Hoekstra for Senate

Yesterday, we took a significant step toward defeating Debbie Stabenow and her job-killing agenda.

We launched Grassroots Conservatives for Hoekstra; a group of Michigan conservatives who want to make sure that Pete Hoekstra is our next United States Senator and today we want you to join us.

During his time in Congress, Pete Hoekstra didn’t just talk about fiscal responsibility, he walked the talk, earning a lifetime American Conservative Union rating of 90 out of 100. Citizens Against Government Waste, a non-partisan organization whose mission is to eliminate waste, mismanagement, and inefficiency in the federal government, named Pete Hoekstra “a taxpayer hero” in 2009, saying, “Rep. Hoekstra put the interests of taxpayers ahead of politics by consistently voting to cut wasteful spending, reduce the tax burden, and make government more accountable to taxpayers.”

That's not all though: Pete has always run his campaigns as a fiscal conservative, the candidate who is always able to do more with less. He won his first campaign riding his bicycle around his district meeting voters one at a time, and in his last campaign, he performed everyday jobs with everyday people.

We must stop Debbie Stabenow, and Pete Hoekstra is the only Republican who can do it. Stabenow is rated as the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate. She voted for ObamaCare and for higher taxes, and she's been in lockstep with President Obama every step of the way as he's driven us into a 14 trillion dollar debt. If grassroots conservatives like us get behind Pete Hoekstra right now, we can force Debbie Stabenow into retirement and deal a crushing blow to the Obama agenda.

One more thing: The Democrats only have a three-seat majority in the Senate. There is almost no way they can keep control of the Senate if they lose Debbie Stabenow. Control of the U.S. Senate is virtually in our hands. This is our chance to replace liberals like Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer with real leaders like Sens. Jim DeMint and Mike Lee. We hope you will consider doing three things:

Join us in endorsing Pete Hoekstra for U.S. Senate by signing this online petition and being a part of “Grassroots Conservatives for Hoekstra."

Make an even bigger difference in firing Debbie Stabenow by forwarding this email to your friends and co-patriots and ask them to sign the petition.

Finally, click here to make a financial contribution to the Hoekstra campaign so we have the resources to win.

With your help, we will elect Pete Hoekstra, a true conservative, as our United States Senator and start the hard work of taking our country back.
Sincerely,
Mike Bishop – Southeast Michigan
Bill Cooper – West Michigan
Jack Hoogendyk – Southwest Michigan
Linda Lee Tarver – Mid-Michigan
Wes Dilworth – Northern Michigan

Co-Chairs, Grassroots Conservatives for Hoekstra

PS: We also hope you will donate to the campaign by clicking here and sign the petition by clicking here.

Would you hand your $2 billion investment portfolio to a social worker?

From the Michigan View:
Henry Payne/ The Michigan View.com
Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow has a graduate degree in social work. So last week, she invested $2 billion of your tax money in the lithium-ion battery production industry.

Ain't spending other people's money fun?

Actually, "invested" is hardly the term you would use for someone who has no background in the financial industry. Financial advisers "invest" your money in anticipation of a financial return. Social workers-turned-pols confiscate their clients' money through taxation then "spend" it to solve global warming.

Financial advisers consult research analysts and study the structure of a business and whether it is in a viable market. Senator Stabenow just stares into a crystal ball and says batteries are the future. Because, she says, "I can feel (global warming) when I'm flying."

Stabenow says she will introduce her Battery Innovation Act to coordinate all aspects of advanced battery production, from research and development to manufacturing where she and her colleagues have handed over billions more of your money to politically-connected corporations. All this even though she has never coordinated a parade, much less a battery manufacturing firm.

She says "she hopes (it) spurs a growing market."

Would you hand over $2 billion of your money to a broker with Stabenow's resume? Would you hand her $2?

Of course, the skill Stabenow does bring to the table is that she can issue edicts creating guaranteed markets for her "investment." Where will her batteries be sold? She and President Obama have mandated that all 600,00 vehicles in the federal fleet be converted to hybrid-battery power.

What's more, she and the president - himself a social worker - want to essentially mandate America's car fleet be battery-hybrids with a 56 mpg fuel economy standard by 2025.

How does a social worker know the future of the most complicated manufacturing product on the planet? How does a lifetime pol who has never worked in the capital markets know that it will "generate billions in private sector economic activity, creating thousands of jobs and making America competitive in advanced battery technologies"?

Easy. In America these days, social workers mandate the future.

Henry Payne is editor of The Michigan View.com
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110717/MIVIEW/107170342/Would-you-hand-your-$2-billion-investment-portfolio-to-a-social-worker?#ixzz1SW3mBpDv

The Parental Rights Amendment: Protecting the Fundamental Rights of Parents

Thank you for your interest in passing the Parental Rights Amendment Resolution in the Michigan legislature. To be successful, we will need to educate, inform, and lobby state lawmakers to support this resolution. You can help by financially supporting the Citizens' Alliance for Life & Liberty. To make a secure online donation, please click here.

To learn more about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, click here.

To learn more about the Amendment, click here.

Fox News Report: UAW Members Drinking, Getting High on the Job

When has a union outlived its effectiveness? When its members are drinking on UAW property while on the clock, down at the auto plant? Watch this video and decide for yourself.

Stimulus Jobs Cost $278,000 Each

From the Heritage Foundation:

Sometimes magic tricks just aren't that great, and even the most innocent, wide-eyed child can't be fooled by the illusionist's flourish. Such is the case with the rabbit the White House is trying to pull out of its magic hat by claiming that President Barack Obama's stimulus has created or saved 2.4 million jobs at a cost of $666 billion, all while the United States continues to suffer 9.1 percent unemployment. If you do the math, that comes out to around $278,000 per job. Read the full story here.

Is the Legislature Going to Eliminate Retirement Benefits for Former Lawmakers?

From State Representative John Bumstead's Newsletter:

Since session began this year, the Michigan Legislature has been committed to controlling state spending, increasing financial stability and making meaningful reforms to state government. The Legislature also has been answering the call to cut back on legislator compensation and other internal spending.

At the start of this year, legislators took a 10 percent pay cut and made further reductions to staff salaries and overall office expenses. Now, the Legislature is looking to address existing service entitlements granted to our elected body. House Bill 4087, which I voted in favor of, eliminates retirement healthcare for members elected on or after January 1, 2007, including my own benefits. Present and future members of the House and Senate will not receive any special benefits after their service.

While legislator compensation and benefits comprise a very small portion of the budget, it is important that state officials lead by example. As we address public employee compensation as a whole, we must also look to our own spending and bring legislative compensation in line with the private industry.

Grand Traverse County Commission Poised to Pass Freedom to Work Resolution

County Commissioner Jason Gillman has introduced and achieved preliminary passage of a Freedom to Work resolution. Read the full story from the Mackinac Center here.

Illustration of How Bad the Unemployment Situation Really is.

Economists will tell you that employment improves after the end of a recession. This chart illustrates that after every recession since World War II, the number of individuals suffering long-term unemployment went up before it started down. That has been the case consistently until the most recent recession that "ended" in late 2009.

This chart might cause you to ask a couple of questions. First, is all the stimulus spending working? And, second, is extending the number of weeks that individuals can collect unemployment helping? The answer to both questions seem to be "no."

A wise man said, "Encourage something, you get more of it, discourage something and you get less of it." It seems that by extending unemployment benefits we have encouraged people to stay unemployed longer and be less motivated to pursue employment.

How Many Michigan Republicans Support "Big Labor"? Just One, Says Mackinac Center

From a story posted by Ken Braun on June 23, 2011
Big Labor bosses seeking protection from non-union competition on government construction jobs had a two-front fight going on last week in both Washington, D.C., and Lansing. Votes to determine the fate of project labor agreements occurred in both the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives and the GOP-dominated Michigan Senate. When it was all over, a total of 34 Republican lawmakers from Michigan had cast votes on these legislative battlefields, and just one voted on the side of the labor unions to protect PLAs: Congressman Thad McCotter, R-Livonia.

“A PLA is little more than a mechanism to put non-union construction companies at an unfair disadvantage, and steer government work to unions,” said Paul Kersey, director of labor policy for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. “If a company wants to bid on a contract, it has to have an agreement with the local unions. Obviously that puts non-union companies in a difficult position.”

Please click here to read the entire article, authored by Ken Braun of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

McCotter did not respond to an email from Mackinac seeking comment regarding his vote.