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.
Rev. Jesse Jackson (photo: andycarvin via Flickr.com)
The group met for three hours at the to share ideas on how to stoke congressional action on the bailout most effectively.
Jackson told the group to pressure House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “Nancy Pelosi is a clear target for us,” he said. “Freedom and equality are very different. Many of our freedom allies are not equality allies. She’s the speaker of the House, [and] it’s decision-making time.”
He also warned that 5 million American jobs are at stake.
“What is now a recession will become a depression by January the 20th if we lose 500,000 jobs, and they project we could,” he told the group. “With 16 million on unemployment compensation already, we’re looking at a disaster, but it can be stopped.”
He urged those in the group to take action by calling members of Congress.
After he spoke, people in the group brainstormed possible ways to influence Congress. One idea that took well was to tap into Detroit’s religious communities. Attendees drew out a plan to contact the ministers of 6,000-plus churches in Detroit to help organize a protest. They also spoke of ways to draw media attention to the communities, rather than to the Detroit Three’s CEOs.
Beverly Smith, publisher of the “Minority Auto Dealers” magazine and newsletter, was in the group. Smith said she would like to see more on-the-ground coverage of the state of the auto industry and how it’s affecting the lives of workers.
“I think there is a lot of protest, but I think it’s not really being covered,” Smith told Michigan Messenger. “I think the only thing that’s being covered is the major CEOs of the companies. If they would go to the communities where these jobs are affected, they would see that people are mad.”
Over the weekend one of Detroit’s biggest churches, Greater Grace Temple, held a special service to pray for a bailout. The service was showy — with three SUVs driven to the altar and auto workers called to the pews, and anointing it with oil. If, like Jackon’s brainstorming session, the goal was to use the church to garner national media attention, it worked.
The flamboyant ceremony instantly grabbed the attention of news sites all over the Internet, and other national publications picked up the story.
Still, no large protests have been organized yet.
Jackson left Detroit on Friday to go to Lansing to visit a closed GM plant and show off how a closed plant affects a community.
One auto dealer in the crowd said he believed that calling the government loan package a “bailout” is the wrong approach.
“A bailout is atonement for someone else’s mistakes,” he told his peers as part of the session. “That’s why 61 percent of the people don’t like it. But this is about revitalizing American industry.”
Video below from Friday’s event:
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