Michigan U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers has some strange family values. He doesn't think incest involving minors is rape.
That's the way he voted on HR3, the bill that redefines rape to make it harder for poor women to get an abortion.
House Republicans tried to disguise what they were doing, but their intent is clear. The bill initially contained language redefining rape as only "forcible rape." That would mean that poor women who were victims of statutory rape or incest could not obtain Medicaid funds for an abortion. How about a victim of a rapist who used a "date rape" drug? Sorry, that wasn't "forcible rape." You get to carry your rapist's baby if you are too poor to pay for an abortion.
But the public reaction against that medieval approach to women's rights was so harsh that they took that language out of the bill. And then they reinserted it in a sneaky way -- by attaching the committee report containing the same language in hopes that courts who interpret the law will take that as demonstrating what it was Congress wanted to the bill to do.
The measure also would eliminate most private insurance coverage for abortion by taking away the tax deduction for insurance premiums paid by employers. Women who use private insurance to pay for an abortion would face tax penalties. And the IRS would be expected to conduct abortion audits to determine if a woman used her private insurance to pay for an abortion that wasn't caused by rape or incest.
That's how extreme Mike Rogers is when it comes to punishing women.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Chrysler Profits Good News, But ...
The news that Chrysler Group LLC turned a $116 million profit in the last quarter, delighting employees along with many observers.
But it also exposes a flaw in Rick Snyder's plan to exempt most businesses from taxes.
Chrysler is an LLC and under Snyder's plan will not pay taxes on that profit.
All along, Rick Snyder has been telling people that the 95,000 businesses that won't pay taxes are "small businesses," implying they were Mom and Pop operations with a few employees. Chrysler hardly fits that image.
Snyder's boosters in the media have bought into that song and dance. The Detroit Free Press recently declared that it didn't matter because Chrysler didn't have any profits. Two weeks after that was written, Chrysler is projecting profits this year of $500 million. Time for a re-write, maybe?
Meanwhile, $500 million in tax-free profits for Chrysler is hardly a level playing field for the state's automakers since Ford and General Motors will both pay taxes on their profits.
The issue is not just Chrysler's unfair advantage over Ford and General Motors. If Chrysler is an LLC, what other large businesses are also LLCs, with millions in soon-to-be-untaxed profits, if Snyder has his way?
But it also exposes a flaw in Rick Snyder's plan to exempt most businesses from taxes.
Chrysler is an LLC and under Snyder's plan will not pay taxes on that profit.
All along, Rick Snyder has been telling people that the 95,000 businesses that won't pay taxes are "small businesses," implying they were Mom and Pop operations with a few employees. Chrysler hardly fits that image.
Snyder's boosters in the media have bought into that song and dance. The Detroit Free Press recently declared that it didn't matter because Chrysler didn't have any profits. Two weeks after that was written, Chrysler is projecting profits this year of $500 million. Time for a re-write, maybe?
Meanwhile, $500 million in tax-free profits for Chrysler is hardly a level playing field for the state's automakers since Ford and General Motors will both pay taxes on their profits.
The issue is not just Chrysler's unfair advantage over Ford and General Motors. If Chrysler is an LLC, what other large businesses are also LLCs, with millions in soon-to-be-untaxed profits, if Snyder has his way?
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
A Few Hours of Your Time Could Help Local Dems
If you're short on cash but still would like to help out your local Democrats, the Livingston County Democrats have a deal for you. Actually, the Michigan Challenge Balloonfest has a deal for you.
The balloonfest, held each year in Howell, is a great family-friendly festival that attracts hordes of people. Most people come by car and parking could be a nightmare if left to chance. But it's not. The balloonfest organizers line up many volunteers to direct people to parking areas, and then makes a payment of $7 an hour to an organization they name. The payments are covered by a sponsor each year.
This year's balloonfest will be held June 24, 25, and 26. If you'd like to volunteer, fill out this form and fax or send to the balloonfest organizers. Be sure to list Livingston County Democrats, 10321 Grand River Road, Suite 600, Brighton, MI 48116 as your designated organization.
It's a great way to help out even if you are short on cash.
The balloonfest, held each year in Howell, is a great family-friendly festival that attracts hordes of people. Most people come by car and parking could be a nightmare if left to chance. But it's not. The balloonfest organizers line up many volunteers to direct people to parking areas, and then makes a payment of $7 an hour to an organization they name. The payments are covered by a sponsor each year.
This year's balloonfest will be held June 24, 25, and 26. If you'd like to volunteer, fill out this form and fax or send to the balloonfest organizers. Be sure to list Livingston County Democrats, 10321 Grand River Road, Suite 600, Brighton, MI 48116 as your designated organization.
It's a great way to help out even if you are short on cash.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Five Things We Have Learned About President Obama
The daring raid that resulted in the U.S. putting a bullet in the head of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden will be analyzed and re-analyzed, hashed over in newspaper columns, written about in books, studied in the military academies, and made into movies. In coming days, its political significance will be debated as well. But based on what we know right now, we have learned at least five key things about President Obama's governing style and leadership abilities.
1. President Obama is not afraid to take huge risks. Success on a mission such as this is no guarantee, no matter how precise the intelligence, how skilled the combatants, how careful the planning. Failure could have taken many forms -- many Pakistani civilians killed by accident, a leak that tipped off Pakistani military who might have fired on U.S. helicoptors, an escape by bin Laden, the shooting down of U.S. helicoptors even as they made their escape. Look at what happened to President Carter's image in 1979 after a helicoptor sent to rescue Iranian hostages crashed. Despite the high stakes, Obama was willing to take that gamble, knowing the future of his presidency, the prestige of the United States, and the lives of American military personnel were on the line. That takes guts.
2. President Obama can multi-task. Over the last several months, President Obama has participated in nine secret meetings reviewing the intelligence that made the raid possible and deciding on the exact plan for the raid. At the same time, he was negotiating over the budget, trying to prevent Republican extremists from shutting down the government, reviewing tornado damage in the southeastern United States, attending a planned shuttle launch with Tucson shooting victim U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and answering critics about his birth certificate. Yet he remained focused on this key goal without waivering from it.
3. President Obama and his administration can keep a secret. Nobody outside a handful of people had any inkling this was going on. Such secrecy was crucial to the mission's success and Obama and his people kept a really big secret for a long time, no small feat in this age of instaneous communication in a town full of journalists dedicated to ferreting out secrets.
4. President Obama is one cool customer. The president authorized this mission on Friday. On Saturday night, he went to the White House Correspondents Association dinner and cracked jokes about his birth certificate and Donald Trump's decision-making. What must have been going through the president's mind when he delivered the dig to Trump about the heavy decisions Trump makes on "Celebrity Apprentice," such as whom to fire when the steaks aren't cooked right? Those are the decisions that keep me awake at night, Obama said without a hint of irony, a day after making a decision that would bring a mass-murderer of Americans to justice at last.
5. President Obama is very patient. In 2009 President Obama made getting Osama bin Laden the nation's top national security priority. He did not bluster about it and make idle threats, but just kept the focus on a top priority. Nor did he strike back at critics who called him weak, but merely bided his time and let the professionals do their planning.
This is a set of leadership traits that has served Michiganians and all Americans well.
1. President Obama is not afraid to take huge risks. Success on a mission such as this is no guarantee, no matter how precise the intelligence, how skilled the combatants, how careful the planning. Failure could have taken many forms -- many Pakistani civilians killed by accident, a leak that tipped off Pakistani military who might have fired on U.S. helicoptors, an escape by bin Laden, the shooting down of U.S. helicoptors even as they made their escape. Look at what happened to President Carter's image in 1979 after a helicoptor sent to rescue Iranian hostages crashed. Despite the high stakes, Obama was willing to take that gamble, knowing the future of his presidency, the prestige of the United States, and the lives of American military personnel were on the line. That takes guts.
2. President Obama can multi-task. Over the last several months, President Obama has participated in nine secret meetings reviewing the intelligence that made the raid possible and deciding on the exact plan for the raid. At the same time, he was negotiating over the budget, trying to prevent Republican extremists from shutting down the government, reviewing tornado damage in the southeastern United States, attending a planned shuttle launch with Tucson shooting victim U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and answering critics about his birth certificate. Yet he remained focused on this key goal without waivering from it.
3. President Obama and his administration can keep a secret. Nobody outside a handful of people had any inkling this was going on. Such secrecy was crucial to the mission's success and Obama and his people kept a really big secret for a long time, no small feat in this age of instaneous communication in a town full of journalists dedicated to ferreting out secrets.
4. President Obama is one cool customer. The president authorized this mission on Friday. On Saturday night, he went to the White House Correspondents Association dinner and cracked jokes about his birth certificate and Donald Trump's decision-making. What must have been going through the president's mind when he delivered the dig to Trump about the heavy decisions Trump makes on "Celebrity Apprentice," such as whom to fire when the steaks aren't cooked right? Those are the decisions that keep me awake at night, Obama said without a hint of irony, a day after making a decision that would bring a mass-murderer of Americans to justice at last.
5. President Obama is very patient. In 2009 President Obama made getting Osama bin Laden the nation's top national security priority. He did not bluster about it and make idle threats, but just kept the focus on a top priority. Nor did he strike back at critics who called him weak, but merely bided his time and let the professionals do their planning.
This is a set of leadership traits that has served Michiganians and all Americans well.
Monday, May 2, 2011
USA! USA! USA!
What a great moment to celebrate and come together as a nation!
President Obama's announcement that U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden may at last bring some closure to the families of the victims of 9/11 and give meaning to the deaths and injuries of the thousands of our members of the military since then.
And maybe, just maybe, we can all be just Americans for a little while, not Democrats or Republicans, liberals or conservatives, just Americans who are glad that justice has at last been served.
President Obama's announcement that U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden may at last bring some closure to the families of the victims of 9/11 and give meaning to the deaths and injuries of the thousands of our members of the military since then.
And maybe, just maybe, we can all be just Americans for a little while, not Democrats or Republicans, liberals or conservatives, just Americans who are glad that justice has at last been served.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Worst All-Time Commencement Speaker?
It took a long time, but the University of Michigan finally found a worse graduation speaker than the one who addressed the College of LSA graduates the year my daughter got her undergraduate degree.
The year was 1994 and the temperature was about 35 degrees and raining when I had to sit in the Big House and listen to the author of the cartoon strip "Cathy" talk to the graduates, including many intelligent young women, about the virtues of going into the women's restroom and eating a box of donuts when something goes wrong.
No wonder my daughter ended up as a researcher into solutions for obesity, given the send-off that ding-dong gave her.
In the year's since, I've read of far more famous commencement speakers than the nitwit my daughter had to listen to. Why didn't they have him or her when Jennifer graduated, I'd fume.
But this year, U of M finally outdid the Cathy spectre when they invited Rick Snyder, the Republican governor who wants to cut the heart out of higher education so that the younger siblings of this year's graduates will end up paying more tuition from what will be a lower quality education.
Yes, there is a worse commencement speaker than that cartoon writer, and his policies are no laughing matter.
The year was 1994 and the temperature was about 35 degrees and raining when I had to sit in the Big House and listen to the author of the cartoon strip "Cathy" talk to the graduates, including many intelligent young women, about the virtues of going into the women's restroom and eating a box of donuts when something goes wrong.
No wonder my daughter ended up as a researcher into solutions for obesity, given the send-off that ding-dong gave her.
In the year's since, I've read of far more famous commencement speakers than the nitwit my daughter had to listen to. Why didn't they have him or her when Jennifer graduated, I'd fume.
But this year, U of M finally outdid the Cathy spectre when they invited Rick Snyder, the Republican governor who wants to cut the heart out of higher education so that the younger siblings of this year's graduates will end up paying more tuition from what will be a lower quality education.
Yes, there is a worse commencement speaker than that cartoon writer, and his policies are no laughing matter.
Trump Not in Same Humor League as Obama
Donald Trump didn't get a chance at the podium at the White House Correspondents Dinner Saturday night, but his mere presence in the audience spoke volumes about what kind of president he would be.
President Obama poked fun at himself and the First Lady, and they both laughed when Seth Miller of "Saturday Night Live" made jokes at their expense.
The Donald, however, was stone-faced throughout the evening as both Obama and Miller needled him. Obama praised Trump's credentials and breadth of experience, referring to a recent episode of "Celebrity Apprentice" in which Trump had to decide whom to fire when steaks weren't cooked properly. "These are the kinds of decisions that would keep me up at night," Obama said.
Trump also didn't laugh when Miller cracked that he was surprised to hear that Trump was running for president as a Republican. "I thought he was running as a joke," Miller said.
Trump got a little taste of his own medicine and it's clear he can dish it out but he can't take it. Wait until he gets into a real campaign (if he does).
President Obama poked fun at himself and the First Lady, and they both laughed when Seth Miller of "Saturday Night Live" made jokes at their expense.
The Donald, however, was stone-faced throughout the evening as both Obama and Miller needled him. Obama praised Trump's credentials and breadth of experience, referring to a recent episode of "Celebrity Apprentice" in which Trump had to decide whom to fire when steaks weren't cooked properly. "These are the kinds of decisions that would keep me up at night," Obama said.
Trump also didn't laugh when Miller cracked that he was surprised to hear that Trump was running for president as a Republican. "I thought he was running as a joke," Miller said.
Trump got a little taste of his own medicine and it's clear he can dish it out but he can't take it. Wait until he gets into a real campaign (if he does).
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