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The Michigan Messenger going forward

By Staff Report | 11.16.11

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 [...]

Colorado-based abstinence program provided false and misleading information to Michigan students

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By Todd A. Heywood | 11.16.11

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.

Class action lawsuit filed against MERS over unpaid taxes

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By Todd A. Heywood | 11.15.11

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.

Schuette fights important mercury regulations

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By Eartha Jane Melzer | 11.14.11

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.

Teabaggers get rowdy at Dingell’s health care town hall

By Eartha Jane Melzer | 08.07.09 | 1:29 pm

As anticipated, there was a lot of shouting at the health care town hall held by Democratic Rep. John Dingell in Romulus yesterday, with local police even escorting one angry reform opponent from the hall, the Detroit Free Press reports.

Dingell is the primary sponsor of HR3200, a bill to expand the public health care system.

Michigan Liberal and Right Michigan both have accounts of the event with photos.

Dingell isn’t the only Michigan lawmaker targeted by opponents of health care reform.

Adrian Campbell, an advocate of universal health care, said via e-mail:

A small group of us single payer supporters gathered outside Congressman Gary Peters office [Thursday]. We heard some republicans were coming to pay his office a visit. Well we didn’t realize it was going to be hundreds with their anti-public option signs and rants.

Campbell posted this video of the encounter outside Peters’ Troy office.

Writing in the New York Times economist Paul Krugman examines the emerging phenomenon of the “town hall mob”.

He writes:

Many people hoped that last year’s election would mark the end of the “angry white voter” era in America. Indeed, voters who can be swayed by appeals to cultural and racial fear are a declining share of the electorate.

But right now Mr. Obama’s backers seem to lack all conviction, perhaps because the prosaic reality of his administration isn’t living up to their dreams of transformation. Meanwhile, the angry right is filled with a passionate intensity.

And if Mr. Obama can’t recapture some of the passion of 2008, can’t inspire his supporters to stand up and be heard, health care reform may well fail.

Comments

  • http://ricky-cain.blogspot.com/ Ricky1146

    Is this supposed to be an editorial, or just a blog? I think calling tea baggers is a bit derogatory, and unjournalistic. Journalists are supposed to be neutral to a story. It is editorial or commentary if you state an opinion but where is it?

    I don't mean to seem so critical but I would hope you report both sides and views not just one.

    • communicationsguru

      Why is calling these people what they are derogatory?

      • nov_284

        So calling feminists whores and black panthers racist, while refering to Obamalala's supporters as loobies is fine just fine, then. I came to the conclusion that the reason lefties have no choice but to resort to slander and libel is because, like the disgusting bacteria they are, their ideas cannot survive exposure to the light of day.

      • http://ricky-cain.blogspot.com/ Ricky1146

        Well first, my brother is mixed, and I attended 3 tea parties. Second I am not a racist. Third all 3 tea parties I attended, said absolutely nothing about race, or ethnicity. It was purely a protest against higher taxes and expansion of government.

        Nothing to do with Obama being black, if you don't believe me I have 40 minutes worth of 1 Tea Party uploaded to my Youtube Channel, I would be glad to share.

        Also if yourself just came up with the phrase Tea Bagger I wouldn't have a problem with it. However the news media or whoever started it. Is referring to a sexual inference to well just guess. It would be like a carpet bagger. Which are politicians that try to get elected by not knowing local issues and barely living within district. (please correct me if i am wrong)

        As to calling feminists whore and such. That is derogatory to me. Since it passes a judgement, which i think is bluntly unfair and unwise.

        • communicationsguru

          That’s great, but you apparently missed the white supreme groups at and who promoted the Astroturf “tea parties,” and the signs with photos of the President with a bone in his nose or that said “Obama’s plan; white slavery.”

          But that doesn’t change the fact that Eartha accurately described the idiots who disrupted the townhall meeting last night.

  • http://notionscapital.com Mike_Licht

    Obama's gonna kill Grandma?

    See:

    http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/08/07/…

  • Trajan8

    I don't understand your second post Ricky. I thought you were complaining about the use of “teabagger”, but where did the racist tones come into play in that term?

    I think complaining about the use of “teabagger” is a bit touchy. I mean, these people are throwing tea bags in protest. And basketball players are “ballers”. Of course, the reason the term was used (and memorable) is because of the humorous sexual reference, but that doesn't invalidate the label. I would even argue that it is more legit than the “birther” label.

    Regardless. In objective journalism, there is nothing wrong with using a recognized term that is not offensive on logical grounds.

  • andrewblake

    For anyone to say that “teabaggers” is not derogatory, they are just kidding themselves. It is well known what the slang definition of that is.
    The Michigan Messenger says it has a code of ethics.
    http://newjournalist.org/ethics/
    There is language in there that specifically discourages that type of headline. But the code of ethics is a red herring.
    It's apparent to me that the people who work for the Michigan Messenger only goal is to promote their liberal agenda and little more.
    I suggest people look elsewhere for a non-bias coverage of state politics.
    How can a news organization expect to have credibility when it uses its headlines to defame one side of the debate?

  • Trajan8

    So rather than saying why 'teabaggers' is derogatory, you say that we already know, and are kidding ourselves. Bravo on the superb argument. If they don't want to be associated with teabagging, then don't throw teabags!

    Conservatives have decided to redefine 'liberal' as anyone that doesn't agree with them. They only see two groups, themselves & others, homogenizing the others as the same. So when some of those 'others' (who don't view themselves as liberal) are then called liberal by the conservatives, it turns them off from supporting the conservatives. So continue attacking this site as liberal. It won't backfire.

    What the conservatives need to realize is that the difference between themselves & others is not a liberal bias, but a bias towards civility. That's not to say everyone who disagrees with the right-wing is civil about it, but I think there is a higher tendancy for respectful discussion coming from the left and center.

  • andrewblake

    Trajan8,
    I thought it was obvious why I am not saying why “teabaggers” is derogatory. Go to urban dictionary.com and go read about what sexual act that is about if you really are in the dark what the slang definition is. I don't think it is appropriate to describe sexual acts on a news organization's website. I've got two teenagers so I just figured EVERYONE knew.
    Your argument about civility being more common among liberals would have more merit if the “left leaning” news site (Michigan Messenger's own words – since they posted Metro Times award on their page) you were making your point on didn't just use a pretty vulgar term to describe a group of protesters.
    And please, let's not waste anyone's time trying to play dumb and rationalize other possible meanings of the word “teabaggers.” It has been joked about and made reference to on any number of websites in the exact manner that is inappropriate for a legitimate news agency to use.
    I'd really like to know what the editor has to say about this.
    Commenters on stories getting inappropriate is, unfortunately, par for the course.
    I've never seen it down by a news agency.
    Until now.

  • Trajan8

    I was well aware of the sex act when making my first post in this thread, which is why I stated “humorous sexual reference”. But if you are going to let slang dictate whether or not a term is offensive, that is a difficult maxim to live by.

    Is it offensive to call a kitchen machine that turns fruit into juice a 'juicer', since it also refers to steroid use? Is it offensive to call a football player from Green Bay a 'Packer' even though that has many sexual references as well (urban dictionary works for me too)?

    Society has determined that these people are teabaggers. If the news calls them as such, it is simply using the language of society. And like I said, the 'birthers' have also been given a name by society. Are you going to argue that this is offensive, since it is calling all of them 'women' (only women give birth)?

    • andrewblake

      Trajan8,
      See my previous post about not wasting any more time on this with stupid rationalizations. It's well known among the liberal crowd just what the connotations are of “tea bagger”. And society didn't determine anything .. the liberal people who are mocking them determined it, which doesn't give license for a legit news organization to sanction that.

      • Trajan8

        You do realize you have ignored most of the points I have brought up, right?

        Unless of course your counter to my points is to simply call them “stupid rationalizations”, and provide no further insight. In which case, I think you should teach debate at Harvard. It's a whole new approach to discussion that has yet to be tapped by legit debaters.

        Where's the constructive criticism at least? You say it is wrong for the news to call them Teabaggers, then what would you suggest? Wouldn't it be a little confusing if everyone knows them as 'Teabaggers', and then a media simply refers to them as protesters, when that is quite generic and gives no indication as to which protesters they are.

        And last, but not least, since you seem to understand what the act of teabagging is, why do you take offense to those people being called Teabaggers? A teabagger would be the one who is doing the teabagging, not the one who is getting teabagged. The teabagger is the dominant person in the relationship (the rest of the country would be the submissive participant), so shouldn't they take it as a compliment?

  • Trajan8

    You do realize you have ignored most of the points I have brought up, right?

    Unless of course your counter to my points is to simply call them “stupid rationalizations”, and provide no further insight. In which case, I think you should teach debate at Harvard. It's a whole new approach to discussion that has yet to be tapped by legit debaters.

    Where's the constructive criticism at least? You say it is wrong for the news to call them Teabaggers, then what would you suggest? Wouldn't it be a little confusing if everyone knows them as 'Teabaggers', and then a media simply refers to them as protesters, when that is quite generic and gives no indication as to which protesters they are.

    And last, but not least, since you seem to understand what the act of teabagging is, why do you take offense to those people being called Teabaggers? A teabagger would be the one who is doing the teabagging, not the one who is getting teabagged. The teabagger is the dominant person in the relationship (the rest of the country would be the submissive participant), so shouldn't they take it as a compliment?

  • Trajan8

    You do realize you have ignored most of the points I have brought up, right?

    Unless of course your counter to my points is to simply call them “stupid rationalizations”, and provide no further insight. In which case, I think you should teach debate at Harvard. It's a whole new approach to discussion that has yet to be tapped by legit debaters.

    Where's the constructive criticism at least? You say it is wrong for the news to call them Teabaggers, then what would you suggest? Wouldn't it be a little confusing if everyone knows them as 'Teabaggers', and then a media simply refers to them as protesters, when that is quite generic and gives no indication as to which protesters they are.

    And last, but not least, since you seem to understand what the act of teabagging is, why do you take offense to those people being called Teabaggers? A teabagger would be the one who is doing the teabagging, not the one who is getting teabagged. The teabagger is the dominant person in the relationship (the rest of the country would be the submissive participant), so shouldn't they take it as a compliment?

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