754 search results for "prop 2"

Democrats, Elections, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Republicans

Michigan’s Voice for Victims?

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One Citizen's concern over Michigan's growing imbalance of power and the eroding of the checks and balances built into our governmental system to protect individuals from injustice. The gentlemen is far from alone in his concerns.....

boot

Neither the Right nor Left, The Republicans nor the Democrats, have a patent on being the protectors of the citizen’s individual Liberties.  When it boils right down to it, a political policy vehicle can, and often does, fail with it’s endorsements. And our elected representatives often fail their constituents when  it comes to the protection of the individual.

We can stay on the merry-go-round of party politics that villainizes the opposition party, (often warranted) or we can start grading our elected on their effectiveness, and willingness to challenge the system and allow unhindered due process afforded every citizen in our U.S. and State Constitutions.  When the system fails, when petitioning is exhausted and disregarded,  The people have the right and duty to make it right at the ballot box.

Please read the following opinion letter sent to me by a very admired friend.

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You Betcha! (21)Nuh Uh.(7)

Michigan, Opinion, Philosophy

They all lie

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***UPDATE BELOW***

What utter crap Lansing, and Snyder’s talking-heads are peddling to these nurses.

Nurses in Michigan and nationwide charged Wednesday they are not adequately prepared to care for Ebola patients, lacking both the training and proper equipment to deal with the deadly disease.

The Michigan Nurses Association called on Gov. Rick Snyder for greater leadership, even as state agencies and the Michigan State Police stepped up efforts to prepare for a possible outbreak.

alphalogicSnyder spokesman Dave Murray said the administration is pushing the group for details about the complaints because its “statements are very general and broad.”

The state Department of Community Health said Wednesday it continues to follow the situation in Texas.

“The governor was 100 percent correct when on Oct. 9 he said all hospitals were equipped to do isolation work per the Centers for Disease Control requirements at that time,” department spokeswoman Jennifer Smith said.

CDC? Oh, that’s rich. The fact is The State (government) is lying to everyone.

So let’s look at that infrastructure.
There are, in fact, a total of four medical isolation units in the entire United States, as we noted yesterday, that are capable of handling infected Ebola patients near endlessly.
Where are they, and what can they handle?
Emory University’s Serious Communicable Disease Unit is in Atlanta, GA. That’s where Brantly and Writebol were treated. It has three beds.
St. Patrick Hospital’s ICU Isolation Unit is in Missoula MT. It has three beds.
The National Institute of Health’s Special Clinical Studies Unit is in Bethesda MD. It has seven beds.
And the biggest, the Nebraska Medical Center’s Biocontainment Unit is in Omaha NE. It has ten beds.

3+3+7+10=23 beds, coast to coast.

MORE

So, where did they just transport Dallas Nurse #1? If you guessed Maryland – Bingo!

More… this Ebola stuff sounds like a whole bag of fun, yes?

H/t Wirecutter

You Betcha! (11)Nuh Uh.(1)

Conservative News, Cronyism, Democrats, Detroit, Elections

Does anyone really think that the children are ready to be handed the keys?

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If anyone can believe it, this has been kind of an important week for Detroit.

Most of us didn’t expect it would come to this point.

Seeing as how they pretty much broke the all rules to get here explains a lot on how that was really accomplished.

But nonetheless, a ceremonial milestone (albeit unofficial one) was passed.

Now for the all important question; Are the children ready to act responsibly and lead?

{More after the fold}

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You Betcha! (7)Nuh Uh.(1)

All the Other Stuff, Opinion, Philosophy

Is the drug trade truly violent?

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Before I get started, let me say this: A LOT OF DRUGS OUT THERE (including legally prescribed pharmaceuticals) ARE A BAD, BAD, BAD IDEA AND YOU SHOULDN’T USE THEM, TRY THEM, OR OTHERWISE GET INVOLVED WITH THEM. (See: Heroin, Cocaine, Crack).  Many drugs are bad, mmmmmkay, kids?

That aside, I’ll go on…

Yesterday I had lunch with one of my colleagues.  He’s a younger, very logical, well reasoned guy.  His father is a State Trooper.  That is to say, he’s probably grown up with the idea that the state (that is, a general term for Government) and maybe even the drug war are good things.  Along the way, we got talking about crimes and how I believe the only true crimes are crimes that involve a victim (crimes against person or property).  This lead into a talk about the drug trade.

One argument he brought up in support of Federal and State prohibition policies was: well, the drug trade is inherently violent and that’s why we need to keep prohibition.  Then I asked him: Why is the drug trade violent?

Let me ask you, the reader, the same question: Why is the drug trade violent?

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

Michigan Politics

Land Interview

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Terri Lynn Land’s team has not run the best campaign.

There is a group that is appropriately attacking Gary Peters for his alignment with the ACA, Obama and FAILED liberal policies, but sadly, the pandering done by the land campaign has hurt the very real possibility of taking over the US Senate this year. It has also done more to suppress conservative voting in Michigan, and might well have its own negative ‘coattails’ when added to those of the governor, who cannot champion liberal causes fast enough.

There are some bright spots however. The video interview by MLIVE below shows a more energetic Land, though they still cannot get the ‘replace’ part of the ACA repeal process out of her head. From “Ballot Bash” at MLIVE:

Of course, many folks think that short of the miracle of resurrection, this campaign is dead.

You Betcha! (6)Nuh Uh.(0)

Michigan Politics

Progressive Bloomberg Promises Cash For Progressive Snyder

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How do jokers like this move their east coast leftist ideology into flyover country?

bloomberg-jokerThe far left Michael Bloomberg has not only endorsed, but now promises to spend $2.3 Million to help elect fellow lefty Rick Snyder.

One might ask why he wouldn’t simply endorse Mark Schauer?  One might miss the point on his pick of Gary Peters, but not selecting the Democrat nominee for Michigan governor. One might also not realize, that to properly destroy conservatives, a well funded progressive ought to destroy from within their institutions.

Hence the Snyder assistance.  From The Detroit News:

“Bloomberg’s Independence USA political action committee this week launched a $2.3 million TV ad buy on behalf of Snyder, said Stu Loeser, a spokesman for Bloomberg — a Democrat turned Republican turned independent.”

What does it take to register as a write-in again?

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

Conservative News, Democrats, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Republicans

CATO: Michigan Gets A “D”

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Rick Snyder's tax policies earned the state a 44 out of 100 score in CATO's recent 'Fiscal Policy Report Card'

The average score for Democrat Governors according to CATO’s recent fiscal report card is 46 of 100.

Rick Snyder Came in at 44.  Though RTW and the MBT repeal was applauded, the push for higher gas taxes and the bloated overall budget, as well as the long term cost of Medicaid expansion to taxpayers walloped his GPA.  Along with charts, comparisons, and analysis, Cato writes:

MICHIGAN Legislature: Republican
Rick Snyder, Republican Took office January 2011
Grade: D
Due to political correctness, the word 'dun**' is no longer allowed on head dressings.

Due to political correctness, the word ‘dun**’ is no longer allowed on head dressings.

After a successful business career, Governor Snyder came into office eager to help solve Michigan’s deep-seated economic problems. He has pursued many important reforms, such as spearheading the restructuring of Detroit’s finances and signing into law right-to-work legisla­tion. He repealed the damaging Michigan Business Tax and replaced it with a less harmful cor­porate income tax. In 2014 pushed through a phased-in elimination of property taxes on busi­ness equipment, which will help spur capital investment. The cut was approved by Michigan voters in August 2014.67

However, Snyder received a low grade on this year’s report card largely because he is support­ing a $1.2 billion-a-year fuel tax increase. That would be a huge hike, pushing up overall state tax revenues by nearly 5 percent.

He also scores fairly low on spending. The general fund budget increased 7.3 percent in 2013 and an estimated 7.8 percent in 2014. The governor also supported Medicaid expansion under the ACA, which will be a costly burden on Michigan taxpayers down the road.

Surprised?

While there can be absolutely ZERO expectation that Mark Schauer would fare any better, the expectation of fuel taxes increasing is realistic as Rick Snyder has said he wants to Increase revenue from fuel sales .

“Increasing revenue” as most reasonable folks know is code for higher taxes.

Call Rick Snyder TODAY and ask him why he wants to raise our taxes. (<- no number – see? we learn from those TV ads and postcards)

You Betcha! (18)Nuh Uh.(1)

Firearms, Michigan Politics

Transparency? Nahh, we don’t need that.

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Yes, it’s long, but I highly recommend watching the whole thing (well, you can probably skip the part that the 10A guy starts talking, he was missing the mark all over the place).

Yesterday (1 October 14), the House Criminal Justice Committee finally heard testimony on Rep. Tom McMillin’s HB4914 (introduced back in July 2013). This legislation would require that law enforcement agencies report every six months on the usage of their SWAT teams.

From the language of the bill:

Sec. 3. Beginning October 1, 2013, and every 6 months after

that date, any law enforcement agency that maintains a SWAT team

shall report all of the following information to the office of the

attorney general using the format developed under section 4:

(a) The number of times the SWAT team was activated and

deployed by the law enforcement agency in the previous 6 months.

(b) Without identifying an exact address, the approximate

location within or outside of the jurisdiction of the law

enforcement agency to which the SWAT team was deployed, including

the name of the county and the city, village, or township, and the

zip code.

(c) The reason for each activation and deployment of the SWAT

team.

(d) The legal authority, including type of warrant, if any,

for each activation and deployment of the SWAT team.

(e) The result of each activation and deployment of the SWAT

team, including all of the following:

(i) The number of arrests made, if any.

(ii) The type of evidence seized, and whether property was

seized.

(iii) Whether a forcible entry was made.

(iv) Whether a weapon was discharged by a SWAT team member.

(v) Whether a person or domestic animal was injured or killed

by a SWAT team member.

But we don’t need reporting for these sorts of things though, right? I mean, bad raids never happen in Michigan!

Well, apparently the Republicans on the committee think otherwise. For example, Rep. Joseph Graves finds it worrisome that the officers would have to go back and justify their actions (7:20 in the clip). Heaven forbid a SWAT deployment be justified, or even just tracked! Further he goes on to say that filing a report of the incident doesn’t take it away (8:58). Really? I didn’t think about that.

However, that’s just one of the many gems coming out of Team-R in this hearing. The amount of stupid coming from them just boggles the mind.

Yup, just shows Team-R is all for transparency!

You Betcha! (21)Nuh Uh.(0)

Elections, Michigan, Opinion, Philosophy

Here Comes the Snyder Gas/Diesel Tax and Fee Hikes

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As if raiding pensions (wasn’t necessary), raising the State Income Tax, and growing a budget now spending $1 Billion per week were not enough, Snyder broadcasts the real MI-GOP wallet gouging and family budget busting.

ThroughYourWalletGov. Rick Snyder said Monday he wants legislation boosting road funding to be the Legislature’s top priority during its lame duck session after the Nov. 4 election.

The Republican governor, who faces a tough re-election against Democrat Mark Schauer, has struggled to get the GOP-controlled Legislature to adopt a plan to raise at least $1.2 billion in additional annual revenue for road funding through increases in the fuel tax and vehicle registration fees.

….

“I still consider that a priority I want to get done in the first term,” Snyder said at the West Michigan Policy Forum’s conference at the Amway Grand Hotel.

As the Senate adjourned in June, waving off the proposal for a gas tax hike, residents in Deerfield Beach could feel reassured that while infrastructure funding remains a complex issue, their safety from potential fire hazards doesn’t have to be. Thanks to the professional network and dependability of a local fire watch company in Deerfield Beach, property owners can rest easy knowing that a team of highly trained experts is always ready to respond. This assurance is much like a reliable infrastructure—essential for the smooth functioning of everyday life. While the debate on the gas tax continues, the commitment of the fire watch service to the community stands firm, offering an immediate and well-coordinated defense against any fire-related emergencies that might arise during the languid Florida summer.

At least Schauer has sense enough not to tread into that particular Nerd swamp, especially, when MDOT’s multi-million dollar operation is dabbling in Wisconsin’s unwanted choo-choos, and tax dollars wasted on Hollywood productions at every turn. For that matter, let’s table for discussion the Nerd’s “Showcase Trail” at the cost of $1 Million per mile. Yes, our fuel taxes go to Complete Streets bicycle nonsense.

So, what does Mr. “Never publicly opposed the governor” have to say about this wholesale price tax hike?

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You Betcha! (53)Nuh Uh.(3)

Michigan Politics

Sacking Tea

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Is the handwriting on the wall for the tea party movement in Michigan?

The saying “the handwriting is on the wall” has as its source an incident in 539 BC, recorded for posterity in Daniel 5, in which King Belshazzar of Babylon is plainly told that he has been weighed in the divine balance and found wanting, that the days of both his kingdom and his life have been numbered and brought to an end, and that his empire will be divided between the Medes and Persians then advancing on the city. The concept survives in modern English idiomology to imply that circumstances are such for a person or organization that it is now clear that their ultimate failure is to be expected, or at best will be effectively impossible to avert.

Given the thorough pasting that the constitutionalist insurgency endured in Michigan last month, as a statewide aggregate, it wasn’t exactly a leap for reporters and pundits (likely working from a coordinated set of talking points courtesy of the Michigan Republican Party old guard) to insert dramatic prophecies of impending doom for the tea party movement into their headlines and opinion pieces. David’s missive and Jason’s observation notwithstanding, I don’t think it unreasonable to ask the question: Given the significant events of last August, let alone the past 5-1/2 years, is the tea party movement on the verge of becoming just another footnote in Michigan political history?

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You Betcha! (16)Nuh Uh.(1)