Over Sixty Attend Center Right Meeting August 18th

The monthly meeting of the Center Right Coalition attracted over sixty attendees who came to hear from policy makers and elected officials about the future of public education in Michigan.

Center Right is becoming the hottest monthly meeting in Lansing. It is where politicians, policy makers and conservative leaders from GOP and tea party groups around the state gather to exchange ideas about how to reduce the size and scope of government at the local, regional, state and federal level.

Interested in attending? The next meeting will be held on September 15th, 9:00 a.m. 116 West Ottawa, Lansing, MI. Have an issue you would like to discuss? Let me know, we will put you on the agenda.
                                                                

Eric Holder's Department of Justice: Bankers are Smiling Clansmen?

From the Investor's Business Daily:
DOJ Begins Bank Witch Hunt
In what could be a repeat of the easy-lending cycle that led to the housing crisis, the Justice Department has asked several banks to relax their mortgage underwriting standards and approve loans for minorities with poor credit as part of a new crackdown on alleged discrimination, according to court documents reviewed by IBD.

Prosecutions have already generated more than $20 million in loan set-asides and other subsidies from banks that have settled out of court rather than battle the federal government and risk being branded racist. An additional 60 banks are under investigation, a DOJ spokeswoman says.

Civil Rights Division chief Tom Perez...has compared bankers to Klansmen. Only difference is, he said, bankers discriminate "with a smile" and "fine print." He said this kind of racism, though more subtle, is "every bit as destructive as the cross burned in a neighborhood."

Read the full story here.

Are Americans Fed up? Here Are 16 Indicators to Consider

Here is a compelling compilation of statistics, courtesy of Stephanie Jasky at FedUpUSA. Perhaps the second wave (2012) will be bigger than the first (2010).

The following are 16 statistics which prove that the American people are absolutely seething with anger right now….

#1 A new Washington Post poll has found that a whopping 78 percent of Americans are dissatisfied “with the way this country’s political system is working”.

#2 That same poll found that only 26 percent of Americans believe that the federal government can solve the economic problems that we are now facing.

#3 Gallup says that Barack Obama’s job approval rating has hit an all-time low of 39%.

#4 According to a recent CBS News/New York Times poll, Congress has a disapproval rating of
82%.

#5 A new Rasmussen survey has found that 85 percent of Americans believe that members of Congress “are more interested in helping their own careers than in helping other people.”

#6 That same survey found that 46 percent of the American people believe that most members of Congress are corrupt. That figure was a new all-time high.

#7 According to a different Rasmussen survey, only 17 percent of Americans now believe that the U.S. government has the consent of the governed.

#8 A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll discovered that 73 percent of the American people believe that the nation is “on the wrong track”.

#9 A recent poll taken by Rasmussen found that 68 percent of Americans believe that we are actually in a recession right now.

#10 According to Gallup, the percentage of Americans that lack confidence in U.S. banks is now at an all-time high of 36%.

#11 U.S. consumer confidence is now at its lowest level in 30 years.

#12 According to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, 90 percent of Americans believe that the economy is performing poorly.

#13 That same poll found that approximately 80 percent of Americans believe that it is “difficult” to find a job these days.

#14 According to one recent poll, 39 percent of Americans believe that the U.S. economy has now entered a “permanent decline”.

#15 Another recent survey found that 48 percent of Americans believe that it is likely that another great Depression will begin within the next 12 months.

#16 According to a brand new Rasmussen survey, 48% of Americans believe that reductions in government spending are “at least somewhat likely” to result in civil unrest inside the United States.

Wisconsin: New Collective Bargaining Bill Already Paying Huge Dividends

From the Washington Examiner:
By: Byron York | Chief Political Correspondent Follow Him @ByronYork | 06/30/11 8:05 PM

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signs his first budget in front of supporters gathered at Fox Valley Metal Tech in Ashwaubenon, Wis., on Sunday, June 26, 2011. The budget helped save the struggling Kaukauna School District, in the Fox River Valley of Wisconsin.

"This is a disaster," said Mark Miller, the Wisconsin Senate Democratic leader, in February after Republican Gov. Scott Walker proposed a budget bill that would curtail the collective bargaining powers of some public employees. Miller predicted catastrophe if the bill were to become law -- a charge repeated thousands of times by his fellow Democrats, union officials, and protesters in the streets.

Now the bill is law, and we have some very early evidence of how it is working. And for one beleaguered Wisconsin school district, it's a godsend, not a disaster.

The Kaukauna School District, in the Fox River Valley of Wisconsin near Appleton, has about 4,200 students and about 400 employees. It has struggled in recent times and this year faced a deficit of $400,000. But after the law went into effect, at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, school officials put in place new policies they estimate will turn that $400,000 deficit into a $1.5 million surplus. And it's all because of the very provisions that union leaders predicted would be disastrous.

In the past, teachers and other staff at Kaukauna were required to pay 10 percent of the cost of their health insurance coverage and none of their pension costs. Now, they'll pay 12.6 percent of the cost of their coverage (still well below rates in much of the private sector) and also contribute 5.8 percent of salary to their pensions. The changes will save the school board an estimated $1.2 million this year, according to board President Todd Arnoldussen.

Of course, Wisconsin unions had offered to make benefit concessions during the budget fight. Wouldn't Kaukauna's money problems have been solved if Walker had just accepted those concessions and not demanded cutbacks in collective bargaining powers?

"The monetary part of it is not the entire issue," says Arnoldussen, a political independent who won a spot on the board in a nonpartisan election. Indeed, some of the most important improvements in Kaukauna's outlook are because of the new limits on collective bargaining.

In the past, Kaukauna's agreement with the teachers union required the school district to purchase health insurance coverage from something called WEA Trust -- a company created by the Wisconsin teachers union. "It was in the collective bargaining agreement that we could only negotiate with them," says Arnoldussen. "Well, you know what happens when you can only negotiate with one vendor." This year, WEA Trust told Kaukauna that it would face a significant increase in premiums.

Now, the collective bargaining agreement is gone, and the school district is free to shop around for coverage. And all of a sudden, WEA Trust has changed its position. "With these changes, the schools could go out for bids, and lo and behold, WEA Trust said, 'We can match the lowest bid,'" says Republican state Rep. Jim Steineke, who represents the area and supports the Walker changes. At least for the moment, Kaukauna is staying with WEA Trust, but saving substantial amounts of money.

Then there are work rules. "In the collective bargaining agreement, high school teachers only had to teach five periods a day, out of seven," says Arnoldussen. "Now, they're going to teach six." In addition, the collective bargaining agreement specified that teachers had to be in the school 37 1/2 hours a week. Now, it will be 40 hours.

The changes mean Kaukauna can reduce the size of its classes -- from 31 students to 26 students in high school and from 26 students to 23 students in elementary school. In addition, there will be more teacher time for one-on-one sessions with troubled students. Those changes would not have been possible without the much-maligned changes in collective bargaining.

Teachers' salaries will stay "relatively the same," Arnoldussen says, except for higher pension and health care payments. (The top salary is around $80,000 per year, with about $35,000 in additional benefits, for 184 days of work per year -- summers off.) Finally, the money saved will be used to hire a few more teachers and institute merit pay.

It is impossible to overstate how bitter and ugly the Wisconsin fight has been, and that bitterness and ugliness continues to this day with efforts to recall senators and an unseemly battle inside the state Supreme Court. But the new law is now a reality, and Gov. Walker recently told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the measure will gain acceptance "with every day, week and month that goes by that the world doesn't fall apart."

In the Kaukauna schools, the world is not only not falling apart -- it's getting better.

Byron York, The Examiner's chief political correspondent, can be contacted at byork@washingtonexaminer.com. His column appears on Tuesday and Friday, and his stories and blogposts appear on ExaminerPolitics.com. Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/06/union-curbs-rescue-wisconsin-school-district#ixzz1UMx4Y4hL

The National Debt Explained in Simple Terms

Your family has an annual income of $58,000 a year, but spends $75,000 a year and has $327,000 in outstanding credit card debt. 

As head of the household, you decide it is time to deal with this problem. So, you decide to cut annual spending to $72,000 per year.

Now you understand what Congress just did.

- Adapted from Dave Ramsey

10 "Non-religious" Reasons Why Marriage Should be Protected and Defended

There has been no lack of debate about the role of government in preservation of the institution of marriage. The book Marriage and the Public Good: Ten Principles, by the Witherspoon Institute makes some valid arguments why marriage is so important to the preservation of a civil society. Here is a summary of the ten principles:

From "Marriage and the Public Good: Ten Principles" by the Witherspoon Institute, 2008.

1. Marriage is a personal union, intended for the whole of life, of husband and wife.
2. Marriage is a profound human good, elevating and perfecting our social and sexual nature.
3. Ordinarily, men and women who marry are better off as a result.
4. Marriage protects and promotes the well-being of children.
5. Marriage sustains civil society and promotes the common good.
6. Marriage is a wealth-creating institution, increasing human and social capital.
7. When marriage weakens, the equality gap widens as children suffer from the disadvantages of growing up in homes without committed mothers and fathers.
8. A functioning marriage culture serves to protect political liberty and foster limited government.
9. The laws that govern marriage matter significantly.
10. "Civil marriage" and "religious marriage" cannot be rigidly or completely divorced from one another.

The entire book is available online. It's only 38 pages and can be read here.

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.