Blogging for Michigan

The Koch Brothers Come to Lansing

gmsteim — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:38:14 +0000

On June 2^nd, a new player in right wing attack politics, the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity, will host an event at the Lansing Center.

The Franklin Center is a front for the Koch brothers-financed Americans for Prosperity, which, in turn, is known for financing the Tea Party movement since its inception. The Lansing event serves as a Tea Party training session hoping to create “Citizen Watchdogs” using FOIA “to impact the state and local government budgeting process, and … to advance [their] message through social media.” It features some well known establishment Republicans using Tea Party activists to do their dirty work:

Agenda:

9:00 – 9:30am – Welcome and Introduction To Citizen Watchdog Program

Mary Ellen Beatty, Franklin Center

Scott Hagerstrom, Americans for Prosperity- Michigan

9:30am – 10:45am – Investigative Reporting: Breaking Stories That Force Change

Steve Miller, Texas Watchdog

10:45-11:15am – An Overview of Michigan Public Records Law

Patrick Wright, Senior Legal Analyst, Mackinac Center

11:15- 11:45am – Back To School Reports: How Does Michigan Education Compare With Other States? Kyle Olson, Education Action Group

12:00 – 1:00pm – Exposing the Establishment Media: Narrative Disruption

ACORN Whistleblower Hannah Giles

1:00-1:45pm – Social Media 101: Using New Media to Create Public Pressure

Katy Abram, Americans for Prosperity

1:45 – 2:15pm – Digging For Truth: Taking “Checks and Balances” Into Your Own Hands

Jack McHugh, Senior Legislative Analyst, Mackinac Center

2:15-3:00pm- Strategic Research: Learning to Vet Public Figures

Mary Ellen Beatty, Franklin Center

3:15-4:00pm – Who’s The Boss: Exposing Big Labor in Michigan

Terry Bowman, Union Conservatives

4:00-5:00pm- Voter Fraud/Election Integrity Issues

TBD, TrueThevote

This method is true to the Koch’s long time plan. They see the Tea Party as an army ready-made to advance their libertarian, small government agenda. This program furthers that goal by taking advantage of the void left by recent newspaper staff layoffs, and fill it with on-line Tea Party reporters. It boasts that the “Franklin Center … already provides 10 percent of all daily reporting from state capitals nationwide. “

David Axelrod, Obama’s senior adviser, recently said of the Kochs: “What they don’t say is that, in part, this is a grassroots citizens’ movement brought to you by a bunch of oil billionaires.” Whether these “journalists” will be taken seriously remains to be seen. But it’s clear that when the Kochs say jump, the Mackinac Center and its cronies say: “how high?”

PS: Just yesterday, the Heritage Foundation (the granddaddy of all right wing think tanks) and the Franklin Center announced they would jointly offer awards to commemorate the memory of Andrew Breitbart, the dead rightwing blogger who brought us the ACORN-killing hooker videos.

Koch-affiliated group to pay tea party leaders to recruit volunteers | The American Independent tribuneofthepeople.com/2012/02/23/koch-affiliated-group-to-pay-tea-party-leaders-to-recruit-volunteers-the-american-independent/

Tuesday briefing and open thread

Christine — Tue, 22 May 2012 12:42:10 +0000

Let’s start with more on the escapades of The Incredible Lying Schmidt

Here’s Mark Brewer talking to Tony about this yesterday:
Download audio file (tony-mark_brewer-5-21-2012.mp3)
I followed Mark with some thoughts of my own.
Download audio file (tony-christine_barry-5-21-2012.mp3)

In short, I think Bolger made some promises of support for Schmidt in other races. State Senate is the idea I floated here, but maybe there’s something else that he’s looking at. I’m also interested in seeing if there’s any legislation that comes up that’s favorable to Schmidt, and I’m going to be looking at his campaign contributions, committee assignments, etc.

Bruce Fealk calls in to mention his blogging Joe Knollenberg.

If you can’t use the flash player, you can download the mp3 files here:
- Mark Brewer discussing Roy Schmidt
- My segments on Roy Schmidt and the role of bloggers.
Another press release on Schmidt from the MDP,

What was Bolger Chief of Staff Suzanne Miller Allen’s Role in Election Fraud Scheme?
Speaker’s COS Was Involved in a Similar Scam 10 Years Ago While Working as COS for GOP Senate Leader Ken Sikkema

LANSING – It’s all starting to unravel now for Republicans as information continues to come out about an illegal election fraud scam to put a fake Democratic candidate on the ballot in House District 76.

“We’ve known that Speaker Jase Bolger and Representative Roy Schmidt had been secretly meeting for weeks, if not months, about the scam,” Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer said. “But now we’re learning that Bolger’s Chief of Staff Suzanne Miller Allen may have helped to mastermind the entire plot.”

Miller Allen was also Ken Sikkema’s Chief of Staff in 2002 when the then GOP Senate Leader was involved in a similar stunt to place fake Democrats on the ballot. Miller Allen’s role as caucus Chief of Staff in both instances raises even more questions.

“Was this a plot 10 years in the making?” Brewer asked. “What was Miller Allen’s involvement this time? Did she help plan it? Was she the mastermind? The evidence continues to pile up that this illegal scheme had been in the works for some time. Republicans like Jase Bolger, Suzanne Miller Allen, Roy Schmidt, Pete Lund and others, need to come forward and tell the voters what they know. This illegal deception will come out at some point. They all owe it to the voters to come clean now.”
MSP looks at Mojzak in election fraud

LANSING, Mich. (WOOD) – The Michigan State Police, at the request of the Kent County prosecutor, are looking into the possibility of election fraud involving Matt Mojzak’s filing to run as a Democrat in the 76th House District race.

Mojzak filed to run as a Democrat at the same time that current seat-holder Roy Schmidt switched parties from Democrat to Republican.

24 Hour News 8 learned Mojzak’s filing petition and Schmidt’s party switch paperwork were delivered by the same person.

Mojzak then withdrew his name with the County Clerk’s office at 8:45 a.m. Thursday.
And then a follow up article – Will MSP find Mojzak election fraud?

Minutes before the filing deadline on May 15, Mojzak filed as a Democrat to run in the 76th District. Only 8 minutes later, Schmidt filed the paperwork to become a Republican.

Both of those petitions – according to the Kent County Clerk’s office – were filed by the same person, whose identity remains officially unidentified.

The House Dems look serious about getting the house back in the fall:

The target was mentioned by Rep. Jeff Irwin of Ann Arbor, House Democratic Caucus campaign co-chairman, following a press conference Monday to announce their campaign strategy for November, when state representatives are up for re-election.

“Theoretically the number that could be flipped is 20, but the more realistic goal is 12,” said Irwin, who wouldn’t talk about which seats they hope to capture. “There are districts in every part of the state that are in play.”

Michigan has 110 House seats, and Republicans hold a 64-46 majority. The new redistricting plan adopted by Republicans this year gives an advantage to House Democrats, according to caucus leaders. State senators aren’t up for reelection for another two years.

House Minority Leader Richard Hammel of Mount Morris said Democrats have a clear path to winning a majority despite losing a seat last week when Rep. Roy Schmidt of Grand Rapids defected to the GOP shortly before filing for re-election.

…

Rep. Mark Meadows of East Lansing said Democrats were excited when they figured out the number of House districts where at least 48 percent of voters are Democrats increased from 47 to 59 after Republicans reapportioned districts based on the 2010 U.S. Census.

“Democrats didn’t lose a single seat in 2010 (in districts) where we had 48 percent,” said Rep. Mark Meadows of East Lansing. “We can expect to see a Democratic majority in the House next year.”

I don’t know about anyone else, but Schmidt has really motivated me to help flip the house. If that guy gets re-elected, I want him in the minority.

Census Daily

Profile America — Tuesday, May 22nd. This is National Maritime Day, noted annually by presidential proclamation. The date chosen celebrates the day in 1819 when the SS Savannah completed the first transatlantic crossing by a steam ship. The first Maritime Day was created by Congress in 1933 to honor the U.S. Merchant Marine, civilians who have defended the freedom of America since 1775. Their exploits include the largest sealift the world has even known during World War II. More than 2.2 billion tons of commerce arrive and leave the U.S. each year. Los Angeles handles more container cargo than any other port in the U.S.

Solidarity forever, brothers and sisters!!!

Getting started in political blogging

Christine — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:59:00 +0000

I’m going to be on with Tony later this morning to discuss political blogging. I thought I’d start at the very beginning. What is political blogging, and is it for you?

To keep things simple, let’s define political blogging as the act of writing articles about civic affairs. These articles could be editorials designed to persuade, investigative articles that present evidence and/or empirical data, rants, comics, etc. Ultimately the only requirement is that the content of the article addresses something or someone related to policy or politics. Because the act of blogging is largely uncoordinated, unfunded, and is a “bottom-up” style of messaging, political blogging is considered grassroots activism.

So that being said, is this the kind of activism that is for you?

Some of the benefits of blogging as activism:

Mobility is not required. People who have tight schedules or who have physical trouble moving around and getting to rallies, meetings, etc., find that blogging is an easy way for them to engage in issues that matter to them.
Blogging is low cost. You do not need big up front investments or lots of gas money in order to blog. There are free platforms such as blogger.com and wordpress.com that allow people to sign up for a blog with a unique name and website address. You can eliminate cost altogether if you can pick up free Internet somewhere.
People with a small comfort zone usually feel ‘safer’ blogging. Many people want to be active but they do not want to knock on doors, march in parades, attend events, etc. Blogging allows a person to make a potentially powerful contribution. This is a great option for people who might have otherwise have avoided civic engagement.
People who enjoy writing can find that blogging is a great way to launch a second income.

So maybe blogging is for you? Do you know what you’d like to write about?

Blogging is a uniquely personal experience, and if you are serious about blogging you will find your own voice and follow your own interests. However if you are looking for a place to start, here are some of the more popular ideas:

Join the 83 County Project and blog about your local politics. Yes I’m pimping my project, but I really believe in the mission of the 83CP. We NEED people to blog about what’s going on in the counties, cities, townships. It’s not as sexy as blogging about Obama v Romney, but there aren’t many people do it.
Do you have a cause? Are you always talking about clean water, wind energy, public education, organized labor, or some other policy issue? Why not write about it? Build up a body of work that presents your research and opinion, so that you can refer people to your blog. Additionally, your blog has the potential to reach people you never get to personally meet, so you are extending your ability to influence other.
Relevant people. We have some real movers & shakers who need to be tracked, the most obvious being Governor Snyder. He has already said he’s going to run for re-election, but we don’t have a blog up about him. We need to be carefully tracking what he says and does. This doesn’t mean that you start a blog to smear people you don’t like; that isn’t activism, that’s just internet garbage.
Alternatively you can start a blog to support someone. BFM got its start by supporting Governor Granholm’s platform, because a handful of us bloggers didn’t feel that she was being supported. We wanted a progressive economy in Michigan, and we believed our best hope for that was Governor Granholm’s budget. So although we regularly beat on the Republican obstructionists, we were also focused on presenting supportive information for the Governor’s policy proposals.
Party politics is another under-reported issue. What does a precinct delegate do? Why should people get involved in the party? What is a block captain? A field trainer? These are important things that just don’t get discussed enough.

At this point you are probably in one of three stages:

Best: Yes, blogging is for me!! (hurray!)
Good: Well, I don’t know, I might maybe could try it. (hurray!)
Not Good: Not my cup of tea. (sad face)

If you are in the Good or Best stages, keep reading. If you are in the Not Good stage, I appeal to you to upgrade to the Good stage, and keep reading.

Great! You’ve decided to try it out. What do we do now?

First, think about your blogging name. How will you identify yourself? Will you be anonymous? Will you have a nick name but not be anonymous? Will you use your real name?

Depending on your confidence level, you can either

Join a blog like BFM or DKos Michigan.
Create a throw-away blog where you can practice and screw up and delete later if you want. Nobody cares what happens to this blog, so it’s a great way to get started.
Start a blog that you intend to be your long-term blogging home.

Start blogging! Write your articles, polish ‘em up a bit, and get them published.

Make it happen! Trade links, comment on other blogs, promote your blog with social, like Twitter and Facebook.

And welcome to our world. Big hugs!

Monday briefing and open thread

Christine — Mon, 21 May 2012 08:16:51 +0000

I’m just going to call this “The ‘Incredible Lying Schmidt’ Edition”

First up, the latest MDP release on The Incredible Lying Schmidt:

We know from various reports, including a Roy Schmidt television interview with WZZM on May 16th, that Bolger and Schmidt spoke for weeks, if not months, about Schmidt’s party switch. We also know that a member of Bolger’s staff, Michelle McQuiston, notarized Schmidt’s Republican candidate affidavit.

Further, Bolger has admitted that he arranged to have Schmidt’s affidavit filed just minutes before the filing deadline on Tuesday. We also know from press reports, including WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids, that the same person who turned in Schmidt’s affidavit also turned in Matt Mojzak’s perjured affidavit. Mojzak is the fake Democratic candidate who has since withdrawn from the race.

Just, wow.
And a piece by Michigan Radio on the offer that the Incredible Lying Schmidt could not refuse:

This was a weeks-long project personally led by Republican House Speaker Jase Bolger who negotiated with Schmidt, first by phone, than it culminated in a meeting Monday night at Bolger’s home. Schmidt says it was the attraction of working in the majority, and he felt Democrats weren’t getting things done. He says it wasn’t a big flip for him to go from being a moderate Democrat to a moderate Republican.

Kind of a big flip for his constituents though, and the people who were giving him money …
Meanwhile the Incredibly Lying Schmidt’s sidekick has quit:

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The 22-year-old bodybuilder and GNC nutrition store manager who filed as a Democratic candidate for the 76th District state House seat Tuesday – at the same time incumbent state Rep. Roy Schmidt switched parties – has withdrawn.
To observers, the Republicans look like bumbling fools:

Keystone Cop-level bungling was on full display this week over state Rep. Roy Schmidt’s filing – just 10 minutes before Tuesday’s filing deadline – in which he indicated he was running for re-election as a Republican, not a Democrat.

Since this caught Michigan Democrats completely by surprise, Dems had no candidate to run against Schmidt. But that was the point. State Republicans, primarily House Speaker Jase Bolger, had been recruiting Schmidt to run as a Republican for weeks, and if Schmidt switched parties at the very last minute, Republicans would all but eliminate viable competition.

…

More embarrassing for Republicans is that the same man that filed Schmidt’s candidacy papers Tuesday also filed Mojzak’s papers. Schmidt’s papers, incidentally, had been in Bolger’s possession before they were filed, according to Gongwer.

Now c’mon Republicans, that’s just plain sloppy. You have to cover your tracks better than that.
But it’s still a political win for the GOP:

“We would not have beaten Roy Schmidt. He was going to win,”

We know that this party switch has nothing to do with serving the people and everything to do with The Incredible Lying Schmidt’s own vendetta against Mark Brewer. Why? Because Schmidt said so:

“The simple truth is, extreme Democrat party bosses like Mark Brewer are unwilling to listen to ideas or accept my positions on issues that matter to me and Grand Rapids.”

Mark Brewer isn’t in the legislature. He’s the party Chair and his job is to win elections.

Expect to hear more from The Incredible Lying Schmidt when I get enough cash to have him drawn as the lying little bitchtoon that he is.

Census Daily

Monday, May 21st. Today marks the birthday of an important U.S. aviation pioneer who now is largely forgotten. Glenn Curtiss was born in Hammondsport, New York. He was the first U.S. motorcycle champion, setting a speed record of 136 miles an hour in 1907. Turning to aviation, he set many speed and distance records in the first decade of powered flight. Curtiss built the navy’s first aircraft, and later huge four-engined flying boats. One, the NC-4, made the first transatlantic crossing by an airplane in 1919. Glenn Curtiss held U.S. pilot’s license number one. Today, just over 594,000 Americans hold pilot’s licenses.

Solidarity forever, brothers and sisters!!!

Why Are Public Schools Under Attack?

gmsteim — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:30:05 +0000

Public employees and the middle class are under attack, but many are unaware that the source of this campaign is carefully coordinated, well financed and has been underway for many years.

Who’s behind this?

In 1968, because “conservatives were being killed politically” Joe Coors financed the founding of the Heritage Foundation in Washington DC to “supply witnesses for hearings and experts to privately brief senators and congressmen” on conservative policy. Its success provided the model for a network of state-based think tanks including the Mackinac Center.

The Mackinac Center

Widely quoted in the media as a free market think tank, the Mackinac Center’s research routinely reaches conservative conclusions for perceived policy problems. It recommends lower state and local taxes, reduced governmental services, private school vouchers (“universal tuition tax credits”) and the outlawing of public sector unions. It has most recently concentrated on legislation designed to lower union membership numbers. While helping to write a law increasing benefit costs to school employees, an email exchange between a legislator and a Mackinac Center director made the Center’s objectives clear:

It’s increasingly visible work to amend Michigan law to bring about these changes led to calls for it to lose its IRS designation as a public charity.

ALEC

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) was founded shortly after the Heritage Foundation to draft model state legislation to benefit business interests. Among its founders was John Engler. ALEC brings together lobbyists from over 300 major corporations, with conservative legislators. As a result, an ALEC bill is introduced over 1,000 times every year.

These state laws benefit their sponsors bottom line: they undermine environmental regulations and deny climate change; support school privatization; undercut health care reform; defund unions and limit their political influence; restrain legislatures’ abilities to raise revenue through taxes; mandate strict election laws that disenfranchise voters; increase incarceration to benefit the private prison industry, and weaken gun laws, among many other subjects.

The recent shooting of Trayvon Martin led to the revelation that the Florida “Stand Your Ground” law was the result of a NRA-funded ALEC model law. Because of the public reaction to this and to ALEC-advanced voter suppression through voter ID laws, an increasing number of corporations have withdrawn their ALEC memberships, including:

Coca-Cola PepsiCo

Kraft Intuit

Wendy’s Mars, Inc.

Arizona Public Service Reed Elsevier

American Traffic Solutions McDonald’s

Yum Brands Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Blue Cross/Blue Shield

There have since been calls for ALEC to lose its tax exempt status.

The Koch Brothers

David and Charles have funded conservative and libertarian policy and advocacy groups in the United States. Since the 1980s the Koch foundations have given more than $100 million to vast numbers of such organizations, including the Heritage Foundation, ALEC and the Mackinac Center. More recently the Koch brothers founded Americans for Prosperity, which in turn helped launch the Tea Party movement.

David Koch once ran for Vice President advocating for abolition of Social Security, the FBI, the CIA and public schools.

Why Labor Unions?

In the 2010 elections, only 3 of the top 10 organizations funding elections were related to organized labor. All of the remaining 7 were funded by corporations. By attacking public sector unions and reducing or eliminating their ability to contribute to candidates, corporations would be the only significant source of campaign financing.

Crippling the ability of unions to represent their members, making it difficult to collect dues, reducing their ability to bargain and undermining the funding for their retirement, is intended to lower membership numbers and end unions’ ability to raise significant PAC dollars.

The Battle for Bargaining Rights in the Midwest

As a result of this behind the scenes work, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker succeeded in nearly eliminating all public sector collective bargaining in that state, as did Ohio Governor John Kasich. Walker now faces a recall election and Ohio voters have repealed the Kasich law.

In Michigan, the approach has been a “death by a thousand cuts:”

The Michigan plan

Increase the cost of benefits to school employees

· Taxed school employees’ retirement, increased contribution by 3%;

· Mandated a 20 percent health insurance premium cost;

· Further increased retirement contribution to 12% (SB 1040)

Cut school employee pay

· Cut school funding by $1 billion;

· Allow parents to take the school’s state funding to on-line schools (“cyber charters”);

· Gave Emergency Managers unlimited power to reduce salary and benefits and void contracts.

Reduce the ways the union can protect its members

· Gutted Tenure Act to prohibit only “arbitrary or capricious” dismissals;

· Removed seniority as a factor in layoff and recalls;

· Required that half of teacher evaluation be based on student performance

· Ended bargaining for retroactive insurance payments and step increases;

· Increased the teacher probationary period and made it easier to dismiss probationary teachers;

· Outlawed bargaining on teacher assignment, discipline or discharge

· Prohibit full time release work.

Make collecting dues much more difficult

· Ended payroll dues deduction for school employees;

· Pass Right to Work.

Kill the teacher’s union, move on to the other unions.

The Michigan Response

To defeat this plan, a coalition of “front-line teachers, first responders, construction workers, and clergy” known as Protect Our Jobs has launched a petition drive to amend the Michigan Constitution to establish a right to bargain collectively and to strengthen the middle class.

Every coalition member has pledged to contribute completed petitions toward the goal of collecting well over 330,000 valid signatures.

The proposed constitutional amendment would specifically:

· Establish the people’s rights to organize to form, join or assist unions and to bargain collectively regarding their wages, hours and other conditions of employment.

· Prohibit employers from retaliating against employees for exercising those rights.

· Prohibit politicians from interfering with those rights, and protect current laws establishing minimum wages, hours and working conditions.

· Authorize the state to restrict or prohibit public employee strikes.

Think Tanks Push ALEC to Go After Unions(motherjones.com)

Friday briefing and open thread

Christine — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:29:28 +0000

I am full of gratitude and anticipation for the weekend. How about you kids?

Let’s start with Senator Randy Richardville, an elected “representative of the people,” sucking off … I mean, sucking up to Mackinac Center:

Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, told reporters “Tell the Mackinac Center that, OK?” on Wednesday in announcing his support for legislation that would put public school teachers in Michigan hired after Jan. 1, 2013, into a defined-contribution 401(k)-style plan, according to The Detroit News.

How ridiculous does this have to get before the 99% take their country back from these pig people?
Speaking of 99%, isn’t it interesting how that has become a part of our language and culture? I was reading an article about the Titanic and it referred to the wealthy families as “the 1% of their day.” These are the kinds of things that make me believe that Occupy is far more significant to our country than people can understand at this point.
The Roy Schmidt Cover-Up Begins. Another MDP release, and I’m glad to see the MDP on top of this.

LANSING – While Roy Schmidt’s fake Democrat Matt Mojzak has withdrawn from the race, serious legal questions remain. Today, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer sent letters to Attorney General Bill Schuette and Secretary of State Ruth Johnson calling for an immediate and thorough investigation of perjury and election fraud.

“Mojzak’s withdrawal just proves that he was a fake Democrat and it’s obvious the cover-up of Roy Schmidt’s fake Democratic candidate has begun,” said Brewer. “It’s ironic that this cover-up is taking place on the anniversary of the beginning of the Watergate hearings. The voters deserve to know who exactly was involved in this plot, when it began, and why felonies were committed. These illegal conspirators must be brought to justice swiftly.”

Mojzak’s affidavit of three lies demonstrates that he was a Republican plant with the sole intention of clearing an easy path to reelection for Schmidt. The three lies in the affidavit include:

Mojzak claiming he’s a Democrat.
Mojzak claiming he’s registered to vote in the 76th district while his home and registration are in the 88th district.
Mojzak claiming he’s been a resident of Kent County for 22 years when he’s been living in Ottawa County.

“There are many serious questions that need to be answered,” continued Brewer. “Who recruited this fake Democrat? Who prepared his affidavit? Who filed both Mojzak’s and Schmidt’s affidavits? Who is Raymond Venezia, the man who notarized Mojzak’s affidavit?”

“Schuette and Johnson need to investigate this obvious evidence of perjury and election fraud,” Brewer said. “They demanded the so-called fake Tea Party in Oakland County be held accountable and they should be just as adamant about this fake Democrat. Will Schuette and Johnson use their resources to investigate and bring to justice whomever is involved including House Speaker Jase Bolger and Representatives Pete Lund and Roy Schmidt? The voters deserved to know.”
Muskegon Critic has a kick ass article on the problem with access to healthy food options:

…for many folks you could quadruple the amount of food assistance they get and they STILL wouldn’t have a way to get to a grocery store that has fresh fruits and vegetables.

…

When the only apparently accessible store in town is a liquor store with a sign that says “We Take WIC” or “We Accept EBT” and all they have for food is potato chips, snack cakes, and overpriced canned soup and mac and cheese and one wrinkled, shrink wrapped bell pepper for two bucks….that’s not a problem with food assistance.

It’s not a problem with food stamps.

It’s a problem of limited options…

As I become more aware of the importance quality foods and good nutrition, I am also increasingly aware of the expense and time that goes into eating right. I can’t imagine a person on food assistance choosing to spend more of his money on things like organics and fresh veggies if he doesn’t know why he should do that.
A must-read article over on Eclectablog: Court of Appeals to rule on Emergency Manager petitions soon — without all the information they need:

Yesterday in Detroit, the three Republican judges on the Michigan Court of Appeals heard testimony regarding the font-size challenge to the petitions gathered to put the repeal of Public Act 4 — the Emergency Manager Law — on the November ballot. As I wrote about the other day, they did so without complete information because expert analysis of the font used on the petitions — analysis requested by the Michigan Director of State Elections — was not included in the overview given to the Board of State Canvassers before they made their decision on April 26.

…

As I have already written, this was never about the fonts. It has always been about making sure that the Republicans continue to be able to operate with impunity. They have placed their people in positions of power and as gate keepers at every level in our government, including the one place where Michigan Citizens can go to redress their grievances against their government.

They control everything in Michigan government right now:

The Governor’s office.
The Lt. Governor’s office.
The Attorney General’s office.
The Secretary of State’s office.
The House of Representatives.
The Senate.
The Court of Appeals.
The Supreme Court.

The Republicans’ budgets and the new laws they pass all seem geared to creating a situation that guarantees the failure of our public schools and aging urban municipalities. And there, waiting at the end of that inevitable failure, they have created the dictatorial, tyrannical Emergency Manager who can complete the transfer of public assets to the private sector, to crush the unions that stand be between them and more profits, and to turn our kids’ education into a profit-making venture for the operators of cyber schools and charter schools.

Laura at the Maddow blog picked up the story here.

Census Daily

Friday, May 18th. With the weather getting warmer, it’s time to dust off your bicycle and get some exercise. In fact, this is National Bike Month, noting that across the U.S., more than 38 million people enjoy riding their bikes. From coast-to-coast, people are expected to take part in a wide range of activities sponsored by environmental and civic groups, health organizations, and police departments. And today is National Bike to Work Day — a time to consider using bike pedals instead of a gas pedal. Even in the face of rising gas prices, the vast majority of us — more than three-quarters — drive to work alone. Only 5 percent use public transportation, and less than 2 percent use bikes and other means to get to their jobs.

Solidarity forever, brothers and sisters!!!

Thursday briefing and open thread

Christine — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:58:26 +0000

Well I spent the first couple of hours this morning thinking that it was Wednesday. What an incredibly rude awakening when I saw the neighbor’s garbage sitting at the curb. Anyway let’s just say this is going to be a brief briefing, and I swear I’ll make it up to you someday.

The MDP is a skoch suspicious of Roy Schmidt’s party jumping.

… Yesterday, Schmidt changed his party affiliation to Republican and helped place his nephew’s friend, Matthew Mojzak, on the ballot as a fake Democrat. The only problem is, Mojzak doesn’t live in the district – a requirement to run for the seat.

Mojzak was registered to vote in Ottawa County and did not change his registration until late on Tuesday, according to MIRS Newsletter. In his attached candidate affidavit, Mr. Mojzak stated under penalty of perjury that he has been a resident of Kent County for 22 years – an obvious lie. He’s using his grandmother’s address in the 76th district in an attempt to qualify as a candidate there.

“It’s clear this was a plot weeks in the making,” Brewer said. “But Republicans made one critical mistake – Mr. Mojzak lied on his candidate affidavit because he has not been living in Kent County – that’s election fraud.”

…

“This is just another example of Republican hypocrisy,” Brewer continued. “They claim to be the party of transparency and values, yet they pull these sneaky, illegal tactics in order to hold onto their power in Lansing. Rather than face voters in November, they concocted this deceitful, fraudulent plan. Bolger, Lund, Schmidt, and Mojzak should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Republican Michigander is suspicious as well:

With the new HD-76 50/50 type of district which is much whiter than the old old, this strikes me as very Arlen Specter, Joe Schwarz, John Stewart, Richard Shelby, or Charlie Crist type move, kinda fitting for the ‘moderates’. This time the GOP is the benefit of it. I have to admit that I’m suspicious of the timing. I’m shocked though that he didn’t get a primary.

I’m also quite curious to see how Schmidt votes, although with Snyder at the governor’s spot, is it really going to be much different? Anyway, I’ll take the committee vote for a two year term, but I got to admit suspicion with the primary filing timing and lack of primary from the GOP.
Republicans make dead people.

2012 House Bill 5605: Ban hospital employee flu shot mandates

Introduced by Rep. Robert Genetski (R) on May 9, 2012, to prohibit hospitals from requiring employees to receive a influenza vaccine as a condition of employment or promotions.
Jennifer Granholm to the GOP:

America is one big disfunctional family at times, but it must move forward somehow. Agree to disagree? That’s Jennifer Granholm’s invitation to the Republicans – the rational ones at least. “We need a rational Republican party. We want you to contribute to our future,” she tells Republicans.

Census Daily

Thursday, May 17th. On this date in 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court issued one of its most historic decisions, changing the social landscape of the nation forever. The justices ruled unanimously in Brown v. Board of Education that segregation of public schools based solely on race was unconstitutional. The ruling effectively did away with the “separate but equal” concept. The case was argued by Thurgood Marshall, who later became the first African-American Supreme Court justice. In the early 1950s, 15 percent of adult blacks were high school graduates. That figure is now 81 percent. Then, only 2 percent had college diplomas; now the rate has risen to 18 percent.

Solidarity forever, brothers and sisters!!!

Wednesday briefing and open thread

Christine — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:25:37 +0000

Happy Wednesday!

Hail to the Victors. Ann Arbor makes the “most well-read cities” list:

Ann Arbor has a lot of bookworms, according to a new list by Amazon.com.

The online company on Tuesday released its annual list of 20 of the “Most Well-Read Cities in America,” and Ann Arbor has landed the No. 4 spot.

It comes in behind Berkeley, Calif., at No. 3, Cambridge, Mass., at No. 2 and Alexandria, Va., tops the list at No. 1.

But that’s not the only reason we are the leaders and the best …

Navigate through the underground maze of library stacks and study tables in the basement of the Duderstadt Center on the University of Michigan’s North Campus and you’ll find a virtual treasure chest in room B474.

From the outside, the room looks much like the private study rooms that surround it. But on the shelves where books should be there are Xbox 360s, Playstations and more video games than any 12-year-old could ever dream of.

Room B474 is no ordinary library, it’s UM’s Computer and Video Game Archive, which boasts more than 3,000 games for more than 30 systems.

Unlike other video game archives throughout the world, anybody can come into Duderstadt and play any game available, whether for research or just to relax after a long day of studying.

So sweet.

Jack Lessenberry has a good article on the impact of the devastating GOP EITC cuts:

A year ago, in their zeal to give businesses an enormous tax cut, the governor and the legislature considered virtually eliminating the Earned Income Tax Credit for the working poor. In the end, they didn’t quite kill it. Instead, they merely took most of it away.

When they did, there was hardly a whimper of protest from the Democrats. About the only group which seemed upset was the non-profit and non-partisan Michigan League for Human Services.

Even the league seemed more relieved that the tax credit wasn’t totally killed than indignant about what the government had done. When the Michigan Senate decided to “only” take 70 percent of the credit away, they were praised by a former senator, Gilda Jacobs, who is now president of the league.

“This measure preserves the spirit of the Michigan Earned Income Tax Credit,” she said. Well, I have long thought that Gilda was one of the brightest lights in Lansing.

But I thought then that she was being far too easy on what to me was really a public policy crime. Shrinking the credit, known at the EITC, is about as stupid a move as I can imagine.

While this is a good article and I generally agree with the sentiment, the fact is that Jack just needs to suck it. Seriously. When the working poor had a chance of getting some real relief a few years ago, Jack was out there beating on Governor Granholm for not working with Republicans to cut more. And now he’s saying the Democrats didn’t protest the EITC cuts? Does he pay attention at all?

Whatever, Jack.
Here’s another article about the impact of Snyder + GOP tax increases on the poor:

A new report says Michigan’s low-income working families will pay an estimated $244 million more in state income taxes next year because of reductions in the state’s earned income tax credit.

The Michigan League for Human Services released the report Monday. It says the state earned income tax credit in 2009 reduced taxes for low-income families by $349 million, but that saving will drop to $104 million for 2012.
And finally, join us at Beer with Bloggers, on Thursday May 31 at the Corner Brewery in Ypsi:

It’s a chance for us, the men and women behind the html code, to hang out with the folks that read our words and look at our photos and other artwork, answer your questions, and get drunk. Mark tells me the last time he did this (over two years ago), he had 90 people show up.

The next Beer With Bloggers event is Thursday, May 31 from 7:00 until 9:00 p.m. at the Corner Brewery in Ypsilanti and YOU are invited.

Here’s Mark Maynard’s post on the event.

I’m looking forward to meeting everyone!!

Census Daily

Profile America — Wednesday, May 16th. The first motion picture Academy Awards were given out on this date in 1929. Unlike the big hoopla surrounding the awards now, about 270 people attended that first ceremony. The silent movie “Wings” was chosen as best picture. Many of the movie stars honored with Oscars through the years were born in May, among them Katherine Hepburn and John Wayne, along with Gary Cooper, Henry Fonda and Jimmy Stewart. When the first Oscars were awarded in 1929, Americans spent $720 million that year going to the movies. Now, motion picture theaters generate more than $13 billion in revenue annually.

Solidarity forever, brothers and sisters!!!

Effort to recall Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder faces opposition – FROM THE LEFT

Chris Savage (aka Eclectablog) — Tue, 15 May 2012 23:01:22 +0000

With friends like these…
The group working to recall Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, Michigan Rising missed a campaign finance report deadline by a few days this month. Though this isn’t entirely uncommon given the unnecessarily complex and cumbersome reporting methods they use, it was still a black eye to a group trying to prove that it has learned its lesson from the first recall effort and pull off a feat that nearly everyone agrees will be a nearly impossible task.

The group faces stiff opposition in their fight to recall our Republican governor. However, the fight they are getting is not from Republicans, tea partiers, the business community or conservatives.

It’s from a group that describes itself “independent left”.

I’m not kidding.

The group is Reach Out Job Search which has a website with a variety of writers and a podcast called ROJS Radio LIVE Political Talk Radio w/ Monica RW & Autumn S. The two main contributors to the ROJS effort are Ypsilanti Township Parks Commissioner and “job search expert” Monica Ross-Williams and Autumn Smith who ran the unsuccessful campaign to recall House Speaker Jase Bolger. I assisted Smith in her efforts. For example: HERE.

These two women have been on a nearly eight-month long effort to discredit, defame and ultimately ruin the efforts of Michigan Rising. Their drive to stop Michigan Rising appears to be primarily based on allegations made by a former volunteer and treasurer for the group which was formerly known as the Committee to Recall Rick Snyder (CRRS). This woman, Gail Schmidt, penned a screed on a nearly unknown website accusing the management team of fraud and mismanagement, claiming they have lied about the number of signatures gathered in the first attempt and illegal use of campaign funds. Ironically, it was Ms. Schmidt herself that nearly got the group into trouble when she broke campaign laws when trying to divert the remaining funds from individuals to Kos Media who never gave them the funds in the first place.

Using what they refer to as “radio shows” (which are online broadcasts/podcasts), Smith and Ross-Williams proceeded to engage in a series of episodes that they described as an “investigation”. Most of this investigation consisted of allowing disgruntled former volunteers to come on the show to complain about the CRRS management team.

During the Kick-off Rally for the second recall attempt, Ross-Williams sent me this snarky Tweet (now deleted):

That afternoon, she posted this on her Facebook page:

[For the record, I appear on the First Shift with Tony Trupiano twice a month and am not paid. I raise funds the same Ross-Williams does: by asking my readers to contribute and through ad sales.]

The “diss” on President Obama she is referring to is when Radio Talk Show Host and rally emcee Tony Trupiano introduced a couple of high school kids with this:

Our next two guests represent “Hope” in a way that actually Barack Obama never did. Our next two guests represent the future in a way no politician ever will because they are high school children…and what they have to say is something that you desperately need to hear.

The reference to bloggers comes, one assumes, from Tony’s introduction of me at the rally:

Our next speaker is my brother-in-arms as I am fortunate enough, two times a month, to have him on my radio show. He is and epitomizes what it means to be a citizen journalist. He speaks truth to power in the way no one in the state of Michigan is right now. He has become my go-to source for when I want the truth on what’s happening in this building behind us.

(Watch video from the rally HERE.)

I contacted Trupiano to ask him about this:

Were you “dissing our President Obama” and saying that other Michigan bloggers are “not worth the keyboard strikes on their computers”?

Of course I was not dissing President Obama and that someone would interpret my remakes while introducing two high school freshman as a diss on the President makes one wonder if the people who were receiving this message were actually listening and, if they were, were they listening with an objective ear? Two 15-year old young people showed up at a rally to recall the Governor because they recognize their futures are at risk and if that doesn’t qualify as hope, I do not know what does. I did say they provided hope in a way the President never could because he hasn’t been 15 in some time. I should know because the president and I are the same age! Anyone who has ever heard my show knows my deep and committed support for President Obama and, even on those few issues where he and I disagree, I have never shown this president anything other than the utmost respect. Shame on a “reporter” who was not even there for inferring otherwise. Shame on them indeed. As for dissing Bloggers, I have a track record, again, including having her on my show, to support any accusation made in the opposite. What a silly and baseless ascertation.

The same night, Ross-Williams and Smith giddily announced on their Facebook page that they “could not resist” and would be hosting a special, unscheduled “radio show” to recap the rally. The podcast is HERE.

They spent the first several minutes chuckling and guffawing about the event, saying what an utter failure it was (though they themselves were not in attendance.) They criticized everything from the speakers to the sale of t-shirts and generally mocked the event for an entire hour while simultaneously claiming it was unimportant and would accomplish nothing.

Then, later that week, in a rather astonishing move for a group that calls itself an independent news organization, they went beyond “reporting” and “investigation” and entered the story themselves by filing a formal complaint with the Secretary of State bureau of elections.

On May 11, 2012, they issued the following press release on their Facebook page:

ROJS News & Radio has issued the following Press Release:

FORMAL COMPLAINT FILED WITH BUREAU OF ELECTIONS AGAINST MICHIGAN RISING POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE

On May 11, 2012, ROJS News and Radio initiated a formal complaint to the Michigan Bureau of Elections against Michigan Rising PAC Committee ID #515623, the group who is trying to Recall Gov. Rick Snyder.

ROJS News and Radio has investigated Michigan Rising campaign finance reportings over the past five months and found questionable activity occurring with the Political Action Committee finances (http://www.reachoutjobsearch.com/2012/05/michigan-rising-campaign-finance.html).

Michigan Rising failed to file their Tri-annual report which was due on April 25th 2012 (http://bit.ly/J0MTte).

As an arm of Independently financed media, we firmly believe Michigan voters have rights to know the financial affairs of a Political Action Committee (PAC) collecting monetary funds from potential voters donations. With such, ROJS News and Radio has mailed a complaint to the Bureau of Elections-Michigan Department of State regarding alleged violations of Michigan Compiled Laws (MCL’s) and Michigan Campaign Finance Act #388 of 1976.

ROJS News and Radio is an political, OP/ED, informational news site, and weekend based podcast entity founded in April 2010. We strive to provide the latest information from a Independent-Left viewpoint on issues surrounding Michigan & National politics, breaking news, investigative reporting and other stories which impact the unemployed, underemployed and America’s workers. For more information please visitwww.rojsnews.com orwww.rojsradiolive.com.

###

I say this is an astonishing act because not even conservatives in Michigan have done anything like this with regard to the recall effort. I have spoken with activists involved in the recall of Scott Walker in Wisconsin and they tell me that they received no pushback whatsoever from other progressives on the left. Here in Michigan, there is no organized effort to stop the recall effort from any group except for one on the left.

I ran into Ross-Williams while liveblogging the Michigan Summit this past weekend. She was there as what she described as the “exclusive blogging arm” of the Michigan Summit. I asked her for 5-10 minutes of her time to discuss her complaint but she refused to answer my questions, repeatedly saying it had to be “by email”. I asked her over and over for just a few minutes for some questions but was not successful. Later, she told me I could call Smith but, given her previous response, I had already drafted an email and we agreed to go that way. She did promise to email me a copy of their complaint but then refused to send it.

Here is the interview:

Mr. Savage,

The responses are below and will be kept in our records to ensure audacity [sic] to what’s published at your resource. We have no further information to add, besides the answers below, to your piece.

1. Monica, a bit of background first. What is your position with the Ypsi government? I understand you are an “elected official”. What position were you elected to?

Currently, I serve as an appointed member of the Ypsilanti Township Park Commission, since 2011. In this role, we serve to improve our local parks and address concerns raised by township residents.

This somewhat contradicts Ross-Williams’ LinkedIn page [screenshot] and Facebook page [screenshot] where she refers to herself as “a locally elected Ypsilanti Township Parks Commissioner” and a “Locally-Elected official.

2. What does your complaint accomplish that wouldn’t have happened otherwise? What is your intention by filing the complaint?

As a Michigan citizen and registered voter, Michigan Campaign Finance Act #388 of 1976, as amended, MCL 169.201 et seq., gives U.S. citizens’ the rights to file a complaint. Our complaint was mailed to the Bureau of Elections for the departments’ review.

Since this was probably the most important question I had and her response did not even begin to answer the question, I sent a follow-up email and received the following response:

Will you answer this question please? I asked about what your complaint will accomplish and what your intent is. Surely you had a reason for filing the complaint.

Chris,

We have no further information to add, besides the answers sent to your email address at 4:09 PM EDT, for your piece. Thank you.

3. I have been in contact with people from Wisconsin and they tell me there was no opposition to their recall effort from other progressives. Here in Michigan, there is isn’t any organized opposition from the conservatives. Yet you, a self-described “independent left” news blog, are working to end this recall effort in Michigan. How do you respond to those who wonder why you are doing the work of the conservative Republicans in Michigan for them?

ROJS News & Radio is a blog and radio show that covers Michigan and National politics from a Independent Left point of view. We accept no political candidates, political organization, or Political Action Committee paid advertising. With such, we present information based on our research on stories we cover. Michigan Rising via their website states the campaign is a non-partisan based effort. “Michigan Rising is a non-partisan Political Action Committee that is dedicated to restoring the balance in the legislature in the state of Michigan,” Michigan Rising About Us Page.

4. I am assuming you have spoken with representatives from Michigan Rising about why they missed their filing date. What did they tell you?

Michigan Rising has refused contact with ROJS News & Radio. Officials from the committee have been invited numerous times on ROJS Radio LIVE publicly to dispute any of the investigations and, will continue to have an open platform to do so.

It turns out that this is incorrect. I spoke to Bruce Fealk, Communications Director for Michigan Rising. He informed me that “Monica has never contacted anyone in the leadership committee about the late filing of the triannual report.”

What they would have learned, had they contacted Michigan Rising, is that, as soon as MR leadership realized they were going to be late, they immediately began working with the Secretary of State’s office to navigate the reporting site and to correct the problem promptly. At no time was their deception or anything untoward and the SoS was fully engaged in helping correct the situation.

5. Is it your belief that Michigan Rising intentionally did not file their campaign report?

Please refer to the Bureau of Elections Department of State website notification for Michigan Rising Committee ID #515623-7 on May 1, 2012. ROJS News & Radio can’t determine Michigan Rising’s intent.

6. Have you sent your press release to the major media outlets (Detroit News & Detroit Free Press, etc.)? If so, have they picked up the story (I haven’t seen anything yet.)

A press release was sent to professional journalistic organizations on May 11, 2012.

7. How can you call yourself an independent news organization when you are actually making news and participating in the story?

ROJS News & Radio is a blogging arm and podcast radio show. As Michigan citizens, bloggers and registered voters, Michigan Campaign Finance Law #388 of 1976, as amended, MCL169.201 et seq., gives U.S. citizens’ the right to file a complaint to the Bureau of Elections-Department of State.

All the best,

Monica Ross-Williams
ROJS News-Webmaster/Writer
ROJS Radio-Executive Producer/Host-on Blog Talk Radio

Based on Ross-Williams “answers” to these questions, and I used quotes because most of them are actually non-answers, there is absolutely no way to determine what Ross-Williams and Smith are trying to accomplish with their complaint. The Bureau of Elections already knew about the lateness of the filing. In fact, it was because of their letter to Michigan Rising that Ross-Williams and Smith knew about it since it was posted on the Secretary of State’s website.

So, what could their intention be?

I asked this question of Tony Trupiano with regard to the comments she made about him and his answer may provide some insight into Ross-Williams’ and Smith’s motivations:

I cannot imagine why a real journalist, and I am not suggesting that her blog represents real journalism…would have made a remark like that without asking for clarification, which thankfully Eclectablog did, and I must point out she did not. In fact, I read about her comments on my own Facebook page, which I have selflessly allowed her to use for a year now to promote her work. Interestingly, I was very supportive of her efforts early on and had her on my show to showcase her story and her commitment to helping people who felt lost without a job, but I am not sure why she has decided to go in this direction. Anyone who knows me knows my commitment to truth and research and accountability and I have even admitted when I have erred; it’s what professionals do. It surely makes her look bad to attack someone who has a reputation for truth and accessibility, which she herself benefited from. I find her behavior odd and alarming and it also weakens whatever credibility she might once have had.

It was not only Monica that appeared on the First Shift radio show. Because of introductions by me and my advocacy of Smith’s Bolger recall effort, she, too was on Tony’s show to promote her work.

Christine Barry from Blogging for Michigan had this to say:

Progressives have too many battles to fight, particularly in Michigan, to be attacking each other. It really is sad; it doesn’t have to be this way.

Ross-Williams and Smith are clearly working against one of the many allies in these fights and they are disrespecting some of the loudest voices in Michigan progressive politics. Sooner or later, they will lose all credibility in the progressive movement in our state. This may, in fact, already be happening. Last weekend Congressman Hansen Clarke was scheduled to be on their show and pulled out at the last minute. True to form, Smith spent over five minutes on the internet broadcast castigating the Congressman and calling him things like “unprofessional”.

They have also recently locked down their Facebook fan page saying that only those with “verifiable pictures” will be allowed due to “trolling”. The fact that they are facing so much pushback that they have to lock down their page suggests that there are many progressives in Michigan unhappy with their actions.

I am a supporter of the recall effort but have a number of progressive friends who do not. We agree to disagree on this but what we do not do is attack each other.

In their rally day “radio show”, Smith said this about Michigan Rising:

It’s a big, big money scam. Don’t get involved in this recall, it’s not going nowhere.

Ross-Williams said this:

This crap that happened up in Lansing today? That’s not important. That’s not gonna change anything… This is just a joke, it’s a joke. For Michiganiers [sic] to take part in this joke when they don’t know…that this crap is a joke and they still playing a joke on the Michiganian [sic] people – shame on you, shame on you and shame on radio hosts that are part of this joke.

Christine Barry is absolutely correct. We DO have too many battles to fight to be accusing each other of such bizarre, irrational and illogical actions. We don’t all have to agree on the strategies and techniques other groups use. But neither do we have to attack our supposed allies simply to make a name for ourselves. That is counterproductive and hurts the cause in general.

No other group is working to thwart the recall of Rick Snyder. Not the Republicans. Not the conservatives. Not the tea party. Not the business community. Only Reach Out Job Service who say they are “independent left” are doing the recall opponents’ work for them.

Those who engage in attacking allies (and both Ross-Williams and Smith claim they want Rick Snyder recalled) instead being part of the overall solution lose credibility as Tony Trupiano said. And, in the case of Monica Ross-Williams and Autumn Smith of Reach Out Job Service, I believe they HAVE lost credibility through their actions.

UPDATE: From the comments at my site:

I did not get to attend the kickoff rally, but I was listening to the pod-cast throughout the day. I was very impressed with the speakers and was feeling very pumped. At that time, I still had ROJS as a “friend” on my page. I first noticed the “Attention all Michigan Bloggers” comment, which was both shocking (because I had been listening and I heard the speech) and upsetting. I replied to the comment, saying that I thought there was a misunderstanding, and that I had not gotten the same message out of what was said, at all. Then the second comment quickly followed, (100 people and a bad comedian comment). There was another person on-line also replying with a different point of view at the same time as myself. I confronted them on that comment, sayig that their comments were based more on opinion than fact, and asked them “What is your agenda here?” They did not like that question, and as it turned out, they accused myself and the other commentor of “harrassing them”. And the next day, on their radio show, they implied that we had harrassed them. When a different point of view, and a question about your agenda is “harrassment” that doesn’t seem professional, or unbiased in any way. I believe I made a comment to that affect. I also attempted to refer people to the live pod=cast, and made it clear that I wanted no more to do with their “business”. I got a comment about how I could go ahead and delete them because I was about to get banned. Sadly they deleted all of our comments, which gives them the ability to imply that they were “being harrassed” or whatever they are trying to imply.

All in all their comments on the web were completely biased, and their behavior is about as far from professional as any I have ever encountered. I have to say that I do not believe that they are on the left, since generally those on the left are more open to seeing both sides, they lean toward respecting the rules of journalism, and toward supporting grass-roots efforts (those that are run by every day people, like you and me) and to protecting democracy, fighting the enemy and working for the common good.

The people running the recall are not professional “recall runners”. They have no experience in running a recall- do you? They care enough about this state and the democratic process to try- against all of the odds. Are they doing that for the advancement of a career or for the “glory”…? They are doing this because it has to be done- because Michigan needs it to be done. Why not offer to help? Why not realize how difficult this process is and how hard it must be for a few ordinary, every day people to try? Why not applaud their efforts and recognize their courage? I support the recall effort, and in doing that I volunteer to get signatures, I work hard to find people that also support the effort and direct them to the people they need to see. I talk to others in the group, try to lend my support or help when and where I can. go michigan rising. Keep fighting the good fight!

[Image credits:
Facepalm CC image credit: Alex Proimos | Flickr
Autumn Smith image credit: courtesy of Google images
Monica Ross-Williams image credit: courtesy of Google images

Cross-posted from Eclectablog.

Teacher Job Satisfaction Suffering as New TV Attack Ads Set to Air

chadphillips — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:58:28 +0000

According to a study by Metlife, as reported on in The Nation, job satisfaction is dropping amongst teachers. Only 44 percent of teachers described themselves as “very satisfied,” and almost a third of teachers are considering leaving the profession. This news comes as the conservative organization the State Government Leadership Foundation (SGLF) is set to air an attack ad in select states including Michigan. The SGLF is essentially the 501(c)3 arm of The Republican State Leadership Committee. The Republican State Leadership Committee calls itself a ”national organization whose mission is electing Republicans to the office of Attorney General, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State and legislator.”

The ad hits below the belt referring to teacher’s unions as bullies and implying that unions are the the reason the U.S. is scoring lower than the Chinese on the international science and math test known as the PISA. Not surprisingly, the Chinese don’t play fair when it comes to these tests. While most countries taking the PISA use a sampling of all the students in their country, the Chinese kids that topped the PISA were from Shanghai, perhaps China’s most advanced city. No kids were tested from China’s rural areas where the droput rate sometimes reaches 40%! Besides, even the Chinese have concerns about the the importance of these tests. Some are concerned that creating ”test-takers” comes with the cost of a poor imagination and low creativity. They are also concerned that creating “test-takers” comes at the expense of an enjoyable childhood. Not only is the Chinese comparison suspect, so is the connection between unions and test scores. In Finland, 95% of its teachers are in unions. That is significant because Finland often holds the top spot in these type of tests, and they are often regarded as having the strongest education system in the world. Back in the U.S. 9 out of the top 10 scoring states on the NAEP test are states with where school teacher’s unions are strong.

These attack ads should be seen for what they are, political action. While these conservative organizations would like you to believe they care about kids, they really only care about making money and political power. They will do anything to get conservatives elected so they can pass their extreme policies including privatizing education in order to profit from it. From www.michiganpopulist.com

Note: The SGLF and the RSLC share the same address and the SGLF’s page states that they are “affiliated with the Republican State Leadership Committee.”

Blogging for Michigan

The Koch Brothers Come to Lansing

Tuesday briefing and open thread

Getting started in political blogging

Monday briefing and open thread

Why Are Public Schools Under Attack?

Related articles

Friday briefing and open thread

Thursday briefing and open thread

Wednesday briefing and open thread

Effort to recall Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder faces opposition – FROM THE LEFT

Teacher Job Satisfaction Suffering as New TV Attack Ads Set to Air