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By saul anuzis Posted in Mark Sanford Barack Obama | Michigan Republican Party | Republicans | Saul Anuzis | taxes | Tim Walberg — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

146 Days until Election Day

June 11, 2008

MORNING UPDATE:

GOVERNOR MARK SANFORD...of South Carolina was the guest of honor at the Reagan Tribute Dinner in Oakland County last night. He gave a great speech about sticking to conservative principles and values as we move our party forward. Special guests included Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, U.S. Senate candidate Jack Hoogendyk and many other party leaders.

DEMOCRATS GO OVERBOARD FOR NATIONAL CONVENTION...see the write up below that was headlined in the WSJ Opinion section titled "Gustapo".

OBAMAN TO TAX THE "RICH"...WHO ARE THEY?... Barack Obama has been on a class warfare tirade since he locked up the nomination, accusing John McCain of defending Bush tax cuts for "the rich." It sounds like ALL of us will end up paying.

Steve Moore in the WSJ writes: "This is not just a rhetorical exercise. It could tell us a lot about whether Democrats can come anywhere close to paying for all their spending promises and still meet their vow to balance the budget. One problem for Senator Obama and his class-warfare crowd is that repealing the Bush tax cuts for those with earnings of more than $250,000 would raise only about $40 billion a year, according to Cato Institute economist Alan Reynolds. That would leave President Obama with a $360 billion shortfall to meet his other proposals. Either those nurses and policemen are going to have to be defined as "rich" by Team Obama, or the Democrats' pledge of balancing the budget in five years is a fantasy. Add the fact that his various spending proposals will certainly prove more costly than projected. It sounds like not just the top 2% but most of the bottom 98% had better get ready for higher taxes under an Obama administration."

CONGRESSMAN TIM WALBERG FIGHTING FOR LOWER GAS PRICES...will lead an effort to build support for the discharge petition and the bill, which would boost U.S. oil drilling and construction of oil refineries and nuclear power plants. AAA said this weekend gas reached an all-time high with an average price of $4 a gallon nationwide.

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS...HUGHES SULLIVAN ASKS FOR OUR HELP...Move America Forward invites you to support our drive to send the largest number of care packages to U.S. troops in history!

Simply sponsor care packs to our troops - pick from the packages listed below - and we'll send the care pack to U.S. troops serving in Iraq & Afghanistan. The items will be personally labeled, indicating whom the sponsor of the package was and how you can be reached, and will include a special personalized message to our troops that you can choose to include.

VOTE FOR CHIEF JUSTICE CLIFF TAYLOR...ONLINE...TODAY... the Michigan Lawyers Weekly is running an online poll pitting MI Supreme Court Chief Justice Clifford W. Taylor against would-be challenger Marietta Robinson. Given the obvious left leaning, pro-trial lawyer slant of the publication, the Democrats undoubtedly will try to spin the skewed results in their favor. That's why I need you to VOTE FOR CLIFF TODAY. It's free and you'll be sending a strong message that you support Michigan's common sense, law-and-order chief justice.

MICHAEL BARONE and ME...TALK RADIO 1400 AM in Southeast Michigan...this Friday night at 8:00pm and then Saturday and Sunday...I've become a weekly guest on the Hughes Sullivan Show on WDTK-AM 1400, which is broadcast in metro Detroit every evening. I am scheduled to regularly appear Mondays and Fridays between 8:15-8:45 pm. Good, conservative talk radio. You can also hear it online.

MICHIGAN BUSINESS TAX....the new and worst version of the Single Business Tax... The Granholm Fix. Check out how to take advantage of some of the new tax breaks.

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FOR THE LATEST NEWS, COMMENTARY & INFORMATION:

Check...out...our...online Articles of Interest.........News...you...can...use.........

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THE REST OF THE STORY:

WSJ....Gustapo

Democrats have laid down the environmental law for their Denver presidential convention this August.

The convention organizing committee is going green to such an extent that any liquid served in an individual plastic container will be banned at all 22 events hosted by the convention. Also banned will be fried foods. Any plates must be reusable or compostable. Catered meals will be expected to follow a strict color code. Such meals must not only be locally or organically grown, but consist of at least three of the following five colors -- red, green, yellow, blue/purple and white. (Oranges and carrots would appear to be have lost out.)

"Blue could be a challenge," Ed Janos, owner of the local Cook's Fresh Market, told the Denver Post. "All I can think of are blueberries." Nick Agro, owner of Whirled Peas Catering, is worried. "I question the feasibility," he says, noting that the growing season in Colorado is short and that using "organic stuff pretty much doubles your price."

Then there are ethical dilemmas. Compostable products, such as forks and knives made from cornstarch, usually are imported from Asia on massive, fuel-consuming freighters. Are they a better environmental choice than recyclable plates?

Back in 2003, Democrats snickered at the intolerance of a Republican House chairman who expressed his disdain for France's refusal to back the Iraq War by insisting that "Freedom Fries" be served in the House cafeteria. Now, Democrats are going much further with their political correctness. French fries -- and all other fried foods -- will be banned from their convention's parties. Food critics are already wondering what else liberals may have in store for us if they have control of both the White House and Congress next January.

TODAY'S TOP STORIES

The following stories and more are available at my Articles of Interest online.

Michigan's economic growth news worsens

State's economic indicators drop; status quo promises more decline
Michael D. LaFaive and Michael Hicks

The Great Lakes State received bad news last week. Its economic performance -- as measured by state gross domestic product or total economic output statistics -- declined for the second consecutive year.

Seeds of reform are often planted during times of crisis, but the correct reforms are not being advanced. While the problems of the Big Three automakers make a big impact, other big manufacturing states like Ohio are still doing better than Michigan.

The $1.4 billion tax increase, along with a likely electricity rate hike and a massive regulatory expansion on groundwater use, will harm Michigan's economy by imposing higher costs and chasing more people from the state. So far, no amount of cheerleading from Lansing, new subsidies or discriminatory "economic development" programs have fixed our hostile business climate.

At the Capitol: Legislature firms up 2009 budget; outlines less than pleasing

Our opinions
• June 10, 2008 • From Lansing State Journal

The Legislature's supposed to be in the stretch run on a 2009 budget to finance vital state services and advance critical policy improvements.

Work done on key accounts is less than encouraging. The 2009 budget is shaping up as another year in which the state spends far too much on prisons and not enough on higher education; a year in which struggling local governments are again left high and dry.

Less than a month ago, lawmakers got the gloomy news that previously optimistic revenue projections were too optimistic. The May estimates left the Legislature $400 million in the hole for the coming year.

Airport funds: A big dose of Capitol politics has state airports in a bind

Our opinions
• June 11, 2008 • From Lansing State Journal

This little episode really requires no commentary or argument, just a description of events. Voters can apply common sense - unlike some of their representatives in Lansing.

It starts with a routine federal program to send money to airports for improvements. Michigan airports stood to garner about $163 million, of which at least $46 million is discretionary. On the latter sum, the federal government can change its mind.

To do all this, though, requires an affirmative act by the Legislature; a vote. No problem there. This isn't money from the state's skimpy coffers; it's a pass-through from Washington.

Mich. unions start to line up behind Obama

UAW pledges support, considered especially critical; AFL-CIO is poised to do so.
Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau

The United Auto Workers endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president Tuesday, an unsurprising decision that puts one of the most influential forces in Michigan politics behind the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Also Tuesday, the head of the Michigan AFL-CIO said the national labor federation's endorsement is likely, and Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Hillary Clinton supporter, appeared at a Washington press conference of senior Democratic leaders aimed at emphasizing party unity after a bruising primary campaign.

Obama "has pledged to rebuild America's manufacturing base and to assist the auto industry as we retool toward a cleaner, more modern transportation system," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said in a statement.

Upgrade health care digitally

BY JOHN ENGLER • June 11, 2008

A Gallup Poll earlier this year of residents of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties showed that their biggest concern about health care was cost. Commissioned by the Council for Excellence in Government, the poll found that 25% of people surveyed put off medical treatment over the last year because of inability to pay.

Like every state, Michigan is squeezed between rising health care costs and declining health care coverage. And while premiums are certainly rising for consumers, they are rising just as fast for businesses. The increased cost to employers, especially small businesses, presents an enormous challenge in producing jobs and encouraging innovation. It's nearly impossible to expand and grow your business when insurance rates for your employees are climbing higher and higher.

Congress can lead the effort to make health care more accessible and affordable by encouraging the use of information technology (IT), coupled with initiatives to improve efficiency. This is a concept that manufacturers know well.

Plan for ouster hearing: No votes for no-shows

BY BEN SCHMITT and JOE SWICKARD • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS • June 11, 2008

Any attempt by the Detroit City Council to oust Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will require that a majority of the council's nine members sit through every minute of the forfeiture hearings. And only those members who attend every minute can vote on the mayor's fate under proposed rules made public Tuesday.

The proposals were unveiled by council President Ken Cockrel Jr. as he filed 10 pages of rules Monday with the city clerk's office. The unprecedented ouster hearings are scheduled to begin July 7.

The council is to meet Monday with its special counsel, Bill Goodman, to review the proposals before voting on them, perhaps by Tuesday. Under the plans, Goodman would assume the part of prosecutor and present evidence to the council, which would sit as jury.

Detroit council files rules for process to oust mayor

Christine MacDonald and David Josar / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- City Council President Kenneth V. Cockrel Jr. on Tuesday afternoon released proposed rules he wants the City Council to follow when it begins proceedings to remove Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick from office, a process he expects to begin the week of July 7.

The rules have been filed with City Clerk Janice Winfrey.

The hearings were set to begin Friday, but Cockrel said they were delayed so the council's attorney, William Goodman, could write the rules and procedures for the unprecedented process.

Congress risks making gas price crisis worse

Windfall profits tax, market meddling would hurt supply
The Detroit News

Absent any historical perspective, the windfall profits tax on oil companies that was blocked by Senate Republicans Tuesday might have some appeal.

Petroleum firms are reaping huge profits from the run-up in crude oil prices, and it's tempting to look at that massive pool of cash and declare it excessive.

But we've been here before, and not all that long ago. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed into law a windfall profits tax to curb the profits oil companies were piling up from the price spike caused by the Arab oil embargo.

Obama, McCain enlist former lobbyists

Picks for running-mate search decried as political hypocrisy
Jim McElhatton
Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain are relying on Washington insiders and former lobbyists to scrutinize possible vice presidential candidates, even as they campaign against lobbyists as a corrosive force in the nation's capital.

Mr. Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, on Tuesday derided as a "game" inquiries into his decision to name former Fannie Mae chief executive James A. Johnson to lead his search for a running mate.

Mr. Johnson, a former lobbyist, is drawing scrutiny over ties to subprime-mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp., which Mr. Obama has railed against on the campaign trail.

Ohio Gov. Doesn't Want to Be V.P.

By Kate Phillips

Ted Strickland, the Democratic governor of that battleground state of Ohio, a longtime supporter of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, signaled his disinclination to be on the Democratic ticket in an interview on National Public Radio today.
Asked if he was angling to become Senator Barack Obama's vice-presidential running mate, he told NPR: "Absolutely not. If drafted I will not run, nominated I will not accept, and if elected I will not serve."
ABC's Political Radar caught this all early. NPR has the audio here. But it doesn't sound like sour grapes, even though Mr. Strickland worked his Ohioan machine toward Senator Clinton's March 4 victory and raised their hands together amid falling confetti in victory on that primary night.