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posted this on September 20th, 2011. On Tuesday, September 13, a collection of anti-immigrant politicians and representatives of far-right organizations spoke at a “Protect American Jobs” rally organized by Oakland County Commissioner Jim Runestead. Among those present were representatives of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) and West Michigan Representative Dave Agema.
Agema has a long history of anti-immigrant activity, whether supporting legislation or speaking out about his disdain for immigrants. Therefore, it isn’t surprising that he’d speak at such a rally. However, what many people may not know is that FAIR is a racist hate group.
In 2007, the watchdog group the Southern Poverty Law Center added FAIR to its list of “hate groups.” FAIR was added due to its long association with white nationalists, advocacy of racist policies, and overall support of white supremacist positions. Moreover, FAIR’s founder—John Tanton of Michigan—has been a founder of an extensive network of anti-immigrant groups. In fact, his Social Contract Press—which publishes a racist journal and various books—has been listed as a “hate group” even longer than FAIR. Interestingly, one of the rally’s two contact people was Tamyra Murray—who’s business card touts her involvement with the Social Contract Press.
This isn’t the first time Agema has collaborated with folks from FAIR. Back in 2007, Agema held a hearing on immigration that featured Peter Gadiel, a former board member of FAIR. Similarly, he’s a member of the State Legislators for Legal Immigration (SLLI), an organization that was founded under the auspices of FAIR. He’s also been known to take advice from Tamyra Murray who is well-integrated into the Tanton network of anti-immigrant organizations.
This all fits right in with Agema’s overall racism. Whether it is promising to make it difficult for undocumented immigrants to even “survive” in Michigan, introducing legislation that specifically targets Muslims, making outlandish claims about Muslim terrorists in Dearborn, or directly associating with racist groups, we need to see Agema for what he is: a bigot.
Moreover with his legislative history of attacking oppressed peoples and the rumors of his running for higher offices in the future, people need to step up to the plate and assure that he is [...]
Wizardkitten posted this on December 8th, 2010. Supreme irony. Vern Ehlers let something slip that so far has been overlooked in all the madness.
And liberals won't be the only hard sells, reports Grand Rapids' boots on the ground in Washington. U.S. Rep. Vern Ehlers says he expects some in his own Republican caucus to oppose the deal because it would allow the Democrats to claim an accomplishment in lame duck.
So let's get this straight. The Republicans, who took the hostages in the first place, and succeeded in extracting the ransom, are now going to balk because letting those hostages go would be perceived as a victory for the person that got the hostages to safety.
I wonder if President Obama understands that he is the only real hostage here.
Although reports have Republicans backing this plan, just how many votes will they put up? Anyone take a head count yet?
A little food for thought as this battle continues.
UPDATE: TPM is reporting that "conservatives" are rejecting the deal. Complaining about the deficit, they want to eliminate the "spending" on unemployment, while making the tax cuts permanent. It's enough to make your head explode.
Wizardkitten posted this on December 2nd, 2010. Thu Dec 02, 2010 at 15:21:47 PM EST
… for next year, anyway. As we have pointed out before, Senate Republicans have repeatedly obstructed all attempts to fund the popular tourism campaign over the past few years, insisting it die under the guise of "living within our means" – even though Michigan tourism supports roughly 200,000 jobs and brings in nearly $90 million in tax revenue every year. We don't even need to get into the stupidity of killing a massively popular and award-winning advertising campaign, do we? Imagine Budweiser announcing they were sending the Clydesdales off to the glue factory because they didn't want to pay for the hay anymore. That about sums up the Republican's idiocy on the issue. And everyone knows it.
Anyhoo, fast forward to the budget completed at the end of September, and the Republicans cut funding again, canceling the fall and winter campaign for this year and putting next year's summer campaign in jeopardy, ignoring the howls of the business owners who were counting on the ads to keep the tourists coming. When it was noted in mid-October that we were drawing enough revenue into the treasury to fund the campaign, Bishop said this:
Matt Marsden, spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop (R-Rochester), said the Senate would not be ready to make any such decisions without more information and probably not until the January Revenue Estimating Conference.
The very next day or so, House Republicans came up with the grand plan of gutting the 21st Century Jobs Fund – a start-up fund for new businesses that actually, you know, create jobs, the fund the Senate Republicans also wanted to slash along with Pure Michigan this year, but that idea didn't seem to go anywhere. Another month goes by, the pressure builds some more as tourism officials and other Republican legislators start to turn up the heat, and we get this:
But Matt Marsden, spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop (R-Rochester), said the Senate would not act on a permanent funding source for Pure Michigan. He said Governor Jennifer Granholm could use surplus funding to [...]
Wizardkitten posted this on October 4th, 2010.
Mon Oct 04, 2010 at 22:46:31 PM EDT
Another day, more promises from Rick Snyder to restore funding to programs that Senate Republicans forced us to cut. Today it was the Pure Michigan campaign; let's use the Gongwer headline to get the full effect:
SNYDER CRITICIZES 'PURE MICHIGAN' CUT
Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Snyder said Monday he would prioritize funding for the "Pure Michigan" tourism campaign and make sure it has enough money to last a full fiscal year.
Quick review on what has happened with Pure Michigan in the past year. During the budget bloodbath of '09, funding was cut to $5.4 million for FY 2009-10. That pretty much eliminates the campaign; you can't buy national TV advertising on that little of a budget. In December, House Democrats passed a plan that would have restored funding to the full $30 million. Senate Republicans would not act, and by the end of January, tourism officials and businesses were left pleading with the Legislature to please make a decision on funding, as they needed to get the ad buys in to be on the air by March.
Senate Republicans stalled through February, finally acting in the first week of March to add $9.5 million to the campaign, bringing the total to only half of what we needed. The House Democrats turned around and passed another plan in mid-March for the full funding – and the Senate Republicans, led by Nancy Cassis, shot it down again, leaving us at the $15 million mark for the year. The campaign finally hit the air late, and the decision was made to target only for the summer dollars. Fall and winter would then have to be canceled – and they were.
In May, Senate Republicans slashed funding again back down to $5.4 million for FY 2010-11. There it sat all summer until we got around to passing the budget in the final few days of September. Senate Democrats made an effort to restore at least $10 million to the campaign, and guess what? You got it, once again, Republicans said "No!"
"No one disputes the importance [...]
Seon posted this on October 1st, 2007. MIRS News just reported a tidbit that will make Michigan Republicans cheer: The combined sales and services tax has moved Michigan from "slightly below" the national average to "slightly above", in terms of taxes.
As you know, Republicans like to complain about how Governor Granholm's taxes are the only reason the auto manufacturers left Michigan in the 90's. Or something like that. (Don't look for their ramblings to make sense) But they especially like to say that Michigan is over-taxed, which has not been true. It's still not true, but now, at least they can say Michigan is "slightly above" the national average in taxes.
"In terms of our personal income, $1.35 billion is about four-tenths of one percent," Kleine said. "It's just a little over 11 percent (of personal income that is being paid to cover state and local taxes)."
This will bring Republicans great joy. It reinforces their self-righteous hatred of the Governor. "See, we told you she was awful. Wah. Wah."
(I especially enjoy the Republicans who complain about how the new income tax hurts the low wage earners the most, but then they refuse to support a progressive income tax)
Me, I'm cool with the new taxes. But, I'm not a cry-baby Republican who thinks I can save the world by keeping my chump change in my pocket.
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The Koch Brothers Come to Lansing
Tuesday briefing and open thread
Getting started in political blogging
Why Are Public Schools Under Attack?
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