Monthly Archives: June 2015

All the Other Stuff, Philosophy

Reminder – August 02

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30 Second Script:

Are your rights being slowly eroded?
Can you trust your government?
Why have you not been allowed to build your dream home?
What authority do foreign nations have over you?
What does the UN have to do with your local planning board?

Find out why Property Rights and Liberty MUST come first August 2nd at the Great wolf lodge in Traverse City.

For tickets to this four hour event with acclaimed property rights expert Tom Deweese and constitutional scholar KrisAnne Hall, go to event.grow.tc thats event.grow.tc

You Betcha! (9)Nuh Uh.(1)

Cronyism, Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Taxes

15 Million Dollars Worth Of Dark Sky

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Emmet County commissioners are apparently out of touch with the electorate.

I Could have predicted this.

Perhaps I would have; if I lived in Emmet County.  However, there should still be nothing surprising about an apparent divergence of priority between the voters and the elected numbskulls who ‘serve’ them.  The same type of thinking that drives the nonsense in DC can be just as bad locally, and have a more immediate financial effect.

Reading the bills, or allowing a real debate to happen before committing millions of dollars extracted forcefully from taxpayers should be paramount.  The latter option was never allowed to happen however.  A year ago, Emmet County commissioners jacked the electorate without the chance to object, leaving them to foot the bill for a $15 Million boondoggle.

As quick as a shooting star, Emmet County commissioners (pictured above) approved a sale of $15 million in bonds with nearly half of the proceeds being used to build an observatory and a new event building at the Headlands International Dark Sky Park in Mackinaw City.

Without the chance to object.

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All the Other Stuff, Humor in Michigan, Michigan

Frank?

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Good for the gooses, good for the Michi-gander ..or something.

falconsWhy does the guy falcon get the normal name?

Why even bother?   A new set of pigeon eaters has apparently been hatched at a government bridge. The government people tagged em so they could keep track and all that.  New AKAs as well:

“In addition to their leg bands, the peregrine chicks received names Tuesday: the females are Jasina, Dwaynette and Q, while the lone male is named Frank.”

I’ll leave it to you all to figure out which one is the gander.

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Michigan, Opinion, Republicans

Benishek, Bishop, Huizenga, Miller, Moolenaar, Trott, Upton, and Walberg

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Yessirree, folks. Yesterday, those names above sold out Americans, again (how they voted, here).

Read more over at Denninger (with UPDATED INFO), and at Vdare here, and, here.
Two-wings-of-the-Ruling-Class-Party
But, but, but, Ted Cruz!

No, I don’t think so but, we here at RightMi.com welcome both Saul Anuzis, and Wendy Day, to come on here to attempt justifying Ted’s vote.

H/t WRSA

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Conservative News, Democrats, Firearms, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Part Time Legislature, Republicans

Ready For A Crime Wave?

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Governor Snyder's 'Smart Justice' Improves The Risk/Reward Payoff For Armed Criminals

Jackson PrisonMichigan House Bills 4419/4420, Proposed Substitute H-3, gut Michigan’s 25 year old mandatory minimum sentences for crimes committed with firearms. Introduced by Republican Representative Kurt Heise (R-20th) of Plymouth and co-authored by 28 bleeding heart Republicans (4) and Democrats (24), these bills:

    1. Convert Michigan’s long standing mandatory 2/5/10 year minimum sentences for criminals using firearms into maximum sentences
    2. Allow ‘use of firearms’ sentences to be served concurrently with the underlying crime sentences for the first time
    3. Allow prisoners serving ‘use of firearms’ sentences to be paroled prior to completing even these sentences

Now the proponents of ‘Smart Justice’ are telling the public that their effort will:

    – reduce the number of ‘non violent prisoners’ held in Michigan prisons
    – reduce the price Michigan pays for incarceration

As you might imagine, this is quite attractive to Michigan politicians who just got slapped down on Proposal 1. The Michigan Department of Corrections consumes $ 2 billion in General Fund revenues every year.  Roughly 20% of the total General Fund.

Governor Snyder kicked off this issue back in early March with his Special Message to the Legislature on Public Safety. The primary public advocate driving his ‘Smart Justice’ sentencing reforms is one Barbara Levine, the Assistant Director of Research and Policy at the Citizens Alliance on Prisons and Public Policy and one of Governor Snyder’s appointees on Michigan’s new Criminal Justice Policy Commission. She just released a massive study titled “10,000 fewer Michigan prisoners: Strategies to reach the goal”. This could produce up to a 23% drop in prison spending, something on the order of $ 450 million a year. A lot of new Lansing office buildings with views and more idle train cars in Owosso. A Pavlovian metronome irresistibly beckoning our state politicians.

But how much would it cost Michigan residents in crime taxes?

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All the Other Stuff, Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Detroit, Fees, Flint Water Fiasco, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Part Time Legislature, Rent Seeking, Republicans, Taxes

Unconstitutional: Great Lakes Water Authority Lease Violates Michigan Constitution

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--- Absence of Enabling Legislation Clearly Violates Article III, Section 6 --- 40 Year Lease Period Clearly Violates Article VII, Section 30

GLWA Detroit Seal ImageFriday, the Great Lakes Water Authority board approved a 40 year duration lease of Detroit Water & Sewerage Department’s assets and operations outside of the city of Detroit. This approval passed by a 5 to 1 vote with only Macomb County’s representative on the GLWA board opposed. The terms of the lease subordinate the DW&SD to the GLWA, a new intergovernmental authority created out of the ashes of the City of Detroit’s bankruptcy by a Memorandum of Understanding.

This deal was constructed as a lease to evade the 1963 Michigan Constitution‘s requirement, under Article VII, Section 25, for a vote of Detroit’s electors to approve the sale of any public utility. However, by constructing the deal as a lease, the City of Detroit is essentially granting a lease franchise covering the DW&SD’s water and sewerage operations to GLWA. The 40 year term of this lease franchise clearly exceeds the 30 year maximum permitted by Article VII, Section 30 of our 1963 Constitution:Michigan Constitution of 1963 Article VII Section 30
Merriam-Webster defines a ‘franchise’ as “ the right to sell a company’s goods or services in a particular area; also, a business that is given such a right”. Exactly the nature of the GLWA lease agreement with the City of Detroit. Should you doubt that the City of Detroit constitutes a ‘company’, Merriam-Webster defines a ‘company’ as “ an association of persons for carrying on a commercial or industrial enterprise”. Exactly what DW&SD has been doing for over 100 years.

State Representative Kurt Heise (R-20th) from Plymouth has challenged the establishment of GLWA under the 1963 Michigan Constitution’s Article VII, Section 28:Michigan Constitution of 1963 Article VII Section 28
Taken together with the 1963 Michigan Constitution’s Article III, Section 5:Michigan Constitution of 1963 Article III Section 5
it establishes our Legislature’s authority over intergovernmental units. But these two sections do not unambiguously grant the Michigan legislature exclusive authority over intergovernmental units, so there is probably legal wiggle room here.  Contrary to Representative Heise’s contention, a good lawyer could make a case that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court could establish the GLWA under Article VII, Section 28 and Article III, Section 5.

However…..

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Michigan, Opinion, Philosophy

When a Fishy Bonehead Chooses to Resemble Tube Steak

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Out comes a sleazy shyster to collect a third of whatever the settlement will be.

TranpaKicked out of the bathroom? Hell, I would’ve kicked it out from entering the joint just because of all the metal in its face. Did you catch Clifford at the end? “Wow sounds so embarrassing for her.” Shut your piehole, Carolyn. Your job is to report news, not your opinion.

You know, all of this bizarre indoctrination and, what it’s really all about, forced participation, by those choosing to be fruitloops is getting way out of hand.

You Betcha! (18)Nuh Uh.(0)

All the Other Stuff, Cronyism, Democrats, Fees, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Proposal 15-1, Rent Seeking, Republicans, Taxes

$ 3 Gas Across Michigan: Warming You Up For A Gas Tax Ratchet?

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House Road Funding Package Puts Gas Tax Increases on Autopilot --- Tax on B5 Diesel for Heavy Trucks Cut 20%

Southfield, MI Gas Prices 12 June 2015

Southfield, MI Gas Prices 12 June 2015

Michiganders woke up this morning to discover that regular unleaded gasoline prices are now $ 3 per gallon, a $ .25 increase, or more, from yesterday. Refinery problems, summer driving season, and SE MI’s special fuel blend are blamed in the press, but really this price shock is an intended consequence the Federal Reserve’s zero interest policy and their determination to boost stock prices. Oil derivatives are cheaper than dirt when there is no cost to money.

Wall Street wasn’t happy early this year when plunging oil prices drove down stock averages. So someone is furiously selling off Treasury paper and buying oil & gasoline futures contracts. Treasury interest rates have been rising in lockstep with oil & gas prices, on the same days, even the same hours. Officially, no one knows who is behind these trades, but the Federal Reserve is sitting on $ 4 trillion in Treasury paper and is fighting any effort to audit their holdings. A coincidence? Not likely.

Your government extracting more money from your wallet.

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