Governor Granholm to Appear in Saginaw Monday, November 2

The governor has been traveling the state, visiting local school districts, reportedly working to build support for tax increases. For some reason, she has not been asking the general public to attend and participate in the meetings. As taxpayers, you have a right to voice your opinion in a respectful manner.

Your next opportunity will reportedly be at the Saginaw ISD Transition Center, at 3860 Fashion Square Boulevard in Saginaw at 9:30 a.m. Here is a map.

Cropsey Killed it...Dead. How about a "fist pump" for Alan!

You heard about HB 5386, the physician's tax. An ill-conceived idea to impose a 3 percent gross revenue tax on doctors. It came out of the House; it was a scheme to create more revenue. It was a bad idea, but the Dems had the votes to move it out of the House to the Senate.

It sat in committee for awhile, but Senator Alan Cropsey motioned for a discharge of the bill so it could be voted on immediately. He didn't do this because he wanted it to pass. He did it to make a point that this was such a bad idea, virtually no one would support it. He was right. The vote tally was 4 (YES) to 32 (NO). Why not send a thank you note to Senator Cropsey?

Oh, by the way, the four Senators who voted YES?
Cherry (D) Prusi (D) Switalski (D) Thomas (D)

Is This the Future of Our Seniors?

Should Federal ARRA (stimulus) Funds be Used for Job Training? Nancy Cassis Doesn't Think So.

Senator Ron Jelinek introduced SB 608, which was used to appropriate $38 million in federal stimulus dollars to a state-run jobs program. It passed the Senate 34-2 and is now in the House for consideration. One might ask, "If education is being shorted, and needs more funding, why not put the $38 million there? Or another might ask, "Why are we using one-time dollars this way? What will hapen next year?" Senator Nancy Cassis, one of the two NO votes had some very good questions as well. Here is a look into the debate from the Senate floor. These are her words from the Senate Journal:

Senator Cassis, under her constitutional right of protest (Art. 4, Sec. 18), protested against the passage of Senate Bill No. 608.
"On a very important issue, I would like to express my “no” vote on Senate Bill No. 608. As you know, Senate Bill No. 608 is a supplemental, and it allows for ARRA money to be used toward job training. In as much as it is only one-time money, that raises concerns on its own. I would like to add that it is very interesting that, just within the last few days, DELEG, who oversees the job training programs and workforce training programs in our state, conveniently released a report. On the surface, it looks very optimistic that 72 percent of all the job training activities between August 2007 and February 2009 that job placement has been at a record rate of 72 percent. Again, that is very optimistic, and we hope it is accurate. I would then really suggest and recommend that this report be backed up by an objective investigation with specific, supportive references in order to verify the claims that are being made.

Further, I would recommend that our Auditor General actually become involved and do an audit of the workforce training programs and No Worker Left Behind. Up until now, there has been no realistic evaluation measurement of these programs. Included in here, as you may remember, are dollars for film training in the film industry. As you know, we are seeing certain promises about jobs coming from those training programs actually fall through...we hope these job training programs really will result in jobs because all of those people who are expecting to have employment deserve to have that expectation realized.

I raise these issues, and again, I am going to ask that the Auditor General very shortly investigate this whole arena."

Large Majority Says "Cut Spending!"

I started an online poll about a week ago. The one-question poll asked, "Should we raise taxes or cut spending?" The feedback was interesting. At first, there was an overwhelming onslaught of votes to cut spending. Then, I noticed a huge turnout of "raise taxes." Upon evaluation of the votes, I discovered that a few individuals were "stuffing" the ballot box with votes to raise taxes, literally every five seconds.

So, I added an element to the poll. Respondents were required to leave their e-mail addresses. Suddenly the results changed. The final tally was 1651 to cut spending vs. 1211 to raise taxes. But among those willing to leave their e-mail address, the tally was 310 for "cut spending" and 2 for "raise taxes."

The taxpayers who are willing to put their name on the line say, "cut spending."

Right to Work: It's Time, Michigan!

Right to Work simply means you don't have to be a member of a union if you don't want to be. The Mackinac Center has an excellent FAQ about RTW you can read here.

Senator Nancy Cassis has introduced SB 945, a local right-to-work bill that allows local municipalities to create right-to-work zones. Don't expect it to go anywhere in the legislature, not enough courage, too many lawmakers beholding to the unions.

Read an excellent essay from the Mackinac Center here.

Do you think Michigan should be a right-to-work state? Vote here.

Sheriff Mike Bouchard Coming to Center Right November 12

Center Right meets again Thursday, November 12, 9:30 a.m. in Lansing. Mike Bouchard will be headlining our list of guests. For event details and registration go here.

Are We About to Lose Our Sovereignty?

(From Wikipedia) Christopher Walter Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley (born 14 February 1952) is a British politician, business consultant, policy adviser, writer, columnist, inventor and hereditary peer. He served as an advisor to Margaret Thatcher's policy unit in the 1980s. More recently, he has attracted controversy for his public opposition to the mainstream scientific consensus on climate change.

This is an excerpt from a speech he gave 14 October, 2009.
Here is an interview he did on Glenn Beck recently.

Get the Unvarnished Truth at 95.3 FM

You want to hear local commentary on the issues of the day? May I suggest WBCK, 95.3 FM from 9 until 10 in the morning. "Renk" rells it like it is. His show originates from Battle Creek and can be heard throughout southwest Michigan. Learn more here.

It was from a listener to his show that I first received the recording of George Cushingberry in his now famous "rant". Thanks, Renk, for "keeping it real."

Read the "Renk and File" blog here.

Meet the Governor in YOUR District...Maybe

Governor Granholm is making the rounds of local school districts, ostensibly to discuss funding issues. She will be at Rochester Community Schools Administration Building, 501 W. University, (1/2 mile west of Rochester Rd.) at 1:45 p.m. Monday. The only problem is, these meetings seem to be by invitation only.

You might want to show up anyway and respectfully ask the governor to let you into the meeting to offer your input, since it's YOUR tax dollars, and YOUR district, and YOUR kids.

As we fnd out other locations where she will be appearing, we will let you know.