754 search results for "prop 2"

Ignorance And The Blissfully Demanding Moms

If you don’t know who Moms Demand Action is, I will give you a quick update.  MDA was founded after the Sandy Hook shooting, by a professional communications exec Shannon Watts and is now funded by the billionaire nanny-statist Michael Bloomberg.  The group is a national organization with chapters in many states, including Michigan.  This group is comprised of both men and women with stated good intentions of reducing “gun violence.”

The problem is, they have no idea what they are talking about.

Look, I’m sure most of the people in this group mean well, but good intentions are about as useful as a “no guns” sign during a mass shooting.  If the gun analogy doesn’t work for you then go with a drainage plug in a boat at the bottom of a lake.  It sounded good at one point, but it’s pretty useless now.

People who carry guns for protection understand this and much more. These are people who understand that we are all responsible for our own safety, and they put forth a great deal of time and effort towards accepting that responsibility.  In essence, these are people who take the time to learn our laws and how to live within them, because for them, being mistaken about a law, even with good intentions, can mean years of prison time.  Their life as they know it is on the line.

What does it mean for MDA and the other side?  Well, not much.  At the worst they just look a little silly which they just can’t seem to stop doing.  They have no real investment in this topic and it shows!

Take for instance a recent MDA protest outside of an Ann Arbor Kroger.  Essentially, MDA wants Kroger to ask customers to not bring firearms into their stores like a few other chains have recently.  Forget for a second the obvious flaw that a simple request will do nothing to stop someone who already has no interest in following our laws, and instead focus on these comments from the MDA rep Kristen Moore at the event:

Moore said that concealed pistol carriers are different.

Those with CPL’s had to go through much more extensive background checks and training to lawfully carry their weapon, she said.

So they are not worried about CPL holders?  Well, at least they acknowledge the lengthy process CPL holders have to go through to become licensed.

But here’s the thing.  Kroger has a liquor license.  Under Michigan law it is illegal for people to possess firearms on the premises of such an establishment, except under a few enumerated circumstances.  One of those being for those who have a CPL.

Did you catch that?  MDA isn’t worried about CPL holders but is protesting outside of a place where only CPL holders may possess a firearm.  Brilliant!

Or how about the time when the Michigan leader for MDA Linda Brundage said a Michigan bill to expand background checks to all long-gun sales was needed to help prevent shootings like one that had just happened in the area.  She never did explain how requiring background checks on long-guns would have stopped a shooting where a “properly licensed and registeredpistol was used.  I guess we are left to our imagination on that one.

Or the time when Rep. Jim Downsend (D-Royal Oak), a big MDA supporter, said:

We have gun safety in this state […] because of the explosion of organized crime in the 1930’s – Tommy guns shooting up people on every block. That is the reason we started trying to get our arms around getting guns off the streets.

If you are like me then you know right off the top of your head that Michigan’s gun-control act is Public Act 372 of 1927. In case you are wondering, yes the act was passed in 1927, 7 years before the federal government. I even keep a copy of the original wording printed off and highlighted at my desk. Despite repeated requests, Rep. Townsend has yet to explain how events in the 1930’s drove legislation in the previous decade.

I could go on and on about this stuff as there is no shortage of of these people just having no idea what they are doing. Like Andy Schor’s (D-Lansing) gun-control bill meant to ban firearms in certain places that would actually increase the presence of openly carried long guns! My goodness did he miss the mark on that one! Did I mention he is another MDA supporter?

Maybe one of these days the demanding moms and their supporters will invest some time into actually getting a clue. Although, achieving a functional level of understanding usually causes one to leave the pro-gun-control side, which probably explains a lot.

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

Yer ‘Back Door’ Is Open

Michigan's Speaker attempts to hang on to his working capital by working around the fringe.

james-bolger-322370dbb048d092Presumably making it acceptable for Jase Bolger to accept the $100,000.00 from Pro-Homosexual millionaires, he offers butter for the burn.

Pretending that he opposes the changes in the Elliot Larsen Civil Rights Act proposed by Dems, he offers a fig leaf. From M-Live:

“Bolger is exploring the possibility of pairing an Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act amendment with a Michigan version of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which aims to limit laws that would substantially burden a person’s free exercise of religion.

“I believe our society’s got to get this right, and we’ve got to get this right more than we’ve got to get it now,” Bolger, R-Marshall, told MLive. “That right, for me, is one that respects and protects individual freedom and religious liberty. It’s just so much easier to say than to do.”

Right. Individual freedom.

Though there has never been a case that any of us can recall where a person was told; “No you cannot go schtoop your friend because you are the same gender,”  its critical that we protect that freedom.  Even though most of us are perfectly willing close our eyes, and let the deviancy play itself out with the shortened life spans, and emotional destruction that envelops such behavior.

If a ‘Religious exemption’ is all it takes, then everyone who has conscience could claim it as a reason if sued by a queer who are butt-hurt over losing the apartment, job, service, smile, etc., that they want.  Right?  Certainly that clears things up to take the pressure off.

Until we realize they still have a platform from which to launch a lawsuit.  Bolger is playing the same dangerous game that the Vichy GOP has been playing for years, resulting in a corrupted party, with heavy internal fighting.

Dumb move.

 

You Betcha! (9)Nuh Uh.(1)

‘Grand Bargain’ the Movie

Starring, Rick Snyder with his ‘reinvented’ Michigan Film Office Advisory Council.

FourOdiousAssholesSnyder announced Thursday that he was renominating a second film council member whose term was expiring along with Moore’s.

The governor says Birmingham advertising executive Bill Ludwig will remain on the 14-member board, along with new member Ted Serbinski of Birmingham. Serbinski works with Detroit Venture Partners and is an ex-director of technology for A&E Television.

Detroit Venture Partners? Well, isn’t that special. The sad part is that Boobus Michiganderus will fixate on ousting hypocrite Michael Moore, while putting the on blinders to Slick Rick creating his brand of crony capitalism propaganda bureaucracy for his non-bailout Detroit Bailout wealth redistribution scheme.

Bonus? Maybe now that young Tedly is onboard, Modus OpeRandy might get his television shows he’s wanted before his term expires, and limits save us from more damage created by the pandering schmuck.

This state is so f**ked.

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

They Just Don’t Learn

Why does the Michigan Republican Party leadership insist on doubling down on stupid?

Unless you sit on the MIGOP Policy Committee, the only clue most of us had that this was happening was a four-sentence news brief at WKZO (590 AM, Kalamazoo) – reported nowhere else according to Frontloading HQ – published a week ago on Monday night:

March 15th, 2016 appears to be the likely date of the Michigan Republican presidential primary in the next election. The Michigan Republican Party’s Policy Committee approved the date, which is the earliest a primary can be held without losing delegates to the Republican National Convention.

If a candidate wins over 50-percent of the statewide vote, he or she will be awarded all of Michigan’s delegates. If the winner has less than that threshold, the delegates will be split up based on the vote.

Which, initially, left me a bit at a loss for words. Apparently, someone was praying that this wasn’t going to get noticed. Of course, that raised the question of “why” . . . and a cursory review of the details provides us with a quite predictable answer.

You Betcha! (22)Nuh Uh.(3)

License Of Looters

The problem is not the expense of the tools, but the tools themselves.

hammerI have frequently argued that the problem with campaign finance is not the ability of donors to support candidates, but rather the destructive hammer that government wields.

Full disclosure, as we have argued on these pages is critical.  The process out in the open encourages good behavior, and provides a limiting effect on pandering to financial interests by politicos.  Even the amounts even being less important to the argument. Saying:

We DO agree that limits should be removed from campaign finance. We agree that limiting to an arbitrary amount can impede free speech and political expression. What is considered a fair contribution into the process is a completely subjective matter that can only be resolved by the person who is willing to contribute into that process.  A person’s individual priorities and where a subject reaches a level of importance are hardly the providence of external assignment.

The full argument making the point that ‘effect’ of the contributions  being known, lessens the harmful power of the influence.

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

Thursday Around Michigan

Plenty to talk about before the weekend.

logo-sphereThere is a lot of chatter still going on regarding the convention results, campaign polling, and Frank Foster peddling destructive behavior as a ‘civil right’ throughout the house to those who will cosponsor it.

Before our convention in Grand Traverse County, some of us were advised to video tape the proceedings to prevent shenanigans.  Fortunately, we nipped the chair election in the bud, and any screw ups were honest and dealt with properly. (I have never seen a convention go perfectly as planned.)  Ottawa County apparently had some issues.

West Michigan Politics – Ottawa County GOP Chaos: Meekhof + Huizenga Involved? What You Need To Know & The Follow up

And while we all are arguing among ourselves, the heir to the heavily taxpayer subsidized fortune is ‘crankin.’

Channel 7 (WXYZ) – Ronald Illitch Arrested, snorts equivalent to Detroit property tax revenues.

Folks have until Oct 30 to file as a write in for the Nov 4 election. Is Greg MacMaster going to play spoiler or could he pull it off? (above my pay grade)

Antrim County Republicans – MacMaster Considering Write-in Campaign for 37th State Senate – Gongwer News Service

Peters is being accused of hypocrisy for paying women less and being a part of the group that has jammed the Lilly Ledbetter nonsense down our throats. Forget about all that (seriously Terri, fergetaboudit) and concentrate on the workable populist nonsense.  Like the “right To Have Drinking Water!”

Washington Free Beacon – Peters Profits from Detroit Water

Rick Snyder .. well hell I am not even sure how to present this one.  Yeah, we get it, reach out to everyone (except the base)!  Good luck with that.

Allen B West – Jimmy Carter to Keynote Detroit Muslim Convention (with Rick and friends)

 

You Betcha! (9)Nuh Uh.(1)

Franchise Envy

The power of government can be instructive AND abusive.

When an operation hosted in publicly owned property is as successful as what might be considered only in ‘wildest dreams,’ it is then eyed with a lust that is found only within the failure of bureaucracy.

baseball1I’ve seen it first hand.  In Grand Traverse County in 2010, a highly successful  baseball program run by veterans was quite literally confiscated, and taken over by the landlords.  An empire building, bureaucratic strategist, coupled with a misunderstood management glitch in the popular 62 year old program opened the door to it being taken over by the county.

The PRIVATE program which began more than a half century earlier by veterans building ball fields was summarily sequestered because the landlord didn’t like the way ‘management’ of the program was operating.  The county board was convinced to back a parks decision to take the program away from the vets, and the participation dropped by 30%.

In the end, a newly elected county board (including myself) in the beginning of 2011 convinced enough of the old to give it back.  In the end as well however, we should note that it was a government entity (the parks department) trying to justify its existence, (programming beyond rental of properties) show a profit (a stated argument during the takeover) and be a controlling authority.

You Betcha! (9)Nuh Uh.(1)

Canvas & The Wind Blowing

Hot air, rhetoric, and special interest conflates into a false idea of what inclusion truly is.

Big tent arguments have been the mainstay of Right Michigan since it’s inception.

commentaryBefore reading it I wasn’t sure where it might go.  But I found a worthwhile essay by Jack Spencer at Cap Con wrapped up in this way:

” Based on recent polling, neither major political party in this nation can, with a straight face, claim to have a “big tent” appeal. For years polling has shown that voters tend to want smaller government and to see government more as a problem than as a solution. Make no mistake about it; both of these sentiments are joined at the hip with the fear of freedom and liberty diminishing.

Theoretically this should be an advantage for Republicans. But in recent years it has been an advantage Republicans love to speak to but very rarely deliver on. “

Its worth noting that either party’s impetus for promoting THEIR version is the use of a large hammer; “smaller government” claim noted

To ‘promote’ business, claims of job creation aided-by-government is necessary, or to ‘promote’ a living wage for workers, control of those business entities is paramount. Is this a false populism of sorts? Neither party properly embraces truly free markets, true liberty, or lower government intervention.

Its worth reading the rest.

You Betcha! (4)Nuh Uh.(0)