Up North Progressive
Politics and commentary for Northern MichiganPresident Obama Turns Down A Wedding Invitation And Plays Golf: The Perfect Storm of Right-Wing Hate Begins In 3 … 2 … 1 …
Monday , 29, December 2014 Trollbama Watch Leave a comment
Today the world learned that President Obama was a big meanie to a wedding couple who wanted to have their special day at the Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course in Hawaii. The course where he plays when he’s visiting his home state advises anyone reserving the venue to make alternative plans or accept their event will be moved to the next day if the Commander in Chief has a round of golf on his schedule. The couple, Natalie Heimel and Edward Mallue were aware it might happen and invited the president to their wedding.
The president RSVPed his regrets, and then hours later the bride and groom learned they had to change their wedding plans because the president wanted to play 18 holes.
Before everyone rages at how inconsiderate President Obama is to this couple, who also happen to be officers in the U.S. Army, keep in mind Heimel and Mallue knew ahead of time that the president would be on his Christmas break and in Hawaii at that time, and he may want to play golf. It’s not like the president can go to any public course whenever he feels like it.
Of course the couple were upset, but they already had backup plans and they were married Sunday.
And when the president found out what happened, he called the couple himself to apologize and congratulate them.
It must be hard to be the leader of the free world and want to do something as ordinary as play a game of golf without taking heat from your constituents. Every other president played golf when they could and it never was the controversy that it has become with the current president. Republican Ike Eisenhower had an officer’s club built with a golf course. It’s called Camp David. For some reason though, what every other president did while on vacation before President Obama was perfectly okay with the American people. It’s only the current president creating scandal with every tee off.
Going On Offense: The Tea Bagging of Michigan PowWow
Sunday , 28, December 2014 Candidates, Presidential Primary 2016, Tea Party 3 CommentsMark your calendars and get your tickets, the big powwow at Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort in Mount Pleasant is coming and you don’t want to miss it. The date for the event is January 9th and 10th.
Before you think attending this event will offer an opportunity to experience the spiritual culture of Native Americans, you should know this particular powwow has nothing to do with any of that. This Michigan powwow is for members of the tea party as they celebrate their ‘victory’ in Michigan:
The PowWow is an event where patriots come together from across the state to network, inspire, and motivate each other; get informed; and discuss important issues. The theme is “Going On Offense” in the battle for freedom in Michigan!
The organizer for this event is state legislator-elect from the 80th district, Cindy Gamrat. She’s the founder of the Plainwell Patriots and the Huntington tea party. She hates gays, Muslims, common core and Obamacare like all good patriots, and now that more tea baggers are on their way to Lansing, it’s time to get tough on the state. A two day convention is just the thing they need now that the Michigan tea party thinks voter apathy gave them any kind of momentum back in November. Other noted future state legislators attending the event include Todd Courser and Gary Glenn.
The main theme for the Michigan PowWow is “Going on Offense.” That’s right, it’s time to show those RINOs and liberals who’s in charge – through keynote speakers and breakout sessions.
The three main convention offerings so far are the only agenda available on the Michigan PowWow website. They include such tantalizing titles as:
“Inner-Party Politics – Committees and Conventions: stories, strategy and tactics to bring the GOP back to its platform.” – this will include keynote speakers Dave Agema and John Yob, where they will rehash the fiasco that was the 2014 Michigan Republican Convention in Novi. Because every election the tea party doesn’t win is clearly stolen from them.
“2015 Legislative Plan – How to advance the Conservative Agenda.” – Now that more tea party members are in the state legislature, there’s a massive social conservative agenda to ram down the state’s throat while screaming taxes are too high if anyone pays a single cent. Complimentary wool to pull over your eyes when you need to pretend one doesn’t require the other to enforce said tea party agenda will be provided.
“2016 Elections and Beyond – Getting the Grassroots ready to be the Constitutional Conservative wave.” – Because 2016 is coming and everyone knows what that means – get used to saying President Clinton again. This is the title for the yet to be named breakout sessions that are supposed to occur for the rest of the convention.
Sponsors for the event include Mackinac Center, The John Birch Society, Americans For Prosperity and Rick Santorum’s Patriot Voices. Frothy!
This sounds like way too much fun and excitement packed into one weekend. It’s ironic these people claim they are fighting a battle for freedom in Michigan, yet their agenda is all about restriction – Restricting a woman’s right to choose, restricting who is allowed to get married, restricting the right for workers to collectively bargain with employers, abolishing the right for anyone but a fire and brimstone breathing Christian to worship freely, taking away health care coverage for millions of Americans and returning us back to the for-profit ponzi scheme health insurance we used to suffer under.
Perhaps four years under Dick DeVos’s Money Rick Snyder and his failed state policies are not enough, two years of tea baggers running this state into the ground may be just what Michigan needs to get more people motivated and involved in fighting the insanity that is about to take hold of our state. They’re not wasting time getting started, and neither should we.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Congressman Bentivolio’s Last Official Act Before Leaving Congress.
Wednesday , 24, December 2014 Candidates 2 CommentsHe’s going back to that Mall Santa kiosk in the sky, or something. This is House Resolution #779.
One City Two Cases of School Embezzlement: Guess Which One Gets Press?
Tuesday , 23, December 2014 Dr. Ingersoll, Section 16 2 Comments
Former Traverse City Area Public Schools Administrative Assistant Mary Gillison was arraigned on December 18 for allegedly embezzling between $1,000 and $20,000 over a five year period. It could be even more, but the statute of limitations is five years. Mary used to handle money at West Middle School dealing with yearbook sales, Scholastic book club orders and the book fair, the school store, and school credit card purchases. She used school funds to buy personal items such as shoes, concert tickets and manicures.
Mary Gillison, if found guilty of the charges, should receive whatever punishment the law allows. Stealing from a school is a serious offense, as the money that funds our schools comes from the taxpayers. What is bothersome about this article however is that the media in Michigan widely reported on this case when the amount stolen in the indictment is only thousands.
Also in Traverse City is for-profit charter school Grand Traverse Academy. They’re struggling with debt after their former management company owner, Dr. Steve Ingersoll, embezzled $3.5 million from them, then allegedly committed felony fraud when he put another $2 million in his personal account from a bank loan. He’s facing 30 years in prison and his federal felony fraud trial begins in February. The $3.5 million is also taxpayer funds, and the $2 million he and his contractor, Roy Bradley, stole from the building loan was supposed to pay for renovating a church in Bay City to turn into another for-profit charter school that would have received more taxpayer money from the state.
If we do the math here, $3.5 million in embezzled taxpayer money is a lot more than $1,000 to $20,000 in embezzled taxpayer money, but for some reason Mary Gillison gets more press about her alleged crimes than Steve Ingersoll.
Where is the press on Dr. Steve Ingersoll? The news loves to report anything negative they possibly can about public schools, whether it’s about getting low standardized test scores, school staff accused of criminal sexual conduct, or embezzlement. Why is Dr. Steve Ingersoll and Grand Traverse Academy not news worthy? Not only did GTA know Ingersoll was stealing money, the charter school board tried to cover it up.
It’s only worth reporting when it happens in a public school.
“What’s Wrong, Baby?” Dish Customers Can’t Watch Fixed Noise
Monday , 22, December 2014 Uncategorized Leave a comment
And nothing of value was lost that day.
Granted, when Dish cut their viewers off from TCM and The Cartoon Network earlier this autumn it caused serious jonesing in the Up North Progressive household. Don’t judge, I like my classic movies and cartoons. When word got out however that Fox News was about to disappear from Dish, I smiled. Sure, this morning they’re airing The Blaze on the Fox News channels, and that’s even worse than Fox News. Cold turkey would be better, but Dish decided worse would be better to pacify the average Fox News viewer.
Since the Fairness Doctrine, once mandated for all news in this country went extinct during the Reagan administration. The media can print or broadcast any slant to the news they want. The national news network insists it’s false that they benefited from their Tampa Bay affiliate winning an appeals court case to lie about Bovine Growth Hormone in a broadcast, and they haven’t bothered telling the truth about anything since.
This is the news network that gave us the tea party, the war on Christmas, Santa Claus is a white guy, the Bundy standoff, Obamacare death panels, the New Black Panther Party, 24/7 Benghazi conspiracy theories, and everything is President Obama’s fault. Their first major victory in national media coverage was claiming Al Gore didn’t win Florida in the 2000 election after every other major news network reported he did (and after a final recount Al Gore did actually win), and it’s been full steam ahead misinforming, lying, cutting from whole cloth, and vilifying the president for any reason ever since.
During this holiday season if that uncle – you know, the one who rants about the evil Muslim Commie Nazi where’s the birth certificate usurper in the White House during holiday meals – seems dazed, confused, twitchy and you know it has nothing to do with how much egg nog he’s been drinking, take some pity on him, He’s not getting his Fixed News fix and without his comfortable 24/7 bubble of lies to shield him from reality, the world possibly may look too clear and focused for him to function. Ease him into the truth slowly, and consider this a holiday blessing that you might just get your family member back into the world of sanity.
Michigan Wolves Back On The Endangered Species List
Friday , 19, December 2014 Environment Leave a comment
A U.S. District Judge today ruled that wolves living in the Great Lakes region must be returned to the federal endangered species list, which puts the animals back under federal protection and out of the hands of state wildlife management.
Calling the 2012 decision, “arbitrary and capricious,” Judge Beryl Howell overturned the government decision to remove wolves from the endangered species list in three states: Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Recently, the Michigan DNR offered a reward for any information in the poaching of three wolves in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Wolves were being found shot dead in public places, which violated state law. In Traverse City, a new group called Great Lakes Wolf Patrol also offered a reward for information about wolf poaching.
Michigan voters recently voted against hunting wolves in the state after the Michigan state legislature passed a new law called the Scientific Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act. This law would have given the new Natural Resources Commission the authority to allow wolf hunting starting in March of 2015. In 2013 the NRC allowed a wolf hunt with a quota of 43 permits, but only 22 wolves were successfully hunted from the Upper Peninsula.
The ruling will make the Scientific Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act moot and put wolves back under the protection of the U.S. of Fish and Wildlife Service, where they should have remained. This also means that any poaching of wolves in Michigan is now a federal offense.
New Federal Spending Bill Will Make Bill Schuette Less Schuette: Medical Marijuana Sellers Rejoice!
Monday , 15, December 2014 Community, Medical Marijuana 2 Comments
Still bummed by the horrible trillion dollar spending bill the U.S. Congress passed over the weekend? Yes, it’s terrible, and it doesn’t help to know how many Democratic congressmen voted for it too. It’s not all bad news though.
Unless you’re Attorney General Bill Schuette.
Buried in that 1600 page bill is a thin silver lining for medical marijuana sellers in Michigan. When President Obama signs that crappy bill into law, Bill Schuette’s federal funding to harass and persecute medical marijuana sellers disappears. That’s right, states with medical marijuana laws can no longer be prosecuted by the Justice Department. Thank Congressman Dana Rohrabacher of California for adding that spending cut to the bill. Once the funding is gone, law enforcement won’t be as enthused to bust medical marijuana producers and sellers.
In 2008 Michigan voters overwhelmingly voted in favor of allowing medical marijuana in the state. The law requires patients to apply for a medical marijuana card. Sellers also must follow specific guidelines restricting how many patients they can grow medical marijuana for and how much they can provide for each patient.
In August, 2011, Bill Schuette and the Michigan State Police launched an aggressive state-wide campaign against medical marijuana sellers operating out of storefront shops. They closed down nearly every dispensary in a matter of days. Bill Schuette argued that the law said nothing about running medical marijuana shops, so they were illegal. In February, 2013, Schuette won a case in the state Supreme Court that criminalized medical marijuana sellers. Patients were still allowed to use marijuana to medicate; it became illegal to sell marijuana to medical marijuana patients.
While a battle wages in the state legislature to reverse that decision, the federal spending bill is going to also help out medical marijuana sellers in the state.
What motivates Bill Schuette to be so, well, Schuette to medical marijuana supporters? Bill Schuette is heir to the Dow Chemical empire. He’s rich, white, well-connected and has ambitious political plans. Bill Schuette believes that in 2018 when it’s time for the rich, white privileged nerd to vacate the governor’s seat, it will be his turn to sit in it. One way to do that is appear tough on crime, so medical marijuana is easy pickings.
But now it’s about to get much harder for Bill Schuette to be Schuette to people legally providing their patients with much needed medicine. A positive light in an otherwise horrible piece of federal legislation.
An Interesting Thing Happened On Twitter Or What Happens When A Title Has An Acronym
Monday , 15, December 2014 Dr. Ingersoll Leave a comment
Yesterday an article with the title, “He Stole Your Tax Dollars and GTA Tried To Cover It Up” was published on this blog. When a blog is published on Up North Progressive, it’s also published as a link on Facebook and Twitter.
As soon as the article went live, @GTAReddit followed me. Obviously a bot on the social network that crawls for any mention of Grand Theft Auto, not Grand Traverse Academy. I was amused and instantly followed the account back, realizing the bot thought the GTA acronym in my title was about the game, not the school.
If you’ve never played Grand Theft Auto, it’s a game on the Sony Playstation console that pretty much lives up to the name. The point of the game is to work your way up from the bottom in a city’s criminal underground. It’s violent, has very adult themes and if you’re low on health you have to pay a working girl on the street to build it back up. Every character in Grand Theft Auto is a criminal: The drug dealers, car boosters, business owners, police and politicians. Not a decent person exists in this game, much like the for-profit charter school business in Michigan.
My GTA story is about an optometrist currently charged with federal felony fraud for embezzling $3.5 million from for-profit charter school Grand Traverse Academy, then depositing a building loan into his personal bank account because he needed money to pay back the money he embezzled, or loaned as he calls it, from the school. I think Dr. Steve Ingersoll could be a character in the next Grand Theft Auto game.
Maybe we should start calling it Grand Theft Academy? I wish I had photo shop skills, I would make the above logo say that.
He Stole Your Tax Dollars and GTA Tried To Cover It Up: The Continuing Story of Dr. Steve Ingersoll
Sunday , 14, December 2014 Dr. Ingersoll, Section 16 8 Comments
Miss Fortune once again provides readers with an exhaustive exposé of cover ups, shenanigans and denial going on with for-profit charter school Grand Traverse Academy and their former management company, Dr. Steve Ingersoll’s Smart Schools LLC.
What the documents obtained through an FOIA request to Lake Superior State University, GTA’s for-profit charter school authorizer, shows the GTA board was aware that Steve Ingersoll took the taxpayer’s money issued to the school to educate children as a personal loan to himself. How much money did the board know Steve Ingersoll loaned to himself? According to a tersely worded letter from GTA’s lawyer to Steve Ingersoll in 2013, the total amount was $3.5 million dollars.
In July of 2014, GTA’s board president Dr. Brad Habermehl (Another optometrist who also peddles vision therapy with claims it cures ADHD and Autism), read a statement into the board’s meeting minutes stating essentially, “debt, what debt? We don’t know about any debt.” The statement was made three months after Ingersoll was indicted by the federal government for felony fraud. Why did the board make this public statement? Essentially, they knew Ingersoll faced 30 years for depositing a large portion of a $2 million dollar building loan into his personal bank account in an attempt to pay back the money he owed GTA.
The $1.6 million “non-spendable asset” mentioned in the statement is in fact what was left of the $3.5 million Ingersoll still owed the for-profit charter school. Publicly, they decided to write it off until after Ingersoll’s trial. In reality, they admitted they were idiots to make this deal with Ingersoll’s lawyer in the first place aaaaaand, it’s gone.
So in summary, Ingersoll fleeced millions of Michigan tax dollars from GTA. GTA tried to get their money back, but realized Ingersoll was in trouble with the feds and backed off, deciding to cover up write off the debt owed until after the trial. The word that comes to mind here is accessory.
And even more importantly, these documents were obtained through Miss Fortune’s FOIA request to LSSU. So they also must have known what Ingersoll and GTA’s board were doing. How long have they known and what do they plan to do about it, if anything?
This brings up even more important questions: Is the Michigan Department of Education aware of what’s happening, and what do they intend to do about it?
These people are throwing your tax dollars to the wind trying to make it disappear. This is money that the state took from you to educate your children. Don’t you want some answers too?
Michigan Department of Community Health Will Enforce New Immunization Rules Starting January 1, 2015
Saturday , 13, December 2014 Community, Section 16 8 Comments
There are now 55 confirmed cases of whooping cough in Grand Traverse County, and five cases of measles spread between Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties. The rise in these completely preventable diseases is alarming, but even more alarming are the high rates of children not receiving life-saving vaccinations in these two counties.
Mlive provided a database of information for each county in Michigan and the percentages of children with immunization waivers in public and private schools. It may be worthwhile to bookmark this page and search through school districts in your county to see which schools have the potential for illness outbreaks.
Downstate in Allegan County the health department reports whooping cough has appeared there. They ask everyone who show symptoms to be treated for the disease whether they are confirmed or not. Whooping cough is treatable if caught early and the infected person takes a full course of antibiotics. Infants, small children and the elderly are at greater risk if they are not treated quickly.
Whooping cough in Grand Traverse County originated with for-profit charter school Grand Traverse Academy. The school closed for an entire week in November when attendance dropped below 70% of enrollment. From there the disease spread to other school districts in the county. 18% of GTA students have immunization waivers.
The state is taking action to make sure more children in school have necessary vaccinations to protect everyone from contracting these preventable diseases. Starting January 1 new rules will require parents to put their specific religious or philosophical objections in writing before being allowed to exempt their child from being vaccinated. They will in addition be required to sign a form admitting they understand that they are putting their child and other people’s children at risk if they send their non-vaccinated child to school. Signing the form also means the parents agree that their child will not be permitted to participate in school or other school-related activities if the health department determines that child is a risk to others.
The responsibility of keeping Michigan’s children and the community safe from preventable diseases must be put on those who engage in risky behavior that makes everyone vulnerable. Parents who don’t get their children vaccinated need to reconsider their choices, and the consequences of what they are doing to everyone else. Vaccinate your children.