In the national effort to overcome dependence on government, Michigan has just moved one step forward toward ensuring that welfare promotes self-reliance. On Tuesday, Governor Rick Snyder (R) signed legislation to place a four-year time limit on cash assistance benefits for welfare recipients. In 2006, Michigan passed similar legislation under then-Governor Jennifer Granholm (D). But, according to Jack McHugh of Michigan’s Mackinac Center, that particular legislation included so many loopholes that it rendered the time limits practically meaningless. The legislation signed this week attempts strengthen the time limits and thus …
President Barack Obama visited a federally funded advanced battery plant in Holland, Michigan, today to tout the success of his green jobs initiative. But there’s another highly touted green company in Michigan that the President didn’t visit—and with good reason. About 170 miles away in Oak Park, Michigan, the state-government-funded hybrid bus company Fisher Coachworks sits dormant. It’s out of business just two years after it drew acclaim for being part of Michigan’s green future, despite millions in state taxpayer funding and a contract to sell buses to be purchased …
Republican presidential candidates are gearing up for the first Iowa presidential debate tonight. FOX News and The Washington Examiner are presenting the debate, which will take place at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. The event leads into Saturday’s Iowa Republican Party Ames Straw Poll, which can be a pivotal moment for campaigns. The Hill reports many Republicans who plan to attend Saturday’s straw poll are still undecided on their candidate, which is highly unusual this close to the event. That makes this evening’s debate even more important. After backing out of …
It took Nixon to go to China, and now it’s taking a coalition of union members to push for right-to-work legislation in big labor’s heartland of Michigan. Our friends at The Mackinac Center’s Michigan Capitol Confidential report: “A grassroots coalition called ‘Michigan Freedom to Work’ held a news conference June 30, 2011, at several locations around the state, including Lansing. Several union members and others gathered in the Capitol building to announce their new coalition and plans to push for legislation to add Michigan to the list of states that …
Four Corners Park in Coldwater, Mich., is home to Memorial Day festivities, bands in the summer, and monuments to those who have given the ultimate sacrifice to defend the American way of life. Now it’s also home to a blanket prohibition on the freedom of speech following a local Tea Party’s request to hang a banner announcing a rally last July. First Amendment, anyone?
What happens when a city buys the liberal dream hook, line and sinker? Just take a look at the City of Detroit. The once-great city lost 237,493 residents over the last decade according to the 2010 Census, bringing it to 713,777 – a population plunge of 25%. That’s its lowest population since 1910, and it marks the city’s fall from a 1950s peak of two million, over 60%. And that’s just the people who can afford to leave. Detroit, once known as “the great arsenal of democracy,” has made headlines …
With 14.9% unemployment and a massive 800,000 jobs lost in the last decade, times are tough in Michigan. But despite the desperate conditions, some Michiganders have decided to keep collecting government unemployment checks instead of accepting job offers and heading back to work, according to a Detroit News report: In a state with the nation’s highest jobless rate, landscaping companies are finding some job applicants are rejecting work offers so they can continue collecting unemployment benefits. It is unclear whether this trend is affecting other seasonal industries. But the fact …
Yesterday, President Obama signed his health spending bill into law promising the American people: “These reforms won’t give the government more control over your health care.” This statement is simply untrue, otherwise over 16,000 new IRS agents wouldn’t need to be hired to enforce the mandates. And if this was the case, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) wouldn’t need to introduce an amendment to the reconciliation bill that would “limit the amount of discretion given to the Secretary of Health and Human Services under the current bill to determine acceptable levels …
Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), the explosive Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to detonate aboard Northwest Airlines flight 253, is among the most powerful of explosives in the world and was widely used to blow up airplanes in the 1970s and 1980s. The only reason the passengers of Flight 253 are still alive today is because Mr. Abdulmutallab’s syringe detonator failed for still unknown reasons. Yet despite the facts that PETN is easily detected and Mr. Abdulmutallab’s father warned the U.S. embassy in Nigeria about his son this November, Homeland Security Secretary Janet …
It has been widely reported that various “sweeteners” are tucked away in the Manager’s Amendment to the Senate health care bill (H.R. 3950). Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) worked out provisions designed to secure the votes of Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Carl Levin (D-MI) by exempting the biggest insurers in their states from the new health insurance premium taxes embodied in the bill. Sure enough, the Manager’s Amendment adds under Section 9010(c)(2) a new subsection (C) tailored to exempt Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and a new …
