Michigan Politics

Michigan Political considerations.

FreedomWorks Mi Score Card

FreedomWorks Issues Its 2014 Key Votes Scorecard.

A reliably conservative watchdog, FreedomWorks reflects the views of many conservative and tea types

Not surprisingly, certain lawmakers scored higher than their supposedly ideological brothers.  We have seen the squishy unprincipled selling out of the USA for far too long to not expect it to be revealed in this type of scoring.

MI-Congress-2014-FW

The card can be maximized by clicking on the image.  the corresponding votes are below.

You Betcha! (1)Nuh Uh.(0)

Hospice – Another ACA Casualty

Hospice has been a way to deal with terminal situations in a compassionate way that suits patients and their families.

The way it has evolved with medicare has made it an affordable option; one that allows the passing of loved ones in comfortable and appropriate surroundings.  The medicare component has been affected by the ACA however, and the continued meddling by government in its attempt to provide broad health coverage to all has accelerated the financial troubles experienced by all in the health industry.

H/T Raffi Williams

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Michigan Blogger Round Up

A round up of Michigan bloggers and their work

logo-sphereFrom The Right –  Michigan Gives Up – A reminder the the GOP totally caved to progressive goals.

PartTimeMi.com – Suspension of the Part Time Legislature Ballot Initiative Due to numerous reasons it will not happen in 2014 by ballot.

Republican Michigander TWOFER

Michigan Capitol Confidential – Yeah, Detroit is going to get even more of the pie.  It’s Just amazing

The Shekel – Firearm Law Improvements in Michigan A couple of improvements, and looking for more.

The Voice of One Crying Out in Suburbia – When Did Modesty Become An Ironically Dirty Word? Seriously.

WatchDog Wire – Izzy tells us how ‘eco-tourism’ gets a great big boost from the starry eyed pols in Emmet County – $15 million in bonds approved by county commissioners and fulfilled by taxpayers.  Whatta bargain!

If you have a Michigan based blog that should be included, or have a Michigan based story that cannot be missed, shoot a message over via the tips link above.

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My Two Dads

I have to face it, without my two dads I would be a very different man.

Most people who know me, understand that I shy away from that which is politically correct.

This Fathers Day, it seemed to be an excellent time to reinforce that understanding, and offer a view that may not be widely held. Try as I might, I can no longer disguise the fact that I have not one, but two fathers; each of whom are so incredibly important, that the loss of either one would leave me in a state of severe depression.fathersday

Both of my fathers have cared for me since I was young, somehow knowing what to provide for my brothers and I, and always making sure we had what was needed. Though they did not always provide the things that we wanted, there is no question we were never without the essentials, and those necessary things were given with unconditional love, and often a touch of sacrifice.

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Taxed Too Much Follow Up

That big ol tax increase a hard sell in Lansing all of a sudden

Report from Joan Fabiano

Despite the best efforts, arm twisting, promises and amendment upon amendment) of Gov. Snyder, Senate majority leader Randy Richardville (term limited) and Speaker of the House Jase Bolger (term limited) to put lipstick on a pig the legislature could not  muster the votes Thursday for a big tax increase. The Senate has adjourned until July 16 returns August 13, but doesn’t resume the regular schedule until September 9.

In fact it was high drama under the Dome as Snyder, Richardville and Snyder huddled trying to find a way to “get er done” including keeping the Senators in session long into the night on Tuesday to wear them down however, time after time the big tax increase was rejected.

READ THE REST at Grassroots in Michigan

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Why Is This Load So Heavy?

Did Melanie Reinhold Foster ever encounter a housing or tuition increase she didn’t agree with?

Edward John Markey, the junior U. S. Senator from Massachusetts (since July 16th, 2013) has represented the Bay State in Congress since November 2nd, 1976. Adding in his time in the Massachusetts House of Representatives (starting January 3rd, 1973), he’s served a total of a little over 41-½ years in publicly-elected office. During this time, Markey has developed a reputation, supported by both his voting record and his own live-mic admission, of having never once seen a tax increase that he didn’t support. (The long-running backroom joke is that the surefire way to get Markey’s support on a bill that he’d otherwise oppose is to slip a tax increase into the final version of the bill.)

Similarly, a certain candidate for this summer’s convention nomination to a certain university governing board already has an 18-year history on the governing boards of Michigan’s Division I universities. Reviewing her history during that time, I have found no evidence whatsoever of a tuition or housing increase that she wouldn’t support. If she gets back on one of those boards this fall, then that particular habit is going to be a problem.

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Giant Killers

"Biblical" might be the word applied to recent political electoral happenings

goliath1The defeat of US House Majority Leader Eric Cantor yesterday has revived the hopes of tea folk across the country, and has set a different tone for the 2014 election season.

While it is only ONE race, it is a whopper; the coattails of which might have real consequence in current GOP contests. One of those is the Dan Benishek (CD-1) incumbency being challenged by business owner, veteran, and political newcomer Alan Arcand.

Arcand, who has been highly visible in Northern lower Michigan, will likely see a boost from the news of Cantor’s defeat; primarily because it drives home the reality that a successful challenge CAN be made if the incumbent is seen as giving in to the other side.  It is not all automatic for the good Dr., who rode in to a win on the tea party train of 2010.

You Betcha! (15)Nuh Uh.(3)

Small Victories

Cantor succumbs to conservatives

 

Small Victories

I keep telling the conservative activists I work with each campaign cycle that they need to look for the ‘small victories’ achieved in any election, rather than dwell on any defeat. The defeats far outnumber the victories. The letdown is tremendous, not only is the air let out of your balloon, but a huge rock is placed on top of it. At my age, and with my political objectives set from local races to national ones, reinflating that balloon requires some major time and effort. The time is spent ‘under the rock’ just wondering what one individual can accomplish against a political system so corrupt and weighted against any ‘outsider’ that victory appears impossible. That is when I think of my grandkids. That is when I think of ‘my’ America compared to what theirs will be, and I remove the ‘rock’. The ‘small victories’ reinflate my balloon. The Scott Brown victory to gain the “Kennedy Seat”; I joined the “Brown Brigade” to do what I could from my keyboard in Michigan, lining up phone bank volunteers from across the country to help him win. It inspired me to do more. Three election cycles, two local recall battles, and the defeat of a horrendous tax millage later; it is the small victories that keep me focused on the goal of restoring the greatest nation and society this planet has ever seen. Last night was a ’small victory’…HUGE in its effect on the rest of the 2014 elections, and ONE in particular…the Michigan 1st District primary.

I’ve had a feeling of a different version of ‘climate change’, this time, the political winds are changing. The campaign promises of Dan Benishek lie in broken pieces across four years of establishment party politics. The people he was elected to represent are tired of the same rhetoric and inaction; the complete lack of ‘spine’ , the ‘fluff’ PRs and ads. We want to hear the bald truth. We want commitment to conservative American principles and values. We want someone to stand for those as our representative in Washington. This isn’t a political party thing, it’s an AMERICAN thing. We want our country back. Virginia said it in spades yesterday, the ‘establishment’ was kicked in the teeth. Eric Cantor was found guilty of representing himself and the bug government he was part and parcel of by the voters of VA-07. The only work he was busy doing in that district was apparently a substantial effort to purge the Republican local parties of conservatives. Evidently, that backfired. There is a message in that somewhere for the rest of the nation’s establishment Repubicans…”Use us, or lose us.”…Cantor lost us.

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Cantor’s Defeat Proves “The Conservative Tea Party” Voice Means Business

This should show the establishment MIGOP that when they attack the Grassroots, Conservatives, Libertarians and Tea Party faithful and their voices are ignored you will pay a price at the voting booth! A Tea Party

For Michigan’s Republican voters can you say the “dele-gate” fiasco with the Romney supporters or how about that fiasco at the Tampa Convention?

But it just doesn’t end with those two examples either. How about all the state party rule changes brought down by the power brokers of the MIGOP as to stifle the Grassroots Conservative Tea Party voices here in Michigan?

The party establishment will go to any and all lengths as to protect their perceived power and control along with their spots at the public “feeding trough” over its shrinking membership. 

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