Michigan Politics

Michigan Political considerations.

Michigan, Michigan Politics, Philosophy

Union Growth In Michigan?

by Jason • March 22, 2015 • 5 Comments

What happens when the threat of permanence is no more?

It occurred to me recently, that we may be seeing the first potentially lasting effects of Michigan’s relatively new Right-to-Work status.

On March 12, 2015, it was announced that NMC faculty had surprisingly decided to subject itself to union dues and contracts negotiated by third parties on their behalf.

TRAVERSE CITY –The Michigan Employment Relations Commission has certified the election and a majority of eligible faculty who voted have decided that all non-supervisory, full-time and part-time appointed faculty will be in a collective bargaining unit represented by the Michigan Education Association.

Northwestern Michigan College will begin negotiations with the Michigan Education Association for an agreement that will cover wages, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment for this group.

“Northwestern Michigan College will begin negotiations with the Michigan Education Association.” Check.

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Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Detroit, Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Philosophy, Rent Seeking, Republicans, Taxes

Ugh, work is stupid!

by KG One • March 18, 2015 • 1 Comment

Let’s all take a break.

Just when you thought that the Three-ring Circus that tries to pass itself off as “leadership” couldn’t make an even bigger ass of themselves than they already have done to date, they just turn around and surprise you.

Same cast of characters. Same city.

And another example of ungrateful children pretending to be mature adults wasting your hard earned money.

{Click below to find out who they are and what they have done this time}

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Conservative News, Democrats, Detroit, Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Proposal 15-1, Taxes

$ 70 Million More Down the Drain Every Year

by 10x25MM • March 18, 2015 • 3 Comments

Michigan Triples Down On The Most Abused Federal Program

The U.S. Government Accountability Office released its FY 2014 estimates of improper payments made by the Federal Government in testimony before the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs on Monday. The Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 and the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010 require Federal Executive Branch agencies to estimate the levels of improper payments in all Federal programs. The GAO assembles this data and reports the levels of improper payments, along with recommendations to minimize such improper payments.

At the Federal level, all improper payments amounted to about $ 125 billion dollars in FY 2014. Even by casual Federal accounting standards this is breathtaking. Three cents of every Federal Government dollar spent. Going through the GAO’s estimates by program, the Earned Income Tax Credit is at the top of the list by percentage of improper payments: 27.2 % of all EITC payments are improper. The GAO estimated FY 2014 improper EITC payments by the Federal Government alone amounted to $ 17.7 billion dollars. Other Federal programs burned more dollars, but none had the percentage rate of improper payments that the EITC has. Not even close.

The most obscure element of the tax increase package which Michigan voters will be asked to approve on May 5th is Senate Bill 847 of 2014. This bill is a $ 260 million annual increase in the State of Michigan’s version of the EITC. The EITC will increase from its current 6 %, to 20 %, of the Federal EITC credit allowed under Section 32 of the Internal Revenue Code. Currently, the Michigan EITC pays out about $ 80 million from the Michigan Treasury every year at the 6 % rate.

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Michigan, Michigan Politics, Proposal 15-1

You know the MIGOP is in trouble when it’s already trying to reflect the blame for the May 5th Tax Proposal blowback

by Patriotist • March 18, 2015 • 7 Comments

Scapegoat

(n.) A scapegoat is an event person or object that is used to lay the blame on for all that goes wrong, regardless of the contributions of others. This will usually carry on until the scapegoat has gone, or has managed to successfully defend itself against the arguments presented to it.

In the MIGOP the scapegoating is a never ending process, done to protect and deflect criticism of the new Sacred Cow of continued government expansion under Governor Rick Snyder.

Linda Lee lost as an incumbent, partially due to her out of context ramblings prior to the election concerning RNC Committeeman Dave Agema. (Some claim her bloviating during the BS organized “Listening (to Linda) Tour” also cost her votes, but the events were so poorly attended I doubt the veracity of that claim). She and others need to take their own advice, and stop the Divisiveness. Her double standards are glaringly obvious, as illustrated by screenshots of a series of Posts she herself has allowed to remain on her page for almost a month now. If Linda were not black, the posts could easily be called racist, apparently they are just bitter grapes, a failure to accept election results, Ironic for someone employed as Director of Community Affairs & Election Integrity Liaison, allowed by a sore Loser.

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Cronyism, Democrats, Detroit, Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Proposal 15-1, Taxes

Where’s The Bridge?

by 10x25MM • March 16, 2015 • 6 Comments

Questionable MDoT Database Compromises Auditor General's Bridge Inspection Performance Audit

The Michigan Office of the Auditor General released its overdue performance audit of MDoT’s Bridge Inspection Program Friday afternoon, just in time to miss last week’s news cycle. Weekend news reports focused on bridge inspection frequency, but there is a more fundamental question which should be answered first: Are the MDoT bridge records which were audited complete and correct? Even remotely so?

The Federal Highway Administration collects bridge data from the State DoT’s and other sources to create and maintain the National Bridge Inventory. It is supposed to list all American bridges which have roads running across them or below them, along with ownership, identifiers, and condition data. Condition data is given as a number from 0 (failed) through 9 (good beyond current standards). These numbers then get converted into the descriptors you read in the press, such as ‘structurally deficient’, poor, good, etc.

The MOAG performance audit is replete with statistics derived from MDoT’s bridge inventory database which show – no surprise – that some of Michigan’s bridges are in poor shape. You can see MOAG’s statistics as of April 30th, 2014 in the audit or go to a searchable database of individual bridge data across the entire country, as of 2012, brought to us by Alexander Svirsky of MassRoads.com.

A first pass at the MOAG bridge inspection audit involved looking at the worst condition category of bridges, those rated 0 or 1 for failed or imminent failure. Going through the Wayne County owned bridge summary on Page 51 of the new MOAG audit, I was heartened to see that Wayne County has no condition category 0 or 1 bridges. But there are at least two zero condition category major bridges in Wayne County across the Rouge River, so let’s say I am experiencing a little cognitive dissonance just now.

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Firearms, Michigan, Michigan Politics

Many Michigan Shooters A Week Away From Becoming Felons

by 10x25MM • March 10, 2015 • 20 Comments

Michigan Law Enforces Obama's Latest 'Pen and Phone' Gun Control With Draconian Penalties

It turns out that the stealth U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives proposal to prohibit the most popular cartridge used by civilians in the AR-15, America’s most popular civilian rifle, will be enforced by draconian penalties in Michigan law. This prohibition will affect all owners of .223 Remington caliber rifles, not just the AR-15. BATFE has indicated that they are withdrawing a ‘sporting purpose’ exemption for the standard issue U.S. Military 5.56x45mm NATO (.223 Remington) cartridge, claiming that it is armor piercing handgun ammunition under the 1986 Law Enforcement Officer Protection Act.

Michigan legislators cloned LEOPA in 1990 with one important distinction. The Michigan statutory language actually prohibits any use of prohibited ammunition. From MCL 750.224c:

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2), a person shall not manufacture, distribute, sell, or use armor piercing ammunition in this state. A person who willfully violates this section is guilty of a felony, punishable by imprisonment for not more than 4 years, or by a fine of not more than $2,000.00, or both.

‘Use’ includes loading a rifle magazine with prohibited ammunition or even firing it in a single shot rifle. The Federal LEOPTA at least allows gun owners to use up stocks of ammunition on hand when a cartridge is prohibited. A bunch of Michiganders are about to become felons if BATFE gets its way thanks to another triumph of legislative draftsmanship by our Legislature. Violating MCL 750.224c is a four year felony, a rude surprise to someone owning M855 ammunition. Perfectly legal one day, a felon the next. The joy of multilevel government regulation.

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Cronyism, Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Proposal 15-1, Rent Seeking, Taxes

Michigan Roads – How Bad?

by 10x25MM • March 9, 2015 • 10 Comments

You are about to be buried in pseudostatistics and factoids purporting to demonstrate just how bad Michigan roads are. We have already demonstrated that the TRIP vehicle maintenance factoids fabricated by a devious road contractors’ business league are a complete fraud.

Now State of Michigan government entities are unleashing a wave of propaganda intended to drive your vote on Proposal 2015-01. Two State of Michigan government entities have prepared campaign flyers on behalf of Proposal 15-1 using Michigander’s tax dollars: MDoT and the Transportation Asset Research Council (TAMC).

Both MDoT and TAMC have spent years preparing slick pamphlets decrying the sad condition of Michigan’s roads, citing PAvement Surface Evaluation and Rating (PASER) data collected by TAMC with MDoT and local road agency help. These pamphlets claim that 30 – 40 % of Michigan roads are in poor condition. But are they really?

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Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Detroit, Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Republicans, Taxes

Boy, are these people stupid!

by KG One • March 8, 2015 • 4 Comments

Chumps!

Morons!

Idiots!

Dupes!

Simpletons!

Fools!

Betcha think these comments regarding Michigan Taxpayers was “secretly” overheard coming from the confab between Gov. Snyder, Ex-Speaker Bolder, Ex-Sen. Richardville, Rep. Greimel & Ex-Sen Whitmer last December just before they announced placing Prop 15-1 before Michigan Voters?

Close, but not quite.

{Tantalizing details after the fold}

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Michigan, Michigan Politics

Sunday Reader

by Jason • March 8, 2015 • 1 Comment

Highlights from Blogging From Around Michigan.

The pickings may seem to be slim these days.

However, If you know of an active Michigan blog that it NOT included in our link list on the side, be sure to let us know. In the meantime we have managed to find some folks from around the state who are worthy of some readership. Enjoy.

Jen Kuznicki – Republicans That are Unfit for Office in the House of Representatives There. That was easy enough.

MTTM – Looking For The Real Fraud? The attorney general has made his top ten list. MTTM updated it.

The Detroit Constitutionalist – Victories and Losses at the February 2015 MIGOP State Convention Another perspective on the MiGOP convention

The Other Club – Corporate Whore in Chief Read his other stuff too.

The Shekel – Why Gun Control Won’t Work – A Continuing Series Yep.

The Voice OF One Crying Out In Suburbia – The Donald Trump Model Of Church Not something we might normally think about. Read the previous (Lead up) post as well.

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