MI Morning Update: MRP-RNC GOTV Training Big Success - MI Budget Balance: Still No Reforms - MI Budget Grows...Again!
By saul anuzis Posted in Budget | GOTV | Michigan Republican Party | Republicans | RNC | Saul Anuzis — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
128 Days until Election Day
June 29, 2008
MORNING UPDATE:
MRP-RNC VOTER VAULT TRAINING...was a great success as over 50 activists gathered to see the latest Voter Vault has to offer. This was the first of two training sessions, MRP-RNC GOTV/Votervault training. With the RNC's, help we were able to help prepare our grassroots activists and local candidates for the campaign ahead. Special thanks to Paul Viar and Stephanie Pazdro for helping us make this event a success.
MICHIGAN DEMOCRATS...PUSHED AND TRADED...votes on the state budget to help their largest contributors, trial lawyers and union bosses. Once again, the budget moves forward with NO real structural reforms, government inefficiency, and NO transparency in how the state spends YOUR money. Taxpayers...wake up...it's costing YOU your hard earned money.
MICHIGAN BUDGET GROWS...to over an estimated $44.4 BILLION, with more spending, now programs, and corporate welfare as the governor tries to "buy" jobs rather than improving Michigan's business climate for all.
HOW ABOUT EFFICIENT AND GOOD GOVERNMENT...NOW - DEMAND TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT SPENDING...is a critical effort by officials at the state level led by Jack Hoogendyk (who is running for the U.S.Senate) to empower taxpayers to become fiscal watchdogs by making expenditures available on the Internet. Michigan needs comprehensive legislation mandating the creation of a website detailing state expenditure information. Attorney General Mike Cox and Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land have unilaterally posted their departments expenditures online...the Republicans who run departments...without legislation or being required to do so made this important information available. What are the Democrats and Governor trying to hide?
FACEBOOK...MICHIGAN McCAIN SUPPORTERS...join this group to get the latest on what's happening in our region.
MICHIGAN McCAIN CAMPAIGN....opens it's doors and is reaching out to Republicans, Independents and Reagan Democrats to come on over. Check out the Michigan specific webpage.
THE WASHINGTON POST ON MICHIGAN...Michigan (Kerry, 51 percent): There's a reason that the endorsements of Obama by former senator John Edwards (N.C.) and former Vice President Al Gore both happened in Michigan. Obama's campaign knows that their candidate's decision to skip the state's primary (and all of the agita that ensued from that choice) coupled with the fact that McCain has shown strength in Michigan (witness his 2000 primary victory there) make the Wolverine State a major problem for them. For Obama to win he must run extremely well in Detroit and Ann Arbor and avoid being swamped in the more Republican-friendly territory covered by the 2nd and 3rd congressional districts.
JACK HOOGENDYK FOR U.S. SENATE...to follow the latest on Jack's campaign to defeat Carl Levin go to: http://www.jackformichigan.org/media.htm
OBAMA vs McCAIN ON IRAQ...Republican activist Richard Helppie put together some very strong and powerful arguments on how Republicans should challenge the Obama campaign on their rhetoric. See his commentary below.
************************************************************************
FOR THE LATEST NEWS, COMMENTARY & INFORMATION:
Check...out...our...online Articles of Interest.........News...you...can...use.........
************************************************************************
THE REST OF THE STORY:
RICHARD HELPPIE: REPUBLICANS NEED TO GO ON OFFENSE:
Obama's opposition to the Iraq War is in his imagination. Obama lays claim that he was "against the war from the outset" and therefore demonstrated "better judgment." Obama was not in the U.S. Senate until 2005. In reality, Obama was never faced with making grave decisions about national security. The facts are that 100 Senators cast actual votes in 2002. Obama was not one of them. 77 of those cast their votes in favor of a joint resolution to authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq, as did 296 members of the House. Conveniently, Obama plays Monday morning quarterback about what he "would have done." Anyone who can read a calendar can easily see that Obama's imagination has run wild.
The 2008 presidential debate and decision is not about whether or not to invade Iraq. That decision has been made. The invasion took place in 2003. Saddam Hussein's government was toppled. Has Obama called for the restoration of that regime, or has he missed the news that Saddam has been apprehended and executed? Whether the decision to invade was a good strategic move for the security of the country, or a historic blunder, it is a historic fact and a vote for Obama will not set the clock and calendar into reverse. Obama claims to be about the future, but he continues to dwell on past decisions.
The 2008 presidential debate is not about the conduct of the war from 2003 to 2008. John McCain, as a war veteran and a U.S. Senator, correctly criticized the tactics in Iraq. Those advocating "more boots on the ground" have been somewhat vindicated by the results of the troop surge. The Democrats are in denial about those results.
The 2008 presidential debate is about what do to NOW and in the FUTURE about Iraq and the US Involvement. There is stark contrast between Senator Obama and Senator McCain. McCain supports building on the military, security and political momentum in Iraq and finishing strong. Obama believes in a hasty retreat, regardless of the consequences. Obama has been allowed to state, unchallenged, that an Obama presidency would result in a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq without consequences. Obama should be asked to either, (a.) explain to the American people why removing combat brigades and allowing the factions in Iraq and in the region break the fragile progress is a good idea NOW and for the FUTURE of the United States. Let's hear his vision of a post-U.S. Iraq; or (b.) explain to those who nominated him, i.e., the left wing of the Democratic party, why we need to continue a US military presence in order to preserve the fragile progress and finish strong.
If Obama chooses to explain that an immediate draw down of U.S. forces is in the best interests of the country NOW and in the FUTURE, see if America wants that type of "Change."
If Obama chooses to back-track on his previous positions, allow him to explain that "Change" is all about him changing his positions to pander to votes.
And it might be a good time to remind everyone that the Democrats ran in 2006 on a platform of immediate retreat and surrender in Iraq, and have subsequently backed every funding and continuing the conflict toward victory.
TODAY'S TOP STORIES
The following stories and more are available at my Articles of Interest online.
Lawmakers approve $44B plan for budget
Early deal leaves funds for K-12 schools still pending
David Eggert • Associated Press • June 29, 2008 • From Lansing State Journal
What a turnaround from nine months ago.
When state lawmakers adjourned about 2 a.m. Saturday for a summer break, they had mostly followed through on their goal of passing a $44 billion spending plan three months ahead of the true budget deadline.
No government shutdown will occur this year mainly because the heavy lifting - raising taxes - was done last year.
Michigan lawmakers adjourn with accomplishments
6/28/2008, 3:56 p.m. EDT
By DAVID EGGERT
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - What a turnaround from nine months ago.
When state lawmakers adjourned about 2 a.m. Saturday for a summer break, they had mostly followed through on their goal of passing a $44 billion spending plan three months ahead of the true budget deadline.
No government shutdown will occur this year mainly because the heavy lifting - raising taxes - was done last year.
Status of key issues in the Michigan Legislature
6/28/2008, 4:23 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press
(AP) - The Democratic-led state House and Republican-led Senate adjourned early Saturday for summer break after a busy week. The status of major legislative issues:
BUDGET: The House and Senate passed most of a spending plan for the state budget that starts Oct. 1. Remaining issues include funding for K-12 public schools and a dispute over studying a new international bridge crossing in Detroit.
WATER: The House and Senate passed a regional compact designed to keep Great Lakes water from being piped to states grappling with water shortages. New rules regulating large-scale water withdrawals also won approval. Gov. Jennifer Granholm will sign the entire package of water bills.
Beware this state 'reform' and its petition
Read the fine print; even that won't answer all questions
BY RON DZWONKOWSKI • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST • June 29, 2008
Before you sign a petition to put something on the state ballot, you should read it first. Don't just sign it to make the person with the clipboard go away. And it's fair to ask that person whether they are getting paid to bother you or are volunteering, and if they know who is behind the petition campaign.
If they tell you it's some group with a name like Reform Michigan Government Now, which sounds like something you want to do, it's still OK to ask who's bankrolling the effort, because, as you know, nothing in politics is ever too far from money.
Unfortunately, the "Reform" folks are keeping that secret until they have to disclose it in August, which should make you automatically suspicious. "Reform," after all, implies making better, but in politics, that's usually just in the eye of the reformer.
Bad policies add to state jobless rate
State policymakers likely didn't realize when they passed a $2.25 an hour minimum wage hike two years ago that it would cost Linda Hundt her day off.
But there she was last Wednesday, pouring fruit filling into crusts at her Sweetie Pies bakery café in DeWitt, subbing for the teen workers she couldn't afford to hire because of the higher minimum wage.
"Everybody has to work harder because there are fewer of us," says Hundt, who supplements her full-time staff with part-timers from the local high school. "And now I can't give merit raises to my older workers who are really doing a good job."
Detroit makes plans for partial City Hall shutdown
6/28/2008, 8:36 p.m. EDT
DETROIT (AP) - City officials have indefinitely furloughed employees working at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, where a lightning strike damaged transformers and caused a fire on the structure's lower level.
No injuries were reported in Friday's fire. But Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick says it created an air quality hazard and the building likely will be closed for at least 10 days.
The City Clerk's office and City Council operations will temporarily relocate to Cobo Center. Kilpatrick says police, fire and other primary services won't be affected by the shutdown.
Mayor's 'mess' spills over onto mom
Incumbent's challenges mount
Andrea Billups (Contact)
Sunday, June 29, 2008
DETROIT | When popular six-term U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, the mother of this city's indicted mayor, attended a recent Barack Obama for president rally, she drew boos from some in the crowd.
Mrs. Kilpatrick, who has represented Michigan's 13th Congressional District since 1996, has had an easy time of re-election, garnering as much as 78 percent of the vote in each of her elections, but the scandal surrounding her prominent son, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, has given her opponents ammunition.
A McCain win could push Supreme Court right
Justices sharply split on some of most fundamental constitutional questions
For much of its term, the Supreme Court muted last year's noisy dissents, warmed to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.'s vision of narrow, incremental decisions and continued a slow but hardly steady move to the right.
But as justices finished their work last week, two overarching truths about the court remained unchanged: It is sharply divided ideologically on some of the most fundamental constitutional questions, and the coming presidential election will determine its future path.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
What kind of "change" does Barack Obama want? He seeks to transform America into Canada. Mr. Obama is not proposing "new politics," but is a champion of the well-known, already enacted policies in the Great White North. His proposals are more reflective of Canadian values than American national ideals.
For example, Mr. Obama's economic plan consists of attempting to redress the disparities of wealth in the United States. He also wants to help the middle class, whom he states has been "squeezed" in the last decade. He rails against overpaid CEOs and an economy that is "out of balance." He will therefore impose higher taxes on those who make more than $250,000 per year, he will increase the capital-gains tax, he will cut taxes for the middle class and ensure that low-income seniors pay no tax. In other words, he will make America a more temperate nation - one in which the lows for those who do not succeed on their merits are not so low, and the highs for those who soar, are not so high. Mr. Obama's policies will result in stifling initiative and rendering America less meritocratic. This economic plan will have detrimental long-term effects, as has occurred in Canada. Canada suffers from a large "brain drain": Every year, many of the most talented, dynamic and enterprising individuals flock to America in order to escape the stagnation and limitations imposed on them by their government.
Obama begins to make Clintons look scrupulous
"To be clear: Barack will support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies."
--Obama spokesman Bill Burton, Oct. 24, 2007
That was then: Democratic primaries to be won, netroot lefties to be seduced. With all that (and Hillary Clinton) out of the way, Obama now says he'll vote in favor of the new FISA bill that gives the telecommunications companies blanket immunity for post-9/11 eavesdropping.
Back then, in the yesteryear of primary season, he thoroughly trashed the North American Free Trade Agreement, pledging to force a renegotiation, take "the hammer" to Canada and Mexico, and threaten unilateral abrogation.