objectionable--if it weren't for the fact that a board will then "direct financing" toward approved, standardized treatments. In short, doctors will find it much harder to prescribe newer or non-standard treatments not yet deemed effective by health care bureaucrats. This is exactly along the lines of the British system, where breast cancer patients were denied Herceptin, a new miracle drug, until enraged women fought back. Even the much-vilified managed care plans would appear to be a paragon of generosity in comparison with this. Obama has repeatedly asked for honesty in the health care debate. It is high time he started showing some. Shikha Dalmia is a senior analyst at Reason Foundation and writes a biweekly column for Forbes. Obama's staged Town Hall meeting (all four staged questions taken by Obama where by active supporters of Obama):
Earlier in the year, the President had an online town hall meeting and those online were allowed to vote on questions they wanted to ask the president about ...
By Dawson Bell • Free Press Lansing Bureau • June 29, 2009
PATRICIA BECK/Detroit Free Press
Granholm told California Gov. Arnold Schwarznegger that several empty facilities and soon-to-be-vacated prisons in Standish and Muskegon could be available for California inmates.
LANSING – Gov. Jennifer Granholm offered empty beds in Michigan prisons to house inmates from California today as the Golden State seeks solutions to prison overcrowding and a massive budget deficit.
Granholm sent a letter to California Gov. Arnold Schwarznegger after speaking to him personally, in which she called the offer an “opportunity (that) has great potential and could be mutually beneficial.” Granholm said several empty facilities and soon-to-be-vacated prisons in Standish and Muskegon could be available.
Califorrnia faces the prospect of being forced to release tens of thousands of inmates to ease overcrowding, even as it addresses a $24.3 billion deficit.
Granholm’s letter said terms of a prison space sharing plan could be worked out in negotiations.
BY JIM SCHAEFER, BEN SCHMITT, TAMMY STABLES BATTAGLIA and CASSANDRA SPRATLING • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS • June 27, 2009
The federal trap finally snapped Friday on Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers, ending a year of speculation about her role in the Synagro sludge contract scandal.
The normally boisterous Conyers, 44, appeared in U.S. District Court to quietly plead guilty to a bribery conspiracy charge during a brief hearing.
Conyers, the wife of powerful U.S. Rep. John Conyers, left the courtroom on personal bond without commenting.
In a few short weeks, Conyers, who was the council's president pro tem, went from one of Detroit's most politically powerful and mercurial women to an admitted felon in a pay-to-play scheme for a $1.2-billion-plus sludge treatment contract..... More.
Democrats off-loading economics to pass climate change bill.
June 26, 2009
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has put cap-and-trade legislation on a forced march through the House, and the bill may get a full vote as early as Friday. It looks as if the Democrats will have to destroy the discipline of economics to get it done.
Despite House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman's many payoffs to Members, rural and Blue Dog Democrats remain wary of voting for a bill that will impose crushing costs on their home-district businesses and consumers. The leadership's solution to this problem is to simply claim the bill defies the laws of economics.
Their gambit got a boost this week, when the Congressional Budget Office did an analysis of what has come to be known as the Waxman-Markey bill. According to the CBO, the climate legislation would cost the average household only $175 a year by 2020. Edward Markey, Mr. Waxman's co-author, instantly set to crowing that the cost of upending the entire energy economy would be no more than a postage stamp a day for the average household. Amazing. A closer look at the CBO analysis finds that it contains so many caveats as to render it useless.
Associated Press
Henry Waxman
For starters, the CBO estimate is a one-year snapshot of taxes that will extend to infinity. Under a cap-and-trade system, government sets a cap on the total amount of carbon that can be emitted nationally; companies then buy or sell permits to emit CO2. The cap gets cranked down over time to reduce total carbon emissions.
To get support for his bill, Mr. Waxman was forced to water down the cap in early years to please rural Democrats, and then severely ratchet it up in later years to please liberal Democrats. The CBO's analysis looks solely at the year 2020, before most of the tough restrictions kick in. As the cap is tightened and companies are stripped of initial opportunities to "offset" their emissions, the price of permits will skyrocket beyond the CBO estimate of $28 per ton of carbon. The corporate costs of buying these expensive permits will be passed to consumers.
The biggest doozy in the CBO analysis was its extraordinary decision to look only at the day-to-day costs of operating a trading program, rather than the wider consequences energy restriction would have on the economy. The CBO acknowledges this in a footnote: "The resource cost does not indicate the potential decrease in gross domestic product (GDP) that could result from the cap."
Our condolences and prayers go out to the family of Private William Long
Contact: Kristi Hamrick of American Values, +1-571-244-6324
WASHINGTON, June 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Former presidential candidateGary Bauer on Wednesday called on President Barack Obama to be as diligent in protecting and defending the American military as he is in reaching out to Arab nations. Bauer's statement came on the heels of the murder of Army recruiter William Long who was killed this week by a Muslim convert who said he was targeting military locations among other sites, according to media reports...... More.
by Lester Graham / Environment Report / June 23, 2009
Using your phone to pick products. Mark Brush looks at a tool that allows you to research the environmental background of what you're buying right from the aisle. And... the South is toting its pine trees as the next big thing in biofuels. But is cutting down trees for gas really the best idea? Susan Mittleman travels to the forests of the deep South to look at trees heading to the tank.
The Environment Report is a free news service committed to revealing the relationship between the natural world and the everyday lives of people. It can be heard every Monday-Friday at 8:55 am or 5:45 pm on Michigan Radio 91.7 FM Ann Arbor/Detroit, 104.1 FM West Michigan, 91.1 FM Flint
ewers say they were cougars. The Michigan Department of Natural resources rightfully says prove it! That's the problem. So many of you have called, emailed, and sent in pictures of what you saw after I brought you a Fact Finder last week of a possible cougar sighting on Old Mission Peninsula. Your feedback from our webpage and a look at one of the DNR's theories about cougar sightings are the subject of this Fact Finder.
Rocquel Morrison's interaction with a large cat was three years ago, but she says it's as fresh in her mind as if it happened yesterday. She says "We were going down M 22 towards our house and just passed Dockside Party Store. He (her husband) slammed on the brakes, throwing me into the dashboard, and into seeing this big cat look at me. He turned his head and looked at me."
And that look from the big cat that darted across M 22 haunted Rocquel Morrison. She wanted to know what is was, so she drove to a local wildlife museum and found a carbon copy. Rocquel took one look at the stuffed animals inside and said "that's the cat I saw. The owner said, it's a mountain lion, but it's also called a cougar, and I said that's what was in front of me." Rocquel called me after we aired the story of a more recent cougar sighting on Old Mission. She wanted to share her sighting. She wasn't alone..... More.
Watching a deer run across the road is simply not that unusual up here. Let's face it; it’s probably not an event that is going to have you calling us for a Fact Finder. That is unless you know why that deer crossed the road.
"Thursday morning this week I was talking on the phone looking down at the blueberry patch and we saw a deer bounding across the street."
For Paul Bonaccini and his neighbors, seeing deer in their Old Mission Peninsula neighborhood is pretty usual event. But the way this deer bounded across the street made Paul take a closer look. That's when things crossed over into the unusual.... More.
by Elizabeth Shaw / The Flint Journal / June 12, 2009
Alex Slitz | The Flint JournalAnna Frampton, 18, of Yale, bridles Apache, her 25-year-old appaloosa, for a June 6 trail ride at Elba Equestrian Complex in Oregon Township.
OREGON TWP., Michigan -- There was a time in the early 19th century when traders and settlers on horseback made their way deep into the wooded heart of Michigan.
Those hoof prints have largely vanished nowadays, thanks to land use regulations restricting equestrians from many trails on state-owned public lands.
But the thunder of hoof beats is growing louder these days, as local equestrian groups join a new statewide fight to save their right to ride.
The main weapons in their arsenal: House Bill 4610 and Senate Bill 578, which would restore equestrian access to any state trails with a historical tradition of use by pack and saddle animals.... More.
AP,June 19, 2009 · The unemployment rate in the West jumped over 10 percent last month, the first time that regional threshold has been broken in about 25 years. On the state level, eight set record-highs and only two — Nebraska and Vermont — did not report increases.
The Labor Department reported Friday that 48 states and the District of Columbia saw employment conditions deteriorate last month. The fallout from the longest recession since World War II, was the worst in Michigan as automakers cut tens of thousands of jobs. Its unemployment rate rose to 14.1 percent.
The West region reported the highest jobless rate at 10.1 percent. The last time any region had a rate of at least 10 percent was September 1983, when the country was emerging from a severe recession.
The region is home to California, where the jobless rate jumped to a record 11.5 percent last month, Nevada, where it's a record 11.3 percent, and other states that have been slammed when the housing boom went bust — snatching jobs and wealth.
The other six states that set new highs on records dating to 1976 were: North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia.... More.
HARRISON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - Police say two men were seriously injured when a drunken driver hit them while they tried to rescue a turtle crossing a Michigan road.
Forty-three-year-old Derek James Redmond of Mount Clemens was arraigned Friday on charges including operating while intoxicated causing serious injury.
The Macomb County Sheriff's Office says deputies early Friday found a truck stopped on a road in Harrison Township. A 53-year-old man and a 60-year-old man, both of Harrison Township, were found nearby with severe injuries and were taken to the hospital. They had been trying to save a turtle and apparently were struck by a car.
A preliminary hearing is set for July 1 in district court in Clinton Township. Redmond didn't have an attorney on record with the court.
Hours after police plucked him out of a suburban alley, Vincent Smothers dropped a bombshell confession: "I don't have a profession," he told an investigator. "I kill people for money."
Then, police say, he laid out details of how each of eight hired hits happened. He stalked his victims before shooting them at close range. He killed some while talking on his cell phone and fired on others even when they appeared to be lying lifeless on the ground..... More.
Michigan's jobless rate hit 14.1 percent in May, a near-26 year high, according to data released today by the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth .
The U.S. unemployment rate rose by half a percentage point in May, to 9.4 percent.
"Major events continued to unfold in Michigan's auto industry in May, which had a considerable impact on the state's unemployment rate," said Rick Waclawek, director of the state's Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives. "Curtailed production negatively influenced suppliers and other related sectors, resulting in further weakening in the labor market."
It's the highest monthly rate recorded in the state since July 1983. Since May 2008, unemployment has jumped by 274,000 people, or 67.2 percent. Unemployment nationally rose by a slightly larger 70.0 percent in the same period.
"It's not good," said Gov. Jennifer Granholm, at a Lansing press conference Wednesday
Dozens of US cities may have entire neighbourhoods bulldozed as part of drastic "shrink to survive" proposals being considered by the Obama administration to tackle economic decline.
By Tom Leonard in Flint, Michigan / Published: 12 Jun 2009
The US government is looking at expanding a pioneering scheme in Flint, one of the poorest US cities, which involves razing entire districts and returning the land to naturePhoto: GETTY
The government looking at expanding a pioneering scheme in Flint, one of the poorest US cities, which involves razing entire districts and returning the land to nature.
Local politicians believe the city must contract by as much as 40 per cent, concentrating the dwindling population and local services into a more viable area.
The radical experiment is the brainchild of Dan Kildee, treasurer of Genesee County, which includes Flint.
Having outlined his strategy to Barack Obama during the election campaign, Mr Kildee has now been approached by the US government and a group of charities who want him to apply what he has learnt to the rest of the country.
Mr Kildee said he will concentrate on 50 cities, identified in a recent study by the Brookings Institution, an influential Washington think-tank, as potentially needing to shrink substantially to cope with their declining fortunes.
Most are former industrial cities in the "rust belt" of America's Mid-West and North East. They include Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Memphis.
In Detroit, shattered by the woes of the US car industry, there are already plans to split it into.... More.
NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario - The United States and Canada will update a key agreement to protect the Great Lakes from invasive species, climate change and other established and emerging threats to the world's biggest surface freshwater system.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday that the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, which was last amended in 1987, is no longer sufficient.
She announced the deal to revise it - something environmental groups have been pushing for - with Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon during a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909. The treaty created an international commission to settle water-related disputes between the two countries.
''It's crucial that we honor the terms of the Great Lakes agreement as it stands today,'' Clinton said on the international Rainbow Bridge with Niagara Falls as a backdrop. ''But we also have to update it to reflect new knowledge, new technology and, unfortunately, new threats.'' More.
BY LORI HIGGINS • FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER • June 15, 2009
By the time Christine Bolen earns her teaching certificate in 2010, she will have spent more than two years preparing for a new career as a high school math teacher.
It'll be time well-spent, said Bolen, 47, of Canton, who said a postbaccalaureate program at Eastern Michigan University "is one of the best."
But Michigan education officials are considering a faster route to a teaching degree -- one that would allow people like Bolen who already hold degrees in key subjects to earn a teaching certificate with as few as 15 credit hours.
This plan was drafted to address teacher shortages some districts face in key subjects.
"This ... is making it relatively straightforward and time-efficient for scientists and engineers who do want to ... learn how to be great teachers," said John Austin, vice president of the State Board of Education.... More.
MDOT hopes to save $30 million with fewer trips to groom green space
Tom Greenwood / The Detroit News
When it comes to Michigan's freeways, cost-cutting is in and grass-cutting is out.
To save as many greenbacks as possible, the Michigan Department of Transportation is making fewer trips to state roadways to mow the slopes, trim trees and pare bushes.
Grosse Pointe resident Suzi Padilla, who does most of her east-side driving on Interstate 94, understands the reason; she just doesn't like the results..... More.
ESCANABA - Several hundred pounds of rotting walleye and other sport fish, along with two 300-foot large mesh gill nets, were removed from Little Bay de Noc Friday.
According to Cpl. Shannon VanPatten, of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Commercial Fish Enforcement Unit, DNR officials were notified of the nets by local walleye fishermen.
"We received a complaint alerting us to the presence of these gill nets by some walleye fishermen who snagged the nets with their lines while fishing in the area," said VanPatten.
After receiving the complaint DNR officers launched from the Aronson Island boat launch Friday at 10:15 a.m., locating the nets approximately two hours later. They used a grappling hook to pull them from the Bay.... More.
Contact: Adam Bump 517-373-1263 Agency: Natural Resources
June 11, 2009
The Natural Resources Commission modified bobcat hunting and trapping seasons for the Upper Peninsula at a recent meeting in Lansing in an attempt to preserve recreational opportunity, but reduce harvest.
Trapping season has been set for Dec. 1-Feb. 1. Hunting season is Jan. 1-March 1.
The NRC also voted to reopen coyote hunting in the northern Lower Peninsula during the Nov. 15-30 firearm deer season. The season was closed in 2005 when the presence of wolves was documented in the Lower Peninsula.
In addition, the NRC made several adjustments to regulations concerning the use of dry-land body-gripping traps to make them more selective, allowed the use of open-water snares for beaver trapping, and increased the allowable size of colony traps designed for taking muskrats. The specifics of these changes are available on the DNR Web site, at www.michigan.gov/dnr.
Michigan's solar industry has a dirty secret: It needs a lot of coal-fired power. The process of manufacturing base materials and panels to capture electricity from the sun is energy-intensive, utility officials say.
And that energy comes mostly from fossil fuels in Michigan, where up to eight new coal-fired power plants are on the drawing board.
Detroit -- A bank says it is forcing the liquidation of much of the business empire of Grosse Pointe Farms businessman and Metro Cars founder Cullan Meathe after his companies allegedly defaulted on loans and interest totaling $45.3 million.
But an official at Detroit Metropolitan Airport -- where Metro Cars holds a roughly $9 million a year parking shuttle contract and is set to resume control of the exclusive limousine contract on July 1 -- said he understands the companies are reorganizing. Airport spokesman Scott Wintner said he was told Lansing lobbyist Gregory Eaton, a Metro Cars partner, plans to buy out Meathe's interests and continue to operate the companies... More.
"They're going up like elevators," said driver, Tony Turner.
The rising prices at the pump are a punch in the stomach for drivers.
"It hurts," said Steve Engelgau.
And Michigan motorists are getting hit the hardest.
"I know Michigan just gets the short end of the stick," Engelgau said.
So, why do drivers in our state have to suffer the most ? Economist Charles Ballard says it has to do with distribution and the dwindling number oil refineries close by, on top of escalating oil prices.
"The oil price has gone up, it hasn't quite doubled from what it was last winter, but still it's a substantial increase and that has to be reflected in gas prices," Ballard said.
Ballard also says as the economy is recovering, gas prices are rising.
"Now that we see at least some signs of life in the economy, that has stabilized the oil prices and sent them back up again," Ballard said.
And with gas more than $3 gallon at some stations, experts say the pain at the pump could get even worse into the summer.
"It would not surprise me to see further increases in the price of gasoline as the summer goes on, typically summer is a time of relatively high gas prices, because there's higher demand for gasoline and also, I don't think we're necessarily at the end of this run up of oil prices," Ballard said.
Meantime drivers say they're already feeling the pinch.
"That's a big chunk out of your pocket and you know it's only going to go up as soon as the economy hits," Engelgau said.
At a staggering rate of 465,659 ~ people are leaving Michigan behind. A place that was called home is now becoming a place where people say they are from.
People are leaving Michigan at a staggering rate. About 109,000 more people left Michigan last year than moved in. It is one of the worst rates in the nation, quadruple the loss of just eight years ago. The state loses a family every 12 minutes, and the families who are leaving -- young, well-educated high-income earners -- are the people the state desperately needs to rebuild.
As a symptom of Michigan's economic woes, out migration has exploded into a massive problem of its own, a slow-motion Katrina splintering families, gutting state coffers and crippling an already hobbled economy, one moving van at a time.
Michigan's exodus is one of the state's best known but least understood problems. Long ignored or downplayed, out migration has been shrugged off partly because it was assumed that those who were leaving were unemployed blue-collar workers and retirees, groups that, in economic terms, don't cripple the state with their departure.
But a analysis of U.S. Census Bureau and Internal Revenue Service data reveals that every day, Michigan gets less populated, less educated, and poorer because of out migration... More.
Mark Hornbeck / Detroit News Lansing Bureau / June 6, 2009
Lansing -- Three prisons and five prison camps -- including Oakland County's White Lake -- will close this year under a plan announced by Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Friday and slammed by lawmakers who say the plan puts the public at risk.
The closures, intended to save $120 million to help erase a $1.7 billion budget deficit in the next fiscal year, mean 4,000 prisoners who have served at least their minimum sentence will be freed and 1,000 employees laid off.
Santiago Esparza / The Detroit News / June 5, 2009
Detroit -- The city has earned the dubious distinction of having the worst homicide rate of any municipality of more than 500,000 residents, according to the Associated Press and Baltimore Sun.
Detroit had 339 homicides in 2008, not the 306 reported to the FBI and released to the press this week. Detroit Police Spokesman Rod Liggons said the department reported the correct numbers to the state, which then submits them to the FBI, according to the Associated Press and Baltimore Sun reports.
The change pushes Detroit's homicide rate to 37.4 per 100,000 residents, just ahead of Baltimore's rate of 36.9 homicides per resident, according to the reports.
Baltimore had been reported as possessing the nation's worst homicide rate.
Detroit police officials were not available for comment this morning.
Lansing -- Three state prisons in northern Michigan and all five of the state's low-security prison camps -- including Oakland's White Lake -- will be closed this year to help erase a $1.7 billion budget deficit, corrections officials announced today.
Prisons in Muskegon, Standish north of Bay City and Kincheloe in the eastern Upper Peninsula will close between August and November.
Prison camps, besides White Lake, to be closed are in Shingleton, Painesdale and Iron River in the U.P.; and Grayling in the northern Lower Peninsula..... More.
$740M of Michigan roadwork axed
State forced to cancel 137 projects after it can't come up with its share of money
Tom Greenwood, Steve Pardo and Mark Hornbeck / The Detroit News / June 5, 2009
The state took another hard shot Thursday when the Michigan Department of Transportation announced it has canceled more than 137 road and bridge projects -- totaling $740 million -- due to Michigan's inability to match federal dollars. Michigan's portion of the federal match for road construction will now go to other states.
"We are in a state of crisis when it comes to our transportation funding, and it is being felt in every community across the state," said Mike Nystrom, vice president of government and public relations for the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association, which represents 800 construction related companies within the state. The list of canceled projects, which includes 28 high-profile projects in Metro Detroit, was part of MDOT's five-year road and bridge program presented earlier this week to the House Transportation Committee. Nearly $247.8 million would have been spent on road projects in Metro Detroit.
"These projects are vital to Michigan's economic future," said Nystrom. "When roads are maintained, they attract new business. Economic and job growth will not happen in Michigan when MDOT is forced to cancel critical infrastructure projects."
Under the funding formula, the federal government pays for 80 percent of road projects and requires each state to come up with the remaining 20 percent. Michigan relies on fuel and registration taxes for its transportation funding, but those revenues have fallen steadily over the past several years because Michigan motorists are driving less and buying fewer new cars.
If Michigan can't come up with its 20 percent...... More.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Name a top issue and President Barack Obama has probably got a "czar" responsible for tackling it.
A bank bailout czar? Herb Allison. Energy czar? Carol Browner.
There's a drug czar, a U.S. border czar, an urban czar, a regulatory czar, a stimulus accountability czar, an Iran czar, a Middle East czar, and a czar for both Afghanistan and Pakistan, which in Washington-speak has been lumped together into a policy area called Af-Pak.
There are upward of 20 such top officials, all with lengthy official titles but known in the media as czars, and next week there will be one more, when Obama appoints a czar for cyber-security who will be charged with improving the security of computer networks.... More.
By JOHN FLESHER • ASSOCIATED PRESS • June 4, 2009 /Updated at 5:50 p.m.
Cameron Davis, leader of a Chicago-based environmentalist group, has been appointed to oversee President Barack Obama’s initiative to clean up the Great Lakes.
Davis is president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, one of many organizations that have pushed for a restoration program expected to cost more than $20 billion. He was appointed by Lisa Jackson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency.
“I’m excited, and this is a real testament to the passion and work that so many citizens are doing to put the Great Lakes on the map,” Davis said today. He said he couldn’t comment further until after beginning his job as special adviser to Jackson next month.
He will coordinate efforts of about a dozen federal agencies working on the administration’s Great Lakes project, which deals with issues such as invasive species, polluted harbors, sewage overflows and degraded wildlife habitat.... More.
It is not every 31-year-old who, in a first government job, finds himself dismantling General Motors and rewriting the rules of American capitalism.
But that, in short, is the job description for Brian Deese, a not-quite graduate of Yale Law School who had never set foot in an automotive assembly plant until he took on his nearly unseen role in remaking the American automotive industry.... More.
1. also tsar or tzar(zär, tsär) A male monarch or emperor, especially one of the emperors who ruled Russia until the revolution of 1917.
2. A person having great power; an autocrat: "the square-jawed, ruddy complacency of Jack Farrell, the czar of the Fifteenth Street police station"Ernest Hemingway.
3. Informal An appointed official having special powers to regulate or supervise an activity: a racetrack czar; an energy czar.
1. czar - a male monarch or emperor (especially of Russia prior to 1917)
Russia - a former empire in eastern Europe and northern Asia created in the 14th century with Moscow as the capital; powerful in the 17th and 18th centuries under Peter the Great and Catherine the Great when Saint Petersburg was the capital; overthrown by revolution in 1917
The Center for Global Development has a track record of providing important insights into how the United States can improve global development policy and thereby tackle some of the world's most intractable problems. This book continues that tradition and helps advance our understanding about how the next administration can improve a critical arm of our global engagement.
Nancy Birdsall is president of the Center for Global Development. She was formerly with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and director of the Economic Reform Project there. She was the executive vice president of the Inter-American Development Bank (1993-98) and before that director of the policy research department at the World Bank. She is the author of numerous publications on labor markets, human resources, economic inequality, the relationship between income distribution (socialism folks) and growth, and other development issues. She serves on various boards, including the Population Council, and is special adviser to the administrator of the United Nations Development Program.
June 2 (Bloomberg) -- A Chicago ordinance banning handguns and automatic weapons within city limits was upheld by a U.S. Court of Appeals panel, which rejected a challenge by the National Rifle Association.
The unanimous three-judge panel ruled today that a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year, which recognized an individual right to bear arms under the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment, didn’t apply to states and municipalities.
“The Supreme Court has rebuffed requests to apply the second amendment to the states,” U.S. Circuit Judge Frank Easterbrook wrote, upholding lower court decisions last year to throw out suits against Chicago and its suburb of Oak Park, Illinois.
The Fairfax, Virginia-based NRA sued the municipalities in June 2008, one day after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller struck down a hand-gun ban in the U.S. capital district encompassing Washington..... More.
Sonia Sotomayor reviving Norman Thomas
A quick note to rising college seniors: Stick with the Kennedy quotes.
Among the innocuous quotes on Sonia Sotomayor's yearbook page: "I am not a champion of lost causes, but of causes not yet won."
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It includes an interactive map of Michigan that allows viewers to click on each of 83 counties to see how the money is divvied up in each one.
So far, the state has received $3.6 billion in stimulus money, out of an estimated $7.5 billion it will get from the federal government over two years, said Leslie Fritz, spokesperson for the Michigan Economic Recovery Office, which handles and tracks the money.
It has been 90 days since President Barack Obama signed the law that created the stimulus spending plan, called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
“A lot has happened in 90 days,” Fritz said. “Citizens are beginning to feel the impact of all of this.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm has tapped about $1.3 billion in stimulus money to balance the state budget, though some of that comes from stimulus money yet to come. More is likely to be used as state government struggles with a continuing slide in tax revenues.
Other large allocations from the $3.6 billion sent to Michigan so far are:
• More than $1 billion for roads, bridges, mass transit and airports
• $931 million for education
• $464 million additional for Medicaid
• $538 million to upgrade sewers and drinking water facilities
• $400 million in tax cuts for 3.7 million workers
• $242 million for weatherization programs.
Also, 500,000 unemployed workers have received a $25-per-week increase in unemployment benefits.
A onetime $250 payment is being sent to more than two million Michigan seniors, retirees and disabled residents who qualify under Social Security, veterans or railroad retirement benefits.
MACKINAC ISLAND (AP) - U.S Rep. Bart Stupak is suggesting Guantanamo Bay detainees be housed at Schoolcraft County's Camp Manistique.
U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak wants to house Guantanamo Bay detainees at the abandoned prison, but said Friday he would not pursue the matter without broad support from other officeholders in the state.
Stupak, a Menominee Democrat, sent President Obama a letter in February that suggested transferring the detainees to Camp Manistique. The state prison closed in 2007 because of budget cuts.
Former Gov. John Engler, a Republican, also suggested the U.P. as a suitable location during a meeting with GOP legislators this month. He described it as an innovative way to attract federal money and reduce the state's chronic budget deficit.
But other officeholders in Michigan have criticized the proposal, including U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, who is seeking the GOP nomination for governor next year.... More.
Are da Yoopers saying "yah" to the terrorists, eh?
Are they whooping for the gang now at Gitmo, perhaps by readying a campaign describing the romance of Escanaba in da moonlight, or preparing pasties and smoked fish as prison grub? Will trips to the Soo Locks replace waterboarding?
The suggestion that a vacant Manistique prison might be a site for detainees at the prison in Guantanamo might sound scary -- but it hasn't been met with derision and hand-wringing in that Upper Peninsula community.
U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak has quietly asked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to "explore the option" of using Camp Manistique as a location for some Guantanamo detainees. Once that became public knowledge -- and the buzz at Mackinac Island last weekend -- politicians suddenly honked off like Canada geese. In Manistique, though, prisons -- even for the world's most desperate untried terror suspects -- aren't as scary as rising gas prices.
Stupak's phones aren't exactly ringing off the hook, even though U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, now running for governor, has compared the detainees unfavorably to Nazis during World War II. As the chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, he's steadfastly opposed to closing the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay.... More. Poaching troopers fired pending hearing
By Mike Fornes / Cheboygan Daily Tribune / May 30, 2009
Cheboygan, Mich. - Two Michigan State Troopers from the Cheboygan Post who served brief jail sentences and were reassigned after admitting to poaching deer while on duty have lost their jobs, pending an arbitration hearing.
“There has been a recommendation for termination, and each will have a hearing as part of the arbitration process,” Detective/Sgt. Christopher M. Luty, vicepresident of the Michigan State Police Troopers Association, confirmed Friday. “Nothing is really official until that is complete.”
ESCANABA - Plum Creek announced it has completed its spring 2009 planting of more than 550,000 seedlings statewide. The effort is part of the company's annual plan to regenerate and grow Michigan forests for future generations. As part of the 2009 effort, crews planted nearly 120,000 jack pine seedlings in order to create more habitat for the endangered Kirtland's warbler songbird.
"It takes great patience to plant hundreds of thousands of seedlings by hand, one at a time, but it's all worth it," said Scott Henker, senior resource manager for the Lake States Region. "Our Michigan foresters take great pride in the land they manage, and they have a strong commitment to the environment and sustainability. This is one of our most important efforts each year."
Over the past few weeks, planting took place in three areas of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Nearly 263,000 seedlings were planted in the Escanaba area, and approximately 174,000 seedlings were planted in the L'Anse area.... More.
Tim Martin / Associated Press / Saturday, May 30, 2009
Lansing -- More motorists could get away with driving drunk and speeding if Michigan follows through on plans to cut back patrols and lay off 100 state troopers this summer.
The reductions could be as severe as those put in place for a five-month stretch in 2007, when Michigan State Police troopers were ordered to save money by driving nearly 1 million fewer patrol miles than during the same time in 2006.
Troopers arrested 746 fewer drunk drivers, a 23 percent drop, according to state police statistics. About 1,200 fewer fugitives were arrested, a decline of 17 percent. Troopers answered 3,327 fewer motorist assistance calls and wrote 22,811 fewer traffic tickets..... More.
by Barrie Barber / The Saginaw News / May 29, 2009
Saginaw County can count on $4.5 million in state revenue sharing through 2010, but all bets are off in 2011, a state lawmaker says.
Rep. Andy Coulouris, a Saginaw Democrat, said lawmakers anticipate a bigger hole in the budget that could eventually reach $2 billion, worsened by Chrysler's bankruptcy and General Motors Corp.'s anticipated bankruptcy filing Monday.
"Honestly, I'd say all bets are off for everything," Coulouris said. "It's a whole different world now."
Coulouris and fellow Rep. Kenneth B. Horn, a Frankenmuth Republican, talked at length Friday with the Board of Commissioners' Legislative Subcommittee on Appropriations about the need to restructure the state budget and boost the economy in an era of economic devastation and uncertainty.
For example, GM's nine-week plant shutdown this summer will cost the state $300 million in taxes, he said.
Prognosticators expect at least a $1 billion deficit in fiscal year 2010 and perhaps $2 billion in 2011, Coulouris said.
Lawmakers grappling with the budget in two years will find a rough road without federal stimulus money to shore up the red ink, he said.
"There's going to be huge cuts, there's going to be massive restructuring and we all know that," Coulouris said.
The county has felt the impact of the latest in state reductions: Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm's executive order to slash $349 million, which House and Senate leadership endorsed, led to the layoff of three workers at the county, said County Controller and Chief Administrative Officer Marc A. McGill. One employee was a senior nurse at the Department of Public Health; another was a Meals on Wheels driver and a third was a food preparer at the Commission on Aging.
It's the latest in a string of layoffs or slashed positions the county has faced.
"We've cut 113 jobs in the last eight years, and we're still doing everything we were doing, but it's getting real thin," McGill said. "In a few areas like law enforcement, we're getting less than thin."
The loss of state revenue sharing would chop up to 70 jobs, he said.
Horn said Michigan must reform tax policy, loosen regulations that hurt business, particularly at the Department of Environmental Quality, and create both affordable and renewable energy, among other resuscitation priorities.
"There's been the false sense if we fix the state budget, the economy will follow," said the lawmaker, who has called for a plan to create 350,000 manufacturing jobs in Michigan.
McGill also faulted the DEQ with killing jobs.
"It should be the Department of Job Elimination," he said, as he spoke in favor of a proposed Consumers Energy coal-fired plant near Bay City as a way to bring more employment and an expanded tax base to the region.
DEQ spokesman Robert McCann dismissed the criticism.
"It's a ridiculous thing to say when our regulations are in line with every other state's regulations," he said.
The agency enforces rules lawmakers create, he said, adding studies show environmental protection is "absolutely paramount" to economic growth.
Moreover, he said, the agency has one of the fastest approval routes for air emission permits in the nation.
"There's always going to be a perception issue (of overregulation) because, frankly, any time you are dealing with regulation, sometimes you are going to tell people no." Comments can be posted here on this article.
The airport will get $1.7 million for taxiway lighting. Overall, the FAA is providing $1.1 billion dollars to this nation's airports. The airport will get $1.7 million for taxiway lighting.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009 / SAWYER -- Sawyer International Airport is getting a big financial boost from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act--also known as the economic stimulus bill.
The Federal Aviation Administration anounced Tuesday that the airport will be getting $1.7 million to rehabilitate taxiway lighting.
"This project could not be completed without federal assistance," said Congressman Bart Stupak, "and I am very pleased that the funding has come through. As with all local projects funded through the economic recovery bill, completing this at Sawyer International will provide an economic stimulus to the local economy.'
Overall, the FAA is providing $1.1 billion dollars to this nation's airports.
JOHN FLESHER • Associated Press • May 29, 2009 • From LSJ.com
MACKINAC ISLAND - U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak is proposing housing detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, at an abandoned prison in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
Stupak sent a letter to President Barack Obama in February asking him to consider sending the detainees from the war on terrorism to the former Camp Manistique, which closed in 2007 because of state budget cuts.The camp is in Stupak's district. But the Menominee Democrat said today he would not pursue the matter further without broad support from local and state officials and Michigan's two U.S. senators. Republican Rep. Pete Hoekstra, who is running for governor next year, criticized the idea during a debate Thursday on Mackinac Island. He says the detainees are among the most dangerous people in the world.
Kevin Braciszeski - Daily News Staff Writer / May 30, 2009
MANISTEE — The state ordered Manistee to separate its storm and sanitary sewer systems in the early 1980s and the city council will consider seeking state loans to complete the last three projects by the end of 2016.... More.
The double-crested cormorant is protected as a migratory species.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
BAY CITY (AP) -- Michigan officials want federal permission to kill more cormorants to help reduce the shorebirds' impact on human fishing in the Great Lakes.
Russ Mason is wildlife chief for the state Department of Natural Resources. He says the DNR is seeking to re-negotiate an agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the number of birds that can be culled.
The double-crested cormorant is protected as a migratory species.
Currently, 10,500 cormorants can be killed each year. The state wants to double the cap to 21,000 or begin a regional approach to managing the birds.
The Bay City Times reports Tuesday cormorants can eat more than a pound of fish each day and have devastated fisheries and annoyed anglers for years.
LANSING, Mich. - It appears more likely Jennifer Granholm will serve the remainder of her term as Michigan governor after missing out on another presidential appointment.
President Barack Obama picked federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court on Tuesday. She would succeed retiring Justice David Souter if confirmed.
Granholm had been one of at least six people Obama considered for appointment to the high court. She says it was an honor to be considered for the Supreme Court and wishes Sotomayor all the best, calling her "a brilliant pick."
Both Obama and Granholm are Democrats. Granholm also had been in the mix for an appointment to Obama's cabinet earlier this year.
Granholm's second term as governor runs through 2010. She can't run for governor again because of Michigan's term limits law.
— Benjamin Franklin, in response to a question on what form of American government had been created by the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
“My dream is that we will not have a border”
— former Mexican President Vicente Fox at Georgia’s Kennesaw State University promoting the agenda of expanding NAFTA to include the free flow of people, May 12.
Although it went unreported by The Associated Press, along with Robert Pastor, author of a 2001 book entitled “Toward a North American Community,” former Mexican President Vicente Fox unabashedly advanced his “new vision for North American Prosperity” at a recent KSU event.
Readers who have not yet heard that they should adopt a “North American identity” may be quite surprised to learn of the former El Presidente’s proposals that we officially eliminate American borders and wave the white flag of surrender over the nation we were....... More.
By Kate Hessling / Thursday, May 21, 2009 /Tribune Staff Writer
UPPER THUMB — Though it hasn’t even been a month since state lawmakers approved $349 million in budget cuts, the pain already is starting to hit home, Huron County commissioners said Tuesday.
“The blood letting has already started,” said Commissioner Dave Peruski during the board’s meeting of the whole.
The budget cuts, which were included in an executive order approved by the House and Senate May 5, touch on just about every facet of society, Peruski noted.
“The cuts are so tough ... that it’s equal pain,” he said in regard to the variety of services facing budget cuts... Much more here.
Michigan, through its Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is one of only two states in the Union that regulates wetlands with a state agency rather than through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This has been a problem because the state guidelines are much more strict than the federal guidelines. Additionally, the DEQ has proven to be arbitrary and capricious in its decision-making and has often caused long, unnecessary delays in approving permits.
While the concerns about over-regulation by a state agency are valid, they may be rendered "moot" by recent efforts in Congress. U.S. Senator Russ Feingold has introduced a bill, S787, which was sponsored by 23 other members (all Democrats including Levin and Stabenow.) Senate Bill S787 is entitled, "To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to clarify the jurisdiction of the United States over waters of the United States." Notice they start the description with the words "pollution control." That makes it sound caring and good, doesn't it?
All surface waters will come under Congressional Control
The fact is, this legislation will put ALL surface waters in the United States of America under Congressional jurisdiction. The bill language, which can be read here, has a couple of key phrases in it. The first changes the definition of what is under Congressional jurisdiction. Ever since the Commerce Clause of the Constitution..... Click here to read more.
SOURCE: 2007 Census of Government Employment. For information on nonsampling error and definitions, see http://www.census.gov/govs/www/apesstl07.html. Data users who create their own estimates from these tables should cite the U.S. Census Bureau as the source of the original data only. Total Full-time Part-time Full-Time March Full-time pay Part-time pay Equivalent Pay Government Function employees ($) employees ($) Employment ($)
Total 118,667 554,353,242 63,987 73,470,298 144,807 627,823,540 Financial Administration 4,050 19,446,631 751 2,021,737 4,587 21,468,368 Other Government Administration 1,485 6,389,706 16 67,137 1,495 6,456,843 Judicial and Legal 1,500 9,952,254 64 205,687 1,541 10,157,941 Police Protection Total 2,719 11,079,438 40 64,139 2,730 11,143,577 Police Officers Only 1,944 8,362,122 0 0 1,944 8,362,122 Other Police Employees 775 2,717,316 40 64,139 786 2,781,455 Corrections 16,828 76,756,834 222 934,753 17,014 77,691,587 Highways 2,747 12,998,693 306 852,087 2,974 13,850,780 Public Welfare 9,753 42,822,736 510 1,894,797 10,196 44,717,533 Health 1,913 9,026,450 279 521,080 2,051 9,547,530 Hospitals 13,171 46,795,684 5,843 18,151,863 17,873 64,947,547 Social Insurance Administration 974 4,184,985 41 85,409 1,000 4,270,394 Parks and Recreation 210 861,538 101 292,921 275 1,154,459 Natural Resources 4,005 18,144,976 1,078 1,508,984 4,553 19,653,960 Education Total 53,771 272,729,771 54,453 46,389,729 72,841 319,119,500 Elementary & Secondary Education Total 820 2,508,647 252 295,249 936 2,803,896 Elem & Sec Instructional Employees 658 2,092,453 171 215,216 739 2,307,669 Elem & Sec Other Employees 162 416,194 81 80,033 197 496,227 Higher Education Total 51,788 264,756,704 53,918 45,101,740 70,493 309,858,444 Higher Ed Instructional Employees 17,689 116,071,907 10,148 16,227,666 21,743 132,299,573 Higher Ed Other Employees 34,099 148,684,797 43,770 28,874,074 48,750 177,558,871 Other Education 1,163 5,464,420 283 992,740 1,412 6,457,160 All Other and Unallocable 5,541 23,163,546 283 479,975 5,677 23,643,521
Many of you probably are already familiar with Gary Marbut. Mr. Marbut, in his capacity as President of the Montana Shooting Sports Association is responsible for the promotion of several bills brought before the Montana Legislature over the course of the legislative season.
Perhaps the highest profile bill that recently wound its way through the Montana Congress and onto the desk of Gov. Brian Schweitzer, of which was signed into law, was HB246, the Montana-Made Gun Bill. This bill challenges the power of the federal government to impose gun restrictions on the citizens of the state of Montana. HB246 declares that any gun or gun product manufactured in Montana and remains in Montana cannot be regulated by the federal government.
Montana was the first state to enact such a bill and has since gone viral with other states enacting or proposing similar bills. Many of these bills are being recognized under the name of, “Firearms Freedom Acts“. They have gained in such popularity, that Marbut recently traveled to New York City to appear on the Glenn Beck Show to talk about HB246.... More.
By David Lightman, McClatchy Newspapers David Lightman, Mcclatchy Newspapers – Wed May 20, 2009
WASHINGTON — Here's a list of stuff the typical American family can legally carry into national parks this summer: sleeping bag, toothbrush, change of underwear . . . loaded guns.
Thanks to a 279-147 vote Wednesday in the House of Representatives , visitors to the nation's parks and wildlife refuges will be able to carry weapons there if they abide by state weapons laws.
The bill is on its way to President Barack Obama , who faces a dilemma: Gun rights advocates attached the provision to a sweeping overhaul of the credit card industry, an initiative Obama strongly supports, so he has little choice but to let the gun section become law.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said only that Obama "looks forward" to signing the bill "as quickly as possible," and didn't mention the gun provision.
Gun control advocates howled Wednesday, but to little effect. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy , D- N.Y. , protested "the bill has been hijacked," and Rep. Maxine Waters , D- Calif. , maintained, "American taxpayers ought to be incensed."
Scot McElveen , the president of the Association of National Park Rangers , predicted that the measure would provoke problems at the parks.... More.
Federal officials dealt a setback to opponents of a proposed nickel mine in the Upper Peninsula Monday by declining to place a trout species that spawns in the area on the endangered species list.
Conservation groups looking to block Kennecott Minerals Inc. from mining 160 acres of state land near Marquette had hoped the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would designate the Coaster Brook Trout for federal protection. That designation may have forced Kennecott to revise its permit applications seeking state approval for the project.
But three years after the Sierra Club and Huron Mountain Club petitioned for the trout to receive endangered species status, the federal government announced Monday it would not do so.
"We know Coaster Brook Trout in the Great Lakes face a number of challenges, as do many Great Lakes fisheries," said Tom Meilius, the U.S Fish and Wildlife's Midwest regional director, in a press release. "The Service is committed to its ongoing Coaster Brook Trout conservation and rehabilitation efforts."
Sierra Club and Huron Mountain Club officials have said the Kennecott project -- called the Eagle Project -- could be the litmus test for Michigan laws passed in 2004 to regulate new mining efforts. If the Eagle Project goes through, they argue, similar mining efforts won't be far behind.
By KIM HOYUM, Journal Staff Writer and The Associated Press/ May 17, 2009
Email: "Senate backs guns in parks"
*To:
<--TO Email REQUIRED!
*From:
<--FROM Email REQUIRED!
WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. Senate on Tuesday backed an amendment that would allow people to carry loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges.
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., sponsored the measure, which he said would protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. The amendment allows firearms in parks and wildlife refuges, as long as they are allowed by federal, state and local law.
''If an American citizen has a right to carry a firearm in their state, it makes no sense to treat them like a criminal if they pass through a national park while in possession of a firearm,'' Coburn said.
Twenty-seven Democrats joined 39 Republicans and one independent in supporting the amendment, which was attached to a bill imposing restrictions on credit card companies. The credit card bill has wide support for its consumer protections. The amendment was approved 67-29.
Michigan Democratic Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow both voted against the amendment.
Groups supporting gun control, park rangers and retirees opposed the amendment, which they said went further than a Bush administration policy that briefly allowed loaded handguns in national parks and refuges.... More.
U.S. gun owners wary of Obama at NRA convention
Fri May 15, 2009 / By Tim Gaynor
* National Rifle Association targets Obama over gun curbs
* Activists fired up for 2010 congressional elections
* Political risk to Democrats wanes as Americans moderate
PHOENIX, May 15 (Reuters) - Thousands of U.S. gun owners gathering in Phoenix for the National Rifle Association's convention have one target firmly in their sights: any attempt to curb gun rights by the new guys in Washington.
"We as an association, but more importantly America's 80 million gun owners, are very concerned about what may be coming down the pike through the Obama administration," Glen Caroline, grassroots director for the NRA's lobbying arm.... More.
RNC chairman: Obama ready to appoint 'Dr. Phil' to Supreme Court.
Posted May 15, 2009
by Mark Silva
Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, dropped in on the National Rifle Association's "Celebration of American Values'" (assault weapons, 15-round ammo clips, 9 mm semi-automatics, etc.) Leadership Forum in Phoenix today.
Not only are the Democrats taking aim at the right to bear arms, the chairman suggested, but President Barack Obama's determination to close the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison means terrrorists soon will be coming to a jailhouse near you. Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri voiced a similar warning in the party's weekly address last weekend.
"Whenever they can, wherever they can, the Democrats want to take away the rights of law abiding citizens to own and purchase a gun - a right that is guaranteed under the United States Constitution,'' Steele warned his audience today. "It is ironic, to say the least, that at the same time Democrats in Congress are threatening to deny Americans their second amendment right to own a firearm and defend their families and homes, they are considering bringing terrorists like 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and other Al Qaeda detainees to our communities once the President follows through on his campaign promise to close Guantanamo Bay. ...
He also had this to say about Homelandd Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's warning recently about the threat posed by "rightwing extremists.''
Camping 101: State offers introduction to outdoors
by Local and News Service reports / The Muskegon Chronicle / Monday May 18, 2009
Chronicle file photo The state of Michigan has launched a "first-time camper" program that offers a getaway weekend bargain to camping newbies not already in the state park central reservation system.
WEST MICHIGAN -- Attention city dwellers and pretty much anyone who can't name the three ingredients in a classic S'more: It's now easier -- and cheaper -- to check out Michigan's wilder side.
The state of Michigan has launched a "first-time camper" program that offers a getaway weekend bargain to camping newbies not already in the state park central reservation system.
For $20, those new to Michigan camping can book a two-night stay in any of 15 participating state parks or recreation areas -- including Muskegon State Park and P.J. Hoffmaster State Park. More.
State outdoor spaces face major funding shortages; bill would
combat this by offering motorists a year of access to
any park for an additional fee
By Dennis Cogswell / H-P Outdoors Editor / Published: Friday, May 15, 2009
As recently as 20 years ago, the state general fund covered 70 percent of the cost of Michigan's state parks. Today, that figure is zero, and as a result, the parks are in real trouble.
Department of Natural Resources Director Rebecca Humphries says that unless a cash infusion is made soon, some parks will be closed in 2010. A dozen state forest campgrounds were recently closed. Even with the closures, there will still be some $341 million needed for park repairs, buildings, roads and other infrastructure costs that have been put off as the state budget tanked.
The Citizens Committee for Michigan State Parks, an advisory group, has come up with a relatively painless way to help end the crisis. Its proposal, now making its way through the Legislature, would allow motorists to pay an extra $10 when they purchased their license plates, which would provide them entrance for a year into state parks. That's a real bargain since it costs $6 a day or $24 annually to use state parks.... More.
LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER Census GPS-tagging your home's front door Coordinates being taken for every residence in nation
According to an online Yahoo program, the Global Position System coordinates for the White House, probably one of the best-known publicly owned buildings in the world, are 38.898590 Latitude and -77.035971 Longitude. And since you know that, it's no big deal for the White House to know the coordinates for yourfront door, is it?
Some people think it is, and are upset over an army of some 140,000 workers hired in part with a $700 million taxpayer-funded contract to collect GPS readings for every front door in the nation.
The data collection, presented as preparation for the 2010 Census, is pinpointing with computer accuracy the locations and has raised considerable concern from privacy advocates who have questioned why the information is needed. The privacy advocates also are more than a little worried over what could be done with that information.
Enhancing the concerns is the Obama administration's recent decision to put White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in an oversight role over the census, which will be used to determine a reapportionment of congressional seats and could be used to solidify a single political party's control over the nation, its budget, military and future...... More.
U.S. Government Abuses Census: Why I Won't File my 2010 Form
October 17, 2007 by Rebecca Said
It is commonplace for our privacy to be invaded by the United States government. The government can have your phone record, copies of your e-mails, travel record and much more. But that is not good enough. For additional information to add to your ever-growing file, you are also required to fill out a Census form every ten years.... More.
In a letter to Ann Arbor’s mayor and city council, Noah Hall, executive director of the The Great Lakes Environmental Law Center in Detroit, has raised the specter of an environmental lawsuit filed against the city of Ann Arbor. At issue is whether the city’s planned underground parking garage on Fifth Avenue violates the Michigan Environmental Policy Act (MEPA). The bond issuance for the project, for an amount not to exceed $55 million, was approved by city council at its Feb. 17, 2009 meeting. As of Friday, May 15, 2009, bonds have still not yet been issued, according to Tom Crawford, the city’s chief financial officer. [text of Hall's letter]
Montana’s HB246 is the talk of the states it seems these days. It didn’t take too long I suppose but with each passing day, more media, not the main stream though, and new Internet media are picking up on the brazen and testy new gun law bill that Montana signed into law last month. I first brought you that story right here on the Black Bear Blog.
I’ll dispense with all the proper speak and get to the nitty gritty of the bill. Montana’s HB246 says that any guns or gun parts manufactured in the state of Montana and sold exclusively in the state of Montana cannot be regulated by the federal government.
Back on April 20, 2009 I made this comment..... More.
POSTED: Thursday, May 14, 2009 / UPDATED:May 15, 2009
DETROIT -- The latest piece to a revamped Detroit riverfront is in place with the completion of a 1.2-mile hiking and biking trail along an abandoned rail line.
The $3.25 million Dequindre Cut Greenway officially opened Thursday after two years of construction.The 20-foot wide paved trail links the Eastern Market area to Woodbridge Street, just north of the Detroit River. Detroit RiverFront Conservancy spokeswoman Caroline Marks said work on extending the path from Woodbridge to the river is to start this fall.Future plans are to continue the path north of Eastern Market.Felicia Helms is an avid walker and likes the new path."I like the security cameras, I like the benches so you can sit down and rest," Helms said. "It's good for the city, I like it."Jason Bestard, of Macomb County, said he's had a hard time finding a good place to ride his bike."There's not a lot of easy biking trails in Detroit, most of the bicyclists use the roads and it's not as good as the trails," he said.A 2.5-mile East RiverWalk along the Detroit River opened in 2007. A similar path is planned for the city's west riverfront. The $300 million bike and walking path system eventually will be 5.5 miles long.
Economists offer hope amid dire state budget predictions
Mark Hornbeck / Detroit News Lansing Bureau / Friday, May 15, 2009
Lansing -- Michigan's tax collections are making unprecedented plunges, but the moribund economy is showing signs that recovery may begin soon, economists said this morning at the state revenue summit.
State Treasurer Bob Kleine said the 20-percent-plus freefall in tax revenues forecast for next year is record-setting, easily surpassing the 11.5 percent decline in 1981. He said the general fund, the state's checking account, is expected to plummet to 1992 levels.
Housing starts will be about 500,000 units this year, far worse than the previous low of 830,000 recorded 50 years ago, he said..... More.
By Nick, Section News / Posted on Thu May 14, 2009
When you think about it, she's the only potential nominee who even makes sense.
The Ivory Tower reports this morning that Michigan's very own Governor Jennifer Granholm has landed smack dab on the Obama administration's short list of potential nominees to fill outgoing Justice David Souter's seat on the United States Supreme Court.
Others on the list: California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Appeals Court judges Sonia Sotomayor, Diane Pamela Wood and former Deputy Attorney General James Comey.
Never mind that Granholm has zero days total experience sitting on any judicial bench- she makes up for her relatively amateurish legal credentials with the sort of resume line item that seems to grab President Obama by the throat and refuses to let go.
What Jennifer Granholm has that every other member of that esteemed list lacks (we assume) is the kind of personal history that the President's other early-term appointments indicate he values the most... serious personal tax problems.
The Detroit Free Press reported that an $800 lien was "placed against the Wayne County home of Granholm and her husband in 2006 for failing to file unemployment insurance reports on their nanny."
Beaver Island vet calls for end to baiting, feeding ban
By Richard P. Smith / Contributing Writer / Thursday, May 7, 2009
Marquette, Mich. -_Veterinarian Jeff Powers, of Beaver Island, believes the ban on feeding and baiting deer in the Lower Peninsula should be lifted on most of the peninsula based on current information about chronic wasting disease. He said the bans are appropriate in the county where CWD was detected, but are doing more harm than good elsewhere.
Powers also said he believes the bans should never have been implemented on Beaver Island due to the island's isolation from the mainland.... More.
The Associated Press / Thursday, May 14, 2009 / Atlanta Journal Constitution
Gov. Sonny Perdue has signed a bill that would penalize local governments for failing to check the immigration status of people that they hire and those receiving public benefits.
The measure is designed to put teeth in a 2006 law cracking down on illegal immigration in Georgia. That law required governments and companies that do government business to use federal databases to check the immigration status of those that they hire. But there was no penalty for failing to do so.
GOP lawmakers said some local governments were ignoring the law. Under the new measure, governments that fail to run the checks could lose funds in the state budget. The new law takes effect Jan. 1. HERE
Invasive Earthworms Denude Forests in U.S. Great Lakes Region
Worms, such as the night crawler, eat leaf litter which acts as a rooting medium for new growth
Cindy Hale, an ecologist at the University of Minnesota, answers e-mails from a lot of distraught citizens of the Great Lakes region. The residents, it seems, have introduced certain earthworms into their gardens, she says, “and now they’ve got that ‘nothing grows here syndrome.’”
Long considered a gardener’s friend, earthworms can loosen and aerate the soil. But the story is different in the Great Lakes region. The last Ice Age wiped out native earthworms 10,000 years ago, and ever since the Northeast forest has evolved.... More.
It has been my standard practice to give credit where credit is due and I won’t be deviating from that today. E. Sharp has a nice piece in the Ivory Tower calling out Rush Limabugh for his support of the Humane Society. I think that Sharp's calling out is mis-guided by his own lefty principles but still .... He's right! It seems that rush's support for the anti-hunting, fishing, meat eating, farming, milking, and anti-anti organization stems from the affection for his beloved little dog. It is an example of what happens when we narrow our scope and become intesely focused on one piece of the big puzzle.... More.
by Jeff Kart / The Bay City Times / Sunday May 10, 2009
Partially treated sewage runs from the Essexville Wastewater Treatment Plant into the Saginaw River in this Feb. 12 photo. So far this year, 1 billion gallons of such sewage - enough to fill 1,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools - has flowed into the Saginaw River.
More than 1 billion gallons of partially treated sewage has been dumped into the Saginaw River so far this year, a dubious milestone that concerns area residents and local officials.
A billion gallons is enough to fill about 1,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
The river reached the billion mark in late April, according to a Bay City Times tally of combined sewer overflows, or CSOs.
It happened after more than 3 inches of rain overwhelmed the combined sewer system in Saginaw, sending a mix of almost 290 million gallons of sanitary sewage and stormwater from retention basins to the river..... More.
"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friends, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."
As budget negotiations continue behind closed doors in Lansing, 
![[Review & Outlook]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-DX990_WAXMAN_D_20090624185656.jpg)
Associated Press 
Unemployment Numbers By State
The Center for Global Development has a track record of providing important insights into how the United States can improve 
Wed, 
by Mark Silva
Detroit Riverfront Now Has Paved Trail
