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Hector Solon posted this on December 25th, 2011. The State of Michigan goes through a long year into a Holiday Season in which Governor Rick Snyder and Michigan Republicans do their very best attempting steal away as much joy for themselves and their cronies, Grinch style. But hope here is still strong, and most (True Michigan) liberal hearts are certainly not “two sizes too small”, not even close, no way, not at all.
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Twas the night before Christmas and all through Nerd’s house, Not a snifter was empty, dry champagne they all soused. “What a year it has been” the Nerd smiled and proclaimed, “Seeing how Michigan by the Republicans is reclaimed.”
The Nerd said he was different, no group would he slander, “We have the same name, it’s Michigander”. Standing with his Republican friends, filled with confident glee, “We’ll reinvent your state, just wait, you’ll see.”
With a dash and a dart began the Nerd’s relentless pursuit, Serving favors to a few, those in slick business suits. To dusty piles of pre-written bills they all flew, The libertarians and profiteers, well, they knew just what to do.
Michigan leaders in business got their favors first, “Cut our taxes now” they said, “They can’t get much worse”. From Mackinac and ALEC the legislation cranked out, And the billions now flow into their private account.
Bipartisanship promises were received when spoken, A Democrat appointed here and there, if just a mere token. But the Tea Party had plans of their own they had made, So some sort of reason and civility would soon fade.
But bailing out business (thru tax cuts) was an expensive affair, So they shredded more public services without even a care. Still not enough, they raided for Education Fund bullion, Stabbing and slashing to steal nearly a Billion.
They taxed pensions, cut benefits and twice unemployment, Even closed tiny playgrounds kids used for enjoyment. From the poor they took more taxes, and even added fees to get money, Soon the Catholics agreed “Hey wait, that’s not funny.”
The Nerd’s few promises once made, were forgotten, And as his policies grew, people found they were rotten. “I’m just a Nerd” [...]
WeAreThePeopleMichigan posted this on August 24th, 2011. Here are today’s top Michigan news stories…
DETROIT NEWS COLUMN: GOP flunks all efforts at reform — To say the GOP has earned an “F” thus far is an understatement. Now that the Legislature is back, Republican leaders can either continue attacking public education and the middle class or actually invest in our state and be the leaders that the public thought they elected.
GRAND RAPIDS PRESS: Another business tax reform in Michigan? — An obscure issue to most ordinary folks, the personal property tax is a huge concern for businesses and economic development leaders… But here’s the problem – and the reason for the visit from the mayor and the MML folks. Personal property tax revenue, all $1.2 billion of it a year, goes to local communities – cities, schools, libraries and other services.
9&10: CMU Faculty Strike On Hold, Students Protesting Against University Administration — The faculty at Central Michigan University is back in the classroom today, but that isn’t stopping students from protesting…Dozens of students spent the day picketing on campus in between class time. They say they’re doing what the faculty is no longer able to — that’s send a message to the university.
AP: EPA hiring jobless workers for Great Lakes cleanup — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it will spend $6 million to hire unemployed people who can work on Great Lakes cleanup projects… Among the priorities are cleaning up toxic pollution, fighting invasive species, improving wildlife habitat and protecting watersheds from contaminated runoff.
MPRN: MLHS hopes Gov will put brakes on cash assist. cap — Legislative analysis estimates more than 12-thousand cash assistance cases would be closed on October first if lawmakers approve the cap. Judy Putnam of the Michigan League for Human Services says the state should look more closely into who would be affected by that cap. “Two-thirds of the caseload on assistance are children,” she says. “And the average age of a child on assistance is seven. That’s a second grader.”
Soapie posted this on August 11th, 2011. Thursday open thread…. a little bit late
I found something interesting when I pulled up the page for the library. An article I'd not seen before, about job searching in Michigan. As I've been hunting for a little over a month now, I thought I'd seen all of them. This one seems to be interesting and I thought I'd share.
Image via Wikipedia
Job & Career Accelerator
This appears to be based off the Michigan eLibrary. Something that impresses me is that you don't have to have a library card to use it. Michigan state ID or driver's license will work to sign up with. Once you've signed up, it appears you can access the site anytime from anywhere.
Features include: personality match with occupations, learning vital computer program tutorials, resume and cover letter assistance, interviewing skills, & job searching assistance.
This is available to any Michigan resident and the service is free. Well, we pay for it with our taxes, but there aren't any additional fees.
Thought I would share the information and hope it helps someone.
WeAreThePeopleMichigan posted this on July 6th, 2011.
Last week Republicans around the state introduced efforts to kick-off so-called Right to Work measures here in the Great Lakes State. We know that these efforts are anything but good for workers or our state, and you can learn here more.
Tonight in Traverse City, Grand Traverse County Commission and Tea Party activist Jason Gillman will introduce Right-to-Work measures at 7pm (400 Boardman Ave). If you live in the area, we're asking that you attend and stand against these harmful efforts. (More on this below)
On with the rest of the news -
TC RECORD-EAGLE: Gillman brings ‘right-to-work’ to board
A Grand Traverse County commissioner plans to launch his own brand of fireworks at tonight’s county board meeting when he seeks support for a contentious, union-related issue that other commissioners consider a waste of time. Commissioner Jason Gillman will ask the board to adopt a resolution to encourage Gov. Rick Snyder, state Rep. Wayne Schmidt and state Sen. Howard Walker to support legislation to make Michigan a so-called “right-to-work” state.
Wizardkitten posted this on December 3rd, 2010.
Fri Dec 03, 2010 at 06:03:51 AM EST
It just wouldn't be the Michigan Legislature if they weren't rushing bills through in the middle of the night so they can take the rest of the week, month, year, whatever, off. Did anyone ever check and make sure that they aren't all vampires? Ahh well, doesn't matter now – it looks like they have wrapped up business, and are busy packing their coffins up to move on to their next place of employment and/or retirement.
MIRS just published at 5 am, and as I type this, Gongwer still isn't up yet. The MSM has a few details on what was or wasn't done while you were sleeping – here are the highlights:
As reported below, Pure Michigan received $10 million from the 21st Century Jobs Fund. This brings funding for the campaign to $15 million for next year – half of what is needed, but at least this gets us a regional winter/spring effort and on the national airwaves for next summer. Good deal.
Also reported below, Mike Bishop and the Senate Republicans killed 10,000 construction jobs and probably created an international incident when they obstructed the DRIC for this session. Special interest money paid to the Republicans to protect Matty Moroun's monopoly on the international crossing screams corruption of the highest order, and let all their records reflect how they denied our state investment and jobs at a time when we needed it most. Governor Granholm summed it up best:
"They are irresponsible, discarding 10,000 jobs for Michigan workers and ignoring the needs of job providers," she said. "It's simply incredible that they turned down a no-risk project."
Actually, if the Michigan Senate had put our state and workers before their own selfish agenda, THAT would have been incredible. As it stands, this was par for the course. Hopes are that the next legislature will have more sense and work fast to get this approved. The Canadians are already building their side of the project, and will turn their attention to lobbying Washington next.
Autism insurance coverage died in [...]
Seon posted this on September 29th, 2007. The Senate Fiscal Agency's analysis of the MESSA busting bill SB 0418, concludes that the bill will cause additional administrative and informational technology costs to the state, and will not "force or guarantee" any savings to school districts. However, it "could make it easier for a self-funded, pooled benefit arrangement to occur."
Could make it easier. Not would make it easier.
The SFA notes that State-sponsored catastrophic stop loss (CSL) coverage is not included in SB 418, so the agency cannot predict whether school districts would be willing and able to pool and self-fund.
These bills do nothing but force MESSA to give up information on claims. So why would we pass bills that save no money, and actually cost the state more?
Because, in this humble outsider's opinion, this is just the first step. The next 'reform' in the next budget battle (which starts in 3 months?) will be to use the claims information made public by this act, to force MESSA prices (revenues) down, or to create pools designed to undercut MESSA, thus forcing districts to buy into a non-MESSA pool.
Baby steps toward the permanent Republican majority.
Sure, go ahead and laugh at my theory, but this is how the right wing operates. They start at the very bottom and quietly build an entire architecture of law that is designed to guarantee their own political dominance. Usually this law looks like something it's not. And they don't care if it takes decades.
If you recall, this MESSA busting bill is one of Bishop's budget demands. Why would he demand this, if it did nothing but cost the state more?
You can read the full SFA analysis here.
update: Michigan Liberal has more on this here.
<hr>Comments<hr>
Undercutting MESSA
I think undercutting MESSA is a very real possibility. Read this MESSA link and this PDF file also from their site. A "Let Locals Save" campaign in western Michigan gave misleading information on future rates in an effort to show that the Western Michigan Health Insurance pool was more cost effective than MESSA, when in reality MESSA cost 10% less.
Forcing MESSA to [...]
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