Does anybody dispute the facts about U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-South Carolina, and how he used congressional earmarks worth $6.3 million directly benefiting his friends and family?
In Michigan, the primary election is just around the corner on Aug. 5 and politicians are waking up from their hibernation from direct voter contact.
Our state needs jobs bad and just about every politicians talks about how they are going to fix our struggling economy. They ignore an issue even more important: How our state’s child protection system doesn’t work. Look at this YouTube video of kids injured and murdered by parents and care providers and you can see that this is a national problem. Can anybody from Michigan pick-out Ariana Swinson?
Picture this happening in the Michigan Legislature: The State House and the State Senate would set the fuel efficiency standards for every motor vehicle sold in the state.
Hmm . . . that means that our term-limited state lawmakers who are still learning where the johns are in the State Capitol building would set the key standard for an industry that’s been so important to this state. Everything in our state is becoming unraveled because of our reliance on the car industry for everything.
Now, under McCain’s proposal each state would set the kind of mileage each car would have to achieve. Wouldn’t that add to the expense for each vehicle.
It seems to me that the end result is increased traffic to the local Honda and Toyota dealerships.
I’m not convinced that John McCain really understands Michigan. Maybe Mitt Romney can help him. Maybe not.
I’ve had my political blog–Politics Through Michigan Eyes–for a couple of years and I have my personal blog–Daily Grit where I jump into politics from time-to-time.
I have no desire to jump into the world of being a political junkie. And, I have no pretenses that I can sort out the issues and the candidates in a way that will make sense to whoever reads it.
All I want to do is being a good citizen. I want to be able to give back some of what I’ve gotten from those who came before me.
Having worked on or near the “dark side” most of my life, I know the process and the people and I know the importance of being involved.
As part of this effort to decide whether to keep this blog, I thought I’d start with a definition of politics. Despite thinking and evidence to the contrary, politics is not the art of being a scum bag. Wikipedia says:
Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions on who gets what. The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious institutions.
Politics consists of “social relations involving authority or power”[1] and refers to the regulation of a political unit, [2] and to the methods and tactics used to formulate and apply policy.
Candidates running for president have been bloviating all over themselves about their plans to provide healthcare coverage for everybody.
Republican Mitt Romney, former Mass. governor, bragged aplenty about his state’s new plan requiring everybody to get health coverage or face a tax penalty. He claimed it really works.
A few minutes ago, I heard John McCain says on CNN during a campaign appearance in Wisconsin that he would end congressional earmarks in the federal budget.
This is the process that members of the U.S. Congress uses to get billions of taxpayer money for those projects back home. The appropriation is slipped in under the radar with virtually no way to find it or identify who put it in.It’s pork barrel at its worst.
But, back to McCain. He says he will end the practice. This involves members of the Congress who feel mighty possessive about what they can do.
They’re not going to give this up without a two-by-four to the head with a spike in the end. These earmarks are not in a line-item in a budget bill. Ooops, the president doesn’t have line-item budget authority.
Is this empty campaign rhetoric? Sounds like it to me unless I hear more. Will it affect my vote? It has the potential to do that.
I just read a news story about former President George H.W. Bush endorsing John McCain. He reassured everybody that the Arizona senator is a “true conservative.”What does that mean these days?
Does anybody on the contemporary political scene know or care about the difference between the conservative and liberal political philosophies? Those pigeonholes are used so easily, by so many and for so many different reasons. Keep reading →
Just in case you’re curious, here’s what John McCain’s website says about stem cell and other human embryo research:
Stem cell research offers tremendous hope for those suffering from a variety of deadly diseases - hope for both cures and life-extending treatments. However, the compassion to relieve suffering and to cure deadly disease cannot erode moral and ethical principles.
For this reason, John McCain opposes the intentional creation of human embryos for research purposes. To that end, Senator McCain voted to ban the practice of “fetal farming,” making it a federal crime for researchers to use cells or fetal tissue from an embryo created for research purposes. Furthermore, he voted to ban attempts to use or obtain human cells gestated in animals. Finally, John McCain strongly opposes human cloning and voted to ban the practice, and any related experimentation, under federal law.
Going to the ballot this fall in Michigan means that many of us might have to really do some serious studying. Why?
Efforts are underway to put the issue on the state’s ballot in November. According to Kyle Melinn of the Lansing City Pulse, the key players in this effort are former Blue Cross, Blue Shield of Michigan leader Richard Whitmer, former U.S. Rep. Joe Schwartz and Kelly Rossman-McKinney, local public relations person who has served as a thought leader for the state and community.
Their goal is to place that issue on the ballot for this fall’s voters.
How many of you under stand stem cells and their use as possible solutions to a whole laundry list of diseases?
Okay, I’ve heard the interest groups on both sides. But, it’s hard to separate out the cliches from solid evidence for each case. I’d like to make a decision based on more than personal prejudice and platitudes from interest groups. My questions:
First, what are stem cells? I need a simple layperson’s explanation.
Why embryonic stem cells?
What evidence is there that embryonic stem cells cure these diseases?
What about stem cells from other sources?
Are they just as effective?
Are there cases where diseases have been cured with stem cells?
Michigan’s presidential primary has been over for a couple days and I’m left with a growing list of questions, impressions and facts:
Can Mitt Romney translate his business success into the political arena?
I’m impressed with what I’ve read and heard about Romney’s success in the business world. I’ve also looked at how he rescued the Olympics in Salt Lake City. But, does that mean he has a leg up on being successful in Washington.
If he won the presidency, he would share power with the U.S. Congress. That means, Romney would have to persuade a majority of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate to adopt his agenda. Keep in mind that each one of them would have their own to-do list.
Aren’t there different skillsets involved in being a corporate CEO and president of the United States?
Today’s Lansing State Journal quotes Ingham County Clerk Mike Bryanton that the primary could cost the state as much as $20 million.
Here’s what voters got for their money, according to a chart on the same page: Hillary Clinton getting 8,533 votes while uncommitted got 6,723. She was the only major Democratic candidate on the ballot because the state party violated national rules.
How does it feel to a candidate to be chased by a candidate named “Uncommitted?”
Republican presidential candidates really presented nothing new to help Michigan create new jobs.
Mitt Romney came to the state and whispered in our ear about how important Michigan is to him. He promised more jobs, new jobs. He talked about high tech jobs coming to our job needy state. John McCain and Mike Huckabee did the same.
Didn’t Dick Posthumus, former majority leader in the Michigan Senate, issue a report about a decade ago proposing that the state create Gold Collar jobs. They centered around positions where post secondardy schooling was needed but not a four year degree.
So, anything new from the candidates? I don’t think so.
