If you're picking up a bottle of wine for your host or guests, consider buying Wine Spectator's 2009 Wine of the Year: Columbia Crest's Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia' [...]
If you're picking up a bottle of wine for your host or guests, consider buying Wine Spectator's 2009 Wine of the Year: Columbia Crest's Cabernet Sauvignon Columbia' [...]
Want something to be thankful for?
The guy in that video is not George W. Bush.
See? There's always somethin'.
This has been one tough year, no doubt about that. One of the hardest in Michigan's history. "Courage" is the one thing I wish for us all, for' [...]
Higher-income Americans should be taxed to' [...]
I'm at a' [...]
Michigan Weekend Update:
Uh oh. It looks like the Asian carp are closer to invading the Great Lakes, which led one local news anchor to proclaim that it may [...]
Most of Michigan's income and local taxes come from the state's [...]
I had to get away from the Grand Rapids Palin Mania yesterday. Our local media was downright embarrassing in their coverage - this was a celebrity, selling a book, and you would have thought it was a visit from [...]
Call you Senator today, 517-373-2400, or e-mail them at senate.michigan.gov. The governor is right - public pressure is the only thing that will move these guys to [...]
As the son of a nurse who worked in primary care for many years, I've long held the belief that decisions about childbearing should be made by a woman in consultation with her family and doctor. The government doesn't belong in the room when these very personal, private decisions [...]
The story is one you have read here already; [...]
The newest lie is that there is a provision in the historic Affordable Health Care for America Act passed earlier this month that - get this - where you [...]
Call Senator Bishop's office and tell him, a promise is a promise.
Phone:
(517) 373-2417
Fax:
(517) 373-2694
Not a lot of time for this today, but here are a few tidbits from the morning papers...
Drunks with guns, out in the woods. Oh boy. Be careful out [...]
Michigan Weekend Update:
Great editorial from Gongwer in Dome on Lt. Gov. John Cherry, pointing out that he is rapidly becoming the "alternative" candidate in the 2010 race, putting a very nice distance between himself and (ahem) "others" in the [...]
U.S. Rep. Mark Schauer, D-Battle Creek, will be in the Lansing area tomorrow for a health [...]
Can you believe that we are two weeks from Thanksgiving? On that note, here is the November State Senate and State House candidate update, that you can talk about with your relatives around the dinner table when you are tired of watching the Lions lose.
State [...]
It's also a good day because if you're a veteran, you have access to all kinds of delicious, free food today:).
So, for all my fellow vets, here's places' [...]
More than 1,500 parents, students and educators from Plymouth-Canton, Livonia, Taylor and other districts rallied this morning on the Capitol steps before going inside to bring their message to elected officials.' [...]
The Michigan Board of Canvassers approved ballot language on Monday for a petition brought forward by the group Fair [...]
My Congressman, Bart Stupak of Michigan, recently introduced the anti-abortion amendment in the House of Representatives version of the proposed Health Care bill. It seems the only time the values of faith based voters are taken into consideration is in [...]
Forgive me for not celebrating. While I realize that this bill is a giant step forward towards providing affordable health care for Americans, I cannot get past the insulting and degrading Stupak amendment. Just can't do it. Yes, we live to fight [...]
And now for this week's "Things I Would Have Blogged, But I Ran Out of Pepto-Bimol", featuring your wacky Michigan Legislature.
DHS employees [...]
Hello,
Christmas needs to come early for five-year-old Noah Biorkman. Noah suffers from stage three neuroblastoma cancer and will not [...]
To rally the troops for this all-important bill that [...]
The House passed the bill on a 403-12 vote Thursday, a day after the Senate ended a monthlong stalemate with a 98-0 vote. With some 7,000 people exhausting unemployment benefits every day and the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers set to expire at the end [...]
This was rather interesting:
That is the schedule for the House. The Senate has this time slot penciled in for "tentative" after Nov. 12th, back for the first week in December, and "tentative" after that, meaning their possible intention is to bolt for the year after Dec. 3rd.
Think that [...]
"Our campaign started with a very basic idea, and today voters confirmed that we are One Kalamazoo," said Campaign Manager, Jon Hoadley.
With only absentee ballots outstanding, 65 percent of Kalamazoo voters have approved Ordinance 1856 by a vote of 6,463 to 3,527, adding protections for gay [...]
Think of the consequences -- and imagine what people like Lessenberry [...]
You see the above ad? It's not just the inflammatory comments that basically attack Transgender people, but shes not a M.D. She is a registered Nurse, but in the video they refer to her as a Doctor.
Will the Religious right ever stop lying?
h/t: Good As You
[...]
Torn between taking pictures of beautiful fall leaves and pictures of cemeteries this week - I did both. These come from the Fulton St. (Grand Rapids oldest cemetery), Oakhill (Grand Rapids coolest cemetery), and Mount Calvary on the west side. Special guest appearance by Nessie on the Grand, [...]
House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, who led the House to the final budget deal, joined with Granholm in denouncing Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, and Senate Republicans as unwilling to compromise on new tax revenues.
"The Senate has chosen to put tax" [...]
Had a feeling this would happen - there was not enough wiggle room left in these budgets to restore the Promise Scholarship, or your' [...]
...I want to tell you about a special person running for Michigan Secretary of State. Here name is Jocelyn Benson. She is a good friend and someone who has what it takes to lead Michigan forward into the 21st Century. There is no one more committed [...]
On October 3, Local 386 members employed at Country Fresh Dairy in Grand Rapids, Michigan, ratified a new contract. The new agreement increases wages and pension benefits, while protecting health care coverage [...]
Gongwer, in an article entitled "FY '10 Plus 28: Senate Appears to Kill Dillon's Revenue Strategy," details the failure of Dillon's fling with Bishop:
A' [...]
Am I nuts to believe that "Number of Jobs Created" is a legitimate metric for success of a state economic development project?
That's all I want. That's all I friggin' want. While we're sucking away school funding while financing our government by stealing tax credits from the poor, why is [...]
Kalamazoo, MI:
Who We Are: The Yes on Ordinance 1856 / One Kalamazoo campaign is working in Michigan to support the City Commission of Kalamazoo's twice approved ordinance for housing, employment, and public accommodation protections for gay and transgender residents. Opponents forced a public referendum [...]
The state Senate voted [...]
The campaign is gearing up for the all important "get-out-the-vote," and special elections are won by the [...]
From Kathy Barks Hoffman at the AP:
"Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm remains optimistic that some Senate Republicans will support more money for schools, but GOP Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop said Tuesday he won't alter the Senate's only proposal for raising" [...]
In exchange for being authorized to use extra tax credits, state officials would have to start reporting the number of jobs created or retained by any business that wins incentives along with other specific information.
[snip]
State officials stress that a business awarded a tax credit only can claim [...]
The public is misled into thinking that the insurance companies' [...]
Yeah, that scares me too.
An announcement is planned for Monday to unveil a new partnership involving the Grand Rapids [...]
Government won't shut down, but maybe' [...]
If Senators see a flood of support, we have [...]
We have "cut government!" [...]
The turbine was developed at the Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center which is located in a Michigan Smart [...]
MIRS, 10/8. Kevin Elsenheimer admits the K-12 budget was not complete, that the funding at that' [...]
- The student who wrote the initial blog has now admitted that GOP [...]
A plan by House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, to place all Michigan public employees under a single, statewide health care plan greatly exaggerates [...]
The state Senate this morning sent the last six budget bills to Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
The governor has promised to sign the bills but says she's likely to make line-item vetoes.
The spending bills are for higher education, general government, community health, human services, state police and energy, labor [...]
These voters identify themselves as part of a 'mocked' minority with a set of shared beliefs and knowledge, and commitment to oppose Obama that sets' [...]
The goal of the Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center (MAREC) is "supporting the economic development of Muskegon" [...]
Looks like certain legislators have got some 'splaining to do. This makes the rumors of withheld contributions even more believable...
Just in from the MDP:
The Michigan Democratic Party sent surveys to Michigan legislators about key issues and candidates in the' [...]
Hey Democrats! Remember this?
I know! Let's do everything the red line wants, and see how we fare in 2010!
19 days now Mike Bishop has been holding six crucial budgets. 19 days. No excuse for that. There were some laughable editorials over the weekend from the usual right wing suspects [...]
Listen to your President. He knows best.
Michigan Weekend Update:
Day 17 of Michigan Budget Held Hostage: Bishop claims that he might, maybe, sorta, somewhat, we'll see, gotta talk to the caucus first, mumble mumble, excuses, more excuses, turn in the remaining budgets on Tuesday. Maybe. The LSJ had a' [...]
Mike Nofs is following that advice like a script in the race [...]
Crossposted at DailyKos. Please go and recommend!
If you've ever spent any time debating right-wingers on the issue of health care (or Social Security, Medicare, or-in my case-the Air Force), you will likely come across a "tenther". The tenther movement, according to Wikipedia, is:
The Tenther movement is [...]The Asian Carp basically eats [...]
Sen. Tupac Hunter brought up the fact that action on the workplace smoking ban has been put off because of [...]
