Top Stories

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

HIV-AIDS-small
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

foreclosure
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

epa_logo
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.

Fox’s Glenn Beck to speak in East Lansing Tuesday night, protests expected

By Todd A. Heywood | 09.15.09 | 2:03 pm

Controversial Fox News Channel commentator and radio host Glenn Beck will address the annual meeting of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce Tuesday night at a hotel located on the campus of Michigan State University.

Beck’s appearance has riled up campus groups, such as the MSU College Democrats, who intend on protesting the controversial speaker. Mitchell Rivard, president of the MSU College Democrats had this to say about Beck’s appearance in an email seeking supporters for the group’s planned protests:

Recently, Beck asserted that President Obama is “a racist with a deep-seated hatred of white people.” He also is a staunch opponent of health care reform on his Fox News show, where he continues trying to sabotage any reform trying to be made by Congress by promoting scare tactics such as “death panels” for seniors. His rhetoric is so twisted that 62 advertisers have pledged not to run advertisements during his show, and the number keeps growing.

Rivard also claims the Chamber, which is a huge political donor in the state, is spending $25,000 to host Beck.

The Chamber told Michigan Messenger on Monday that the event was sold out. Kathy Barks Hoffman of the Associated Press reports the group has logged 500 confirmed attendees for the event at MSU’s Kellogg Center.

Michigan Messenger will be on site tonight reporting about the protests, the Beck speech and whatever else might happen.

Comments

  • Isaac78

    Center for independent media?? The racist remark was taken way way out of context, and if this article was researched in any way before being published, that would have already been known. The death panel refers to the panel of doctors who will infact, like they do in other countries such as Great Britian, choose wether or not the risk is worth the reward. He only lost a small handfull of advertisers, I believe 3. And there are a million small businesses out there, and so there are 62 of them that signed some idiotic petition out of partison politics.

    Where is the piece of this article that is in favor of Beck being there, nobody had anything to say good? I find that hard to believe given he has one of the most watched programs on T.V. and a hit radio program.

    • ronaldk

      Hey, back off the Progressives. Beck's sin is exposing them for the evil people they are. He has to pay.

      I can't wait until they start the Liverpool Care Pathway here in the US. I have a few dozen worthless people in the government I'd like to be seen put to die on 'The Drip.' Beware what you wish for, you might just get what you think Congress is passing. Then the fun really begins…

      What we need is a really good Progressive fight, like the FDR – Charles Lindbergh one back in '41. Far better than watching Repubicans eat their own.

    • jmad12

      Isaac78, I'd like to show you a few things quickly.

      First you have said that the racist comment was taken out of context. Here is context: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ndc2LX2u98 . He makes the comment completely unsolicited and on his own volition, and the quote stands alone outside of context. He later says “I'm not saying that he doesn't like white people, I'm saying he has a problem. This guy is, I believe, a racist.”

      Second, you do not understand the current healthcare bill, and thus cannot make statements endorsing the “death panel” idea. If you turned off Glenn Beck on your radio and Sean Hannity on your TV and go to the House of Representatives website and look up the bill and do some research, rather than take everything that FoxNews feeds you, you will learn that “death panels” are completely ridiculous. That portion of the bill is actually discussing advanced care directives and how to deal with end of life care. In part, it reads:

      “[The]Secretary of Health and Human Services shall update the online version of the Medicare & You Handbook to include the following: (i) An explanation of advance care
      planning and advance directives, including—
      (I) living wills;
      (II) durable power of attorney;
      (III) orders of life-sustaining treatment; and
      (IV) health care proxies.
      A description of Federal and State resources available to assist individuals and their families with advance care planning and advance directives”

      Go here: http://docs.house.gov/edlabor/AAHCA-BillText-07… and go to page 433 to actually learn about what you are criticizing.

      Third, Great Britain's National Health Service is in fact a fully government provided form of healthCARE, not health insurance, and is completely different than what is being proposed in congress right now.

      Fourth, Glenn Beck has lost more than three advertisers. You criticize someone for being inaccurate and in the same statement tell a complete lie. In a purely cursory and uninvestigative search of the internet, you can see that Glenn Beck has lost these advertisers:

      ConAgra Foods
      Procter & Gamble
      Walmart
      GMAC Financial Services
      Best Buy
      CVS
      Travelocity
      State Farm Insurance
      Broadview Security
      Progressive Insurance
      Roche
      Sanofi-Aventis
      Radio Shack
      Men's Wearhouse
      Lawyers.com
      Sargento
      among others, as this is not a complete and comprehensive list. (http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/08/18/glenn-b…)

      What is dangerous about people like Glenn Beck is that they give people like you a supreme confidence in the falsehoods that they peddle as truth, leaving you entirely uninformed and having a complete misunderstanding of the world around you. The people who made his show the most watched and his radio show a hit need to turn it off and learn for themselves what it is that they are debating and bring something intelligent to the table. I will conclude by altering a statement you have already made; if this comment was researched in any way before being posted, you would have known you were being fed lies.

      Now excuse me, I must attend a certain event at the Kellogg Center.

      -publius

    • stevemeisner

      Issac78. You called Randi Rhodes “an idiot,” and accused her of “straight up lie many times, or should I say leaving out the truth.” I listen to her and definitely don't want to support someone like that. Can you back up your assertions? Here are dozens of lies that Glenn Beck told in the past few days (and 21 pages of them total): http://mediamatters.org/search/index?qstring=&f…. Can you similarly supply a list of lies that, as you allege, Randi Rhodes is guilty of telling?

      • Zardoz2009

        Oh, right. Media Matters. A truly unimpeachable source of unbiased information…NOT!

  • Isaac78

    Funny, I listen to his show, and never seen a commercial from any of those companies lol. I do understand that some of those companies didn't want their commercials to run on Fox while Beck was on. But even that makes me just laugh. The President said is Grandmother was a “Typical white lady” and that isn't racist. But joking around on the air about the President being a racist over the cluster you know what with the police officer being accused of racism. Perhaps you should follow the Beck show if you are going to be a crazy loon in cutting him down. I happened to hear his program that day, and he was right to say what he did. While he was joking around about it, I think Obama is a racist, and a damn communist. He surrounds himself with people that reflect that image. He has done more to shred the constitution than Bush ever could, and Bush did a damn good job of pissing on it too.

    Problem with you, is that your a partison turd. I don't have that in my life because I am just an American that believes in the Constitution. I can watch Beck, then turn around and attempt to listen to someone like Randi Rhodes. Now there is an idiot if I ever did see one. I have heard her straight up lie many times, or should I say leaving out the truth?

    I will pull the words out of the bill for you, and the lawyers who read through it to find this information out. You should move to England if you want to live under that type of government, while I stay here and live free. I don't want the government runing my damn life or my business. I can't afford to hire help I need because of government, and now they are telling me I will have to carry healthcare for every one of my employees? Guess what, they wont have a job, because I cant afford it. Then where will they be?

    Healthcare is not a right sunshine. Most everyone in this country could afford it if they didn't have all the toys they buy. And if they are really down and out, the government already picks up the tab for them, its called welfare.

    Your buddy Obama is no better than the last few presidents, he will continue to bankrupt this country, but it seems he wants to do it in a much faster pace. Where are all those jobs at?? You telling me building roads is building jobs? Those jobs are temp jobs, and then they will pull un-employment when that is over, putting an even larger burden on the states who cant keep up.

    Critical thought has lost its way with people like you. We cant keep printing money, and we are no longer an industrial nation due to over regulation and unions. We cant survive on service jobs and credit cards forever.

    Take your big government mentality, and get the hell out of my country. Perhaps you should start up a business and figure out how the world turns skippy. There is a reason you wont find to many business owners who are by todays standards “liberals”, they understand how things work when they have to get things done on their own, when the books are your problem, and dealing with the government is extreamly expensive.

    Shove off kiddo.

    • finu

      “Take your big government mentality, and get the hell out of my country.”

      Pretty offensive….. Did someone die and make you king?

      Here is the problem with people like you — it is not YOUR country — It's OUR country — if you don't like the president who was democratically elected then you are the one who needs to think about leaving.

      You can't articluate any position supported by any evidence and your post has little logic and you resort to name calling. Critical thinking? Do you really think your postions reflect critical thinking? That's just sad.

    • jmad12

      “Problem with you, is that your a partison turd.”

      You are well versed in the practice of argumentum ad personam. Unfortunately, such use of a logical fallacy only makes you look unable to handle legitimate challenges to your beliefs.

      If you re-read my post and use “critical thought”–of which you are apparently a staunch advocate of–you will see that I did not offer any opinion on any policy, but merely showed you where to find the facts which you had no previous knowledge.

      “He has done more to shred the constitution than Bush ever could”

      When making claims you must support them with evidence in order for those claims to be even remotely valid. I have highlighted above just one example in which you fail to substantiate your claim with evidence.

      “You should move to England if you want to live under that type of government, while I stay here and live free”

      I would be thoroughly surprised if you could tell me what “that type of government” actually is, let alone differentiate it from our American system. The United Kingdom has a highly sophisticated Health Care system which is approved of by a large portion of the populous. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7672260.stm)

      “And if they are really down and out, the government already picks up the tab for them, its called welfare.”

      It's actually called medicaid.

      “Critical thought has lost its way with people like you.”

      If it has lost it's way with people like me, I cannot fathom where it has gone from people such as yourself.

      “Take your big government mentality, and get the hell out of my country.”
      I never once advocated a “big government mentality” in my comment, I merely pointed out some areas where you were mistaken. Glenn Beck has convinced you that anyone who disagrees with him is a liberal pinko big government commie who wants to take money from rich white men, after killing their grandmothers, and give it to poor illegitimate black babies and illegal immigrants. Glenn Beck wields a frightening degree of power over his viewers, and a nice case in point is you.

      “Shove off kiddo.”

      Have a nice night.

      -publius

      • Zardoz2009

        Ah, yes. The BBC. Another unimpeachable source of unbiased information…NOT! The British, the French, and the Canadians all have terrible government run healthcare programs. Why is it we hear case after case of individuals from these countries coming to America to get their cancer operations, or their cataract surgery, or their bypass surgery – but we don't hear about Americans going to those countries?

    • stevemeisner

      Issac78. You called Randi Rhodes “an idiot,” and accused her of “straight up lie many times, or should I say leaving out the truth.” I listen to her and definitely don't want to support someone like that. Can you back up your assertions? Here are dozens of lies that Glenn Beck told in the past few days (and 21 pages of them total): http://mediamatters.org/search/index?qstring=&f…. Can you similarly supply a list of lies that, as you allege, Randi Rhodes is guilty of telling?

  • Isaac78

    I am not to sure he was elected. We are looking at some 400,000 bad voting registrations from ACORN alone. I think he stole the election if you ask me. I find it funny that ACORN is, or was I should say lol, getting all that money for just being ACORN, or did they do someone a favor?? Granted he was runing against McCain, which was a poor choice, but I love the fact that he got over 90 percent of the black vote. What did you say about racism??

    It is our country, but the time you start to step on the constitution, you become a traitor to “our” country,and that meens that someone like me has to defend it against idiots like you.

    Critical thought, yes, as in you cant pay for stuff without money. Common friggin sense and critical thought are in the same boat. You are a hack, because only a hack with the time to actually research would agree with something like this health bill, and the BS stimulous bill.

    • Irish_Wake

      Whether you 'agree' a fact or 'disagree' with a fact does not alter the fact.
      There are no Death Panels. You said “I will pull the words out of the bill for you.” You have written many, many words, but have not fulfilled you promise. Please do so.
      Here is HR3200 – the bill in its entirety from the Library of Congress.
      http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:H….
      When you pull the words out of the bill, include the bill's Title, Subtitle, and Section Number so we can read the text on the actual bill.
      One additional fact: Bad votes were so scarce in the 2008 election, the Supreme Court was not consulted. Our current President was elected by a majority similar to that of President Reagan.

  • Isaac78

    You give me a link to media matters???? Here, let me link you to the Rush show website!!! My god man, now I know where you come from lol. I didn't see any fact there, I do see a very left wing website pounding on anyone not like them. Funny thing is, nobody was going after Beck when he was unleashing his fury on Bush, but now all of a sudden he is a racist and a liar lol. You people need help, seriously.

    When I get the time, I will point out where the bill does infact call for a board of doctors to do what they do in other socialized countries, which is ration care to the old folks, given risk v.s. reward as I had said before. Problem is these people in Washington don't care about your damn health, they want more money to play with, and more power over your life.

    Time to wake up and quit playing partisan politics, and see what the hell has been going on for the last many years.

    As far as Reagan, he was the last decent president we have had. He understood that we needed to create real jobs here, not part time jobs or service jobs. Seems the Bush family, the Clintons, and Obama think we can survive on credit cards and hope….. Do you people here really think this country will survive without factory jobs?? Good luck if you do!

    Simple solution, boot the unions out, make every state a right to work state, and enforce the laws of labor. The unions have outstayed their welcome. Nobody should be able to afford a house in the city, a cabin on the lake, and more toys than santa clause, all by pushing a button or putting a seat in a vehicle every half hour. Trust me, I have seen this in Detroit, at the ford plants years ago. The guy pushing a broom laughed and told me he was making 26.00 an hour. All he does is walk around with that damn broom and BS with other workers.

    I am not a republican, I sure am not a democrat, I am an american who believes in the constitution, can you say the same?

    • stevemeisner

      Issac78: you dismissed the link to MediaMatters but did not say precisely why. You said you “don't see any fact there” but there were hundreds of Beck quotes and detailed explanations as to why they were incorrect or biased. You “see a very left wing website pounding on anyone not like them.” But because you did not address the actual facts (yes, facts) on their web page that I provided, you gave me no reason why I should not accept what they have to say. You provided no evidence that they were lying.
      Also, you did not provide any examples of Randi Rhodes lying, as you originally asserted. If you want credibility, you need to back up what you're saying. Otherwise you appear like many people in these “wars in the comments sections” who simply talk out their anal cavity without any foundation of reality. I'm ready to listen to any evidence you provide. If you don't, in my opinion what you write simply isn't worth reading.

    • jmad12

      “When I get the time, I will point out where the bill does infact call for a board of doctors to do what they do in other socialized countries”

      When you get the time? That's not how argumentation works. It would take you less than five minutes to find that proof–if it actually existed, which it doesn't.

      “Time to wake up and quit playing partisan politics, and see what the hell has been going on for the last many years.”

      Playing partisan politics? We aren't playing partisan politics, we are trying to have a discussion with you, yet you insist on providing no evidence for your claims and no structure to your arguments. You would do well for your cause–not just here but in your personal discussions with people not on the internet–to argue your points effectively and convincingly, because there are actually valid points to be argued against the push for health insurance reform, none of which involve death panels, state-sponsored socialism or government control of individual lives.

  • Isaac78

    If you expect me, to go through everything on that cluster f*ck of a website you have another thing coming. I don't expect you to do my work for me, and I wont do it for you. You provide the direct lies, and not 20 at a time, you bring up a few on here you want to discuss, and we will deal with them. As far as Rhodes, I don't remember the exact BS I heard on her show from time to time, I am a busy guy. I only recall knowing the fact. I don't have time to troll around the internet to back up something. Perhaps you should google up Rhodes is a liar and check the first few links, much like you did with your media matters insert here.

  • fruitcake555

    Randi Rhodes is a die hard FACT CHECKER and probably knows the rules and recent political history better than 90% of most politicians. Glen Beck on the other hand lies each and every night… and THAT”S a fact.
    It's funny how Randi Rhodes was hired by a Right wing company… keep your enemies closer?

  • fruitcake555

    Randi Rhodes is a die hard FACT CHECKER and probably knows the rules and recent political history better than 90% of most politicians. Glen Beck on the other hand lies each and every night… and THAT”S a fact.
    It's funny how Randi Rhodes was hired by a Right wing company… keep your enemies closer?

  • fruitcake555

    Randi Rhodes is a die hard FACT CHECKER and probably knows the rules and recent political history better than 90% of most politicians. Glen Beck on the other hand lies each and every night… and THAT”S a fact.
    It's funny how Randi Rhodes was hired by a Right wing company… keep your enemies closer?

Categories & Tags: | | | | | |