Senate Postpones Medicaid Vote 

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

After caucusing for the better part of the day, Senate Republicans today tabled a vote to expand Medicaid as Senate Majority Leader Randy RICHARDVILLE (R-Monroe) tries to scrounge up more GOP support.

MIRS has learned that it seemed likely there were 20 votes in the chamber — providing the 12 Democrats were OK with a substitute on HB 4714 they haven’t seen. But Richardville still wants to hit 13 Republican votes, which would be half the caucus’ support.

Potentially complicating matters was the fact that Lt. Gov. Brian CALLEY is in the Upper Peninsula and unable to break a 19-19 tie. Although sources tell MIRS that Richardville doesn’t want to exercise that option, Calley’s absence did spark talk today.

The fact that Gov. Rick SNYDER is off on a trade mission to Israel didn’t go unnoticed, either, as he’s not around to twist arms. Instead, Budget Director John NIXON made the case to the Senate GOP caucus.

Josh PUGH of Progress Michigan tweeted this afternoon: “Maybe it would be easier to get Medicaid expansion through the @MISenate if the governor were actually in the country right now.”

As MIRS reported Monday, a substitute for HB 4714 has been crafted while votes were being rounded up (See “Senate Medicaid Sub Being Prepped,” 6/17/13).

A damper was put on the bill when three GOP senators — Sens. Howard WALKER (R-Traverse City), Goeff HANSEN (R-Hart) and Jack BRANDENBURG (R-Harrison Twp.) — were threatened with Tea Party primary challenges if they were “yes” votes.

The House last week passed HB 4714.

U.S. Rep. Mike ROGERS (R-Howell) announced this morning he would not seek the U.S. Senate seat being opened in 2014 by the retirement of U.S. Sen. Carl LEVIN (D-Detroit), knocking out one of the Republicans’ potential first-tier possibilities. 

“I am truly humbled by the encouragement I have had to run for the United States Senate. After careful and thorough deliberation and long talks with my family, friends and supporters, I have determined that the best way for me to continue to have a direct impact for my constituents and the nation is to remain in the House of Representatives,” Rogers said.

The decision leaves GOP National Committeewoman Terri Lynn LAND as the only formally announced candidate for the slot, with Dr. Rob STEELE giving the race serious consideration.

Other potential candidates include U.S. Rep. Justin AMASH (R-Cascade Twp.), Sen. Roger KAHN (R-Saginaw) and Rep. Pete LUND (R-Shelby Twp.).

Many Republicans viewed Rogers as the strongest challenger to the Democrats’ nominee, likely U.S. Rep. GaryPETERS(D-Bloomfield Twp.), due to his access to money and his general likeability, particular to swing independent voters. Rogers consistently overperforms in his mid-Michigan/Oakland County congressional district.

However, a Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey released last week showed Land polling the best against Peters in hypothetical one-on-one parings. Land trailed Peters by 5 points (41 to 36 percent) while Rogers was down 10 to Peters (42 to 32 percent).

Bill BALLENGER of Inside Michigan Politics said these numbers show Land may be underestimated as a candidate. She has won twice statewide as Secretary of State, is a “heck of a campaigner” and has support from Tea Party and libertarians types, as is evident from her national committeewoman race, Ballenger said.

While Peters is developing into the consensus candidate among Democrats, that doesn’t necessarily mean he is a slam-dunk in a General Election. Roughly a third of voters know Peters by name, which is less than the percentage of people who know Land.

“Gary Peters may very well be a 6,000-foot-tall tower of jelly,” Ballenger said.

On the other side of the coin, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lon JOHNSON said based on the polling numbers, Rogers “read the handwriting on the wall.”

“Republicans’ anti-middle class agenda undermines our economic recovery. Cutting seniors’ benefits to give tax breaks to outsourcers is no way to win in Michigan,” Johnson said. “Michigan middle class families can count on Gary Peters to fight for them.”

Today’s announcement may come as a disappointment to some people, said Stu SANDLER of Decider Strategies, but there’s still time for Republicans to field a candidate to beat Peters and that may very well be the only candidate out, there — Terri Lynn Land.

“Terri Lynn Land has an opportunity, once she officially gets in, to get together a strong operation, raise money and show a command of the issues,” he said. “It could be her or it could be someone else.”

Rogers’ decision does not come as a surprise in the state’s political circles.

Rogers had been steadfast in not showing his hand publicly on where he leaned on his decision. But as chair of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, Rogers would have a lot to lose in giving up a safe 8th Congressional seat and his role as the Republicans’ point political person on national security issues in exchange for a highly speculative race that, even if successful, could put him in the minority.

Michigan Republican Party Chair Bobby SCHOSTAK said Rogers’ responsibilities as Chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee are “critical to our national security — a role that, while at a tense time in our nation’s history, we can trust he will perform to the best of his ability.

“Although he will not be running for U.S. Senate, the people of Michigan are honored to have Rep. Rogers’ continued service in Washington. I have no doubt that Republicans will field a strong candidate to win this seat in 2014.”

House Republicans help Obamacare provision move to a vote

By TOM GANTERT | June 13, 2013 |  Follow Tom Gantert on Twitter

Rep. Mike Shirkey said a little less than two months ago he was a hard “no” vote on the expansion of Medicaid in Michigan.

On Wednesday, the GOP State Representative from Clarklake voted in favor of sending a bill that would allow Medicaid expansion to the House floor for a vote.

The House Michigan Competitiveness Committee voted 9-5 to send House Bill 4714 to the House of Representatives for a vote.

Rep. Shirkey, chair of the competitiveness committee, and fellow GOP State Reps. Frank Foster, R-Petoskey; Dave Pagel, R-Berrien Springs; and Ken Yonker, R-Caledonia, all voted “yes” along with five Democrats.

Reps. Kevin Cotter, R-Mount Pleasant; Ken Goike, R-Ray Township; Ray Franz, R-Onekama; Tom Leonard, R-DeWitt Township; and Dan Lauwers, R-Brockway Township, voted “no” to moving the bill to the House for a vote.

Rep. Gail Haines, R-Waterford, was absent.

Rep. Shirkey said once he researched Medicaid expansion, there were several points that he said made him think it was in the best interests of taxpayers to push for it, although he said he is against Obamacare.

“I hate these rules,” Rep. Shirkey said. “I hate Obamacare. I hope at the end of the day, Obamacare is a miserable failure. But it is the law of the land. We got this hand dealt to us.”

He said he thinks what eventually will defeat Obamacare is when people realize how truly expensive it will be.

He said Medicaid expansion addressed uncompensated care in the health industry and that estimates of the costs of uncompensated care in Michigan vary from half a billion to a billion dollars year.

“This provides us an opportunity to address that,” Rep. Shirkey said.

Small- and medium-sized businesses in Michigan would be subject to “extreme uncertainty” if Medicaid expansion wasn’t an option, he said.

Employees who make between $8 to $10 an hour could go on Medicaid as opposed to signing up for the government health exchanges to get their insurance, Rep. Shirkey said. If the entire population that was from 100 percent to 133 percent of the poverty level went on the government health exchange, taxpayers would pay more in subsidies than they would in taxes if that same group went on the expanded Medicaid, he said.

Critics of Medicaid expansion say they don’t trust the federal government to live up to its promise to pay 100 percent of costs even for a few years. And they complain that expanding Medicaid as part of Obamacare will further increase health care costs and further entrench the federal government in people’s lives, among other issues.

An Oregon study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that expanding Medicaid found that there were few positive effects from Medicaid coverage.

In an email, Rep. Franz said he was worried the expansion could cover as many as 600,000 additional people.

“What happens to our health care system with the influx of 600,000-plus new covered individuals? It can only be overwhelmed,” Rep. Franz said. “While the bill states that it will stop benefits if the Feds don’t pay 100 percent … I don’t believe for a moment that the benefit could be stopped and I don’t believe for a moment that the Feds will pay 100 percent forever. There simply isn’t the money for it.

“I believe it will cost our state more than half a billion dollars a year,” he continued. “Where is that revenue going to come from — schools, roads or new taxes? While it would be an easy vote and be a very politically advantageous position, I will not leave that bill to my successors in this seat or to future generations. … This legislation will hurt and entrap people over the long haul; hurt our doctors and health system; cost millions and billions we don’t have, and leave future generations with bills and responsibilities that will be difficult if not impossible to handle.”

Wednesday’s vote to move the bill to the House floor followed a vote on Tuesday that accepted substitute language for HB 4714. The new version of the bill, stripped out items that made passage conditional upon the federal government agreeing to specific terms.

I just spoke with Ralph Naples of Pine Hill Nursery on U.S. 31 in Torch Lake Twp. and yesterday with Bill Peterson of Moka Coffee House in Bellaire,…asking for a gift certificate of $50 to their business to be auctioned off at our “Fun Day – 2013” event.  These gift certificates would bring customers into their businesses and perhaps get them to spend even more money as a repeat customer.

Unfortunately, both of them confirmed that they are Democrats and are not interested in helping to raise money for our Antrim County Republican Party.

Perhaps, Republicans should consider purchasing their coffee and nursery items at other locations in Antrim County???

I believe that the Obama administration is conducting psychological warfare on conservative Americans. Not only that but it is also waging this war on all Americans who previously viewed themselves, their country, their Constitution and their overwhelming belief in God as a force for good in the world.

The psychological warfare began with an apology tour in which President Obama publicly “confessed,” presuming to speak for all of us, for the shortcomings of America and our supposed contributions to tyranny and all manner of evils around the world.

This confession planted in the American mind the notion that our values and beliefs might not be in line with freedom and truth.

The president, with the help of his administration, is attempting to conduct psychological warfare on Americans who value autonomy and free will.

It was reinforced by the first lady stating during the 2008 presidential campaign that she had never felt pride in our country.

These statements were seemingly shrugged off by Americans who, collectively, seemed to be telling themselves that they were hearing discontent channeled from disenfranchised groups in our nation who, nonetheless, loved the country—and all of us, too.

But, deep inside the American psyche, something more malignant could have been planted—the seeds of self-hatred and self-doubt.  And I no longer believe that those seeds were planted unintentionally by people as smart and capable as the president and first lady.

Psychological warfare has been described as a set of techniques aimed at influencing a target audience’s value systems or beliefs and inducing confessions of wrongdoing or attitudes favorable to the group proffering the techniques.

The techniques are often combined with black ops strategy, in which covert initiatives seek to dispirit, disempower and confuse adversaries.

The psychological warfare has continued, I believe, with other opportunities the president has had to make American’s question their individual freedoms and autonomy.

This has included misrepresenting horrific crimes, such as the one which unfolded in Newtown, Connecticut, as evidence of the need for gun control measures, when they clearly evidenced a need for revamping our mental health care system.

Gun rights are inextricably entwined in the American psyche with freedom to defend oneself.  Attacking gun rights, I believe, is an element of the psychological warfare on the American belief that force is justifiable when confronting evil.

My belief that psychological warfare is being deployed on Americans by this American president and his administration has been solidified as news has come out of the targeting of conservative groups by the IRS.

This black ops targeting doesn’t just have the effect of slowing the financial momentum of these groups. It has the goal of dispiriting them and making them feel helpless to achieve their goals.

If liberal Americans stand by and do not seek swift and severe justice for those who perpetrated these acts, then they will have tacitly been victimized, too. Because they will have tacitly agreed that it is acceptable for their government to target certain political movements for persecution—and that will have fundamentally changed the psyche of America.

Seen through the lens of psychological warfare, the failure to defend our embassy in Benghazi need not be understood simply as a screw-up. It could reflect an actual strategy on the part of the administration to reinforce the notion that homicidal violence born of hatred toward America is understandable—even condonable—because we have generated it ourselves and are reaping the harvest of ill will we have sown.  In other words, we should take our punishment.

The president said as much when he blamed the murder of our Ambassador to Libya on a film that criticized Islam.

This misstatement may disclose not just incompetence and may not just be evidence of a cover-up, but may be evidence of exactly what I am theorizing here: that the president, with the help of his administration, is attempting to conduct psychological warfare on Americans who value autonomy and free will and free markets and small government, by convincing them that they are wrong-minded, prejudiced and pathological and should deeply question their beliefs—including some ensconced in the Constitution.

The wiretapping of journalists would be, then, just another black ops technique in an ongoing war against our freedoms.

There will be those that say that many American leaders have sought to target groups hostile to their views.  Some will point to President Nixon or Senator McCarthy or J. Edgar Hoover.  And that debate can be had.

But I assert that this administration is engaged in a coordinated attempt to dispirit, disarm and disenfranchise large portions of the American population and to weaken our founding principles through what is best understood as psychological warfare.

And with that statement in the public domain, let us, at least, be aware and notice how many events unfold in-keeping with it, over the next months and years.

The enemy of psychological warfare is the knowledge of what is really happening to us and remembering who we really are.

Dr. Keith Ablow is a psychiatrist and member of the Fox News Medical A-Team. Dr. Ablow can be reached at info@keithablow.com

Jeff Barnes, Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency director; Major Gen. Gregory J. Vadnais, Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs director and adjutant general; State Reps. Gail Haines and Greg MacMaster; and Brigadier Gen. Michael A. Stone, MDMVA assistant adjutant general, following House approval of HB 4328, the state budget measure that includes $1.5 million to implement the Heroes 2 Hired veterans employment program in Michigan.

Michigan military veterans looking for work will be able to easily find potential employers through Pure Michigan Talent Connect once the state links its jobs program to Hero 2 Hired (H2H) to help compare military and civilian employment skills.

The House approved a Military and Veterans Affairs budget that includes $1.5 million to integrate the H2H software platform with the state’s program, said state Rep. Greg MacMaster, a military veteran who serves on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military and Veterans Affairs, who has been researching bringing the program to Michigan for the past year. H2H translates Military Occupation Codes (MOC) to comparable skill sets in civilian jobs and has been endorsed by all military branches, as well as being the designated job-seeking tool for the Michigan National Guard.

Understanding military skills and acronyms can be confusing to employers on the civilian side of hiring, causing many veterans’ military learned skills and knowledge to go untapped. Translating the military ranks and command leadership skills qualifications into easily understood professional or management job training education or experience requirements will help increase employers’ recognition of the capabilities and employ-ability of our servicemen and women.

The effort in Michigan has already attracted recognition in Washington, D.C., as the White House is viewing the program as a pilot project for the rest of the nation. The H2H drastically improves the skill translation gap that is a barrier to employment and includes translations for MOCs from the 1970s forward. The funding is expected to operate the program for four years, including a three to four month start-up period.

The Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency, Workforce Development Agency, Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and Department of Military and Veterans Affairs support the program and estimate 14,000 soldiers and airmen will be added to the talent pool in Michigan. The departments and agencies are expected to offer more information on the program as it is developed. The military and veterans affairs budget in House Bill 4328 awaits Senate confirmation expected next week before going to the governor for consideration.

Senator Ted Cruz discusses this President disrespect of our 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th Amendment RIGHTS!!!

[youtube_sc url=”http://youtu.be/8ZGrA3nqTj8″]

After much debate and consideration of all of the test results, rankings, data, opinions and “facts” regarding Michigan’s education standards (Common Core), curriculum and testing methods,…I personally believe that ALL Conservatives/TEA Party/Patriot and child advocacy groups should be demanding the following regarding K-12 Education and it’s funding here in our State;

1.)  PARENTS,….(NOT Federal, State OR EVEN Local governments) should control our Children’s Education;

PARENTS,…informed enough to request the Federal and State funds that are currently being spent on their children’s education, they should be given a “My EDU Card” (like a Bridge Card) with those funds on it.

PARENTS,…should become “Consumers of Education” for their children’s educational choices.  Competition between various educational options,…should be “Purchased” with those funds on their “My EDU Card”.

PARENTS,…should be able to have the option to purchase education from their local Christian School or use those funds to Home-School their children,…as well as Private or Charter schools.

2.)   DO NOT PURCHASE EDUCATION FROM ANY SCHOOL THAT RECEIVES FEDERAL FUNDING;

We the People KNOW that with Federal involvement via funding, comes control, socialist/communist agendas and strings attached!  Continuing to choose federally funded education will continue the failed results we are experiencing today and will NOT affect the changes we need in education,…NOW.

3.)   TAKE THE CHILDREN AWAY FROM UNION TAUGHT PUBLIC SCHOOLS;

The union Bosses dictate agenda, policies and politics that directly influence education.  DEFUND THEM,…by taking the children and those education dollars away from them.  We need to protect the children from them and their liberal, socialist/communist agenda and the indoctrination of our children.

Question,…would you allow your children or grandchildren to attend a classroom being taught by a sexual offender of young kids?  Heck NO,…you say?  Then why do you allow your young people to be indoctrinated with liberal, socialist/communist agendas being pushed by union protected public school teachers?

PLAN OF ACTION;

1.)   Become an advocate for “My EDU Card”.  Tell your family members, friends, co-workers and church members. Talk about “My EDU Card” to fund K-12 education at public meetings of your local, county and state officials.  Start using the phrase,…”My EDU Card”, the REAL SOLUTION for Education in Michigan!!!

2.)   Have your children and grandchildren make plans to be home-schooled or attend a local Christian school (that does not receive federal dollars) for the 2013-2014 school year.   JUST DO IT,…FOR THIS UPCOMING YEAR!!!

3.)   Tell your State Representative, State Senator and Gov. Snyder (all of them are up for re-election in Nov. 2014) that you will NOT vote for them unless they make these changes and fully fund “My EDU Card” for the State of Michigan’s parents that want the use of those Federal and State funds to educate their children as they deem necessary.  Tell them that we want to become “Consumers of Education,…and purchase it”!!!

We need to be “FOR” changes that will affect real improvements in K-12 education,…not simply “AGAINST” standards like the Common Core!!!

By – Priscilla Miller, ACRP Secretary (May 23, 2013) 

By the age of two, little girls love their daddy and if for some tragic reason death shatters that special relationship, the child really has no understanding of why he has left her.

All she knows are days of painful longing as she waits for him to return, but eventually the finality of what has happened, becomes her reality, and though the longing will always continue, she stops asking for him.

Only photos in a worn album are left behind to remind her of the brief time they shared together, and occasionally, the sweet, faintly familiar scent of pipe smoke wafting in the air stirs something deep inside of her that speaks his name.

There are also those little letters he wrote to her each day, back in 1944, from the Naval Training Center where he met his untimely death at the tender age of 29.  Those letters, along with the flag that once draped his coffin, are all she has left to treasure throughout the years.

Tending his gravesite and planting geraniums then proudly placing a small flag next to his grave marker became a Memorial Day tradition.  Along with the parade on Main Street and the memorial service that always followed.  The sound of a lone bugle playing “Taps” always filled her with a sense of pride and made her think of him. She grew into womanhood, had a family of her own and throughout the passing years, she always felt her Father’s love was with her.

I know this, because I was that little girl.

Several years ago, when I learned that after nearly 60 years of holding a Memorial Day Parade in Alden, there wasn’t going to be one, I just knew I couldn’t let that happen.  I began making phone calls, arranging for various people and organizations to play a part in Alden’s parade.

On the morning of the parade, I mentally went through a checklist of parade participants and suddenly realized I had forgotten to get horses for the parade, but it was just too late to do anything about it. As I hurried out the door on my way to the parade staging area, I paused for a moment and whispered,     “This one’s for you, Daddy.”

We were turning down a side street, and I was still wishing I had remembered to get some horses, when suddenly two riders on horseback, both holding flags appeared in front of us.  We stopped the car and they came over to inquire if there was going to be a parade in town that day.  At the staging area, antique cars, band members, veterans, Boy Scouts, Shriners, firefighters were all assembled and waiting, I gave the signal to begin and Alden’s Memorial Day Parade, complete with horses, went off without a glitch.

Upon my return home, as I breathed a sigh of relief and satisfaction, a vague memory suddenly came to mind.  It was something about those little letters my father had written to me so many years ago that prompted me to go and reread his words.  There in one of the letters, written just two days before his death, I read, “Dearest little Angel Girl,…Someday, when you are a big girl, maybe Daddy can get you a nice horsey.”

I knew in my heart, he had heard my words that morning and he was smiling down on me from heaven.

Please right mouse click the link below and open it in a new tab,…to hear that lone bugle playing tribute to all of our lost Soldiers and PLEASE remember this story on Memorial Day with it’s message about the effects on our American families!!!

 “Taps”

By Jim Meyers

True the Vote, a leading voters’ rights organization, has filed suit in federal court against the Internal Revenue Service following disclosures that the IRS has been targeting the TEA Party and other Conservative groups for scrutiny.

The suit filed in Washington on Tuesday asks the court to grant True the Vote its long-awaited tax exempt status, and seeks damages “for the unlawful actions by the IRS in the processing of its application for exempt status,” the organization said in a press release.
ActRight Legal Foundation, a 501(c)3 fundamental rights and public interest law firm, represents True the Vote in the lawsuit.

“We’ve been waiting for three years to receive a decision from the IRS about our tax exempt status,” True the Vote President Catherine Engelbrecht said in the release.

“After answering hundreds of questions and producing thousands of documents, we’re done waiting. The IRS does not have the power to pocket veto our application. Federal law empowers groups like True the Vote to force a decision in court — which is precisely what we aim to do.”

Cleta Mitchell, counsel to True the Vote and of counsel to ActRight Legal Foundation, stated: “We are not going to allow the IRS to claim, as it has been doing in the past week, that the targeting of conservative groups is over and ‘everything has been fixed.’ It is not yet fixed and this litigation is a vital step both to resolve True the Vote’s status and to learn exactly what happened inside the IRS.”

In an exclusive interview with Newsmax TV on May 14, Mitchell — who represents six groups that claim they were targeted — said she has tangible proof that high-ranking IRS officials in Washington were fully aware of the agency’s campaign to target conservative groups for heightened scrutiny.

Mitchell said she was told by a Cincinnati IRS agent that applications by two of her conservative clients were being processed by — and would ultimately be approved or denied in — Washington.

She also said she doesn’t believe the President or the White House was uninvolved in the IRS activities, as the administration has claimed.

The True the Vote release states that one count of the lawsuit seeks “recognition of True the Vote as a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization pursuant to 26 USC § 7428.”

A second count seeks “damages and injunctive relief from the IRS and IRS employees and agents, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331 and Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971), for violation of True the Vote’s constitutional rights by virtue of the actions of the government in unlawfully targeting and delaying recognition of True the Vote’s exempt status.”

A third count asks for injunctive relief against the IRS and IRS employees for their “unlawful intrusions” into True the Vote activities by requiring the filing of “voluminous materials with the IRS, then unlawfully inspecting and potentially disseminating the information.”

Dr. John Eastman, Chairman of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence and of Counsel to ActRight Legal Foundation, said: “This is just the first of several cases ActRight Legal Foundation plans to file against the IRS and those within the agency who have violated the constitutional rights of these citizens’ organizations.

“ActRight Legal Foundation has established an IRS Litigation Fund to support the suits against the IRS. We are asking for assistance from concerned citizens nationwide to help pay the costs of bringing these cases, which will help us learn the truth about what the IRS has been doing to conservative, non-partisan organizations and patriotic American citizens.”