Articles of Interest 4-16-08
203 Days until Election Day
MORNING UPDATE:
With both federal and state income taxes due by midnight, Senate Republicans took a shot at passing a constitutional amendment to require a super-majority of the Legislature to approve a sales tax on services and fell two votes short, as reported by Gongwer News Service.
Three Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Mark Schauer (D-Battle Creek), joined a solid Republican caucus in supporting SJR L, but the proposal was defeated on a 24-12 vote. A two-thirds majority, which is 26 votes in the Senate, is required for a constitutional amendment to pass and go to the voters.
Hypocrite, big spending, tax hiker Mark Schauer, now candidate for Congress voted for the bill. This is the same guy who pushed through the largest tax increase in Michigan’s history!
House Republicans yesterday held press conferences across Michigan announcing their plan to repeal the income tax increase passed last year by the House Democratic majority.
As a result of the $744 million tax increase, the average Michigan family will be forced to send an additional $300 to Lansing this year. For families living though Michigan's economic crisis, this could be crucial money needed for a mortgage or car payment.
I made a point to wish our Democrat friends a happy “Tax Day” yesterday on statewide radio and our blog. Click here to see the greeting.
There is a big difference between our two parties.
In the words of Ronald Reagan:
“REPUBLICANS BELIEVE EVERY DAY IS THE FOURTH OF JULY, BUT DEMOCRATS BELIEVE EVERY DAY IS APRIL 15.”
George Will summarized Barack Obama’s comments this way: They especially rejected "American exceptionalism, the notion that the United States was specially good and decent," rather than -- in Michelle Obama's words -- "just downright mean." See more below.
The Washtenaw County GOP had a nice event last night at the home of Mark & Donna Quimet for the Lincoln Pass Club. National Committeeman-Elect Keith Butler was one of the special guests.
The Political, Candidate & Party Assistance teams were on the road again last night on the Livingston/Washtenaw "Unity Road Show" in Brighton. Both county chairs were present along with a handful of local party activists. Special thanks to Allan Filip for his help in putting this event together.
FREE…Mackinac Center offers a periodic newsletter about issues affecting the state of Michigan, FREE…just email your name and address to: MiCapCon@mackinac.org.
Democrats hypocrisy…Again. Another vacancy on the FEC board and the Senate Democrats refuse to fill the position in a timely manner. So much for Mr. Obama’s call to transcend partisanship. So much for Democratic insistence on the importance of maintaining a strong federal watchdog to enforce all the campaign-finance regulations Democrats created. Democrats are making a mockery of campaign finance laws as they ignore the regulatory body and “master” the use of 527’s.
On Tuesday, John McCain proposed a comprehensive plan for getting the economy back on track while implementing the reforms that will maintain America's economic strength for the21st century. John McCain outlined his vision for growing the economy and contrasted that vision with Senator Obama and Clinton's plans to raise taxes, continue wasteful spending and isolate the United States from the global economy. See more below.
District Attorney Steve Murphy will be appointed to the Eastern District Court in trade for Helene White (Levin’s relative) being appointed to the 6th Circuit Court.
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THE REST OF THE STORY:
George Will wrote in the Washington Post: Obama may be the fulfillment of modern liberalism. Explaining why many working-class voters are "bitter," he said they "cling" to guns, religion and "antipathy to people who aren't like them" because of "frustrations." His implication was that their primitivism, superstition and bigotry are balm for resentments they feel because of America's grinding injustice…
They especially rejected ‘American exceptionalism,’ the notion that the United States was specially good and decent," rather than -- in Michelle Obama’s words – “just downright mean.”
Obama's dismissal is: Americans, especially working-class conservatives, are unable, because of their false consciousness, to deconstruct their social context and embrace the liberal program. Today that program is to elect Obama, thereby making his wife at long last proud of America…
When Democrats convened in San Francisco in 1984, en route to losing 49 states, Jeane Kirkpatrick -- a former FDR Democrat then serving in the Cabinet of another such, Ronald Reagan -- said "San Francisco Democrats" are people who "blame America first." Today they blame Americans for America being "downright mean."
- The McCain Economic Plan for America.
A Near-Term Agenda for Economic Growth:
• HIGHER LIVING COSTS: John McCain will enact a summer gas tax holiday, stop filing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to reduce demand, and end policies that contribute to higher living costs.
• HOUSING CRISIS: John McCain has proposed a new "HOME Plan" to provide robust, timely and targeted help to those hurt by the housing crisis. He has also called for a Justice Department task force to investigate wrongdoing in the mortgage industry.
• STUDENT LOANS: John McCain is proposing a student loan continuity plan that will coordinate policies with the states to keep the credit crunch from hurting college students.
A Long-Term Agenda for Economic Growth:
• MIDDLE CLASS TAX CUTS: John McCain will cut taxes on middle class families. He will permanently repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) saving a middle class family with children an average of over $2,700. Also, he will double the personal exemption for dependents.
• PRO-GROWTH TAX POLICY: John McCain will keep taxes low by fighting efforts to raise taxes and making it harder to raise taxes. He will keep the current rates on dividends and capital gains while permitting businesses to immediately deduct the cost of equipment and technology.
• CORPORATE TAX CUT: John McCain will reduce the federal corporate tax rate to 25 percent from 35 percent. By reducing the corporate tax rate, we will get rid of a drag on economic growth and job creation, and help American workers compete with any company in the world.
• INNOVATION TAX CUTS: John McCain will ban Internet taxes and new cell phone taxes, and establish a permanent tax credit equal to 10 percent of wages spent on research and development.
• SIMPLER TAXES: John McCain proposes an alternative new and simpler tax system. When this reform is enacted, all who wish to stay under the current system could still do so, but everyone else could choose a vastly less complicated system with two tax rates and a generous standard deduction.
• ELIMINATING WASTEFUL SPENDING: John McCain will stop earmarks, pork-barrel spending and waste. He proposes a one-year spending pause so as to evaluate all spending programs. He will veto any pork-barrel project that crosses his desk.
• ENTITLEMENTS: John McCain will reform Social Security, act to
control Medicare growth, and believes we should not subsidize prescription
drugs for America's most affluent individuals.
• TRADE: John McCain will lower trade barriers to ensure that foreign markets are open to American goods.
• UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE: John McCain will implement badly needed reforms to the Unemployment Insurance system by creating Lost Earning Buffer
Accounts (LEBs) to help workers when they lose a job.
• HEALTH CARE REFORM: John McCain has proposed comprehensive health care reform that will address rising costs and make the system more responsive to the needs of American families.
• ENERGY: As President, John McCain will propose a real national strategy for energy security.
Contrast With Democrats:
• The American people have a clear choice in this election. While
John McCain supports pro-growth tax cuts, both Senators Obama and Clinton support a massive tax increase on the American people that will hurt Americans of every background – seniors, parents, small business owners, and investors of every size.
• Senators Obama and Clinton have championed a long list of
pork-barrel projects. That kind of careless spending of tax dollars is not change, but business as usual in Washington.
• Senators Obama and Clinton preach the false virtues of economic isolationism. Opening new markets for American goods and services is indispensable to our future prosperity.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
Michigan's tax drag just grows worse
BY LEON DROLET • April 15, 2008
Today is the first day that companies in this state must make payments on the new Michigan Business Tax that was passed by the Legislature last year to replace the repealed Single Business Tax. The despised SBT was described by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation as "one of the most anti-growth business taxes in the nation."
But where the SBT was "anti-growth," the new tax appears to be "pro-recession." MBT nightmare stories are spreading in Michigan's shrinking business community.
Fast Feedback: Tax Increase Repeal
The group wants Governor Granholm to repeal the income tax increase recently passed. The republicans say smaller government is the key to success in our state.
"We believe in a small...lower the cost of living in Michigan, bring businesses here and spur economic growth," said Republican Floor Leader, Rep. Dave Hildenbrand.
Republicans complain it's costing families average of $300 this year
By Gabe Gutierrez
LANSING (WJRT) -- (04/14/08)--As the tax deadline approaches, House Republicans are pushing to repeal Michigan's income tax hike.
State lawmakers raised the tax rate in November to help reduce a nearly $2 billion deficit.
Republicans complain it's costing families an average of $300 this year. Flint taxpayer Odessa Peterson has already felt the pinch.
Michigan Representative Dave Robertson joins plan to repeal income tax increase, cap welfare
by Kristyn Peterson | The Flint Journal
FLINT, Michigan -- State Rep. Dave Robertson, R-Grand Blanc, wants to put money back in the pockets of Michigan citizens.
Along with Rep. John Stahl, R-North Branch, and Phil Pavlov, R-St. Clair Shores, Robertson was expected to announce a plan this morning to repeal the income tax increase passed in the fall.
More tax transparency from Lansing
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
As procrastinating taxpayers rush to meet today's filing deadline for federal and state income tax, more than one person is grumbling about having to write checks to a government they sometimes don't understand -- and frequently don't fully trust.
The annual tax ritual should pay a dividend for those who surrender a hefty portion of their hard-earned paychecks. Taxpayers ought to know exactly where their money is going, in an easy-to-find, quickly accessed format.
State should adopt Cox disclosure plan
EDITORIAL The Oakland Press
What frustrated Michigan taxpayer hasn't wondered how the state is spending our money? If Attorney General Mike Cox gets his way, the answers might be only a few clicks on a computer away.
That would be the result if lawmakers approve a plan to create a "track your taxes" Web site.
The site would provide "transparency and accountability," Cox says, by offering information on Office of the Attorney General expenses, contracts, purchases, tax breaks, salaries and wages, fringe benefits, rents and equipment.
Democrat Schauer leads GOP US Rep. Walberg in fundraising
By KEN THOMAS
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat Mark Schauer increased his fundraising lead against Republican Rep. Tim Walberg during the past three months, despite an event in the south-central Michigan district headlined by Vice President Dick Cheney.
Walberg, of Tipton, reported Tuesday that he raised more than $265,000 for his re-election campaign in the 7th Congressional District. Walberg, a freshman congressman, ended the period with more than $600,000 in his campaign account.
House defeats Rep. Walberg's tax bill
Deb Price
Posted by Deb Price on Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 5:54 PM
House Republicans used a procedural move to force a vote on a bill by Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, to make President Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent.
Let's Get the Economy Moving Again
By Tim Walberg
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
There is little debate right now on Capitol Hill about whether the American economy is struggling. The real conversation in Washington, D.C. and in living rooms across the country is about how to get our economy moving again.
Essentially this debate boils down to one question: Should America promote economic growth and job creation or raise taxes to destroy jobs and economic opportunity?
Bulging prisons drain Michigan's budget
State faces hard choices as get-tough laws put more behind bars
Charlie Cain and Gary Heinlein | Photos by Daniel Mears / The Detroit News
Michigan runs one of the nation's largest and most costly prison systems, a $2 billion-a-year expense that is crowding out other spending priorities at a rate many officials fear the state can no longer afford.
Yet despite near-unanimous agreement that Michigan can't pay ever-rising corrections bills during a period of economic decline, politicians and law enforcement professionals remain hesitant to spend less by changing sentencing guidelines or paroling more prisoners.
Michigan's March foreclosures top last year's
Amount dips 13% from February; Wayne Co. has highest rate in Mich.
The Detroit News
Foreclosures in Michigan in March were up 10.3 percent from the same month a year ago, but down 13.4 percent from February, according to data released Monday by RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties.
The state's 9,494 properties in foreclosure in March translated to one for every 475 households, the eighth-highest foreclosure rate in the country -- behind Nevada, California, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia and Ohio. The number of foreclosures ranked fifth in the nation.
Wolfram: Time to sever Accident Fund ties to Blues
Spin-off should be price of approval to enlarge fund
The LSJ made an excellent suggestion (April 11 editorial) regarding Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan selling off the Accident Fund.
When the Legislature passed the bill allowing BCBSM to purchase the Accident Fund in 1993, it was aware that this could create an unlevel playing field in workers compensation and attempted to establish three things.
First, that if BCBSM made a purchase, that purchase price would have to have added to it the taxes that BCBSM would have paid in accumulating the money to buy the Accident Fund.
U.S. Attorney in Detroit nominated to federal bench
Paul Egan AND GORDON TROWBRIDGE / The Detroit News
President George W. Bush has nominated U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Murphy to be a federal judge in Detroit, the White House announced Tuesday.
Murphy, who has been U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan since 2005, had earlier been nominated to the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, but that appointment had never been ratified. Murphy's earlier nomination to the federal appeals court was withdrawn by the White House on Tuesday.
Murphy, 45, born in St. Louis, Mo., is a former assistant U.S. Attorney in Detroit who worked as a legal counsel for General Motors Corp. from 2000-05. Murphy declined comment.
House passes auto insurance bills
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Democrat-led state House has passed bills supporters say could make auto insurance more affordable for some Michigan residents.
The bills approved Tuesday would give state regulators power to order refunds if it's determined that customers have been overcharged. Customers also would have more leeway to sue insurance companies for code violations
Fieger calls case 'a joke' as campaign finance trial starts
4/14/2008, 5:58 p.m. EDT
By JEFF KAROUB
The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — Outspoken lawyer Geoffrey Fieger appeared to find some amusement in federal court Monday, smiling broadly as a potential juror said she finds him favorable but could be fair if seated in his trial on criminal campaign finance charges.
He might also have felt some relief that the unemployed retail worker was seated in the jury pool, while a heavy equipment operator was rejected after saying he didn't like the high-profile attorney.
Toughen state laws to stop metal thieves
BY MICHAEL J. BOUCHARD, WARREN EVANS and MARK HACKEL • April 15, 2008
Imagine you're home late at night. The kids have been asleep for a few hours and you have just closed your eyes as well. Suddenly, a window shatters downstairs and you hear voices. You immediately reach for the phone next to your bed to call the police and the line is dead. No dial tone.
Or imagine you are taking a Sunday afternoon to visit your grandmother. You are having a nice talk when she starts to experience chest pains and trouble catching her breath. You run to the kitchen to call an ambulance, pick up the phone and ... silence.
Fresh hope enrolls in Detroit schools
BY MARY KOVARI • April 15, 2008
I am an administrator and teacher in a Detroit public high school. Over my 13 years in the system, people have asked me why I stay.
As news of another research study about low graduation rates hits the media, I feel frustrated with the school system in which I work and I ask myself, why do I stay? Because I still believe in Detroit students and their potential for greatness.
Daniel Howes
Delta CEO is old pal of Metro
Metro Detroit has a secret weapon in the new Delta Air Lines, and his name is Richard Anderson.
The CEO of the combined airline is a native Texan who spent the '90s with Northwest Airlines in Minnesota, became its top executive, took a detour into health care and, for the past seven months, has run Delta from Atlanta. But he's more deep-dish Detroit than some of the CEOs running Michigan's hometown companies, which is nothing but good for a region accustomed to getting shafted in corporate shakeups.
Not this time, by all indications. The hub at Detroit Metropolitan Airport stands to be a key cog in what would be the world's largest airline, assuming federal regulators approve a Delta-Northwest merger likely to spark a wave of other marriages in the face of $110-a-barrel oil, bankruptcies and a liberalized "open skies" agreement between the United States and the European Union.
Head off huge federal tax increase
Middle class will be socked unless Bush cuts are renewed
The Detroit News- Editorial
Today is tax day. As painful as it is, the burden on middle-class families will be a lot worse if Congress lets President Bush's tax cuts expire.
And not just the rich will get hit. As analyzed by the Wall Street Journal, taxes will rise across the board. For example, tax rates will jump 50 percent for lower-income households, the marriage penalty will return, child credits will be cut $500 per child and the tax rate on dividends will nearly triple to 39 percent. The death tax will return, siphoning money from estates that would otherwise go to the family of the deceased.
Congress needs to prevent a tax hike by renewing the Bush tax cuts.
Editorial: Charting Detroit's education future
Teachers must embrace reform or be run over by it
The Detroit News
Detroit Public Schools teachers are following a suicidal path if the union members continue to be the major obstacle to reforming the city's schools.
They have to accept their share of the responsibility for the district's failure and recognize their jobs depend on regaining the confidence of parents who are increasingly choosing other education options.
The Detroit Federation of Teachers is among the country's most militant education unions. It has fought efforts to improve teacher quality, instructional rigor and more effective spending. The union's resistance to change, combined with the incompetence of Detroit administrators, has placed the school system at risk.
Lansing-area foreclosures surge
• April 15, 2008 • From Lansing State Journal
Foreclosure activity in the Lansing market continued to surge in March, although Ingham County bucked the trend.
Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac Inc., which tracks real estate data nationwide, said foreclosure filings in the Lansing area rose to 477 last month, up 29 percent from 369 a year earlier. There were 434 filings in February 2008.
RealtyTrac said there were 287 foreclosure filings in Ingham County in March. That was down 10 percent from 320 a month earlier but up 6.7 percent from 269 in March 2007.
Judge in stripper lawsuit: 'We'll get to the bottom of this'
Paul Egan / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- A federal judge expressed annoyance Monday when a city attorney said Detroit government no longer has records showing which employees were using which city pagers at the time an exotic dancer was shot to death in 2003.
As part of a federal lawsuit, lawyers for the son of Tamara "Strawberry" Greene are seeking text messages that employees sent and received on city-issued SkyTel pagers.
But Krystal Crittendon, a lawyer for the city, said records showing which employees carried which pagers were shredded after the city stopped using the devices in 2004.
Prisoner freed after DNA exoneration in Macomb case
Edward L. Cardenas / The Detroit News
MOUNT CLEMENS -- Nathaniel Hatchett traded his blue-and-orange Michigan Department of Corrections prison jumpsuit that he has worn for the past 12 years for a brown shirt and pants -- and his freedom -- just after noon today.
Hatchett, of Detroit, was released from prison after prosecutors dismissed all charges against the now 29-year-old, whose his case had been reviewed by the Innocence Project at Cooley Law School in Lansing. Lawyers from the project were prepared to argue today a motion for a new trial before Macomb Circuit Court Judge James Biernat.
Detroit council refuses to hear Kilpatrick's budget
Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- In a surprising move Monday, Detroit City Council members, with Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick sitting before them, figuratively slapped him in the face by refusing to allow him to deliver his 2008-09 budget proposal.
"It is the feeling of the majority of the council that we will not address your budget at this time," Council President Kenneth Cockrel Jr., said. He quickly called for a voice vote, and the council refused to listen to the embattled mayor. Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers was the only one to shout "No!"
Judge pushes city for text data
Mass message release order is next if Detroit officials don't produce pager IDs in stripper suit.
Paul Egan / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- A federal judge expressed annoyance Monday when a city attorney said Detroit government destroyed records showing which employees were using which city pagers at the time an exotic dancer was shot to death in 2003.
U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen said if he does not receive the "personal identification numbers" linking specific Detroit police and city officials to specific pagers, he will have no choice but to order SkyTel, the city's former pager contractor, to turn over all pager text messages for all city employees for the time periods relevant to the lawsuit he is hearing.
We all must practice preventive health care
EDITORIAL BCE
Quality health care is a concern for all Americans. Most of us want to feel our best and get any ailments we have addressed as quickly as possible. But the price of medical insurance is beyond the reach of millions of people, causing them to avoid going to the doctor for anything but the most severe problems. Rising medical costs put a strain on our entire economy, and access to care is a growing concern.
Such problems are beyond our control. But if we are serious about wanting good health, most of us can take more preventive measures than we currently do.
Study says smoking bans don't hurt bars and restaurants
4/15/2008, 2:46 p.m. EDT
By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Smoking bans in other states don't have any net economic effect on bars and restaurants, according to a study released Tuesday.
The study was released by former Michigan Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema, now of Public Sector Consultants, a Lansing think tank.
It was prepared for The Campaign for Smokefree Air. The group is trying to get the state Senate to take up a House-passed bill banning smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants.
Move to elect City Council by district surfaces
Ex-lawmaker to launch effort to do away with citywide vote, have Detroit officials chosen from nine districts.
David Josar and Christine Macdonald / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- A fledgling petition drive will seek to elect Detroit City Council members by district, instead of its 90-year-old at-large system in which voters choose all nine in a citywide vote.
Former state Rep. LaMar Lemmons III, at a press conference outside City Hall on Tuesday, said he expects a couple of dozen Detroiters to show up at an organizing meeting Friday.
"Yesterday was the straw that broke the camel's back," said Lemmons, an east side Democrat. "Things have to change."
Often overlooked tax credits
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Earned income: Those earning less than $39,783 in 2007 may qualify.
Child/dependent care tax credits: Up to 35 percent of expenses paid for care for a child under 13 or a spouse or dependent who couldn't care for himself or herself while you worked or looked for work.
Education credits: For expenses paid for post-secondary education.
Michigan to Receive Nearly $3.5 Million to Fight Bovine Tuberculosis
Compiled By Staff
April 15, 2008
Michigan Department of Agriculture Director Don Koivisto today announced that the state will receive close to $3.5 million in emergency funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to aid Michigan's bovine Tuberculosis eradication efforts.
"Michigan has entered a critical phase in the disease eradication program, and the continued support demonstrated at the federal level is paramount to its success," says Koivisto. "Bovine TB prevention strategies will give trading partners and consumers greater confidence that Michigan's dairy and cattle exports are disease-free, which is vital in today's global marketplace."
Bovine TB is an infectious disease that is close to being eradicated in the United States, but still poses a significant risk to domestic livestock, wildlife, companion animals, and humans throughout the world.
Tax break eyed to keep plant
Posted by Keith Roberts | Jackson Citizen Patriot April 15, 2008 09:10AM
Categories: Top Stories
Production Engineering has outgrown its Summit Township plant and could move to Indiana.
But Blackman Township and Jackson officials are considering an agreement to give the company a tax break to keep the plant — and its 300 jobs — here.
Production Engineering's 65,000-square-foot plant at 2330 Brooklyn Road was built in 1982, expanded in 1989 and 1994, and can't be expanded any more, said Jim Jansen, president and co-owner of the company.
Juror pool expands in Fieger trial
District judge wants at least 40 prospective jurors to be called before seating panel of 16 by week's end.
Paul Egan / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- Seating a jury for the criminal trial of Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger could take the rest of the week, a federal judge said Monday.
Six jurors were seated in a prospective juror pool for the trial during the first day of jury selection.
U.S. District Judge Paul D. Borman wants that pool to swell to 40 prospective jurors before prosecutors and defense lawyers use challenges to whittle the number down to 16 jurors -- which includes four alternates -- so the trial can begin.
Suit: NWA, airport biased against disabled
5 plaintiffs claim airline, county discriminate against passengers, frequently breaking their wheelchairs.
Paul Egan and Tom Greenwood / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- A lawyer filed a federal lawsuit Monday against Northwest Airlines and the Wayne County Airport Authority, alleging that they discriminate against physically disabled passengers and frequently break passengers' wheelchairs.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of five plaintiffs, alleges violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Air Carrier Act and the Rehabilitation Act.
"The key to this is we're not asking for money," said lawyer Richard Bernstein of Farmington Hills, an advocate for the disabled who is blind. "We're just seeking equitable relief."
Mentally ill inmates cost $400M year
Granholm hopes to establish 5 mental health courts to reduce jail, prison crowding and costs.
Gary Heinlein / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Corrections officials say more than 12,500 of Michigan's 50,000-plus prison inmates -- 1 in 4 -- have a history of mental illness.
Advocates call that shameful. Policymakers trying to get the $2 billion state corrections budget under control call it expensive.
It costs an average of $31,325 a year to house a state prisoner, so mentally ill inmates represent a $400 million annual expense.
Retrain workers
Monday, April 14, 2008
More than citizens from anywhere else in the country, Michigan residents know that times are tough and that even our elected officials face hard financial choices. But the No Worker Left Behind program that retrains laid-off workers for new jobs makes sense.
This state has lost 300,000 manufacturing jobs since 2000 and still has the highest unemployment rate. The House approved $40 million to expand NWLB training. Thousands are seeking a new lease on life. The Senate shouldn't deny them that chance or the state -- to be productive again.
Retraining plays a vital role for people whose jobs have been permanently lost such as in manufacturing. There are certainly many of us who will -- and should -- fight to maintain funding for health, education and public safety. But in these hardest of times, we need to push struggling people, those who have been handed pink slips, back in the workforce so they can support their families. Or they can drain state resources.
Tax break for films attracts 'Fifth Mafia' to GR
Tuesday, April 15, 2008By John SerbaThe Grand Rapids Press
For Michigan's new movie tax incentive, the first taker likely will be "The Fifth."
A gangster drama starring Joe Mantegna dubbed "The Fifth Mafia" is to begin shooting in Grand Rapids this summer, the first to take advantage of a new state bill, signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm this month, offering a 42 percent refundable business tax credit for movie production costs incurred in Michigan.
"We'll be shooting there in mid-to-late June," said Norita May, associate producer of "The Fifth Mafia," calling from the film's production office in Valencia, Calif.
Calvin College safety officials could start carrying guns
Posted by Nardy Baeza Bickel | The Grand Rapids Press April 15, 2008 02:55AM
Under the new policy, which must be approved by Calvin's board, a handful of safety department supervisors would be cleared to pack heat on the job, as long as they meet specific training and experience requirements.
The policy also bans all other weapons from campus. This is meant to fill gaps in state law, which prohibits weapons from residential halls, classrooms and college venues with a capacity of more than 2,500 people, such as sports facilities.
Big 3 may start hiring in September
Report finds carmakers to add 46K workers by 2016
Mark Hornbeck / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- A distant light amid Michigan's economic darkness: Detroit's Big Three automakers will start hiring as soon as September and will employ nearly 46,000 new workers in this state over the next eight years.
That's the somewhat upbeat conclusion of a new report issued by the Ann Arbor-based Center for Automotive Research and presented at Lansing Community College's auto tech center Monday. The study is based on interviews with Big Three officials and others in the auto industry.
"The bleeding will stop," said Kristin Dziczek, a project manager for the center and co-author of the report.
Groups seek end to alcohol bans
One group will meet tonight to discuss strategy
BY JEREMY GONSIOR jeremy.gonsior@hollandsentinel.com (616) 546-4269
Three groups in Ottawa County are working on separate petitions to let voters put an end to Sunday alcohol bans in their area.
County law currently prohibits beer and wine sales on Sundays, but allows restaurants to sell mixed drinks. Retail sales of spirits are not permitted on Sunday.
Sheriff under investigation after driving vehicle to Florida
4/15/2008, 3:53 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press
BAD AXE, Mich. (AP) — Huron County officials are investigating the sheriff after he used a county-leased vehicle for a family vacation to Florida.
Sheriff Kent Tibbits has a county-leased Mercury Mountaineer. The Huron Daily Tribune says Tibbits declined comment on the allegations Tuesday.
County commissioners, the prosecutor and county's corporation counsel have met to discuss the matter. They recently found out Tibbits used the Mountaineer for a Florida vacation March 27 through April 6.
Nader registers in Michigan
Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor April 15, 2008 01:09 PM
It's way early, but Ralph Nader is already bragging about being a possible spoiler, at least in Michigan.
A poll this month found that in a three-way race, Republican John McCain would get 46 percent, Democrat Hillary Clinton would get 37 percent, and independent Nader would get 10 percent. If Barack Obama were the Democratic nominee, Obama would get 43 percent, McCain 41 percent, and Nader 8 percent.
NATIONAL STORIES
McCain Echoes Clinton's Attacks
Obama Talks of November Damage
By Shailagh Murray and Perry Bacon Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, April 15, 2008; Page A01
Sen. John McCain joined in the criticism of Sen. Barack Obama yesterday for Obama's comments about "bitter" victims of small-town economic distress, while Obama's rival for the Democratic presidential nomination weighed in with a tough new ad on the controversy.
Speaking at a gathering of newspaper editors and executives in Washington, McCain echoed the rebuke voiced repeatedly by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, calling Obama's characterization "a contradiction from what I believe America is all about."
McCain Outlines Broad Proposals for U.S. Economy
VILLANOVA, Pa. — Senator John McCain offered the broadest look yet at his economic policies in a speech on Tuesday in Pittsburgh, outlining a series of tax reductions and backing away from his pledge to balance the budget by the end of his first term.
The speech, delivered on the deadline for filing taxes, afforded the clearest view to date of what McCainomics might look like. There was a dash of populism, as Mr. McCain criticized executive pay and corporate wrongdoing.
McCain calls for summer-long suspension of gas tax
Apr 15 04:28 PM US/Eastern
By LIZ SIDOTI
Associated Press Writer
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Republican Sen. John McCain on Tuesday called for a summer-long suspension of the federal gasoline tax and several tax cuts as the likely presidential nominee sought to stem the public's pain from a troubled economy.
Timed for the day millions of Americans filed their tax returns, McCain offered some immediate steps as well as long-term proposals in a broad economic speech. The nation's financial woes have replaced the Iraq war as the top concern for voters, and McCain, who has said economics is not his strongest suit, felt compelled to address the problems as he looks ahead to the November general election.
Long-lost article by Obama's dad surfaces
By: Ben Smith and Jeffrey Ressner
April 15, 2008 11:00 AM EST
Barack Obama's dad was such an important but absent figure in his life that he devoted his first book, Dreams From My Father, to the search for details about his father's life and how the quest helped forge a son's identity.
Now, a long-forgotten essay written 43 years ago by Obama's father has surfaced, and its contents reveal much not only about the senior Obama's grasp of economic theory but also the iconoclastic politics that, his son would later write, sent him into the spiral of career disappointment that concluded with his death in 1982 in his native Kenya.
Hillary Clinton the straight shooter
By: Roger Simon
April 15, 2008 06:35 AM EST
When I saw a video of Hillary Clinton downing a shot of Crown Royal whiskey in Bronko’s Restaurant and Lounge in Crown Point, Ind., on Saturday night, I was delighted to see that she has finally learned what campaigning for president is all about.
Last week, Barack Obama went to a private fundraiser in San Francisco and made some semi-coherent remarks about how people in small towns “get bitter” and “cling” to “guns or religion.”
Clinton blasted Obama for being “elitist and out of touch.”
Harry Reid has a sense of humor!
It was one of those typical questions from a reporter gaggle on Capitol Hill: Does Harry Reid think the protracted nomination fight between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will harm the party?
Reid didn't miss a beat. "It makes me bitter," he deadpanned.
Reid has such a dry humor that you actually have to pause and look at him to make sure he's not being serious when he's attempting comedy. But his usual grimace in front of reporters quickly turned to a grin as he capitalized on the now infamous "bitter" comment made by Obama at a San Francisco area fund raiser.
Lieberman willing to star at Republican convention
By Manu Raju
Posted: 04/15/08 08:06 PM [ET]
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), the Democratic Party’s 2000 vice presidential nominee, is leaving open the possibility of giving a keynote address on behalf of Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) at the Republican National Convention in September.
Republicans close to the McCain campaign say Lieberman’s appearance at the convention, possibly before a national primetime audience, could help make the case that the presumptive GOP nominee has a record of crossing the aisle. That could appeal to much-needed independent voters.
Clinton losing traction over Obama in Pennsylvania, Indiana
By Janet Hook
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — With three crucial Democratic primaries looming, Hillary Rodham Clinton may not be headed toward the blockbuster victories she needs to jump-start her presidential bid -- even in Pennsylvania, the state that was supposed to be her ace in the hole, a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found.
The survey found the New York senator leading Barack Obama by just 5 percentage points in Pennsylvania, which votes next Tuesday. Such a margin would not give her much of a boost in the battle for the party's nomination.
Big Tax Breaks for Businesses in Housing Bill
By STEPHEN LABATON and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Published: April 16, 2008
WASHINGTON — The Senate proclaimed a fierce bipartisan resolve two weeks ago to help American homeowners in danger of foreclosure. But while a bill that senators approved last week would take modest steps toward that goal, it would also provide billions of dollars in tax breaks — for automakers, airlines, alternative energy producers and other struggling industries, as well as home builders.
The tax provisions of the Foreclosure Prevention Act, which consumer groups and labor leaders say amount to government handouts to big business, show how the credit crisis, while rattling the housing and financial markets, has created beneficiaries in the power corridors of Washington.
Bush to announce intermediate goal for CO2 emissions
Tue Apr 15, 2008 4:20pm EDT Email
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush plans to announce on Wednesday an intermediate goal to limit greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, but will not make specific proposals, the White House said on Tuesday.
Bush will "articulate a realistic intermediate goal for reducing greenhouse gasses" and press for incentives for technology aimed at cutting emissions, said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.
US Foreclosure Filings Jump in March
Tuesday April 15, 5:12 am ET
By J.W. Elphinstone, AP Business Writer
By J.W. Elphinstone, AP Business Writer
Foreclosure Filings Against US Homeowners Soar 57 Percent in March; Bank Repossessions Surge The onslaught of homes facing foreclosures has yet to ebb, a research report showed Tuesday, with bank repossessions skyrocketing last month as more troubled homeowners mailed in their keys and walked away.
And the worst isn't over: the wave of adjustable-rate loans resetting to higher rates will crest in May and June. And that's expected to push more homeowners into default and foreclosure in the third and fourth quarters of this year, according to RealtyTrac Inc. of Irvine, Calif.
Dems seize rules advantage on trade
By: Patrick O'Connor and Martin Kady II
April 15, 2008 06:39 AM EST
The idea had been floating around for months: Change House rules to suspend consideration of a trade deal with Colombia.
But it was only an idea, not a practical plan of attack.
Then something clicked. President Bush signaled he would send the Colombia free trade pact to Capitol Hill without the blessing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and the idea — stripping two key time requirements from the rules governing “fast track” consideration of trade deals — became the plan.
Green lobby turns to prayer
By: Erika Lovley
April 15, 2008 09:54 AM EST
With Congress nearing consideration of sweeping global warming legislation, advocates are turning to a higher authority to help their lobbying in the sometimes sinful halls of Congress.
On a cool Tuesday night in Arlington, Va., Jaydee Hanson gathers more than a dozen members of the Mount Olivet United Methodist Church’s Environmental Stewardship Committee for their monthly meeting. The session opens with attendees’ heads bowed in prayer.
A Tax of Random Nature
by Jay D. Homnick
April 15 is unaffectionately dubbed Tax Day by most Americans, because it is the deadline by which tax information for the previous calendar year must be filed. Yet creative types -- or should I say procreative types? -- are more apt to focus on March 31.
That is the last date on which a couple can, er… turn a concept into a conception, give the lady a full nine month gestation, and be holding a bouncing little bundle of joyous tax deduction born before midnight of New Years’ Eve. Even a kid born at 11:59 p.m. of December 31 entitles you to a tax break worth more than a thousand dollars, ostensibly to cover all the baby food and diapers you bought the tyke this year.
If it seems absurd that the IRS is playing Cupid as well as Mammon, influencing the bedroom as well as the boardroom, that’s because it is absurd. But absurdity has never dissuaded politicians.
Candidate on a High Horse
By George F. Will
Tuesday, April 15, 2008; Page A15
Barack Obama may be exactly what his supporters suppose him to be. Not, however, for reasons most Americans will celebrate. Obama may be the fulfillment of modern liberalism. Explaining why many working-class voters are "bitter," he said they "cling" to guns, religion and "antipathy to people who aren't like them" because of "frustrations."
His implication was that their primitivism, superstition and bigotry are balm for resentments they feel because of America's grinding injustice. By so speaking, Obama does fulfill liberalism's transformation since Franklin Roosevelt. What had been under FDR a celebration of America and the values of its working people has become a doctrine of condescension toward those people and the supposedly coarse and vulgar country that pleases them.
April 15, 2008
Categories: The economy
Tax day: It's all in the eyes of the beholder
Today is April 15th -- tax day—but on Capitol Hill, what that means is entirely in the eye of the beholder.
Both parties tried to maximize their political returns Tuesday, with Democrats hammering President Bush on the massive cost of the Iraq war and on the sluggish economy and Republicans using the day to remind citizens that if they were in charge, everyone would be sending less money to the IRS.
Guns, God and Gotchas
By Richard Cohen
Tuesday, April 15, 2008; Page A15
Long ago I discovered that the word "frankly" often meant a lie was coming. I learned this from an insurance agent, who preceded every attempt to sell me useless coverage with a "frankly." This is why I distrust what Hillary Clinton said about Barack Obama and his admittedly klutzy statement about guns, church, immigrants and bitterness -- "elitist, out of touch and, frankly, patronizing," she said. Frankly, I don't believe her.
And this, frankly or not, is the trouble with Clinton. Obama clearly misspoke. But there are very few moments with him where I feel that he does not believe what he is saying -- even when, as with his lame capitulation of leadership regarding the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, I can't respect it. With Clinton, on the other hand, those moments are frequent. She is forever saying things I either don't believe or believe that even she doesn't believe. She is the personification of artifice.
Jewish Liberals to Launch A Counterpoint to AIPAC
Political Funds, Lobbying to Promote Arab-Israeli Peace Deal
By Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 15, 2008; Page A13
Some of the country's most prominent Jewish liberals are forming a political action committee and lobbying group aimed at dislodging what they consider the excessive hold of neoconservatives and evangelical Christians on U.S. policy toward Israel.
The group is planning to channel political contributions to favored candidates in perhaps a half-dozen campaigns this fall, the first time an organization focused on Israel has tried to play such a direct role in the political process, according to its organizers.
Pope, in U.S., Is ‘Ashamed’ of Pedophile Priests
By IAN FISHER and LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: April 16, 2008
WASHINGTON — Pope Benedict XVI chose to address bluntly the sex scandal that has torn at the church here even before he landed Tuesday on his first official visit to the United States, saying he was “deeply ashamed” by the actions of pedophile priests.
His comments aboard his plane, in answer to a written question submitted by a reporter and selected by the Vatican, appeared to soothe many Catholics but left others demanding more action than words.
Broadcasters Scramble to Change the Channel on FCC's Community Mandates
By Cindy Skrzycki
Tuesday, April 15, 2008; Page D02
As U.S. broadcasters gather in Las Vegas this week for an annual meeting, a hot topic is a plan to make them do more to serve communities, from creating citizen advisory panels to sharing radio playlists with the government.
Under proposals published Feb. 13, the Federal Communications Commission would require television and radio station owners to reconnect with their markets at a time when technology allows remote broadcasting and shared programming. The industry doesn't like the idea.
Online Confusion Prompts OPM to Restart Executive Search Process
By Stephen Barr
Tuesday, April 15, 2008; Page D04
Mix a little electronic confusion with good intentions and here's what you get -- a federal program put on hold. That, more or less, is what happened to an Office of Personnel Management program that grooms talented federal employees to become government executives. The case illustrates the pitfalls of online processing of applicants and what it can mean for the government's commitment to administer elite programs fairly.
The OPM began operating the Senior Executive Service Federal Candidate Development Program, or Fed CDP, in 2004 to augment leadership training programs run by most large agencies.
Democrats Willing to Let Battle Continue
Poll Shows Gains in Key Areas for Obama
By Dan Balz and Jon Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, April 16, 2008; Page A01
Sen. Barack Obama holds a 10-point lead over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton when Democrats are asked whom they would prefer to see emerge as the party's presidential nominee, but there is little public pressure to bring the long and increasingly heated contest to an end, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
The fierce battle, however, appears to have taken a toll on the image of Clinton, who was once seen as the favorite. And Obama has widened his lead since early February on several key qualities that voters are looking for in a candidate and has narrowed sizable advantages for Clinton on others.
The high price of a holy sneer
By Wesley Pruden
April 15, 2008
Barack Obama's preacher troubles continue to stalk his campaign. Now it's his own preachin' that's causing him grief.
There he stood, lean, lanky and buff, as if modeling one of his $3,000 bespoke suits in a fashionable Pacific Heights salon in San Francisco, quoting party scripture and winning a full measure of nods, chuckles and cheers from what passed as the amen corner.
These were his kind of folks. The rich, as F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said, are very different from you and me. Then the party's most beautiful person dropped an aside that the beautiful people of San Francisco could appreciate:
Clinton and Obama Appear at Religious College that Categorizes Homosexuality with Stealing, Adultery &
Sexual Abuse
April 15, 2008 6:44 AM
Both Democratic presidential candidates on Sunday night appeared at a CNN "Compassion Forum" at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania. Messiah College describes itself as embracing an "evangelical spirit rooted in the Anabaptist, Pietist and Wesleyan traditions of the Christian Church."
As such, its "community covenant" states that members of the Messiah College community "avoid such sinful practices as drunkenness, stealing, dishonesty, profanity, occult practices, sexual intercourse outside of marriage, homosexual behavior, and sexually exploitative or abusive behavior."
The Note: Genuine Draft
Clinton, Obama Battle Over Authenticity, As Race Takes New Negative Turn
By RICK KLEIN with MIKE ELMORE
April 15, 2008
What do you say we settle this thing with a friendly game of beer pong?
History will record that the Democratic primary campaign descended into full pander-a-thon mode somewhere in Pennsylvania, around the time that one millionaire senator took a shot of Crown Royal and another (having polished off a Yuengling and gone gutter surfing at a bowling alley) made fun of her for it.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton -- trailing in the race -- needed a game-changer, and her campaign (rightly) thinks that every day consumed by the "bitter" remarks is a day where Sen. Barack Obama is on the defensive.
Collectors Cost IRS More Than They Raise
By Lyndsey Layton and Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, April 15, 2008; Page A01
The Internal Revenue Service expects to lose more than $37 million by using private debt collectors to pursue tax scofflaws through a program that has outraged consumers and led to charges on Capitol Hill that the agency is wasting money for work that IRS agents could do more effectively.
Since 2006, the agency has used three companies to go after a $1 billion slice of the nation's unpaid taxes. Despite aggressive collection tactics, the companies have rounded up only $49 million, little more than half of what it has cost the IRS to implement the program. The debt collectors have pocketed commissions of up to 24 percent.
Now, as Americans file their 2007 taxes, Democratic leaders want to end the effort.
States Tackle Foreclosures In Absence of Federal Help
By Dina ElBoghdady and Renae Merle
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, April 16, 2008; Page A01
This month alone, Philadelphia's sheriff delayed foreclosure auctions of 759 homes at the city council's urging. Maryland extended the time it takes to complete a foreclosure. State leaders in Ohio recruited more than 1,000 lawyers to aid distressed borrowers.
Frustrated by the slow pace of federal action on behalf of struggling homeowners, some states and cities have struck out on their own to stem an alarming rise in foreclosures that has depressed home prices in most parts of the country and eroded local governments' revenues as property taxes and utility bills go unpaid.
Britain's Brown to Meet Presidential Candidates
Struggling in Polls, Prime Minister Hopes to Improve Ties, Own Standing
By Michael Abramowitz and Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, April 16, 2008; Page A12
A British prime minister is visiting Washington this week, and, for the first time in seven years, his most important meeting may not occur in the Oval Office: Gordon Brown is planning to meet tomorrow with each of the three U.S. presidential candidates, an effort to obtain a firsthand judgment of how U.S. policies -- and the relationship between Britain and the United States -- may change come January.
Brown's own relationship with President Bush has been cordial but much less close than the ties Bush enjoyed with former prime minister Tony Blair, who bucked British public opinion to remain Washington's chief ally in Iraq and the wider battle against terrorism. With Bush in his final months in office, however, Brown is hoping to lay a foundation for closer relations with the next U.S. president, bolstering both transatlantic links and his own stature, according to analysts in London and Washington.
New Jersey’s Immigration Crackdown
Published: April 16, 2008
Illegal immigration is inherently a matter for the federal government, but local police forces are increasingly conducting their own crackdowns. The police in some New Jersey towns have been aggressively looking for immigration violations and, predictably, it has been leading to abuses. The state should scale back police involvement in immigration enforcement.
After the arrest of an illegal immigrant in connection with the murder of three students in Newark last summer, New Jersey’s attorney general, Anne Milgram, ordered state and local police to question the people arrested for serious crimes about their immigration status. The suspect in the Newark murders had been free on bail despite previous felony arrests, partly because his immigration status was never checked.
