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.
Sens. John Ensign (R-Nev.) and David Vitter (R-La.) (WDCpix)
Since being swept from power in 2006, Republicans on Capitol Hill have persistently sought ways to slow the Democrats’ legislative agenda, erecting procedural hurdles and proposing contentious amendments to block even those bills supported by GOP leaders. The tactic has targeted legislation touching issues as varied as credit card reform, unemployment insurance and Indian health care. In some cases, Republicans have simply slowed the process; in others, they’ve killed legislation outright. In every instance, the strategy has highlighted the difficulties facing Democratic leaders as they try to make good on a wide range of legislative promises, mark a clean break from the policies of the Bush administration and retain their congressional majorities in elections to come.
In the latest episode, Gregg, the senior Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, issued a memo to his GOP colleagues last week urging them to lean on a host of procedural moves designed to slow the health-reform debate to a crawl.
“[I]t is critical that Republican senators have a solid understanding of the minority’s rights in the Senate,” Gregg wrote.
The memo incited a skirmish on Capitol Hill, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) decrying the audacity of the Republicans, not only to delay legislation providing millions of Americans with health insurance, but to put their tactics in writing. Gregg responded Friday by referring to Reid’s incredulity as “pathetic.”
But if Gregg’s memo stirred a political storm, it’s likely only because (1) there’s so much at stake surrounding the overhaul of the nation’s health care system, and (2) the memo provided written proof of what the Democrats have been charging all along. Yet the stalling on health reform is just the latest in a long line of similar episodes portraying a much broader, if unmentioned, trend.
Read more at Michigan Messenger’s sister site, the Washington Independent
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