tagged w/ Michigan
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You can now download Hot Party Songs from the OurStage Mardi Gras "Show Us Your Hits" Song Competition. Jelixa - the Beta Music artist is one of the chosen artist to have her song "What You Need To Know" selected for the Mardi Gras party song playlist.
OurStage is a music promotion website that has played a tremendous role in providing independent musicians and labels the necessary World Wide exposure to boost their careers and music sales. You will find song competitions and live performance opportunities going on at OurStage all the time, that's how Jelixa the "Beta Music" artist became one of the chosen ones to have her Party Song "What You Need To Know" on the Mardi Gras playlist....and guest what, you can download her song and others for free by clicking on the following link....
http://www.ourstage.com/go/showusyourhitsdownloads
Enjoy the hot tunes on the playlist!
Michael BellYou can now download Hot Party Songs from the OurStage Mardi Gras "Show Us Your... more
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Last night we posted a video here on Addictinginfo that showed a very cool, confident and forgiving lesbian mom encouraging her homophobic mayor to leave the “dark-side” and move into the light of tolerance and respect.
Today, we learned that Mayor Janice Daniels of Troy Michigan, who told the world on her Facebook page last week that she couldn’t be a fan of New York now that “queers can marry there,” has lost her job with Century 21 Real Estate. For the record, Daniels has publicly apologized for her mean-spirited, homophobic comment. But apparently, not all the damage her comment inflicted on her good name and reputation can be repaired with an apology. Her boss at Century 21 indicated that he can have, “no one in his company, either employee or independent contractor, who would be capable of such insensitivity to the LGBT community, or to anyone for that matter.”
http://tinyurl.com/7zd65yuLast night we posted a video here on Addictinginfo that showed a very cool, confident... more
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LOrion
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added this
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1 month ago
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The fate of the Michigan Quality Community Care Council, an entity ostensibly tasked with keeping a list of the state’s private home health providers, may have seemed sealed in May when state lawmakers axed its funding from the 2012 budget. Yet even without state funding, this unusual government entity continues to exist past its Sept. 30 expiration date — and collect dues for a government-sector union.
“The union dues are still being withheld and are being sent to the MQC3,” according to Angela Minicuci, public information officer for the Michigan Department of Community Health, in an email sent to the Mackinac Center. “The MQC3 still exists and they are working to get funding for the home help registry.”
Minicuci did not elaborate on how a defunded agency continues to operate.
“For the state to operate a dubiously formed government entity that has been defunded by the Legislature seems unprecedented,” said Patrick Wright, director of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation. “But such shenanigans aren’t entirely surprising given the origination of this agency and the machinations to preserve it for the sake of skimming ‘union dues’ from independent contractors.”
Wright was referring to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Mackinac Center that point to behind-the-scenes legislative efforts to keep the council operating by other means. Among the documents, emails indicate that Sen. Roger Kahn, R-Saginaw Twp., was particularly focused on maintaining MQCCC.
The MQCCC was created in 2005 through an interlocal agreement between the Michigan Department of Community Health and the Tri-County Aging Consortium. The council kept a registry of home care providers, but its main function was to be the so-called government “employer” for some 45,000 private home care aides. Through this arrangement, these independent contractors were compelled to become dues-paying members of SEIU Healthcare Michigan. The union has had a collective bargaining agreement with the MQCCC since 2006, collecting $6 million in annual dues from Medicaid subsidies paid to the home care providers. The council effectively runs the program for SEIU and passes the union dues from the state to the union.
The Mackinac Center recently learned from the council’s executive director that even though the MQCCC would no longer be funded this year and would soon close its doors, MQCCC officials believed the collective bargaining agreement would remain “in force between us and the union.” A copy of the agreement shows a Nov. 15, 2012, expiration date.
That prompted a Mackinac Center inquiry into what was happening behind the scenes that would keep a defunded government entity operating.
Among documents obtained from the Michigan Department of Community Health were more than three dozen emails from between April 5 and Sept. 13 discussing ways to keep the agency afloat. The biggest champion of creative financing for the council appeared to be Sen. Kahn. According to the documents attained by the Mackinac Center, Sen. Kahn began by proposing an above-the-board supplemental appropriation for the MQCCC. When this was rejected by the House, he suggested hiding the funding by avoiding an explicit designation identifying what it was for or putting the amount into another budget entirely. When those attempts failed, Sen. Kahn proposed taking five cents per hour from each health care provider to allow the continued existence of the faux employer, which would allow the union to keep collecting millions of dollars in annual dues.
The first indication of Sen. Kahn’s efforts came in a May 19 email from MDCH Deputy Director Nick Lyon to Nancy Vreibel, a staff member in Sen. Kahn’s office, discussing budget cuts to MDCH. Lyon wrote: “I also couldn’t work money back in for MQCCC; (Kahn) had asked about that.”
In July, an email from MDCH Director Olga Dazzo to several members of her staff and members of the Snyder administration revealed that Sen. Kahn and Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, hoped to re-establish a cash flow to the MQCCC.
“Senators Richardville and Kahn believe there is merit in funding MQC3,” Dazzo wrote. “Senator Kahn was hoping to restore these dollars in the budget but apparently did not have support from the House or Senate MDCH budget chairs.”
In the same email, Dazzo asked some pointed questions about the SEIU (Note: parenthetical statements appear in the original.):
1.“Does the lack of funding mean the state is no longer supposed to collect union dues for SEIU? (MQC3 basically runs the program for SEIU and passes the union dues from the state to the union).
2.“Do we want the SEIU to continue operating through their own funding or some alternative source of dollars?
3.“Is there a long-term strategy with respect to this issue and is it comparable to the daycare unionization issue in DHS? (which was ended).”
Dazzo also noted that legislation aimed at ending agreements like the one that roped home-based day care providers into a union might affect the MQC3: “There is legislation moving through the process (HB 4003 from Representative Opsommer) that, if passed, may negatively impact the ability to have a program such as this.”
In July, an unidentified party apparently raised the question of having the union fund the MQCCC. In response, Lyon correctly replied in an email, “It would be a conflict of interest to have the union pay.”
More at link and below.
http://www.mackinac.org/15943
http://current.com/community/93537599_seiu-siphons-dues-from-mich-medicaid-payments.htm#93537672The fate of the Michigan Quality Community Care Council, an entity ostensibly tasked... more
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Michigan Senator Responds To Pro-Bullying Legislation That Would ALLOW Bullying For ‘Moral Or Religious’ Reasons. Michigan Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer responds to Republicans gutting an anti-bullying bill by inserting language that specifically allows bullying to occur based on religious or moral reasons. THANK GOD we have people like her. She's a champion. I'd be proud to be in her district. Republicans and Christians, setting back humanity ONCE AGAIN.Michigan Senator Responds To Pro-Bullying Legislation That Would ALLOW Bullying For... more
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Beginning in August, the local utility company, DTE, started repossessing Highland Park’s street lights as a settlement for its $4M overdue electric bill, the result of almost a decade of partial payments. This leaves the small, blighted city’s 16,000 residents almost totally in the dark.Beginning in August, the local utility company, DTE, started repossessing Highland... more
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A "Suck You" Halloween Message from the Vampires at Rio Tinto/Kennecott Minerals: Suck the Anishinaabe and the Environment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8DZPyUFiB8
Happy Halloween from your friends at Rio Tinto - Kennecott.
We’re celebrating the holiday by blowing up a frickin rock
The Eagle is sacred you say – we think not.
When money’s at play – the Anishinaabe can rot
To the Indians we say – just go away - suck the tribe
To the elected we say - money’s at play – offer the bribe
Mass murder and what not – that’s how we roll.
The fun of raping Eagle Rock – right in the hole.
We’ve told our kids it’s no fun to camp
It’s more fun as a blood sucking vamp
To us the Upper Peninsula is a place to trash.
At Rio Tinto Kennecott – we’re monsters that mash.
Suck you………
This is ArchAngel: The Environmental Hitman
Evil is as Evil Does
This is ArchAngel: The Environmental Hitman does not encourage or promote violence against the evildoers – but we will expose them….A "Suck You" Halloween Message from the Vampires at Rio Tinto/Kennecott... more
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Earlier this year, I was contacted by a PR firm working for Dow Chemical to contribute a 60-second video for the Future We Create virtual conference on water sustainability the company launched yesterday. As a vocal advocate for strict regulation of toxic chemicals -- especially for food and farming -- I was surprised the company would approach me. Dow is the country's largest chemical maker, and profits handsomely from developing some of the world's most polluting products, many of which are widely used in industrial and consumer goods as well as agriculture.
In the video I submitted, which you can watch below, I stress that one of the greatest threats to clean water is chemical contaminants -- and that Dow Chemical has a long history of water pollution. The PR representative emailed to say "unfortunately we can't use your video," but that she would be happy to include me, still, if I would consider re-recording it. When we discussed what that would mean she said, no "fingerpointing"; they wanted a "positive, inclusive discussion."
I believe in inclusiveness and engagement, but I also believe we must pursue those principles within a context that is honest. To do otherwise is to participate in what is popularly called "greenwashing," painting a veneer of environmentalism on an otherwise unchanged product or practice -- a corporate strategy many of us are all too familiar with.
In this spirit, I felt it would be disingenuous to engage in a conversation about water sustainability, for a campaign paid for by Dow Chemical, without pointing out the direct relationship between Dow's core business products -- a source of its $8 billion in profit last year -- and toxins in our environment.
At the same time Dow launches this initiative, the company is actively fighting multiple lawsuits from communities who contend that their water has been polluted by the company, including from its hometown manufacturing plant in Midland, Mich. In 2007, the EPA detected the highest level of dioxin ever discovered in the country's rivers or lakes in waterways near Dow's global headquarters. Dioxin levels in some places were 1,000 times higher than the residential standard, according to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. A recent study found women living in Midland, as well as Saginaw and Bay counties, have significantly higher rates of breast cancer; dioxin was to blame. A class action lawsuit is pending.
"In the backyard of Dow's corporate headquarters, the company for decades through philanthropy, public relations, and politics has made the choice to push back at every regulatory level instead of addressing their dioxin contamination of 52 miles of freshwater and Lake Huron," said Michelle Hurd Riddick of the Saginaw Bay grassroots environmental organization, Lone Tree Council. "The company has mastered the art of greenwashing while poisoning a whole watershed and getting away with it."
Community members in another Midland -- Midland, Texas -- filed suit earlier this year against Dow and three other companies for contaminating groundwater there with hexavalent chromium. Barred from use in the European Union because of its toxicity, hexavalent chromium is a known carcinogen. The EPA's own hazard report notes that exposure, including through contaminated drinking water, "may produce effects on the liver, kidney, [and] gastrointestinal and immune systems."
Dow also continues to drag its heels and fight regulators in order to continue production of some of its most toxic and water-polluting products.
In 2000, for instance, the EPA announced it was phasing out approval of Dow's insecticide, and potent neurotoxin, Dursban, for new home construction in the United States because the product is linked to serious illnesses and even death in children. Five years later, the chemical was still in use in U.S. homes. And in 2003, Dow settled a $2 million lawsuit with the state of New York, the largest penalty ever in a pesticide-related case, for repeatedly violating an agreement about proper advertising of Dursban and making misleading safety claims.
Dow is also a leading manufacturer of Bisphenol-A (or BPA), used in numerous consumer products such as baby bottles, children's toys, and the linings of food cans. It's a particularly dangerous chemical, with proven toxicity even in low doses, especially in utero. The National Institutes of Health's National Toxicology Program has found the chemical may increase the risk of certain cancers and alter brain development. The chemical, a synthetic estrogen, has also been linked to reproductive and hormonal problems. New research is showing that a vast majority of Americans is exposed to low concentrations of BPA not only through consumer products, but from surface water, too.
More at the linkEarlier this year, I was contacted by a PR firm working for Dow Chemical to contribute... more
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Michigan educators could face a year in prison for conducting union or political business over public school e-mail servers under a bill advancing in Lansing.
State House Bill 4052 was reported out of committee last week, and would prohibit a public employee from using public e-mail for political campaigning, union activities, union recruitment, and fundraising.
Violators could be found guilty of a misdemeanor, which would carry a fine of up to $1,000, up to one year in prison or both in the bill’s amended version. Organizations found guilty would face up to a $10,000 fine.[...]
The bill is an example of ongoing “classic scapegoating” in Lansing against teachers, and is being used to appeal to the Republican-led Legislature’s base, said Doug Norton, former Howell Education Association president.
“I think that they hate the fact that teachers are able to join a union and collectively bargain. I think they have targeted teachers in their organization,” Norton said.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/09/29/331816/in-stealth-assault-on-unions-michigan-gop-bill-would-jail-teachers-who-send-political-emails/Michigan educators could face a year in prison for conducting union or political... more
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Read PR puff piece written by Michigan's largest newspaper supporting an acid mine with few benefits - and run by a company (Rio Tinto) charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity, bribery and other crimes:
http://detnews.com/article/20110907/OPINION01/109070324/Editorial--Return-mining-to-the-U.P.#ixzz1XKFJvBbT
I was shocked to see that the Detroit News would favor a mining project that will have few benefits and allow one of the world's worst polluters to leave a mess behind in seven years (life of mine) while destroying sacred Eagle Rock.
Rio Tinto has also been charged with war crimes, human rights violations, bribery and other crimes across the globe.
Your editorial wrongly claimed the company is respecting a very old Anishinaabe (Ojibwa) sacred site for Native American tribal rituals, religious ceremonies.
In fact, Rio Tinto/Kennecott Minerals will be dynamiting through sacred Eagle Rock to make the entrance of the mine (They already bulldozed the area directly around Eagle Rock).
To the Ojibwa, it is the same as dynamiting through a large church/cathedral in any Michigan city.
It's an undisputed fact that the Rio Tinto/Kennecott has one of the most dismal environmental records in the world - and find it less costly to leave a mess and possibly face litigation - than simply clean up their toxic waste.
Ex-Governor Granholm and Governor Snyder have refused to answer questions about their (or close family) financial ties to the project including campaign donations, favorable land deals, luxury trips, wining and dining, stocks and bonds, any and all gratuities from the companies or their representatives like lobbyists, others, etc.
As a reporter for Indian Country Today, I submitted those questions to all the candidates for governor - and ex-Gov. Granholm - all refused to comment (It would be easy to say they had no financial connections but instead refused to comment - talk about red flags).
The mining company also uses dirty tricks - like redesigning a water system to be above ground (in the severe U.P. winters) to avoid the federal clean water act regulations.
Plus two Ojibwa campers charged with trespassing were not allowed to present a defense - literally told they could not present the defense they planned. Ironically, the judge's name is extremely close to "Kangaroo" as in Kangaroo Court.
Your editorial sounds like it was written by a Kennecott PR person.
I understand why the small U.P. newspapers (who get mine advertising) have not done investigative stories - but am disillusioned now that the Detroit News would write this puff editorial.
Shame on the Detroit News for selling out.
Even with tough times at the major newspapers, I never though the Detroit News would not investigate before printing Rio Tinto/Kennecott claims.
The above is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to scandalous info about this project - a few headlines:
• State allows DEQ/DNR financially going into bed with the mining company by allowing its employees to set up a non-profit using state addresses, state labor and state materials.
• DEQ/DNR hides a state-paid expert safety report critical of the project - stating major concerns over whether a vital trout stream would collapse into the mine. That would send a huge amount of sulfuric acid downstream into Lake Superior.
• During a reshuffle of the DNR/DEQ agencies - an interim boss approves mine permit despite serious objections from a state administrative law judge and others.
• Only half of the 150 employees will be locally hired.
• Company admits they will make billions in profits because of the size of the world record nickel deposit - but the state itself and local government tills will only get a small fraction of that cash.
That's why many have accused the company of making side deals with U.P. elected officials and others with decision powers - exactly like when Rio Tinto got caught and charged with bribing China officials and other countries.Read PR puff piece written by Michigan's largest newspaper supporting an acid... more
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a satiric article on why the author would not like to leave his hibernating body in Michigana satiric article on why the author would not like to leave his hibernating body in... more
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Ima BossClothing Men & women's urban fashion for go getters making success happen one day at a time.
The T Burton Collection
For
KemetLight Media
Shirts (short)Ima BossClothing Men & women's urban fashion for go getters making success... more
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It’s 8 p.m. on a transcendentally beautiful summer evening, I am floating in a hammock in the woods surrounded by beautiful girls body painting each other, pulsing dubstep washes over me, and I cannot for the life of me get up and go cover the String Cheese show on the main stage.It’s 8 p.m. on a transcendentally beautiful summer evening, I am floating in a... more
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The forgotten technology. Mr. Wally Wallington, the man from Flint, Michigan is building a Stonehenge replica on his property in order to prove it.
Stonehenge is Britain's greatest national icon, symbolizing mystery, power and endurance. Its original purpose is unclear to us, but I think this guy figured it out.The forgotten technology. Mr. Wally Wallington, the man from Flint, Michigan is... more
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As you listen to and watch this rather miraculous musical achievement by the entire town of Grand Rapids, Michigan, ask yourself, “Is America dead yet?”As you listen to and watch this rather miraculous musical achievement by the entire... more
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The state’s highest court has agreed to hear two cases in which people have been charged with crimes for their medicinal use of marijuana. This will be the first time the court weighs in on the 2008 state law that legalized the drug for medical use.
Mlive reports:The state’s highest court has agreed to hear two cases in which people have been... more
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The superintendent of schools in Ithaca, Michigan, a small town in the heart of the state, had a sarcastic response to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and the GOP-controlled state legislature's decision to strip $300 per student from the school budget.
The superintendent, Nathan Bootz, noted to local newspaper the Gratiot County Scribe that the state hadn't taken funding from prisons. In fact, some of the eliminated school funding would be redistributed to boost prison funds.
Bootz has a simple (sarcastic) solution: Treat the state's students like prisoners!
In his letter to the editor, Bootz wrote:
Consider the life of a Michigan prisoner. They get three square meals a day. Access to free health care. Internet. Cable television. Access to a library. A weight room. Computer lab. They can earn a degree. A roof over their heads. Clothing. Everything we just listed we DO NOT provide to our school children.
This is why I’m proposing to make my school a prison.
Snyder is one of the Republican governors up for recall.
"Sure let's do, then we will have a place to put all the recalled JackAsses from around the country... Damned Treasonists!!!"The superintendent of schools in Ithaca, Michigan, a small town in the heart of the... more
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KB723
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added this
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9 months ago
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Urban Decay
These images depict an abandoned train station and neighborhood in Saginaw, MI. I managed to get a handful of good images before I was chased off by the police. I have a certain fondness or abandoned buildings because when I look at them I see history, a neighborhood that was once beautiful and thriving.Urban Decay
These images depict an abandoned train station and neighborhood in... more
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iTunes offered Peanut Butter Mech a chance to sell some of their music to support us. We are aksing for a little bit of support from the fans and maybe even some of you that don't know of us to give us a chance and just enjoy our music.
One of our artist, Cel-Man Iller has his single "Charlie Sheen Status" also available on his Light of the Darkness album and Light Of The Darkness: Six Sick Shits mixtape available on itunes now and if you guys wouldn't mind just trying him out I know it would be worth the time. 99 cents.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/charlie-sheen-status-f-k-you/id434667111
~Peace, Love and the Arts...
FREE DOWNLOADS @
http://peanutbuttermechherbanlyf.bandcamp.com/iTunes offered Peanut Butter Mech a chance to sell some of their music to support us.... more
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