Tag: Kildee

An appropriations bill that does not specifically deny USDA funding to conduct inspections of horsemeat for human consumption could allow horse processing to resume in the U.S. The Fiscal Year 2012 Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act (H.R. 2112), or the so-called "Mini-bus Bill," establishes 2012 budgets for the Department of Agriculture and several other federal departments through September 2012.

Prior to 2005 USDA personnel carried out horsemeat food safety inspections at U.S. horse processing plants. In 2006 Congress voted to strip the USDA of funding for horsemeat inspections. USDA personnel continued to conduct those inspections on a fee-for-service basis until 2007 when a federal court judge ruled against the arrangement. The combination of the funding prohibition and the court decision resulted in the decline of the horse processing industry in the U.S.

Language stripping the USDA of horsemeat inspection funding did not appear in the original fiscal 2012 House Agricultural Appropriations bill when it was introduced earlier this year. However, the House Appropriations Committee adopted an amendment prohibiting the use of federal dollars to fund USDA horsemeat inspections. No such provision was contained in the Senate's version of the Appropriations bill.

After passage in their respective legislative houses, both the House and Senate bills were referred to a conference committee. The resulting consolidated bill did not contain the defunding language. The committee recommended the bill for passage, then forwarded to the full House and Senate for vote. On Nov. 17 the full House passed H.R. 2112 by 298-121 vote. The Senate also passed the bill by a 70 to 30 vote. President Barak Obama signed the bill into law on Nov. 18. As a result, the USDA could conduct horsemeat inspections at least until September 2012.

Michigan US Reps. Benishek, Camp, Clarke, Dingell, Kildee, Levin, Peters, Rogers, and Upton voted YES.  Both Michigan US Sens. Stabenow and Levin voted YES too.

If you are from Michigan, have a desire to meet a lot of new people and serve your country, NOW is the time.  A few hard workers with soul are needed in the following districts ... uh  well ALL of the following districts except Congressional District #3 which is occupied by Justin Amash:

"The Budget Control Act trades $21 billion in cuts next year for a debt ceiling increase of $2.1 trillion. That's one penny in cuts for each dollar of new debt. The bill does not seriously address the drivers of the federal government's fiscal crisis. It does not improve entitlement programs.

"It does not include a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. I cannot in good conscience vote for so little reform when so much is at stake.

Again, the Michigan Republican delegation sans one, failed to perform its duty on the most important vote of their lifetimes.  They missed an opportunity to stand for a permanence of fiscal prudence.

MICHIGAN DELEGATION VOTE The complete list here

Democrats
Clarke, N; Conyers, N; Dingell, Y; Kildee, Y; Levin, Y; Peters, N.

Republicans
Amash, N; Benishek, Y; Camp, Y; Huizenga, Y; McCotter, Y; Miller, Y; Rogers, Y; Upton, Y; Walberg, Y.

As for those Democrats who voted no, they wanted even more from Boehner.  However, this president will take whatever rope he has been given and run with it.

While the pundits attempt to watch the Tea Kettle boil, those liberals in congress who for years have failed their constituents and saddled our youth with decades of unmanageable debt, are seeing their futures as bleak indeed. November 2010 was not a fluke, and will be repeated.

Another has fallen.

Indeed, even the illegals understood that Michigan offered little hope, and was not the place to settle and raise a little anchor family. [cue little house on the prairie theme]

So they packed up their tukes, loaded up the covered wagons, and either returned over the international bridge or moved further south to other more welcoming states, ignoring their queen, our governor's pleas of "just hang on," and "the blown away part is coming."  They left us for greener pastures, in a quest for survival.  Other states host these 'immigrants' quite splendidly, offering both employment opportunities and even sanctuary for those weary travelers who know no international boundaries and respect no rule of law.

And by golly we are sorry to see them ..not here.

Responding to remarks Limbaugh made yesterday on his top rated afternoon radio program where he agreed with Genesee County Treasurer (and Democrat) Dan Kildee's suggestion that abandoned buildings and vacant space be torn down, Stanley and half of the Lefties in F-Town just plumb lost their minds. The Flint Journal Reports:

...Stanley, D-Flint, said he dismisses a lot of what Limbaugh has to say, but at the same time, "You can't diminish the words that he said."

"Cities are not just buildings or concrete or trees -- cities are people," he said. "You're making reference to people and that is not appropriate at all."

I don't like to devolve into personal insults and name-calling.  I think by in large the entire community here at RightMichigan has been pretty good about sticking to issues, at least on this site, but Woodrow... you're either being hyper-partisan, intentionally dense a mile beyond the point of absurdity or you, sir, are an idiot.  Period.

Let's recap...

(Please read on...)

I know you're a proud Michigander.  I am too.  I've been here my whole life and when I've had opportunities to leave, to take a job in the political Mecca of modern society, Washington, D.C., I've always turned those offers and opportunities down.  This is home and we love it.

Turns out, though, and don't shoot the messenger, but not everyone feels the way you and I do about the Great Lakes State and the city with which we're synonymous.  The Ivory Tower reports this morning on the release of an October survey highlighting and lowlighting cities from across the country and their appeal to Americans looking for a new life in a new town.  

No surprise that Denver is ranked the top city in America (by this measure) with a full 43 percent of respondents indicating they'd like to live there.  Look at their football team... I'm surprised the number is that low (Super Bowl bound next year, by the way).  

Folks were pretty clear about two things.  They liked cities out west and down south, but the Midwest and Michigan in particular?  Not so much.  Our own Detroit, Michigan was the lowest rated city in the survey with only 8 percent of the participants labeling it a city in which they'd like to live.  On the flipside, a survey-high 90 percent of participants labeled it a city where they would definitely NOT like to live.

Read on...