(note: The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a Koch Bros-funded right-wing advocacy group, recently used Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act as an intimidation tool, seeking emails sent by university professors whose academic focus is on labor issues. Flint’s Marcie Hemgesberg wrote the following post on the topic) Did I ever tell you my family once…
Governor Rick Snyder’s “winners and losers” budget proposes raising taxes on low-income workers and senior citizens to give an 86 percent tax break to corporations and other businesses. Governor Snyder calls that Value for Michigan and this week TV ads using kids as political props to attack teachers were launched defending his budget. We don’t…
In his tightly scripted command performance yesterday that purposely avoided questioning from the media, Governor Rick Snyder did more than unveil a budget. Unintentionally, he began unraveling myths he constructed with nearly $11 million in campaign advertising last year. Ironically—given that Snyder created himself on TV—it was an actor today that began pulling the threads…
Today the skin gets pealed from the budget onion and CEOs across Michigan are hoping to cash in on big bonuses this year courtesy of Governor Rick Snyder and paid for by the rest of us. What Snyder is proposing in his budget is a massive, job-killing shift in wealth that robs from the poor…
Get ready for March madness, by which I mean a brutal, full-contact assault on public employees, their unions and, in the words of Campaign for America’s Future analyst Dave Johnson, “on government and democracy itself.” Beginning today when President Obama unveils his federal budget proposal, and on to Thursday when Gov. Snyder does the same…
Pistol Pete Hoekstra is back in the news, which just goes to show you that you can’t keep a mediocre man down. Hoekstra had an undistinguished 16 years in Congress before Rick Michigan crushed him in the 2010 Republican gubernatorial campaign, one in which Hoekstra was supposedly the frontrunner. Now he’s being touted as the…
Image via Wikipedia As I watched Rick Snyder take the oath of office today, bracketed by two Michigan mayors, I reminded myself that among Republicans running for governor, he was clearly the best choice. So I will take direction from our new Governor and start the year by climbing on board the peace train. There’s…
Cover of John Lennon “If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace.”– John Lennon“Peace begins with a smile.”– Mother Teresa“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.”– Albert Einstein“Peace is its own reward.”– Mohandas Gandhi“If you want to make peace, you don’t talk to your…
Image by jeffrey dubinsky via Flickr The first big policy test for Michigan’s incoming governor is shaping up to be over the future of clean energy and Rick Snyder will have very little time to decide which side he’s on in the debate between dirty coal and jobs. That’s because Holland Judge Jon Van Allsburg…
Image by Steve Rhodes via Flickr For out-of-work Michigan residents, news today from Washington, DC that Governor-elect Rick Snyder decided against lobbying fellow Republicans on their behalf couldn’t come at a worse time. State officials have already stopped taking unemployment benefit applications from jobless workers and nearly 200,000 Michigan families face a grimmer holiday season.…