Buried in an article on an interior page in the Sunday, Oct. 8, MLive/Flint Journal under a headline on a different issue is the contention of a Virginia Tech water crisis expert that it’s safe to take baths and showers in the Vehicle City. VTU professor Marc Edwards, who helped expose what has become known […]
Republican Official Says GOP Lawmakers Focus on Wrong Tax Cuts
A retired automotive engineer living in northern Michigan finds it ironic that Michigan is the “automobile capital of the world,” yet the cost of operating a vehicle in the Great Lakes State is the highest in the entire country. Furthermore, Charles E. “Chuck” Leady of Cheboygan argues that it makes little sense for the Michigan […]
Engler Returns to Mackinac Island
John Engler became the first former Republican governor of Michigan to give a prime mealtime speech in the main dining room of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island at a GOP biennial leadership conference, in this case the 31st such meeting, at a Saturday morning breakfast, Sept. 23. It was the 60th anniversary of the […]
The Evolution of Betsy DeVos
By Lauren Camera, Education Reporter | Oct. 2, 2017 In her most resolute wording to date, the Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said that the federal government should not create a new private school choice program – a far cry from where she stood on that issue upon her confirmation eight months ago. “I wholeheartedly believe the future […]
OVERLOOKED: Two Michigan Former Political Avatars Die on Same Day
Completely missed or ignored by the mainstream media, word has nevertheless reached civilization of two deaths a thousand miles apart just over two weeks ago, on September 15. Neither man was ever elected to public office, but both left their marks on Michigan and national politics and government beginning half a century ago. One was […]
WALL STREET JOURNAL: Michigan Has a Comeback Story to Tell
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. PHOTO: ANDREW HARNIK/ASSOCIATED PRESS by The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board Sept. 25, 2017 As Washington begins to debate tax reform in earnest, states can provide instructive policy lessons for better and sometimes worse—see the fiscal crack-ups in Connecticut and Illinois. Michigan, on the other hand, offers a case study in […]
Has Congress (and the Michigan Legislature) Become the “Sapless Branch”?
by Christopher DeMuth The Hudson Institute Sept. 19, 2017 The Constitution of 1787 begins with its stirring “We the People of the United States” preamble, then turns to Article I, establishing a national Congress. The article takes up more than half the entire document. Article II, establishing the Executive, and Article III, establishing the Judiciary, […]
Does a Republican Have to be a Woman to be Elected Secretary of State in Michigan?
It sure looks that way, based on recent history, and now a female has entered the race for the GOP nomination for SoS to be determined next year. Mary Treder Lang, a certified public accountant from Grosse Pointe Farms, announced Tuesday that she’ll seek the Republican nod on a platform of “Security, Optimization and Stability,” […]
Middle Class Scores Comeback, says Top Economist
THE MIDDLE CLASS ROCKS — AGAIN! By Robert Samuelson Washington Post Writers Group September 18, 2017 The middle class is back — or so it seems. That’s the message from the Census Bureau’s latest report on “Income and Poverty in the United States.” The news is mostly good. The income of the median household (the one exactly in […]
Have Universities Forgotten How to Teach True Liberal Education?
COMMENTARY Peter Berkowitz Sept. 15, 2017 American colleges and universities should be bastions of self-knowledge and self-criticism, simply because they exist to teach people how to think. But in recent years America’s campuses seem to have abandoned this tradition. Worse, the meager course offerings on the topic of liberal education tend to reinforce misunderstandings about […]