DOWNLOADS: (129)

PLAYS: (963)

Embed

A prosecutor in Lapeer, Michigan says, "No harm, no foul," after a charter school took the National Rifle Association's (NRA) advice and hired a armed security guard who promptly left his handgun unattended in a student bathroom.

Chatfield School co-directors Matt Young and Bill Kraly announced last week that they had hired retired Lapeer County Sheriff’s Dept. firearms instructor Clark Arnold as a security guard in response to the December mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

"It's a tremendous asset to the safety of our students," Young told WNEM in a report that aired on Tuesday.

But by Wednesday, the school had admitted to The Flint Journal that the retired firearms instructor had made a "made a breach in security protocol" and left his unloaded handgun unattended in the school restroom "for a few moments."

"The school has put additional security procedures in place that follow local law enforcement practices and guidelines," a statement from Young said. "At no time was any student involved in this breach of protocol. We will continue to work on improving school security."

The school director insisted that the incident had been reported to authorities, but said that any repercussions for the newly hired guard were "a personnel matter."

Lapeer County Prosecutor Byron Konschuh expected that no criminal charges would be filed because no one was harmed.

"If you left a gun unattended and a toddler finds it and shoots and hurts someone, it could be some kind of reckless use of a firearm," Konschuh explained,

He added that "[i]t's almost like no harm no foul" because no students were injured in this case.

A 2008 resolution from the Lapeer Country Board of Commissioners indicated that Arnold had joined the Lapeer County Sheriff’s Dept. in 1976 as a corrections officer before being promoted to a road patrol officer in 1978. He served as a Certified Firearms Instructor, Certified Taser Instructor and Pepper Spray Instructor before retiring on April 19, 2008 with 32 years of service.

(h/t: Addicting Info)

DOWNLOADS: (195)

PLAYS: (1325)

Embed

Michael Moore continued making the rounds this Thursday on The Ed Schultz Show to discuss what's going on in Michigan with the passage of their union busting "right to work for less" law. Moore reiterated his disgust for what's happened to his home state, where the middle class was born. Apparently Moore would like to help do something about that though.

MOORE: A number of things are going to happen. First of all, the unions and the Democratic party there are going to use every legal means possible to obstruct this thing that they've done, which is against the will of the people. That's number one.

Number two, the Democratic Party of Michigan has got to run candidates who are going to win. And in the last two days I've spent a lot of time talking to friends and colleagues in Michigan, and we're going to put together our own search committee. We are going to recruit candidates who are going to win. We don't need to win all the seats. We just need to identify just a few. We're only behind by a few, a few seats, and remove those Republicans in 2014 and get someone to run for governor who's going to win.

You know, you had Verge on last night, he's great guy, Lansing mayor, but, you know, it's like the Republicans, they run somebody that wins. This is why they have both of these governorships. I think we need to run -- if I were the Michigan Democratic Party, I would be approaching beloved Democrats in the state of Michigan who the people would love -- a number of ex- Red Wings, for instance.

SCHULTZ: Sure.

MOORE: Denise Ilitch, from the Ilitch family that owns the Tigers and the Red Wings and Little Caesars. They're Democrats.

SCHULTZ: People that people like.

MOORE: They like them, and that family's a beloved business and the sports teams. I mean, why not run people, that the people like? That's what the Republicans have done -- they ran Schwarzenegger in California. they run -- they always run these people -- Reagan...

SCHULTZ: So you're hands-on to get good candidates.

MOORE: Absolutely and we've got to start that now, not next month or next year. That has to start right now. and we're starting it right now.

All I can say is I wish him and the state of Michigan luck with recruiting some winning candidates. Republicans have done so much damage already, it's hard to see a lot of it ever being turned back.

DOWNLOADS: (133)

PLAYS: (1068)

Embed

A Republican state representative in Michigan proposed an amendment to exempt her husband's job from the so-called "right to work" law which limits the ability of unions to collect dues.

State Rep. Lisa Posthumus Lyons (R) on Monday offered an amendment that would have added corrections officers like her husband, Brad, to the list of types of jobs not covered by the anti-union law. Police and firefighters had already been exempted from the legislation.

"When we talk about the brave women in police and fire we need to remember people in corrections," Lyon explained earlier this week, according to MLive.com. "These guys work in conditions that we can’t even begin to imagine."

"It's not financial. It's philosophy. I am saying we need to treat our corrections officers that way we treat our police men and women and firefighter men and women.”

Democrats, however, claimed that the proposal was an example of Republican hypocrisy.

"Why would she want to exempt her husband if this is such a great bill?" state House Democratic Caucus spokesperson Katie Carey asked. "“We were kind of disgusted with it... We were just kind of disappointed that she would offer this amendment at the same time lauding this legislation."

In the end, Republicans chose to gavel down the amendment without giving it a vote.

"I'm convinced of the value of our union and I'm here to tell you we will continue to pay union dues, the union that has represented Brad with such unequaled advocacy," Lyons declared in a Dec. 6 speech, adding that the "right to work" measure was about "the unions' freedom to make its case to members."

"Today, we are a proud union. Tomorrow, we will be a proud union family by choice," she said.

Following passage of the bill, Lyons asserted: "This is the day when Michigan freed its workers."

DOWNLOADS: (208)

PLAYS: (1497)

Embed

As Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder was about to sign their union-busting right-to-work-for-less bills into law, Chris Matthews spoke to UAW President Bob King and the State Director of the Michigan chapter of Americans for Prosperity's Scott Hagerstrom. Matthews attempted to get Hagerstrom to come clean about who "signs his paycheck" and despite repeated badgering from Matthews, refused to acknowledge that AFP is just a front group for the Koch brothers.

He just works for a grass roots organization, like the Red Cross don't you know! And they have lots of donors. He didn't want to talk about their one big one though. Here's more on Hagerstrom and his remarks back in February of 2011 from Think Progress: Koch Front Group Americans For Prosperity: ‘Take The Unions Out At The Knees’:

In a speech earlier this month at the Conservative Political Action Committee’s annual conference, Americans For Prosperity-Michigan Executive Director Scott Hagerstrom revealed the true goal of his group and its allies like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) efforts. Speaking at CPAC’s “Panel for Labor Policy,” Hagerstrom said that AFP really wants to do is to “take the unions out at the knees”:

HAGERSTROM: It’s easy to go out there and fight taxes and increased regulation, you know we send out an action alert on taxes to AFP and we get thousands of people to respond. You send out one on a more complicated issue and it just doesn’t quite resonate…We fight these battles on taxes and regulation but really what we would like to see is to take the unions out at the knees so they don’t have the resources to fight these battles.

Taking “the unions out at the knees” has long been a goal of the Koch brothers and their many front groups. In the run-up to the 2010 elections, the Kochs worked with other anti-labor billionaires, corporations and activists to fund conservative candidates and groups across the country. Now after viciously opposing pro-middle class policies for years, Koch Industries is trying to eliminate the only organizations which serve as a counterweight to the well-oiled corporate machine.

Sadly they managed to succeed in that goal today in Michigan. Sourcewatch has more on Americans for Prosperity here and the fact that they are indeed just a front group for the Koch brothers here.

This interview has a bunch of right wing blogs worked up of course, the usual suspects that I'm not going to link to, calling Matthews "unhinged" and claiming he "berated" Hagerstrom because he asked him time and again who funds AFP. If they think this is Matthews coming "unhinged" they must not watch the show much, because this is pretty mild by his standards. There are times that stuff can be annoying out of him. This wasn't one of them.

The AFP chair was on there pretending he's got the interest of those workers in Michigan at heart and that they're just some grass roots organization instead of an AstroTurf front group who only care about a race to the bottom on wages so their rich donors can squeeze some more blood out of the working class.

DOWNLOADS: (68)

PLAYS: (185)

Embed

President Barack Obama traveled to Michigan on Monday where he said a controversial anti-union "right to work" law passed by the Republican-controlled state Legislature last week really meant that workers had a "right to work for less money."

"What we shouldn't be doing is taking away your rights to bargain for better wages and working conditions," Obama told a crowd of supporters at a Daimler AG plant in Redford. "These so-called right to work laws, they don't have anything to do with economics, they have everything to do with politics."

"What they're really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money," he added. "America's not going to compete based on low skill, low wage, no workers rights. That's not our competitive advantage. There's always going to be some other country that can treat it's workers even worse."

"So, we've got to get passed this whole situation were we manufacture crises because of politics. That actually leads to less certainty, more conflict and we can't all focus on coming together to grow."

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) and other Democratic lawmakers met with Gov. Rick Snyder (R) on Monday and encouraged him to veto the right to work legislation, although he had already vowed to sign it.

(h/t: Talking Points Memo)

DOWNLOADS: (161)

PLAYS: (630)

Embed

I'm not sure what Politico's Ben White's background is, or if he's ever worked at a job where you were really glad you had a union in place to join, because you work in a dangerous environment, and because of those protections provided to you by the union, you could speak out about conditions on the job without fear of being fired or retribution, but it sure didn't sound like it after hearing his crass statements on MSNBC's Now With Alex Wagner.

I'm also really disgusted with the rest of the panel that was on there with him this Friday, because even though they made a lot of really great points about just what Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and his cohorts in the legislature were doing with passing this right to work for less legislation in their lame duck session, they let him get away with a really key issue that Rep. Brandon Dillon laid out so well during his speech this week.

The supporters of "right to work" don't really care about anyone's right to a job. What you're doing, as Ken already explained here, is arguing that it should be allowed that nonunion workers to get benefits that unions negotiate without having to pay their share for the process. And as Ken noted in that same post, "Proponents of 'right-to-work' laws argue that without such 'protections', workers can be forced to join unions, which is not true and is illegal under federal law and has been since 1947."

If Politico's White wants to have an honest debate about unions, rather than giving Republican taking points, maybe he could explain why it's fair for someone to benefit from the work and negotiating and legal representation a union is forced to give that employee, without that employee paying for those benefits, rather than the union being allowed to tell them that if they don't want to join, they're on their own. I thought Republicans loved the idea of someone "pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps." But now they think it's perfectly acceptable for a union to protect them and pay legal fees and negotiate for fair wages for them, without them paying to make sure that union has enough money to conduct business?

And as much as I really like Joan Walsh and Joy Reid and agree with the points they made during this segment, they missed the ball by not making that exact point to White when he was so terribly concerned about the choices and benefits of these workers and whether it's unfair to have them pay their union dues or not. Here is the question he should have to answer. Is it fair to force a union to represent free riders who want representation, but refuse to pay for it?

I thought Republicans were all about personal responsibility. I guess not if it means someone being allowed to freeload from a union so you can bust them financially. Then it's perfectly fine in the name of "freedom."

If anyone would like to try to get White to respond as to why he thinks his comments here were acceptable and that unions should be forced to spend money representing those who don't want to pay to join, and why those that refuse to join should reap the benefits of what those unions negotiate for, you can let him know at @morningmoneyben.

DOWNLOADS: (180)

PLAYS: (1507)

Embed

Dave already touched on the protests and police response to the Michigan right to work for less law that their legislators decided to go ahead and jam through in a lame duck session. Here's more from Rep. Brandon Dillon (D-Grand Rapids) who did his best to describe the legislation for what it is -- a right to freeload.

Rep. Brandon Dillon (D-Grand Rapids) Speaks Out Against "Right-to-Work" Legislation:

In this clip, State Rep. Brandon Dillon (D-Grand Rapids) explains his opposition to House Bill 4054, a proposal to make Michigan a "right-to-work" state. The proposal was pushed through the House in one day without a single committee hearing and without taking a single word of testimony.

These Republicans all love personal responsibility unless it means an opportunity to sock it to the paychecks of everyday working Americans and to bust a union. I'm not sure if the tide can be turned back through legislation or ballot initiatives which reverse or invalidate all or at least part of what just happened here, but I would suspect that is the next move we'll see from labor to try to counter this.

Here's more from the AFL-CIO on this rotten legislation: Breaking: Michigan Senate Passes ‘Right to Work’ For Less Bill:

The Michigan State Senate just passed the “right to work” for less bill. The House passed a similar bill earlier today and Gov. Rick Snyder (R) says he will sign the legislation that rolls back workers’ rights.

The measure passed on a 22-16 vote Thursday after hours of impassioned debate. Four Republicans joined all 12 Democrats in opposition.

After months of claiming “right to work” for less was not on his agenda, Snyder changed course this week and began a rapid push to move the bill through the legislature. The Nation’s John Nichols writes that the Michigan action is “part of a bold anti-labor move launched in coordination with a Koch Brothers-funded Americans for Prosperity project to ‘pave the way for right to work in states across our nation’.”

GOP legislative leaders had plotted behind closed doors with Governor Snyder, to have Michigan join the traditionally lower-wage states that decades ago enacted “Right-to-Work” laws to thwart the rise of a labor movement that promoted civil rights, women’s rights and economic justice.

The Michigan State AFL-CIO released the following statement:

....The only ‘freedom’ gained for Michigan workers will be the freedom to make less, the freedom to be disrespected at work, the freedom to struggle to pay their bills and the freedom to be left out of the American dream. This bill is a blatant attempt by the richest in Michigan to silence the voices of working families in our democracy, build their own power, and make the growing gap between the rich and everyone else even bigger.

Should Snyder sign this legislation, he will join a list of other governors – John Kasich, Scott Walker, and others – who have signed over the future of their respective states to big corporations and CEOs, making a decision to leave working families behind. Regardless of what might happen, working people have made it clear they will continue to fight for our vision of a better, stronger Michigan and work to hold elected leaders accountable.

More than 3,000 union members and workers' rights advocates rallied against the legislation and for several hours police shut the doors to the Capitol, keeping protesters out of the House and Senate galleries. Several people were maced as they tried to enter.

DOWNLOADS: (169)

PLAYS: (1037)

Embed

Michigan State Police say they were forced to use pepper spray and arrest at least four protesters who were opposing right to work legislation at the Michigan Capitol on Thursday.

Michigan State Police Inspector Gene Adamczyk told the Detroit Free Press that a number of protesters tried to rush the state Senate floor.

"When several of the individuals rushed the troopers, they used chemical munitions to disperse the crowd," Adamczyk said. "It would be a lot worse if someone gets hurt and I failed to act."

WILX reported that the Capitol building had been locked and at least four protesters were arrested during the incident. WILX reporter Brian Johnson estimated that there were around 500 protesters in the building.

Video posted by Michigan Senate Democrats showed Republican state Senator Tonya Schuitmaker angrily gaveling the Senate session into recess as the crowd became rowdy.

"Additionally, Republicans have called in countless State Police officers again today to guard their offices and question the public as they enter the Capitol to protest the Republican agenda," the Democrats wrote. "Frankly, if you have to bring in a massive police presence in order to conduct business at the State Capitol, it might be time for Republicans to rethink what they’re doing."

After initially calling the union-busting right to work legislation "too decisive," Republican Gov. Rick Snyder on Thursday said that he would sign the bill if it came to his desk. The measure is expect to pass because Republicans control both the state Senate and state House.

"The goal isn’t to divide Michigan," he said at a press conference. "It is to bring Michigan together."

Snyder said that he now supported the legislation because it was about the "freedom to choose" and "fairness and equity in the workplace."

Democratic lawmakers and unions, however, claimed that the bill would lower wages and reduce benefits for workers.

"Gov. Snyder campaigned on a promise of unity, but instead he’s ushering in an era of divisiveness across Michigan by launching an attack against working families," U.S. Representative Gary Peters said in a statement on Thursday. "By trying to jam this through a lame duck session, Gov. Snyder is trying to prevent voters from seeing how he is dividing Michigan instead of working to ensure the future of our state during this fragile recovery."

DOWNLOADS: (179)

PLAYS: (1447)

Embed

Here we go again with Willard telling about his thousandth or so lie out on the campaign trail, but this time we find out that apparently badly sourced right wing blogs are his fact checking department. Explains a lot, doesn't it?

Romney repeats false claim of Jeep outsourcing to China; Chrysler refutes story:

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney repeated a false claim Thursday night that Chrysler Group may move all Jeep vehicle production to China, drawing criticism from the Obama campaign, which said the Michigan native had blatantly skewed a news wire story.

Romney’s comments came the same day that the Free Press reported that 1,100 new Chrysler workers will begin making the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango SUVs at a plant in Detroit next week.

“I saw a story today that one of the great manufacturers in this state, Jeep, now owned by the Italians, is thinking of moving all production to China,” Romney said during a rally in Defiance, Ohio, before 12,000 cheering supporters, according to several reports. “I will fight for every good job in America, I’m going to fight to make sure trade is fair, and if it’s fair, America will win.

Romney apparently was referencing conservative bloggers who misrepresented a Bloomberg story from Monday that discussed Chrysler’s decision to consider starting Jeep production in China, the world’s largest new-vehicle market.

That story, while accurate, sparked a raft of other stories and blogs that incorrectly concluded that Chrysler might close plants or move Jeep production from the U.S. to China.

Gualberto Ranieri, Chrysler’s vice president of communications, criticized those stories Thursday even before Romney made his comments.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (242)

PLAYS: (2786)

Embed

From this Thursday evening's Democratic National Convention, this is what you call a barn-burner folks. Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm brought down the house with her passionate speech thanking President Obama for saving the auto industry when no one else was willing to come in and rescue them, including Bain Capital, and took it to Mitt Romney for famously saying to "let Detroit go bankrupt."

Full text of former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm's speech at Democratic National Convention:

Good evening, I'm Jennifer Granholm, from the great state of Michigan, where the trees are just the right height! Let me tell you a story about the dark days in my home state. Towards the end of my time as governor, Ford closed one of its biggest factories, a factory in Wixom, Michigan. The Wixom plant had employed thousands of middle-class men and women in neighborhoods near—yet worlds away from—the place Mitt Romney was raised.

When Ford's decision hit, I went down to the local union hall. It was almost empty; a few workers milled about in shock and grief. I talked to a 45-year-old guy who told me, "This is the only place I've ever worked.

I've been loyal. I've done everything they've ever asked. And just like that, it's gone." He looked around the hall and said, "So, governor, is it over for us? Is the American auto industry dead?" Honestly, at that moment, I just didn't know. And that was just the beginning. When the financial crisis hit, things got a lot worse – and fast.

The entire auto industry, and the lives of over one million hard-working Americans, teetered on the edge of collapse; and with it, the whole manufacturing sector. We looked everywhere for help. Almost nobody had the guts to help us – not the banks, not the private investors and not Bain capital. Then, in 2009, the cavalry arrived: our new president, Barack Obama!

Continue reading »