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.
The Michigan Environment Council is warning that anti-government activists are convening science bashing forums at Oakland University and Central Michigan University today.
The environmental group says that panel discussion — “The Changing Debate on Climate Change” — put on by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy involves Detroit News cartoonist Henry Payne and ideologues from the Heartland Institute and the Reason Foundation, but no scientists.
An advertisement for the Oakland University event, posted by Payne on his Detroit News blog states:
The scientific case for man-made global warming has been seriously damaged by shoddy science and political interference, as evidenced by the recent Climategate scandal. As the science behind anthropomorphic climate change is undermined, the future of national cap-and-trade and other “green” legislation is uncertain.
Energy issues are particularly critical to the economic future of a manufacturing state like Michigan. This panel of experts will discuss: whether green jobs are an engine for growth or a further drain on the economy; the impact federal cap-and-trade legislation would have on Michigan’s households and businesses; and what energy policies Michigan should adopt to encourage job creation.
MEC cautions that the event is an attempt to confuse the public, and that the speakers will distort the significance of recent developments including e-mails stolen from some climate scientists.
Two speakers on the panel are representatives of organizations with histories of opposing any science that might suggest a need for new or more protective regulations to safeguard human health: the Heartland Institute and the Reason Foundation. Both are funded by oil and tobacco interests. Both have consistently opposed regulation of tobacco and dangerous chemicals.
The Heartland Institute’s anti-regulatory stance is so extreme it opposed the Great Lakes Compact. It believes we should allow pipelines and tankers to ship Great Lakes water to other states and nations.
The third speaker is a cartoonist for the Detroit News. The newspaper’s editorial stances mirror those of the Heartland and Reason organizations – opposing almost any policy or scientific finding that might be used to suggest a new or expanded role for government in protecting public health.
The forum is sponsored by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, whose goals and methods are consistent with its allies on the panel.
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