And I thought Bush was a pile of.....

WASHINGTON — A tech firm linked to a campaign-donor crony of President Obama not only got the job to help build the federal health-insurance Web site — but also is getting paid to fix it.
Anthony Welters, a top campaign bundler for Obama and frequent White House guest, is the executive vice president of UnitedHealth Group, which owns the software company now at the center of the ObamaCare Web-site fiasco.
UnitedHealth Group subsidiary Quality Software Services Inc. (QSSI), which built the data hub for the ObamaCare system, has been named the new general contractor in charge of repairing the glitch-plagued HealthCare.gov.
Welters and his wife, Beatrice, have shoveled piles of cash into Obama’s campaign coffers and ­apparently reaped the rewards.
Beatrice Welters bundled donations totaling between $200,000 and $500,000 for Obama’s campaign during the 2008 election ­cycle, according to campaign- ­finance data compiled by Center for Responsive Politics.
The investments quickly paid off for Beatrice Welters. The Obama administration tapped her in 2009 for the plum job of US ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, which she held through last November.
The couple have been frequent guests at the White House.
What’s more, UnitedHealth Group is one of the largest health-insurance companies in the country and spent millions lobbying for ObamaCare.
The insurance giant’s purchase of QSSI in 2012 raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill, but the tech firm nevertheless kept the job of building the data hub for the ObamaCare Web site where consumers buy the new mandatory health- ­insurance plans.
QSSI has been paid an estimated $150 million so far, but officials couldn’t say how much more the company might collect on the ­repair contract.

Hoekstra lying through his teeth.

On June 22, 2006, Hoekstra made headlines by announcing at a press conference in the Capitol that weapons of mass destruction had been located in Iraq in the form of 500 chemical weapons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubJXHDpUd1o
I will not be voting for Pete Hoekstra because he was a hand puppet for Dick Cheney.
I will however be voting against Debbie Stabenow from which Hoestra will benefit.

Texas Joins Push Against Obamacare; Michigan Not
http://www.mackinac.org/17214

Really getting tired of Snyder acting as if he is worried about offending liberals.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/06/07/panetta-visits-afghanistan-to-discuss-plans-for-troop-drawdown-even-as-violence/?test=latestnews

They hid Bin Laden from us for ten years and now they're shooting U.S. soldiers at random...  but we're still going to give them $2.3 billion in aid this year.

CIA drone strike kills Al Qaeda leader wanted in USS Cole bombing, US officials say

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/05/06/airstrike-kills-al-qaeda-leader-wanted-in-uss-cole-bombing-yemeni-officials-say/
 
Old Dick Cheney/George Bush election year trick that Obama's people have dusted off for the campaign. Yep... you're going to start hearing about Al Qaeda people dropping like flies between now and November.

Teenager who moved to Indiana for new life killed allegedly after spat over sneakers

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/07/teenager-who-moved-to-indiana-for-new-life-killed-in-spat-over-sneakers/?test=latestnews#ixzz1rXrzwfX6
After Osama involved himself in the Trayvon affair and admitting women to Augusta National Golf Club, this one will probably warrant a summit meeting at Camp David.

Why you don't elect illegal residents

Obama warns 'unelected' Supreme Court against striking down health law
President Osama, employing his strongest language to date on the Supreme Court review of the federal health care overhaul, cautioned the court Monday against overturning the law -- while repeatedly saying he's "confident" it will be upheld.
The president spoke at length about the case at a joint press conference with the leaders of Mexico and Canada. The president, adopting what he described as the language of conservatives who fret about judicial activism, questioned how an "unelected group of people" could overturn a law approved by Congress.
Apparently, the Al-Qaeda wanna be that somebody elected president, doesn't know that it is the Supreme Court's job to determine the constitutionality of new laws in this country.
This is the problem with electing foreigners who do not understand how the checks and balances between the three branches of our government work.  

Predictable... because I predicted it

Analysis of Michigan Film Subsidies:
Two Years, $117m - and No Film Job Growth
http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/12560
I am extremely disappointed that our republican governor, our republican senate and republican house have not ended this welfare for movie stars.
Does anyone really think Michigan taxpayers should be responsible for footing 32% of a movie production payroll?  

Same for everybody

Bill Would Require CEOs Get Drug Tested If Company Gets Loans, Grants Or Tax Credits From State
http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/16715
Great idea... wish I had thought of it.

Michigan Senate Stops Home Health Care 'Dues Skim'

By Jack Spencer | March 22, 2012

Legislation drafted to put a stop to the “home health care dues skim” was passed Thursday by the Senate on a 25-13 vote. All the Republicans voted yes except Sen. Roger Kahn, R-Saginaw.

Senate Bill 1018 was the version of the legislation that was passed. It was approved by the Senate Reforms, Restructuring and Reinventing Committee in the morning on a 5-2 party-line vote and sent to the Senate floor where the vote was taken.

The measure now heads to the House where passage seems virtually guaranteed. It will be headed to Gov. Rick Snyder by the end of next week.

“This is the final policy piece that clarifies that these people are not public employees,” said the bill sponsor, Sen. Dave Hildenbrand, R-Lowell, during the floor debate over the legislation. “This is to finally end the Service Employees International Union dues being taken from those who are not public employees but just people taking care of relatives.”

Hildenbrand pointed out that the legislature had tried to end the “skim” last year by de-funding the Michigan Quality Community Care Council (MQC3) — which was the so-called "employer" used in the unionization. However, through bureaucratic juggling, the “skim” continued even after the de-funding.

Robert Haynes and his wife Patricia have become the subjects of many news articles, TV and radio accounts of the “skim.” The Hayneses take care of their cerebral palsy-stricken son and daughter in their Macomb Township home. They've had union dues extracted from their checks, although they get no benefits from the union.
Sen. Roger Kahn, the lone vote against stopping this ripoff, was given a $5,000 campaign contribution from the SEIU the day this legislation hit the senate. That is pure bribery.

Conservative Teachers

MEA Concedes Large Percentage of ‘Conservative’ Teachers, Endorses 97% Democrats

By Tom Gantert | Feb. 23, 2011

The Michigan Education Association’s October magazine notes a large percentage of teachers nationwide that consider themselves “conservative.”

It stated that a 2005-06 National Education Association survey found 45 percent of teachers under 30 classified themselves as conservative and 63 percent of teachers age 40 to 49 classified themselves as conservative. The MEA represents more than 157,000 teachers, faculty and education support staff.
Yet, in the same magazine, the MEA released its recommendations for political candidates and recommended 111 Democrats in 114 races.
Tells an story about how much unions care about what their members think.
Communist's operated the same way.

Food stamp fraud increasingly sophisticated despite reports of drop in cases
By Doug McKelway
FoxNews.com
Despite several recent, well-documented cases of food stamp fraud -- including a couple in Washington State living in a $1.2 million home, 30,000 college students on the food stamp rolls in Michigan and Wisconsin beneficiaries selling their cards on Facebook -- an inspector from the U.S. Department of Agriculture told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Thursday that food stamp fraud is decreasing.
When pressed about the trend by Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., Kevin Concannon, undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services at the U.S. Department of Agriculture said that fraud cases have dropped to an all time low record of less than 1 percent.
"It's one of the best records among federal programs," he said
What else he he going to say?  He gets two monster federal paychecks and his boss is up for re-election.
Even so, food stamp fraud has gotten more sophisticated, moving away from the simple petty crimes of coupon days, when recipients would trade coupons for cash in grocery store parking lots, to more elaborate schemes designed to swap easily traceable swipe cards for unauthorized goods.
Witnesses told the committee that food stamp fraud tends to proliferate, not in chain grocery stores, but in mom-and-pop stores. Statistics show, they said, that the more liquor and cigarettes sold, the greater the likelihood of food stamp fraud. Even when the fraud is investigated and stores are shut down - they're often re-opened by family, friends or the same person using a fraudulent application.
Even so, tougher enforcement in some impoverished areas presents its own problem.
"Do you really want to shut down the only source of groceries in a neighborhood? I think you ought to be very careful about that," says Michael Tanner of the Cato Institute, who's written extensively about food stamps, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
I love that bizarro world reasoning every time I see it. 'Yes, it's true that he is robbing banks and terrorizing people but he uses the money to help feed all his illegitimate children, so it's ok! 
'Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program'. Love the name, and garbagemen are 'Sanitation Engineers'.

Where's the liberal outrage?

In interview, Obama says he's not bluffing on Iran
By MARK S. SMITHWASHINGTON (AP) -
President Barack Obama says he means it when he insists it's unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon. "I don't bluff," Obama said in an interview published Friday.
In his most expansive remarks on the issue, Obama told The Atlantic magazine that Iran and Israel both understand that "a military component" is one of a mix of many options for dealing with Iran, along with sanctions and diplomacy.
Obama plans to meet Monday at the White House with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and will try to convince Netanyahu to postpone any plans his government may have to attack Iran's nuclear facilities in coming months.
The president said he won't advertise any U.S. plans for Iran. At the same time, Obama has consistently refused to renounce a military option for U.S. strategists.
Didn't he get elected by promising to end wars? Where are all those liberal protesters?
Osama's people are aware that no US President has lost an election while conducting a war. They need one. That little conflict in Afghanistan doesn't have enough star power. 

Yes!

There are already a number of programs, both state and federal, taking money out of our pockets to assist the homeless and others. Most of that money does not go where it was intended, why would you want to give politicians more money to abuse?

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2012/02/kalamazoo_county_board_of_comm_5.html

Rare

Should Threats Against Legislators Have Stricter Penalties?

Some wonder why Legislators lives deemed more worthy than the lives of everyone else

http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/16483

This is one of the rare times I disagree with the Mackinac Center.
I agree with treating elected and appointed officials differently when it comes to threats and such. They obviously have more attention focused on a relatively small group which makes them more visible and attractive to nut-cases than the average guy on the street.  

Outstanding

Michigan governor signs bill aimed at capping health care costs for local governments, schools

ASSOCIATED PRESS
LANSING -- Many local government and public school employees in Michigan will be required to pay more toward their health insurance under a new law signed by Gov. Rick Snyder.
The legislation, which covers medical benefit plans starting Jan. 1, limits the amount of money a public employer can pay toward workers' health coverage, likely saving taxpayer money but raising costs for some workers. The caps for employers range from $5,500 for a single employee to $15,000 for a family.
Local governments and schools could opt to pay no more than 80 percent of the annual cost of medical benefits instead of a hard cap. That would leave employees on the hook for at least 20 percent of their coverage costs.
Elected officials including state lawmakers are covered by the new law, but many state employees and public university workers won't be affected by the plan unless the state constitution also is changed.
The Snyder administration cited a 2009 survey from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics saying that private sector employees in Michigan are responsible on average for more than 20 percent of their medical benefit costs. The Snyder administration said public employees cover an average of 10 percent to 15 percent, depending on whether the coverage is for individuals or families.
The Republican-led Legislature passed the final version of the legislation last month despite opposition from some public employee unions that consider the measure an attack on collective bargaining rights. Labor groups said the negotiation of health benefits should be left to the contract bargaining process.
If the law is inconsistent with the terms of an existing union contract, the law's requirements would not take effect until the contract expires, changes or is renewed. A local government could opt out of the plan in a given year with a two-thirds vote of its governing body.
The state's largest teachers union, the Michigan Education Association, has said "the real losers in the debate continue to be the employees who just got a greater burden of health care costs shifted onto their backs."

I don't know how I missed this when it passed last September, but this is huge. Snyder just jumped back up a few notches on my popularity poll. 

Slimeball

SEIU Sent Key GOP Senator $5K
on Day Bill to End 'Forced Unionization' Arrived in Senate

Home health care unionization continues to this day

By Jack Spencer | Feb. 6, 2012

Michigan Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Roger Khan, R-Saginaw, received $5,000 from the Service Employees International Union on June, 9, 2011. That was the day House Bill 4003 was sent to the Senate, one day after its passage in the House.

HB 4003 was drafted to end the Home Healthcare Dues Skim, under which the SEIU has received more than $28 million. These taxpayer dollars were, and continue to be, taken from home health care worker checks and given to the SEIU as union dues.
According to multiple sources, Sen. Kahn was put in charge of HB 4003 after it was sent to the Senate floor in late 2011. Delaying passage of HB 4003 in the Senate keeps the dues flowing to the SEIU.
This dues flow amounts to roughly $6 million annually, which the SEIU could use for political purposes
“It is unfortunate that both Mr. Kahn and Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, have mistaken their term limits for integrity limits,” said John Daniele of the Metro Detroit Freedom Coalition. “We sincerely hope that they are able to remember that the reason they were elected to their positions included acting to protect the taxpayers of Michigan from funding leftist agendas aimed at destroying American values.”
Tom Stump of the Saginaw Tea Party pointed out that money seems to play a central role in the overall relationship between Senate Republicans and the SEIU
“Since 2006 SEIU has been gifted $28 million, most of which was from struggling families caring for a loved one. This is an excellent return on the few contributions, such as Kahn’s,” Stump said. “As one who has supported Republicans, I have to wonder why I or other conservatives would be on the same donors list as Obama’s shock troops. The Senate’s continued silence will come at a cost.”
Based on information available on the Michigan Secretary of State website, the $5,000 that the SEIU sent to Sen. Kahn was in the form of an in-kind campaign contribution.
About 43,000 home health care workers were unionized in 2006 under former Gov. Jennifer Granholm in a process hidden from the news media, the Legislature, the public and probably 80 percent the workers themselves. More recent statistics show that the number of workers now involved is closer to 60,000.
This process was a forced unionization. A dummy employer, the Michigan Quality Community Care Council, was used to facilitate an unpublicized statewide unionization election, in which less than 20 percent of those involved returned ballots.
Last spring the Legislature de-funded MQC3, but emails show that Kahn worked behind the scenes over the summer to keep the forced unionization structure intact, which, in turn, keep the deductions flowing to SEIU. Those emails were obtained by Mackinac Center for Public Policy through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Sen. Kahn's office did not respond to requests for comment.
This piece of dirt needs to be thrown out of office and arrested for taking bribes.

Snyder Sucks

Corporate Welfare to Increase $20M

Feb. 10, 2012

Corporate welfare, business subsidies and other handouts will increase $20 million, to $195 million, in Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposed 2013 budget, according to MLive.com, causing concern for one Mackinac Center analyst.
“I hope that the governor doesn’t scale these programs up year after year as we’ve seen happen in the past two administrations,” Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, told MLive.com.
Funding for movie subsidies and the Pure Michigan tourism campaign that benefits an industry which refuses to help fund the service will remain at $25 million each, MLive.com reported.

I would like to see the details on the 'corporate welfare' charge because if we are talking about lowering tax burdens on businesses, I don't necessarily consider that 'welfare'. However, allowing that movie subsidy to survive is ridiculous. Snyder continues to show me he is a coward when it comes fighting liberal causes. 

Death to Unions

Indiana passes Right to Work Bill
1/25/2012

INDIANAPOLIS — Mackinac Center Senior Investigative Analyst Anne Schieber reports that the Indiana House passed House Bill 1001 today by a 54-44 margin. The legislation would make it illegal to force a worker to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment.
The House was considered the main stumbling block to passage of a right-to-work law. While remaining in Indianapolis, Indiana's House Democrats had been avoiding House sessions, but returned to the chamber today for what turned out to be a raucous debate and vote.
The Senate passed a similar bill earlier this week. HB 1001 will need Senate approval, but with passage by the House the enactment of an Indiana right-to-work law is all but guaranteed.
YES!

Mafinism

Trust Us, We Won

Why are contract ratification vote totals such a big secret?

By Paul Kersey | 1/16/2012 10:23 AM

Interesting item in Monday's Midland Daily News: faculty members at Central Michigan University want to know what the totals were after a vote to ratify a new contract, but the union isn't saying.
Negotiations had been contentious, with the university taking a firm line in negotiations and staff at CMU briefly going on strike. The Central Michigan University Faculty Association announced that a contract had been agreed to and ratified last week. The union announced that three-quarters of its membership had voted in the election, but is refusing to release the actual vote totals.
Some CMU faculty find the secretiveness disconcerting. "This is the kind of sneakiness and secrecy that we expect from the administration, not from our union leaders," journalism Professor John Hartman wrote on a Facebook page dedicated to CMU faculty.
But these sorts of shenanigans are not unheard of in union elections, and Michigan labor law does not provide for any remedies when union officials refuse to hold proper votes on things like contract ratifications. Union officials may claim that their organizations are democratic, but they don't always follow through by holding fair, open elections.
That's something to keep in mind as the union establishment gears up for a campaign to try to repeal the state's emergency financial manager law, in which it will drone on and on about the sanctity of democracy.
I think unions are truly the result of mating the Mafia with Communism.