This was originally posted as an open thread on BFM. I’ve tweaked it a bit to bring it here to cbdc. Oh, you kids know how I love me some Mike Bishop. Sometimes I blog about him, sometimes I doodle - - sometimes we bring in some outsiders to expose his alter-ego. (Muwahaha!!) But do you all remember why I started loving him? Let me take you back. 2007, summertime. We had just opened...

Cross-posted at BFM Well you can add this to the list of things that freak me out: Mlive article here Someone’s going to have to rock me to sleep tonight. ...

Welcome readers of MIRS NEWS. If you are looking for my latest “stuff”, please come visit me at Blogging For Michigan, which is where I have fun with our state government. You can catch up with Lisa Geise over at West Michigan Rising. ...

Wow. Last Thursday, I received the most amazing email … Christine- In about an hour, we’ll announce the blogs selected for the State Blogger Corps at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Congratulations. I’m writing to let you know that Blogging For Michigan will be the credentialed blog from Michigan. … Just. Wow. I’m really humbled by the opportunity to represent ...

I just left a comment over on this post at Right Michigan. Nick at RM is upset that Dick Ball opposes the recall of Andy Dillon, and suggests that Dick Ball has “switched teams.” To which I replied, “we don’t want him.” Well it’s no big deal, except for one person who sent me the equivalent of “Oh yeah??? Say that to our faces!!” Apparently this ...

Dick Campbell of the Argus Press has a great editorial today about the part-time legislature. This was an idea that I used to hate. My objection to the part-time legislature is that good government is a full-time job. You simply couldn’t do the work part-time. I did, however, support a unicameral legislature. This is a one-chamber model, which would eliminate the Senate. After watching ...

I wandered over to Chet Zarko’s blog today and found his article on the latest round of Zarko v Lessenberry. I check Zarko every day, but I didn’t follow the Lessenberry stuff, so I wasn’t familiar with the history of the issue. So I followed the links in his diary, and eventually, I came to this: I hate self-hating Ukrainians most of all.  Obviously you were a follower of...

Chetly Zarko, of Zarko Research & Consulting, has filed a campaign finance complaint against Jon Stryker. The complaint alleges that, …there is reasonable cause to believe that contribution data is not accurate or should be substantiated with an actual paper trail (the Amended reports are extremely inconsistent and suggest that the accounts are highly fluid). Chet reported his research...

Not much here, but mostly I’m looking to see how this new template looks & loads with the pictures. This is the coolest flag, always brings a smile to my face. Coming home, North I-75 Pumpkin festival, on Middlebelt in Inkster. I was stopped at a light when I took this picture. The cell phone doesn’t really capture how cool it looks. There’s a wicked Halloween display...

Dick Ball today voted no on the MESSA busting bill. However he did not support the sales tax expansion to discretionary services. The tax on services is meant to fill the gap between the income tax and the additional revenue needed to balance the budget. We’re keeping an eye on the budget fiasco over on BFM. ...

I’m just going to throw this together real quick and then proceed with my life for a while. Sounds crazy, but I really do have one. Sub only MIRS is reporting that, Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the administration worked with Dillon’s team to reach compromises with some Republican members. Among those things allegedly offered were judgeships, no-contest elections and more money for schoo...

So you may have seen Leon Drolet’s pink pig come through Shiawassee? Leon & co. are threatening to recall Dick Ball (yeah, right) for supporting a tax increase. Well, subscription only Gongwer is giving us some more insight into Leon’s thinking, as to how we can balance the budget without raising taxes: Mr. Drolet responded that he’d use the tax cuts recommended by the ...

Mike Bishop’s New Work Ethic - Ban The Blogs!!! on BFM Well, now we’ve heard everything. Thanks to fellow blogger & freelance writer Eric Baerren, we have some more “explanation” on why the Senate Republicans blocked access to BFM. Eric swapped some email with Matt Miner. Miner is Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop’s Chief of Staff and Propaganda Minister. Mi...

Bishop Accuses BFM Of Crime on BFM By now you may know that the Michigan Senate has blocked access to BFM. MIRS and Gongwer have reported on this. Mike Bishop’s Chief of Staff, Matt Miner, is the talking head behind all of this. I’d like to respond to a few of his comments on this blog. First, I’ll address the comments that are only mildly annoying. In subscription only MIRS...

BFM Blocked By Mike Bishop, Michigan Senate Not Allowed To Access, on BFM Yesterday afternoon I received a few inquiries from the Michigan Senate as to whether BFM was offline. It was an understandable question; we’ve had some problems here. But this time, the error was a little different — “server timed out” … hmm … the kind of error you get when your site i...

Spartan Stores Having A Strong Year on BFM Grand Rapids based Spartan Stores, Inc., has just announced that their Net Earnings for the first quarter of their fiscal year have reached a 6 year high. Spartan is currently operating in FY 2008. The first quarter ended June 23, 2007. Spartan reports that compared to Q1 of FY 2007, consolidated net sales increased 5.4%, as a result of incremental fue...

Is this real? I came across this last night while pricing out ads on mlive. But when I clicked on the link, it took me to all of the Michigan stories except the Granholm story. Governor Granholm has made several appointments in the last 4-6 weeks, so I suppose it’s possible. I just can’t find any information on it to determine whether it’s true or false. Seems like there&#...

Working For A Living - Sunday Edition - on BFM ...

Recent House Activities Reveal a Progressive Majority on BFM ...

Messing With MESSA It’d be sweet for BFM to get on the blogroll … just sayin’ … ...