Jason

Conservative News, Cronyism, Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Republicans

Too Much Private Property

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If Schmidt has his way, Northern Michigan communities will see new challenges

DNR-trust-2One of the little deals with the DNR and its ability to purchase land, is that it is limited.

Limited to 4,650,000 acres in fact, with some exceptions, and not more than 3,910,000 acres north of a line between Mason and Arenac counties, to be exact.

This means that the amount of land that is available for private use and development will not continue to shrink indefinitely.  It means that the revenues from oil and gas lease rights are not forever used to remove land from local tax rolls. It also means that overzealous misplaced urban planner graduates from the MSU school of property theft have one less tool in their belt of American dream destruction.

in 2012 Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, signed a common sense piece of legislation (huh.. how bout that) that put a check on the runaway property acquisition of the DNR, and the way in which it distorts property values and makes desirable land unavailable for private use.  The ONLY 5 Republicans Voting against the bill at that time were Jon Bumstead, (R) Holly Hughes, (R) Peter Pettalia, (R) Bruce Rendon, (R) and Wayne Schmidt, (R).  They and their Democrat property rights thieving counterparts were sent packing, as the bad ol Republican bullies put that limit on the quite literal GROWTH of government through land purchases.

Surprise, surprise, now they are back. And they brought friends. And they seem to think Michigan has too much private property available to it.

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Michigan, Michigan Politics, Republicans

The Only One

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homer-constThe Michigan congressional delegation Republicans had the right idea with regard to Roll Call 61.

Except for Michigan’s very own captain courageous, Dave Camp.  Camp along with 27 other GOP congressional critters carried the water for Democrats and Barack Obama.

Maybe he was confused by the title of the bill that raised the debt ceiling?  Only in government, can a bill with the title:

To designate the air route traffic control center located in Nashua, New Hampshire, as the “Patricia Clark Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center”

be used to continue out of control spending by an unaccountable administration that needs to have its criminal leadership removed, not rewarded with more resources.

Going forward in Michigan’s 4ths congressional district, there IS another choice.

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All the Other Stuff, Cronyism, Michigan

ICYMI – East Lansing Obama Protest

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Fun from Friday.

If you didn’t get a chance to be there in person, the AFP organized rally greeted Obama last Friday with a line up of signs. The event in East Lansing drew about 50 according to this news report. Obama was on hand to hold a service for the church of agricultural welfare.

money tree

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Michigan, Philosophy, Rent Seeking

OK, So Lets See The Other Side

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pure-somethingToo often, your local government will have advocates of money-spending that holds out the promise of jobs, or some tangible benefit that can be presented in dollars gained back for the community.

The authors of such fiction typically seek to justify their own positions of employment within that community, and possibly within the government entity itself. Axiomatically however, all of them have a stake in the outcome of the requested spending.  They will be asked for, and then will present metrics, or a presumed study of return on investment (ROI) and typically the elected leadership falls for it hook, line and sinker.

A perfect example was during a consideration of funding for the MSU extension office in Grand Traverse County when I was an elected commissioner.  County commissioners were given plenty of reading materials by the MSU advocates to show us that for every dollar spent we would see a result of $17 in benefit to the county.  The calculations as it turned out were premised on a ‘guess,’ that was then multiplied by a compounding analysis program that is used by MSU intellectuals, that relies on ‘guesses’ for the input variables.

Go. State.   ..  Yay.

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Conservative News, Michigan

Ann Arbor Law Firm Files Amicus Brief Supporting Religious Freedom

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It seems we have found a regular place in writing about and defending religious liberties lately.banned

That’s perfectly alright, as many are too afraid to stand up for them, and SOMEBODY has to do it. As noted at watchdog wire, the Thomas More Law Center has engaged in the fight as well:

Claiming “an unprecedented attack on religious liberty,” the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) filed an amicus brief, this past Tuesday, in support of the plaintiffs in two separate cases, Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc, and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp., pending in the U.S. Supreme Court. In both cases, the plaintiffs are devout Christians who built their businesses from the ground up. They object on religious grounds to providing certain contraceptives which are mandated by the Department of Health and Human Services headed by Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Both cases are scheduled for oral arguments on March 25, 2014 and the Court’s decision is expected sometime before the end of June.

In this case it is about the freedom to refrain from supporting things that run afoul of one’s conscience, freedom of association, and free speech.  IMO, It could also be argued under the 5th amendment, under due process as well.

More to come.

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Cronyism, Detroit, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Rent Seeking

Bankrupt – The Movie

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Detroit.

Cronyism, corruption, bailouts, favored status, confiscation through eminent domain, picking winners and losers.  Sound familiar?

This documentary premiered yesterday in Washington DC, and offers some historic perspective to the decline of Detroit.

Perhaps even, an explanation (a warning) of what is to come next, as long as we allow our governments to engage in corporatism; a way in which our taxpayers dollars are funneled into the pockets of special interests  and how corruption has abused Detroit, providing little benefit to those paying the bills. At one point Thomas LaDuke makes a great point about not questioning “people’s heart or motives,” but his frustration of how city residents don’t actually see how the city has been run.

Enjoy

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Cronyism, Detroit, Michigan, Republicans

Now why might this be?

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Something interesting to note with battleground state data that has been released a short while ago.

Gallup: January 2-December 29, 2014

Obama Approval ratings in Senate Battleground States (this is the YEARLY average, the President’s current numbers are actually lower in EACH of these states).

  • Alaska: 33.5%
  • Arkansas: 34.9%
  • Colorado: %42.3
  • Georgia: 45.4%
  • Iowa: 42.5%
  • Kentucky: 35.1%
  • Louisiana: 40%
  • Michigan: 47.7%
  • Montana: 33.1%
  • New Hampshire: 44.6%
  • North Carolina: 43%
  • Oregon: 45.4%
  • South Dakota: 31.7%
  • Virginia: 46.4%
  • West Virginia: 25.1%

The current numbers may be lower, but I see one particular thing that makes sense.

You have to love Michigan’s push for medicaid expansion, and ceding to the Obamacare plan along side other progressive Obama ‘likes’ such as common core, A21, and transportation schemes. The highest appreciation for Obama, coming from the state that is controlled by Republicans.

Because Republicans manage those failed progressive schemes so much better than the Democrats.

#AmIRight?

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Democrats, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Republicans

Feds: “Maybe If You Were A Democrat”

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Not stated directly, but it would probably help him out.

Implied by Tim Skubick, and more directly stated by a commenter; “Snyder is a Republican, so he will not get the $250 million for the customs plaza necessary to complete his end-around bridge play.”  Tim says:

Can’t you see it now? The governor shows up with shovel in hand, let’s say in October, one month before the election, for the launch of the bridge project. He could boast – although he says he does not take credit – that 20,000 jobs are being created with a whole host of them aimed at union workers in vote-rich southeast Michigan.

The Democrats want this state back.  And even though Michigan’s Governor Rick Snyder has ‘progressed’ their goals in many ways, he still wears the R flag, and is by association to it; the enemy.

A solution of course, would be for Mr Snyder to own up to his meandering left of center on so many issues, and simply switch.

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Philosophy

This Too Shall Pass

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Abraham_Lincoln-1858Abraham Lincoln from  in an address before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, September 30, 1859, offered a thought that offers both hope and caution. (from The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln )

“It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words: ‘And this, too, shall pass away.’ How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!”

As Lincoln opined, things both good and bad; as a part of the flow of time, will eventually, simply, cease.

Whether one is to take it as a warning, and advisement to actively protect what has been made good, or a promise that certain blemishes will eventually fade is certainly upon the perspective [of the] bearer of such impairment or achievement.

And it is the perfect sight of historical fact under which we can see both sides in play.  The abolition of the American slavery, and the more recent loss of Liberty earned by the blood of our forefathers.  The routing of a scourge of man set to control man, and the promise that would prevent it from ever happening again disappearing under the most false pretense of populist desire.

Recent events involving an organized effort to remove a Michigan defender of what is good, through such false pretense has in its operative design a working model of historical precedent.  To make great achievement ‘pass’ all that opposition must do is wait for a plausible flaw.

Be it truth or not matters little to those of destructive intent; when the objective is to make what is good, wither and fall.

I await eagerly, the passing of a current pretense of despair that will indeed happen; but knowing that with time, it too, shall return.

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