Cubs land Izturis, send Maddux to LA
And Walker goes to the Padres for some unknown.

Damnit. Two of my favorite Cubs gone. Maddux deserved to retire here if he wanted. He may have been losing steam, but who else do we have to replace him? Rusch?

And what did we get in return? A whole lotta nothing.

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Cubs have agreed to deal Greg Maddux to the Los Angeles Dodgers for infielder Cesar Izturis, and have sent infielder Todd Walker to the San Diego Padres for a Minor League pitcher.

Maddux, 40, was pursued by Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti, who was a Cubs official during the right-hander's first stint in Chicago. Maddux is 9-11 with a 4.69 ERA this season, and has a career record of 327-200 and a 3.06 ERA.

Someone on the Bleed Cubbie Blue blog put it best- "this is part of Jim Hendry's plan to acquire all the useless middle infielders on earth". To go with Perez and Cedeno, we now have this-

"Philosophically, I'd decided that if it wasn't a great package for us, that we would keep Greg," Hendry said. "To get Izturis, a Gold Glove winner, 26 years old, we have his rights through 2008. He was arguably, before his surgery, the best shortstop in the National League."

Izturis had Tommy John reconstruction surgery on his right elbow last September. This season, he was batting .252, with seven doubles and 12 RBIs in 32 games, and had played primarily at third. Ronny Cedeno is expected to move to second base for the Cubs.

And for Walker, who certainly is a head case, but who is also one of the best hitters out there- some untested rook.

The Cubs also dealt Walker to the San Diego Padres for Minor League pitcher Jose Ceda on Monday. Ceda, 19, was 4-2 with a 1.50 ERA in 13 games for the Padres' Dominican Summer League Team in 2005. He limited opponents to a .174 batting average against, while striking out 83 in 60 innings.

This year, Ceda was playing for the Padres' Arizona League club, and he was 2-0 with a 2.00 ERA (four earned runs in 18 innings) over six games.

Walker, 33, was batting .277 in 94 games with 16 doubles, six homers and 40 RBIs. The left-handed hitting infielder stepped in at first base for injured Derrek Lee for two months, making 35 starts, but has played more games at second (46). Sunday's 6-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals was his last game for the Cubs.

And BTW- Garciaparra is batting .327 for the Dodgers. They also have Kenny Lofton, batting .291. (former Cubs we let go, for those who don't know)

Great moves there, Hendry. You are absolutely brilliant.

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State Department hid costs of Iraqi projects: NYT
Are they fascists or are they thieves? The battle for the ultimate answer to that question continues...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department agency in charge of $1.4 billion for reconstruction projects in Iraq used an accounting shell game to hide cost overruns and failed to tell Congress about schedule delays, The New York Times reported on Sunday.

Um... shouldn't that be illegal?

A report by the independent Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction said the U.S. Agency for International Development listed project overruns as overhead or administrative costs.

USAID is the agency is charge of administering foreign aid and began working on Iraq reconstruction soon after the 2003 invasion began.

The inspector general's report did not give details on all projects being conducted under the $1.4 billion budget, but noted several examples including a children's hospital in Basra and a power station in Baghdad.

Bechtel, the contractor in charge of the Basra hospital, said in April construction costs would be $98 million, up from an original budget of $50 million, due to escalating costs for security and other problems. USAID pledged to cut contractor overhead, but the inspector general found no effort to do that.

I bet Blackwater wanted more money. And Bechtel is the name that keeps popping up in connection to the phrase "cost overruns". Famous for their "staggering" overruns on Boston's Big Dig, they then went on to loot New Orleans after Katrina. You would think that they are running out of places to store the money by now.

Joseph A. Saloom, the newly appointed director of the reconstruction office at the U.S. Embassy, said in a letter he would take steps to improve the reporting of the costs of reconstruction projects in Iraq.

Well, good. It would be nice to know just how much money Bechtel is stealing from us.

When I read stories like this, I lean towards "thieves".

But wait! Not to be outdone, the fascists make another bold move!

WASHINGTON - U.S. citizens suspected of terror ties might be detained indefinitely and barred from access to civilian courts under legislation proposed by the Bush administration, say legal experts reviewing an early version of the bill.

A 32-page draft measure is intended to authorize the Pentagon's tribunal system, established shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks to detain and prosecute detainees captured in the war on terror. The tribunal system was thrown out last month by the Supreme Court.

Administration officials, who declined to comment on the draft, said the proposal was still under discussion and no final decisions had been made.

Senior officials are expected to discuss a final proposal before the Senate Armed Services Committee next Wednesday.

According to the draft, the military would be allowed to detain all "enemy combatants" until hostilities cease. The bill defines enemy combatants as anyone "engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners who has committed an act that violates the law of war and this statute."

Legal experts said Friday that such language is dangerously broad and could authorize the military to detain indefinitely U.S. citizens who had only tenuous ties to terror networks like al Qaeda.

Yes, you read that right. US citizens denied access to courts.

So much for that Constitution.

I still think "thieves" will win out in the end because they are proving to be incompetent fascists, but it wouldn't take much to tip the balance the other way.

The battle continues...

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Muskegon Chronicle "gets it" - Governor's race isn't just about the economy
Signs of life on the editorial pages.

Up for grabs is not only the governorship, now in the hands of a Democrat, but the Republican majority in the Legislature, whose leadership and membership seem more in tune with Pat Robertson, who helped galvanize the Religious Right in Michigan, than the last GOP governor, John Engler.

Ada businessman DeVos, whose family built the Amway/Alticor empire, is in that mold as well. DeVos has yet to address any social issue stands in his multi-million dollar campaign blitz, but if he does succeed in knocking off Granholm, it's a good bet that if he also inherits the same Legislature, the balance of power in Michigan in all ways will take a very sharp turn to the Right.

Which is exactly why I have been screaming about this for months now.

When DeVos spoke before the Muskegon Economic Forum earlier this year, he was asked if he would sign any bills presented to him by the Legislature that would allow for the teaching of any form of creationism in the public schools. DeVos pointedly refused to answer the question. He was equally reticent when asked recently about specifics on the abortion issue, another question that very well may hinge on the next governor's frame of mind.

So there's more to it then economics. In her three-plus years as governor, Granholm has vetoed 101 bills from this Legislature -- that's 100 more vetoes than the guy in the White House has put his pen to. Some of Granholm's veto messages stated: "Constitutional deficiencies ..." "Fails to solve regional problem, instead pitting suburbs against city ..." "Not fiscally responsible ..." "... Does not include exception for life and health of mother ..." "Bill fails to close and instead expands a tax loophole ..." "Would ... reduce public scrutiny and accountability ..."

She has kept the wingnuts at bay- for that alone she deserves a medal. These guys have been a model for fiscal, social and legislative irresponsibility.

But back to the Dick-

How would DeVos wield his veto pen on charter schools, abortion, creationism, open meetings, embryonic stem cell research, business regulation, environmental oversight issues and more? We strongly suspect the differences between the candidates couldn't be more pronounced. The voters need to hear more about them.

If DeVos won't speak to the issues, then I guess that Michigan should look at the list of extreme right-wing foundations and causes that the DeVos family has poured their time and money into over the years to see where they are coming from and which direction they would take us.

During the past quarter century, the DeVos family has funded and supported just about every major right wing think tank and public policy institute. It is not an exaggeration to say that the DeVos' largesse helped change America's political landscape.

The Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation has supported a panoply of right wing groups including the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, the Media Research Center, and James Kennedy's Coral Ridge Ministries. Foundation money helped build the State Policy Network, an association of state-based conservative think tanks. In Michigan, the foundation provided funding to the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, which uses its research to propose and promote various policies in Michigan.

DeVos money has also gone to Paul Weyrich's Free Congress Foundation, the man considered as the godfather of the modern conservative movement and a proud purveyor of America's culture wars.

The Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation provides funding to many of the same organizations as the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation.

And a few other names of note...

The DeVoses have supported such right-wing advocates as the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, Council for National Policy and the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty in Grand Rapids, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and Michigan Right to Life.

The organizations promote conservative economic and social agendas: free trade and less government regulation, school choice including vouchers, the infusion of Christian beliefs into public life and opposition to abortion and gay marriage.

Google any one of those outfits and a true picture emerges on the DeVos philosophy.

Need I say more?

Not only will he not answer these questions, he will accuse you of nefarious motives if you even ask.

This is where Truscott clued us in on their "mud" defense; simply pointing these truths out equals "mudslinging". If you ask Dick about his support of the extremists, you're slinging mud. Why is that?

DeVos campaign spokesman John Truscott said Democrats attacking the DeVoses for their contributions amounts to mudslinging.

And when you challenge Dick on job creation, you're slinging mud.

On Wednesday, Brewer said DeVos laid off hundreds of Michigan workers while at the same time creating thousands of jobs in China.

"When Dick DeVos had a choice, he chose to do nothing for the workers and the voters and the people of Michigan, and chose to invest overseas," adds Brewer.

It's a charge that DeVos spokesman John Truscott strongly denies. "I don't think people are ready for this kind of mudslinging this early to begin with."

That was from July of last year.

Apparently we shall have no criticism of the King. Anything you ask about, from his record of supporting radical right wing foundations, to his record on job creation, equates to mudslinging. Question Dick, and there is something wrong with you.

Does this line of defense sound familiar to anyone?

Anyone? Anyone? How about you, Karl?

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Former Whitecap Clevlen makes noise in Tiger debut
Brent played for the Caps in 2003.

MINNEAPOLIS -- You're a kid who just arrived from Double-A on Saturday night, you're playing at a position you've played just a handful of times this season, you're judging fly balls against a roof for the first time in your career, and you're facing a former Cy Young winner.

Welcome to the big leagues, Brent Clevlen.

"It's pretty exciting," Clevlen said. "I was surprised when they called me and told me I was coming up."

It's quite a surprise for someone who was hitting .224 at Erie. But with Alexis Gomez ineligible for recall at the moment, Clevlen already on the 40-man roster and the youngster having made an impression on Leyland in Spring Training, Clevlen found himself getting his first Major League exposure.

It didn't take him long to make an impression. He threw out Luis Castillo at the plate trying to score on a fly ball in the bottom of the first inning, then doubled down the left-field line in his first big-league at-bat off Johan Santana. He came around to score on Placido Polanco's ensuing single.

"It was good to get the first one out of the way," Clevlen said. "That was big."

A four-pitch walk in the sixth again set up Polanco for an RBI single, giving the youngster two of Detroit's four runs in a two-hit game.

Gonna have to get me down to Comerica one of these days.

BTW, the Cubs swept the first-place Cardinals in a four game series at Wrigley, making the Cards 0-10 in Chicago this year. Go figure.

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Strike Two! LSJ points out DeVos deception in attack ad
Nice to see that the media is working to defend themselves. Maybe they will get around to pointing out all the other ways that DeVos is deceiving the voters.

This ad, designed to erode Gov. Jennifer Granholm's image, does quite the opposite. It illustrates DeVos' unwillingness to play straight with voters.

At issue is a brief TV spot that makes two text references to the LSJ. Citing the newspaper, the commercial says of Granholm, "It's all negative all the time out of the Granholm camp" and "... on a mission to get re-elected ... perhaps at any cost."

But what DeVos' ad conveniently fails to note is the comments were in a April 28, 2006, column by Tim Skubick, a State Capitol reporter who writes commentaries for a number of state newspapers. For the record, in the same column, Skubick wrote " ... on the subject of those DeVos ads, it's truly amazing that viewers have apparently been sucked in."

Just because the LSJ publishes Skubick's column doesn't mean the paper endorses the views therein, anymore than when we publish letters that take diametrically opposed stands on any issue under the sun.

The DeVos campaign could and should have been clear about that in the ad. In fact, after being contacted, the campaign said it would modify the TV commercial to make the distinction.

The fact DeVos wasn't clear to begin with is telling, though. What the ad tried to do was say, see voters, even the Lansing newspaper knows Granholm is doing wrong.

DeVos hasn't been very clear on anything, whether it be how he would replace the SBT, to his stand on abortion, to what programs he would cut when he says he would "cut spending" (except for the job creating Cool Cities, which apparently he would cut out of spite alone), to his views on the environment, to exactly how he would "overhaul state government", to what "jobs" he has supposedly "created".

Time for the media to get in gear and point out that this man had been deceptive in nearly everything that he says and does.

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DeVos outspends Granholm 10-1
Out of all the headlines, this one gives the best perspective.

The man intends to buy this state like it was just another business acquisition. He will then "lay off" some of the "employees" that don't perform up to his standards. You will be working for Dick; Dick will be working for his friends. Remember, Republicans govern for other Republicans, and nobody else.

It would be like voting for your boss. So, when you ask for a raise and he tells you there just isn't enough money right now, so sorry, and oh by the way, we are going to have to cut your benefits too, but can you work late tonight?, just as he is walking out the door to jet off to the Caribbean with his golf buddies, don't say you weren't warned.

LANSING -- Democratic incumbent Jennifer Granholm raised $3.3 million in the first half of 2006. Republican challenger Dick DeVos nearly matched that in a single day when, on June 19, he wrote a $3 million check to his campaign.

In 12 months, DeVos has poured nearly $13 million of his own money into a gubernatorial campaign that has blanketed Michigan TV channels with ads since February. That's $2 million more than Granholm has collected in more than three and a half years of aggressive fundraising since she took office.

So far this year, according to campaign finance reports filed Friday, DeVos has outspent Granholm more than 10-1, or nearly $15 million compared with $1.3 million.

Including his own contributions, the DeVos campaign raised $15.7 million in 2006; $17.5 million total. He has spent more than $2 million per month on average, much of it on TV ads DeVos feels have been vital in boosting his familiarity with voters. Campaign finance watchdogs estimate he now is spending about $650,000 a week on ads.

Granholm raised $3.3 million this year in itemized contributions, $10.7 million since the election cycle started in 2003. She reported having $7.2 million in the bank. Granholm has yet to air a single TV ad. On her behalf, the Michigan Democratic Party has spent more than $2.5 million on ads.

Who gives money to a billionaire? People who want to curry favor for when the goodies are passed out later. They will be lined up at the door for their cut of the state's resources.

Although the former Amway executive has provided 78 percent of the money spent by his campaign, DeVos stressed in a statement, "this campaign has broad support from all over" Michigan, with 18,765 individual contributors.

Christoff's article throws around some celebrity names that have donated on Granholm's behalf- I'm rather curious about who has donated on Dick's behalf. Which wingnuts have stepped up to the plate? Which business owners are looking to catch Dick's eye? The Detroit News names the DeVos family and Meijer.

Aside from his own massive investment, DeVos received $83,825 from his wife, Betsy, among the $5 million given by 18,765 individual donors. His parents, siblings and children gave $35,323, according to a Michigan Campaign Finance Network analysis. The Meijer supermarket family contributed $19,000. Hundreds of contributors gave the maximum $3,400.

This report isn't up on their site yet- I imagine we will find the usual suspects on Dick's list.

And it looks like I should be shopping at Family Fare.

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Your GOP Congress in action: Massive tax cuts for the rich in the dead of the night
And the working poor pay the price once again.

WASHINGTON - Republicans muscled the first minimum wage increase in a decade through the House early Saturday after pairing it with a cut in inheritance taxes on multimillion-dollar estates.

Combining the two issues provoked protests from Democrats and was sure to cause problems in the Senate, where the minimum wage initiative was likely to die at the hands of Democrats opposed to the costly estate tax cuts. The Senate is expected to take up the legislation next week.

Still, GOP leaders saw combining the wage and tax issues as their best chance for getting permanent cuts to the estate tax, a top GOP priority fueled by intense lobbying by farmers, small business owners and super-wealthy families such as the Waltons, heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune.

"This is the best shot we've got; we're going to take it," said House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. The unusual packaging also soothed conservatives angry about raising the minimum wage over opposition by GOP business allies.

The House passed the bill 230-180 before leaving for a five-week recess.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., vowed Democrats would kill the hybrid bill, along with its 10-year, $300 billion-plus cost.

"The Senate has rejected fiscally irresponsible estate tax giveaways before and will reject them again," Reid said. "Blackmailing working families will not change that outcome."

This is DOA in the Senate, and House Republicans knew it. All for show, making them look like the good guys for their campaign ads only. From Nancy Pelosi-

The Republican Leadership has stated that a minimum wage bill will be brought to the floor this evening. . . . The legislation will package three separate bills - minimum wage, estate tax, and the extension of expiring tax provisions - into a single package that will make Senate passage impossible. This is nothing more than a cynical, political ploy to defeat a minimum wage increase because this bill will go nowhere in the Senate. . . .

First, at this time, it appears that the Republican leadership plans to use the estate tax and extenders package as a "poison pill." Senate tax-writers have already rejected, on a bipartisan basis, proposals that combine the estate tax with a tax extenders package.

Second, the cost of the combined tax package the Republican Leadership is proposing is likely to be more than $800 billion for the first ten years that the bill is in effect. This comes at a time when Republican economic policies have already resulted in trillions of dollars in debt.

Third, the Republican Leadership has not yet decided whether they will provide a real minimum wage increase. The amount of the increase, the number of years required for such an increase to take effect, and whether a large swath of workers now covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act will lose their protections is still undecided. There is no reason for any Democrat to support a minimum wage bill that reduces or draws out an increase, or which leaves millions of workers behind in coverage.

While the details of the Republican Leadership plan may change, their intention is clear: make every appearance that Republicans support a minimum wage increase, while ensuring its demise in the Senate by attaching "poison pills."

Color me disgusted. What else is new.

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The Disembodied Head of Dick DeVos

... reviewed this blog today and sent my hits right through the roof.

Can't wait until he gets around to the others- why should I have all the fun?

Go read. And be warned, you libruls- the Head will be coming for you next!

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Free Press calls out DeVos on attack ad
I knew it, I just hadn't gotten around to writing it up yet.

In response to an inquiry from the Free Press, the campaign of Republican Dick DeVos has changed his latest TV commercial, the one that amounts to an attack on Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm for going on the attack against DeVos.

Here's why the alteration is significant. The original ad attributed to the Free Press the words "phony" and "demagoguery," supposedly describing Granholm's rhetoric against DeVos. In fact, those words appeared in a column by Brian Dickerson of the Free Press, which makes them one person's view as opposed to the newspaper expressing an opinion on its editorial page. The revised ad attributes the words only to the generic "press" and to a "Free Press column."

While the distinction may be lost on the general public, it is significant to a newspaper that may hold institutional opinions quite different from those of its columnists.

Even as changed, the ad involves some misrepresentation. The Dickerson column was about Democratic Party attacks on DeVos for building Amway factories in China while DeVos was president of that business. Dickerson actually wrote that "Granholm would be well advised to disavow this phony bit of Democratic demagoguery before it blows up in her face." That's a little different from criticizing the governor for engaging in same.

You calling Dick a liar?

Maybe it's time to investigate the other quotes and put them in context.

Or not. Dick has been "misrepresenting" all along- it gets redundant after awhile. I just wish the media would do more to point it out when it happens.

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Senator open to TV chat about Internet "tubes"
Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease... c'mon Jon.... extend an offer...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mocked by comedian Jon Stewart for calling the Internet a bunch of tubes, U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens said on Thursday he is open to going on Stewart's popular "Daily Show" for a rebuttal.

The comedian has parodied the dean of the Senate Republicans for rejecting calls by some Internet companies for a law to block high-speed Internet providers from charging higher prices to carry certain content. Backers of such a law say it would preserve what they call "Net neutrality."

"The Internet is not something that you just dump something on. It's not a big truck. It's, it's a series of tubes," Stevens, an Alaska Republican, said last month.

Stewart parodied the senator's remarks on three episodes, which have spread over the Internet and were widely viewed on YouTube.com. He questioned Stevens' knowledge of the Internet, and quipped, "You're just the guy in charge of regulation."

Stevens, whose committee has authority over many Internet issues, defended his comments and said he had even received support from experts.

"I have a letter from a big scientist who said I was absolutely right in using the word 'tubes,'" he told reporters. However, Stevens said he had not been invited to appear on the show to respond.

When pressed whether he was willing to go on the show, Stevens slowly grinned and said: "I'd consider it."

That would be Must See TV.

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DeVos Mud: Don't Look Back in Anger


The mud. The mud was everywhere. Ottawa County, in 2002, was covered in mud.

The second Dick DeVos said not to "look back" in campaign ad... what was it... number 67 or so, well, I immediately decided that was my cue to start looking back. I figured the guilt was getting to Dick, causing him to subconsciously reveal his past transgressions into the "mud" of his own making.

And now, I'm really sorry I did. I can't believe what I found.

Did you think Hitler was bad? You are sorely mistaken my friend. Things can get worse. Much worse.

We are not talking evil dictators here.

We are talking... Sesame Street characters.

Yes, you heard me. Oscar the Grouch.

I know. It's shocking. I will give you a minute to collect yourself.

It is enough to make state Sen. Leon Stille a grouch.

An attack campaign flier featuring a mock-up of the disagreeable Sesame Street character Oscar the Grouch asks readers to "dump Sen. Stille."

"I've never seen anything that low, particularly in Ottawa County," the longtime legislator said. "Ottawa County is just not known for that kind of mudslinging. It's well below the belt."

Children wept. Men wandered the streets, dazed and inconsolable. The churches filled with people looking for answers to the horror that had befallen them.

Ottawa County had never experienced anything like this before. Who could be behind such an atrocity?

In the battle for the 89th District House seat, Betsy DeVos' Great Lakes Education Project paid for and mailed the flier against Stille. The flier recounts Stille's recent brush with the law for illegally dumping trash in a Spring Lake school Dumpster and criticizes Stille for accepting campaign funds from the Michigan Education Association.

Sen. Stille cleaned up his trash. Oscar the Grouch could not be reached for comment.

He was not charged for dumping the trash and worked cooperatively with the school to remove the items from the Dumpster. He apologized for the incident.

"I did something that I deserved to be called on, but I don't know what more I can do to correct it," Stille said.

Dumping trash in the dumpster, and he gets Oscar the Grouch from the DeVos'. Harsh.

Dick and Besty's GLEP had their hands in some other "muddy" puddles-

Mike Pumford and Al Gore as playground buddies?

That's how Betsy DeVos' school choice political action committee, Great Lakes Education Project, is portraying Pumford, the Newaygo Republican lawmaker, in a flier.

"Al Gore and M. Pumford have a plan for education in Michigan: Higher taxes. More spending. No accountability," the flier announces.

DeVos' PAC has endorsed Pumford's primary opponent, David Noble, in an effort to rid the GOP caucus of one of its charter schools' foes.

It even tags Pumford with a new name: Liberal M. Pumford.

That's news to Pumford, who has been endorsed by Right to Life, the NRA, Farm Bureau, Small Business Association of Michigan, numerous police associations and other conservative groups.

"If I'm like Al Gore, we have a whole Republican caucus that's like Al Gore," Pumford said. "Too bad they have to stoop to this level."

The PAC has singled Pumford out as captive of the Michigan Education Association.

A recent MEA letter urged members to vote for Pumford "even if you usually vote in the Democratic primary. Mike needs all of his friends to pull the lever for Pumford."

Targeting their enemies, targeting the MEA. Targeting other folks too, using their past indiscretions.

The GLEP also supported numerous other candidates with campaign funds and ads.

In the race for the 24th District Senate seat, Birkholz recently mailed a flier that cited Geiger's February arrest in Charlotte for drunk driving. He later pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of impaired driving.

Birkholz said she decided to go with the flier after members of her campaign committee and "several constituents" told her she had to answer "some of the lies" that she claims Geiger has been telling on the campaign trail.

Birkholz charged that her supporters are getting electronic phone calls from someone in Geiger's campaign criticizing Birkholz for her role in the firing in Mike Murray, a former aide to House Majority Floor Leader Bruce Patterson and husband of Jennifer Murray, Geiger's political consultant.

"We didn't campaign on it until my constituents said they're lying about you, and you aren't pointing out his record," she said.

But Joe Baumann, campaign manager for Geiger, said Geiger didn't know anything about the phone calls and didn't sanction them.

"We're not paying for them," he said.

The Barry County GOP was not amused.

The Barry County Republican Party put out a resolution condemning the Birkholz campaign for behavior that is "reprehensible and beneath the standards of fair campaigning, and is morally and politically unacceptable."

Barry County GOP Chairman Mark Englerth said his cell phone "rang so much I thought it would catch fire. People were outraged. It's disgusting."

He said the arrest record was not fair game, pointing out that Geiger had "apologized, took responsibility, didn't blame anybody else, was held accountable. The guy made a mistake in his life."

"What else do you want? Blood?"

It hasn't come to "blood" yet, but I wouldn't put anything past the DeVos family.

Ask Proctor & Gamble about the mud. They know first hand how nasty it can get.

But that's a story for another day.

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Granholm creates online stem cell petition
I almost titled this "Truscott calls stem cells irrelevant", but I backed off.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Wednesday asked citizens to voice their support for easing restrictions on stem cell research in Michigan by signing an online petition.

The move was criticized by a spokesman for GOP gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos, who called it an "irrelevant political stunt."

"She's doing these online petitions to make it appear she's doing something, but they result in absolutely no action," said DeVos campaign spokesman John Truscott.

Well, John, WHY do they result in "no action"? Could it be that Republicans in Washington and Lansing REFUSE to listen to the overwhelming desire of the people? That they kowtow to the whims of the Radical Right and block legislation that could bring relief to millions who suffer from deadly disease? Not to mention the jobs and prosperity that such research would bring to our state?

So, why don't you tell us, John, why these things result in "no action". Perhaps you would care to explain to the public why your Party refuses to do anything on this issue that so many want to see go forward.

We are waiting.

Granholm campaign spokesman Chris De Witt said the stem cell petition is simply a way to enlist citizens to show the Republican-controlled Legislature that people want lawmakers to adopt a law easing restrictions on stem cell research.

The Democratic governor said in a news release that a growing number of families, researchers and education leaders support stem cell research, but Michigan continues to be hampered by a law that bans research on embryonic stem cells while allowing it on adult stem cells.

De Witt said the governor's petition, hosted on a state Web site, is not political.

"The issue of stem cell research is very important ... from a humanitarian standpoint for those who would benefit from the fruits of that research," De Witt said. "Only those with extreme views are opposed to this kind of research being done in Michigan. A large number of other states allow for this kind of research, and Michigan should not be left behind."

I love that she is doing this again in the face of the criticism the Pubs threw at her last time. Absolutely love it.

Earlier this year, Granholm asked motorists upset with high gasoline prices to sign an online petition urging President Bush to take action. She sent the signatures of 275,858 people to Bush in late May.

State GOP Chairman Saul Anuzis this month criticized the Granholm campaign for soliciting support from people who signed the gasoline petition. He asked Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land and Attorney General Mike Cox, both Republicans, to investigate whether it was proper for Granholm to contact signers by e-mail.

Yes, the Granholm people used the same list that the GOP had asked for first, but were too stupid to fill out the paperwork correctly.

The state Republican Party filed a FOIA request for the online petitions before the Granholm campaign.

GOP staff have filed three FOIA requests to the state seeking information from the petitions. After the second request, the party was provided the names of all signers, but not their e-mail addresses. Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd said she believed the state GOP will receive a computer disc containing the addresses in response to its third request.

The Granholm campaign apparently got the list faster because its FOIA request was more precise, Boyd said.

And the MI GOP was going to contact those signers by e-mail, to tell them that their privacy had been violated by being contacted by e-mail.

Wrap your head around that one.

Anderson said Republicans initially sought the names and addresses because they "suspected this was not about gas prices." She said Republicans may send out an electronic message to the gas-price petition signers when they get the list, but only to tell them "they've been used by the Granholm campaign."

So go sign the petition. Not only will you be doing the right thing for mankind, you will piss off Saul Anzuis. Two birds with one stone.

I wonder if we will see the day when initiatives/referendums can be done like this. After all, we voted in the last caucus by internet, could we make it secure enough to petition proposals?

Something to consider.

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EPIC MRA Poll: Granholm regains lead
Yeah, yeah, these numbers don't mean anything, but why do I suddenly feel so much better?

GRAND RAPIDS - A new poll released today shows Governor Jennifer Granholm has regained the lead over her presumed Republican challenger Dick Devos.

An EPIC-MRA poll, exclusive to 24 Hour News 8 in West Michigan, quizzed 600 voters this week.

They give Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm (47) a three-point lead over her presumed Republican opponent Dick Devos (44), with 9% undecided and a margin of error of 4%.

A poll taken just last month had DeVos up 46 - 44 percent over Granholm.

And when you mention Amway/Alticor?

What's interesting is the potential impact Alticor, the direct marketing business Dick DeVos once headed, may have on these and future numbers.

The new poll asked voters what they think of Alticor, and by a margin of 41 - 17, they had a negative view of the company. Additionally, 21 % of the respondents listed Alticor as a reason not to vote for DeVos. But 62 % say Alticor will not influence their decision.

Maybe the "use Amway" people are right- I think that since I grew up with it all around me, I don't consider it's impact as much as others do.

Some other numbers-

The poll showed 90% of those interviewed are "very certain to vote" in November's general election. Only 28% of the respondents said they believe Michigan is headed in the right direction, while 58% said we're on the wrong track.

Improving the economy and creating jobs was far and away the top issue for voters, overwhelming making health care affordable by a margin of 46-16.

George W. Bush did not fare well in the favorability question, with 53% having an unfavorable view of the president. Granholm and DeVos did better, with Granholm holding a 52-40 edge in favorability.

When asked to describe themselves, 42% of the respondents said they were Democrats, 40% said they were Republicans.

Love the favorables. That's a good sign.

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First Direct Attack Ad on Granholm from DeVos:

Saw it just now.

Didn't catch it all, but it accused her of demagoguery, complained that her campaign (?) has been negative, used her picture (a first), showed a bunch of "press clippings" to back up his claims, and ended with a stern Dick saying "let's not get down in the mud", or something like that. The hypocrisy is stunning.

I hope like hell there is a strategy going on here, maybe give him enough rope to hang himself with...

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Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union Convention Delegates Vote to Endorse Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm
Now that we are moving into a "service job" economy, I hope these guys grow stronger as the years go by. Someone has to fight for the people who make this country run.

ORLANDO, Fla., July 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union/UFCW, announced today that the delegates attending the union's 20th Quadrennial Convention in Orlando, Florida voted unanimously to support Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm's bid for re-election.

Stuart Appelbaum, President of the RWDSU, said, "Our union members will make sure that our enthusiastic support translates into something good for you and your campaign."

Governor Granholm addressed the RWDSU delegates via satellite. She was introduced by RWDSU Secretary-Treasurer Jack Wurm, Jr., a Michigan-native, who noted that the union supported Granholm four years ago believing that she was someone "whose energy and vision would set Michigan on a new course." Saying "history proved us right," Wurm applauded Granholm's track record of "launching a $6 billion economic plan to create new jobs, improve Michigan's schools, provide access to health care and prescription drug benefits for 300,000 Michigan residents, and raise the minimum wage."

Noting that implementing policies benefiting Michigan's working families hasn't been easy, Granholm said being a Democratic governor with a Republican- controlled legislature has made veto "my new favorite four-letter word." She urged RWDSU delegates to remember, when they go to the polls in November 2006, that "Governors can't do it alone" they need legislatures that don't fight their every policy initiative.

I have some favorite four-letter words I can teach you when it comes to our legislature- sometimes I even string a bunch of them together for a very colorful description. You probably couldn't use it in public though. ;-)

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Senate passes interstate abortion bill
Any girl who is leaving the state to have this procedure has a DAMN GOOD reason.

This is an election year wedge issue bullshit bill for the red state fundie base and 14 Dems play right into their hands- giving them victories that will embolden them to keep pushing for more restrictions on women's rights.

Very, very pissed off this morning. Thank God for Dick Durbin.

WASHINGTON - An abortion bill aimed at stopping people from helping pregnant girls skirt parental-notification laws has gained passage in both houses of Congress, but sticky political and policy disputes stand between it and President Bush's desk.

Just moments after the Senate passed its version 65-34 late Tuesday — with the support of 14 Democrats — Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., used a procedural motion to halt its progress.

Moreover, there are significant differences between the Senate bill and the House version passed last year.

For his part, Bush urged Congress to resolve the differences and send him the bill.

"Transporting minors across state lines to bypass parental consent laws regarding abortion undermines state law and jeopardizes the lives of young women," he said in a statement.

Both bills are designed to make it a crime to help a pregnant girl cross state lines to get an abortion in an effort to evade parental notification and consent laws in her home state.

Fourteen Democrats and 51 Republicans voted for the bill. Four Republicans voted against it: Sens. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Susan Collins of Maine, Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., was absent.

Bowing to public support for parental notification and the GOP's 55-44-1 majority, Democrats spent the day trying to carve out an exemption for confidants to whom a girl with abusive parents might turn for help. It was rejected in floor negotiations.

Six states — Connecticut, Hawaii, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington — as well as the District of Columbia have no parental consent or notification laws. Legal challenges have blocked such laws in nine states: Alaska, California, Idaho, Illinois, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey and New Mexico.

No one knows how many girls get abortions in this way, or who helps them. But Democrats say the policy would be dangerous to pregnant teens who have abusive or neglectful parents by discouraging other people from helping them.

"We're going to sacrifice a lot of girls' lives," said Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

I don't know about "a lot" of lives, Hillary, but one is too many, don't ya think?

Here are the 14-

Bayh (D-IN)
Byrd (D-WV)
Carper (D-DE)
Conrad (D-ND)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Inouye (D-HI)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reid (D-NV)
Salazar (D-CO)

Now, tell me again how it's OK to vote for anti-choice Dems because they will "stick with the Party" and support women over their personal feelings, because I really have my doubts at this point.

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Another 5000 jobs from Granholm - roll out those orange barrels
This will make the orange barrel manufacturers happy.

You guys are going to make me go count all these job creation numbers up, aren't you. Do you know how much work that is going to be? 1,000 here, 400 and some there, another announcement every few days or so...

Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today announced her administration is granting $44 million to help 47 counties and 49 cities obtain more than $279 million in federal funds which will be used to jump start 210 local road projects around Michigan.

The grant is expected to create nearly 5,000 jobs, including at least 2,100 in southeastern Michigan. According to Granholm, the program marks the first time state dollars are being used to fund city and county transportation projects.

"People don't care if the road they're driving on is a state, federal or local road - they just want it to be smooth and safe," Granholm said.

"We're putting people to work and making our roads work better. For the first time, we are investing state transportation dollars to create jobs and make improvements to local roads that support the economic development efforts of Michigan cities and counties."

Speaking of dog whistles to the right, I wonder why the Detroit News was the only organization (so far) that has mentioned this in print-

Granholm expects to announce additional funding later this year which will bring the grant total to $80 million. The governor said the grants were similar to efforts taken to stimulate the economy during the Great Depression by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

"We wanted to take a page from history, like FDR when he put the nation to work on its infrastructure through the Civilian Construction Corp and the Tennessee Valley Authority," Granholm said.

Yes, somewhere tonight that commie pinko FDR is smiling.

I am too. Take that, conservatives. You wanted jobs, you got 'em. I don't want to hear any complaints about where they came from.

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SBT goes bye bye- grab your wallets, everyone
"Business" must be pretty nervous right now.

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson's petition drive aimed at accelerating the repeal of Michigan's main business tax appears to have succeeded.

A review of petitions by the state Bureau of Elections, which was released Monday, estimates the drive collected nearly 292,000 signatures, well above the 254,206 needed to send the issue to the Legislature.

If certified as expected by the Board of State Canvassers on Friday, lawmakers will then have 40 days to approve the measure that would move up the expiration date for the state's Single Business Tax by two years to Dec. 31, 2007.

If the Legislature fails to act, the measure would go before voters in November.

But representatives for House Speaker Craig DeRoche, R-Novi, and Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema, R-Wyoming, said Monday they expect to quickly win approval at the Capitol.

Will they act just as quickly to present a plan to replace it? Uncertainty is costing us at this point. From James Epolito, head of MEDC-

We do have issues to address. Uncertainty over a replacement for the Single Business Tax is now a greater concern than the SBT itself. I hear regularly that this is causing delays by businesses that wish to expand here. Gov. Granholm's leadership on this needs to be met with legislative action; the stalemate is costing us time, if not jobs and investment.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the campaign. Will Republicans gloat that they did an end-run around the Guv? Will Granholm hit them over the head with their irresponsible actions that are now creating this chaos? Will I make it through the next three months without going batshit insane watching these guys duke it out?

Stay tuned....

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Truscott & DeVos on the economy: Single state illusion?

Time to play "whack a talking point" once again.

Over and over the DeVos people have implied that the country's economic condition is going great, oh boy, let's party, peaches and cream and the streets lined with gold for everybody else, it's only you people in Michigan that are suffering. This has been the main thrust of Dick's campaign: because he can't tell you his radical plans for our state, he will continue to hammer on our economy. To do this, they must leave the impression that only you are being deprived, everyone else in America is living the life of luxury.

Not true.

John Kerry was in Detroit to stump for Granholm yesterday, and he had a few things to say about the Bush administration and the outsourcing of manufacturing and other policies. Truscott, in response to the Senator's remarks, came up with this-

DeVos spokesman John Truscott said, "We expect them to continue their campaign of attacks and misinformation" and that Granholm is "welcome to bring in whoever she wants. It can't cover for the fact that Michigan is in a single-state recession. The rest of the country is doing just fine."

Neat trick. Or, a cheap trick, actually. Accuse your opponent of "misinformation" and in the next breath offer some "misinformation" of your own. It's so... oh, what's the word... Rovian.

Johnny is perpetuating a myth. The "economy" is too big of a subject to really tackle in a blog post, but here are just a few examples of the "Bush recovery" and how it has affected the country-

(first of all, a hat tip to bonddad at Kos for all his excellent economic work. If you need any figures on this economy, he has them. I owe him a huge debt of gratitude here because I'm not so good with the math-e-matics. Most of the information here has been complied by him, I threw a few other things in.)

Let's start with mortgage foreclosures-

RealtyTrac, a California organization that tracks foreclosed properties nationwide, found that the foreclosure rate in March of this year was up 63 percent compared with last year. The company's foreclosure data includes a variety of categories: homes that enter the foreclosure process, homes that are actually foreclosed on and homes that are returned to the banks.

And specifically, on defaults-

RealtyTrac, an industry organization that maintains a nationwide database of foreclosures, says mortgage defaults between January and March of this year numbered 323,102 compared with 188,122 during the same period last year -- an increase of 72 percent.

This is happening all over the country, not just Michigan. For more figures on housing nationwide, check his original diary here, and
indications are that this segment of the economy is starting to slow way down as interest rates rise. Trouble looms ahead if this is true-

Housing is responsible for a conservative 30% of establishment job creation since November 2001. According to a Merrill Lynch analysis, housing is responsible for about 50% of total US economic growth.

So much for your house, on to your bank account. If the economy is so wonderful in this country, why aren't you making more money?

Turns out your boss is getting rich. That trickle down will start any... second... now...

Median 2005 pay among chief executives running most of the nation's 100 largest companies soared 25% to $17.9 million, dwarfing the 3.1% average gain by typical American workers, USA TODAY found in its annual analysis of CEO pay.

Bonddad explains that the 3.1% gain is not what actually has happened for American workers.

Memo to the USA Today: Please adjust your figures for inflation.

Now...onto the show. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, non-supervisory wages (which represent about 80% of the population) increased from $15.88 in January 2005 to $16.35 in December of 2005 for an increase of 2.95%. Over the same period, the inflation figure increase from 190.7 to 196.8 for an increase of 3.1%. So using the BLS numbers gives non-supervisory employees a net decrease of .15 in wages and using the UA Today figure gives the average American an increase of 0. Wow, that's really impressive.

And as corporations are raking it in...

U.S. corporate profits have increased 21.3% in the past year and now account for the largest share of national income in 40 years, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

Strong productivity gains and subdued wage growth boosted before-tax profits to 11.6% of national income in the fourth quarter of 2005, the biggest share since the summer of 1966.

For all of 2005, before-tax profits totaled $1.35 trillion, up from $1.16 trillion in 2004 and just $767 billion in 2001.

... labor is getting stiffed.

Meanwhile, the share of national income going to wage and salary workers has fallen to 56.9%. Except for a brief period in 1997, that's the lowest share for labor income since 1966.

How do they keep wages down? They keep job growth down. Bush's job creation record is dismal.

Stephen Roach of Morgan Stanley has labeled this recovery the jobless/wageless recovery. He has a strong point on both of these fronts. Bush's .6% compound annual growth rate for establishment jobs is still the weakest of any president in the last 40 years. The March labor participation rate was 66.1%, which is near the low range of the 1990s recovery. This indicates a large percentage of people are simply sitting on the sidelines. Barring an economic miracle, this trend of weak establishment job growth is already set in stone.

Low unemployment numbers have not increased wages, as is usually the case. Remember the late 90's?

According to standard economic analysis, a 5% unemployment rate is full employment. At that level of unemployment - so the conventional thinking goes - companies will have to increase wages to attract employees from a dwindling supply of labor. However, that hasn't happened. Companies don't feel compelled to offer wage increases beyond inflation. This indicates the economy is probably not at full employment.

Back at home, for most Americans personal debt is soaring as savings are being depleted.

Domestic household debt grew 11.6% in the first quarter of 2006. Since 2003, growth of household debt has increased over 11% each year. In November 2001, at the beginning of this expansion, total household debt was $7,568.1 trillion or 74% of GDP. In the first quarter of 2006, total household debt was $11,840 trillion or 91% of GDP. That's a compound annual growth rate of 11.10%. Mortgage related debt increased from $4,871.9 trillion to $8978.3 trillion over the same period, making this increase responsible for 87% of the increase in total household debt.

At the same time, personal savings was negative - again. This time the figure came in at (-)$119.8 billion. This is the fourth consecutive quarter of negative savings. At the same time, undistributed corporate profits were $606.3 billion - a three-fold increase since 2001's figure of $192.3 billion. In other words, corporations are saving a ton of cash.

As far as "doing fine" in the big picture goes -seems it has been a "credit card recovery", for both the country and it's citizens. The Bush administration has borrowed record amounts of money, driving the national debt to it's highest level ever and forcing us to raise the debt ceiling four times in the past five years.

Like many cash-strapped Americans who have maxed-out credit cards, the federal government has hit its limit for borrowing funds to keep operating. If the limit isn't raised, the government likely will run out of borrowing authority within days, risking a shutdown.

When President Bush took office five years ago, the national debt was at $5.6 trillion; since then, big budget surpluses have collapsed into huge deficits, and the debt has shot up nearly 50 percent.

Borrow a boatload of money and call it a recovery. Sounds like a plan! Maybe no one will notice.

Oops! Looks like they did. According to a FOX news poll in April, 72% of the country thinks the economy is fair to poor, and a recent poll by the Washington Post/ABC News put the economy second to the Iraq war as being the voter's main concern, with 61% of the respondents disapproving of the way Bush is handling the economy.

How can that be? Is this what Truscott means when he says, "the rest of the country is doing fine?" Why are people so concerned if that is true?

Now all DeVos has to do is convince Michigan residents that the Bush economic plan is working everywhere so he can do the same thing here: cut taxes on the rich, increase corporate profits and stop wage growth, bleed the average citizen dry, and don't forget about cutting off the poor from any sort of assistance as poverty and the homeless and the uninsured numbers keep increasing.

After all, when all is said and done, after he takes us down this path and destroys the state, he can then turn around and blame Granholm for his failures, just like the Bush people blamed Clinton. The script almost writes itself sometimes.

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Whitecaps - Back-to-back home runs lead comeback win
Yesterday was the kind of day I spent all last winter dreaming about. Sunny, puffy white clouds in the sky, nice breeze, temperature was perfect... if I could freeze time, I would have stopped it right there and stayed forever.

But I cannot. The world still turns, and here I am this morning fighting the urge to start a huge flame war, and I can feel the tension headache starting already.

No. Not gonna do it. Back to peace...


Will Rhymes breaks up a double play.

COMSTOCK PARK – For the second day in a row, the Whitecaps recovered from an early 4-0 deficit and rallied to beat Dayton, 6-5. The win completes the fourth four game sweep by the Whitecaps this season.

Jeramy Laster and Cory Middleton hit back-to-back home runs in the second inning to erase the four run deficit and tie the game, 4-4. Laster’s blast was his sixth of the year and a three-run shot disputed as a foul ball by Dayton catcher Craig Tatum and manager Bill Gardner, Jr.

Matt Joyce put West Michigan in front, 5-4 with an RBI double to drive in Pedro Cotto in the fifth. Mike Hernandez added an insurance run with a single later in the inning to drive in Joyce.

Josh Rainwater survived a rocky start to pitch through the sixth inning and earn the win for the Whitecaps. Rainwater allowed four runs, but only one was earned as the Whitecaps committed a season-high four errors in the game.

I was taking a panorama shot during Laster's home run, so I didn't see where the ball went. I do have his swing as the final picture- I will work on it and try to get it up here. Panoramas are tough when you aren't using a tripod- it's hard to keep your head level as you sweep from left to right, and usually the angle will be a little bit off. The computer chokes and can't stitch it together right. The perspective is also a bit strange as it's hard to flatten a 180 degree view. When I get time I will play with it.



Cameron Maybin gets picked off of 1st base.

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Daily Kos: What Did You Expect, America?
This theme needs to repeated over and over this election year, and I would love to see it mentioned here in Michigan in regards to DeVos. People need to realize this is exactly what will we get if he is elected.

Go read the whole thing.

In electing Republicans, America, you put people in charge of institutions they overtly, caustically loathe and proudly proclaim should not exist. Good thinking, USA, and stellar results: Katrina, Iraq, Medicare D, trade and budget deficits, mine disasters and on and on and on and ...

Conservatives have declared officially for decades that they hate public programs and love private business. Why then, do Americans profess shock when these same people run the public credit card up to bunker-busting levels to line the pockets of friendly corporations, leaving taxpayers - current and the as-yet unborn - the bill? It's the dine and ditch mentality writ large, and American citizens are the unfortunate waiters having their lowly pay docked to cover the deadbeat loss - and their future grandchildren's pay docked as well.

We are witnessing an orchestrated, unprecedented transfer of public wealth to private pockets, a national one-party feeding frenzy that's making beggars and beseechers of us all, and yet many Americans stand around muttering in a daze of semi-apathetic befuddlement about gosh darn how did all this come to be and how sure as shit, uh-huh, those Republicans shore were right, government doesn't do a the little guy a damn bit of good, no sirree bob. Better drown it some more. Cut them taxes, privatize something, anything, pronto!

Kee-rist on a pogo stick.

If you put people in charge of running a project they are ideologically committed to proving a failure, it will fail.

Dick says we need to "overhaul state government". That statement- those three words right there- should tell you how he feels about "government" as it currently exists, never mind all the money he has thrown at conservative think tanks dedicated to promoting the "drown government" agenda.

What further proof do we need? Total destruction?

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Granholm Opens Campaign Office in Grand Rapids
Very close to my house. Sorry I missed it, but looking at the video- it appears they had a good turnout.

GRAND RAPIDS - Governor Granholm made a stop in Grand Rapids Saturday to open up her campaign office.

The office is located on Cherry Street between Diamond and Eastern.

While in town, Granholm continued to push her accomplishments in bringing jobs to Michigan.

"We have set this plan in motion and we are starting to see that it's beginning to work," said Governor Granholm. "The fact that we were able to attract Google to Michigan is a sign that we have set the right plan in motion, we need to finish the job."

Republican candidate Dick DeVos has had a campaign office set up in the area for almost a year.

It's located on Kenmore just off of Cascade Road.

Really? Right next to Graceland Cemetery. Think I'll drive by and flip him the bird next time I bring a rose out to Kristin. I'm sure she (Kristin, that is) would approve. Matter of fact, she probably would insist...

Every little bit helps, right? ;-)

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US rushes precision-guided bombs to Israel
Of course. It's not like they were picking them up at the 7-11.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Bush administration is rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel, which requested the expedited shipment last week after beginning its air campaign against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, The New York Times reported on Saturday.

Citing U.S. officials who spoke on Friday on condition of anonymity, the Times said the decision to ship the weapons quickly came after relatively little debate within the administration, and noted in its report that its disclosure threatens to anger Arab governments and others who could perceive Washington as aiding Israel in the manner that Iran has armed Hezbollah.

The munitions are actually part of a multimillion-dollar arms-sale package approved last year which Israel is able to tap when it needs to, the officials told the Times. But some military officers said the request for expedited delivery was unusual and indicated that Israel has many targets it plans to hit in Lebanon.

This will please the right-wing loons that are calling for WWIII. Once again I find myself agreeing with the "voice of sanity", Pat Buchanan, when he says-

Are these people nuts? You've got to ask yourself. I certainly hope the president is not listening to them because I really question whether they've got America's national interest at heart. They're calling for wars against people that never attacked us. I don't care how bad they are. There are wicked people all over this world but you don't go after people unless they come after you.

Me and Pat- I've got this weird "thing" goin' on with Pat.... ah, it would take too long to explain. Never mind. Just heed his words. This is some serious shit.

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Governor Jennifer Granholm Named NASW Public Elected Official of the Year
Very nice.

Washington, D.C. – The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is pleased to name Governor Jennifer Granholm the 2006 Public Elected Official of the Year honoring her dedication to improving the areas of concern for the social work profession for the citizens of Michigan.

Since her election in November 2002 as the first female governor of Michigan, Gov. Granholm has made a public commitment to improving the quality of life in Michigan communities, protecting the most vulnerable populations and addressing social issues in a way that strengthens the state.

“Through her unique leadership, Gov. Granholm has focused on children and families as a priority for her administration,” says Dr. Elizabeth Clark, NASW executive director. “She has ensured that the social safety net is in tact in Michigan, while bolstering health care and educational opportunities.”

Gov. Granholm fought to protect vital support for poor families by vetoing a 4-year time limit for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), ensuring this critical support for those in need.

In order to promote and strengthen early childhood development in Michigan, she formed the Early Childhood Investment Corporation to support early childhood development and to increase licensing requirements in day care.

Gov. Granholm has expanded health care coverage to uninsured Michiganians and has enrolled tens of thousands of children for health insurance through the Healthy Kids and MiCHILD programs. Additionally, she initiated the development of the Mental Health Commission to rebuild the state’s mental health system.

And speaking of mental health, yesterday she signed a bill encouraging Michigan schools to set up suicide prevention programs for kids. This is a subject that hits a little too close to home for me and I really don't have the energy to get into it right now, all I can say is- I wish it was mandatory.

BRIGHTON -- Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed a bill this morning encouraging Michigan school districts to provide information to students and parents about depression and suicide.

Whether districts will voluntarily participate in suicide prevention programs remains to be seen.

The law is named after Chase Edwards, a 12-year-old Brighton boy who committed suicide in 2003. His parents, Jeff and Laura Edwards, worked with state Rep. Chris Ward, R-Brighton, to get the legislation passed.

-snip-

Nationwide, suicide is the third-leading cause of death, behind accidents and cancer, for children ages 10-14, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Michigan, 11 youths ages 5 to 14 died by suicide in 2004, according to the Michigan Department of Community Health. In the same year, 138 people ages 15 to 24 committed suicide, which increased from the previous year's number of 120 deaths, according to the department.

Some officials, including Brighton's former superintendent, have been critical of adding more instruction to already overloaded teachers. Others believe the topic is too sensitive for schools to discuss.

The new law doesn't mandate districts teach the topic, although it requires the Michigan Department of Education to provide a model program and materials on suicide prevention. The state Department of Education has given its support to the bill.

I don't know what moron thinks this topic is "too sensitive to discuss". Better that the kid just kills himself? We can jump up and down about steroids, but the third leading cause of death in kids is taboo?

I just hope school districts can find the money to adopt this type of program. It will save lives.

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Whitecaps- Eighth inning rally trumps blown lead in Whitecaps win


Whitecaps pitcher Burke Badenhop. Burke pitched his heart out only to have Claggett steal the win.

COMSTOCK PARK – Mark Haske and Jeramy Laster delivered back-to-back two out RBI’s in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Whitecaps broke a 2-2 tie on the way to a 4-2 victory over Dayton.

Burke Badenhop pitched 6.2 innings for West Michigan and left the game with a 2-0 lead, a runner at first and two out in the top of the seventh. Anthony Claggett came on in relief and for the second time in eight days blew a save.

Claggett allowed an RBI double by Craig Tatum and a game-tying single by Bobby Mosby. The right hander has allowed three runs since last Wednesday after allowing two runs total in the first 13 weeks of the season.

Cameron Maybin scored two of the Whitecaps runs, including the tally that put the Whitecaps in front in the eighth.

Claggett wound up earning the win and Orlando Perdomo picked up his 21st save for the Whitecaps, even though he allowed Dayton to load the bases with one out in the ninth.

Here is catcher Dusty Ryan. The Tigers have drafted some great catchers in the past few years- it will be interesting to see who makes it to the bigs. I'm still rooting for Mike Rabelo (who just made the jump to Toledo- go Mike!), although Ryan has great potential, too.

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World's smallest violin plays just for Brooks
Can you hear it? I can.

PONTIAC -- Thirteen years after sweeping into power, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson's ironclad grip on county politics may be loosening.

A vocal, determined group of Democrats on the Oakland County Board of Commissioners has been making life difficult these days for the outspoken executive, who is accustomed to getting his way with the GOP-controlled board. The Democrats held up a school contract for kids at the county's juvenile detention center in June, pushed for a county park in Oakland's southeast end, and are girding for a fight over plans to possibly close or privatize the county's nursing home.

"Our responsibility is to ask questions," said Commissioner Mattie Hatchett, D-Pontiac, during a heated committee meeting in June. "We are supposed to be a checks and balance for the executive branch and not rubber stamp things."

Patterson dismisses the faction as political grandstanders.

Some Democrats "will challenge, ridicule, undermine any proposal put forth by this administration," he said. "Not because it isn't a quality proposal, but because this is a Republican administration. And I resent it."

Karma is a bitch. Poor Brooks.

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Aravosis nails the Lamont/Lieberman issue
I (heart) John Aravosis. Although he has a tendency to go off on a tangent here and there (and who doesn't?), for the most part he is right on the money. This is one of those times.

If Lamont wins the primary, and Lieberman runs as an independent, it's going to tear the Democratic party and the grassroots apart. The blogs will, understandably, spend full time helping Lamont, bashing Lieberman, and flailing the party for not doing enough to help Lamont (or worse, for helping Lieberman). The last thing we need is a major war erupting among Democrats leading into the November elections. I'd like to spend my time, I'd like to see all the progressive blogs devoting their time, to helping defeat Republicans, rather than worrying about some guy who lost his primary and now can't take his toys and go home like a good loser. But that isn't going to happen unless the Democratic party, unless Democratic leaders in the Senate, step up to the plate here.

The party needs to tell Joe Lieberman, under no uncertain terms, that if he loses his primary he needs to bow out of the race. Otherwise, there will be open war between the blogs, the netroots and the Democratic party for the next four months. Rather than channeling those resources into defeating Republicans, we will be channeling those resources into fighting amongst ourselves. But the Democratic party can avoid this scenario, if it chooses. The Dems need to make it clear to Lieberman that if he loses the primary, he's out of here.

I'm not saying that I want to see open warfare in the party, I'm saying I see open warfare coming with 100% certainty. It's up to the party to head it off at the pass.

I have been very discouraged and disheartened over all the attention paid to this race- and it is starting to spill over onto other politicians and distract from other important races.

When you have "progressive" people dissin' Barbara Boxer, you know you have a problem. I hope for the sake of the party Joe can put his ego aside if he does lose- it could cost us a lot more than one Senate seat if we turn our guns on each other.

It's all going to blow up over Hillary anyway. Let's wait until 2007 to have this fight; we need to stop the Republicans now.

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DeVos & the Environment- Speaking in code
George Weeks had a short column in the Escanaba Daily Press about the environment and the governor's race. While he didn't get into much detail, there have been a few instances where Dick and Saul are using the far-right's talking points lately. Be on the lookout for them in the future- they use this "code" to justify forcing their destructive agenda, whether it be limiting civil rights or destroying the environment in the name of big business dollars or the ever-popular term "creating jobs".

Think "activist judges".

TRAVERSE CITY — They fall far short of making the environment and natural resources front burner issues of Campaign ‘06, but actions and proposals of current candidates are inching along the greening of Michigan politics that got a flickering start in the 1970s.

“I will be a steward of Michigan’s precious environment,” businessman Dick DeVos, Republican challenger of Gov. Jennifer Granholm, said in a vow to protect natural resources “unmatched in the nation and around the world” that is in his 64-page Michigan TurnAround Plan which he trumpets in his statewide TV ads.

But environmental vows don’t make it into his ads (latest estimated cost: nearly $10 million)—nor into those that the Democratic State Party has so far spent an estimated $3 million on to tout Granholm.

DeVos in his printed plan says “we can protect the environment and create jobs at the same time”—but that thought doesn’t work into a 30-second spot crafted around his credentials as a job-creator.

Not surprisingly, given what voters tell pollsters about their priorities, each side uses its TV dollars to emphasize spurring the economy, not saving the environment.

On Friday, DeVos spokesman John Truscott said DeVos will have a more specific environmental agenda, and Granholm Press Secretary Liz Boyd said her boss will build on “her exceptional record “ on such issues.

She does have a great record on this issue. It's too bad more people don't pay attention to her environmental record- she has done a great deal to protect our beautiful state and it's waters. Just this week she attended a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Michigan National Trust Fund, the program started by William Milliken to help fund land acquisition and public outdoor recreation projects, and announced that the state will work on expanding and improving our trail system. Little things like that add up to a quality of life that our state needs to be attractive to tourists and businesses alike.

But turning back to the words Dick DeVos in an attempt to gather clues as to what he would do in regards to our natural resources- he has already used the term "environmental extremist" in a speech to the Detroit Economic Club- unfortunately, again, they didn't go into much detail. Since we don't see members of ELF blowing up SUVs in Michigan, it's hard to tell what "extremists" Dick is alluding to when he uses that term.

In truth, he really doesn't have to explain. These words are like a dog whistle to the highly-tuned ears on the right.

Reiterating his support for abolishing the Single Business Tax by next year, DeVos said he would replace it with a tax on corporate profits or gross receipts.

He said business expansion is impeded by "overzealous bureaucrats and environmental extremists."

"Environmental extremist" is now a talking point for "They won't let us pollute the air and water for profit". It is been used extensively when it comes to describing ANWR, Kyoto, Al Gore, or any other group or person who attempts to protect the Earth from destruction. Countless examples abound on the use of these words- from O'Reilly, to Hannity, to Limbaugh, to any number of talking head "conservatives" who serve only the far-right agenda.

Never one to be left out of the party, Saul Anuzis used a variation of the term this week in Traverse City.

The state's tax and regulatory climate must change in order to bring more jobs back to the state, Anuzis said. He added that Granholm's business policies are swayed by "radical" environmental and union special interest groups.

So, who are these "extremists" and "radicals" that Dick and Saul are talking about? My guess is they are a figment of their imagination, driven by the incessant need to parrot the "code" of the right and clue in those who follow FOX News and the Limbaugh's of the world. It's a wink and a nod to the people that believe that liberals and Democrats are to blame for all their problems.

Watch for the talking points in Dick's words. They are subtle, but they are there. He reveals himself every time he speaks.

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$26.7 Million investment coming to 3 Michigan communities
Isn't it time for a "jobs clock" of our own?

I don't know if the MIGOP is still using theirs (last I heard it was damaged), but almost every single day I see a story like this. It would be nice to see a running total somewhere.

Governor Granholm announced Wednesday that underutilized properties in Grand Rapids, Manistee and Traverse City will be transformed into new housing, retail, commercial and office space at a cost of $26.7 Million.

The Governor says the projects will create more than 80 new jobs and revitalize communities.

"Making our communities attractive places to work and live is critical to growing Michigan's economy," Granholm said. "These projects will revitalize underused sites to draw new investments, jobs and people into these three communities."

The projects are being backed by brownfield redevelopment assistance from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

A total of 7 economic development projects are in the works. In all, they are expected to create and retain a total of 1,666 Michigan jobs.

More help coming to Heartside, including some affordable housing for the disabled. Good deal- the area is becoming pretty upscale, and I worry about the people already there being forced out of that neighborhood.

KBC Limited Dividend Housing Association LP, Grand Rapids: State and local tax capture valued at $385,000 will help make way for the redevelopment of a vacant lot at 40 and 60 South Division Avenue in the city's Heartside Historic District, a Cool City Neighborhood designee. The $16.7-million mixed-use development will include two live/work apartments with attached studio space, 15,375 square feet of commercial space, 116 affordable housing units with supportive services for mentally and developmentally disabled residents and a parking structure. The project is expected to create 11 new jobs.

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A Message from the Feed the Governor Foundation:



Meet Jennifer.

Unlike that other gubernatorial candidate, Jennifer can’t afford to buy all the airtime that she needs to have a competitive campaign. While the other guy is buying all his ads during the highest rated television shows, Jennifer is stuck purchasing slots during “Michigan Farm Report” at 6:30 AM Sunday mornings. Without your dollars, Jennifer’s message to end tyranny and oppression in our lifetime might not get on the air at all! Won’t you please help?

While others can afford to have super-stick glue on the back of their bumper stickers, Jennifer is being forced to use scotch tape- tape that will need to be replaced every time it rains! If you act today, you can help Jennifer buy some glue so her name can be seen speeding down the highway just like all the other candidates for office, both big and small!

Without your generous donation, Jennifer might have to write her own campaign signs by hand with giant magic markers. The consequences of that would be catastrophic- picture Jennifer wearing an arm brace after she gets carpal tunnel syndrome. Holding a microphone could become nearly impossible! Think of how horrible that would be!

And the sad truth is, Jennifer just might run out of money right there on the campaign trail, perhaps driving up to an event in Alpena or Traverse City, forcing her to hitchhike on the Michigan back roads or maybe even go without lunch. Don’t leave Jennifer on the side of the road, hungry and tired with her thumb sticking out in the air! Help out today!

Imagine! For only $2.37 a day from now until November, you can help Jennifer have the quality of campaign that every candidate deserves. So many of us take it for granted that our politicians have enough to get by- in reality some of them can barely afford to buy a decent set of clothes to wear for their photo shoots or even have their teeth bleached. It’s tragic, but it’s the hard truth of today’s expensive political world.

Act now! Help put a smile on Jennifer’s face. You’ll be glad you did.


(In all seriousness, the July 23rd deadline is fast approaching. For all those that complain about a lack of campaign from Granholm, consider these numbers- Hillary Clinton, probably the heaviest hitter in Democratic fundraising, has a reported $22 million in her war chest. Dick DeVos has now spent $10 million. He has gone into overdrive in my market, both on TV and radio. Dick at this point has spent almost half of Hillary numbers, and it's only July. Imagine what he will do when Granholm goes on the air.

Give. Give today. Give all you can. Your state is on the line.)

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Granholm, 7 others urge passage of stem cell research bill
Americans support this legislation by a 2-1 margin, so naturally George Bush will use his veto pen for the first time just to appease his Radical Right base.

Further proof that he is the Worst. President. Ever.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Tom Vilsack and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm joined six other Democratic governors in urging the Senate to overturn President Bush's restrictions on stem cell research.

"Stem cell research holds the potential to cure some of humanity's oldest and deadliest diseases — from Parkinson's to Alzheimer's to multiple sclerosis and cancer," said a letter the governors sent Monday night to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

The Senate voted Tuesday after two days of emotional debate to expand federal funding of embryonic stem cell research and sent the measure to President Bush for a promised veto, the first of his presidency.

The bill passed 63-37, four votes short of the two-thirds majority that would be needed to override Bush's veto. The president left little doubt he would reject the bill despite late appeals on its behalf from fellow Republicans Nancy Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Granholm and her gang of Dem governors sent the Prez a letter, but sometimes I wonder why they even bother. If Reagan and Schwarzenegger can't get through to him, there is no way a bunch of blue-staters will. If anything, he will smile a little wider knowing that he pissed them off.

"Every day thousands of families in our states struggle as a loved one suffers from juvenile diabetes, spinal cord injuries and other conditions that might be cured if the president's restrictions are lifted," the letter said. "The Senate has a vital opportunity this week to do the right thing so science can go forward. That opportunity must not be squandered."

In addition to the joint letter, Granholm sent a separate letter of her own to Bush.

"If our nation is serious about improving both the cost and quality of health care, we must tap the full power of modern science to combat life-threatening illnesses in an ethically responsible manner," Granholm wrote. "The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act enables our nations researchers to do just that."

Granholm has called on the Michigan Legislature to end the state's ban on embryonic stem cell research.

Ah yes, and turning to own our band of wingnuts here in Michigan, it seems that the legislature in Lansing is beholden to the Michigan Right to Life and costing our state plenty. At a time when we need to diversify our economy, we are chained by archaic laws as other states move ahead.

These guys have to go. From Phil Power-

But one big one is the seeming total inability of our elected legislators to do something — anything — competent. As proof, consider how ideological idiocy in Lansing is frustrating progress in a promising area for our economy, not to mention the human race: Stem cell research.

Stem cells are generic cells capable of developing into various kinds of more specialized cells. Stem cells taken from very early human embryos can quickly differentiate into various types of tissue, such as blood, skin or nerves. Virtually every scientist in the country agrees that research using stem cells could produce breakthroughs in treating so far untreatable ailments such as Parkinson's Disease.

Lots of states are vigorously pursuing research into embryonic stem cells. California, for example, recently passed a state ballot proposal allocating $3 billion to stem cell research.

Not surprisingly, this has led lots of very able scientists to move to California to pursue this work.

Wouldn't it make sense for Michigan, with our network of excellent hospitals and research universities, to do the same?

It's OK to throw them away, just don't use them to save lives or anything silly like that.

These are stem cells from nearly microscopic embryos from fertility clinics. If they aren't used for potentially life-saving research, they are washed down the drain. According to University of Michigan professor and stem cell biologist Sean Morrison, fertility clinics discard unused tiny human embryos all the time.

"It's legal in Michigan to discard human embryos," Professor Morrison, who heads stem cell research in this state, told me, "but it's illegal to use them for medical research to help cure disease."

The cost to all of us is steep. Morrison pointed out that Michigan is losing out on research projects because funders are scared of our laws. "The state of Illinois is funding research projects there that we would go to jail for trying here in Michigan. Our laws are some of the most restrictive in the world, far tighter than federal law and equaled only by South Dakota."

It's costing us money, jobs and talented scientists as they flee to other states where this is allowed. Gee, why are those young people leaving again?

The silliness of the present law is compounded by the negative effect all this is having on our economic future. According to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), more than $2 billion is invested annually in life sciences research and development in Michigan. The industry produces $4.8 billion in sales and is one of the few rapidly growing sectors in our economy.

Indeed, the MEDC says the State of Michigan has over the last four years invested $178 million in growing the Life Sciences Corridor running from Wayne State University through the U-M and Michigan State University to the Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids.

So on the one hand we have a rapidly developing scientific field that is terribly important for the health of every citizen, one in which there is great talent at our research universities and has proven to be one of the few bright spots in our economy.

And on the other hand we are suffering under a disco-era law that prohibits exactly the kind of research that needs to be done.

-snip-

Even in a city as gripped by partisan deadlock as Lansing, don't we have the right to expect our lawmakers to break free of ideology and find a common-sense way to allow our scientists to do the kind of research that an overwhelming majority of people want and need? Especially, that is, when that research would also be a shot in the arm for our troubled economy.

If our legislature doesn't step up to the task, it may be time for all of us to move beyond pessimism ... to outright anger.

Time for us to move our feet to the ballot box and throw out the extremists. Lansing needs a change, and it ain't the Governor that needs changin'.

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Severe weather hits West Michigan; thousands without power
... including me, until just a little while ago.

GRAND RAPIDS -- The summer storms rumbling through overnight left a lot of damage behind, including broken branches, widespread blackouts and even fires sparked by lightning.

Thousands of people still do not have electricity. Consumers Energy says as of 12 p.m., 190,000 customers are without power across the state.

That includes 38,000 in Grand Rapids, 16,200 in Greenville, 14,300 in Muskegon, 10,600 in Kalamazoo, 10,400 in Big Rapids, and 5,300 in Fremont.

The majority of residents are expected to get their power back by midnight Wednesday.

No juice, no fun. Hope my food is OK.

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Granholm, Legislative Democrats Announce New Legislation to Limit Outsourcing, Protect Worker Pensions
I like it, which means the Republicans will never go for it. I can hear their screams already.

LANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today asked the Legislature to support a series of reform measures that will strengthen corporate responsibility standards and prohibit use of state funds to support outsourcing, tax havens, and pension theft.

“We are blessed in Michigan with countless businesses striving to be good corporate citizens,” said Granholm. “But those who are bad actors – who incorporate off-shore to avoid paying taxes or violate U.S. pension laws and international labor standards – should not be allowed to use our tax dollars to do it. This legislative package will ensure that Michigan tax dollars are used to create and protect jobs here at home.”

The corporate responsibility and outsourcing prevention package:

• creates a new Michigan Corporate Responsibility Act to prohibit state support of companies that fail to meet certain standards;

• prohibits companies from receiving economic development benefits, including tax credits, abatements, loans and grants if the company or any of its officers have been convicted in the past 15 years of a criminal offense related to performance of a previous state contract or involving business integrity, including embezzlement, theft, forgery, bribery and others;

• prohibits companies from receiving economic development benefits including tax credits, abatements, loans and grants that are used to outsource jobs;

• prohibits companies from receiving economic development benefits, including tax credits, abatements, loans and grants if the business has incorporated in a tax haven country since September 11, 2001;

• prohibits companies from receiving economic development benefits, including tax credits, abatements, loans and grants if they fail to comply with international workers’ rights standards or U.S. pension laws;

• requires the Department of Management and Budget (DMB) to consider all of the above standards in addition to cost and economic impact to the state when contracting for products and services.

“These basic standards of corporate responsibility are already in place for any company applying for funding through the 21st Century Jobs Fund,” said Senator Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing). “Applying the same standards to all companies seeking economic incentives and state contracts is a common sense way to ensure that we are safeguarding our tax dollars while creating jobs and stimulating economic development.”

"If we don't let them steal from us, it will cost jobs!", said Craig DeRoche.

Good luck with this one.

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Poll: 66 percent say Michigan is not dying, 59 percent would not consider leaving
If you click on the link, you will see that I have totally reversed the numbers in the title. Reads a little different now, doesn't it?

Why does the AP choose to highlight the negative?

DETROIT - Thirty-two percent of state adults questioned agreed with a statement that Michigan is dying, and 40 percent said that they have considered leaving in the past year or so, according to a poll published Monday.

Sixty-six percent disagreed with the statement that Michigan is dying, and 2 percent were unsure.

Twenty-five percent said they have seriously considered leaving Michigan in the past year or so, 15 percent said they have thought about moving, 59 percent said they have not considered moving, and 1 percent were unsure.

Asked whether Michigan will rebound from its current problems, 77 percent said yes, 16 percent said no, and 7 percent were unsure.

Maybe a better title would have been "Michigan optimistic about future" since that was the strongest opinion expressed here.

Selzer& Co. of Des Moines, Iowa, questioned 800 Michigan adults 18 and older July 7 through Wednesday for the Detroit Free Press and WDIV-TV. The results have a margin of sampling error of 3.5 percentage points.

On the same dates, Selzer polled 632 likely Michigan voters on the governor's and U.S. Senate races. Those results have a 4 percentage point margin of error.

For governor, 47 percent backed Republican businessman Dick DeVos, with 42 percent backing Democratic incumbent Jennifer Granholm, 8 percent undecided, and 2 percent with another preference.

It's only July, but I must admit these numbers are starting to worry me. The Free Press article has some quotes that show the advertising is working on some people- they are believing what they see without any further investigation. If it goes on much longer, there is a chance we won't get them back. I hope they take the time to find out who this guy really is.

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New Governor’s Mansion prototype discovered in a field in Kent County:

Tucked at the end of a dirt road that has no name, a building shaped like a pyramid emerged in a field in Kent County Friday to the amazement of neighbors. A row of trees that had hidden the building from view were cut down that morning, exposing the structure for all to see.

“We had seen lots of trucks go by here, but we could never tell what they were building”, said nearby property owner Robert Johnson. “When we tried to bring them a ‘welcome to the neighborhood six-pack’, we found an electric fence guarded by big dogs, so we just stayed away. We knew right then they weren’t the friendly type.”

A search of property records revealed that Dick DeVos, one-time President of Amway and current Republican candidate for governor, owned the land. On the campaign trail in Grosse Point Woods, Mr. DeVos confessed to the true nature of the building.

“Yes, that will be the new Governor’s Mansion. We will build another just like it somewhere in Lansing. Betsy and I will live in the top floors, and I plan on instructing the Legislature to live on the floors below me. I will need to have them handy if I have an idea in the middle of the night. You never know when you are going to need another tax cut.” Mr. DeVos explained.

“The level of luxury will go up floor by floor. If you vote the correct way, you will get to move up into a better apartment with more amenities. Vote the wrong way, and you will be back on the ground floor with the Democrats.”

When asked about legislators that might have a problem living away from their families, DeVos said, “They will do what I say, I have no doubt about that. I run a tight ship. They can go home on weekends.”

The cost of the building is unknown, but DeVos explained that it really wasn’t a burden to his wallet.

“It’s amazing the discount you get when you buy television commercial air time in bulk. We funded the whole project on the savings from that alone. We expect to be able to build another one by the time the campaign is through.”



(Cross posted at MichiganLiberal. For the humor impaired, this is the Steelcase Corporate Development Center in Caledonia, right outside Grand Rapids. If you’re in the neighborhood, make sure and drive by. It’s pretty cool.)

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Next Winter...



... when the world looks like this, I inevitably will start babbling about Florida again.

The second I do that, someone needs to remind me of this July day.

Thanks go to Mom for pulling me out of the fire again, literally this time. I now have the ability to cool off my office where my computer is located- without the AC this 9 x 7 space would be well over 100 degrees and there is no way I could have stayed in here. Without this relief, you would have been getting "Dick DeVos is a Space Alien" posts by the end of the week as I just. cannot. sleep. or even think clearly when it is this hot.

I am not leaving this room until this heat breaks. I will sleep on the floor, I don't care. Hmmmm, wonder if I can get the fridge in here...

Sometimes I feel I am the luckiest person in the world.

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Sen. Stabenow leads fundraising over both her GOP challengers
Debbie is looking good for now. Her challengers are getting absolutely no press over here (and not a lot elsewhere as far as I can see) as all eyes continue to follow the Dick and Jennifer Show.

WASHINGTON - Sen. Debbie Stabenow on Monday reported $7 million in the bank for her re-election campaign, a sum that likely keeps her well ahead of two Republicans who want to challenge her for her seat.

Stabenow, D-Lansing, collected $1.3 million from April until the end of June as the two Republicans, Troy minister Keith Butler and Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bou-chard, campaigned for the GOP nomination in the Aug. 8 primary.

Stabenow, who was first elected in 2000, has led in hypothetical matchups against the two candidates. She is unchallenged in the primary.

Bouchard only has $1 million in the bank, and Butler even less.

I still expect this to tighten up when a challenger is determined, but I sense that most of the Republican effort is going to go into knocking off Granholm.

All these fundraising numbers pale in comparison to the money DeVos has already spent. The latest figure I heard was $9 million, and I believe that was before this latest ad blitz. He has gone into hyperdrive here in GR- and I can't imagine what is going on in Detroit.

When all is said and done, I bet we beat the $73 million they spent in Jersey last year.

And when I think of seniors getting their electricity cut off over a few hundred dollars, this whole process seems obscene. Welcome to Babylon.

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Brewer Wishes DeVos Family Good Luck in Port Huron-to-Mackinac Race
Brewer has a bad rep with a lot of Michigan Dems, but sometimes he cracks me right up. This is one of those times.

LANSING—As the DeVos family gets ready to set sail in the annual Port Huron-to-Mackinac race, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer wished them good luck. The DeVos family will be competing on their yacht the Windquest, named after the company Dick DeVos founded in 1989.

“I want to wish the DeVos family good luck in the race and hopefully while they are on the Lake Huron for three full days, they can help Dick calculate how he is going to pay for all his programs,” said Brewer. “Of course it might make them seasick trying to figure out how Dick is going to come up with $5 billion in proposals when he has no revenue to pay for it.”

DeVos has refused to provide real numbers for his economic plan, keeping voters in the dark about yet another issue until after the election. The proposals cost, at a minimum, over $5 billion which is more than 60% above Michigan’s current $8.38 billion general fund budget.

What the Freep story doesn't tell you is that Dick co-owed the boat with brother Doug and sold it off to him outright earlier this year, and that the Windquest was up for sale to the public last year.

Hmmmm. Wonder why Dick would do that...

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Soaring utility costs catch up with needy
Stories like this break my heart.

Living on a fixed income of less than $1,200 a month, Wyoming resident Lee Rowley had a choice.

He could buy groceries or pay his gas and electric bills.

Rowley chose food. Earlier this week, his gas and electricity were shut off.

"I guess I'll have to figure out something," said Rowley, 69, a retired furniture worker who rode a bus to the Salvation Army in Grand Rapids on Thursday seeking assistance.

Like many others in West Michigan, Rowley was told he could get help with his electric bill. But the agency's funding for gas bills is gone.

It's a dilemma for scores of local residents, many of whom got help with utility bills in winter. But many agencies ran dry of funds by summer.

Their woes are tied to the sharp increase in the cost of natural gas, which saw the average bill jump by $60 a month.

That prompted a flood of calls to agencies such as Heart of West Michigan United Way in Grand Rapids, which has fielded more than 4,000 since January.

The calls normally slow down after winter, according to Janine Johnson, vice president of marketing for United Way.

But Johnson said the agency received 965 calls for utility help in June, a 58 percent increase over June 2005. Calls for help from senior citizens jumped 177 percent for the same period.

Compounding the problem, the utilities stopped their winter protection plan at the end of March. That had allowed low-income customers to make minimum monthly payments equal to 7 percent of their estimated natural gas bill.

But with that protection gone, some customers face bills they simply can't pay. Tim Pietryga, spokesman for Consumers Energy, said gas and electric shutoffs are up about 2 percent statewide over last year.

"They get hit with these huge bills. They can't pay them. We begin to see them shut off now," said Karen Tolan of ACSET. Tolan also is chair of the utility subcommittee for the Kent County Emergency Task Force.

Hypothermia or heatstroke- take your choice, poor people.

We call ourselves civilized?

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Alticor/Amway leaders cheated investors, suit says
Sanctimonious Dick was just on my TV wagging his finger and telling me that we shouldn't get "down in the mud" and "blame others" for our problems. (he is running three different ads in my market now)

Looks like his lawyers are doing the same here. If someone cheats you out of a billion dollars when they have inside information, it's your own damn fault.

GRAND RAPIDS -- The way three former Amway Corp. Asian subsidiary investors see it, Alticor Inc. President Doug DeVos, Chairman Steve Van Andel and former President Dick DeVos helped cheat them and others out of more than $1 billion seven years ago.

Alticor attorney Robert Yonker says the former stockholders had an opportunity to recover their presumed losses, and they failed to do so.

The investors sued Amway Asia Pacific, its executives and its New York investment firm, Goldman Sachs, nearly five years ago. They claim they were forced to sell shares when the company went private and before stockholders could reap rewards of China's huge consumer market.

Two years ago, their case was dismissed by a Kent County Circuit Court judge. Their appeal got a hearing Thursday by a three-judge panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals.

Former shareholders Robert F. Wardrop, a local attorney, and Donald and Nancee Turnwall, of Irons, believe Van Andel, Dick DeVos and Doug DeVos effectively forced shareholders to sell stock the day it was announced China would be admitted into the World Trade Organization.

The WTO decision helped open the lucrative Chinese market to Amway and other businesses. The ex-investors claim China's entrance into WTO was not factored into an $18 per-share offer, even though Goldman Sachs and Van Andel had information China likely would be admitted into the trade group.

How did Van Andel have that information? Here is something that today's Press doesn't mention-

In addition to serving as chairman of Amway Asia Pacific, Van Andel also was vice chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a group actively supporting China's bid.

"This is an example of corporate America abusing individual investors for their own profit," said Clinton Krislov, a Chicago attorney representing the plaintiffs.

(Source Citation: "Amway spinoff cheated investors, suit says; Some shareholders in Amway Asia Pacific say they had to take too low a price when the company went private.(Front Page)." The Grand Rapids Press August 7, 2003)

Here is a brief timeline on what happened back then.

In 1998, the Chinese government banned chain selling after its citizens complained about losing money on get-rich-quick schemes. The company was lumped into that group and forced to halt operations there.

The stock rose the next year after reports surfaced that Dick DeVos had met with State Councilor Wu Yi of the Chinese government. The stories said authorities were considering doubling the number of Amway representative offices in China.

According to the lawsuit, executives met in Chicago in September 1999 to discuss "Project Powerhouse," a plan for taking the company private.

About two months later, the United States and China began intense negotiations regarding China's entry into the WTO. It was believed that if China did not enter by Nov. 30, 1999, when the group was meeting in Seattle, it could be years before another opportunity arrived.

On Nov. 11, 1999, the principal shareholders delivered an $18 per-share offer.

Four days later, Amway Asia Pacific's board of directors said the offer was fair and in the best interest of minority shareholders, "all without considering the impact of China's WTO admission," according to the lawsuit.

Others had sued, also, and the suit bounced around looking for jurisdiction.

Amway Asia Pacific now is part of Alticor Inc., the parent of Amway. A company lawyer, Bert Hultink, said "this has no more merit" than two other lawsuits connected to the stock repurchase. Those complaints were dismissed or dropped.

The lawsuit started in New York, moved to Chicago and finally landed in Grand Rapids in late June after judges grappled with jurisdiction and whether the case belonged in state or federal court.

Today, Dick's lawyers claim that these people should have sued in Bermuda. Notice they don't answer the charge of how sleazy this was in the first place, only that it's the investors fault that they are in the wrong court. Gotta admit, that's a nice deflection.

Yonker said Amway gave shareholders a fair share. And, if they had a problem with that, they had an opportunity to increase their take.

The shareholders should have sought an appraised value of their share with an appeal in the Supreme Court in Bermuda, where the company was incorporated, Yonker said.

"They had an efficient judicial mechanism to determine they had fair value of their shares," he said. "They had that opportunity, didn't exercise it, and failed to use the tools at their disposal."

See? All your fault. Remember that when Dick screws you over in the future. You had the chance to stop him. Make sure you "exercise your opportunity" this November.

MichiganLiberal has more on this here and here. The bloggers are very close to the bigger story- something that I'm not going to try to begin to address. It's coming, and I'll let the pros handle it.

The hypocrisy in that new ad makes my head want to explode. I might have to stop watching TV before this is all over- that might not be such a bad thing though.

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Most Americans Plan to Vote for Democrats
I should hope so.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans are in jeopardy of losing their grip on Congress in November. With less than four months to the midterm elections, the latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that Americans by an almost 3-to-1 margin hold the GOP-controlled Congress in low regard and profess a desire to see Democrats wrest control after a dozen years of Republican rule.

Further complicating the GOP outlook to turn things around is a solid percentage of liberals, moderates and even conservatives who say they'll vote Democratic. The party out of power also holds the edge among persuadable voters, a prospect that doesn't bode well for the Republicans.

The AP-Ipsos survey asked 789 registered voters if the election for the House were held today, would they vote for the Democratic or Republican candidate in their district. Democrats were favored 51 percent to 40 percent.

Not surprisingly, 81 percent of self-described liberals said they would vote for the Democrat. Among moderates, though, 56 percent backed a Democrat in their district and almost a quarter of conservatives - 24 percent - said they will vote Democratic.

Democrats also held the advantage among persuadable voters - those who are undecided or wouldn't say whom they prefer. A total of 51 percent said they were leaning Democrat, while 41 percent were leaning Republican.

I still think it will be 50-50 in a lot of races, but if we can peel off conservative voters...

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Supreme Court won't throw affirmative action ban off ballot
Moral of the story- know what you are signing before you sign it.

The Michigan Supreme Court closed the door Thursday on a challenge to the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, denying a request to rehear a decision to place the issue before voters in November because of alleged irregularities in the collection of petition signatures.

In a five-page order, Justice Stephen Markman said the allegations, even if true, would not justify removing the issue from the ballot.

A citizen “cannot blame others when he signs a petition without knowing what it says,” Markman wrote. “It is not to excuse misrepresentations, when they occur, to recognize nonetheless that is the citizen’s duty to inform himself about the substance of the petition before signing it.”

Opponents of the ballot proposal, which would ban government affirmative action programs that use race or gender preferences in hiring, contracting and university admissions, claimed that petition signers had been lied to about the effect of the amendment.

I watched people grab Patterson's SBT petition and just start signing. They didn't read, they didn't care. All the petition guy said was, "Sign for a tax cut for business? Helps create jobs."

"Ok, sure." And that's all it took.

You can't tell me that people understood that SOS/TABOR petition. No way.

Not sure what to do about this. Public service announcements, maybe. More awareness in the media as the petitions are being circulated would be nice.

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Democrats want more details on DeVos economic plan
Let's hear it for Indiana- I never would have known about this if not for the Ft. Wayne News-Sentinel. Does Brewer have to get himself arrested to get any press in this state?

LANSING, Mich. - The chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party on Wednesday said Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos should explain how he would pay for his economic development plan.

The DeVos campaign responded that it has been more forthcoming about its proposals and how it would pay for them than Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm has been, a charge the Granholm campaign denied.

Is that the political version of "I know you are, but what am I?" Did Truscott stick out his tongue, too?

Mark Brewer, the state Democratic Party chairman, criticized a DeVos plan that was posted on the campaign's Web site last month. Part of the plan calls for eliminating the state's main business tax and reducing some other types of taxes. DeVos also said he would increase funding for education, start a teacher merit pay system and make other moves designed to help spur the state's economy.

Brewer and Lynn Jondahl, a former Democratic state lawmaker who now is executive director of the Michigan Prospect, said they "conservatively estimate" the DeVos plan would cost an additional $5 billion in either tax cuts or new program costs and that DeVos has not revealed how he would pay for it. Brewer said making the proposals without explaining how they would be paid for is irresponsible.

"If we're going to take seriously the plan, we have to take seriously the costs," said Jondahl, executive director of the non-profit group that describes itself as an organization that encourages debate on public policy issues.

The DeVos campaign said the Democrats have no basis for their claim.

"It's kind of what we expected - a complete fabrication and bogus numbers," DeVos campaign spokesman John Truscott said of the Democratic announcement.

Just like Dick's plan. If anyone knows anything about "complete fabrication and bogus numbers", it's a Republican.

And once again, the MI GOP feels the need to get the IRS involved. Do they have these guys on speed dial or what?

The GOP said it will file a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service against the Michigan Prospect. The group has a tax-exempt status and should not be connected with political campaign activity, the GOP said in a statement.

Wasting more of our money with their constant, frivolous complaints. Funny how the Party that is for "less government" has no problem availing itself of that service when it feels the need. Perhaps they should be assigned their own agent.

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Granholm tours Kentwood factory
Riding that wave- the media loves a winner.

WOOD story here. WZZM story here. And the Press will have another story tomorrow in print.

Building on Tuesday's announcement that Google is coming to Michigan, Gov. Jennifer Granholm today toured a Kentwood factory that will expand and add jobs.

"It's great to be at another growing company in Michigan," said Granholm.

American Litho Inc., owned by Konica Minolta Graphic Imaging USA, makes coated aluminum plates for large printing operations, including The New York Times and Chicago Tribune.

During a trade mission to Japan in May, Granholm announced that Konica Minolta would invest $13.3 million in its Kentwood plant, creating 81 new jobs. Later expansion would add a total of 180 new jobs by 2010.

The visit was meant to emphasize positive economic news in the state, which has seen unemployment well above the national average. Google plans to bring 1,000 jobs to Ann Arbor, where a new facility will house its AdWord advertising division.

"Instead of a brain drain, we'll have a brain gain in Michigan," said Granholm, who is locked in a tight election battle with Republican Dick DeVos.

Tangible results beats a bunch of slick ads every time.

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Lansing on a Cloudy, Muggy Day:




Just got back from a speed walking tour of Lansing, courtesy of Matt at MichiganLiberal. Got to meet a bunch of people, put faces with all the names, and, best of all, FREE LUNCH!

I'm a bit drained right now- but I just had to say: If you are in Lansing, you MUST stop and see the Capitol Building. It is absolutely gorgeous. There is a virtual tour located here- but that just doesn't do it justice.

Go. You won't regret it.

I had to stifle the urge to yell out, "Kooooiman! Bring me Kooiman! I'm here for you Jerrrry!" in the empty halls; decided that probably wouldn't have been a good idea. (I'm kidding, of course. I would have yelled for Sikkema.)

Anyway, thanks go to Matt and all the very nice folks I met today. I had a blast.

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Fidrych delights fans at Whitecaps game


Fidrych talks to WOOD's Larry Figurski before the game.

COMSTOCK PARK -- "Bird" watchers flocked to Fifth Third Ballpark Monday night to catch a glimpse of a Detroit Tigers pitching legend.

Everyone came to see Mark "The Bird" Fidrych.

The 1976 American League Rookie of the Year threw out the ceremonial first pitch and signed autographs for hundreds of local fans during the West Michigan Whitecaps-Cedar Rapids Kernels minor-league baseball game.

Fidrych, 51, was part of a 1970s theme night at the ballpark.

He was making his first public appearance of the year at a baseball game and visiting Fifth Third Ballpark for just the second time. He delighted fans with the ceremonial first pitch, smoothing the dirt on the mound with his hands and talking to the baseball.

He fired a low strike to Whitecaps manager Matt Walbeck.

"I was lucky for the time I had," said Fidrych, whose major-league career was cut short by knee and arm injuries.

"I was very successful for the time I pitched. I can't say that I got cheated. I had a lot of friends I came up with in the minors who never got a chance to pitch in the big leagues," he said. "I'm not (bitter). Life goes on."

Fidrych wore a smile throughout Monday's trip.

Yes he did. He is still the big, lovable, goofy guy that he was back then, and he seemed more than thrilled that all these people came out to see him.

Mark hit the big time the summer I turned 11, and I have to credit him for getting me to pay more attention to baseball. Before that, I thought the game was kind of slow and boring. Mark made the game fun, and I loved watching him pitch. It was great to meet him Monday.

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More Google News- An animated political cartoon

From Mike Thompson at the Detroit Free Press.

Check it out... and welcome to the future, already in progress.

Animated political cartoons- I still like the pen and ink ones better. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned. ;-)

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MI GOP: Wasting more taxpayer money with frivolous investigations

They are using taxpayer dollars to fund fishing expeditions for partisan reasons only. Anyone care to guess a $$ amount on this?

The re-election campaign of Gov. Jennifer Granholm violated the law when it contacted Michigan motorists who had signed an online petition to protest high gas prices and asked for support, the chairman of the state Republican Party charged Tuesday.

GOP Chair Saul Anuzis said he will file complaints this week with Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land and Attorney General Mike Cox, both Republicans, seeking an investigation into the use of government resources for political purposes.

Anuzis said the Granholm campaign also violated the privacy of citizens who signed the petitions, who had been assured the names would not be used for any other purpose.

Chris DeWitt, spokesman for the Granholm campaign, said Anuzis’ comments are long on rhetoric and short on facts. DeWitt said a volunteer with the Granholm campaign filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the state’s Department of Information and Technology and it was through that request that the e-mail information was obtained.

“Saul’s comments are misleading, at best, to the public,” DeWitt said. “They’re saying we violated the law, but they asked for the same or similar information and now they’re complaining and criticizing the governor and they are flat out wrong.”

Chris, are you calling Saul a liar?

Good. Glad somebody is. But remember, IOIYAR. (It's OK If You're A Republican)

Let's go to the wayback machine for a few other of the GOP's lame attempts at accusing Granholm of wrongdoing. From March 10, 2004, here's - surprise! - Betsy DeVos-

The Michigan Republican Party is calling for an investigation by the State Ethics Board.

It claims Governor Jennifer Granholm's chief operating officer has a serious conflict of interest.

Michigan Republican Party Chairwoman Betsy DeVos announced Wednesday she wants the Ethics Board to take a closer look at Chief Operating Officer Rick Weiner and whether his wife's job is a conflict of interest.

While DeVos refused to provide any specific examples, she questions whether the lobbying firm is influencing the Granholm administration.

The Governor called the request for an investigation "utterly ridiculous."

Turns out it was "utterly ridiculous". The Ethics Board wouldn't even start an investigation. From the story of Wiener's resignation in 2005- a year and a half later-

Then-GOP Chairwoman Betsy DeVos had complained last year to the state Ethics Board that a conflict of interest existed with Wiener working as Granholm's chief of staff while his wife owned a lobbying firm. The bipartisan board unanimously voted against starting an investigation, saying DeVos did not mention any instances of wrongdoing in her complaint.

Even though Betsy was making her groundless accusations, turns out Sikkema loved him.

"I've known Rick for 30 years and have always appreciated his forthrightness," Sikkema said. "It's been a pleasure working with him as the governor's chief of staff because his honesty and integrity always shined through. Rick represents what is good and decent about public service. He set a high standard that we should all aspire to."

If that's the case, makes you wonder why Betsy was stirring up such a fuss.

Earlier this year- Saul and the MI GOP filed complaints with the IRS on an account that Granholm used for travel. April 15, 2006-

The Michigan Republican Party has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate Gov. Jennifer Granholm's tax-exempt expense account that the GOP says has failed to file required reports, has missed reporting deadlines and was used for ineligible purposes.

The party filed a complaint with the agency's Criminal Investigation Branch on March 29 detailing what GOP Executive Director Jeff Timmer said are violations that warrant fines of $141,232 and revocation of the account's tax-exempt status.

He cited flights paid for with the Executive Office Administrative Account that Granholm took with members of her family in state aircraft to Michigan State University's men's and women's basketball teams' Final Four games in the NCAA Tournament in 2005.

"Michigan families don't typically have special slush funds that they can use for entertainment," Timmer said this week. "Being a cheerleader is not one of the governor's official duties."

Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd disagreed.

"She attended those events as governor," Boyd said. MSU "is a state institution. She was obviously there to cheer on the team in her capacity as governor."

Boyd said Granholm's lawyers and accountants reviewed Timmer's complaint and "believe it has no merit. If the IRS has questions about anything that was done, they can ask".

And, once again, IOIYAR.

Granholm created the account in 2003 under Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code "to accept contributions and make expenditures incidental to the holding of the Office of Governor."

The fund is separate from her campaign account and is not subject to the same limits on contributions. Former Gov. John Engler had a 527 account created for the same purpose as Granholm's; its most recent activity was to raise money to pay for an Engler portrait that was hung at the state Capitol last year.

Granholm shot back- and I believe that she is too smart to be caught up in this, given what happened before with Wiener.

Meanwhile, at the very same time at Michigan State University, Governor Granholm was denying she had done anything wrong. She says all the proper reports have been filed, and that's not all.

"This is a ridiculous charge. I've been very, very careful about making sure that no taxpayer dollars are used at all inappropriately. This is not about taxpayer dollars. This is about a fund that is used so taxpayers don't have to pay," Granholm told 24 Hour News 8.

Saul was very vague about the charges.

“It depends on the event. If the governor is doing something incidental to holding office, if she is representing the state somewhere, if she is working on official state businesses, then that's one thing,” he answered. “But if she set up a slumber party for her kids and their friends, that’s another issue."

A slumber party and trips to the NCAA playoffs are both things Anuzis has questions about. The GOP says there should be an investigation. Granholm says it's all politics.

"This is just a political distraction. …You know what this is, it's election year stuff,” Granholm said.

Anuzis has asked the State Police and the IRS to look into the matter.

Just like Betsy before him, Saul really has nothing solid to go on. He is just throwing stuff at the wall, using taxpayer money, hoping it will stick.

Hope she doesn't have any land in Arkansas.

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Syd Barrett, founder of Pink Floyd, dies
Shine on you crazy diamond.

LONDON - Syd Barrett, the troubled Pink Floyd co-founder who spent his last years in reclusive anonymity, has died, the band said Tuesday. He was 60.

A spokeswoman for the band said Barrett died several days ago, but she did not disclose the cause of death. Barrett had suffered from diabetes for years.

The surviving members of Pink Floyd — David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Roger Waters and Richard Wright — said they were "very upset and sad to learn of Syd Barrett's death."

"Syd was the guiding light of the early band lineup and leaves a legacy which continues to inspire," they said in a statement.

Barrett co-founded Pink Floyd in 1965 with Waters, Mason and Wright, and wrote many of the band's early songs. The group's jazz-infused rock and drug-laced, multimedia "happenings" made them darlings of the London psychedelic scene. The 1967 album "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" — largely written by Barrett, who also played guitar — was a commercial and critical hit.

But Barrett suffered from mental instability, exacerbated by his use of LSD. His behavior grew increasingly erratic, and he left the group in 1968 — five years before the release of Pink Floyd's most popular album, "Dark Side of the Moon" — to be replaced by Gilmour.

I still prefer the Gilmour era music to the early stuff, but I realize and respect this man's contribution to the music world. Rest in peace, Syd.

(and before anyone tries to argue with me about Barrett vs. Gilmour Floyd, keep in mind that I taught myself how to play guitar by trying to mimic David's riffs. He's the reason I wanted a Stratocaster. I love the way the man plays, OK? So don't start, all you early Floyd fans.)

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Google coming to Ann Arbor
WOW!

Michigan's battered economy will get a big psychological boost today when Google Inc., the high-flying Internet search engine giant, announces plans to hire up to 1,000 workers over the next five years for a new Ann Arbor-area facility.

California-based Google's decision to expand in Michigan, a state marked by the exodus of its college graduates to more prosperous regions, also is a timely win politically for Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

Heh heh. Dick? Dick who? How many jobs has he created lately? Funny thing is, he is on my TV as I type this, and suddenly his words ring very hollow.

This is almost too big to start taking shots at Dick right now- I'm sure I will get to that later. ;-)

At an 11 a.m. news conference in Lansing today, Google will unveil plans to create a headquarters facility for its Google AdWords unit. AdWords offers "pay-per-click" ads that are triggered when Google users search for certain words. It is the company's bread-and-butter advertising product and its primary source of revenue.

Google officials said they will start posting openings as early as today for jobs at the Ann Arbor facility at www.google.com/jobs.

The jobs will vary in skill demands and pay. The average salary for new hires is expected to be $47,000 a year.

"This is a huge, huge, huge, huge thing," Granholm said Monday. "It's a tremendous statement about Michigan having a cutting-edge workforce."

Before this morning's news conference, the Michigan Economic Growth Authority is expected to approve $38 million in Single Business Tax credits over 20 years for Google, whose development is expected to generate $165 million in tax revenue over that time.

As Google evaluates specific sites, it will work with local communities on other possible incentives to complement the MEGA tax credits.

"I don't know if there's a cooler company in America than Google," said James Epolito, chief executive officer of the Michigan Economic Development Corp. "They're looking for very skilled people at a time when we're trying to keep our kids in the state of Michigan."

-snip-

And along with neighboring Indiana and Ohio, Michigan is among the states with the greatest net loss of its college graduates to other states.

I've also seen stories out of Wisconsin and upstate New York about "kids leaving"- glad this story points out that this is happening other places.

Sometimes kids leave for other reasons besides economics. When I was younger, I knew a lot of kids who left GR just to get away from people like DeVos. It had nothing to do with money, and everything to do with personal freedom.

I'll talk about that another time, maybe.

Although Michigan has had some successes during Granholm's first term -- new research operations promised by Toyota and Hyundai, plus the move of auto parts maker Borg-Warner's headquarters to Auburn Hills -- they've been obscured by the bad news.

If Michigan is to shed its Rust Belt image and avoid becoming an industrial backwater in the new global economy, it's clear that the state must diversify and emphasize the strength of its research universities in producing scientists and engineers.

Granholm has pushed those buttons hard in creating a $2-billion 21st Century Jobs Fund, aimed at creating and attracting growth of companies in life sciences, alternative energy and other high-technology fields.

Congratulations, Michigan. I am so happy for our state this morning.

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Wrigley Panorama:



(Click on the picture for a 1000 px view)

Heaven.

No good shots of the players this time- I was behind the net (as you can see) and when I tried to move around and get closer the ushers hassled me. Oh well, maybe next year.

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Abortion issue won't be on fall ballot
Great news.

A petition drive aimed at providing constitutional protection for human life from the moment of conception failed to collect enough signatures to qualify for the 2006 ballot, campaign director Cal Zastrow said Monday.

Zastrow said volunteer petition circulators for the Human Life Amendment fell well short of the goal of 400,000 or more signatures. After waiting for last minute arrivals in Monday's mail, Zastrow said fewer than 317,000 signatures - the bare minimum needed to qualify - had been collected.

“We needed a pickup load to come in today and only got basketfuls,” Zastrow said.

He said the campaign will re-group and consider an earlier, better organized effort to aim for the 2008 ballot.

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Cheney comes to Michigan Monday
Quick, somebody HIDE THE CHILDREN!

DETROIT -- Vice President Dick Cheney will be in Michigan Monday for a rally and campaign fundraiser near Detroit.

The vice president is expected to meet with military officials at Selfridge Air National Guard Base. He will also raise money for Republican congressional candidates at an event in Troy.

Political Reporter Rick Albin will be in metro Detroit for the vice president's visit. Those reports start at 5:00 on 24 Hour News 8.

You do that, Rick. You remind everyone that he is here raising money for REPUBLICAN candidates.

Maybe he will let you kiss his ring, but try not to drool on him, OK? Save that for Hoekstra.

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DeVos touted vouchers in 2002 Heritage speech

The headline story of the Grand Rapids Press this morning puts the voucher issue back in the spotlight and shows how the DeVos family has funded these initiatives here in Michigan and across the country to the tune of millions of dollars. DeVos is saying one thing to the voters, but his money speaks the truth on what his intentions really are. Go read for a breakdown of the the river of funding on this issue here and elsewhere.

Not surprising- but what is surprising is that in a speech to the Heritage Foundation in 2002, he admits that bullying and stealth are the prefered ways to go about implementing your schemes.

As a candidate for governor, Dick DeVos has carefully calibrated his comments on education, skirting the incendiary issue of vouchers.

But the Republican businessman spoke with more candor -- and what opponents say is contradiction -- in a Dec. 3, 2002, speech before the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C.

"Michigan may well move to the back of the education reform train, which, as a native of Michigan, I'm saddened to say," DeVos told the crowd, two years after vouchers went down decisively in Michigan, in a campaign chaired by DeVos and his wife, Betsy.

"But when the time comes, we will bring the fight back to Michigan again and do everything we can there."

That statement directly contradicts DeVos' statements as a gubernatorial contender. DeVos promises vouchers will not be part of his agenda as governor because Michigan citizens spoke clearly, rejecting the voucher initiative 70 percent to 30 percent.

Back in 2000, he blamed the MEA for the loss. Apparently the voters in Michigan didn't factor into the equation- they were being led by the big, bad union. Silly us.

"We believe this is temporary because the people of Michigan won't allow this injustice to continue," he said. "Obviously my sadness isn't for the campaign, but for those kids who were counting on hope for the future."

DeVos attributed the loss to the "machinery" of the Michigan Education Association, the statewide teacher's union that contributed more than $4 million to defeat the proposal.

"We were up against the most powerful and best-funded political machines," DeVos said. "It's got a tremendous amount of muscle and a tremendous self-interest in preserving the status quo."

DeVos said he and his wife, Betsy, will continue to push for school reform, though he declined to say what form it would take.

Source Citation: "Voucher proposal hurt GOP, critics say; Dick DeVos says he will keep working to extend school aid. Foes blame the campaign for the Michigan defeats of Bush and Abraham.(Front Page)." The Grand Rapids Press (Grand Rapids, MI) (Nov 8, 2000)

Back to the present- Dick drags out the now redundant "other states" canard.

But DeVos said he does believe Michigan can watch what is happening in other states and learn.

The voucher debate in Michigan occurred at a time when there were few examples of that kind of education funding elsewhere, DeVos said in an interview last week. Now, there is a growing track record.

As for the timing of a renewed voucher debate, he said, "I don't know when that will be."

In the Heritage Speech, Dick lays out the plan- punishment for the nay-sayers and general secrecy on the goal. More evidence that Dick threatens retaliation against fellow Republicans and anyone else that won't follow his wishes.

The speech was in part a tactical analysis in which DeVos defined a state-by-state strategy for advancing vouchers. In addition, he urged the audience to construct local organizations that could offer "political consequences for opposition and political reward for support of education reform." He held up as a model the Great Lakes Education Project, formed by DeVos and his wife, Betsy, following the voucher defeat. GLEP challenged Republicans who were viewed as soft on charter schools.

Whatever you do, don't expose your ideas to the light of public debate...

"We need to be cautious about talking too much about these activities, and the political work that needs to go on will go on at the grassroots, it will go on quietly and it will go on in the form that politics is done, one person at a time speaking to another person in privacy," DeVos said at the time.

Why the need to be "cautious"? Because people are so dead-set against your idea that you need to hide it and then bully it through?

Two years after the defeat of his proposal at the polls, Dick remained defiant to public opinion.

Near the close of the speech, during a question-and-answer session, DeVos cautioned his audience against abandoning vouchers in favor of tuition tax credits, which allow reimbursement for private-school tuition.

"I think tax credits would have been clobbered equally or worse within the context of Michigan, due to the dynamics of the situation," DeVos said. "So I am not at all chastened by my support for vouchers by the outcome of that election."

Attention voters: Your opinion Does. Not. Matter.

One thing is for sure- it will be hard to be a Republican under a DeVos administration. Dick seems more than willing to use threats to get his way, perhaps even at the expense of sacrificing someone else's career. It would be difficult to face your constituents after being forced to bow to his wishes on wildly unpopular ideas.

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Ally Told Bush Project Secrecy Might Be Illegal
Pete? Our Pete? Writing stern letters to Bush? Get out!

Wonder how much media time this revelation buys him.

WASHINGTON, July 8 — In a sharply worded letter to President Bush in May, an important Congressional ally charged that the administration might have violated the law by failing to inform Congress of some secret intelligence programs and risked losing Republican support on national security matters.

The letter from Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, did not specify the intelligence activities that he believed had been hidden from Congress.

But Mr. Hoekstra, who was briefed on and supported the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program and the Treasury Department's tracking of international banking transactions, clearly was referring to programs that have not been publicly revealed.

Recently, after the harsh criticism from Mr. Hoekstra, intelligence officials have appeared at two closed committee briefings to answer questions from the chairman and other members. The briefings appear to have eased but not erased the concerns of Mr. Hoekstra and other lawmakers about whether the administration is sharing information on all of its intelligence operations.

I'm sure that whatever they are doing is okey-dokey fine with Pete- and I have a hard time believing that this is nothing more than a publicity stunt designed to paint the Republicans as independent of Bush.

Too late Pete- but I'm sure we will be seeing you soon on the talking head circuit to discuss it some more.

Kos has a fun smackdown of Hoekstra here.

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Tom Otterness Sculptures Downtown:



Close up of the sculpture "Educating the Rich on Globe"- part of the display I ran across on the 4th of July. Here is a map locating the others- I am going to have to wander back down there one of these days and check them all out.

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And so it begins- Ad linking Granholm to Hitler is under fire
It's July 7th, and the swiftboat bell has sounded on the nasty political ad season. On your marks, get set...

Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Republican challenger Dick DeVos were in rare agreement Thursday -- the campaign they are waging against each other doesn't have anything to do with Adolf Hitler.

Granholm and DeVos were responding to a full-page ad appearing in this week's edition of the Detroit-based Michigan Chronicle newspaper that featured photographs of Hitler and Granholm and accused Democrats of taking African-American voters for granted.

The ad was placed by Voice the Vote, a Detroit-based political action committee headed by Nataki Harbin, a former candidate for the state House and the stepdaughter of political consultant Adolph Mongo.

Mongo, who helped put the ad together, defended the use of the Hitler image Thursday. He said it was a legitimate and necessary way to communicate the underlying message that African Americans have suffered too long from the disrespect of Democrats.

Hitler is "legitimate" and "necessary"? That should shred any credibility this man has- and it's questionable as to whether he had any at all in the first place. According to a diary at MichiganLiberal- this is not the first time these kinds of tactics have been used by Mongo. Still, the Detroit News thinks enough of him to give him editorial space; twice this year they have published mutterings from him that have attacked Granholm and the Democratic Party. (here and here), the second of which drew a firm rebuttal from none other than John Conyers.

The News chose to run a picture of half the ad this morning - the part that says "Say NO to Governor Granholm in November"- and they gave a full blown description of the Nazi imagery. Given their approval of Mongo and his tirades in the first place, were they trying to reinforce the ad's imagery and main message by running that picure? Hard to tell.

Dick and his spokespuppy John Truscott are playing the "disavow any knowledge" card this morning.

"There is no place in Michigan politics for this ad," DeVos said. "It is appalling and this approach is despicable and wrong. Use of imagery and text that trivialize the worst tragedy of the 20th Century is disgraceful and vile."

But using the rest of the text in the ad wasn't vile to the Detroit News. They are just reporting, after all.

Here's Johnny-

"We have not worked with Adolph and will not work with Adolph and this is a perfect example of why," said DeVos spokesman John Truscott.

Maybe the DeVos campaign hasn't "worked" with Mongo, but he has been featured on Saul Anuzis' blog at the MI GOP, and the rumors are flying hot and heavy this morning in the press. From the News-

Democrats suggested that consultant Adolph Mongo was responsible for the ad and that he might be on the DeVos campaign payroll.

From the Free Press-

Mongo said Voice the Vote has no connection to and received no funding from DeVos' campaign. Mongo is a longtime firebrand in Detroit and Michigan politics, having worked for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and gubernatorial candidate Geoffrey Fieger. He also has opposed both on other occasions.

Political consultant Sam Riddle said he believes Mongo's group is receiving support from allies of DeVos and that the aim of the ad is to damage Granholm's credibility among black voters. Riddle predicted the tactic would backfire.

Riddle has some background "issues" also, and "Voice the Vote" is in some trouble with the state.

Voice to Vote registered with the state in the fall of 2004 and has yet to file a single campaign statement with the state, as required by law, that shows where it gets its money and how it spends it. The group owes $4,000 in state fines.

Harbin said her group was inactive until recently, when it began to host fundraisers. She said the PAC will file its financial disclosure statements this month.

I am a fish out of water when it comes to Detroit wheeling and dealing- so we will just see how this all plays out. I hope the Granholm people can connect the dots on these rumors- and swing back with all their might.

EDIT at noon: Interesting sidenote- this hasn't made the media here in GR (yet- maybe they are just being slow). Nothing on the web at all from WOOD, WZZM or today's Press.

WOOD did update after the noon news, and had a response from Granholm.

"To compare me and Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter to Hitler is reprehensible," Granholm said during an appearance in Highland Park. "And I do think people are going to want to know who's responsible for it."

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SOS/TABOR has enough signatures - Bill caps local, state spending
Call you spell D.i.s.a.s.t.e.r.? You can if you vote for this.

LANSING -- Enough petition signatures have been collected for a November vote on a constitutional amendment that would clamp on the tightest budget limits ever faced by state and local governments, according to the treasurer of the group circulating the petitions.

The Michigan Stop Overspending Committee expects to turn in considerably more than the needed 317,757 petition signatures, according to its attorney, Kurt O'Keefe.

It is similar to a 1992 Colorado law that residents there voted last year to suspend amid budget troubles. It prevents governments from increasing their tax revenue by a proportion greater than a combination of the inflation rate and the percentage of population growth.

Governments immediately would have to refund to taxpayers any revenue exceeding the limits, or hold elections in which they could ask taxpayers for permission to keep the money.

Colorado's law, known as the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR), applied only to state government. The Michigan proposal also would restrict the incomes of cities, counties and townships -- described as "TABOR on steroids" by the spokesman for a coalition formed to oppose it.

"It would devastate state and local governments to a degree this state has never seen," said Roger Martin, representing the Defend Michigan Coalition.

Let's look at Colorado and what happened there after TABOR, and why they decided to get rid of it. According to the Michigan League of Human Services-

Under TABOR, Colorado declined from 35th to 49th in the nation in K-12 spending as a percentage of income.

Per pupil funding fell from approximately $300 above the national average in 1991, just prior to TABOR’s adoption, to approximately $700 below the national average by 2000.

The impact of TABOR on public education funding was so significant that in 2000 voters approved Amendment 23, a measure that permits K-12 education funding to increase by inflation plus 1 percent beginning in 2001. While this change in the stringent limits of TABOR benefited the K-12 budget, it focused the impact of ongoing revenue shortfalls on the budgets of the other departments of state government.

Under TABOR, inflation adjusted funding for in-state college students declined by 31 percent.

College and university funding as a share of personal income declined from 35th to 48th in the nation.

In the four years from 2002 through 2005 inflation adjusted system-wide tuition increased by 21 percent to offset losses in public funding. A recent report indicated that tuition increases in Colorado were the highest in the nation in 2006 at 17 percent.

That takes care of education- now for a look at health care.

Under TABOR, the share of low-income children lacking health insurance doubled in Colorado, even as it fell in the nation as a whole. Colorado now ranks last among the 50 states on this measure.

Colorado plummeted from 24th to 50th in the nation in the share of children receiving their full vaccination regiment. Only by investing additional funds taken from federal Homeland Security allocations was Colorado able to improve its state ranking to 43rd by 2004.

Under TABOR, Colorado declined from 23rd to 48th in the nation in the percentage of pregnant women receiving adequate access to prenatal care as defined by standards established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Colorado ranks 49th in per capita spending on substance abuse and treatment programs despite substance abuse rates significantly above the national average.

But wait- if you act now, you can destroy the arts and the environment, too!

Since 2002 state funding for public libraries has been cut by 79 percent.

Between 2002 and 2004 the Colorado Council on the Art’s General Fund appropriation fell from $1.9 million to $100,000.

Between 2001 and 2005, the percentage of state park operating costs covered by authorizations from the state’s General Fund has declined by 37 percent.

In 2003 the American Society of Civil Engineers gave Colorado a D+ for the condition of the state’s roads and bridges and the Governor’s Task Force indicated that a minimum investment of an additional $206 million per year would be required just to maintain the state’s current transportation infrastructure.

Over the last two years Colorado State University’s Agricultural Extension Agency had its state authorizations reduced by $1.6 million while funding for the Office of Economic Development was reduced by 57 percent.

Are we clear on this? ( as mud, sir! )

Now imagine the SBT revenue eliminated also.

And the K-12 funding proposal passing, which seems to directly contradict the SOS amendment. I don't know how they would work around that.

And, of course, there is slash and burn DeVos, threatening to overhaul state government to his liking.

We have the potential to totally destroy this state's financial well-being this November. That's some major scary stuff- hope there is enough ammo in the Colorado example to educate people as to what this amendment will do, and enough ammo out there to educate people as to what Dick would do.

I plan to keep firing everything I have.

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Maybin puts on show for Dombrowski in Whitecaps win
Maybin is batting .314 after 50 games- I am so surprised that they haven't yanked him out of here like they did Giarratano a couple of years ago.

LANSING -- Detroit Tigers president and general manager Dave Dombrowski showed up Wednesday night at Oldsmobile Park to catch his first glimpse of 19-year-old center fielder Cameron Maybin in action for the West Michigan Whitecaps.

He wasn't disappointed.

Maybin, picked by the Tigers in the first round of the 2005 draft, finished with a pair of hits and three stolen bases while helping lead the Whitecaps to a 5-1 victory over the Lansing Lugnuts in front of a crowd of 1,981.

The Whitecaps (12-2) stretched their winning streak to seven games.

Get out the brooms- let's sweep those Lugnuts today!

On a side note, for you Pop- Jon Connolly update: 3-0, 1.66 ERA at Lakeland. Another one that the Cubs let get away. ;-)

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Conservative group sues Michigan State over same-sex benefits
I really don't see a whole lot of difference between the AFA and the fun folks from the Westboro Baptist Church. They both carry the same message: one uses vulgar signs and protests to harass people, the other uses lawyers.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- A conservative group on Wednesday sued to stop Michigan State University from offering health insurance to the partners of gay workers and said the school is violating a 2004 amendment to the state constitution.

The American Family Association of Michigan filed the lawsuit in Ingham County Circuit Court and hopes to get a ruling setting a precedent that would block domestic partner benefits at other state universities.

Deborah Labelle, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, said the suit is pointless because the state appeals court already is set to rule on the issue. She characterized attempts to strip benefits from gay partners as "mean-spirited."

And costly, too. Money that could be used for education is now going to fight a frivolous lawsuit.

How much did tuition go up this year?

The purpose of the suit is to ensure that courts rule on the constitutionality of domestic partner benefits at public universities, said Patrick Gillen, an attorney for the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, which is representing the American Family Association.

By providing same-sex benefits, Michigan State is "recognizing same-sex marriage in substance if not by label," Gillen said. A related case is pending before the Michigan Court of Appeals, which heard arguments in April.

Michigan State spokesman Terry Denbow said the school would not comment on pending litigation.

In 2004, Michigan voters approved a constitutional amendment that made the union between a man and a woman the only agreement recognized as a marriage "or similar union for any purpose."

Those six words spurred a legal fight over benefits for the partners of gay employees who work for state and local governments and other public employers. Gays say voters meant to prevent gay marriage but never intended to keep them from getting health insurance.

The AFA doesn't appear to be listed as a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center, but they are on the watch list of the most influential anti-gay groups. They walk right up to the line and stop before they acquire that "hate" label- but they are close.

The SPLC calls these groups a "virtual industry"- basically, this is bigotry for profit. Wish we could figure out a way to sue them for abuse of the system.

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Blogger Make Me Crazeeeee:

Alright- that's two posts I have lost now to bad button pushing, and Blogger is having trouble publishing... granted, it wasn't that important, but still...

Damn computers. I tell ya.

Tune in tomorrow to see if I have anything witty to say- if Blogger will let me say it.

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G.R. fireworks will go on - despite tight budget
Yes they will- in about 5 minutes from now I will be able to hear them. Thinking of crawling up on my roof for a glimpse, but I also think I'm getting a bit old for that kind of thing (it's dark, it's a steep roof), so, maybe not - aren't they on TV?

Grand Rapids - The skies over downtown will explode with light and color tonight. The annual fireworks display almost didn't happen because city budget cuts meant some previously free services cost a lot more this year.

Governor Jennifer Granholm kicked off the events for Grand Rapids Fourth of July celebration. But, Grand Rapids' budget problems almost meant that the show couldn't go on. People who came to watch are thankful it is.

Here's the Guv with her backup band, from left to right- Scott Bowen, Michael Sak and George Heartwell.



Short speech, so I didn't have a chance to shoot a lot of pics- and she kept moving! Photographer's nightmare! Get her away from a podium and she's off and running, apparently.



I had a picture of that part of the building in a photo contest once- so I like this shot because of that.

I should send this next one to Sak.



Photojournalism is so much easier than writing- if you can get them to hold still. :-)

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The Games DeVos Plays


Peter Luke's column last Sunday implies that an agreement can't be reached on welfare reform because Dick DeVos needs the "campaign issue".

There it is, those magic words. A campaign issue. The man with no vision is stalling progress for our state once again because he is so devoid of ideas the only thing he can do is throw a monkey wrench into the machinery today.

It led me to think- just how many times over the past three and a half years has the DeVos family undermined the legislative process in an attempt to paint Granholm as an ineffectual leader and to position themselves for 2006? Has she actually been running against Dick for her entire term?

Keep in mind Dick quit Alticor/Amway in 2002 and then disappeared, saying he wasn't going to run for political office- but he did nothing in terms of moving on with his life or starting any new major ventures. It also has been said time and time again that the Republicans in Michigan are the DeVos' lap dogs. Now I'm starting to wonder if this wasn't some grand design- calling the plays behind the scenes for the purpose of political gain later. I have mentioned these examples before- but now that I am pulling back and looking at the big picture, it starts to add up.

I'm sure I don't know the half of it, either. I'm probably missing some other glaring examples of them using their money to influence legislators. Welfare reform is just the latest in an emerging pattern of DeVos family power plays.

So it was this summer as lawmakers and the Granholm administration attempted to thrash out welfare rule changes that for the first time in Michigan would impose a lifetime time limit -- 48 months -- on eligibility for cash assistance.

The goal apparently was to have the new rules approved this summer when the fiscal 2007 budget is completed. In the end Friday, however, a budget agreement finalized quicker than anticipated booted talk of welfare reform off past the November election.

The change would have helped Republicans because they have been pushing for more than a year to limit the time a parent can receive a monthly check through Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

Democrat Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who signaled six months ago that she accepted the concept of time limits with certain exceptions would have won, too. She could have claimed bipartisan success in welfare reform at time when GOP challenger Dick DeVos has included welfare time limits in his economic program.

Some Republicans believe that may have been the problem, that House Republicans, and perhaps the DeVos campaign, grew concerned that as a week of talks progressed, an agreement would have removed welfare as a campaign issue. Publicly, DeVos called on Granholm and lawmakers to reach an agreement on time limits.

First of all, I find it cruel that the poorest amongst us are being used as campaign fodder. For DeVos to focus on this as a main part of his "Trickledown" Plan is cold and hard-hearted. At a time when childhood poverty is rising in Michigan, and seeing as how this program benefits mostly children, it shows his true colors in a way that should startle anyone with any sense of compassion.

"Times are hard! Let's go after the poor first!"

But, I digress. Truth is, they would have reached an agreement on time limits if the legislature would have put in exemptions for the harder cases, something that other states already do, and, if I'm not mistaken, is allowed by federal law.

There aren't huge numbers on the rolls indefinitely. There are only 10,000 or so cases right now that that exceed four years. Ohio has a three-year limit, but there are exceptions for those unable to work. Illinois' limit is five years but exempts those on a college degree track.

Many states, for example, exempt victims of domestic violence or the parents of a disabled or sick child. Some states will reduce a benefit for a parent who refuses to work but maintain assistance for children.

Any time limit has to include allowances for those physically unable to work, including those with learning disabilities, lacking literacy skills and other workplace handicaps. And it would accompany pilot programs already in place that intensify the effort by the state and local jobs agencies to move those who can work into work.

Dick is fond of holding up other states such as Ohio and Illinois as examples of time limits. What Dick doesn't tell you is that those other states include these exemptions. As with the Missouri Medicare example, Dick is not telling the whole truth yet again.

Exemptions are all Granholm asked for. This would be over and done right now. For some unknown reason, the legislature has refused to compromise. I can only conclude that they were told not to. Why else would they impede progress? Aren't we facing federal penalties over this?

This isn't the first time there have been whispers of DeVos interference in the legislative process. If you remember, there was an agreement to lower the rate of the SBT last November. I keep going back to this- it's important to look at the ways that the DeVos family has hurt our state by holding up changes that would have benefited us- and the recurring implication is that it was for politics only.

From an AP article announcing an agreement on Nov. 4th-

The plan, unveiled by Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Republican legislative leaders, won't cut the state's single business tax until 2009. Even without that, it's expected to save businesses $97 million in 2006 and $175 million in 2007, said GOP Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema.

Another part of the plan will gradually change how the single business tax is figured so it is based solely on sales and leaves personnel and property out of the equation. That change could encourage businesses to move more jobs to Michigan, since they won't get socked with more taxes if they do, state Treasurer Jay Rising said.

Here is what DeRoche said when announcing the agreement. He was still pushing for more cuts at the time, but his quote is important as it pertains to what has happened this year.

"This doesn't give any politician a hall pass to take the next year off from worrying about the struggle that we're having in Michigan's economy," he said. "We got this far today and that is great, but we need to get all the way."

A week later the deal fell through, and, according to Mark Brewer, it was because of Dick and Betsy.

"I've been told by Republican Representatives that Dick DeVos and his wife Betsy have personally called them demanding that they break their agreement with Governor Granholm," said Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer. "Republican legislators are allowing DeVos and his money to dictate their important decisions on job creation. DeVos thinks that the broken agreement will help him in the 2006 elections and he wants to let businesses and his corporate friends off the hook. Republicans are backing out of the deal because they are afraid that DeVos will withhold campaign contributions if they disagree with him."

Republicans then indicated they would work on the SBT this year. From the Detroit News, 12/14/05-

Republican legislators and the governor have been struggling for nearly 10 months to reach agreement on a business tax relief package. Action had been stalled because of disagreements over how to replace the state's Single Business Tax, but reform of that measure, the state's main corporate levy, has been put off until next year.

And from Ken Sikkema in the Detroit Free Press-

House and Senate GOP leaders chose to temporarily set aside the broader debate over how to overhaul or replace the Single Business Tax (SBT), which is widely viewed as a barrier to attracting new businesses to Michigan.

"Let's have that fight in January; let's pass what we can now," said Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema, R-Wyoming, who sharply criticized Granholm's vetoes last week.

Why didn't they have that fight in January? Why was the work on this put off? Since the SBT has now turned up as one of Dick's main campaign issues, I have a real good guess as to why they ignored an issue that was of utmost importance in the fall of 2005.

By April, Sikkema was singing a different tune. When Granholm suggested ending the SBT this year, suddenly it became a problem-

She asked Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema of Wyoming and House Speaker Craig DeRoche of Novi to sign an agreement that they will pass a bill to repeal the Single Business Tax by the end of this year and adopt a business tax that does not raise taxes on individuals and that replaces the nearly $2 billion generated by the existing tax.

Sikkema spokesman Ari Adler said the Republican leader thinks it's a bad idea to try to restructure the tax during an election year and has no intention of signing the agreement.

Gee, Ken, wish you would have told us that back in December- but it's pretty obvious now as to why you didn't.

These are two powerful examples of Republican foot-dragging in the name of the DeVos campaign, delays that are costing our state time and money.

And, for older example of DeVos interference, here's something I blogged way back in 2003, one of the first times I sat up and took notice of Granholm. After 12 years of John Engler, anyone who said something like this caught my attention in a big way.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Gov. Jennifer Granholm unleashed a blistering attack against Republican lawmakers Friday, saying they'd rather resolve a budget deficit by cutting heating aid for seniors and assistance to homeless shelters than delay an income tax cut.

"I am not going to stand for cutting out the legs from the social safety net, balancing the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable citizens because they (Republicans) don't have the guts to pause a rollback in an income tax that equates to $11 a person," Granholm told reporters.

And who was pulling the strings?

The state GOP's governing committee passed a resolution opposing any pause in the rate cut on Nov. 22. On Tuesday, GOP Chairwoman Betsy DeVos sent a memo to Republican lawmakers telling them "we need to stand firm to keep the income tax rollback in place."

Democrats charge that DeVos' outspoken opposition to tampering with the tax cut is intimidating to GOP lawmakers worried about future political career options.

"She apparently carries the big stick in the party," said Sen. Robert Emerson of Flint, the Democratic leader in the Senate.

All the way back in 2003 we have an example of the DeVos family tampering with state affairs, using their money and power with the Republican legislature to delay or deny Granholm's plans to move us forward.

What does this prove? To me, it says that these people have been hindering our state's progress for their own political and financial gain, and I wouldn't be surprised if it stretches back farther than Granholm- they probably had Engler under their thumb to a certain extent.

If anything, it proves that we need a legislature that is not under the control of one family and their money. Elect more Democrats this fall, and we can move our state forward at a faster pace. It's time to find those who work to benefit all of Michigan, not those who work for the select few who use the political process to further their own personal goals.

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R U Rdy 4 '06?
It took me a few days to realize what G4G meant. Seriously. I are not so smart sometimes.

Then get your oval (bumper sticker). They come in 2 varieties: D4G and G4G. For the txt msg impaired, that's: DeVos for Governor and Granholm for Governor.

In a coincidence -- or plagiarism, take your pick -- Michigan's candidates for governor have both added shorthand versions of the traditional sticker to their repertoire for '06.

Inspired perhaps by the widespread and instantly recognizable W! stickers of presidential politics in '04, Republican challenger Dick DeVos and Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm are distributing the ovals to adherents this year.

Which camp claims copyrights? Well, DeVos tested the demo late last year, and Granholm sometime later. But representatives for each said the idea was free of outside influence.

One difference, Granholm's uses the words "Granholm-Cherry '06" under G4G and a tiny logo to show it was printed in a union shop. DeVos' is clean of any other words.

Dick? Use union labor? Not in my lifetime. Probably had all his stuff made in China.

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Spy Agency Sought U.S. Call Records Before 9/11, Lawyers Say
Well, well, well. Sure would like to see their evidence on this.

June 30 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. National Security Agency asked AT&T Inc. to help it set up a domestic call monitoring site seven months before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, lawyers claimed June 23 in court papers filed in New York federal court.

The allegation is part of a court filing adding AT&T, the nation's largest telephone company, as a defendant in a breach of privacy case filed earlier this month on behalf of Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. customers. The suit alleges that the three carriers, the NSA and President George W. Bush violated the Telecommunications Act of 1934 and the U.S. Constitution, and seeks money damages.

``The Bush Administration asserted this became necessary after 9/11,'' plaintiff's lawyer Carl Mayer said in a telephone interview. ``This undermines that assertion.''

The lawsuit is related to an alleged NSA program to record and store data on calls placed by subscribers. More than 30 suits have been filed over claims that the carriers, the three biggest U.S. telephone companies, violated the privacy rights of their customers by cooperating with the NSA in an effort to track alleged terrorists.

Are you accusing the President of LYING?

Get in line.

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Single State Recession?
If Michigan is (supposedly) the only state having a hard time right now- why do I keep seeing numbers like this?

A spate of good news at home and abroad has so far failed to boost how Americans feel about President Bush's job performance. Bush's approval rating slipped to 35% in a TIME poll taken this week, down from 37% in March (and 53% in early 2005). Only 33% of Americans in the survey said they approved of Bush's handling of the situation in Iraq, vs. 35% in March, and 47% in March 2005. His management of the U.S. economy lost supporters, too, as 36% approved, compared with 39% three months earlier. Bush's handling of the war on terror saw a slight gain in support, from 44% to 45%.

But continued pessimism about the situation in Iraq and a broad sense of unease about America's direction may be undermining Bush's popularity. In the TIME survey, 66% said the country is on the wrong track, vs. 28% who said it's going in the right direction. Those numbers have worsened since March, when the poll recorded a 60% to 34% split. When asked whether the new Iraqi government will be able to build a stable and reasonably democratic society, 48% of those surveyed said no, while 39% remain optimistic.

36% on the economy. Remember that when Dickie tries to portray things as being peachy keen everywhere else but here.

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Schools to get more cash under tentative state budget deal
The word "tentative" in the title gives me pause. I remember last November.

LANSING -- Public schools and universities would get more money, and there'll be no 4-year limit on welfare benefits under a 2007-08 state budget agreement announced Friday between Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Republican lawmakers.

The agreement on the $9.2-billion general fund budget gives prisons slightly less money, but would pay to train 50 new State Police troopers.

Legislative conference committees must still work out details of the budget deal. The budget, which would take effect Oct. 1, does not raise taxes or cut medical care and other services for people in need.

House Republicans were disappointed that Granholm wouldn't agree to a time limit for welfare benefits. The GOP pushed for a strict 4-year limit, while Granholm offered a 4-year limit with exemptions for those who could not hold jobs.

Friday's tentative deal would give school districts a minimum of $7,085 per student, up $210. The lowest-spending districts would get an extra $20 million to divide.

Also, $20 million would be spread among districts that are losing students, and another $20 million would go toward enhancing math and science in middle schools.

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