Redstate

Posted at 8:49am on May 14, 2008 Dem spending creates monster new budget deficit

By RightMichigan.com

Cross-posted on Right Michigan at www.RightMichigan.com.

Remember last fall when the State was facing a massive budget deficit and the Governor teamed up with Mark Schauer and Andy Dillon to ram through a couple of equally massive tax hikes?  Remember the promises that they were "balancing the budget" and that they were fixing the problem for the future?  

Yeah, so much for that.

The Ivory Tower reports this morning that we're about a half-billion dollars in the red.  Again!

Some of the anticipated red ink results from new tax breaks to filmmakers who produce movies and commercials in Michigan. Those credits could reach nearly $120 million in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, according to the House Fiscal Agency.

In all, a weak economy and tax credits will leave $430 million less for Gov. Jennifer Granholm's proposed 2008-09 budget than previously expected, according to the fiscal agency.

Posted in Breaking News | budget deficits | Democrats | James Van Der Beek | Michigan | www.RightMichigan.com — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 11:24am on May 13, 2008 Obama Chief Strategist Writing Off West Virginia and Michigan in November?

Well, He Still Has 55 States Left

By Dan McLaughlin

With Barack Obama expecting to get crushed in West Virginia today and having engaged in his protracted battle to keep Michigan's delegates from being seated at the convention, his chief strategist, David Axelrod - who not so long ago suggested that Obama would be planning to do without white working-class voters on the theory that they are Republicans anyway - seems to be implicitly conceding on MSNBC this morning that those two states are not part of Obama's plans for the fall election:

MSNBC 5/13/2008 8:37:10 AM ET:

AXELROD: There are a lot of states that are going to be pivotal in the general election...

QUESTION: But the big ones seems to me is West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Florida. That’s probably going to decide it, is it not? Those states?

AXELROD: I think we are going to do well in Pennsylvania. We’re going to do well in Ohio. I think we’re going to be competitive in Florida, as well.

I guess Obama's down to 55 states, now. And really, I wouldn't advise him to get too confident about Florida, either. Then again, maybe it's just time for him to blame another advisor.

Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | David Axelrod | Michigan | Obamafiles | West Virginia — Comments (11)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 9:02am on May 13, 2008 Michigan! Want to see Obama? Better go to Florida.

By RightMichigan.com

Cross-posted on Right Michigan at www.RightMichigan.com.

Even when we get a little attention we're treated like red-headed step children.  What gives?

By now you've probably heard the news that Barack Obama is finally planning to visit what the Associated Press refers to as the "politically neglected"states of Michigan and Florida.  He'll be here on Wednesday, May 14th.  In case you're not in front of a calendar, that's tomorrow.  

Posted in Barack Obama | Breaking News | Michigan | www.RightMichigan.com — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 7:46am on May 12, 2008 Michigan Disenfranchised: Another day without a solution

By RightMichigan.com

Cross-posted on Right Michigan at www.RightMichigan.com.

Did you hear the news over the weekend?  It turns out the race for the Democrat nomination is over.  Game, set and match.  Hillary Clinton hasn't gotten word just yet and neither, by all indications, has her BFF Jennifer Granholm but if you put any stock in what the mainstream media has to say than you know it's over.  All of it.  Mostly.  There's still one pesky issue the Dems haven't resolved and it's finally starting to garner a bit of the spotlight on the national stage.

Still no solution for seating Michigan and Florida.  

Two major battleground states that have approximately zero voice right now in the Democrats' nominating contest.  No say on who very well may become the next President of the United States of America.

But we might get a say.  Maybe.  Eventually.  Partially.  The regressisphere is abuzz with proposals and possible solutions, most of which focus on Florida getting a full delegation and Michigan being relegated to secondary-citizen status, being stripped of as many as half our delegates.  Others think we should just toss out the votes of hundreds of thousands of residents and split the delegates down the middle between Hillary and Barack... oh, but don't touch those super delegates.  They can do whatever they'd like.

The MSM, they're reporting dutifully on the left's heroic (/sarcasm) efforts to seat our delegates, conveniently ignoring the fact that it's the left that pulled the chair out from under us when we went to sit down.  (Even if Michigan gets to send a few delegates to Denver they'll be staying somewhere else in Colorado... the DNC months ago even released the State's hotel block.)

But while the national press bumbles their way to the most flattering possible coverage they can generate for the Barackstar, Detroit News columnist Daniel Howes provides a bit of a Michigan perspective.  And when you're realistically discussing Michigan AND Barack Obama it's bound to be an uncomfortable conversation.  The man hasn't exactly endeared himself to the State, what with his 300+ day absence and his constant verbal assaults on the troubled auto industry.  Which leads Howes, the columnist perhaps best respected on all things Big 3 and equipped to discuss the auto industry to deliver a bit of advice while doing something Obama, I'm sure, wishes he hadn't.

He compares the Senator to George W. Bush.

...To suggest that Japanese rivals aren't being pinched by sky-high gas prices is mistaken because, as Toyota Motor Corp. confirmed last week, they are. Also mistaken -- and unfair -- is suggesting that Detroit doesn't build fuel-efficient cars, just like when President Bush exhorted Detroit to build "relevant" cars and refused to meet with the CEOs of Detroit's Big Three.

You're right: America needs "truth telling" from its president -- especially one who grasps the facts and understands that truth can cut two ways.

It's actually a pretty scathing piece that takes the candidate to task for his ill-informed comments about the Big 3 and his penchant for piling on with non-constructive criticism.  It'd be easy to quote the whole thing but fair use and all that.  Suggested read.  

That is, of course, if you aren't entirely soured on all things Detroit after the latest revelation from the Hip Hop Mayor's office.  We knew he had a problem firing folks he shouldn't have been firing but hiring family members he shouldn't have been hiring?  

The Associated Press reports:

City records examined by the Detroit Free Press showed that at least 29 people with close ties to Kilpatrick have been appointed since he took office in 2002. Kilpatrick has cut more than 4,000 city jobs since then, including firefighters and nearly 1,000 police officers, mayoral spokeswoman Denise Tolliver said.

Tolliver defended the appointees, saying they not only are well-qualified but also are part of a tradition in Detroit...

Also a part of a tradition in Detroit...

Some Kilpatrick appointees have faced legal and ethical problems, including at least two relatives who remain on the city payroll despite falsifying their college credentials on their resumes, the Free Press said.

Political patronage.  Gotta love it.  At least it's a tradition.  Tradition makes everything OK.  Besides, Detroit's got one heck of a role model in Lansing.

The Ivory Tower follows up on that report with a quick look at term limited State House members and their next careers of choice along with those who might be replacing them.  There'll be a lot of familiar names on ballots this year, though they might not be where you're used to finding them.  

With legislators getting termed out many of them are looking for a taxpayer funded paycheck elsewhere in the State.  The bureaucratic mentality is, I think, best summed up as follows:

"I don't think anybody anticipated the consequences of a three-term career," said state Rep. Fred Miller, D-Mt. Clemens, who is caucus chairman for House Democrats and will face term limits in 2010.

"You spend your first term locking down your district, the second term trying to do some policy initiatives and your third term looking over your shoulder to see where you're going next."

Posted in Barack Obama | Breaking News | Hillary Clinton | John McCain | Michigan | www.RightMichigan.com — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Read More »