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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.

Palin’s first lie as VP candidate

By Ed Brayton | 08.29.08 | 4:33 pm

Well, that didn’t take long. The first brazen lie of Sarah Palin’s campaign as John McCain’s VP candidate came just moments into her speech accepting his invitation to join the ticket. From the Washington Post’s transcript of her speech:

And I championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. In fact, I told Congress — I told Congress, “Thanks, but no thanks,” on that bridge to nowhere.

(APPLAUSE)

If our state wanted a bridge, I said we’d build it ourselves.

But Brad Plumer at the New Republic blog puts the lie to that claim. He quotes her answer to a question about that “bridge to nowhere” in the Anchorage Daily News during her 2006 campaign for governor:

5. Would you continue state funding for the proposed Knik Arm and Gravina Island bridges?

Yes. I would like to see Alaska’s infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now–while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist.

She wanted it so much that she knew she had to get the federal funding for it soon because of the pending legal problems of Alaska’s two main men in Congress, Ted Stevens and Don Young. It turns out that they didn’t have the clout in Congress to get it done, due in no small part to McCain’s dogged campaigning against the project as an example of useless and expensive earmarks.

But did she really say no to those federal funds? Absolutely not. In fact, she only canceled the project because the state wasn’t getting enough money from the federal government to get it done. Here’s a Google cache of the statement the governor’s office released on this subject on September 21, 2007 when she decided to redirect the funds for the project to find a different way of building access to Gravina Island:

“Despite the work of our congressional delegation, we are about $329 million short of full funding for the bridge project, and it’s clear that Congress has little interest in spending any more money on a bridge between Ketchikan and Gravina Island,” Governor Palin added. “Much of the public’s attitude toward Alaska bridges is based on inaccurate portrayals of the projects here. But we need to focus on what we can do, rather than fight over what has happened.”

She told Washington to keep the money out of old fashioned self-reliance? Nonsense. She makes it quite clear here that they had to look for an alternative only because they couldn’t get enough federal money to get it done. And by the way, Alaska gets more earmarks than any other state in the nation.

This may be a new world record in how quickly a politician manages to get out the first lie after being introduced to the public.

Comments

  • JakeD

    How is that a “lie” if she CANCELED THE PROJECT?

    • Marie

      She didn't cancel the project, she was unable to get enough federal funds for it. It was cancelled on her. It's clear from the article she went after the project but it didn't go through…not because of her, but despite her support.

      By the way, does McCain think all women are interchangeable? Hillary for Palin? Like his first wife for his second?

    • ebrayton

      She didn't say she canceled the project, she said:

      I told Congress, “Thanks, but no thanks,” on that bridge to nowhere.

      But her own words show that the opposite of that was true, that the only reason the project was canceled was because they couldn't get enough money from Congress to get it done.

      • Kwaayesnama

        CNN recently showed the road to nowhere that Sarah Palin used the taxpayer’s dollars to build. It is a dead end street with absolutely no traffic on it. So when she said no thanks to the bridge she did not give the money back to the government as she insinuated. She used the funds to build a road to nowhere. I would love to know why she chose to build this particular unneeded road?

  • Kwaayesnama

    If this election about judgment, the choice of Sarah Pahin shows poor judgment on McCain’s part.

    Any intelligent person knows when you choose to have unprotected sex at 43 you have a very high probability of having a child with Downs Syndrome. She used poor judgment not using birth control.

    Would she use better judgment dealing with our economy?

    Would she use better judgment dealing with our enemies?

    I for one am not willing to take a chance on Pahin’s and McCain’s judgment.

    • disgusted

      Your comment shows how little judgement you have. The majority of children with Down's Syndrome are born to women under the age of 35. Although an individual's risk does increase with age, the risk is about 1%. She must be an outstanding candidate if the only thing you could come up with as an attack is something that she is not “at fault” for. Shame on you!

      • Rayne1

        I think you need to check your own numbers. Having been an older “at-risk” mother who went through genetic counseling, and having had another family member with Down's born to a mother over 40, I know the risks are not 1% for mothers over 40.

        See: Huether, C.A. (1998). “Maternal age specific risk rate estimates for Down syndrome among live births in whites and other races from Ohio and metropolitan Atlanta, 1970-1989″. J Med Genet 35(6): 482–490. PMCID: PMC1051343

        Risk is quite low for mothers in their 20's, but there are more children with Down's born to this age group only because they have the largest number of pregnancies. This is not the same as a change in risk. The odds of a woman having a child with Down's is less than 1/2% during their 20's, increasing to under 1% by age 35, but increases dramatically to above 5% at 45 and later.

        Any woman getting pregnant after age 34 must know that the odds of having a child with Down's increases, and makes a deliberate choice if they are receiving good gestational medical care. In my case I had genetic counseling with both my pregnancies as it was mandatory for every mother that would be age 34 or older at the time of birth in this particular practice. Palin must have known these odds if she was receiving competent care.

        Frankly, I'm mystified as to why a woman of her age with 4 kids and an extremely demanding job like the Governorship of a state would get pregnant at all. Is she going to have more kids while serving as Vice President? if so, what are the ramifications if she's pregnant, in labor, and John McCain becomes unable to execute his duties as president due to any illness that might befall a person of his age?

        I think there's a lot of other questions we need to be asking ourselves and these candidates, because on the face of it they haven't thought this all out.

        • disgusted

          The argument is not about 5% or 1% (even your number says that 95% of women over 40 have children without Down's syndrome) but the fact that it is none of your business, or anyone else's, if Sarah Palin and her husband have a fifth child before or after 40 or while she holds the job of governor. To attack her for giving birth to a child with Down's syndrome is beyond belief.
          “On the face of it they haven't thought this all out”??? Illness can befall anyone of any age. Are you suggesting that all candidates should be men? They don't do inconvenient things like giving birth to babies at the exact moment the president lies unable to execute his duties.

          • Rayne1

            Reread my response. You are simply looking for an argument, which does not address the topic at hand.

            A commenter questioned Palin's judgment since she chose to have a high risk pregnancy. It's a legitimate question as to whether her decision-making is as sound as it should be, particularly when aggregated with Palin's actions in regards to her brother-in-law or her firing of subordinates when mayor simply because they did not support her candidacy, or Palin's bizarre decision to take a flight home while in labor, after her water broke.

            You attacked the commenter's point using inaccurate information, and I pointed it out.

            It's apparent that the McCain campaign did not send an advance team to vet Palin; if McCain was also exercising solid decision-making skills, he would have chosen a candidate that had a better history of decision-making of their own, regardless of age, race or gender. Would we be having this exchange, or would you be so defensive if McCain's team had chosen Kay Bailey Hutchison or Tim Pawlenty, or any number of other Republican candidates? I seriously doubt it.

          • disgusted

            It is not legitimate to question her decision-making based on her and her husband's choice to have another child. A personal decision for their family and NONE of your business.
            Your points on her behavior while in power are legitimate points as they speak to her actions and abilities while serving the public – fair game.

            One last point on questionable judgement – Obama, under fire for plagiarism in his speeches, chose Joe Biden as a running mate whose previous presidential run was scuttled as a result of, among other things, his blatant plagiarism. Now that's questionable decision-making skills.

          • wolf

            When the risk is so high to have a Down Child – and you already have 4 children already, it seems rather poor judgment to me to have another one.

            And FYI: The only people labeling those Obama quotes as plagiarism were his detractors trying to embellish the situation. The original author said Obama had permission to use the material. Permission grants rights. Having rights is not plagiarism.

            *sigh*

          • disgusted

            According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (see properly credited) , to “plagiarize” means

            1. to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own
            2. to use (another's production) without crediting the source
            3. to commit literary theft
            4. to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.
            No citation = plagarism
            I don't think telling a professor that I had the permission of the author to pass his work on as my own would cut it.

          • Rayne1

            It most certainly is our business to question Palin's decision-making ability, just as it is our business to question McCain's. You want the job of leading the free world on our dime? You should be subject to one of the toughest interviews on the earth — and that's what the general election cycle should do, ensure that the persons who want the job are up to it. The decisions they will have to make are going to be one hell of a lot more difficult than “Gee, should I keep this pregnancy when I already am pro-life?”

            As for the issue of having a child — in spite of the risk to the child, in spite of child endangerment manifest in her choice to fly just before the end of her pregnancy AND AFTER HER WATER BROKE — her position on government interference in other families' reproductive choices makes her own reproductive choices fair game.

            You don't want the public asking questions like this? Then you don't want the government involved. You can't have it both ways.

            And how nice of you to try and change the subject from Palin to Obama-Biden, too. Stay on topic or you risk having your comments deleted for violating the site's comment policy.

    • Amanda

      This is quite possibly the most crass comment I have seen here thus far. It is a pity that character assessment evaluations are not required in order to obtain voter registration.

    • Shelee

      You talk about poor judgment and inexperience and BHO takes the cake ! Palin is running VP NOT POTUS like Oblahblah!
      The voters backing him are going to ruin our country. All that America stand for will be flushed away and we will looking to be a socialist country one step away from Communism! Bleeding heart Liberals looking for a free hand out , so they can lay around on there lazy butts and the next door neighbor does ALL the hard work!

      • Rayne1

        Oh please. Point to the communist portions of the Dem Party platform; I don't think you can because there aren't any. And you can thank so-called “bleeding heart liberals” for Social Security and for the weekend and for an end to child labor. You can thank them for a strong, hard-working middle class that created an economic powerhouse.

        And Palin is most certainly running as POTUS — the “just-in-case” POTUS. She's the backup to a guy who's 72 years old, has had multiple bouts of cancer, and a mess of health problems he refuses to disclose to the public. If he drops dead or more likely becomes incapacitated, she's the POTUS. Palin knows virtually nothing about the role of the vice president, but I'm sure she knows that much.

        • Amanda

          “Point to the communist portions of the Dem Party platform”

          Be careful what you ask for Raine1.

          I have and you don’t want to see it. You don’t want anyone else to see it either and that is why you delete the posts pertaining to it.

          FYI: The Constitutional amendment regarding free speech refers to political discourse ONLY, not necessarily any idiot who has something to say regarding sock puppets. The following is political discourse, not rantings of lunacy. If there is no truth in it, then why do you ban it?

          Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.

          In his 1995 book, Dreams From My Father, Barack Obama describes a relationship he had with “Frank,” when Obama lived in Hawaii, and how he went to “Frank” for advice about college, racial matters, and other lessons of life. So, just who is this mysterious Frank, who so deeply influenced the life of Barack Obama?

          Obama’s Communist Mentor Frank Marshall Davis Was Under Investigation by the FBI for 19 Years! Veteran investigative reporter and editor of the Accuracy In Media (AIM) report, Cliff Kincaid, has obtained the 600-page FBI file on “Frank”, who was none other than the infamous pro-Soviet Communist Party member Frank Marshall Davis. The complete FBI file and an analysis of the shocking information can be seen in its entirety at http://www.usasurvival.org

          Kincaid gives details of how Davis was a mentor to Obama in Hawaii for eight or nine years before he turned 18 and went off to college.
          Kincaid reveals, for the first time, that the FBI file on Frank Marshall Davis covers the years 1944-1963, meaning that he was under investigation or surveillance for at least 19 years. One document refers to Frank Marshall Davis having CPUSA affiliations dating back to 1931. Kincaid also has evidence showing that Davis was involved in communist activities in the 1970s, during the time he mentored Obama. Davis was included in the FBI’s security index, Kincaid notes, meaning that Davis could be arrested or detained in the event of a national emergency. The FBI material documents Davis’s anti-white and pro-Soviet views, infiltration of the Hawaii Democratic Party, and other activities.

          Former FBI agent and popular talk show host G. Gordon Liddy said about Frank Marshall Davis, “Only very dangerous people were on the FBI security index, people who were on the side of an enemy and not on the side of the United States.”
          Ironically, the young person Davis sent off to college, who would admittedly attend socialist conferences and pick Marxist professors as his friends, never had to undergo an FBI background check and, should he become President, will be in charge of overseeing the FBI!
          Kincaid can explain why the communists targeted Hawaii – because of its strategic location and importance to the U.S. defense effort – and why one of the most disturbing FBI documents refers to information that Davis “was observed photographing large sections of the [Hawaii] coastline with a camera containing a telescopic lens.” The FBI information states:

          “Informant stated that DAVIS spent much of his time in this activity. He said this was the third different occasion DAVIS had been observed photographing shorelines and beachfronts. Informant advised that it did not appear he was photographing any particular objects.”

          Kincaid says this information strongly suggests the possibility of espionage or some other form of illegal activity on the part of Davis.

          If Obama’s plans for America seem suspiciously Marxist in nature…IT’S BECAUSE THEY ARE!!! Nationalized health care…government control of the energy sector…government control of the housing sector…HELLO! This is Marxism/Socialism/Communism folks.

          Ironically as John McCain was sacrificing a pound of flesh to defeat this ideology in Hanoi, Barry Obama’s mentors were devising a route of sneaking in through the back door of America with their Liberal Socialist agenda. Their ideal vehicle, a community organizer…a virtual unknown…someone who would rile the common man, and play on the heart strings of Americans whom, in large part, have always been sensitive and sympathetic to racial injustice.

          The Republican Party freed the slaves. The Democratic Party was born out of those wealthy southern slave owners that made slavery and racial contention an issue in this our great nation. Republicans stand for less government and personal empowerment, the virtues this country was founded upon. Democrats have created a welfare state in which votes will be cast in favor of more government handouts.

          Stalin and Hitler were good speakers too. Stalin and Hitler began by appealing to the common man and labor unions as well. Communist societies have come and gone in the world, and for very good reason…that system of government DOESN’T WORK. Those policies of government controlling every aspect of civilian life ARE PROVEN FAILED policies. Why should we now revert back to a failed system which untold millions of American servicemen have fought and died for to defeat?

          • PragmaticDad

            You've gone into great detail to explain your theory about Obama. I want to be sure I understand your position. Are you saying that Obama has some kind of hidden agenda similar to the Machurian Candidate or are you saying that he's communist based on his platform. His platform is the platform of the democratic party which includes expansion of national health care programs (i.e. expanding Medicare beyond elderly, disabled and children). [ set aside for the moment your comments about his desire to control energy and housing sectors of our economy where we may have areas where we agree ]

            Are you saying that democrats are communists or are you saying Obama will take some sort of action (beyond the stated democratic platform) as president that will turn the USA into 1960's USSR or communist China?

            Keep in mind that nearly all major democracies in the world including Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Demark, Sweden, Finland, Germany, France, Australia, New Zealand, India, etc. (I could go on and on) all have a National Health Care systems. Are you saying those countries are communist?

  • Jane Meyer

    Palin as John McCain's choice as VP insults all women and particularly Hillary Clinton. Playing the gender issue with such a low card is an insult to Hillary and all of her supporters. Palin has no understanding of the issues facing this society, isolated in Idaho and Alaska, she can certainly discuss (maybe) rural issues but what about the issues facing the rest of us…..poverty, achievement gap, loss of jobs, inequities, rising gas prices. loss of homes. Alaska is not representative of the majority of this country, not to say, that AK is not important, but how does she have any understanding of the majority of the population????? We are not moose hunters…..we can't be hunters and gatherers in most states, 49 out of 50. So what's up?

  • http://armandsrancho.blogspot.com/2008/08/gov-sarah-palin-end-of-bridge-to.html Armand Vaquer

    Gov. Palin told the truth. She killed the bridge project. It was even reported by ABC News that she did at the time. If anyone should bother to Google it, the truth is there.

    • ebrayton

      And you are missing the point completely. The lie is not that she killed the bridge project, the lie is why she killed the bridge project. She claims she killed it because she's just so gosh darn opposed to earmarks and so keen on Alaskans doing it for themselves that she told Congress they could keep their money. The truth is that she killed it because she couldn't get enough money from Congress to complete the project; she said so in her own words. And by the way, she kept the federal money that had already been allocated, she didn't send it back. All that talk of just being so principled she couldn't take federal money was a lie.

      • wolf

        Or to put it another way —

        It's a little easier to cancel a project, when someone else ( Congress ) tells you you can't do it.

  • ret

    I smell another Harriet Miers Saga…

    • Rayne1

      It's so difficult to choose, though…is it a Harriet saga, or is this Agnew? or is this Quayle?

      Or perhaps they've chose the Monica Goodling of the veep's office?

  • Donna H.

    McCain's campaign did very little in the way of vetting Palin, and it didn't take long for his bad judgment in neglecting that important step to show up.

    • Kwaayesnama

      INTELLECT SHOULD COUNT FOR SOMETHING

      What scares me is that the GOP has chosen two morons to save this nation.
      We have a man at the top of the ticket that was in the bottom of his class intellectually.
      And the person that is 1/2 a breath away from the presidency attended 5 colleges before she was able to pull together enough credits to receive her diploma from the University of Idaho. They might have a piece of paper but do they have the intellighence to lead this nation in the hard times ahead? I don’t belive so. But what else is new we elected a moron to lead the United States Of America and look where it brought us. This white, Republican, woman will be voting for Barack Obama.

  • Damajah

    Palin is a liar, and McSame is keeping her from the press's feeding frenzy. she can run, but she can't hide.

    Palin Repeatedly Professed Desire To Renew Federal Funding For ‘Bridge To Nowhere’»

    During the unveiling of his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) tried to cast her as a “reformer” and “fiscal conservative.” She boldly claimed that with regard to Sen. Ted Stevens’s (R-AK) infamous “Bridge to Nowhere,” she told Congress, “Thanks, but no thanks“:

    I championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. In fact, I told Congress — I told Congress, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’ on that bridge to nowhere. If our state wanted a bridge, I said we’d build it ourselves.

    It appears, however, that Palin is lying. As Bradford Plumer first noted, the Anchorage Daily News interviewed Palin during her 2006 campaign for governor. At the time, federal funding for the bridge had been stripped by Congress. They asked if she was in favor of continuing state funding for the project. “Yes,” she responded, noting specifically her desire to renew Congressional support:

    Yes. I would like to see Alaska’s infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now–while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist.

    That assistance never materialized. When she finally canceled the $400 million project, Palin lamented the fact that Congress was not more forthcoming with federal funding. She said in a statement at the time:

    Despite the work of our congressional delegation, we are about $329 million short of full funding for the bridge project, and it’s clear that Congress has little interest in spending any more money on a bridge between Ketchikan and Gravina Island.

    Palin’s desire to have federal funding directed toward pet projects in Alaska, however, did not diminish. As recently as March 2008 — around the time she first met McCain — her special counsel, John Katz, wrote in the Juneau Empire that despite recognizing increased scrutiny of such spending, Palin was not “not abandoning earmarks altogether.” While McCain expressed high-profile disdain for earmarks, the Palin administration held that:

    [E]armarks are not bad in themselves. In fact, they represent a legitimate exercise of Congress’ constitutional power to amend the budget proposed by the president.

  • Damajah

    By the way…Palin told another easily checked lie. She said she put the state plane up for sale on E-Bay. The fact is, the plane was sold to a private Alaska businessman at a $600,000 loss to the Alaska taxpayer. The state paid 2.7 million for the plane, Palin tried to sell it for $2.5 million, and ended up using a broker to sell it for $2.1 million. So much for her business accumen…a 22.2% loss on an asset that was shared with other agencies. Alaska is a a very large state. Palin will easily go through $2.7 million flying around the state and to the lower 48 on state business. That's why they bought the plane in the first place. Now they will have to charter or lease a plane, and the cost will far exceed what they were paying for a plane.

  • mrbenz7

    That isn't a lie if she cancelled the project because the cost ballooned to $349 million and counting. Lisa Murkowski has 35 acres of land that would have multiplied in value if the bridge went through to Gravina Island. This was another reason Palin called it quits since she said and I quote” Serving the public interest as governor is not a job you take to make yourself rich!” Then she cancelled the project!

    • Kwaayesnama

      CNN recently showed the road to nowhere that Sarah Palin used the taxpayer’s dollars to build.
      It is a dead end street with absolutely no traffic on it. So when she said no thanks to the bridge she did not give the money back to the government as she insinuated. She used the funds to build a road to nowhere. I would love to know why she chose to build this particular unneeded road?

  • Pingback: Angry Anti-Palin Day Evidently « Tiny French Studio

  • Kwaayesnama

    CNN recently showed the road to nowhere that Sarah Palin used the taxpayer’s dollars to build. It is a dead end street with absolutely no traffic on it. So when she said no thanks to the bridge she did not give the money back to the government as she insinuated. She used the funds to build a road to nowhere. I would love to know why she chose to build this particular unneeded road?

  • Kwaayesnama

    INTELLECT SHOULD COUNT FOR SOMETHING

    What scares me is that the GOP has chosen two morons to save this nation.
    We have a man at the top of the ticket that was in the bottom of his class intellectually.
    And the person that is 1/2 a breath away from the presidency attended 5 colleges before she was able to pull together enough credits to receive her diploma from the University of Idaho. They might have a piece of paper but do they have the intellighence to lead this nation in the hard times ahead? I don’t belive so. But what else is new we elected a moron to lead the United States Of America and look where it brought us. This white, Republican, woman will be voting for Barack Obama.

  • Kwaayesnama

    CNN recently showed the road to nowhere that Sarah Palin used the taxpayer’s dollars to build. It is a dead end street with absolutely no traffic on it. So when she said no thanks to the bridge she did not give the money back to the government as she insinuated. She used the funds to build a road to nowhere. I would love to know why she chose to build this particular unneeded road?

  • Kwaayesnama

    CNN recently showed the road to nowhere that Sarah Palin used the taxpayer’s dollars to build. It is a dead end street with absolutely no traffic on it. So when she said no thanks to the bridge she did not give the money back to the government as she insinuated. She used the funds to build a road to nowhere. I would love to know why she chose to build this particular unneeded road?

  • Kwaayesnama

    INTELLECT SHOULD COUNT FOR SOMETHING

    What scares me is that the GOP has chosen two morons to save this nation.
    We have a man at the top of the ticket that was in the bottom of his class intellectually.
    And the person that is 1/2 a breath away from the presidency attended 5 colleges before she was able to pull together enough credits to receive her diploma from the University of Idaho. They might have a piece of paper but do they have the intellighence to lead this nation in the hard times ahead? I don’t belive so. But what else is new we elected a moron to lead the United States Of America and look where it brought us. This white, Republican, woman will be voting for Barack Obama.

  • Kwaayesnama

    CNN recently showed the road to nowhere that Sarah Palin used the taxpayer’s dollars to build. It is a dead end street with absolutely no traffic on it. So when she said no thanks to the bridge she did not give the money back to the government as she insinuated. She used the funds to build a road to nowhere. I would love to know why she chose to build this particular unneeded road?

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