Up North Progressive
Politics and commentary for Northern MichiganThe Conservative Political Action Conference Has Begun: Try To Contain Your Glee
Thursday , 26, February 2015 Candidates, Presidential Primary 2016, Tea Party Leave a comment
Every year the most far right of the conservative fringe flock together to Washington D.C. for a three day orgy of ultra-conservative values conferencing, keynote speakers and breakout sessions. The purpose is to rally the base, motivate youth to join their cause, and anoint the most exalted among them for the 2016 presidential election with a straw poll. It’s the royal palace of echo chambers, and only the most ideologically pure are invited to attend.
Of course, it might be a good idea to check if you have the stomach to handle watching even a few seconds of CPAC coverage. Mash the button on this classic from a 2012 breakout session and see how long you last. One of the “rappers” in this video is Steven Crowder. Yes, that Steven Crowder.
Only the strongest can pass that test.
Speakers at CPAC are all of the people one would expect to come to a right-wing echo chamber. Sarah Palin hopefully hasn’t sobered up too much from the Iowa Freedom Summit and will provide more incredible convoluted word salads for us all to snicker at. One speaker’s name comes as a surprise – not because he’s less than conservative enough, but that he’s not a red-blooded guns and guts American. Nigel Farage heads the United Kingdom Independent Party. The best way to describe UKIP is they’re the British answer to the tea party. Nigel makes Maggie Thatcher look like a bleeding heart liberal.
Some of the highlights of the CPAC agenda’s list of speakers, breakout sessions, workshops and panel discussions include:
- The Conservative Replacement to Obamacare
- America the Military Superpower: What is the Right Size for our Military?
- Frack That! What Is Fracking and How Will it Change America?
- Reining in a Lawless President: Obamnesty and Other Pen and Phone Affronts.
- Supply-side Strategy: Exposing and Confronting the Abortion Industry as Big Business.
- Can Islam and Democracy Co-Exist?
- How Capitalism Empowers the Poor
The grand finale of CPAC is the straw poll. This year is important, as 2016 presidential hopefuls want to make the best impression for that totally important nod from the nation’s conservatives, and is a good barometer of the Republican Party’s honest chances of winning the White House.
There’s plenty of fun things happening outside of the conference too, as this video from the 2012 CPAC conference shows when some Occupy Wall Street protesters were graced by the appearance of the late Andrew Breitbart.
So load up CPAN online if you can, listen to the speakers (if they ever get their audio equipment working this weekend), and immerse yourself in what conservative America would look like if these people were in charge.
Horrifying thought, isn’t it?
Both of These Are Just Like The Other: Both of These Do Not Belong
Wednesday , 25, February 2015 Michigan Women Leave a comment
At the same time HB 4147, the bill that requires public schools to allow all and any form of public religious expression to take place anywhere and any time on school property was introduced, another house bill, HB 4140 was sponsored and sent to committee. This bill is just as ridiculous, but for completely different reasons. It’s not alone either, for over in the Senate there is an almost identical bill called S 84. These bills are almost identical because they are written by an organization from Florida called Choose Life Inc. The founder of this organization is ultraconservative former county commissioner and plumber Randy Harris.
What do these bills want to do?
Both bills, if passed, would require the state to offer an anti-choice license plate with the phrase “choose life” on it and make it available for sale at the Secretary of State offices in the state.
But wait, there’s more!
- The S.O.S and Choose Life Michigan fund will design the plate.
- The Choose Life fund will be created by the Michigan state treasury and managed by the Secretary of State
- the S.O.S places the fees collected for the Choose Life fund license plate into the Choose Life fund account set up by the state treasury.
- The money in the Choose Life fund account will be disbursed to the Choose Life Michigan fund by the State Treasurer.
- The money specifically must be used to pay for anti-choice projects promoting alternatives to abortion, such as, crisis pregnancy centers, other anti-choice groups, such as Right to Life, anti-choice media campaigns that target minorities, teens, college age women and post abortive women.
- adoption campaigns.
- The money in this fund will never go into the state general fund.
A license plate fund raiser that anti-choice groups can use to pay for facilities that coerce and scare women into not having an abortion, and media campaigns that shame and humiliate women possibly considering abortions. All of this maintained and managed by our public institutions paid for by our tax dollars. The problem with this of course is the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution, but also Article 1, Section 4 of the Michigan State Constitution.
Every person shall be at liberty to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience. No person shall be compelled to attend, or, against his consent, to contribute to the erection or support of any place of religious worship, or to pay tithes, taxes or other rates for the support of any minister of the gospel or teacher of religion. No money shall be appropriated or drawn from the treasury for the benefit of any religious sect or society, theological or religious seminary; nor shall property belonging to the state be appropriated for any such purpose. The civil and political rights, privileges and capacities of no person shall be diminished or enlarged on account of his religious belief.
The Senate and House bills, because they’re identical, violate both Federal and State constitutions. If these bills were to become law, the chances of lawsuits being filed seem likely. In North Carolina, the ACLU successfully sued the state assembly in that state because they refused to allow pro-choice license plates, but voted in favor of the Choose Life fund plates. That ruling is currently on appeal. In Michigan in 1995, Pam O’Leary was told by then Secretary of State Candace Miller she had to surrender her vanity license plates because they read 4 RU 486 on them. The S.O.S office later backed down when it became public they had also approved anti-choice vanity plates but had no intention of demaning their surrender.
Of course, if these plates are approved, then pro-choice plates would have to be approved too, and provided the same benefits of the Choose Life fund plates. The S.O.S would have to allow a design for the plate, the sale of the plate would go to the State Treasury, and the State Treasurer would have to disburse those funds to pro-choice programs and media campaigns informing women of their legal reproductive health care choices.
Randy Harris, the man in Florida responsible for the Choose Life fund is ultraconservative and used his multiple terms as county commissioner to push his conservative agenda. These days he is back in the private sector and identifies as a member of the tea party. He felt the need to create the fund because according to him, women had no other choice but Planned Parenthood, and they tell women to have abortions. Completely false, of course, as most of Planned Parenthood’s services have nothing to do with abortion, but provide women’s health care and other health services for both women and men.
If the Choose Life plate is approved, will the Michigan State Legislature also approve a pro-choice plate? If not, that could mean the anti-choice license plate violates state and federal laws. Perhaps in the future, our elected officials will take the time to read the constitution and make sure the bills they pass don’t violate our laws as S 84 and HB 4140 clearly do.
March Is Reading Month: Todd Courser Is Having A Bookmark Contest
Monday , 23, February 2015 Section 16, Tea Party, Tealiban Leave a comment
Are you ready for March to get here? It’s about -30º F this morning. Third day of no school, which means kids will have an extra day come June thanks to our Republican legislators back in the 90’s deciding schools need to be punished when Mother Nature sends us extreme weather. Now that climate change is here, even though Republicans still deny it, schools will just have to get used to spending more time at school in June.
If school children in state legislative district 82 are fortunate, the entire month of March will be canceled due to inclement weather. Just in time for March is Reading Month, Todd Courser announced a bookmark contest.
“Reading to students is one of the most important things we can do to prepare children for the future, I encourage youngsters from across the district to get involved in March is Reading Month by participating in the bookmark art competition. I also look forward to reading to elementary students during March.”
Usually March is Reading Month is about encouraging children to read, but okay, kids like to draw pictures too. Also, Todd Courser is going to read to children in March. Will he just randomly show up, or will teachers need to invite him? This feels like something out a vampire movie. Maybe he can’t come into the classroom until the teacher gives him permission.
Anyway, teachers who want to have their class participate need to fill out and send in a form to Todd Courser’s office. He also provided a template so the kids could make the bookmarks the right size for printing. The winners – one each from an elementary, middle, and high school in the 82nd district – will have their bookmarks printed and handed out to everyone in Lapeer County. Todd Courser will also display the winning bookmarks in his office in Lansing.
It’s a shame I’m not a student in a school in the 82nd state house district, but I couldn’t resist making a couple of bookmarks for fun.
What do you think? Did I make a couple of winners?
Michigan Board Of State Canvassers Get Ready To Approve Proposal 1 Language
Friday , 20, February 2015 Uncategorized 1 Comment
On February 26, 2015, the Board of State Canvassers will hold a meeting to approve language for the ballot proposal for the May 5 special election. If you’re wondering what’s taking them so long, it’s because besides the rules not applying to submitting ballot initiatives when the government does it, for some reason, there’s more than one version of the proposal being considered. Seven different groups submitted their own language for the board to consider, so they will have to read every version offered before making a choice. There is also the issue that they had to squeeze the total proposal into less than 100 words.
When you can’t easily phrase a ballot proposal into 100 words or less, you know you have a bad ballot proposal.
This proposal, currently being called proposal 1 so when the Board of State Canvassers pick the real name for it people will be even more confused about what’s going on, claims if passed will generate $1.2 billion dollars to fix Michigan’s roads, bridges and all of the other infrastructure that’s been neglected since John Engler was governor. If you’re thinking $1.2 billion won’t cover that much road repair, you’re right.
Safe Roads Yes, the only group in favor of Proposal 1, submitted language for consideration along with six others – all opposed to the ballot initiative. Of the other six (and the Up North Progressive read them all), the best proposal language is that submitted by John La Pietra of the Michigan Green Party:
A PROPOSAL TO AMEND THE STATE CONSTITUTION TO RAISE SALES AND USE TAXES,
EXEMPT ROAD FUELS FROM THOSE TAXES, AND CHANGE THE PERMITTED USES OF
FUNDS RAISED BY THOSE TAXES.This amendment would:
- raise base state sales and use tax rates from 4% to 5% (and overall rates from 6% to 7%);
- dedicate 12.3% of the 5% base rate of use taxes to the state school-aid fund;
- exempt gasoline and Diesel fuel from state sales and use taxes; and
- remove “higher education” from the definition of permitted uses of the state school-aid fund,
replacing it with “public community colleges, public career and technical education programs,
[and] scholarships for students attending either public community colleges or public career and
technical education programs”.Should the amendment be adopted?
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
The Board of State Canvassers meeting is open to the public. Anyone wanting to speak as a witness needs to put their request in writing and submit it to the board with their name and address no later than the day before the hearing.
Recap of Steve Ingersoll’s Felony Fraud Trial While A Juror Is Out Sick
Friday , 20, February 2015 Dr. Ingersoll, Section 16 Leave a comment
The Steve Ingersoll federal fraud trial adjourned until February 24 due to a juror becoming ill. The first week already revealed the long-established habit of money mishandling that brought Dr. Ingersoll to a federal district court room. Miss Fortune and Bay City Times crime reporter Cole Waterman both do an excellent job covering the trial.
Something significant to already come out of the proceedings is the testimony of James Camiller, a CPA from Lewiston (Idaho?), who very aptly described Ingersoll’s financial methods in a single word. Camiller was hired by Ingersoll in December of 2010 to help with his finances, by April of 2011 Camiller told Ingersoll he didn’t want to work for him any more and that his lack of accurate, clear records were going to cause issues with his taxes. The word James Camiller used to describe what he found was:
Sound familiar?
Statute of limitations in federal cases when financial institutions are involved can be extended past the normal 5 years, which is a good thing because thanks to a brave teacher coming forward and sharing their story, there’s evidence that Steve Ingersoll’s shady practices go back at least 20 years:
I worked as an administrative assistant in the office that treated kids with disabilities such as ADD/ADHD and autism. I never once saw someone cured, but of course I’m not a doctor and was too young at the time to fully understand the BS he was spreading. Lots of shifty practices, sub-companies and corporations that moved A LOT of money around.
This teacher worked at Livingston Developmental Academy, the first school Ingersoll opened with then partner Chuck Stockwell in the mid 1990’s. The optometrist turned educator even then had the habit of moving money from company to company to make funds disappear when he needed funds to reappear in his personal bank account. What makes this even more repugnant is Steve Ingersoll has been playing the Enron shuffle game with taxpayer money.
Stay tuned, the fun resumes next week. It’s a good idea if you haven’t done it yet to bookmark Miss Fortune and Cole Waterman for updates. There may also be the occasional article here as well.
Upper Peninsula Cougar Caught On Video
Thursday , 19, February 2015 DNR, Environment Leave a commentHunters from Remus found a deer kill in Mackinac County and tracks that looked like a large cat. They set up a camera and caught a cougar returning to eat the deer several times.
Cougars are native to Michigan and they have been sighted in both the Lower and Upper peninsulas of the state. Cougars are a vital part of the ecosystem. They cull out weak and sick animals, making wildlife healthier and making sure there aren’t too many animals for habitat available.
Michigan hunters are fortunate we have cougars and wolves in our state, they make our state better for us and future generations.
If you’re outdoors and spot a large cat, the Michigan DNR has a form you can fill out to report the sighting. This information helps the DNR monitor how many animals are in the area.
Michigan Companies Enjoying Snyder Tax Cuts Donate $3.2M To Tell Taxpayers To Vote Against Their Own Interests
Wednesday , 18, February 2015 Nerd Problems 46 Comments
On May 5, 2015 Michigan voters will be asked to vote yes or no on a proposal to raise the Michigan Sales Tax from 6% to 7% to fund road repairs, and bring with it a long line of other tax increases. Governor Snyder cut taxes on Michigan businesses in 2011 while raising taxes on poor people and old people for what he called, “shared sacrifice.” Four years later, poor people and old people just don’t have as much money as corporations making billions, but the governor decided if we want roads sans potholes, it will be up to those of us with no money to pay the bill.
Rather than pay their fair share of taxes, Michigan businesses instead formed a committee called Safe Roads Yes! and raised $3.2 million dollars to convince Michigan taxpayers they should be the ones to pay for fixed roads those businesses need to do business. Most of the donors to this committee are businesses with a stake in the road construction business, so if this bill passes it means our tax dollars will pay them to fix the roads.
A list of businesses making donations to this committee include:
- Michigan Infrastructure & Transportation Organization – $2.3 million
- Michigan Energy First – $250,000
- Asphalt Pavement Association – $200,000
- Consumer’s Energy – $125,000
- Angelo Iafrate Construction – $100,000
- Hoffman Brothers Inc. – $100,000
And $3.2 million is just the beginning, the committee will donate up to $15 million if necessary to fight the Proposal 1 nay sayers and fight to get the bill passed, if the opposition groups can raise enough money to put up a fight. So far, those groups haven’t come close in fund raising.
If people vote yes on this proposal and it passes, then ten other bills will also be triggered and become law. They include a raise in fuel taxes, raising and modifying vehicle registration fees so that the amount will never depreciate, taxing electric car owners because they don’t pay gasoline taxes, and the only good thing that will come out of passage of Proposal 1 (and the incentive to get poor people to vote yes), the restoration of the Earned Income Credit.
It’s hard to say if the $300 million in promised education funding is real. Snyder’s voodoo accounting claims per pupil tuition will increase by $75. According to one school superintendent who took the time to crunch the numbers – because that’s what school superintendents do – the actual increase in student funding would only be $2 per pupil. What Snyder isn’t telling the people of Michigan is he’s cutting some other important school funds while increased costs for schools in Michigan add up thanks to adopting Common Core, and yet another new state standardized test – M Step – that will only be used once.
Snyder and the state legislature must be pretty confident that Proposal 1 is going to pass in May. How confident? Just today the state house voted to take $250 million out of the School Aid Fund and put it into the General Fund to cover a deficit in the state budget. Corporate tax cuts means less money coming in, and that makes it harder to balance the books. Being an accountant, the Nerd should have known that.
Be ready for slick ads on the radio and TV telling you to vote yes for Proposal 1, because it’s going to fix the roads and help our kids. Like a carrot on a string, the people of Michigan are expected to keep walking because they’ll eventually get what they want, if they just keep going.
John Boehner In The Deep End: Who Needs Homeland Security Anyway
Tuesday , 17, February 2015 Uncategorized Leave a comment
There’s another deadline showdown coming between Congress and the White House at the end of this month. It’s not about budgets, the debt ceiling or Obamacare this time, it’s about immigration. President Obama intends to go forward with his executive order to help out millions of people living in the US be able to stay here legally. The House decided to try and stop him by attaching amendments that strip funding for immigration to the Department of Homeland Security funding bill that needs to pass by February 27. Boehner refuses to pass a clean bill, and believes he can try and blame this on Senate Democrats.
The Department of Homeland Security is the newest government bureaucracy in Washington DC. In the days after September 11, President Bush announced the creation of this new agency to handle terrorist threats in the United States. The bill to create the DHS passed through Congress with almost bipartisan support. 7 Democrats in the Senate and 111 Democrats in the House voted no. In those days no one wanted to appear weak on fighting terrorism, so many bills were passed with bipartisan support, such as the bill to create the DHS and the Patriot Act.
Once Congress created the Department of Homeland Security, they decided that it would be used as an umbrella department for 22 other government agencies, including FEMA, INS, the Coast Guard, TSA and the Secret Service. If the deadline comes and the bill isn’t passed, not only does DHS lose their funding, but all of those other essential government agencies lose their funding too. This doesn’t mean all of the people who work for those agencies get to take a vacation until some middle of the night deal is hashed out, they are essential services. They have to keep working whether they get paid or not. Something to remember if you plan on flying soon, and your friendly TSA agent is patting you down to make sure you’re not hiding a bomb in your underwear.
Why on earth would Congress lump all of those government agencies into DHS? Didn’t they know something like this could possibly happen? That’s why the Republicans did this back in 2002. They wanted to make sure no one tried to defund Homeland Security, so they tied all of these other agencies into it and made them all rely on funding in the same spending bill. The rationale for doing it was also to put all of these agencies into a single department, which is how most other countries handle national security.
Now, Republicans think they can once again shut down the government and blame it on the Democratic Party. What’s fun about this is President Obama’s used an executive order in a way Republicans don’t like, so now they have to threaten to shut the government down. This is potentially a political nightmare for Republicans, and Democrats can sit back and watch them try to squirm their way out of it, just like they have every single time Boehner has unsuccessfully used this strategy to try and force President Obama to back down. Boehner’s thinks he will convince people that the Senate Democrats are to blame, but the only one who’s buying that story is John Boehner. Of course, if the DHS is shut down and there is a terrorist attack, there will be plenty of blame to fling around. Democratic Party members of the house such as Dan Kildee are calling on Speaker Boehner to send a clean bill to the House floor.
So to summarize, Republicans don’t like President Obama’s plans for immigration. Boehner thinks defunding DHS and 22 other agencies providing essential security services under it’s umbrella will force Senate Democrats to vote in favor of Boehner’s dirty DHS funding bill. The Republicans have already set this idiotic ball into motion and the Democrats are giving them enough rope.
Why Does Tom Casperson Hate Nature?
Monday , 16, February 2015 DNR, Environment, Wolf Hunt Leave a comment
Michigan State Senator Tom Casperson recently pushed through a resolution meant to take wolves off of the endangered species list. Again. Wolves were returned to that list in December, 2014, after Michigan voters soundly defeated two ballot initiatives to stop wolf hunting in the state. As is the norm for Republicans in the 21st century, the will of the people comes second to special interests. Casperson has always been a strong supporter of wolf hunting, since he first rallied for it in 2011, even lying to the United States Congress about a wolf attack that didn’t happen. It’s taken three years to undo the damage he’s done, and continues to do working to make it legal once more to trophy hunt these protected animals.
Wolves are a vital part of every healthy ecosystem. Ten years of research at Yellowstone National Park where wolves were reintroduced shows significant improvement to not only the wildlife that shares the park, but with the health of the river system too. Healthy forests and wetlands don’t mean much to the senator however. Tom Casperson recently let the state know he holds no love for state or national forests – places where wildlife live – either. He’s currently promoting the sale of over 10,000 acres of state forest land in the Upper Peninsula to a company from British Columbia called Graymont. They want to turn state land in three counties into a limestone quarry for 30 cents a ton. Wetlands, forests, and wildlife currently living there will all be affected. Once the mining destroys the soil, air, and water quality it will affect people too.
While Dan Benishek, Bill Huizenga, and Tim Walberg stump for Casperson in Washington DC, Public Act 21, and the Michigan Natural Resource Commission Initiative, the laws passed to undermine the will of the people of the state goes into effect in March. This law will have little effect with Michigan wolves currently protected. That’s why Casperson is working so hard now to get wolves off the list, so by March of 2015 when the Michigan Natural Resources Commission has authority to sanction wolf hunts, they will have something to do. The seven member commission, all appointed by the governor, are made up of four Republicans, two Democrats and one Independent.
Michigan citizens need to let Tom Casperson know they don’t appreciate him helping foreign companies buy up land that belongs to the taxpayers of the state so they can mine it, and he really needs to leave the wolves alone. If you haven’t done so yet, you still have time to let the DNR know your opinion about the Graymont land deal by email or by writing to: Customer Service Center, ATTN: Kerry Wieber, 8717 N. Roscommon Road, Roscommon, MI 48653. Make sure to contact them by March 19.
You can also contact Tom Casperson and let him know what you think about his efforts to allow trophy hunting of wolves and the destruction of land that belongs to the people of Michigan. By mail: Senator Tom Casperson P.O. Box 30036 Lansing, MI 48909-7536. By phone: (517) 373-7840. By fax: (517) 373-3932 and of course by email. Remind him he’s elected by people, not by corporations and special interests.