Michigan Policast

Oh my goodness, we have a lot of ranting in this one, and I even get bleeped once.  That’s good though, we’ve got a family-friendly image to protect

Hey all, hope you’ve had a Happy Thanksgiving!  We’re a little late this week due to power outages and whatnot.

Check out our topics this time:

Immigration & how it’s going to affect Detroit and Michigan in general.  We have about 120k undocumented immigrants in Michigan as of 2012.  1.6% percent of labor force.  Some say the executive order giving them temporary deportation relief will help STEM grads settle down and start businesses.  Others say that the order will only help the agricultural and retail employers.  Either way, it creates a new level of spending, as these immigrants become consumers for products like homes, cars, and other things that people buy as they settle in for a long-term stay.

More info on this at Crain’s Detroit Business.

We also talk about this chart from an article on Daily Kos

Amy gives us some information on our K12 school buses.  10.2% of our buses have fallen into disrepair due to a lack of funds to maintain the buses and due to poor road conditions.  These buses have been found to have holes in the floorboard, loose engine mounts, and more.  #dangerous

Amy breaks this down pretty well by condition and by school district.  Her  article on this is here.

By the way, most charter schools don’t have buses.  They just use public transportation or they contract with a private company for transportation.

Finally, Angry Walt is back.  Lame douche duck Speaker of the House Jase Bolger wants to take all the $$ from the school and give it to the roads, on the theory that the roads will eventually pay for the schools and you don’t have to raise taxes.  And let’s be real here.  If these guys weren’t term’d out and they had to actually come back and deal with this crap, they would never propose such asinine legislation.  Truth.

We also talk about some approval ratings, and the fact that people want what President Obama stands for, but they vote for Republicans.  They hate Obamacare but love the Affordable Care Act.  #stupidvoters #kiddingnotkidding

We seem to have a lot of heavy breathing in this section.  Our topics are just that sexy.

A little gratitude and congrats to the Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients.

That’s it for this week.  Remember to comment, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or send us an email.  We love hearing from you!

 

 

 

Today we spend the bulk of our time on corrections, including a great conversation with Barbara Levine, Associate Director of CAPPS – the Citizens Alliance on Prisons and Public Spending.  Here’s a partial bio for Barbara:

Barbara Levine was the founder and executive director of CAPPS from 2000-2013 and is the architect of its policy recommendations.  She opted to serve as associate director to focus entirely on research and policy development.

Levine received her Bachelor’s and Juris Doctor degrees from the University of Michigan.  She has been a member of the Michigan Bar since 1974. She began her career as a staff attorney at the State Appellate Defender Office, representing indigent felony defendants on appeal of their convictions.  From 1979-1983, she taught law school, first at Wayne State University, then at the University of Toledo.  She served as a Commissioner for the Michigan Supreme Court until 1985, when she became the first administrator of the Michigan Appellate Assigned Counsel System (MAACS).  In that capacity, she trained lawyers appointed to represent indigent defendants on appeal, oversaw the appointment process, enforced minimum performance standards, and worked to obtain improved funding for indigent defense services. Ms. Levine left MAACS in 1999 to focus exclusively on issues affecting prisoners and the constant expansion of the prison system.

You can read the rest of her bio here.

We also chat about the data in the CAPPS presentation here (pdf) and compare CAPPS to the conservative organization, Right on Crime.

Amy spends some time on two issues today, Aramark and term limits.  Here are her Democracy Tree posts on these issues:

* http://www.democracy-tree.com/day-aramark-scandal/

* http://www.democracy-tree.com/michigan-term-limits-good-idea/

We also talk about HB 5974, which is the Republican electoral college scam.  Links:

* Walt Sorg’s statement to the House Committee on Elections, for the Michigan Election Reform Alliance (pdf)

* Michigan Legislature to Look at Electoral Vote Deform.

* New bill would split Michigan electoral votes

Conservative views on this subject:

* Anti electoral scam: Michigan doesn’t need Electoral College reform

* Pro electoral scam: Michigan Demonstrates Why Elections Matter (Note:  I referred to this as a “republican” site in the podcast; it’s more accurately described as a “conservative” site.)  Here’s an edited excerpt from that post:

If the law passes, and Michigan’s vote in 2016 remains within historic bounds, it will give the GOP the equivalent of another Nebraska, which has 5 EC votes, which could be vital in a close race.  ………  If the proposed Michigan revamp passes,

Today we have a sound problem.  There’s some static going on here that we didn’t hear until playback.  We cleaned it up as much as we could.

Amy couldn’t be with us today but she’ll be back next time.

First off, the gender gap.  How has it changed over the years, and what does that mean for Republicans and Democrats?  Good news is that while we’re gaining ground with women, we aren’t losing ground with men.  Looks good for the Democrats.

Here are the numbers for Michigan – http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/2014/MI/governor/exitpoll – broken down by age, income, gender, ethnicity, etc.  Here’s more info to give you a picture of the gender gap nationwide – http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/07/1342924/-GOP-tries-to-downplay-Democrats-winning-among-women-voters

Walt covers the electoral scam that the Michigan Republicans are going to push through lame duck.  What it comes down to is that they’re going to want to assign electoral votes based on the gerrymandered districts that they’ve drawn.  They only want to do this in states that Obama won but that are gerrymandered by Republicans.  We’ve got some numbers to show you how this would have played out over the last 2 elections.  But to sum up, Romney would have been elected President in 2012, and McCain would have been elected in 2008.

Can a ballot initiative end gerrymandering?  If we get the districts out of the hands of the Republicans and into the hands of non-partisan academics, Michigan goes back to being a Democratic state, as it should be.

Obama’s approval ratings and his successes … job growth and more.  A lot of great economic indicators, with the exception of personal income.  Walt goes over all of this info.

More links on the above:

* http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/19/1163009/-Daily-Kos-Elections-presidential-results-by-congressional-district-for-the-2012-2008-elections

* http://archive.freep.com/article/20140112/COL04/301120077/electoral-college-Michigan-Rick-Snyder-Barack-Obama-Mittt-Romney-popular-vote

* http://www.whitehouse.gov/net-neutrality#section-read-the-presidents-statement

* Also check Walt’s blog www.michigancurmudgeon.com for his posts on these issues

We briefly cover some interesting ballot initiatives … marriage equality, legalizing marijuana, and more.

How badly do Republicans want to control you?  Even when you have a constitutional right (terminate a pregnancy) or a legal right (voting) they will make law to try to stop you.  Now they’re messing with the ACA navigators to prevent the public from benefiting from the healthcare law.  It’s just what they do.  Anything else would be little-d democracy.  Can’t have that.

That’s it for this week.  Remember to comment, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or send us an email.  We love hearing from you!

 

Rough election, but especially rough because Democrats get more votes than Republicans, but because of the GOP gerrymandering, the Republicans are still in charge.   Stuff all the Democrats into as few districts as possible,...