Coulter Quote of the Week: dedicated to the LIVCO GOP Chair

This week’s Coulter Quote of the week is dedicated to Allan Filip, chair of the Livingston County Republican Party.

Mr. Filip wrote a letter-to-the-editor that appeared in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus today that accused the Livingston County Democratic Party of carrying “picket signs with handwritten hateful slogans” in the Howell Jaycees Melonfest Parade on Saturday. These were a few of the “hateful” signs Mr. Filip was referring to:
“No spying on Americans.” “Mike Roger's voted against children's health.” “Support the troops, bring them home.”

If Mr. Filip considers that hate speech, he must be totally outraged at the hateful and racist speech that comes out of the mouth of Ann Coulter every single day, and he must be so outraged by her speech that he will go as far as to lay down in the middle of Grand River Avenue to ensure she does not speak at Cleary University’s Economic Club Speakers Luncheon Series in October for a cool $30,000.

Some how, I don’t see that happening.

In an ironic twist of fate, Mr. Flip is the husband of Janet Filip, the Director of Development and Alumni Relations at Cleary University, the person who actually books the speakers for the Livingston Economic Club Speakers Luncheon Series. She had a wide choice of speakers who actually would have fulfilled the stated mission of the Economic Club Speakers Luncheon Series of enriching the Livingston County community, but she instead chose a rightwing hatemonger.

This week’s quotes are just routine, Coulter examples of raising the bar for political discourse in the country.

However, just think how outraged and disgusted you would be if these two Coulter gems were handwritten on poster board picket signs and carried in a parade.

“Most important, Democrats resolutely refuse to tell the poor the secret to not being poor: Keep your knees together until marriage.” --- Online column 8/1/07

"We ought to spend that money that we're spending in Iraq on tracking down Bill Clinton and pursuing the death penalty." The Jon Caldara Show 8/2/07

Guest blogger points out Cleary and Rogers unhealthy relationship

(This is a guest post from Michael Motta that was first posted on Michigan Liberal. I agree with his basic premise of the unhealthy relationship between the Cleary University and the Livingston County GOP - and even the Gannett corporate media, but I strongly believe Clearly is a good institution that fills a needed niche in the community. But for one more example of that unhealthy relationship Mr. Motta may not be aware of, the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus endorsed Rep. Chris Ward, R-Brighton and a Cleary graduate, during the November election without even an endorsement interview, the only candidate not to have one.
If you look at the list of earmarks Mike Rogers was asking for Cleary to receive they don’t even make sense. For example, he asked for $325,000 “for the training of technology workers, to be done at Cleary University to provide job training opportunities for Livingston county workers.” That ignores an underutilized state partnership with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation that does the same thing called the Livingston Regional M-TEC. The M-TEC, one of 18 in Michigan, “is a not-for-profit Technical Training Center operated by Mott Community College – a public institution - and advised by a board of local businesses and community representatives.”)

Mike Rogers Wants over $2.15 million for ClearlyNotA University
By: Michael Motta
We all know that politics aren't pretty and that the money flows right along with the greasy grimy hands. The hope is that there is still enough around of that cynical yet practical idea of the Founders that "ambition counteracts ambition" and that pluralism wins in the end.
But what happens when a single Congressional District has at least two of its largest media outlets, a private college, a county economics club and its U.S. Representative all on the same page? Well, you get a greasy gravy train.

Most of you have by now read of the Livingston Economic Club, Cleary University, and the Livingston Press & Argus co-sponsoring a lecture series that pays ridiculous amounts of money bring in such speakers as Ann Coulter ($30,000).
Many of you have also read of former Lansing State Journal publisher Leslie J. Hurst's breach of journalistic ethics (far more heinous than the state databases) regarding her fabrication of the LSJ Editorial Board's "non-endorsement" of a candidate in the 8th Congressional race last autumn. In fact the Board had voted 5-1 to endorse Marcinkowski over Rogers and others.

Some fewer of you may have added up the recent federal funding requests of Mike Rogers for Cleary University and found that they run in excess of $2.15 million. Some may realize that the student body of Cleary is likely smaller than many elementary schools, with figures I've seen ranging from the 400s to the 600s. So we're talking about three to four thousand dollars PER STUDENT that Rogers is requesting for a private school that had a right wing agenda even before Rogers started feeding it, and probably more so now that he has.

If you doubt that Cleary has a political agenda, it actually states one right in its president's greeting: "Welcome to Cleary University! I am especially proud to be affiliated with Cleary University, an institution committed to teaching the American free market economic system . . . " http://www.cleary.ed... And of course some of you may have read about the various ties between Cleary administration members and the Republican Party, such as Janet Filip, the development director for Cleary, being married to the chair of the Livingston County Republican Party.

First of all, the Federal Government has no business funding a private school, especially one that has such an obvious agenda. Cleary doesn't even save face by offering traditional conservative "Great Books" styled liberal arts programs - it flat out markets itself as a quick way to move up the corporate ladder (about halfway I imagine in most cases), shunning an actual education in the process.

Perhaps equally unnerving to Rogers wanting the Federal Government to toss millions of dollars at this "school" of three digits of students, is this whole chain or consortium of cohorts scratching each others' backs.

Let's see, the LSJ's Hurst helps Rogers by lying during his campaign, the LSJ's Gannett sister the Press & Argus co-sponsors the Coulter and friends lecture series (as its former publisher becomes publisher of the LSJ, replacing Hurst who simply moved her act to a Gannett paper in Louisiana) along with Cleary, and then Rogers wants a cool $2.15+ million for Cleary.

Doesn't all of that sound even greasier than usual?

I give credit to this blog http://liberalmedian... for some of my information, though the gentleman who runs it seems to defend Cleary much more than I do. In the face of the details it strikes me as a non sequitur to defend Cleary in the abstract.

Decision to embrace Coulter stains community asset

A Livingston County community asset has recently taken a beating across the state, and rightly so, for its shortsighted and awful decision to embrace and endorse the hate speech and discrimination of hatemonger Ann Coulter by paying her $30,000 for a 90 minute rant.

But the truth is Cleary University is an excellent school, and it truly is a community asset. Hopefully, the leadership at the school will come to its senses before Oct. 1 and be a leader again. One Cleary program that has greatly benefited the community is holding a breakfast next week for anyone interested in participating in the program. Leadership Livingston has inspired community leaders for 14 years, and the movers and shakers of the community are among its graduates.

Leadership Livingston was formed as a partnership in 1992 between the school and the chambers of commerce in Brighton and Howell. Its many goals include identify existing and emerging leaders and to expand the number of informed, civic-oriented volunteer leaders; to provide information on community resources; to challenge participants to increase their knowledge and become actively involved in problem-solving in the community; to develop a core of individuals who will serve the county as a source for informed, motivated project leaders and to have an immediate positive effect on the participants, their organizations, and the community.

One a week from September through May the group of about 20 diverse people from the community in the program meet to learn about a particular area of the community, such as the local judicial system, state and local government, schools and human service agencies. Where LL has had its biggest positive effect on the community has been through its required community service project.

The class is divided into small groups of four to five people, and they choose a project to benefit the community that no one in the group has a background with, In other words, a person who works in the judicial system could not work on a project to benefit juvenile delinquents. He group must work on the project outside their normal meeting time.

The project I think that has had the biggest present and future positive effect – and the one I came in very close contact with – was the project to establish a YMCA in Livingston County.

The quest to bring a YMCA to Livingston Country – the largest not-for-profit service organization in the U.S. - began in October 2000 when a group of five people from the 2000 class of Leadership Livingston chose to conduct a feasibility study to see if there was interest in establishing a YMCA here. There was a groundswell of support.

The original group from LL stayed together after the program was over and held community meetings to gauge interest in bringing a YMCA to the county in July 2001, and the support was overwhelming. In October 2001 the YMCA of the USA conducted face-to-face interviews with 45 community, business and religious leaders in the county. That also revealed overwhelming interest.

The group eventually evolved to the YMCA Founding Committee, and organizers formed several study committees and then formed a board of directors. In 2003 the board decided to affiliate with the Metro Detroit YMCA instead of forming an independent YMCA. The Livingston County Family YMCA Founders Fundraising Campaign began in January of 2006 and continues. The YMCA requires three years of programs before it will allow any fundraising for a building, and programs have been underway for the last two years at various locations, mostly at Cleary. The executive director of the Livingston County Family YMCA - Dawn Palmer-Van Camp – was a member of that LL class back in 2000 as well as a former employee at Cleary.

An informal “Prospective Applicant Breakfast” for individuals interested in participating in the 2007-08 Leadership Livingston program is being held Tuesday, July 17 from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. at Cleary University in Genoa Township, 3750 Cleary Drive. Anyone interested in attending the breakfast, please RSVP to Program Director Janet Filip at 517.548.3670, ext. 2228 or via e-mail at: jfilip@cleary.edu.

Organizer of speaker series stealthy defends racist speaker

In a classic case of deceptive labeling, a letter-to-the-editor appeared in today’s Livingston County Daily Press and Argus from Janet Filip of Genoa Township defending self-described ”terrorism and national security expert” and journalist Steve Emerson’s recent appearance at Cleary University's Livingston Economic Club Speaker Series last month.

Janet Filip is a little more than just a Genoa Township resident. She is the person responsible for booking the “acts” at the LEC Speaker Series and the wife of the chair of the Livingston County Republican Party. This has to be the reason the last two speakers at the series are such extreme right-wingers and moderates and liberal views are ignored despite a policy of “enrich(ing) the Livingston County community by hosting speakers who can share a broad spectrum.” In fact, they are so extreme they are racist. Emerson and hatemonger Ann Coulter – set to appear in October - do not “bring different perspectives from all different types of speakers to help enrich our community.” They do the exact opposite: they further reinforce the stereotype that Livingston County welcomes racists and bigots of all ilks.

Are you contending that because Ted. Hysen – the author of the letter Mrs. Filip is responding to - based his remarks on the article that appeared in the newspaper that Emerson was misquoted or the story was inaccurate? If so could you point out what was incorrect? The fact is Emerson’s racist views are public knowledge, and there are plenty of other sources available to make that case. Emerson claims mainstream groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (FAIR) are front groups for terrorists. The real truth is Emerson is an anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigot with an obsessive agenda against Arabs.

Emerson can say all day that he in “no way, shape, or form, believes that all Muslims are terrorists or that all Muslim organizations are fronts for terrorist activity,” but his actions are the exact opposite.

Actually, it’s people like Emerson who want to “destroy all the things we hold dear in this great country of ours.” Racial profiling and taking away civil liberties “destroy the things we hold dear in this great country of ours.”

Labeling every person from a major world religion you don’t understand as a suspected terrorist is not political correctness it’s discrimination, and it goes way beyond questioning things.