tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-357189182024-03-13T07:32:02.818-05:00The Conservative MediaThis is a platform to comment on local, state and national politics and political news. A special area of interest is the role of corporate media in politics as we move closer and closer to one huge corporation owning all of the media outlets in the country and stifling all independent and critical voices. It will also focus on the absurd 30-plus year Nixonesque political strategy of the “liberal media” lie.
This blog is on temporary hiatus because of my job and thin-skinned Republicans.Communications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.comBlogger1610125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-71570317956604700782011-04-29T07:06:00.004-05:002011-08-16T07:13:54.481-05:00Study shows smoking ban has improved the health of hospitably employees
Sunday will mark the one year anniversary of the day Michigan’s popular workplace smoking ban went into effect, and a study just released by Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) shows the law did what it was supposed to do: protect bar and restaurant employees from deadly secondhand smoke.
The added bonus is that the smoking ban has not hurt business in bars and restaurants, but it Communications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-6004055426558078852011-04-22T07:17:00.003-05:002011-08-16T07:13:00.834-05:00Indoor smoking will soon be dead in all 50 states
The dirty dozen has shrank to the smoky seven, but a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says all 50 states could have smoke-free worksites, restaurants and bars by 2020 if current trends continue.
As Michigan approaches the first anniversary of May 1 when the popular workplace smoking ban went into effect, only Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Communications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-492000853276811432011-04-13T07:40:00.004-05:002011-04-13T07:50:33.040-05:00GOP budget plan is ‘Ludicrous and Cruel’ and ‘radical, almost otherworldly’The proposed budget by the U.S. House Republicans really illustrates what the Grand Oil Party really stands for: throwing money at the super rich while shredding the social safety net and attacking the poor and the middle class.Nobel Prize Economist Paul Krugman calls the budget floated by Paul Ryan “Ludicrous and Cruel” saying it is “voodoo economics …with an extra dose of fantasy, and a large Communications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-59383879011321578052011-04-12T12:03:00.002-05:002011-04-12T12:09:38.295-05:00Moroun spreads cash and misinformationIt’s old news that Republican billionaire benefactor and Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun is spreading misinformation and lies in order to keep his monopoly on the busiest commercial border crossing in all of North America, but as the public-private partnership for the planned Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) bridge inches toward a reality, he has pulled out all the stops.Most Communications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-39959763742188025722011-04-11T07:31:00.004-05:002011-04-11T10:28:13.196-05:00Make your voice heard at the Capitol WednesdaySome 10,000 people will be in Lansing on Wednesday April 13 to protect the working poor and middle class at the We Are the People Rally.The rally is being organized by the Michigan State AFL-CIO, AFSME and Working Michigan. To accommodate working people who work different shifts, it will run from 1-6 p.m., and because of that, new people will be arriving all day. Last month more than 5,000 were Communications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-60161145664379396112011-04-08T07:33:00.003-05:002011-04-08T07:38:44.503-05:00Teabggers want to shut the government down while trying to blame DemocratsU.S. House Republicans, egged on by their masters the teabggers, are refusing to comprise on the current budget and are angling for the first government shutdown in 15 years as of midnight tonight while trying to blame the Democrats for it.Congressional leaders are negotiating around-the-clock negotiations, but clearly Republicans are not negotiating in good faith. Republicans are insistent in Communications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-59058701463090275002011-04-07T07:49:00.003-05:002011-04-07T07:56:12.186-05:00Good news for progressives: Kloppenburg win and Beck demiseIn a preview of the 2012 election, JoAnne Kloppenburg was elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday over the incumbent in a backlash to the union-busting attempt by teabagger Governor Scott Walker.In a usually slow March election, voter turnout was very high, and Kloppenburg unseated incumbent David Prosser, a Walker pal who made it very clear how he will vote when the hastily passed Communications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-45458684162620932352011-04-06T07:24:00.003-05:002011-04-06T07:35:28.542-05:00Median CEO pay jumped 27 percent in 2010While teachers, police officers, firefighters and public employees are being blamed for the Bush recession that has state and local governments struggling to balance their budgets, and public employees have made large concession of pay and benefits, there is some good news: median CEO pay jumped 27 percent in 2010.According to a USA Today analysis of data from GovernanceMetrics International, Communications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-27343987949782663732011-04-05T07:51:00.002-05:002011-04-05T07:56:51.831-05:00The right has to stoop to imposters to try and paint unions as violentThe right is spinning out of control trying to paint your neighbors, friends and relatives as “union thugs” simply because they are standing up for their civil right of collective bargaining.The massive crowds protesting the right's assault on public sector unions have been peaceful, and it is driving the right crazy that no one is buying their lie that they are violent. The leading rightwing Communications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-17858243440997218602011-04-04T07:24:00.004-05:002011-04-04T08:33:57.685-05:00Anniversary of MLK assentation also a day to show support for collective bargainingOrganized labor has long marked the anniversary of the senseless assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King on April 4 1968 in Memphis, Tenn. Because he long recognized collective bargaining as a civil right and risked his life to protect it, but this year the anniversary has special meaning with the all-out attempt by Republicans to roll back that important civil right.Beginning with worship Communications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-70493027773460915052011-04-01T08:49:00.001-05:002011-04-01T08:50:22.279-05:00Governor Snyder's First Three Months on the JobCommunications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-31989595605934779632011-04-01T08:20:00.002-05:002011-04-01T08:23:51.837-05:00Snyder ignores thousands of residents to meet with aging Texas rock starThousands of Michigan voters have been in the Capitol to try and get their voices heard on the disastrous budget proposal by Gov. Rick Snyder and his union-busting efforts, but he can’t find the time for them. It’s seems ironic that a non-resident can then get a personal audience with him.Draft-dodger, philanderer and Texas resident Ted Nugent got a one-on-one private meeting with Snyder to talk Communications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-85681487415730985722011-04-01T07:44:00.003-05:002011-04-01T07:54:32.245-05:00Rightwing Republican think tank continues to use FOIA for intimidationYou have to wonder if it's a case of the chicken or the egg with the use of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by the rightwing Republican think tank “Mackinac Center for Public Policy to intimidate and to dig up dirt on opponents.The partisan Republican think tank, financed by right-wingers like the rightwing billionaire Koch Brothers, submitted a FOIA request last week to the labor studies Communications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-27461753220885817702011-03-31T08:10:00.004-05:002011-03-31T14:06:59.875-05:00Michigan now offers the fewest weeks of unemployment in the nationMichigan Democrats are working on a bill to restore the six-weeks of unemployment Republicans lopped off a bill the Governor signed on Monday.The Governor signed House Bill 4408 into law on Monday, despite every single Michigan U.S. Democratic Congressman and groups like the Michigan League for Human Services urging him to veto it. The bill was meant to reduce fraud and clear up some technical Communications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-53695133758733204502011-03-30T07:13:00.003-05:002011-03-30T07:18:25.769-05:00Nurses and public education supporters converge on Lansing todayLANSING – Things are quiet here in the Capitol city in the first week of a two week spring break where the House and Senate are not in session, but there are at least two protests and demonstrations set for today, as well as a couple of stealth-like committee meetings.The Michigan Nurses Association is town today, Wednesday March 30, for a conference at the Lansing Center, and at 1 p.m. they willCommunications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-66195707101264241652011-03-29T07:07:00.002-05:002011-03-29T07:11:28.216-05:00Time to end the corporate welfare gravy trainWith the Republicans in the U.S. Congress proposing cuts to successful and useful programs; like Planned Parenthood, Head Start, Pell Grants, NPR, nutrition grants for pregnant low-income women, the Environmental Protection Agency and many others, they continue to ignore that fact that corporations are not only reaping record profits, but many are not paying any income taxes and some are getting Communications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-89496928723473109362011-03-28T11:54:00.004-05:002011-03-28T12:46:30.665-05:00Senate Democrats move to protect voter’s choices and the School Aid FundLANSING - Senate Democrats announced today at a press conference that they will be introducing a constitutional amendment to guarantee money from the state’s School Aid Fund is dedicated to K-12 education and not diverted to the general fundThe amendment comes in response to Gov. Rich Snyder’s budget proposal which would divert money from the School Aid Fund to pay for other measures of the Communications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-80977997292132095632011-03-28T07:14:00.002-05:002011-03-28T07:17:29.650-05:00RNC may sell democracyIt appears the Republican National Committee (RNC) is taking a cue from the Livingston County Republican party and charging a fee for democracy.CNN is reporting that the RNC is considering selling the broadcast rights for debates between its presidential sacrificial lambs to news outlets. That’s not at all surprising from the party of big money. It was something the local party did but on a much Communications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-15648688857216830052011-03-25T07:54:00.002-05:002011-03-25T07:57:24.697-05:00Save the "We the People" programThe National Republicans are using the Bush recession to go after their favorite things they love to hate, like unions, Planned Parenthood and NPR, and some other essential program may fall victim to Republicans job-killing cuts, the "We the People" program.We the People is a nationwide program developed by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Center for Civic Education. The group’s mission is to foster Communications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-43378881152373333862011-03-25T07:19:00.003-05:002011-03-25T07:27:17.543-05:00Rightwing Koch brothers also bankrolling union busting crusade in MichiganMichigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s plan to bust public sector unions and replace local control with centralized power in Lansing with this army of unelected and all-powerful emergency financial managers (EFM) has ties to the same union busting effort in Wisconsin.Mother Jones magazine did a piece on the EFM bills Snyder signed into law earlier this month that gives an EFM, after just two days of Communications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-15962460878764639382011-03-22T07:22:00.002-05:002011-03-22T07:27:18.302-05:00HHS students rising above intolerant history of communityYoung people in Livingston County are doing what they can to overcome the county’s racist and intolerant past, and that is why students at Howell High School chose to put on the play “The Laramie Project,” a play about the aftermath of the beating death of a gay student in Wyoming in 1998.The students will give their final performance of the play tonight at 7 p.m. in the drama room of the high Communications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-12904151948100168162011-03-21T07:13:00.003-05:002011-03-21T14:43:18.587-05:00Celebrate the first anniversary of the historic health care insurance reformWednesday will mark the first anniversary of the historic Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the largest overhaul of the health care system in decades.Passage of the historic health care insurance reform lowers the cost of health care, increases the number of health care providers, holds health insurance companies accountable, improves the quality of health care and extends health Communications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-53746322999701985042011-03-18T07:19:00.003-05:002011-03-18T07:24:05.103-05:00Senate Democrats move to protect civil rightsLANSING – Senate Democrats heeded the voices of the more than 5,000 working people who jammed the Capitol on Wednesday, and on Thursday they introduced Senate Joint Resolution I that would amend Michigan’s Constitution to guarantee every worker the right to organize and collectively bargain.The Resolution was sponsored by Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, and it was Communications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-50133032981719069992011-03-17T07:21:00.003-05:002011-03-17T07:25:10.579-05:00A constitutional amendment to protect a civil right is proposedLANSING –The most popular thing that came from Wednesday’s pro-working family rally at the Capitol aimed, primarily, at the anti-Democratic Emergency Financial Managers (EFM) package of bills was the announcement that House and Senate Democrats plan to be introduce an amendment to the Michigan Constitution to guarantee the right of Michigan workers to collectively bargain.Senate Democratic LeaderCommunications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35718918.post-29645719646341723082011-03-16T07:32:00.002-05:002011-03-16T07:39:02.421-05:00Republicans going after school districts that have been prudent with fundsLANSING -- With the final approval of the anti-union and anti-Democratic Emergency Financial Managers (EFM) package of bills in the House on Tuesday it’s not much of a stretch to believe there is a conspiracy afloat to bust public sector unions.Rick Snyder’s proposed budget cuts $100 million in state revenue sharing to local counties, townships, cities and villages already struggling to balance Communications guruhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15039487955952973487noreply@blogger.com0