I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
A protester on Friday throws tea bags and cash into a red bucket to protest the Obama administration's federal stimulus legislation. (Photo: Todd A. Heywood)
LANSING — A group of about 300 people, shivering against an Arctic wind and listening to patriotic songs, gathered on the steps of the state Capitol on Friday to proclaim their dislike for President Barack Obama’s stimulus legislation. The group, who called themselves “tax protesters,” labeled the stimulus “socialism” and targeted the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN), accusing ACORN of fraud and other misdeeds.
“Our economic liberty is threatened,” declared Americans for Prosperity of Michigan‘s Scott Hagerstrom. “Freedom works. Free markets and liberty work.”
Going further, Hagerstrom declared: “This is about who will control your life and the fruits of your labor.”
After attacking several parts of the new law meant to spur spending and job growth, Hagerstrom accused the federal government of making $2 billion in Community Development Block Grants available to groups like the ACORN, which faced intense criticism during the 2008 election cycle for alleged voter registration fraud.
Conservative leaders nationally and locally made statements during the federal stimulus debate saying that ACORN was set to receive billions in funding, claims that are partially misleading.
In an interview with Michigan Messenger during the state Republican Party Convention on Feb. 20, state Sen. Michelle McManus (R-Lake Leelanau), who is planning a run for secretary of state in 2010, said that ACORN should not be allowed to operate in Michigan and claimed that the group was set to receive federal stimulus funding. In fact, ACORN would have to battle against other groups to qualify for those funds, something that Hagerstrom acknowledged during an interview.
Meanwhile, back on the Capitol steps, Wendy Day, a member of the Howell School Board, was whipping up a little “revolutionary” rallying cry of her own: “I am so excited because I hear the drum beat of revolution,” Day yelled, to an enthusiastic cheer from the crowd. “It’s not going to be a revolution of bullets,” she continued, as the crowd letting a collective sigh out, “but a revolution of ideas.”
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