Articles of Interest 9-23-06
45 Days to Victory!!!
Broken Promises Calendar: No Results from Governor Granholm
PROMISE: “I will oppose with all the vigor I possess any unilateral scheme to market, bottle, trade, or give away Great Lakes water to anyone, anywhere, anytime.” (Detroit News, 3/3/02)
RESULT: Governor Granholm turned around and signed legislation that expressly allows the sale of bottled water in Michigan. (SB 850-852, SB 854, SB 857 of 2006)
Friday nights is High School football in Michigan and I joined Mike Bouchard and his team as they visited a couple of games in the Lansing area. Mike came by our tailgate to Lansing Catholic Central’s game against DeWitt. The game was called because of “lightning” and will be finished tomorrow morning at 10:00am.
Saturday morning at 10:00am…I’ll be joining the Oakland County Republicans as they kick of their door- to-door efforts throughout the county. We will be doing lit drops as well as door-to-door id’s to help improve our Voter Vault and GOTV efforts.
Michigan continues to lead the country in voter contact and voter id work. Michigan Republican are launching the most extensive and comprehensive door-to-door and telephone canvass of voters in Michigan that has ever been conducted. Every door we knock on, every phone call that is made helps make a difference.
Join us…everybody makes a difference. There is NO doubt that this is going to be a very close election and every vote, every volunteer, every call and every voter contact helps!!!
This afternoon, hundreds of volunteers will be joining Dick DeVos, Mike Bouchard, Terri Lynn Land and other statewide candidates as we hit the tailgates and crowds before the MSU v Notre Dame game in East Lansing. It maybe a bit wet out there, but Spartan fans tend to be pretty resilient and we expect a pretty good turn out for the big game.
We need to use every effort we can to get our message out to the voters, introduce our candidates to the people of Michigan and help be part of our effort to help turn Michigan around.
With your help, your time and money…we will make a difference. Got to hit the road!
Saul Anuzis
State Stories
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060923/POLITICS01/609230333/1022/POLITICS
DeVos: I won't take salary
If he wins election, GOP candidate who owns three homes might not live in the governor's residence.
Charlie Cain and Mark Hornbeck / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Millionaire Republican Dick DeVos said Friday he won't take the $177,000-a-year governor's salary, if he beats Jennifer Granholm for the job in November.
"I have no intention of taking a salary from the citizens of Michigan," DeVos said during an interview with The Detroit News' editorial board.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060923/OPINION03/609230332/1348
Laura Berman
Outraged robots really ring bells for DeVos campaign
W here's Becky?
She's been calling me at home with the lowdown on Gov. Jennifer Granholm, accompanied by sighs of disappointment.
"Hi. This is Becky," she said cheerfully last month, when she first filled me in on what she called Granholm's "broken promises on the environment" -- a ban on shoreline sand mining that hadn't happened.
Intelligent design issue continues to be issue in governor's race
By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Republican candidate Dick DeVos has for the most part kept his gubernatorial campaign focused on the economy and off of himself.
But when he said in an interview earlier this week with The Associated Press that he'd like to see intelligent design taught along with evolution in science classes, it fired up blogs, party activists and editorial writers for days.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-0/115894171533820.xml&coll=6
DeVos faces questions about intelligent design
GRAND RAPIDS -- Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos continued to answer questions Thursday about the theory of "intelligent design," highlighting a clear divide between him and Gov. Jennifer Granholm on a hot-button cultural issue.
DeVos believes intelligent design is a valid scientific theory and that public school districts should have the option to teach it alongside evolution in science classes.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/22/AR2006092201538.html
Dean Expedites Courting of Black Vote
By RON VAMPLE
The Associated Press
Friday, September 22, 2006; 9:31 PM
DETROIT -- The Democratic Party can no longer sit back and wait until three weeks before an election to ask minorities for their vote, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said Friday.
"In many ways, the Democratic Party hasn't moved itself out of the '60s and '70s," Dean said in remarks to the DNC's African-American Leadership Summit, which is aimed at mobilizing black voters and encouraging more minority candidates for state offices.
Cheney to visit southwestern Michigan to campaign for Bouchard
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Dick Cheney plans to visit Michigan next week to campaign for Republican Senate candidate Mike Bouchard and meet with members of the National Guard.
Cheney will attend an afternoon rally on Monday with members of the Michigan National Guard at the Grand Valley Armory in Wyoming.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-32/115899293470040.xml&coll=6
DeVos has other plans during Cheney visit
GRAND RAPIDS -- At least one prominent Republican won't be on hand Monday when Vice President Dick Cheney rolls into town.
GOP gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos can't make it.
http://www.mininggazette.com/stories/articles.asp?articleID=3634
Challenge made
To the editor:
I love Stabenow’s latest political ad. I just wanted to help inform Michigan voters and illustrate the two blatant lies in her ad.
She claims to be helping Michigan families by voting for tax cuts and by keeping college tuition low.
First off, she opposed the Bush tax cuts.
Secondly, a U.S. senator has absolutely no control over Michigan college tuition rates; they are set by the state.
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060922/NEWS01/609220352/1001/NEWS
G.O.P. cries foul over Sec. of State candidate's mass-mailing to seniors
Macomb County Clerk Carmella Sabaugh plans to mail out absentee-ballot applications to all people 60 years and older in an effort to increase voter turnout among seniors.
The move has incensed Republicans because it coincides with the November general election in which Sabaugh, a Democrat, is challenging Republican Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land.
http://www.hometownlife.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060922/NEWS/609220308/1035/NEWS18
Detroit-suburbs water clash becomes campaign issue
Drop by drop, the campaign rhetoric is heating up over whether to establish a regional board to have suburban oversight and control over Detroit's water rate increases.
Some local Republican candidates have argued that their constituents are getting soaked every year as Detroit's price for water to the suburbs keeps going up without a clear explanation.
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060923/NEWS04/609230324/1005/opinion
Granholm signs overtime legislation
Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed legislation Friday that provides a state tax credit for low-income workers, maintains the status quo for overtime eligibility and creates a youth-specific minimum wage in Michigan.
The legislation is tied together as part of a compromise between the Republican-controlled Legislature and Democrats.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060923/NEWS01/609230340/1007/NEWS
Detroit will blitz parents to get kids in school now
Students will be counted Wednesday to set state funding
With TV spots, newspaper ads, visits from truant officers and letters to parents, Detroit's city and school leaders prepared Friday for an all-out blitz this weekend and early next week to get kids -- about 25,000 of them -- back to class or face losing millions of dollars in state aid for the district.
If they fail to lure a large portion of that number back to schools by a statewide student count day Wednesday, it could potentially lead to dozens of schools being shuttered and massive layoffs in the already-strapped district, a prospect that drew concern from Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060923/AUTO01/609230354/1148
State hopes to limit Ford job cuts
Granholm said $151 million in tax incentives still on the table if automaker invests in Mich. factories.
FLINT -- Gov. Jennifer Granholm said Friday that a $151 million tax incentives offer to Ford Motor Co. is still on the table, and she continues to work with the struggling automaker to save as many Michigan jobs as possible.
Last week, Ford announced an accelerated North American restructuring plan that aims to eliminate as many as 44,000 jobs by the end of next year and idle 16 plants by the end of 2012.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060923/BIZ/609230370/1148/AUTO01
GM hosts Gov., um, Granholm!
G ov. Jennifer Granholm drew a few snickers when she demonstrated her lack of automotive knowledge at an event at General Motors Corp.'s Flint South Engine plant Friday. On hand to celebrate the opening of a new engine line at that plant, the governor -- famous for working without a script -- seemed at a loss to remember the name of the new motor, at least until her eyes fixed upon one of the many banners hanging over the factory floor.
http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=local&id=4589226
Candidates and supporters come to 'meet and greet'
Mid-Michigan is the focal point today for a number of candidates on both sides of the political aisle.
There are only 46 days until the November elections. A candidate for the United States Senate is one of many candidates for a variety of offices who visited Mid-Michigan today.
Republican Mike Bouchard made a stop in Saginaw to hold a "roadside chat" near the intersection of Bay and Shattuck Roads in Saginaw Township.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060923/OPINION03/609230368/1001/BIZ
The tithe that binds
Beliefs, bankruptcy collide in woman's Chapter 13 filing
W e all know the Bible counsels to "Render therefore to Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and to God the things which are God's."
The gospel of St. Luke never mentions MasterCard, however, and that could be a problem for one Belleville woman's bankruptcy case.
A New York judge recently ruled that oversights in the 2005 bankruptcy reform law ban people in bankruptcy from tithing -- the biblically inspired practice of giving one-tenth of a person's income to the church.
More than a legal conflict, some see it as a constitutional issue.
"That is a clear infringement of separation of church and state," said the Rev. Keith Butler, bishop of the Word of Faith Christian Center Church in Southfield and a Republican primary candidate for U.S. Senate in 2006. "To forbid people from tithing would be clearly interfering with the religious practice of millions of Christians in America."
http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-19/1158938570203340.xml&coll=7
Land: Technology will improve service to drivers
Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land said her office is working to create a program that would allow parents to monitor the driving records of their teenagers.
Parents who have children in Michigan's Graduated Driver Licensing Program would be able to subscribe to a service that generates a record of driving convictions, Land said, during a meeting Wednesday with Kalamazoo Gazette editors and reporters.
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060923/NEWS01/609230335/1001/news
Great Lakes: Recovery efforts left high and dry
Congress appears likely to adjourn this year without adopting a sweeping Great Lakes restoration plan that says it will take $20 billion and five years to slow the escalating environmental degradation of the giant waterways.
Even worse, conservationists say, Congress could end up cutting existing Great Lakes cleanup programs at a time when scientists warn the lakes are on the verge of a collapse that could permanently damage America's environment and economy.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006609230339
Cosby to give advice in Detroit
Bill Cosby visited Detroit twice to tell black people that poverty and racism are not excuses for living irresponsible lives. He's coming again Oct. 7, but this time he and a social worker will help families improve their lives.
The next day he will have a so-called amnesty rally, a frank man-to-men discussion with young, black, unwed fathers.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006609230353
Nazi activities denied
At trial, Troy man says he was part of police but didn't shoot at or persecute Jews
A retired Chrysler factory worker admitted Friday that he served in a Nazi-controlled police force in Poland during World War II but denied killing, wounding or persecuting Jewish prisoners.
During 3 1/2 hours of testimony in a trial in U.S. District Court in Detroit to strip him of his U.S. citizenship, John (Ivan) Kalymon, 85, of Troy admitted he was in the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police, a unit that a government witness testified was heavily involved in rounding up Jews in and around L'viv, where Kalymon was based in the early 1940s, for deportation to work camps and extermination centers. L'viv now is in Ukraine.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060923/AUTO01/609230401
Big Three cutbacks squeeze suppliers
BorgWarner is latest parts maker to cut jobs, warn of lower profits as auto industry slumps.
Production cuts by Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group are wringing profits and jobs from auto suppliers with heavy ties to Detroit carmakers.
On Friday, BorgWarner Inc., one of the industry's healthier companies, became the latest parts maker to get caught in the ripple effects of lower car and truck output when it said it would cut 850 jobs, 13 percent of its North American work force, and lowered its 2006 earnings forecast.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060923/SCHOOLS/609230334
Many see loss of pupils as lost jobs
Business and community leaders worry lower enrollment could deter companies from locating to Detroit.
DETROIT -- As school district officials stressed on Friday that attendance figures -- 25,000 less than expected -- will rise by count day next week, business and community leaders expressed fears that any significant loss of students will have a negative "ripple effect" on the region.
"Education is a very important ingredient when trying to attract knowledge-based jobs," said Richard Blouse Jr., president of the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce.
National Stories
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/22/AR2006092201355.html
GOP Upbeat on Terror-Trial Bill
House Leaders Satisfied With Bush-Senate Compromise
By Charles Babington and Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, September 23, 2006; Page A06
House GOP leaders signaled yesterday that they are satisfied with the main elements of a bill on military trials negotiated Thursday by dissident Republican senators and White House officials, and they predicted that Congress will pass the measure before adjourning next week.
"We're going to get this thing across the finish line," Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) told reporters, less than 24 hours after giving the measure a much cooler reception.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/22/AR2006092200105.html
Bush Seeks Increased Pakistani Cooperation
Musharraf Vows Fight Against 'Talibanization'
By Michael Abramowitz and Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, September 23, 2006; Page A02
President Bush yesterday launched a new round of personal diplomacy aimed at patching up the tense relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where a resurgent Taliban insurgency is posing new challenges for an administration already struggling to pacify Iraq.
Bush met at the White House with Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who assured the U.S. president of his desire to root out the Taliban and other extremists. The visit came amid controversy over Musharraf's claims in a forthcoming memoir that the Bush administration threatened to bomb Pakistan "to the Stone Age" if it failed to cooperate with the United States against al-Qaeda and the Taliban after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060923/OPINION03/609230309/1008/OPINION01
George Will
Exile personifies Muslim abuse of women
W hile her security contingent waits outside the Georgetown restaurant, Ayaan Hirsi Ali orders what the menu calls "raw steak tartare." Amused by the redundancy, she speculates that it is intended to immunize the restaurant against lawyers, should a customer be discommoded by that entree. She has been in America only two weeks. She is a quick study.
And an exile and an immigrant. Born 36 years ago in Somalia, Hirsi Ali has lived in Ethiopia, Kenya, Saudi Arabia and the Netherlands, where she settled in 1992 after she deplaned in Frankfurt, supposedly en route to Canada for a marriage, arranged by her father, to a cousin. She makes her own arrangements.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/us/politics/23suppress.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin
Texas Democrats File Suit Against Voting Fraud Law
HOUSTON, Sept. 22 — In the latest of the nation’s skirmishes over voting rights, Texas Democrats have sued two top Republican state officials over an antifraud law that the suit says is being used to intimidate minority voters casting ballots by mail.
The action, filed Thursday in federal court in Marshall, challenges both the constitutionality of the law and the way it is being enforced. It contends that Attorney General Greg Abbott and Secretary of State Roger Williams are exaggerating the threat of election fraud and selectively applying the statute, enacted in 2003, so that they can “suppress voting by disfavored groups” that generally support Democrats.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/nyregion/23clintons.html?ref=politics
Hillary Clinton Stars at Husband’s Meeting on World’s Ills
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton made a star turn yesterday at former President Bill Clinton’s conference on global challenges, calling for a concerted attack on the “feminization of poverty” to destroy political and economic barriers that trap women.
President Clinton also marked the conclusion of the three-day conference by announcing that participants had committed $7.3 billion to climate, health and antipoverty programs, and to efforts to foster ethnic and religious tolerance.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/world/middleeast/23lebanon.html?ref=world
Lebanon Throng Hails Hezbollah Chief, Who Calls Militia Stronger
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Sept. 22 — Hundreds of thousands of people stood Friday and chanted “God, God, protect Nasrallah.” It was the moment they had waited for: Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in person, declaring that his militia was stronger than ever and that no army in the world could force it to disarm.
This was Sheik Nasrallah’s first public appearance since the war with Israel started in July, and it was steeped in defiance: at Israel, the United States, Arab heads of state and those political forces in Lebanon aiming to clip Hezbollah’s political and military power.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/world/africa/23africa.html?ref=world
A Stormy Test for Democracy in South Africa
JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 22 — South Africa’s first democratic president was a foregone conclusion. Its second was anointed with odometer-like predictability. Now for something completely different: a bare-knuckled succession struggle, replete with mudslinging, grandstanding, ideological splits and all the other earmarks of a robust democracy.
A struggle, some here say, that could foretell just how robust South Africa’s young democracy is.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/world/europe/23hungary.html
Hungary’s Leader Vows to Survive and Revive Economy
BERLIN, Sept. 22 — Despite four straight nights of protests in Budapest calling for his resignation, Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany of Hungary, in Berlin to attend an economics forum, said Friday that it was his intention not just to survive politically, but also to pursue reforms to solve the economic problems his administration covered up when it sought and won re-election.
Appearing undaunted by the protests back home and showing no sign of fatigue, Mr. Gyurcsany said in an interview: “For me, the question is very clear. Reform or fall down. I told my party that if you do not want to have reforms, you can find others to lead them.”
It's time for America to leave the UN
Indulge me. This is the second time this year I've been called upon to invoke my postgraduate degree in International Relations. I do so to provide pedigree for an opinion that, although well-reasoned, might be deemed by some to be extreme.
It's time for the United States to leave the United Nations and spearhead the formation of a new, more workable international consortium.
Carrots and Sticks
The Geneva Conventions are not an Entitlement
Since the Geneva Conventions do not apply to terrorists, I don't see what all the fuss is about. Seriously. In fact, by treating terrorists humanely we undermine the Geneva Conventions.
The idea behind the Conventions is that if you agree to abide by their rules, your captured combatants will be treated humanely. Human treatment is an inducement to follow the rules of war.
http://patriotpost.us/alexander/edition.asp?id=498
The Trouble with Turtle Bay
Watching President George W. Bush's address to the 61st Session of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, some of us couldn't help but wonder: Why can't we get along with the UN? Why can't we make it work?
After all, there's nothing intrinsically wrong with the idea of an international body designed to provide a forum for the resolution of the grievances of its members. To be sure, the UN does a great many things very (or at least reasonably) well. UN agreements keep airplanes from colliding in the air and ships from colliding on the high seas. UN-brokered protocols also aid the technical aspects of telecommunications between countries. Obviously, if a body like the United Nations could step up to the plate to help resolve global conflicts, U.S. commitments abroad could be reduced as each country carried its fair share of the load.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008986
An Antiterror Victory
The agreement on interrogations is a big favor for future Presidents
The details of this week's compromise on detainee treatment between the White House and a small group of Senators led by John McCain are complicated. But the upshot of the agreement is simple and welcome: Aggressive CIA interrogations of such high-level al Qaeda prisoners as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be able to continue.
The CIA program was thrown into legal limbo by the Supreme Court's June ruling in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, which said that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions applies to our conflict with al Qaeda. It was a bad ruling, since Article 3 is intended to apply to civil wars. But its vague prohibitions against "humiliating" and "degrading" treatment nonetheless became the law of the land, exposing CIA interrogators to potential legal jeopardy for conduct as benign as using women to question Muslim detainees.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/weekend/hottopic/?id=110008987
Operation Medusa
The Afghan campaign is testing NATO's staying power
In the war on terror, few battles are as clear and decisive as the one fought these last few weeks in southern Afghanistan. Six thousand Canadian, British, American and other NATO troops trounced resurgent Taliban fighters who dared to fight in the open. "Operation Medusa" dislodged insurgents from trenches and tunnels near Kandahar, killing a thousand or more.
The intensity of the fighting surprised some NATO allies, who this summer took over the lead in southern Afghanistan from the U.S. More tests are to come. The insurgents will surely regroup, shun direct engagements with Western troops, and resort to the ad hoc terrorism perfected in Iraq. To adapt NATO's nomenclature, the Medusa was injured but the snakes are very much alive.
MIRS Capitol Capsule, Friday, September 22, 2006
John Reurink (517) 482-2125
O'Reilly Gives Early Edge To Romney
(TRAVERSE CITY) — Fox News commentator Bill O'REILLY told a gathering here today that Massachusetts Gov. and former Michigander Mitt ROMNEY is his early favorite to win the 2008 presidential election over U.S. Sen. Hillary CLINTON (D-N.Y.) in what he sees now as the likely head-to-head race.
Speaking at the Michigan Future Forum, sponsored by the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, O'Reilly said former frontrunner U.S. Sen. John McCAIN (R-Ariz.) will be hurt for his "soft" positions on the terrorist interrogation and border security issues.
The host of the "No Spin Zone" and the "O'Reilly Factor" added that another top-tier Republican candidate, Rudolph GUILIANI, the former New York City mayor, is being hurt by his inability to handle the press and his mushy positions on issues. Former U.S. House Speaker Newt GINGRICH and U.S. Sen. George ALLEN (R-Va.) round out the top five candidates on the GOP side.
But in the last two weeks, O'Reilly said he's seeing a lot of reasons to give Romney an edge.
"He's photogenic. He's articulate. He's got money. New Hampshire likes him. This guy . . . you watch him," O'Reilly said.
The commentator made famous for his unabashed conservative lean said Clinton is far and away the favorite on the Democratic side. She has more money than any other presidential candidate at this point in history, he said. The problem is that while 35 percent of the people love her, a strong 44 percent of people don't like her and wouldn't vote for her if she was running against Osama Bin LADEN, he quipped.
Former President Bill CLINTON had the personal charm to change people's opinion of him. His wife does not. She is not engaging with the public. She doesn't give press conferences. That's a "huge negative," O'Reilly said.
U.S. Sen. John KERRY (D-Mass.) is spending a lot of time in Iowa these days, a clear sign that he's running again after losing in 2004 to Bush. Why else would a millionaire spend time in Iowa, he pointed out. The Democrats' 2000 presidential nominee, Al GORE, insists he's not running, but insiders have their doubts. Either way, O'Reilly didn't give the global warming crier much of a chance.
In a head-to-head match-up between Clinton and Romney, O'Reilly gives the edge the Romney unless the economy collapses. If terrorists hit the United States again, this country is going to "take a dramatic turn to the right," he predicted.
"If we're attacked again, the Democratic Party can go away," O'Reilly said. "People are so angry underneath."
That would hurt McCain, who does not support President George W. BUSH's position that terrorists are exempt from having to be detained and treated under Geneva Convention rules because they do not represent a country and are not soldiers in a traditional sense.
McCain, a former prisoner of war, also doesn't agree that interrogation techniques that some would consider torture, such as "water-boarding" should be used against terrorist suspects. O'Reilly said allowing the president to OK water submersion under "extraordinary circumstances" works and has stopped 12 attacks, including a suspected terrorist plot in Los Angeles.
O'Reilly credited himself with helping "shatter the myth" that these techniques produce false intelligence by bringing guests on his television shows that testify to the fact that false leads can be sniffed out within 24 hours and that the truth ultimately comes out through hard-nosed techniques. Later in his presentation, O'Reilly also took credit for starting a national debate on the ridiculousness of taking the word "Christmas" out of the holiday season in the name of political correctness. He then said he helped bring oil prices down by calling out the "gnome-like" oil speculators who artificially "bid up the price of a barrel of oil."
The conservative talk show host characterized the current attitude in the United States as a "cultural war" between traditionalists who believe America is a "noble" country and the "secular progressives" who believe that America is fundamentally flawed and needs a big change. O'Reilly and 75 percent of the rest of the country belong in the former category.
"We believe we are the greatest nation the world has seen, that we do make mistakes, but that fundamentally, we are a noble country," he said.
The extremely organized "SPs" rely on George SOROUS, Peter LEWIS and other rich liberals to pump "enormous amounts of money" into the "shock troops" at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
He went on to say that 75 to 80 percent of the national media consist of SPs, and this includes Hollywood figures.
"They will not recognize that there are evil people that want to hurt this country," he said. "There are Americans who believe we brought the terrorism on ourselves."
The SPs have won in Western Europe, he said. Church attendance is down to nothing there. Muslims are the only folks attending religious services with any regularity, he said. "They're going hard."
Democrats are losing elections because traditionalists don't think Bush is a genius, but because they know that traditionalists have a single goal of "protecting us" in a world where extremists in the Muslim world are antagonistic toward Americans. Walk around a northern Pakistani village as an American and you'll get your throat slit, he said. And then there's Iran.
"If Iran gets nuclear technology, believe me, they're going to go after us," O'Reilly said. "That government in Iran wants to kill Americans and Jews. I've been there. That's their agenda."
On the flip side, O'Reilly said the Iraq War has not been a success because the people in Iraq do not appreciate what the United States did when its troops disposed former dictator Saddam HUSSIEN and helped create a new government. On paper, invading Iraq made sense at the time. The United States needed a stabilizing presence in the Middle East to protect the moderate states and the oil they produce. An oil shortage would spur an economic depression. Hussien violated the cease-fire agreement made after the first Iraq War 17 times. He's also a "mass murderer of his own people." These were reasons to invade.
However, he said war is a performance business and if you're going to get into it, you better win it. Unlike some SPs, he said he doesn't want the United States to lose in Iraq.
Granholm Signs Earned Income Tax Credit
In her weekly radio address recorded today, Gov. Jennifer GRANHOLM announced that she has signed legislation to create an Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for working families in Michigan. The Governor signed the legislation in Flint.
"Thanks to the Michigan Earned Income Tax Credit, Michigan's lowest wage earners will have up to $880 more in their pocket," Granholm said. "And it's about time. That's $880 to help pay for education, health care, insurance, home heating costs or whatever else they need."
Recall that the credit, SB 0453, was basically the top legislative item Democrats extracted from Republicans in exchange for giving immediate effect to HB 6213, which 'fixed' the minimum wage increase so that exemptions remain in place (See "Deal Struck On Minimum Wage Fix-It," 8/30/06). Also recall that part of the story was that the Granholm administration wasn't exactly thrilled about the credit due to its projected impact on state revenues.
But regardless of the intricacies of how the credit came about, it was assumed that both Granholm and legislative Republicans would take political bows for it — and they are.
Granholm's news release on her radio address, also focused on a new pilot program aimed at making home and auto insurance available at lower rates for residents in Metro Detroit and Genesee County.
The release also included yet another negative reference to President George W. BUSH, by stating that last week Granholm sent a letter to the White House urging Bush to reconsider his decision to exclude Michigan from receiving additional funding for home heating assistance.
"Reducing the cost of insurance, fighting for our fair share of federal assistance for home heating, creating a tax credit to help working families - it's all part of my plan to help families work and thrive here in Michigan, especially during time of economic challenge," Granholm said.
Today Granholm also signed the following bills:
SB 1234 was introduced by Sen. Alan CROPSEY (R-Dewitt) and makes it a crime to buy, receive, possess or conceal or help conceal stolen property.
SB 1364 was introduced by Sen. Cameron BROWN (R-Fawn River Twp.) and makes it illegal to employ someone who's younger than 18 for less than 85 percent of the government mandated minimum wage for older workers.
HB 4072 was introduced by Rep. David [HILDEBRAND] (R-Lowell) to classify horse boarding and horse training facilities as agricultural real property, rather than commercial.
MySpace Another Campaigning Tool?
Twenty years ago the idea of using a computer and the Internet as a campaign tool wasn't even a possibility but now Web sites and blogs, including the ever popular social blog MySpace, are attracting politicians as well as beer guzzling college Freshmen.
So far Republican Shannon BROWN, who is running in the 52nd House District against Rep. Pam BYRNES (D-Chelsea), and Republican Tim DOYLE, who is running in the 75th House District, have spaces on MySpace.
For those who do not have MySpace accounts, MySpace is a free social Web site. Anyone can get on MySpace and create an account where they can upload pictures and create blogs.
MySpace is fairly hard to navigate. It's not like Google where, if you search for a candidates' name, their Web page comes up. On MySpace, if you search for someone's first and last name, you will very likely get everything but that person's page.
The easiest way to find someone on MySpace is to have him or her invite you to their page, which basically means they send an invitation with an easy link to the page. An advantage to MySpace is that a person can also search for a group of people according to their interests.
For example, if you like politics, you can look up political groups. However, even this is difficult because a search for political groups produces 471 pages of groups ranging from "Republicans Are Better In Bed" to "Hookah Love" to "John STEWART For President" to "Creation vs. Evolution."
So why are candidates taking the time to create MySpace pages?
"It is a great way to connect with people," said Adam MELDRUM, a member of Brown's campaign. "Bands use it as a way to get their music heard, companies use it to showcase their products; it is only natural the political figures would take advantage of its networking capabilities to interact with their constituents."
MySpace is a benefit for anyone who's looking to communicate with voters who are 18-30, said Matt FERGUSON, with Michigan Liberal.
Ferguson said he doesn't have that much personal experience with the Web page, but he said he's heard that it's a good venue for attracting younger volunteers.
One look on both Doyle and Brown's MySpace pages makes Ferguson's case. All of the 11 people on Brown's friends list are young as are Doyle's more than 40 friends.
"You either have to stumble on it or be directed to it," said Bill NOWLING with the Sterling Corporation. "It's a way to reach a segment of the voting population that wasn't there a few years ago. It's one more form of communication."
However, the site doesn't play to general information about the candidate like a Web page does because once again, the pages are hard to find. For example, the first person that pops up when you run a search for Tim Doyle is Tim DOYLE from Austin, Texas. The Texas Doyle posted a picture of himself in a sombrero with a beer bottle tipped to the corner of his mouth on the front of his page, which is a little different than the pleasant family picture the other Doyle has on his page.
Nowling pointed out that politicians might reveal more personal aspects about themselves on their MySpace pages as opposed to their regular Web sites. They also might create blogs on MySpace, which allow voters to feel more connected to the candidate.
Another advantage to MySpace is exposure. A young Republican who's interested in Doyle as a candidate very well may place a link to Doyle's MySpace page on his or her Web site, which may rouse the curiosity of their friends, who in turn my check out Doyle.
"A lot of people make up their minds on who to vote for based on who their family and friends vote for," Nowling said.
So if a person puts a link to Doyle on his or her page and indicates that they're going to vote for him, "there's a pretty good indication that their friends may do the same," he said.
Both the state Republican and Democratic parties said that they encourage candidates to set up Web sites, but don't require them to set them up. Myspace is a new realm that candidates seem to be breaking into on their own.
"I have heard a lot of buzz about the site and asked my campaign to look into the possibility of using it as a way to reach voters," Brown said. "As a candidate for office it is important to stay abreast of new technology and to use these advances to communicate with the voting public."
Granholm Signs Eminent Domain Package
Gov. Jennifer GRANHOLM this week signed a package of bills designed to prevent public entities from taking private property that would ultimately go to benefit private companies.
The legislation sets new restriction on "eminent domain" government's ability to cease private property for the good of the public at large in the shadow of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld a Connecticut city's effort to force several residents to sell their homes in favor of a new office complex.
The 5-4 decision in Kelo v. City of New London also spurred in Michigan the Nov. 7 ballot Proposal 4, which would lock in constitutional guarantees that this type of takeover would never happen in Michigan, even if it were in the name of urban revitalization and land redistribution. Granholm's decision to sign the bill puts her on record as supporting a stop to these type of public "land grabs."
"The rights of property owners in Michigan must be protected," Granholm said. "This legislative package will ensure that property owners are treated fairly, compensated appropriately, and will not be forced from their homes by the government just for the benefit of private companies."
The type of takeover that happened in Connecticut would have had a hard time surviving in Michigan because of a 2004 state Supreme Court decision in Wayne County v. Hathcock. However, the bills signed today put the precedent set by the court into state law.
The bills signed — HB 5060, HB 5817, HB 5818, HB 5819 and SB 0693 are based on the likely assumption that Proposal 4, formally known as Senate Joint Resolution E, passes. It forces government to demonstrate that a private-property takeover will have some public use. It restricts government's ability to designate a property as blighted.
The bills also require the government to pay displaced property owners at least 125 percent of fair-market value of their property. It also increases how much displaced property owners receive from a government entity in moving expenses, renting costs and legal fees. It also requires that this compensation be paid in a timely fashion.
Sen. Cameron BROWN (R-Fawn River Twp.), one of the key sponsors of the bills, heralded this week's signings.
Brown's bill codifies in statute the 2004 Michigan Supreme Court Wayne Co. vs. Hathcock decision, which identified extremely limited circumstances in which a taking of private property for private use is acceptable.
"Last year's Supreme Court ruling placed private property rights in jeopardy," Brown said. "But today, we have made it clear that those rights are cherished, respected and protected in Michigan. If we had not acted, the type of government seizure took place in Connecticut might have been attempted in Michigan. This law will protect the rights the U.S. Supreme Court chose not to."
21st Century Investment Doling Out $109 Million
Today Gov. Jennifer GRANHOLM announced that the 21st Century Investment Fund will invest $109 million to create and retain Michigan jobs and the state is encouraging private equity investment, mezzanine and venture capital funds that have a focus on Michigan companies to apply.
"Michigan has the most aggressive economic plan in the country, and through the 21st
Century Jobs Fund, we are transforming our economy and creating new high-tech companies and high-paying jobs," Granholm said.
The $109 million that's awarded to the companies will help the companies finance other companies that will invest in the state, said James EPOLITO, president and CEO of the Strategic Fund Board.
The New York-based company Credit Suisse will manage the funds as well as oversee the requests-for-proposal to solicit funds, evaluate and recommend funds for investment and monitor fund performance.
Republicans originally questioned the Governor's decision to go with an out-of-state company to manage the funds, but, as promised, the company opened an office in Michigan. Credit Suisse anticipates making the first 21st Century Investment Fund commitments later this year.
The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) will provide administrative services to the 21st Century Investment Fund.
Interested private equity, mezzanine and venture capital managers can access the application from the 21st Century Investment Fund website at www.michigan21stcenturyinvestmentfund.com.
Granholm Camp Launches Health Group
Today the Granholm for Governor campaign launched Health Care Professionals for Granholm, a group that will help mobilize the health care community to support Gov. Jennifer GRANHOLM in her bid for re-election.
Hundreds of health care professionals around the state threw house parties to mark the second anniversary of Gov. Granholm's MI-Rx discount card program, and organize efforts for the upcoming election. Granholm visited the parties via teleconference and talked about her Michigan First Health Care Plan, which hasn't gotten far since she announced it in her 2006 State of the State speech.
"My Michigan First Health Care Plan will, for the first time ever, make affordable private health plans available to small business employees, the self-employed and the working poor who are presently without access to traditional employer-based health insurance or government-run programs," she said. "By making access to health coverage universal, we are expanding access for those without care while bringing down the cost of care for everyone and making our businesses more competitive."
Gongwer
REPORT NO. 183 VOLUME 45 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2006
Larry Lee 517-482-3500
NOW WHAT FOR S.B.T. CHANGES?
In little more than 15 months, the Single Business Tax will be no more. In little more than three months, most of the remaining legislators who worked on the last significant state tax change will be turned out of office due to term limits. And in the last week two major proposals on how to replace the tax have come out. So where does that leave SBT replacement now?
Likely, it means that whatever the Legislature and governor agree to, it won’t come until 2007.
Likely it means some sort of overall business tax cut, but by how much is an open question.
Likely also it means a tax that will be simpler for businesses to compute than the SBT has proved to be in its 30 years.
Oh, and despite the urging of some organizations like the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, it does mean there will be a business tax. Top officials, which include business executives, have agreed that it is fit for business to pay some type of tax since businesses benefit from state services.
The issue has become for many people creating a tax that pays whatever will be accepted as the cost of the services businesses use and helps promote business growth. Hence, the committee assigned to make a proposal on a replacement by December 1 is called the Joint Select Committee on Economic Growth, and the rhetoric from both Republicans and business executives is that a replacement tax has to be both fair and act as an incentive.
To some, this proposal is backwards, particularly when the state’s revenues are already strained and it is clear, given the struggles of the auto manufacturing industry, that Michigan must change its policies to attract new kinds of development.
For example, last month Lou Glazer, a former top state official and now head of the Ann Arbor-based Michigan’s Future group, published a study that argued that the states with the highest levels of college graduates had higher personal income than did the states with the lowest business taxes. There was one state, Colorado, that straddled both those factors, however.
But unless Democrats do succeed in taking over the Legislature in the November election, a prospect few observers are willing to put even money on now, it is likely that whatever proposal goes through a Republican Legislature – no matter if Governor Jennifer Granholm defeats her Republican rival Dick DeVos – will include an overall tax cut.
To this point, not as much official activity has happened on a replacement as might have been expected, especially since the joint committee is scheduled to make a proposal on December 1.
The joint committee has not met as often as members had anticipated. During the September session that ended with the House’s marathon session on Wednesday, the committee met once to hear a discussion about the state’s overall business image.
But last month, officials were hoping the committee could meet as many as three or four times to discuss proposals for a replacement tax.
The problem, sources who spoke on background said, was that committee members didn’t have proposals to discuss. The committee wanted to avoid having representatives of individual companies come and talk about the SBT and its effect, which they did in 2005 when Ms. Granholm and the Legislature began working on major changes to the SBT, the sources said.
What the committee wanted was fully developed proposals to replace the SBT.
But until this week, there was really only one proposal to consider: a business licensing proposal the Detroit Regional Chamber unveiled last spring.
This week, two new proposals have come in: one from the Grand Rapids Chamber calling for a gross receipts tax to replace both the SBT and personal property tax and a two-in-one proposal from the Michigan Chamber of Commerce that includes a net income tax and licensing fee along with a possible personal property tax cut.
The lack of plans to date does not mean groups have not been working hard to develop proposals. They have. The Michigan Chamber, for example, saw its tax committee work for several months, using hired outside consultants to help develop and model proposals.
Legislators are also starting to develop proposals on their own. Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema (R-Wyoming) is beginning to noodle with some ideas, his spokesperson said recently, though he would not go into what areas those ideas are going.
But the proposals so far have focused on either a licensing fee or an income tax, so the pressure will be on to gear a tax in those directions. Both types of tax are simpler to calculate than the SBT. In fact the complexity of the SBT was a major, some argued the central, complaint business had with its value added nature even though the majority of businesses didn’t pay the tax.
But there may be a danger in trying to go too simple, and one danger is whether the new taxes would raise enough money. The SBT and its companion insurance tax bring in about $2 billion. The largest tax cut most groups are talking about now is in the range of $500 million, but sources said that models run at the Department of Treasury based on the proposal the Detroit Regional Chamber has developed have raised questions if they would raise as much as the chamber argued.
If an income tax or license is not developed, business groups are calling for Michigan to enact something other states are using. The SBT was unique, and some executives have said it will be critical to attracting businesses to show them Michigan has a tax other states use.
That was the message some state officials heard earlier this month from a meeting of executives brought together by Detroit Renaissance.
In fact, a new tax could be used as a selling point against proposals developed in other states. Many people are now pointing to the new business tax that Texas has developed as a warning to Michigan. While the Lone Star state’s tax is supposed to attract business by letting them select their own deductions, the tax has been called the marriage of a value added tax to nobody is quite sure what.
The word from the Detroit Renaissance meeting and from others is the Texas tax has executives worried, so a simple tax in Michigan could be an advantage.
But add to the SBT debate changes to the personal property tax, and the debate gets more complicated. While all the attention has been focused on the SBT, in the last several years it has become clear the tax all businesses really hate is the personal property tax.
Revenues from that tax go to Michigan’s counties, and attempts to cut that tax too greatly will draw fire from local governments. Any cuts to that tax will inevitably require a political solution for local governments.
That almost leads to pushing a solution on the tax into 2007.
Mr. Sikkema had called for the Legislature to develop a replacement proposal before the end of the year, so lawmakers can take advantage of those few lawmakers left – him, Senate Minority Leader Bob Emerson (D-Flint), Sen. Shirley Johnson (R-Troy), Sen. Alan Cropsey (R-DeWitt) and Rep. William Van Regenmorter (R-Jenison) – who worked on the 1993 Proposal A school financing leviathan. Come January, only Mr. Cropsey will be in the Capitol.
Yet, Mr. Sikkema acknowledged to some newspaper editorial boards recently that he puts odds on the SBT being finished in calendar 2006 at only 25 percent, said Ari Adler, his spokeperson.
The election could influence that timing greatly. If Mr. DeVos should win, most Republicans expect he will want a hand in whatever the replacement tax, which means action in 2007.
But what if Democrats win control of the next Legislature? Then that could push the current Legislature to act faster to get a tax in place.
If the replacement tax waits until 2007, then expect a very busy first half of the year, because all officials acknowledge that whatever is enacted the state will need time to prepare for it to take effect in 2008, and as much time as state officials get the better.
DEMS GET ATTACKED ON DETROIT SCHOOL FUNDING
Suburban and out-state Democrats are being lambasted by a newly formed 527 group, Working for Michigan’s Future, for supporting additional funding to Detroit Public Schools – money the group says was wasted because of the recent teacher strike.
The organization, said spokesperson Bill Nowling, is coming from “a conservative viewpoint,” and is advocating awareness of education and economic development issues in several legislative races this election cycle.
The Royal Oak Mirror reported that one radio ad hitting Rep. Marie Donigan (D-Royal Oak) has begun airing, and others are expected to hit in the districts of Rep. Aldo Vagnozzi (D-Farmington Hills), Rep. Gary McDowell (D-Rudyard) and Rep. Kathy Angerer (D-Dundee).
Mr. Nowling said that because the group is a 527, it can’t support or oppose any particular candidate, but it can use its funding to raise awareness of its issues.
Detroit has received additional funding (including $7 million this year for declining enrollment) in the last two budget cycles on top of what it gets for per-pupil funding, he said, and the teacher strike made it important to let the voters know that money is being wasted.
A House Republican Campaign Committee press release states that the strike loss is around $4 million a day, though the group estimated it somewhere under $9 million. Whatever the number in that range is, Mr. Nowling said it still shows that money is not being spent correctly.
But Dan Farough, spokesperson for the House Democratic Caucus, said Friday that the legislation the HRCC cites (HB 4887
Mr. Farough called the radio ads nothing but a partisan attack and race baiting, adding that he expected similar ads to run in competitive districts with Republican representation if the group is angry about extra funding for Detroit schools.
GRANHOLM SIGNS EARNED INCOME CREDIT, MINIMUM WAGE CHANGES
Low-income residents in the state will see up to $880 in income tax benefits next year under legislation signed Friday by Governor Jennifer Granholm, and federal exemptions will still apply to persons earning the minimum wage. Under another bill the governor signed, teens will earn slightly less than the minimum wage.
The benefits for low-income persons is through the earned income tax credit (SB 453
The provision is expected to cost the state budget $136 million in the 2008-09 fiscal year and $300 million in 2009-10.
“Thanks to the Michigan Earned Income Tax Credit, Michigan’s lowest wage earners will have up to $880 more in their pocket. And it’s about time,” Ms. Granholm said. “That’s $880 to help pay for education, health care, insurance, home heating costs or whatever else they need.”
Ms. Granholm announced the bill signing on her weekly radio address, carried by members of the Michigan Association of Broadcasters.
“The enactment of this legislation is an affirmation that the state can work in a bipartisan fashion to address the serious role that poverty plays in the life of Michigan residents,” said Michigan Catholic Conference Vice President for Public Policy Paul Long, one of those present for the bill signing in Flint. “It is my belief that SB 453 will prove to be the best piece of legislation passed this year by the state of Michigan.”
The bill was part of a deal to keep federal exemptions in the state’s increased minimum wage and has been a key issue for Democratic legislators for some years, with the push growing stronger the last couple of years as the economy in the state declined. The changes are effective October 1, concurrent with the increase in the state’s minimum wage to $6.95, from $5.15.
Ms. Granholm also signed the bill that began the negotiations, HB 6213
Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Zeeland), sponsor of HB 6213, said some 300,000 jobs were at risk unless the changes were enacted when the new minimum wage goes into effect October 1. “This was a much-needed bill to shore up Michigan jobs,” he said.
The package signed Friday also includes a youth minimum wage (SB 1364
CAMPAIGN NOTES
CHENEY CAMPAIGNS FOR BOUCHARD: Vice President Dick Cheney will campaign next week for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Bouchard as part of a trip during which he plans to meet with members of the National Guard. The vice president will join Mr. Bouchard at a private fundraising reception in East Grand Rapids after he participates in an afternoon rally in Wyoming with the Guard.
Mr. Bouchard is running against U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing).
