All of that said, the temptation is stronger than ever the way coverage of this Reform Michigan Government Now fiasco is redlining.  The discussion surrounding the extremists' takeover attempt is pervasive.  We've got stories that the "Black Caucus" in the state Legislature is calling for Mark Brewer's scalp (or a "divorce" as Bert Johnson puts it) since they believe the petition targets them disproportionately.

We've got the Governor and LG John Cherry admitting they helped finance the project last calendar year but their names never appear on any committee paperwork, indicating a serious and gross violation of Michigan campaign finance regulations.  

We've got Rich Robinson at the Michigan Campaign Finance Network ignoring the blatant illegality (not that HE's in the tank for anyone here).  

There's the complaint filed this week by the Michigan Chamber of Commerce officially pursuing the violations that the state's top campaign finance "watchdog" decided to ignore.

General dissatisfaction with the plan by legislative Democrats.

And we've even got the first official mention of a long-standing rumor surrounding possible House Democrat involvement in the drafting and endorsement of the petition.  Lansing insider publication MIRS mentions the buzz in generalities and doesn't drop the name that's been making it's way around the Capitol City for nearly a month.  I won't mention it either since I know the way the Lansing rumor mill works (it is usually accurate but impossible to source "on-the-record") but his initials are Andy Dillon.

There's Alma Wheeler Smith, a far-left Democrat extremist who we take to the mat frequently on this site (including this morning), telling Tim Skubick that she believes there was "no way" for signers to know what they were really signing and that "it was blindsiding the electorate."

And the hits just keep on coming.  So clear an hour and a half from your schedule today, open a can of Pepsi and put on your reading glasses... this is just some of the MSM coverage in the last twenty-four-ish hours of a story that broke first on RightMichigan.com.

Read on...

You listen to the press and you watch the nightly news and you walk away with a few impressions about the presidential race and its combatants.  I mentioned before, the church-wide dinner we had this past Sunday.  After lunch as folks were mulling about I was speaking with my cousin Frank.  Frank's a good kid and pretty sharp.  He's also got one heck of a mean forearm shiver so if you're playing a little backyard football and the boy shows up try to tackle him low or better, get out of the way... for your own sake... but I digress.  We spoke about the presidential race and I mentioned that I was (and am) still convinced that John McCain will be the forty-fourth President of the United States.  

"What?!"  My cousin couldn't understand where I was coming from (which isn't particularly surprising knowing me).  "Obama is way ahead, isn't he?  He's ALWAYS on the news!  And every person my age is voting for him.  It is inevitable."  That's certainly what the press wants him to think.

When I walked into the South East Michigan regional office, two things stood out immediately.  First, there was a ton of activity going on.  It is a huge office with a large open space lined with smaller offices, staff crammed two to each work space.  There were people everywhere and most were either hustling from one part of the office to another or were working the phones.  Second, young people EVERYWHERE.  There must have been forty or fifty people in the long room and well over half looked to be in either high school or just starting their four year degrees.  It was the sort of sight that would have had the average consumers of mass media scratching their collective head.  `I thought all of the young people loved Barack Obama?'  Yeah, apparently not in Farmington Hills.

Read on...

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Right Cuz: Oh, How We Miss Him and His Policies

Michigan SFE Blog: Waterboarding College Freshmen

Kalamazoo Objectivist: Al Gore Pines for a Return to the Dark Ages

This past Monday, July 21, 2008, Ms. Wheeler-Dealer attended an Ypsilanti School Board meeting, at which the board voted 6-to-1 not to hire former Eastern Michigan University Vice President for Student Affairs Jim Vick as the district's new athletic director and assistant high school principal.  See: http://blog.mlive.com/annarbornews/2008/07/jim_vick_passed_over_for_ad_jo.html

Jim Vick's name should ring a bell: He was forced out as VP of EMU last summer, 2007, because he and other high level officials at the university conspired to keep secret the truth about student Laura Dickinson's death.  

Although "for two months after Laura Dickinson was found dead in her dormitory room, Eastern Michigan University officials assured her parents and the public that there was no sign of foul play," in reality she had been raped and murdered by a fellow student.  See this New York Times article documenting the scandal: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/24/us/24university.html

For his part, Vick, among other things, ordered the shredding of a police document "containing lurid details about the crime scene."  Ultimately, "a government investigation found that EMU violated a federal crime reporting law, and the university was fined $350,000."

So was Rep. Wheeler-Smith at Monday's Ypsilanti school board meeting to express outrage about the district considering Vick for a job in education, where he could again violate the public's trust and put students in danger?

The answer is all-too obvious to those who are familiar with Alma Wheeler-Smith.

While one would think that individuals who actually seek to represent their constituents would surely oppose Vick's hiring, not Alma - she went to the meeting to express her zealous support for Vick!  In fact, "Rep." Wheeler-Smith actually addressed the school board on Vick's behalf.

Why?

Why else?  Money.

Read on. . .

When the last glacier finally withdrew from northern Michigan some 10,000 years ago, its retreat revealed a signature blanket of dust, pebbles, rocks and boulders in many places piled up hundreds of feet thick.  This final vast ice sheet, with a depth of perhaps one mile, like its unyielding predecessors, gouged and clawed its way through the ancient bedrock and soils forever transforming that landscape into the one that is now so familiar to us.

Atop this coating of glacial till where most of us walk every single day, we can easily find the remnants of an even more ancient age, ones that were scooped up by the icy masses from a long dried salty sea and redeposited in our gardens, forests and fields. In fact, Michigan's state stone, the Petoskey Stone, is the fossilized remains of the tropical sea coral, Hexagonaria percarinata, a name I could say ten times really fast if I only cared to.

From the tropics to a land of ice and more ice, from warm salty waters to the sandy soils now surrounded by our cool fresh water lakes, Michigan has already seen its fair share of climate change, every bit of which was achieved without the contemptible usage of dirty carbon emitting lawnmowers and crass barbecue grills.

I live in the 8th Congressional district and yesterday I actually had the opportunity to speak for a few minutes with my Congressman, Mike Rogers!  He was even willing to go on-the-record with me about some current events.  The interview is as follows:

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Wayne County Taxpayers: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night...

The Western Right: Carl Levin's Tax Distraction