Part Time Legislature

Elections, Government Incompetence, Liberty, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Part Time Legislature, Philosophy

Colbeck V McBroom

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The Rest of the Story.

Commentary & Perspective

Edward McBroom is a sitting state senator from Michigan’s 38th district, who has listed his background credentials as a fourth-generation dairy farmer, who operates his family’s 100 year old dairy farm with cows, hay, wheat and corn.  Mr. McBroom has served his Upper Peninsula community as the dairy superintendent of the Dickinson County Fair and director of the Norway City Band. Mr. McBroom holds bachelor’s degrees in music education and social studies secondary education from Northern Michigan University and he directs music at the First Baptist Church in Norway, Michigan.

Patrick Colbeck is a man who at this point in time could be considered one of We the People, who (in excerpts from his Linked-In account) has listed his background as “a graduate of the University of Michigan with bachelors and masters of science degrees in Aerospace Engineering and also the Life Sciences Department at the International Space University in Strasbourg, France.  Mr. Colbeck’s professional career is highlighted by engineering design work on key elements of the life support system for the International Space Station. He also served as an instructor at Space Camp in Huntsville, AL.

Mr. Colbeck went on to provide management consulting services for over 11 years including 6 as a self-employed, independent consultant servicing industries as varied as Healthcare, Telecommunications, and Defense. He has been certified as a Microsoft Small Business Specialist and has authored two books, Wrestling Gators: An Outsiders Guide to Draining the Swamp and IT Roadmap for Professional Service Firms.”

Mr. Colbeck also served as a state senator from Michigan’s 7th district for two terms from 2011 to 2018 and he is a policy advisor for The Election Integrity Fund, president of Perspective Shifts, LLC, co-founder and board member of the MI Freedom Center (which serves those who serve us in the armed forces at Detroit Metro Airport and Regional MEPS Centers), and Mr. Colbeck is the CEO and board member of The MI Armed Forces Hospitality Center

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You Betcha! (25)Nuh Uh.(2)

Cronyism, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Part Time Legislature, Rent Seeking, Republicans

There Goes the Neighborhood

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It appears one of our straying pachyderm within Lansing’s Recucklican Majority believes that an ever overreaching State government knows best for how your local community functions than you– the homeowner.

Local bans on short-term rentals in Michigan could be barred themselves under controversial legislation being considered by a Republican-controlled state House committee.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jason Sheppard, R-Temperance, said the local zoning rules created to ban short-term rentals such as those available through Airbnb, Homeaway and VRBO infringe on private property rights and are an abuse of Michigan’s Zoning Enabling Act.

Now, bare in mind folks, this is the same jagoff that wants to ban boating for the majority of a 24 hour day on all inland lakes. Sell that one in a Pure Michigan ad campaign? Yah, Jason is a real deep thinker.

Furthermore, I smell a rat.

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You Betcha! (17)Nuh Uh.(3)

Fees, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Part Time Legislature, Roads, Taxes

Does a Peacock Complain About its Livery?

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For someone who has held elected titles in Lansing, from 2001 thru 2015, this was not an accident unless she has Richard Bernstein selecting attire for her. Curves? Is that what corpulent menopausal females refer to it as now? It’s as if they believe that others do not have eyes.

And, on cue, not allowing an opportunity to go to waste, a white male Republican steps forward to Virtue Snivel. Lee, shall we discuss what a loser is and inappropriate? Soros NPV junkets? Millennials… the guiding compass in the House, which means this state is- totally screwed.

That stated, I fully cede the notion that there is a way to vote our way out of this creeping socialism, nanny-government mess that is Michigan. There are just too many bent-knee pandering fools and reprehensible, Retreads within to counter the opposition.

You Betcha! (10)Nuh Uh.(0)

Cronyism, Economy, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Part Time Legislature, Rent Seeking, Republicans, Sports

Sausage Making

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Regional 'payoffs' still ignore proper role of government.

Cronyism is now everywhere.

I have written at the beginning of Snyder’s terms that he was the guy who essentially brought the neu-cronyism to Michigan.  He invented the current form, and served as its first overlord.  Money spent in ways that used to invite constitutional challenges, now routinely passes through the sieve of Lansing into favored projects and could be expected to always get the blessing of the governor.

I doubt the new governor will do anything but enhance it’s reach as she attempts to cajole lawmakers from the ‘other side’ to embrace her sure-to-be bizarre mechanizations that raise the cost of government further.  Sadly, it is a Republican legislature that continues to make this kind of thing happen:

$10M In Sports Funding Coming: Is Indoor Traverse City Sports Complex Next?

By Beth Milligan | Dec. 29, 2018

$10 million in state funding is headed to northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula to create a regional sports commission – an initiative that dovetails with an effort by Traverse City Tourism to explore opening a year-round indoor sports complex in Traverse City.

Governor Rick Snyder signed off Friday on two supplemental spending bills totaling $1.3 billion for numerous projects throughout the state, including road upgrades, contamination clean-up, and education initiatives. The bills – approved earlier this month by state lawmakers – also include funding for community projects throughout Michigan, including $10 million to establish the Northern Michigan Regional Tourism and Sports Fund and to create a Great Lakes Sports Commission.

…

… Traverse City Tourism hired a consulting firm earlier this year to conduct a feasibility study on whether there is a need for such a facility in the area, how much it would cost to construct, and if it would be financially sustainable. The firm’s results are expected in January. But Traverse City Tourism President/CEO Trevor Tkach says preliminary findings “prove there is enough demand to run a cash-positive business if the facility gets built.”

Maybe “cash positive” means profit?  Maybe, maybe not.

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Elections, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Part Time Legislature

Stabenow Openly Lies At Debate

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Debbie Stabenow prevaricates like a pro!

US Senator Debbie Stabenow has lied in order to appear as-if she is concerned about border security during the October 14th debate. (@ 33:16)

Her blatant falsehood came at a point where the role of ICE and immigration enforcement came up.  Stabenow claims to oppose sanctuary cities, and also that she “Support[s] Kates Law.” However no indication of this exists and in-fact, according to the US senate voting record, Stabenow actually voted AGAINST it in 2016 when she had the opportunity to “Support” it.

Democrat politicians are desperate to hang on to whatever power they have, and apparently will stop at nothing to put one over on voters as Do-nothing Debbie has done in the 43 years she has been on the public dole.

#WalkAway is the best suggestion  could make to those who want ANY kind of integrity to remain in DC.  Michigan can do so much better.  John James would be a better fit for those of us in Michigan who are tired of the lies and deception that swamp dwellers like the ‘dangerously incompetent’ senior senator.

#LetsFlyMI

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Cronyism, Democrats, Elections, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Part Time Legislature, Republicans, Taxes

10 Years Later

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The 'temporary' tax hike is still with us.

It didn’t go away.

Today marks the 10-year anniversary of the signing of Jennifer Granholm’s income tax hike in October 2007.  Liars lie, and we have had our share over the years. On whether a particular democrat would sign on to such a drastic measure as reducing the net income of every single Michiganian?

Which is why it may have been encouraging for job makers and Michigan families when Bieda got the nod. After all, just last fall while campaigning for reelection he told the Detroit News that he was not out to raise taxes on Michigan businesses.

Q: There’s growing talk in Lansing about placing a sales tax on services that are now exempt. Would you support that approach?

A: Generally speaking, I think a tax on services, with perhaps some very limited exceptions, is something that I do not support.

One of a majority signing on to the temporary tax.

It was temporary. It was supposed to be rolled back.  Given GOP has had control of all branches of the state since 2010, and how we have been sold a bill of goods on the (NEW) gas tax, who is it that really needs a kick in the ‘ass?’

You Betcha! (12)Nuh Uh.(0)

Liberty, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Part Time Legislature, Philosophy, Republicans

Ad Hoc Ad Interim

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As badly as we need this done, do we care why he’s doing it, or even whether he gets the credit?

“If Hitler invaded Hell, I would at least make a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons.” (Winston Churchill, to his private secretary, Jock Colville, on June 21st, 1941, the evening before Operation Barbarossa)

Churchill was well known for being a consistent and vociferous opponent of communism, and had often spoken quite unfavorably about the Soviet Union, and particularly of Joseph Stalin (who was well-known even then as the brutal monster that honest history records). However, in seeking to stop the menace of Hitler’s Nazi Germany, Churchill was willing to adopt an ad hoc “enemy of my enemy” approach, and initiated the Anglo-Soviet Agreement for joint action against Germany.

Given much of the recent hullabaloo regarding a badly-needed grassroots initiative having been likely co-opted, by a moderate opportunist apparently seeking a means to advance his political ambitions, and given that I have personally stood directly in the path of those ambitions at least twice in the past seven years, what I’m about to say is going to sound exceedingly strange, but I’m going to say it anyway.

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You Betcha! (20)Nuh Uh.(1)