RNC may sell democracy

It 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 smaller scale in the 2008 primary when it charged admission to a debate for the two open Michigan House seats as a fundraiser.

The RNC is more than $22 million in debt from the 2010 midterm elections, despite millions of dollars coming in from corporations, both foreign and domestic.

Not only that, but the Republican Governors Association spent more than any of the major non-party spenders in federal campaigns through its network of state political action committees in the last election cycle. The RGA spent $113.7 million - just in calendar year 2010. It spent $131.8 million over the two year election cycle. In fact, it spent more than rightwing cash cows the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Action Network, American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS spent combined in 2010.

It remains to be seen if the RNC's sale of democracy is even legal under the law, and whether any network, other than the official propaganda arm of the GOP - Faux “news,” will make a bid. However, considering almost all of the current GOP candidates are already on the Faux payroll, it may be a waste of money.

Brick thrown through window of GOP office is sold off at GOP fundraiser

Apparently, the investigation over the brick thrown through the window of the Michigan Republican campaign “fix it” office in Genoa Township near Howell is over.

Howell radio station WHMI is reporting that at the Livingston County Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Day dinner Wednesday night the actual brick thrown through the window was auctioned off at the fundraising dinner.

CORRECTION:It was pointed out to me in the comments section that the brick allegedly thrown through the Republican campaign office and auctioned off was not the one in the possession of the Sheriff's Department and the chair of the Livingston County Republican Party. The sentence I misread said, “A highlight of the evening came when a symbolic brick of the type thrown through the Republican Party’s local “Fix Michigan Center.”

The incident occurred less than a week ago, and they got rid of the evidence?According to a report in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus, the brick has the words ”Long Live the USA” and “God Bless the USA” scrawled on it, according to Livingston County Sheriff’s investigators.”

WHMI reported the winning bid of $275 was made by Republican Livingston County Commissioner Dave Domas. The money will go toward items for American troops stationed in Afghanistan.

I’m a little surprised it was released. Perhaps it was never turned over to the Sheriff’s Department, and it remained the property of the GOP broke it center. As I said before, the second ranking officer at the Livingston County Sheriff’s Department, Mike Murphy, is also the chair of the Livingston County Republican Party.

Regardless of how the brick was obtained, there is a clear conflict of interest, and the investigation - if it’s not over - should be turned over to the Michigan State Police.

It’s ironic that the keynote speaker at the fund-raiser was U.S. Rep. Thad “Mad Thad” McCotter, R-Livonia, - known for his inflammatory and false rhetoric against Democrats. McCotter is one of the first people to push the death panel lie, and he has been active at “tea parties” where much of the hate against Democrats over the health insurance law has been ginned up and has led to violence and vandalism.

Some Democrats pushing to change the name of the annul state Jeff-Jack dinner

One thing I like about being a Democrat is that there are so many different kinds of people in the party with many different views.

We have Blue Dogs, pro-life Democrats and Pro-choice Democrats. Try finding a pro-choice Republican; They are few and far between and becoming more scarce everyday. We often fight with each other because we have such a big tent. Unlike the Republicans, we don’t have a purity test. I guess that’s why more people call themselves Democrats.

So, it was with surprise that I learned that the Livingston County Democratic Party recently passed a resolution asking the Michigan Democratic Party to remove the name of President Andrew Jackson’s name from the title of the annual Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner, the MDP’s largest annual fundraising event held at Cobo Hall in March, known affectingly as the Jeff-Jack.

The resolution objects to the 7th President’s human rights record and his actions toward Native Americans. The notorious Indian Removal Act of 1830 forcibly removed Native American tribes from their traditional tribal lands in the southern states of Georgia and Florida to west of Mississippi, and it became known as the “Trail of Tears.”

Despite that record, someone told me Jackson should not be viewed in the light of today’s policies. Regardless, it raises an interesting debate. The Indian Removal Act was very popular at the time, and many Americans favored extermination of the Native American tribes instead of removal.

The Livingston County Republican Party calls their annual fundraising dinner the Reagan Dinner, and Reagan was no great shakes as a president; he wasn’t even the best Republican president.

Jackson, like many of the Founding Fathers, was a slave holder. But unlike previous presidents, he was the first president that was not born an aristocrat.

He was born in poverty from Irish immigrant parents in 1767 in Coastal Carolina, and his father died while his mother was pregnant with him. Jackson and his brother joined the Continental Army as boys serving as messengers during the Revolutionary War, and they served where the most vicious fighting of the war occurred in the Carolinas where atrocities on both sides occurred. Jackson and his brother contracted Small Pox while captives of the British, but his brother did not survive, leaving Jackson with no family.

Jackson was a self-made man and a frontiersman that became rich farming and raising race horses, but, unfortunately, he became rich on the work of slaves in Tennessee.

Jackson became a nationally recognized cultural hero following his defeat of the British in the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, earning the nickname “Old Hickory.” The only thing close is the adoration of General Dwight Eisenhower following World War II.

This is an interesting question that should be examined and debated. There is no doubt Jackson was a great man, but he needs to be viewed in the time he lived. No one is denying George Washington was a great man, but he owned some 300 slaves when he died. There is also no doubt Abraham Lincoln was a great man, but he was actually hated by many during his time. And, even though he signed the Emancipation Promulgation freeing the slaves, he favored colonizing them outside of the United States.

Republicans open another fly by night office in Livingston County

The Livingston County Republicans opened another temporary campaign office, but like the other previous offices under various names, this one will be soon be gone, too.

The name they are using this time is, of course, an oxymoron: “The Livingston Fix Michigan office.” The best way to fix Michigan is for Democrats to have control of both houses of the Legislature. This latest fly by night office is located in a strip mall anchored by a furniture store in Gemoa Township.

The last office was called a “Victory Center,” located in Brighton I believe - and it fled town shortly after President Obama’s historic victory.

This short-lived effort is one of 10 such “Fix Michigan offices” in the state, and they, like this one, is paid for by the Michigan Republican Party. According to the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus, “the office will serve both as campaign headquarters for the county and will house state Republican Party offices, as well as serve as a community center of sorts.” The director goes to say, “so far, the Howell-area office plans to offer yoga classes, scrapbooking sessions, a book club and computer training lessons for senior citizens.’

A community center? Please. This from the article: “The Fix Michigan office will likely close shortly after the 2010 election.” In other words, the “community center” will flee after the election.

In sharp contrast, the Livingston County Democratic Party has had a permanent office for some three years. The LCDP and the Blue Tiger Democrats have used the office to hold blood drives, fundraisers for community groups like LACASA and holding luncheons to honor veterans. Plus, the office is paid for entirely by the local party.

The Republicans are the majority party in Livingston County that holds the Congressional seat, the state Senate seat, the two state House seats, all the nine Board of Commissioner seats and control of all 16 of the township boards in the county, yet they have a fly by night office paid for by the state party and give very little back to the community, if anything.

The Livingston Fix Michigan office? The Livingston fly by night office would be a better name.

Local Republicans not happy with all cuts state budget

Sometimes they just can’t help themselves.

I know lots of Republicans who as individuals are great people, but the Republican in them can’t stop them from engaging in the favorite GOP tactics: scare tactics. Livingston County Republican Sheriff Bob Bezotte is trying to get townships to contract with the sheriff’s department for dedicated police services, and in a letter sent to the township boards in the county he made the claim that the Brighton post of the Michigan State Police may close next year, making response times even longer.

The only problem with that is that it’s just not true, and the Post Commander debunked that lie. The use of scare tactics by even local Republicans is not surprising when you consider the Bush Administration used scare tactics to get every damaging policy they wanted. Not only that, the undersheriff is the chair of the Livingston County Republican Party and supports torture.

Bezotte said budget cuts have reduced the Sheriff's Department by 20 employees since 2005, and he said residents could be waiting six hours to seven hours for a response during busy times, like during a snow storm.

According to the Press & Argus, in his letter to townships, Bezotte said he's currently working on the 2010 budget, "and there is potential for us to lose an additional six employees."

How can anyone be surprised? The all-Republican Livingston County Board of Commissioners is more concerned about being able to allow the county party to post billboards along I-96 bragging that Livingston County has the lowest county taxes in the state.
Bezotte also claims state and county politicians are trying to "fix their budget on the backs of law enforcement." He needs to tell that to the Livingston County delegation in the state Legislature who voted for an all-cuts budget that cut 12 percent from revenue sharing that goes to local governments and refuse to consider any new revenue increases to restore some of those cuts.

I also find it interesting that townships pay the lowest amount of taxes, yet a good share of the population and development is in the townships. Many townships have stepped up and have had their own police departments for years, such as Green Oak and Hamburg.

I live in the City of Howell, and I pay higher taxes for more services. But the police I pay for are responding outside city boundaries into the townships to help the Sheriff’s Department, but the townships refuse to step up.

The most glaring refusal is from Genoa Township that borders both the cities of Brighton and Howell where Republican Supervisor Gary McCririe has refused to provide services. Genoa Township has the bulk of the commercial development and big box retail stores, like Wal-Mart, Meijers, Home Depot, Lowes, Kohls, Elder-Beerman, Staples and Office Depot. I can guarantee that the Sheriff’s Department responds to plenty of retail fraud and shoplifting calls to those locations.

County GOP imports Sam the digital converter box promoter to speak

The Livingston County Republican Party is scraping the bottom of the barrel for people to speak at its annual Reagan Dinner this week. It has tapped “Sam the digital converter box promoter” to speak.

Sam - AKA “Joe the Plumber” AKA Samuel Wurzelbacher - gained 15 minutes of national fame - believe it or not - after a chance encounter with President Obama on the campaign trail, and he was used as the McCain camping as a prop to supposedly represent the average Joe. For some inexplicable reason, his 15 minutes of fame have stretched to a year. This whole saga is filled with ironies. First, he’s not a plumber and his name is not Joe.

He says he “feels he was used as a gimmick by the McCain campaign,” yet he has cashed in on being a prop. If that were not the case he would not be speaking in front of the county GOP.

I don’t understand why anyone would plop down $50 to hear this guy spout off when they could have seen him for free in September when he appeared in Brighton at the so-called “Tea Party Express” bus tour that was nothing but a hate-filled, racist anti-Obama rally. It masqueraded as a “grassroots effort,” but it was promoted heavily by the county party, Fox “news” and rightwing Washington, D.C. lobbying groups.

It makes Sam/Joe’s appearance even more ironic, and he told the Press & Argus that he “isn’t loyal to the troubled national party.”

“In a Daily Press & Argus interview, Wurzelbacher went a step further and said he doesn't identify with today's Republican party.”

That’s a view shared by the majority of Americans, and less people identify with the Republican Party.

Here’s the ultimate irony. Rightwing extremists are not satisfied with hijacking the Republican Party and driving reasonable, moderate Republicans out of the party. They are forming some weird, third party like movement and are not supporting some Republican candidates.

That’s not a problem for me.

But Livingston County Democratic Party Chair Judy Daubenmier had the best line, saying the GOP is so bankrupt that had to search high and low to find an actual working person, and the best they could do was find was someone who plays one.

"Why didn't they get a local plumber?" she asked.

Anti-Obama “Tea Party” bus tour comes to Brighton

Enough is enough all right, but enough with the fake anti-Democratic and Anti-Obama partisan and misnamed “tea parties”

The Livingston County Republican Party, along with Faux “News” lunatic Glenn Back, is heavily promoting something called the “Tea Party Express” bus tour that will be in Brighton on Sept 8 on its way to Washington, D.C.

This latest farce is sponsored by the “Our Country Deserves Better PAC (OCDB),” and it is billing the latest manifestation of the worn out and misnamed “tea party” theme as a non-partisan protest, claming, “At each stop the tour will highlight some of the worst offenders in Congress who have voted for higher spending, higher taxes, and government intervention in the lives of American families and businesses.” However, this attack will only target Democrats and President Obama.

The PAC was formed in August 2008 by veteran Republican California political consultant Sal Russo and former GOP California Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian. The PAC’s mission is to oppose Obama and the "Democratic Congress." It boasts on its web site that "we must stand up to Barack Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress." The PAC also solicits contributions by stating, "Help us fight the Democratic Congress!"

In 2008, OCDB's sole objective was Obama's defeat. NRR reported on September 26, 2008, that OCDB's website then said "it has one objective: to defeat Obama." It also has ties to the propaganda DVD stuffed in newspapers before the election called “Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West” when it was trying to smear Obama as a secret Muslim terrorist.

The thing that is for certain is we will see plenty of “birthers,” white Supremacists, militia members and secessionists mixed in with the GOP faithful on the Millpond.

Editorial tells the county GOP to care less about billboards and more about veterans

Writing headlines is a lost art, and the copy editor at the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus responsible for the headline of Sunday’s editorial deserves an award for this one, “Quit making veterans beg for small tax.”

The excellent editorial takes the all-Republican Livingston County Board of Commissioners to task for their refusal to levy a required millage to provide money for a fund for the relief of honorably discharged indigent members of the military and their families. The 1899 law mandates that each county levy one-tenth of a mill for the fund, and the Livingston County Veterans Committee, consisting of five members appointed by the Board of Commissioners to oversee operations of the Veterans Affairs Department, is only asking for half of that. It would cost the average homeowner in the county less than $7 a year.

The Board of Commissioners’ Human Resources Committee decided it needed further study, and they kicked it down the road. Apparently, support the troops is just a campaign slogan for the Republicans, and the Livingston County Republicans care more about their billboards claming the county has the lowest tax rate in the state than veterans.

American Legion Post 141 in Howell sent out a mass email asking the more than 13,000 veterans living in the county to attend tonight’s meeting of the board’s Finance Committee. The email said, “Veterans Office traffic is up. Contacts with the Veterans Office rose over 40 percent between 2003 and 2008, and are up an additional 15 percent in the first three months of this year. The combination of increasing veterans, the bad economy and an aging veterans population is creating a lot of pressure for helping veterans.”

The newspaper’s editorial said it pretty clearly, “the Livingston County Board of Commissioners should do the right thing and levy a small tax that will guarantee a fund to provide support services for indigent military veterans and their families. To do otherwise — or to pass the buck by holding an unnecessary election on the matter — is not only a slap in the face to those we relied on to protect our freedoms, but also disregards a clearly stated law.”

The editorial also picked up on the county GOP’s decision to worry more about appearances than doing the right thing, “but the county board has been balking. In so doing, it gives credence to critics who believe the all-Republican board is more interested in protecting its low-tax status — trumpeted by the county Republican Party before last fall’s elections — than in providing services for veterans.”

The Finance Committee meeting is set for 7:30 p.m. Monday in the commissioners chambers at the courthouse annex, 304 E. Grand River in downtown Howell next to the Historic Livingston County Courthouse. The meeting is open to the public.

County GOP continues to make a sham of nonpartisan races

Genoa Township businessman John Conely and the Livingston County Republican Party are at it again, and they are determined to stomp out Democrats, even in a nonpartisan race.

In a story in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus, a story on Conely’s latest exploits fails to mention his past activities. According to the article, six months before the next school board election in November, Conely is on his favorite kick and posting signs around Brighton. This latest sign calls for residents to elect "competent" members to the Brighton Public School Board who can "balance a checkbook and spend taxpayers' money wisely."

There are two seats up for election on the school board. Republican Bill Anderson is not running for re-election, but incumbent Joe Carney plans to run for another four year term. Carney is the former chair of the Livingston County Democratic Party, so Conely’s campaign is targeting just Carney.

Gee, no surprise there.

Back in February 2007, the county GOP was not content with controlling the entire county Board of Commissioners, the state Senate seat, the two state House seats and all but a few Township board positions, so they went after the nonpartisan school board elections.

In the spring of 2006 the county GOP started endorsing candidates, and Miles Vieau a former Brighton School Board member, a member of the GOP executive committee and an associate of Conely‘s, took the next step and began recruiting and training Republicans to run for school board. He also offered GOP volunteers to work on their campaigns.

Fast forward to the fall of 2008, and the Livingston County Republican Party and Conely ran an illegal campaign to try and stop a combined building millage and technology/bus bond that would equal about 1 mill.

Conely again used signs as one weapon, Bulldog orange signs that said, "Vote no on the Brighton School millage."

The millage failed, and it was revealed just two days after the election that a group calling itself "Parents Union Local No. 1" was pushing to reopen the teacher contract that was just approved in April 2008.

The so-called leader of that group was none other than Conely, and the rest of the group consisted of members of the county GOP executive committee; attorney and former University of Michigan GOP regent Neal Nielsen, county assistant prosecuting attorney Bill McCririe and Vieau.

The deadline for filing for school board seats is Aug. 11, and it remains to be seen if Conely will run for the board or if he is just clearing the way for other Republicans.

The bottom line is we need independents, progressives and liberals to run for school board to combat this naked GOP power grab. Nominating petitions and affidavits for anyone 18 or older wishing to run for a four-year term are available at their county clerk’s office, municipal clerk’s office or school board office.

The law enforcement officer responsible for the county jail condones torture

It’s a little scary when the second ranking law enforcement officer in Livingston County - who also runs the county jail - defends and makes excuses for torture, but that is exactly what Livingston County Undersheriff Mike Murphy is trying to do in a disgusting letter to the editor in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus on Sunday.

Not surprisingly, Murphy is the chair of the Livingston County Republican Party. In his disgusting letter he never points that fact out, and the editor had to do that for him. The letter is filled with misinformation, lies and exaggerations from the very first sentence.

He claims, “It has been a little over 100 days since President Barack Obama has taken office, and if it's any indication of what lies ahead for the next four years, America could be in dire straits.” Apparently, Sheriff Murphy has been asleep for the last eight years, and he is not aware of the recession former President Bush plunged the country into and the budget surplus he turned into a deficit. President Obama’s first 100 days have been spent cleaning up the mess left him.

He then launched into his standard rightwing talking points: “I could care less what a person's issue is, whether it's moving the economy toward socialism, placing limits on First Amendment rights by regulating free speech on the airwaves and on the Internet, or if it's trampling states' rights by trumping all their laws on abortion restrictions.” The socialism crack is the hottest GOP talking point, the First Amendment talking point must - I guess - be about the rightwing paranoia about the Fairness Doctrine, but I have no idea what he is talking about on abortion rights. The U.S. Supreme Court has been pretty clear on abortion.

But his real misguided wrath is reserved for national security and defending torture.

“According to The Weekly Standard, Obama has released classified intelligence to our enemies regarding the amount of coercive interrogation tactics the United States is willing to use. Such information in the hands of terrorists allows them to train for the watered-down tactics should any of their operatives be apprehended by American forces, thus making intelligence-gathering much less effective.”

There’s a great unbiased source. Coercive interrogation tactics is a nice, clean name for torture, and it has never made us safe and puts our troops in danger. The President has the right to classify and declassify information. Bush used the process to hide information. Nothing in the documents was new information that wasn’t already public knowledge.

Right-wingers claim that if you don’t condone torture you are a traitor and you are smearing the military. Nothing could be farther from the truth. After 20 years in the military, I learned hat crap rolls down hill, and the results of Abu Ghraib proved that.

Nine soldiers were convicted of abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Former Cpl. Charles Graner Jr. received the longest sentence — 10 years in prison. Lynndie England, a 23-year-old reservist photographed giving a thumbs-up in front of naked prisoners, is served three years behind bars. You don’t do 10 years in prison for making prisoners uncomfortable. The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) is not much different from a civilian court. The people who really should be behind bars are the ones who ordered the torture. Torture not only went on at Abu Ghraib, but in Guantanamo Bay as well. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was water boarded 183 times at Gitmo. That’s just what we know about. If it worked so well, they why did we do it 183 times?

Guys like Sheriff Murphy will claim that water boarding is not torture. Not true. We prosecuted Japanese soldiers for war crimes for doing it after World War II, as well as U.S. soldiers who did it in Vietnam.

“He just doesn't understand that our enemies laugh and support such actions as banning enhanced interrogation techniques. Of course, why wouldn't they? Terrorists see this as weakness, not as a means to be liked by the world. Besides, this is not a popularity contest; it is about keeping people safe. Obama is dangerous, and he's wagering your safety and the safety of your family in an effort to make America nicer toward our enemies. My question is simple: Traitor, treason or just plain stupid?”

I would ask the same of Sheriff Murphy, “Traitor, treason or just plain stupid?” I would say the latter.

The U.S. once had - before Bush - a worldwide reputation for promoting human rights. It’s kind of hard to take the high road when you torture the most vulnerable. It’s even worse when you consider most people in Gitmo are not guilty of anything.

George Washington set the tone for our stance on how we treat prisoners, and people like Bush and Sheriff Murphy should not trash that. Despite atrocities committed by the British, General Washington refused to stoop to their level.

“Not only your Officers, and Soldiers have been treated with a Tenderness due to Fellow Citizens, & Brethren; but even those execrable Parricides [traitors] whose Counsels & Aid have deluged their Country with Blood, have been protected from the Fury of a justly enraged People,” he said.

The Geneva Convention is not quaint or outdated, it keeps our troops safe. I don’t care what terrorists or the enemy does to our prisoners, it does not justify torture on our part. Two wrongs do not make a right. Our greatest source of information in the Cold War that was fought for almost 50 years - primarily with intelligence - was from defectors, not torture. We want people coming to our side, and I don’t see how we can do that if they are afraid of being tortured.

The simple fact is you do not get reliable information from torture, and you will get what you want to hear to make it stop.

“Beadwindow” Hoekstra still plans to run for Governor after security mishap

Pete “Beadwindow” Hoekstra will be the guest speaker the Livingston County Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Day Dinner on April 15, and apparently his bid to be Michigan’s next Governor is still alive.

Apparently, local media is reporting the U.S. Congressman plans to tour the state on Monday and announce whether he is running for governor. I’m amazed he is still running for governor after his massive security breach last month.

You will recall the ranking Republican member on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee gave away the location of friendly personnel on an unsecured communications device in Iraq. Hoekstra revealed a secret congressional trip to Iraq on Twitter.

The fact that this guy is still running after that massive brain fart is amazing, let alone he is still on the committee and he still has a security clearance.

County GOP gives lip service to Support the Troops slogan

I wish I had a dollar for every time a Republican accused anyone who opposed the unnecessary Iraq invasion of not supporting the troops.

But when it comes down to actually supporting the troops, it's just a campaign slogan for the GOP. The recent action by all Republican Livingston County Board of Commissioners demonstrated that fact. Because of budget constraints, the board of commisioners is not replacing the director and the administrative assistant at the Livingston County Veterans Affairs Department when they retire at the end of February. The VA county department only has three employees; the third one being a counselor.

Current director Bob Heinel presented a plan earlier this week to the board's Health and Human Services Committee to replace him, and a very emotional Heinel said the office is “headed towards catastrophe." I, like Bob Heinel, am a veteran, and I worked with him when I covered the county for the county's daily newspaper. I know how dedicated he is, and how involved in veteran's affairs he is. Not just officially, but he is at the ceremony to add new names to the Veteran's Memorial in downtown Howell, presides at the annual awards dinner and at the Veterans Day ceremony.

The department helps veterans and their families and survivors in the county in filing out the sometimes complex claims for all federal, state, county and other benefits to which they may be entitled. It also administers the county operation of the Michigan Veterans Trust Fund and county Veterans Relief Fund to assist veterans and their dependants with financial emergencies, and the county Veterans Burial Fund to help provide an honorable burial for veterans and their spouses. Some of this complex paperwork and appeal process to get the benefits veterans are entitled to can take months and even years.

In 2007 alone they provided assistance to some 5,000 veterans. The Iraq war has really increased the workload. Those veterans need readjustment assistance, including claims and treatment for PTSD, traumatic brain injury and other disabilities. Livingston County has had a soldier killed in Iraq every year since 2003 up until 2007 and 2008. We have lost more soldiers in Iraq than the 12 years of hostilities in Vietnam. The downturn in the economy, layoffs and foreclosures means veterans need help even more. This decision comes on the heels of news that suicides among soldiers in the U.S. Army rose to its highest level in decades.

When these services are most needed, why are we cutting back on them? Perhaps it's so the Livingston County Republican Party can put billboards up along I-96 that brag the county has the lowest county tax rate among Michigan's 83 counties. That is true, but we also have none of the services that other counties enjoy. The heavy snowfall this winter has really demonstrated what kind of havoc cutbacks in snow plowing can cause.

The Board of Commissioners has floated a couple of options to keep the department going. Those include partnering with neighboring Washtenaw County, shifting duties to other departments or raising taxes. We know the third option is out of the question.

Let's look at partnering with Washtenaw. Michigan is losing population, but not Livingston and Washtenaw. According to the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG), Livingston has a population of 184,000 people. Since the 2000 Census, the population of Livingston County has grown at a rate of 17 percent. That makes it the fastest growing county in the state. Washtenaw County has a population of 352,000, and it has grown 9.3 percent since the last Census.

The bottom line is when the need for help for veterans is growing and the population is growing, we are cutting back on services and limiting access. So much for supporting the troops, and all so the GOP can lay claim to the title of lowest county taxes in the state so the local GOP can put up billboards touting that fact.

The Board of Commissioners will meet at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 23 to discus the issue.

County political conventions on tap this week

With the historic election over, county political parties are holding their conventions this month to pick who will lead the parties.

In Livingston County, the Democratic Party will convene at 10 a.m. Saturday at the party headquarters, 10321 E. Grand River, Suite 600 in Brighton. The main purpose of the convention is to elect the executive committee which will select the officers for the next two years. I don’t anticipate a change in leadership

Current Democratic Party Chair Judy Daubenmier was just chosen in July to replace Matt Evans after he resigned to concentrate on his run for Green Oak Township Supervisor. Daubenmier has done an excellent job in a short time, bringing in some big speakers, done a great job in fundraising and established an excellent party blog, Living Blue.

The Livingston County Republican Party is holding its convention at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Historic Livingston County Courthouse in downtown Howell, 200 E. Grand River Ave. They will be replacing chair Allan Filip, who took over as the GOP Chair of the 8th Congressional District.

What remains to be seen is if this time the Grand Oil Party will open up their convention to press coverage. When they chose Filip two years ago, they slammed the door in the face of the press and chose him in secret behind closed doors.

Filip’s tenure was marked by lies, misinformation false attacks and power grabs.

Every picture tells a story don't it

Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words.

I had no intention on adding words to this post; just the photo. Back in the day when I was an award-winning photographer, a stand alone photo went a long way to filling the news hole. This photo, apparently, was the header of an email Mr. Anuzis was sending to supporters to push the so-called "Fight to the Finish Tour." I decided to take a look at the Youtube video from the so-called "Victory Center" in Livingston County to see if I recognized anyone.

I was surprised to see stacked next to where Mr. Anuzis and county Grand Oil Party chair Allan Filip were speaking along with the stacks of "Rogers for Congress" signs were stacks of orange signs urging people to "Vote no on the Brighton School millage." We have seen county Republicans try and do away with nonpartisan races in the county, but I had no idea they were campaigning against Brighton Schools. It seems ironic an anti-school measure is using Brighton High School's color. Go Bulldogs.

The Brighton Area School district is seeking a $15 million bond for buses and technology, and a separate capital projects sinking fund on the Nov. 4 ballot. With the bond funds, the school will purchase 1,600 new computers and 46 new school buses. While this is not entirely a new millage, it replaces an old one with a slightly higher millage.

According to the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus, "The combined building millage and the technology/bus bond would equal about 1 mill, which is slightly higher than the building/sinking fund millage rate that expired in 2007. That millage rate was 0.9 mills, or 90 cents in taxes per each $1,000 of taxable value." According to the paper, it will cost the owner of a $200,000 house $100 a year or about 28 cents a day.

I had no idea they are campaigning against this. Can somebody tell me why?

I know the GOP does not care for public school teachers, but none of the bond money collected would go toward pay or benefits for teachers. All of the money would go into purchasing technology for the classrooms. Brighton is a relatively affluent area, but the computers there are more than eight years old. The bond money would also go into buses, which seems like a basic safety issue. The state does not provide any additional money for buses. The district actually dropped busing for high school students a few years ago, but the public demanded they bring it back.

Local GOP attack on Obama uses age old tactics

The Livingston County Republican Party's letter writing team continues to use the Daily Press & Argus as a launching pad for false attacks against Democratic Presidential nominee Barrack Obama, and the latest false attack is from Brighton Township resident Randy Kniebes.

Although this latest attack from the county Grand Oil Party isn’t as racist as some have been in the past, it has elements of that as well as the misinformation and misdirection that we have come to expect from the loyal opposition.

The misinformation begins with the first sentence: “Most Americans do not know much about the character of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., despite nonstop glowing coverage from an adoring media.”

The reality is the right wants to define his character, and if anyone – and I don’t see how anyone with an email account hasn’t - has seen some of the ugly and racist emails that are floating around cyberspace, you know these experts at character assassination are pulling out all the stops. We have heard he is a Muslim, he attended a "radical madrassa” or he was sworn into the U.S. Senate using the Koran. As for the adoring media, a new study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA) found “Barack Obama is getting more negative coverage than John McCain on TV network evening news shows.” It is true that he is getting more overall coverage, but that’s not surprising when you consider the corporate media is in the business to make money above all else, and they obviously want to go where there is a fresh, exciting candidate who is drawing huge crowds and excitement instead of a tired, old politician who has been doing the same things for almost 30 years and is an exact replica of the failed Bush Administration.

What is different is the right is pulling out their old “liberal media” strategy, and the corporate media is criticizing Obama to shake the false tag that they are giving him “glowing coverage.” Hey, it has worked for the last 40 years, why stop now?

Then we get this gem:
“First, even liberal media outlets now acknowledge that the "surge" strategy in Iraq has been a huge success. Obama strongly opposed the surge. When Obama was asked in an interview if, knowing what he knows now that the surge was a big success for the United States, would he have supported it — his answer was "no." Think about that.”

Think about why we started a war that should never have been started, and every single day more and more evidence of the deception the Bush “team” used to con the public into supporting this unnecessary war that hinders are real fight against terrorism comes out. Also, there is no such thing as the liberal media.

“Knowing he had a sure success for the United States (the premise of the question), he would have instead chosen defeat and humiliation for the United States by surrendering Iraq to the terrorists. Having to choose between what is best for the United States or admitting that he was wrong, Obama chose his own interests over his country's best interests. A big warning sign.”

First, Iraq had nothing to do with terrorism. It’s difficult to sum up an unnecessary war that has gone on longer than World War II to a few black and white sentences, but right-wingers do it all the time, I guess I can too. The so-called surge was a temporary measure designed to give the Iraqi government the space and time to make the hard choices and decisions that only the Iraqis can make for themselves. That has not happened. Anyone could have predicted that the sudden infusion of large numbers of the best fighting force in the world would reduce violence, albeit temporarily. No one has yet defined what victory means in Iraq or who decides when we reach victory. The so-called surge is not the only reason violence has fallen off in Iraq, and that was just one factor. However, just last week on one day 87 Iraqis were killed and 288 were wounded. I would call that violence. If it is going so well, when are the troops coming home?

In addition to the so-called surge, ethic cleansing has worked so well it’s getting harder to find targets. The Iraq fiasco has led to segregated neighborhoods where they all once lived peacefully together. In other words, some neighborhoods are now exclusively Shi'ite and others are Sunni.

We are also paying people who once shot at our troops. Some 91,000 former militants called “Concerned Local Citizens” (CLC’s) or “Sons of Iraq” have put aside their anti-U.S. operations in exchange for cash. And of course, these contracts come at a cost. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, the U.S. is paying about $16 million a month.

The next salvo is the age old GOP tactic of taking a quote completely out of context to say something else:
“Secondly, Obama told a group of a (sic) Democrats that "his candidacy was the moment the whole world was waiting for." Moreover, Obama declared that "I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to its best traditions." What breathtaking arrogance and hubris from a one-term senator whose only significant accomplishment has not been any legislation but his own biography!”

This is from Grampy McSame’s most recent attack ad known as the Messiah ad that tries to make it seem like Obama thinks he is the second coming of Jesus Christ. Somehow, Grampy’s people think it’s a bad thing to inspire people and have our allies like and respect our leader for a change. But the full quote makes it clear that people are excited about change and restoring the country to what it was before Bush made us the guys in the black hats, who torture people, take away rights, spy on our own citizens and thumb their noses at the law.

We keep hearing this word “arrogance” attached to Obama from the right. Some how it’s arrogant to campaign for president and demonstrate you are presidential. Grampy is doing the same thing, but he has not been called arrogant. I wonder if arrogance is a code word for “uppity?” Below is the full Obama quote:

“It has become increasingly clear in my travel, the campaign, that the crowds, the enthusiasm, 200,000 people in Berlin, is not about me at all. It's about America. I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions.

Then the attacker ends with the told tried and true attack when he uses this quote out of context.

“For the ordinary Americans who Obama thinks just cling to our guns and religion, these are some things to consider before we vote.”

The full quote is, “They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." Obama was talking about the 3 million people who have lost their decent paying industrial job under Bush. To me, it’s accurate because the Republican strategy of fear and dividing people is always at work.

But Mr. Kniebes earns a gold star from party chair Allan Filip for another letter-to-the-editor full of misinformation, false talking points and half-truths.

Latest Livingston County GOP attack on Obama filled with false talking points

The Livingston County Republican Party’s letter writing team continues its attack on Barack Obama, but at least the latest letter published in the Daily Press & Argus is not racist like the last two from the Grand Oil Party.

Although the one from Howell Township resident Tom Worley is not racist, it’s still filled with false talking points and inaccuracies. It’s like he copies the talking points, but doesn’t elaborate on them. Russ Spencer needs to do a better job of communicating the false talking points to his drones.

Mr. Worley claims the only one praising Obama is Obama. Apparently he missed the huge crowds all over the country and world. He then claims he has no idea what changes the Senator is talking about. The only person to blame for that is Mr. Worley. If he doesn’t know what Obama stands for or his positions, then he has not been paying attention and does not want to know.

Mr. Worley writes “He says that the surge in Iraq hasn't worked, but the war seems to be slowing down and Iraqi leaders are declaring their willingness to take the responsibility for their own protection.” What he fails to mention is that the Iraqi government has endorsed Obama’s position on the occupation, followed by the President. That is a consistent position of a16-month timetable, dependent on conditions on the ground. That was just endorsed by the Iraqi government, and Bush endorsed it too; only he called it a “horizon.”

Mr. Worley takes a shot at Obama for the troop surge in Iraq. In regular language that’s called an escalation. It was also sold as a temporary measure, which it had to be because we do not have the troop strength to do it for long. It ignores the face that Obama was against the useless invasion of Iraq from the beginning. Here’s the most important question: what does victory in Iraq mean? When do we know we have achieved that undefined goal? When Bush says so? He’s already done that once before, years ago and many dead soldiers and dead civilians ago.

Then Mr. Worley changes talking points midstream with this one that makes no sense. “Congress has passed a bailout bill to care for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.” I have no idea what that means or where that even came from.

“One thing he seems to be focused on is a surge in troops to Afghanistan. Wonder why,“ Mr. Worley writes. That’s pretty easy. The people who planned and executed the September 11 attack did so from Afghanistan and are in Afghanistan. If we had consternated on doing the job there instead of invading Iraq for no reason we would not be in this mess.

He than goes off on a confusing tangent on health care.

His next paragraph makes no sense. “One thing he has promised is to prohibit using our natural resources to find oil, saying we can find a way to exist without dependence on foreign oil. He will support even late-term abortions.”

The Grand Oil Party’s fronting for the poor oil companies makes no sense. The oil companies have thousands of leases on millions of acres of land where they can drill and get oil, but it will not effect the price of gasoline for up to 10 years. Instead, they want to extort the Americans people to drill in environmental sensitive areas. There is also the myth that because of environmentalists no new refineries have been built in years. True, but that ignores the increased capacity built at existing refineries. We not only can break our dependence on foreign oil and oil in general, we must.

No one supports late or even early term abortions. I support a woman’s right to choose, and we should do everything possible to make sure that’s the last choice she chooses. I want to see abortions like they were during the Clinton years: legal, safe and rare.

Mr. Worley’s parting shot, “Obama is indeed a great orator,” makes no sense when taken with his opening salvo, “He speaks in riddles and innuendoes.” But that disconnect describes the entire attack.

County GOP continues its thinly-disguised racist rants

The Livingston County Republican Party continues its letter-to-the-editor writing campaign with another thinly-disguised racist rant. The latest one published in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus comes from Howell Township resident Bob Moriset.

The gist of the letter is that Sen. Barack Obama is unqualified. However, Mr. Moriset used the thinly-disguised use of his entire name, Barack Hussein Obama. This is a signal to other racists that you should not vote for Obama because he is a Muslim with a funny-sounding Muslim name. Now, he is not a Muslim, and if you need any proof of that, just watch the Hatey & Colmes show on Faux “News” where Hatey brings up his Christian minister with every question he asks. Frankly, it should not matter a lick what religion he is, but unfortunately it does.

To make sure the bigots out there know he is not only a Muslim, but black as well, we get this ridiculous sentence from Mr. Moriset. “His orchestrated background, conducted by his liberal guardians and a bureaucratic African father, will be noteworthy.”

If it wasn’t enough the sentence makes no sense, we get the remark that his father was African. Can someone tell me the significance of that statement, other than to point out Obama’s race? Obama’s mother and father separated when he was two years old and later divorced, and he saw his father only once before his death. He was raised by his mother in a single parent household, but this is common knowledge. With a 50 percent divorce rate in this country, he was far from alone.

The rest of the letter is an exercise in code words to the base and outright lies.

Mr. Moriset writes that Obama “may qualify as the most articulate ultraliberal decoy ever to get a U.S. presidential nomination.” First, Obama is a moderate Democrat, much like President Bill Clinton, but he certainly cannot be described as “ultraliberal.” I only wish that were the case. I have no idea what the “decoy” part means. A decoy for what?

He next claims, “His arrival on the scene can only be attributed to a once great, now brain-dead, Democratic Party ruled by a radical bunch determined to wreck the country as we have known it.” I’m not sure if Mr. Mr. Moriset is aware of the shambles the Grand Oil Party really is. As for wrecking the country, he might want to take a look around at events in the country and the shape of the economy after eight years of Bush. Certain events look all too familiar to people who lived through the Great Depression.

Mr. Moriset then claims, “He gained the nomination almost by default over a supremely unqualified opponent.” Is this the same opponent, Hilary Clinton, that right-wingers were falling over each other to support and endorse because they did not have enough dirt on Obama? The answer is yes, by the way.

But he saves the best for last, “This young man we know as Barack Hussein Obama has spent his entire sheltered life learning to hate the traditional values most Americans hold very dear and don't cotton to giving them up easily. President George W. Bush hasn't been perfect; few presidents are. But he is true to American ideals. So is John McCain.”

This is a man raised in a single parent household where money was often tight, to overcome racial prejudice and graduate with honors from Columbia University and Harvard Law School. He did it on his own, and he was no legacy. His grandfather and father were not admirals, nor was his grandfather a U.S. Senator or his father a president. What tradition values is it that he hates? Racial prejudice? Count me among those that hate that traditional value.

As for his unqualified and inexperienced take. They also said that about the greatest Republican president ever, Abraham Lincoln.

Republicans use public political debate as fundraiser

The Livingston County Republican Party wants citizens to be informed voters and know the issues the candidates they are voting for in the primary election in August support. That’s a great and admirable goal, but the disgusting part is they want to charge you to do so.

The Livingston County Teen Age Republicans (TAR) is sponsoring a candidate forum next month for the two open Michigan House seats, but they are charging you 5 bucks to attend the forum and hear from the candidates. I have been around politics for a few years, but I can’t recall being charged for a political debate so the party can raise money.

Republicans Jason Corosanite and Bill Rogers are facing off to run against Democrats Donna Anderson of Brighton and Milford resident Tom Crawford for the open 66th District seat that includes the city of Brighton and the townships of Marion, Oceola, Brighton, Genoa, Green Oak and Milford.

Republicans Charlie Aberasturi, Cindy Denby and Frank Portelli are facing off against Democrat and Hamburg Township resident Scott Lucas for the open 47th District seat that includes the City of Howell and the townships of Cohoctah, Conway, Deerfield, Hamburg, Handy, Hartland, Howell, Iosco, Marion, Putnam, Tyrone and Unadilla.

In a primarily Republican county like Livingston County, the primary winner will more than likely be the winner of the General Election in November – although that may be in doubt this year with the long coat tails of the next President, Barrack Obama – and if you have an uncontested race in the Democratic primary you may want to vote for the best Republican candidate.

The good news is the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus sponsors a debate for both the primary and the General Election that costs nothing, and it is truly a public service and not a GOP fundraiser.

Rightwing blogger displays ignorance in attack

I don’t make a habit of blogging about right wing blogs, but I made an exception this time for two reasons. First, it involved people I know personally where I live, and this blogger is so afraid of opposing voices I have been banned from commenting there and setting him straight.

The paid party hack at wrongMichigan took some cheap shots at Matt Evans, the chair of the Livingston County Democratic Party. Apparently, Evans and Republican Green Oak Township Planning Commissioner John Mogelnicki filed to replace GOP Supervisor Mark St. Charles. But the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus reported Township Clerk Michael Sedlak, a Republican, paid extra attention to the nominating petitions and eliminated some signatures as duplicates. Election law says you must have 20 signatures. Evans submitted 23 signatures, but only 18 were ruled valid. Mogelnicki submitted 21 signatures, but only 19 were deemed valid. The result was for the want of two signatures for Evans and one for Mogelnicki voters will not have any choice and St. Charles runs unopposed.

The candidates can challenge that decision, and Evans said he plans to consult with the attorney for the state Democratic Party. This is where the idiot at wrongMichigan tries to paint Evans as whacked out and a conspiracy theorist, but he really only displays his ignorance of government.

“Me? I thank you for your wild conspiracy theories and rampant paranoia, too, he wrote on the blog.”
“The all-Republican Board of Trustees, for those of you wondering, had zero, zilch and nada to do with Mr. Evans disqualification. I mean, nothing. The local clerk identified the invalid signatures during his review of the documents (all two petition forms, assuming he filled the first one).”

Hey genius, in township government the clerk is a partisan elected office and a voting member of the “board of trustees.” He is also a full-time township employee along with the township supervisor. It makes you wonder if the clerk gave the petitions extras scrutiny. It also makes you wonder if the blogger is just an idiot or lying. Perhaps some of both. It would have taken a minute or two to get on their web site and check.

You would also think the clerk would give the candidates a call to tell them they needed one more and two more signatures. It’s not like he didn’t know how to reach them. After all, Mogelnicki is a township official. The paper claims they filed the petitions so close to the filing deadline he could not get hold of them. In a decade of covering local government I have never heard of a situation like this.

The end result is we have an unchallenged race, and a supervisor who is reelected for another four years without once having to answer to the voters for anything. So much for democracy. We know politicians are more responsive to people when the threat of an election is in the works. Now, I have known Mark St. Charles since 1998 when I covered the township for the South Lyon Herald and have nothing but respect for him. I have known Sedlak for almost as long, meeting him through his duties as a lieutenant on the township fire department. He has always been above board here, and I am not accusing him of doing anything unethical or illegal.

Since I was banned from his blog, I emailed the guy, and he did a half-assed correction. But the simple fact is that correction negates his entire reason for posting.

Then he goes on to attack Mogelnicki for daring to run for local office. He claims Mogelnicki can’t be a Republican because he claims none of the Republicans in the county knew him well enough, so he could not possibly be a Republican.
“The first was Planning Commissioner John Mogelnicki, apparently a Republican, though my inquiries with local County Party officials couldn't find a single person with more than a passing familiarity with his name.”

Let me get this straight. In a county with 170,000 people he is claiming he can’t be a Republican because party officials aren’t familiar with him. Unbelievable. The planning commissioners are appointed by the township board. Every single board member is a Republican. Mogelnicki’s real crime is he apparently signed Evans’ petition and Evans signed his, so he can’t possibly be a Republican. I would sign a local Republicans nominating petition to see a race. Democracy works better with contest elections.

Livingston County is a predominantly Republican county with all nine county commissioners Republicans, and all but about five local seats are in Republican hands. I am relatively active in the Livingston Democratic Party, and I don’t know every Democrat in the county.

I also wonder where he got the photo he used. That photo is from the Livingston County Democratic Party’s annual Edwin B. Winans Dinner at the Hamburg VFW Post, and it had to be taken in the last two years. The person behind Evans is also a good friend of mine, the chair of the 8th Congressional District, Kathy Carney. I wonder if it was from last month when another rightwing blogger made the ridiculous claim that the party was violating campaign finance laws with a 50/50 raffle. I certainly hope he was there to spy on us; as long as he paid his $60.

Rogers is shocked, shocked that people are not happy with the direction of the country

U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton is shocked, shocked I said, that people are not happy with the direction of the country.

Obviously, the Congressman needs to get out of Washington, D.C. once in a while and actually visit regular people in the 8th Congressional District.

According to a story in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus, Rogers told one of his pat stories to a receptive audience at the Livingston County Republican Party's annual Lincoln Day Dinner that students at Okemos High School “seemed dejected with the state of the country.”

"They honestly believed the world was going to combust in 26 minutes," Rogers said, according to the paper. "I was shocked — shocked, and said, oh, wow, what work do we have to do.' "

The reason for this disillusion? Democrats, taxes and regulations. Well of course. It has nothing to do with the fact that we are in an endless war that did not need to be fought that's costing us millions of dollars a day, the greatest country in the world has stooped to torturing people and gas is almost $4 a gallon because oil companies drafted the energy policy.

If that were the case, the simple solution would be cutting taxes, but that has never worked. Maybe if we cut taxes and wages low enough we can be equal to a third world country where the jobs are going. If those students are really felling that way then I guess Barack Obama was right when he said voters are bitter over the direction of the country.

If Rogers' quote wasn’t ridiculous enough we get one from Michigan Republican chair Saul Anuzis, who said Obama was “unqualified and looking at the world through "rose-colored glasses.” He has more experience than the last Illinois resident to be president and the best Republican president on civil rights. I guess Obama was wearing his rose-colored glasses when he was raised in a struggling single-parent home or worked as a community organizer in the poorest neighborhoods in Chicago.

I actually agree with Allan Filip, chairman of the county GOP, who has proven to be the most insulting chair the local party has had in recent memory. He said “It's important those kids in Okemos realize we live in the best country in the world." I agree, and that’s why I will speak out when we stoop to torturing people, invades sovereign countries for no reason and when our government commits crimes.