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.
UPDATED: To reflect the passage of the final FISA bill by the Senate later Wednesday afternoon.
Senate bills intended to strip telecommunications corporations of immunity from lawsuits for assisting the U.S. government on illegally spying on everyday Americans by offering officials total access to private phone calls and e-mails were all defeated this afternoon. The failed amendments would have re-written previously passed legislation that granted immunity, which President George W. Bush had lobbied for strongly since the beginning of the year. The original FISA bill, with immunity attached, was later passed 69-28.
Continued -Some observers have written that the vote on the three amendments was manufactured by Democrats to give presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama a chance to vote against immunity after initially voting for the previous “compromise” bill that granted immunity.
That vote was widely criticized by Obama’s liberal base as a sell-out to the very corporate special interests that he so often attacked in campaign speeches while seeking the nomination.
The strategy of giving Obama the opportunity to vote no on immunity before he voted yes for it, failed miserably. Obama was the target of more venom today from progressives, civil libertarians and Americans of all stripes when he later voted yes on today’s final vote for the original bill, which included immunity. The defeat of the amendments and the original bill’s ultimate passage this afternoon is being assailed by observers of constitutional law. Michigan’s two Democratic senators, Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, both voted against FISA.
A breakdown of today’s final vote on FISA can be seen here.
You’ll notice that, including Obama, 22 Democrats — if you count Joe Lieberman as a Dem — voted for FISA. Presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain did not vote.
Not one Republican joined Levin, Stabenow and the remaining Democrats in voting no on the bill that offers immunity to the likes of AT&T for their illegal cooperation with the Bush administration.
Christy Hardin Smith at Firedoglake covered it live here. Comments from readers and her graphic are especially illuminating/apt.
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