Just Michigan

Here's a treasure trove of information to keep you informed on some of the issues and people here in Michigan. The first batch of links all relate to the $1.9 billion Single Business Tax cut our Republican legislators recently passed without a plan to replace the revenue:

From Michigan Liberal, "Interesting phenomenon I noticed in today's papers: across Michigan, Republican legislators who rammed through a $1.9 billion business tax cut (without saying how they plan to pay for it) are whining that Governor Granholm line-item vetoed their pork barrel projects. Here's a few I've uncovered so far..."

Editorials have been extremely critical of their actions:

Muskegon Chronicle: Tell voters where $1.9 billion will come from.

Add the Jackson Citizen-Patriot to the list of Bush-endorsing newspapers crying foul over the Legislature's unfunded, "pay later" $1.9 billion business tax cut...

Along with the Ann Arbor News, Saginaw News, and Kalamazoo Gazette who all blast the $1.9 billion business tax cut.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services added their 2 cents too.

[They] revised the outlook to negative and affirmed its 'AA' rating on Michigan's GO bonds. The revised outlook reflects the Legislature's recent repeal of the state's single business tax, effective Jan. 1, 2008. The repeal of the $1.9 billion tax creates a structural imbalance for fiscal 2008 that exceeds any one-year imbalance that the state faced during the prior recession.

Okay, so our legislature isn't too bright when it comes to finances, at least we can depend on them to safeguard our voting rights - or maybe not.

The voter registration you currently hold...may be cancelled.

Ohhh, that doesn't sound good, and neither does this: Muskegon Chronicle takes note of SOS postcards.

Trust us when we will tell you not to take for granted your voting status for the upcoming and exciting gubernatorial, U.S. Senate, and state and local races this fall.

Moving along to the governor's race, DeVos has been in the media quite a bit too:

Media takes note of DeVos mudslinging in Honda attack ad.

Tim Skubick: Enough excuses from DeVos.

DeVos Crashes Coast Guard Festival, and the Grand Haven Tribune was not amused:

We believe that DeVos' appearance at the parade was inappropriate. He should have found another time to visit our city.

The festival should be void of politics. We're honoring the men and women of the Coast Guard - not people seeking political office.

DeVos might have confused the Coast Guard parade with those mercenaries who work for his brother-in-law, Erik Prince: DeVos Sponsors Field Trip to Blackwater HQ

Geesh! All this mudslinging and deceit makes my head spin. Thank heavens for the Truth Squad. Right now it features a detailed, factual response to DeVos' latest ad, which blatantly lies about Honda's decision to invest in Indiana to attack the Governor.

Okay, it's time to move onto something else; politics is giving me a headache. These next links contain information that could end up on Jeopardy someday:

In spite of some reports, the news isn't all doom and gloom: Census: Michiganders hate to leave.

Ken Darga, Michigan's state demographer, said that contrary to popular belief, the young, college-education population isn't leaving the state in larger numbers than other states. Michigan has the lowest out-migration of any state for those 25-34, he said.

Exxon raked in $10 billion in profits in the 3rd quarter of 2005. The entire state of Michigan has an annual budget of $9 billion. (Click the link to read about priorities in our country.)

Finally, click on this link and learn how to spread this information around. 5 Ways To Promote Your Liberal Blog. The truth is depending on you.